Samvaad is a series of discussion revolving around different dimensions of urbanism and communities.
27 April 2017
Dr. Mani's talk on 'Waste Management in Indian Cities' explained in detail the different dimensions of waste and upcoming reforms in the sector. Management practices and measures to handle waste at individual and community level were also discussed in detail. Apart from this, the talk also covered details on specialized waste streams like biomedical, electronic, menstrual and slaughter house waste which are a growing concern in urban centres.
13 April 2017
Prof. Barik talk revolved around 'Constitutionalism, public policy and public reasoning' and highlighted incidents which are shaping the present socio-political climate. The talk discussed the issues of the marginalized communities which are suffering from problems of water pollution, sanitation and work and employment. The speaker threw light upon these public issues which is the core of democracy. He argued that at present there are real threats to democracy from the media and other organisations which were cited with examples during the session.
9 February 2017
As part of Mrs. Archana Gupta's research at The Foundation of the Indian Cities, 'Celebrating public spaces of India' captures and explores the liveliness and the essence of these great public spaces and attempt to understand what makes these spaces great, and timeless. The research explored the concept of the tangible and intangible within cities. The talk essentially capture the element of 'raunaq' within each cities and celebrated its public spaces like maidans, ghats, and other cultural sites.
19 January 2017
Emerging as the capital's most visited public place and prominent centre for learning and understanding the environment, the Yamuna Biodiverstity Park has become a home for biologically rich wetlands, grassland communities, a wide variety of fruit yielding species and an abundance of medicinal herbs. The park features two major zones - the visitor zone and the nature reserve zone. The guided walk highlighted the link between man, nature and urbanization. The walk also discussed how destruction of wetlands and ecologically sensitive areas in cities can lead to slum like situations and its associated monetary loss.
5 August 2016
Growing up in East kolkata amidst Bheries, was one of the fond memories that Mr. Alok has. He shared how a set of shallow water channels in Kolkata built by Britishers, transformed in to a complex ecosystem that sustains enormous amount of economic activities for the local population and saves up crores of money every year by treating Kolkata’s waste water/sewage. Many of the contemporary public health engineering science have since developed several pond-based wastewater treatment technologies that may trace their origin to this type of a system.
6 July 2016
Prof. Tyagi gave her insights on gender in the context of ancient India by drawing from ancient texts of Manu. The ancient text Manusmriti was discussed and debated in detail. The discussion also threw light upon how women have been portrayed by different authors, which clearly reflected a patriarchal autonomy over texts over the years. Different women characters like Draupadi, Durga, Sita, etc. from ancient scripts were also discussed and compared in the present socio-political set up.
7 June 2016
IRC is an institute that works with governments and organizations on water and sanitation. IRC has developed an international tool for supporting municipal authorities in urban sanitation planning. For this purpose, IRC has come up with a Faecal Sludge Management Tool for urban sanitation. The presenters demonstrated the tool and its application in developing nations like India and Indonesia. The talk explored the sanitation service chain and discussed in detail the process of capture, containment, emptying, transport, treatment and disposal. The talk also discussed in detail the nuances of using this tool by picking up examples for Agra.
18 February 2016
Social justice focuses on the need for all people within a society to have fair and equal rights to human rights, opportunities and a fair allocation of resources. The talk explored the physical manifestations of spatial injustices in Delhi. Slums and squatter settlements, forced evictions, creation of socially segregated enclaves, restructuring of cities for mega events, etc. were discussed at length. Parameters to assess spatial injustices like illegality, historicity, social exclusion, misrecognition, entrapment, etc. were also discussed and deliberated.
3 February 2016
The talk revolved around the experience of building rainwater harvesting systems in Agra and challenges faced in the process. Another important element in successful implementation of any community development initiative is building ownership and consensus among community. The talk discovered the process in identifying and negotiating an appropriate place for rain water harvesting. One of the biggest challenges was faced in convincing the community for adopting rain water as an alternative to conventional sources of water in a city.
19 January 2016
Anand Parbat area in west-central Delhi has a complex history of jurisprudence. The community along with the factories has emerged amidst this confusing legal tussle between the State and a private body. Various elements of the community were explored in terms of topography, demography and resource allocation. Access to water because of the topography and low sex-ratio in the area were key points of discussion about the area. An innovate tool called as a tool was performed in the community to identify the various local leaders in the community and involving community leaders to take charge of community activities.
10 January 2016
Dharampura Camp is low income settlement situated along a railway line in East Delhi and came up during the 70s. The talk revolved around the complex social fabric in the area and brought out the various socio-cultural elements in the community. The talk also brought to light the spatial segregation observed in the community upon religious and caste lines and how it was reflected in the resources owned by the various groups. It was observed that the valmiki community in the camp had cleaner spaces and more resources than other community. The talk also explored the various activities and occupations people were engaged in.
3 January 2016
CURE developed a questionnaire for gender study at Savda Ghevra, Delhi to understand the obstacles or triggers in investing in water and sanitation infrastructure in low income communities. Ms. Suneeta Dhar was invited to give her critical inputs on the questionnaire and also share her experiences of working with women groups over the years. The speaker interpreted and commented on various ideological and epistemological beliefs associated with women. Her critical inputs on the framework and methodology of the study helped in fine tuning the research.
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