Delhi Metro and the Making of World-Class Delhi
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UNTANGLING THE KNOTS Delhi Metro and The Making of World-Class Delhi Prididome Pipatchukiat Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Aberystwyth University This dissertation is dedicated To Ma and PA i Summary Neoliberal urbanism has spread over the world. Delhi, one of the fast-growing cities in the world, has affected by the neoliberal urbanism under the project of the world-class city. The existing literature widely studied the urbanism by focusing on the governmentality of the aesthetics: the global visibility. To challenge these literature, Delhi Metro, the key place of the world-class Delhi, is chosen as a case study of this dissertation. Influence by the recent studies of neoliberalism and infrastructure in geography, ranging from recent governmentality studies in the Global South, actually existing neoliberalism, to assemblage-based analysis, this dissertation examine various governing programs and practices of the Delhi Metro through its four aspects: (1) the constitution of the metro organization and its benchmarking practices, (2) urban imagining, landscape of consumerism, and the speculative capitalism, (3) the government of the metro system and (4) the spatial practices of the commuters. From various official documents, publications, newspapers, interviews, internet weblogs, social media, and fieldworks, this dissertation shows the complexity, multiscalar and polycenter characters, mutations, messiness, and contestations of the neoliberal urbanism in Delhi context. Apart from the global visibility, the making of the world-class Delhi involves the urban competitiveness not only on the final product, but also the process to attain it and the urban producer. The thesis tries to propose the significance of the micro-power analysis of the Anglo-governmentality to untangle the complexity and heterogeneity of the object of the study which is complex and diverse, like neoliberalism, over the attempt to identify the single figure mode of government or rationality. ii Acknowledgements My academic journey as a geographer starts from this little dissertation. For me, this is a big challenge as it was my first empirical and geography research. Without the helps, comments, perspectives, and insights from experienced scholars I met and learned from, this thesis would never be developed. I wish to acknowledge my supervisor Dr. Gareth Hoskins who introduced me the readings of non-human geography and also his hard work in advising this research of mine. Since English is not my first language, I am not even confidence in using the language, the hard work he put especially to the wording issue is very important and helpful. Thank you very much for your care and suggestions in the academic work. I also would like to thank Professor Peter Merriman for the kind helps and suggestions provided to me. He always come with the critical questions and concerns which are very helpful for the study at PhD level. I am glad that I have learned how to do research under the supervision of Dr. Hoskins and Professor Merriman. I would like to thank Dr Sophie Wynne-Jones who accepted my proposal and also introduce the reading of neoliberal and assemblage policies to me. This dissertation would never reach the ‘good quality’ without the insights and reflections of the external and internal committee. During my viva examination, Professor David Clarke and Dr. Jesse Heley provided helpful comments and conceptualization which is very useful for improving this dissertation of mine, especially Dr. Heley for his reformulation of my research through the lens of assemblage theory. I would like to thank them for their kindness and help on this occasion. Apart from the academic issues, I would like to thank several faculty members and other academic support staffs at Aberystwyth who are kind and friendly to me during my 5- year of being a part of DGES. I really appreciate your kindness and I will never forget this good memory of studying and living in the ‘another world’. While I collected my data in Delhi I received help from many people who provided me insights and data for this thesis. I would like to thank Mr. Dunu Roy of the Hazard Centre for the insight and data for this research. I would like to acknowledge the Delhi Metro Training Institute for allowing me to observe and collect my data at the institution, especially the training managers and faculty members, especially Associate Professor Yashwant Singh Vyas and Associate Professor Nem Raj. This dissertation cannot be done without any help of my friends who introduced me to their for snowball samplings while I was in my field trips and in UK. I would like to thank iii Gayatri and Adrian, Chandan, Candy and her family, Yashwant, Subir, Deepak, Rocky, Mr. Singh my landlord, Shashikant, Vanvisa, Rabish, Anuj, Ishita, Jiwon, Sasiwan, and Tilak. I would like to thank my good old friends, Note and Tao, for helping me on financial issue after the Thammasat University fund ended. Thank you, Boong for the delivery of some book from Thailand. Dr. Kevin Downey, Tua and Virot have been helpful when I would like to discuss my thesis with. I would like to acknowledge the good friends from many countries I met here and Thai community in Aberystwyth who have befriended with me while living in this lovely town. I will not forget the good days I have with you guys in Aberystwyth! Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my family, Pa, Ma, and Mui for all the support that you gave to me, especially Ma who always concern about my health throughout my stay in UK. Even you are in a hospital, you still support me mentally to finish this dissertation. Thank you very much, Papa. I do not know how much I have to thank my Mama. She always kindly support me in everything I try to do in my life, especially during the hard time, especially when I was sick by unknown virus for months after returning from UK and when Papa have been in the hospitals for his operations for months. I really appreciate your kindness and support, Mama. iv Table of Contents List of Figures vii List of Abbreviations ix Chapter1: Introduction 1 Chapter2: Theoretical Discussion 9 2.1 Neoliberalism 9 2.2 Government 16 2.3 Infrastructure and characteristics 22 2.4 Infrastructure and politics 25 2.5 Urban Assemblage 29 Chapter 3: Methodology 32 3.1 Data Collection 35 3.2 Ethical Issues 42 3.3 Data Analysis 45 3.4 Difficulties 47 Chapter4: Trend Setting the Metro 50 4.1 The Early Days of the Delhi Metro 50 4.2 The Birth of the Trend Setter 52 4.3 The World-Class Outer/ The Indian Inner 71 4.4 DMRC after Sreedharan 82 Chapter5: The World-Class Delhi and the Metro 89 5.1 World-Class Delhi of the Governments 90 5.2 World-Class Delhi by DMRC 102 5.3 Urban Imagining and Speculative Capitalism 106 v 5.4 The Aesthetics of World-Class metro 112 Chapter 6: Regulating the Metro 125 6.1 Legally Bound 125 6.2 Cleaning of the metro 127 6.3 Security 130 6.4 Regulating the Riders 143 6.5 The Animals 153 Chapter 7: Spatial Practising the Metro 161 7.1 Spatial Practising 161 7.2 The Nuisance Talks of the Metro 162 7.3 The Metro and Political Activities 177 7.4 The Women Coaches 181 7.5 Racial Issues 190 Chapter 7: Conclusion 193 References 206 vi List of Figure Figure 4.1: DMRC Corporation Mission and Culture 54 Figure 4.2: Inside the campus of DMTI or DMRA in 2017 62 Figure 4.3: a training class in a computer room 63 Figure 4.4: Inside the Campus and Depot 63 Figure 4.5: The Sharsti Park Depot inside DMRA 64 Figure 4.6: The maintenance department inside the Academy 64 Figure 4.7: Metro News Bulletin distributed among the DMRC Personnel 69 Figure 4.8: from the official Narayanashrama Tapovanam Facebook 75 Figure 4.9: The Third Page of A Journey to Remember in the Day to Remember.. 78 Figure 5.1: Luxury Epicuria Food Malls inside the Nehru Place Metro Station 117 Figure 5.2: Inside Epicuria Food Mall 118 Figure 5.3: A pub inside the Epicuria Food Mall 118 Figure 5.4: Indian truck for the fancy expensive Indian restaurant in the Epicuria 119 Figure 5.5: One of the luxury pubs and restaurants inside the Epicuria 119 Figure 5.6: Vishwavidyalaya Station 120 Figure 6.1: the CISF inside the metro station 136 Figure 6.2: CISF officers in front of the Metro Exit 137 Figure 6.3: NeverGiveUp on social media from September 2019 146 Figure 6.4: The Journey of Chintu and Pinky in Delhi Metro 151 Figure 7.1: AISA at the meeting point. 178 vii Figure 7.2: JNU students join DU students and start their marching 178 Figure 7.3: The poster against the national medical test scam 179 Figure 7.4: The medical students at the metro gate 179 Figure 7.5: The medical students march around 180 Figure7.6: The experience on Delhi Metro lady coach 184 viii Abbreviations AISA All India Students Association BJP Bharatiya Janata Party CISF Central Industrial Security Force CoMET Community of Metros DDA Delhi Development Authority DMRA Delhi Metro Rail Academy DMRC Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMTI Delhi Metro Training Institute DU Delhi University IMF International Monetary Fund JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency JNU Jawaharlal Nehru University MTR Mass Transit Railway Nova Nova benchmarking group of Metros PSU Public sector undertakings ix Introduction The purpose of this dissertation is to study the process of urban governing through a focus on the way Delhi, the capital city of India, was made ‘world class’.