The ninth conversation in the ‘Vidhi Book Adda’ series featured a discussion on the book ‘Colossus: The Anatomy of Delhi’ edited by Neelanjan Sircar in conversation with Richa Bansal, Head of Communications, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

About the Book:

The National Capital Region of Delhi is a diverse and unequal space. Its more than 30 million people are sharply differentiated by economic class, religion and caste, education, language, and migration status. Its 45,000 square kilometres is a tapestry of spaces – ghettoes, slums, enclaves, institutional areas, planned and unplanned and authorized and unauthorized colonies, forests and agricultural fields. In some ways it is a dynamic society aspiring to global city grandeur; in other ways it is a bastion of tradition, sectarianism and hierarchy.

Colossus details these realities and paradoxes under three themes: social change, community and state, and inequality. From the material condition of the metropolis – its housing, services, crime and pollution – to its social organization – of who marries whom, who eats with whom, and who votes for whom – this book unpacks the complex reality of a metropolitan region that is emblematic of India’s aspirations and contradictions.

SPEAKERS:

NEELANJAN SIRCAR, Editor of ‘Colossus: The Anatomy of Delhi’ published by Cambridge University Press, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research,

RICHA BANSAL, Head of Communications, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, was in conversation with the editor.

The event was held at 6:00 PM on June 24th, 2022 at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy premises.