Smartness of the city for urban poor women

“Smartness� Of The City For Urban Poor Women in Mumbai Mentor Sunil Gangavane Researchers Aishwarya Shinde, Akshata Bhat, Brendan D'mello, Pratiksha Vasant Vaishali, Preet Kiran Sandhu, Runali More and Tehmina Sabuwala

Research partner organisation PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research)

2016, Mumbai

Acknowledgement Firstly, we would like to thank PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research) for giving us the opportunity to do this research in Mumbai.

This research would not have been possible without our participants from Lower Parel, Wadala and BKC areas. We are extremely grateful to them for trusting us with the data they provided, which helped us tremendously in our research.

We would also like to thank all the staff members at PUKAR without whom this research would not have been successful - Dr Anita Patil-Deshmukh, Shahazade Akhtar, Anil Kumar Valmiki, Anupamaa Joshi, Manasi Pinto and Rohan Chavan.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our mentor - Sunil Gangavane, who supported and guided us through our research journey, giving us flexibility and trusting us in making key decisions.

We would like to thank our experts who gave us their valuable time and knowledge while doing this research; Amita Bhide is a professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Himanshu Burte is an assistant professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Chayanika Shah is an independent researcher in the field of Science Education, Women and Queer Theory.

Also, we would like to thank all the team members who put in all their hard work and efforts to study the policies, field data and put it together under one umbrella of a Smart City, making this complex issue simpler and much easier for our readers to comprehend.

Lastly, we would also like to thank our family members, friends and people who knowingly and unknowingly guided and gave us their full support during the course of this project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………….1 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………..4 a. OBJECTIVES ..……………………………………………………………………………………4 b. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION ..…………………………………………………………4 c. OTHER METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURE……………….5 d. PROCESS…………………………………………………………………………………………5 e. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS…………………………………………………………………..5 f. LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH…………………………………………………….........6 g. GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS CHOSEN FOR OUR STUDY……………………………………….6 i. WADALA…………………………………………………………………………….7 ii. LOWER PAREL ……………………………………………………………………..8 iii. BANDRA KURLA COMPLEX………………………………………………………9

3. RESEARCH JOURNEY…………………………………………………………………………………10 a. THE ORIENTATION SESSION .……………………………………………………………..11 b. GROUP FORMATION ……………………………………………………………………….11 c. TOPIC SELECTION …………………………………………………………………….........12 d. FURTHER WORKSHOPS ……………………………………………………………………..12 e. RESEARCH PROCESS …………………………………………………………………........13 f. WORKING IN A GROUP ……………………………………………………………………..14

4. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………….…….……………………………………………….16 a. FUTURISTIC VIEW OF OUR CITY …………………………………………………………....16 b. WHAT’S A SMART CITY? ………….............................................................17 c. EVOLUTION OF THE SMART CITY CONCEPT……………………………………………….17 d. SMART CITIES IN THE WORLD AND INDIA.………………………………………………..18

e. 100 SMART CITIES MISSION …………………………………………………………..19 i. DEFINITION OF SMART CITY ACCORDING TO INDIAN GOVERNMENT......19 ii. ELEMENTS IN A SMART CITY ……………………………………………………19 iii. STRATEGIES FOR SMART CITIES ……….……………………………………….20 iv. SMART CITY SELECTION PROCESS.………………………………………………20 v. CURRENT STATE OF SMART CITIES MISSION …..…..………………………..20 vi. MISSION MONITORING ………………………………………………………….21 vii. ROLE OF

SPV (SPECIAL PRPOSE

VEHICLE)............…………………………………………………………………21

viii. FINANCING OF SMART CITIES ..…………………………………………………21 ix. SMART CITY

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT PLAN……………………………………21

f. SMART CITY IN MUMBAI ………………………………………………………….………..22 i. PLANS FOR WADALA …………………….……………………………………….22 ii. PLANS FOR LOWER PAREL ……….………………………………………………22 iii. PLANS FOR BKC ………..…………………………………………………………22 g. IT COMPANIES’ ROLE IN SMART CITY …………………………………………………..…23 h. THE URBAN POOR OF MUMBAI ……………………………………………………………24 i.

CRITICISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SMART CITY ……………….…………………….24

5. ANALYSIS OF DATA ……………………………………………………………………………………26 a. DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS ……………………………..……………………………………27 i. AGE .……..………………………………………………………………………..27 ii. MIGRATION ……………………………………………………………………..28 iii. DURATION OF RESIDENCE ………………………………………………………28 iv. LEVEL OF FORMAL EDUCATION .………………………………………………28 v. OCCUPATION ….………………………………………………………………….29 vi. RELIGION …..……………………………………………………………………..30

vii. MARITAL STATUS ..……………………………………………………………..30 viii. NUMBER OF FAMILY MEMBERS ……………………………………………….31 ix. LANGUAGE …………………………………………………………………………32 x. HUSBAND’S / FATHER’S OCCUPATION .……………………………………..32 b. CURRENT STATUS OF URBAN POOR WOMEN ………………………..…………………34 i. HOUSING …………………………………………………………………………..34 ii. WATER SUPPLY….………………………………………………………………..36 iii. ELECTRICITY.……………………………………………………………………….38 iv. SANITATION ………...……………………..……………………………………..40 v. SAFETY AND SECURITY ………..….……………………………………………..45 vi. EDUCATION………..….……………………………………………………………49 vii. HEALTH …….…….………………………………………………………………...51 viii. LIVELIHOOD ..……………………………………………………………………...53 ix. TRANSPORT SYSTEMS .….……………………………………………….……….55 x. GOOD GOVERNANCE .…………………………………………………….……...56 xi. REDEVELOPMENT PLANS AND DEBATE ....…………………………….………59 xii. URBAN POOR WOMEN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY…….……….61 xiii. AWARENESS, VIEWS AND EXPECTATIONS FROM A SMART CITY ..………..63

6. DISCUSSION ……………………………………..…………………………………………………….67 7. RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………………………….………..70 8. CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………..71 9. REFERENCES…. ......………………………………………………………………………………….72 10. APPENDIXES …………………………………………………………………………………………..77 a. CONSENT FORM ……………….…………………………………………………………....77 b. INTERVIEW GUIDE …………………………………………………………………………..78

Introduction Change is a reality. The world is changing in many different ways and most of its rapid changes are happening at the centers, which are cities, i.e. the hubs of opportunities and developments.

So what’s the problem?

The world’s population is shifting from rural to urban areas, as people come to cities to lead better lives. This creates increased competition for resources within the city. With the increase in migration to cities, urban areas are expected to house 40% of India’s population and contribute 75% of GDP by 2030 (Ministry of Urban Development Government of India 2015). By 2050, 66% of the world’s population is projected to be living in cities (United Nations 2014).

India is no exception to this. But are cities prepared to deal with this increasing population?

What’s going to be the solution?

To address this problem, the government has proposed a tech-based solution. In June 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the commencement of the 100 Smart Cities Mission.

This mission, according to the government, would be the solution to the problem that urbanisation presents. In their own words, “this requires a collaborative, comprehensive development across physical, institutional, social and economic infrastructure". Thus, smart cities are being put forth as future problem-solvers for the country.

Given this, it becomes crucial to know what exactly it is that makes a city "smart". At present, there is no commonly accepted definition of a smart city. A "smart city" means different things to different people, and its meaning varies across geographic locations depending on people of the city, resources available and the goals of the city. Based on the definitions of some tech giants (like CISCO and IBM) and the governments of some countries (like UK and India), in general, it involves the incorporation of technology in a city's infrastructure, to make it more efficient, and in turn, make the city more liveable for its people.

One might think that this is a new trend that our country is witnessing but, in reality, this movement had started back in 1970 when cities across the world started a movement called the ‘Smart Growth Movement’ to manage growth and urbanisation. In the following years, IBM started working on their trademarked 'Smarter Cities' as part of a Smart Planet Initiative.

Currently, cities such as Vienna (Austria), Toronto (Canada), Tokyo (Japan), Barcelona (Spain), Tel Aviv (Israel) and many other cities around the world are turning themselves into smart cities.

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Whom is the Smart City for?

After laying down a broader context of what is happening about the smart city debate in the country and in the world, we would like to put forth our views here. It is our perspective that there are several unstudied problems with urbanisation, like increasing slums and a decrease in standard of living (Sivaramakrishnan et al. 1993, p. 2). Proposing such solutions in this case, especially with the tag of “smart” and the promise of growth, ignores the impact of class and gender, among several other social factors. This automatically leads to the exclusion of people of a certain class and gender and hence fails to address the problems in their entirety.

Therefore, we decided to look at these problems and their proposed solution in the context of the current state of communities in the city of Mumbai, specifically through the lens of urban poor women.

We chose to work on this topic as it was a good opportunity to be a part of understanding a government policy/plan in its making. Furthermore, the mission was said to be inclusive and participatory, making it all the more interesting for us to study. It was a chance to gauge whether the plan truly is inclusive. To do this, it made sense to get a woman's perspective on the matter. It is our assumption that women usually do not have a say in city planning.

Through this research we found out that most of the women we spoke to have their own way of dealing with the problems/ challenges they face daily. And this was our definition of, ‘smartness’ for our group – an ability to face challenges/ problems (which we have further explained in detail in our discussion chapter). Unfortunately, we haven’t interviewed anyone from the government who is working for smart city or any local corporator to know their views and opinions. If we had taken this research a step further, we would have asked them if as a system they are ready for a smart city. As we can see citizens who we spoke to are already smart citizens. We would have also asked them do we really need smart city which is technology based. We also would have questioned their way of dealing with the peoples’ needs, why they feel the need for an exclusive online process instead of making the process more inclusive through fieldwork.

Since the Barefoot Researchers Program is carried out in Mumbai, we picked three areas in Mumbai for our study: Wadala, Lower Parel and the Bandra-Kurla Complex, popularly known as BKC. The reason for choosing these areas is detailed in the literature review chapter.

How “smart” is this new initiative?

Through this research, we found that the basic needs of the urban poor women, in the 3 areas where we carried out our research, hadn’t been met yet. It then seems like a pipedream to think that yet another urban development project is going to change things for the group of Page |2

people who have, so far, been excluded from the city planning dialogue. Only when their opinions are taken into consideration and development plans are truly inclusive in nature, will they be able to enjoy the benefits of urban, and maybe even “smart�, development.

Mumbai, being part of the 100 Smart Cities Mission, will inevitably get transformed into a smart city in the near future. That is, how will it effect the majority of people who live their daily lives far from the concept of smart city? Is our system ready to accommodate this new process? Till when will it be based on this imported idea of technology based solutions, and why is there a need to prefer it over the solutions that this majority is living with?

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Research Methodology To make our biases and understanding of the subject matter concrete, we began by formulating the objectives. These would act as a framework to guide the research process.

Objectives The basic objectives that we want to achieve through this study would be: 1. Comparing the objectives of a smart city as proposed by the Government versus the needs of urban poor women.

2. Documenting expectations and recommendations of urban poor women pertaining to improving their areas and the city.

3. Studying the women’s relationship with technology and whether they have access to the technology needed to give their opinions for city planning.

We thought of achieving the objectives by studying the places close at hand as we believed it would help us connect better to our surroundings. We have used convenience sampling for this purpose, the reason being that it would save us time and cost. Also, the areas we conducted the research in are famous for the commercial buildings, upscale residential buildings, renowned hospitals, university campuses, luxury hotels and restaurants. These are the same areas that house a certain class of citizens whose living conditions have not been documented or reported yet in a way that would initiate any dialogue publicly about their needs or rights.

Such a methodology faces the challenge of over-representation of the subject of the research.

Methods of data collection We employed qualitative and deductive research methods. The qualitative method keeps the research exploratory and the deductive method relies on observations to test a theory, helping to keep the research more open-ended.

A bottom-up approach was used to ensure inclusivity of views and to better understand needs of the marginalized groups to be part of the planning of the smart city.

Focus Group discussions were conducted with marginalised groups. They were conducted based on the interest of the people and for more data collection.

In total, we conducted 30 interviews and 3 FGDs in three different areas - Lower Parel, BKC and Wadala. We carried out 10 interviews and 1 FGD per area.

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Other methods of data collection and analysis procedure:

● Primary Data – We used field notes to understand how people use the city as a space every day, what the challenges and requirements of the people are, before turning it into a smart city. ● Secondary Data – Newspapers, books, government reports, dissertations and journal articles helped us to understand the meaning of the ‘Smart City’ as a concept and how it has been implemented globally. ● Strategy for Data Analysis: Data analysis is done with the help of thematic analysis approach, wherein data is organised on the basis of specific research objectives/questions under thematic headings. Based on this approach, we examined each interview excerpt and highlighted important points as per the interview guide.

Process The reason for choosing urban poor women was that we felt that women’s voice and opinion are not taken into consideration in our society. Ours is a patriarchal society in which the male is the one whose views and demands are always taken into consideration. On the other hand, a woman is the one who uses the inner and outer space the most and knows her city very well.

Hence, we felt the need to document her opinions and needs.

The sampling process was used to select the sample for the research due to time constraints.

Ethical considerations Using information provided to us by the respondents requires that we follow certain ethics to safeguard their privacy and maintain their trust. This means that we make accessible the data collected by us to the public, and to the respondents in particular. It also becomes our responsibility to not tamper with the data in any way. ● The data collected will be disseminated through community events to the respondents. ● Every interview data used in this report has been collected with the informed consent of the respondents. ● We didn’t use photographs of people whose consent we didn’t get. ● Some women refused to converse with us. Their participation was not coerced.

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● Some women were afraid of how their responses would be used and refused to sign the consent form after their interviews had been conducted. The data provided by them has not been used for this research.

Limitations of the research Limitations of the methodology of the research are as follows ● The research was covered in only 3 areas and the sample size is small (30 interviews and 3 FGDs) to make any significant generalisations. ● Speaking with local corporators or ward officers regarding the particulars of governance of their ward or area would have helped make our arguments better informed.

Limitations of researchers: ● Since the smart city topic is a new concept as a whole, not many participants were aware about it and that’s why, while women could suggest ‘smart ways to live in a city’, it was difficult for them to visualise the smart city as a concept.

Geographical areas chosen for our study As mentioned earlier, the areas we chose for this research are Wadala, Lower Parel and the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), since we found that the MMDRA has plans to have smart city features in these areas. More so, to even convert one of the areas, i.e. BKC, into ‘Smart BKC’.

You can find more details on this in the literature review chapter.

Furthermore, since we wanted to speak with the urban poor women in these areas, we targeted the ‘slums’ within these areas. We considered women living in chawls, zhopadpattis and huts as ‘slum dwellers’. This categorization was done based on our personal understanding of slum dwellers.

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Wadala – Women from parts of Ganesh Nagar and Shivshankar Nagar were interviewed.

Surrounding areas include Antop Hill, Wadala Monorail, Dosti Acres Apartments, Vidyalankar Institute.

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Lower Parel: We spoke to the women staying in the Madhav Bhavan chawl in Lower Parel. It is situated right between the tall commercial and residential buildings. To be more precise, the area is close to the railway station, opposite Kamala Mills and the Lodha Tower.

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BKC: In BKC, we went to Valmiki Nagar and Bharat Nagar, two slum areas in the otherwise highend, premium business district of BKC. It is one of the first planned commercial complexes in Mumbai and is home to several top companies & institutes, namely: The Asian Heart Institute, National Stock Exchange, top banks, and other big MNCs.

We wanted to give you an overview of the areas covered through this research, geographically, to help you place them visually on the map. Details about the residents and their lifestyle is discussed in the analysis chapter.

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Research Journey Social research is thought of as an opportunity to explore the people of a society and get to know them better, in order to gain information related to our research topic. But, as we were about to discover, social research also gives you an opportunity to get to know yourself better.

Nowadays, people don’t stop to think about their attitudes towards other people or situations, and research is therefore important to challenge these attitudes. As you’ll see, the research we undertook not only took us through a journey of better understanding and exploring our topic but also took us through a journey of better understanding and exploring ourselves; a journey that ultimately benefitted us.

We all found out about PUKAR in different ways; while searching for a job, hearing about it from friends, looking to do social work, etc. We all came from different backgrounds and didn't know each other before PUKAR, so we had actually applied for the Youth Fellowship individually. Some found the idea of being a Barefoot Researcher interesting while others saw it as an opportunity to get to know new people and have a chance to work with them. It was a chance to do something productive during the weekends for an entire year instead of staying at home.

So once we each decided to join the Youth Fellowship program, we proceeded to fill out the application form. This form was very detailed and, apart from some basic information about ourselves, it asked us a variety of questions regarding why we wanted to join the program, how we functioned as part of a team, our weaknesses and strengths, our expectations from the program, what we would be interested in researching, etc.

The candidates whose applications were selected by PUKAR were called for an interview at the PUKAR office in Bandra. Most of us weren't sure what to expect from this interview but went for it nevertheless. Thankfully, the people conducting our respective interviews were warm and friendly. The interview was mainly a discussion about our responses in the application form.

Each question was discussed at length, after which we were given some brief information about P a g e | 10

the Youth Fellowship program and what we could expect from it. Any lingering doubts in our minds about the program were cleared by the interviewers. Finally, we were told we'd be informed if we were selected to be Barefoot Researchers.

Luckily for us, we were indeed selected to be a part of the Youth Fellowship, and so we set off for the very first workshop at the PUKAR office in Bandra, in August of 2015. The workshop was mainly an introductory session. It turned out that most of our fellow Barefoot Researchers already knew each other and had joined the program as a group. This made some of us nervous since, as individuals, we felt out of place. At the same time, this was an opportunity to interact and connect with new people. After each fellow introduced themselves, we spoke about our respective strengths and weaknesses that we had earlier been asked to write down. This gave us an idea of what to expect from the workshops, and showed us how different the environment at PUKAR was compared to that at a school or college.

The Orientation Session Soon after the first workshop came the orientation session. This was a 3 day residential workshop that was conducted at the J.J. Hospital Nursing Association in Malad. The workshop was conducted by our facilitators Sunil, Anil, Rohan and session facilitator Nitin. The workshop consisted of a variety of different styles of learning, including different kinds of activities and games, discussions about various topics, and a small research was conducted by the fellows after we were divided into groups, so we could get some much-needed practice. Overall, the workshop was introspective, as we were encouraged to identify the people and factors that made us who we are as well as our aspirations for the future, but at the same time we also got to learn about other fellows. This workshop also gave a chance for some of our group members to form connections and become comfortable with the larger Barefoot Researchers group.

Group Formation Once we were familiar with each other, what was expected of us and had a good grasp about the program, the Barefoot Researchers were divided into 3 groups. Each group consisted of around 8 fellows. All 8 members of our group had applied individually. The members of our group were: Aishwarya, Akshata, Akshay, Brendan, Pratiksha, Preet, Runali and Tehmina. The facilitator that would help our group throughout the research was Sunil. There were mixed feelings among us about this group, since on the one hand we didn't know each other as well as the other groups did, so there was uncertainty about whether we would function well as a group. Also, we communicated primarily in different languages during group discussions, so this proved to be a challenge. However, some of us had connected well earlier and some were already friends before the program, so that was reassuring. Each member had a different background and style of thinking, as well as a unique set of skills to contribute to the group.

Unfortunately, Akshay could not continue with the process, as he had taken seriously ill.

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Topic Selection Once our research group was formed, we sat down with Sunil for a group meeting. Here, we each suggested a topic for research based on our interests. Everyone had a different area of interest, including the LGBT community, Smart Cities mission, the "jugaad" concept, women's sexuality, gender inequality, provisions for the differently-abled, parenting norms, marital rape and noise pollution. Since there were so many topics put forth, we decided to vote for the topics we'd like to research. But to make the process fair, each member was first allowed to explain their topic and why they had chosen it. The voting narrowed our list of topics down to only a few, and we continued to debate about which of them should be selected. Finally, the 2 topics left were Smart Cities and women's sexuality. So, after advice from our facilitator, we decided to finalize our research topic as "Smartness of Mumbai City for Urban Poor Women".

Not all of us felt strongly about the Smart City topic that was finally decided on. There was a feeling that we may not be able to focus on a topic for an entire year if it didn't capture and hold our interest. Things started changing though, as we began to read about the Smart City concept, and the phase that really pulled us in was the fieldwork. Hearing our participants' stories, their struggles, the ways in which they deal with those struggles and the joy and contentment they find in their lives finally connected us to the topic. For now, at last, we identified with the human aspect of a Smart City. Now, more than ever, we wanted to find out if a Smart Mumbai would actually benefit these people.

Further Workshops In the following weeks, a range of workshops were conducted to prepare us to carry out our research. A literature review workshop was conducted by Shachi Phadke, where we learnt how to use the internet to find relevant reading material related to our research topic. We were taught how to use Google Scholar to locate articles that were not more than 3 years old, for example, and we also learnt how to use keywords to narrow down the search as far as possible.

An important aspect of the workshop was that we were taught how to insert references, in an acceptable format, in our research paper.

Of course, along with the literature review, we also had to be prepared for the field-work.

Therefore, in a following workshop, we practiced our FGD skills in a group setting, with a few fellows conducting the group discussion and others being the one taking down notes. A couple members from our research group volunteered to be the group discussion guides and conducted the discussion smoothly. Next, towards the end of a regular workshop at the PUKAR office, we were asked to conduct mock interviews, based on our research topic and keeping our participants in mind. Akshata and Preet conducted this mock interview, which gave us some things to work with. Above all, we realised it was going to be a challenge trying to explain the Smart City concept to our participants if they hadn't even heard of it before.

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To further sharpen our interview skills, a workshop was conducted by Alok Thakur. He called to the front two members from each research group and set up the scene such that the two group members would conduct the interview while he responded as a participant. These mock interviews not only brought about many laughs, since he made it hard for us to conduct the interviews smoothly, but also gave us a few points to take home: We should be sympathetic to what the participant is saying even if we disagree with them, a rapport needs to be established with our participants, the interview needs to flow like a conversation, etc.

Other workshops focused on our understanding of various topics, including caste, communal harmony, governance, RTI, etc.

Research Process First, we drew up a Research Proposal and submitted it to PUKAR. Then, we conducted an intensive literature review, where we read in detail about the Smart Cities mission, dividing the responsibility to read about each factor of a Smart City among each member of the group.

Based on this knowledge, we went on to construct our interview guide. Apart from basic information about our participants, we also included detailed questions about each factor of a Smart City (water, electricity, sanitation, transport, health and safety & security). We also included questions specifically pertaining to their views regarding technology and the Smart Cities mission.

After splitting ourselves into 3 groups of 2-3 members, we set out for fieldwork in one of the 3 areas chosen based on plans for a Smart Mumbai City: Wadala, Lower Parel and Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). It was difficult, initially, approaching people in our respective areas unless we already had a contact in the area. We had to remain persistent in our endeavour until we finally found people willing to spare some of their time and talk to us. The amazing thing was that some people were kind enough to invite us into their homes. This instilled in us a realization that kindness and humility goes a long way.

Finally, we sat down to transcribe the recorded interviews (or write from memory and fieldnotes the interviews we weren't allowed to record). These transcripts were then coded to categorize the data they contained for further analysis. For the analysis, the entire group spent a lot of time every day, for a week, at a group member's house.

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Members of our group during the analysis stage.

The intensive week-long process was tiring for us, but we got a significant chunk of the work done. Teamwork was a big factor here, as we completed work faster by working in pairs; one person would read out the interview transcripts for each code, while the other person typed out short sentences on an excel sheet. This process brought the relevant information onto a few pages, which made it easy for us to write our analysis chapters. These chapters consisted of individual codes that were grouped together into larger themes, namely Demographics, Basic needs, Governance, Development and the Smart City.

Working in a Group As far as working in a group is concerned, it was challenging and even frustrating at times.

There were difficulties taking decisions and there was avoiding of responsibility. It took us a while to co-ordinate effectively, but we eventually started working really well together and also started enjoying each other’s company. Interestingly, a key aspect in our group's functioning is that everyone is given a chance to voice their opinion, which actually makes it difficult for us to reach decisions. This makes it difficult for our facilitator to deal with us at times. Of course, P a g e | 14

working in a group despite the troubles it produced, helped us understand the varying opinions of people and prepared us to deal with similar situations in the future.

The Barefoot Researchers at the PUKAR office.

Furthermore, there were qualities that our peers and facilitators possessed that we could learn from: the discipline it takes to get work done on time without compromising its quality, the ability to be compassionate towards a person despite their shortcomings, the patience to deal with different personalities, and the perseverance of our facilitators that were the anchors to our ship.

Overall, PUKAR has been very important for us. Apart from giving us a valuable chance to experience first-hand what conducting a research project feels like, we were also repeatedly pushed out of our comfort zones during the entire process; we were made to question everything we did, challenge our own way of thinking and therefore broaden our perspective towards Mumbai, maybe even the world. Unique workshops, the activities they involved, the friends we've made and the skills we've imbibed over the course of the year instill in us confidence for our future endeavours.

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Literature Review Futuristic view of our cities: The number of people migrating from rural to urban areas is increasing rapidly. It is estimated that 70% of the population will be living in cities, by 2050. With speedy urbanisation taking place all over, India is no exception to this. It’s predicted that a majority of the population will shift to cities. And ultimately the five major cities will house more of the population than all of India’s villages (McKinsey Quarterly 2010).

This centralisation comes with its share of pros and cons. Rapid urbanisation will lead to haphazard management of resources such as land and water, with no consideration of its effects on the environment, and eventually the ecosystem. Additionally, there is an aggressive competition between cities to achieve the status of ideal urban systems to attract more investors (Handlmaier and Riedl 2010). Therefore, cities become engines of economic growth for every nation, including India. With an increase in migration to cities, India’s urban areas are expected to accommodate 40 % of India’s population and contribute 75 % of GDP by 2030 (MoUD 2015).

In order to be able to deal with this unprecedented growth, it is essential for cities to come up with innovative technologies to “improve urban environments, drive economic growth, inclusion and social cohesion” (Cann 2015). Smart Cities are seen as the pioneering solution to this downside of urbanisation.

What is a city?

Before we get to Smart City, it is important to understand what comprises a city.

This diagram depicts the various systems involved in the functioning of a city.

I B M , D P a goe | 16 n k e r ,

What is a smart city?

Moving on, literature available on the definition of a smart city is varied and there is no universal definition of the concept. Some definitions focus on technology being the central element of a smart city: CISCO (2012) defines smart cities as those who adopt scalable solutions that “take advantage of information and communications technology (ICT) to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance the quality of life”.

IBM (2011) defines a smart city as “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resources”.

Others, put forward the importance of the human element in the understanding of a smart city.

According to Holland, intelligent cities can become smart (er), these cities “…are territories with a high capacity for learning and innovation, which is built-in to the creativity of their population, their institutions of knowledge creation and their digital infrastructure for communication”. …. [and are concerned] with people and the human capital side of the equation, rather than blindly believing that IT itself can automatically transform and improve cities.” Holland (2008: 306)

Over the years, there has been no effort to put together one definition or understanding of a smart city. The aforementioned definitions of a smart city suggest that technology forms the backbone of a smart city. These technologies are embedded in a system that manages our dayto-day lives and provides for an infrastructure that helps create an innovative and knowledgeable environment, thus enhancing the overall quality of human life.

Evolution of the Smart City Concept: ● In 1970’s – Information revolution and spread of new information technologies ● 1980’s and 1990’s – New technologies could produce new forms of production, overcoming the limit of spatial proximity by a simple click (Graham 2004). ● 1990’s – A movement known as the Smart Growth Movement and thereafter large urban development field started to promote and gave an alternative called, ‘Smart Growth’ (Goetz 2005).

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● The movement focused on ways to make the city more compact, walkable and economically efficient (Erkoskun 2011). Although the movement gained immense popularity, it eventually faded away and a new concept of ‘Intelligent Cities’, The debate on Intelligent Cities led to the rise of the concept of, what we call today, a Smart City. ● 2008 - IBM started working on IBM’s Smarter Cities concept as part of the Smart Planet Initiative. ● A Smart City Model was formed, wherein the city was considered a system of complex information flow. The model assumed that the common goal for a city can be accomplished by increasing efficiency in various sectors such as transport, healthcare, etc. (Steiner & Veel 2014). ● And then, in 2011, IBM officially registered the ‘Smarter Cities’ trademark.

Smart Cities in the World and India: Many cities around the world have been receptive to the Smart City concept and are turning into one rapidly: Vienna in Austria, Toronto (one of the highest rated Smart Cities in North America), Barcelona in Spain, and Tel Aviv in Israel.

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In India, smart cities are being built under the 100 Smart Cities Mission, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and by local city authorities - the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) in Mumbai. The main focus of this research has been the 100 Smart Cities Mission and the smart city plans/solutions undertaken and/or proposed by MMRDA. 100 Smart Cities Mission: On 25th June, 2015 the Prime Minister officially launched the Smart Cities Mission, an urban renewal plan for 100 cities, and the budget allocated to it is Rs. 48,000 crore.

According to the Ministry of Urban Development (2015), the purpose of building smart cities is to ‘drive economic growth and improve quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technologies that lead to Smart Outcomes’, and will result in comprehensive development that will create employment and enhance incomes for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, leading to inclusive cities.

Currently, the mission will cover 100 cities for a period of five years (FY 2015-16 to FY 2019-20) (MoUD 2015).

In the approach of the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities (MoUD 2015).

The conceptualization of Smart City, differs city-wise and country-wise, depending on the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents, through the four pillars of comprehensive development - institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure, adding on layers of ‘smartness’ (MoUD 2015).

Elements in a Smart City (MoUD 2015): The core infrastructure elements in a smart city would include: i.) ii.)

adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, P a g e | 19

iii.) sanitation, including solid waste management, iv.) efficient urban mobility and public transport, v.) affordable housing, especially for the poor, vi.) robust IT connectivity and digitalization, vii.) good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation, viii.) sustainable environment, ix.) safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and x.) health and education.

Strategies for Smart City (MoUD 2015): Area-based development strategies under the smart city mission includes: 1. City improvement (retrofitting) - Retrofitting refers to the addition of new technology or features to older systems.

2. City renewal (redevelopment) - a replacement of the existing built-up environment with a new layout, with enhanced infrastructure, using mixed land use and increased density.

Eg: Saifee Burhani Upliftment Project in Mumbai (also called the Bhendi Bazaar Project).

3. City extension (greenfield development) – creating new areas, introducing smart city solutions in a previously vacant area. Eg: GIFT City in Gujarat.

4. Pan-city development: applying city-wide smart city solutions. Eg: Intelligent traffic management system for the city or wastewater management.

Smart City Selection Process (MoUD 2015): ● State competition: Letter to all state governments to shortlist potential Smart Cities based on Stage – I criteria distributed across states by MoUD, based on the response from states, the list of potential 100 smart cities is announced. ● Each potential Smart City prepares its proposal assisted by a consultant and a handholding external agency. The proposal detailed the kind of smart city they want. Stage 2 proposals submitted. Evaluation by a panel of experts. Selected 20 cities declared – Round 1 smart cities. ● Selected cities set up SPV and start implementation of their SCP. Preparation of tenders etc. Other cities prepare to improve their proposal for next round of the challenge.

Current state of the Smart Cities Mission: Recently, the government announced the first 20 cities to get financial aid to be developed in the first stage of development under the Smart Cities Mission for 2015-16.

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The second round of the challenge opened on April 1st, 2016, allowing the remaining cities can submit their proposals by 30th June, 2016. On 21st April, 23 cities submitted their revised proposals through the ‘Fast Track’ mode. On 24th May 2016, 13 more cities were shortlisted through the fast track mode.

Mission Monitoring: This will be monitored at National Level where Apex Committee (AC) will be set up who will monitor the progress and release funds. At State level High powered steering committee will be set up and city level a smart city advisory forum will comprise the District collector and members from non-governmental organization (MoUD 2015).

Role of SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle): Every smart city will have its own SPV which will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. The projects will be executed through joint ventures, subsidiaries, public-private partnership (PPP), turnkey contracts etc. (MoUD 2015).

Financing of Smart Cities The Smart City Mission will be operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and the Central Government proposes to give a maximum of Rs. 48,000 crores over five years, i.e. on an average Rs. 100 crore per city, per year. The States/ULBs will have to put in an equal amount, on a matching basis for Smart City development. The government expects the SPVs to execute a good number of smart city schemes on a PPP basis, among other ways, to raise more funds (MoUD 2015).

Smart City Citizen Engagement Plan (MoUD 2015) Citizen consultation through MyGov.in: Discussion forums, tasks, online polls, public talks, and blogs were the tools used to get suggestions and feedback from citizens on their vision, mission and proposals on the Smart Cities Challenge.

Apart from MyGov.in, some of the other ways for citizen engagement included: ● ●

Visiting local schools and colleges Spreading information through Social Networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. ● Devising SMS Campaigns, voice messages, airtime on radio channels, advertisements in newspapers, pamphlets, hoardings, and the MyGov app. ● Some cities even created free Wi-Fi hotspots in crowded areas to provide access to citizens so that they could easily submit their suggestions.

“The Smart Cities Mission – MyGov collaboration is an unprecedented exercise in urban planning, which has transformed planning from a top-down centralized activity into a democratic consultative process, taking the citizens’ perspective as the foundation stone on which the city plan is built.” - Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, MyGov P a g e | 21

Smart City in Mumbai – Wadala, Lower Parel and BKC Mumbai is currently not part of the 100 cities selected for the Smart Cities Mission. The Shiv Sena was unhappy about this decision and said in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, “Mumbai is a smart city and instead of including it in its 'Smart City' project, the Centre should instead give it two to five thousand crore to complete the ongoing projects. The Centre should not think of it as charity to Mumbai, but as its right" (‘Sena seeks financial assistance’ 2016).

The MMRDA has plans for developing Lower Parel, Wadala and BKC into smart city areas.

Plans for Wadala: An internal study done by MMRDA some years ago showed that it can raise around Rs 1000 crores by exploiting land banks available in Wadala, so that future projects continue to get funds. In May 2010, it sold a 25,000 sqm plot there to the Lodha Group for Rs 4,053 crore for a period of 65 years. The idea was to have an international finance and business centre in Wadala on the lines of the Bandra-Kurla Complex. But what has emerged is a mix of business district and transportation centre. MMRDA has 139.87 hectares in Wadala, the additional area demanded includes a strip of land towards Mahul which can be converted into a recreational ground, and a portion of Anik Bus depot. The master plan for Wadala has four components: transport hub, development plans, smart city plans and Wadala truck terminus (Shaikh 2014).

Plans for Lower Parel: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had chalked out a mega plan and had selected Lower Parel for the pilot project. Apart from better civic and transport facilities, WiFi at four spots, SATIS (Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme) concept at six railway stations connecting Lower Parel and more than 60 lakh jobs were the highlights of the concept (‘BMC’s smart city focus’ 2015). Key issues highlighted in the area include: mobility, traffic, parking, footpath encroachments, governance and public toilets. Proposed solutions include: smart transportation, smart utilities, smart water supply/ energy, upgrading hard infrastructure, mobypark and better public toilets (Pinto 2015).

Plans for BKC: The MMRDA has undertaken the mission of transforming the business hub of the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai into the country’s first Smart Business District. The project cost is estimated at Rs. 60 crore and will be borne by MMRDA. It is expected to be completed by 2017 (MMRDA n.d.).

A brownfield (developing on existing facilities) Smart City project, Smart BKC, will include the following features:

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●

ICT initiatives - Municipal Wifi, Smart Parking, Video Analytics and citizen apps, smart building installations, smart kiosk information zone

●

Non ICT initiatives - E-buses - Hybrid and Pure Electric, Solar Power, Clean Mithi River, Low Carbon/Green & Clean, Fuel Zone

●

Urban design - Green buildings, Smart street furniture, online building plan approval, ease of doing business, Digital MMR, Green Parks and Gardens

IT Companies’ role in Smart City (Live Mint, June 2016): Companies

Their role in smart city Created a kiosk in Bangalore to file FIRs. It was successful, so there are plans to create more such kiosks

CISCO

Helping Andhra Pradesh digitize education and healthcare in the port city of Vishakhapatnam Preparing an ICT master plan for four smart cities - Dholera, Shendra, Manesar and Khushkhera Bhiwadi

Microsoft, IBM, CISCO, Dell

Showcase BKC as first brownfield (existing) smart city in India

Microsoft

Surat Municipal Corporation in Gujarat is partnering with Microsoft to transform Surat

Lodha Group

Supply 24 hour electricity and solar panels powering streetlights along with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution.

General Electric Co.

In Maharashtra, 100% water recycling and automated water metering and billing, ensuring transparency and zero water loss

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The Urban Poor of Mumbai According to the World Bank website, the urban poor live with many challenges and deprivations of various kinds. Some of these include: ● ● ● ● ●

“limited access to employment opportunities and income, inadequate and insecure housing and services, violent and unhealthy environments, little or no social protection mechanisms, and limited access to adequate health and education opportunities.”

In India, the Slum Area (Improvement and Clearance) Act of 1956 defines slums as, “areas where buildings are unfit for human habitation; or are by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, design of buildings, narrowness of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health and morals.”

Slums are widespread in the city of dreams - Mumbai. According to a 2010 Census study, around 62 per cent of Mumbai lives in slums (Jain 2010). According to MCGM, housing options for these slum dwellers include: chawls and patra chawls, zhopadpattis (squatter housing) and pavement dwellings (Urban basic services in slums doc). For our research, we mainly considered slum dwellers living in chawls and zhopadpattis.

Literature available on the digital divide in India suggests that despite a rapidly growing IT industry, access to ICTs remains low. The main reason for this is infrastructure, specifically electricity, IT penetration, teledensity and internet industry (Rao 2005).

Furthermore, the author puts across various definitions of ‘digital divide’: ●

“The gap that exists between those who have and those who do not have access to technology (telephones, computers, Internet access) and related services”

●

“The gap in opportunities experienced by those with limited accessibility to technology, especially the Internet. This includes accessibility limitations in social issues, cultural issues, disability issues, economic issues, learning issues etc.”

Criticisms and Consequences of Smart City ●

Smart City in a new avatar: Burte (2014) highlights that the Smart Cities idea was already announced back in 2012 by Kamal Nath, the urban development minister in the UPA government, as part of the now shutdown Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Furthermore, he specifically mentions, “The smart city idea is not the NDA government’s innovation, except for the magic number of 100.”

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●

Economic agendas: ‘Smart Cities’ is a concept brought by the European countries, suited to their needs and requirements; not to our requirements, where the basic needs aren’t met in the 21th century. It is part of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Europe’s developed nations’ strategy/agenda for international urban development, which in turn will make cities more competitive economically (Bhide & Burte 2015). The European Union has provided significant support by investing excessively in research and capacity building projects (Burte 2014).

●

Multiple and vague definitions: There is no single definition for smart city and it is more of an aspirational concept in urban planning. However, as per the government’s definition, ICT is one such “ingredient” that the city cannot be smart without (Bhide & Burte, 2015).

●

Problem of displacement as a consequence for building smart cities: The development of two projects: Amanora Park and Naya Raipur led to the displacement of many villages whose land these smart cities have been built on by private developers and state authority (Bhide & Burte 2015).

●

Possibilities of creating exclusion: It is possible that the establishment of such cities can lead to exclusion of the poor and working class through pricing. Although the mission claims to be ‘inclusive’, this is not reflected in the guidelines or process, in other words, in operations carried out by the government so far (Bhide & Burte 2015).

●

Opportunity for lobbying and advocacy: Since technology is considered to be the backbone for building smart cities, the IT and real estate companies are taking the lead in proposals being presented. For them, the smart cities industry is presenting an opportunity worth Rs. 100,000 crores. Additionally, urban local bodies and state governments are also going to gain from this through the public private partnerships (Bhide & Burte 2015).

●

The ‘smart’ solution is solving which problem exactly: The government has conveniently decided that ‘smartness’ is the solution without even identifying what the problems are in the first place. Any rational policy is designed by assessing problems in all their complexities and then devising a solution plan. However, it seems that a single authority in New Delhi has decided that smart cities is a single solution for economic growth of Indian cities (Bhide & Burte 2015). We first need to cater to basic issues rather than jumping to technologically-led solutions. “We cannot build and maintain potholes, it is absurd to aim for intelligent pavements” (Burte 2014). One skeptical observer of many presentations at the Future Cities Summit, Jonathan Rez of the University of New South Wales, suggests that “a smarter way” to build cities “might be for architects and urban planners to have psychologists and ethnographers on the team” (Poole 2014).

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Analysis of Data Welcome to the part of our research report where the real magic happens! In this chapter we are going to brief you on how we went about analysing our data. We know you’ve read the previous chapters and we’re hoping that they not only made sense to you but also sparked your interest in our research topic. For the purpose of this research, we carried out thematic analysis. Analysis, basically, means that we looked at our data from different angles and tried to derive meaning from all the information we gathered. The term we used to describe our method is ‘deduction’. It essentially means that we drew a conclusion based on the facts from our findings. Employing tactics like coding, we categorised our data into neat little groups, making it easier for further analysis.

Here, we took our interview transcripts and broke down the data they contained till we reached a point where the information we were left with was simple, concise and easy for everyone to understand. One way of breaking down the data was using codes. The codes gave us a baseline to place particular data under specific categories. Further, these codes were placed under one larger umbrella called ‘themes’; multiple codes gave rise to themes. These themes brought us closer to fulfilling the objective of our research and helping us reach a conclusion.

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Demographic Analysis In simple words, demography means ‘the study of human population and how they change’.

This demographic analysis will help the reader get an insight in the participants’ identity and also better understand individual backgrounds and politics.

In this study, we deliberately chose women from three different areas, namely Lower Parel, Wadala and BKC. These areas were chosen because of their relevance to the ‘Smart City’ plan thought out by the government. 10 women were interviewed from each area, which gave us a total of 30 interviews for analysis. Along with the interviews, we also conducted three FGDs in each area.

The areas we chose were culturally diverse, yet the socio-economic condition of all the participants was somewhat similar. They all belonged to the specific class of ‘urban poor’ women. While most women we interviewed were homemakers, some were doing multiple jobs and also some participants were completing their formal education.

Age

We divided the participants into different age groups, taking into consideration that different age groups will have different sets of needs and lifestyles.

Most participants we spoke to were mainly from the age groups of 36-50 years and 26-35 years.

People from the age group of 18-25 years were also involved in our research. There were comparatively less women above 51 years of age.

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Migration: Most of the women have been born and brought up in Mumbai. The rest of the women migrated due to them getting married in Mumbai. Some of these women have migrated from South India, UP and Shirdi.

Duration of Residence:

Based on the responses, we created categories for the number of years participants had been residing in their respective areas.

Most of them have been living there since birth and thus will have detailed insights about their area.

Level of Formal Education:

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Of the 16 participants that responded to this question, most of them have completed their secondary school. A major chunk is also currently pursuing graduate studies or have already finished graduation. Only 1 participant of the 16 is uneducated.

It implies that due to the lack of a formal education, a few participants missed out on opportunities of earning a better livelihood for sustenance.

Occupation:

Most of these women are mainly housewives and working women who do various jobs such as: a maid, personal secretary, account assistant, teacher and NGO worker.

Out of the rest, 17 % of these women have their own small business, namely: fish seller, beautician, tea seller, ladies’ tailor and vegetable seller. 17 % are currently studying.

Most of these women do two jobs, i.e. they are managing their homes and their work or studies.

One of our participants from Wadala said, “Main ghar mein khana pakati hoon, tiffin services jaisa kaam mera company mein chalu hain. Haan, woh canteen ke jaise, chai, tiffin, aisa mera wo kaam teen baje tak chalu rehta hain. Uske baad main chaar se che baje talak main silayi ka kaam karti hoon�.

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Religion

A majority of the women we spoke to were Hindus.

While the women we interviewed in Lower Parel and Wadala were all Hindus, the women we spoke with in BKC were mostly Muslims (everyone we interviewed in Bharat Nagar). The only Hindu respondents in BKC were from Valmiki Nagar.

Marital status

Having an understanding of our participant’s marital status gives us insights into the kind of life they lead, their priorities, etc.

70% of our participants are married.

A majority of the women we interviewed are married, indicating that daily household chores are probably their priority. Some of these women are homemakers while some are handling multiple jobs. Others are managing their office/business timings along with their husbands’ and children's timings.

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Out of the 70% married women, half of them have been married for between 11-20 years while an equal amount of women have been married for upto 10 years and between 21-25 years.

Out of which No of participant how many who are married responded 19

8

Most of our participants have a family size of 5 members, while a few come from families with 9 members staying together.

An average family size of 5-7 members per family was observed. In some cases, specifically those with more than 7-8 members, it was observed that the living space available in the house was less compared to the number of people staying in it.

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Language

A majority speak Hindi, followed by Marathi.

It was seen that the participants correlated their regional language with their caste, example: Hindu-Gujarati, Hindu-Marathi, etc., even though there might be a difference in the language they speak and the caste they belong to.

Husband’s / Father’s Occupation

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Most of these women’s husbands or fathers are doing some kind of job; in a private company, bank, civil line company, government servant, and supervisor at a construction site, a chappal shop, as a tailor in a boutique.

The rest are involved in their own business, such as: furniture business, taxi driver, vendor, general store owner, rickshaw driver.

We observed that in some participants’ families, the income was generated through daily wages, either through low paying jobs or by running small-scale businesses. Hence, for sustenance, two or more incomes are required.

A participant from Lower Parel said, “Humara aadmi mill mein bhi tha, do-teen saal takleef hua hain. Apun ko regular pagaar aata tha. Doosra Job aisa hi milega kya? Already woh tailor uske wajah doosra jagah pe kaam kiya. usme humlog ne adjust kiya. Phir ladki dusvi ke baadMummy papa itna kar rahe hain . toh main padhake madad kar sakti hain. Toh idhar udhar ladki ne paper check kiya, phir baravi ke baad tuition lene lagi ghar pe aise 10-12 bacche log aagaye”.

Depending on various factors including age, education and financial situation, we observed that while some women seemed ambitious and willing to put extra effort to make ends meet, some others depended on and adjusted with the family income for survival. Overall, in every area, it is more or less a hand-to-mouth situation. All of these women come from diverse backgrounds and this demographic information gave us a detailed view of their identities and lifestyles.

Moving on, in the next theme we will focus on the needs of our participants and also try to understand their opinions about the basic amenities provided.

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Current State Of The Three Areas The government states that the basic elements of a smart city include: adequate water supply, affordable housing, good governance, etc.; mentioned earlier in the literature review chapter.

In this section, we analyse the basic needs of our participants based on these core infrastructure smart city elements proposed by the government to better understand the current situation of living conditions of urban poor women.

Housing Shelter is an important basic need of human beings. It’s a person’s home that gives one the feeling of security. Every person dreams about having their own home. But today, it is difficult for this need to be met. So we went about to figure out the state of housing. We also tried to learn more about the women’s expectations about their homes.

Out of 30 participants, 25 have their own homes while 5 are living on rent.

See the following figure:-

With the help of our participants, we found some major issues regarding their homes.

Let’s take a look at Wadala. People are adjusting in their small homes. One of the participants told us, P a g e | 34

“स्वतःची हाय पण १० बाय१०. सगळीकडे सामान

हाय. पाच जणा​ांना नाय पुरत काहीच, ठे वायला पुरत नाय, मुलीांची दप्तर नाय, कक आमचे कपडे नाय”. (We have our own house, but it is only 10X10 square feet. There’re things everywhere.

There isn’t enough space for 5 people, no space to keep anything, neither for her daughter’s school bag nor their clothes).

Meanwhile, the participants who live in rented homes experience feelings of anxiety and irritation. One of the participants said,

“मेरा तो घर दरू हैं कल्याण मे, और अभी खाना तो पेट के ललए

लगता है , काम भी इधर हैं सब. मेरा आदमी टै क्सी चलाता है , तो रोजी-रोटी इधर हह है

तो इधर

हह रुकना पडता है ना, भाडा है ३000” (My house is in Kalyan but I work here to feed myself. My husband drives a taxi, so we earn a living here, so we have to stay here. The rent is 3000).

Lower Parel has been drastically changing over the last few years. Skyscrapers are taking the space of chawls. Most of our participants have their own homes in the area for many years but are still facing some or the other home-related issues. Two of our participants said that the builder has promised them that there chawls will go in redevelopment but unfortunately that hasn’t happened and hence they have almost given up hope to live in flats.

The big question now is whether the poor will manage to survive this phase of change in Lower Parel.

BKC also has some issues of housing. Due to lack of money, people are struggling to find suitable housing. One participant shared her experience,

" BMC आयी घर तोडके चली गयी. किर हमने झोपडी बनाई 5-6 महहने मे

आते है तोडते है , किर ५,०००-६००० का नुकसान. १,५०,००० में जोगेश्वरी में घर लमलेगा ये म्हाडा P a g e | 35

बोली पर बेटी का बायपास हुआ ना तो हम लोग के पास पैसा नही था” (The BMC came and demolished our home. We had to rebuild the hut. Every 5-6 months, they come and demolish it, costing us Rs. 5,000-6,000. MHADA told us we’d get a house in Jogeshwari for Rs. 1,50,000, but we didn’t have the money since we had spent it on our daughter’s bypass operation).

In BKC, monthly rent is Rs. 4,500-5,000; while in Wadala, rent is around Rs. 3,000-4,000.

Compared to these two areas, Lower Parel has a higher range in rent that is around Rs. 9,000 per month. This kind of rent is affordable for people now, but they are worried about their future, because after redevelopment the rent will become high. People who have their own homes are happy about the redevelopment because they will get more space, but at the same time, high cost of maintenance will become a problem for these urban poor people.

Water Supply In India, the Right to Water has been protected as a fundamental human right by the Indian Supreme Court as part of the Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution (Kothari 2006). This right is not reflected in the daily routine of the participants, most of whom have to resort to shared facilities: hand pumps in Wadala and taps in Lower Parel and BKC, both types of water sources being outside their houses. These sources are shared by 4-5 houses, each person taking turns for about 15-30 minutes to collect the required supply.

A resident of Shivshankar Nagar, Wadala says, in all of Mumbai, this is the only area which has hand pumps as a medium to access water, which she has been using for the past 8 years,

“…हैंड पांप से भरना पड़ता हैं. वह ज़्यादा तकलीि है .” (Filling from the hand pump is the hard part), showing the black mark on her palm from using the pump every day. She further mentions that only “जजसकी अभी है लसयत हैं, वह अभी मशीन लगाता हैं ” (Those who can afford it, get a machine installed), but that there is no provision for direct connection of municipality water to the taps in their houses.

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Another participant of the same area speaks of the water line to her house that has been damaged, which has led her to purchase water from a temple nearby, “मैं २०० रूपया महीना

दे ती हु​ुँ - मांहदर का पानी ” (I pay Rs. 200 a month - for water from th temple). Yet another participant speaks of the exorbitant expenses involved in fixing the pipe line connection to her house, “३०, ००० खचा​ा आहे पाय्पलाईन साठी - आमची हालत करून राहहले ” (Pipeline expenses are Rs. 30,000 - this has stressed us out).

The water supply in all three areas is not adequate. In Wadala, one resident who has recently installed a tank for storing the water she fills in “15-20 minutes”, says, “पूरा हदन यूज़ कर सकते

हैं ” (We can use it the whole day), and another participant reports that the supply is cut at 5

am, with no availability on Sundays. In Lower Parel, one resident receives water at a low pressure, as the supply pressure from the main line itself is low, and wishes for just half an hour of water supply, “आधा घांटा पानी लमलेगा ना, मेरे ललए अच्छा होगा ” (If we get water supply for half an hour, it would be good for me). On the other hand, another participant says that earlier there was no supply but since the election of Sachin Bhau Ahir of Shiv Sena, the pipe has been fixed, explaining the status of the water problem as “बरोबर आहे ” (it’s proper).

During summer, water cuts are more frequent, with availability limited to once in 2 days. In one of the few houses that has tap inside the house, the participant from Valmiki Nagar, BKC, says even though the timing is from 6 am to 8 am, the water pressure is less due to the water supply from the pipeline that is being cut. So she has had to install a motor in addition. While one resident of BKC mentions having to wait till all others in the queue have filled water as she is P a g e | 37

the last one to fill due to the location of her house, leading to her getting less supply at times, another resident has had to take the utensils to different places to fill drinking water as the supply she received was dirty. Surveys have been conducted in the area to check the hour-long supply of dirty water (from the only two hours of daily supply they get), in which the residents wash clothes and utensils, but nothing has happened for over a month now.

The quality of water is a concern for others as well, as they let the tap water flow for the first 10-15 minutes as black gutter water comes out. In monsoon, the owner of a beauty parlour in Wadala says, “२ महीने तक खराब पानी आया ” (For two months the water supplied was dirty) and nobody complained because “सबको पता था ना मतलब ऐसे बाररश-वीररश में खराब पानी

आता है ” (Everyone knows that during monsoon the water supplied is dirty). These problems are understood to be natural. Another resident of Wadala believes that “डॉक्टर को पैसा दे ने से

अच्छा है , बबसलेरी का पानी अच्छा आता है ” (Buying Bisleri water is better than going to the doctor) as the water stinks “गटर के जैसा ” (like the gutter).

Under a new BMC project, outlined in the budget 2016-17 for the problems like old and dilapidated water pipelines which have led to occurrence of pipeline bursts, leakages, leading to frequent repairs, a tunnel will be built between Chembur – Wadala and Wadala – Parel, “so that the area gets uninterrupted water supply”. This has been proposed to carry water from the Bhatsa Lake. Whether the supply will reach the slums in time or at all, is still confined to the linking of the pipelines to legal structures.

Electricity In this day and age, an electricity connection is essential for survival and is considered to be a basic necessity in India (Hindustan Times 2010). There are three major electricity providers in Mumbai: Tata Power, Reliance (western suburbs and parts of central suburbs till Vikhroli) and BEST (South Mumbai). Their charges differ for residential, commercial and industrial establishments. This section gives an insight into the existing electricity system, problems/issues faced and solutions adopted by our participants.

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Wadala: BEST is the electricity supplier in Wadala, and everyone has a meter placed outside their house.

Sometimes there are power cuts at night for 1-2 hours, but not regularly.

Their electricity bill amount varies from as low as Rs. 200 to as high as Rs. 2000, in some cases.

“बबल पण जाम येत अम्हाला २०००, १८०० रुपये

अस बबल येत” (We get bills worth Rs. 2000, Rs. 1800), says a participant. Majority of them pay on basis of their monthly usage/ meter reading, while others pay a fixed amount as part of their monthly house rent. Considering they come from low income groups, with other expenses to take care of such as house rent, for which they usually pay around Rs. 3000 itself, a bill of Rs. 1500-2000 is too steep for these women. However, only one participant from Wadala had

complained to BEST authorities about high billing. She says that, “एक्दाच गेल्ती. काहह नाय

बोलतात यूननट तुमचे जेवढॆ पडतात तशच लाइट येणार ना तशच तुम्हाला बबल येणार अस म्हणतो मग वापस आली मी ” (I had gone once. They don’t say anything; the bill reflects the

number of units consumed they say, so I came back). The BEST authorities took no action and the residents are left helpless, unaware of what more they can do to solve this situation.

Lower Parel: The electricity in Lower Parel is also supplied by BEST. One of the participants mentioned that there are power cuts in the area in summers only. On the contrary, Lower Parel is one of the Central Business Districts (CBD) and there is no mention of any power cuts in the offices/commercial buildings in the area in the local news.

On an average, the women in the area get a bill in the range of Rs. 800 to Rs. 2000. Some of the participants who would get a bill of around Rs. 1500-2000 had complained, but they weren’t entertained by the BEST officials, who gave the reason that the per unit cost had been increased. In order to provide uninterrupted power supply to the financial capital, the Maharashtra Energy Ministry plans to increase tariffs for those using more than 300 MW and find alternate power supply sources (Economic Times 2016). It’s difficult to know the effects of this increase on low income households, considering that for most people, the only way of judging their electricity usage is through the money paid every month and not the units of electricity used.

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Interestingly, one participant confused BEST with BSNL and upon asking her the reason of her lack of awareness she said, “सासरे बगतात मी नाही!” (My in-laws look after the bills, I don’t).

BKC: Women living in Valmiki Nagar and Bharat Nagar in BKC have taken power supply mainly from Reliance. Only one participant had a Tata Power connection. Most participants get 24*7 power supply, except for one participant who mentioned that there are power cuts in her house for 12 hours in the summer. While another participant, who lives in a hut, said that she faces 1-2 hours of power cut on a daily basis.

Their monthly electricity bill is in the range of Rs. 1000-4000, which is again too steep for these women. In order to relieve herself from the stress of paying high electricity bills, one of the participants changed her connection from Reliance to Tata. With Reliance, she was getting a bill of Rs. 2000 per month and now with Tata she has to pay Rs. 1000 per month on an average.

A major electricity-related concern for one participant from Valmiki Nagar, BKC is the issue of rampant power theft. According to her, the local shops in the area steal electricity from the residents.

Complaints were then made to Reliance about the situation, who tried to resolve the issue by removing all illegal wires. But this didn’t stop the thieves from getting back to their act and they soon installed new wires every time Reliance fixed the problem. This has become a vicious cycle of events for the residents in Valmiki Nagar who land up paying high bills for electricity being used by the local shopkeepers in the area. This also not the first theft case recorded

by Reliance. Last year, there were 489 such cases recorded and dealt with by the police and Reliance authorities (Mumbai Mirror 2015). It then becomes Reliance’s responsibility to follow-up with these complaints or set up a better system that manages thefts, if they are so rampant.

Overall, women in Wadala, Lower Parel and BKC pay heavy bill amounts for electricity, experience few power cuts and are victims of electricity thefts. They themselves have to take action to solve these issues and get little support from the suppliers or the police.

Sanitation According to the World Health Organisation’s official website, "Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces." It P a g e | 40

further goes on to state that sanitation also refers to "the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and wastewater disposal."

So, since the WHO has stressed that "Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease worldwide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities", it is vital that a Smart Mumbai City looks to improve the quality of sanitation, which in turn will significantly improve Mumbaikars' standard of living.

Maintenance of hygienic conditions in a community is a basic necessity of life. In our study concerning sanitation, we focused mainly on garbage disposal and toilets.

Toilet facilities When asked about the toilet sanitation facilities in their respective surroundings, we got some interesting responses from our participants.

In some cases at Wadala, 4 out of 10 participants, who didn’t have toilets at home, told us that the closest toilet was far from their home and so they were hesitant on using it at night as the location of the toilet was poorly-lit and they felt unsafe. While describing the situation a participant told us,

“पण आपण ला​ांब राह्तो सांडसापासुन. बाककच्या​ांना होत असेल काहहतरी. मी नाही जात 11-12

वाजत. बाकीचे जातात. एकटी ने नाय कोणी सांगतीने असले तर जाते.” (But we stay far from the toilet. Others probably do something about this. I don’t go after 11-12pm. Others do. I don’t go alone, I go only if I have company).

It was also seen that women in this area didn’t feel safe. Also cases of eve teasing and harassment of women are frequent in the vicinity. So, these women avoid going to the toilet once it gets dark.

While at mornings, toilets are not vacant as many people use them at the same time. This poses a problem to individuals facing health issues like diarrhea and so on. Also, they pay 30-50 rupees on an average each month for a private cleaner to get the toilets cleaned, irrespective of whether the cleaning has to be taken care of by the BMC or not. Cleanliness of toilets becomes a major trouble during rains as the gutters nearby get flooded and the contaminated water spreads all over the surroundings. .

A participant at Wadala told us, “खूप ला​ांब जावां लागतां. पाऊस पडला तर खूपच प्रॉब्लेम होतो.

इकडे गटर भरतात, एवढां एवढां पाणी असतां त्यातुन जावां लागतां..तरी पण पटापट गेलो तर लगेच

येतो 2,3 लमननटां तेवढां पण पावसातुन जायचां म्हणजे काय एक तर गल्ली छोटी आहे छ्त्री पण नाही नेऊ शकत.” (I have to go a long way. If it rains then it becomes very problematic. The

gutter here fills up to great heights and I have to pass through it… Even so I go there for only 2-3 P a g e | 41

minutes; to take an umbrella also becomes difficult when it’s raining because the lanes are too narrow).

To overcome such problems groups of residents have managed to build their own common toilets specific to their area by contributing their money and efforts. These toilets are locked and the keys are made available to the people of that respective group. Moreover, a fee is taken separately each month for access to these toilets. It was seen that cleanliness, safety and accessibility are major problems faced by this vicinity.

While in Lower Parel, it was seen that a certain number of houses share a toilet example; 2-5 houses share a toilet, one floor shares a toilet. Also, few people have their own toilets at home.

The common toilets are clean, in most cases, as they pay a certain amount to a private cleaner each month to get it cleaned. The situation is somewhat similar to that in Wadala. They said to have complained about unclean toilets to the BMC. In some places, the BMC did come and clear the filth while in some others, all their complaints have gone in vain and so they themselves have hired a cleaner.

When asked whether the BMC sends a cleaner or they hired one on their own, a participant

said, “नाही, आम्ही ठरवलां आहे ”(No, we have decided amongst ourselves). Another participant said, “ नहीां..नहीां वो नहीां , हमनें रखा उनको.” (No, no they don’t (send a cleaner); we have hired them (private cleaners)).

Major issue faced by the people of this area is cleanliness while the toilets are accessible and also safe to use.

A situation similar to that in Lower Parel was seen in BKC (Bharat Nagar). Some people have constructed toilets in their homes due to issues of cleanliness and accessibility while some others share a common toilet among a certain number of houses. As a part of Bharat Nagar has been redeveloped by a builder, the other areas in Bharat nagar are also being talked about for redevelopment. Due to this, when the residents have complained to the BMC about the toilets not being cleaned, the BMC has redirected them to the builder.

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A participant in Bharat Nagar told us, “आता हैं, वो...गवमेंट को बोलेंगे तो वो बोलते हैं आप लोग

को बबल्डर के पास जाना हैं. बबल्डर के पास जायेंगे तो बबल्डर बोलता हैं गवमेंट.” (The cleaner comes, he… If we tell the government then they tell us to go to the builder. When we go to the builder, the builder asks us to go the government).

Hence, the residents have resorted to hiring a cleaner and paying a particular amount each month to get the toilets cleaned. In some cases, the new tenants only pay for using the toilets.

A number of residents have built their own toilets accessible only to some people (they have keys) and they also have their own water tanks for supply.

Problems faced by the populace of this area, just like Lower Parel, is unclean toilets and disregard shown by the BMC to provide regular clean-up.

The overall condition of the toilets was not good as the most important need, that is sanitation, was being ignored by the government authorities. Some common issues faced by all the participants were that toilets were being infrequently cleaned, the water supply was extremely low and, therefore, they had to bring their own buckets of water to the toilet. A number of residents chose to combat these problems through various ways such as hiring private cleaners, contributing in groups to build their own toilets, installing tanks to for a regular supply of water and lastly, getting their private toilets built.

Garbage and Wastewater Disposal Now let’s have a look at the state of garbage and wastewater disposal in Wadala, Lower Parel and BKC: In Wadala and Lower Parel, the main problem is related to poor wastewater management facilities. The gutters often get clogged during the monsoons, which leads to the horrible problem of gutter water entering people's houses. It doesn't help that people's houses lie at a low level, close to the gutter. Due to this problem, one participant increased the height of her house, so she now doesn't have water entering her home; “अलभ नहह आता। हम लोग ने ऊञ्चा

ककया ” ((The water) doesn’t enter anymore. We increased the height (of the house)). In spite of this drastic measure, she says that her home returns to the same low level every 5 years, and so its height has to be increased again.

She mentions that this is a tactic employed by many people in her area. Water clogging was also an issue mentioned by one P a g e | 43

participant in Bharat Nagar, BKC, while another BKC participant from Valmiki Nagar mentioned that the gutter is packed with tiles, creating water clogging and raising a stink.

Other issues resulting from the gutters in Wadala and Lower Parel are the mosquitoes they breed, especially during the monsoons. One participant mentioned that the gutter stinks, while another mentioned that not only have children fallen in the gutter, but there is also an icecream vendor who dumps his stall's wastewater into the gutter.

Garbage disposal is a major problem in BKC.

”झोपडपट्टी में तो साफ़-सिाई ऐसी ही होती है ” (This is always the state of cleanliness in slums), said a participant from Valmiki Nagar. Her house is next to a dumping area, so people dump their garbage there regularly, refusing to stop since they don't see anything wrong with it.

There is a big dustbin kept on the main road in Bharat Nagar, which is regularly emptied by the BMC. The problem is they don't go into the narrow lanes and collect garbage from each

person's door or even each area within Bharat Nagar. They just stand on the main road and shout to the people, telling them to bring over their garbage. This results in garbage piles all over Bharat Nagar, which breed mosquitoes, leading to a dengue problem. Another participant mentioned that the stink from the piled-up garbage is so bad during the monsoons that it could make a person throw up. So the residents have to either take this garbage to the main street themselves or, as one participant mentioned, hire a very poor man and pay him 5 rupees to take the area's garbage to the main road. This is a tactic also employed by residents of Wadala and Lower Parel, as they pay a private person to clean their garbage or their gutters. Talking

about the BMC workers, a Wadala participant said, “यहा पर आते हह नही इधर। २-३ बार

बुलाया। हम लोग वह आद्मी को बुलाता है , उस्को १५०-२०० रुपपया दे कर साफ़ कवा​ाता है ।” (They

don’t come to this place. We’ve called them 2-3 times. We call that man, pay him 150-200 rupees and get it cleaned).

The residents of these areas have to face all these sanitation problems because the BMC rarely pays heed to their complaints. In some instances, the BMC only comes and cleans the gutters and garbage when called upon by the residents, when the problem is already very bad. One P a g e | 44

participant mentioned that the BMC came for cleaning duty only after 2-3 successive calls; they never listen to them on the first call. In Wadala, a participant mentioned that the BMC comes around a few times and puts medicine in the gutter, but never actually cleans it. Therefore, she took matters into her own hands and formed a group to get the gutters cleaned. Another participant from Wadala said, "वोह लोग ध्यान नहीां दे ते. खाली महीने के तारीख पे बरोबर पैसा

लेने के ललए आएांगे " (They don’t pay close attention (to what they’re doing). They only come on

time every month to get paid). Here, she's referring to the fact that BMC workers collect 20 rupees from them whenever they decide to clean the gutters, only after called upon.

This is the sorry state of affairs as far as garbage and wastewater disposal is concerned in Wadala, Lower Parel and BKC. The gutters are in an abysmal state and the garbage in the areas is rarely taken care of. The BMC doesn't deal with these problems effectively and is rarely receptive to the people's complaints.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized access to sanitation as a human right. It’s time this right is recognized by the city’s civic bodies too.

Safety and Security Safety and security is a condition of being free from harm and risk, which is a quality or state of being free from danger. Safety is one of our primary needs. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, he has mentioned the necessity of safety and security in an individual’s life (Maslow A., 1943).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

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The ‘safety’ need in Maslow’s hierarchy refers to the need for security and protection. When we have our physiological needs for food and water met, our safety needs dominate our behaviour.

From a total of 30 women whom we interviewed, 17% are students, 30% are homemakers and 53% are earning women.

Out of all the participants, 40% feel unsafe in their area.

The feeling of being safe and secure in the city (and area) a person is living in, is a very important factor in maintaining the mental and physical well-being of that individual. While making the city a ‘smart city’, it is essential to focus on whether the city (and area) is safe for the people living there. In our small study, we tried to know if our participants, who are homemakers, workers and students, living in the three areas; namely Lower Parel, BKC and Wadala, targeted by the government (for a smart city), felt safe in their areas or not. Let’s shed some light on different reasons as to why these women felt unsafe.

Reasons for feeling unsafe: First, let’s analyse the situation in Wadala. When asked if they felt safe in their area, we got some interesting responses from our participants:

“स्काय वोक पे लाईट नही गदा ल ु े रे हेते हे १० के बाद कोई भी आता नही वहासे P a g e | 46

मुझे सेि तो नही लगता ”. “कम्लेन करायला पण घाबररयेत माणस ”. (There’s no proper lighting for the skywalk. No one uses it after 10pm, due to the presence of drug addicts. I don’t feel safe. People get scared to even complain).

There are frequent occurrences of eve-teasing too. On this topic, one of our participants shared an experience from her friend’s life.

“माझ्या मैबरणीला नतकडच्या मुला​ांचा अनुभव आला. ते बाईक वरून

नतचा खूप पाठलाग करत होते त्यामुळे घाबरून ती काही हदवस घरी पण नाय गेली माझ्याच घरी राहहली” (My friend had a bad experience in her area. Some boys on a bike followed her, so she

got so scared that she didn’t even go home and stayed at my place instead).

Due to this scary atmosphere, one participant told us that to ensure the safety of her daughter because of unsafe conditions in the area, she took up a job as a maid which allowed her to get a job in the same locality so she could also come quickly home if something happens. Later she told us about an incident that happened in her surroundings that left us shocked and disgusted.

Three years ago, a 5 year old girl was abducted while she was playing, raped and then mercilessly killed. People living there protested against this. Meanwhile, robberies are also frequent in this area. One of our participants also told us that the area was unsafe even in the afternoons. She also said;

“मागे एक इथे माणूस आलेला प्यायला पाणी मागगतले व घरातल्या बाईवर मागून

हल्ला केला परां तु शेजाया​ानमुळे वाचली ती ” (In this area, a man had come asking for water.

When a woman took him to her house, he tried to kill her as soon as she turned to fetch him water. She was saved due to a neighbour witnessing the situation).

Further on, the situation seemed a little different in Lower Parel and BKC. According to participants, Lower Parel feels safe because the residents live together in a chawl system which has a close structure. One of our participants mentioned, “Whenever there is any roadside accident happens people gather around. We are safe because we live in a chawl system”. We realized that the surroundings felt safe because it is a close-knit community. But a participant told us that even though it feels safe within the area, the condition outside the vicinity doesn’t feel the same. She said,

“बाहे र माणांस काय करतील हे सा​ांगता येत नाही

कधी मारून टाकतील समजणार पण नाय म्हणून बाहे र जाताना नवया​ालाच नेहते” P a g e | 47

(What men will do outside cannot be predicted. When they will kill us, we wont even be aware of it. So while going outside, I take my husband with me).

Meanwhile, a varied situation was seen in BKC,

“रारीची बाहे र खूप शा​ांतात होते त्यामुळे जेवण बनवून

गप खाऊन घरीच बसायचां” (The atmosphere outside at night is unsettling, that’s why we prefer to just have dinner and stay at home).

Another participant said,

“ मुस्लीम हे ईलसलीये हमारे मै जो बांधन है वो िॉलो करते

है ना, ईलसलीये मै सेि हु” (We are Muslim, we follow the restrictions of our community, so I am safe).

Meanwhile, another participant told us,

“मै ककसीको बैठने नही दे ती हू दरवाजे मै क्युकी मेरी बेटी १८ साल कक हुई है ” (I don’t let anyone sit near my door because my daughter has turned 18 years old).

And the other woman said,

“सेि नही ईलसलीये ग्रुप मै हह जाती हु” (It’s not safe, that’s why I go with other people in groups).

Apart from feeling safe/unsafe in their areas, we saw a general fear of travelling that was induced among these women. Some participants gave the excuse of their religion, while the others of their gender. All these participants seemed to be facing the same situation in their own unique way, be it working women, homemakers or students.

All these urban poor women who live in financially unstable conditions, those who don’t splurge money unnecessarily, prioritize their needs, emphasize on saving money and live in a typical social structure, where they have no other choice but to step out and help fulfill the monetary needs of the family. Some took up their jobs fearlessly, while some others settled for jobs close-by to avoid travelling. Some opted for jobs with convenient timings, while some brought along their husband, son, father and so on to keep them company. Meanwhile, a few chose to limit themselves and stay at home because of their restrictions or fear associated with mobility in the city.

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Education The next basic need we will focus on is education. The pathway to human- development goes through the lanes of education. “By education I mean an- all round drawing out of the best in child and man- body, mind and spirit. Literacy is not the end of education or even the beginning.” –M. K. Gandhi[ Kumar ] So, the main goal of education is to make a person efficient, skilful and self-dependent. Basic education is a foundation of developing knowledge and skills so as to meet our needs and fasten job opportunities for a better future. Thus, this code analyses the working of and issues in the quality of basic education in our selected areas so as to view the way in which our education system functions. Let’s shed some light on the matter.

These are the responses from our participants in Wadala: most of the participants were aware of educational institutions in their areas as well as in nearby areas. The institutions they mentioned were Vidyalankar Technical College, SIWS College, BMC schools, Nirmal School, Ambedkar College, WSC, MKS school and a few private nurseries. This is either due to the participants themselves, or their kids, having studied in those institutions. One participant responded, ‘जाते नतथ कोरबाला’, indicating that there is a college in Korbala in which her daughter is studying. It gives an insight that she wants her daughter to be educated even though she is aware neither of her the field of education nor the name of the institution. She’s not alone in her aspiration for educating her child. Other Wadala participants also want their kids to get a good education, so much so that one participant enrolled her daughter into extra classes, costing Rs. 250 per month which is a big amount for her. One participant mentioned that two of her kids studied till the 7th standard in a BMC school. Later, she enrolled them into a private school for secondary education as the BMC school in her area is only till 7th grade.

This shows the difficulty in providing secondary education to her children.

In Lower Parel, participants responded differently. A participant was upset that her son couldn’t communicate in English in spite of attending an English medium school, “इनके स्कूल में इांजललश

टॉककांग नहीां होता हैं. ये लोग नहीां करपाते. इांजललश मीडडयम में रह कर इांजललश टॉककांग ही नहीां हैं ” (They don’t converse in English at school. They can’t do so. Even though they study in an English medium school, they don’t speak in English). Also, she can’t afford to change her son’s school,

“एडलमशन नहीां लमलता. पहले ५०,००० डोनेशन दे ने पर भी नहीां लमलता था ” (We don’t get admission. Earlier, even on giving a donation of Rs. 50,000, admission wasn’t given). She feels that instead of paying the donation, she could use that money for her son’s further education,

”५०,००० उनको दे ने से अच्छा बैंक में डालेगा तोह आगे के एजुकेशन में काम आएगा ” (Instead of P a g e | 49

giving a donation of Rs. 50,000, it’s better to put that money in a bank, as it could be used for (my son’s) further education). In another case, one participant is struggling with getting her caste certificate issued to avail the benefits of subsidised education. In order to get the certificate, she requires 50 years of proof of staying in the city, which she doesn’t have. To make matters worse, the broker (who gets admissions done) is asking for Rs. 10,000 to get her grandson admitted in the school. She feels helpless, as neither is she getting any help from government officials to expedite her caste certificate issue process, nor can she afford to pay extra money for her grandson’s admission.

One participant said schools and colleges are located in close proximity and are good. But the fees and facilities provided by those schools and colleges have high fee structure. As we look at our demographic data, we can see that Lower Parel has more working females compared to Wadala and BKC. The reason may be because they want to be financially capable of supporting the household expenses and to seek good education facilities.

Now let’s move on to BKC. All types of schools are present closeby, such as a municipality school, Cardinal School, Urdu medium school, Gandhi Nagar School, etc. One participant had a good experience with a school and college facility provided to her but also mentioned, “डी.एड.

बी.एड. करना है तो मैंने बोली ठीक है क्युकी आर्टास कॉमसा दोनों है क्युकी १ बच्ची science में पढ़ रही. उसका हमलोग ज़्यादा खचा नहीां उठा पाती |” (If (she) wants to do D.Ed., B.Ed., it is fine, because there’s both arts and commerce; because one daughter is studying science, we can barely afford the expenses needed to educate her). It is upsetting to see that due to unaffordability, both her younger daughters have to compromise over their aspirations.

Another residents also notes that, “लडककयों पे ज़्यादा ध्यान नही दे सकते क्योंकक ज़्यादातर

फ़ैलमली ऐसे ही है ।” (Can’t pay much attention to girls’ (education) because that’s the way most families (raise their girls)). She also mentions that affordability leads to this gender discrimination.

Most participants wanted their kids to seek knowledge from English medium schools such as Father Agnel and Cardinal School. Due to lack of money for paying their high-structured fees and the donation, they send them to municipality schools.

One of the main reasons for not getting admission in English Medium schools according to one participant was, “ईस्ट के बच्चे है ” (They are kids from the east). Kids from Bandra East are not entertained in Bandra West schools. There are two ways of getting admission in the West: in the direct way, they interview parents and kids; if you pass, then you have to pay Rs. 4500 as P a g e | 50

fees and donation. The indirect way is through a broker, by paying Rs. 25,000-50,000 as donation.

Overall in Wadala, the major issues were with respect to government schools as they only provide education till primary level and for secondary education they have to enrol in private schools, which increases the cost of education. Whereas in Lower Parel, the issues were donations demanded by institutions, high fees structures and lack of support from the government in providing caste certificates.

In BKC, the major issues faced are unaffordability of fees demanded by the institutes, area discrimination and politics played by civic bodies. All these factors make it difficult for our participants to seek education for their children in an easy way.

Health The World Health Organization defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (1948). According to the WHO, the healthy or unhealthy profile of a person depends on external factors such as income and social status, education and literacy, working condition, and personal health practices.

Health is an integral part of our lives and is correlated with many other parameters around us.

The provision of high-quality, affordable health care services is an increasingly difficult challenge. So it’s important to give a high level of consideration to this basic need of ours. A city is an “active city” only when the citizens of the city are healthy. Let’s have a look at Mumbai; is it an active city?

To answer this question, let’s have a look at the responses we collected from the three areas we focused on: Wadala, BKC and Lower Parel.

We looked at the information gathered in terms of the medical institutions people visited: hospitals, specialist clinics/polyclinics, local clinics and other medical amenities available locally.

Each category addresses a unique aspect of Mumbai’s health care system, and the role played by that particular medical institution.

The first category is hospitals: All the participants from Wadala, BKC and Lower Parel prefer visiting government hospitals such as J.J, KEM, Wadia and municipality (BMC) hospitals during major sickness, such as dengue, malaria or typhoid. These hospitals are located in close proximity and the treatment provided is affordable, of good quality and is easily accessible even during emergencies, with proper delivery organization. One participant from Wadala liked the treatment provided by Wadia hospital, as the staff was very cordial and treated her son well, P a g e | 51

who was suffering from blood cancer. It’s good to see that hospitals are putting robust effort in treating people in the best possible way, while also developing a rapport with their patients.

Next, we focus on specialist clinics/ polyclinics: The participants from Wadala and BKC visit specialists only during minor sickness like fever, cold and cough. Whereas in Lower Parel, women generally prefer specialists for their kids, as they’re located close-by. The problem is that these specialists have high charges even for routine check-ups, so only the children are referred to them, not the entire family. One participant from Wadala had to shift from a government hospital to a private specialist due to an increase in the number of patients in the government hospital and the limited resources available for them.

Let’s now focus on local clinics: Wadala and BKC have a good amount of local clinics. One participant from Wadala mentioned an issue she had with doctors in local clinics, saying,

“डॉक्टर है इधर बहुत लेककन एक भी ऐसा नहीां की, हमारा, हम कैसे उधर Side पे रहते थे न पहले,

तोह MBBS डॉक्टर नहीां है …अच्छे डडग्री वाले डॉक्टर होंगे तो उन्हें सब अछा समझता है िटाक से. नहीां तोह प्रॉब्लम एक रहता है और धुनते है अलग. ऐसा होता है ” (There are several doctors here but none of them have an MBBS degree. Doctors with good degrees understand better and quicker. The diagnoses of the other doctors are incorrect). These clinics have fixed timings and are not accessible during emergencies. On the upside, local clinics are affordable; on an average, Rs. 30 for a normal check-up and Rs. 50 for an injection. Medicines are mostly prescribed from medical stores outside.

The final category is that of other medical amenitites available locally: In Wadala, polio vaccines are provided door-to-door, along with creating awareness about different vaccinations, every 6 months. There is a Reliance vehicle in the area that carries out check-ups for people who need it, although the functioning of this vehicle isn’t fully known to the participants. In BKC, an ambulance facility is made available for the local people, along with affordable treatment and medicines.

Participants in both Wadala and BKC have major concerns with the dirty water supply and garbage disposal in their areas. These factors have increased the rate of people falling sick with vomiting, dengue, malaria, etc.

Overall, the circumstances observed are more or less similar in all the three areas. Wadala and BKC have major problems of garbage disposal and unhygienic water supply, leading to the adverse condition of sickness. Since local clinics have improper functioning, lack of accessibility due to time restrictions and uncertified doctors giving ineffective treatments, our participants are left with no other option but to visit hospitals. In Lower Parel, participants had proper living P a g e | 52

conditions and health care services and government hospitals are located close-by, so it is very convenient for them during emergencies.

This brings us back to the question: is Mumbai an active city? Well, certainly not. It needs improvements before it can become a healthy city. There is a huge need for safe water, sanitation and hygiene, along with well-trained and skilled doctors. Only then will the current scenario of such communities change, giving Mumbai the tag of being an “active city”.

Livelihood As the government makes huge promises of a smart city using technology, women in these areas have completely different needs. They try very hard to manage both, the household chores and their workplace tasks. The need to perform these dual roles is because of the financial constraints they face in their daily lives. A lot of them are not left with any choice but to manage these multiple responsibilities.

In Wadala, one woman’s situation, her husband being a carpenter and she having to take care of three children, has led to insufficient household income. Hence, she decided to sell her gold earrings and start a beauty parlour of her own. She says, “फ़ीस दे ना पडा |मेरे पास सोने की

अांगूठी थी - वो मैने बेचा कफ़र मैने सीखा” (I had to pay the fees. I had a gold ring which I sold to learn the course. ) But this does not only have a negative side to it; some women feel empowered when they go out to work and meet new people. One woman in Lower Parel had the following to say about her tailoring job at an NGO named Prayas, “इसका तोह लाइि हैं, फ्यूचर हैं, नॉलेज लमलता हैं.

घर पे बैठ के, इधर पगार अच्छा लमलेगा, लेककन बाहर ननकलेगा तोह इतना नॉलेज बढ़े गा. घर पे बैठेगा तोह नॉलेज नहीां लमलेगा ना ” (This (job) has a life, a future, and you gain knowledge from it. Working from home, I can get a good salary, but going out to work increases your knowledge. You won’t get any knowledge sitting at home).

While speaking to these people, we realised that only when a woman turns 40 does she start to give time for herself, since she has completed most of her responsibilities of being a good daughter, wife, daughter-in-law and mother. Their needs, dreams and aspirations often become secondary between 25-36 years of age. A 32 year-old woman from Lower Parel, who works at Prayas NGO, says, “और आगे लभ जाने का, बहुत करना है . अलभ बच्चालोग छोटा है तोह

नहीां....नहीां तोह मैं और आगे जाना चाहती हूुँ.

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जो जेल में महहला हैं, मैं आगे करना चाहती हूुँ. ” (I want to go even further, there’s a lot I want to do. Right now, the kids are young, so I can’t…..otherwise I want to go even further. I want to better the lives of women inmates).

Women in all these three areas were engaged with some kind of activity outside their home, because of lack of finance. A proper job and skill training for these women would be really helpful to them and their families. Also, provide the kind of jobs that have flexible timings, are near their locality and have work pressure wherein women are able to manage both the dual roles and feel independent at the same time. There was one woman whose husband earned a sufficient amount of Rs. 6,000-7,000 per month. Even though her husband earned a sufficient amount, the lady chose fishing as her occupation. Fishing was taught to her by her parents when she was a child, a skill that she never forgot. She continued after marriage, even though her business fluctuated and kept making profit and loss. Her daughter says, “सुबह तोह मम्मी

मच्छी का धन्दा करती है ना. सुबह चले जाती है , ६ बजे.” (My mother is engaged in her fishing business in the morning. She goes to work at 6 in the morning).

In our society, most women shuffle between their role and a man’s role, which is slowly changing in middle class but among the urban poor it’s very far off.

There is a lot of job opportunities in Lower Parel because it’s one of the main financial hubs of Mumbai where most of the offices are located – a lot of people living in chawls struggle to get a job in their own area, one woman says, “लेडीझ ला जॉब दे वू शकता, जेन्र्टस ला का जॉब दे वू

शकता नाही?”. (Women can get jobs, why can’t men get them?). Then, speaking about a builder nearby, Lodha, who don’t consider them for jobs but also have a problem with them starting their own business, “आप लोग जॉब नहीां दें गे तोह यही करें गे ना.....बाकी क्या कर सकते

हैं ” (If you don’t give us jobs then we don’t have any choice but to do this (start our own business)… what else can we do?).

Younger women in these are definitely getting educated by doing law or computer science but elderly woman above 25 years are struggling to get good skilled jobs. Even coming together as a community wherein women come and work together in these areas would benefit them immensely – creating a balance in their work timings and providing finance, for instance one of the problems for women in Wadala was - “क्युकी मेरा बच्चा पहले छोटा था तोह मुझे बाहर जाने

के ललए नहीां लमलता था काम पे. मैं ऐसे ही घर में थोड़ा बहुत, थोड़ा बहुत करती थी.” (Earlier, due

to how young my kid was, I couldn’t go out to work. I just used to work a little from home). This participant now sells tea to offices and also does silai work part-time, as she still can’t leave her kid alone. He’s grown up now but is afraid of staying alone at home. Hence, understanding P a g e | 54

their lifestyle of working round the clock and performing dual roles by these women would be reduced.

Transport Systems Women in all three areas – Lower Parel, BKC and Wadala travel frequently and independently because of the easy modes of transport and different services provided in the city, and good connectivity from one location to another.

In Lower Parel, out of ten women, one woman preferred to commute via private buses provided by her company, while four other women preferred to walk or commute by train/buses, though they had minor issues with traffic during peak hours, and pollution. Women who travelled frequently by public transport had no problems and felt the commute was easy because they had to travel to nearby areas such as Bandra and Churchgate, wherein the train frequency is known to be good.

BKC is an area that has recently been developed into a business hub. Women in Bharat Nagar really favoured the BKC roads that are wide and clean compared to the roads in their own area, which were full of potholes, uneven and very crowded. Even though BKC has developed into this financial hub, the government has failed to provide resources to commute to that area. It is not planned by the government. It is a big failure of the government to fail to provide the right amenities for frequent office-goers to BKC. During our visit to BKC, we were forced into a rickshaw with 5 people, each one of us were charged Rs. 15, amounting to a total of Rs. 75 for a short distance. Therefore, office-goers preferred BEST buses, that charge only Rs. 10 for the same distance, while being able to sit comfortably. The autorickshaw system in Bandra East is such that they have lot of share autos, where some auto drivers do not have licenses and auto conditions are not very good. While for some people in Bharat Nagar, travelling by rickshaw was a little expensive and so they preferred to travel by cheaper modes of transport - which were trains or buses, although some of them had never travelled by trains before. One woman in Bharat Nagar said, “ररक्शा से नहीां, इतने बड़े-बड़े बबल पड़ते हैं. बस से जाते हैं, ट्रै न से जाते हैं ” (Not by rickshaw, the fare is too much. We either travel by bus or by train).

It was interesting to see how women from these groups chose rickshaw services when accompanied by little children, because of the overwhelming crowd in trains and buses. One woman in BKC said, “बस नहीां जमती है ना, इसललए. छोटी बच्ची है ना अभी. अकेले रहते है तोह

बस से जाते है ” ((I don’t travel by) bus, as it doesn’t suit me. I have a little daughter now. We travel by bus only when we’re alone).

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The Mumbai Monorail in Wadala is an example of failed planning. In the news, it was recently said, ‘Mumbai Monorail loses Rs 8.5 lakh every day’ (The Times Of India, 2016). The reason for this loss is that people who stay close to Wadala, as well as other commuters from the city, don’t utilise this mode of transport. People in Wadala travel frequently by bus service from their area to Wadala station (Harbour line), or directly by bus, to get to Dadar. They wish that someday the monorail will halt at Dadar station (Chembur to Jacob circle – planned route wherein we will see Dadar station in the next two years).

Another instance of failed planning is the skywalk in Wadala. Women use the skywalk minimally because a lack of proper lighting makes them feel unsafe. Therefore, they have to depend on family members to take them home after a particular time at night. Regarding traffic, a woman in Wadala notes, “कैसा ट्रै कफ़क बढे गा तो बिज बा​ांधते है ... तो ट्रै कफ़क उल्टा बढता ही है ... गाडडयाुँ

जजतनी बढे गी उतना ट्रै कफ़क बढे गा ” (When the traffic increases they construct bridges… this only causes more traffic… with increase in the number of vehicles, the traffic increases).

In Lower Parel, the transport systems are good and women can travel independently because of nearby stations and bus services. In BKC, the rickshaw services from Bandra East are much unorganized, even though the government has made a planned area, but the route to that area is time-consuming and expensive for most office-goers. While in Wadala, people are disappointed with the lack of connectivity the monorail has to offer and are waiting patiently for a new monorail link from Chembur to Jacob circle.

Good Governance In BKC, a Bharat Nagar resident tells of the demolishment of a municipality school by MHADA,

“यहा ककलसको प्रायवेट (स्कूल) मे पढाने की कैपेलसटी नही है |” (People here can’t afford to send their children to private schools). The Urban Development Department has approved of the conversion of the 8.8 acre transit camp into a colony for high-income individuals.

The defence of this move that will displace 800 families living there is the money raised from constructing “apartments with state-of-the-art amenities” (Thakkar 2016) will be used to “build low-income tenements in other areas'' (Nair 2016).

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With the plan being implemented in this top-down manner of authorizing decisions by the Government, the delivery of the ambition of a “bottom up approach” to governance in a Smart City remains an abstraction.

Also, according to the Smart City guidelines, good governance corresponds to a citizen-friendly, cost-effective style, “increasingly rely(ing) on online services to bring about accountability and transparency”.

The emphasis is on e-governance with the good intention of “providing services without having to go to municipal offices” which might have saved the troubled citizen from the “नछक नछक

नछक नछक ” (expressing irritation) of dealing with MHADA officials for a verification process, but our barefoot research reveals very clearly the little knowledge and usage of internet among the participants. A fair summary on behalf of all the respondents regarding the use of internet can be expressed through this quote,“सब को इस को इस्तेमाल करने आना चाहहये. अभी हम

लोग ऐसे इन्टनेट, मोबाइल ऐसा इस्तेमाल नही करते तो हम लोग को कुछ समझ मे नही आया ” (Everyone should know how to use it. Now we don’t use mobile phone and internet so we didn’t understand anything).

How differently would matters be looked into online, if the grievances of the residents of slums would at all be part of their “consultation with citizens” process for bettering the place; seeing as the corporator who stays a few blocks away from the resident’s place in Bharat Nagar postpones looking into every day matters such as having the toilets kept clean, the Shiv Sena representative being present at the end of her lane in Ganesh Nagar takes little note the locality’s cleanliness, “खाली महीने के तारीख पर बरोबर पैसा लेने आएांगे। गटर बराबर साफ़ करें गे

तो बीस रुपैया लेके जाएांगे, तो कफ़र चार चार महहने दे खेंगे लभ नही पीछे ” (They just come to collect the money every month. If they clean the gutter once, they’ll take 20 rupees and won’t look back for 4 months at a stretch).

How useful would progress of a technological kind be for the people struggling to own the means of their livelihood, as goes the story of a shopkeeper in Lower Parel, who is unable to obtain documents that verify her as the rightful owner of her shop, “अणण माझ सलऴ

दक ु ानावरच चालत” (The shop is my source of income), due to delay on part of the government P a g e | 57

or the struggle of having to deal with the officials, “कई कई लाख रुपैया माुँगती है , हमारे जैसे के

पास कहाुँ से आऐगा... MHADA भी चोर है , पास करने के पैसे, दक ु ान पास करने के, घर पास करने के। पास हो जाएगा तुम्हारा, प्रोटे क्शन लमल जाऐजा तुम्हारा...इतना इतना पैसा दो ” (They ask for several lakh rupees, how can people like us afford it, MHADA is also a thief, to pass/authorize, to pass/authorize the shop, to pass/authorize home, you’ll get protection…pay this hefty amount).

As if to propose a solution for this demand from citizens to be technology savvy by the government in order for them to carry out their grand ways of governing the people, a participant suggested we interview the area’s local corporator, Ilyaaz Shaikh, regarding his knowledge about “आप लोग के सात नम्बर के ऐररया मे ककतने लोग रहते है , कौन गरीब है ,

ककसके घर मे पक रहा है , नही पक रहा है , ककतने बच्चे पढ रहे है , नही पढ रहे है , ककतने ऐसे है जजनके घर मे कुछ है , जजनके घर मे कुछ तक्लीफ़ है , तो आप लोग ककसकक ककसकक तक्लीफ़ दरू कर ॓ ” (How many people live with you in this area, how many are poor, is there food in this house, is there not, how many children go to school, how many don’t, how many people have problems in their houses, how many problems will you solve).

Another resident notes that whenever they face any problem regarding their locality, “ककसीको

मालुमात नही रहता है ” (nobody knows) whom to approach- whether the BMC or the MHADA. She demands that they be allowed to meet with the government representatives “वो भी बगैर

पैसे हदये ” (without having to pay money).

Perhaps having the corporators or ward officers know about the problems of their surroundings to involve them in the problem solving process will keep the citizens from having to use digital means of communication for such purposes. Perhaps this method of problem solving will not reflect as a strong indicator of progress in the world market as would ICT based solutions.

What, then, is the intention behind making any kind of progress?

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How much weight will this cry for the apparent exclusion of these classes of people be given seeing the might of digital penetration in other classes of people?

As a result of not being able to actively participate with the government for solving their problems, these women and their children in Lower Parel and BKC have had to seek refuge in NGOs like Pratham that has a balwadi and a library, Prayas, Mumbaikar Foundation which offers academic scholarships, Magic Bus in operation for the past year and a half that helps distribute goods like stationary, shoes, clothes, etc. to those in need and also took some 180 children on a trip to a football match, another one works on domestic violence and marriage counselling, women’s rights, etc., a local support group of residents in the Behram area. There is enthusiasm in these women to seek to better their lives through such participation.

The favourite among the women in this region are the mahila mandals that teach skills such as sewing, embroidery designing, Mehndi design, offer beauty parlour courses, etc. in which the residents find prospective careers for their children, “अपने पास इतने पैसे नही है कक अपुन हर

चीज़ पे पैसा लगाके आगे बढाएांगे... इसीललये हम ये चीज़ो में आगे बढ़ते है ” (We don’t have enough money to try everything, so we prosper in these things).

Redevelopment Plans & Debate Change is the only sustainable thing. And everywhere we look, we can see winds of change.

Hence, we can also see Wadala, BKC and Lower Parel change as they go through the redevelopment process.

Redevelopment means working on existing structures and modifying them. In a previous chapter, we looked at the housing system and our participants' expectations about their homes in these three areas. In this chapter, we focus on redevelopment issues, the women's expectations and their stands about redevelopment.

37% of participants said they don’t want redevelopment, while 63% want redevelopment.

Redevelopment brings with it an allure of a larger space, latrines inside their homes, a better lifestyle and privacy. Due to these reasons people have a positive approach toward redevelopment. Speaking along these lines, one of our participants from BKC said,

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“हा यहा पर बबजल्डांग बने और हमलोग को सभी को यही पर लमले भले थोडा छोटा

लमले ” (Yes, we want a building to be constructed here, and all of us should get our own house, even if it’s a bit small).

In Wadala, we noticed that women are unaware about redevelopment.

Lower Parel is rapidly changing. Half chawls, and the rest skyscrapers, is what the current era of Lower Parel looks like. Two of our participants' chawls are currently being undertaken by a builder for redevelopment. Hence, they are staying on rent in the same area; the builder covers the cost of rent. Continually shifting is a very hectic process for them. That is why they are waiting for a home which has been promised by the builder.

While trying to understand the redevelopment process in BKC, we found that the women knew exactly what they wanted. In the past, the women of BKC have not found the process of redevelopment to be acceptable, but through their expectations, they've begun to establish a new concept of redevelopment. So moving ahead, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to think that redevelopment can bring about a revolution. Here's what one of our participants had to say,

"बबजल्डांग नही चाहहये हम लोग को, लेककन जैसा चौल लससटां है । पर अगर इस्मे कुछ...कर सके तो

करो ना ” (We don’t want the building, but if in the chawl system something can be done...then they should do it).

All sections of the society want to benefit from development. For some people, the same holds true for redevelopment. But this shouldn't just mean constructing buildings; existing structures, like chawls, should also be improved if possible. These are the terms laid down by the urban poor women of BKC.

So while some of our participants welcomed the prospect of redevelopment, others were against it; they were of the opinion that redevelopment was not being done with their wellbeing in mind. They've come to the realization that redevelopment is actually a means of taking advantage of them. Here's a participant that holds this view,

"बबल्डर आते है अौ​ौर भाग जाते है । उनको भगा दे ते है । बरोबर लूट लेते है बबल्डर को। लोगों की

मन की बात नही पूछ्त्ते, कक उनको ककतना ऐररया चाहहये।" (The builder comes and goes away.

They make him go away. They don’t ask what people want, how much area they want).

People living on rent don’t want redevelopment. It’s more affordable for them to live in their current housing. It would become very difficult to live in houses that have gone through redevelopment. So a time will come when these tenants will have to wish their future homes goodbye, due to the high cost of maintaining these homes.

People are living under the assumption that after redevelopment, they will become the owners of big houses; satisfying their want of a better lifestyle. The problem is, maintaining these new houses will cost them in the thousands. That’s why these new houses will not be affordable for P a g e | 60

people earning just Rs. 5,000-10,000 a month. This raises the question about redevelopment being beneficial, and if it is, what its benefits are.

Due to this situation, people will be forced to live in far-off places like Mira Road, Karjat, Virar, Diva, etc. In this way, redevelopment is snatching away the central Mumbai locations the urban poor prefer to live in. This is leading to relationships being disrupted and a stressful environment being formed.

This raises the question whether redevelopment takes into account the situation of the residents, or only considers how profitable the process will be. If the latter is the case, then it isn’t really redevelopment for the people at all.

Urban Poor Women's Relationship with Technology Before we get onto the Smart City analysis, it's important to understand what these women think of technology, since it forms the backbone of the entire smart city discourse. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been central to the concept of smart cities (Hollands 2008). Burte (2005) better describes the role of technology in building smart cities, i.e. by embedding ICTs into the administrative and infrastructure systems of a city, such as transport, waste management, water supply, etc. Thus, making use of technology to effectively manage the city. Let’s have a look at the role of technology in the lives of women from Wadala, Lower Parel and BKC.

Wadala: When asked about technology, few women in Wadala compared it with the electrical appliances they have in their homes; and told us they made use of fan, TV, fridge and computer. Most participants have mobile phone, except for three participants. The ones that use mobile phones mostly use smartphones, while the remaining use ordinary Nokia phone only to make and receive calls.

One of the participants who doesn’t own a mobile phone said that, “मी नाही मोबाइल वगैरे

माला येत नाही वापरता तस बोटाने हलवतात ते नाही येत माला नवरा म्हणेल तुला येतच नाही,

तर काय बोटाने हलवशील अस हकलत नेहता ना तुम्ही, अता अस तुम्ची ननघाली तस करायला” (She felt helpless because she doesn’t know how to use it and also because instead of helping her show how to use it, her husband taunts her for not being competent enough to use it).

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Interestingly, in another case the participant said,”मी नाही वापरत, लमस्टरा​ांकढे ते मोबाइल मधे

काही तरी आहे , व्होर्टसॅप ओपन करता येत..ते फ़्कक्त येत. नुस्ती बघते मला काय करता येत नाही ”. (She only sees what her husband shows her on Whatsapp. Also, she never took an interest in knowing how to use it, since her husband uses the phone and she is comfortable without it).

One women was open to learning how to use internet if someone teaches her how to. She makes an important point that it sounds like these technology based solutions will be helpful, but people should know how to use it. Additionally, she states that the next generation will be able to get more benefits of these solutions since they know more about technology and use it in their daily lives, “आगे की पीढी के ललये अच्छा है । अभी हम लोग को वो ज़्यादा समझता भी

नही है । हमको इांटरनेट यूज़ ही नही करने आता, तो हम लोग क्या समझेंगे?” (It’s good for the future generation. We don’t even know how to use the internet, so what will we understand).

Another participant said that language is a barrier and it limits her usage, as everything is in English on the computer and phones.

Lower Parel: Most women used mobile phones in Lower Parel. Quite a few even had smartphones and actively use Whatsapp and other internet-related features/apps on their smartphones.

BKC: All BKC participants used mobile phones, but most of them don’t use the internet on their mobile. “इांटरनेट चालु ही नहीां करते हम लोग ” (We don’t use the internet), said a participant and mainly uses her phone to attend calls. Very few participants use internet on their phones, mainly for video calling their relatives in other countries, to use Whatsapp and browse Facebook.

We got mixed responses about the attitude these women have towards technology. Some of these women stated that their kids use internet for study purpose and therefore, technology is beneficial for them in terms of their kid’s growth and education. “बच्चे आगे है टै कनोलोजी की

बदौलत ” (Children are prospering because of technology), said a participant. Others said that their kids take advantage of it and listen to music all day long without finishing their studies.

One of the participants expressed her desire to learn how to use internet and computer. She said she had even joined a computer class, but due to the long commute she had to opt out of P a g e | 62

it. She also mentioned that her daughters regularly visited cyber cafes to their project work and that is how she got acquainted with computers.

Other electrical products used by these women include: tubelight, fan, TV, washing machine, home theatre system, etc.

Overall, according to these women technology means using mobile phones and other electrical appliances. Some are apprehensive to use smartphones because they don’t know how to, it’s new for them, they do not understand the language, or they are comfortable with their husband using them. Others use smartphones but only for social reasons, to communicate via messaging services, video calling, etc. But, if given a chance these women wouldn’t mind learning how to use them. Their interaction is limited due to their financial and educational backgrounds.

Awareness, Views and Expectations from a Smart City We saw the interaction urban poor women have with technology. Now let’s have a look at what they think about the smart city. This chapter talks about if at all these women were aware about the smart city, their views and opinions about it and their expectations from it. During the data collection process we also informed women about the Smart City Mission, to fulfil one of our research objectives of understanding the “smartness of a city” through their eyes.

Awareness & Definition It obviously was imperative to know if these women had heard of the smart city at all and if so how and in what context.

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As you can see from the above diagram, 87 per cent of participants had no awareness at all about the Smart City Mission. “उसके बारे मे तो कोई नोलेज नही है ” (I don’t have any knowledge about that), said a participant. Only 13 per cent i.e. only 4 participants had heard of it. But these women had different interpretations of the concept. “हाुँ सुना है स्माटा लसटी के बारे

में, मतलब क्लीन लसटी ऐसा कुछ ” (Yes, I’ve heard about the Smart City, it means something like a clean city), said one of them. While another participant from BKC confused the smart city with the Make in India event that took place in BKC recently. A participant from Lower Parel knew that the area was included in the Smart City plan. She also gave her own interpretation of the concept; for her a smart city meant, “अच्छा अच्छा बबजल्डांलस एांड वेल डेव्हे ल्पड ऐररयास एांड

रोड्स ” (Good buildngs and well developed areas and roads).

Only three women gave their own version of what they think a Smart City is. One participant calls it a “clean city”, the other says it is a “well developed areas and road”. The third participant said that according to her it is “कहीां बाहर जाने की ज़रूरत न हो ” (The absence of the need to be outside). According to her, a smart city is a complex where everything is under one roof, all facilities are within close proximity, eg: a building area with a local kirana shop, medical store, yoga house, garden and play area for kids. Although the data is too less to formulate a judgment or even assess it in some sense, we can say that these ideas are aspirational in nature and contrasting the government’s idea of a technologically-led Smart City.

Views and Opinions After finding out if our participants were aware or not, we explained to them what the proposed Smart City plan is for the three areas. Following which we asked them what they thought of the existing plans.

Wadala: Women in Wadala have diverse opinions about a smart city. One participant says that it is one thing to implement these solutions, but another thing to systematically manage it well.

“सीसीटीव्ही कैमेरा आहे सलळे कढे , लावलेले आहे त, पण ते चालू अस्तात का?” (The CCTV cameras are there everywhere, they have been installed, but are they working?). She also mentions that there is a skywalk in the area but it’s not maintained well. The lights are not switched on at night. Another participant had given up her hopes with the government and said, “आजूनू़ सरकार काय आपल्याल दे ते. साध गट्टर बाुँधून दे त नाही ” (What else can the government provide? They don’t even build gutters). Contrastingly, one participant, who was aware of the smart city, said that it will definitely be beneficial. One such woman in Wadala P a g e | 64

didn’t show any concern about the smart city at all. She was a working women and was mainly concerned about her livelihood and home.

Lower Parel: When we informed our Lower Parel participants that one of the smart city solutions proposed for this areas was of 24*7 water supply. They said that is was not required and that 4 hours of supply is enough for them, they do not need 24*7 water supply, and it should be given to those who need it, considering the current water crisis. “स्माटा लसटी इज़ नौट कक २४ घांटे वौटर और

२४ आवहास इलेजक्ट्रलसटी। बट अर्टललस्ट उसका युहटलाइज़ अच्छे से होना चाहहये। तो हह उसे स्माटा लसटी कहें गे ” (Smart City is not that there should be 24 hours water supply or 24 hours

electricity. But at least it should be utilized well. Only then it will be called a Smart City). While informing them about the Smart City, we also gave them examples of the use of sensors for detecting water leakages, etc. In response to this, one participant said that this these solutions are only meant for big projects and towers and not for them. These facilities are only for a particular group and not for all. Another participant heatedly said, “यहाुँ पर गाबेज सेन्सर कुछ

नही चलने वाला, बीएमसी को बोलो अपने हदमाग में सेन्सर कफ़ट करो ” (These garbage sensors won’t work here, tell the BMC to fit the sensors in their heads).

BKC Most women in BKC felt that smart city plans should incorporate everyone’s needs and should be for everyone’s progress. “सब के ललये तो बबल्कुल नही है ये, क्यूांकक यहाुँ पे बहुत इजल्लटरे ट है ,

तो उन लोगों को समझने मे बहुत प्रोबलेम होगी। तो हो सकता है वो लोग अच्छे से यूज़ भी ना कर पाए ” (It is definitely not for everyone because there are many illiterate people here so they will

find it very problematic. So it is likely that they will not even be able to use it properly), said one participant who clearly states that solutions should be designed in a way that they are understood easily, irrespective of a person being illiterate or not. “हमारे ललये सब नई चीज़ है ” (For us these things are new), said another woman who has studied upto 8th std. and hence feels that she will not be able to understand any of this. One participant suggested that first the government should study the problem and then give solutions, eg: understand the garbage management issue in BKC and then propose solutions.

Few women also raised concerns whether these plans will get implemented or not. “लगता है ?

ऐसा कुच्छ होएगा?” (Do you think so? Something like this will happen?), said one of the participants. Since they are from low-income groups, this may not be the first time they have heard of any form of development plans, announced and not implemented. People are not very receptive to the idea of a smart city because they do not understand it in the first place or P a g e | 65

rather they feel they won’t be able to at all, due to language and education barrier. It also is difficult for these women to trust anything the government says.

Expectations Women’s expectations – Their expectations were divided into groups – self needs vs civic needs.

Self needs such as 1.

Safety and security

2.

Livelihood

3.

Travel safely and economically

Civic needs such as 1.

Water

2.

Sanitation

3.

Toilets

4.

Garbage

5.

Water clogging

6.

Electricity

The above categorization is based on the responses we got from our participants and our own understanding of self and civic needs. We also understand that in some situations, these categories overlap and one cannot easily distinguish the self and civic needs, for e.g., while safety is a personal need, the system also needs to create spaces for a woman where she feels safe.

Self needs is for the woman herself, wherein if she felt safe and secure in the well planned city, she could travel around conveniently, without any time constraints or without being dependant on her father/brother/husband for assistance at night.

One needs to keep in mind that some areas have serious needs to be addressed quickly such as: Wadala which has severe water problems, where women still have to use water pumps; Lower Parel women want better job opportunities and; in BKC there is a dire need for better sanitation facilities. Further, in the recommendations chapter, we will discuss why these women expect these changes and how will it benefit them.

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Discussion We have studied five themes in detail – needs of women, their relationship with technology, good governance, development debate and awareness about smart city.

When we studied the needs of women, we found that there were a few needs that they could take care of by themselves and others with which they required help from the system. An example of a need that these women had control over is: instead of drinking dirty, stinking water they bought Bisleri bottles or purchased water from the temple in their area. However, there were some issues where these women didn't have any control over and still are dependent on the system to solve them such as expensive electricity bills, lack of streets lights, and redevelopment of houses. In cases where these women could find solutions to their basic needs’ issues, they did so through their common sense and not through technology, which is the proposed mode to solve problems in a smart city.

Other institutions, especially the NGO’s in these areas substituted the role of good governance.

These NGO’s provided these women with flexible jobs, where she could maintain a balance between her job and her family needs, provide her children with education facilities: field trip, stationery, scholarships, libraries, etc. These institutions not only provided support but have also given some women focused goals and ambitions which has made them confident and aware about what's going on in the society. Doesn't this make for good governance by providing them with support and facilities, by knowing their needs instead of creating a distance by forming online portals which these groups do not have even have access to.

The reason we are emphasising on the importance of knowing women’s through fieldwork is because of our patriarchal society, wherein majorly men have access to technology but women’s voices need to be equally taken into consideration because they use the city as much as men do. We want inclusivity across classes and genders. (In the next section we have discussed what the needs of women are and what solutions they have brought about).

One of the major concerns for our participants was the issue of housing and redevelopment.

Their hopes and aspirations were to find places near their work area and affordable rents even after redevelopment. Redevelopment is one of the main criteria in a smart city plan globally because it has to be designed in a way that it is inclusive for all, there should be space for people who are currently migrating and who will be migrating in future, not separating the haves and haves not. It shouldn't follow the underbelly concept where you hideaway the poor in some corner of the city where the world doesn't see them and only sees the bright and shining city. It is important to make the city inclusive for everyone so that the benefits of water, housing, health and sanitation is received by all classes and not only for the haves.

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Now we shall look at some of the key needs wanted by women and solutions they found for themselves.

In one of our conversations with Amita Bhide who is a professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, we derived the definition of ‘Smartness’ - as an ability to face any challenge or problem and find a solution to it. After we derived this definition we asked ourselves, ‘If the urban poor women who we spoke to in this research study, weren’t already “smart” enough and the answer was – absolutely yes. They are the smart citizens for the future smart city.

The reason we say this so confidently because most of the women in these areas found their own solutions for better water facilities, housing, sanitation, electricity, transport and livelihood.

They have used their resources intelligently and sustainably. Since they do not have access to safe drinking water they have bought Bisleri bottles so that their children remain healthy; because the BMC cleaner does not comes regularly, they have hired a separate cleaner to clean the gutter and garbage, to stop water entering their houses during raining season they have increased their house level by creating a wall beneath. These women have taken care of their issues from their own pockets, and it then becomes a cause for concern whether they can afford to do so for a long period of time. Hence, we strongly believe that all of them must get equal access to basic facilities. But, the point here is that these women have been living in such conditions since a long time and now they have discovered their own ways to cope up with these kind of situations. It does not mean that they are successful at solving their issues all time, but they have the basic intelligence to keep discovering their own ‘smart solutions” to fight and survive!

We believe that urban poor women in Mumbai are already prepared for a smart city but the important question to answer now is whether our system is ready for a smart city? Is our system ready to even recognize these types of innate smartness of people? It leads us to another important question - what is smartness after all? Why do we only want to understand smartness from an ICT lens? What makes us not want to address and appreciate genuine/organic/natural intelligence which has helped us in the past to solve problems and live sustainably? When the government suggests that they will be creating smart cities through technology, then don’t the above examples of women finding their own solution say it’s a better, ‘smart move’.

Government should set the above as a role model for a smart city and understand urban poor women’s needs and issues/constraints and then devise a plan that caters to their requirements and/or help in creating awareness and understanding of technology among these women. This will be a smart move from government side – to take an initiative to understand their challenges and create an action plan to solve these problem areas (Some of these problems highlighted by urban poor women have been discussed chapter wise in housing, water etc).

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Woman are said to be accommodative in nature, but urban poor have been even more accommodative and adaptable to the situation they face daily. Based on their needs discussed in the analysis chapters, we can see that these women use very little land as they stay in cramped, small houses, they have horrible quality of water during monsoon, they do not have specific dumping grounds but the area they live in looks like dumping ground in itself.

The only thing a woman really aspires in these areas is a flat (rented or owned) which is affordable. Then the main concern will be whether the ‘smart homes’ be affordable for these women?

The next basic need she has to fight for is water supply. Some of them queue up early morning to fill buckets of water from hand pumps, while others have to rush from their work in the evening to fill water and live in constant fear if they will get adequate water or not. Imagine if they would have a tank and clean tap water like most of middle class do, their life would become so much easier and they would have more leisure time to spend with their friends and family members.

It’s also very interesting to see how women’s livelihood is connected with various other things such as safety and security, transport, toilets, especially of her child. Most of these women selects jobs which are close to their homes and allow them to keep an eye on their kids, since safety is a huge concern in these areas. They also have to be aware about their own security wherein they can’t access certain areas due to eve teasing or have to be accompanied by male members of their family if they travel at night. Wouldn't it be great if there were provided with skill based training such as tailoring, baking, etc. or helped in starting their own business of their interest which gives them decent incomes while being close to their kids? Affordable play areas or day cares would also be beneficial for these women. Wouldn't such moves be smarter rather than installing CCTV camera which commands for someone to constantly keep a tab and take constant action to create safer neighbourhoods?

Lastly, according to our definition if smartness, we can clearly say that these women are smart in being able to find their own solutions. But yet there are some issues such as clean water, redevelopment, affordable housing, feeling unsafe because of poor lighting on streets which is not in their control to solve. Therefore, system needs to be in place that takes notice of these issues and works towards them, so that when women feel safe and secure, their mobility is not hampered and they can confidently step out to earn for themselves and their families.

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Recommendations We recommend the expectations mentioned above. Women’s safety and security is essential, streets lights should be lit properly, places should be crowded and eve teasing groups should be dealt with by the local concerned authorities. They should be given better livelihood options that helps them become more confident and independent, where she brings her knowledge home and educates her child. Economical day care facilities will ensure her child is safe while she makes a living for her family. Smooth, economical and safe transport facilities will help her travel independently across the city.

With respect to civic issues, management services should be taken care so that she doesn’t have to invest so much of her time and energy in filling buckets of water because there is no tap, stand in long queues. Instead of investing her money to build a wall to avoid water clogging inside her home, she can use that money to save for her children’s education, instead of paying hefty electricity bills she can invest that money for something that she wished to purchase for long time. As a woman, she makes daily sacrifices and helping in providing her with a decent life with better basic needs will only make her more confident and a happier person.

We also recommend how one can take this research a step further by raising questions such as what is the role of local corporater, a government official say about smart cities and its objectives?

We focused only one segment that is women to understand their needs, one could also focus on other groups such as marginalzed families, transgender, gay, lesbian and children and also cover different parameters apart of the eight given ones by the government.

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Conclusion Our journey began when we as group came together and discussed different problems in our city. We were concerned about how difficult it was for impaired person to travel in a city like Mumbai, how we can save energy by installing solar panels, problem of noise pollution etc.

When one of our group members made us aware about the government initiative of smart city (Which comprised of all of our above topics), we initially we thought it was a political gimmick and we were also curious to know what a smart city is? We then gradually studied in detail about smart city which helped us better understand the smart city debate. We slowly realised smart city planning is happening at a global scale, but still not lot of people were aware about it. Especially the community that we were concerned about – the marginalised.

Most of the cities around the globe are transforming into smart cities, India too has also taken a step in that direction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did emphasize that this would be an inclusive process wherein everyone’s opinions will matter to build a smart city. The method used by the government to make it a participatory process was an online portal which was predominantly in English language. The people who we spoke to around 87% weren’t aware about smart city concept. Their relationship with technology was very distant due to gender, class and language barriers.

When we studied this model of using technology as a participatory method, a lot of women expected that system should know their needs and those needs should be implemented in smart city solutions. We are certain that there are various other methods to make it participatory but one of the ways we suggest is to go and talk to people which will help the system to make this plan truly inclusive for everyone. Instead of creating technological barriers of accessibility and language among these groups especially for women who do have control over these resources compared to men.

These smart cities will be beacons of hope, if the system take these three areas as a case study wherein, ‘smartness’ of women who has an ability to find solution in the challenges/problems she faces every day. Hence, system should be aware about people needs and act accordingly, creating a bottom up approach. By connecting with people and taking an action upon their problems will help them gain trust and create transparency which are the pillars of good governance. Right now there is lot of ambiguity on why these three areas were chosen as smart cities? What is government agenda to select these three business hub areas?

Therefore, if government understands that people in Wadala still use hand pump to draw water and therefore system should help them to eradicate these problems, people will be assured that the system is ready for a smart city. In order to improve our systems one should ensure that such mistakes are not repeated. But systems should use combination of understanding needs and smart solutions suggested by these women and also technological approach for people who have accessibility P a g e | 71

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Appendixes परवानगी पत्र नमस्कार आम्ही पुकार संस्थेतर्फे आलो आहोत.

पुकार ही सामाजिक ववषयांवर

संशोधनाचे काम करणारी संस्था आहे . पक ु ारचे ऑफर्फस बांद्रा पव ू व इथे आहे . आमचा आठ िणांचा गट ममळून ‘महहलांच्या निरे तून सुधाररत शहर’ या ववषयावर संशोधनाचे काम करत आहोत. ह्या ववषयावर संशोधन करण्यासाठी आम्ही आपल्या वस्तीमध्ये आलो आहोत. वस्तीतील महहलांच्या गटासोबत चचाव करून माहहती घेणार आहोत. ह्या चचेसाठी िवळिवळ २०, २५ ममननटे अपेक्षित आहे त. िर तम् ु ही ह्या ववषयावर चचेसाठी तयार असाल तर आम्ही तम ु ची एक मल ु ाखत घेणार आहोत. मुलाखतीमधील काही प्रशनांची उत्तरे दे ण्यास तुम्ही तयार नसाल तर नाही म्हणू शकता. ह्या मुलाखतीमुळे आपल्याला कोणत्याही प्रकारचा त्रास होणार नाही याची आम्ही खात्री दे तो. आपण हदलेली माहहती, आपले नाव आणण इतर ओळख गोपनीय ठे वली िायील. आपला सहभाग आमच्यासाठी मोलाचा आहे . आम्ही खात्री दे तो की आपण हदलेल्या माहहतीचा कोणताही गैरर्फायदा घेतला िाणार नाही. संशोधनाच्या कामामशवाय इतर कुठे ही माहहतीचा वापर केला िाणार नाही. आपल्या सहभागामळ ु े आमच्या ववषयावरील संशोधनामध्ये मदत होयील. िर आपल्याला ह्या ववषयाबाबत फकंवा प्रक्रीयेबाबत काही प्रशन, शंका असतील तर आम्हाला ववचारा. आम्ही उत्तरे दे ण्याचा पुरेपूर प्रयत्न करू. मी वरील माहहती वाचली आहे . संशोधनाववषयी प्रशनांची समाधानकारक उत्तरे मला ममळाली आहे त. सहभागी व्यक्तीचे नाव ................................................................... सहभागी व्यक्तीची सही .................................................................. पत्ता : पुकार २७२, म्युननमसपल टे नामें टस, मशवािी नगर बी एम सी कॉलनी, खेरवाडी रोड, बांद्रा पुव,व मुंबई ४०००५१

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INTERVIEW GUIDE Section 1: 1. Introduction  Name  Age  Home ownership status  Household size  Length of Residency  Education  Occupation  Income  Family members

2. Daily lifestyle (Take us through your day) Access to: 

Housing



Water - Availability (timing, duration) - Cost - Quality - Accessibility (source, distance, location) 

Sanitation - Facility - Cost - Surrounding - Maintenance and hygiene (water availability) 

Electricity - Availability (timing, duration) - Cost - Source  Transportation - Accessibility - Convenience - Connectivity

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- Cost - Facility (signals, streetlights etc.) 

Health - Cost - Availability - Quality

3.

4.

5.

6.



Education



Safety



Use of Public Space (Other resources- Kirana Shop, local market, etc.)

    

Work environment Number of work hours Any issues faced Satisfaction level Opportunities/ Choices available

 

What they value?

What are their needs to make this a better city?

(Supported by sharing videos/pictures/maps etc)

  

Whether any NGO is working in the area they live Any initiatives by government they are aware of Any unfulfilled demands

Work

Needs

Schemes

Changes at a community level/larger society  

7.

Any changes at personal or at community level or for larger society Future Goals for the city

Technology  

Whether they use internet /Any other form of technology Whether they would like to use technology P a g e | 79

Section 2: 8.

Smart City Smart City Introduction Depending on the severity of the problem, we will give one example from below for participants to create an understanding of what is Smart City example: 

Housing - Affordable housing , green housing (roof-top solar housing)



Water - 24*7 water supple, rain water harvestation



Sanitation - BMC gets notification when gutter is flooder or garbage /waste bins are full.



Energy - E-meter: computerized controls in your home and appliances can be set up to respond to signals from your energy provider to minimize their energy use at times when the power grid is under stress from high demand, or even to shift some of their power use to times when power is available at a lower cost.



Transportation - Battery run vehicles , motion sensor street lighting, button press signal crossing



Health - Tele-medicine



Education - E-learning appliances and products or skill development centers



Security - Surveillance cameras, advanced security systems.



Public spaces- More green spaces (greenfield is one of the strategies of smarty city)

Enhance the city with technology.  Is it Feasible?  Is the smart city as concept is good/bad?  Could it be done in a better way?  Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you!

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