Stakeholders

In this chapter, we seek to analyze the level of power and interest as well as the interaction with each other of different stakeholders, individuals and organisations that are involved or affected in the decision making and future of Vishwakarma Nagar. During our fieldwork, we identified stakeholders and adjusted their positions in our mapping in accordance with our development of idea and shift of focus, the feedbacks from residents in the co-design workshop, as well as the networking we have carried out to seek external support.

As we focus on the exchange of information regarding Vishwakarma Nagar and its residents, we redeveloped our stakeholder mapping. Four main categories of stakeholders were identified. Their power and interest in contributing to information exchange are shown in the coordinate.

Community

The community as a whole is the most important stakeholder group with regard to information exchange. They are the most influenced by the deficiency of information exchange, and have the strongest interests in performing their rights to know the information that will affect their life. In general the community is placed at the less powerful position in information exchange as they don’t generate official information themselves and lack the approaches of expressing demands. Noticeably, within communities, subdivision of groups demonstrates different degree of power and interest.

Bengali community. Bengali community is the dominant group in Vishwakarma, whether in population size, territory size or financial capability. The people of Bengali community inhabit mainly southern side of the main alley of Vishwakarma, occupying the major part of the settlement. By average stronger in financial and social status, Bengali community possess more power and access to information related to development plan of the area as well as services and rights they deserve.

Bihari community. Bihari community is the second most dominant community that resides in this area. With its population concentrating in the northwestern part of the area, the community is less powerful and have less resources compared with the Bengali group.

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Other communities. In addition to Bengali and Bihari communities, other residents also gathered here from Bhopal or other parts of India. They live together with the other communities and have established close linkage.

Religious leaders. As religious leaders in the communities, they own the privileges with respect to information gathering and publishing due to their position. Religious leaders are also capable of organizing and mobilizing within communities to facilitate information exchange.

Men. As the inheritance of patriarchal society, men’s dominant status in this area is prevalent without doubt. Men take control of the finance in households and thus have the prerogative to represent their households and communities in any form of formal information exchange.

Women. Women in Vishwakarma Nagar demonstrated various vulnerability and resilience. More inclined to be in the disadvantaged position, women possess less power to exert in information exchange. Women that are employed may show higher level of resilience while women without jobs or skills could be the most vulnerable. Overall women have strong interests to engage more in information exchange, and have needs to be empowered so as to improve their situation.

Children. Children are the active factors that could contribute to information exchange within or even between communities, and children shared the interests of knowing the plans and rights related to them. However, children lack the ability to leverage the formal information exchange process.

The skilled/ employed. The skilled or employed group is relatively powerful group in the area, as being employed means more opportunities of external information acquisition. Also, being employed and income-generating, the group will could have louder voice in information exchange.

The unemployed. The unemployed, especially the unemployed women, are one of the most disadvantaged groups in these communities. Restricted by financial capability and domestic status, the group might have the least power even if they are most affected if there comes any change.

Private sector

Our knowledge about the private sector, when we talk about information exchange, has changed over time with our deeper investigation and correction of wrong conception. This sector holds information

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about land use and future plans, if any. Our identification of main stakeholders changed from Bansal Group to BHEL as we dug into the status of the land. Based on our study, there rarely is communication between the private sector and the community. Information exchange usually takes place via government sectors, e.g. the BHEL person explained in the interview that notification of eviction will be given one month in advance through the municipality.

BHEL. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was established in 1964 in New Delhi by the Government of India, and its business focus mainly on engineering and manufacturing. BHEL is not only India's largest power generation equipment manufacturer, but also possesses large tracts of land all over India, including in Bhopal. In our case, BHEL owns the land that Vishwakarma Nagar was built on, and the surrounding colonies. BHEL took the land from the government of India in the 1970s and hasn’t exploited it. For us, BHEL is considered to have the maximum information about the land, and have the power to deal with this piece of land, which gives them more power in information handling.

Smart City Bhopal. Bhopal Smart City Development Co., Ltd. (BSCDCL) is a company jointly owned by the Government of MP and is equally managed by Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Co., Ltd. (MPUDCL) and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). BSCDCL hasn’t extended their business to Vishwakarma Nagar. But since BSCDCL are in charge of planning and implementing the “Smart city project” in the entire Bhopal city, they own abundant information about slums including Vishwakarma Nagar. What’s more, with the proceeding of smart city project in Bhopal, it is possible that in the future BSCDCL will have Vishwakarma Nagar included in their development plans, which gives them potential to possess more information and power about the future development of the area.

Habibganj Railway Station. Indian Railway Stations Development Co., Ltd. (IRSDC) is a joint venture company of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), and is the owner of Habibganj Railway Station. The station was privatized in June 2017 and became India's first private railway station. Habibganj railway station is now undergoing reconstruction, accompanied by the construction of the shopping complex. IRSDC leased vast tracts of land from BHEL in Habibganj area due to their commercial cooperation. However, the land of Vishwakarma Nagar, although next to the Habibganj Railway Station, remains unleased

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for now. Also, considering that the redeveloped Habibganj Railway Station might generate significant profits, their further intention to redevelop surrounding areas could also be anticipated. It should be noticed that the redevelopment of Habibganj Railway Station was subcontracted to Bansal Group.

Bansal Pathways Habibganj Private Ltd. Bansal Group is a pioneer group in central India, particularly in the field of technical education. Bansal Pathways Habibganj Private Ltd. is a company of Bansal Group incorporated in 2016. Currently, Bhopal-based Bansal Pathways Habibganj Private Ltd. has taken the responsibility from IRSDC of the redevelopment of Habibganj Railway Station. Bansal Group, as the developer of Habibganj Railway Station, demonstrates strong motivation to transform the area as we interviewed the project manager. However, the land that Bansal Group is working on excludes Vishwakarma Nagar. The project manager also indicated that in the coming years projects are expected to be implemented within current boundary. The manager also pointed out there will be other potential companies bidding for the development of surrounding areas.

Future developer. A real estate developer interested in the redevelopment of Vishwakarma Nagar, if comes into sight, may start to take over more power of land use and information handling and publishment.

Government sector

As the sector that is elected by people to serve the needs of the people, the government is expected to undertake more responsibilities in improving information sufficiency and accuracy. As the bridge between the community and the official sources of information, ward councilors are also put high expectation to communicate with residents more frequently, e.g. to hold more information sessions.

Central government. The central government of India doesn’t play a direct role in the information exchange facilitation among the formal planning and residents in Vishwakarma Nagar, but schemes and acts, e.g. Right to Information (RTI) Act were issued by the central government to ensure citizen rights.

Housing for all. Pradhan Mantri Awas YojanaHousing for All (Urban) is a scheme initiated by the government of India to be implemented from 2015 to 2022 to facilitate missions including in-situ rehabilitation of slums. The scheme is implemented at state level. Through our visits to Housing for All office at Bhopal, the officers provided us with information about their slum relocation plan and the situation of Vishwakarma Nagar. We

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were also informed that Housing for All is not able to deal with Vishwakarma Nagar at present due to the land ownership. But Housing for All office has the big picture in hand and has the priority to acquire the firsthand information timely, and has the potential to influence the future development of the area.

Slum Free City Plan. The plan is under Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) for the slum dwellers and the urban poor initiated by the government of India. The ‘City Slum Free City Plan of Action’ takes into consideration the present status of slums, priorities of slum dwellers, the resources and capabilities of the city in improving the quality of life of the urban poor and the capacity of the urban poor to be partners in this development process (Slum Free City, 2013). The Slum Free City Plan for Bhopal Metropolitan Area was prepared by Bhopal Municipal Corporation, and specified the situations of 366 slums in Bhopal, including Vishwakarma Nagar.

Municipality and Ward councilor. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), Bhopal executes duties including providing efficient delivery of basic services for citizens such as drinking water, sanitation, roads, street lights, fire mitigation including disaster management etc. Working in the municipality, a councilor has the duty to act as a bridge between the community and the council. The councilor is also anticipated not only to speak for local residents, but also to keep people updated about the issues and information that might impact on their life.

In our case, the ward councilor has the strongest power to influence the information acquisition from official sources in Vishwakarma Nagar, as the ward councilor is the only government officer that bridges the information between the residents and the government sectors. The ward councilor is expected to show strong interests in improving the information sufficiency and accuracy in this area, but it is also mentioned by residents in co-design workshop that they look forward to more opportunities to meet and interact with their ward councilor.

Media/NGO

Media is identified by residents to be important stakeholder in information provision. New media such as Facebook has potential in strengthening communication between different fields of stakeholders via its borderless platform. Besides, Indian NGOs have shown strong ability in mobilizing the urban poor to come together and articulate their concerns. Potential NGO stakeholder such as Aarambh that could facilitate

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community empowerment was reached through our networking. They have in-depth cooperation with the government sector and are able to bring about changes when they come into action.

Media. Traditional media such as TV has been acknowledged by the residents in Vishwakarma Nagar to be one of the two most prevailing source of information related to their own benefits. Internet-based media such as Facebook and WhatsApp show potentials to provide more timely information and to serve as a tool to express demands, along with the prevalence of smart phone among residents especially the young.

International organizations. International organizations such as UN-Habitat and its guidelines for slum upgrading or living condition improvement discuss about possibilities of a better life in the slum with better service provision and capacity building.

Local NGOs. As we reached SPARC, Samarthan, and then Aarambh, who shared the same mission of community empowerment, we identified Aarambh as the main stakeholder in this field owing to their base in Bhopal and focus on urban context. Aarambh has rich experience in children protection, women empowerment and community development, and is able to build the community capacity to deal with the disadvantaged positions of information insufficiency and inaccuracy for the residents. Aarambh indicated the possibility of future intervention in Vishwakarma Nagar.

Overall, stakeholders from the communities show stronger interests but lower power in the two-way information exchange system. As the situation differs in different community groups, the more disadvantaged are paid attention to. For the private sector, BHEL, as the land owner, has the strongest power but the least interest in contributing. Smart City Bhopal has slightly lower power but shows high potential to influence in the future. As to the government sector, ward councilors play key roles in information exchange, and are anticipated by residents to be more active in communication activities. Media is the way that residents consider the most effective to get information, while NGOs have motivation and ability to intervene in the process as well.

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