ABOUT ‘UP THE ANTE, MUMBAI/उच्च अपेक्षा’

Cities are a common good, essential to the quality of life of the people who inhabit them. However, cities in India today, including Mumbai, are broken. Growth driven by market forces has fractured the natural ecosystems in our cities and neglected many marginalised communities.

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 at the end of this year.

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

ABOUT THE SPEAKER AND THE FIFTH EPISODE

Dr. Ramanath Jha works on urbanisation – urban sustainability, urban governance and urban planning. He belongs to the 1977 batch of the IAS. He has worked as Municipal Administrator, Pandharpur and Solapur, Collector Ahmednagar, Municipal Commissioner Pune and Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA. He was Regional Advisor, South Asia for the Urban Management Programme of UN-Habitat, VC&MD MSRDC and Principal Secretary, Transport, Ports and State Excise, GoM. After voluntary retirement from the Government in 2008, he worked in the private sector as CEO & MD, Khed Economic Infrastructure Private Limited. In 2015, he led the Mumbai team for preparing the Development Plan Mumbai 2034. He also worked as Advisor, Mumbai Parking Authority, Chairman Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee, Chairman Bike-Taxi Committee, Chairman Mumbai High Rise Committee and Member, Committee on Transparency, Accountability & Efficiency in Urban Local Bodies, GoM. 

He is currently Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Hon Fellow of the Indian School of Political Economy, Member of the Advisory Board of Symbiosis School of Architecture, Urban Development and Planning, Member Governing Council, Janwani and Member, Centre for Water & Sanitation of CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

Dr. Jha’s books are “Towards People Friendly Studies” published by UNICEF and “Urban Essays”, published by YASHADA. He has also co-edited “Perspectives in Urban Development” published by Symbiosis and has published more than 200 papers for ORF on a variety of urban subjects. 

The fifth episode in our conversation series will focus on how citizens can engage with urban local governments to ensure their voices are represented in the governance of their cities. We will speak to Dr. Jha about the avenues for participatory governance of urban spaces, particularly in the last few years.

This event is free and open to all. However, prior registration would help us plan better for refreshments. For any queries, please write to me. Please also feel free to circulate this email amongst your family, friends and colleagues who you think may be interested in this discussion.