“Propertied Ambiguity”: Negotiating the State in a Delhi Resettlement Colony

Ramakrishnan, Kavita (2016) “Propertied Ambiguity”: Negotiating the State in a Delhi Resettlement Colony. In: Space, Planning and Everyday Contestations in Delhi. Springer, India, pp. 59-76. ISBN 978-81-322-2153-1

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

This chapter focuses on "corruption from below" in a Delhi resettlement colony - or residents' own attempts to re-establish political patronage and brokerage in response to perceived disenfranchisement from state benefits and institutional access - in an attempt to understand how this produces new and different relationships with the state. The rule of law and perceptions of (dis)order in the settlement are common topics of discussion, and often serve as key markers by which people, who have been forcibly evicted from informal settlements, or bastis1 in Delhi, deem the resettlement colony to be outside of the purview of legitimate state institutions. In particular, respondants often portray the local political situation as one mired in avarice, self-interest, and outright corruption - a supposed far cry from their lives in Delhi and the perceived access to "honourable" state actors. Based on narratives of every-day corruption and brokerage, I argue that residents find ways to secure entitlements, such as ration cards, through their own channels and thus depict such endeavours as the necessary counter to state inattention and neglect.

Item Type:	Book Section
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Migration Research Network
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2016 00:02
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 23:59
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/61590
DOI:	10.1007/978-81-322-2154-8

Actions (login required)

View Item