Dholera 'rooted' in post-2002 Gujarat riots legacy of breaking down communities

Dholera "smart" city

By A Representative
In one of the sharpest critiques of the Government of India’s (GoI’s) proposal to come up with 100 smart cities, a senior UK scholar on urban development has said that Gujarat's Dholera, which GoI proposes to develop as a model concept for other smart cities to follow, is nothing but a “new urban utopia” of post-colonial India.
Ayona Dutta, associate professor at the University of Leeds, involved in studying urbanization in India, has said, Dholera, proposed on 903 sq km land in Ahmedabad district, to be twice the size of Mumbai, reflects nothing but “large-scale expulsion of those that cannot fit into its smart city-based ‘high-tech strand of developmental utopianism’.”
Dutta, in her research paper, “New urban utopias of postcolonial India: ‘Entrepreneurial urbanization’ in Dholera smart city, Gujarat”, said, as against earlier “planned cities” like Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar and Gandhinagar, Dholera symbolizes “a new trend in city building in India” which, instead of addressing existing social exclusions, “actually reinforces long-standing social inequalities.”
According to Dutta, Dholera is composed of “large-scale privatized residential neighbourhoods, commercial and business districts, a ‘private’ city at a gargantuan scale, producing a ‘new urban colonialism’.” In fact, it has been “planned in the image of a global Gujarat that rejects its local identity rooted in Gandhian principles.”
Thus, Dutta underlines, while making a break from cities like Gandhinagar, Gujarat capital, there is a need to understand how its concept was developed “in a larger context of a Gujarat reeling after the 2002 communal riots and the breaking down of communities, neighbourhoods and trust.”
Pointing out that none of the narratives on Dholera refer to “local history or the diversity of its social, cultural, religious or material landscapes” which exists in the region, Dhutta says, “Dholera fails to make connections with the postmodern realities of a plural India struggling to maintain communal relations.”
In fact, said Dutta, “Neither the plans nor videos of Dholera, nor the speeches of Narendra Modi, nor the lectures of Amitabh Kant, refer to actually existing Dholera, which remains as an absent presence, giving the impression of an empty backdrop, a tabula rasa – the perfect landscape in waiting for the smart city.”
Pointing towards the “roadblocks” Dholera faces amidst agitation against the special investment region (SIR) proposed on its 903 sq km land for building smart city led by Jameen Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG), Dutta says, quotes “several official reports” on flood assessment and biodiversity “that are potentially more concerning for the state.”
One of the reports, for instance, underlines “the high risk of flooding in Dholera, which means that it would cost over INR700 crore to do the necessarily engineering works for flood mitigation.” Then, Dholera is proposed on “the blackbuck habitat and would therefore lead to irreversible loss of biodiversity.”
Dutta concludes, “Dholera is the new urban utopia, whose fault lines are drawn in its very conceptualization, whose bottlenecks are written into the speed of its delivery and whose materialization as smart city requires the active dispossession of marginalised citizens.”

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.

School closures across states raise concerns amid Govt of India claims of improved access

By A Representative A recent report has raised concerns over the closure and merger of government schools in several Indian states, particularly in Bihar, where a significant number of institutions have reportedly been shut down or earmarked for closure.

Health activist group raises concerns over HPV vaccination drive, seeks temporary halt

By A Representative Swasthya Adhikar Manch, a public health advocacy group, has urged the Union government to ensure greater accountability and transparency in the ongoing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, and called for its temporary suspension pending a comprehensive review. In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the group flagged what it described as unresolved concerns surrounding the nationwide rollout of the HPV vaccine, which began on February 28, 2026. The campaign targets 14-year-old girls and involves administering Gardasil, a quadrivalent vaccine intended to protect against certain strains of HPV linked to cervical cancer.

Search This Blog