Right to the City - Question of Cities

Halla bol: Why protests are intrinsic to city-making

Resistance and protests are increasingly framed as undesirable, even anti-national. Yet, they have always defined the character of cities. Protests seem to be thinning out in cities across India but it may have more to do with how the governments,…

Mumbai-Thane on ecology
protection march

Across Mumbai and Thane, individuals and groups have been coming together to resist ecological damage by the authorities in the name of…

New battle in Panipat as refinery workers rise

Nearly 30,000 workers of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited refinery in Panipat, among India’s largest refineries, went on a sit-in protest in…

Persistent ecological assault turns susegad Goans into
angry protesters

Goans have seen their fields and orchards turned into commercial areas. The amendment Section 39A in the Town and Country Planning Act…

An open letter to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand

Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, is grappling with waste management -- a crisis visible in every overflowing drain, every littered riverbank, and…

‘There comes a tipping point when people say enough
is enough’

In the past few years, Dehradun went from being a salubrious hill city to having summer temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, floods…

Why we should worry about the narrative of development

Mumbai voted to send 227 corporators to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation but the election campaign did not pivot on governance. Instead, it…

Bengaluru: A step forward or two steps backslide in urban governance?

Amid opposition, Bengaluru’s municipal corporation was split into five, ostensibly to improve service delivery and expedite development. However, significant city-making powers – planning, executing development projects, controlling finance – lie with their command centre, the Greater Bengaluru Authority, ruled by…

Split or reunified, Delhi’s municipal corporation has poor governance, low finances

Urban governance in the national capital has been through different formats, explains multimedia journalist Ankita Dhar Karmakar. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi…

‘Without money, municipal bodies cannot fulfil their role or deliver the mandate given to them’

The elections to 29 municipal corporations and other urban local bodies in Maharashtra as well as discussions about elections in Bengaluru, Delhi…