Colossus
The Anatomy of Delhi

Colossus unpacks the intricacies and inequalities of economic, social and political life in India's capital, Delhi.

Sanjoy Chakravorty (Edited by), Neelanjan Sircar (Edited by)

9781108832243, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 February 2022

460 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.9 cm, 0.66 kg

The National Capital Region of Delhi is a diverse and unequal space. Its more than 30 million people are sharply differentiated by economic class, religion and caste, education, language, and migration status. Its 45,000 square kilometres is a tapestry of spaces - ghettoes, slums, enclaves, institutional areas, planned and unplanned and authorized and unauthorized colonies, forests and agricultural fields. In some ways it is a dynamic society aspiring to global city grandeur; in other ways it is a bastion of tradition, sectarianism and hierarchy. Colossus details these realities and paradoxes under three themes: social change, community and state, and inequality. From the material condition of the metropolis - its housing, services, crime and pollution - to its social organization - of who marries whom, who eats with whom, and who votes for whom - this book unpacks the complex reality of a metropolitan region that is emblematic of India's aspirations and contradictions.

Introduction Sanjoy Chakravorty
Part I. State of the Metropolis: Overview: 1. Geography and demography: Mapping the metropolis Shrobona Karkun
2. Assets and spatial inequality Neelanjan Sircar
3. Housing and settlements: Invisible planning, visible exclusions Patrick Heller, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Shahana Sheikh and Subhadra Banda
4. Services: Spatial inequality of basic infrastructure Shamindra Nath Roy
5 Migration: Persisting inequalities and spatial disadvantage Khushdeep Kaur Malhotra
6. Energy: electrifying the capital Radhika Khosla
7. Crime: Victimization in New Delhi – Insights from new data Milan Vaishnav and Matthew Lillehaugen
Part II. Social and Political Change: Overview: 8. Religion, caste, class, politics: How urbanization affects social interactions and political behaviors Sumitra Badrinathan and Devesh Kapur
9. Marriage: When, to whom, and how people get married Megan N. Reed
10. Education: Understanding the gender gap in education and employment Deepaboli Chatterjee, Babu Lal, and Rimjhim Saxena
11. Spatial politics: Sociality, transparency and ideas of community in Delhi and Gurgaon Sanjay Srivastava
12. Politicians and netas: The politics of grievance and political intermediation Neelanjan Sircar
13. Political parties: The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party and the changing contours of the party system Adnan Farooqui
14. Pollution: Vitiated air and thinking about Delhi's environment Awadhendra Sharan
Statistical Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Political economy [KCP], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociology [JHB], Urban communities [JFSG], Society & social sciences [J]