From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jul 4 19:55:40 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 19:55:40 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Atro-City George Monbiot Message-ID: http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277463 *Atro-City * As Sydney residents are being paid to leave the city, the case for compact, high-density settlement becomes clearer than ever. George Monbiot For at least a century, governments have tried to urbanise their nations. Communist states sought to drag people out of what Marx and Engels called their “rural idiocy”. Capitalist governments – Mahatir Mohammed’s administration in Malaysia is a good example – tried to persuade and bully indigenous people into leaving the land (which then became available for exploitation) and move to the cities to join the consumer economy. Urbanisation was equated with progress and modernity. While in a few nations like Britain there’s a significant middle-class flight to the countryside, in most places, as agro-industry replaces subsistence farming, as local marketing networks collapse and ecosystems fail, the countryside is emptying out and the cities are bulging. In 2007 the balance of the world’s population tipped from rural to urban. It’s not all push. An ethnographer I know who worked among peasant communities in the Amazon found that many of the people he met were obsessed by the idea of moving to the cities. In view of the hellish nature of many Brazilian favelas – especially in the booming Amazonian towns – he wanted to know why. “You have a wonderful life here: the rivers are teeming with fish, your gardens are crammed with food, you work an hour or two a day to meet your needs. You can’t read or write: if you move to the city, you’ll have to beg or steal or sell your body to survive,” he pointed out. “What you say is probably true,” they answered, “but in the city you can dream.” The result of these factors, in combination with population growth, is that in many cities the strain on both infrastructure (housing, water, sewerage, transport, electricity supply) and the quality of life (community, security, open spaces, air quality) is becoming unbearable. The New South Wales government in Australia – which has announced a $7000 incentive for residents to move out of Sydney– is not the first to pay residents to leave a city. At the beginning of the 20th Century, for example, the Japanese government, perceiving the nation to be overcrowded, paid people in both Tokyo and the countryside to emigrate to Brazil. In the 1980s Suharto’s government in Indonesia, with the help of the World Bank, both forced and subsidised a massive emigration from Jakarta to the outer islands. But it could be a sign of mass movements to come. The environmental consequences depend on where you are. In the rich nations, urban living tends to have smaller impacts than rural living. Public transport requires a certain population density to be economically viable: otherwise people are forced to use their cars. The more widely distributed people are, the greater the resources required to provide their services. Most of the houses which, being off the gas grid, still use coal or heating oil in the UK are in the countryside. But in poorer countries, where most rural people consume and travel very little, the relationship is often reversed. Only when they move to towns and cities do the poor come to rely on fossil fuels and join the consumer economy, albeit often at a very low level. In countries such as Australia, the US, Canada, Spain and Italy, weak planning has ensured that the distinction between town and countryside is blurred. Here you can find the worst of both worlds: a wildly unsustainable, disaggregated urban nightmare, in which infrastructure is stretched across sprawling suburbs, people have no choice but to drive, and anonymous dormitory estates seem perfectly designed to generate alienation and anomie. Sydney is not as bad in this respect as Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, whose sprawl and low urban densities beggar belief, but the problems it now faces are the result of catastrophic planning failures. Without policies to keep cities compact and urban densities high, they will begin to fail all over the world: logistically, socially and economically. Remember that, whenever anyone argues that we should weaken the planning laws to stimulate the economy. www.monbiot.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From media4ngos at gmail.com Thu Jul 7 20:55:01 2011 From: media4ngos at gmail.com (media ngos) Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 20:55:01 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] TETRA PAK RECYCLING FACTORY BURNS DOWN TO EXPOSE THE SWEDISH GIANT Message-ID: *Fire at Recycling Plant brings out startling facts of Mafia like activities of Swedish packaging giant and Indian NGOs into light:* On June 27th 2011, a fire broke out in Daman Ganga Paper mills limited which caused burning of over 8000 tons of imported Tetra Pak waste stored there for recycling. Daman Ganga paper mills located in Vapi, Gujarat, is the only paper mill in India where 100% recycling of used Tetra Pak cartons is done. The company started Tetra Pak cartons’ recycling project in year 2004 on trial basis. Since year 2008 it has been recycling these cartons full fledged. The paper mill which caught fire was a sick unit on the verge of being shut down before Tetra Pak identified it to recycle its used juice and milk cartons. “Tetra Pak made 100% investment in Daman Ganga paper mill and helped Mr. Tushar Shah (Proprietor, Daman Ganga Paper mills limited) to set up an exclusive used Tetra Pak cartons recycling facility”, says Mr. Zeeshan Khan, manager environment at Tetra Pak, “the reason I feel for such investment was that no paper mill in India agrees to recycle Tetra Pak cartons because of technical difficulties during pulping them”. “Daman Ganga attracted attention of Tetra Pak because of its close location to Mumbai port, which is helpful for us to get foreign waste at lower freights, secondly, it was always easy for us to set out terms of work because Daman Ganga needed investment as it was bankrupt”. “Above all, Tetra Pak had been looking for an existing infrastructure in India, which could be utilized with more of motivation and less of investment. Tetra Pak needed a recycler who could take care of its waste being generated globally.” Once the infrastructure was set, Daman Ganga paper mill came with a gigantic recycling capacity of 100 tons of cartons per day (Down to Earth Magazine July 01-15, 2010 issue, page 48). In beginning of year 2011 Mr. Shah announced a 10 times increase in recycling capacity of the paper mill. This means today Daman Ganga paper mill can recycle 30000 tons of Tetra Pak cartons in a month. Having said that, where does such a large quantity of Tetra Pak cartons come from? As informed by Mr. Khan about Tetra Pak cartons collection, Delhi sends 20 tons of cartons per month, Bangalore sends around 25 tons, Mumbai 15 tons , Pune 15 tons. The paper mill gets some waste from our customers Dabur, Nestle, Parle Agro, PepsiCo India and Coca-Ccola India. Rest of the waste is imported from countries where Tetra Pak cartons can not be recycled or landfilled due to strict environmental legislations. Tetra Pak cartons are purchased @ Rs 4 per kilo from foreign countries, as Daman Ganga has to bear only freight cost to get them dumped in India. In India a paper mill has to cough up a sum of Rs 12 per kilo of these cartons. Tetra Pak company has to reimburse money to paper mill at the rate of Rs 5 to Rs 6 per kilo for Indian waste. In case of imported material Tetra Pak does not have to reimburse anything to paper mill. This is one of the basic reasons behind import of Tetra Pak cartons. It is sad that Daman Ganga and Tetra Pak can not find enough cartons to recycle from world’s second most populous country. On this Mr Khan says, “Our collecting partners are wrongly identified NGOs, and none of them is serious about recycling or environment”. “NGOs have not only failed but have jeopardized collection system of Tetra Pak cartons since day one”. “We have been misled on fields, in school programs, in collection of cartons and now the whole system has become a vicious cycle” he shares. Paper mills have to follow strict rules laid down by government to avoid accidents and so they have high standard fire safety and fire fighting arrangements. Nothing of this sort exists in Daman Ganga paper mill. The infrastructure of paper mill is low cost, wherein most machinery used is either second hand, or made of low cost below standard materials. Some conveyors which require heat insulation are made up of Poly-Al sheets (obtained by recycling Tetra Pak cartons), which are neither certified nor approved by any agency, private or government, for purpose of insulation. As part of internal development program for its employees, Tetra Pak organizes regular exposure visits of its employees to Daman Ganga paper mill either with media or with other delegates to show them recycling of multilayered cartons. The whole system was being carried out under close watch of Tetra Pak, putting tremendous pressure on paper mill to increase its operational capacity and increase recycling. With no further investments from Tetra Pak, Daman Ganga failed to install standard equipments in time, as it was left with very little money after purchase of raw materials. In a detailed discussion Mr. Khan informed that Daman Ganga paper mill had imported 5000 tons of used Tetra Pak cartons in June; out of these 1500 tons was insured stock. The whole lot was burnt to ashes. The cause of fire is still unknown and losses have still to be calculated. But some people still believe that the stock was deliberately burnt, as Daman Ganga wanted to extract Aluminum from cartons and sell it, instead of recycling these cartons which, otherwise would have taken much longer time to yield any income. This was the reason behind insuring only 1500 tons of cartons. Mr. Khan shared an email sent by Daman Ganga paper mills to all its clients, after this fire broke out: *Dear All,* *We have recently had a terrible fire at our recycling plant and the operations have temporarily stopped. The Waste Paper can not be unloaded at our plant.* * * *So please do not send any material till our further notice and also during this tenure payment shall not be released.* *We will highly appreciate your support during this time.* * * *Thanks & Regards* * * *Vanita Bhadra* *Daman Ganga Recycled Resources LLP* *1525,GIDC,Ambheti,* *via Vapi - Koparli Road,* *Gujarat** - 396 191* *Tel:+91 260 2390001,2,3* *Mbl:+91 98256 10005* * +91 98256 10008* WITH REGARDS TO ALL MEMBERS JAGJIVAN SINGH -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Jul 17 20:43:52 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:43:52 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fresh thrust to urbanization Message-ID: http://www.livemint.com/2011/07/16000221/Fresh-thrust-to-urbanization.html?h=E * * *Fresh thrust to urbanization * *Trend may redefine the political economy of the country, forcing a shift in public policy focus towards urban India* Asit Ranjan Mishra & Liz Mathew New Delhi: India’s Census 2011 shows that one in every three Indians now lives in an urban habitat and that the move towards towns and cities has happened mostly in south India, contiguously from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu. According to the latest census, 31.2% of the total population lives in urban centres compared with 27.8% in 2001 and 25.5% in 1991. Of the 1.21 billion population, 833 million live in rural India while the remaining 377 million reside in urban India. *Also See | *Southern Comfort (PDF ) The number of towns in the country rose 53.74% to 7,935 in the last decade. The census defines all places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee as a town. The trend, if sustained, say some experts, will redefine the political economy of the country, forcing a shift in public policy focus towards urban India. Further, the fact that urbanization has gained momentum in the South also opens up new opportunities for the consumer economy. The biggest trend towards urbanization is in southern India, where all states except Andhra Pradesh have more than 35% of the population in urban centres. While by the earlier census in 2001 more than 35% were already living in urban areas in Tamil Nadu, the latest census has added Karnataka and Kerala to the list, while more than 30% of the population lives in urban areas in Andhra Pradesh. The southern states also saw the fastest economic growth in the last decade, drawing in associated migration from other states. In 2007-08, the economies of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh grew at 10.42%, 12.92% and 10.62%, respectively. Among other states, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Manipur have seen faster urbanization than the rest of the country. Gujarat and Maharashtra already had more than 35% living in urban centres by 2001. In terms of urban population, the top three states are Maharashtra with 50.8 million, Uttar Pradesh with 44.4 million and Tamil Nadu with 34.9 million. Saloni Nangia, senior vice-president (retail) at Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, said the North and West account for approximately 70% of organized retail. “Both of these are about the same size. The South accounts for about 22% and is a large market attracting a lot of big-box retailers and new investments. The East is the smallest market.” Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai are young, exciting markets comparable with any city in the West or the North, she said. The new data shows the sex ratio—the number of females per 1,000 males—improved faster in urban India to 926, from 900 in the earlier census. In rural India, it increased marginally to 947 from 946. The child sex ratio—the number of girls in the 0-6 age group per 1,000 boys in that age group—declined faster in rural India than urban India. While the child sex ratio has been declining since the 1971 census, during the latest census the ratio declined to 902 from 906 in the earlier census in urban India, while the decline was sharper at 919 from 934 in the earlier census for rural India. The literacy rate—the number of literate persons among every 100—grew faster in urban areas at 84.98% versus 68.91% in rural India. The total literacy rate in the latest Census stood at 74.04%, against 64.83% in 2001. The faster rate of urbanization in the decade ending 2011 may unleash new challenges for planners as well as policymakers. N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of Centre for Media Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank, said the focus of public policy will shift. “The growth in the urban population is mostly because of the increase in slumdwellers. Governments will have to spend more in the urban areas than they do now. The policy has to be reoriented,” he said. The delimitation exercise that redrew the boundaries of both the assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in 2008 also recognized the demographic shift. Based on the 2001 census, the exercise resulted in a rise in constituencies in the cities, adding a greater urban flavour to Indian politics. The number of urban Lok Sabha seats increased from around 70 to at least 100. However, B.D. Ghosh, a senior fellow at Kolkata’s Institute of Social Sciences, said it is unlikely that there could be a shift in policies at least in the northern states. “Although the urban population is growing, in politics the rural side weighs heavier. So it is difficult to expect a change in the current rhetoric on farmers, agriculture and rural sectors in the near future. The rural orientation will continue,” he said. “However, things may change from state to state. New initiatives will be focusing on urban population in the southern states, especially in Tamil Nadu,” Ghosh added. The census data showed for the first time since Independence that the absolute increase in population in India in Census 2011 compared with Census 2001 is more in urban areas (91 million) than in rural areas (90.4 million). Uttar Pradesh has the largest rural population of 155.11 million; Maharashtra has the highest urban population of 50.8 million. Kavas Kapadia, head of the department of urban planning, School of Planning and Architecture, said people move from villages to urban areas because of the infrastructure. “Even though there is a legal provision in urban master plans for street vendors, migratory population and the like, it is rarely implemented, and that strains urban infrastructure. People get used to a lower quality of life due to an inadequacy of resources,” he added. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From subasrik at gmail.com Mon Jul 18 15:42:12 2011 From: subasrik at gmail.com (Subasri Krishnan) Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:42:12 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Talk by Smita Srinivas at Alternative Law Forum (ALF) on 22nd July Message-ID: Please forward widely ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear All You are invited to a public talk by Smita Srinivas on Friday, July 22nd titled “Models of Innovation: Knowledge problems and problematic context” where she will discuss sector-specific urban technological innovations with their historical, political and regulatory context. The materials she is using will draw from India and several other ‘developing’ countries, and the talk will focus on how knowledge and innovation have been historically classified, their influences on economic models, the challenges of regulation, and ways we study knowing, doing, and borrowing.” Where: Alternative Law Forum, 122/4 Infantry Road (opposite Infantry Wedding Hall) When: 6 pm to 7:30 pm on Friday, 22 July About the speaker: Smita Srinivas is Director of the Technological Change Lab (TCLab) at Columbia University in New York and Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning program. She is on the Executive Committee of the South Asia Institute (SAI) at Columbia. Her research and policy areas are economic development and industrial plans, with a more specific interest in technological innovation, the cognitive and institutional context for knowledge, and employment and welfare in ‘late’ industrializing economies. Dr. Srinivas is currently working on a study of models of innovation and knowledge in economic development. She is trained in economics and economic development planning, and has over 15 years of senior advisory or consulting positions with diverse organizations. She has advised or consulted with the UN and other international agencies, and with grass-roots and research organizations. The work of TCLab with several Visiting Scholars and students looks at comparative international contexts for innovation and industrial change and focuses on technology in sectors such as health, water, waste, construction, and crafts in diverse settings from India and Brazil to Finland. This work requires engagements with technology firms, unions, NGOs, and other organizations. Dr. Srinivas is the author of Market Menagerie: Health and Development in Late Industrial States (Stanford University Press, forthcoming) on the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, and co-author of Learning from Experience: a gendered approach to social protection for the informal economy (Geneva: ILO). Entrance is Free: All are welcome -- Alternative Law Forum 122/4 Infantry Road Opposite Infantry Wedding House Bangalore 560001 Phone 22868757/22865757 -- Subasri Krishnan III Floor, 64 Bhagwan Nagar New Delhi - 110014 email: subasrik at gmail.com ph: +91-99103-95629 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From arkaja at gmail.com Tue Jul 19 13:18:18 2011 From: arkaja at gmail.com (Arkaja Singh) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:18:18 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] CSH-CPR Urban Workshop Series Message-ID: Dear All, As part of our Urban Workshop Series, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi are delighted to invite you to a workshop titled *Urbanisation Beyond Municipalities *by Somik Lall. Best wishes, Arkaja Date: Tuesday, 26 July, 2011 Time: 3:45 pm Venue: Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021 *theindiancity.net* * * * * *Urban Workshop Series * * * *Urbanization beyond municipalities* * * *Somik Lall ** **(joint with Tara Vishwanath, Nancy Lozano, Siddharth Sharma and Hyoung Wang)* *3:45 pm** **Tuesday, 26 July, 2011** * Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi This presentation will report on spatial and economic patterns related to India’s urbanization and highlight challenges for managing key economic efficiency and spatial equity tradeoffs. Economic liberalization in the 1990s has encouraged clustering of businesses in the seven largest metropolitan areas – with considerable spillovers beyond municipal cores of the largest cities into their immediate hinterland – including smaller cities and even rural areas. However, with over 75 percent of the country’s urban population and 95 percent rural population living beyond these metropolitan areas, it becomes important to identify options for enhancing living conditions in places that have not yet been picked by market forces while not undermining efficiency of India’s metropolitan engines. Somik V. Lall is a Senior Economist with the Spatial and Local Development Team of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network, and core team member of the *World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography*. He is Senior Economic Counselor to the National Transport Policy Development Committee and is currently on external service from the World Bank. Until February 2007, Somik worked for the World Bank’s research department where his research focused empirical analysis of agglomeration economies and transport infrastructure on location decisions and productivity of businesses and identifying mechanisms for providing and financing local public goods in fiscally stressed urban areas. His research has spanned a range of developing countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Somik holds a B.S. in Engineering, Masters in City and Regional Planning, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy. *This is part of 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 kiccovich at yahoo.com Wed Jul 20 11:00:27 2011 From: kiccovich at yahoo.com (francesca recchia) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:30:27 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] pause: in times of conflict In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1311139827.49153.YahooMailRC@web113216.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> > >PAUSE - IN TIMES OF CONFLICT. >Reading about the Gaza Strip from here is estranging. What is it like there? On >some days, Palestine could be just as far as Assam, and on other days, Palestine >is too far to think about. How much do we know for sure? How much do we only >have an idea of? We encounter war and conflict every day, and it seems to have >merged with the background of our existence. Conflicts seem to begin and end >everyday through brief encounters - glances in the newspaper with your morning >coffee or glimpses of it between switching TV channels or through the 140 >characters of a tweet... We are at a time when we are collectively forgetting, >when histories are resurfacing, when people and places disappear, when power >celebrates victory. >Bertolt Brecht raised a pertinent question inMottowhen he wrote, “In the dark >times, will there also be singing?.”But our reasons for organising pause – in >times of conflicthave to do not so much with his question but his answer. "Yes, >there will be singing. About the dark times." We see creative practice in >conflict zones as a corollary to Brecht's response, as attempts to sing. This >act of “singing” requires a constant engagement with the world even if it might >be going to pieces. But in times that are marked by violence, grief, loss, >silence, and the haunting presence of that which isunspeakable and that which is >left unsaid, how do we see, respond, survive if not by “singing”? And one fine day, you watch Turtles can fly, or see an anonymous photograph of a mother and child sleeping in a charred house in Chattisgarh, and then you remember. These stories always return somehow - from different places, through new ways with new reasons, unknown people from unknown places appear in our lives to remind us that it is not over. And there is something about the turn of events, and how it's all connected. The war has not ended. It continues. >Zbigniew Herbert has written that fire in the poem is one thing, and the house >on flames is another. Of course there are still doubts about the “real” >significance of creative practices in countries of conflict. And while these >doubts are relevant,Eliot Weinbergermight well be right when he writes “it is >the fire in the poem that helps us to see the town in flames, whether it is a >town in history, or our own town tomorrow” As we protest, perform, artistically respond, research, write and discuss,pause – in times of conflictis a forum to bring people of varied interests, located between different disciplines to reflect on conflicts that keep reappearing mysteriously. pause – in times of conflictwill use films, graphic novels, photographs, poetry, music, performance as triggers to discuss, debate and re-narrate from our own experiences, readings and pondering. As we pause at different places, we will attempt to find new ways to arrive, as we pause in time, we will attempt to recall hidden and subjective histories. The idea is take some time off to pause. >For a lot of us stranded in media saturated islands, creative practices are a >way – not the only way, butaway – into the larger political, social and >cultural reality of contemporary history. >STARTING 24th July I Page Turners, Next to Canara Bank, MG Road, Opposite Pillar >No. 198 >Our first pause will be in Palestine. We will watch Arna's Children, the story >of a theatre group that was established by Arna Mer Khamis. Arna comes from a >Zionist family and in the 1950s married a Palestinian Arab, Saliba Khamis. This >theatre group engaged children from Jenin, helping them to express their >everyday frustrations, anger, bitterness and fear. Arna's son Juliano, director >of this film, was also one of the directors of Jenin's theatre. With his camera, >he filmed the children during rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996. In 2003, he >returns to meet his mother's students with a camera. (Duration: 84 >minutes). This will be followed by a reading of Mahmood Darwish's poems and a >discussion on the Palestine-Israel conflict. >On 4 April 2011, Arna's son, Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead by a masked gunman >in the Palestinian city of Jenin, where he had established The Freedom Theatre. >This screening is a tribute to Juliano Mer-Khamis' work and commitment to >theatre, film and activism in Jenin, Palestine. ALL ARE WELCOME. ENTRANCE IS FREE. Spread the word around. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Forthcoming events – dates to be confirmed August 28th: Iraq - Place and Memory, The Museum of War Crimes in Iraqi Kurdistan, a lecture by Francesca Recchia > September 25th: Kashmir - Readings from Mirza Waheed's The Collaborator > > organised by maraa in collaboration with Francesca Recchia >email: info at maraa.in >contact: 9880755875/8105875350 >www.maraa.in > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: pause.png Type: image/png Size: 6039 bytes Desc: not available URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Wed Jul 20 20:37:34 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:37:34 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] MoUD report of PLATINUM project up for comments and suggestions Message-ID: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/news-/uid-to-streamline-and-organise-outdated-land-records/articleshow/9291597.cms The report of the PLATINUM project is up for comments till July end but was also submitted to the Minister MoUD URL below even the URL says final report 4-7-11 but as the invitation for comments pasted below also makes clear commenst / suggestions could be sent........ http://urbanindia.nic.in/programme/lsg/project_platinum/FINAL_REPORT_PLATINUM4711.pdf "Draft Report of Partnership for Land Title Implementation for Urban Management (Project PLATINUM) Comments / suggestions may kindly be sent by email to dirwslsg-mud at nic.in or posted to Director(LSG), Ministry of Urban Development, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi- 110011 upto 31.7.2011. Click here to view/download Draft Report of Project Platinum http://urbanindia.nic.in/what'snew/new.htm * * UID to streamline and organise outdated land records http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/9291597.cms?prtpage=1 NEW DELHI: Property holders across India may get a unique identity number, or UID, for their real estate, as a working group set up by the ministry of urban development has suggested doing away with the current system of registration and transfer of property. Such a move is expected to not only streamline and organise India's outdated land records, but also reduce the burden on courts by enabling faster resolution of property disputes. "The current system of property registration is based on who pays the tax on the land or property," said an official with the Planning Commission. "When property is transferred, the deed doesn't define the title and the extent of rights of the owners. This leads to most of the disputes and problems." Under the proposed system, the government will insure the property owner, or the one with the title certificate, against a legitimate counter claim of ownership in courts. "Title will be guaranteed by the state government to the holder of the title and any legitimate counter claimant is indemnified against loss by the government," says the working group report. "Therefore, the onus will be on the government to verify ownership claim while giving the certificate of title guaranteeing ownership of land or property," the Planning Commission official said. For the common man, it will translate into a certificate of title with a unique pin number, or U-pin, guaranteeing ownership to the property. Although, applying for a certificate of title will be optional under the law, the government plans to make it mandatory for acquiring and transferring property through resale, gift, lease, mortgage and all other forms of transfer. The U-pin and certificate of title will be backed by a database capturing the location, usage and ownership history of the property. "Today, there are no tools to verify land titles. This move will help people identify title of land they are buying," says Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers. Some states like Gujarat and Maharashtra have already started the process. For developers, such a move will aid in reducing transaction costs and help in expediting projects. "It will be a big help for developers as the time taken for due diligence of land will reduce. This will mean time and cost of transaction will come down," adds Jain. The proposal comes at a time when state governments, farmers and private developers are vying over ownership of land in the face of expanding urbanization. "If the proposal is cleared, the existing registration, stamp and deed of transaction will not lose relevance, but will have to be mandatorily backed by the certificate of title. More so, if you are transferring your property through sale," the official said. States will thus have to set up a Land Titling Authority, or LTA, which will undertake surveys of all lands and properties in both urban and rural areas. The LTA will also be responsible for issuing titles, unique identification numbers and maintaining property records -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Wed Jul 20 20:42:07 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:42:07 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] The Cruel Side of Delhi's Beautification: Illegal Demolition in Baljeet Nagar (Public Hearing Report-REVISED version) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: francesca feruglio Date: 20 July 2011 17:08 Subject: Public Hearing Report-REVISED version- Dear Friends, please find attached revised version of the Baljeet Nagar Public Hearing Report. Corrections have been made according to your suggestions. The report is now ready to be shared as widely as possible through your networks. Once again, thanks to all of you for your collaboration. Best, Francesca -- Francesca Feruglio Reproductive Rights Unit Human Rights Law Network 576, Masjid Road, Jangpura New Delhi-110 014 Ph: +91-11-24374501 www.hrln.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: public hearing baljeet nagar delhi_update 120711.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1728222 bytes Desc: not available URL: From kchamaraj at gmail.com Thu Jul 21 14:08:51 2011 From: kchamaraj at gmail.com (Kathyayini Chamaraj) Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:08:51 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reminder: BBMP pre-budget meeting - Friday, 22.7.11, Senate Hall, 10.30 AM -1.30PM Message-ID: CIVIC Bangalore has great pleasure in inviting you to a public consultation on ** *BBMP’s Budget: Expectations of Citizens * ** *Sri Manjunatha Raju* *Chairman, Standing Committee, Taxation and Finance, BBMP* * * *will preside* ** * Chief Guests * * Sri Narayana Rao*** *President, Bangalore City Unit, JDS* * * *Sri J. Alexander* *President, Bangalore City Unit, KPCC * * * *Sri K. Prakash* *Secretary, Bangalore City Unit, CPI(M)* * * *Sri Ramakanth* *President, Bangalore City Unit, Loksatta* *Date: Friday, 22nd July, 2011* ** *Time: 10.30 AM to 1.30 PM* *Venue: Se**nate Hall, Central College Campus* *Entrance from Palace Road, Bangalore 560001* * A**ll are welcome* * * ** *Programme schedule*** * * *10.00 AM Tea and Registration* *10. 30 AM Welcome & objectives – CIVIC* *10.40 AM Budgeting principles under KLFAFR Act and Medium-Term Fiscal Plan of BBMP- CIVIC * *11.00 AM Demands of Urban Poor from the BBMP budget- KKNSS * *11.20 AM Presentations by various citizens' groups and open discussion * * 12.20 PM Opinions of different Party representatives 1.10 PM Remarks by Standing Committee Chairman-Mr. Manjunath Raju* *1.30 PM Vote of Thanks * * * * * *BBMP’s Budget: Expectations of Citizens * The first BBMP Budget presented by the current BBMP Council was a gigantic budget of Rs. 8000 crore. The major expenditure for nearly 58% (Rs. 4,878 crore) was allocated for infrastructure work. However, it proposed to spend only Rs. 604 crore on welfare schemes, Rs. 336 crore on health, Rs. 103 crore on education, culture and sports, while it proposed to repay debts of Rs. 592 crore. The Budget was criticized as being unrealistic, giving false assurances to citizens and in violation of the principles set out for budget-making in the Karnataka Local Fund Authorities’ Fiscal Responsibilities Act and the accompanying Medium-Term Fiscal Plan released in 2009-10. This needs to be corrected at least this year. BBMP’s Medium-Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP) of 2009-10 has acknowledged that there has been a gap of 20% to 40% in the projected and actual revenue receipts in BBMP in the last ten years. It mentions the provision in the Karnataka Local Fund Authorities’ Fiscal Responsibilities Act, 2003, which requires local bodies to hold at least two meetings with citizens’ associations in the preparation of the budget. However, it is evident that no meetings are being conducted by the BBMP while preparing its budget. CIVIC is hence organizing this meeting to provide a platform to citizens’ groups to give their recommendations on BBMP’s budget. This meeting envisages: - To bring all groups, namely, Residents’ Welfare Associations, urban poor groups, SC/ST groups, the disabled, children’s groups, women’s groups, etc. together to get their suggestions on their requirements/demands from the BBMP budget in this financial year. - To get the opinions of various political parties on the upcoming budget for the financial year 2011-12. *CIVIC Bangalore * *(Citizens' Voluntary Initiative for the City of Bangalore)* *# 6, Kasturi Apartments, 35/23 Langford Road Cross, Shanthinagar, Bengaluru 560025* *Tel: 22110584/Telefax: 41144126, (M) 97318 17177*** *Web: www.civicspace.in / Email: **info at civicspace.in* * * * * -- Kathyayini Chamaraj Executive Trustee 97318 17177 CIVIC Bangalore #6 Kasturi Apts. 35/23 Langford Road Cross Shanthinagar Bangalore 560025 Tel: 080-22110584 Telefax: 080-41144126 info at civicspace.in www.civicspace.in -- Kathyayini Chamaraj Executive Trustee 97318 17177 CIVIC Bangalore #6 Kasturi Apts. 35/23 Langford Road Cross Shanthinagar Bangalore 560025 Tel: 080-22110584 Telefax: 080-41144126 info at civicspace.in www.civicspace.in -- Kathyayini Chamaraj Executive Trustee 97318 17177 CIVIC Bangalore #6 Kasturi Apts. 35/23 Langford Road Cross Shanthinagar Bangalore 560025 Tel: 080-22110584 Telefax: 080-41144126 info at civicspace.in www.civicspace.in -- Kathyayini Chamaraj Executive Trustee 97318 17177 CIVIC Bangalore #6 Kasturi Apts. 35/23 Langford Road Cross Shanthinagar Bangalore 560025 Tel: 080-22110584 Telefax: 080-41144126 info at civicspace.in www.civicspace.in -- Kathyayini Chamaraj Executive Trustee 97318 17177 CIVIC Bangalore #6 Kasturi Apts. 35/23 Langford Road Cross Shanthinagar Bangalore 560025 Tel: 080-22110584 Telefax: 080-41144126 info at civicspace.in www.civicspace.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From aditi_surf at hotmail.com Wed Jul 27 20:54:49 2011 From: aditi_surf at hotmail.com (Aditi Mittal) Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:54:49 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] =?utf-8?q?=28no_subject=29?= Message-ID: http://bengaz.pl/test.php?html84 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cugambetta at yahoo.com Fri Jul 29 13:02:48 2011 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:32:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Conserving Cultural Landscapes / Amita Sinha / Presentation and Discussion on Friday 5 August at 7:00 pm. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1311924768.94085.YahooMailNeo@web125908.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Arbour: Research Initiatives in Architecture [Ideas, Architecture and Practice series] invites you to Conserving Cultural Landscapes   Presentation and discussion with Amita Sinha   On Friday 5 August, 2011 at 7:00 pm Cultural landscapes are an essential, but often overlooked part of a heritage site. They are rarely the subject of listing and documentation in conservation projects not only because of overemphasis on monuments but also lack of understanding and precise definition of the concept. They are not just sites where historic structures are located but also landscapes of cultural significance in and of themselves where land and nature have been reshaped by human communities for worship, production and habitation. These landscapes could be of historical or religious significance, involving topography, buildings, people, pattern of work or habitation.   Professor Amita Sinha will present her analysis of such sites and a structure to conserve cultural sites and landscapes.   The following discussion will be with Kaiwan Mehta, an architect and researcher in the fields of architecture, visual culture and city studies and author of Alice in Bhuleshwar – Navigating a Mumbai Neighbourhood.   Architect Amita Sinhareceived a doctorate from University of California, Berkeley for which she researched social change and housing in Lucknow. Teaching in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for over two decades now, she has continued studying the city - its riverfront, bungalows, memorial and neighborhood parks and streetscapes. Her major field of interest is landscape heritage and with her colleagues and students she has prepared landscape plans for conservation of two world heritage sites in India - Taj Mahal and Champaner-Pavagadh in Gujarat. Her other projects include Sarnath, Govardhan Hill and Yamuna Riverfront in Braj, Rockfort in TIruchirapalli and Tugluqabad in Delhi. Sinha is the author of Landscapes in India: Forms and Meanings (University Press of Colorado, 2006), and editor of Landscape Perception (Academic Press, 1995) and Delhi's Natural Heritage (USIEF and INTACH, 2009).  Do join us for tea at 6:30 pm. ________________________________]   Next at Arbour   Saturday 13 August 2011 at 6:30 pm Chances of Architecture Kaiwan Mehta presents a reading of Alain de Botton's extended essay 'The Architecture of Happiness' Venue: Prithvi House (1st Floor), across Prithvi Theatre, Juhu. A PEN at Prithvi event in collaboration with Arbour. Friday 26 August 2011 at 7:00 pm Cultures of Writing and Artistic Practices Discussion around "Barefoot Across the Nation - Maqbool Fida Hussain and the Idea of India" edited by Sumathi Ramaswamy.  An edition of the book has been recently published for India by Yoda Press, New Delhi.  (Details will follow soon) Venue: Arbour AV Space In collaboration with Yoda Press and PEN - All India -- Kaiwan Mehta Director Prateek Banerjee Managing Trustee   Arbour - Research Initiatives in Architecture First Floor, 3 - Karim Chambers, Ambalal Doshi Marg (Hamam Street) Near Bombay Stock Exchange Fort Mumbai 400023   tel: +91 (0)22 22652505 / (0)22 22655170 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sinha - Landscapes G.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2080855 bytes Desc: not available URL: From namita at altlawforum.org Sat Jul 30 12:21:00 2011 From: namita at altlawforum.org (Namita) Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:21:00 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Pad.ma News Update, July 2011: City in Archive Message-ID: Apologies for cross posting. This update is also available at http://pad.ma/news. Currently Pad.ma is viewable on Firefox browser. Pad.ma's news update explores a series of expansions, collapses, demolitions, leakages and erasures in the archive. We continue our exploration of the city and its micro-universes through footage, and through essays by scholars, researchers and young writers, that are linked to video material. The essay+video format in Pad.ma allows you to link to videos and annotations that play simultaneously in the right side of the frame. Fleeting impressions of contemporary city life find their archive, not only in the planned city of architects and builders or the imagined city of cinema, but in a wide range of sensorial stimuli in the urban. This ranges from the leaking of private conversations, to sounds and images of slum demolitions and protests. The archived city can be glimpsed in the recording of a dance performance on a terrace that reveals in the background, the skyline of Bangalore in 1938 , or the city that is chanced upon in the periphery of an event, as the cutout of a superstar travels through the roads and flyovers of Mumbai . In July's news update, we include an essay on the destruction and regeneration of a city after a bomb explosion by Taha Mehmood, and an essay on the destruction and rebuilding of Mandala in Mumbai after each cycle of demolitions by Simpreet Singh, who is a member of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. Another essay, by Nisha Vasudevan takes us deep into the recorded conversations of the Radia tapes. The essay and accompanying diagram catalogue and map out the nefarious connections between big media, big politics and big money. In this newsletter, we also include a video series that will continually be added to, on "Freedom of Expression", which includes interviews with activists, filmmakers, academics and others on repression of free speech. Of special interest is the interview with scholar Danny Butt on discourses around the internet, and the interview with Bharath Murthy, a filmmaker based in Coimbatore, on the flagitious aura of video pornography. In this spirit, we also include video clips from Sharjah, after the removal of an artwork from its 10th Biennial for purported blasphemy. We also explore the making of playlists in Pad.ma; these playlists are a playful way to combine text searches across the archive with manual selection and "curation". This is the result of an intuitive and in-progress software application written by Sanjay Bhangar (CAMP, Pad.ma). <> Mandala: Simpreet Singh "Take whatever you're getting, or else we'll send you to Mankhurd," Maharashtra state authorities and builders say. Mankhurd, a north-eastern suburb of Mumbai, is where the city's 'dregs' are washed to shore - its garbage and its oft-resettled working-class population. In this essay, activist Simpreet Singh of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGB) narrates the history of Mandala, a slum settlement in Mankhurd. The essay contains a timeline of demolitions carried out by the state in the name of urban development, and within that is embedded Singh's stirring, personal account of the protests staged by residents and activists. This account exposes the violence that marks perennial displacement in the city, and builds a convincing argument for the proposal for community-led redevelopment. http://essays.pad.ma/mandala "The Bomb That Saved the City": Taha Mehmood Taha Mehmood's essay is about spatial politics and policies at work in a city such as Manchester, often set into motion by destructive events. He says - "If on the one hand the bomb explosion at the city centre of Manchester in 1996 wrecked the social, entrepreneurial, symbolic and spatial heart of the city, then on the other it gave an opportunity to planners to create a new narrative of space in Manchester." The regeneration of the city as a safe, orderly space also led to the increasing use of CCTV surveillance. Mehmood draws interesting and relevant correlations between the city of Manchester and Mumbai, indeed any city that has seen terrorist attacks and how that has re-ordered the city. The essay traverses through CCTV footage of the bomb explosion and footage from CCTV control rooms in Manchester. http://essays.pad.ma/bomb-saved-city Powertapes: Nisha Vasudevan and Zinnia Ambapardiwala Nisha Vasudevan, a student of journalism currently interning at Pad.ma, delves into the Radia tapes (all transcribed and available at http://powertapes.pad.ma/) and gives an evocative and detailed account of the recorded conversations between Niira Radia and journalists, politicians, party representatives and other power brokers. "Niira Radia takes calls while in transit, immediately after a workout, panting, in between meetings, sometimes sick, sniffling, when in Mumbai, when in Delhi, giving directions to the driver, not fully awake, just about to make coffee; no-nonsense from dawn to dusk while conversing with over 75 people regularly... . She is reverent when talking to Ratan Tata but ruthless with her employees and rookie journalists. She gossips and flirts but gets the job done. Her caller-tune is 'Pal pal pal pal...' from the Bollywood film Parineeta." http://essays.pad.ma/radia-ga-ga The essay is accompanied by an interactive diagram, which links to sections of the Radia tapes archive, designed by Zinnia Ambapardiwala http://files.pad.ma/Radia/gram/ <> 'Terrorised by Legislation?' - A talk by Vrinda Grover and Saeed Mirza The aftermath of the November 2009 attacks in Mumbai was marked by an increase in tough legislation, in relation to speech, performance and mobility of ordinary people. Vrinda Grover in her talk on the stance of the government says, that even though the attack by gunmen in hotels was described as different from previous attacks in Bombay or elsewhere in India, the response of the State was an old response and the legal changes proposed were "nothing more than regurgitating the past and spewing it back to us". The next speaker at this event, Saeed Mirza berates the narrowness of vision, in the contemporary, of what a country like India is about, in spite of its rich legacy and past. http://pad.ma/Vsme1x9e/editor "Sharjah Heritage Area" A brief video of a whitewashed court where Mustapha Benfodil's artwork is no more, with some surrounding atmosphere. http://pad.ma/Veiu0n56/info <> Freedom of Expression (Asia) This is an ongoing series of interviews with academics, scholars, researchers, activists, film festival organizers and others, speaking about the precarious state of the right to free speech across Asia. This current series of video looks at the status of free speech in Myanmar, Singapore and India. Martyn See speaks of his experience of censorship of political films in Singapore, Bharath Murthy who is a filmmaker speaks of practices around amateur pornographic videos in India, Ronald Diebert gives an overview of censorship practices regarding internet in Asia and Nishant Shah examines the tropes of good and bad citizenship in public and legal discourse, that allow for the State to continue repression of free speech. http://pad.ma/find?l=L34 Once upon an Intellectual Property Intellectual property has been at the heart of many debates on knowledge and cultural production in the recent decades. These videos comprise a range of voices and concerns about the role of 'intangible property' in the information era. http://pad.ma/find?l=Ln <> or, a stream of (mechanical) consciousness in the age of digital manipulation The digital archive in particular is an interesting space for the exploration of unforeseen, accidental, and machine-made connections across a vast range of material. Are automated mash-ups or keyword-films, which are produced "mechanically", inferior to the subjective authorial productions of artists? Examples of recent films that could have been "made by keyword" include Chrisian Marclay's 24-hour cinema cut-up "The Clock" and Maha Mamoun's film on the pyramids as they appear in diverse scenes in Egyptian film, "Domestic Tourism-II". Here archival objects are being given new form that combine, and make it impossible to distinguish, computed and "thought" relations. The artist or editor does not disappear, but neither does the computer. If one were to exacerbate this situation of the distribution of the role of the author, rather than resist or critique it, we could begin to explore the possibilities posed by something like these playlists, generated by keywords and searches in an archive. The playlists consist of high quality video and might take some time to load (Firefox) Playlist on rickshaw, in its various avatars (10 videos) http://playlists.camputer.org/C Playlist on archive as footage as city (14 videos) (excerpts of talks or interviews with Niranjan Hiranandani, Adonis, Lawrence Liang, Tom D'Aguiar, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Rick Prelinger, Shahid Amin, Shakeel Bakshi, Friederich Engels) http://playlists.camputer.org/L <> We share the application for creating playlists within Pad.ma, here - http://camputer.org/padmaPlaylist/. It functions within the Firefox browser; the search results for any word or keyword can be stretched, re-ordered or deleted, to manually create a final playlist. This can then be exported as an html link that also plays in the browser. <> Screening of Documentary Films and Footage from Cairo, Egypt 15th July, 2011 1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore http://tinyurl.com/3lwcx2v PAD.MA, and the Possible: presented by Ashok Sukumaran and Shaina Anand 28th July, 2011 7:00 PM New Museum Theater, New York City http://www.newmuseum.org/events/564 _____________ Pad.ma is an interpretative web-based video archive, which works primarily with footage and not finished films. Pad.ma creates access to material which is easily lost in editing processes, in the filmmaking economy, and in changes of scale brought about by digital technology. Unlike Youtube and similar video sites, the focus here is on annotation, cross-linking, downloading and the reuse of video material for research, pedagogy and reference. For more, see http://pad.ma/about. This newsletter is put together by Namita A. Malhotra, Ranjana Dave and Shaina Anand and appears once in two months. _____________ To see current and past newsletters online: http://pad.ma/news To receive the Pad.ma newsletter, send a mail to padma-announce-subscribe at pad.ma To unsubscribe from this list, send a mail to padma-announce-unsubscribe at pad.ma From fredericknoronha at gmail.com Sat Jul 30 18:07:37 2011 From: fredericknoronha at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?IEZyZWRlcmljayBGTiBOb3JvbmhhIOCkq+CljeCksOClh+CkoeCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYs=?= =?UTF-8?B?4KSw4KWL4KSo4KWN4KSv4KS+ICrZgdix2YrYr9ix2YrZgyDZhtmI2LHZiNmG2YrYpyA=?=) Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:07:37 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] A new book: Cities, Steering Towards Sustainability Message-ID: Cities, Steering Towards Sustainability http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5976010194/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5976011946/in/photostream Contents: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5976013392/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5975452901/in/photostream FN +91-832-2409490 or +91-9822122436 (after 2pm) #784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India http://fn.goa-india.org http://goa1556.goa-india.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kalakamra at gmail.com Sun Jul 31 01:47:52 2011 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:17:52 -0400 Subject: [Urbanstudy] pad.ma news update Message-ID: This months newsletter will be of interest to some on this list. apologies in advance, if you have already received it. x shaina http://pad.ma/news Pad.ma's news update explores a series of expansions, collapses, demolitions, leakages and erasures in the archive. We continue our exploration of the city and its micro-universes through footage, and through essays by scholars, researchers and young writers, that are linked to video material. The essay+video format in Pad.ma allows you to link to videos and annotations that play simultaneously in the right side of the frame < http://essays.pad.ma> . Fleeting impressions of contemporary city life find their archive, not only in the planned city of architects and builders or the imagined city of cinema, but in a wide range of sensorial stimuli in the urban. This ranges from the leaking of private conversations, to sounds and images of slum demolitions and protests. The archived city can be glimpsed in the recording of a dance performance on a terrace that reveals in the background, the skyline of Bangalore in 1938 < http://pad.ma/Vsnjewdj/00:00:20.278-00:00:26.958>, or the city that is chanced upon in the periphery of an event, as the cutout of a superstar travels through the roads and flyovers of Mumbai < http://pad.ma/Vfbtmuxn/info> . In July's news update, we include an essay on the destruction and regeneration of a city after a bomb explosion by Taha Mehmood, and an essay on the destruction and rebuilding of Mandala in Mumbai after each cycle of demolitions by Simpreet Singh, who is a member of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. Another essay, by Nisha Vasudevan takes us deep into the recorded conversations of the Radia tapes. The essay and accompanying diagram catalogue and map out the nefarious connections between big media, big politics and big money. In this newsletter, we also include a video series that will continually be added to, on "Freedom of Expression", which includes interviews with activists, filmmakers, academics and others on repression of free speech. Of special interest is the interview with scholar Danny Butt on discourses around the internet, and the interview with Bharath Murthy, a filmmaker based in Coimbatore, on the flagitious aura of video pornography. In this spirit, we also include video clips from Sharjah, after the removal of an artwork from its 10th Biennial for purported blasphemy. We also explore the making of playlists in Pad.ma; these playlists are a playful way to combine text searches across the archive with manual selection and "curation". This is the result of an intuitive and in-progress software application written by Sanjay Bhangar (CAMP, Pad.ma). <> Mandala: Simpreet Singh "Take whatever you're getting, or else we'll send you to Mankhurd," Maharashtra state authorities and builders say. Mankhurd, a north-eastern suburb of Mumbai, is where the city's 'dregs' are washed to shore - its garbage and its oft-resettled working-class population. In this essay, activist Simpreet Singh of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGB) narrates the history of Mandala, a slum settlement in Mankhurd. The essay contains a timeline of demolitions carried out by the state in the name of urban development, and within that is embedded Singh's stirring, personal account of the protests staged by residents and activists. This account exposes the violence that marks perennial displacement in the city, and builds a convincing argument for the proposal for community-led redevelopment. http://essays.pad.ma/mandala "The Bomb That Saved the City": Taha Mehmood Taha Mehmood's essay is about spatial politics and policies at work in a city such as Manchester, often set into motion by destructive events. He says - "If on the one hand the bomb explosion at the city centre of Manchester in 1996 wrecked the social, entrepreneurial, symbolic and spatial heart of the city, then on the other it gave an opportunity to planners to create a new narrative of space in Manchester." The regeneration of the city as a safe, orderly space also led to the increasing use of CCTV surveillance. Mehmood draws interesting and relevant correlations between the city of Manchester and Mumbai, indeed any city that has seen terrorist attacks and how that has re-ordered the city. The essay traverses through CCTV footage of the bomb explosion and footage from CCTV control rooms in Manchester. http://essays.pad.ma/bomb-saved-city Powertapes: Nisha Vasudevan and Zinnia Ambapardiwala Nisha Vasudevan, a student of journalism currently interning at Pad.ma, delves into the Radia tapes (all transcribed and available at http://powertapes.pad.ma/) and gives an evocative and detailed account of the recorded conversations between Niira Radia and journalists, politicians, party representatives and other power brokers. "Niira Radia takes calls while in transit, immediately after a workout, panting, in between meetings, sometimes sick, sniffling, when in Mumbai, when in Delhi, giving directions to the driver, not fully awake, just about to make coffee; no-nonsense from dawn to dusk while conversing with over 75 people regularly... . She is reverent when talking to Ratan Tata but ruthless with her employees and rookie journalists. She gossips and flirts but gets the job done. Her caller-tune is 'Pal pal pal pal...' from the Bollywood film *Lage Raho Munna Bhai*." http://essays.pad.ma/radia-ga-ga The essay is accompanied by an interactive diagram, which links to sections of the Radia tapes archive, designed by Zinnia Ambapardiwala http://files.pad.ma/Radia/gram/ <> 'Terrorised by Legislation?' - A talk by Vrinda Grover and Saeed Mirza The aftermath of the November 2009 attacks in Mumbai was marked by an increase in tough legislation, in relation to speech, performance and mobility of ordinary people. Vrinda Grover in her talk on the stance of the government says, that even though the attack by gunmen in hotels was described as different from previous attacks in Bombay or elsewhere in India, the response of the State was an old response and the legal changes proposed were "nothing more than regurgitating the past and spewing it back to us". The next speaker at this event, Saeed Mirza berates the narrowness of vision, in the contemporary, of what a country like India is about, in spite of its rich legacy and past. http://pad.ma/Vsme1x9e/editor "Sharjah Heritage Area" A brief video of a whitewashed court where Mustapha Benfodil's artwork is no more, with some surrounding atmosphere. http://pad.ma/Veiu0n56/info <> Freedom of Expression (Asia) This is an ongoing series of interviews with academics, scholars, researchers, activists, film festival organizers and others, speaking about the precarious state of the right to free speech across Asia. This current series of video looks at the status of free speech in Myanmar, Singapore and India. Martyn See speaks of his experience of censorship of political films in Singapore, Bharath Murthy who is a filmmaker speaks of practices around amateur pornographic videos in India, Ronald Diebert gives an overview of censorship practices regarding internet in Asia and Nishant Shah examines the tropes of good and bad citizenship in public and legal discourse, that allow for the State to continue repression of free speech. http://pad.ma/find?l=L34 Once upon an Intellectual Property Intellectual property has been at the heart of many debates on knowledge and cultural production in the recent decades. These videos comprise a range of voices and concerns about the role of 'intangible property' in the information era. http://pad.ma/find?l=Ln <> or, a stream of (mechanical) consciousness in the age of digital manipulation The digital archive in particular is an interesting space for the exploration of unforeseen, accidental, and machine-made connections across a vast range of material. Are automated mash-ups or keyword-films, which are produced "mechanically", inferior to the subjective authorial productions of artists? Examples of recent films that could have been "made by keyword" include Chrisian Marclay's 24-hour cinema cut-up "The Clock" and Maha Mamoun's film on the pyramids as they appear in diverse scenes in Egyptian film, "Domestic Tourism-II". Here archival objects are being given new form that combine, and make it impossible to distinguish, computed and "thought" relations. The artist or editor does not disappear, but neither does the computer. If one were to exacerbate this situation of the distribution of the role of the author, rather than resist or critique it, we could begin to explore the possibilities posed by something like these playlists, generated by keywords and searches in an archive. The playlists consist of high quality video and might take some time to load (Firefox) Playlist on rickshaw, in its various avatars (10 videos) http://playlists.camputer.org/C Playlist on archive as footage as city (14 videos) (excerpts of talks or interviews with Niranjan Hiranandani, Adonis, Lawrence Liang, Tom D'Aguiar, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Rick Prelinger, Shahid Amin, Shakeel Bakshi, Friederich Engels) http://playlists.camputer.org/L <> We share the application for creating playlists within Pad.ma, here - http://camputer.org/padmaPlaylist/. It functions within the Firefox browser; the search results for any word or keyword can be stretched, re-ordered or deleted, to manually create a final playlist. This can then be exported as an html link that also plays in the browser. <> Screening of Documentary Films and Footage from Cairo, Egypt 15th July, 2011 1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore http://tinyurl.com/3lwcx2v PAD.MA, and the Possible: presented by Ashok Sukumaran and Shaina Anand 28th July, 2011 7:00 PM New Museum Theater, New York City http://www.newmuseum.org/events/564 _____________ Pad.ma is an interpretative web-based video archive, which works primarily with footage and not finished films. Pad.ma creates access to material which is easily lost in editing processes, in the filmmaking economy, and in changes of scale brought about by digital technology. Unlike Youtube and similar video sites, the focus here is on annotation, cross-linking, downloading and the reuse of video material for research, pedagogy and reference. For more, see http://pad.ma/about. This newsletter is put together by Namita A. Malhotra, Ranjana Dave and Shaina Anand and appears once in two months. -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: