1.5 Methodology

 Understanding the socio-political history - Exploring a region that had been socially and politically infamous earlier due to the issues like land acquisition, which involved oppression of the poor people during incidents of land grab and terror in the region. This land was earlier Bhangor and Rajarhat, was actually farm lands, where the primary occupation was farming and fishing. In addition, the history of this region has not always been showcased by media in West

Bengal. Therefore, to explore this region from the ground zero level and understand the daily life of the people, had been one of the reasons of selecting this topic for the dissertation programme.

 Inadequacy of studies done in this region - In addition, there have not been not many studies have been done with respect to this region. There are many studies which have been conducted only in the planned neighbourhood regions

New Town and Rajarhat. But, this study region and this aspect of plannedunplanned influence has rarely been touched upon.

Thus, the main purpose of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of the influence that the planned developments have on the unplanned study region. In order to get this broader picture, it is important to understand this region from different levels - macro level by having a contextual understanding of the overall region, ward level and mouza level (wards are sub-divided into mouzas) and finally into the micro level, through the settlements.

1.5 Methodology

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, certain activities and their corresponding methods have been performed throughout the duration of this thesis. Therefore, the methodology followed can be elucidated in the subsequent paragraphs.

Activ ities

Documentary analysis M ethod M ethodology

Study and analyse existing online data, reports and existing plans (LU DCP) Expected data types

Secondary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Historical documentation

On-site documentation

Literature reviews

Documentary analysis from books and w ebsites

Observ ation based and photo-documentation only

U rbanisation in I ndia | Peri-U rban interface in the I ndian context | History of the study region - a socialist and political v iew . Secondary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Primary qualitativ e

Primary qualitativ e

Stakeholder interv iew s (Key person interv iew s) I nterv iew s w ith Ward councillors (Wards 27 and 28), Gram Panchayat pradhan, Engineer at I rrigation department, Jalasampad bhaw an, Salt Lake. Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

I nformal interactions I nteraction w ith locals and elders in the region Primary qualitativ e

Table 1.1 : Methodology for Objective 1

In order to successfully get a contextual understanding of the overall region at the macro perspective, the work pattern to be followed was a mix of both studying from secondary sources and site visits. The documentary analysis part was sub-divided into two different parts. Here, firstly, the existing online data, reports and articles were studied to get an understanding at the macro-level. To locate the region geographically, the maps had been retrieved from various websites, most notably the official website for the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. Other government websites and articles, predominantly from Economic and Political Weekly, were also accessed to gain more information. Also, since there is a dearth of land use plans, the only available land use plan, the Land Use Development Control Plan or LUDCP for New Town was studied and analysed to obtain a broad overview of the region and also the planning processes in the vicinity. In addition, few documents related to the planning of Salt Lake was also studied.

The following part of this documentary analysis included historical documentation. To understand the history of this region, the administrative history and the socio-political history were considered. The administrative history dealt with the chronological events in Bidhannagar from an administrative perspective – initiation of Bidhannagar to formation of Bidhannagar municipality to the present day Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation in 2015. This administrative history was obtained solely from online sources, predominantly from BMC’s and NDITA’s official websites. The sociopolitical history of the region was documented from reports and articles noted down by non-governmental organizations like Sanhati, and news articles from leading English and Bengali newspapers in Kolkata. This socio-political history provided a better

understanding of the remorseful incidents that occurred at this region, namely the land acquisition and oppression of the poor people in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

The literature studies explained in the next chapter, Chapter 2, has also been undertaken during this stage. The key topics that were studied upon as part of the literature studies were – Urbanisation in India, Peri-urban interface in the Indian context and the history of the region from a socio-political view. All these topics were relevant from the Indian context as well as from the perspective of the study region.

In addition to this secondary data, which was done in December 2017 and January2018, field work was also carried out during this time period. This included a transect walk through the length of the site, to get a general understanding of the region, and photo documenting it. During this transect walk, there were informal interactions with the local people, the residents and elders, which provided valuable insights on the region. This transect walk was solely observation based and for photo-documentation purpose only. Moreover, in order to achieve this broad objective of getting a contextual understanding of the region, certain key person interviews were also done in January and February. The prominent key persons who were interviewed included the current ward councillors of ward 27, who was also the Gram Panchayat Pradhan of the erstwhile Mahishbathan II Gram Panchayat, and his secretary, who had been living in this region from birth, and had inside out knowledge of this region. Other key persons who were interviewed, after prior appointments were the engineers and officials at Jalasampad Bhaban or the Irrigation department of Govt. of West Bengal, located at Salt Lake.

Figure 1.3 : (Left) Entrance to the ward councillors (Prosenjit Sardar and Santosh Pramanik) office in Ward 27 and (right) Jalasampad Bhaban (Irrigation department of West Bengal)

Source: Primary

Activ ities

Demographic Grow th

Spatial Grow th M ethod M ethodology

Calculating annual grow th rate (CAGR) in the study region from av ailable sources (Census data) based on certain parameters

Cross-checking through KPI s (Ward councillors) and interactions w ith local residents.

Assessing the built-up transformation from Satellite data (Google Earth) to understand densification through the years (2005-present)

Cross-checking through KPI s (Ward councillors) and interactions w ith local residents. Expected data types

Secondary quantitativ e

Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Table 1.2 : Methodology for Objective 2

The next objective, attempts were made to calculate the growth of the study region on 2 fronts – spatially and demographically. The spatial growth was assessed through visual and observational methods by comparing the transformations taking place at the regional level and also at the study region. This analysis was done solely from the available satellite data – Google Earth, where certain years where specifically highlighted, which showed enormous transformation spatially.

The demographic growth was obtained by calculating the decadal and annual growth rate (CAGR) from the available census data of the years 2001 and 2011, in the study region and comparing the growth rate of the study region to the surrounding planned developments and also comparing to Kolkata Metropolitan Area’s growth rate. These population statistics of the overall region was obtained from the census website, but for obtaining the population of the individual mouzas, the official website of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and other online sources were also referred to. In addition, apart from population, other parameters like density, number of households and number of housing units were obtained from the Census and associated online sources, were also taken into consideration for assessing the demographic growth of the study region.

This stage of the thesis also involved the correlation between the obtained spatial growth and demographic growth in order to effectively understand the enormous transformations occurring in the study region in the given time frame.

This stage also included certain key person interviews with the ward councillor of ward 27, who provided approximate figures of the recent demographic trends in the study region. In addition, many of the local residents were also partially instrumental in providing rough estimates of the demographic trends along the canal front and the

interior regions of the mouzas. These key person interviews were also done during January and February.

Activ ities

M ethod M ethodology

Expected data types

On-site documentation Photo documentation and schematic representation (sketches and sections) Primary qualitativ e

Rapid assessment (reconaissance) surv eys

Focussed group discussions Questionnaire surv eys (approximately 50) and few FGD's to understand physical conditions (housing typology), period of stay and prev ious location and occupation profile.

FGDs and indiv idual interv iew s w ith local residents to hav e a comparativ e analysis at different locations w ithin the study region, on the basis of certain parameters. Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Primary qualitativ e and quantitativ e

Table 1.3 : Methodology for Objective 3

The final objective, was to analyse the influence of the planned developments at the micro level. This stage was predominantly started during December 2017 and went on through certain phases till mid-March 2018. A general idea of the settlements along the canal front were formed by first, visiting the region in January, and photographically documenting the key points related to the settlements and the overall region. This visit was predominantly observational, where the study region was briefly understood by observing and through pictures. On the next site visit in February, the canal front was surveyed in greater details. Questionnaire surveys were prepared for the same. This was a rapid assessment survey to get an overall idea of the settlements along the Keshtopur canal-front. Approximately 50 households were surveyed through this reconnaissance survey. The number of households was estimated as 2.5% of the total number of households (1800 to 2000) located along the canal-front on both sides, in wards 27 and 28. This reconnaissance survey was primary in nature with qualitative and quantitative outcomes. The main purpose of this survey was to understand the physical conditions like housing typology and infrastructure, period of stay of the people at this current location and their previous location. Additionally, the occupation profile of the people were also obtained from these rapid surveys.

The final phase of this stage included the comparative analysis within the study region. The only methods undertaken for this comparative analysis were focussed group discussions and individual interviews (where groups of people were not available) with the local residents in the study region.

Figure 1.4 : Some of the groups of people at the study region (Thakdari and Mahishbathan) with whom focussed group discussion were conducted during February-March

Source: Primary

To understand the enormous diversity, within the study region at the mouza level, the comparative analysis was done on 2 fronts – at the Keshtopur canal-front and at the interior regions of the mouzas. Approximately 20 focussed group discussions were done in the study region during 10th to 17th March in 2018, on the basis of 4 parameters. These parameters were as follows – occupational shift, diversity in housing typology, access to infrastructure and transportation characteristics.