Field Notes

Adequate housing and basic amenities such as drinking water, electricity, sanitation, and drainage system are essential for human development. Access to basic amenities is one such factor which is important for evaluating inequality and discrimination and its impact on inclusive societal development. In developing countries, like India, access is unequally distributed among different communities, caste, and religion. Moreover, urban society witnesses the unequal distribution of resources in cities. In the case of walled cities, the questions such as access and conditions of housing and basic amenities is significant to understand the inequality among communities produced by formal and informal institutions.

Based on a primary survey in Old Delhi, the present study reveals that housing conditions are unequal in different localities but majorly the issues remain the same with slight differences in their magnitude. The residents have mentioned about the commencement of residential segregation after the Indian partition, a large number of Hindus moved out from old Delhi and Muslims started coming from different parts of country for safe shelter, which eventually resulted in ghettoization. The land use pattern has changed with time, part of houses has been converted into Havelis and godowns for commercial purpose. In the survey findings, the number of people per dwelling unit was high which was not conducive for housing. Nine percent of the respondents want to move out of the walled city due to an increase in family size. Eight percent of the respondents mentioned that better education is one of the crucial reasons for moving to other places where their children can have better opportunities for higher education.

On the question of moving out of the locality, the respondents prefer to stay in the areas where the members are from their own community. Movement of households for residential purpose into Muslim or Hindu dominated areas is common depending on the respondent’s community. The major reason given for moving out is congestion (59%) on roads, many of them reported that due to commercial activities, their children are left with no space for outdoor activities. Many respondents prefer to live in Shahjahanabad area due to the safety and comfort it offers them and if they have moved out, it is towards Okhla, Jamia Nagar, and Zakir Nagar. One of the other major causes of concern is the lack of garbage disposal services wherein residents have hired private contractors to collect their garbage or else dump it at a commonplace from where the MCD van collects. Access to municipal services depends on the location of the house and social identity. Other basic amenities such as electricity, water supply, and drainage system were functioning well in almost all the areas. There is a daily supply of drinking water in all areas except a few days in extremely hot weather conditions. Although all the households are electrified, the residents complained about rising electricity bills

The responses suggest that in Old Delhi, the residents do not have full access to basic amenities in all localities. It varies from ward to ward, based on their geographical location and social identity. Access to housing is unequal due to residential segregation. These results show the gap in municipal governance which is not effective in providing basic services.

(The article is an outcome of research conducted under direction of Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi.)

CEPT-CoE has been a resource center for dealing with issues in urban transport planning and management. It has the mandate to cover three aspects of capacity building in urban transport - human resource development, knowledge management, and technical assistance & advisory.

CoE UT has been working on Service Level Benchmarking for Urban Transport, 2019. As CoE UT has to prepare a report for city of Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhuvneshwar, Hubli-Dharwad, Kohima, and Mysore. As an intern, I have been assisting in collecting data for SLB report for the city of Ahmedabad. While working on SLB, I have been collecting the primary data with the help of various surveys like the level of service in public transport, speed delay survey, classified volume count (CVC), land use survey, pedestrian survey and metro fare fixation strategy survey. Every single survey has its significant importance in setting up future targets.

I had been assigned to analyze the Speed Delay Survey of respective corridors. Such internship experience was of a very significant importance as it gives me a critical understanding of the role of policy, planning in the subject of urban transport and the prime role of transport in providing equal access, integrated transit, last-mile connectivity, sustainability and safety.

(The author worked under the guidance of CEPT University for his internship)

Socio-economic networks comprising public, commercial and human elements are the defining features of a city. Our multi-dimensional survey in the walled city of Shahjahanabad inquired about the interaction between local residents and the way they navigate various political, social and economic actors in their daily lives. Findings of the survey reveal a growing trend of Muslims to shifting into the walled city area owing to restrictive mobility since they face discrimination in the housing market outside of the walled city area.

The questions related to the participation of individuals in the community helped us understand the interpersonal interaction amongst members of various social groups. The types of interaction that the respondents had with members of other caste and communities ranged from business dealings, helping each other out with information, inviting and attending each other’s religious festivals and other events.

The respondents did point out to an undercurrent of communal tension yet despite the differences there were ongoing efforts to maintain communal harmony as their shared history and culture trumped over the growing divide. One of the Hindu respondents in Farash Khana locality reported that his erstwhile neighbors indulged in discriminatory behavior towards him and used derogatory remarks against him which led him to move to Hyder Gali which is dominated by his co-religionists. A Muslim respondent pointed towards the discriminatory behavior he faced while traveling on a metro and its impact is such that every time he travels, he feels that all eyes are scrutinizing his behavior.

A respondent shared an instance of communal tension in the neighborhood related to a dispute in a mix-community neighborhood over calls for Azaan and use of public space for holding a religious festival to which the members of other community objected. While we have pointed out to the communal differences yet there are residents of Shahjahanabad who work to maintain communal harmony. Residents work to iron out differences amongst people through informal peace committees which function without any political interference and also, hold interfaith gatherings to encourage people to maintain communal harmony. The respondents did not feel discriminated while dealing with public offices and many responded positively when asked about their participation in meetings pertaining to development activities for their mohalla or locality.

The socio-economic network of an urban space while giving dynamism to it can also provide valuable insights into the fabric of society.

(The article is an outcome of research conducted under direction of Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi.)