Hazards Centre

livelihoods

livelihoods situation in delhi

Urban India is going through a process of rapid transformation in terms of monumental changes that are occurring in spatial configurations, employment structure and investment pattern of cities, big or small. Following the ascendancy of neo-liberal policy regime in the 90s, there is a concerted move to refashion the geographical and occupational spaces of cities in order to make them more 'investor friendly'. There is thus the drive to make cities hubs of monopoly national or trans-national commercial and financial interests. This drive propelled by the desire of the ruling elite to achieve integration with the world market is radically transforming the lives and livelihoods of millions of working men and women in Indian cities.

Three trends become apparent when we look at the recent history of urban reform.

Firstly, large sections of the urban poor are being displaced from space that they have occupied for many years by every government – regardless of political affiliations. These sections are often the ones who have been employed in the informal sector or are self-employed in the lower rungs of tertiary services sector. Their displacement has as much to do with the space they live in as with the work that they perform, and has been promoted by the bilateral and multilateral funding agencies.

Secondly, the geographical and occupational space that they occupied is being transferred to larger private corporate entities or wealthier groups, such as commercial complexes and up-market residential blocks. These units are also often coupled up with labour-replacing devices ranging from automatic tellers and computer-aided machines to vacuum cleaners and home delivery services, thus taking over the work earlier done by the lower rungs of the urban population.

Thirdly, while the driving force behind these changes is manifestly the new globalised economy, it is offered on an environmental platter of "cleanliness" and "beautification". This environmental activism, in turn, is the bread and butter of those professional "non-government organisations" (NGO) that are taking up the "public cause", as well as the judicial, legislative, administrative, and commercial apparatuses – including a very amenable media – that provide them with legitimacy and political support. In vicious combination these three trends are transforming the urban landscape from the city as "home" to the city as "estate".

Can something be done to protect and enhance the livelihood opportunities in urban areas? In the recent past there has been a widespread campaign to tackle the issue of rural livelihood crisis through the enactment of a National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. But the employment crisis in cities and towns is no less severe. Can we then try and imagine a comprehensive employment guarantee act for urban areas? Or the immensely diversified nature of employment in urban areas, especially larger cities, is such that we need to develop an entirely different frame of reference.

All these are open questions, which require research, collaboration and experience sharing across cities. It is to this end that Hazards Centre is conducting a study titled 'Urban Labour and Resistance' in Delhi and some smaller cities like Jaipur. The objective of the study is to research two issues that would contribute to the imagination of civil society and political groups and help them to build alliances and formulate policy perspectives:

What are the trends in the political economy of the city and how do they impact on the livelihood and shelter rights of the urban working poor?

How do collectivities of the urban poor respond to these trends and how can they be amalgamated into a single long-term strategy?