SWASHRAYA BARODA, GUJARAT
The resources that are taken from rural areas and centralised in urban areas are not uniformly distributed. There is stratification in urban areas and people in bastis do not have access to these resources. People in urban slums have usually been displaced from rural areas. In Gujarat, industrialisation and urbanisation has been taking place at a very rapid pace. This is because of the policies followed by the state. The implications for women in bastis are all around insecurity. Firstly, their means of livelihood has been left behind in the villages and now in bastis they face the insecurity of employment and housing. Which puts tremendous pressure on women. Sarkar makes use of the law; there is actually provision in law that allows the state to uproot families and demolish their houses at any point they wish. And as the city grows the bastis draw the attention of the Corporation as they occupy land on which bridges, factories or roads can come up. So, people are shifted, in the name of town planning. The poor obviously don’t fit into these plans… There is no process of consultation with people who are thrown out on the boundaries of the city. Usually, they do not earn much and bulk of their earnings now after relocation are spent commuting to their place of work. The contribution of basti-dwellers to urban economy is substantial but they do not get anything in return. When we talk of strategies it is important to look at what is happening in cities because those who are currently being displaced or face displacement are to possibly confront the same future once the cycle of dispossession is complete.