Mr. Shashank Deora will present his APS as per the detail below:   Date: Monday, 13 February 2023 Time: 1630 - 1800 hrs Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.1  

Guide: Prof. Pankaj Sekhsaria

RPC Members: Prof. NC Narayanan, Prof. Himanshu Burte

Title: Watersheds as emergent infrastructures: Implications of infrastructuring of Mumbai lakes and their catchments

 

Abstract:

In this APS, I will present my empirical work investigating the infrastructuring around Mumbai lakes’ watersheds, focusing primarily on Powai Lake and its catchment. I attempt to explain the infrastructuring of this watershed landscape through some of the proposed and ongoing land-use changes on this landscape. I also indicate its implications for the sustainable and equitable governance of the watershed. I have anchored this analysis on the two development plans of Greater Mumbai, DP-1991 and DP-2034.

My analysis reveals that the diverse techno-ecological and socio-political infrastructuring processes associated with the urbanisation in the watershed of Powai Lake together render the watershed governance outcomes less sustainable and more inequitable. Some of these infrastructuring processes discussed in my APS report are urban constructions abutting the Powai Lake, (non)recognition of the lake as a wetland, delineation and changing of the lake catchment, non-recognition of slum settlements in development plan maps, repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, and the differential treatment of construction of Special Development Zone (SDZ) lands.

Along with this empirical research work, I have also addressed the gaps in my theoretical work for this APS. I have reasoned that India’s rapid urbanisation is generating significant complexities for its land and water governance. Through this, I argue the case for studying the governance of a watershed in an urbanising landscape – the watersheds of Mumbai’s three lakes (Tulsi, Vihar and Powai). I have proposed to study these watersheds as infrastructure by investigating the infrastructuring processes around them. I have elaborated on the concept of infrastructuring and its applications with the help of literature in Science and Technology Studies (STS).

Event Date: 
Monday, February 13, 2023 - 16:30 to 18:00