BOOK LAUNCH "In the Public's Interest: Evictions, Citizenship and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi" By Gautam Bhan at Library, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg > 7pm on 16th March 2016

Time : 7:00 pm Add to Calendar 16/03/2016 19:00 16/03/2016 20:30 Asia/Kolkata BOOK LAUNCH "In the Public's Interest: Evictions, Citizenship and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi" By Gautam Bhan Event Page : http://www.delhievents.com/2016/03/book-launch-in-publics-interest.html Library, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110001 DD/MM/YYYY

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Venue : Library, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110001
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Event Description : BOOK LAUNCH "In the Public's Interest: Evictions, Citizenship and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi" By Gautam Bhan

Contemporary Delhi is a city scarred by the evictions of 'Bastis'—urban settlements that house the city’s poorest of the poor. Many of these evictions were ordered by the Indian Judiciary in Public Interest Litigations, which was a tool introduced to enable the poor to access justice. How did a judicial innovation introduced precisely to enable the marginalised to seek justice become an instrument of their exclusion? Drawing on an archive of court cases that resulted in evictions in Delhi from 1990 to 2007 as well as ethnographic research with basti residents and social movements resisting eviction, In the Public’s Interest shows how evictions have been fundamental to how urban space is been structured and produced, and asks what they tell us about the contemporary Indian city.

‘What is a city if not its citizens? Gautam Bhan illuminates the profound injustice that lies at the heart of modern Delhi where land matters more than lives, where the poor are made homeless in the name of  public interest, and where law is mistaken for justice. This compelling, clearly written account should be read by scholars, activists and everyone who wants a more liveable city.’–Amita Baviskar, Sociologist, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.

Respondents to the book, who will be present at the launch, include:

Diya Mehra, South Asian University | Dunu Roy, Hazards Centre | Partha Mukhopadhyay, Centre for Policy Research (CPR) | Aditya Nigam, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)

Gautam Bhan teaches at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore. His work focuses on the politics of poverty and inequality in Indian cities, urban and planning theory, and gender and sexuality studies. He is the co-author of Swept off the Map: Surviving Eviction and Resettlement in Delhi as well as co-editor of Because I Have a Voice: Queer Politics in India. He writes on kafila.org and is part of the Editorial Collective of New Text.

Publisher : Orient BlackSwan Publications

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