Planned ambitions versus lived realities: an examination of the BSUP scheme in the periphery of Mumbai Vidya Sagar Pancholi A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, the University of Sheffield December 2018 1 Abstract This research examined the BSUP scheme in the periphery of Mumbai for its effectiveness in creating upward social mobility and social integration amongst the urban poor. The scheme is a part of the neoliberal-era settlement rehousing schemes in India that offer tenure security to the urban poor (A. Roy, 2014). The examination of the scheme involved investigating the scheme’s pre-, during-, and post-implementation phases in Kalyan Dombivli (KD) city – a 1.2 million population sub-city in the Mumbai city region – at a range of spatial scales. The research adopted a qualitative case study approach for its context-sensitivity (Yin, 2014). A longitudinal and a multi-scalar examination of the scheme was based upon and contributed to two sets of literature – the first is the human agential and the process-oriented approaches of ‘the quiet encroachment of the ordinary’ (Bayat, 2004), and that of ‘place-making’ (Lombard, 2015) and the second is the literature on (neoliberal) governmentalities and how these are accomplished and experienced under the everyday settings (Li, 1999; Sharma, 2008; Lemanski, 2011; Charlton, 2014; Charlton & Meth, 2017). The examination of the case revealed that the scheme affected different social groups among the urban poor in different ways. While for certain ethnic minority groups, the scheme created upward social mobility and social integration in their lives, for others including the Dalit caste groups, the scheme created further marginalisation and disintegration in their lives. The thesis draws attention to the significance of examining the process of poorer groups’ settlement consolidation in understanding the real (spatial-relational) nature of difference (heterogeneity) amongst the poorer groups. This difference, the thesis claims, plays a key role in the way the poorer groups engage with the accomplishment of the rehousing schemes and experience the rehousing spaces and in turn face exclusions at several junctures within the trajectory of the scheme implementation and post-implementation phase. 2 Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to all of the following people who, in various ways, have helped me produce this thesis. I accept that it is not possible to mention all of them over here. I nonetheless include some of these names. My parents Mr Ram Swaroop Pancholi, and Mrs Hari Prabha Pancholi, my friends Sameer (and his parents) and Parjanya who have both, in their capacities, extended all the possible help to me during my fieldwork in Mumbai. My friend Vidula who had kindly helped me in conducting the fieldwork, Amit Bhai Chauhan, who allowed me a place of staying in Kalyan, Jyothi Didi, Vijay Bhai, Mr Nemade, Tanveer Sheikh, Mr Kailash Dongre, Gulab Kaka, and Mr Ravi Kanekar. Particularly, heartfelt thanks are due to: Chance2sustain project coordinators and all my colleagues (and more so to Dr N. Sridharan) with whom I learned different perspectives on seeing urban issues and was introduced to Kalyan-Dombivli city, and my research respondents whom I interviewed for this research, who were enormously generous with their time and insights and sometimes, personal care. I am profoundly indebted to Dr Glyn Williams, who has provided unfailingly wise and deeply skilful supervisory guidance and encouragement. I am also very much thankful to Dr Ryan S Powell for his valuable comments at critical junctures. With sincere thanks to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield for the generous PhD funding, the Graduate Research Centre (GRC), and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the University of Sheffield. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................ 6 Acronyms ..................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 Introduction to the thesis ............................................................................. 9 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 9 1.2 The research questions and the research approach ...................................... 12 1.2.1 Research questions ................................................................................... 12 1.2.2 The analytical strategy ............................................................................. 13 1.2.3 The methodological approach .................................................................. 14 1.3 Structure of the thesis .................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2 Urban poor, their settlements, and rehousing ............................................ 17 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 17 2.2 Settlement rehousing and the postcolonial settings ..................................... 18 2.2.1 The distinctive colonial histories of the cities of the South ..................... 19 2.2.2 Informality in a range of processes within the cities of the South ........... 22 2.3 Urban poor and their settlement spaces: policy discourses versus ground realities ................................................................................................................... 24 2.3.1 The urban poor, their settlements, and the policy discourse .................... 24 2.3.2 Conceptually understanding the urban marginalised groups and their settlement spaces .................................................................................................... 27 2.4 Settlement rehousing and governmentalities ............................................... 34 2.4.1 Settlement rehousing, governmentalities, and making them real ............ 34 2.4.2 Experiencing the rehousing governmentalities ........................................ 40 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3 The BSUP scheme and the Mumbai city region ....................................... 47 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 47 3.2 A critical examination of the BSUP scheme ............................................... 48 3.3 Mumbai’s urban development dynamics and settlements of the urban poor 54 3.3.1 Mumbai’s changing urban politics .......................................................... 55 3.3.2 State-poor relations in Mumbai ............................................................... 60 3.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 67 Chapter 4 Research Methodology .............................................................................. 71 4 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 71 4.2 Aim, questions, philosophical positioning .................................................. 71 4.3 The case ....................................................................................................... 73 4.3.1 KD city and the institutional settings ....................................................... 74 4.3.2 The selected settlements .......................................................................... 75 4.4 Research design ........................................................................................... 76 4.5 Data collection ............................................................................................. 77 4.5.1 Interviews................................................................................................. 78 4.5.2 Policy documents/reports ......................................................................... 84 4.5.3 Observation and note-taking .................................................................... 84 4.5.4 Practical choices during the fieldwork..................................................... 85 4.6 Data analysis and validation ........................................................................ 89 4.7 Personal positionality and ethical considerations ........................................ 91 4.8 Limitations of the methodology .................................................................. 92 4.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 5 The local political context and power settings in Kalyan Dombivli ......... 94 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 94 5.2 Kalyan Dombivli city and a history of its urban growth ............................. 94 5.3 Institutional context and the political culture associated with the urban space in KD .........................................................................................................