An Island Displaced

The involuntary displacement of people from their homes and productive resources due to industrial and infrastructural expansion remains a major issue debated by academics activists and planners. This displacement-resistance paradigm is reflected in the Gorai-Manori-Uttan region locally known as Dharavi Bet near Mumbai. Promoted by the Corporate Essel Group the government proposed the setting up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and implementation of a Recreational Tourism Zone Development Plan (DP) that threatened the island's fishing and farming based economy and its indigenous cultural fabric. Situated within the global processes of capitalism and globalization the book reveals a complex interplay between globalization displacement and resistance. Globalization induced development-driven by corporate capital and State or parastatal bodies has prioritized recreation and tourism for the global city of Mumbai often at the cost of local livelihoods. The resulting resistance represents a form of class struggle and highlights the broader conflict between people-centric sustainable development and the State-corporate globalization agendas.