ABOUT ‘UP THE ANTE, MUMBAI/उच्च अपेक्षा’

The main objective of this conversation series is to engage in targeted and detailed discussions on a wide range of topics in the area of urban planning, development, and governance. The intention is to identify law and policy solutions to various challenges facing the city of Mumbai today and nudge its inhabitants to demand more from their political representatives who go to polls this year.

You can watch the first and the second episodes of the series where we discuss, amongst other things, Mumbai’s relationship with its informal settlements and the impact that Mumbai’s ongoing infrastructure projects have on the environment.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS AND THE THIRD EPISODE

Roshni K. Nuggehalli is the Executive Director at Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), a forty-year-old non-profit organisation. YUVA aims to address poverty and injustice alongside the poor, with the goal of empowering people to participate in a process of meaningful change. Specifically, Roshni works on issues of youth and child rights, migration, informal economy, climate justice and governance.

Sachin Nachnekar is Programme Lead at YUVA. He leads grassroots projects to empower and uplift underprivileged groups and address systemic inequalities. He especially focuses on developing youth leadership and collective action for change.

Asma Ansari is Senior Leader, Malvani Yuva Parishad (MYP), a young people’s collective in Malvani, Malad, in Mumbai’s western suburbs. Since 2014, MYP has led multiple change initiatives locally and at the city level. Asma continues to inspire many women and adolescent girls to step into roles of leadership for change.

The third episode in our conversation series focussed on how the youth in Mumbai’s informal settlements experience and shape the city around them. We spoke to Asma about liveability in Mumbai and draw from her experiences growing up in a basti. Sachin walked us through how civil society organisations are partnering with young people for changes in city planning, development and governance. We also spoke to Roshni about how youth participation in planning and governance of the city can be brought to the mainstream and potentially institutionalised. 

To reach a wider audience, the conversation was conducted primarily in Hindi.