From navdeep at iimahd.ernet.in Fri Apr 1 22:42:50 2011 From: navdeep at iimahd.ernet.in (Navdeep Mathur) Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 22:42:50 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Press Release of Public Meeting - 31st March 4.30 p.m. - The Constitution Club - New Delhi In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Priyanca Mathur Velath Date: Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 9:17 AM Subject: Press Release of Public Meeting - 31st March 4.30 p.m. - The Constitution Club - New Delhi FYI - (Please circulate) Thanks - PMV *PRESS RELEASE * * * In a two-day workshop on ‘*Protection of Refugees and Stateless persons in India and her Neighbours’ *held on March 30 – 31 Delhi by *The Other Media* the participants expressed their concern at the increasing problems of refugees and stateless persons in the South Asian region and the lack of a legal mechanism for their protection. The objective of the workshop was to bring together representatives of refugee communities, organizations, NGOs, scholars, researchers, other concerned institutions and individuals committed to refugee protection in India, as well as in South Asia, towards examining the current status of the state of refugees and the protection of their rights. The workshop was a great opportunity of building networks, for refugee communities, both amongst themselves and also between them and the NGO and academic community; at the national and South Asian level and to promote collective action and involvement in removing impediments in protecting the rights of stateless persons and refugees. Since refugees and stateless persons are essentially a regional phenomenon, it was urged that the national governments work out a Regional Framework for solving the problem. However, a proactive role is expected from the Indian state in coming out with a domestic law or the protection of refugees and resolving the outstanding issue of stateless persons. More than ten representatives of refugee/stateless communities expressed their concerns regarding the issues of legal protection and survival, lack of right to work, adequate housing, health care and education, particularly in the urban context. Refugees from Pakistan living in the western state of Rajasthan lamented the climate of suspicion existing in the process of their recognition. Activists working with Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu expressed the need to end the climate of heightened securitization that prevailed during the months of war. Urban refugee communities living in Delhi like those from Myanmar, Afghanistan and Somalia worry about the threats to their lives and safety from violent attacks and deplored the inability of the local police to provide them adequate protection. The two-day conference has focussed on specific issues concerning the Refugee Convention, 1951, Convention Relating to the status of Stateless Persons, 1954, and the 1961 Convention for Reducing Statelessness. The participants discussed policy responses to population movements, current position of the refugees and stateless persons and the legal hurdles in the way of their recognition. They resolved to organise themselves into a ‘Refugee & Stateless Persons Rights Network of India’ for better sharing of experiences and to campaign jointly for a better deal. What has emerged from this workshop is that there are larger issues of state responsibility in ensuring democracy, rule of law, minority protection – both at the national and regional level. Noting that many of the refugee situations are human rights crisis situations, the participants have implored that measures should be taken where all the states ensure better protection of human rights standards and human rights defenders. For further queries – Ravi Hemadri (9871415186); Priyanca Mathur Velath (9899032722) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PRESS RELEASE.docx Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Size: 13193 bytes Desc: not available URL: From vinay.sreenivasa at yahoo.com Mon Apr 4 13:24:26 2011 From: vinay.sreenivasa at yahoo.com (vinay sreenivasa) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 00:54:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Thu, 07 Apr, 10.30am:Indefinite Dharna demanding Shivajinagar Street Vendors be given back rightful vending space Message-ID: <964320.74635.qm@web36303.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Beedhi Vyaaparigala Hakkotaya Andolana A city level campaign of Street Hawkers, Dalits, Human Rights Activists, Social and Progressive Organizations   End our evictions. They are unconstitutional and contrary to the National Street Vendors Policy Value our contributions to the society. Respect our fundamental rights.   Thursday, 07 April, 10.30am Indefinite Sit-in Dharna at the BBMP Head Office   On July 07, 2010, the BBMP and Police Department, without any notice, evicted 350 vendors from Central Street and Meenakshi Koil Street in Shivajinagar. We have been conducting their business in these streets since many years, with some vendors being there from 1975.   Since the evictions we and our families are struggling to survive as we have been left with absolutely no source of income – we are unable to pay the school fees for our children and many have been pulled out of school, our landlords have given us notice as we have not paid our house rent. Street Vending is an integral part of Bangalore’s daily life. From the vegetable vendor, to the cobbler, the coconut vendor, the flower sellers, the tea seller, the santhes, etc., the general public depend on us for their daily needs and convenience.   After the evictions, we did the rounds of the local police station, the concerned ACP's office and the local BBMP offices; however we were not allowed to resume our business. We had a dharna at the BBMP office on Oct 21, 2010. The Mayor came along with the opposition leader and addressed us. He said that they will support vendors to carry on their business on the streets. He had promised to fix a meeting date before the 28th of October. However that meeting never happened and we forced to protest again on Nov 22nd. This time, a meeting date was fixed for Dec 15th. However since the mayor was unwell, the meeting was postponed.   We however had the meeting with Mayor on February 08, 2011. In this meeting we updated him on how the Commercial Street Police Station evicted us on the basis of what they claim to be a verbal order from the BBMP. The Mayor clarified that there was no such order. The Mayor stated that he was in favour of ensuring that no illegal evictions took place under any circumstances. However, Due to the absence of the Commissioner, the Mayor decided that he would fix another meeting with the Commissioner, BBMP officials in charge of the local area and the concerned police officials.He assured us that we will get back our places to carry out vending and would ensure that justice is done to the street vendors. Based on this assurance from the Mayor, we agreed to wait for the next meeting. However this meeting has not yet been fixed. We have reminded the commissioner and mayor of this several times, but to date no meeting has been fixed.   Hence we now have no option but to sit in the BBMP office on Thursday, April 07th and stay there till our demands are met. Our demands are-   1.      The 250 vendors who have not been allowed to resume business should be allowed to resume business from the place they were evicted from and a space of 1mtr X 1mtr must be allotted to each vendor on the extreme side of the pavement to carry out their hawking. 2.      The BBMP must reframe its Street Hawking scheme in accordance with the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court judgments and the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 3.      The BBMP must undertake not to carry out any evictions without following the due process of law. Atrocities against vendors should be stopped immediately. In the name of beautification, BBMP must not evict any vendors anywhere in Bangalore.   Request the people of Bangalore to please join us and strengthen our struggle For the Beedhi Vyaaparigala Hakkoraya Andolana   S.Syed Zameer    - 9844519806 Isaac Amruth Raj - 9448411863 Vinay Sreenivasa - 98805 95032   ---------------------------- Streets and Their side walks are the main public places of a city; they are its most vital organs. Think of the city and what comes to the mind? Its streets – Jane Jacobs, 1961. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sumandro at gmail.com Tue Apr 5 15:54:41 2011 From: sumandro at gmail.com (sumandro) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:54:41 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: Call for applications 'Urban Aspirations in Bangalore' resesarch project - NIAS URPP and MPI Message-ID: *From:* Carol Upadhya [mailto:carol.upadhya at gmail.com] *Sent:* 03 April 2011 13:32 *To:* Carol Upadhya; NIAS URPP *Cc:* solomon benjamin; vanderVeer, P. *Subject:* Call for applications 'Urban Aspirations in Bangalore' resesarch project - NIAS URPP and MPI Dear friends, The Urban Research and Policy Programme (URPP) of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) has initiated a new research project entitled ‘Urban Aspirations in Bangalore, South India’. This is an international collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPIMMG), Goettingen, Germany) and the Urban Research and Policy Programme (URPP) of NIAS. The programme is linked to the MPIMMG research programme entitled ‘Comparative Study of Urban Aspirations in Mega-Cities’ directed by Prof Peter van der Veer (Director, MPIMMG). The project in Bangalore will be directed by Dr Solomon Benjamin of the URPP together with Prof van der Veer. NIAS announces a call for applications for *one postdoctoral *and *one doctoral position *under this programme, commencing in mid-2011. Please see the attached flyer for further details. Interested persons may also write to: niasurpp at gmail.com or visit the NIAS website: *http://www.nias.res.in/ *. * We would appreciate it very much if you would circulate this announcement widely and also post on your department boards.* With best wishes, Carol Upadhya Solly Benjamin -- Carol Upadhya Professor School of Social Sciences National Institute of Advanced Studies Indian Institute of Science Campus Bangalore 560012 India office: +91 80 2218 5000/ 5141 (ext) cell: +91(0) 97408 50141 carol at nias.iisc.ernet.in carol.upadhya at gmail.com Programme Co-Director, *Provincial Globalisation: The Impact of Reverse Transnational Flows in India's Regional Towns * *http://www.nias.res.in/research-schools-socialsciences-provincial.php* *http://www.provglo.org/* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: NIAS Urban Aspirations project research positions.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 366123 bytes Desc: not available URL: From murthy.kavya at gmail.com Wed Apr 6 19:17:13 2011 From: murthy.kavya at gmail.com (Kavya Murthy) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 19:17:13 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] The Delhi Urban Platform: Made in Delhi : Post-1947 Cultural Institutions In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Apologies for cross-posting *The Delhi Urban Platform * *invites you to * *Made in Delhi : Post-1947 Cultural Institutions* http://delhiurbanplatform.org/2011/04/made-in-delhi-post-1947-cultural-institutions/ * * *Speakers: ** * *Ashok Vajpeyi*, *Hindi poet, critic, cultural administrator; Currently, Chairman,Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi** * *Kaushik Bhaumik*, *Historian and **Senior Vice-President**, **The Film House, Osian's** * *Vidya Shivadas*, *Art Historian and Curator, Vadhera Gallery, Delhi* *Ravi Vasudevan*, *Film Historian,* *CSDS/SARAI, *Chair & Discussant Date : 13th April, 2011 Time :4:30-6:30 pm Venue: Seminar Room, CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, New Delhi This panel will interrogate an important aspect of Delhi’s identity as a hosting site for a national imaginary about culture as it emerges, post-1947, via the realms of policy pertaining to language/literature, the arts, media and higher education. Arguably, these domains were key to the articulation of an official vision through which the divergent logics of democracy, development and regional interests could be reconciled into manageable equations within the national-federal space. And yet for all its centrality within the Nehruvian imagination, the making of cultural policy has proceeded without significant debate, in largely ‘commonsensical’, un-reflexive ways, while the field has remained somewhat stigmatized within the social sciences and the newer inter-disciplinary fields. Seeking to move away from a facile view of policy as ‘mere’ application, this discussion will focus on the ways in which Delhi’s urban identity as a modern city has lent itself or, in turn, has been derived from its historic role as a space of mediation over key cultural and political issues. An enduring part of Delhi’s legacy to the nation, the making of cultural policy and its institutional elaboration in/via the national capital defined categories and mechanisms through which social hierarchies and regional differences were negotiated and linked to structures of patronage that would impinge on cultural and intellectual production. The location of these processes in Delhi has thus resonated profoundly in spaces far beyond the capital’s city limits. Highlighting the elemental links between cultural policy interventions and the making of institutional cultures in the decades after 1947, or their remaking, both, post-Emergency and after liberalisation, our panelists will thus seek to explore possible continuities between the rationale and rhetoric of key policy junctures/documents/ statements, institutional forms and ongoing processes of democratization and marginalization *Conceptualised by **Veena Naregal**, IEG * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From anu.rao6 at gmail.com Mon Apr 11 08:33:58 2011 From: anu.rao6 at gmail.com (Anu Rao) Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:03:58 +0800 Subject: [Urbanstudy] =?windows-1252?q?University_of_Warwick_events_in_Jul?= =?windows-1252?q?y_-_=91East_Asian_Cities_and_Globalization=3A_The?= =?windows-1252?q?_Past_in_the_Present=92?= Message-ID: *‘East Asian Cities and Globalization: The Past in the Present’, University of Warwick. *There are two events associated with this project, each with separate calls for papers: *Event 1. Conference Event: ‘East Asian Cities and Globalization: The Past in the Present’, **University of Warwick, July 9-10, 2011* This workshop is part of the ESRC-funded network project ‘East Asian Cities and Globalization: New Perspectives’ affiliated with the Global History and Culture Centre at the University of Warwick. It aims to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working on globalization and regionalism as it applies to city development, urbanization, and urbanity in East Asia. While East Asia is a region rich for such investigation, there has been little in the way of systematic attempts to move beyond discipline-based enquiries into the forms and processes of regionalism and globalization here. A major goal of this workshop is to form a dialogue between disciplines, and identify different types of trajectories that various East Asian cities have taken as they have become wholly or partially enmeshed in the processes of globalization. We welcome papers on both historical and contemporary themes and which may focus on case studies of individual cities, or on the connections, networks and flows between them. Topics might include legacies of imperialism/colonialism, the rise of instant cities, ‘re-globalizing’ cities, cosmopolitanism, and consumer cultures. Paper abstracts (500-700 words) and short CV (2-3 pages) should be sent to c.a.hess at warwick.ac.uk, by April 4th 2011. Informal enquiries may be directed to the same address. We aim to take selected publications forward for publication. Participants will receive funding support for round trip airfare to the UK, and accommodation and meals will also be provided. *Event 2. Call for Participants: East Asian Cities and Globalization: New Approaches, New Challenges Graduate Summer Workshop at the University of Warwick, July 21-24, 2011 *This graduate workshop is for PhD students who are at an advanced stage of their research and working on any aspect of 'globalization' as it applies to East Asian cities. The aim is to bring together an international and interdisciplinary group of students to present their own ongoing work and to explore the intersections of various lines of enquiry on this important area of research. Applications are welcome from students working in a number of disciplines, including but not limited to history, anthropology, urban studies and planning, geography, and architecture. Students will get the opportunity to present their work to other graduate students and to junior and senior members of faculty. This will be an excellent forum for gaining feedback from outside the usual channels (advisors, dissertation committee, etc.). The workshop will also feature several seminar sessions, led by junior and senior faculty from institutions in the UK and abroad, which address some of the key thematic and methodological issues that surround this topic. Particular attention will be paid to the challenges of comparison and to the relationship between global vs. local forces in shaping and defining cities in this region. Students wishing to participate should send an outline of their project (750 words), and a CV by e-mail to Dr. Christian Hess, c.a.hess at warwick.ac.uk Informal enquiries may be directed to the same address. In addition, one letter of reference from the candidate's supervisor or someone who is familiar with their PhD is also required and should be sent from the referee directly to Dr.Hess as an email attachment in pdf or word format. Deadline for submission: May 6, 2011. Selection will be based on the merit of the outline, the recommendation, and the stage of the research. Applications from students in the early stages of their PhD research will not normally be considered. This workshop is part of the ESRC-funded network project 'East Asian Cities and Globalization: New Perspectives' affiliated with the Global History and Culture Centre at the University of Warwick. It has also received funding support from the University of Warwick's Institute for Advanced Studies. Accommodation and meals during the workshop are free of charge. Funding to assist with travel expenses is also available. There is a possibility that some workshop events may take place at a venue in London, funding permitted. Further details can be found at the project website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/research/esrccitiesnetwork/activities/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cugambetta at yahoo.com Tue Apr 12 04:59:13 2011 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:29:13 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: INVITE | FLOW/CUT: The Fluid City | Exhibition Preview and Discussion | April 15, 2011 at Studio X Mumbai Message-ID: <480298.99777.qm@web57409.mail.re1.yahoo.com> ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Rajeev Thakker Sent: Mon, April 11, 2011 1:39:38 PM Subject: INVITE | FLOW/CUT: The Fluid City | Exhibition Preview and Discussion | April 15, 2011 at Studio X Mumbai INVITE | FLOW/CUT: The Fluid City | Exhibition Preview and Discussion | April 15, 2011 at Studio X Mumbai Hello Everyone, Please join us for the opening of the public art exhibition ‘FLOW/CUT’ followed by a discussion session entitled “Of Denial and Desire: The Paradoxes of Water in the City” Participating artists: Tushar Joag Pradeep L. Mishra Prajakta Potnis Sharmila Samant Vijay Sekhon Uday Shanbhag Parag Tandel Speakers: Tasneem Mehta Jeroo Mulla Simpreet Singh Discussants: Claudio Maffioletti Amrita Gupta Singh Rajeev Thakker Friday April 15th 2011 @ 6:30pm Studio-X Mumbai Kitab Mahal Fourth Floor 192, D N Road Fort Mumbai 400 001 (Opposite New Excelsior Cinema / entrance on DN Road) Free & open to the public See you there..... Regards, Rajeev Thakker Director STUDIO X MUMBAI Kitab Mahal 4th Floor 192 D.N.Road Fort, Mumbai 400001 Email: studioxmumbai at columbia.edu Mobile: +91 9820401836 Website: www.arch.columbia.edu/studiox ------ End of Forwarded Message ------ End of Forwarded Message -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 436981 bytes Desc: not available URL: From esgindia at gmail.com Tue Apr 12 18:14:42 2011 From: esgindia at gmail.com (ESGINDIA) Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:14:42 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Karnataka High Court initiates strong action to protect Bangalore's Lakes Message-ID: <4DA4493A.1080302@gmail.com> Dear Friends, ESG had a significant victory in the High Court of Karnataka last week in its PIL agaisnt the privatisation of lakes (which are commons here). Enclosed please find the press release we made and the press coverage, which was extensive, is accessible at the following links: http://newsrack.in/stories/esg/Bangalore/13 http://newsrack.in/stories/esg/ESG%20in%20the%20news/1 Bangalore now becomes the first city/district of India that has a comprehensive plan for the protection of its wetlands, that is legally binding and time bound as well. Crafted by a unique response to a prayer in our PIL, the Committee set up to prepare the report involved top officials of all key agencies involved in Lake Management, the HIgh Court Legal Services Committee and the petitioners as well. The implementation of this plan will now be closely monitored by the High Court, and the next hearing for compliance is in three months. During this time agencies must completely survey all 450 lakes surviving in the built Bangalore region, demarcate their legal boundaries, identify sources of pollution and also identify encroachers. This is a significant step forward in a struggle that has been on for over three decades now, and with little or no progress. This presents positive portents for building water security in an ecologically wise and socially just manner in an intensely urbanised region. Leo Saldanha Release: 07 April 2011 : Bangalore *Karnataka High Court initiates strong action to protect Bangalore's Lakes* *Concrete steps initiated to implement Bangalore Lakes Report of High Court Legal Services Committee * The Principal Bench of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka constituted by Chief Justice Mr. J. S. Khehar and Justice Mr. A. S. Bopanna passed directions today to initiate the implementation the Report submitted by the High Court Legal Services Committee on 26 February 2011 for "Preservation of Lakes in the city of Bangalore". On 3^rd March 2011 the High Court had accepted the report that been prepared by a committee headed by Hon'ble Shri Justice N. K. Patil, Judge, High Court of Karnatataka and Chairman, Karnataka High Court Legal Services Committee and involving Heads of Dept. of Revenue, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Karnataka Forest Department, Bangalore Development Authority, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Minor Irrigation Department, Lake Development Authority and Dept of Town Planning. The entire exercise was undertaken on the basis of directions issued by the High Court in a Public Interest Litigation filed by Environment Support Group and Leo Saldanha (party in person) (WP No. 817/2008) that raised serious concerns over the woeful lack of effort to protect and manage of lakes in Bangalore, and against commercialisation of the lakes. The following is an _unauthenticated_ text of the speaking order issued by the High Court today, and as noted by the Petitioners in Court : " A report has been submitted in furtherance of the motion in order dated 26 November 2010 passed by this Court in WP 817/2008 and other connected matters. We wish to place on record our appreciation for the outstanding manner in which the issue pertaining to preservation of lakes has been addressed by this Committee. We also record our appreciation for all the member and Justice Mr. N. K. Patil. Having heard counsels of rival parties and having been taken through the Strategies and Action Plan of the report, we are of the view that following issues deserves to be taken up on a war footing: 1. Survey of lakes/tanks so as to demarcate boundaries followed by erection of fences. 2. Identification of unauthorised construction within the area of lakes/tanks and removal thereof in accordance with law. 3. Removal of silt as also weeds for the rejuvenation of some of the lakes and laying of bund wherever needed so as to enclosed lakes wherever necessary. 4. Stoppage of flowing of sewage into lakes and tanks. Since the members of the Committee constituted by this Court would be involved even in their official capacity to carry out the directions herein above, we are satisfied to request the Committee to undertake such tasks under their watchful control. The aforesaid tasks shall be completed as expeditiously as possible and reported to this Court seeking further direction as and when necessary. List again in 3 months". The Court expressed its intent of monitoring compliance with the Report and fixed the next date of hearing for 7^th July 2011. *No tolerance to Lake Pollution and Destruction:* In response to the submissions by various parties involved in all connected matters to the Lakes case, _Chief Justice Mr. Khehar, speaking for the Bench, made it absolutely clear that the Court would not tolerate any encroachment, pollution and destruction of lakes. _Expressing the Court's anguish over the deteriorating condition of lakes, he shared that the time is now to stop any further destruction and deterioration of our water bodies and for this all encroachments will be dealt with strictly. /He also opined that the process initiated to protect lakes of Bangalore could soon be made applicable across other districts./ This is a very significant development in the decades long battle for the protection and preservation of lakes in Bangalore and other urban areas, and also rural areas of Karnataka. Earlier efforts included the 1988 report by the Lakshman Rao Committee recommending various measures to protect and conserve lakes in Bangalore. The Government of Karnataka had accepted the report in totality, but did very little by way of effective action to implement the recommendations made then. Subsequently, the "Karnataka Legislature's Joint House Committee on Encroachments in Bangalore City/Urban District" headed by then Member of the Legislative Assembly Mr. A. T. Ramaswamy had reported in July 2007 that lakes in Bangalore were being severely polluted and encroached, almost always by highly influential people. Despite this brutally honest exposition of the state of affairs, the Government failed to launch effective measures to protect lakes in Bangalore. Weak support to regulatory agencies to take corrective action, political and administrative collusion with encroachers of commons and unchecked pollution over the years has resulted in tens of lakes being encroached, polluted and irreparably damaged. Such colossal failures in governance has critically worsened the quality of the environment, livelihoods of natural resource dependent people, destroyed excellent wetland habitats and caused a grave water scarcity that affects the city today. The situation is not very different in other districts of Karnataka. The current unprecedented initiative of the Karnataka High Court based on ESG's PIL has become a major causative factor to ensure effective steps are taken to protect lakes and other wetlands in the Bangalore area. By forcing Government to act effectively in response to its orders, the Court has begun a critical process of securing the social, economic and ecological security of present and future communities in the Bangalore region. *Complete Lakes Report accessible on ESG website:* A complete copy of the report submitted by the High Court Legal Services Committee, based on which current actions are being initiated, can be downloaded from _www.esgindia.org _. Leo F. Saldanha Coordinator Sunil Dutt Yadav Counsel Environment Support Group - Trust Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives 1572, 36th Cross, 100 Feet Ring Road Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore 560070. India *Tel:* 91-80-26713559-61 *Email:* _esg at esgindia.org _ *Web:* _www.esgindia.org _ *An appeal for your support:* ESG has been working on protecting lakes and other commons through a variety of legal, public and advocacy actions over the years. Almost all our PIL and campaign initiatives have been initiated with little or no financial support. Please donate generously in support of our efforts to help secure the commons for present and future generations. *Donating to ESG* /Environment Support Group has been in the forefront of a variety of environmental and social justice campaigns, keeping the interests of local project affected communities and voiceless ecosystems in primary focus. We respond progressively, effectively and responsibly in a spirit of engagement that acknowledges contextual complexities and facilitates innovative processes for securing environmental and social justice. / Environment Support Group is registered as a Trust per the Indian Trusts Act. Donations made to ESG by Indian nationals are exempt from tax under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. ESG is eligible to receive foreign donations per the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Environment Support Group values your contribution immensely. Please donate generously and help us respond more effectively and extensively to environmental and social justice concerns. Details on how to donate are in the enclosed file. -- Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives Environment Support Group Trust 1572, 36th Cross, Banashankari II Stage Bangalore 560070 Tel: 91-80-26713559-61 Voice/Fax: 91-80-26713316 Email: esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: esgindia.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 346 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cugambetta at yahoo.com Wed Apr 13 02:54:05 2011 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:24:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: World Heritage Day celebrations April 2011 Message-ID: <952723.6995.qm@web57406.mail.re1.yahoo.com> ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Varanashi To: 1shanthiroadstudio at googlegroups.com Sent: Mon, April 11, 2011 5:32:57 PM Subject: World Heritage Day celebrations April 2011 Friends, INTACH - NGMA event on Saturday the 16th INTACH - NBF WHD Walk at Gavipura on Sunday the 17th starting around 8:00 am INTACH – Meeva Heritage Hunt on the 18th Check out INTACH Bangalore on face book for details. Limited seats! Please email intach.blr at gmail.com for further details and to register. Warmly Sathya Prof. Sathya Prakash Varanashi Convenor, INTACH, Bangalore Chapter Ph.: 9845016781 mail: varanashi at gmail.com c/o Sathya Consultants – Eco-Architecture, Heritage Conservation. 166, Kathriguppe Water Tank Road, 4th Cross, Banashankari 3rd Stage, Bangalore - 560085 Ph.: 080-26794220, 26797854 (off) From:Intach Bangalore Chapter [mailto:intach.blr at gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 11:23 AM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: World Heritage Day celebrations NGMA, Bengaluru, in association with INTACH Bangalore, invites you to celebrate World Heritage Day with an event on Art and Architectural Restoration: A Dialogue in Renewal and Reuse. The event takes place at NGMA on 16th April 2011, at 6 pm. Please see the attachments for details. NGMA Bengaluru INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) National Gallery of Modern Art Bangalore Chapter Manikyavelu Mansion, 49 Palace Road, www.intachblr.org Bangalore 560052 080 22201027 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "1Shanthiroad studio/Gallery" group. To post to this group, send email to 1shanthiroadstudio at googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 1shanthiroadstudio+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/1shanthiroadstudio?hl=en. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: E-invite.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 485997 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: More about the event.docx Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Size: 13741 bytes Desc: not available URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Apr 17 11:56:41 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 11:56:41 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] letter on Hyderabad Metro in current EPW Message-ID: http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15961.pdf *Hyderabad Metro* We would like to demand that the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project be subjected to a rigorous scrutiny on environmental and economic aspects. The HMR has been one of the most controversial mega projects in public-private partnership (PPP) being pushed by the Government of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh. It has also been severely contested by civil society in Hyderabad. Earlier it was linked to the scandal of Satyam Computers. The then prime consultant, E Sreedharan of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had withdrawn from this project. Several doubts have been raised on the quality of the studies done for this project. The HMR authorities are refusing to share the detailed project reports even today, preposterously claiming that they are “intellectual property”. Genuine concerns havebeen expressed over the negative impact of this project on the city’s historic core areas and heritage sites, including Sultan Bazaar and the state assembly building. The route in the old city was changed after the concession agreement had been signed. Now the HMR wants to take the metro corridor right along the course of the Musi river which runs through the city. This river is in the National River Conservation Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Being an elevated corridor running through the busy streets of the core city, this project is going to deface and decimate the beauty of the city, and erase its very historical character. We demand (a) an immediate halt to the project, (b) a thorough review of the feasibility of this project in economic terms vis-à-vis the alternatives available to improve public transport, and (c) rigorous environmental scrutiny. We also demand that the metro rail projects in all cities be brought under the MoEF for mandatory environmental clearance. Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, P M Bhargava, E A S Sarma, Sekhar Singh, Rajendra Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, Sandeep Pandey, and others -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From arkaja at gmail.com Thu Apr 21 12:27:33 2011 From: arkaja at gmail.com (Arkaja Singh) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:27:33 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] CSH-CPR Urban Workshop Series No. 15 Message-ID: Dear All, Please see below announcement for the CSH-CPR Urban Workshop Series. Best wishes, Arkaja *theindiancity.net* * * * * *Urban Workshop Series * * * Urban transformations and ‘unclean’ occupations: An ethnography of Delhi’s Muslim butchers Zarin Ahmad *Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi* *3:45 pm** **Tuesday, 26 April, 2011** * Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi On October 28, 2009, the Supreme Court of India ordered the final closure of the 95- year old Idgah abattoir in Delhi. This was a critical event in the life and livelihood of the butchers and a range of people involved in the meat industry. Butchering is a marginal and stigmatized occupation undergoing major economic, spatial and technological changes. Focusing on the relocation of the abattoir, this presentation addresses two broad concerns. The first part documents the class and religious dimensions of a seemingly secular environment discourse. With the help of ethnographic data, the second part explains how urban transformations lead to further exclusion of the community resulting in new and more nuanced forms of urban marginality. Zarin Ahmad is a Research Fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines New Delhi. Her present research is on the varied forms of social marginality and exclusion in India, focusing on the Qureshi Muslim butchers in Delhi. She has also worked on the Dhadi-Mirasi musicians in Banaras, and the Iraqui biradri engaged in the leather industry in Kolkata. Her PhD and MPhil in South Asian Studies, JNU, Delhi focused on refugees and Muslim minorities of Sri Lanka in the context of the war. *This is the fifteenth in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), **New Delhi** and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society, and politics. For further information, please contact: **Marie-Hélène **Zerah at ** marie-helene.zerah at ird.fr or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha at cprindia.org *** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Apr 24 12:49:46 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:49:46 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Delhi with eyes wide shut - 2006 demolition lessons from a rival chief minister Message-ID: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110424/jsp/frontpage/story_13894866.jsp *Delhi with eyes wide shut - 2006 demolition lessons from a rival chief ministe*r if Munda is up to it in 2011 ARCHIS MOHAN A poster at the main gate of HEC headquarters in Ranchi is torn after settlers, fearing eviction, blocked roads and prevented employees from entering the factory premises on Saturday. Picture by Prashant Mitra *New Delhi, April 23: *“Chance-directed chance-erected” is how Rudyard Kipling once described Calcutta. Hundred years later the phrase seems apt to describe most 21st century Indian cities including the national capital which faced something similar to what Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad are now witnessing. Today, Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda finds himself roughly in the same position as that of his Delhi counterpart Sheila Dikshit three years back. Munda and his bureaucrats would already be poring over the developments that brought Delhi to a standstill in 2006-07. In late 2006, the Delhi High Court and later the Supreme Court instructed Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to seal unauthorised/illegal constructions and violations in land use of Delhi’s 2001 Master Plan. Over the years Delhi’s civic officials and politicians had turned a blind eye to rampant violations of building by-laws as the city grappled with influx of lakhs of migrants. As many as 1,600 unauthorised colonies where migrants would find cheap accommodation sprung up across Delhi since its first master plan in 1961. According to official estimates, nearly one-third or 50 lakh of Delhi lives in these colonies and constitutes crucial vote banks. However, it wasn’t just the migrants. Residents, including those in Delhi’s posh residential colonies like Greater Kailash, constructed homes and businesses flouting building by-laws. In most cases, civic officials “approved” these as legal despite the master plan stating otherwise. Delhi’s rich and the middle class changed land use by constructing basements, extra floors or running business establishments from residential colonies — all under the willing gaze of civic officials. That was when the judiciary intervened after resident welfare associations moved court to put a stop to illegal constructions and commercial activity in residential areas that ate into parking spaces and caused security issues. A judiciary versus executive clash unfolded as judges ordered sealing of all illegal constructions and business activities in residential areas. Delhi’s municipal corporation told the court that 80 per cent of residential and commercial constructions in the national capital were illegal — a pretext to cite the herculean job it was faced with and somehow weaken the court’s resolve on sealing. Unmoved, the courts ordered police and civic agencies to seal establishments. The drive affected lakhs of businesses across the city. Several schools, shops, and even boutiques being run from Delhi’s urban villages were sealed. Protests against the drive grew violent. Anger, particularly in areas where thousands earned their living from their small shops boiled over. Irate mobs burnt official vehicles and pelted stones at police and civic officials. Some people got killed in police firing. The sealing drive also benefited some. It was godsend for owners of shopping malls and other legal commercial spaces which hiked rents six times. Dikshit-led Delhi government was in a fix. It was facing flak for a situation that it had little means to redress as land in Delhi is a subject that continues to be with agencies like MCD and Delhi Development Authority. Both come under the Centre’s jurisdiction. It was a fineprint that Delhi’s common man did not understand. Fortunately for Dikshit a Congress led government was at the Centre. The Prime Minister constituted a group of ministers to look into the issue. It helped that S. Jaipal Reddy and local politician Ajay Maken headed the urban development ministry and were receptive of Dikshit’s fate as Delhi Assembly elections were not all that far away then. The solution although unfair to Delhi’s law abiding citizens was obvious. A law that so many had violated needed to be changed to reflect the changed reality — turn illegal into legal. The Centre brought forth notifications and ordinances to amend the existing master plan to provide relief by allowing basements, extra floor, mixed land use in several residential colonies, etc. The Centre also took steps to regularise unauthorised colonies while the Delhi government promised developmental work in return of house owners in these colonies paying a pittance as penalty. The courts fumed at the executive issuing notifications to bypass the judicial process and not honouring judiciary’s sanctity. But allegations of conflict of interest against the then chief justice Y.K. Sabharwal, who was hearing the sealing case surfaced. Media reports alleged that companies owned by Sabharwal’s sons, which they operated out of their father’s residence, benefited from the sealing drive. The Centre notified a new Delhi Master Plan 2021 by mid-2007. And it encompassed many of the changes that brought much of what was illegal in the earlier master plan into the legal ambit. Resident welfare associations said the new master plan which provided significant relaxations for both commercial and residential activity would turn Delhi into an urban slum. “Those who have been in line with the law felt cheated. It sent a signal to the people that it is disadvantageous to be honest and tax compliant. The city is setting a bad example for other cities,” said RWA leader Pankaj Agarwal. The Congress did have to pay politically in the short term when it lost hold over the corporation in the 2007 civic elections. However, it won the 2008 December Assembly elections — Dikshit’s third consecutive victory. Munda would hope to re-peat Dikshit’s performance. By the looks of it he is already at it. City planner K.T. Ravindran, an adviser to the Dikshit government, says Jharkhand needs a new law. “There is a need for a new act to normalise the situation,” he said. But Ravindran has a word of advice for Munda. “It is not true that only the poor encroach. Encroachments by the powerful and rich who can more effectively manipulate the system are as common,” he said. Ravindran said the law should be applied humanely. “It is quite legitimate to demolish any commercial activity from a public area. But there should be a distinction in case of a slum or when dealing with people at the lowest end who should be treated more humanely,” he said. It is an advice that Delhi’s civic officials and politicians have not heeded. Demolition and sealing of illegal constructions, encroachments, commercial activity in residential areas and razing of unauthorised slums that violate the new master plan have continued. Last month, 600 jhuggis in west Delhi’s Gayatri Nagar were demolished. Slum dwellers claimed they had ration cards, electricity and water supply connections. Officials said the slum had encroached upon public land. The matter is in the courts. But Dikshit can breathe easy. Delhi will next go to polls in end 2013. But, can Munda? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gururajabudhya at gmail.com Mon Apr 25 11:22:55 2011 From: gururajabudhya at gmail.com (Gururaja Budhya) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:22:55 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Invitation for the consultation on 'Making Community Participation Act truly participative', 26.4.2011, 10am-12pm, Ashirwad, Bangalore Message-ID: WELCOME to a consultation on: *Making Community Participation Act (**The KMC Amendment Act 2011) **truly participative* *(26th April 2011, 10am-12pm, Ashirwad, Bangalore) * * * Section 13A of Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act is amended as CHAPTER-IIIA on Area Sabhas and Ward Committees to facilitate people’s participation at grassroots level. This Act was passed in the Assembly on 13 th January 2011 and got the assent of the Governor. The essence of the Community Participation Law is to institutionalise citizen participation in urban governance, to provide a formal platform for the citizens to participate, plan, prioritise and decide for themselves on what they need from the urban local body, which operates on their money – in other words, to decide how their money should be spent by their local government, keep a watch on the development works and prevent corruption. In the ‘area’ or the ward or the city, people shall have their say in the planning directly. The intended law has noble intentions. But the law in its current form is woefully short on all of them. 1. Currently the law applies only to Corporations, depriving people of other 224 towns and cities of Karnataka their right to participate in governance of their cities/towns. 1. In its present form it is fraught with undemocratic and people-unfriendly provisions. 1. In the entire Act the word ‘community participation’ appears only twice, in the introduction and in the customary definition. That’s it. Then the ‘community participation’ is forgotten throughout, conveniently, though the entire Act is meant to institutionalise the same. The definition is totally inadequate. 2. In the Act, an ‘Area’ comprises the area of a few contiguous polling booths. The Area Sabha Representative (ASR) is to be ‘nominated’ by the Corporation on the recommendation of the Councillor, instead of being elected by the Area Sabha (the body of electors of the polling booth areas), as suggested by the Model Nagararaj Bill circulated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. Any nomination process is undemocratic. It will only reproduce the voice of the existing political forces and not let the different voices of civil society be heard. Being nominated, the ASR will not be accountable to the people of the area but only to his political bosses. 3. The Area Sabha has been given the functions of merely ‘suggesting' plans and remedies for deficiencies in a few basic services, such as water supply, sanitation and street lighting, and ‘assist the activities' of public health centres ‘promote' harmony, ‘cooperate' with the ward committee, etc. 4. There is no link between the Area Sabha, the ASR and the ward committee. The ward committee members are again nominated, independent of the Area Sabha Representatives. The model Community Participation Bill circulated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development says that the ASR should be a member of the ward committee and represent his area. As per this Act, the Area Sabha and the ASR will merely be decorative and powerless and have no role in the ward committee which is the main decision-making body. 5. More than anything else, the Councillor is to be given veto powers over any decision taken by the ward committee making the concept of people’s participation meaningless. This strengthens and perpetuates the prevalent wrong perception that elected representatives are our ‘rulers’ and not ‘representatives’. 6. The functions assigned to the Area Sabhas and the Ward Sabhas are minimal and they are not in consonance with the true spirit of the 74thConstitutional Amendment Act (Nagarapalika Act). 7. The powers given to the members of the Area Sabha, who are the true sovereigns, are minimal and they have only been given powers to ‘suggest’, ‘recommend’ and ‘assist’ and have no independent decision-making powers for their areas. These powers are less than those given to Grama Sabhas in rural areas. 8. Area Sabhas are not given powers to get all information pertaining to their areas, take decisions regarding the use of the ward’s properties and resources, plan, prioritise and budget for their wards, hold officials accountable, monitor all works, get their grievances redressed at area level and conduct social audits of works. Without these powers, the concept of citizen participation will be meaningless. We made necessary suggestions to the Act through wide consultations to correct all the above deficiencies and presented these to the government. But, these positive changes are opposed on the ground that ours is a ‘representative' and not a ‘participatory' or ‘direct' democracy. Then the question arises – why this Act at all? *Therefore how do we, the people/citizens’ groups, get together and take concrete steps to press for desired changes in the Act at this juncture. * To answer this question, we have planned a series of consultations across the State with all stakeholders, beginning with a brainstorming session in Begaluru to chart out our next steps collectively. We look forward to your participation and contribution in this direction. Date: 26th April 2011 Time: 10 AM-12 PM Venue: Ashirwad, St. Mark’s Road, Bangalore Yours sincerely, CIVIC Bangalore Urban Research Centre -- Rajarajeshwari -- Gururaja Budhya -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cugambetta at yahoo.com Mon Apr 25 21:12:25 2011 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:42:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Call for applications - NIAS Urban Programme Message-ID: <91342.24349.qm@web57401.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Please see the announcement sent by Carol Upadhya from NIAS below. -Curt ++++++++ Dear friends, Please see the call for applications below. We are looking for a young researcher for the NIAS Urban Programme. Would appreciate it if you would circulate this call widely and also post on your department/ institute boards. Thanks and best wishes, Carol ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++= National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore Urban Research and Policy Programme Faculty/ Postdoctoral Position The National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), a multidisciplinary research institute located in Bangalore, is looking for an Assistant Professor or Postdoctoral Fellow for the Urban Research and Policy Programme. Eligibility: Candidates should have completed the PhD degree in any relevant discipline with a focus of research on urban issues, urban studies or planning in India. Candidates for Assistant Professor position should have at least two years of research/work experience at the postdoctoral level. The successful candidate will have the ability to design and carry out independent research projects, a sound conceptual grounding in his/her discipline, excellent analytical and writing skills, and organisationaland leadership abilities. Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to teamwork, to carrying out empirical and grounded urban research, and to producing excellent research and policy reports as well as original publications. Salary and designation will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and comparable to other premier institutions in the country. About the URPP: The NIAS Urban Research and Policy Programme was established to foster innovative thinking on cities and the urban crisis and go beyond the routine responses and technical solutions offered by conventional urban planning and policies. Its objectives are: * To develop a conceptual and theoretical framework for the understanding of urban settlements and society, rooted in the realities of India’s cities and villages, that would form the intellectual and ethical basis of all further work; * To carry out focused, grounded and multi-disciplinary research on, and value-based intellectual analysis of, issues of national importance related to urbanisation, especially policy-oriented research; * To provide a platform for an exchange of ideas among representatives of governments and their agencies, political parties, civil society organisations, the media, and various thinkers, activists, and citizens; and * To engage in advocacy and outreach to all target groups in government and civil society; More information about NIAS and the Urban Research and Policy Programme and the application process is available on the NIAS website (www.nias.res.in). Applications: Applicants should submit their curriculum vitae electronically including the names and addresses of three referees, two samples of published work (or unpublished, in the case of Postdoctoral candidates), and a statement of interest explaining why they are interested in joining the NIAS URPP to: Head, Administration National Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore – 560 012 E-mail: admin at nias.iisc.ernet.in The deadline for applications is16 May 2011. Short-listed candidates will be invited to NIAS for a talk and an interview. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Position NIAS URPP.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 55506 bytes Desc: not available URL: From harishpoovaiah at gmail.com Mon Apr 25 11:51:05 2011 From: harishpoovaiah at gmail.com (Harish Poovaiah) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:51:05 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] REMINDER: INVITATION for the consultation on 'Making Community Participation Act truly participative', 26.4.2011, 10 AM - 12 PM, Ashirwad, Bangalore In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: WELCOME to a consultation on: *Making Community Participation Act (**The KMC Amendment Act 2011) **truly participative* *(26th April 2011, 10am-12pm, Ashirwad, Bangalore) * * * Section 13A of Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act is amended as CHAPTER-IIIA on Area Sabhas and Ward Committees to facilitate people’s participation at grassroots level. This Act was passed in the Assembly on 13 th January 2011 and got the assent of the Governor. The essence of the Community Participation Law is to institutionalise citizen participation in urban governance, to provide a formal platform for the citizens to participate, plan, prioritise and decide for themselves on what they need from the urban local body, which operates on their money – in other words, to decide how their money should be spent by their local government, keep a watch on the development works and prevent corruption. In the ‘area’ or the ward or the city, people shall have their say in the planning directly. The intended law has noble intentions. But the law in its current form is woefully short on all of them. 1. Currently the law applies only to Corporations, depriving people of other 224 towns and cities of Karnataka their right to participate in governance of their cities/towns. 1. In its present form it is fraught with undemocratic and people-unfriendly provisions. 1. In the entire Act the word ‘community participation’ appears only twice, in the introduction and in the customary definition. That’s it. Then the ‘community participation’ is forgotten throughout, conveniently, though the entire Act is meant to institutionalise the same. The definition is totally inadequate. 2. In the Act, an ‘Area’ comprises the area of a few contiguous polling booths. The Area Sabha Representative (ASR) is to be ‘nominated’ by the Corporation on the recommendation of the Councillor, instead of being elected by the Area Sabha (the body of electors of the polling booth areas), as suggested by the Model Nagararaj Bill circulated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. Any nomination process is undemocratic. It will only reproduce the voice of the existing political forces and not let the different voices of civil society be heard. Being nominated, the ASR will not be accountable to the people of the area but only to his political bosses. 3. The Area Sabha has been given the functions of merely ‘suggesting' plans and remedies for deficiencies in a few basic services, such as water supply, sanitation and street lighting, and ‘assist the activities' of public health centres ‘promote' harmony, ‘cooperate' with the ward committee, etc. 4. There is no link between the Area Sabha, the ASR and the ward committee. The ward committee members are again nominated, independent of the Area Sabha Representatives. The model Community Participation Bill circulated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development says that the ASR should be a member of the ward committee and represent his area. As per this Act, the Area Sabha and the ASR will merely be decorative and powerless and have no role in the ward committee which is the main decision-making body. 5. More than anything else, the Councillor is to be given veto powers over any decision taken by the ward committee making the concept of people’s participation meaningless. This strengthens and perpetuates the prevalent wrong perception that elected representatives are our ‘rulers’ and not ‘representatives’. 6. The functions assigned to the Area Sabhas and the Ward Sabhas are minimal and they are not in consonance with the true spirit of the 74thConstitutional Amendment Act (Nagarapalika Act). 7. The powers given to the members of the Area Sabha, who are the true sovereigns, are minimal and they have only been given powers to ‘suggest’, ‘recommend’ and ‘assist’ and have no independent decision-making powers for their areas. These powers are less than those given to Grama Sabhas in rural areas. 8. Area Sabhas are not given powers to get all information pertaining to their areas, take decisions regarding the use of the ward’s properties and resources, plan, prioritise and budget for their wards, hold officials accountable, monitor all works, get their grievances redressed at area level and conduct social audits of works. Without these powers, the concept of citizen participation will be meaningless. We made necessary suggestions to the Act through wide consultations to correct all the above deficiencies and presented these to the government. But, these positive changes are opposed on the ground that ours is a ‘representative' and not a ‘participatory' or ‘direct' democracy. Then the question arises – why this Act at all? *Therefore how do we, the people/citizens’ groups, get together and take concrete steps to press for desired changes in the Act at this juncture. * To answer this question, we have planned a series of consultations across the State with all stakeholders, beginning with a brainstorming session in Begaluru to chart out our next steps collectively. We look forward to your participation and contribution in this direction. Date: 26th April 2011 Time: 10 AM-12 PM Venue: Ashirwad, St. Mark’s Road, Bangalore Yours sincerely, CIVIC Bangalore Urban Research Centre -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gautam.bhan at gmail.com Thu Apr 28 14:43:31 2011 From: gautam.bhan at gmail.com (Gautam Bhan) Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:43:31 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] IIHS re-announces a Short-Course from 14th - 18th June 2011 on Re-Imagining the 'World-Class' City in Bangalore In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear All, fyi; apologies for cross-posting. If you could please forward to your networks, that would be much appreciated. best, Gautam The IIHS is pleased to announce a short-course on *Re-Imagining the 'World-Class' City* to be held in Bangalore from the 14th to 18th June, 2011. This is largely in response to the requests received and enthusiasm shown during the earlier short course on the same subject held in January 2011. We would be grateful if you could nominate/circulate this to appropriate candidates who may be interested in this short course. This 5-day initiative will bring together theoretical debates and existing practices, enabling an interdisciplinary exploration of the systems, processes and values that drive the development of cities. The short course will be conducted by an inter-disciplinary Indian and international faculty of academics and practitioners for the selected 50 candidates. Applicants should either have completed or be currently pursuing Masters programmes. The short course is also open to young professionals from relevant fields with no more than five years of work experience. Please note that the deadline for receiving applications is 15th May, 2011. For details please go to http://institute.iihs.co.in [image: Re-Imagining the World-Class City.JPG] The IIHS is pleased to announce a short-course on *Re-Imagining the 'World-Class' City* to be held in Bangalore from the 14th to 18th June, 2011. This is largely in response to the requests received and enthusiasm shown during the earlier short course on the same subject held in January 2011. -- ___________ I write at: www.kafila.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Re-Imagining the World-Class City.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 146715 bytes Desc: not available URL: From anithasuseelan at gmail.com Thu Apr 28 22:57:58 2011 From: anithasuseelan at gmail.com (Anitha Suseelan) Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:57:58 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Call for Application_M Arch (Urban Design) RV School of Architecture In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Friends, The RV School of Architecture (Bangalore), an internationally recognized centre for architectural education, is pleased to introduce the Postgraduate Programme in Architecture (M Arch) with specialization in Urban Design. The School announces the admission process for its 6th Batch. The course is approved is by the Council of Architecture, New Delhi, INDIA and affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, INDIA Please find the enclosed Brochure and Registration Form. Feel free to circulate it widely. Interested candidates may send in a request for application package along with the duly filled registration form. For details please contact Prof. Anitha Suseelan, PG Coordinator (Architecture), School of Architecture, R V College of Engineering, Bangalore, INDIA 560 059 anithasuseelan at gmail.com *Phone*: +91 9449869520 (Anitha Suseelan) +91-80-67178058 (School), +91 9341225316 (Dr. K S Anantha Krishna) *E mail*: ka12rvsa at gmail.com, anithasuseelan at gmail.com *Web* *site*: www.rvce.edu.in with regards Prof. Anitha Suseelan Architect, Urban Designer, Faculty, School of Architecture, RV College of Engineering, Bangalore, INDIA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RVSA_M Arch UD_Brochure.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 6482210 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RVSA_M Arch UD_Registration Form.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 72595 bytes Desc: not available URL: