The eviction and rehabilitation debate needs to focus on meaningfully accommodating the poor in World Class Delhi.
The judicial criticism of the demolition drive at Shakur Basti in Delhi’s bitter cold, which caused the death of a toddler and innumerable hardships to the squatters, grabbed headlines last week. However, it is just another episode of the failure of the state to protect the rights of the poor while engaging in the violent act of forced eviction to make way for public infrastructure.
Among Indian cities, Delhi has a very chequered history of city planning where the vision for a better city, such as the Master Plan Delhi 2021’s vision of a “global metropolis and a world class city”, is seen as a way to rid it of urban poverty and free up space for development. Of course the city must improve its infrastructure – such as what the railways is proposing in the Shakur Basti squatter land. But unfortunately the social costs of such development is almost always borne by the urban poor and adequate compensation or rehabilitation is never factored in the development plan beyond tokenism.