Transforming M Ward, TISS

The Centre for Urban Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences cordially invites you for a special research workshop - Framing Interdisciplinary Multi-Sited Research and Future Research Agenda in Urban Sanitation, on 8th September, Friday, 2023, 17:30-19:30 hrs. (IST) Organized as a part of an ongoing collaborative research project - 'Towards Sustainable Sanitation in India and Brazil' (TOSSIB) involving institutions in India (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), UK (University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Aberdeen) and Brazil (Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and Universidade Federal de Vicosa).

The objective of the workshop is to showcase the methods and frameworks used to comprehend sanitation systems in India and Brazil. It aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with (i) interdisciplinary collaborations, (ii) research in various geographies and socio-political contexts, and (iii) how this can advance research in comparative urbanism. The project teams from Brazil, India and the United Kingdom will be sharing how the approach of undertaking a two-pronged literature review - (a) tracing the policy landscape and (b) thematics helped to set the context of the research and identification of field sites. Further, what insights did the methodological focus on both the overall context of the sites as well as the water and sanitation practices adopted at the household level lend to the research on sanitation systems?

ZOOM Registration Link -
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAqdeirqj8jH9d2FqU1ifJFIstVukrSQlUX

Extremely saddened to share with you all about the demise of Prof. S. Parasuraman today morning in Pune due to a long illness. He was the Former Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the guiding force behind the setting up of the Transforming M Ward Project. He remained our great supporter and well wisher till his end.
Being trained as an anthropologist from Pune, he was last working as Vice Chancellor at MIT World Peace University. In a career spread over 30 years, he touched and nurtured countless lives and institutions. A firm believer in the inherent potential of all human beings he was at ease about working with people from all walks of lives including government heads, bureaucrats, industry representatives.
Under his able guidance and support, Transforming M Ward Project was conceptualised and saw its birth. A firm believer of rights-based approach to development, he laid the grounds for many of the people-led planning initiatives including the ones at M Ward.
We join in with his immediate and extended family in this hour of grief and remain thankful forever to him for being around us.

This is the story of Rehmat of Cheeta Camp, she is valiantly fighting against a drug racket, will she make it or will give up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ItjVP6zJwY

The Valour of Cheeta Camp | (Based on true story) This is a video specially made for the video competition FIGHT TO BE FREE on "'Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan"' organized by The Ministry of Social Justice and Em...

आप सभी को सूचित करते हुए हमें बहुत खुशी हो रही है, एम पावर ग्रंथालय एवं अध्यन केंद्र का पुनः आरंभ हो गया है।

अधिक जानकारी के लिए एम पावर ग्रंथालय एवं अध्यन केंद्र के फेसबुक पेज को फॉलो करें। M-Power Library and Study Center

We would like to inform you that the M-Power Library and study Center has reopened.

For more information please follow page of M-Power Library and Study Center M-Power Library and Study Center

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has focused a good deal of attention on Dharavi but in another not-so-glamorous slum area of the city, the M-East ward, the COVID-19 death count has been increasing steadily.
The article points out the grave danger state of the ward and possible darker times it is heading towards.

M East ward records highest COVID-19 fatality rate State Reserve Police to implement lockdown in Shivaji Nagar; poor health facilities and immunity to blame

"With over 70 per cent of its total 332 corona cases being reported from slums, authorities of the M West ward (Chembur) are apprehensive that at this rate, the ward is likely to become the next Dharavi, the worst hit in the city."
The article highlights the possible uncertain times in our neighbourhood.

Coronavirus in Mumbai: Authorities fear Chembur slum belt may become the next Dharavi Civic authorities want police to be given a free hand to deal with slum dwellers here, so that the situation can be arrested from further deterioration.

What happens to the education of children living in slums, who do not have access to even a smart phone or data connectivity? Time to think innovative solutions to ensure no child misses out on education on account of lack of access to educational infrastructure (the new kinds of educational tools that will be put in place).

Indian education can’t go online – only 8% of homes with school children have computer with net link The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how rooted structural imbalances are between rural and urban, male and female, rich and poor, even in the digital world.

All over the country migrants have been stuck in the limbo with loss of livelihood and stranded miles away from home. Welfare organisations around the country have been tirelessly working to make the lives of these migrant a little less painful. Ajeevika Bureau on the occasion of International Labour Day launched "Unlocking the Urban: Reimagining Migrant Lives in Cities Post COVID19" with a panel discussion based on the findings of the report. The panel is hosted by Rajiv Khandelwal (Ajeevika Bureau) and the panellist included Prof. Amita Bhide (Dean, School of Habitat Studies (TISS) and Project Director, Transforming M Ward Project), Anant Maringanti (Hyderabad Urban Lab), Ravikant Joshi (Urban Management Centre), Reenu Desai (Independent Researcher), Moderated by Gautam Bhan (IIHS).
The report - using findings from the pre-COVID period, in Ahmedabad and Surat, examines the lives of migrant workers in different work sectors, coming from different caste, gender, language groups and source regions. It studies the dual nature of their relationship to urban growth - where they are simultaneously exploited and excluded - to understand the glaring gaps in India's provisioning and employment systems that were both exposed and aggravated by the pandemic and lockdown. It reveals the manner in which they access basic survival in cities which treat them as an alien population, while also relying on their labour power for its infrastructure and industrial growth. The pandemic and lockdown which created a severe humanitarian crisis for over 100 million migrant workers, is not unanticipated. It is a result of the nature of India's urban policies and economic growth model, which systematically excludes this vast group of workers.

Links to the report and panel discussion is below:
https://youtu.be/MwHqZvQLUEA

http://www.aajeevika.org/assets/pdfs/Unlocking%20the%20Urban.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3qSOqAiBPgw_TUPwlJ8R1aYCnHaqRQiTsbmWqBfjZr4339AMxsafxTE_4

Unlocking the Urban: Reimagining Migrant Lives in Cities Post- COVID 19 Launch of the report followed by panel discussion on urban realities of migrant communities Host: Rajiv Khandelwal, Aajeevika Bureau Moderator: Gautam Bhan, ...