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The Delhi Bias: knowledge hegemony of India's slum governance
Author(s) -
Palat Narayanan Nipesh
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12306
Subject(s) - megacity , hegemony , slum , dominance (genetics) , corporate governance , legislation , political science , politics , colonialism , new delhi , economic growth , development economics , political economy , sociology , public administration , geography , economy , law , economics , population , demography , biochemistry , chemistry , metropolitan area , finance , archaeology , gene
Slum eradication has been a concern in South Asian cities since the colonial times. Legislation and policies are being framed both out of national desires and international strategies. However, very little is being studied on how these legislation and policies come into being, specifically geography's influence in their formulation. The article analyses parliamentary debates from India (Rajya Sabha, 1953–2014), and outlines the process of historical, political, and institutional dominance of Delhi. It shows that the slum legislation and policies in India are formulated by abstracting cases from the Delhi slums. This knowledge hegemony of Delhi is discussed within the growing consideration towards urban theory's southern shift, which puts the Southern cities (megacities) as underdogs. The paper argues that at a regional level, these megacities exert the same hegemony that the southern theory wants to avoid. The results argue towards broadening the southern theory and ordinary city discussions.