Finding Delhi

About the Book : - About a city that has many hearts and many peripheries Delhi is a magnet for migrant workers, students, highly qualified professionals, businessmen, politicians. The capital since 1911, it has now, finally, started looking and acting like India s No. 1 city. In the national imagination, it is a city of wide roads, flyovers, the Metro, markets and multiple opportunities. But all this progress and the quest to become a world-class city have also had an unsettling effect. People have been pushed out of public spaces, lakhs of slum dwellers have been banished and the Yamuna has been overwhelmed by sewage and industrial effluents. Finding Delhi: Loss and Renewal in the Megacity brings together many voices, offering a kaleidoscopic view of Delhi. It has essays on subjects such as the demolition of slums, the factories that deal with the city s waste, the campaigns for clean air and BRT corridors, and the difficulties faced by women. Also included are first-hand accounts that reveal the travails of being a dhobi, a garbage collector, a fruit vendor and a maid in the megacity. About the Author : - Bharati Chaturvedi is an environmentalist and writer based in Delhi. She is a co-founder of an NGO, Chintan, which works to increase environmental justice and reduce ecological footprints. She writes a column for the Hindustan Times, Earthwatch, and blogs with the Huffington Post. Bharati has a Master s degree in History from Delhi University and a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. She is a writer and critic on contemporary art practice in India.

Delhi is one of the worldÕs biggest cities! Curious readers can learn about how it grew from a medieval fortress to a bustling metropolis in this fun title. Fact-filled narrative text takes beginning readers through important points in DelhiÕs history, while colorful illustrations highlight key sites around town. A timeline reinforces the text, and a Beyond the Mission features asks readers to engage with the text and think creatively. Climb aboard a pedicab and take a tour of DelhiÕs history with this fun title!

Ronald Vivian Smith is an author of personal experiences – a rare breed to find in a time when even journalists hesitate to put pen to paper without scanning through the internet. A definitive voice when it comes to some known and unknown tales and an inspiration to a new generation of city-scribes, Smith is a master-chronicler of Delhi’s myriad realities. Among the capital’s most ardent lovers, Smith believes in the power of observation and interaction. His travels across Delhi, most often in a DTC bus, examine the big and small curiosities – seamlessly juxtaposing the past with the present. Be it the pride he encounters in the hutments of one of Chandni Chowk’s age-old beggar families, or his ambling walks around Delhi’s now-dilapidated cemeteries, Smith paints with his words a city full of magic and history. This anthology features short essays on the Indian sultanate, its fall after the British Raj, and its resurrection to become what it is today – the National Capital Territory of Delhi. ‘No amount of bookish knowledge can compete with the sort of insights and real, lived memories he [Smith] has.’ —Rakshanda Jalil, LiveMint ‘… When it comes to writing on monuments of Delhi – known, little known or unknown – no one does a better job than R.V. Smith.’ —Khushwant Singh, Hindustan Times

This insightful volume examines the politics and contestations around urban space in India’s national capital, Delhi. Moving beyond spectacular megaprojects and sites of consumption, this book engages with ordinary space and everyday life. Sites and communities analysed in this volume reveal the processes, relations, and logics through which the city’s grand plans are executed. The contributors argue that urbanization is negotiated and muddled, particularly in the spaces occupied by informal labour, resettled communities, and small-scale investors. The critical analyses in this volume shed light on the disjunctures between planning and ideology, narratives of growth and realities of immobility, and facades of modernity and the spaces and practices produced in its pursuit. The book is organized in four parts – (I) Dis/locating Bodies, (II) Claims at the Urban Frontier, (III) Informalization and Investment, and (IV) Gendered Mobility. The studies report current empirical work from a variety of sites, investigating the dynamics of capital investment, state planning and citizen response in these spaces. These studies, set in ordinary spaces in Delhi, reveal a subliminal disarray of thought and action, stemming from the impetus to make the city attractive to capital, while having to manage marginality and reorganize welfare functions. The volume provides fresh insights into the nature of urban planning and governance in an Indian megacity two decades after the neoliberal shift.

The Truth of Delhi Riots is Unearthing Gradually “As per our plan, on February 24 we called several people and told them how stones, petrol bombs and acid bottles are to be thrown. I shifted my family to another place. At about 1.30 p.m. in the afternoon on February 24 we began pelting stones.” Only those who are not familiar with the real face of the Aam Aadmi Party will be surprised or shocked by the above statements made by the now expelled counsellor Tahir Hussain. The Aam Aadmi Party used its network of people associated with mosques and madarsas and relied on leaders such as Tahir Hussain and Amanat Ulla Khan to bag the Muslim votes in Delhi. In return for the votes, it seems that the party gave the license to a specific community to consign north east Delhi to flames. Now that the chargesheet has been finalised by the Delhi Police about the riots that took place in East Delhi, it will be a fallacy to disassociate the riots that took place in places such as Jafrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Gokul Puri, Karawal Nagar, Bhajanpura, Yamuna Vihar from the violence that took place during the anti-CAA protests. The violence that occurred during the anti-CAA protests in places such as Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar, Seelampur were actually the precursor to a big riot. The riot that took place in the north-east parts of Delhi during US President Donald Trump's visit from February 23-26, 2020. For the violence that was orchestrated during these riots, the work of collecting empty bottles, stones and storing these on rooftops of houses had begun on February 4. Many people of the Muslim community had filled petrol in their vehicles so that this fuel could later be used for making petrol bombs. In many Muslim families, pamphlets about such riots were distributed with instructions on how to deal with Hindus. It is not rocket science to understand that the Muslim community was already prepared for the riots that broke out in north-east Delhi. Hindus did not get a chance to get their act together. Slowly the conspiracy behind the riots is unraveling and the lies perpetrated by the Communist ecosystem are falling flat. "DELHI RIOTS: Conspiracy Unravelled" by Aditya Bhardwaj / Ashish Kumar Anshu: Authored by Aditya Bhardwaj and Ashish Kumar Anshu, this book appears to be a work of investigative journalism that delves into the Delhi riots, aiming to unravel the alleged conspiracy behind the violent events. It may provide a detailed account of the incidents, key players, and their motivations. Key Aspects of the Book "DELHI RIOTS: Conspiracy Unravelled": Investigative Reporting: Aditya Bhardwaj and Ashish Kumar Anshu likely offer an in-depth investigation into the Delhi riots, shedding light on the behind-the-scenes developments. Alleged Conspiracy: The book may present a narrative that suggests a conspiracy was involved in the riots, exploring the motives and actions of those believed to be responsible. Contemporary Events: "DELHI RIOTS: Conspiracy Unravelled" may provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the Delhi riots and their implications. Both Aditya Bhardwaj and Ashish Kumar Anshu are likely investigative journalists committed to uncovering the truth behind significant events.

This book has been written specifically for the students of BCom (Hons) of the University of Delhi in accordance with its prescribed syllabus and that of School of Open Learning. Its basic features are the same as the mother book Cost Accounting—Principles and Practice, which is a UGC recommended text for the last many years. Thus, it gives a thorough grounding in cost concepts, cost behaviour, and costing methods. The subject matter has been organized on ‘first things first’ basis to sustain the interest of the students. Every discussion involving conceptual difficulties is immediately followed by a numerical example.

In this insightful book, Jagmohan recounts the moments of triumphs and tragedies which he came across during his long and eventful date with Delhi’s development, from Jawaharlal Nehru’s time till date. His narration and analysis of these moments, in the context of larger forces that have remained embedded in the post-1947 India, bring under sharp focus a number of fundamental questions that need in-depth consideration of national leadership of all hue and colour: • Why did Nehru, despite his grand vision of a beautiful and balanced growth of Delhi, extend only a weak implementational hand, when it came to actualizing that vision on the ground? • How was it that, while most of her senior party leaders of Delhi lambasted the author and his colleagues for launching a drive to implement some of the clearance-redevelopment projects, Ms. Indira Gandhi experienced a sense of ‘thrill and pride’, when the results of that drive surfaced on the ground and enhanced the image of the Republic and its Capital, especially in early 1980s, the years of hosting ASIAD, NAM, CHOGAM? • Why were the few remnants of Gandhian Truth, which were seen in Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s stand regarding Master Plan schemes, butchered by his Home Ministry bureaucratic caucus and the Shah Commission? • How was it that when, in accordance with pre-Emergency decision of the Central Government and unanimous resolution of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, the government owned slums of Turkman Gate were cleared, it was given a communal colour and subjected to the most diabolical campaign of calumny known to contemporary Indian history? • What led Prime-Minister A.B. Vajpayee, a nobility-oriented statesman, to act against his own beliefs and change author’s portfolio of Urban Development? • Why did Mrs. Sonia Gandhi-Shiela Dikshit regime think that its principal plank for winning Delhi State Assembly Elections and Lok Sabha Elections should be a large reward to those who had ravaged, with impunity, the landscape of Delhi in form of thousands of unauthorized colonies? And why could not rival political parties think of any plan other than competitive negativity? • How is it that “We – the People” hardly ask ourselves: In what type of Delhi do we want to live, and what type of legacy do we wish to bequeath to posterity and to our children and grand children? Do we want our city to become junk-yard of unauthorized constructions, mirroring civic and moral chaos? • Was inaction on the part of the Election Commission to check the existence of an unhealthy clientistic relationship between the land-grabber/illegal builder/voters and those seeking their votes justifiable? The author has many other posers which extend to the infected ethos of Indian State, Society and Civilization. Nor does the author limit himself to questions and posers. He points to the way out, outlining a broad strategy of action.

When the Big Apple no longer felt big enough, Dave Prager and his wife, Jenny, moved to a city of sixteen million people—with seemingly twice as many honking horns. Living and working in Delhi, the couple wrote about their travails and discoveries on their popular blog Our Delhi Struggle. This book, all new, is Dave’s top-to-bottom account of a megacity he describes as simultaneously ecstatic, hallucinatory, feverish, and hugely energizing. Weaving together useful observations and hilarious anecdotes, he covers what you need to know to enjoy the city and discover its splendors: its sprawling layout,some favorite sites, the food, the markets, and the challenges of living in or visiting a city that presents every human extreme at once. Among his revelations: secrets that every Delhiite knows, including the key phrase for successfully negotiating with any shopkeeper; the most fascinating neighborhoods, and the trendiest; the realities behind common stereotypes; tips for enjoying street food and finding hidden restaurants, as well as navigating the transportation system; and the nuances of gestures like the famous Indian head bobble. Delirious Delhi is at once tribute to a great world city and an invitation to explore. Read it, and you’ll want to book the next flight!

The girl who loved cycling along the tree-lined avenues of a brand new Lutyens' Delhi could never have dreamt that five decades later she would govern, and transform, Delhi as its chief minister – not once, but thrice consecutively. When a politician like Sheila Dikshit, with a career spanning over three decades, chooses to let the reader get a glimpse of her life's journey, the opportunity brings along an element of surprise. In a fascinating account of her life, contoured along the life of the nation and her political party at critical junctures, she creates a richly patterned universe with deft touches, seamlessly moving between the home and the world, the past and the present. Be it encounters with politics, which she terms 'life at its barest' or the ups and downs of a household, what shines through is the portrait of a modern woman determined to face any eventuality with fortitude, and a deep sense of duty. Interestingly, she never wanted to be in politics, but destiny willed otherwise – a destiny shaped by her liberal upbringing in a Punjabi household. Brought up to be independent, she chose her life partner from another part of India. And that started it all. As the wife of an IAS officer and daughter-in-law of well-known freedom fighter and politician, Uma Shankar Dikshit, with his long association with the Nehru–Gandhi family, she saw governance from both ends. When she began assisting her father-in-law from 1969, her up-close view of politics eventually became a springboard for her own entry into the arena in December 1984, inaugurating a 30-year-long career in politics. The narrative foregrounds a question that the author considers crucial for democracy – how does one deal with the constant tussle between the dictates of governance and the here-and-now preoccupations of party politics?