Bastis as “Forgotten Places” in Howrah, West Bengal

Abstract

India’s recent rapid economic growth has not improved the lives of those living in poverty, such as those residing in Howrah’s bastis (slums), which have been described as “deplorable”, “dirty”, “filthy” and “overcrowded” since the late 1800s. In this chapter I argue that Howrah’s bastis, many of which are inhabited by the minority and marginalised Muslim population, are “forgotten places”: historically and politically constructed habitats that are neglected, but nevertheless deeply inhabited, by the state (Lee and Yeoh, Urban Studies 41(12): 2295–2301, 2004; Fernandes, Critical Asian Studies 42(2): 265–272, 2010). In these bastis, services that are the responsibility of the state, such as access to education or the civic amenities discussed by Walters (this volume), are not adequately provided for, resulting in uneven development and vulnerable urban spaces within Howrah city. Furthermore, I show how “forgotten places” leave a gap that NGOs and grassroots organisations try to fill, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork to describe the efforts of Howrah Pilot Project, an organisation that runs grassroots-level development initiatives in one of Howrah’s bastis. By considering how Howrah Pilot Project works to provide Muslim children from the poorest households within that basti with access to education—widely considered a basic human right—I argue that it can be viewed as a response to the processes of “active forgetting” perpetuated through historical sociocultural structures of inequality and injustice. However, such organisations need to be augmented by a responsive state in order to achieve meaningful, long-term, beneficial change.