Water rights struggle in Mumbai, India: centring the perspectives of settlement dweller organizers with the Pani Haq Samiti

Keywords: development geographies, water justice, South Asia, informal settlements, anti-caste, feminist, urban movements
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 57

Abstract

In this paper, I will study the experiences of settlement dweller organizers in relation to rights organizing with Mumbai’s Pani Haq Samiti (Water Rights Campaign, abv. PHS). The goal is to connect two seemingly disparate sets of movements- Dalit feminisms and development justice movements, by focusing the lens on specific everyday struggles for water in Mumbai’s informal settlements. Towards this, I document narratives of organizers living in different informal settlements in Mumbai negotiating access to water, mobilizing for water rights, particularly their engagement with state officials, community members, local leaders, and fellow organizers. Further, I analyse organizers’ engagement with the vibrant regional histories of caste, class, religion, migration and gender politics. This research is situated within the broader theoretical frameworks of development geographies and, transnational and Dalit feminisms. The methods for the study are narrative interviews, textual analyses and participatory research with PHS organizers across different settlements in Mumbai. The interviews highlighted distinct dimensions of water rights organizing, including direct action, community mobilization and deployment of a basic rights approach. Set in the context of the global neoliberal turn, professionalization of NGOs, and regional identity-based movements, PHS organizers share stories of change and empowerment that emerge at the intersections of multiple movements, NGOs and modes of identification. The objective is to engage the perspectives and knowledge of hitherto marginalized voices, i.e. organizers from settlements (most of whom belong to oppressed caste and Muslim minority groups) as an alternative record of the city’s organizing histories and as significant articulations of justice.