Colonising, Decolonising, and G - Siddhartha Sen

ASIAN CITIES
Siddhartha Sen
Colonizing, Decolonizing,
and Globalizing Kolkata
From a Colonial to a Post-Marxist City
Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata
Publications
The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a research and exchange platform based in
Leiden, the Netherlands. Its objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of
Asia and to promote (inter)national cooperation. IIAS focuses on the humanities and social sciences
and on their interaction with other sciences. It stimulates scholarship on Asia and is instrumental in
forging research networks among Asia Scholars. Its main research interests are reflected in the three
book series published with Amsterdam University Press: Global Asia, Asian Heritages and Asian Cities.
IIAS acts as an international mediator, bringing together various parties in Asia and other parts
of the world. The Institute works as a clearinghouse of knowledge and information. This entails
activities such as providing information services, the construction and support of international
networks and cooperative projects, and the organization of seminars and conferences. In this way,
IIAS functions as a window on Europe for non-European scholars and contributes to the cultural
rapprochement between Europe and Asia.
IIAS Publications Officer: Paul van der Velde

IIAS Assistant Publications Officer: Mary Lynn van Dijk
Asian Cities
The Asian Cities Series explores urban cultures, societies and developments from the ancient to the
contemporary city, from West Asia and the Near East to East Asia and the Pacific. The series focuses
on three avenues of inquiry: evolving and competing ideas of the city across time and space; urban
residents and their interactions in the production, shaping and contestation of the city; and urban
challenges of the future as they relate to human well-being, the environment, heritage and public life.
Series Editor
Paul Rabé, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden
Editorial Board
Henco Bekkering, Delft University of Technology
Charles Goldblum, University of Paris 8
Stephen Lau, University of Hong Kong
Rita Padawangi, National University of Singapore
Parthasarathy Rengarajan, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
Neha Sami, Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore
Hui Xiaoxi, Beijing University of Technology
Colonizing, Decolonizing, and
Globalizing Kolkata
From a Colonial to a Post-Marxist City
Siddhartha Sen
Amsterdam University Press

Publications
Asian Cities 5
Cover illustration: Metro movie theatre. The architect for the building, which opened in 1934,
was Thomas W. Lamb.
Photograph courtesy of Anjan Gupta, 2015
Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden

Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout
Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by
the University of Chicago Press.
isbn 978 94 6298 111 9

e-isbn 978 90 4853 068 7 (pdf)
doi 10.5117/9789462981119
nur 630
© Siddhartha Sen / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2017
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of
this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)
without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations
reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is
advised to contact the publisher.
To my late father, Subhendu Bikas Sen, and my late mother,
Anjana Sen, who made my journey from the ‘coolie town’ of
Haora to the United States possible.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 15
A Note to Readers 17
1 Overture 19
Introduction
Scope of the Book 21
Analytical Framework 24
The Concept of the State in India 31
Socialism, Communism, and Marxism 32
Data Sources 35
Organization of the Book 36
2 Colonizing Kolkata 37
From a City of Huts to a City of Palaces
Founding of Kolkata 37
Kolkata’s Early Urbanism 40
Spatial Restructuring of Kolkata and the Emergence of Social and
Political Control as the Dominant Planning Paradigm 50
Kolkata’s Transformation to a City of Palaces 54
Emergence of Architecture as a Symbol of Power 59
Creating a Healthier and Beautiful City for the British: Emergence
of a New Paradigm for Planning 67
Early Municipal Administration in Kolkata 71
The Rise of the British and the Demise of Other European Settle-
ments around Kolkata 72
Haora’s Urbanism 76
3 Building a Neo-Classical, Beautiful, and Clean City 77

The Rise and Decline of British Imperial Urbanism
Consolidation of British Power: Making Kolkata a Neo-Classical
City 77
The Neo-Classical Architectural Influence on the Bengali Elite 84
Orientalist Discourse on Architecture and Kolkata 90
The Absence of the Indo-Saracenic Style in Kolkata 91
Victoria Memorial Hall: Neo-Classical Revival in Kolkata 98
The Modern Indian Architecture Movement 102
Limited Modernism in Kolkata 104
Transforming Kolkata into a Cleaner and Healthier City for the
British 105
Shifting the Discourse to Bustees as a Source of Disease 114
The Calcutta Improvement Trust and E.P. Richards’s Plan for
Kolkata 116
Sir Patrick Geddes’s Plan for the Burra Bazaar 120
Racial Segregation 121
Municipal Administration in Kolkata and the Expansion of Its
Boundaries 123
Haora’s Transformation to a Coolie Town 127
4 Decolonizing Kolkata 133

From an American Planning Paradigm to a Marxist City
Chandigarh: A Def ining Moment in India’s Search for Post-
Colonial Urbanism 133
Revivalist Architecture and the Search for Post-Colonial Archi-
tectural Identity 136
Lack of a Search for Post-Colonial Architecture in Kolkata 139
In Search of Post-Colonial Planning: An Overview 154
The Initial Acts of Decolonization in Kolkata 156
Material Legacies of Colonial Planning and Kolkata’s Post-
Colonial Urban Problems 158
Political Economy of Post-Colonial Kolkata and Its Urban Prob-
lems 159
Administrative Structure and the Continuation of the Colonial
Legacy in the Immediate Post-Colonial Period 164
Western Discourse on Kolkata and the Advent of Western Plan-
ning 166
The Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation and the Export
of the American Planning Paradigm to Kolkata 166
The Fear of Communism and the Formation of the Kolkata
Metropolitan Development Authority 169
Political Climate and Municipal Reform 174
The Infiltration of the Grassroots Space by the Communist Party
of India (Marxist) and Its Allies 177
New Towns around Kolkata 181
Haora’s Post-Colonial Urbanism 182
5 Globalizing Kolkata 191
A Late Bloomer
Emergence of New Market-Driven Architectural Forms in India 191
Why Kolkata Was a Late Bloomer 193
Making Kolkata Attractive to Capital: Operation Sunshine and
the Proposal to Remove Rickshaw Pullers 195
Singur and Nandigram: The Changing Priorities of the Left Front 197
Kolkata’s Population Growth, Territorial Changes, and Adminis-
trative Structure 198
Liberalization and the Changing Role of the Kolkata Metropolitan
Development Authority and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation 201
Kolkata’s Private Townships and Gated Communities: Emergence
of Real Estate-Driven Development 204
Kolkata’s Office Buildings for the Service and Financial Sectors,
SEZs, and IT Parks and Complexes 209
Shopping Malls 215
Emergence of New Planning Paradigms: State-Regulated Town-
ships and Private Townships 220
Rajarhat 222
Haora’s Global Urbanism 226
Kolkata West International City 228
6 Concluding Remarks 233
Glossary 245
List of Abbreviations 247
Bibliography 249
Index 263
List of Figures
Figure 1 View of Fort William, Done after the Painting in the Court
Room of the Company’s House in Leaden Hall Street after
George Lambert, by Elisha Kirkall, 1735 42
Figure 2 A conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth
century 45
Figure 3 Calcutta in 1756, by John Call and J. Cheevers 47
Figure 4 Navaratna Kai Temple. Detail from Govinda Ram Mittee’s
Pagoda, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint,
1798 48
Figure 5 A pictorial map of Old Goa. From Goa Indiae Orientalis
Metropolis, by Pieter Boudewyn van der Aa. Engraving,
1719 49
Figure 6 Plan of the Dutch Factory at Hooghly-Chinsura in 1721, by
an anonymous artist. Engraving, 1721 50
Figure 7 Esplanade Row (north of the Maidan). From Esplanade
Row and the Council House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured
aquatint with etching, 1788 55
Figure 8 A garden house in Garden Reach. From View on the Banks
of the Hooghly near Calcutta. The Country Residence of
William Farquharson Esq., by James Moffat after Frans
Balthazar Solvyns. Aquatint, 1800 57
Figure 9 Writers Building, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured
aquatint, 1798. The building was designed by Thomas
Lyon and was constructed in 1780 61
Figure 10 Old Government House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured
aquatint with etching, 1788. The building was built in 1767 62
Figure 11 South East View of the New Government House in Calcutta,
by J. Clarke and H. Merke. Coloured aquatint, published
by Edward Orme in 1805. The building was designed by
Lieutenant Charles Wyatt and was built between 1798
and 1803 64
Figure 12 Government House & Banqueting Hall, Madras, by the
Nicholas Brothers. Photographic print, 1860. The build-
ing was renovated by John Goldingham, circa 1800-1802 67
Figure 13 Major settlements around Kolkata in the eighteenth
century 73
Figure 14 Old Danish Gate, Serampore, by Frederick Fiebig. Photo-
graphic print, 1851 74
Figure 15 Chandernagore, by James Moffat. Aquatint with etching,
published in Calcutta, 1800 75
Figure 16 The Town Hall in Kolkata. The architect who designed
the building was John Garstin. It was completed in 1813 78
Figure 17 A view of English houses in Chowringhi from a litho-
graph. Plate 18: Views of Calcutta. Chowringhee Road by
William Wood, 1833 79
Figure 18 Surrounded by an entourage of servants: From The
Establishment of an English Gentleman, Calcutta. Pho-
tographic print by Frederick Fiebig, 1851 81
Figure 19 A view of the Writers Building, or Mahakaran, as it is
called today 83
Figure 20 An early example of classical influence on the Bengali
elite: From View on the Chitpore Road, Calcutta. Coloured
aquatint by Thomas Daniell, 1797 85
Figure 21 The Mullick Palace (also known as Marble Palace), built
between 1835 and 1840 85
Figure 22 A view of Qaisarbagh. Photographic print by an unknown
photographer, 1880 88
Figure 23 Laxmi Vilas Palace Baroda (now known as Vadodora). Pho-
tographic print by an unknown photographer, 1890. The
building was designed by Major Charles Mant, architect,
and was completed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm in 1890 93
Figure 24 The General Post Office. Walter L.B. Granville was the
architect who designed the building, which was built
between 1864 and 1868 94
Figure 25 The High Court. Walter L.B. Granville was the architect
who designed the building, which was built between
1864 and 1872 95
Figure 26 St. John’s Church. The building was designed by Lieuten-
ant James Agg and was built in 1787. Photographic print
by Samuel Bourne, 1865 95
Figure 27 St. Paul’s Cathedral. The building was designed by Major
W. Nairn Forbes and was built in 1839 96
Figure 28 Chartered Bank Building. The building was designed
and built by Martin and Company in 1906 96
Figure 29 Esplanade Mansions. The building was designed and
built by Martin and Company in 1910 97
Figure 30 Metro movie theatre. The architect for the building,
which opened in 1934, was Thomas W. Lamb 97
Figure 31 Public Works Office, Mumbai. The building was designed
by Colonel Henry St. Clair Wilkins and was completed
in 1872. Photographic print by Bourne and Shepherd, 1870 98
Figure 32 Victoria Memorial Hall. The architect for the building,
which was completed in 1921, was William H. Emerson 99
Figure 33 Secretariat, New Delhi. The architect of the building,
which was completed in 1931, was Sir Herbert Baker 102
Figure 34 Viceroy’s House (now known as Rashtrapati Bhavan),
New Delhi. The architect for the building, which was
completed in 1931, was Sir Edwin Lutyens 103
Figure 35 The Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library at Banaras Hindu
University, built between 1927 and 1941 104
Figure 36 The Lighthouse Cinema. The architect of the building,
which was built around 1936-1938, was Willem Marinus
Dudok 105
Figure 37 Kolkata in 1839: Calcutta, a French map credited to
Dufour and Benard, published by Rouard in 1839. Pho-
tograph by Bourne and Shepherd, 1870 108
Figure 38 Map of Kolkata showing cholera deaths from 1876 to 1880 112
Figure 39 Map of Kolkata showing cholera deaths from 1881 to 1885 113
Figure 40 Values Map of the City with One of the Road Schemes,
by E.P. Richards 118
Figure 41 An artist’s depiction of the Black Town: The Chitpore
Road, Calcutta. Coloured chromolithograph by William
Simpson, 1867 122
Figure 42 Kolkata in 1945: City Plan from a guidebook to the city
created by the US Army in India 126
Figure 43 Madhusudhan Bhabhan (Bishop’s College), completed
in the mid-1820s 129
Figure 44 Haora Railway Terminus. The architect of the building
was Halsey Ricardo. It was rebuilt between 1900 and 1908 129
Figure 45 Telegraph Office, Haora 130
Figure 46 Andul Rajbari, built in 1835 131
Figure 47 The Assembly in Chandigarh Capitol Complex. Architect:
Le Corbusier. Final design completed in 1957. Building
opened in 1962 135
Figure 48 Market Building, Bhubaneswar. Architect: Julius L. Vaz 137
Figure 49 Vidhan Soudha. Designer: B.R. Manikam. Constructed:
1952-1957 138
Figure 50 Ashoka Hotel. Architects: J.K. Choudhury and Gulzar
Singh, 1955 139
Figure 51 New Secretariat Building. Architect: Habib Rahman.
Constructed: 1944-1954 141
Figure 52 Reserve Bank of India. Architect: John A. Ritchie 142
Figure 53 Tata Centre. Designer: Holabird and Root of Chicago 143
Figure 54 Akashvani Bhaban. Designer: B. Kerr. Completed: 1958 144
Figure 55 Birla Planetarium. Designer: G.K. Gora. Completed: 1963 145
Figure 56 Kolkata skyline around Chowringhi: A view from the
Maidan 146
Figure 57 The Eiffel Tower as the gate to the Boimela in 1997 147
Figure 58 Jalasampad Bhaban, the Office of Irrigation and Wa-
terways Department, Government of West Bengal in
Bidhannagar. An example of the ‘utilitarian modern’
style 148
Figure 59 The main office of the Kolkata Metropolitan Develop-
ment Authority in Unnayan Bhaban, Bidhannagar.
Another example of the ‘utilitarian modern’ style 149
Figure 60 A single-family residence in Bidhannagar. An example
of modern Indian vernacular architecture 150
Figure 61 Flats in Bidhannagar. An example of modern Indian
vernacular architecture 150
Figure 62 Flats in South Kolkata. An example of modern Indian
vernacular architecture 151
Figure 63 Flats in South Kolkata. Architecture of the contractor
builder 152
Figure 64 Mistiri-built housing in South Kolkata 153
Figure 65 Statue of Lenin overlooking Lenin Sarani 157
Figure 66 The Calcutta Metropolitan District in 1966 160
Figure 67 The Calcutta Metropolitan Area in 1991 161
Figure 68 Bustee in Kolkata 162
Figure 69 Squatters along railroad tracks in Kolkata 163
Figure 70 Squatters along a canal in Kolkata 163
Figure 71 Cooperative housing for moderate income groups in
Bidhannagar 182
Figure 72 Sarat Sadhan Auditorium. Haora’s version of the ‘utilitar-
ian modern’ style 183
Figure 73 Mistiri-built housing in Haora with waterlogged lanes 184
Figure 74 Rag pickers among garbage in Haora 185
Figure 75 Congestion along a main thoroughfare in Haora 185
Figure 76 A bustee in Haora 186
Figure 77 Squatters along a highway under construction in Haora 187
Figure 78 Flats in Haora juxtaposed with garbage. Architecture of
the contractor builder 188
Figure 79 A variety of Euro-American forms of housing: DLF City 192
Figure 80 MGF Mall in DLF City Centre 193
Figure 81 Traffic jam in Kolkata after the advent of globalization 196
Figure 82 KMA in 2001 199
Figure 83 KMA in 2011 200
Figure 84 Wards and boroughs of KMC in 2011 202
Figure 85 Eden City 205
Figure 86 Upohar 206
Figure 87 Guards at the entry of Eden City 207
Figure 88 Hiland Park 208
Figure 89 The West Bengal Electronics Industry Development
Corporation in Nabadiganta 210
Figure 90 SDF building in Nabadiganta 211
Figure 91 TCS building in Nabadiganta 212
Figure 92 Srei building in Nabadiganta 212
Figure 93 The INFINITY building in Nabadiganta 213
Figure 94 Manikachan, a SEZ in Bidhannagar 214
Figure 95 Apartments within South City complex 216
Figure 96 Imposing entrance to South City Mall 217
Figure 97 Site plan for South City Mall Complex. Principal: Dulal
Mukherjee and Associates. Design consultants: Stewart
and Associates. Landscape architects: Peridian Asia PTE 217
Figure 98 The City Centre mall in Bidhannagar. Architect: Charles
Correa 219
Figure 99 Housing in the City Centre mall in Bidhannagar 220
Figure 100 Inside the City Centre mall 221
Figure 101 Rajarhat plot layout, Action Area I 223
Figure 102 Rajarhat plot layout, Action Area II 224
Figure 103 City centre, Rajarhat 225
Figure 104 A view of a contractor-built multi-storey building in
Haora 227
Figure 105 Vivek Vihar Apartments in Haora 228
Figure 106 Avani Riverside Mall in Hoara 229
Figure 107 Kolkata West site plan showing various land uses 229
Figure 108 The entry gate to Kolkata West 230
Figure 109 Incomplete construction in Kolkata West 231
Acknowledgements
The idea for this book emerged from an article, ‘Between Dominance,
Dependence, Negotiation, and Compromise: European Architecture and
Urban Planning Practices in Colonial India’, that I published in the Journal
of Planning History in 2010. However, this book is very different and much
richer than that article. As the title of the book suggests, not only did I
focus on one city, but I extended the period of coverage to post-colonial
and global epochs of urbanization. Some of the primary data for this book
go back to the fieldwork for my dissertation in 1988. That fieldwork was
supported by a Graduate College Dissertation Grant, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign; Human Settlement Management Institute, New
Delhi; and International Development Research Centre, New Delhi. My
fieldtrips to India in 1992 and 1994 were supported by the Institute for Policy
Studies at Johns Hopkins University. I am grateful to L.M. Salamon, who is
still with the University, and Helmut K. Anheier, who is now the president
of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany, for granting me
permission to squeeze in time for my own research while I was a field
associate for the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project. The
fieldtrips in 1996, 1999, and 2003 were self-financed, for which I thank my
immediate and extended family.
I have to especially thank architect Anjan Gupta of Anjan Gupta Architects,

Kolkata; architect Sunando Dasgupta of Sunando Dasgupta and Associates,
New Delhi; Ashish Basu, architect and planner, Espace, Kolkata; Sudeshna
Ghosh, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Regional
Planning, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Sanjit Roy, assistant professor
in the Program in Architecture at University of Maine at Augusta; Suzanne
Frasier, associate professor in the Undergraduate Program in Architecture
and Environmental Design at Morgan State University; Purnendu Bikas
Sengupta, advocate, Kolkata; and Abhay Upadhyay, president of the Kolkata
West International City Buyers Welfare Association, for photographs for
the global period. Professor Avijit Sen of Banaras Hindu University is to
be thanked for the photograph of the library at that institution. Subhadip
Basu, advocate, high court, Kolkata is thanked for the photograph of Lenin’s
statue. I want to thank the staff of the British Library for providing ac-
cess to images and maps from Kolkata’s colonial period and permission
to reproduce some of them in this book. I also want to thank Frances W.
Pritchett, professor emerita at Columbia University, and the University
16 COLONIZING, DECOLONIZING, AND GLOBALIZING KOLK ATA
of Texas Libraries for some of the historical maps reproduced here. The
University of Minnesota Press is thanked for one photograph. I am grateful
to government officials, planners, scholars, nongovernmental organization
and community-based organization officials, and bustee dwellers in Kolkata
and Haora for granting me interviews, engaging in discussions, and allowing
access to data.
I benefited from several conversations with Sudeshna Ghosh on the
physical manifestation of globalization in Kolkata. She also verified some
of the data on Kolkata and Haora for the global period. I want to thank my
graduate assistants Shilpi Bharti and Blake Fisher and my son, Arco, for their
invaluable assistance with maps and illustrations and Lauren Jackson for her
help with indexing. Nancy Menefee Jackson of the National Transportation
Center at Morgan State University provided valuable editorial assistance. My
dean, Professor Mary Anne Alabanza Akers, is to be thanked for the time she
gave me from my administrative duties to write this book and for financial
support used to obtain copyrights for some of the photographs and maps.
I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers and Paul Rabé, the series editor,
for their constructive criticisms on earlier drafts. I want to thank P.G.E.I.J.
van der Velde of the International Institute for Asian Studies, Netherlands,
for his encouragement and numerous extensions for the manuscript. I am
grateful to Mary Lynn van Dijk and Martina van den Haak of the Inter-
national Institute for Asian Studies Netherlands for answering numerous
questions and facilitating the submission.
When I embarked on this project, I never imagined that it would take
four years to write this book. This is four years that the family tolerated me
being completely occupied with the project for long periods of time. So a
special word of thanks for my wife, Aditi, who gave up our dining table for
me to work on, my son, Arco, and my daughter, Aranya. Thanks to my late
father, Subhendu Bikas Sen, and my late mother, Anjana Sen, who made
my journey from the ‘coolie town’ of Haora to the United States possible.
A Note to Readers
For place names and other proper nouns the book uses the British name
in the first instance followed by the current Indian or Bengali name, and
thereafter refers to them by the current Indian or Bengali name.
1 Overture
Introduction
Over some three centuries, various actors – including Europeans, Ameri-

cans, Indians, and East Asians – have tried to shape the urban fabric of
Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, using architecture, urban design measures,
infrastructure improvements, and city planning schemes. British efforts
to intervene in Kolkata’s urban fabric through architecture and urban
planning encountered resistance, resulting in compromises and negotia-
tions that yielded a colonial Kolkata neither ‘British’ nor ‘Bengali’.1 Despite
the British desire to build a neo-classical imperial city, ultimately, the
natives of Kolkata resisted. These struggles created not one urban colonial
Kolkata, but two, the White Town and the Black Town, each hybrid in its
own way. At that same time, domination and control through architec-
ture and planning, imposition of planning concepts from Britain, racial
segregation, discrimination in the provision of services, and discourses
that justified it all significantly shaped colonial urban patterns in Kolkata.
The material and discursive legacies of British colonial planning made
Kolkata the epitome of urban disaster in the Global South in the late 1950s
and affected planning endeavours in the city. The fear of communism led
to an unprecedented transfer of an American planning paradigm in the
1960s in the hope that providing better urban infrastructure would curb
communism’s growth.
Paradoxically, these efforts failed to stop the rise of the Left Front
government that dominated the political landscape from 1977 until 2011.
The government neglected Kolkata’s development until the early 1990s,
resorting to Marxist rhetoric for re-inscribing and representing Kolkata’s
post-colonial urban identity. Ironically, this same communist regime could
not remain isolated from the forces of globalization and had to reinvent
itself at the periphery of global change. Today, we see the emergence of new
urban forms such as Euro-American housing models, shopping malls, gated
communities, private townships, information technology (IT) parks, intel-
ligent buildings, and special economic zones (SEZs). This book narrates the
amazing story of Kolkata’s urban transformation from the late seventeenth
1 Bengalis are natives of Bengal, which includes the State of West Bengal, India, and Bangla-
desh. The term state is defined later in the chapter.
century to the turn of the twenty-first century. Kolkata’s story is told in the
context of Indian colonial, post-colonial, and global urbanism.
In the eyes of Westerners, Kolkata has long been associated with teeming
millions, poverty, squalor, and filth. Such an image has often influenced
planning endeavours in the city. In general, the British deemed it an un-
healthy place to live. Within a few weeks after the founding of Kolkata in
1690, the city acquired a fearsome reputation for its unhealthy environment
that persisted for the next three centuries (Murphey 1964). The first British
governor of Bengal, Lord Robert Clive, called Kolkata ‘the most wicked
place in the universe’ (Robert Clive as cited in Thomas 1997: 3) as early as
the 1770s. Because of such concerns, early planning efforts in the city were
restricted to improving the quality of life of the British colonizers.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the English Nobel laureate poet
and novelist Rudyard Kipling called Kolkata ‘The City of Dreadful Night’
(Kipling [1899] 1907: 185) – a label that remained with the city for a long time
in Western minds. Describing the smell of Kolkata, he wrote that ‘Calcutta
is above pretense’ in hiding its stench. According to him, the air ‘is faint, it
is sickly, and it is indescribable […] and there is no escape from it (Kipling
[1899]1907: 187). He continued: ‘Calcutta is a fearsome place for a man not
educated up to it’ (Kipling [1899]1907: 190). As we shall see, such discourse
justified the British obsession with controlling the native parts of the city
and making it healthy for themselves.
The stereotypical image of Kolkata as a filthy, poverty-stricken city with
millions of beggars, slums, and urban decay continued in the nineteenth
and twentieth century in Western imagination and affected planning
interventions. Well-known French anthropologist Lévi-Strauss furthered
this image in his book, Tristes Tropiques, by characterizing the city as one
of ‘[f]ilth, chaos, promiscuity, congestion, ruins, huts, mud, dirt, dung,
urine, pus, humours, secretions and running sores’ (Lévi-Struass [1973]
1955 : 135). Even the Nobel laureate novelist V.S. Naipaul, a Trinidadian of
Indian origin, declared ‘Calcutta, even to Indians, was a word of terror,
conveying crowds, cholera, and corruption’ (Naipaul [1964] 1966): 264).
For Geoffrey Moorhouse, an English journalist and author who visited
Kolkata in the 1969 and 1970, ‘nowhere is there beggary in the scale of
Calcutta’s’ (1971: 79). For him, Kolkata’s bitter taste had to be washed out
‘with a gin and tonic or a Pepsi’ and he recalled it ‘thereafter only as an
emblem of experience to show’ that one knows ‘the worst that Life has to
offer’ (Moorhouse 1971: 6).
The same is true for Western films made about Kolkata. The acclaimed
French filmmaker Louis Malle’s 1968 documentary film Calcutta showed
Overture 21
repulsive images of the city such as pigs playing alongside bustee2 children,
dying destitutes at Mother Teresa’s Nirmal Hriday, public transport packed
with people like sardines in a tin, and destitute cripples and lepers in the
streets. Such representations of Kolkata spurred Western planning interests
in the city in the late 1950s as it became the epitome of urban disaster in the
Global South. But the Western image of Kolkata did not improve. Günter
Grass, the German Nobel laureate poet, author, sculptor, and artist, who
visited the city in 1975 and 1986-1987, was equally condescending about the
city in his book Show Your Tongue. For Grass, ‘after three months Calcutta
begins to gnaw’ and his ‘eyes have grown tired and dry from all the openly
spread-out misery’ ([1988]1989: 47). Western films on Kolkata continued to
portray squalor and poverty. Roland Joffé’s 1992 film City of Joy is a classic
example in which we see tuberculosis-affected rickshaw pullers, lepers,
ruthless slumlords, and abject poverty. Dominique Lapierre originally based
the novel (Lapierre 1985) on the Pilkhana bustee in Howrah, or Haora as it
known in Bengali. The film adaptation changed the scene to a Kolkata bustee
and made the city an icon of slum to the Western world. As aptly summarized
by Hutnyk in his book The Rumour of Calcutta (1996), Western representation
of Kolkata is that of ‘an overcrowded place of poverty and despair, of despera-
tion and decline’ (Hutnyk 1996: vii) and the rumour of Calcutta travels all
over the world. Yet popular Western notions of this incredible city are scant,
wrong, contemptuous, ideological, vicious, and shitty. There is little good
said about the place, and what is said is often extreme: Calcutta, crowded
and stinking, brutal and dark, black hole and slum. (Hutnyk 1996: vii)
Even in the new millennium, Mike Davis’s 2006 book Planet of Slums
identifies Kolkata as a metonym for underdevelopment. As this book il-
lustrates, such an image and discourse deterred Kolkata’s effort to integrate
into the global economy.
Scope of the Book
The role of discourse and the Western conception of the city in influencing
urban planning is only one aspect of this book, which is more ambitious
2 The word bustee is a distortion of the Bengali word basati, which means a habitation,
residence, or colony. Bustees are the predominant type of housing for the urban poor in Kolkata.
These are legal ‘slums’ and should be differentiated from illegal squatter settlements along
canals and railroad tracks, under bridges, or on pavements. Unlike squatters, bustee dwellers
have housing rights and cannot be evicted.
in scope. Included is the history of architecture, urban design, and urban

planning in Kolkata. Following King (1990a), ‘urbanism’ is broadly defined
as the symbiotic relationship between the material aspects of the cities,
their built environment, architectural form, and the social, economic, and
cultural systems in which they exist. Clearly, such a definition positions
architecture, urban design, and urban planning in the city’s political
economy and social milieu. As the title suggests, the book analyses Kolkata’s
urbanism from colonial times to the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It presents an interpretive history of the transformation of a colonial city
into a Marxist one and its attempt to become a global city. The book pro-
vides a new interpretation of Kolkata’s spatial and architectural history
by positioning it in its political economy and social milieu. It attempts
to unravel the complexities of the political struggles of the post-colonial
period, including globalization and the impact on the planning of space
and built environment.
This book compares and contrasts Kolkata’s urbanism with the rest
of India to illustrate why Kolkata was unique and illustrates several
distinctive features of the city. Kolkata was a testing ground for British
colonial urbanism and as such was home to a number of firsts. By the turn
of the nineteenth century, Kolkata became the first British possession
where architecture was employed as a symbol of power. From Kolkata
this practice spread throughout India. Kolkata also was the first city in
which the British altered the physical form of a city to impose social and
political control. The dominant colonial planning paradigm of imposing
social and political control on the native population to create a healthier
city for the British was rooted in Kolkata. Discourse surrounding such
planning first appeared here. It was the first city where European ideas
of townscaping were imposed by the British on a large scale as they at-
tempted to transform the city into a symbol of power and a stage for
propagation of their empire in India. At the zenith of colonialism, from
the mid-1850s to the early 1900s, Kolkata became the first city in which
the British built a unified and coherent centre of power and knowledge
employing architectural symbolism and townscaping. The city was also
unique because it adhered to neo-classical architecture, while other styles
that were deemed appropriate for representing the empire had been tried
elsewhere since the 1860s. The book explores why the discourse on the
inferiority of indigenous architecture that emerged in the 1870s was not
as pronounced in Kolkata.
As we shall see, Kolkata’s post-colonial urbanism was even more unique
than its colonial saga. Unlike the rest of India, which had adopted the
Overture 23
Chandigarh style of modernism,3 the comprehensive planning that was

transferred by Americans became the dominant paradigm for Kolkata’s
post-colonial urbanism. In no other Indian city was planning more influ-
enced by political economy than it was in Kolkata. Consequently, very little
of the post-colonial architecture that appeared in newly independent India
can be found in Kolkata. It had few skyscrapers to represent it as a symbol of
independence. New towns planned and constructed around Kolkata in the
early post-independence period were mundane compared to Chandigarh’s
grandeur. Even lesser new towns such as Bhubaneswar and Gandhinagar
that were planned later in the mid-1960s were more elegant. Nowhere else
in India do we see the desire to curb communism dictate planning as it did
in Kolkata. Yet, Kolkata became a Marxist city – the first and perhaps the
last of its kind in India. The leading party in the Left Front government,
Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), penetrated Kolkata’s urban
fabric in an unprecedented manner. The infiltration was so deep that the
local state4 and the party became synonymous, leaving no political space for
the grassroots planning seen in other parts of urban India. Not surprisingly,
politics influenced efforts to introduce municipal reforms in the city. The
local state’s leftist agenda during the first twenty years of its regime led to
a contained culture of domestic architectural design that surpassed any
other Indian city.
Kolkata’s attempt to globalize took a different trajectory. Market-driven
built forms representing images of globalization and the emergence of
new planning paradigms associated with globalization appeared later in
Kolkata. This course can be attributed to the Left Front’s initial resistance to
liberalization and globalization, tendency to protect labour, and scepticism
about capital. The regime resorted to leftist rhetoric, michils (processions),
meetings, gheraos,5 and trade unionism to carve out an unparalleled city in
India, one in which labour came before capital. Politics continued to play a
key role in the city’s development as the CPI(M)’s political agenda of rural
land reform resulted in the neglect of Kolkata. Kolkata is unique in that
its venture into the global economy is primarily taking place through real
estate investments. After its dismal failure to attract capital through other
types of investments, the Left Front turned its energy to develop the city
3 The style is discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

4 The term is defined later in the chapter.
5 The word gherao means encirclement. This is a technique that trade unions used to meet
their demands by encircling a political leader, industrialist, or senior manager. Subodh Banerjee,
the Labour Minister of the United Front Government, introduced the technique in 1969.
through real estate. It acted as an interventionist local state through various

measures to promote the real estate industry. The Trinamool Congress
that came to power in 2011 has continued the same policy, with minor
variations. Despite all the attempts made by the Left Front and subsequently
the Trinamool Congress, Kolkata will never become a global or world city,
as delineated in the literature (Friedmann 1986; Sassen [1991]2013; Knox and
Taylor 1995).6 Kolkata’s globalization is more easily understood from Ong’s
(2011) treatise on the styles or ‘art’ of being global.7
Analytical Framework
To understand the central argument of the book, a discussion on the propo-

sitions of the treatises and theories employed in the analytical framework
is necessary. To explain the imposition of architecture and urban planning
as instruments of domination, subjugation, and control, and the discourses
that accompanied such practices in the colonial period, the book draws
on material from post-structuralism and theories of dependent urban-
ism. In particular, the author relied upon Foucault’s treatise on the nature
and dynamics of discourse, power, knowledge, and architecture; Edward
Said’s Orientalism; and theories and studies of dependent urbanism (see
Wallerstein 1974,1979; Amin 1976; Foucault [1969] 1972; [1975] 1979; Frank
1979; King 1976, 1980a, 1980b, 1989, 1990a, 1990b, 1992; Castells 1977; Said
1978; Racevskis 1983; Mitchell 1988; Rabinow 1989; Wright 1991; AlSayyad
1992; Celik 1997).
Foucault’s proposition that architecture has always been used to exercise
domination, control, power, and authority can be employed to understand
British architecture in Kolkata. For Foucault, ‘Antiquity had been a civiliza-
tion of spectacle. To render accessible to a multitude of men the inspection
of a small number of objects: this was the problem to which the architecture
of temples, theatres, and circuses responded’ (Foucault [1969] 1972: 216).
The spectacle of such architecture was aimed at inspiring multitudes of
people by controlling them through spectacular events. In the confines of
such architecture, the citizenry observed and experienced the power of the
authoritarian state. Drawing from this proposition, the book argues that the
logic of most British architecture since the late eighteenth century was that
of spectacle; the British resorted to monumental architecture in Kolkata
6 The definition of such cities is discussed in Chapter 6.

7 The concept is explained in Chapter 6.
Overture 25
to impress upon Indians the nature of British power. Foucault’s treatise

on modern architecture is also employed for an analytical inspiration.
According to him, this is architecture of surveillance, which enables a few
to observe and control a multitude of individuals. Following Foucault’s
treatise, the book argues surveillance played an important role in guiding
British city planning in Kolkata.
Foucault has also argued that it is in discourse that power and knowledge
are joined together. Discourse can be defined as ‘the abstraction of any
written or oral process of communication through which meaning is trans-
mitted’ (Racevskis 1983: 16). Discourse, on particular subjects, establishes
knowledge and imposes truth in intricate and deceitful ways. Therefore,
this functioning of discourse is inevitably political. Hence, the constitu-
tion of knowledge is inseparable from the exercise of power. Drawing
from Foucault’s notion of discourse, Edward Said developed the notion of
Orientalism in his seminal book Orientalism (1978).The thesis presented in
the book is also regarded as the emergence of post-colonial theory (Moore-
Gilbert 1997). In Said’s original thesis, the wide body of knowledge developed
by various colonial powers about the Orient can be called ‘Orientalism’
(1978). According to Said, ‘Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as
the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient, dealing with it by
making statements about it, authorizing views of it, by teaching it, settling
it, and ruling over it’ (Said 1978: 3). Accordingly, institutionalized discourse
established knowledge and imposed truth in intricate and often deceitful
ways for ‘dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient’
(Said 1978: 3). Drawing from these propositions, we see how the discourse
legitimized the imposition of certain types of architecture.
Post-colonial theory refers to the set of analytical approaches or theories
that criticize the material and discursive legacies of colonialism still appar-
ent in the world today (McEwan 2009). As pointed out by Blunt and McEwan,
‘postcolonial approaches are committed to critique, expose, deconstruct,
counter and (in some claims) to transcend the cultural and broader ideologi-
cal legacies and presences of imperialism’ (2002: 13). Post-colonial studies
were developed to address the cultural production of those societies affected
by colonialism (Ashcroft 2001). It was not conceived as a grand theory but as
a methodology for analysing strategies by which colonial societies have en-
gaged in imperial discourse. It is also used to study the ways in which many
of those strategies are shared by colonized societies and are re-emerging
under different political and cultural circumstances (Ashcroft 2001). Post-
colonial theory is helpful in examining the discourses and institutions as
well as the resistance and negotiations that shaped colonial urbanism.
The notion of constructing ‘otherness’ and ‘racial inferiority’ (see Bhabha

1994; Chatterjee 1993, 2012) in post-colonial theory helps us understand how
colonial discourse used this concept to vilify Indian architecture, impose
surveillance over the indigenous population, and justify the lack of planning
in the indigenous parts of Kolkata. For Bhabha (1994), an important feature
of colonial discourse is its ideological construction of the ‘otherness’ (i.e.,
the colonized) that was entirely knowable and visible. As he points out,
[t]he objective of colonial discourse is to construe the colonized as a popu-

lation of degenerate types on the basis of racial origin, in order to justify
conquest and to establish systems of administration and instruction. […]
[C]olonial discourse produces the colonized as a social reality which is at
once an ‘other’ and yet entirely knowable and visible (Bhabha 1994: 70-71).
This notion of constructing the otherness is also emphasized by other post-

colonial theorists. For example, Chatterjee points out that the premise of
the colonial state’s power was ‘a rule of colonial difference, namely, the
preservation of the alienness of the ruling group’ (1993: 10). He maintains
that this rule of colonial differences also constituted the representation of
the ‘other’ (i.e., the colonized) as incorrigibly inferior and radically different
(Chatterjee 1993). The civilizing mission of the British helps us understand
why they prescribed certain types of architecture and planning for Indians.
As pointed out by Chatterjee, ‘[t]he imperial power must then take on the
responsibility of educating, disciplining, and training the colony in order to
bring it up to the norm. […] The colony must either be disciplined by force
or educated (“civilized”) by culture’ (Chatterjee 2011: 251).
Said himself revised his treatise on Orientalism in Culture and Imperialism,
in which he recognizes the response to Western domination that eventually
culminated in the great movement of decolonization in former colonies (1993).
The book builds on this notion of resistance and particularly the works of
post-colonial theorists such as Ranajit Guha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak,
Homi Bhabha, and Partha Chatterjee to provide these alternate explanations
about the resistance and negotiations in architecture and planning during
the colonial period (see Guha 1981; Chatterjee 1982, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1995, 2010,
2012; Spivak 1985a, 1985b, 1985c, 1988; Guha and Spivak 1988; Bhabha 1994).
Post-colonial scholars such as Spivak and Bhabha enhanced the notion of
resistance by arguing that the colonial experience was far from unidirectional
and had a transformative effect on both the colonized and colonizer (Bhabha
1994; Moore-Gilbert 1997). Drawing from these treatises and theories, the book
shows instances where the colonizers were unable to impose their own models
Overture 27
of planning due to resistance from the indigenous population in Kolkata. These

studies also provide the analytical inspiration to shed light on why the Bengali
elite in Kolkata were able to negotiate a hybrid form of architecture, or why
the British adopted this form, despite their desire to impose English models.
Pioneers such as Manuel Castells (1977) and Anthony King (1976) initiated
the first steps on theories of dependent urbanism. Castells’s (1977) work was
an empirical and theoretical exploration of dependent urban patterns. It
argued that city growth and patterns, while differing in form and content in
various parts of the developing world, must be understood as an expression of
imperialist/neo-imperialist social dynamic at this level. King (1976) added a
new dimension by introducing the role of culture and power into dependent
urbanization. The relationship between dominance and dependence was
used as a major explanatory variable in illustrating how colonizers imposed
certain types of planning. His work also examines imperialism and colonial-
ism in the development of the world economy and the role of cities within
this economy (King 1989, 1990b). King also introduced another important
treatise, motivation for colonization and its effect on colonial urban patterns
(King 1990b). Spanish and Portuguese colonization included cultural and
religious motives such as Hispanicization and Christianization, which led to
the construction of large numbers of churches and monasteries. In contrast,
the Dutch, British, and French rationales were economic and militaristic, as
evidenced by the construction of large numbers of administrative buildings.
Whether the settlement was seen as temporary or permanent also had an ef-
fect on urban patterns. Whenever it was seen as permanent, a premeditated
planned city was the result. Hence, the city was the major instrument of
colonization. In some cases, the indigenous city was eliminated; in others it
was incorporated in the plan. However, both of these instances represented a
total and symbolic domination by the colonizers. In contrast, if trade was the
primary motive a variety of physical forms may have resulted, depending on
the activities of other powers in the region, which could range from a mere
landing stage and warehouse to a ‘factory’8 or a ‘port and fort.’
Drawing from the above treatises, the book argues that types of European
settlements and their patterns around Kolkata primarily depended on
the changing nature of the international political economy and internal
political climate. The subsequent wealth and power of Europeans in and
around Kolkata, because of these changes, contributed to the rise and
decline of European enclaves. Motives for colonization significantly shaped
urban patterns: In Kolkata, the colonial economic and political landscape
8 This type of settlement is described in Chapter 2.

dictated the building activities of Europeans, as well as wealthy Indians.

These theories also shed light on how domination and control, imposition
of planning concepts from the core, racial segregation, and discrimination
in the provision of services all shaped Kolkata’s colonial urban patterns.
The overall analytical inspiration for the post-colonial period is also
drawn from post-colonial theory and post-colonial studies of urbanism. The
propositions of post-colonial theory (McEwan 2009; Ong 2011) are useful
in examining how the material and discursive legacies of British colonial
planning made Kolkata the epitome of urban disaster in the Global South
in the late 1950s, thereby affecting planning endeavours in the city. Such
approaches or theories criticize the material and discursive legacies of colo-
nialism that are still apparent in the world today and shape the geopolitical
relations between the North and South. These approaches examine the
representations of the South through a critical analysis of knowledge and
power. They scrutinize relationships of power that determine who creates
knowledge about the ‘other places’ (i.e., the South) and the consequences of
this knowledge in the form of developmentalism (McEwan 2009). They also
seek to demonstrate how the language of colonialism still shapes Western
ideas about other parts of the world. These theories also help us understand
how Western planning and architecture were exported to Kolkata after
Independence. Anthony King’s (1976) concept of cultural colonization is
also useful in examining such planning and architecture. King argued that
cultural independence lagged behind the political and economic autonomy
that comes with independence. The new elites continued to be influenced
by colonial values, having been linked to colonial social, political, and
cultural models for the entire period of colonization. The information flow
continued, as did the exchange of people.
Post-colonial studies address issues such as the challenges of developing
post-colonial nationalist identities and strategies in the transformation
of colonial power (Ashcroft 2001; McEwan 2009). They also examine the
assertion made by post-colonial societies to redress the impact of European
imperialism and resistance and transformation taking place in such socie-
ties to re-inscribe and represent post-colonial cultural identity (Ashcroft
2001). According to Loomba, it is useful to think of post-colonialism as ‘the
contestation of colonial domination and the legacies of colonialism’ (1998:
12). To Jane Jacobs, post-colonialism can be ‘conceptualized as an historically
dispersed set of formations which negotiate the ideological, social, and mate-
rial structures established under colonialism’ (1996: 25)..As pointed out by
Ashcroft, ‘the striking thing about colonial experience is that after coloniza-
tion post-colonial societies did very often develop in ways which sometimes
Overture 29
revealed a remarkable capacity for change and adaptation’ (2001: 2). We

must, however, remember that post-coloniality ‘is articulated alongside
other economic, social, cultural and historical factors, and therefore, in
practice works quite differently in various parts of the world’ (Loomba 1998:
19). Hence, each post-colonial occasion needs to be located and analysed
for its specificity (Blunt and McEwan 2002). Such propositions are most
instructive in examining the decolonization of Kolkata’s colonial spaces
and lack of emergence of grandiose architectural and spatial formations in
the immediate post-colonial period, compared to the rest of India.
Chatterjee’s (2004, 2010, 2011) concept of ‘political society’ is also useful
in shedding light on Kolkata’s post-colonial and global urbanism and is
expanded upon in chapters 4 and 5. Originally developed to provide an
account of the alternative history of suppressed groups (see, for example,
Guha 1981; Guha and Spivak 1988), one approach to study globalization
from a post-colonial perspective is to focus on subaltern groups (see, for
example, Chatterjee 2004; Appadurai 2000, 2001; Ong 2011). Following this
path, the story of Kolkata would have been limited to bustees. To avoid this
theoretical orthodoxy, the book draws from a variety of urban theories to
understand globalization in Kolkata. In particular, the Marxist political
economy of Lefebvre’s ([1970] 2003) and Harvey’s (1981) ‘secondary circuit
of capital’ provides an explanation of the importance of real estate in
Kolkata’s effort to globalize. Lefebvre ([1970] 2003), the pioneer in analysis
of built environment from this perspective, asserts that when principal
circuits of capital consisting of industrial production slow down, capital is
invested in a second circuit consisting of real estate. Real estate speculation
can become almost the exclusive source of capital formation and surplus
value generated in these cases. In such a scenario, overall surplus realized
in the primary circuit decreases, while surplus value from construction
and speculation increases. Building upon Lefebvre’s work, Harvey (1981)
developed a three-circuit model for capital accumulation over time. For him,
the primary circuit consists of the productive process involving wage and
labour to produce profit. The secondary circuit consists of investments in
the built environment for producing fixed assets and consumption goods.
The tertiary circuit consists of investments in science and technology and
other social expenditures for the reproduction of labour power. Harvey
emphasizes the importance of an interventionist state to entice capital
investment in the secondary circuit. Others such as Gottdiener ([1985]1994))
also emphasize the role of an interventionist state and a freely functional
capitalist money market for the flow of capital to the secondary circuit. For
Smith (2002), gentrification has now become a global strategy for attracting
capital. Such an urban strategy involves city and local governments weaving
together a nexus of global financial markets – with large and medium-sized
real estate developers, local merchants, property agents, and brand-name
retailers – in which real estate development becomes the centrepiece of
the city’s productive economy.
In explaining Kolkata’s changing spatial structure and the emergence
of new spatial and architectural forms, the book draws from Graham and
Marvin’s (2001) concept of ‘splintering urbanism’. They define splintering
urbanism as the dialectical set of processes that surround the parallel
unbundling of infrastructure networks and fragmentation of urban space.
In the case of cities of the Global South, such splintering occurs because
of the proliferation of ‘glocally’ oriented enclaves that are self-contained
but surrounded by spaces that are socially and economically disconnected
with them. The divisions between such communities and the surrounding
ones are enforced through walls, ramparts, fences, and security forces that
maintain the sanctity and security of such enclaves. These communities
splinter themselves from the poor local infrastructure by developing their
own private infrastructure at a higher cost.
Another treatise relevant to our understanding of the proliferation of
Kolkata’s global spaces is what Falzon (2004) terms the ‘politics of exclusion’.
Such politics tends to purge encroachment of public spaces by the urban
poor including the homeless, slum dwellers, beggars, urchins, and hawkers,
as this is offensive to the elite’s sense of a safe and healthy environment. The
elite’s aspiration to a global middle-class lifestyle calls for a well-regulated
healthy environment, which is under a constant threat because of these
encroachments. Gated communities are a private means for the wealthy
to fulfil their dreams of ideal lifestyles (Falzon 2004). In a similar vein,
Fernandes’s (2004) analysis of the emergence of new global spaces as a
product of socio-spatial boundaries that resist the encroachment of the
poor and aspire to create a new urban aesthetics of class purity is useful in
understanding the logic of global space in Kolkata.
Voyce’s (2007) proposition that Indian shopping malls are social fortresses
that divide middle-class consumers from the poor who cannot participate
in this purified quasi-public space is also employed to understand Kolkata’s
shopping malls. The book also examines malls from the post-colonial theo-
retical perspective which sees them as hybrid sites where the consumers
from the Global South, especially young people, attempt to transform their
identities through a Western spectacle (Varman and Belk 2012). Drawing
from Fanon (1952, 1967) and Bhabha’s (1994) notion of post-colonial identities,
Varman and Belk (2012) argue that the use of these spaces represents the
Overture 31
consumer’s quest for being Western, modern, and developed. They postulate
that exposure to the ex-colonial powers of the West through a global culture
creates a desire to mask their identities and copy the West. Malls are spaces
where the youth from the Global South masquerade in order to transcend
their realities by imitating and competing with the West, overcoming the
stigma of a colonial past and an impoverished present. These are also hybrid
spaces where the new middle classes and elite compete with the West and
offer resistance and at the same time are transformed (Varman and Belk 2012).
Chatterjee’s (2004) proposition of how a post-industrial city became glob-
ally available in the 1990s is useful in explaining the proliferation of spaces
of global culture and new urban planning paradigms in Kolkata. According
to Chatterjee, the post-industrial city is driven by finance and producer
services and characterized by a central business district, forming the node
for an inter-metropolitan and global network of information processing.
Advanced transportation, telecommunication facilities, and office space
are an integral part of the central business district of such cities. The rest of
the city is characterized by segregated and exclusive spaces for the technical
and managerial elites. Another important feature of the post-industrial city
is the transformation of the city in such ways that the elite are comfortable
and secure in their new quarters. Orderliness, cleanliness, and safety are
important factors that must be addressed. Additionally, the reconstitution
of space befitting the model of a post-industrial city must occur through
the eviction of undesirable elements and elimination of slums coupled
with the proliferation of exclusive shopping malls and segregated housing
complexes. As the book illustrates, all these treatises apply to Kolkata’s
global spatial aspirations.
The Concept of the State in India
It is important to distinguish the various uses of the term ‘state’ employed

in the book. Prior to the 1970s the Marxist literature viewed the capitalist
state as a monolithic entity (among others, see Miliband 1969; Poulantzas
1973), ignoring the variations in the actions and policies of local authorities
and institutions. The capitalist state was seen as a central institution which
acted in the long-term interests of capitalism or the dominant classes.
The industrial, economic, and social restructuring that took place in the
advanced capitalist nations in the 1970s developed the distinction between
the central state and the local state (Cockburn 1977; Duncan and Goodwin
1982; Krätke and Schmoll 1991; Kirby 1993). Two distinct concepts of the
local state can be gleaned from this literature. In the first, the local state is
viewed as an executive body of the central state or as a local branch of an
inflexible bureaucracy of the central state. In the second usage, the local
state is seen as a counterforce to the central state. In this concept, the
actions and policies of the local authorities may be autonomous from those
taking place at the national level or other local levels. Local politics and
political agendas are important in bringing about progressive or regressive
social changes at the local level.
Regime theorists further contributed to development of the concept of
local state. Developed in the context of the United States, the theory posits
that urban regimes consist of private and public interests that join forces
to initiate development or address issues to arrest disinvestment in cities.
Such a theory allows for autonomous action of the local regime or local state
(Hackworth 2007). The theory also develops a typology of regimes that,
based on policy agendas, can vary from regressive to progressive (Reese
and Rosenfeld 2002). Another variation of the theory links local action
to national policy and demonstrates how alliances at the local level are
constrained by the capitalist urban system in the United States by drawing
from Marxist theory (Lauria 1997).
For the purpose of this book, we need to make a distinction between
the local and the central state. Indian local states can range from a city’s
administrative, municipal, and urban development institutions to the ad-
ministrative apparatus of political and territorial units in independent India
known as States and Union Territories. British India had Princely States that
were nominally sovereign. Local rulers governed them, but they were in
subsidiary alliance with the British Raj and were indirectly governed by it.
The Indian central state is the set of central institutions in New Delhi that
deal with the country’s overall social and developmental policies. There was
also a colonial state that consisted of the entire administrative apparatus
of the British Empire. Whenever capitalized, the term ‘state’ refers to the
political and territorial units of independent India or the Princely States of
British India. Otherwise it refers to the concept of the state discussed above.
Socialism, Communism, and Marxism
Since the book critiques a Marxist regime by drawing from leftist-oriented

theories of culture and politics, including post-colonial theory and Marxist
urban theory, it is important to explain that this is not a paradox. As pointed
out by Jameson (1996), there is a need to distinguish between Marxism as a
Overture 33
mode of thought and analysis and socialism/communism as representing a

political and societal aim and vision. Modern socialism arose mainly from
Marxist thought of the nineteenth century and in ideal form consisted of
creating a society where the means of production were socialized through ex-
propriation of private owners of the means of production (Hoppe [1989]2007).
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that socialism would emerge as a
historical necessity due to inherent contradictions that would make the
capitalist system obsolete and unsustainable. Although Marx himself never
made a clear distinction between ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’, the first was
a lower stage of the second in Marxist-Leninist ideology. Socialism would
precede communism. Such a concept came into existence after the Russian
revolution (Nove 1986). Communism consisted of a utopian society of the
future in which everyone shared the means of production according to their
needs (Kornai 1992). A Marxist analysis can be applied to socialist societies.
For example, even in the heydays of the Soviet experiment in socialism, many
Marxists of Trotskyist persuasion believed that the revolution was betrayed
as the Soviet society had deviated from the true principles of socialism. A
similar type of analysis was also applied to other countries that claimed to
be socialist. The origins of the debate go back to the early 1920s and 1930s
when Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the Russian revolution, critiqued
Soviet socialism using Marxist analysis (Nove 1986). In recent times David
Harvey’s (Harvey [2005] 2006) analysis of China’s entry into the world market
is a classic example of using leftist theory in analysing policies of socialist
governments. Castells’s (1983) analysis of the relationship between the squat-
ters and the state during the elected socialist regime of Salvador Allende
in Chile in the 1970s is another example. Roy (2003, 2004, 2011a) has also
analysed the Left Front in West Bengal using leftist urban theories.
The modern socialist movement and thought received the maximum
impetus from the late 1840s, with Marx and Engels’s influential writings
that came to be known as Marxism. Marxism was enhanced by the Bolshe-
vik revolution in Russia in 1917 that established the first socialist system
through armed revolution (Lindemann 1983; Brown 2009). Subsequently,
Vladimir Lenin founded the Communist International (Comintern) – an
organization to advocate world communism – in the second Congress of
Socialists held in Moscow in 1919 (Pons [2012] 2014). Not everyone who
attended the Congress adhered to the Russian path to socialism. In fact,
the rift between those who believed in a revolutionary path to socialism
and evolutionary or democratic socialism grew after the congress (Brown
2009). Subsequently, democratic socialist parties rose in Western Europe,
especially in Austria, Germany, Sweden, and England. Such parties even
participated in coalition governments in these countries (Lindemann

1983). ‘International communism’ referred to a political movement made
up of parties with a central organization spread strategically all over the
world with a base in the Soviet Union until the Second World War. These
parties were closely linked to Moscow even after the war. The notion of
international communism also included the formation of states created
after the Second World War in Europe and Asia that followed the Soviet
political, social, and economic model. The international communist move-
ment declined with the schism between the Soviet Union and China in the
early 1960s when China split from the ‘socialist camp’, claiming the Soviet
brand of socialism had deviated from Marxism (Pons [2012] 2014). Even
with the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, countries such
as China, North Korea, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Vietnam, and
Cuba still have their own brand of socialism.
The father of communism in India was Manabendra Nath Roy. He at-
tended the second World Congress of Comintern in 1920 in Moscow and
founded the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Tashkent in 1921. The party
did not develop a significant base in India until the 1930s. In the early years
of its existence, CPI was involved with the labour movement in India. The
party’s participation in the Indian Independence movement was limited
mainly because Roy believed that the party should oppose the reformist
stance of the Indian National Congress (Haithcox 1971; Mallick 1993). The
party was involved in mass organization of the unorganized labour and
landless peasants in various parts of India between mid-1940 and the early
1950s. This included leading armed rebellions in Telangana in the State of
Andhra Pradesh from 1946 to 1951 and the Tebhaga movement in Bengal
from 1946 to 1947. The CPI(M) was created in 1964 as a result of a split in
the left and centrist factions in the CPI. The left faction consisted of the
Maoists and other radicals. The Maoists followed Mao Zedong’s writings
and thoughts and believed that India should follow the Chinese path to
communism of agrarian reform through armed struggle. They eventually
established the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in 1967 (Mal-
lick 1993). The CPI(ML) led a peasant revolt in the Naxalbari area in the State
of West Bengal that was suppressed by police force (Shah 1988; Mallick 1993).
Those involved in the movement came to be known as Naxalites, and the
Naxalite movement not only spread to Kolkata, but all over West Bengal
in the late 1960s and early1970s. The CPI(M) that led two United Front
coalition governments from 1967 to the 1970s used police force to crush the
Naxalite movement. The central government also deployed paramilitary
forces against the movement. The two parties were involved in mutual mass
Overture 35
killings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which created a reign of terror in
Kolkata. The Naxalites were virtually eliminated as a political force by the
time the CPI(M)-led Left Front government came to power in 1977. Unlike
the earlier coalition governments, which consisted of anti-Congress parties
and the left, the Left Front consisted only of leftist parties. By this time
CPI(M)’s policymaking was dominated by centrists. The party had been
transformed from a revolutionary to a reformist one (Mallick 1993).
Data Sources
Data sources for the colonial period are drawn from the literature on Euro-
pean architecture and urban planning in India and archival sources such as
travelogues, literature, paintings, and photographs from the colonial period.
Data sources for the post-colonial period for cities other than Kolkata are
also drawn from the literature and photographs. The literature is critically
synthesized to develop an original and alternative interpretation of the
evidence. My association with post-colonial Kolkata began with my birth
in the city and my childhood and youth in the ‘coolie town’9 of Haora.
Since I came to the United States for my graduate education in 1981, I have
returned to Kolkata and Haora many times and observed the physical,
social, and cultural changes in Kolkata and its immediate environs. Parts
of this book draw from these observations. Thus, ethnographical methods
are an integral part of the methodology.
The primary data for the book were collected from several field trips,
beginning with the data collection for my dissertation in 1988. Since then,
I have conducted fieldwork in Kolkata in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2003,
studying urbanism in the city. The methodology for the fieldwork is drawn
from critical ethnography and studies of practice in planning and public
policy (among others, see, for example, Van Maanen 1988; Hummel 1991;
Flyvbjerg 2001; Forester 1997, 1999, 2009). Such a methodology relies on
qualitative interpretative inquiry and seeks to understand the unique and
contextual, rather than make generalized propositions. Multiple methods
were employed for studying the post-colonial period. These included quali-
tative interviews with government officials, planners, scholars, official of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organiza-
tions (CBOs), and bustee dwellers of Kolkata and Haora. Since the study did
9 The British referred to the native labourers in India as coolies. The transformation of Haora
into a ‘coolie town’ is discussed in Chapter 3.
not follow the logical positivist method of inquiry, a random sample was not
employed for the interviews. Instead, people from a variety of organizations
and affiliations were selected. Although the interviews were open-ended,
a formal questionnaire was developed for each organization. Additional
questions arose during the interviews because of their open-ended nature.
The interviews were supplemented with literature collected from the
NGOs and CBOs, annual reports of NGOs and CBOs, and government
policy documents provided by various organizations in Kolkata and Haora.
I also conducted a visual documentation of Kolkata and Haora during my
fieldwork. Subsequently, I have supplemented the data gathered during
the fieldwork with an extensive literature search that included popular
sources such as newspapers as well as materials found on websites of vari-
ous organizations and real estate developers that are building the gated
communities and private townships in Kolkata and its surroundings.
A host of willing students of architecture, architects, contractors,
academic colleagues, and amateur photographers provided me with the
photographs that were essential for the study. Most of these are physical
manifestations of globalization that have appeared since my last field
trip in 2003. I benefited from informal conversations conducted in 2013
with two practicing architects – one in Delhi and the other in Kolkata – to
gain a better view of the profession in the face of globalization. An email
correspondence with another architect/planner in Kolkata increased my
understating of the Nabadiganta township. A telephone interview in April
2015 with the president of the Kolkata West International City Buyers
Welfare Association enhanced my understanding of that private township.
Organization of the Book
The first half of the book focuses on the colonial urbanism in Kolkata and
the second on post-colonial urbanism and globalization. The chapters are
organized according to major themes in Kolkata’s urbanism. Chapter 2
presents the major junctures in Kolkata’s early imperial urbanism. Chapter 3
denotes a major theme in the planning and architectural history of Kolkata,
namely the consolidation and decline of British power and the subsequent
planning and architectural efforts that accompanied it. Chapter 4 marks
a major epoch in Kolkata’s architectural and planning history, namely,
its total deviance from urban India. Chapter 5 defines the final epoch in
Kolkata’s spatial and architectural history – its effort to globalize. Chapter
6 provides concluding remarks for the study.
2 Colonizing Kolkata
From a City of Huts to a City of Palaces
Founding of Kolkata
Like other early European settlements, Kolkata was rudimentary in charac-

ter when it was founded. Trade remained its primary function, still regulated
by local politics and regimes. However, Kolkata was not the first settlement
founded by Europeans in Bengal or in India; Portuguese trading outposts
were the first European settlements there. The trading outposts were all
that was needed to maintain the Portuguese seaborne empire (Disney 1981).
The Portuguese transplanted three main institutions and their institutional
building types to these outposts – the factory, the fort, and the church
(Perera 1998). The main components of the factories were a warehouse, an
office, living quarters, a chapel, and a common dining hall (Nilsson ([1968]
1969). Although Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut in 1498, the Portuguese
set up the first factory and fort in Cochin in the early sixteenth century
(Nilsson ([1968] 1969; Murphey 1964). Other Europeans such as the Dutch,
Danes, French, and English also began building factories. Goa became the
first major European territorial possession in India when the Portuguese
captured it in 1510 (Disney 1981). For the Portuguese, the possession of Goa
was the final step from mere command of the sea to territorial empire in
India (Jayne [1910] 1970).
Europeans were rather late in directing their attention to Bengal. Even
two centuries after the arrival of the Portuguese, Gujarat and Malabar on
the west coast remained the centres of European trade. The Portuguese
had been trading only sporadically in the Bengali region from about 1530
(Firminger 1906; Murphey 1964). This was attributable to the European
perception of the remoteness of Bengal and more readily available op-
portunities on the west coast. Soon the Portuguese established two trade
centres in Bengal – Porto Grande or Great Haven at Chittagong and Porto
Piqueno or Little Haven in Satgaon (Firminger 1906; Cotton 1907).
By 1580 the Portuguese had gained a trading monopoly in Bengal. They
established the town of Hooghly (Hugli in Bengali), about 25 miles upstream
from where Kolkata was eventually established (Blechynden 1905; Murphey
1964). By 1599, they had built a church and a fortress. The town flourished
as Portuguese trade boomed under the tolerant Mughal emperors Akbar
and Jahangir (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906). Hugli was ransacked by
the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s troops in 1632, precipitating the demise
of the Portuguese as a major commercial power in Bengal. As Hugli fell into
the possession of the Mughals, it was established as the royal Mughal port
in Bengal (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906; Murphey 1964).
The British East India Company had long been aware of the wealth and
trading potential of Bengal and was eager to step into the void left by the
Portuguese (Blechynden 1905; Murphey 1964; Sinha 1991). The British ar-
rived in the Bay of Bengal in 1633 (Wilson 1895). After much reluctance, the
Mughals eventually gave the British permission to set up a factory in Hugli
in 1640. This generosity came as a reward for a Company surgeon’s effort in
administering relief to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s severely burned
daughter. Soon other English factories were founded in Patna in Bihar and
Kasimbazzar in Bengal (Cotton 1907; Murphey 1964). The English, however,
desired nothing more than trade in Bengal under the protection of Indian
rulers between 1633 and 1660 (Wilson 1895).
Initially, the Dutch and the Portuguese transported goods by small boats
from the larger ocean-going vessels anchored in Pipli or Balasor in Orissa
to the interior of Bengal. After 1650, the Dutch and later the British tried to
sail their ocean-going ships into Bengal via the river Hugli – a distributary
of the river Ganges (Ganga in Bengali). The British used a relatively deep
area for anchorage at a place on the river that later became Kolkata. How-
ever, exactions and confiscations by the Mughal officials worsened. Job
Charnock (also known as Jobe or Jobus in Latin), the founder of Kolkata
and the East India Company’s agent in Patna, was publicly whipped in
1686. Subsequently, shipping from this site was stopped and the British
withdrew to Hugli (Murphey 1964). By 1685 the British intended to establish
themselves by force in Bengal and waged a brief war with the Mughals
from 1688-1689. They soon withdrew to the anchorage site that they had
previously used (Wilson 1895; Murphey 1964; Sinha 1991). By then the site
was known as Sutanati1 – a village of weavers and cotton traders. The village
was originally established in the 1550s by four families of Bashaks and Seths
(trading castes) as a hat (mart) for the sale of cotton bales (Wilson 1895). Job
Charnock’s effort to negotiate with the Mughals from this site failed, as did
his second attempt to establish a factory in Sutanati. As a result, the East
India company asked Charnock to abandon the site, and trade in Bengal,
and fall back on Chennai (formerly known as Madras) in 1689 (Firminger
1906; Murphey 1964).
1 The word suatanati means a loop of yarn.

Colonizing Kolkata 39
By 1690 a change in the political economy and internal situation led to the
eventual establishment of British Calcutta. The new Nawab of Bengal,2 eager
for revenues from trade and fearful of British naval superiority, encour-
aged the British to return to Bengal by promising them compensation and
freedom of trade (Murphey 1964). The eagerness of the Mughals to bring the
British back to Bengal is reflected in Alexander Hamilton’s words. Hamilton,
a trader and the commander of several ships, sailed to almost every port
from the Red Sea to China between 1688 and 1723 (Love [1913]1968). In his
1727 book A New Account of the East Indies, drawn from his memoirs (Love
[1913]1968), Hamilton states, ‘The English settled there about the Year 1690
after the Mogul had pardoned all the Robberies and Murders committed on
his subjects’ (Hamilton 1727: 7). Two factors influenced the British decision
to return to Bengal. The first was rumours that the Dutch wanted to fortify
an island in the Hugli estuary and exclude all other Europeans from Bengal.
Second was the realization that an adequate port accessible from the ocean
as well as Bengal’s hinterland was an imminent necessity for successful
trade (Murphey 1964).
Charnock had been urging the Company since 1686 to make Sutanati
its major base in Bengal, independent of existing Mughal authority. He
returned to the village in August 1690 with a small company and founded
Kolkata permanently by setting up a factory (Blechynden 1905; Firminger
1906). Political economy played a key role in the settlement’s foundation.
The colonial political economy was a natural consequence of the shifting
of the centre of gravity of European trade in India from the western to
southern and eastern regions. In fact, Charnock established Kolkata to set
up a fortified centre that in conjunction with Mumbai and Chennai would
create a triangle of British power in India (Murphey 1964).
The adjacent villages of Govindapur and Kalikata became part of
the settlement. The aforementioned Seths and Bashaks had established
Govindapur around 1550 on the east bank of the river Hugli (Wilson
1895; Cotton 1907). In 1698, the British obtained a sanad3 to purchase
the zamindari (landlord rights) to the three villages of Sutanati, Govin-
dapur, and Kalikata from the Nawab of Bengal. This transaction further
strengthened their position in Bengal (Blechynden 1905). The area granted
2 The Nawabs of Bengal were hereditary provincial governors of the province of Bengal during
the Mughal rule (1526-1857) and became the rulers of the province after 1717. They ruled Bengal,
Bihar, and Orissa from 1740 to 1793, although the British reduced them to puppet status from
1765. Three dynasties ruled as the Nawabs of Bengal until the title was abolished in 1880.
3 The term sanad means deed or legal right granted for a territory.
by the sanad encompassed about 6.85 square kilometres and stretched

from the river to the salt lakes between Govindapur and Sutanati (Goode
1916). In the eyes of Englishwoman Kathleen Blechynden, ‘This was a
great advance for the English Company, as it raised them at once from
the position of mere adventuring traders, dependent on the caprice of
the reigning nawab to an assured status as landlords’ (Blechynden 1905:
14-15). Kalikata was situated back from the river to the south of Sutanati
(Blechynden 1905).
There are various legends and opinions regarding the origins of the name
Calcutta. The city may have derived its name from the name of the shrine
or abode of the Goddess Kali at Kalighat – Kali Kota (Deb 1905). According
to another legend, the word kalikata originated from a location on the
bank of a khal (Bengali for a stream or creek) and khal kutta (a ravine or
a spillway in Bengali) in the village of Kalikata. A small tidal stream had,
indeed, cut through the natural levee in the river Hugli in the village of
Kalikata, either created by a great flood or dug by the villagers to drain
their low-lying fields (Blechynden 1905). Yet another legend states that the
name was derived from the word Golgotha (‘the land of skulls’) so named
by a Dutch traveller because a disease that appeared in the rainy season
killed one-fourth of the Europeans there (Deb 1905). This particular legend
suggests that the city’s image had been associated with death and disease
since the early days of its existence. Although several other legends and
opinions exist about the origins of the name (Deb 1905), those discussed
above are the most popular. The name, of course, was a British distortion
of the Bengali name Kolkata. As part of the de-colonization process, the
city was officially named Kolkata in 2001.
Kolkata’s Early Urbanism
Kolkata’s reputation as an unhealthy city can be found in early British

discourse. Hamilton, for example, condemned the choice of site and wrote,
Mr. Job Channock4 being then the Company’s agent in Bengal, he had
Liberty to settle an Emporium in any Part on the River’s side below Hughly,
and for the sake of a large shaddy Tree chose that Place, tho’ he could not
have chosen a more unhealthful Place on all the River; for three miles
to the North-eastward, is a Salt-water Lake that overflows in September
4 Hamilton spells Charnock as Channok.

and October, and then prodigious Numbers of Fish resort thither, but in
November and December when the floods are dissipated, those fishes are
left dry, and with their Putrification affect the Air with thick stinking
Vapours, which the North-east Winds bring with them to fort William,
that cause a yearly Mortality. (Hamilton 1727: 7)
No doubt the high incidence of malaria and the excessive mortality rate
among the English in the early days of the settlement influenced Hamilton’s
discourse. Initially, Kolkata, rudimentary in character, was no different
from other early European settlements in India. In fact, the factory consisted
of mud-walled, thatched houses. When Charnock returned to Sutanati in
1690, he found that all the rudimentary buildings he had left behind in
his last attempt to establish the factory had been destroyed (Blechynden
1905; Firminger 1906). As noted in the minutes of the first meeting of the
Bengal Council,
in consideration that all the former buildings here are destroyed, it is

resolved that such places be built as necessacity [sic] requires, and as
cheap as possible […] these to be done with mudd [sic] walls and thatched
till we get ground whereon to build a factory. (Minutes of the First Meet-
ing of the Bengal Council, as cited in Cotton 1907: 9)
The proposed buildings included a warehouse, dining room, cook room,

a room to sort clothes, an apartment for the company’s servants, a guard
house, and a house for an official. Repairing the partially damaged struc-
tures that would house Charnock, one other official and the secretary’s
office were included in the building agenda (Blechynden 1905). Clearly,
the settlement was modest and underdeveloped – literally a city of huts.
In 1696, a rebellion by the feudal landlord Sobha Singh posed a security
threat to the British, affording them the opportunity to ask permission
from the Nawab of Bengal to build fortifications. A bastion and a walled
enclosure were completed in January 1697. The British started erecting
Fort William in 1699 (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906; Cotton 1907). As
was the norm with early European settlements, Fort William became the
nucleus of the settlement (see figure 1 for a view of the fort). Its sturdiness
is evident from Hamilton’s description. He observed that, ‘Fort William
was built an irregular Tetragon, of Brick and Mortar, called Puckah, which
is a composition of Brick-dust, Lime, Malasses, and cut Hemp, and when it
comes to be dry, is as hard and tougher than firm Stone or Brick’ (Hamilton
1727: 9).
Figure 1 View of Fort William, Done after the Painting in the Court Room of the
Company’s House in Leaden Hall Street after George Lambert, by Elisha
Kirkall, 1735
Source: © The British Library Board, P1445
The fort was situated on the bank of the river. Its main gate faced ‘the
Avenue’, a raised road that ran eastwards connecting it to the salt water
lakes. Here, boats laden with firewood and jungle produce landed their
cargos for the settlement (Blechynden 1905). Lal Bazaar or Bow Bazaar
Street as it was later to be known was one of the major thoroughfares of
early Kolkata. Well-off natives and Company merchants built their garden
houses along this road as the settlement grew and prospered. The street
was crossed by a pilgrimage path leading to the Kalighat temple. It later
intersected with other important thoroughfares such as Chitpore Road,
Cossaitolla Gulley (or Bentinck Street), and Chowringhee Road. Another
road ran past the Company’s warehouses and provided access to a hospital
and burial ground (Cotton 1907). In the early eighteenth century, Kolkata
did not have proper drains or a good water supply. Its other shortcomings
included very few solid buildings or open roads (Wilson 1895).
By the early eighteenth century, most of those living in the small, English
settlement were in the immediate area north of the fort and ‘the Park’.
Later, it was known as Tank Square or Dalhousie Square. Lord Dalhousie
had served as Governor-General from 1848 to 1856 and the square was
so named in his honour (Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907). It was renamed
Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh in the 1960s as a part of the de-colonization
process for the city. ‘The Park’ was an open space landscaped with gravelled
paths, ornamental shrubs, orange trees, and railings surrounding the ‘Great
Tank’ or Lal Dighi.5 This appeared to be some attempt to impose notions
of English landscaping.
The tank, which had existed before Charnock’s arrival, was the main
source of drinking water for the English settlers. Initially a pond full of
weeds and noxious material, it was deepened and lengthened in 1709 and
reclaimed as a source of drinking water (Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907).
That was one of the first acts of sanitary planning by the British in Kolkata.
The Great Tank still exists today at the centre of Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh.
The English settlement was surrounded by the native population in what
was then known as ‘Dhee Calcutta’.6 A native bazaar7 settlement or ‘Great
Bazaar’ was located half a mile north of the fort and was also known as the
Burra Bazaar. A road led from the English settlement to this bazaar and
was later renamed Clive Street. In the beginning of the eighteenth century,
Govindapur was a residential village covered with thick jungle. Sutanati
was still a riverine mart specializing in cloth trade. Peripheral agricultural
and fishing hamlets, trading halts, and jungle surrounded these two villages
(Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907; Sinha 1978). After eight years, only about
1.36 square kilometres of the land granted by the sanad had been used for
building purposes (Goode 1916).
Within a quarter of a century of obtaining the zamindari rights to the
three villages, the English settlers had transformed their mud huts to brick,
terraced houses surrounded by gardens, reflecting their changing fortunes
in the colonial political economy. They obtained a firman8 for free trade
and the permission to purchase 37 villages adjacent to the three they had
settled in 1698. Kolkata became a thriving town of 1,000 to 1,200 Europeans
and 100,000 natives within a quarter of a century (Blechynden 1905; Cotton
5 ‘Lal Dighi’ means red tank in Bengali.

6 The word ‘Dhee’ is a British distortion of the Bengali word dihi, meaning a village or a group
of villages.
7 The word originated in Persia and means a marketplace.
8 A royal mandate or a decree issued by the Mughal emperors.
1907). The town was unplanned at the beginning. This fact is evident from
Hamilton’s description:
[T]he town was built without Order, as the Builders thought most conveni-
ent for their own Affairs, everyone taking in what Ground best pleased
them for Gardening, so that in most houses you must pass through a
garden into the House. (Hamilton 1727: 9)
However, as early as 1707, the chief agents of the East India Company issued
an order forbidding the erection of irregular buildings in the zamindari. In
retaliation to the houses, tanks, and walls that many natives had erected
without their permission (Deb 1905), this order can be seen as one of the
first acts of planning. There must have been some racial segregation as
Hamilton describes the ‘English being near the River’s Side, and the Natives
within Land’ (Hamilton 1727: 9). This obvious separation was despite the fact
that the early settlers, including Charnock, married Indian women or had
them as their mistresses (Hamilton 1727; Cotton 1907). Such an attempt at
segregation was a common feature of British settlements. For example, the
existence of a ‘White’ town and a ‘Black’ town in Chennai is made clear in
Thomas Salmon’s description in Modern History, or the Present State of All
Nations (Salmon, as cited in Love [1913]1968: 71).9 Salmon, an ensign with
the Madras garrison, depicts Chennai around 1699-1700 with some material
possibly supplemented by information up to 1739 (Love [1913]1968).
The governor’s house was the most significant work of architecture in early
Kolkata. According to Hamilton, ‘The Governor’s House, in the Fort, is the
best and most regular piece of Architecture that I ever saw in India’ (Hamilton
1727: 1). Hamilton’s account of other significant structures in the settlement
included, ‘many convenient Lodgings for Factors and Writers, within the
Fort, and some Store-houses for the Company’s Goods, and the Magazines
for their Ammunition’ (Hamilton 1727: 11). Hamilton also mentions a produc-
tive Company garden somewhere in the neighbourhood that furnished ‘the
Governors Table with Herbage and Fruits; and some Fish-ponds to serve his
Kitchin’ (Hamilton 1727: 11). There was also a church ‘about fifty Yards from
Fort William’ and ‘a pretty good Hospital’ according to Hamilton’s account
(Hamilton 1727: 11). Known as St. Anne’s Church, the significant structure
in the emerging town was completed in 1709 (Cotton 1907) (see figure 2 for a
conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth century).
9 According to Love ([1913]1968), the book was first published in 1724 and was reissued in 1739
with maps by Herman Moll.
Figure 2 A conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth century
Source: Redrawn and adapted from Losty (1990); © The British Library, ORW.1990.a.1450
With the exception of the church and hospital, all official buildings stood
within the fort walls in the early phase of the settlement. The buildings were
closely packed inside the fort, as it was only about 216 metres in length, 104
metres wide in the northern end, and 148 meters at the southern end. The
governor also maintained a private residence outside the walls of the fort
(Blechynden 1905). No doubt the small quarters and the settlers’ tendency
to stay close to the fort were for defensive reasons. The British had not yet
established a strong foothold in Bengal and were vulnerable to the whims of
the Nawab of Bengal. Such defensive tendencies can be seen elsewhere in India.
In Chennai, walls were constructed in 1640 to enclose the factory and officially
create Fort St. George. The fort and factory continued to be the nucleus of
military, commercial, and government activities in Chennai until the early
nineteenth century. Obviously, this fortified structure dominated the physical
development of the city (Lewandowski 1977). Initially, Kolkata was not much
different from the early fortified towns of the British and other Europeans.
A cyclone hit Kolkata in 1737. About ten English houses, the steeple of St.
Anne’s Church, and many native houses were damaged (Cotton 1907). But
the internal political situation, not natural calamities, determined colonial
urban patterns, as is illustrated by the defensive planning activities of the
1740s. The British dug an entrenchment around their territory known as
the ‘Maratha Ditch’ to protect themselves from the Marathas, who invaded
Bengal in 1742. The ditch was intended to be seven miles long, but only three
miles were completed. Permission to dig the ditch was obtained from the
Nawab of Bengal, Ali Vardi Khan, as the British still did not have political
control over Bengal. The indigenous population, who had approached the
British for protection against the Marathas, dug the ditch. The work was
abandoned midway through the excavation as the Marathas never invaded
Kolkata. Seven batteries were also placed in various parts of the town. The
ditch, which became a local landmark, was filled and reclaimed under Lord
Wellesley’s order. In its new state, near the end of the eighteenth century the
former ditch became a major artery known as Circular Road (Deb 1905; Cot-
ton 1907; Goode 1916). A 1742 plan of the city indicates that the area that was
inhabited by the Christian population – English, Armenian, and Portuguese
were surrounded by a complete ring fence of palisades. A gate guarded every
road leaving the town and the ghats at the foot of the main streets leading
to the riverside (Cotton 1907). A ghat consisted of a series of steps leading
down to the Ganga. Clearly, defence played an important role in the planning
activities of the settlement as the British remained politically insecure (see
figure 3 for a map of Kolkata in 1756 showing the defensive arrangements).
By the 1750s, the town had grown outside the fort, now extending
about a five and a half kilometres along the river with a breadth of two
and a half kilometres. However the English settlement remained clustered
around the fort. The commercial, administrative, residential, and military
complex it had become had grown out of the needs for hygiene, defence,
and exclusiveness (Sihna 1978). Lieutenant William Wills of the Artillery
Figure 3 Calcutta in 1756, by John Call and J. Cheevers
Source: Courtesy of Frances W. Pritchett, Professor Emerita, Columbia University
Company in Bengal prepared a plan involving Fort William and part of the
city. It indicates that separate quarters were set apart for the Portuguese,
Armenians, and the English. This was known as Christian Calcutta (Cotton
1907). As pointed out by Sinha (1978), they were brought into the defensive
arrangement of the area known as ‘White Town’. The Portuguese and Arme-
nians were relegated to the neighbourhoods of their churches. Conversely,
the English settlement was compact and exclusive. It had about 230 brick-
and-mortar houses ticketed with their owner’s names and surrounded by
spacious compounds. Many of these homes were equipped with water tanks.
A native town or ‘Black Town’ had sprung up northeast of Christian
Calcutta (Cotton 1907). Among the significant buildings in Black Town was
what the British called the ‘Black Pagoda’, a temple built around 1731 in the
indigenous style by Gobinadram Mitra, a native Zamindar (see figure 4 for
a view of the temple). It was known as the Navaratna Kali temple among
the natives. The temple was partially destroyed in the cyclone of 1737, while
the main tower collapsed in 1813 (Cotton 1907; Losty 1900). It has undergone
several renovations and still exists today.
An attempt to enforce segregation was made in 1745 as indicated by
‘Extracts from Bengal Public Consultations. Fort William, June 24, 1745’,
reported in C.R. Wilson’s book. The extract stated that,
Several Black people having intermixed themselves among the English

Houses, and by that means occasion Nuisances and disturbances to several
Figure 4 Navaratna Kai Temple. Detail from Govinda Ram Mittee’s Pagoda,
Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint, 1798
Source: © The British Library Board, P940, pl. 5
of the English Inhabitants ORDERD That the Jemindar do make enquiry

there and lay before us an Account of such Houses as are Inhabited by them
in order for them to quit, and remove to proper Places in the Town. (‘Extracts
from Bengal Public Consultations, 1745’, as cited in Wilson 1906: 183)
Instructions from London in 1748 stated that, ‘Houses belonging to our Serv-
ants or any English must not be sold to any Moors or any Black Merchants
whatsoever’ (‘Extract from General Letter from the Court to Bengal, London,
June 17, 1748’, as cited in Wilson 1906: 205). Cleary, as elsewhere in India, the
intrusion of natives in the White Town blurred the boundaries. Boundaries
were also clouded because some of the Indian merchants owned property
in the White Town that they rented to Europeans (Chatterjee 2012). There
was also a ‘Gray Town’ where the Portuguese, Greeks, and Armenians lived
and acted as a buffer between Black and White Towns (Sinha 1978).
Kolkata was not the most pristine European settlement during the early
era of European colonization. The Portuguese town of Old Goa was a far
more impressive city than Kolkata until the late seventeenth century. In the
Figure 5 A pictorial map of Old Goa. From Goa Indiae Orientalis Metropolis, by
Pieter Boudewyn van der Aa. Engraving, 1719
Source: © The British Library Board, P2417.
sixteenth century, ‘Golden Goa’, as it was known, came to be regarded as the

‘Rome of the Orient’. Goa, mixed with the Indian tradition of elaborate orna-
mentation, acquired the prominence and grandeur of a Renaissance town. The
viceroy’s palace was an impressive building and most streets were quadrants
or segments of circles (see figure 5 for a pictorial map of Goa in the early
eighteenth century). The main street, Stada Diretta, was a linear street and the
finest in Old Goa. Squares, churches, monasteries, and magnificent buildings
filled the city (Carita [1997] 1999; Richards 1982; Nilsson ([1968]1969). Even the
Dutch Chinsura (Chuchura in Bengali) that was established sometime in the
mid-seventeenth century in the vicinity of Kolkata may have been comparable
to early Kolkata (Hamilton 1727) (see figure 6 for the plan of the factory in
the 1720s). French Chandernagore (Chandannagar in Bengali), established
in 1690, was transformed by Marquis Dupleix into the most prosperous
European settlement in Bengal between 1731 and 1741. The settlement also
was comparable to Kolkata (Cotton 1907). French Pondicherry (now known
as Puducherry) founded in 1674 also reached its golden age under Marquis
Dupleix in the mid-eighteenth century and acquired a grand appearance that
may have outstripped Kolkata (Sen 1947; Chopra 1992).
Figure 6 Plan of the Dutch Factory at Hooghly-Chinsura in 1721, by an anonymous

artist. Engraving, 1721
Spatial Restructuring of Kolkata and the Emergence of Social and

Political Control as the Dominant Planning Paradigm
The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, ransacked Kolkata from 16 to 18 June

1756 in response to the British refusal to surrender one of his adversaries,
whom they had sheltered, resulting in the partial destruction of the forti-
fications at Kolkata. The British had also provoked the Nawab by affording
general protection to his corrupt employees and their failure to abide by
the Company’s dastaks (imperial Mughal license).10 The British had fortified
Kolkata throughout the first half of the eighteenth century, sometimes with
permission of the current Nawabs but often without it. The Company’s
Directors were always concerned with defending their settlements in
Bengal to protect their trade (Chatterjee 2012). Although no record exists
10 The Mughal emperor Farokh Siyar granted a permit allowing duty-free trade in Bengal to
the British in 1717.
of the condition of the different buildings after the ransacking, according

to Blechynden (1905: 53), ‘the town was in a deplorable state, owing to the
wholesale and wanton destruction of property’. St. Anne’s Church was
completely destroyed, while the fort and factory were partially destroyed.
Most of the English houses, including those around ‘the Park’, were entirely
destroyed and the Burra Bazaar was burned down. A large segment of the
native town was in ruins. The Nawab’s troops had also looted the town
(Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907).
Despite their retreat from Kolkata, the British regained control of the city
within six months on 2 January 1757. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah attempted to
recapture Kolkata. However, he was forced to withdraw his troops by 4 Febru-
ary 1757 and was drawn into a treaty five days later. The treaty never came
into effect as war broke out between England and France. At this time the
Nawab declared his intention to assist the French in Chandannagar, which
had come under British control on 22 March 1757. The English inflicted a
resounding defeat on the Nawab in the Battle of Palashi in June 1757, a defeat
primarily attributable to the conspiracy and betrayal by his generals and
ministers (Chatterjee 2012). This was a turning point in the development of
Kolkata. Lord Clive installed his new ally, Mir Jaffar, as ruler. Mir Jaffar was
instrumental in the Nawab’s betrayal. Siraj ud-Daulah was put to death soon
after the battle (Cotton 1907). As aptly stated by Blechynden, ‘With the death of
Suraj-ud-Dowlah, the troubles of the English were at an end’. The new Nawab
lost no time in sending to Calcutta the indemnity promised to the inhabitants
for their losses and sufferings. From the depths of poverty and humiliation
they were raised at once to wealth and power (Blechynden 1905: 67).
Mir Jaffar was obliged to sign a treaty in 1757, granting additional land
within Maratha Ditch and zamindari rights to the British extending to the
south of Kolkata (Deb 1905; Cotton 1907). Under the treaty, the Company
obtained possession of all lands within the ditch. However, acquisition
of land continued for many years as jungles were gradually cleared and
occupied. The town also expanded to occupy suburban areas inside the
ditch. The Company also annexed considerable amounts of land from 24
parganas11 adjacent to Kolkata. The expansion of the town required land
from the 24 parganas and other mauzas12 outside the ditch. This area,
known as Panchannagram,13 comprised land from 55 mauzas (Goode 1916).
11 A pargana is a revenue and administrative unit consisting of several mouzas initiated by

the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526).
12 A mouza refers to a locality with one or more settlements. It was the smallest revenue unit.
13 Panchanna means 55 in Bengali.
A sum of ten million rupees was paid for the ransacking of Kolkata and
nearly another eight million promised for losses sustained by the English,
Armenian, and native populations of the city. According to the treaty, the
English inhabitants received five million rupees (£500,000), the native
population, two million rupees (£200,000), and the Armenians, 700,000
rupees (£70,000) of the restitution money. A year after the ransacking of
Kolkata, nearly seven million rupees were sent from the Nawab’s capital
in Murshidabad to Kolkata and another four million was sent within six
weeks to meet the losses sustained by the East India Company. The treaty
also permitted the Company to establish a mint. Immediately after the
receipt of the restitution money, a committee was set up to redistribute it.
Commerce was revived and houses were rebuilt (Deb 1905; Cotton 1907).
This was a new beginning for Kolkata. As pointed out by Blechynden, ‘with
the triumphant reversal of fortune which followed Plassey, the necessity for
keeping the English factory at Calcutta within the Fort was at an end. The
town at once began to expand, and the European quarter to spread’ (Ble-
chynden 1905: 68). The clearing of an inland jungle to create a vast expanse
of open space near the vicinity of the new fort that came to be known as the
Maidan, and filling in a creek that had cut off the settlement on the south
also led to the movement of the Europeans beyond the narrow limits of the
palisades and the fort towards the Chowringhi area and its vicinity (Deb
1905; Cotton 1907). By 1799, the original course of the Hugli River (or Adi
Ganga in Bengali), which had dried up in the fifteenth to seventeenth cen-
tury, bounded Kolkata in the south. It was also known as the Govidadapur
Creek, the Kidderpore Nulla, or Surman’s Nulla after Edward Surman, who
had excavated it in the early eighteenth century. There was the Hugli River
in the northwest, and Maratha Ditch in the northeast, east, and southeast.
These boundaries remained almost the same for the next sixty years (Carey
1907; Goode 1916). Such a pattern of outward migration of the British from
the narrow confines of the fort and its vicinity can also be observed in cities
such as Chennai. After the defeat of the French in 1750 and the subsequent
fortification of the outlying areas, Chennai became a politically secure city,
enabling the British to move to the outskirts (Lewandowski 1975).
The first planning act of social and political control in the post-Palashi
period was the building of the new Fort William, which was started in 1758
and partially in use by 1773. The last of the fortifications were competed in
1781 and the estimated construction cost was two million pounds. Given
the humiliation suffered in the ransacking of Kolkata, the British planned
to build a much larger and more impregnable fort. Lord Clive dismissed the
plan to build a new structure close to the ruins of the old fort. Accordingly,
he selected a site south of the original fort that was close to the flourishing
and populous village of Govindapur (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906; Cot-
ton 1907; Chatterjee 2012). The new fort in Kolkata was strategically located
so that it could be defended from attacks from the river by other European
powers, now more of a concern to the British than the local regimes, and was
naturally protected by forests to the east and south. Contrary to the norm,
the fort did not present an imposing appearance of military dominance.
Instead, the British tried to hide the considerable strategic power of the
fort in a subtle and calculated posture of invisibility by locating it in a bowl
created by a natural depression (Chatterjee 2012).
A portion of the restitution money was spent to compensate the inhabit-
ants, who were given land in other parts of the town. While the elite and
those under their patronage were compensated, the extent to which the
other inhabitants benefitted is not known (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906;
Cotton 1907; Chatterjee 2012). The Maidan was created in the vicinity of the
fort so that its defenders would have a free view and firing space (Nilsson
[1968] 1969). The Foucauldian notion of surveillance seems to be the rationale
for this type of planning. By clearing the space around the fort, the British
could observe the approaching enemy and use the level field to repulse them.
This spatial restructuring of Kolkata after the British victory at Palashi in
1757 was a critical turning point in Kolkata’s imperial urbanism as it ushered
in the beginning of social and political control through planning endeavours.
The spatial restructuring of Kolkata represented one of the first instances
of attempting to alter the physical form of a city to impose social and politi-
cal control. It was tried at this scale a century later in Delhi in the aftermath
of the First Indian War of Independence in 1857.14 This war, commonly
known as the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’, began in May of 1857 when the sepoys (Indian
soldiers) rose in revolt. The sepoys seized Delhi within weeks. Indians joined
them from all levels of society – landlords, peasants, princes, and merchants
– irrespective of their religion, in an effort to free India from British rule.
In certain parts of India, the resistance continued until the end of 1858.
Ultimately, the British emerged victorious and established direct Crown
Rule in 1858, gaining total control of India. In the walled city of Old Delhi
(also known as Shahjahanabad),15 the British altered the spatial structure
14 The first philosopher to refer to the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ as the ‘First Indian War of Independence’
was Karl Marx ([1857]1959).
15 Since the tenth century BC, the location of Delhi has been the site of nine cities (the last of
which was called Shahjahanabad) and served as the capital of many dynasties. The fifth Mughal
emperor, Shah Jahan, who decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi 1638, built it as the capital
of the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century. See Blake (1991) for a detailed discussion.
as they felt that the urban form was, in part, attributable to their difficulty
in suppressing the war. Immediately after the conflict, one-third of the
developed area was levelled and the entire population of the walled city was
forcibly evicted. In 1859, buildings within a 500-yard radius of the Red Fort
were cleared to create a military security zone (King 1976; Gupta [1981]1998;
Hosagrahar 2005). Such a predisposition to raze densely populated Indian
settlements for defensive purposes can also be observed elsewhere in India
before the First Indian War of Independence. For example, around 1783 the
British not only strengthened the defences of the fort in Chennai, but also
razed the Black Town for defensive purposes. They considered the densely
populated Black Town a threat to their security as it could provide shelter
for the enemy and rebuilt it to the north, leaving a zone of unbuilt land to
protect the fort (Evenson 1989). However, the alterations were not done on
the scale of Kolkata and Delhi.
Kolkata’s Transformation to a City of Palaces
The Maidan provided an enormous vista, offering an aesthetically pleas-

ing perspective for the impressive buildings erected in Chowringhi and
along the Esplanade (Nilsson [1968]) 1969 (see figure 7). The old fort was
abandoned and its site repurposed for the Customs House and other public
buildings (Blechynden 1905; Firminger 1906; Cotton 1907).
The distinction between Black and White Town continued in the post-
Palashi period, although the boundaries may have been blurred because
of encroaching indigenous huts or views of indigenous settlements. For
example, Mrs. Kindersley, who visited the city in 1768, observed the fol-
lowing about the White Town:
[T]he appearance of the best houses is spoiled by the little straw huts,
and such sort of encumbrances, which are built up by the servants for
themselves to sleep in: so that all the English part of the town […] is a
confusion of very superb and very shoddy houses, dead walls, straw huts.
(Kindersley 1777, as cited in Cotton 1907: 87).
She even lamented the absence of a distinct Black Town:
Here is not, as at Madras, a black town near for the servants to reside
in; therefore Calcutta is partly environed by their habitations, which
makes the roads rather unpleasant; for the huts they live in, which are
Figure 7 Esplanade Row (north of the Maidan). From Esplanade Row and the
Council House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint with etching, 1788
built of mud and straw, are so low that they can scarcely stand upright
in them; and, having no chimnies, the smoke of the fires with which
they dress their victuals comes all out at the doors, and is perhaps more
disagreeable to the passenger than to themselves. (Kindersley 1777, as
cited in Cotton 1907: 88)
In the eyes of Europeans schooled in eighteenth-century aesthetics that

prioritized regularity and order, Kolkata remained an unplanned city in
the immediate post-Palashi period (Evenson 1989). For example, Kindersley
stated that,
after Madras, it does not appear much worthy describing; for although
it is large, with a great many good houses in it, it is as awkward a place
as can be conceived; and so irregular that it looks as if all the houses
have been thrown up in the air, and fallen down again by accident as
they now stand. People keep constantly building; and everyone who can
procure a piece of ground to build a house upon, consults his own taste
and convenience without any regard to the beauty or regularity of the

town. (Kindersley 1777, as cited in Cotton 1907: 86-87)
The British were also concerned about the unhealthy climate of Kolkata
in the mid-1770s and early 1780s as reflected in Henry Elmsley Busteed’s
book Echoes from Old Calcutta: Being Chiefly the Reminiscences of the Days
of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey, first published in 1882. Busteed, who
served as medical officer in the Indian Medical Service and was stationed
in Kolkata Mint from 1870, wrote:
Calcutta at this time stood in what was little better than an undrained
swamp, in the immediate vicinity of a malarious jungle, that the ditch 16
surrounding it was, as it had been for thirty years previously, an open
cloaca, and that its river banks were strewn with dead bodies of men and
animals. (Busteed 1888: 157)
Alluding to newspaper reports and observations of travellers from the

period, he elaborates that
[f]rom 1780 and onwards correspondents in the newspapers make fre-

quent complaints about the indescribably filthy condition of the streets
and roads, which is fully confirmed by the account of Grandpré in 1790,
who tells of the canals and cesspools reeking with putrefying animal
matter – the awful stench – the myriads of flies, and the crowds and flocks
of animals and birds acting as scavengers. (Busteed 1888: 157)
Such a depiction of the city is consistent with the British discursive practice
of portraying Kolkata as an unhealthy and uninhabitable place for Euro-
peans since its inception. In fact, the British were so concerned about the
city’s health issues that everyone who could afford to do so opted to live
in garden houses outside the city boundaries (Cotton 1907). This was one
reason for the proliferation of garden houses among the British in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
Garden houses also became popular among the wealthy English
merchants in Kolkata and Chennai as symbols of newly acquired wealth
(Lewandowski 1975; Chattopadhyay 2007) (see figure 8 for a view of a garden
house in Kolkata). In Kolkata, these garden houses were physical manifes-
tations of conspicuous consumption and expropriation (Chattopadhyay
16 This is a reference to the Maratha Ditch.

Figure 8 A garden house in Garden Reach. From View on the Banks of the Hooghly
near Calcutta. The Country Residence of William Farquharson Esq., by
James Moffat after Frans Balthazar Solvyns. Aquatint, 1800
2007). Such residences were either located in discrete residential enclaves

or isolated retreats outside the city (Archer 1997, 2000). Other Europeans
and Indians whose fortunes rose with an upturn in the colonial political
economy also built beautiful homes. The wealthy Bengalis emulated the
British by constructing their own garden houses (bagan baris in Bengali).
They were often associated with debauchery, pleasure, and conspicuous
consumption, especially those owned by the zamindars (landlords).17 This
architectural category includes a large number of building types ranging
from moderate suburban residences to lavish estates (Chattopadhyay 2007).
Such housing was considered to be a symbol of colonial success. As is
reflected by Eliza Fay, an Englishwoman who visited Kolkata in the late 1700s,
The banks of the river are, as one may say, absolutely studded with elegant
mansions, called here as at Madras, garden houses. These houses are
17 Note that the British institutionalized the extraction of revenue from land through the
appointment of hereditary revenue officers, known as zamindars, to collect taxes.
surrounded by groves and lawns, which descend to waters edge, and

present a constant succession of whatever can delight the eye, or bespeak
wealth and elegance in the owners. (Fay [1817] 1908: 131)
These houses equally impressed William Hodges, the English landscape artist
who visited the city in 1780s and wrote, ‘Garden Reach presents a view of
handsome buildings on a slat surrounded by gardens: these are villas belong-
ing to the opulent inhabitants of Calcutta’ (Hodges 1793: 14). Reginald Heber,
who served as the Anglican bishop of Kolkata from 1823 to 1826, described
them as the ‘large and handsome edifices of Garden Reach, each standing by
itself in a little woody lawn […] and consisting of one or more stories, with
a Grecian verandah along their whole length of front’ (Heber 1828: 52-53).
Despite its overall unhealthiness, the European section of the city was
adorned with impressive buildings and broad streets by the 1780s. William
Hodges wrote:
The glacis and esplanade are […] bounded by a range of beautiful and
regular buildings. […] The streets are broad; the line of buildings, sur-
rounding two sides of the esplanade of the fort, is magnificent; and it adds
greatly to the superb appearance, that the houses are detached from each
other, and insulated in a great space. (Hodges 1793: 14-15)
In Fay’s description, also from the 1780s, we find that
[t]he town of Calcutta reaches along the eastern bank of the Hoogly; as
you come up past Fort William and the Esplanade Row it has a beautiful
appearance. Esplanade [R]ow as it is called, which fronts the Fort, seems
to be composed of palaces. (Fay [1817] 1908: 132)
The appearance of the exclusive English enclave around the Lal Dighi also
impressed the French traveller Louis de Grandpré, who visited India in
1789-1790:
As we enter the town, a very extensive square opens before us, with a large
piece of water in the middle, for the public use. The pond has a grass plot
around it, and the whole is enclosed by a wall breasthigh, with a railing
on the top. The sides of this inclosure [sic] are each nearly five hundred
yards in length. The square itself is composed of magnificent houses,
which render Calcutta not only the handsomest town in Asia, but one of
the finest in the world. (Grandpré 1803: 428)
George Annesley – a British aristocrat who had taken an extensive tour

of Asia and Africa from 1802 to 1806 and later published a three-volume
account of his travels (under the name of Viscount Valentia, as he was known
in younger years) – wrote, ‘Chouringee, an entire village of palaces, runs
for a considerable length at right angles with it, and, altogether, forms the
finest view I ever beheld in any city’ (Annesley 1811: 192).
Clearly, despite the overall deplorable sanitary conditions of late eight-
eenth- and early nineteenth-century Kolkata, the exclusive European
enclave was pristine – at least in appearance. This was a result of the con-
solidation of British power in Bengal and the subsequent wealth that they
accumulated. As a result, by the late nineteenth century British Calcutta
came to be known as the ‘City of Palaces’.
Emergence of Architecture as a Symbol of Power
Since the early traders did not yet employ architecture as a symbol of power,
they were content if a locally available military engineer, clergyman, or
carpenter could erect a structure that was functional (Nilsson [1968]1969;
Tillotson 1989). Despite their resounding victories at Palashi and Buxar,18
the British gave little thought to architecture during the first two decades of
their rule. After these triumphs, they were busy consolidating their control
over India. Another reason for not investing in extravagant architecture
was the reality that many of them saw their stay in India to be a temporary
one. Furthermore, the East India Company was not too keen on spending
its profits on extravagant buildings (Metcalf 1984).
A paper read by T. Roger Smith, who had practiced architecture in Mum-
bai, at a conference of the Society of Arts on 28 February 1873 and published
in the Journal of the Society of Arts aptly presents the logic and style of early
European architecture. Dissatisfied with the lack of an imperial stamp on
the early European buildings, Smith stated that ‘they are motley, they are
modern, they – many of the them – make no pretention to architectural
character, and when they do make such pretensions, they more often than
not fall short of the apparent aim of their designers’ (Smith 1873: 279).
18 The Battle of Buxar was fought in 1764 between the East India Company and the combined
forces of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Oudh, and Shah
Alam II, the Mughal emperor. The British enjoyed a resounding victory in the battle, further
strengthening their control over India.
Despite Smith’s characterization as mundane and without architectural

character, the neo-classical style was always the hallmark of early European
architecture. Except for a few buildings discussed in the next chapter, the
neo-classical style became the predominant style of colonial buildings
constructed in Kolkata. The neo-classical style came in vogue because of
its connection with the architectural vocabulary of the imperial Roman
Empire. This association with Roman imperial power prompted the British
East India Company to use the style as representative of the British Empire
in India.
Though delivered after the British had instituted this style of architec-
ture, Smith’s lecture reinforced the Roman allegory. According to him,
We ought, like the Romans […] to take our national style with us. […] In
the stubbornness with which we retain our nationality we resemble the
Romans. They unquestionably not only cut their roads and pitched their
camps in Roman fashion, but put up the Roman buildings wherever they
had occasion to build; and the remaining fragments of those buildings
testify that the Roman governor […] continued to be as intensely Roman
in exile as the English collector remains British to the backbone in the
heart of India. (Smith 1873: 280-281)
The Writers Building, constructed in 1780 to house the junior staff of

civil servants of the British East India Company, is a typical example of
early classically influenced architecture in Kolkata (see f igure 9). The
building contained nineteen sets of apartments with some classrooms
in the centre. From the early nineteenth century the newly instituted
College of Fort William used these classrooms for instruction. Young
clerks who arrived in India received their initial training here. It was
true to the early European tradition of being content with whatever local
labour was available. Carpenter Thomas Lyon, who came to Kolkata in
the 1760s to assist in the construction of the new fort, was most likely
the architect. It is doubtful whether he had any influence in the actual
design. Most likely, he just supervised the construction as the plans may
have been obtained from elsewhere. But there is no doubt regarding the
building’s classical inspiration and mediocrity. It was a very long, plain
building resembling military barracks of the period. It was constructed
with repetitive windows relieved by a projecting central section with Ionic
pillars and a balustraded parapet. As elsewhere in India, the imposition
of Western architectural styles was not intentional in this early phase.
Unhappy with the lack of an imperial stamp on the building, Maria
Figure 9 Writers Building, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint, 1798.

The building was designed by Thomas Lyon and was constructed in 1780
Graham, a Scottish woman who lived in India from 1808 to 1811, wrote,
‘The writers buildings […] look like a shabby hospital, or poor-house’
(Graham [1812] 1812: 138).
The employment of architecture as a symbol of political and imperial
power emerged towards the end of the eighteenth century. The government
house in Kolkata is, in fact, a quintessential example of such architecture
and the discourses surrounding them. In May of 1798 Lord Wellesley arrived
in India to assume the title of Governor-General. He found the existing
buildings unsuitable and too insignificant to serve as the governor’s resi-
dence (Cotton 1907; Nilsson [1968] 1969). Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah’s plunder
of the city in 1756 had destroyed the governor’s residence within the fort as
well as the one outside it. Several houses, including the one outside the fort
as well as the Fort House in new Fort William, were used for the purpose
(Davies [1985] 1987; Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907). None of these, however,
exuded the grandeur of a palace that would, in the eyes of Europeans, ex-
emplify the power of the emerging British Empire. For example, the French
traveller Louis de Grandpré was unimpressed with the Old Government
Figure 10 Old Government House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint with

etching, 1788. The building was built in 1767
Source: © The British Library Board, P98/1
House on the Esplanade most frequently used as the governor’s residence

(see figure 10). He observed:
As there is no palace yet built for him, he lives in a house on the esplanade
opposite the citadel. The house is handsome, but by no means equal to
what it ought to be for a personage of so much importance. Many private
individuals in the town have houses as good; and if the governor were
disposed to any extraordinary luxury, he must curb his inclination for
want of the necessary accommodation of room. The house of the Govern-
ment of Pondicherry is much more magnificent. (Grandpré 1803: 428)
At the turn of the twentieth century, Blechynden was even more scathing
in her critique of the government house, stating ‘it could only have been by
a stretch of courtesy that the gallant visitor 19 described it as “handsome”’
(Blechynden 1905: 73). According to her,
19 Here she is referring to Louis de Grandpré.

it was an ordinary house of two storeys, with a closed verandah on the

upper floor and an arched one below. […] The house was so small that
all public entertainments given by the Governor were held at the Court
House […] and so pinched was the accommodation for the household,
that Lord Cornwallis,20 in 1793, rented a house […] for the use of his staff.
(Blechynden 1905: 73-74)
In June 1798 Lord Wellesley decided upon a new residence. The plan pre-
pared by Lieutenant Charles Wyatt of the Bengal Engineers was based on
James Paine’s design of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, England. Kedleston
Hall was built in the middle of the eighteenth century for the first Lord
Scarsdale (Nilsson [1968] 1969). The government house was built between
1798 and 1803 and was consistent with the practice of Europeans imposing
their models of architecture (see figure 11 for a view of the new government
house). Because of the East India Company’s reluctance to spend its profits
on buildings, however, the directors of the Company were furious about
this colossal expense of £167,359. Lord Wellesley’s recall in July 1805 was in
part attributable to this largess (Davies [1985] 1987).
In Foucault’s terms, the palace was an object of inspection that allowed
the citizenry to observe the power of the state. Other Indian historians,
broadly falling within the post-colonial genre, also offer an analytical inspi-
ration for explaining such colonial architecture. For example, for Shuhash
Chakravarty, the ideology of British rule was ‘to create a permanent gulf
of contempt and fear between the ruler and the ruled’ (1989: 52). He notes
that the ‘physical separation of the master and the bonded men was to
be conspicuous and visible’ (Chakravarty 1989: 52). If one were to employ
Chakravarty’s terms, the government house was in tune with the ideology
of the British Raj to create a permanent gulf of contempt and fear between
ruler and ruled. And all present observed the conspicuous and visible
physical separation between the master and his bonded men. Following
Ashcroft, one can argue that this was an example of English colonialism
relying on architectural symbolism ‘to provide the visual confirmation of
imperial solidity, stability, and even majesty’ (2001: 124).
Admiration and acceptance of the palace was prevalent in British
discourse throughout its occupation, justifying its extravagant cost and
design. For example, Lord Valentia found the palace to be ‘a noble structure
[…] and upon the whole, not unworthy of its destination’ (Annesley [1809]
20 Lord Cornwallis had served as the Governor-General of India from 1786-1794. He was again
appointed Governor-General of India in 1805, but he died that year in India.
Figure 11 South East View of the New Government House in Calcutta, by J. Clarke
and H. Merke. Coloured aquatint, published by Edward Orme in 1805.
The building was designed by Lieutenant Charles Wyatt and was built
between 1798 and 1803
Source: © The British Library Board, Ktop CXV
1811: 191). His thoughts lend further credibility to the role of discourse in the
legitimization of the palace as architecture of spectacle. He wrote:
The sums expended upon it have been considered as extravagant by those

who carry European ideas and European economy into Asia; but they
ought to remember, that India is a country of splendour, of extravagance,
and of outward appearances: that the Head of the mighty empire ought
to confirm himself to the prejudices of the country over which he rules;
and the British, in particular, ought to emulate the splendid works of the
Princes of the House of Timour, lest it should be supposed that we merit
the reproach which our great rivals, the French, have ever cast upon us, of
being altogether influenced by a sordid, mercantile spirit. In short, I wish
India to be governed from a palace, not from a counting-house; with the
ideas of a Prince, not with those of a retail dealer in muslins and indigo.
(Annesley [1809] 1811: 191-192)
The last sentence has often been attributed to Lord Wellesley himself
(Curzon 1925), further illustrating the role of discourse in justifying his
palace.
The British had to make compromises in spatial arrangement even in
stately buildings such as Wellesley’s palace. The government house in
Kolkata was very different from Kedleston Hall because of the social life
the British had to accommodate. Despite the separate servant quarters, the
openness and interconnectedness of the spaces were, perhaps, a reflection
of the need for a large entourage of servants, even if the large numbers made
them uncomfortable (Chattopadhyay 2000, 2005).
The discomfort of the British in Wellesley’s palace is well reflected in the
words of Englishwoman Emma Roberts. Roberts lived in India from 1828
to 1832, moving to Kolkata in 1830. In a three-volume work compiled from
articles she had written for the Asiatic Journal, she wrote,
Upon the floor, the spectator, who has imbibed the apprehension that
he has been entrapped into some pandemonium of horror, may see the
dead bodies of the victims to a tyrannical government thickly strewed
around – human forms apparently wrapped in winding-sheets, and
stretched out without sense or motion upon the bare pavement, add to
the ghastly effect of the scene. These are the palanquin-bearers,21 who,
wrapped up from head to foot in long coarse cloths, are enjoying the
sweets of repose, little dreaming of the appalling spectacle they present
to unaccustomed eyes. Many dusky figures move about with noiseless
tread; and […] the whole panorama would be calculated to inspire horror
and alarm. (Roberts [1835]1837: 140-141)
As noted in W.H. Carey’s book The Good Old Days of Honourable John Com-
pany, compromises were also made due to the climate. Originally published
in 1882, it was compiled from newspaper articles, advertisements, minutes
from council meetings, and government documents. According to Carey:
The plan of the whole house is curious, and is exactly suited to an Indian
climate. From four corners of a central block of buildings, in which are
the reception rooms […] and others of lesser magnitude, long corridors
radiate, communicating at a very considerable distance with four wings,
each of which virtually constitutes a separate and detached house. Each
21 A palanquin or palkhi in Bengali is a covered sedan chair with four poles used as a means
of transportation. The palanquin bearers are natives who carried the palkhi.
of these wings is so built that from whatever side the wind comes – north,
south, east, or west – a thorough draught can be obtained through every
room. (Carey [1882] 1907: 145)
The urge to project an image of magnificence and splendour also resulted in

modifications to the palace’s original design (Metcalf 1984). The emphasis
on opulence and grandeur was intentional because the building symbolized
political expansion and imperial power.
Beginning with Lord Wellesley’s palace, the British attempt to use
architecture as a symbol of power spread to the rest of India. Such archi-
tecture is especially noticeable in the construction of governors’ residences.
Lord Edward Clive, son of the illustrious Lord Robert Clive, came to India
in 1798 as the governor of Chennai. Upon his arrival he appointed John
Goldingham to alter an existing mansion into a permanent residence for
the governor. The government house in Chennai was set in an English-
style park and distinguished by a two-storied, colonnaded veranda (see
figure 12). The most striking feature was a separate banquet hall set on a
podium with Tuscan-Doric columns. These huge pediments were decorated
with trophies of two recent conquests, marking the foundations of the Raj
(Nilsson ([1968]1969; Metcalf 1989). One of these trophies was a tribute
to the conquest of Seringapatam (now known as Srirangapatna) in 1779.
The other was the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Not only had the conquest of
Srirangapatna ended the wars between the province of Mysore and the
British, it also established British supremacy in the South.22 The interior of
the building was ornately decorated. The walls were lined with portraits
of British officials who had helped the Company obtain Indian territory. It
served the function of a heroum – a neo-classical temple for hero worship
(Nilsson ([1968]1969).
The construction of the government house was a seminal event in the
development of Kolkata. Broad vistas were created around the prominent
buildings and monuments along the Esplanade in an intentional effort
to display wealth and power (Nilsson 1969 [1968]). Impressive buildings
were erected in an area around the government house. All structures in its
vicinity, ranging from official buildings to private houses, complemented
the design of the government house. By 1810 the European sections of
Kolkata had taken on the appearance of a classical and imperial city. This
transformation was an unprecedented instance of imposing European ideas
of planning, townscaping, and layout (Davies 1987; Metcalf 1989).
22 For a detailed discussion of this conquest, see Spear (1965).

Figure 12 Government House & Banqueting Hall, Madras, by the Nicholas Brothers.
Photographic print, 1860. The building was renovated by John
Goldingham, circa 1800-1802
Source: © The British Library Board, Photo 394/ (79)
Such an imposition of European planning concepts and townscaping was

tried elsewhere in India much later. For example, Mumbai was re-planned
from the 1860s onwards to make it a modern city worthy of a central
place within the British Empire (Chopra 2007, 2011; Dossal 1991). While
the governor’s house was one of the f irst symbols of imperial power,
other grandiose administrative buildings began to appear outside the
fort in Chennai from the 1860s onwards (Lewandowski 1977). In Delhi,
the colonial government widened streets, created broad vistas, and intro-
duced railroads during the 1860s and 1870s (King 1976; Gupta [1981] 1998;
Hosagrahar 2001, 2005).
Creating a Healthier and Beautiful City for the British:

Emergence of a New Paradigm for Planning
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, efforts were made to change the
fabric of the city to increase political authority, legitimize the British presence
as an imperial power, and maintain surveillance over the indigenous popula-

tion through planning endeavours. Lord Wellesley initiated the effort to set
up the city as a symbol of power and a stage for the propagation of the empire.
In his minute on the Improvement of Calcutta of 16 June 1803, he noted:
The increasing extent and population of Calcutta, the capital of the

British empire in India, and the seat of the supreme authority, require
the serious attention of Government. It has now become necessary to
provide permanent means of promoting the health, the comfort, and the
convenience of the numerous inhabitants of this great town. (Wellesley
1803, as cited in Martin 1837: 672)
As pointed out by Beattie (2003), Wellesley meant the health, comfort, and
convenience of only the European inhabitants of Kolkata. To him this was
‘a primary duty of Government’ (Wellesley 1803, as cited in Calcutta Journal
of Medicine 1906a: 48).
He further observed that,
The construction of the public drains and water-courses of the town is

extremely defective. The drains and water-courses in their present state,
neither answer the purpose of cleansing the town, nor of discharging
the annual inundations occasioned by the rise of the river, or by the
excessive fall of rain during the South West monsoon. […] No general
regulations at present exist with respect to the situation of the public
markets, or of the places appropriated to the slaughter of the cattle, the
exposure of the meat, or the burial of the dead […] places of burial have
been established in situations wherein they must prove both injurious
and offensive; and Bazars, Slaughter houses, and Markets of meat, now
exist in the most frequented parts of the Town. (Wellesley 1803, as cited
in Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 47-48)
His dissatisfaction with the absence of regularity and orderliness, and the
presence of health hazards in the native town is reflected in the above-
mentioned minute which stated:
In those quarters of the town, occupied principally by the native inhabit-

ants, the houses have been built without order or regularity, and the
streets and lanes have been formed without attention to the health,
convenience, or safety of the inhabitants. (Wellesley 1803, as cited in
Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 48)
His recommendations for the improvement of Kolkata included ‘establishing

a comprehensive system for the improvement of the Roads, Streets, Public
Drains, and Water-courses’ (Wellesley 1803, as cited in Calcutta Journal of
Medicine 1906a: 48). His desire to impose symmetry and order, improve
aesthetics, and increase control over the city is evident from the same
minute, which called for ‘fixing permanent rules for the construction and
distribution of the Houses and Public edifices, and for the regulation of
nuisances of every description’ (Wellesley 1803, as cited in Calcutta Journal
of Medicine 1906a: 48). It further stated that,
The appearance and beauty of the Town are inseparably connected

with the health, safety, and convenience of the inhabitants; and every
improvement, which shall introduce a greater degree of order symmetry,
and magnificence in the Streets, Roads, Ghauts, and Warfs, Public edi-
fices and private habitations, will tend to ameliorate the climate, and to
secure and promote every object of a just and salutary system of Police.
(Wellesley 1803, as cited in Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 48)
Subsequently, Wellesley appointed a Town Improvement Committee in 1803

consisting of 30 leading citizens of Kolkata to execute his plans. Wellesley’s
committee tried to bring about symmetry and control in the city by pro-
posing regulations on native-owned buildings, the carving of rectilinear
broad avenues through the native parts of the town, improved sanitation,
and beautification of the city (Blechynden 1905; Cotton 1907; Archer 2000;
Chattopadhyay 2005). On 4 July 1804 the committee submitted a brief report
that clearly showed its intent to impose symmetry and improve sanitation
in the town as it stated:
That houses be constructed in straight lines, or nearly as straight as

may be practicable, leading from East to West, with streets or pas-
sages running North and South, at the distance of 150 or 200 feet from
each other. That tanks or wells, as shall appear most convenient on
local examination, be dug in the different wards of the Town. […] Im-
mediately connected with the improvements […] is a measure which
appears to be highly desirable. […] We mean that of opening new streets
with a view of facilitating the communication between the different
parts of the Town, of affording a more free circulation of air in the
populous quarters – and, f inally of improving draining of Calcutta.
(Town Improvement Committee 1804, as cited in Calcutta Journal of
Medicine 1906a: 52-53)
The desire to regulate native buildings is reflected in the report as it stated:
In consequence of the present singular and ill-judged construction of most

of the houses and buildings of the Natives, they are extremely difficult
of access at any time, and on the occasion of fires the narrow passages
become destroyed either by the fall of some of the buildings, or by the
populace themselves. […] The question […] of digging tanks and wells at
convenient places in or near different wards, is obviously calculated to
facilitate and expedite the extinction of flames. […] The earth which may
be excavated from the tanks would likewise be of essential use in filling
up the inequalities of the ground. The Natives would also, by these means,
be furnished with pure and wholesome water. […] In the progress of our
enquiry, it has been suggested to us that it would be expedient to encour-
age the erection of houses with tiled instead of straw roofs. […] We were
sensible of the advantages which tiled roof possesses over straw choppers,
and should be happy to suggest any means […] to promote the most
general use of the former, consistent with the pecuniary circumstances
of the lower order of Natives. (Town Improvement Committee 1804, as
cited in Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 52)
The committee’s recommendations represent the typical British colonial

planning practice of attempting to segregate themselves and impose control
on native areas they perceived to be health hazards. The planning paradigm
of transforming Indian cities into cleaner, healthier, and more aesthetically
pleasing ones for the British emerged with Wellesley’s Town Improvement
Committee of 1803. While the British feared the native town as a source of
disease and consequently needed to control it throughout India, Kolkata
was the first city where it became a dominant planning paradigm. From
here the paradigm spread to the rest of India. In Chennai, for example, the
British occupied the outskirts of the city in the mid-eighteenth century
because they believed this area afforded them more protection against
disease. They especially felt safer on higher ground because of the better
drainage. The rising death rates and epidemics in Chennai were also sources
of fear and concern (Lewandowski 1975, 1977). However, no plans to remedy
these problems on the scale of Wellesley’s Town Improvement Committee
or its immediate successors were proposed in Chennai in the early period.
To cite another example, in Mumbai the British were concerned with the
encroachment of natives within the walls of their fortified settlement in
the late eighteenth century. A special committee was appointed in 1787 to
examine to what extent the private native buildings were a health hazard
to the inhabitants of the town. In the absence of regulations the Indian

population erected buildings that concerned the British because of their
excessive height. Besides other suggestions for improvement such as the
widening of streets, removing shop projections (which mainly belonged to
the Indians), and requiring every householder to clean the part of the street
opposite their dwellings on a daily basis, the committee recommended that
no native house should exceed about 9 meters in height (Edwardes 1902).
However, the scale of improvement was nowhere near what was suggested
by Wellesley’s committee. In Delhi it was not until after the First Indian
War of Independence that the area where the indigenous population lived
was seen as unhealthy and a threat to public health. Concerns for health
and sanitation were used to justify the demolition of native homes and
other structures in the aftermath of the war (King 1976; Gupta [1981]1998;
Hosagrahar 2005). Nonetheless, many of the improvements sanctioned by
the Town Improvement Committee remained unexecuted after seventeen
years because of the magnitude of the scale in which they were designed
(Cotton 1907). As admitted by Cotton, ‘when Wellesley quitted India in
August 1805, his dream of an Empire City was still very far from realization’
(Cotton 1907: 163).
Early Municipal Administration in Kolkata
The early municipal administration of Kolkata was entrusted to one of the

East India Company’s civil servants initially known as Zamindar and later as
the Collector of Calcutta. In 1727 a royal charter of King George I established
a corporation consisting of a mayor and nine aldermen. A mayor’s court
had criminal, civil, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction over English settlers. The
corporation did little to improve the administration of Kolkata and sur-
rendered its charter in 1753. A new charter was granted and a new mayor’s
court was established. An attempt was made to raise revenues from house
taxes, ground rent, and tolls. The collector was relieved of his municipal
duties in 1794 and the governor was empowered for appointing justices of
the peace for the municipal administration of Kolkata. The administrative
machinery was divided into three departments: assessment, executive,
and judicial. The first department was entrusted with the assessment of
rates. The second was responsible for execution of conservancy works,
collection of the assessments, and general watch and ward of the city. The
third department’s responsibility was to approve assessments and hear and
adjudicate complaints about assessors and collectors (Goode 1916). Changes
in municipal administration that took place from the early nineteenth

century are discussed in the next chapter.
The Rise of the British and the Demise of Other European

Settlements around Kolkata
In contrast to Kolkata’s transformation to a ‘City of Palaces’, other European

enclaves around Kolkata began to decline because of the ascendency of the
British as an imperial power in India (see figure 13 for major settlements
around Kolkata in the eighteenth century). The decline of Dutch power in
Bengal began with their defeat by the British in the Battle of Chuchura on
25 November 1759. The Dutch vessels employed to deliver the troops from
Batavia were defeated in a separate naval battle on 24 November. These
crushing defeats ended Dutch imperial intentions in Bengal (Toynbee 1888).
Nonetheless, Chuchura survived and Dutch trade reached its most prosper-
ous state in Bengal between 1770 and 1780 (Toynbee 1888). The English
eventually took possession of the settlement in 28 July 1795, marking the
beginning of the demise of the elegant settlement. It was returned to the
Dutch on 20 September 1817. However, by that time the Dutch power in
Bengal and India was in decline. Finding their Indian settlements to be a
burden on their finances, their colonization began to shift to sites in East
Asia. Through a treaty dated 17 March 1824 Chuchura was ceded to the
British in exchange for British possessions in Sumatra, effective 1 March
1825. Five years after the cessation the British demolished all significant
buildings such as the fort and government house to make room for barracks
(Blechynden 1905; Toynbee 1888). Even the church was altered to suit the
Anglican liturgy (Nilsson [1968] 1969). Eventually, Chuchura became a
suburb of Kolkata and has remained so in the post-independence period.
The Danish settlement of Serampore (Srirampur in Bengali) endured
a similar fate. A Danish factory was established in Srirampur in 1755. Ini-
tially Frederiksnagore, it soon came to be known as Srirampur (Elberling
[1845]1874; Toynbee 1888). The condition of Srirampur changed dramatically
in the late 1770s due to changes in the internal and international political
economy. The British East India Company instituted a new law by which the
company servants could make remittances to home only through foreign
factories. Such a policy brought prosperity to Srirampur as employees of the
British East India Company made remittances through the Danish factory
(Toynbee 1888). The neutrality of the Danes in European politics between
1777 and 1807 increased their profits from trade in India (Nilsson [1968]
Figure 13 Major settlements around Kolkata in the eighteenth century
Source: Adapted and redrawn from Losty (1990), © The British Library Board, ORW.1990.a.1450
1969]). The British were involved in hostilities with France, Holland, and the
United States at the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783. As a
result, English vessels were vulnerable to attacks by privateers, and English
trade was subject to heavy insurance. The Danes in Srirampur profited
from this situation and the Danish East India Company and its employees
made a fortune (Toynbee 1888). The physical manifestation of this trade
boom can be seen in changes in the town from 1777 onwards. Ole Bie, the
Figure 14 Old Danish Gate, Serampore, by Frederick Fiebig. Photographic print, 1851
Source: © The British Library Board, Photo 247/2(48)
official in charge of Srirampur, transformed it into a magnificent town by

the 1780s (Nilsson [1968]1969). The manager’s house, reconstructed in 1771
after the original had collapsed in 1770, was one of the most magnificent
buildings constructed in neo-classical style. A gate with Ionic pillars that
supported a triangular pediment with the monogram of King Frederick VI
marked the entry to the manager’s house. The character of the portal was
baroque in spirit ([1968] Nilsson 1969) (see figure 14).
Srirampur was occupied by the British in 1801 because of hostilities
between England and Denmark. It was returned almost immediately to the
Danes, flourishing for some time because of its neutral position. However,
this situation was temporary and the demise of Srirampur began with its
occupation by the British again from 1808 to 1814. With these events trade
ceased in the town, and when it was returned to Denmark in 1815, only a
few Danes remained. The Danish East India Company never recovered
from the blow (Toynbee 1888; Blechynden 1905). Eventually, Srirampur and
the Danish settlement of Tranquebar (now known as Tharangambadi) on
the Coromandel Coast were sold to the British for twelve lakhs of rupees
Figure 15 Chandernagore, by James Moffat. Aquatint with etching, published in

Calcutta, 1800
(£120,000) in 1845 with the realization that their Indian possessions had
become useless to them (Toynbee 1888; Blechynden 1905). As a result,
Srirampur became a sleepy suburb of British Calcutta.
The French factory in Chandannagar had a military weight and arcades with
Tuscan columns in the front (Nilsson [1968] 1969). One of the most significant
pieces of architecture was a country residence built for the French governor
just outside their settlement in Chandannagar. However, as was the case with
other European settlements around Kolkata, Chandannagar declined with the
rise of the British power in Bengal. The capture of the city in 1757 by the British
marked the beginning of its decline. The fortifications and public works were
demolished within a few months. The town never recaptured its previous glory
even after it was returned to the French in 1763. The British again occupied the
town in 1778 but returned it to the French five years later. The English once
again regained possession of the town from 1793 to 1816 (Cotton 1907). However,
by that time the British had established their supremacy in India, and French
settlements in India were retained for minimal commercial interests as French
colonization began to shift to Indochina and North Africa (for a view of the
town in the early nineteenth century, see figure 15).
Haora’s Urbanism
The town of Haora never fell within the broader scheme of imperial urban-
ism of the British. The port of Bator in Haora had existed prior to the arrival
of Europeans and was well known for its overseas trade. It flourished as a
subsidiary of Bengal’s royal port of Satgaon as large sea-going vessels could
sail up to this point. The Portuguese used it for anchoring their vessels in
the sixteenth century, making it an important centre of European trade.
Bator’s importance as a port declined after the founding of Kolkata, which
soon became the new centre of European trade, on the opposite side of the
river. From the late eighteenth until the middle of the nineteenth century
Hoara was primarily used for repairing ships, manufacturing rope, and
storing salt in warehouses (Banerji 1972). Hamilton observed that, ‘On the
other Side of the River are Docks made for repairing and fitting their Ships
Bottoms’ (Hamilton 1727: 12). The number of Europeans who lived in the
city were fewer compared to Kolkata. During this period, Haora constructed
none of the grandiose buildings so common in Kolkata.
3 Building a Neo-Classical, Beautiful,
and Clean City
The Rise and Decline of British Imperial Urbanism
Consolidation of British Power: Making Kolkata a Neo-Classical

City
The neo-classical style dominated colonial buildings constructed in Kol-

kata from the early nineteenth century to the pre-independence period
in the 1940s. Kolkata’s architectural tradition was so deeply rooted in
classicism that the Indo-Saracenic style1 promoted by the British since the
1860s never gained the political patronage that it enjoyed elsewhere. As
stated in the last chapter, the British adopted neo-classicism in Kolkata
because of its connection with the architectural vocabulary of the imperial
Roman Empire. They continued to view the style as a symbol of imperial
power as they consolidated their control on India from Kolkata. For the
British, it was impossible to associate the imperial capital of India with
any other style.
Soon after the erection of Wellesley’s government house, the Town Hall –
another imposing piece of architecture that complemented the government
house – was completed in 1813. True to Kolkata’s colonial architectural
tradition, classical architecture inspired the Town Hall. The building was
two stories high and shaped like a solid block with protruding porticos
and an elegant facade. High pilasters graced the corners of both stories,
and a Palladian portico topped the centre section. The order of columns
was Tuscan-Doric. John Garstin, an architect in Kolkata, designed the
building (Nilsson [1968] 1969). The admiration for the building’s elegance
is reflected in Carey’s book, as he wrote, ‘It is a fine building in the Doric
style of architecture, with a magnificent flight of steps leading to grand
portico on the south’ (Carey [1882]1907: 146). The Town Hall remains one
of the historic buildings of Kolkata (see figure 16).
The houses in Chowringhi close to the government house and Binoy-
Badal-Dinesh Bagh were also constructed as solid blocks with porticos,
staircase towers, and verandas. Civil servants of the East India Company
who had accumulated quick fortunes built these upstart villas (Nilsson
1 The style is discussed later in the chapter.

Figure 16 The Town Hall in Kolkata. The architect who designed the building was
John Garstin. It was completed in 1813
Source: Photograph courtesy of Anjan Gupta, 2013
[1968] 1969) (see figure 17). The facades displayed the same characteristics
as public buildings with tall colonnades rising on a plinth and pediments
and mouldings of windows standing out against the smooth walls. The
orders of the columns were either undecorated Tuscan or richly designed
Ionic. Larger than townhouses in England, these houses were comparable
to English country seats. The elegance of these houses and their visual
symbolism of wealth and power are reflected in the words of Emma
Roberts:
The houses for the most part are either entirely detached from each
other, or connected only by long ranges of terraces, surmounted, like
the flat roofs of the houses, with balustrades. The greater number of
these mansions have pillared verandas extending the whole way up,
sometimes to the height of three stories, besides a large portico in front;
and these clusters of columns, long colonnades, and lofty gateways, have a
very imposing effect, especially when intermingled with forest trees and
flowing shrubs […] and even those residences intended for families of very
Building a Neo - Classical, Beautiful, and Clean Cit y 79
Figure 17 A view of English houses in Chowringhi from a lithograph. Plate 18:
Views of Calcutta. Chowringhee Road by William Wood, 1833
Source: © The British Library Board, X630(18)
moderate income cover a large extent of ground, and afford architectural

displays which would be vainly sought amid habitations belonging to the
same class in England. (Roberts 1835: 2)
These houses also quite impressed James Kerr, whose observations date
from the 1840s; he was principal of the Hindu College in Kolkata from 1842
to 1848. Kerr authored two books from observations made during his stay
in India. He wrote:
After looking at Government House, with its handsome gateway facing

the river, you see to the right a range of large palatial buildings, tall white
houses of many stories, with pillars in front, the residences of European
gentry. (Kerr 1873: 93)
Such housing can be seen as an attempt to introduce functional zoning by

clustering a single class of wealthy Europeans together in detached housing
on large lots. Such zoning also prescribed the separation of residential
and commercial areas (Evenson 1989). Located beyond the business and
administrative centre around Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh, these houses
and the administrative buildings around them continued the portrayal
of Kolkata as a city of palaces. For example, Bishop Reginald compared
Kolkata to Connaught Place and St. Petersburg (Heber 1828). According to

James Kerr, ‘On landing, just when you arrive […] you obtain as good a view
as well can be of the European part of the town, the “city of palaces,” as it
is proudly called’ (1873: 93).
Despite their appearance, the English houses of eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century Kolkata were far from neo-classical Palladian villas.
As pointed out by Chattopadhyay (2000), the flavour of neo-classicism,
introduced to inspire grandeur in the houses in the White Town, disap-
peared once inside the residences. As she demonstrates, natives performing
household chores necessitated the proximity of the served and service
spaces. However, the British were uncomfortable with this spatial arrange-
ment. Their discomfort is reflected by Emma Roberts, who wrote,
Every side of every apartment is pierced with doors, and the whole of the
surrounding antichambers appear to be peopled with ghosts. Servants
clad in flowing white garments glide about with noiseless feet in all
directions; and it is very long before people accustomed to solitude and
privacy in their own apartments, can become reconciled to the multitude
of domestics who think themselves privileged to roam all over the house.
(Roberts 1835: 8-9)
Nonetheless, the British had to adjust to this social and spatial arrangement,
and, as pointed out by James Kerr,
One of the striking features of Ango-Indian life is the great number of

domestic servants we are obliged to keep. […] At least, it is expected of
you, and if you do not comply with the general custom, you run the risk,
to use an odious Indian phrase, of loosing caste, of sinking in the scale
of being – no, not exactly that, but of sinking in the estimation of foolish
natives, and of our own not less foolish countrymen. […] What so many
servants do in one small house is a mystery. (Kerr 1873: 96-98; see figure
18 for a view of the entourage of servants in an English gentleman’s house)
Political economy also seems to have played a role in shaping the spatial
arrangement of these houses. Since speculation by both the Indians and
British often motivated the construction of early colonial houses, servants’
quarters were an afterthought. The transformative effect on the colonizer
is seen in adjustments made by the British in the spatial and social arrange-
ment of their houses. These adjustments accommodated the Indian servants
who were needed for the way of life not only in Kolkata but throughout
Figure 18 Surrounded by an entourage of servants: From The Establishment of an

English Gentleman, Calcutta. Photographic print by Frederick Fiebig, 1851
Source: © The British Library Board, 247/4(46)
India. The transformative effect is also evident in the fact that these houses
were actually adaptations of the traditional Indian courtyard residence.
Like the courtyard of the Indian house, the central hall served as the focal
point of gathering and providing access to rooms (Chattopadhyay 2000).
As elsewhere in India, the British had to make compromises in design
due to the hot and humid climate. For example, Kerr observed, ‘our houses
in their external appearance, are distinguished from houses at home chiefly
by the open veranda and showy pillars in front, to which may be added flat
roofs and absence of chimneys’ (Kerr 1873: 99).
While the showy pillars symbolized wealth and power, the deep verandas
or porticos were practical features to protect the inner rooms from sun. Flat
roofs and the absence of chimneys were also modifications made due to
climate conditions. Wooden rib screens, bamboo tatties, or plaited grasses
that were kept moist to allow the passage of cool air and provide shade
to verandas. These embellishments became an ornamental element in
British architecture in India (Davies [1985] 1987). Other adaptations, such
as wooden venetians in front of windows and pillars inside the houses,
improved circulation to keep the interior cool. The spacious and lofty nature
of the buildings also allowed for better circulation (Kerr 1873).
The British even had to make compromises with the interior furnishings
because of the climate. Roberts laments,
but comfort and convenience being more studied than appearance, there
are few of those elegant little trifles in the way of furniture. […] It is
thought that the bijouterie, so much in esteem in Europe, would foster
insects, and also tend to impede the free circulation of air; and perhaps
this notion is carried rather too far, for to unaccustomed eyes, at least,
the interior of the handsomest houses of Calcutta have rather a desolate
aspect. (Roberts 1835: 7-8)
Kerr’s observation is similar and he points out,
It is not here […] the fashion to have much furniture, which would only
harbour insects and prevent a free circulation of air. […] The most striking
piece of furniture is the punka […] and which is kept going all day in our
sitting-rooms. We have it here even in our bed-rooms, within the mosquito
curtains, and it waves over us while we are asleep. (Kerr 1873: 100).
As is evident from Kerr’s observation, the punkah or hand-pulled fan became

an important piece of furniture due to the climatic conditions, further il-
lustrating the transformation of the colonizers. Introduced in Kolkata in the
1780s, the punkah spread to other colonial cities. It was studied extensively
in the 1870s by British military engineers to improve its efficiency (Evenson
1989).
With the emergence of architecture as a symbol of power, attempts
were made to improve the appearance of the Writers Building in the mid-
nineteenth century. The building was completely renovated in 1880 to give
it an imperial stamp necessary for its conversion to the Bengal Secretariat
(Nilsson [1968] 1969; Davies [1985] 1987.) Now known as Mahakaran (see
figure 19), it has since dominated the northern side of Binoy-Badal-Dinesh
Bagh, the centre of the administrative district of Kolkata. Its drastic change
from a mundane building into a structure worthy of the empire is reflected
in the words of Montaque Massey at the turn of the twentieth century.
According to Massey,
Occupying as it does the whole of the north side of Dalhousie Square

has been changed and altered out of all knowledge and recognition. It
Figure 19 A view of the Writers Building, or Mahakaran, as it is called today
was formerly, before Government took it over, a plain white stuccoed

building utterly devoid of any pretentions to architectural beauty, and
depending mainly for any chance claim to recognition on its immense
length. Its blank, straight up and down appearance was barely relieved
by several white pillars standing out rather prominently in the centre of
the building. (Massey 1918: 51-52)
As Chatterjee pointed out (1995), the consolidation of the principal offices

of the imperial government around Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh in the 1870s
added to the symbolism of the area as the centre of power and knowledge.
The Government House to the south and the Writers Building to the north
further solidified the district’s importance. New buildings such as the High
Court, the Imperial Secretariat Building, the General Post Office, the Cen-
tral Telegraph Office, and the Customs House were erected as the Writers
Building and Treasury Building were being renovated. Diagonally across the
Maidan from the Government House, the Indian Museum was built in 1875
to house a collection of Indian archaeology and several branches of natural
history. The museum became a centre for the pursuit of colonial knowledge.
The building also housed the offices of the Geological Survey of India and
the new School of Art and the Government Art Gallery. South of the mu-
seum was the Asiatic Society, another source of colonial knowledge. A short
distance away, a new building for the offices of the Surveyor General of India
was erected. North of these citadels of power, a massive red brick building
was constructed for the Municipal Corporation where the improvement of
the city was supervised. Further north was Lalbazar, the headquarters of
the Kolkata Police Department. To the north of Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh
was the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, the premier institution of British
commerce. Commerce, it should be noted, was the symbol of the original
cause of the expanding empire in India.
Native dwellings were removed from the area to enhance its Victorian ap-
pearance (Chatterjee 1995). By the 1830s, smaller lots on the northern border
of the Maidan fronting Esplanade Row were consolidated to accommodate
the larger administrative buildings (Chattopadhyay 2005). The attempt to
create a centre of power and knowledge through architectural symbolism
and townscaping started in Kolkata. Efforts to impose European ideas of
townscaping in Chennai and Mumbai in the 1860s did not result in such a
unified centre of power and knowledge.2 Similar attempts to accomplish
this goal in Delhi during the 1860s and 1870s were also not as successful
as in Kolkata.3
The Neo-Classical Architectural Influence on the Bengali Elite
The homes of the Bengali elite reflected the European influence on architec-
ture during this period. By the mid-1820s most of the houses of the wealthy
in Kolkata incorporated some classical elements (see figure 20 for an early
example of the classical influence on the Bengali elite). Between 1835 and
1840 Raja Rajendra Mullick built one of the most outstanding classically
inspired mansions (Evenson 1989) (see figure 21). However, it should be
noted that the traditional plan of courtyard dwelling was retained in all
these mansions.
For example, James Kerr observed, ‘these houses have generally an open
court in the middle, surrounded on three or four sides by apartments’ (Kerr
1873: 91). The Bengali elite modified and reinterpreted the neo-classical
2 For a detailed discussion of efforts to impose European ideas of townscaping in Chennai

and Mumbai, see Lewandowski 1977; Chopra 2007, 2011.
3 For a detailed discussion, see King 1976; Gupta [1981]1998; Hosagrahar 2005.
Figure 20 An early example of classical influence on the Bengali elite: From View on
the Chitpore Road, Calcutta. Coloured aquatint by Thomas Daniell, 1797
Source: © The British Library Board, P 937, pl. 2
Figure 21 The Mullick Palace (also known as Marble Palace), built between 1835
and 1840
Source: Photograph courtesy of Jessica Molina, 2014

elements to suit their needs. Maintaining the traditional spatial environ-

ment of dwellings with infused neo-classical elements can be seen as defi-
ance to colonial domination. While a neo-classical facade appealed to the
English visitors by suggesting the adaptation of Western standards, such a
facade and even parlours furnished with European furniture did not change
the traditional organization of the overall household around courtyards and
other specialized spaces in the Bengali household (Archer 2000).
As the Scottish missionary Norman Macleod observed,
I may say something of these houses in passing. One was that of a rich
Zemindar. […] The rooms, or cells, of its verandahs appeared unfurnished,
because native. One room, it is true, looked most comfortable, being
furnished in European style; but it was never used except as a showroom
to foreigners. […] In the house of another native gentleman I saw but one
room comfortably and nicely furnished, and it, too, was for the reception
of European guests. (Macleod 1871: 207-208)
His observation of an even more elegant house confirms that the West-
ernized Bengali elite usually had a room to entertain European guests.
However, they maintained a traditional courtyard pattern and traditional
living habits. Of this house, he wrote,
Another of the native houses […] was still on a grander scale, and the
most aristocratic I saw in India. It was a large, square-looking palace,
surrounded by a considerable space of ground, high railings separating
it from the street, which was in the native town. […] It was built in the
form of a square, with an inner court. We were ushered into a splendid
drawing-room, furnished in European fashion, and in the most costly
manner. […] It was touching to see the keen desire this native gentle-
man displayed to do all honour to European tastes by thus expensively
furnishing those fine apartments, which neither himself nor his family,
ever occupied. (Macleod 1871: 208-209)
Clearly the Bengali elite were able to choose some European elements
and resist others. This decision was made despite the British discourse
expressing the view that the better class of Indians should try to conform to
the ‘superior’ way of British lifestyles (Evenson 1989). As suggested by Chat-
topadhyay (2005), by adopting the architectural vocabulary of the British
Empire, the Bengali elite were making symbolic claims on the development
of the British Empire in India.
Some of the Bengali elite were even reluctant to use European furnish-
ings to appease their British masters, further illustrating their defiance to
colonial domination. Observing such defiance, Kerr wrote,
Even the wealthier classes indulge but sparingly their taste for furniture.
On entering the house of a wealthy baboo4 of Calcutta, you f ind the
apartments bare and almost empty. There may be a chair or two for
European visitors, and one or two cushions to recline upon, and a white
cloth spread over the floor; but there is little more. (Kerr 1865: 166)
As pointed out by Kerr, ‘These are the dwelling-houses of men of the old
school, Hindoo conservatives, who love the old ways’ (1873: 91). In fact,
the Bengali elite who furnished their houses in European style were an
exception to the norm. As Kerr states, ‘A striking exception to this rule may
occasionally be met with, particularly among the more Anglicized baboos:
some of whom have their houses gorgeously furnished in the European
style’ (1865: 166-167).
The Indian elite elsewhere in the country also attempted to employ
neo-classical elements in their buildings and furnish them with Western
interiors. The architecture of the Nawabs of Oudh in Lucknow from the
1770s until their demise in 1856 offers some of the best examples. Palace
compounds such as Asaf ud-Daulah’s Macchi Bhavan, Saadat Ali Khan’s
Farhad Baksh, and Wajid Ali Shah’s Qaisarbagh (see figure 22) exemplify
such architecture (Metcalf 1989). The British, of course, disapproved of the
use of neo-classical architecture by the Indian elite. In particular, the archi-
tecture of the Nawabs of Oudh came under severe criticism by the British. Dr.
A. Führer, who was the curator of the Lucknow Provincial Museum, wrote:
[N]owhere can we see more markedly the influence of a depraved oriental

court and its politics upon art and architecture than in Lakhnâû. […] [T]
he more modern buildings of Nasir-ad-dîn-Haidar, and Wajid Alî Shâh
are the most debased examples of architecture to be found in India.
(Führer 1891: 266)
The discourse in vilifying the hybrid mansions of the Bengalis was not as
pronounced as it was in the case of the architecture of the Nawabs of Oudh
4 The word literally means a Bengali clerk who was literate in English. It also included the
Bengali elite. The word is also employed as a courtesy title for a Bengali gentleman and is
equivalent to ‘Mr.’
Figure 22 A view of Qaisarbagh. Photographic print by an unknown

photographer, 1880
in Lucknow. There, it was an attempt to portray them as degenerate types,

perhaps leading them to their inevitable downfall when the British captured
the state in 1856 (Führer 1891; Metcalf 1984). Nonetheless, the British were
disdainful with the lifestyles of the wealthy Bengalis who lived in such
mansions. For example, Macleod wrote,
In spite, however, of all this grandeur and show, I believe the highest
natives live in […] a ‘hugger-mugger’ state. Such is their ‘custom’. Their
private life is very simple, all their magnificence being reserved for public
display only. It would astonish many a European to see the apartments
where an Eastern family of rank live, eat, and sleep, as contrasted with
what the outside world is permitted on great occasions to see in their
palace-home! (Macleod 1871: 210)
By denigrating the lifestyles of the Bengali elite, the British tried to portray the
entire ethnic group as racially inferior and radically different from themselves.
Nor were the British impressed with the location of the mansions built by
the Bengali elite in areas of the native town viewed as filthy and crowded.
For example, Mary Carpenter, an English social reformer who visited India
in 1866, wrote,
Yet in the midst of such a district we find the residence of a millionaire;

turning up a narrow lane with an open sewer on each side, […] it would
appear that the native gentry who reside in this locality, must have their
sense of smell blunted by long habitude, and are thus not aware of the
extreme unhealthiness of such a condition. (Carpenter 1868: 181-82)
The outward appearance of one such house particularly disagreed with

Macleod, who wrote, ‘It was large, but gave me the impression of confusion,
neglect, and squalor. It entered from a nasty street, and seemed built amidst
rubbish, with no attempt at ornament, order or beauty. There were not even
good drains’ (Macleod 1871: 207).
The British failed to perceive that the Bengali elite were indifferent to
functional zoning. They had no desire to live in a neighbourhood dominated
by a single class. A mixture of manufacturing, commercial, and housing land
uses characterized native towns. Housing areas included elegant mansions,
lesser dwellings, and even slums within the same neighbourhood. This was
a physical reflection of the bazaar economy which warranted artisans,
labourers, peddlers, wealthy merchants, and bankers living in the same
neighbourhood (Evenson 1989). The Bengali elite built such mansions in
these locations as an act of defiance against the concept of functional zoning.
Even the attempt to furnish one room or even the entire house with Eu-
ropean furnishings was treated with contempt by the British. For example,
Kerr wrote,
Those, on the other hand, who copy English manners, are apt to overshoot
the mark. […] They do not know where to stop, and imagine that they
cannot have too much furniture. The apartments are literally crammed
full of chairs, tables, and sofas; while the walls are covered with wall-
shades, and mirrors: and magnificent chandeliers hang from the ceilings.
(Kerr 1865: 91, 167)
Macleod’s impression of a room decorated with European furnishings also

reflects such a view. Macleod wrote,
It was evident, however, from the unnecessary quantity of furniture of

every kind – great crystal candelabra, bronzes, busts, time pieces, and
such-like – which crowd the rooms […] the rich native gentleman’s […]
want of knowledge. An English Lady or Gentleman of taste could have

produced infinitely better results with immensely less outlay. (Macleod
1871: 209-210)
Clearly, the British believed the Bengali elite were incapable of matching
their superior taste and refinement in interior design because they were
racially inferior.
Orientalist Discourse on Architecture and Kolkata
Although the British discourse vilifying Indian architecture was not on

Kolkata itself, the city was a citadel of Orientalist discourse since the
pioneering figure in the development of Orientalism, Sir William Jones,
founded the Asiatic Society in the city in 1784 (Mukherjee 1968; Cairns
2007). Jones’s thesis is generally associated with language and culture.
However, architecture was an integral part of his work. Jones attributed
the best aspects of the Indian civilization to Aryan or Indo-European roots
(Jones 1806; Cairns 2007). In fact, early Orientalists such as Jones and Wil-
liam Chambers, also an architect, often resorted to architecture to make
authoritative and informative statements on Indian civilization and culture
(Jones 1806; Cairns 2007).
The early Orientalists, products of the Enlightenment movement,
claimed that India had once possessed a golden age but that civilization
had declined and stagnated or even remained at a ‘standstill’ because of
the influence of medieval Hinduism (Metcalf 1984). While the Oriental-
ists at least acknowledged a golden period, Anglicists, products of early
nineteenth-century liberal and evangelical movements, found absolutely
no substance in Indian civilization (Metcalf 1984).
Together, Orientalists and Anglicists shaped Victorian discourse regard-
ing Indian civilization, architecture, and sculpture (Metcalf 1984). The
most influential protagonist of the era was James Fergusson, an Indigo
farmer whose knowledge of Indian architecture stemmed from his travels
as an amateur observer and artist while serving his family business in the
1830s (Scriver 2007). He published several substantive works on Indian
architecture, and his two-volume History of Indian and Eastern Architecture
(1876) remained the authority on Indian architecture long after his death
in 1886 (Fergusson [1876]1967).
His disdain for Indian architecture and civilization is reflected through-
out the text. In his introduction to the first volume, Fergusson states that ‘[i]
t cannot, of course, be for one moment contended that India ever reached
the intellectual supremacy of Greece or the moral greatness of Rome’
([1876]1967: I, 4). To Fergusson, Indian architecture was ‘on a lower step
of the ladder’ and ‘may contain nothing so sublime as the hall at Karnak,
nothing so intellectual as the Parthenon, nor so constructively grand as
the medieval cathedral’ ([1876]1967: I, 4 and 6). He strongly believed in the
theory of declining civilization (Fergusson [1876] 1967).
The objective of Fergusson’s discourse was to construe Indians as
degenerate types based on their racial origin. He did so by linking the
architectural and sculptural expression in India to an expression of inferior
art forms of an inferior race of ‘Turanian’ people. Fergusson believed the
Turanians were descendants of people from the Stone Age (Fergusson 1874).
In India, they consisted mainly of pre-Aryan races such as the Dravidians.
However, as is evident from the above discussion, the discourse on the
inferiority of indigenous architecture in Kolkata was less pronounced. There
was no grandiose indigenous architecture, such as the Mahabalipuram (now
known as Mamallapuram) temple complex, the Taj Mahal, or the sculptures
of Bharut and Amaravati that the British could disparage.5 Kolkata was
a product of British colonialism; most of its significant architecture was
influenced by British design. Hence, there was no need to consider its
architecture as inferior. Yet mansions built by the Indian elite in the city
and their interiors continued to be denigrated by British discourse.
The Absence of the Indo-Saracenic Style in Kolkata
Although the Indo-Saracenic style became the official stamp of colonial

architecture from the last decades of the nineteenth century until the early
decades of the twentieth century, Kolkata could not rid itself of neo-classical
influences. Despite their ingrained critique of Indian architecture, the Brit-
ish began promoting the Indo-Saracenic style, which incorporated Hindu
and Muslim elements, during the last decades of the nineteenth century.
The desire to include such features dated back to the mid-1860s (among
others, see Davies [1985] 1987; Tillotson 1989; Metcalf 1984; Scriver 2007).
Scriver (2007) observed that technocrats, architects, and allied profes-
sionals sought to replace the earlier neo-classical and Gothic revival styles
with one that would represent the British Raj. Indo-Saracenic was the
5 For British discourse on such architecture see, for example, Chambers 1806 and Fergusson
([1876].
product of a desire to legitimize the Raj by linking it to India’s past, after

the First Indian War of Independence. As pointed out by Metcalf (1984),
from this point forward the British conceived of themselves not merely as
foreign conquerors, but as legitimate and almost indigenous rulers, likened
directly to the Mughals and, hence, to India’s own past. Metcalf (1984)
suggests that by mixing styles and manipulating design elements that were
distinctly labelled as ‘Hindu’ and ‘Saracenic’ the British saw themselves as
self-proclaimed masters of Indian culture. The British thought of themselves
as the cohesive force that the Indians themselves could not achieve, given
their indigenous communal divisions. The free use of elements, irrespective
of historical significance, was rooted in the Victorian discourse of the static
or declining culture of India. Since India’s society was unchanging, its
architectural styles and elements were also seen as interchangeable, static
elements that could be exploited according to the needs of the colonial
builder (Metcalf 1984).
The British preferred that the Indian princes utilize Indo-Saracenic forms
during the last decades of the nineteenth century (see figure 23 for an
example of such architecture). By the blending of traditional and modern
elements, the style fitted their conception of the role of the native princes
within the empire. Akin to this architectural style, the princes were sup-
posed to represent India’s past and future simultaneously (Metcalf 1984).
The Indian princes were encouraged to abandon their medieval fortress-like
palaces because surveillance posed a problem. The new type of palace,
with a European interior and an Oriental facade, made surveillance easier.
There was no need to promote such architecture in Kolkata as all threats
from local princes had eroded with the demise of the Nawab of Bengal,
Siraj ud-Daulah in 1757.
Walter L.B. Granville, Kolkata’s leading architect in the Victorian era,
strengthened the city’s adherence to classical architecture by designing
several buildings in this style. A government consultant from 1863 to 1868,
he designed Kolkata’s public buildings and left his personal stamp on the
city. One of his most influential buildings was the General Post Office, built
between 1864 and 1868 on the western side of Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh
(see figure 24). Other significant, classically influenced buildings designed
by Granville included a complex of buildings built for the University of
Kolkata between 1866 and 1872 and the Indian Museum in Chowringhi.
Other buildings of the era also adhered to the neo-classical style, such as the
Telegraph Office, completed in 1873, and the Court of Small Causes, designed
in 1878. At the turn of the century, public architecture such as the Oriental
Assurance Building (1914) and the Royal Exchange (1916), designed by T.S.
Figure 23 Laxmi Vilas Palace Baroda (now known as Vadodora). Photographic

print by an unknown photographer, 1890. The building was designed
by Major Charles Mant, architect, and was completed by Robert
Fellowes Chisholm in 1890
Gregson, was also inspired by classical architecture (Davies [1985] 1987;

Evenson 1989; Lang et al. 1997). As the search for a new architectural style
to represent the British Raj in New Delhi gained ground, Indo-Saracenic
declined in popularity. However, in Kolkata, even as late as the 1920s and
early 1930s, public buildings such as the Kolkata Fire Brigade Building (1921)
and the West Bengal Legislative Building (1927-1931) were classically in-
spired. Private buildings such as the Statesman House (1931) exhibited signs
of classical influence (Lang et al. 1997). Paradoxically, the only significant
secular building that was inspired by Gothic architecture in Kolkata, the
High Court, was designed by Granville (Davies [1985]1987; Evenson 1989)
(see figure 25). Classical architecture also influenced most of the churches
such as St. Andrews Church and St. John’s Church (see figure 26) (Firminger
1906; Davies [1985] 1987).
The major exceptions were St. Peter’s Church, built in the fort in 1835, and
St. Paul’s Cathedral, completed in 1847 (Davies [1985 ]1987; Tillotson 1989).
The latter is an imposing structure inspired by English perpendicular Gothic
style and adjusted to suit climatic conditions to make the building suitable
to the architectural language of Christianity (Cotton 1907; Davies [1985]1987)

(see figure 27). Some private buildings were also notable exceptions. The
only significant Indo-Saracenic architecture is the Chartered Bank Building
(see figure 28), built and designed by Martin and Company in 1906, and the
art nouveau style characterizes the Esplanade Mansions, built in 1910 by the
same firm (see figure 29). Even the few art deco-style buildings that began
to appear in the late 1920s were private structures (Lang et al. 1997). One
such building is the Metro movie theatre. Built by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
to promote its movies, it opened to the public in 1934. Designed by New
York-based, Scottish-born architect Thomas W. Lamb, the Metro is being
renovated as a multiplex (Mitra 2014) (see figure 30).
Another city where Indo-Saracenic style was not adopted was Mumbai.
A commercial and trading city, Mumbai was predominantly Gothic revival
style because the British administrators strived to define it as a European
city in their discursive practices (Metcalf 1984; Davies 1987; Chopra 2007)
(see figure 31 for an example of Gothic architecture in Bombay). As the link
between Europe and Asia, it was more forward thinking than other Indian
cities. Therefore, European architectural styles such as Gothic revival were
most appropriate for Mumbai (Baucom 1999; Chopra 2007, 2011).
Figure 24 The General Post Office. Walter L.B. Granville was the architect who
designed the building, which was built between 1864 and 1868

Figure 25 The High Court. Walter L.B. Granville was the architect who designed
the building, which was built between 1864 and 1872
Figure 26 St. John’s Church. The building was designed by Lieutenant James Agg
and was built in 1787. Photographic print by Samuel Bourne, 1865
Source: © The British Library Board, Photo 29/(32)

Figure 27 St. Paul’s Cathedral. The building was designed by Major W. Nairn
Forbes and was built in 1839
Figure 28 Chartered Bank Building. The building was designed and built by
Martin and Company in 1906
Source: Photograph courtesy of Sudeshna Ghosh, 2016

Figure 29 Esplanade Mansions. The building was designed and built by Martin
and Company in 1910
Source: Photograph by Prerna Chatterjee. Courtesy of Sanjit Roy, 2013
Figure 30 Metro movie theatre. The architect for the building, which opened in
1934, was Thomas W. Lamb

Figure 31 Public Works Office, Mumbai. The building was designed by Colonel
Henry St. Clair Wilkins and was completed in 1872. Photographic print
by Bourne and Shepherd, 1870
Source: © The British Library Board, Photo 937/ (30)
Victoria Memorial Hall: Neo-Classical Revival in Kolkata
In Kolkata, however, Lord Curzon reinforced the adherence to neo-classical

architecture when he conceived of the neo-classical Victoria Memorial Hall
as an everlasting symbol of the British Empire (see figure 32). The memorial
was conceived of immediately after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and
completed in 1921. Curzon felt that Kolkata was a city of European origin
with no indigenous architectural tradition of its own, so only a neo-classical
style was appropriate for a memorial that would leave the stamp of the
empire. This is evident in his reflection on the architecture that he chose
for the Victoria Memorial Hall:
As to one point I had no doubt. In Calcutta – a city of European origin

and construction – where all the main buildings had been erected in a
quasi-classical or Palladian style and which possessed no indigenous
architectural type of its own – it was impossible to erect a building in any
native style. A Moghul building, however appropriate for the mosques and
Figure 32 Victoria Memorial Hall. The architect for the building, which was
completed in 1921, was William H. Emerson
Source: Photograph by the author, 1999
tombs of the Moslem Kings, or even for the Modern Palace of an Indian
Prince in his own State, would have been ridiculous in the commercial
and official capital of India and quite unsuited for the Memorial of a
British Sovereign. A Hindu fabric would have been profoundly ill adapted
for the purposes of an exhibition. It was self-evident that a structure in
some variety of the classical, or Renaissance style was essential, and that
a European architect must be employed. (Curzon 1925: 189)
Although he appointed William H. Emerson, an architect well versed in

Indo-Saracenic design, Lord Curzon ensured that any proposals to include
such features were suppressed (Metcalf 1989).
The fact that he conceived of the Victoria Memorial as an everlasting sym-
bol of the empire is evident from his speech in a public meeting convened
by the sheriff of Kolkata in the Town Hall on 6 February 1901 to express
sorrow for the death of Queen Victoria. In this speech he stated,
Let us, therefore, have a building, stately, spacious, monumental, and

grand, to which every newcomer, in Calcutta will turn, to which all the
resident population, European and Native, will flock, where all classes
will learn the lessons of history, and see revived before their eyes the
marvels of the past. […] [I]f we raise such a building as has been sketched
[…] we shall most truly […] proclaim to later generations the glory of an
unequalled epoch. (Curzon 1906: 521)
This is also confirmed in his later writings where he reminisced about the
exhibits that he had been instrumental in placing inside the monument.
He wrote,
perhaps in time to come, when the concrete triumphs of Western civiliza-

tion in India are forgotten or submerged, a breath of remembrance may
be reserved for those who held that man does not live by bread alone, and
who laboured hard and long to convince India that under British rule her
history had been glorious, and that splendour reached its zenith during
the reign […] of the great Queen-Empress Victoria. (Curzon 1925: 200)
According to Curzon, the exhibits were supposed to depict ‘[t]he history

of Calcutta […] in a unique collection of paintings, engravings, models
and maps’ and ‘[p]ersonal relics’ that ‘recall the great men who have trod
the Indian stage’ (Curzon 1925: 200). In his speech to the Asiatic Society of
Bengal on 26 February 1901, he specified the individuals that the memorial
should honour. Although his list contained Indian historical figures, includ-
ing ‘those who have fought against the British, provided that their memories
are not sullied with dishonour or crime’, the larger number of displays
consisted of ‘the long line of distinguished men who have made the British
Empire in India’ (Curzon 1906: 534). Clearly, the exhibits were intended to
reconstruct a British history of Kolkata and India and memorialize the
contribution of the eminent colonizers in establishing the British Empire.
For Curzon, Kolkata was the perfect choice for the monument because it
was the capital of the empire. This is evident in his aforementioned speech
at Kolkata Town Hall on 6 February 1901, where he stated:
Now, may I just say one word about the selection of Calcutta as a site? It is
quite true that Calcutta is not the gate of India. But neither is Washington
the gate of America, nor Ottawa the gate of Canada, nor Rome the gate
of Italy; and yet no one would dream, or has dreamed of erecting a great
[…] national memorial, except at those capitals. […] Calcutta, in the same
way, quite apart from being the most populous, is also the capital city of
India. […] I merely make these remarks in order to argue that, if a National
Monument is a desirable thing, I think Calcutta is the inevitable site. […]
[S]ooner or later, just because this is the seat of Government, everybody

finds his way here, whether he be an Indian Prince, or a European travel-
ler, or an English merchant. (Curzon 1906: 522-523)
His argument for having the monument in Kolkata was that the city was
created by the British and steeped in colonial history. As he proudly stated
in the above-mentioned speech, ‘It was from the banks of the Hugli that the
orders of the Governor-General in Council were issued that bore the names
of Warren Hastings and Dalhousie; and the same process will, I suppose go
in the future’ (Curzon 1906: 523). He vehemently opposed locating the me-
morial in Delhi despite ‘its imperial memories’ (Curzon 1906: 523) because
it did not have a European presence and was not the seat of the empire.
Neither was he disposed to place it in ‘Bombay with its splendid appearance’
or ‘Madras with its historic renown’ as these cities would ‘probably have
their own memorials’. For him, ‘Agra with its majestic monuments’ was
unsuitable because it was ‘consecrated to a vanished dynasty and régime’
(Curzon 1906: 523).
Architecture ceased to be a symbol of power in Kolkata after the
completion of Victoria Memorial Hall in 1921. In fact, Kolkata had become
uncomfortable for the British as protests – including violent ones – had
intensified in the city after Lord Curzon’s decision to divide the Province
of Bengal in 1905 (Irving 1981; Metcalf 1989). Such a political atmosphere
made the use of architecture as a symbol of power futile.
Classicism was revived in 1911 on a much larger scale with the construc-
tion of the state buildings in the new imperial capital of Delhi that were
inaugurated in 1931. The proponents of the Indo-Saracenic as well as pure
classical style lost ground in the prolonged discourse on the choice of archi-
tectural styles for imperial Delhi (Irving 1981; Metcalf 1989; Tillotson 1989).
Despite their intense dislike for Indian architecture and affinity to classical
architecture, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Edwin Lutyens – the well-known and
influential British architects who designed and planned Delhi – orientalized
classical architecture by incorporating Indian motifs and architectural
elements. Given the political climate of intense nationalism and antagonism
towards the British, the architecture of the new capital needed to appeal to
both Orientals and Europeans (Irving 1981; Metcalf 1989). As pointed out by
Metcalf (1989), Baker’s design intentionally set Indian and classical elements
side by side to accomplish political objectives. The classical elements such
as the columns, porticos, and domes announced Britain’s sovereignty while
Indian elements such as the chattris (free-standing canopied turrets), jaalis
(pierced lattice screens), and chajjaas (wide projecting cornices) proclaimed
Figure 33 Secretariat, New Delhi. The architect of the building, which was
completed in 1931, was Sir Herbert Baker
Source: Photograph courtesy of Suzanne Frasier, 2012
the Raj was British as well as Indian (see figure 33). Lutyens, on the other
hand, assimilated Indian forms, but controlled and subordinated them
within the classical idiom. Although the Indian forms and motifs were
visible, he transformed them according to his reinterpretation. The domes
and colonnades of the viceroy’s house proclaimed the British suzerainty
(Irving 1981; Metcalf 1989) (see figure 34).
The Modern Indian Architecture Movement
As a resistance to colonialism, there was a search for Indianness in

architecture during the 1920s and 1930s. Known as the Modern Indian
Architecture Movement, this effort should be interpreted as retaliation
against the proliferation of art deco architecture in India during this time
and the rise of modernism in Europe. The search was also attributable to
the effort to find an appropriate architecture for institutions that were
being founded by Indians at that time. The early buildings of Banaras Hindu
Figure 34 Viceroy’s House (now known as Rashtrapati Bhavan), New Delhi. The
architect for the building, which was completed in 1931, was Sir Edwin
Lutyens
University and the buildings of Osmania University in the 1930s represent

such institutional architecture (see figure 35 for an example). Although his
buildings were limited in Kolkata, the principal proponent of the movement
was Bengali architect Sris Chandra Chatterjee.
He staunchly supported the Congress Party that was leading the independ-
ence movement. A member of the National Planning Committee led by Jawa-
harlal Nehru, Chatterjee was motivated by Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement.
He turned to India’s glorious architecture such as that of Magahda; Ajanta
Figure 35 The Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library at Banaras Hindu University, built
between 1927 and 1941
Source: Photograph by Bipram Chaurasia, courtesy of Avijit Sen, 2013
and Ellora; Mamallapuram and Conjeevaraum; Dilwara; and Vijaynagar

for architectural inspiration. For urban design he looked to canonical texts
such as Shilpa Shastras (Lang et al. 1997; Lang 2002). His work in Kolkata
includes the Ashok Singh Palace, built around 1942 for a nobleman (Lang
2002). In the 1920s, Shantiniketan, a university established by the Nobel laure-
ate Rabindranath Tagore near Kolkata, also displayed defiance to colonial
norms of architecture. Built forms at Shantiniketan searched for a national
identity, and traditional forms and materials were employed for the buildings.
Monumentalism was purposely avoided in these buildings (Mehrotra 2011).
Limited Modernism in Kolkata
Like the rest of India, modernist work in Kolkata during the 1930s and
1940s was limited and done mainly by foreign architects. The most well-
known work was the Garden Theatre and the Lighthouse Cinema (around
1936-1938) by the Dutch architect Willem Marinus Dudok. Modernism,
however, did not take root in Kolkata at that time. The only other significant
modernist-inspired building was the Lady Dufferin Memorial Hospital built
Figure 36 The Lighthouse Cinema. The architect of the building, which was built
around 1936-1938, was Willem Marinus Dudok
in 1937 by the architectural firm of Ballardie, Thomson, and Matthews (Lang

2002). The Lighthouse is beyond recognition today as it has been converted
to a shopping complex (see figure 36).
Transforming Kolkata into a Cleaner and Healthier City for the

British
The planning paradigm of transforming Kolkata into a cleaner, healthier, and

more aesthetically pleasing city for the British that emerged with Wellesley’s
Town Improvement Committee of 1803 continued in this period. The general
aim of sanitation and improving health, or urban hygiene, in cities is not
specific to the British endeavours in India. It was a strong force in European
urban governance and redevelopment as well. The paradigm was transferred
to Kolkata. The basic difference is that in the context of Kolkata the efforts to
make the city hygienic were primarily limited to the White Town. Another
planning paradigm that was transferred was the Haussmannian tendency
of clearing slums and constructing broad avenues to beautify the town. In
the case of Kolkata, the Black Town was synonymous with slums.
In Kolkata, the colonial government gave official approval to the Lottery
Commissioners to raise money from lotteries for municipal improvements
in 1805. Nonetheless, the Town Improvement Committee existed until 1814.

Up to that point the Lottery Commissioners placed its funds at the disposal
of the Town Improvement Committee. When the committee ceased to exist,
its funds and records were transferred to the Lottery Commissioners with
the mandate to carry out municipal improvements. The responsibility for
town planning was handed over to the Lottery Committee appointed in
1817 after the cholera epidemic in Kolkata. The committee was responsible
for town planning until 1836 (Cotton 1907; Goode 1916; Gupta 1993).
The Lottery Committee’s recommendations were similar to that of its
predecessor; they included improved drainage and sanitation, stringent
control in the manner of living of the indigenous population, promotion of
ventilation, and the building of roads, especially through the native parts
of town. A resolution passed by the committee on 18 December 1817 stated:
That the health of the inhabitants be considered as the first object to

which the attention of the committee ought to be directed, and that with
this view their funds ought to be applied in the first place to the filling up
of altogether or deepening and cleansing of miry Tanks and Jheels, several
of which exist at present in the most populous parts of the Town. In the
second place, to preventing the accumulation of filth, by means of new
Drains, common Sewers, and Kennels. And in the third place, to promote
ventilation, as far as can be effected, by cutting down high and spreading
trees, and by increasing as much as possible the number and size of the
Streets or Roads running in a straight line from South to North. (Lottery
Committee 1817, as cited in Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 56)
The resolution also included proposals for widening of ‘narrow parts of

the most frequented Streets, where more commodious Roads in a parallel
direction can not be opened’ for ‘personal safety of passengers’, and addition
of ‘[f]oot paths’ for ‘[t]he safety of foot passengers […] wherever the width
of the Old Streets will admit of this and in all the new Roads that may be
opened by the Committee’ (Lottery Committee 1817, as cited in Calcutta
Journal of Medicine 1906a: 56). The resolution was also concerned with
aesthetics and stated that, ‘ornament be also considered desirable’ (Lottery
Committee 1817, as cited in Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906a: 56).
The ‘miry Tanks and Jheels’6 that the resolution referred to existed in the
native parts of the town in the north, and the reference clearly indicates
the committee’s desire to control the natives’ lifestyles. The proposal for
6 A jheel is a pool or lake.

running straight streets from north to south can also be viewed as an at-
tempt to increase surveillance over the native population through better
access to the interior parts of the city. The desire is further illustrated in a
minute of the Committee of 13 January 1820 in which construction of roads
was recommended in the densest parts of the native town (Calcutta Journal
of Medicine 1906a). Such roads, it was believed, would create wide air chan-
nels through the whole city. The Lottery Committee reconsidered an earlier
proposal of the Town Improvement Committee that suggested constructing
nine parallel roads at equal distances. The roads would be about 21 meters
wide with cross streets of similar width beginning at the fringe of the White
Town from Bou Bazaar Street, a major commercial area, and continuing
northwards into the native town. The committee took it a step further and
suggested having small avenues within this grid at distances of about 46 to
61 meters with tanks between the roads (Gupta 1993).
Although the project was never carried out, it illustrates the desire of
the committee to bring a symmetry and control to the native town. The
committee deliberately acquired bustee lands, the cheapest urban properties
available, to construct roads. Many of the displaced bustee dwellers could not
afford to return to the upgraded urban land because of its increased value,
forcing them back to living in other bustees. Not surprisingly the landlords
of the bustees7 rather than the tenants were compensated. No roads were
ever constructed through European neighbourhoods or west of the native
Chitpur Road, where the more valuable buildings were located. The colonial
government did not accept any moral responsibility for the hardship of the
bustee dwellers caused by its improvement schemes (Gupta 1993).
The committee’s recommendation resulted in carving out a major thor-
oughfare parallel to the native Chitpore road from the Chowringhee to the
native section of the town. By 1836 streets bearing the names of colonial
dignitaries – such as Elliot Road, Strand Road, Wood Street, Wellesley Street,
and Wellington Street – were designed and developed. This construction
also included College Street, Cornwallis Street, Hastings Street, Moira Street,
Loudon Street, Amherst Street, and Hare Street. Other roads like Free School
Street, Kyd Street, Mangoe Lane, and Bentick Street were merely widened
and straightened (Goode 1916) (see figure 37 for a map of Kolkata in 1839).
The naming of streets after colonial dignitaries was consistent with British
7 Prior to the passing of the Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation Act) of 1981, land
in Kolkata’s bustees was owned by landlords. In turn, they leased the land to intermediary
developers known as thika who constructed the huts and rented them to the bustee dwellers.
This is discussed in detail in chapter 4.
Figure 37 Kolkata in 1839: Calcutta, a French map credited to Dufour and Benard,
published by Rouard in 1839. Photograph by Bourne and Shepherd,
1870
Source: Courtesy of Frances W. Pritchett, Professor Emerita, Columbia University
practice and can be seen as symbolic of memorializing the colonizers who

played a role in the establishment of the empire. Many of these streets
were built along the above-mentioned corridor. Clearly, the bustee removal
and road-construction schemes of the committee primarily benefitted the
British and to a certain extent a group of wealthy Indians.
Much of the committee’s recommendations were based on the
‘miasmatic’ theory about the spread of disease prevalent at that time.
Existing medical thought connected stagnant air, water, and humid-
ity with the breeding of disease (King 1976, 1990a). As pointed out by
Archer (2000), malaria, cholera, and other diseases were thought to
have been caused by environmental conditions. For example, malaria
was thought to have been spread by emanations or ‘miasmata’ from
decomposing animal and vegetable matter or from low marshy grounds
and stagnant pools. Disease was believed to have spread either through
exposure to degenerative vapours at the site of its production or through

air transmission.
Given such medical theories, it is not surprising that the committee
recommended improved drainage and stringent control of the natives’
living conditions. The British f irmly believed that the natives’ homes
and neighbourhoods were the breeding grounds for disease. Increased
ventilation throughout the city and constructing roads to reduce excessive
vegetation were also recommended to control the spread of disease. Only
two of the major street corridors recommended by the committee were
completed because the indigenous merchants, who had much stake in the
city, successfully stalled or scaled back the operations of the committee. In
many cases, they would hold out for compensation. Consequently, since the
committee did not have the power of eminent domain the resistance from
the native population offset many of the planned developments (Archer
2000).
A large portion of the committee’s funds was spent on cosmetic changes
in the European part of Kolkata, illustrating the discrimination in the provi-
sion of urban services. These included the improvement of the Maidan
by adding paths, tanks, and balustrades, as well as the watering of the
Chowringhi Road and construction of Respondentia Walk, an avenue along
the river to Fort William for recreational purposes (Archer 2000). Such
discriminatory actions were a common feature of British colonial practices
in Kolkata and elsewhere in India.
The discrimination in providing urban services in Kolkata is further
illustrated by the fact that from 1821 Indians were prohibited from using
Respondentia Walk from 5 to 8 in the morning and evening so as not to in-
convenience the European residents of the city. A notice from the Governor
of Fort William dated 7 July 1821 stated:
It having been represented to the Most Noble the Governor of Fort Wil-
liam that considerable inconvenience is experienced by the European
part of the community who resort to the [R]espondentia, from the Crowds
of Native Workmen and Coolies who make a thoroughfare of the Walk.
His Lordship is pleased to direct that Natives shall not in the future be
allowed to pass the Sluice Bridge (but such as are entering and leaving
the Fort) between the hours of 5 and 8 in the Morning, and 5 and 8 in the
Evening. (General Garrison Orders 1821, as cited in Sandeman 1869: 76)
This can be seen as an example of application of the colonial rule of differ-

ence. Originating in the sixteenth century in the treatises of Portuguese
scholar João de Barros, the rule of difference allowed Europeans to claim

privilege based on racial and religious difference. Application of this rule by
the Europeans over the next five centuries would contend that a normative
proposition of the ‘universal validity did not apply to the East because of
some inherent moral deficiency of the Oriental’ (Chatterjee 2012: 34). Citing
this example, Chatterjee (2012) argues that the criteria by which the colonial
subjects could be declared as exceptions to the universal rule was diverse,
ranging from prohibiting them from using clubs and swimming pools to
regulating dress codes, demeanour, or even suspicious behaviour. As Chat-
terjee argues, in this particular case there was no blanket segregation, but
a rule of exception that was applied to natives for specific times.
The watering of Chowringhi Road was, in particular, another blatant case
of discrimination in the provision of urban services. The Lottery Committee
had constructed a large aqueduct in this elite European enclave to water
the street. The committee found that the sparse population density of the
area and unwillingness of the residents to pay made the scheme financially
unfeasible. Ultimately costs had to be taken from municipal funds (Gupta
1993). Such discrimination in providing services is not surprising as one of
the tasks of the Lottery Committee was to make Kolkata more suitable for
Englishmen to live in the city for extended periods of time (Munshi [1986]
1990).
The Lottery Committee was dismantled in 1836 as public opinion in
England condemned the method of raising money through lotteries for
municipal improvement. Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India from
1836 to 1842, appointed the Fever Hospital and Municipal Improvement
Committee in 1836 in its place (Cotton 1907). Even the Fever Hospital and
Municipal Improvement Committee’s recommendations were based on
the medical theories of cause and spread of disease(s) prevalent at that
time. The appointment of the committee was primarily attributable to the
efforts of Sir James Ranald Martin, surgeon of the Presidency of Kolkata
and the native hospital in Dharamtola. His Note on the Medical Topography
of Calcutta and Its Suburbs, Chiefly with Reference to the Condition of Native
Health, sent to the Board of Governors on 24 February 1834, recommended
the establishment of a fever hospital and measures for sanitation of the city
(Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1906b; Goode 1916). His fear about the spread
of disease and the need to control it in the indigenous areas is clearly spelled
out in the 1837 booklet, which stated:
The north division between the Bow Bazaar and Machooa Bazar com-
prises perhaps the most dense part of the native population of Calcutta.
It is surprising how much the condition of the native portion of the town
has been neglected in this great city and its suburbs […] but in an affair
of so much importance to the public health something may be done
and at least ought to be tried, if only in the way of Municipal or Police
Regulation. […] In the event of a contagious disease (and there is no
reason why such should not occur here), the dense state of Burra Bazar
and surrounding parts, the want of water courses and means of facility
for removing accumulations of filth, etc., would stand as insuperable bars
to the best devised regulations of medical police. All masses of buildings
should be opened out, old walls and decayed houses removed, for even
under ordinary circumstances these are fertile sources of fever. (Martin
1837, as cited in Cook 1900: 464)
Martin’s recommendation included widening the streets to expose more

of such areas to the sun to rarify and lift the noxious vapours. This ac-
tion would dilute these vapours and dissipate them through the winds.
Martin’s discourse even linked the lack of the physical cleanliness in the
native town to the absence of moral cleanliness among natives. For him,
the natives not only lived in defective landscapes but were also people
untutored in the science of sanitation (Beattie 2003; Chattopadhyay
2005). Implied in the depiction is the belief of racial inferiority and
otherness.
The committee prepared three reports. Its recommendations included
drainage and conservancy, excavations of tanks and reservoirs for water
supply, establishment of hospitals and dispensaries, improvement of the
system for collecting taxes, construction of thoroughfares, and recom-
mendations about municipal self government (Cotton 1907; Goode 1916;
Beattie 2003). The reports identified the lack of proper drainage as the
major source of disease and attributed to it the substandard state of the
native town (Beattie 2003). The committee was also concerned with the
lack of sewage disposal in the city, especially in the native areas (Smith
1860). The committee found that the native inhabitants of the town were
not yet ready for municipal self-government but also realized that the
Europeans did not possess sufficient numbers or length of residence in
Kolkata to control an elected local government (Goode 1916). The immedi-
ate outcomes of the final report published in 1847 were the appointment
of health officers and production of health reports and health maps from
1848 (Beattie 2003) (see figures 38 and 39 for a health map showing cholera
deaths).
Figure 38 Map of Kolkata showing cholera deaths from 1876 to 1880
Source: © The British Library Board, V/24/2873, Map of Calcutta Showing Cholera Details, 1886,
f.133v, and V/24/2873, Map of Calcutta Showing Cholera Details, 1886, f.135
Figure 39 Map of Kolkata showing cholera deaths from 1881 to 1885
Source: © The British Library Board, V/24/2873, Map of Calcutta Showing Cholera Details,
1886, f.133v, and V/24/2873, Map of Calcutta Showing Cholera Details, 1886, f.13
Shifting the Discourse to Bustees as a Source of Disease
A Calcutta Municipality Administration Report of 1868 marked a shift of

concern with the unhealthiness of the native town and its potential to
spread disease to that of the bustees. The report stated that:
A bustee or native village generally consists of a mass of huts constructed

without any plan or arrangement, without roads, without drains, ill-
ventilated, and never cleaned. Most of these villages are the abodes of
misery, vice, and filth, and the nurseries of sickness and disease. In these
bustees are found green and slimy stagnant ponds, full of putrid vegetable
and animal matter in a state of decomposition, and whose bubling [sic]
surfaces exhale, under a tropical sun, noxious gases, poisoning the at-
mosphere and spreading around disease and death. These ponds supply
the natives with water for domestic purposes, and are very often the
receptacles of filth. The arteries which feed these tanks are the drains
that ramify over the village, and carry the sewage of the huts into them.
[…] None of these villages posses a single road or thoroughfare, properly so
called, through which a conservancy cart or even a wheelbarrow can pass
in order to remove filth. This filth is laid at the door of every hut or thrown
into a neighbouring cesspool. (Calcutta Municipality Administration
Report 1868, as cited in Goode 1916: 264)
The designation of bustees as breeding grounds for cholera intensified in the

1870s and continued into the 1890s. Arthur J. Payne and other health officers
feared that if an epidemic occurred in the bustees, it would spread rapidly
to the European sections of the town. For him, eliminating the bustees
was the only solution to prevent the spread of disease. Payne believed that
the bustee situation could be improved if a proper plan was implemented
that defined its exact boundaries and the condition of tanks and ponds
and distinguished the high from the lowlands. He also recommended
providing drains and roads for efficient conservancy, a large tank for the
provision of wholesome water, and public privies for men and women. He
also believed that the installation of good lighting would help the police
control crime. Subsequently the demolition of the bustees in White Town
became a primary concern (Beattie 2003; Chattopadhyay 2005).
The desire to improve bustees is also evident from several acts passed
during the mid-1870s. However, the burden of improvement was that of the
land owner. Act IV of 1876 empowered the commissioners to order a bustee
to be inspected by two medical officers and ask the landowner to carry
out any improvements deemed necessary by these officers. The Calcutta

Municipal Corporation (CMC) – now known as the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation (KMC) – had the right to execute these improvements at the
owner’s cost if the owner failed to undertake them. Act II of 1888 required
the bustee owner to prepare a plan for improvement for consideration by
the commissioners. The commissioners were empowered to modify the
proposal and refuse sanctioning of any buildings until improvements
were made to their satisfaction. The alternative procedure spelled out in
the legislation allowed commissioners to appoint two medical officers to
prepare a standard plan after an unsatisfactory inspection, detailing the
necessary work and a completion date. If the owner failed to execute the
plan, the commissioners had the right to do so at the owner’s expense. Act
III of 1899 also put the burden of improvement of the roads on the bustee
owner (Goode 1916). Many bustee owners improved their bustees by building
bathing platforms and privies. Additionally they gave up land for passages
and drains. In turn, the CMC provided draining and conservancy measures.
Such improvements increased the value of the bustees (Gupta 1993).
The health officers continued to depict the native town and the bustees
as unsanitary and breeding grounds for disease well into the late 1890s.
Concerned with the sanitary condition of the native Burra Bazaar and Jora
Bagan bustee, Dr. W.J. Simpson’s 1896 report for the Calcutta Corporation
stated:
The condition of the worst of these areas is indescribeable [sic]. […] Every
one I have taken over the area […] is unanimous in condemning it as unfit
for human habitation and a source of danger to the town. The whole area
is intersected by narrow lanes and passages ranging from 6 to 20 feet in
width. […] The houses facing the narrow streets are two, three, and four
storeys high and often separated from one another by passages two or
three feet wide. In these narrow passages […] are the latrines of the houses
[…] where the excreta have […] splashed in every direction and formed
a cess-pool which it is impossible to clean properly. […] The narrow ill-
ventilated streets, the passages to which neither light nor fresh air have
access, the filthy condition of both, the close proximity of the houses to
one another and their overcrowded state combine to form conditions
which render proper sanitation impossible. It is a standing menace to
the rest of the city, and should plague once obtain a firm footing in this
quarter, which is the worst I am acquainted with in any city I have seen,
there is every likelyhood of the disease becoming endemic. (W.J. Simpson,
as cited in Cook 1900: 464)
Most of the measures undertaken to remedy the unhealthy situation

benefitted the population of White Town first, again demonstrating the
discrimination in the provision of services. For example, an underground
drainage system was first built in the predominantly European central area
between 1860 and 1875. This system was extended between 1891 and 1906 to
the new southern European areas of the city (Beattie 2003; Chatterjee 2012).
Another example was the filtered water that was supplied by the municipal
government in 1870. The White Town in this case was the first beneficiary
(Beattie 2003). Even 40 years later only a quarter of the properties in the
Burra Bazaar were connected to the city’s water supply. When the British
gained complete control of the CMC in 1899 sanitary improvements in the
European southern part of the city were implemented with the demoli-
tion of many bustees. The native population always bore the burden of
improvement in the White Town because of the disproportionate taxing
mechanisms. The house tax, first levied in 1794, was one of the principal
sources of municipal improvements. Natives with less capital who had
invested in property in the northern areas of the town bore the major share
of the taxes. At the same time, the European companies refused to be taxed
and paid a paltry municipal tax. Yet, the White Town was always the first
beneficiaries of any urban services. There was much resentment about such
discrimination in services among the natives (Gupta 1993).
A health report prepared in 1899 by Frank G. Clemow and William C.
Hossack on the Burra Bazaar continued to express concerns that were
outlined in Simpson’s earlier report. These included circulation of air around
the buildings; admission of light and air into the buildings’ interiors; water
supply; removal of refuse, excreta and waste water; road construction; provi-
sion of public facilities; and the controlling of nuisances. The report also
included the British civilizing mission of educating the native population
about the benefits of sanitary reform, use of modern sanitary appliances,
and desire for cleanliness, light, and air (Beattie 2003).
The Calcutta Improvement Trust and E.P. Richards’s Plan for

Kolkata
The Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT), now known as the Kolkata Improve-
ment Trust (KIT), was set up on 2 January 1912 in response to a medical
enquiry on Kolkata’s condition after the outbreak of plague in 1896, and
a report by the Building Commission appointed in April 1897 to consider
changes in the law for the buildings and streets of Kolkata (Beattie 2003).
C.H. Bompas, an Indian Civil Service officer who made a number of reports
on the problems of Kolkata, chaired the commission. He believed the city
and its surrounding suburbs needed to be considered as a planning unit, and
attributed the lack of proper streets as a major problem for the city and its
environs (Evenson 1989). Subsequently he invited E.P. Richards, who joined
CIT as the chief engineer in 12 September 1912, to prepare a detailed study
for the city’s needs (Evenson 1989; Beattie 2003). Richards produced the first
comprehensive planning report for the entire city and its suburbs, entitled
Report by the Request of the Trust on the Condition, Improvement and Town
Planning of the City of Calcutta and Contiguous Areas (1914).
Richards based his plan on Western notions of town planning that he wanted
to implement in Kolkata. There are numerous references to Western cities such
as Baltimore, Birmingham, Chicago, Cologne, Glasgow, and Washington, DC.
Other cities mentioned were Berlin, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Paris, Turin, and
Vienna. The problems and solutions of these Western cities were researched so
that the ideal plan for Kolkata and its suburbs could be formulated. In a similar
vein, contemporary planning concepts – developed by architects, planners,
and philanthropists such as Raymond Unwin, H. Inigo Triggs, S.D. Adshead,
J.S. Nettlefold, Paul Waterhouse, and Thomas H. Mawson – are referenced in
order to establish general principles of planning for the Kolkata plan. Western
legislation and bylaws also are referenced (Richards 1914).
The tendency to impose notions of Western planning theory and legisla-
tion became pronounced in Kolkata around the same time as in the rest of
India. As pointed out by King (1976, 1990a), the transfer of planning concepts
from Britain became more pronounced in the early twentieth century with
the development of city planning theory, legislation, and ideology. Compre-
hensive in nature for its time, the plan considered Kolkata’s suburbs in its
scope, covering such broad areas as slums, housing, transportation, water
supply, drainage, parks, open spaces, legislation, aesthetics, and estimates
for improvements. However, the emphasis was on the construction of
thoroughfares and the enforcement of bylaws. According to Richards,
One primary cause of streetless and slum areas in Calcutta has thus been
the lack of building and street byelaws or their enforcement. Byelaws
would have enforced the production of a street-mesh, and enforced the
spreading out of the houses over twice their present area.
(ii) The second cause of almost equal strength lie in the want of main roads.
Had there been good main roads, that is, good rapid-transit lines between the
inside and outside of the city, the inducements to extend slum upward and to
crowd as much building as possible on each square foot of land would have
Figure 40 Values Map of the City with One of the Road Schemes, by E.P. Richards
Source: Richards 1914

been greatly weakened, because (chiefly by means of tramway rapid-transit)

suburban development would have taken place, the population would have
been spread over a greater area, and this would have prevented the present
intense pressure in the central parts of the city. (Richards 1914: 237)
Figure 40 depicts one of Richards’s road schemes. The Values map over
which the road scheme is superimposed shows his estimates of the values
of proprieties in Kolkata. Zone I had the highest property value followed by
Zone II. Zone III consisted of properties that offered frontage along main
roads while Zone IV had the cheapest property values (Richards 1914).
Richards also believed that native towns and especially bustees were
breeding grounds for disease. Appalled with the congestion, lack of order,
and hygienic condition of such settlements, he wrote:
The writer […] walked […] in and about these streetless areas, and was
profoundly impressed by their sad, dirty, intensely ugly, ramshackle, and
degraded aspect; by the disorder, irregularity, and grave defects of the
buildings; by the inhabited dens; by the innumerable weakly men and
women, ricketty children and sick babies, the interminable coughing
and expectoration, the depressed unsmiling faces; the stagnant heat and
polluted over-used state of the air in those countless dark, unventilated,
narrow passages; daily so thronged in parts with every kind of people, that
clean and unclean are obliged to jostle closely and breathe and re-breathe
each other’s direct emanations. It is certain that the Calcutta congested
areas must constitute a great disease-breeding radial center, perhaps the
greatest in India. (Richards 1914: 238)
Richards also connected the morality of individuals with their deplorable

living conditions. For him,
to live in slum steadily lowers the whole moral and physical tone of men,
women, and children, prevents and destroys their happiness, and breeds
among them discontent, sedition, anarchy, vice, misery, sickness, pain and
death. Disease, crime, intemperance, and insanity are, of course, well known
to be absolutely and directly bound up with slum results. (Richards 1914: 239)
Richards, however, realized that there were not enough financial resources
available to acquire and demolish even the worst bustees of Kolkata and less
than half, and in some cases even less than one-third of the population could
be rehoused in cleared sites. He recommended an upgrading scheme that he
called ‘Slum Repair’ or ‘Slum Mending’. Even this scheme was Eurocentric,
drawing its inspiration from slum improvement in Birmingham, England.
The improvement strategy recommended repairing houses that were unfit
for habitation; removing buildings that obstructed air circulation, light,
and access; and replacing pail or earth latrines and privies with modern
Asiatic water closets. Additional recommendations included the provision
of proper house drainage and paving and drainage of public places. Many of
Richards’s suggestions had to be shelved because of the shortage of funds
during the First World War and legal battles that the CIT would have to face
if these actions were implemented (Gupta 1993).
Sir Patrick Geddes’s Plan for the Burra Bazaar
Although Richards himself did not specifically have any recommendations for
Burra Bazaar, the CIT continued the British planning tradition of improving
the sanitary condition of the area and its accessibility, developing an improve-
ment scheme for it between April 1918 and March 1919. The plan called for the
construction of four roads north to south, seven roads east to west, widening
of existing lanes, opening of new lanes, slum clearance, and the creation of a
playground and several parks along a new boulevard (Gupta 1993).
The CMC commissioned the Scottish town planner Sir Patrick Geddes to
review the CIT plan towards the end of 1918. Geddes was convinced that in
the Indian context, the Improvement Trusts were doing more harm than
good. He further believed that the poor hardly benefited from the work
of these trusts; the property owners and speculators being the primary
beneficiaries. Geddes not only sympathized with indigenous cities, he also
proposed a method of ‘conservative surgery’ that called for incorporating
only necessary changes and avoiding mass-scale destruction of people’s
homes and lifestyles. Consequently, he submitted an alternative report to
the CMC on 31 March 1919. Much to its disdain, the CMC found that his plan
would preserve 50 per cent of the houses in their present condition, leaving
large blocks of unsanitary areas untouched.
His proposal for small local playgrounds was also dismissed as the CMC
felt that they would be used for dumping refuse. The CMC did, however, adopt
some of the alignments he suggested for road improvements and his proposal
for a large park. Geddes’s impact on the Burra Bazaar was limited but did
preserve many of the existing streets and the overall urban fabric of the Burra
Bazaar. Nevertheless, Geddes was unpopular. Despite his initial association
with the ruling elite (Trywhitt 1947; Gupta 1993; Meller 1990; Beattie 2003), by
the time he prepared the Burra Bazaar report, he was viewed with suspicion
because his views were outside the mainstream of colonial discourse on
native parts of the city. As pointed out by Evenson (1989), the Haussmannian
approach continued to prevail in CIT’s work, and a number of broad avenues
were cut through the native parts of the town by the 1930s. No significant
planning endeavours were undertaken for the rest of the colonial period.
Racial Segregation
Racial segregation continued to be the norm even in this period. Despite

the commonplace and accepted segregation, the allocation of ‘White’ versus
‘Black’ areas still had a blurry boundary even in the more affluent and
exclusive areas for Europeans around the administrative centre. Looking
at the area, Emma Roberts observed,
but even here, it must be acknowledged, that a certain want of keeping

and consistency, common to every thing relating to India, injures the
effect of the scene. A mud hut, or rows of native hovels, constructed of
mud, thatch, and bamboos, not superior to the rudest wigwam, often rest
against the outer wall of the palaces, while there are avenues opening
from the principal streets, intersected in all directions by native bazaars,
filled with unsightly articles of every description. (Roberts 1835: 3)
Clearly the natives encroached, even in this pristine enclave of White Town.
As pointed out by Chattopadhyay (2000, 2005), the boundaries between White
Town and Black Town were quite fluid and at no point was the White Town a
homogenous space for the Europeans. As she further notes, property changed
hands between Europeans and Indians frequently. Even the density of the
European parts of the town was not as low as was portrayed. As discussed,
the design of these British homes was hybridized. Finally, the presence of
Indian servants in White Town further blurred the boundary lines.
The use of the terms ‘White Town’ and ‘Black Town’ can be seen as a part
of the imperial intention to construct the otherness by defining Indians as
racially inferior. Lord Valencia’s writings are an example of such an attempt.
In sharp contrast to his admiration for the White Town as a ‘City of Palaces’,
his view of Black Town was somewhat different. He declared,
The Black Town is a complete contrast to this as can well be conceived.

Its streets are narrow and dirty; the houses, of two stories, occasionally
Figure 41 An artist’s depiction of the Black Town: The Chitpore Road, Calcutta.
Coloured chromolithograph by William Simpson, 1867
Source: © The British Library Board, X108(3)
brick, but generally of mud, and thatched, perfectly resembling the cabins
of the poorest class in Ireland. (Annesley [1809] 1811: 192)
In the 1830s Emma Roberts wrote, ‘The Black Town, as it is called, extends
along the river to the north, and a more wretched-looking place can scarcely
be imagined; dirty, crowded, ill-built and abounding with beggars and bad
smells’ (Roberts 1835: 13). According to Mary Carpenter’s depiction in the
mid-1860s,
A stranger to India cannot imagine the conditions of these low streets,

inhabited by natives pursuing various humble callings. […] Shortly after
my arrival, I drove through the busiest part of the native town, Chidpore
Road. It was dirty and narrow; indeed, the low shops seemed placed one
before another to make the most of the room. […] The odours arising from
this district are indescribable. (Carpenter 1868: 181-182; see figure 41 for
an artist’s portrayal of the Black Town in Kolkata)
By the nineteenth century, Rudyard Kipling even suggested that turning

Haussmanns loose in the city might be of benefit. After viewing the huts
in Machua Bazaar, an indigenous part of Kolkata, Kipling wrote,
All the more reason, then, to turn several Haus[s]manns loose into the
city, with instructions to make barracks for the population that cannot
find room in the huts and sleeps in the open ways, cherishing dogs and
worse, much worse, in its unwashen bosom. (Kipling ([1899]: 227)
There is a similarity in such discourses about the native areas of other

colonial cities of India.
Municipal Administration in Kolkata and the Expansion of Its

Boundaries
The work of the Justices of Peace discussed in the last chapter was overshad-
owed by the work of the Town Improvement Committee and the Lottery
Committee. The executive authority of municipal administration eventually
came under the jurisdiction of the chief magistrate, who was one among
seven justices or magistrates. The number was later reduced to five includ-
ing the chief magistrate (Goode 1916). By the time the Fever Hospital was
established and the Municipal Improvement Committee was appointed,
all matters of municipal governance including conservancy, assessment,
judicial affairs, and policing were concentrated in the hands of the chief
magistrate. The authority of justices in municipal administration was virtu-
ally superseded by the chief magistrate. Local taxation had not yet been
carried out to its fullest extent because the local government did not have
the authority. Hence, there was some fear as well as reluctance to impose
further taxation without the consent of the people or their representatives
without a popular vote. A proposal for a more representative municipal
government in 1833 by Chief Magistrate D. M’Farlan failed as there was
little support for such reform among the ranks of the British citizenry and
administration (Goode 1916).
The passage of Act XVI in 1847, which transferred the conservancy
functions of the justices to a board of seven commissioners, initiated the
attempts to form a local government. Three of these commissioners were
appointed by the colonial government; the rest were elected by ratepayers
from each division of the city. The commissioners received a salary that
was fixed by the governor. Act XXII, passed in the same year, empowered
the commissioners to act as a corporate body with a common seal and

the right to sue and be sued. Act II of 1848 sanctioned appointments of a
town clerk (later called the secretary), a surveyor, and other officers for
the city’s administration, subject to approval by the governor. Reputable
natives believed the elections to be a farce, and therefore undemocratic,
and were reluctant to participate. Act X of 1852 divided the city into the
Northern and Southern divisions and reduced the number of commissioners
to four, with half being elected and half appointed. The act empowered
the commissioners to appoint or dismiss all officers except the secretary,
whose appointment and dismissal had to be approved by the governor. Act
XXVIII of 1854 further suspended the electoral function by authorizing the
lieutenant governor to fill vacancies in the board. Act XXV of 1856 reduced
the commissioners to three; subject to appointment and removal by the
lieutenant governor (Goode 1916).
Act VI of 1863 transferred municipal affairs to a corporation consisting
of all justices of the peace of Kolkata and those of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa
residing in the city. The colonial government appointed the chairman,
but he could be removed by a resolution of two-thirds of the justices. The
justices themselves could nominate a vice-chairman subject to approval by
the lieutenant governor. The power remained in the hands of the justices
as both the chairman and vice-chairman carried out their orders and were
only responsible for general management of municipal affairs. The justices
also appointed high-level officials – the secretary, engineer, surveyor, health
officer, collector, and assessor (Goode 1916).
Act IV of 1876 – which led to the creation of the CMC with seventy-two
commissioners, excluding the chairman and the vice-chairman – intro-
duced a form of elected municipal government. Under this act, the ratepayers
elected two-thirds of the commissioners, and the colonial government
appointed the remainder. The electoral constituencies consisted of eight-
een wards which corresponded to police divisions or thanas as they are
known in Bengali. The act defined the ‘Suburban Municipality’, and while
certain villages from the 24 parganas were included, some mauzas from
Panchannagram were excluded. The city at this point had an area of about
fifteen square kilometres. A committee known as the Town Council was
appointed in 1877 and given legal status under Act VI of 1881; its purpose
was to deliberate on matters referred to it by the commissioners and advise
and aid the chairman (Goode 1916; Ray 1979). The next major change in
municipal government came with Act II of 1888 that increased the number
of commissioners to 75, with 15 to be appointed by the local government and
50 to be elected by ratepayers. In addition, the Bengal Chamber of Commerce
and Trade Association were to select four each, while two were to be selected
by Port Commissions. The number of wards increased to 25, and each was
to elect two commissioners. Four commissioners were to be selected by
the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, four by the Trades Association, and
two by Port Commissioners. The Town Council was reconstituted as the
General Committee and had eighteen members. The elected commissioners
chose twelve of these, and nominated commissioners named the rest. The
chairman and vice-chairman were ex-officio members of the committee
(Goode 1916).
Act III of 1899 saw another major change as it vested the municipal au-
thority to CMC, the General Committee, and the chairman. The number of
commissioners was reduced to 50. Among these, 25 were elected at the ward
level and the rest appointed: fifteen by the colonial government, four by the
Bengal Chamber of Commerce, four by the Calcutta Trades Association, and
two by the Port Commissioners. The power was concentrated in the hands
of the General Committee, and the secretary had executive power (Goode
1916). The British came to dominate the General Committee, leading to the
resignation of native commissioners (Ray 1979).
The native desire to participate in the local government was, of course,
not approved by the British. According to Rudyard Kipling, the squalor of the
city was attributable to the participation of Indians in the local government.
As he reflected,
it seems not only a wrong but a criminal thing to allow natives to have
any voice in the control of such a city – adorned, docked, wharfed, fronted,
and reclaimed by Englishmen, existing only because England lives, and
dependent for its life on England. (Kipling ([1899]: 187)
It was not until the introduction of the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923
that a democratic government was formed at the municipal level. Besides
providing for annual elections of a mayor, women were also enfranchised
by the act. The nationalist leader Chittaranjan Das, who formed the Swaraj
Party, was elected the first mayor in 1924. Subhas Chandra Bose of the same
party became the secretary. The party had been formed by Das, who had
left the Indian National Congress out of disillusionment. He was joined
by Bose for similar reasons (Moorhouse 1971; Ray 1979). Until independ-
ence, the CMC had been a platform for honest politicians to launch their
careers. Municipal affairs were governed by the act until 1948 when the
State government superseded the corporation. This topic is discussed in
detail in the next chapter.
Figure 42 Kolkata in 1945: City Plan from a guidebook to the city created by the
US Army in India
Source: United States Army Forces in India-Burma, The Calcutta Key: Welcome United States Army
(Calcutta: Information and Education Branch, 1945). Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries,
the University Texas at Austin
Extensive changes were made to the boundaries of the town and its
suburbs in 1889. The Suburban Municipality was divided into four sections,
namely the North Suburban Municipality of Kashipur-Chitpore, the East
Suburban Municipality of Maniktalla, the Suburban Municipality of Garden
Reach, and the Southern Municipality of Tallygunge. In order to form the
last two municipalities land from the 24 parganas was annexed. Some of
the mauzas of Panchannangram that formed part of the old municipality in
1876 were added to the city’s boundaries. The city was divided into 25 wards
at this point and occupied an area of 48 square kilometres. The Municipal
Act of 1923 annexed the municipalities of Kashipur-Chitpore, Maniktalla,
and Garden Reach into the city. Later, Garden Reach was separated (www.
kmcgov.in) (see figure 42 for a map of Kolkata in 1945).
Haora’s Transformation to a Coolie Town
The town of Haora continued its deviation from the overall scheme of British
imperial urbanism. When Bishop Heber arrived, Haora was still ‘chiefly in-
habited by ship-builders’ (Heber 1828: 58). John Clark Marshman, an English
missionary and historian, expressed a similar opinion in the mid-1840s.
He even compared it to the Southwark bank of Thames. According to him,
There is little to notice in the villages of Seebpore, Howarh and Sulkea,

the Southwark of Calcutta. The establishment of the Docks and a few
manufacturers, and of the Company’s Salt Ware-houses gives an air of life
and activity to the place, but the number of European residents, though
not inconsiderable, is by no means proportioned to the vast popula-
tion and wealth of Calcutta. (Marshman 1845, as cited in O’Malley and
Chakravarti 1909: 104)
By the mid-nineteenth century, the docks had increased in size. Other

industries such as rum distilleries, cotton, jute, flour, oil, paper, sugar, and
saw mills flourished. In addition, indigo works, metal foundries, and engi-
neering works were established on a large scale (O’Malley and Chakravarti
1909; Banerji 1972).8 The decision to locate the terminus of the East Indian
Railway in 1850 in the city and the construction of a floating bridge in 1874
linking Kolkata and Haora provided a tremendous impetus to its industrial
8 The existence of some of these industries can be traced back earlier, but their large-scale
growth began in the 1850s.
development (O’Malley and Chakravarti 1909). By the turn of the twentieth

century, comparisons with the Southwark bank of the Thames continued.
Cotton noted that, ‘Nothing makes Calcutta seem more un-Indian than the
smoking chimney-stacks of Howrah, which recall so vividly the Southwark
banks of the Thames’ (Cotton 1907: 991).
Thus, political economy transformed Haora into the workshop of British
Calcutta. As it became an industrial town, it was viewed as ‘coolie town’
because of the large number of migrant labours or coolies that lived in the
town. Architecture in the city was not designed to symbolize wealth and
power. The number of Europeans living in the town was fewer compared
to Kolkata and mainly worked in jobs connected to the industries. Unlike
Kolkata, which was studded with neo-classical mansions and elegant garden
houses, Haora only had ‘some pretty villas interspersed’ (Heber 1828: 58). In
contrast to Kolkata, there was no need for a physical display of wealth and
power manifested by impressive homes and grandiose structures.
Bishop’s College, completed in the mid-1820s, was perhaps its only sig-
nificant building in the early colonial period. It was founded in 1820 by the
Anglican bishop of Kolkata, Thomas Middleton, to serve as an arts college
and train Indian Christians for the priesthood and service as catechists
and teachers in Christian colleges (Bishop’s College 2006). The original
Gothic-inspired building still exists on the premises of the Indian Institute
of Engineering, Science and Technology. It is now known as Madhusudhan
Bhabhan (see figure 43). The only significant piece of civic architecture is
the railway terminus, originally built in 1854. Rebuilt between 1900 and 1908,
it is an imposing red-brick building infused with Oriental and Romanesque
features (Davies [1985] 1987) (see figure 44). Even the courthouse was origi-
nally built in 1767 as a rum distillery (Banerji 1972). Nonetheless, one can
see classically inspired buildings in the city (see figure 45). There were also
a few neo-classical mansions built by the Bengali elite. The best example is
the Andul Rajbari built by Rajnarayan Roy of the Andul Raj family in 1835
(see figure 46). The title of raja had been bestowed to one of his ancestors
by the Mughal emperor upon the insistence of Lord Clive (Banerji 1972).
Despite the absence of a significant number of Europeans, some level of

racial segregation still occurred, following in the tradition of other British
settlements. The European settlement consisted of an industrial-residential
zone near the river, established by the first quarter of the eighteenth cen-
tury. Offices and business firms owned by the Europeans were also located
in this region. The indigenous population lived inland in the area known
as Purāni Sahar (Old Town). The Grand Trunk Road separated the two
Figure 43 Madhusudhan Bhabhan (Bishop’s College), completed in the mid-1820s
Source: Photograph by Tamali Basu. Courtesy of Sunando Dasgupta, 2014
Figure 44 Haora Railway Terminus. The architect of the building was Halsey
Ricardo. It was rebuilt between 1900 and 1908

Figure 45 Telegraph Office, Haora
settlements. Winding lanes and congestion, filth, and dirt characterized

the indigenous settlement. In contrast, the riverside where the Europeans
lived had broader and straighter roads (Banerji 1972).
Since the city was outside the realm of imperial urbanism and inhabited
by only a few Europeans, the provision of urban services was naturally
neglected. Upon inspecting the Haora municipality in 1889, the sanitary
commissioner remarked, ‘Of all the large municipalities in Bengal which I
have inspected – and I have inspected nearly all of them – Howrah is without
exception the dirtiest, most backward, and badly managed municipality
I have seen’ (sanitary commissioner, as cited in O’Malley and Chakravarti
[1909]: 60). His successor agreed, declaring he did not even want to live in
the town. According to him,
[g]enerally speaking, the sanitary condition of the town of Howrah is

most deplorable. On every side, one is met by violent breaches of ordinary
hygienic laws. I have never, in fact, seen a town in such a dangerously
Figure 46 Andul Rajbari, built in 1835
insanitary condition, and I should be very sorry to live in it myself. (Sani-

tary commissioner, as cited in O’Malley and Chakravarti [1909]: 61)
The sheer backlog of services and the pretext for not providing them is well
reflected in the words of a sanitary commissioner who stated,
The great sanitary need of the district of Howrah is the improvement of

drainage, filling up the numerous unhealthy tanks, and the removal of exces-
sive vegetation from the vicinity of dwelling-houses. In the town of Howrah
drainage works are in progress, though it will take some years to bring the
work to a completion. […] Very little has been done to fill up the large number
of unhealthy tanks: the work progressing slowly for want of funds. (Sanitary
commissioner, as cited in O’Malley and Chakravarti [1909]: 59-60)
Providing a f iltered water supply system, improvement of bustees and

conservancy arrangements for disposal of filth and night soil were also
identified as pressing needs for the city (O’Malley and Chakravarti [1909]).
The city can, in fact, be viewed as defiance of the entire scheme of colonial
urbanism. The indigenous inhabitants defied all norms of hygiene and
orderliness that the British prescribed and built in any fashion they could.
As pointed out by O’Malley and Chakravarti at the turn of the twentieth

century,
[a] very large proportion of the holdings are tiled huts, many of which
are built on the insanitary, ill-ventilated plan commonly found in Bihar;
and even the narrow gullies9 which exist between the huts are closed up
so as to secure greater privacy, thus still further hindering ventilation
and serving as receptacles for filth. (O’Malley and Chakravarti [1909]: 61)
Thus, the majority of the city consisted of bustees or bustee-like settlements.

We even see resistance to the implementation of drainage schemes. Such
work completed during the day was destroyed later that night (O’Malley
and Chakravarti 1909).
9 The word gullies means narrow lanes.

4 Decolonizing Kolkata
From an American Planning Paradigm to a Marxist City
Chandigarh: A Defining Moment in India’s Search for Post-

Colonial Urbanism
No significant planning or architectural endeavours were undertaken in

Kolkata from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. Even when India gained inde-
pendence in 1947 and its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, searched
for architecture that would represent an independent, secular, modern,
and industrialized India, architectural activity was limited in Kolkata.
Nehru championed the architecture of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born French
architect who profoundly influenced India’s search for architecture of
independence (Lang et al. 1997). As stated by Prakāsh, Le Corbusier’s mod-
ernism was embraced by Nehru not because it ‘embodied Nehru’s vision
of an Indian architecture, but because it married well with his modern-
enlightenment-based anti-colonial political stance’ (Prakāsh 2011: 262).
Chandigarh is a celebrated example of the emergence of new spatial and
urban forms as a consequence of decolonization. The new capital of Punjab
began construction in 1950 and was inaugurated in 1953. If New Delhi was
a stamp of imperialism, Chandigarh was its post-colonial response. The
imperial arrogance of New Delhi had to be overcome by a nationalist city,
and Chandigarh was the answer (Khilani [1997] 1999).
The loss of Lahore, the capital of Punjab, to Pakistan when that country was
created in 1947 necessitated a new capital for the Indian portion of Punjab. The
existing cities were inadequate to serve as a capital due to their lack of infra-
structure and amenities and their burgeoning populations. It was believed that
building a new capital, Chandigarh, would be no more costly than retrofitting
one of the existing cities (Kalia 1987). From the onset the Punjabi officials
wanted to visit Europe to find an architect/planner for building Chandigarh
but could not do so because of Nehru’s intervention. The government of East
Punjab opened negotiations with Albert Mayer and Otto Köenigsberger. Otto
Köenigsberger was a Jewish-German architect who had not only worked as
the chief architect of the Public Works Department in the Princely State of
Mysore, but was also involved in the planning of Bhubaneswar, the new capital
for Orissa. He also served as a consultant to Faridabad, near Delhi (Kalia 1987).
Mayer, an American civil engineer who later became a registered ar-
chitect and a planner, had served as a lieutenant colonel in India during
World War II. He was familiar with India through his experimental rural
development programs in the Etawah district of the Western United
Provinces and assisting in developing master plans for Kanpur, Mumbai,
and Delhi. Nehru believed that since both were familiar with India, they
would be able to build a city that was rooted in India (Kalia 1987; Perera
2004). At Nehru’s insistence, the government eventually appointed Mayer
in December 1949 to plan Chandigarh (Kalia 1987; Perera 2004). His associ-
ates Julian Whittlesey and Milton Glass; James Buckley, a consultant in
urban economics and transportation; Ralph Oberlin, utilities, road and site
engineering expert; Clara Coffey, a landscaping expert; and H.E. Landsberg,
a climatologist, would assist Mayer. Mayer also requested Clarence Stein
as a general consultant, and it was at Stein’s recommendation that Mat-
thew Nowicki, a Siberian-born and Warsaw-educated architect, joined the
team (Kalia 1987). However, Nehru’s dream of building an Indianized city
ended with Nowicki’s death in an August 1950 plane crash. It became clear
that Mayer would be unable to execute his plan by himself, and Nehru
reluctantly authorized the Punjabi officials to visit Europe in search of an
architect/planner. Le Corbusier was chosen as the chief planner/architect
for the project and was to be assisted by his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and the
English husband-wife architectural team of Edwin Maxwell Fry and Jane
Beverly Drew (Kalia 1987; Perera 2004).
From the beginning, Le Corbusier intended to impose his modernist
architectural vision on the city, having little interest in familiarizing
himself with India (Evenson 1966; Kalia 1987). Le Corbusier’s affinity for
the industrial city made him unsympathetic towards the functional aspects
of an Indian city and its aesthetics on an Indian urban environment. Le
Corbusier’s plan was abstract and modernist, dictated by geometry and
monumentalism, and designed from a European point of view in which
Indian culture was conspicuously absent. Even though he spent some time
in India before embarking on the planning, he did little to understand
or adopt any facets of Indian life (Evenson 1966; Perera 2004). He was
concerned more with the Capitol Complex and its monumental buildings
than other aspects of city planning (Evenson 1966) (see figure 47). The
landscape and ecology also influenced Le Corbusier’s design, which began
with a visual consciousness of the landscape. He was conscious of the fact
it was a flat site that was locked by the Himalayas to the north. He was
aware that the smallest building appeared tall and commanding against
such a backdrop and took full advantage of it by placing the capitol group
of buildings at the head of the plan against the mountains. The ecological
features of the site, which had no difficulties with the subsoil and offered
Decolonizing Kolkata 135
Figure 47 The Assembly in Chandigarh Capitol Complex. Architect: Le Corbusier.

Final design completed in 1957. Building opened in 1962
natural drainage, allowed him the freedom to create a hierarchy of roads

without any constraint (Fry 1955; Evenson 1966).
Chandigarh’s intentional rejection of a national style was symbolic. It
signified that political authority in India must look outward at this critical
time and its sovereignty should be internationally recognized. Chandigarh’s
goal was to have an international impact and introduce India’s presence
to the world (Khilani 1999 [1997]). Corbusian architecture became an
image and symbol for modern India as well as the referential model for
new architecture and urbanism of post-colonial India for the first 20 years
(Lang 1997 et al.; Prakāsh 2011). As pointed out by Kalia (2006), the political
endorsement of Le Corbusier’s ideas led to a new appreciation of modernism
and a visual variety in Indian cityscapes.
Nehru wanted to build a new capital of Punjab that had no association
with the colonial past or colonial interpretation of Indian identity as one
that was constructed through religious affiliations (Prakāsh 2011). The
modernism developed in Chandigarh fitted with Nehru’s ambition for a
secular country (Prakāsh 2011). It was acceptable because its design princi-
ples never posed a threat to a religiously pluralist India striving to develop
a secular identity. A complete deviation from the architectural forms of the
British Empire was needed, and modernism was associated with progress
and liberalism, making it an appropriate architecture in the immediate

post-colonial period. Modernism also became popular because it offered
opportunities for technological innovation and an aesthetic expression that
could solve social problems such as housing. It was an appropriate vehicle
for technological and social programs of modernization. Modern buildings
also gained popularity among developers because of their lower costs and
quick construction methods (Curtis 1987; Kalia 2006).
Revivalist Architecture and the Search for Post-Colonial

Architectural Identity
Revivalist architectural styles also received a strong boost from many States
in search of a post-colonial architectural identity of their own. In fact, before
the arrival of Le Corbusier in the 1950s, a major revivalist phase in Indian
architecture marked the search for a post-colonial style (Lang et al. 1997;
Meherota 2011). Revivalism in Indian architecture included replication of
traditional forms, a pastiche of architectural elements from the past and
abstractions of past forms. The last type falls under the genre of ‘postmod-
ernism’ and did not appear until the 1970s and 1980s. Revivalism inspired
many of the buildings erected in Bhubaneswar, the new capital of Orissa.
The planning for Bhubaneswar was initiated in 1946, and buildings such as
the Secretariat Building, Staff Quarters, Red Building, Market Building (see
figure 48), and the Police Building were built in this style. Other revivalist
buildings included the Capital Boys School, Museum, and Guest House.
Designed by Chief Architect of the Orissa Public Works Department Julius
L. Vaz, or under his leadership in the late 1940s to early 1950s, such buildings
incorporated Buddhist elements (Kalia 1994; Lang et al. 1997).
As discussed by Kalia (1994), the politicians wanted to create a city
inspired by the adjacent temple city. They were especially keen on build-
ing a capitol complex that replicated the Lingaraja Temple complex in old
Bhubaneswar. They wanted the principal public buildings such as the
Secretariat, Governor’s residence, and Assembly to be monumental in
proportions like the Lingaraja Temple and built around a square. Besides
pleasing politicians, Vaz himself may have wanted to build in the revivalist
style given the debate about the search for an Indian architecture in the
immediate post-colonial period (Lang et al. 1997).
He may also have been influenced by his mentor Claude Batley. Batley
was a British architect who had joined the Sir Jamsethji Jijibhai School of
Art (popularly known as the Sir J.J. School of Art) in Bombay in 1914. He also
headed the school from 1923 to 1943. Batley’s influence on his students as
well as on Indian architecture in the 1930s was profound and comparable to
that of Le Corbusier in the 1950s. He had appealed to the younger generation
of Indian architects to develop an architecture that was suitable for India
based on Indian tradition (Lang et al. 1997). Vaz was not only a graduate of
the Sir J.J. School but had worked for Gregson, Batley, and King in Bombay
from 1933 to 1943 (Kalia 1994; Lang et al. 1997).
The Vidhan Soudha, the seat of legislature in Bengaluru and the capital in
the State of Karnataka, is one of the most significant buildings constructed
in revivalist style (see figure 49). It dominates the skyline and houses the
Legislative Assembly, Council, and Legislature Library. The building also
houses the secretariat offices, State archives, a banquet hall, and ministerial
chambers and offices. Designed by the Mysore Public Works Department,
it is made of granite and incorporates architectural elements from Hindu
dynasties of the region, including the Chalukyan (sixth to twelfth centu-
ries), Hoysala (twelfth to fourteenth centuries), and the Vijyanagar Empire
(fourteenth to sixteenth centuries). The designer for the building was B.R.
Figure 48 Market Building, Bhubaneswar. Architect: Julius L. Vaz

Figure 49 Vidhan Soudha. Designer: B.R. Manikam. Constructed: 1952-1957
Source: Photograph by Shilpi Bharati 2014
Manikam, an Indian civil engineer and town planner. Kengal Hanuman-

thaiya, who served as chief minister of the State between 1952 and 1956 and
1962 and 1966, promoted the building as a symbol of Dravidian culture and
tradition and enlarged it in concept and size (Lang et al. 1997; Nair 2002).
When plans for the new structure were developed in 1951, Hanuman-
thaiya, then Congress president, expressed his dislike for a legislative
building fashioned in the ‘plain and simple type of American architecture’
(Hanumanthaiya, as cited in Nair 2002: 1211). Consequently, when he became
chief minister in 1952, he instructed the committee set up to redesign the
House of Legislature to do so in Indian style (Nair 2002). The building was
also an architectural reaction to the humiliation experienced during the
colonial period. The prevalent belief is that Hanumanthaiya felt humiliated
by Winston Churchill’s reference to Gandhi as a ‘half-naked Fakir’ who had
climbed the Viceregal steps in Imperial Delhi to meet Edward Wood Irwin,
viceroy of India from 1926 to 1931. He resolved to build a more grander flight
of steps in Gandhi’s memory. This new, grander flight of steps was meant to
undo this humiliation. He also intended to dwarf the Attara Kacheri, the
former colonial government office building, in proportion and majesty, as
this was a symbol of imperial power (Nair 2002).
Revivalist architecture also received political support from the central
government. The central state-sponsored Ashoka Hotel, built in the 1950s in
Figure 50 Ashoka Hotel. Architects: J.K. Choudhury and Gulzar Singh, 1955
Source: Photograph by Deepanshu Singh. Courtesy of Sunando Dasgupta, 2016
Delhi (see figure 50), is an example of such architecture in the post-colonial

era. In this case, Nehru and the bureaucrats intervened to pressure the
architects to provide an Indianized facade (Evenson 1989; Lang et al. 1997).
The State of Tamil Nadu continued the tradition of revivalism in the 1970s.
The Anna Square, built in 1970 to commemorate C.N. Annadurai, is one such
example. Annadurai was chief minister of the State from 1967 to 1969 and
founder of the Tamil nationalist party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Symbolically located within a mile of Fort St. George and the Madras
High Court, both symbols of British imperialism, the architectural style
and design of the building is based on classical Hindu South Indian temples.
The cultural centre Valluvar Kottam also drew on South Indian classical
architectural traditions. The centre, built in Kodambakkam in 1976, was
named after the famous Tamil poet and philosopher Tiruvalluvar (Lewan-
dowski 1984).
Lack of a Search for Post-Colonial Architecture in Kolkata
Kolkata never resorted to the Chandigarh style of modernism that had

become the ‘referential model’ for new architecture and urbanism in post-
colonial India. Neither did it adopt revivalist architecture as an expression
of post-colonialism. Instead, the first two decades after independence saw
limited building activities as subsequent regimes faced constant turmoil

and crisis. The political economy of post-colonial Kolkata – consisting of
the massive influx of refugees, proliferation of slums, and deteriorating
urban infrastructure – dictated that local government concentrate on these
pressing issues rather than architecture.
The city never became the citadel of architectural thought that Mumbai
was between the two world wars or Delhi in post-independence India
(Lang 2002; Evenson 1989). Neither did Kolkata have the cotton barons of
Ahmedabad who patronized Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, or even Balkrisha
Doshi in the early post-independence period. In the case of Ahmedabad,
Le Corbusier was invited to the city soon after his arrival in India for the
Chandigarh project by the mayor, Chinubhai Chimanbhai, nephew of
industrial baron Kasturbhai Lalbhai. Despite the fact that he designed
only four buildings from his arrival in March 1951, Le Corbusier remained
involved with the city until his death in 1965. He also introduced modernism
to Ahmedabad’s cotton barons (Kalia 2004). Although his impact was not
as extensive as that of Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, the Philadelphia-based
American architect, also influenced post-colonial architecture to a great
extent in India through his work a decade later (1962-1974) in the Indian
Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (Lang et al. 1997; Kalia 2006). Doshi
had associated with Kahn during his sojourn in the United States in 1958
through a Graham Foundation Fellowship and was instrumental in having
Kahn accept the Indian Institute of Management project (Kalia 2004). The
impact of Le Corbusier and Kahn was particularly evident among a group
of young architects in New Delhi in the 1960s (Evenson 1989). Well-known
Indian architects such as Charles Correa, Achyut Kanvinde, and Balkrishna
Doshi were influenced by modernism in the 1950s and 1960s, although they
later became critical of the style (Kalia 2006). In contrast, Kolkata lacked
a distinct, modernist, architectural culture in the post-independence era,
which prevented it from embracing this style.
Unlike Punjab, Bengal did not need a new capital. Kolkata remained its
capital, eliminating the need to establish a new capital with architecture
that would symbolize a modern India. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, West Ben-
gal’s second chief minister, looked to the American Ford Foundation for a
post-colonial plan to save Kolkata from communism. He was seeking policy
advice, rather than an architectural extravaganza, in developing a post-
colonial urbanism in Kolkata. The only building that Roy patronized was
the New Secretariat Building (1944-1954) (see figure 51) designed by Habib
Rahman, who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture
from MIT in 1943 and 1944, respectively. Originally a mechanical engineer,
Figure 51 New Secretariat Building. Architect: Habib Rahman. Constructed: 1944-1954
Rahman was sponsored by the Bengal government for his architectural

studies and made his initial career with the West Bengal Public Works
Department (WBPWD). The new Secretariat Building was designed in the
international modernist style by Rahman and is the only building of the
era reminiscent of Corbusian architecture. Roy wanted a tall building that
would symbolize the new political order. The building was fifteen storeys
high and the tallest in India at that time (Lang et al. 1997).
Another reason for the absence of architectural variety in Kolkata was
a lack of established firms. Foreign architects carried out a large portion
of the significant work undertaken in the early post-colonial period, il-
lustrating the validity of King’s (1976) concept of cultural colonization. As
pointed out by Crinson (2003), Indian independence did not bring about
an architectural independence and a sundering of the professional archi-
tectural culture. Cultural colonialism persisted because of a shortage of
architects and the perpetuation of ideas inherited from the British within
the larger framework of development models. This, perhaps, explains the
propensity for foreign firms doing architectural work in Kolkata in the
early days. For example, Australian architect John A. Ritchie designed
the Reserve Bank of India (see figure 52); a shell roof added over Mahajati
Shadan Hall was done by an Italian, Dr. A. Carbone. The Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC) Building begun by an Indian architect was taken up by
Maxwell Fry and eventually completed by Mody and Colgan of Mumbai.
Holabird and Root of Chicago designed the Tata Centre (see figure 53),
Figure 52 Reserve Bank of India. Architect: John A. Ritchie

and Willgoose and Chase of Washington, DC, did the US Consulate Staff
Quarters. Even after the arrival of Le Corbusier, some of the significant
buildings built in Kolkata were done in revivalist style. For example, the
Akashvani Bhaban (the All India Radio building) (see figure 54) and the
Ramakrishna Mission Complex – both completed in 1958 and designed
by William B. Kerr of Ballardie, Thompson, and Mathews – incorporated
Arco Deco elements with traditional Indian motifs. The Birla Planetarium,
Figure 53 Tata Centre. Designer: Holabird and Root of Chicago

Figure 54 Akashvani Bhaban. Designer: William B. Kerr. Completed: 1958
completed in 1963 and designed by G.K. Gora of the same f irm, incor-
porated Buddhist architectural elements from stupas, railings, and the
f inial at the apex (Lang et al. 1997) (see f igure 55). However, this does
not mean that Kolkata became a revivalist city, as there was no one to
champion the style.
The introduction of the high-rise buildings was another signif icant
aspect of the search for post-colonial architecture. Such buildings were
seen as symbols of progress. In the early post-colonial period, high-rises
were primarily located in the posh areas of Mumbai such as Malabar Hill
and Cumballa because of the booming economy of the city and scarcity of
land (Evenson 1989). Between the 1960s and 1990s, Nariman Point and Cuff
Parade witnessed a proliferation of high-rise office buildings. These were
the ‘architecture of commercialism’ and consisted of commercial develop-
ment that began to appear in major Indian metropolises, particularly in
Mumbai, in the 1970s. Symbols of individual status and wealth, they often
were copied from photographs in international magazines, even when
architects were involved in their design (Lang et al. 1997). Unlike Mumbai,
except for a few office towers in the Chowringhi area, skyscrapers did not
Figure 55 Birla Planetarium. Designer: G.K. Gora. Completed: 1963
dominate Kolkata’s skyline, due to the slow pace of development (Evenson

1989) (see figure 56).
Over 20 years of limited and bureaucratic building activity by the local
leftist regime and a private industry restrained by its leftist agenda resulted
in a contained culture of domestic architectural design. The only exceptions
were some bungalows in the rich enclave of Bidhannagar and a few isolated
buildings for the ultra rich. As discussed in the next chapter, the govern-
ment’s development agenda was limited to rural development. Marxist
rhetoric infused the development of Kolkata’s post-colonial identity. The
Figure 56 Kolkata skyline around Chowringhi: A view from the Maidan
Calcutta Book Fair (or ‘Boimela’ in Bengali), with fake architecture made
of plaster of Paris, cloth, plywood, cardboard, and bamboo, took the place
of any real architecture (see figure 57). The fair was initiated in 1976 by the
Kolkata Publishers and Bookseller’s Guild. By the 1980s and early 1990s, the
city hosted two book fairs, one by Kolkata Publishers and Bookseller’s Guild
and the other, Gronthomela (Bengali for ‘book fair’), by the government of
West Bengal. The phenomenal growth of Boimela led the government of
West Bengal to merge the two in 1992. Held in the Maidan until 2009, the fair
overlaps the festival of Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the goddess of learning
and widely celebrated in Kolkata. The fair has an international theme each
year and mimics Western edifices in the flimsy materials described above.
While Roy (2003) attributes a slightly different meaning, this can be deemed
an effort of a leftist regime to define its own vision of urbanism.
The Marxist agenda also restricted private investment, which limited
building activities. The government had few architects who could build any-
thing better than what is known as the ‘utilitarian modern’ style in Kolkata
(see figures 58 and 59). The style emerged in the 1970s as the criticism against
modern architecture in India intensified. The euphoria of modernism began
to die by the late 1960s. Critiques questioned its ability to meet the housing
needs of all classes, failure to meet the needs of Indian cultural and spatial
Figure 57 The Eiffel Tower as the gate to the Boimela in 1997
Source: Photograph by Ananya Roy (taken from Roy [2003], p. 6). Used with permission from the
University of Minnesota Press
requirements, and even its aesthetic appeal.1 As pointed out by Lang (2002),
many building types including housing, office buildings, district centres,
schools, and government administration buildings were built in utilitar-
ian modern style. Such architecture evolved from the work of the large
Anglo-Indian (especially the ones with Indian partners) and engineering
firms. The Anglo-Indian firms had emerged at the turn of the twentieth
century and were headed by British architects. Often, they employed
Indians as draughtsmen. It was only by the 1940s that Indian architects
became joint partners in such firms (Evenson 1989; Lang et al. 1997; Crinson
2003). Utilitarian modern buildings are reinforced concrete structures with
flat roofs and shading devices consisting of projecting concrete slabs or
chajjaas. The style is functionalist, but recognizably Indian. Despite the
variety of buildings that fall under the style, housing schemes undertaken
1 For a detailed discussion, see Lang et al. 1997.

Figure 58 Jalasampad Bhaban, the Office of Irrigation and Waterways

Department, Government of West Bengal in Bidhannagar. An example
of the ‘utilitarian modern’ style
by government agencies exemplify such work (Lang et al. 1997). In fact, it

was often civil engineers who were responsible for the government build-
ings in Kolkata that led to the proliferation of the style. As far as domestic
architecture is concerned, we see modern Indian vernacular architecture,
especially in Bidhannagar (see figures 60 to 62). Modern Indian vernacular
consists of a haphazard juxtaposition of architectural elements ranging
from elements borrowed from modernism to Indian historical architecture.
This type of architecture is found in suburban-plotted developments as
well as high-rise office buildings and is popular among middle classes.
Residential architecture that falls under this category is characterized by
pitched concrete roofs with tiles, sloping concrete chajjaas, and concrete
balustrades, projections at the floor or parapet level, and decorative arches
(Lang et al. 1997).
The most dominant type for the period is the architecture of the contract
builder (see figure 63) and the houses built using a mistiri (master mason)
(see figure 64). This is especially true in Kolkata’s residential architecture.
Architecture of the contractor builder is a variety that prevailed from the
Figure 59 The main office of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

in Unnayan Bhaban, Bidhannagar. Another example of the ‘utilitarian
modern’ style

Figure 60 A single-family residence in Bidhannagar. An example of modern

Indian vernacular architecture
Source: Photograph courtesy of Ashish Basu, 2013
Figure 61 Flats in Bidhannagar. An example of modern Indian vernacular

architecture

Figure 62 Flats in South Kolkata. An example of modern Indian vernacular

architecture

Figure 63 Flats in South Kolkata. Architecture of the contractor builder

Figure 64 Mistiri-built housing in South Kolkata

early post-independence period. These are mostly residential buildings

designed and built by contractors according to standard models. Although
an architect may be employed occasionally, the developer makes changes
according to their needs. Profit and space maximization are the main
motivations behind such architecture and they are often in violation of
building codes (Lang et al. 1997). The mistiri-built housing has also been
popular in residential construction in the post-colonial era. This simply
entails the employment of a mistiri by the owner to construct a dwelling.
Despite the lack of a definitive search for a post-colonial architecture,
some of the new schools of architecture and planning were formed in
Kolkata’s vicinity in the early post-independence period. The Department
of Architecture and Town and Country Planning at Bengal Engineering
College in Shibpur, Haora (now known as the Indian Institute of Engineering
Science and Technology, Shibpur) was initiated in 1949, while the Depart-
ment of Architecture and Regional Planning was started at the Indian
Institute of Technology in Kharagpur in 1959 (Evenson 1989; Crinson 2003).
As pointed out by Crinson (2003), the development of architectural culture
and education in India was a satellite of the imperial architectural culture,
and later, a globalized architectural culture.
Consequently, even the newly established schools continued to impart
Westernized architectural education. The Western influence in Bengal
Engineering College is evident from the fact that the architecture program
was headed by Joseph Allen Stein, an American architect, from 1952. Stein
was followed by a succession of Western architects, such as Eduardo Sacriste
and J.A. Cordes. During the author’s architectural education in Bengal
Engineering College from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, modernism was
in vogue. History courses emphasized a survey of Western architecture,
while Indian history was covered from an Orientalist perspective.2 Students
looked at Western journals for design inspiration. The Indianization of their
designs was limited to adding decorative elements such as chajjaas, jaalis,
concrete balustrades, projections at the floor or parapet level, arches, and
the use of exposed brick.
In Search of Post-Colonial Planning: An Overview
The search for a post-colonial planning agenda was much more profound
than the search for post-colonial architecture since India had more pressing
2 See Hosagrahar 2002 for the concept.

planning problems when it gained its independence. These included an in-

flux of refugees, underdevelopment and proliferation of slums, and a lack of
housing and other infrastructure such as roads, dams, power, and industry.
Upon gaining independence, India attempted to correct these legacies of
colonialism by adopting a Soviet-style, centralized planning model with
an urban industrial bias, a strong emphasis on economic self-reliance, and
a commitment to promote indigenous industry. A series of Five-Year Plans
were devised by the newly independent Indian state to guide the country’s
development. The implementation of the First Five-Year Plan was in 1951.
Although the First Five-Year Plan focused on development of agricultural
infrastructure, the industrial bias was evident in the Second Five-Year Plan
of 1956. The reasons for restructuring the industrial policy in the mid-1960s
included: the realization that agricultural growth was as important as
industrial growth; disillusionment with industry-led development model’s
capacity to address the problems of rural poverty; a tremendous shortage
of food; and pressure from the World Bank and the United States to change
agricultural policies (Alavi 1975; Bardhan 1984; Rudolph and Rudolph 1987).
The place of the city became an intense source of debate as the bu-
reaucrats and leaders began to define the goals for national development
(Evenson 1989). The First Five-Year Plan called for a uniform National
Town and County Planning Act that would provide guidelines for zoning,
land use and slum clearance; development control including location of
industries; conduction of urban surveys; and preparation of master plans.
In some States, legislation on town planning had already been enacted
or was being contemplated at that time (Government of India 1951). The
Indian state also embarked on building the celebrated State capitals of
Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar as well as other new towns in which to settle
refugees, house industries, and serve lesser administrative functions. The
underlying assumption was that urban planning could serve as a policy tool
for modernization, economic growth, and social change. The government
had also planned on building 300 new towns by the end of the twentieth
century. The government hoped that such policies would improve com-
munications, raise living standards, bring law and order to communally
torn areas, provide social mobility for the poor, and bring about a balanced
urbanization pattern (Evenson 1989; Kalia 2006).
Nehru himself was familiar with the modern city planning utopias of
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and their potential for
improving old cities and building new ones (Kalia 2006). Given such a
modernist outlook, it was natural for him to patronize the ambitious urban
planning programs that India launched after independence. He saw the
city as the centre of modernization from which it would spread through

the society (Khilani [1997] 1999). However, cultural colonization persisted
as a larger number of foreign consultants were utilized in the arena of city
planning (Evenson 1989).
The Initial Acts of Decolonization in Kolkata
The first acts of decolonization in Kolkata were the removal of the statues
of British colonizers and renaming of buildings and streets. This action was
common throughout India.3 For example, immediately after independence,
Harrison Road was renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road, the upper part of
Chowringhi Road was renamed Jawaharlal Nehru Road, and Lower Chitpur
Road became Rabindra Sarani (Moorhouse 1971). Wellesley’s palace was
called Rajbhaban, meaning ‘house of the state’, as it became the State gov-
ernor’s residence. This practice continued into the late 1960s. The principal
ministries and various departments of the government of West Bengal are
still housed in the Writers Building,4 which was renamed Mahakaran, which
is the Bengali word for secretariat’. Dalhousie Square was renamed Binoy-
Badal-Dinesh Bagh to memorialize the three young revolutionaries who
shot Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Skinner Simpson, the inspector general
of prisons, in 1930 (Chatterjee 2012). Ochterlony Monument became Shahid
Minar, which means ‘monuments of the martyrs’ in Bengali. Harrington
Street became Ho Chi Minh Sarani. Naming streets after communist world
leaders became popular with the United Front government – a coalition
of anti-Congress and leftist parties that had come to power in the State of
West Bengal for a second time in 1969. Dharmatala Street, for example, was
renamed Lenin Sarani. A bronze statue of Lenin overlooking Lenin Sarani
was mounted on a plinth in a small public garden formerly dedicated to Lord
Curzon (see figure 65). The statue was a gift to the city from the USSR to mark
Lenin’s birth centenary. Remaining vestiges of the British Empire in the forms
of statues were removed from the Maidan and its vicinity and replaced with
those of nationalist leaders. A Martyrs’ Memorial to local party heroes was
placed across the street from Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh (Moorhouse 1971).
3 For such acts in other cities see, for example, Lewandowski 1984; Lang et al. 1997; Joardar
2006.
4 Some of the departments were moved to a building in Haora temporarily on 1 October
2013 in order to renovate the building. As the time of writing the renovations are ongoing. It
is rumoured the current chief minister, Trinomool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee left the
CPI(M) party leaders and officials in Mahakaran.
Figure 65 Statue of Lenin overlooking Lenin Sarani
Source: Photograph by Subhadip Basu. Courtesy of Purnendu Bikas Sengupta, 2016
The spatial demarcations of the colonial city were retained immediately

after independence. The native upper classes – consisting of capital and land
owners, political leaders, and upper-level government officials – occupied
the spaces once reserved for the British. Class divisions replaced racial
divisions in the city (Chakravorty 2000), a pattern that was similar in the rest
of India. As pointed out by Chatterjee (2004), the urban elite that emerged in
the colonial period exercised their social and political dominance in post-
colonial Indian cities by replacing the British in positions of state authority.
With this new authority, they devised new means of control over new
electoral institutions in the 1950s and 1960s. This was also true for Kolkata
and can be seen as a major act of decolonization. In Kolkata, the wealthy
property owners often became patrons and representatives of the ruling
Congress Party, providing moral leadership to urban neighbourhoods. The
wealthy and middle classes organized and supported an extensive network
of neighbourhood institutions that included schools, sports clubs, markets,
tea shops, libraries, parks, and religious and charitable associations. The
social and political dominance of the wealthy in Kolkata was maintained
through a grid of neighbourhood institutions that nurtured communities.
The urban poor often entered patron-client relationships with the wealthy
that were mediated by charitable organizations and proto-unions. In cases
where political activists organized the industrial working class, unions
provided a link between the bustee-dwelling workers and the middle-class
intelligentsia (Chatterjee 2004).
Material Legacies of Colonial Planning and Kolkata’s Post-

Colonial Urban Problems
The material legacies of colonial planning contributed to Kolkata’s post-

colonial urban problems. As discussed in chapters 2 and 3, the basic
principle of town planning in colonial Kolkata consisted of making the
city clean, healthy, and beautiful for the British and exerting control over
the indigenous parts of the city. The municipal government refused to
accept the moral responsibility for the hardship of bustee dwellers caused
by such schemes. As a result, the bustee clearance and road construction
schemes primarily benefitted the British and some of the wealthy Indians.
In many cases, bustee dwellers simply moved to other bustees when their
neighbourhoods were demolished, thereby perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Obviously, the bustee problem that Kolkata inherited in the post-colonial
period was a product of colonial urban planning policies. Discrimination
in the provision of services in the colonial period also led to a lopsided
development of Kolkata. The White Town generally received priority in
health and sanitary measures, leaving large sections of the city in a slum-
like situation.
Political Economy of Post-Colonial Kolkata and Its Urban

Problems
The political economy of post-independence Kolkata contributed to its

urban problems. The phenomenal population growth of Kolkata exacer-
bated the situation of the already deteriorating infrastructure and shelter
in the city. The population of the Calcutta Metropolitan District (CMD)
grew from 4.31 million to 5.37 million between 1941 and 1951, to 6.72 million
in 1961, and to 8.33 million in 1971. The CMD was conceived by the Basic
Development Plan (BDP)5 and consisted of the agglomeration of cities and
towns that had grown in a linear and continuous pattern along both banks
of the river Hugli or Ganga (see figure 66). The city’s population grew from
2.17 to 2.70 million between 1941 and 1951, to 2.93 million in 1961, and to 3.13
million in 1971 (Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation 1966; Racine
[1986] 1990]). With the exception of the incorporation of the Tallygunge
municipal area to the KMC in 1953, the boundaries remained the same.
A new municipality adjoining the southern portion of Kolkata was set up
in Jadavpur in 1980. The Jadavpur, South Suburban, and Garden Reach
municipalities were merged into the KMC in 1983 (Lubell 1974; Calcutta
Metropolitan Development Authority 2000).
As the chapter ends around the mid-1990s, it is important to describe the
changes in Kolkata’s population and boundaries up to that point. The popu-
lation of the CMD increased to an estimated 10.2 million in 1981 with the
city’s population rising to 3.29 million (Racine [1986 ]1990). The phenomenal
growth continued and the CMD was renamed the Calcutta Metropolitan
Area (CMA). It had a population of 11.86 million in 1991, of which 4.39 million
lived in the KMC and 0.95 million in the Howrah Municipal Corporation
(HMC). The CMA covered a total area of 1,380 square kilometres. Within
this area were various administrative units, including three municipal
corporations, 34 municipalities, four notified areas, and 20 panchayat sami-
ties (Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 1994) (see figure 67).
Notified areas are urban political units comparable to municipalities, while
panchayat samities are local governments in smaller areas that are known
as development blocks.
Much of the population growth in the immediate post-independence
period was attributable to an influx of refugees. In fact, the independ-
ence of India saw an influx of 700,000 refugees to Kolkata. As homeless
people swarmed into the city, it was estimated that about 30,000 people
5 The BDP is discussed later in the chapter.

Figure 66 The Calcutta Metropolitan District in 1966
Source: Developed by the author from: Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation 1966
Figure 67 The Calcutta Metropolitan Area in 1991
Source: Developed by the author from: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 1994
were living on the pavements by the early 1960s. By the late 1980s, the
number of pavement dwellers was estimated to have risen to 60,000. Some
of the refugees received government aid and were given shelter in relief
camps. Many, however, had to squat in the empty buildings and lands in
the marshy, low-lying areas on the periphery of the city. About 500 refugee
families squatted in the Sealdah Railroad station until 1956. According to
one estimate, one million refugees settled in the Kolkata agglomeration
and its surroundings between 1946 and 1961. The influx of refugees not
only aggravated the housing situation, it also increased competition for jobs
(Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Racine [1986 ]1990; Sinha [1986 ]1990;
Evenson 1989; Unnayan 1992; Bardhan Roy 1994; Thomas 1997).
In 1953, the bustee population was 600,000 and growing. According
to a 1970 estimate, Kolkata had 949,905 legal bustee dwellers in 988 such
settlements. The bustee population was estimated to be 1.35 million in the
early 1980s and 1.8 million by 1991 (see figures 68 to 70 for views of slum
and squatter settlements). In addition to the influx of refugees, Kolkata
had to withstand a natural migration of 542,000 people between 1951 and
1961 and 15,140 between 1961 and 1971. The 1964 war with Pakistan and the
Figure 68 Bustee in Kolkata
Source: Photograph courtesy of the Calcutta Urban Service, 2003

Figure 69 Squatters along railroad tracks in Kolkata
Figure 70 Squatters along a canal in Kolkata

Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 also resulted in numerous refugees com-

ing to the city. In fact, Kolkata had to accommodate two million refugees
within a quarter century after independence (Sivaramakrishnan and Green
1986; Racine [1986 ]1990; Sinha [1986]1990; Evenson 1989; Unnayan 1992;
Bardhan Roy 1994 Thomas 1997).
The infrastructure and housing in the city were not equipped to deal
with the influx of this many people. In addition, the partition of Bengal at
independence also crippled the economy. For example, the jute industry was
severely affected as Kolkata no longer had access to hemp. The partition also
deprived the city of a huge hinterland that its commerce and industry had
served. Other traditional industries such as rubber, paper, and heavy engi-
neering declined by the 1960s. New industries located in other competitive
regions in India. The decline in manufacturing was attributable to power
shortages, labour disputes, influx of refugees, lack of investment capital
due to political climate, excess capacity of older industries in a shrinking
world market for their goods, and national freight equalization schemes
in steel and coal industries.6 Even the city’s traditional function as a port
declined by the mid-1970s as a consequence of new ports being set up or
existing ones being modernized in other parts of India (Sivaramakrishnan
and Green 1986; Racine [1986]1990], Sinha [1986 ]1990; Evenson 1989; Sanyal
and Tiwari 1991; Unnayan 1992; Bardhan Roy 1994; Thomas 1997).
Administrative Structure and the Continuation of the Colonial

Legacy in the Immediate Post-Colonial Period
The local administrative structure of Kolkata remained the same in the

immediate post-colonial period. The municipal affairs and collection of
taxes continued to be governed by the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1923 and
under the jurisdiction of the KMC. The KIT was still responsible for sanitary
improvement and slum clearance. The KMC did not function effectively
as many of the councillors acted in their own interests. As stated in the
last chapter, the KMC had been a platform for honest politicians to launch
their careers in the independence movement. This was not the case after
1947 when such politicians moved on to State and national politics, leaving
behind a corrupt municipal body. Property was deliberately undervalued in
the interest of the rich, thereby depriving the municipal body of revenues
to provide adequate urban infrastructure. No civic elections were held after
6 These schemes are discussed in detail in the next chapter.

1944, and the KMC was superseded in 1948 by the first elected government
of the State and placed under the administrative control of a government
official (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Pugh 1989). In the meantime,
the KIT continued the colonial legacy of Haussmannian planning, and
displacement of the bustee dwellers took place from the late 1940s through
the early 1950s. All such evictions occurred despite the fact that the Thika
Tenancy Act of 1949 had conferred legal rights to thika tenants to prevent
the eviction of bustee dwellers. At that time land in Kolkata’s bustees was
owned by mainly absentee landlords. They, in turn, leased the land to
intermediary developers known as thika tenants who constructed the huts
and rented them to the bustee dwellers (Unnayan 1992).
Elections were held after the passage of the Calcutta Corporation Act of
1951, which laid down stipulations for bustee improvement. According to the
act, the improvement in bustees was to be carried out by the bustee landlords
or thika tenants. The act empowered the KMC to impose a penalty in cases
of noncompliance. The KMC was reluctant to undertake slum improvement.
The policy was a continuation of the colonial practice of leaving the onus of
bustee improvements to owners. In fact, akin to colonial policies, the KMC
was empowered to prepare a ‘Standard Plan’ of bustees that would guide the
improvements of the settlement. The KMC also had the power to purchase
bustee land in order to carry out the improvements (Pugh 1989; Unnayan
1992; Bardhan Roy 1994; Sengupta 2010).
City-wide momentum on the mobilization of the inhabitants by the
left began with the Calcutta Improvement (Amendment) Bill of 1954. The
proposed bill would have provided statutory power to the KIT to clear
bustees for developmental purposes. The left labelled this a ploy to uproot
the entire bustee population of Kolkata. The Praja Socialist Party (PSP)
led the organizing of the bustee dwellers’ against the bill with a bustee
dwellers’ association known as Bastbasi Sammelan. By the mid-1950s,
the CPI assumed the leadership. The party was already organizing bustee
dwellers on political issues, preventing evictions, and providing protection
against goondas7 as well as carrying out welfare activities. The placing of
the Slum Clearance Bill in the West Bengal Assembly in 1957 resulted in a
sustained agitation led by the Calcutta Bustee Federation and other bustee
organizations with political support from the CPI. In fact, the agitation was
instrumental in changing the provisions of the bill to include the rehabilita-
tion of bustee dwellers in permanent housing when the bill was passed as
7 The word has its origins in Hindi. It is also used in Bengali and English to refer to hired
thugs.
the Calcutta Slum Clearance and Rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers Act of

1958 (Unnayan 1992). However, only twelve bustee rehousing schemes were
undertaken by the KIT until the 1970s (Pugh 1989; Unnayan 1992; Bardhan
Roy 1994; Sengupta 2010).
Western Discourse on Kolkata and the Advent of Western

Planning
The ‘scare of Kolkata’ portrayed in the discourse of such eminent figures

as Lévi-Strauss, V.S. Naipaul, and Geoffrey Moorhouse as well as the visual
images in Western films such as Louis Malle’s documentary Calcutta (1969),
discussed in chapter 1, in part prompted Western planning interventions in
the 1960s and 1970s. Besides the appalling conditions of the city, Western-
ers and the ruling Congress Party at the State and central level were also
alarmed with the rise of leftist forces in Kolkata. As aptly stated by Munshi,
‘The scare of Calcutta had turned vivid during the early sixties with strikes
and street battles, which had become everyday occurrences’ (Munshi 1978:
21). Munshi (1978) also points out that a 1961 New York Times article featured
a detailed account of a communist conspiracy brewing in Kolkata. The
newspaper informed its readers that the Ford Foundation had allocated
US$800,000 for a development plan and another US$600,000 for research
on the city by the New York Institute of Public Administration (New York
Times 1961, as cited in Munshi 1978). This scare of Kolkata led, in part, to
much of the planning activities described in the sections below.
The Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation and the Export

of the American Planning Paradigm to Kolkata
By the mid-1950s, Kolkata had earned its infamous reputation as the ‘cholera
capital of the world’ because of more than a thousand cholera deaths a
year (Thomas 1997). The continuous neglect of the bustee population from
colonial times eventually led to the outbreak of a severe cholera epidemic
in the city in 1958. The situation became so critical that it demanded im-
mediate attention, and the West Bengal government invited the World
Health Organization (WHO) to remedy the situation. The WHO team visited
Kolkata in 1959 and recommended the immediate provision of a potable
water supply, drainage, and sewerage along with a concrete long-term policy
to remedy the problems of the city, addressing issues such as transportation,
housing, slums, and land use (Bardhan Roy 1994; Banerjee and Chakravorty
1994). Soon after the WHO report, Dr. Roy and Nehru decided to seek the
Ford Foundation’s help as consultants to develop a plan for Kolkata in 1960 to
save it from communism. The Ford Foundation’s Indian Bureau initially was
not interested in developing such a plan as urban planning was not within
its broader mission for India. However, Dr. Roy persisted, with Nehru’s
help, arguing that Kolkata and the whole of India were under the threat of
communism unless living conditions for the city were improved (Banerjee
2005, 2009).
The Ford Foundation eventually agreed to participate in the planning
of Kolkata. In their initial visit to the city, Ford representatives found that
Kolkata did not have a planning organization that could manage such
a major planning initiative. This led to the establishment of the CMPO
by the State government in 1961 to house the Ford Foundation team. The
CMPO was formed hastily and not legislatively approved, thereby lacking
statutory power to implement any major planning guidelines. The plan-
ning process began with a team of foreign experts assembled by the Ford
Foundation. It included professionals from the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) and the WHO. Local professionals were recruited soon
after their arrival; many of them had been educated abroad. Some of those
locally recruited professionals were well versed in American planning
paradigms but others were not and had to become familiar with them.
However, the plan was primarily prepared under the guidance of the
foreign consultants and reflected their conceptual influence. The same
team that had undertaken the Delhi Master Plan8 of 1962 initiated the
planning for Kolkata. Unlike Delhi, the Ford Foundation’s involvement in
Kolkata was longer and lasted until the advent of communists in the State
government in the late 1960s (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Sanyal
and Tiwari 1991; Banerjee and Chakravorty 1994; Banerjee 2005). Despite
the Ford Foundation’s effort to involve local experts, King’s (1976) concept
of cultural colonization in the plan cannot be denied. Following King, this
was a case where cultural independence lagged behind the political and
economic autonomy as the new elites continued to depend on the West to
create a plan for Kolkata. Although they did not turn to Britain, the planning
was still done by Westerners. Ultimately, it was the biggest instance of a
transfer of the comprehensive planning paradigm to a city in the Global
South. Following the propositions of post-colonial theory (McEwan 2009),
8 For a detailed discussion of the Delhi Plan, see Chatterjee and Kenny 1999; Banerjee 2009.
it was a case where the West created knowledge about the South in the
form of developmentalism.
Nonetheless, the BDP published in 1966 was a major shift from the master
planning paradigm. It recommended long-range strategic initiatives for
infrastructure and slum improvement, mobility and transportation, hous-
ing and neighbourhood development, future growth, and industrial and
economic development. It was comprehensive, policy-oriented, regional
in scope, and included social and economic policies to guide metropolitan
development (Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation 1966). The
influence of comprehensive planning on Kolkata was more significant than
the influence of modernism on architects in the city.
The BDP proposed a bimodal development strategy for the newly defined
CMD, with government intervention at two centres – Kolkata-Haora and
Kalyani-Basberia (see figure 66). The latter was conceived to act as a counter
magnet for Kolkata. Although the BDP was not intended to be project spe-
cific, it did have a list of projects in an addendum, including ones that were
already being implemented or under consideration. The reasons for these ad-
ditional projects were primarily because of political pressure. It is important
to note that the celebrated Bustee Improvement Programme (BIP) of the
Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), now known as the
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), was proposed in
the BDP. BIP was a precursor to the World Bank’s ‘slum upgrading schemes’
and consisted of in situ environmental improvement of bustees by provid-
ing basic services such as water, sanitary latrines sewerage, stormwater
drainage, treatment tanks, and electricity. The underlying assumption was
that the previous policy of eradicating bustees and rehabilitating them in
formal housing would not solve Kolkata’s problems. Although the BIP was
strongly supported by the central government, it found little support from
any local organizations and parties. The KMC refused to implement the BIP
as the mayor who belonged to a leftist party resorted to Marxist rhetoric,
declaring it a vicious plan to undermine the revolutionary potential for
social change. Therefore the implementation of the BIP in this period was
limited to a few bustees undertaken by the CMPO itself. The bustees that
were selected for the BIP were on the outskirts of the city. Besides the BIP,
the CMPO planned a slum clearance programme for central city areas
because they were seen as densely populated and posing health hazards.
Clearance and rehabilitation were to take place simultaneously (Sanyal and
Tiwari 1991; Bardhan Roy 1994).9
9 Also based on author’s interviews with KMDA officials in 1999 and 2003.
The changing political climate of Kolkata and India hampered the imple-
mentation of the BDP. In the subsequent years after the BDP’s development,
there were three elections in which various coalitions of left- and right-wing
parties came to power in the State, each lasting for about a year. Leftist
parties such as the CPI(M), the CPI, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party
(RSP) began to gain support by the mid-1960s. Eventually, a coalition of
leftist and anti-Congress parties – the United Front – defeated the Congress
Party in the State elections in 1967, ending its 20 years of dominance over
the State. However, Congress still maintained its control on Kolkata as
it had won the 1965 KMC elections. The overlapping jurisdiction of the
city and State regimes in Kolkata witnessed several political battles that
prevented any positive urban development. For example, the United Front
government reduced taxes on bustees as a populist measure. Such a policy
was also aimed at reducing the resource base for the KMC. The United
Front also ordered the police not to interfere with labour management
strife that led to numerous gheraos that crippled the industries (Kohli 1990).
Since the Congress Party was the primary patron of the BDP, the loss in
the State elections brought strong opposition to the BDP and CMPO. The
coalition that came to power resorted to leftist rhetoric and demanded that
the CMPO should not be allowed to proceed because it did not have the
legal authority. It was also seen as a bureaucratic organization staffed with
expatriates and funded by capitalist donors for the sole purpose of spying
and labelled an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). There was
no Dr. Roy to champion the cause of the CMPO and the BDP. He had died
in 1962. Nor was there any support from the centre as Mrs. Indira Gandhi,
who had just become the prime minister in 1966, was busy consolidating
her power and dealing with India’s declining economy (Sanyal and Tiwari
1991; Kohli 1990; Banerjee and Chakravorty 1994).
The Fear of Communism and the Formation of the Kolkata

Metropolitan Development Authority
The ongoing Bangladesh Liberation War added to Kolkata’s woes through

a daily influx of large numbers of refugees. The city’s infrastructure was
rapidly deteriorating and a large proportion of the population was without
any urban amenities. Unemployment, plant closures, and social unrest were
on the rise. Colleges were closed due to violence that engulfed the city. The
political instability of the period further exacerbated the situation. The
escalation of the Naxalite movement led to infighting between the Naxalites
and the CPI(M) and other political parties, and subsequent violence in
Kolkata. As a result, Kolkata became a battlefield. The Naxalites killed
what they deemed ‘class enemies’ on a daily basis, These ‘enemies’ consisted
of members of other political parties – mainly the CPI(M) – university
professors, informers, and members of the police, thereby unleashing an
unprecedented urban terror in Kolkata (Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Kohli 1990;
Banerjee and Chakravorty 1994).10
Perturbed by the revolutionary rhetoric of the Naxalites and the support
they received from the youth and intellectuals as well as by the electoral
inroads made into State politics by leftist parties, the central government
felt that a massive flow of funds was needed for urban development to curb
the rise of leftist forces (Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Banerjee and Chakravorty
1994). Mrs. Gandhi sent a high-powered delegation in 1970 to assess Kolkata’s
situation. The delegation recommended the formation of the KMDA as a
statutory body with legal powers to mobilize and allocate resources to
execute urban development projects (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986;
Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Banerjee and Chakravorty 1994). A presidential
decree in 1970 created the KMDA to channel funding to Kolkata with a
US$200 million grant from the central government to implement projects
that were identified in the BDP.
The World Bank was also instrumental in the creation of the KMDA.
However, it did not begin providing assistance to the KMDA until three
years after its formation. When the bank took an interest in Kolkata’s urban
development in the early 1970s, it found existing municipalities too small
and ineffective and proposed the creation of a new metropolitan develop-
ment authority. KMDA was also created to serve as a metropolitan-level
agency to plan, finance, and coordinate projects for Kolkata’s physical
development and not duplicate the planning function of agencies such as
the KIT. The agency was also not initially responsible for implementation
or maintenance of these projects (Pugh 1989).11
In 1974 the KMDA began to implement 44 projects from the appended
list of 160 in the BDP through a US$35 million loan from the International
Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank under Calcutta Urban
Development Project 1, 1972/73-1975/76. The IDA loan granted in 1973
represented only 20 per cent of the KMDA’s total program. The projects
were mainly infrastructure including water, roads, and bridges and did not
10 The description of Kolkata’s unrest in the 1960s and 1970s is also based on the author’s
observations at that time.
11 Also based on the author’s interviews with senior KMDA officials in 2003.
include the well-celebrated BIP. The projects approved by the World Bank
were rather arbitrary because it had yet to establish a well-defined criteria
for funding urban projects (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Pugh 1989;
Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Banerjee and Chakravorty 1994). A second IDA
credit of US$87 million was granted in 1977. This funding included support
for the projects that were selected earlier, as well as participation in the
BIP, construction and extension of primary schools, revamping the city’s
waste collection and disposal system, and loans for small enterprises. The
distinction between projects that could be funded by IDA assistance and the
KMDA’s overall scheme of projects continued until the sanction of US$147
million in 1983 under the Calcutta Urban Development Project III out of a
total KMDA program of US$347 million (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986).
The World Bank did not approve the BIP initially because the KMDA
was not willing to address the question of security of tenure. The bank
was concerned that without legal tenure, there would be no further invest-
ment by bustee dwellers in the dwellings. Without such tenure, many of
them, especially the renters, would be evicted as soon as improvements
were completed. Such issues would affect the World Bank’s goals of cost
recovery and replicability. The KMDA did not want to address the issue for
several reasons. As previously explained, Kolkata’s bustees at that time were
owned by (mainly absentee) landlords who leased the land to intermediary
developers known as thika tenants. These tenants then constructed the
huts and rented them to the bustee dwellers. So, there was a dilemma about
who would get tenure in this situation. The KMDA argued that Kolkata’s
bustees could not wait for the tenure issue to be resolved before undertaking
the BIP. The political situation of the bustees also resulted in the KMDA’s
reluctance to tackle the issue of tenure. When the KMDA embarked on
the BIP in the early 1970s, the situation in the bustees was volatile. Many
Naxalites had taken refuge there. They opposed the BIP because they felt it
was a ploy to remove them from the bustees. Perhaps the KMDA would not
have succeeded in implementing the BIP without the support of the thika
tenants because they hoped that those improvements would raise their
property values. Pursuing the issue of tenure would have, perhaps, urged
the thika tenants to join the landlords and the Naxalites to disrupt the BIP
(Sanyal and Tiwari 1991). The Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation)
Act of 1981 eventually increased the security of tenure of the bustee dwellers.
Since the act was passed, the thika tenants became tenants of the State,
which abolished the landlord system by acquiring and purchasing the
land that belonged to the landlords. The land tax is now paid directly by
the thika tenants. The World Bank took a cautious stance and waited to
see the progress of the BIP before it extended its support to the project.
After seeing the success of the BIP in improving the living conditions in the
bustees, the bank increased its loan to Rs 478 million (approximately US$55
million) under Calcutta Urban Development Project II, 1977/78-1981/82,
which included loans for the BIP (Pugh 1989).
The BIP was a progressive scheme because it was one of the first pro-
grammes in the Global South to recognize the housing stock of the poor.
Prior to that, the existing policy in Kolkata was to eradicate bustees and
relocate them in regular housing at a subsidized rent. However, it was real-
ized that the magnitude of the problem was so huge that it was impossible
to rehouse all the bustee dwellers. Most of the ones relocated in earlier
schemes had moved on to other bustees, transferring the regular housing to
a higher-income group. There was a realization that bustee dwellers lived in
an informal economy that was grounded in the bustee. Consequently, it was
determined that it was best to upgrade them rather than to relocate them.
Initially, the process of upgrading was basic and consisted of improved sani-
tation practices. These included the removal of pit privies and the provision
of community sanitary toilets, potable water, and street lighting. Further
improvements included upgrades in sewage and drainage, garbage disposal,
and street pavement. From 1975 onwards, the BIP extended its coverage to
social and economic development (also see Pugh 1989 in this context).12
The BIP had four phases. Phase I of the Program was from 1971/72 to
1975/76, Phase II from 1975/76 to 1980/81, Phase III from 1977/78 to 1983/84,
and Phase IV from 1982/83 to 1988. As stated above, the KMDA was able
to increase the scope of BIP in Phase II because of World Bank assistance.
Phase IV, under Calcutta Urban Development Project III, also involved the
KMC. At the time the BIP was absorbed in the municipal reform programs
of the early 1980s. The KMDA acted as guarantor of the grant and the KMC
was responsible for design and implementation of the project. The KMDA
supervised KMC activities and sanctioned the money under stipulations set
forth under Calcutta Urban Development Project III (Churches Auxiliary
for Social Action 1984; Bardhan Roy 1994; Thomas 1997).
Despite its progressive nature, the BIP was a lost opportunity to involve
the voluntary sector in grassroots planning. According to KMDA officials, a
discussion with voluntary organization officials revealed that they were not
involved in the physical improvement of bustees because it was too expen-
sive. They were primarily involved in relief work. Accordingly, they were not
involved in the BIP even during its heyday in the 1970s. The KMDA bypassed
12 Also based on author’s interviews with KMDA officials in 1996, 1999, and 2003.
the entire voluntary sector, except for seeking an ‘entry’ into through CBOs,
clubs, and NGOs including welfare wings of churches and Hindu religious
organizations. According to CMDA officials, they encountered tremendous
resistance from bustee dwellers when they first tried to enter these settle-
ments. The KMDA was mainly staffed with technically oriented engineers,
who had no concept of social planning for bustees. Fortunately, they also
had a few social workers who had joined them from the CMPO and created
a path for the KMDA to enter the bustees by establishing a rapport with the
CBOs, NGOs, and local residents.
The formation of the KMDA led to the demise of the CMPO. The organiza-
tion had lost most of its foreign funding by the end of the 1960s and did
not have the legal authority to raise its own funds. They lost senior staff,
some of whom were expatriates, because they left India. Others joined the
KMDA for a better salary. These losses, coupled with a demoralized junior
staff who were seeking employment elsewhere, rendered the organization
almost defunct. The organization was eventually merged into a state agency,
the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), in 1977. Its planning
function was reduced to planning for villages and cities that did not have
any planning or development agencies (Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Banerjee
and Chakravorty 1994).
The rise of the KMDA as the primary urban development authority was
attributable to the demise of the KMC and the CMPO by the late 1960s. The
belief at that time was that apolitical institutions were better equipped
to administer urban development. By the end of the 1960s, the KMC was
practically bankrupt and without visionary leadership. As a result, the
KMDA filled the vacuum armed with the funding of the central govern-
ment and the World Bank. The KMDA’s authority was further expanded
in 1974 when the State government gave it execution powers through an
amendment of the CMDA Act. This amendment allowed the agency to take
over the management of several sub-metropolitan organizations such as
the Haora Improvement Trust (HIT) and the Calcutta Metropolitan Water
and Sanitation Authority (CMWSA). A year earlier, the KMDA had taken
over several infrastructure projects from such agencies as the KMC, Public
Health Engineering, Public Works, and Irrigation and Waterways Directo-
rates. Subsequently, the KMDA became involved in planning, financing,
executing, and maintaining some of its projects. The KMC was once again
superseded in early 1972. Many other municipalities in the CMD were also
taken over by the State. As a part of municipal reform, the State Planning
Board prepared a plan for a two-tier form of metropolitan government.
This plan would consist of a top-tier metropolitan council and a series of
lower-tier borough councils. The CMPO, KMDA, CMWSA, CIT, and the
HIT were to be attached to or merged with the metropolitan council. The
proposal was not adopted (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Sanyal and
Tiwari 1991).
Political Climate and Municipal Reform
The demise of the KMDA was attributable to the political climate in Kolkata.
The CPI(M)-led coalition of nine left parties, the Left Front, that came to
power in West Bengal in 1977 was a cadre-based party with strong grassroots
connections. The party looked to further strengthen its base in the grass-
roots by resorting to Marxist rhetoric vilifying the KMDA, arguing that its
focus on large-scale infrastructure provision did not benefit the poor in the
outlying areas. This was because the party’s electoral support came from
these areas. The CPI(M) argued that the poor really needed more employ-
ment opportunities, which the KMDA had failed to provide. According to
the CPI(M), large infrastructure projects were counterproductive as they
diverted attention from the economic decline that Kolkata and West Bengal
were experiencing. Further, the CPI(M) blamed the central government
for these deficiencies. For them, the BIP did not improve the conditions of
the poor and was a capitalist ploy to maintain an exploitable pool of cheap
labour. The KMDA was also seen as a bureaucratic institution that was not
accountable to the electorate. It was considered to be an agent of the central
government and the World Bank and therefore could not serve the needs
of the poor (Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Thomas 1997).
Municipal reform was resumed by the new government in 1977. As a first
step, local government affairs and municipal development were placed
under the jurisdiction of a minister of the State government, appointed
as the vice chairman of the KMDA. The State government enacted several
legislative reforms in the 1980s to provide the legal, administrative, fiscal,
and statutory environment needed to empower municipalities as primary
actors of urban development. The Calcutta Corporation Act of 1951 and
the Bengal Municipal Act of 1932 were extensively scrutinized, creating
the path for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act of 1980 that became
effective in 1984. During this period, the Howrah Municipal Corporation
Act of 1980 was passed in 1983 for similar reasons. These acts enabled the
formation of India’s first municipal cabinet system of government. In this
system a ‘mayor-in-council’ is elected every five years and is responsible
for the financial decisions. The State-appointed bureaucrat is merely a
figurehead. Under this system ward councillors, who are elected, became
representatives of the people. In turn, they nominate the ward committee
members. Ideally such nominations were supposed to be non-partisan.
However, party affiliations often determined the nominations. The Calcutta
Municipal Corporation Act of 1980 fixed the number of wards at 141 in the
KMC. Conversely, the numbers of wards in other municipal corporations
are determined by the State government under statutory provisions. The
wards are grouped into boroughs, each of them controlling a portion of the
municipal budget (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Kohli 1990; Sanyal
and Tiwari 1991; Thomas 1997; Pal 2006, 2008; Sengupta 2010).13
The boroughs submit plans based on their priorities to the municipali-
ties. Funds are then allocated with the borough being responsible for the
implementation of programs. Technical staffs are posted at the borough and
ward committee level to assist the planning efforts. The councillors select an
alderman who elects the mayor. In turn, the mayor selects his or her deputy
and members responsible for specific development sectors. During the Left
Front regime, in many municipalities the CPI(M) and its allies occupied
the political space at the municipal, borough, and ward levels. Most ward
councillors and municipal-level chairpersons had ambitions beyond that
level and accepted the mandates of the party leaders at the State level. Even
those who did not aspire for higher levels of power did not antagonize State-
level party leaders because they depended on their political patronage. Key
committee posts at the ward and municipal levels were held by party cadres,
controlled and administered by decision-making, umbrella institutions at
the State level. Such excessive party involvement at all layers eliminated
citizen involvement in the affairs of their municipalities and undermined
the stated goals of democratic decentralization of urban management and
development (Sivaramakrishnan and Green 1986; Kohli 1990; Sanyal and
Tiwari 1991; Thomas 1997; Pal 2006, 2008; Sengupta 2010).14
In the new leftist political climate, municipalities of councillors were seen
as better equipped to carry out urban development, as they were elected
and decentralized entities. The new regime felt that political representation
and popular participation were key ingredients for equitable urban develop-
ment, management, and maintenance of assets. In 1981, municipal elections
outside Kolkata and Haora were held for the first time in thirteen years as
a part of the decentralization process. However, the CPI(M) did not hold
municipal elections in Kolkata until 1985. Unsure of its prospects of winning
13 Also based on author’s interviews with a KMDA official and HIT officials in 1996 and 2003.
14 Ibid.
an election, the party governed the city through the State government from
1977 to 1985. Wards in the fringes of the city including Jadavpur, where
the party had electoral support from former refugees, and rural areas that
benefitted from the regime’s development programmes were added to the
KMC to increase its electoral base. With this added support, the CPI(M)
and its allies were able to win the 1985 elections by a slim majority (Kohli
1990; Sanyal and Tiwari 1991; Thomas 1997; Pal 2006, 2008; Sengupta 2010).15
The Municipal Development Programme (MDP), initiated by the Left
Front government in the 1980s, also drastically reduced the power of the
KMDA. Besides the declared goals of decentralization, one of the reasons for
implementing the MDP was to channel more funding to municipalities with
squatter settlements of refugees in the outlying areas of Kolkata and Haora.
These settlements that had not benefited from earlier programmes were
a critical element in the CPI(M)’s political base. One-third of the total of
US$347 million of the CMDA’s budget was reserved for the MDP. Under this
programme, municipalities were empowered to execute and plan capital
projects, maintain municipal assets, and generate revenues from sources
other than taxes. The State government gave them cash block grants for
whatever development projects they felt necessary with the stipulation that
they prepare a five-year plan of action based on State-approved guidelines.
Thus, municipalities were no longer dependent on the KMDA for funding.
Prior to the initiation of the MDP, the KMDA had been the primary actor in
the planning and execution of all development projects. The KMDA’s func-
tion was reduced to merely a planning and coordinating body. Under this
system, ward committees chaired by elected ward councillors determined
the type of development and investment at the local level (Pal 2006, 2008).16
The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments Acts of 1992 further at-
tempted to decentralize planning in India by raising gram panchayats
(village councils), municipalities, and municipal corporations to constitu-
tional status, thereby making them local governments. The government
of West Bengal enacted the West Bengal Metropolitan Committee Act in
1994, leading to the development of the Kolkata Metropolitan Planning
Committee (KMPC) seven years later. The KMPC was charged with devel-
oping a draft development plan for the KMA through a consolidation of
plans for the municipalities and gram panchayats under its jurisdiction.
Two-thirds of the members of the KMPC consisted of elected councillors of
municipalities and gram panchayats of the KMA. One-third are nominated
15 Ibid.
16 Also based on author’s interviews with KMDA officials in 1996 and 2003.
representatives of the government of India, State government, and from

organizations related to urban development such as the KMDA, Port Trust
of India, Indian Railways, and others. The KMDA, which became the
technical arm of the KMCP, prepared a plan for the KMA in 2001 entitled
Vision 2025: Perspective Plan of CMA (Calcutta Metropolitan Development
Authority 2000; Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 2005; Pal
2006, 2008).17 However, during the Left Front regime, most of the elected
members of the KMCP outside of the regime’s influence took limited interest
in its workings. These members felt that they had very little impact on the
decision-making process. The nominated members rarely proposed new
plans or opposed proposals that came from the elected members for similar
reasons. Although the planners of the KMDA did decide on the allocation
of limited State resources for plan proposals that came from the elected
members of the KMCP, there is no evidence to illustrate if such proposals
were selected on a technical analysis or if the planners acted under political
pressure to accept certain proposals. There was very little communication
about planning that took place at the KMCP to the municipal and ward
levels (Pal 2006, 2008).18
The Infiltration of the Grassroots Space by the Communist Party

of India (Marxist) and Its Allies
We can conclude from the above discussion that efforts to decentralize

planning were, perhaps, intended for the infiltration of grassroots space by
the CPI(M) and its allies as well as rewarding the squatter settlements for
their political support. Such infiltration by the CPI(M) and its cadres at the
grassroots left very little space for other civil-society organizations such as
the NGOs and CBOs to carry out empowerment-oriented activities. The lack
of political space for NGOs and CBOs for empowerment is also attributable
to the long history of political mobilization of the bustee dwellers dating
back to the 1950s and the organizational culture of welfare among NGOs.
As discussed earlier the leftist parties had been building a political base
among the bustee dwellers since the 1950s.
The CPI(M) and other leftist parties were instrumental in preventing the
evictions of a large number of illegal refugee colonies that grew up in outly-
ing areas of the CMD due to the influx of refugees. In fact, the Left Front that
17 Also based on author’s interview with a senior KMDA official in 2003.

18 Also based on the author’s interviews with KMDA officials in 1996 and 2003.
came to power in 1977 drew its electoral support from such refugee colonies.
Many of the older squatter settlements enjoyed the protection of political
leaders, reasonable security of tenure, and access to amenities such as water
taps. In return, they joined rallies, protests, and voted in favour of the party
that protected them (Thomas 1997). But the support that the Congress had
among some of the bustee dwellers in the 1950s and 1960s eroded because
of the industrial and economic decline of the period. Consequently, their
allegiance shifted to the CPI(M). The party also increased its political sup-
port by legalizing many bustees and initiating the same BIP program that
they had earlier disparaged. Refugee settlements on the southern fringes of
the city were also annexed into the KMC to increase the electoral support
for the party (Thomas 1997).
Roy (2003) demonstrates how the resettled colonies on the eastern bor-
ders of Kolkata have long been sites of mobilization for the left, ranging from
land grabs in the 1960s to the refugee settlements of the 1970s. As the Left
Front came to power in the State, it established a set of colonies in which
to resettle squatters on a long-term basis. However, an ambiguity of tenure
existed with these new settlements. They were on vested or private lands.
Vested land in Kolkata’s fringes consisted of land that can be acquired by the
State through: confiscation of agricultural land in excess of the land ceilings
under agrarian reforms set for by the Left Front; non-agricultural lands
acquired under the Urban Land Ceiling Act; and land that is acquired under
‘public interest’. The settlements on private lands were obtained through
land invasions or the extra judicial process of ‘vesting’. Sharecroppers and
bustee dwellers were also resettled on agricultural land through land inva-
sions in the 1970s and 1980s (Roy 2003, 2004, 2011a). Given the ambiguity
of tenure, the land in the colonies was promised but never secured. The
Left Front again resorted to Marxist rhetoric to maintain this ambiguity
of land tenure, arguing that regularization of tenure would lead to the
commodification of shelter. This concept was counter to the party’s ideol-
ogy. The CPI(M) did not allow the selling of the land except to the colony
committee, basically a wing of the party. The party claimed that it did so
in order to protect the inhabitants from bourgeois corruption. In reality,
without land titles the inhabitants could not sell their land at market rates
to outsiders. In this way the party remained the ultimate landowner and
could continually mobilize the poor through the lure of tenure (Roy 2003).
Such a history of mobilization by the left afforded little room for the
NGOs and CBOs to undertake any activities, including empowerment, other
than welfare. In fact, all political parties were eager to mobilize the urban
poor, not only to increase their popularity, but also to attract votes. Unlike
many other Indian cities, in Kolkata’s political culture ‘mass organization’

and ‘empowerment’ were the designated tasks of the ‘vanguard party’,
that is, the CPI(M), and other leftist parties and not that of NGOs, even
after the party had abandoned its leftist ideologies from the mid 1990s. In
the early years of its administration, the Left Front was even critical about
foreign-funded NGOs. Although more NGOs were allowed later to obtain
foreign funding, their work remained welfare oriented.
As aptly pointed out by Thomas (1997) and concluded from the author’s
fieldwork, NGOs could work among bustee dwellers and squatters as long
as their work was not politically threatening and the CPI(M) could take
credit for what they were doing. Welfare work carried out by the NGOs and
CBOs was tolerated in that climate. As pointed out by Sengupta (2010) and
observed by the author, three decades of the CPI(M)’s regime in Kolkata led
to the creation of political space for the assertion of political forces. This is
a notion that ignores the role of NGOs and civil society in the development
process. In such a political climate, the NGOs and CBOs that emerged in
the 1980s had to make compromises to their original objectives and were
co-opted by the regime, thereby undermining any bottom-up approach
to planning. Pal (2008) adds another important dimension to the types of
NGO activities that were tolerated by the Left Front regime. He demon-
strates how NGOs working with sex workers in West Bengal were able to
increase the bargaining power of the prostitutes. Among other reasons, such
NGOs were tolerated because of the stigma associated with prostitutes in
Bengali society and the subsequent lack of interest of the political parties
to associate with their cause. The author would add that it was below the
dignity of the communist bhadralok state to work with prostitutes. (The
term bhadralok means ‘gentleman’ in Bengali.) The bhadralok class consists
mainly of the Bengali urban intelligentsia that emerged in colonial Bengal.
As discussed by Kohli (1990), the leadership of the CPI(M) at the city and
State level came from upper-caste, educated men in their sixties who had
been party members for several decades. The party cadres within the city
were generally drawn from white-collar workers, educated Bengali middle
class, university students, and professors. So essentially the state and its
machinery consisted of bhadraloks.19 Thus, it was beyond the dignity of this
class to be associated with prostitutes.
The infiltration of the CPI(M) into squatter settlements and bustees is
explained in Castells’s (1983) treatise on urban populism. Urban populism is
the process of establishing political legitimacy through popular mobilization
19 Also see Roy 2003 for the concept.

that is facilitated through the provision of land, housing, and other urban
services. It can also be explained from Chatterjee’s (2004, 2010, 2011) trea-
tise on political society in India. It can be seen as the state’s regulation of
population groups whose habitation and livelihood verge on the margins of
legality. Chatterjee argues that such populations groups comprised of street
vendors, illegal squatters, and other urban poor constitute the political
society, separate from the civil society. According to Chatterjee, Indian
civil society consists of citizens with legal rights and includes the (tradition-
ally small) urban middle classes. Given the illegal status of people in the
political society, the state agencies devised numerous paralegal means of
extending services to this particular subculture. This was conducted on
an ad hoc basis so as not to jeopardize the overall structure of rules and
principles for political and social reasons. However, this reduces the claims
of the people in the political society to constant political negotiations.
Even when their entitlements are recognized, they never become rights.
Thus, these entitlements are not permanent and secure. The emergence
of political society in the 1970s and 1980s opened up a field of competitive
mobilization of the urban poor by political parties and political leaders.
Chatterjee (2004) attributed the emergence of political society to the dual
effects of democracy and development. Massive increases of population
in the major Indian cities during this time led to political unrest, crime,
homelessness, squalor, and disease. Such a situation caused concern in the
provision of urban services such as housing, sanitation, water, electricity,
transportation, education, and health services for the poor.
These decades also experienced a proliferation of development and
welfare schemes funded by the central government and international
agencies such as the World Bank to accommodate the swelling number of
urban poor. The urban development projects of these decades assumed that
large sections of the urban poor would live in illegal settlements. Yet the
authorities found ways to provide them with services. These services were
necessitated by the reality that the urban poor not only provided the labour
and services for the cities, but it was imperative that they were pacified to
prevent any civil unrest that would threaten the rest of society. This led
to the emergence of the political society and ended the dominance of the
wealthy over the politics of the city. It also brought about the disengagement
of the middle class from tumultuous urban politics. Even when the middle
class engaged with the urban poor, the involvement was restricted to the
non-political world of NGOs.
Finally, the literature that examines why governments with a left-of-
centre commitment to people’s power may not welcome NGOs is also useful
in providing an explanation for the lack of political space for NGOs (see, for
example, Mageli 2004, 2005; Ramirez 2005; Pal 2006, 2008). Such literature
argues that such governments claim to have a genuine understanding of
popular aspirations and see no need for NGOs to perform the mass mobiliza-
tion role of a ‘vanguard party’. These studies also recognize that in societies
with communist governments, national structures and institutions are
completely occupied by the state, leaving little room for civil society. This
was exactly the case in Kolkata.
New Towns around Kolkata
In terms of new town planning, nothing as monumental as Chandigarh was

undertaken in Kolkata or its vicinity. Even Bhubaneswar, the new capital for
Orissa, and Gandhinagar, the new capital for Gujarat, planned almost two
decades after independence by Indian planners H.K Mewada and Prakash
M. Apte, surpassed the modest new towns planned around Kolkata. 20
Saltlake, renamed Bidhannagar after Dr. Bidhan Roy who conceived it,
was developed between 1958 and 1965 (see figure 66 for its location). The
city was developed by the Irrigation and Waterways Department, which
employed no planners whatsoever. The only reason that this organization
was allowed to develop the city was because it had the authority to use silt
from the Ganga that was needed to reclaim the marshy lands where Bidhan-
nagar was built.21 Bidhannagar was a relatively successful satellite town.
It was mainly settled by car-owning upper-class people living in exclusive
bungalows or flats. Cars were a necessity as public transportation links
from Kolkata to Bidhannagar were almost nonexistent in the early years.
Most of the development gained momentum in the 1970s. The settlement
was interspersed with illegal squatters who served its population as day
labourers, rickshaw pullers, bicycle van drivers, vegetable vendors, cooks,
and maids (Thomas 1997).22 Government offices including that of the KMDA
are located there (see figures 58 and 59). Housing for government officials
and cooperative housing for the moderate incomes (see figure 71) were also
initiated there during these years.
Kalyani and Basberia, (see figure 66 for their location) identified in
the BDP as a part of the bimodal developmental strategy, were not as
20 For a detailed discussion on the planning of these towns, see Kalia 1994, 2004.
21 Based on author’s interview with KMDA officials in 1996 and 2003.
22 Also based on author’s observations.
Figure 71 Cooperative housing for moderate income groups in Bidhannagar
successful because of poor transportation linkages from Kolkata. Kalyani

was originally an American airbase during World War II. Planning the city
had begun prior to the advent of the BDP in the 1950s under Dr. Bidhan
Chandra Roy’s vision for meeting the growing housing needs of Kolkata.
Chuchura, Srirampur, and Chandannagar (see figure 66 for their location)
were assimilated into the suburbs of Kolkata in the post-colonial period.
Given Kolkata’s housing shortages, people commuted from these and other
suburbs to Kolkata in local trains. The increasing cost of commuting in the
mid-1980s also attracted the lower middle classes to the bustees as they
provided a cheaper alternative to commuting.23
Haora’s Post-Colonial Urbanism
Architectural styles were even more contained in Haora than Kolkata until
the mid-1990s. Utilitarian modern (see figure 72) and mistiri-built housing
(see figure 73) were the prevalent forms of architecture. Most of the elite did
not want to invest in the housing market in Haora because of limited access
23 Based on an interview with a KMDA official in 1999.

Figure 72 Sarat Sadhan Auditorium. Haora’s version of the ‘utilitarian modern’

style
to the city, except in West Haora, which was better connected to Kolkata.
Even West Haora’s access to Kolkata improved only after the opening of the
Bidyasagor Setu or the second Hugli Bridge in 1992. Prior to that Rabindra
Setu or Haora Bridge, which was the primary connection of the city to
Kolkata, had perpetual traffic jams. The city lacked basic infrastructure
such as accessible and well-maintained roads, telecommunication linkages,
Figure 73 Mistiri-built housing in Haora with waterlogged lanes
Source: Photograph by Ashok Kar and Tul Tul Banerjee. Courtesy of Purdendu Bikas Sengupta,
2013
and proper electric and water supply. The city’s winding alleys, garbage
dumped on streets (see figure 74), congestion (see figure 75), dilapidated
houses, slums and squatters (see figures 76 and 77), uncovered drains,
and pit toilets are well captured in the literal imagination of the Bengali
novelist Shankar in his 1974 book Jekhane Jeman, in which an English wife
of an expatriate from this city could not digest its filth and had to cut
Figure 74 Rag pickers among garbage in Haora
Figure 75 Congestion along a main thoroughfare in Haora

Figure 76 A bustee in Haora
short her visit to the city of her husband’s birth (Shankar 1974). Of course,
some of these conditions had changed by the mid-1990s, but not to a great
extent. All these factors deterred the proliferation of better architecture.
The contractor builders who had built the multi-storeyed housing in the
mid-1990s in Haora often violated building codes (see figure 78). Only a
few Bidhannagar-style houses could be found, mainly in West Haora, until
that time.
Figure 77 Squatters along a highway under construction in Haora
The neglect of planning in Haora continued in the post-colonial period.

The Haora Municipality, which had existed since 1858, did little to improve
the deplorable condition of the city. The municipality was replaced by the
Haora Municipal Corporation according to the stipulations of the Howrah
Municipal Act of 1965. From 1984 onwards the mayor-in-council system was
initiated in the city. The municipal governments of the post- independence
era did very little to improve the infrastructure and sanitary conditions of
the city (Bandyopadhyay 1995). The HIT, incorporated under the Howrah
Improvement Trust Act of 1956 and created in 1957, was responsible for
planning for the city. The HIT only undertook infrastructure and land
development projects such as road and bridge improvements, sewerage
works, park development, land development for housing, and housing de-
velopment for middle-income groups. Any real planning for the city did not
emerge until the BDP. According to a senior HIT official, the city of Haora
with its old infrastructure was always looked down upon as the stepchild of
Kolkata. A working-class, industrial city that had unplanned growth from
the beginning, it could never shake off the stigma of a coolie town in the
immediate post-colonial period. According to the same official, its residents
were resistant to planning. Public consciousness and participation were low
Figure 78 Flats in Haora juxtaposed with garbage. Architecture of the contractor

builder

because it was a city of male migrants with little stake in the city’s future.
A shortage of funds was also a major impediment to planning. In fact, the
modest improvements in Haora’s civic condition that were achieved in the
mid-1990s occurred only because of a written petition to the Supreme Court
of India by founding leader Shubhas Dutta of the NGO Haora Ganatrantik
Nagarik Samity (Haora Democratic Citizens Association) in 1995.24
24 Based on an interview with Subhas Dutta in 1996.

5 Globalizing Kolkata
A Late Bloomer
Emergence of New Market-Driven Architectural Forms in India
One of the key differences between Kolkata and other major Indian me-
tropolises such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai is that new
forms of architecture and urban planning associated with globalization
appeared much earlier in these other cities. The advent of liberalization
policies in the early 1990s broke a 40-year-old stranglehold by the state
on a regulated economy. The physical manifestation of these policies
since the early 1990s is the appearance of a whole range of market-driven
architecture representing images of globalization that are spatially and
visually transforming Indian cities (King 2004). Such projects include hous-
ing schemes and apartment complexes for high-income groups, hospitals,
shopping malls, gated communities, private townships, office buildings
for the service and financial sectors, SEZs, and IT parks and complexes.
Over time, it became apparent that the local architectural industry was
unprepared to deal with the demands for large-scale construction that
globalization warranted. Consequently, a considerable number of such
projects have been outsourced to international f irms from Singapore,
Europe, and the United States. Some of these firms are completely insensi-
tive to the Indian context and erect structures that do not blend into
India’s urban fabric. This corporate practice is limited primarily to large
firms with in-house specializations and the capacity to deliver products
in a competent fashion based on a standard set of documents and designs
(Mehrotra 2011). However, the problem lies deeper than the insensitivity
of foreign firms. As this chapter will illustrate, often it is the clients who
select foreign architects to design buildings with a global image that does
not fit the Indian context. They do so to lure foreign capital, attract non-
resident Indians (NRIs), or cater to the global taste of the elite. In Kolkata,
municipal and State agencies are not only allowing the construction of
such architecture but are entering into public-private partnerships to
promote it.
Even before global architecture began to appear in Kolkata or, for that
matter, elsewhere in India, DLF City in Gurgaon – a private township 32
kilometres south-west of New Delhi – pioneered such architecture (see
figure 79). The city was begun in the early to mid-1980s, before the arrival
Figure 79 A variety of Euro-American forms of housing: DLF City
Source: Photograph by Mukul Sethi and C.V. Dinekar. Courtesy of Sunando Dasgupta, 2013
of globalization, on a modest 0.41 square kilometres, but by 2002 it covered

an area that was bigger than colonial New Delhi (King 2004). Because of
their links with the global economy through software and hardware firms
and call centres, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have emerged as India’s high-
technology cities. As a result, their spatial and physical transformation
occurred before Kolkata’s. New townships have been developed in these
cities and their suburbs to meet the demand for upscale housing, catering
to NRIs, the elite, and the global middle class who aspire to the NRI lifestyle
(Chacko 2007; Chacko and Varghese 2009). Mumbai, India’s economic
capital, was no different. The city’s population includes an upper class of
business elites, who have thrived on generations of wealth, and a growing
middle class. The latter is a product of Mumbai’s integration into the global
economy and the subsequent expansion of the service sector. This segment
of the population has been migrating to the gated communities found in the
northern suburbs (Falzon 2004). Since their introduction in the early 1990s
in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Bhubaneswar, and Hyderabad,
IT parks with their global architecture are mushrooming on the outskirts
of such cities (Chacko 2007; Chacko and Varghese 2009; Mehrotra 2011).
Shopping malls that have also appeared in such cities project a similar
image (see figure 80).
Globalizing Kolkata 193
Figure 80 MGF Mall in DLF City Centre
Why Kolkata Was a Late Bloomer
Kolkata’s political history and culture explain why it has been a late
bloomer in the proliferation of global architecture and new urban plan-
ning paradigms. The Left Front government had ignored Kolkata’s urban
development because the dominant party – CPI(M) – in the coalition had
its political base in the rural areas. All attention was focused on agrarian
reform and land redistribution (Kohli 1988). As a populist measure, the
Left Front introduced Operation Barga in 1978 to secure tenancy rights
for the bargadars (sharecroppers). Operation Barga redistributed benami
(‘nameless’ in Bengali) land, which had been illegally transferred to close
friends or relatives, in excess of the ceiling limit to bargadars. The land
reform improved agricultural performance as it brought about security
of tenure for the bargadars and eliminated the regular transfer of benami
land. The government’s effort to provide better access to low-interest credit
for farmers to buy new varieties of plant seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers
also increased agricultural productivity. On the other hand, militant trade
unionism, strikes, and lockouts led not only to industrial flight but also
resulted in immense losses and lower productivity for jute and engineering,
the State’s primary industries (Mayers 2001; Shaw and Satish 2007).
Given its Marxist philosophy, the Left Front placed a high priority on
creating and retaining jobs. The government did not allow ailing industries
to shut down and lay off staff. It even put extremely sick industries on public
assistance to rejuvenate them. Such a pro-labour stance accelerated capital
flight from West Bengal (McLaen 2001). The CPI(M) blamed the successive
Congress (I) governments for the State’s industrial decline and argued that
the central government had withdrawn support for public undertakings
in the State. It claimed that the central government manipulated legisla-
tion regarding industrial licensing, aspects of its own economic policies,
and the Planning Commission’s directives to discourage domestic and
foreign capital investment in projects initiated by the Left Front. The Left
Front was also critical of the central government’s discrimination in the
disbursement of licences to establish large and medium-sized industries.
The central government’s rationale behind licence control was to create
even development in India and promote the economic development of its
backward areas (McLean 2001; Mayers 2001).
The CPI(M) was scathing about the Freight Equalization Policy, which
in essence subsidized the freight cost of certain commodities so that the
resource-poor States were not at a disadvantage due to distance. Instituted
by the central government, it was aimed at uniform development throughout
the country. The cost of commodities such as cotton, oil, seeds, and sugar
cane, which were not produced in West Bengal, was calculated on the basis
of distance, while costs of commodities that the State exported such as coal
and steel were the same for any part of India. The Left Front argued that
such a policy exploited the State’s resources, increased production costs of
local industries, and left little profit for reinvestment and modernization
of West Bengal’s industry. This policy remained a sore point with the Left
Front until it was abolished in early 1994 (McLean 2001; Mayers 2001).
Initially, the Left Front was sceptical and resistant to the central govern-
ment’s New Economic Policy of 1991. It took them a few years to realize
that reviving Kolkata’s manufacturing sector was essential for the State’s
future. By that time the image of the city was one of a congested, polluted,
and poverty-stricken city with militant trade unionism, and it was difficult
to attract both foreign and domestic industrialists. Western discourse just
prior to the advent of liberalization added to this image, and it lingered.
For example, Günter Grass in his 1988 book Show Your Tongue described
the city’s dump as ‘a spacious landscape invented from layers of garbage’
where ‘crows, vultures, goats, and dump trucks’ arrive ‘from the city day and
night – for of garbage there is no end – are a part of the landscape’ (Grass
[1988] 1989: 18). And, of course, the film City of Joy made Kolkata an icon of
the slum in Western eyes.
Sectional interests that constituted the vote banks of the left parties
restrained the leadership from acting in a practical manner. Chief Minister
Jyoti Basu had been making yearly trips to the United Kingdom since the
1980s. His attempts to lure the Bengali NRIs to invest in Kolkata were met
with little success. The Left Front announced a new industrial scheme to
attract foreign investments, technology, and multinationals in 1993. In
1994 it developed a new industrial policy aimed at privatizing selected
public sectors, developing infrastructure through public-private ventures,
and motivating the privatization of various economic sectors, including
health, education, tourism, housing, and commercial complexes. Virtually
an open-door policy was instituted, and multinationals were welcome even
in traditionally State-owned sectors such as power generation. The Marxist
regime reinvented itself by claiming that these goals were to be achieved
by fostering a ‘class peace’ between labour and capital (Chakravorty and
Gupta 1996; Mayers 2001; McLean 2001; Shaw and Satish 2007). With the
exception of Japanese investment in the Haldia Petrochemical complex in
Midnapur, there was little inflow of foreign or domestic capital following
the formation of the policy. Furthermore, the investment in Kolkata was
small compared to cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and even smaller
municipalities such as Pune (Shaw and Satish 2007).
The government tried to pacify the fear of trade union militancy by
promising tripartite negotiations at the unit and industrial level and a
continuous dialogue between labour and management. Investors in India,
however, sarcastically referred to Kolkata as the ‘Soviet Republic of West
Bengal’, a city where trade unions controlled the government and it was
almost impossible to lay off unproductive workers (Mitter and Sen 2000).
The perception of government’s hostility towards capital lingered. Foreign
capital was wary about the existence of a Marxist party long in power
and its historical opposition to the introduction of international capital
(McLean 2001).
Making Kolkata Attractive to Capital: Operation Sunshine and

the Proposal to Remove Rickshaw Pullers
Although Chief Minister Jyoti Basu continued to promote Kolkata to

corporate investors both in India and abroad (McLaen 2001), its image
Figure 81 Traffic jam in Kolkata after the advent of globalization
as a polluted city jammed with traffic (see figure 81) and street vendors
persisted. In order to change this perception, the KMC launched ‘Operation
Sunshine’. Under this urban renewal scheme developed in 1996, municipal
authorities and police evicted 100,000 hawkers (street vendors) in Kolkata
in two weeks. This extreme effort attempted to regain middle-class support
and ensure that Kolkata was a safe destination for global investment.
The process of attracting capital also included projecting the image
of Kolkata as a thriving, modern, dynamic metropolis. If Kolkata was to
attract capital, it was essential that it be seen as the gateway to India and
Southeast Asia (McLean 2001). Public discourse was riddled with jargon
designed to sell Kolkata to international capital and the politicians had to
be comfortable with this jargon. Hawkers were evicted in order to improve
the visual image of the city. Both official and popular discourses portrayed
the incidences as an effort to make Kolkata a bhadrolok city governed by
principles of hygiene, order, and beauty (Roy 2011a).
Subsequently, the State legislature amended the Kolkata Municipal Act
in 1997, declaring that any form of occupation of streets and pavements by
hawkers is a non-bailable offence. However, the hawkers began to reclaim
their positions and stalls within a few weeks through their unions, opposi-
tion parties, and small factions of the Left Front. This policy was in sharp
contrast to the Left Front’s stance since it came to power in 1977. Its initial
policy was to maintain a status quo of the urban vote bank and only refuse
to grant vending licences to hawkers who had occupied the pavements
after 1977, which meant that such hawkers would not be rehabilitated in
case of an eviction. The regime was trying to tighten its grip over exist-
ing mobilized groups through patronage. To gain political power, CPI(M)
leaders selectively rehabilitated these evicted hawkers. In the decade that
followed there were no major evictions. The Hawkers Sangram Committee
(Hawkers Revolutionary Committee) which emerged in the aftermath of
‘Operation Sunshine’ was successful in mediating relations between the
State government and the hawkers (Bandyopadhyay 2009).
Another effort designed to attract local and foreign investment was the pro-
posal to remove 100,000 rickshaw pullers and another 100,000 people indirectly
involved in the rickshaw trade (Sen 1996). The effort to remove hand-pulled
rickshaws was not new. In the early 1980s the Left Front government had
started to ban unlicensed, hand-pulled rickshaws in the city. In response, Un-
nayan – an NGO in Kolkata1 – initiated a campaign to stop this policy. George
Fernandes, a politician and trade union leader, noticed Unnayan’s campaign,
mainly because many of the rickshaw pullers were from his constituency at
that time, Muzaffarur, in Bihar. Subsequently, Calcutta Rickshaw Chalak
Panchyat, a union of rickshaw pullers, was formed. The union convened mass
gatherings all over Kolkata, which led to gheraos of politicians and the KMC’s
licensing office, which in turn led to abandoning the policy (Sen 1996).
Singur and Nandigram: The Changing Priorities of the Left Front
The cases of Tata Motors in Singur and a SEZ in Nandigram are well-known
examples of the Left Front’s paradigm shift from a pro-agrarian Marxist
government with a rural focus to one seeking private investment to increase
the State’s industrial capacity. Tata Motors intended to build a manufactur-
ing plant for its small car – the Nano – in Singur, about 40 kilometres from
Kolkata. In May 2006 the Left Front government decided to acquire four
square kilometres for the company to build the plant. The project would
have affected 6,000 families of marginal peasants and landowners. A non-
transparent and undemocratic process of land acquisition through police
1 The ultimate demise of Unnayan in the early 2000s was attributable to a lack of political
space for empowerment-oriented NGOs in Kolkata, besides other issues, such as internal conflict
and lack of funding.
shooting and political force triggered numerous protests. The All India
Trinamool Congress mobilized landowners, intellectuals, artists, poets,
activist groups, and luminaries from West Bengal and the rest of India and
launched a protest against the Left Front government and Tata Motors.
After two years of agitation, Tata Motors eventually withdrew from Singur
in October 2008 while Trinamool won the local panchayat elections in May
2008 (Bandyopadhyay 2008; Chandra 2008).
In the case of Nandigram, the Left Front also deployed force to acquire
land for a SEZ to house a chemical hub for the Indonesian company Salim
Group in 2007. About fourteen farmers were killed and hundreds injured
when police fired at protestors. In this case also, the Maoists and Trinamool
Congress supported the struggle of the peasants, which eventfully led to
the abandonment of the project (Bhadra and Guha Ray 2007). The protest
also had support from the Bengali intelligentsia. Both protests demonstrate
the triumph of Chatterjee’s concept of political society. As pointed out by
Chatterjee (2004, 2010, 2011), the emergence of political society in the 1970s
and 1980s opened a field of competitive mobilization of the urban poor by
political parties and political leaders. This is exactly what happened in
Singur and Nandigram when the Trinamool Congress stepped in to mobilize
the peasants after CPI(M) abandoned them.
Kolkata’s Population Growth, Territorial Changes, and

Administrative Structure
Before delving into emerging architectural and planning paradigms, it

is important that the reader is aware of Kolkata’s population growth,
territorial changes, and administrative structure. By 2001, KMA had
three municipal corporations: Kolkata, Haora, and Chandannagar.
This huge area included 38 municipalities and 23 panchayat samities,
consisting of 70 municipal urban areas. In addition, it contained four-
teen out-growths with urban characteristics but not yet formed into
municipalities. It covered an area of 1,785.4 square kilometres with a
population of 13.12 million. Among these, 4.57 million lived in the city
(Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 2000; Census Organiza-
tion of India 2011; Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 2017)
(see figure 82 for the area encompassed by the KMA in 2001). While the
number of municipal corporations remained the same, the municipalities
increased to 39 and panchayat samities to 24 by 2011. The KMA’s area
increased to 1,886.67 square kilometres with the addition of Haringhata
Figure 82 KMA in 2001
Source: Developed by the author from: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 2000;
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 2017
(30.34 square kilometres) and Baruipur (4.92 square kilometres). The

city’s population decreased to 4.47 million while the KMA’s population
Figure 83 KMA in 2011
Source: Developed by the author from: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority 2000;
Bhatta 2012; Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 2017
increased to 14.11 million (Indiaonlinepages 2016; Census Organization of

India 2011). The population of the KMA was estimated to be 14.39 million
in 2014 with a projection of 20 million by 2021 (Indiaonlinepages 2016;

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 2017) (see f igure 83 for
the area covered by the KMA in 2011). The municipal cabinet system of
government discussed in the last chapter is still intact in Kolkata. There
were 141 wards, grouped into fifteen boroughs (Bhatta 2012) (see figure
84) as of 2011.2 The only difference is that the Trinomool Congress won
the 2010 elections and replaced the CPI(M) and its allies at the local
government level (NDTV 2010). Key committee posts at the ward and
municipal levels are now held by party cadres of Trinomool. As was the
case with the previous Left Front, they are controlled and administered
by decision-making, umbrella institutions at the State level.
Liberalization and the Changing Role of the Kolkata

Metropolitan Development Authority and the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation
With the advent of liberalization, the KMDA has moved away from its
traditional roles of bustee improvement programs and infrastructure pro-
vision by undertaking housing, new area development, and commercial
projects through joint ventures with the private sector. The change in the
KMDA’s role began in the early 1990s with its involvement in the central
government’s Mega City Programme. Recommended by the National Com-
mission on Urbanisation, the programme provided seed capital rather than
an outright grant for mega-cities that included Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai,
Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. According to the 1991 census, mega-cities were
defined as cities with populations exceeding five million.3 The programme
specified three categories of projects that could be ratified by the central
government and lending institutions: (a) no cost recovery projects such
as waste management, drainage, and sanitation; (b) partial cost recovery
projects such as water supply, transport, and slum housing; and (c) full cost
recovery and surplus generation projects such as housing, new area develop-
ment, and commercial complexes. The cost-recovery element of the Mega
City Programme skewed the KMDA’s projected budget towards housing and
2 Jhoka was added in 2012, which increased the wards to 144. This is not depicted in figure
84 due to a lack of data.
3 Hyderabad and Bengaluru were included in the programme, although their populations
were between four and five million. Delhi was not included, however, as its funding came from
another source: the National Capital Region Programme.
Figure 84 Wards and boroughs of KMC in 2011
Source: Developed by the author from: Bhatta 2012; Kolkata Municipal Corporation 2017
new area development with a significant reduction in slum improvement,

transportation, drainage, and sanitation. The slum improvement budget was
negligible. The KMDA was ready to redefine its role, providing housing for
the upper and middle classes and undertaking commercial area develop-
ment (Chakravorty and Gupta 1996).
The KMDA proposed an expenditure of Rs 16 billion (approximately
US$520 million [in 1996 dollars]) for various projects in the KMA over a
period of eight years. The proposal covered the last three years of the Eighth
Five-Year Plan and five years of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. 4 The KMDA began
receiving assistance from the programme in 1996. Programme funding
financed 130 projects valued at over Rs 12.5 billion (approximately US$409
million [in 2007 dollars]). By 2007, 125 schemes worth over Rs 11.5 billion
(approximately US$375 million [in 2007 dollars]) were being executed.
Ninety-nine projects with a cumulative expenditure of just over Rs 9 bil-
lion (approximately US$300 million [in 2007 dollars] as of March 2007)
had been completed when the Indian government decided to terminate
the programme. Achievements listed by the KMDA in their 2007 Annual
Report primarily included infrastructure projects for new townships and
housing projects, indicating the redefinition of KMDA’s priorities (Kolkata
Metropolitan Development Authority 2007).
The KMDA also continues its regulatory function. It prepares land use
maps and registers (LUMRs) and land use development control plans
(LUDCPs) for various zones within the KMA under stipulations specified
by the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act of
1979. The purpose of LUDCPs is to provide regulatory measures to enforce
environmental and eco-friendly urban growth. Given the lengthy process
involved in official adaptation of LUDCPs, the KMDA prepares development
control regulations (DCRs) as an interim measure to control unregulated
growth. The enforcement of LUDCPs and DCRs is mainly the responsibility
of local self-governments. However, the KMDA retains enforcement powers
in certain jurisdictions. Of course, the agency has continued its tradition of
developing policy plans and comprehensive planning documents (Kolkata
Metropolitan Development Authority 2017b).5
The KMDA was identified as the State-level nodal agency for the imple-
mentation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
for Kolkata and Asansol’s urban areas. There were two sub-missions of
JNNURM. These were ‘Urban Infrastructure and Governance’, and ‘Basic
Services to the Urban Poor’. The f irst sub-mission involved upgrading
infrastructure such as water supply, drainage, sewerage, sanitation, solid
waste management, and urban transportation encompassing roads, bridges,
flyovers, highways, expressways, and urban renewal. Issues of urban govern-
ance to facilitate the above interventions were within this sub-mission’s
purview. The second sub-mission involved the integrated redevelopment of
slums. Projects undertaken under this sub-mission include infrastructure
4 The Eighth Five-Year Plan period was between 1992 and 1997, while the Ninth Five-Year
Plan was between 1997 and 2002.
5 Also based on the author’s interviews.
development in slums and construction of new dwellings for the poor

in the KMC area and other municipal towns within the KMA (Kolkata
Metropolitan Development Authority 2011). JNNURM was launched on
3 December 2005 for the integrated development of urban infrastructure
and services for 63 cities and discontinued on 31 March 2014. Despite its
stated goal to provide basic services for the urban poor, it is yet another
policy instrument that encouraged privatization of services. In Kolkata, 35
per cent of the project investment was provided by the central government;
15 per cent from the State government. The remaining 50 per cent had to be
raised from financial institutions, private sector partners, the implementing
agencies’ own sources, and the State government (Kolkata Metropolitan
Development Authority 2011).
While the KMDA took an entrepreneurial role, the KMC has been
involved in the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP)
from 2002 to 2013. Consequently, the onus of providing urban services to
the poor shifted to this agency. KEIP aimed to arrest the environmental
deterioration of Kolkata and improve the quality of life, especially for the
poor, through provision of proper sewerage, drainage facilities, and solid
waste management (Shaw and Satish 2007). The BIP was replaced by the
Kolkata Slum Improvement Project (KSIP) funded by the UK Department
of International Development (DFID). The KSIP fell under KEIP’s umbrella,
and KMC undertook slum improvement through projects such as repairing
access lanes; providing electric lights in lanes and open spaces; improving
drainage, sewerage, and toilet facilities; and providing water (Sengupta
2010; Ghosh 2013).
Kolkata’s Private Townships and Gated Communities: Emergence

of Real Estate-Driven Development
Like other Indian cities, one of the physical manifestations of liberalization

and globalization in Kolkata is the State-regulated planned townships,
townships that are public-private ventures with gated housing communities
catering to NRIs and the middle and upper classes aspiring to the NRI
lifestyle. Such townships are also referred to as private, mini or integrated
townships or urban integrated mega projects. Gated housing communities
and private townships are spreading to the outer fringes of the Eastern
Metropolitan Bypass, the highway connecting Kolkata with the airport and
the new town of Rajarhat (Bose 2007; Roy 2011a; Shatkin 2011). The same
Marxist regime that settled squatters, sharecroppers, and slum dwellers in
Figure 85 Eden City
the eastern fringes of the city through land invasions or the extra-judicial
process of vesting began evicting them in the late 1990s to create townships
and housing complexes. This was a new political move by which the Left
Front sought to establish alliances with the bhadralok class that longs for
a city of hygiene and order (Roy 2003, 2011a).
As elsewhere in India, gated communities have Western names such as
Rosedale Gardens, Ideal City, Unitech, Uniworld City, and Eden City (see
figure 85). Just as burgers and pizzas have been modified to suit the Bengali
palate, we also see names like Upohar, which means ‘gift’ in Bengali (see
figure 86). As in other Indian cities, Western facilities such as temperature-
controlled swimming pools, country clubs, sporting and exercise facilities,
arenas, malls, coffee shops, and conference halls are often included in
these housing complexes. Housing mimics North American-style suburban
developments with wide roads, manicured lawns, and low population
density (Bose 2007, 2015). Euro-American forms of housing such as pent-
houses, luxury villas, garden homes, duplex apartments, row houses, studio
apartments, and designer bungalows are being offered. Armed uniformed
guards at the gate ensure that undesirable elements are excluded from the
communities (see figure 87). Larger and more exclusive gated communities
Figure 86 Upohar
may have almost the same amenities as townships and often advertise
themselves as such. Such communities are advertising a safe and sanitized
environment removed from the slums and squalor of Kolkata as well as
a Western lifestyle offering easy access to Western amenities. The only
noticeable difference between gated communities and private townships
is that the latter are larger in scale and boast additional amenities such as
schools and hospitals.
The wide array of market-driven Euro-American forms of housing is
making Kolkata more cosmopolitan and internationalizing architectural
space. At the same time, it is creating extreme shelter divisions between
the super rich and the ultra poor. Bustees have long been an integral part
of Kolkata. They have coexisted with Kolkata’s mansions in the native part
of the city since colonial times and were adjacent to the posh enclaves of
the immediate post-colonial era. Even the British could not avoid their
encroachment into the White Town. Now, however, the gated communities
and private townships completely exclude the poor. The inhabitants of these
gated communities need the urban poor to maintain their lifestyles; the
domestic help often come from the surrounding bustees as well as villages
Figure 87 Guards at the entry of Eden City
surrounding the city. The proliferation of such housing is clearly leading

to what Graham and Marvin (2001) call ‘splintering urbanism’ as they are
‘glocally’-oriented and self-contained enclaves surrounded by spaces that
are socially and economically disconnected with them. Such communities
are splintering themselves from Kolkata’s substandard infrastructure by
developing their own private infrastructure at a higher cost. As pointed
out by Roy (2003, 2011a) the bhadralok class longs for a city of hygiene and
order. These Western-style living arrangements manifest such a desire.
Hiland Park is an example of upper-income housing and commercial
facility development undertaken by KMDA. In 1999 the real estate developer
Hiland Group entered into an agreement with the KMDA to form Calcutta
Metropolitan Group Limited (CMGL) to develop Hiland Park. This is a mixed
residential and commercial complex spread over eleven acres with nine
residential towers, with the tallest tower being 27 stories high with units
consisting of luxury apartments, penthouses, duplexes, and a shopping mall
(Bose 2007; Magicbrick 2017) (see figure 88).
Housing occupies a key position in the economy and housing reform
initiatives cater to the needs of the middle- and upper-income classes and
Figure 88 Hiland Park
bypass the poor. The deregulation of financing for housing also is geared
towards the needs of the middle and upper classes. The eligibility criteria for
housing loans are very stringent and limited to people with a regular, sala-
ried income or copies of tax returns demonstrating business income. Such
restrictions deny access to those with lower incomes. A proposal was drawn
up by the Urban Development Department permitting the construction of
multi-storeyed buildings in bustees with the approval of tenants (Sengupta
2010). Illegal construction of multi-storeyed buildings in bustees had become
common by the early 1990s. Thika tenants could add additional floors to
their properties. Promoters continued building illegally with substandard
materials. In time, the poor construction led to the collapse of many of
these multi-storeyed buildings. The Left Front turned a blind eye because
it did not want to alienate its bustee constituencies.6 With the advent of the
liberalization process, from 1996 the Left Front also displaced squatters
to make the highly subsidized housing colonies in Patuli available to
6 Also see Thomas 1997 in this context.

middle-class families. Since then, this enclave on the Eastern Metropolitan

Bypass has become a suburban extension of Kolkata (Roy 2011a).
Globalization has created a new real estate culture in Kolkata promoted
by the State and private actors. Since the early 1990s, the Left Front regime
has abandoned its Marxist philosophy and rural emphasis, embarking on an
urban-focused real estate development approach for redeveloping Kolkata.
Its aversion to capital was replaced by an allegiance to global investment
and the creation of a corporate-political nexus (Sengupta 2010). Roy (2011a)
further claims that Kolkata’s insertion into the global economy took place
through a transnational form of property capital. Roy’s assertion seems
valid since the city’s growth is mainly driven by real estate development
and speculation. As discussed earlier, the Left Front failed to pursue local or
international capital to arrest the city’s decline. This failure precipitated the
channelling of capital to the secondary sector of capital through interven-
tions such as the deregulation of housing finance and markets. The result
was the creation of a nexus of global financial markets with large and
medium-sized real estate developers, local merchants, and brand-name
retailers through land subsidy and joint ventures.
Kolkata’s Office Buildings for the Service and Financial Sectors,

SEZs, and IT Parks and Complexes
One of the first initiatives of new Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

when he came to power in 2000 was to woo the IT sector to Kolkata. Unlike
Bengaluru and other cities with an abundance of foreign firms, much of
Kolkata’s IT and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES)7 were do-
mestic entrepreneurs. In order to facilitate IT companies’ start-up businesses
in Kolkata, the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation
(WEBEL) (see figure 89) created the Salt Lake Electronic Complex (Saltlec),
a 150-acre, pollution-free IT park in Sector V of Bidhannagar. Sector V was
set apart as an industrial sector of Bidhannagar (Shaw and Satish 2007; Bose
2007). Although some manufacturing units were built before globalization,
there was no real industrial development in West Bengal at that time. The
Standard Design Factory (SDF) building is the first to be constructed in
Sector V in the mid-1980s. It currently houses the offices of a number of
IT companies (see figure 90). As Sector V became saturated with IT firms,
7 Such services include call centres, data processing, medical transcription services, support
centres, website services, and so on.
Figure 89 The West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation in

Nabadiganta
other facilities around Bidhannagar and in Rajarhat were set up. Due to
its phenomenal growth, Sector V was given industrial township status in
2006 and renamed Nabadiganta (which means ‘new horizons’ in Bengali)
Industrial Township (Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority 2017).
Nabadiganta is home to the IT and ITES industry, including the Western
India Products Limited (WIPRO) campus, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
(see figure 91), Consulting Engineering Services (CES), Power Grid Corpora-
tion, WEBEL, and a number of offices for companies such as Pricewater-
houseCoopers (PWC) and Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (see figure 92).
The State transport garage, NICCO amusement park, educational institutions
(mainly private engineering colleges), and the Eastern Command Army
campus are part of the Nabadiganta township. The roads built to cater to the
occasional cars and trucks are now crowded with all modes of transport.8
8 Based on an email correspondence with Ashish Basu, architect and planner, Espace Kolkata,
on 28 August 2013.
Figure 90 SDF building in Nabadiganta
With the onset of liberalization, the Bengal Intelligent Park, a cluster of

high-rise buildings to facilitate the IT industry, was also initiated. Intelligent
work spaces such as INFINITY were constructed with high-rise towers
within Saltec from the mid-1990s (see figure 93). The West Bengal Industrial
Figure 91 TCS building in Nabadiganta
Figure 92 Srei building in Nabadiganta

Figure 93 The INFINITY building in Nabadiganta
Development Corporation (WBIDC) entered into a joint venture with the

Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank to form
the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Corporation. Among other
projects, this corporation set up a ‘Gem and Jewellery’ SEZ – Manikachan
(which means ‘jewels and gold’ in Bengali) (see figure 94) – in Bidhannagar
Figure 94 Manikachan, a SEZ in Bidhannagar
and a Toy Park to attract investments in these sectors (Shaw and Satish 2007;
Bose 2007). As pointed out by Roy (2009) drawing from Ong (2006), SEZs are
zones of exception where the state creates exceptional benefits for corporate
investors. These subsidies – land and taxes to corporate houses provided
by the state to facilitate capital accumulation – are what Harvey refers to
as ‘geobribes’ (Harvey 1989).9 The Left Front’s argument was that without
such exceptional benefits, global capitalists would look elsewhere and the
State would be the loser (Roy 2009). The concept is not only applicable to
the SEZs but the entire township of Nabadiganta.
Since IT parks primarily cater to multinationals, their architecture is
global in nature. They serve as icons for investment, assuring the investors
that India is a safe place in which to invest. Glass buildings set in manicured
lawns, completely detached from their Indian surroundings, characterize
such parks (Mehrotra 2011). As the above images illustrate, the buildings are
completely detached from Kolkata’s realities. Intelligent buildings offer a
wide range of Western amenities such as car-parking facilities, food courts,
9 Also see Roy 2009 for a similar argument.

and restaurants. We can also extend Graham and Marvin’s (2001) concept of
‘splintering urbanism’ to IT parks and other such buildings. These structures
are ‘glocally’-oriented, self-contained enclaves with a global infrastructure.
Like the gated communities, they are surrounded by areas that are socially
and economically disconnected with them.
Shopping Malls
Another product of globalization in Kolkata is the appearance of shopping

malls such as South City Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in eastern
India, located in the southern part of the city. The mall is part of the South
City Mall and Housing Complex that occupies about 125,500 square metres
of land and has residential buildings that are 35 storeys high (see figure 95),
with the glass-clad shopping mall forming an imposing entrance (see figure
96). The complex has a school, an 1,800-car parking lot, and other Western
amenities associated with such complexes (see figure 97 for the site plan).
Anchored by well-known Indian retail outlets, more than 130 retail stores
are spread over five floors. The mall itself is about 92,900 square metres
of retail facility with multilevel parking, multiplex movie theatres, and a
food court and restaurants offering local and international cuisines. The
shops are located on multilevel decks with a central atrium and shiny floors
reflecting the lights above. The CCTVs maintain strict surveillance; digital
billboards display moving images to shoppers. The Usha factory, a subsidi-
ary of Jay Engineering Works, was originally located on the complex site.
After producing electrical consumer goods since the 1950s, the factory was
declared a ‘sick industry’ in 2003. A real estate consortium, Merlin Group,
bought the site and demolished the factory and filled in the large lakes in
the complex. Construction of the South City Mall and Housing Complex
began in 2004. Dulal Mukherjee and Associates, a Kolkata-based firm, was
the principal architect, while Atlanta-based Stewart and Associates served
as design consultants. Peridian Asia PTE, a Singapore-based firm, served as
the landscape architects, while another Singapore-based firm, Meinhardt
PTE, was the structural consultant. There is a Muslim bustee nearby, and
a middle-class Bengali neighbourhood, Jodhpur Park, is located opposite
the complex (Mukherjee n.d.; Himatsingka 2009; South City Mall 2017).10
10 Also based on a conversation with Anjan Gupta, architect and proprietor of Anjan Gupta
Architects, July 2013.
Figure 95 Apartments within South City complex

Figure 96 Imposing entrance to South City Mall
Figure 97 Site plan for South City Mall Complex. Principal: Dulal Mukherjee and
Associates. Design consultants: Stewart and Associates. Landscape
architects: Peridian Asia PTE
Source: Adapted with permission from: Propertywala (2017)

The South City Mall can be seen as a social fortress that divides middle-class
consumers from the poor. As pointed out by Mukherjee (n.d.), working-class
families with little or no purchasing power dress up to visit the mall during
the weekends or festivals. Conversely, the middle class come to the mall daily
armed with credit cards and cash. Even the mall’s movie theatre tickets are
priced above the cost of normal movie theatres, thereby excluding the poor. A
large number of people drawn from the neighbouring refugee colonies serve
as salespeople in the numerous shops and restaurants. Rather than entering
as consumers, it is their service that allows them to be in the mall (Mukherjee
n.d.). Drawing from Voyce (2007), the architectural space in South City Mall
can be seen as a regulated environment designed to keep out undesirables
and promote a global consumer culture. Following Voyce (2007), it is detached
from local physical space and history, contradicting any measure of social
integration. Middle-class conceptions of purity and safety are the driving
forces behind the mall and take precedence over the needs of the poor. These
are leisure complexes that are causing ‘splintering urbanism’ in Kolkata.
Malls along the southern part of the city are changing the spatial struc-
ture of the city. The entire stretch of land from Jadavpur to Garia was once
studded with small-scale industries like Bengal Lamp, a manufacturer of
electric lamps; Shulekha, an ink factory; and Dabur, an Ayurvedic11 plant.
As these factories have become defunct, they have been transformed or
are being transformed into upscale housing complexes with shopping
malls. Besides altering the existing landscape, such complexes are also
destroying natural ecosystems. In the case of South City Mall, a roughly
5,300-square-metre lake on the site has been partially filled in to make way
for the construction of residential towers. The developers had permission
from the State Pollution Control Board to fill in this area provided they
replaced it with another body of water, about 5,700 square metres in size,
despite protests by the NGO, Vasudhara, and other activists. Although the
developers did replace the lake with an artificial one, the state’s approval
demonstrated its desire to promote upscale real estate and commercial
development regardless of the strain and cost it added to Kolkata’s traffic,
water, and electrical problems (Mukherjee n.d.).
Despite its egalitarian and socially inclusive claims, the prominent
City Centre mall in Bidhannagar is another example of a social fortress
(see figure 98). The City Centre was developed as a private-public venture
between the KMDA and the Gujarat Ambuja Cement Group. This new
partnership, the Bengal Ambuja Metro Development Limited, developed
11 Ayurveda is a traditional system of Indian medicine.

Figure 98 The City Centre mall in Bidhannagar. Architect: Charles Correa
the complex. The government leased 27,275 square metres of land to the
Ambuja Group at a subsidized price for the project. The mall itself occupies
about 20,760 square metres, while the rest consists of housing (see figure
99). It has a built-up space of about 37,160 square metres and is three storeys
high. There are approximately 250 shops, a multiplex theatre, entertainment
areas, food courts, offices, and a multi-storeyed housing complex set in a
large expanse of green space (Sanyal 2010). The mall was designed by the
well-known Indian architect Charles Correa. Sanyal (2010) argues that the
three-storied mall camouflages its vertical height to instil in the minds of
shoppers that it is within their reach. Well-known Indian and international
retailers anchor the mall (see figure 100). Restaurants in the food court
include international chains and a variety of Indian cuisines that cater
mainly to the IT professionals who live in the vicinity. The diversity that
the mall owners and the architect claim consists of what is called a ‘Mall in
Mall’ on the second floor, where local and lower-priced shops are segregated.
According to Sanyal (2010), the ‘Mall in Mall’ is also a ploy to lure lower-
income shoppers into the mall in the hope that they may eventually go on
a shopping spree. The window shoppers stay on the ground floor or go up to
Figure 99 Housing in the City Centre mall in Bidhannagar
the third floor where the high-end shops are located. Eventually, they return
to the ground floor or flock near the Kund.12 The salespeople, managers,
and security personnel in the mall are required to dress in accordance with
Western dress codes. Visitors to the mall, especially the youth, also dress
up in Western clothes (Sanyal 2010). The City Centre can be viewed as a
space where Kolkata’s youth masquerade themselves in order to transcend
Global South realities by imitating and competing with the West. While the
mall does not completely exclude the poor, they are relegated to segregated
discount shops, the Kund, and window-shopping.
Emergence of New Planning Paradigms: State-Regulated

Townships and Private Townships
Since engaging in liberalization policies, State entities such as the West Ben-
gal Housing Board, the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development
12 The word kund means a fountain of hot water. The Kund in the mall is actually a water body.
Figure 100 Inside the City Centre mall
Corporation Limited (WBHIDCO), the Department of Urban Development,

and the KMDA have been developing State-regulated planned townships
such Rajarhat and Baisnabghata Patuli. The KMDA also has undertaken
the development of private townships such as Kolkata West International
City and Kolkata Riverside through public-private ventures. According to
Sengupta and Tipple (2007), one of the reasons for new town development
is to provide better housing for the returning NRIs, IT professionals, and
other elites in the city’s expanding computer, electronics, and telecom-
munications sector. This policy is the result of land supply bottlenecks and
the belief that better housing serves as a catalyst for development.
Rajarhat
The government of West Bengal planned on creating the New Kolkata

Township in Rajarhat in the early 1990s. The Department of Housing set
up a technical committee in 1993 to prepare a preliminary report while the
Housing Directorate prepared a base map in August. KMDA was charged to
prepare a concept plan in 1994. A task force consisting of technical experts
was set up and the Indian Institute of Science and Technology and the Direc-
tor of Delhi School of Planning and Architecture were consulted. Based on
the feedback, the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur prepared a
revised plan. The first project report was prepared on the basis of this plan.
In the mid-1990s the total area allocated for the new town was 27.5 square
kilometres with specific amounts allocated for various land uses. The total
area as well as allocation for various land uses has changed over time as
well. The township was inaugurated in June 1995.13 Rajarhat was originally
conceived as a self-contained nodal growth centre to house three-quarters
of a million people with modern office complexes and open spaces, and
relieve the congestion in Kolkata.14 The township is being developed as an
IT hub, supported by other businesses, trade, and educational and cultural
institutions. A number of IT parks have been earmarked in the city’s master
plan, which also gives priority to spaces for setting up IT and ITES facilities.
WBHIDCO, a West Bengal government enterprise within the Department
of Urban Development, was specifically created for the purpose of planning
and developing the township (Chen et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2010; Dey et al.
2013). WBHIDCO embarked on implementing the project in four action areas
with scheduled dates of implementation for each of them (Dey et al. 2013)
(see figures 101 and 102 for plot layouts of Action Areas I and II).15 Rajarhat
is also expected to provide upscale housing and commercial facilities for
workers in IT industries in the adjacent Nabadiganta Industrial Township.
13 For a detailed discussion see Dey et al. 2013.

14 Also based on the author’s interviews with KMDA officials in 1996, 1999, and 2003.
15 Some of the land uses shown in these Plot Layouts have not been built as yet.
Figure 101 Rajarhat plot layout, Action Area I
Source: Adapted by the author from: West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corpora-
tion (2017a)
Figure 102 Rajarhat plot layout, Action Area II
Source: Adapted by the author from: West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corpora-
tion (2017b)
The development of the town marks the emergence of a new planning

paradigm as the city’s infrastructure and housing needs are being provided
primarily by public-private partnerships. The State is responsible for land
Figure 103 City centre, Rajarhat
acquisition, development, and sale. The original intent was to allocate 40 per
cent of the total residential land to private-public partnerships and lease the
remaining 60 per cent to individuals and cooperatives. Plots for low-income
groups were to be subsidized by plots in the middle- and high-income groups
(Sengupta 2006; Chen et al. 2009; Dey et al. 2013). Real estate ventures
and the demands of the IT industry, however, are dictating the growth of
Rajarhat. Despite the rhetoric of providing housing for poor segments of the
population through cross subsidy, very little housing is being constructed for
lower-income groups because the cost of land development is too high. The
types of amenities being developed exclude the poor, who cannot afford the
upscale malls (see figure 103), schools, convenience stores, and hospitals that
these developments offer (Sengupta 2006; Chen et al. 2009; Dey et al. 2013).
The township has also displaced peasants, fisher folks, and other urban
poor living in these outlying areas. The displaced population have not been
compensated at current fair market rates. The land-acquisition process
was started in the mid- to late 1990s. Land was forcibly acquired at below-
market rates with brokers, goondas, political party leaders, and cadres of
the CPI(M). Unwilling land owners were often harassed by the police or
party cadres. Some were abducted, while many even committed suicide.
Even speculators were allowed to acquire land with active support from
the cadres of the CPI(M). There was even a violent demonstration when
the local residents set fire to Vedic Village – a resort in the area in 2009.
Despite protest from the grassroots and NGOs, there was no political party
to support the cause. It was not until 2010 that the farmers, squatters, and
fishery-based residents got support from Trinamool (Dey et al. 2013).
Chatterjee’s (2004) proposition of how a post-industrial city became glob-
ally available in the 1990s is useful in explaining the proliferation of spaces
of global culture and new urban planning paradigms in Kolkata. The central
business district in Kolkata is old and incapable of supporting the advanced
transportation, telecommunication facilities, and office space necessary
to cater to IT and ITES needs, IT parks, and intelligent office towers. As a
result, townships that are actually IT hubs are being developed far from the
business district on the outskirts of the city. As pointed out by Chaterjee’s
proposition, the rest of the city is slowly being characterized by segregated
and exclusive spaces for the technical and managerial elites in the form of
gated communities. Drawing from Ong (2011), the architecture of spectacle
that Kolkata is attempting to build goes beyond mere capital accumulation
and attracting foreign investments. It symbolizes the promissory value of
the city, its geopolitical significance, and a desire for world recognition.
Haora’s Global Urbanism
As always, Haora continues to defy conventional norms. In fact, the

most dominant type of residential architecture in Haora is that of the
contractor builder. The advent of globalization has, in fact, increased the
production of such housing to a phenomenal level as contractor builders
ignore local bylaws and construct multi-storeyed flats on narrow lanes
(see figure 104). Low-quality gated communities have also appeared (see
figure 105). Industrial parks are also being set up in Haora to promote
industrialization. The first shopping mall built in the city, Avani Riverside
Mall along the river Hughi, has about 42,000 square metres of retail space
and is anchored by well-known retail shops and a variety of restaurants
(http://kolkata.mallsmarket.com/malls/avani-riverside-mall-howrah). Its
image is similar to those that exist in Kolkata (see figure 106). Nonetheless,
the city is still crowded and congested.
Figure 104 A view of a contractor-built multi-storey building in Haora
Source: Photograph by Ashok Kar and Tul Tul Banerjee. Courtesy of Purnendu Bikas Sengupta,
2013
Figure 105 Vivek Vihar Apartments in Haora
Kolkata West International City
Kolkata West International City, Haora’s private township launched in 2006,

is an example of a private township being developed fully with foreign
capital.16 It is the first such township in India initially developed through a
joint venture between the Salim and Ciputra Groups of Indonesia, Universal
Success Enterprises Limited of the Singapore-based Bengali NRI Prasoon
Mukherjee, and the KMDA. High-level State officials had visited Indonesia to
hold talks with the Salim group to promote Kolkata as an emerging business
16 The discussion on Kolkata West also draws from a telephone interview in April 2015 with
Abhay Upadhyay, president of the Kolkata West International City Buyers Welfare Association.
Figure 106 Avani Riverside Mall in Hoara
Figure 107 Kolkata West site plan showing various land uses
Source: Adapted by the author from: From a brochure provided by the developers to Sudeshna
Ghosh, 2007
Figure 108 The entry gate to Kolkata West
destination. Since that time Ciputra withdrew and Salim has exited from
all of its projects because of the violence in Nandigram. Prasoon Mukherjee
is the only foreign investor still involved. KMDA agreed to let them solely
develop this township of roughly 1.5 square kilometres of land for about
Rs 95 million (slightly over US$2 million [in 2006 dollars]) for 99 years (Chen
et al. 2009; Banerjee 2011; Chakraborty 2013). The selling point for the city
was secure, global, and environmentally safe housing for high-end buyers.
The township also was expected to change how Haora is perceived. The
developers promised 6,000 bungalows, four high-rise residential towers, three
IT parks, about a 52,600-square-metre club, two schools, a 200-bed hospital,
and four shopping malls (Bose 2015) (see figure 107). The design, planning, and
layout of the city mirrored the gated communities in the West. The entrance
to the township mimicked the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Chen et al. 2009;
Banerjee 2011; Chakraborty 2013; Bose 2015) (see figure 108). The stallions
that adorned the gate were removed by Ciputra when they left the project.
At the time of the writing of this book, the project has not been completed (see
figure 109). However, a large number of prospective buyers have already paid
Figure 109 Incomplete construction in Kolkata West
Source: Photograph courtesy of Abhay Upadhyay, 2015
for their housing. The project has become very controversial and the owners
formed Kolkata West International City Buyers Welfare Association, an
organization through which they are constantly filing petitions against the
developers for failing to complete the project. In explanation, the developers
cited difficulties obtaining environmental clearance and problems with con-
tractors as the primary causes for the delay. KMDA officials blamed the delay
on legal complications in delivering the entire land that was promised as
well as problems with the master plan produced by the developers (Banerjee
2011; Chakraborty 2013). Bose (2015) points out that the location of the project
in Hoara has, in part, contributed to its failure because it is still difficult to
convince the buyers that the city is a desirable location. Another reason for
its failure was its association with the investors in Singur and Nadigaram
which tainted its reputation (Bose 2015). In a recent political move, Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee sent a strongly worded note to the KMDA for not
releasing the remaining land of about 242,800 square kilometres to Universal
Success Enterprises because of complaints filed against them, especially by
the Kolkata West International City Buyers Welfare Association. In addition
to failing to provide the housing, Universal Success Enterprises had violated
the original agreement and signed an agreement with another developer to

lease about 121,400 square metres of land and structures (Goswami 2015).
Kolkata West’s venture to attract foreign capital through real estate was a
failure. The township was part of a larger scheme to influence Salim Group
to invest in West Bengal. The Salim Group had voiced interest in develop-
ing infrastructure such as roads and bridges and sector-based integrated
townships outside Kolkata. In addition, a cooperative effort with Prasoon
Mukerjee to build a two-wheeler manufacturing plant near Kolkata West
was being considered (Chen et al. 2009). However, all of these promises were
nullified when the company left the State after the Nandigram incident.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, initially a proponent of the project, reversed
his position and refused to act on behalf of the buyers (Banerjee 2011;
Chakraborty 2013). Such actions by the Left Front can be seen as fallout
from the Nandigram and Singur incidents as well as the resistance faced
in Rajarhat. The land acquisition process for Kolkata West was similar to
that of Rajarhat (Wang et al. 2010).
Consequently, the CPI(M) and its allies suffered severe setbacks in the
2008 municipal elections in West Bengal. In the KMC elections of 2010 they
lost to the Trinamool Congress primarily because of the role the Trinamool
Congress played in organizing the poor in Nandigram, Singur and other
mega-projects around Kolkata. As pointed out by Shatkin (2011), the CPI(M)’s
willingness to stake its political future in land for large development projects
is a testimony to the power of real estate in Kolkata. He contends, however,
that the gambit failed because of the party’s inability to control land in
the fringes due to diffused land holdings, a legacy of national and local
regulations on land, and fear of losing elections. The Trinamool Congress
that succeeded the Left Front government is likely to be constrained by
the same factors.
6 Concluding Remarks
As the book illustrates, Kolkata’s urbanism can be broadly divided into four
distinct periods. The first began with the city’s establishment in 1690 and
ended at the turn of the nineteenth century. The British victory in the Battle
of Palashi in 1757 triggered the beginning of social and political control
through planning endeavours. The erection of Lord Wellesley’s palace in
the early 1800s marked the emergence of the employment of architecture
as a symbol of domination and subjugation of the native population and
the discourses that justified such architecture. Its construction, coupled
with the spatial restructuring of Kolkata after the British victory, were
major junctures in Kolkata’s imperial urbanism. Attempts to bring about
symmetry and control and make the city beautiful and healthy for the
British began immediately after the erection of the palace. The period
transformed Kolkata from a ‘City of Huts’ to a ‘City of Palaces’. The second
period of Kolkata’s urbanism was dominated by the British attempt to
make the city clean and healthy for themselves, and give it a neo-classical
look. The phase ended just before the dawn of independence in the 1930s,
after which the British found it futile to undertake any major planning or
architectural endeavours. This was a time of consolidation and decline of
British power, and the subsequent planning and architectural endeavours
in Kolkata reflected it. The third phase, during which Kolkata’s architecture
and planning totally deviated from India’s, spans the period from independ-
ence in 1947 until the mid-1990s. It encompasses the city’s transformation to
a Marxist city, which occurred between 1977 and the mid-1990s, as a result
of a leftist regime that rewrote Kolkata’s identity. No major architectural
or planning endeavours were carried out in this period. The last phase
of Kolkata’s urbanism, which began in the 1990s and continues today, is
marked by its attempts to globalize. Kolkata’s road to globalization took a
different trajectory from the rest of India. This phase is changing Kolkata’s
spatial structure and physical appearance in an unprecedented manner
through the emergence of new urban forms such as Euro-American housing
models, shopping malls, gated communities, private townships, IT parks,
intelligent buildings, and SEZs.
In all of these periods, Kolkata’s urbanism differed from that of the rest
of India. In the early colonial period, Kolkata pioneered many colonial and
architectural experiments. It became the first city in which the British
promoted the city as a symbol of power and a stage for propagation of
the empire. Thus, the British began to employ architecture as a symbol of
political and imperial power from here. Government houses became the
prototype of such a symbol, and Lord Wellesley’s palace is a quintessential
example of this type of architecture. It was undoubtedly the most magnifi-
cent structure of the early British colonial era and symbolized an emerging
empire. Even the site of the government house symbolized power. Foreign
visitors as well as Indians could get an unobstructed view so that they could
be awed by the power of the emerging British Empire. This desire to make
Kolkata an imperial capital of an emerging empire resulted in imposing
European ideas of planning, townscaping, and layout 60 years earlier than in
other colonial cities in India. The erection of Wellesley’s government house
triggered this process, and structures in the vicinity of the palace were
built to complement its design. Kolkata was the first city that the British
spatially restructured to impose social and political control. The scale of
restructuring attempted in Kolkata was tried in Delhi a hundred years later.
Kolkata was also the first city where the dominant British colonial planning
paradigm of segregating themselves and imposing control on native areas
they perceived to be health hazards emerged. These Haussmannian plans
of bringing about symmetry and control over Kolkata through regulations
on native-owned buildings, carving of rectilinear broad avenues, improving
sanitation, and beautifying the city were indeed unique at that time. Again,
this is because Kolkata was a seat of an emerging empire and the British
wanted to symbolize that through architecture and planning.
Despite these uniquenesses, the spatial pattern for Kolkata resembled
other colonial cities of the period. Initially, the British mainly clustered
inside or around the fort, with an adjacent native town. The early Brit-
ish practice of allowing spontaneous growth in initial phases of colonial
urbanization was also followed in Kolkata. The White Town expanded
beyond the narrow confines of the fort only after they established political
and territorial control. Despite the British attempt to segregate themselves,
the allocation of White versus Black Towns still had a blurred boundary as
in other cities. Clearing the space in the vicinity of forts – a common feature
for the British when defence became a significant motive for planning – can
also be observed in Kolkata.
Kolkata continued to be a unique example of British colonial urbanism
in the second period. It was the first city where the British could build a
unified and coherent centre of power and knowledge through architectural
symbolism and townscaping. To add to the grandeur of the administrative
area around the government house, smaller lots on Esplanade Row at the
northern border of the Maidan were consolidated to accommodate the
larger administrative buildings in the 1830s. The British also consolidated
Concluding Remarks 235
the principal off ices of the imperial government around Binoy-Badal-

Dinesh Bagh in the 1870s to symbolize the area as the centre of power and
knowledge. To give Kolkata an imperial stamp and Victorian grandeur,
the British even retrofitted the mundane-looking Writers Building in 1880
and demolished native dwellings near Binoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh around
the same time. Kolkata was, in fact, the most elegant city in India until the
late nineteenth century. It continued to be the ‘City of Palaces’ in British
discourse. Kolkata is also a quintessential example of discourse on bustees.
British discourse on Kolkata’s bustees as breeding grounds for disease and
crime began in the late 1860s and continued well into the twentieth century.
Even when the Indo-Saracenic style became popular and Mumbai
experimented with Gothic revival, Kolkata was unique in its adherence
to neo-classical architecture, patronized because of its connection to the
architectural vocabulary of the imperial Roman Empire. Given this con-
nection, such architecture was seen as a symbol of imperial power from the
early days of British Imperial urbanism until its decline in Kolkata. Kolkata
was different because the British gained total political control after the
Battle of Palashi. There were no palaces left where surveillance was neces-
sary, so there was no need for the British to encourage the Indo-Saracenic
style for palaces as they did elsewhere. Walter L.B. Granville, Kolkata’s
leading architect in the Victorian era, strengthened the city’s adherence to
neo-classical architecture by designing several buildings in this style. Lord
Curzon reinforced it with the construction of the Victoria Memorial Hall
at the turn of the twentieth century. The only significant secular building
that was inspired by Gothic architecture in Kolkata was the High Court.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral was also Gothic because of the British prescription
of this style as the architectural language of Christianity. Kolkata had
only a few private buildings in Indo-Saracenic, art noveau, art deco, or the
international style. So strong was its adherence to neo-classicism that we do
not find too much of a search for an Indianness in architecture despite the
fact that one of the pioneers of the Modern Indian Architectural Movement,
Sris Chandra Chatterjee, was a Bengali.
Another major difference was that the discourse in vilifying Indian
architecture in Kolkata was not as pronounced because the city was a British
creation. The British could not find any grandiose indigenous architecture
to vilify. However, the British discourse did disparage the hybrid mansions,
their locations, and interiors built by the Bengali elite. Nonetheless, it was
not as pronounced as it was in the case of the architecture of the Nawabs of
Oudh in Lucknow. The discourse was limited to a disdain of their lifestyles
and lack of taste in interior design ascribed to the Bengali elite. The British
felt this way because they thought themselves racially superior. They were
irked with the location of such mansions in the native town, which they
considered filthy and crowded. These mansions defied their notions of
functional zoning that prescribed living in a neighbourhood dominated
by a single class. Their Euro-centric view and civilizing mission prevented
them from understanding that the Bengali elite had no desire to live in
functionally zoned neighbourhoods and the very economy in which they
prospered warranted various housing types and mixed land-use patterns.
A city in which architecture had emerged as a symbol of power also
witnessed its demise as such ten years earlier. Although it was nowhere
near the scale of Imperial Delhi, the Victorian Memorial Hall was a last
desperate effort by the British to employ architecture as a symbol of power
and spectacle. It was just one monument in a city, instead of being a city
of monuments like Imperial Delhi. Kolkata’s vitality as the capital was
eroding and it was futile to use architecture as a symbol of power any longer.
Despite all these differences, the basic spatial pattern of British colonial
cities persisted in Kolkata. It still consisted of a White Town around the
administrative complex, and a Black Town. Again, the boundaries between
the Black Town and the White Town were blurred as they were in the rest
of India.
Colonial urbanism was deeply embedded in Kolkata’s political economy
and social milieu. British discourse was an integral part of the social menu.
The way the British vilified the hybrid mansions, their locations, and the
interiors built by the Bengali elite revealed the importance of discourse as
a source of power. Discourse was also employed to justify the architectural
extravaganza in their stately buildings. The British employed the concept of
otherness and racial inferiority in their discourse on Kolkata to distinguish
between the Black Town and the White Town. The concept was also used
to who was denied participation in local government until 1924. The adjust-
ments made by the British in the spatial arrangements in their architecture
and furnishings, and the Bengali elite’s attempt to erect hybrid mansions,
illustrate the importance of social milieu in colonial urbanism.
Political economy even played an important role in Kolkata’s emer-
gence as the imperial capital of the British Empire in India. The city was
established as the nexus of European trade in India. While other European
enclaves deteriorated with the decline of their powers, Kolkata prospered
as the British became the primary European colonizer in the region. The
rise of Kolkata even relegated Chennai from the centre of the British Empire
in India to the backwater. The grandiose building activity seen in Kolkata
from the 1780s is also attributable to Kolkata’s rise in the colonial political
economy and the subsequent wealth amassed by both British and Indians.
The colonial political economy also transformed Haora into the workshop of
British Calcutta. Subsequently it lacked the grandiose colonial architecture
and completely defied the British scheme of Imperial urbanism.
The third period in Kolkata’s urbanism was entirely different from the rest
of India. Neither Corbusian architecture nor revivalism became popular in
Kolkata. The first three decades after independence made Kolkata different
in terms of architecture since subsequent regimes faced constant turmoil
and crisis, limiting building activities. Another twenty years of limited and
bureaucratic building activity by the leftist local state and a private industry
restrained by this agenda resulted in a constrained culture of domestic
architectural design unseen in any other Indian city. Architectural styles
were even more limited in Haora as the elite did not want to invest in the
housing market of this stigmatized city. Since architecture was the last issue
on this regime’s agenda, it used flimsy edifices of Western architecture in
the Boimela to define its own vision of urbanism. Another reason for the
absence of architectural variety in Kolkata in the early post-colonial period
was a lack of established firms and local patrons of architecture.
In no other Indian city was planning influenced by the political economy
the way it was in Kolkata. It was the political economy of post-colonial
Kolkata – fuelled by the massive influx of refugees, proliferation of slums,
and deteriorating urban infrastructure – that pushed the post-colonial
urbanism towards policy-oriented planning. The Congress government had
to concentrate on more pressing issues, such as deteriorating infrastructure
rather than architecture. Nehru had the luxury to look to Albert Mayer
and his close associate Matthew Nowicki and later Le Corbusier to create
Chandigarh as a symbol of post-colonial urban identity for modern India.
In contrast, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy had little choice but to turn to the
American Ford Foundation and its consultants for a post-colonial plan to
save Kolkata from communism. The unprecedented transfer of an American
planning paradigm that took place with the Ford Foundation’s involvement
in Kolkata made policy planning the language of post-colonial urbanism
in Kolkata, rather than an architectural extravaganza.
Kolkata’s search for a post-colonial planning paradigm was the only
instance in India where fear of communism prompted Western planning
interests. Kolkata is also the only city in India where the rise of electoral
and revolutionary Marxism in the 1960s led to the creation of planning
organizations in the hope that better urban infrastructure would curb the
growth of Marxism. The transformation of Kolkata into a Marxist city began
with the rise of the revolutionary and parliamentary Marxism in the 1960s.
The local state resorted to Marxist rhetoric to construct a city that was
unique in urban India. This was a city of violence that endured into the mid-
1970s, when street battles between the Naxalites and the CPI(M) and other
parties became a daily affair. Kolkata of the late 1960s and early 1970s was
characterized by political murders, curfews, and gheraos. Beheaded statues
of nationalist leaders like Gandhi and Nehru became a common scenario
in every para1 as the Naxalites denounced them as bourgeois leaders and
enemies of the nation. Kolkata of that era was well captured visually in
films like Pratidandi (The Adversary, 1970) and Calcutta 71 (1972) by inter-
nationally acclaimed Bengali films directors Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.
Pratidandi is based on a novel by the well-known Bengali poet and novelist
Sunil Gangopadhyay in which the plight of an educated middle-class youth
during the height of the Naxalite movement is captured by Ray. In a corrupt
society with unprecedented unemployment and social unrest, the hero of
the film can reconcile neither with his revolutionary brother or careerist
sister. In Calcutta 71, Sen shows a young political activist running through
the streets of Kolkata and compares that with images from the Bangladesh
Liberation War. The advent of the Left Front government did eventually
end the violence. However, the next 34 years of the regime transformed
the city into a unique kind of Marxist city. The leading party, the CPI(M),
became omnipresent in the city. It had penetrated Kolkata’s urban fabric to
such an extent that it was almost impossible to distinguish between state
and party. Kolkata became a stagnant city, shunned by outsiders, a ‘black
hole’ in the eyes of foreigners. It remained a city of traffic jams, poverty,
squalor, and slums.
In the immediate post-colonial period, the spatial structure of Kolkata re-
mained the same, with the elite replacing the ‘Whites’ in their enclaves. The
practice of displacement of the bustee dwellers, which continued through
the early 1950s, ensured retention of the basic spatial structure inherited
from the colonial period. However, this began to change as the left became
successful in stalling evictions from the late 1950s. Given the long history of
the leftist culture and politics, the urban poor were not forcibly relocated
in the fringes as they were in New Delhi and many other cities, especially
when Mrs. Gandhi’s government declared an emergency from 1976 to 1997
(De Souza 1983; Pugh 1990). Unlike in New Delhi where the squatters were
not welcome, in Kolkata the CPI(M) and other leftist parties prevented the
evictions of a large number of illegal refugee colonies that grew up on the
city’s outskirts. The Left Front government also legalized many bustees by
1 The word para in Bengali means neighbourhood.

law from 1981, making the spatial character of this Marxist city different
from the rest of India.
Kolkata’s road to liberalization and globalization was also distinct. As is
evident, it is a late bloomer in the appearance of the physical manifestation
of globalization. Kolkata’s political history and culture explain why Kolkata
has been so delayed in the proliferation of global forms of architecture and
new urban planning paradigms. The Left Front’s attempt to catch up is also
a unique story of how a Marxist regime had to reinvent itself in the face of
globalization. This was the Left Front’s ‘perestroika’. The same regime that
was pro-poor and pro-labour embarked on ‘Operation Sunshine’ in 1996 in
an effort to regain the support of the bhadralok class and make the city a
safe haven for investment. Another instance of the Left Front reinventing
itself was the proposal to remove hand rickshaw pullers and people who
were indirectly involved in the rickshaw trade in Kolkata around the same
time. However, the perception of the government’s hostility towards capital
lingered. The scenario began to change only in the early 2000s, as relatively
more investment occurred. The same government that vilified the KMDA
transformed the agency to implement its spatial instruments of globaliza-
tion. The same is true for other State agencies that have been developing
state-regulated planned townships with the advent of globalization.
The Left Front’s effort to develop Kolkata through urban-focused real
estate development is also unique. This policy has been followed by the
Trinamool Congress. Clearly, Kolkata’s entry into the global economy is
primarily taking place through real estate. The Left Front reinvented itself
in the last period by replacing its traditional antagonism for capital with
an allegiance to global investment and the creation of a corporate political
nexus. Its reformist phase began to evict squatters, sharecroppers, and slum
dwellers in the eastern fringes that it had previously settled. This land was
needed to build townships and housing complexes. Besides the Nandigram
and Singur incidences, the land acquisition process in Rajarhat eventually
led to the demise of the left in Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress won in the
competitive mobilization of the political society as the CPI(M) abandoned
them. Unlike other Indian cities, large-scale development projects in
Kolkata met with more resistance because of the Left Front’s inability to
control land and diffused land holdings. They were also fearful of losing
elections. The Trinamool Congress is likely to be constrained by the same
factors; it came to power on its support of low-income interests against the
megaprojects that were being developed in the rural areas and suburbs
of Kolkata, further illustrating the complexities of political struggles in
shaping Kolkata’s urbanism.
Despite the presence of a strong political society, we still do not see the
globalization at the grassroots level occurring through NGOs and other civil
society organizations working with the poor to resist the detrimental effect
of globalization. Kolkata’s political history and culture leaves very little
political space for NGOs and civil society organizations to play this role.
Globalization is disrupting and fragmenting Kolkata’s urban fabric.
Gated communities and private townships are creating unparalleled shelter
divisions in Kolkata. Such townships and communities are changing the
traditional co-existence of Kolkata’s bustees and mansions; they are, in fact,
the new White Towns of Kolkata, although they are more pristine than
their colonial counterparts. As such, they embody Graham and Marvin’s
concept of splintering urbanism in Kolkata. Naturally, bustees are appearing
on the fringes of these communities because their inhabitants require the
services of the urban poor just as the British needed their servants and
maids. However, unlike the original White Town, which was not completely
free from the encroachment of bustees, these global communities have
completely excluded the urban poor. As was the case in the White Town,
these communities are also importing architectural and urban design
principles from the West to create an idyllic world of their own, far removed
from real Kolkata’s bustees, congestion, and squalor. Kolkata’s malls are also
a social fortress that divides middle-class consumers from the poor who
cannot participate in this purified, quasi-public space. Such spaces are also
splintering Kolkata’s urban fabric. The same is true for intelligent buildings,
IT Parks, and SEZs. In terms of spatial structure, Kolkata is striving to
become what Partha Chatterjee has termed a post-industrial city. Haora
has continued to defy all norms and proclaim globalization in its own way.
Kolkata does not possess the attributes and resources essential to a global
or world city. World cities are organizational nodes that articulate regional,
national, and international economies into a global economy. There is a
hierarchical ranking of such cities according to their global economic
power and command, which can change over time as power and command
increases or decreases (Friedmann 1986; Knox and Taylor 1995). Global cities
are ones in which key sectors involved in managing the global economic
systems – such as business, producer services, legal, or financial services
– generally locate. They do not function independently but are linked with
each other through networks of communications, transport, and capital.
Such cities compete and collaborate with each other at the same time in
economic, political, and cultural spheres (Sassen[1991] 2013). Arguably, a
global city would contain international institutions such as the World Bank,
United Nations, European Union, or North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO); headquarters of Fortune 500 companies; international financial

institutions; stock exchanges; and transnational law firms. It would pos-
sess infrastructure, such as a sophisticated communication systems and
an advanced transportation network, including an airport that acts as
an international hub (Bose 2015). A vibrant downtown business district;
cultural amenities such as art galleries, theatres, playhouses, and book-
stores; educational institutions; and spectacular structures of international
significance such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or the Statue of Liberty are
also essential characteristics of such cities (Bose 2015). Sassen ([1991] 2013),
who coined the term ‘global cities’, included London, New York, and Tokyo
at the top of her list of such cities.
As is evident from the previous chapters, none of these characterizations
apply to Kolkata.2 Kolkata’s inability to become a world city was recognized
by Chakravorty (2000) as early as fifteen years ago when he pointed out that
one cannot expect Kolkata to become a global centre of production (e.g.,
aircrafts, ships, military, hardware) or services (banking and insurance).
As this narrative has shown, key sectors involved in managing the global
economic systems are not located in Kolkata. It does not boast international
institutions of the calibre of the World Bank, headquarters of Fortune 500
companies, international financial institutions and stock exchanges, or
transnational law firms. The airport has hardly any international traffic,
and many international airlines do not even fly to Kolkata. The downtown
is congested and has a poor communication and transportation infrastruc-
ture. It is improbable that all these characteristics will suddenly crop up
in Kolkata. Thus, despite all the schemes, programs, and plans, Kolkata is
unlikely to obtain global status.
The literature defining cities that do not fit the model of a global or world
city is useful in explaining Kolkata’s attempts at globalization. Robinson
(2002, 2006), for example, points out that a large number of cities do not fit
into these categories. These cities are interpreted through developmental
lenses. They are often caught up in an effort to fit into globalization by
emulating the successes of cities that are global, or they are undertaking
initiatives to redress poverty to maintain infrastructure and ensure service
provision and productivity. Even in the new millennium, cities of the Global
2 Kolkata is considered the cultural capital of India and does have its share of as art galleries,
theatres, playhouses, bookstores, and educational institutions. However, cultural institutions
cater essentially to the Bengali palate while the only educational institution with an inter-
national reputation is the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, a public business school
located in Joka, Kolkata.
South are seen as underdeveloped and mired in poverty, environmental

degradation, and disease (Roy 2011b). Such cities are recognized worldwide
through the icon of the slum and are apocalyptic in image. Mike Davis’s
2006 book Planet of Slums is a typical example of such a view. Referencing
Günter Grass’s symbolic dump, Davis wrote, ‘the principal function of Third
World urban edge remains as a human dump. In some cases, urban waste
and unwanted immigrants end up together, as in such infamous “garbage
slums” as […] the huge Dhapa dump and slum on the fringe of Kolkata’ (Davis
2006: 47). The 2009 film Slumdog Millionaire made Mumbai an icon of the
slum to Western eyes. Although no comparable movies have been made
about Kolkata in recent years, it has been an icon of poverty and squalor
as far back as 1992 with the film City of Joy. This image remains unchanged
despite its efforts to reinvent itself through architecture, technology, ideas,
and other aspects of global culture.
Kolkata’s strategy to integrate into the world economy is more easily
understood if one is familiar with Ong’s (2011) treatise on the styles or ‘art’
of being global. She identifies three methods of urban development that
Asian cities have attempted in their effort to globalize. The style most
relevant to Kolkata is what she has termed ‘inter-referencing.’ This approach
consists of ‘practices of citation, allusion, aspiration, and competition’ (Ong
2011: 17). This entails an elite dreaming in which politicians invoke images
of cities such as Shanghai or Singapore or other cities in India to sell real
estate programs or justify unpopular measures such as clearing slums and
suppressing political resistance. Clearly, this has been Kolkata’s strategy
as it attempted to draw close to or even surpass other Indian cities. All the
while, Trinomool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee dreams of creating a
Kolkata that is London. This ‘physiological vertigo’ among Asian leaders
is the effort to catch up with the West and the benchmarks necessary to
become global cities (Anderson 1998; Ong 2011). Kolkata’s leaders have not
been able to escape this ‘physiological vertigo’ in their race to globalize.
This is the story of Kolkata’s transformation from a colonial to a post-
Marxist city. It began with Job Charnock’s successful third attempt to set up
an English factory in Sutanati on a stormy day in August 1690. Charnock’s
‘City of Huts’ had become known as the ‘City of Palaces’ by the early nine-
teenth century, but by the end of the nineteenth century, it had deteriorated
into Kipling’s ‘City of Dreadful Night’, one befit to set a Haussmann loose.
By the 1960s, it had been transformed into a ‘scary city’. This city was the
Global South’s ‘black hole’ and an epitome of urban disaster. This city of
violence lasted until the mid-1970s. The Marxist regime that came to power
in 1977 transformed Kolkata into a Marxist city sarcastically referred to
as the ‘Soviet Republic of West Bengal’. It was Günter Grass’s city of Show
Your Tongue. This was the City of Joy that the White Knight, Patrick Swayze,
rescued. Of course, that city has changed. It now showcases glittering
shopping malls, exclusive gated communities, and private townships. It is
difficult to guess if the late Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu would be happy
or unhappy to know that real estate developers from Kolkata are travelling
to the United States to promote their Euro-American housing at the North
American Bengali Conference, or the Banga Sanskriti Sammelan3 as it is
known in Bengali. However, Job Charnock will no longer be able to find
his favourite Banyan tree to smoke his hukah but he could visit Charnock
City – a department store in Bidhannagar with a bar on the top floor – to
have an English beer in today’s global Kolkata. He could call Lord Curzon
on an iPhone bought from a shopping mall to tell him that his everlasting
symbol of empire has been decolonized to a recreational space for common-
ers. The 2012 Bengali comedy-thriller Bhooter Bhhabishyat tells Kolkata’s
story of transformation today. The title could mean ‘future of the past’ or
‘future of the ghosts’. In the movie, ghosts from different eras of Kolkata,
who live in a colonial Bengali mansion, attempt to prevent its conversion
into a Singapore-style shopping mall. While in real life real people have not
been so successful in preventing Kolkata’s transformation, the ghosts are
able do so in the movie.
3 This is an annual conference held in North America to celebrate Bengali culture and bring
together the Bengali diaspora. The Cultural Association of Bengal held its first conference in
1980 in New York City. It has since been held in several cities in the United States and Canada.
The conference also brings together merchants who want to promote their products to the
attendees.
Glossary
baboo Bengali clerk in colonial India who was literate in

English. It also included the Bengali elite. The word
is also employed as a courtesy title for a Bengali
gentleman and is equivalent to ‘Mr.’
bagan baris garden houses
bargadars sharecroppers
boimela book fair
bazaar marketplace
benami nameless
Bengali natives of Bengal, which includes the State of West
Bengal, India, and Bangladesh
bhadradlok gentleman; the bhadralok class consists mainly of
the Bengali urban intelligentsia that emerged in
colonial Bengal
bustee Distortion of the Bengali word basati, which means
a habitation, residence, or colony. Bustees are the
predominant type of legal housing for the urban
poor in Kolkata.
chajjaas wide projecting cornices or projecting concrete slabs
chattris free-standing canopied turrets
coolie British term for native labourers in India
dastaks imperial Mughal license
dhee British distortion of the Bengali word dihi, meaning
a village or a group of villages
firman royal mandate or a decree issued by the Mughal
emperors
ghat series of steps leading down to a river
gheraos encirclement
gram panchayats village councils
goondas The word has its origins in Hindi. It is also used in
Bengali and English to refer to hired thugs.
gullies narrow lanes
hat mart
hukah stemmed device for smoking tobacco
jaalis pierced lattice screens
jheel pool or lake
khal stream or creek
khal kutta ravine or spillway

kund fountain of hot water
mahakaran secretariat
maidan open space or park in a city or a town
michils processions
mistiri master mason
mouza Locality with one or more settlements. It was the
smallest revenue unit initiated by the Delhi Sultan-
ate and maintained by the Mughal Empire, and the
British in colonial India.
nawab title bestowed to governors during the Mughal
Empire
panchanna 55
panchayat samities local governments in smaller areas that are known
as development blocks
sepoys Indian soldiers
palkhi covered sedan chair with four poles used as a means
of transportation
punkah hand-pulled fan
para neighbourhood
pargana revenue and administrative unit consisting of sev-
eral mouzas initiated by the Delhi Sultanate
puja worship
raja king
rajbari house of the king
sanad deed or legal right granted for a territory
sutanati loop of yarn
thanas police divisions
thika tenants intermediary developers in bustees
zamindari landlord rights
zamindars landlords
List of Abbreviations
BDP Basic Development Plan

BIP Bustee Improvement Programme
CBO Community-based organization
CES Consulting Engineering Services
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CIT Calcutta Improvement Trust
CMA Calcutta Metropolitan Area
CMC Calcutta Municipal Corporation
CMD Calcutta Metropolitan District
CMDA Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority
CMGL Calcutta Metropolitan Group Limited
CMPO Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation
CMWSA Calcutta Metropolitan Water and Sanitation Authority
Comintern Communist International
CPI Communist Party of India
CPI(M) Communist Party of India (Marxist)
CPI(ML) Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
DCR Development control regulation
DFID UK Department of International Development
DMK Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
HMC Howrah Municipal Corporation
HIT Haora Improvement Trust
ICICI Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India
IDA International Development Association
IT Information technology
ITES Information Technology Enabled Services
JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
KEIP Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project
KIT Kolkata Improvement Trust
KMC Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMDA Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority
KMPC Kolkata Metropolitan Planning Committee
KSIP Kolkata Slum Improvement Project
LIC Life Insurance Corporation
LUDCP Land use development control plan
LUMR Land use map and register
MDP Municipal Development Programme
NGO Nongovernmental organization

NRI Non-resident Indian
PSP Praja Socialist Party
PWC PricewaterhouseCoopers
RSP Revolutionary Socialist Party
Saltlec Salt Lake Electronic Complex
SDF The Standard Design Factory
SEZ Special economic zone
TCPO Town and Country Planning Organisation
TCS Tata Consultancy Services
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
WBHIDCO West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation, Limited
WBIDC The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation
WBPWD West Bengal Public Works Department
WEBEL West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation
WHO World Health Organization
WIPRO Western India Products Limited
Bibliography
Alavi, Hamza (1975). ‘India and the Colonial Mode of Production.’ Economic and Political Weekly
10.33-35: 1235-1262.
AlSayyad, Nezar, ed. (1992). Forms of Dominance: On the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial
Enterprise. Aldershot: Avebury.
Amin, Samir (1976). Unequal Development: An Essay on Social Formations of Peripheral Capital-
ism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Anderson, Benedict (1998). The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the
World. London: Verso.
Annesley, George [Viscount Valentia] (1811). Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea,
Abyssinia, and Egypt, in the Years 1802, 1803, 1804, and 1806: Vol. I: India – Ceylon. London: F.,
C., and J. Rivington.
Appadurai, Arjun (2000). ‘Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination.’ Public Culture
12.1: 1-19.
Appadurai, Arjun (2001). ‘Deep Democracy: Urban Governmentality and the Horizon of Politics.’
Environment and Urbanization 13.2: 23-43.
Archer, John (1997). ‘Colonial Suburbs in South Asia, 1700-1850, and the Spaces of Modernity.’ In
Roger Silverstone, ed., Visions of Suburbia, 1-25. London: Routledge.
Archer, John (2000). ‘Paras, Palaces, Pathogens: Frameworks for the Growth of Calcutta, 1800-
1850.’ City and Society 12: 19-54.
Ashcroft, Bill (2001). Post-Colonial Transformation. London: Routledge.
Bandyopadhyay, Asit Kumar (1995). Haora Sharer Itivritta, Dwitwa Khondo. Haora: Lions Press.
Bandyopadhyay, D. (2008). ‘Singur: What Happened, What Next and Time to Pay the Cost.’
Economic and Political Weekly 43.48: 13-16.
Bandyopadhyay, Ritajyoti (2009). ‘Hawkers’s Movement in Kolkata, 1975-2007.’ Economic and
Political Weekly 44.17: 116-119.
Banerjee, Arindam (2011). ‘Bungalows Paid for, Not Delivered.’ The Indian Express, 20 June. www.
Archive.Indianexpress.Com/News/Bungalows-Paid-For-Not-Delivered/805908/0.
Banerjee, Tridib (2005). ‘Understanding Planning Cultures: The Kolkata Paradox.’ In Bishwapriya
Sanyal, ed., Comparative Planning Cultures, 145-163. London: Routledge.
Banerjee, Tridib (2009). ‘U.S. Planning Expeditions to Postcolonial India.’ Journal of the American
Planning Association 75.2: 193-208.
Banerjee, Tridib, and Sanjoy Chakravorty (1994). ‘Transfer of Planning Technology and Local
Political Economy: A Retrospective Analysis of Calcutta’s Planning.’ Journal of the American
Planning Association 71: 71-82.
Banerji, Amiya Kumar (1972). West Bengal District Gazetteers: Howrah. Calcutta: Government
of West Bengal.
Bardhan, Pranab (1984). The Political Economy of Development in India. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Bardhan Roy, Maitreyi (1994). Calcutta Slums: Public Policy in Retrospect. Calcutta: Minerva
Associates.
Baucom, Ian (1999). Out of Place: Englishness, Empire and the Locations of Identity. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Beattie, Martin (2003). ‘Colonial Space: Health and Modernity in Barabazaar, Kolkata.’ Tradi-
tional Dwellings and Settlements Review 14.11: 7-19.
Bhabha, Homi K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.
Bhadra, Sujato, and Siddhartha Guha Ray (2007). ‘Reflections on Nandigram.’ Economic and
Political Weekly 42.38: 3886-3887.
Bhatta, Basudeb (2012). Urban Growth Analysis and Remote Sensing: A Case Study of Kolkata,
1890-2010. New York: Springer.
Bishop’s College (2006). Project Canterbury: Bishops College Calcutta, 1820-1970. N.p: n.p. http://
anglicanhistory.org/india/bishops1970/.Blake, Stephen P. (1991). Shahjahanabad: The Sover-
eign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blechynden, Kathleen (1905). Calcutta Past and Present. London: W. Thacker and Co.
Bose, Pablo S. (2007). ‘Dreaming of Diasporas: Urban Development and Transnational Identities
in Contemporary Kolkata.’ Topia 17: 111-120.
Bose, Pablo S. (2015). Urban Development in India: Global Indians in the Remaking of Kolkata.
London: Routledge.
Blunt, Alison, and Cheryl McEwan (2002). ‘Introduction.’ In Alison Blunt and Cheryl McEwan,
eds., Postcolonial Geographies, 1-6. London: Continuum.
Brown, Archie (2009). The Rise and Fall of Communism. New York: Harper Collins.
Busteed, Elmsley Henry (1888). Echoes from Old Calcutta: Being Chiefly Reminiscences of the Days
of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey. 2nd ed. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, and Co.
Cairns, Stephen (2007). ‘The Stone Books of Orientalism.’ In Peter Scriver and Vikramaditya
Prakash, eds., Colonial Modernities: Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and
Ceylon, 51-66. London: Routledge.
Calcutta Journal of Medicine (1906a). ‘Sanitation of Calcutta I.’ Calcutta Journal of Medicine
25.2: 44-58.
Calcutta Journal of Medicine (1906b). ‘Sanitation of Calcutta II.’ Calcutta Journal of Medicine
25.3: 89-94.
Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (1994). Calcutta Megacity Programme: Project
Profile and Investment Plan. Calcutta: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority.
Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (2000). Vision: 2025, Perspective Plan of CMA
(Interim Draft: Executive Summary). Calcutta: Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority.
Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation (1966). Basic Development Plan for the Calcutta
Metropolitan District, 1966-1986. Calcutta: Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation,
Government of West Bengal.
Calcutta Municipality Administration Report (1868). Cited in Goode, S.W., comp. (1916). Munici-
pal Calcutta: Its Institutions in Their Origin and Growth. Edinburgh: Corporation of Calcutta.
Carey, W.H. ([1882] 1907). The Good Old Days of Honorable John Company, Being Curious Remi-
niscences Illustrating Manners and Customs of the British in India, during the Rule of the East
India Company, from 1600 to 1858; with Brief Notices of Palaces and People of Those Times. Vol.
II. Calcutta: R. Cambray and Co.
Carpenter, Mary (1868). Six Months in India. Vol. I. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Castells, Manuel (1977). The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach. London: Edward Arnold.
Castells, Manuel (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social
Movements. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Celik, Z. (1997). Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations: Algiers under French Rule. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Census Organization of India (2011). ‘Kolkata District: Census 2011 Data.’ Population Census
2011. www.census2011.co.in/census/district/16-kolkata.html.
Chacko, Elizabeth (2007). ‘From Brain Drain to Brain Gain: Reverse Migration to Bangalore and
Hyderabad – India’s Globalizing High Tech.’ Geojournal 68: 131-140.
Bibliogr aphy 251
Chacko, Elizabeth, and Paul Varghese (2009). ‘Identity Representations of Gated Communities
in Bangalore, India.’ Open House International 34.3: 57-64.
Chakraborty, Ajanta (2013). ‘West City Project in Legal Trouble.’ The Times of India, 21 Febru-
ary. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/West-City-project-in-legal-trouble/
articleshow/18603401.cms.
Chakravarty, Suhash (1989). The Raj Syndrome: A Study of Imperial Perceptions. Delhi: Chanakya
Publications.
Chakravorty, Sanjay (2000). ‘From Colonial City to Globalizing City? The Far-From Complete
Spatial Transformation of Calcutta.’ In Peter Marcuse and Ronald van Kempen, eds., Globaliz-
ing Cities: A New Spatial Order?, 56-77. Oxford: Blackwell.
Chakravorty, Sanjay, and Gautam Gupta (1996). ‘Let a Hundred Projects Bloom: Structural
Reform and Urban Development in Calcutta.’ Third World Planning Review 18.4: 415-431.
Chambers, William ([1784] 1806). ‘Some Account of the Sculptures and Ruins at Mavalipuram,
a Place a Few Miles North of Sadras, and Known to Seamen by the Name of Seven Pagodas.’
In Asiatick Researches, or Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal, for Inquiring into
the History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia. Vol. I. 5th ed., 145-170.
London: T. Malden.
Chandra, Nirmal Kumar (2008). ‘Tata Motors in Singur: A Step Towards Industrial Pauperisation?’
Economic and Political Weekly 43: 36-51.
Chatterjee, Partha (1982). ‘Agrarian Relations and Communalism in Bengal, 1926-1935.’ In Ranajit
Guha, ed., Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Vol. I, 9-38. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (1986). Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse?
London: Zed Books.
Chatterjee, Partha (1988). ‘More on Modes of Power and the Peasantry.’ In Ranajit Guha and
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, eds., Selected Subaltern Studies, 351-390. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (1993). The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (1995). ‘The Disciplines in Colonial Bengal.’ In Partha Chatterjee, ed., Texts of
Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal, 1-29. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (2004). The Politics of the Governed: Reflection on Popular Politics in Most of
the World. New York: Columbia University Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (2010). Empire and Nation: Selected Essays. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (2011). Lineages of Political Society: Studies in Postcolonial Democracy. New
York: Columbia University Press.
Chatterjee, Partha (2012). The Black Hole of Empire: History of a Global Practice of Power. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Chatterjee, Suparna, and Judith T. Kenny (1999). ‘Creating a New Capital: Colonial Discourse
and Decolonization of Delhi.’ Historical Geography 27: 73-98.
Chattopadhyay, Swati (2000). ‘Blurring Boundaries: The Limits of “White Town” in Colonial
Calcutta.’ The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 59.2: 154-179.
Chattopadhyay, Swati (2005). Representing Calcutta: Modernity, Nationalism, and Colonial
Uncanny. London: Routledge.
Chattopadhyay, Swati (2007). ‘The Other Face of Primitive Accumulation: The Garden Houses in
British Colonial Bengal.’ In Peter Scriver and Vikramaditya Prakash, eds., Colonial Modernities:
Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon, 169-197. London: Routledge.
Chen, Xiangming, Lan Wang, and Ratoola Kundu (2009). ‘Localizing the Production of Global
Cities: A Comparison of New Town Development around Shanghai and Kolkata.’ City and
Community 8.4: 433-465.
Chopra, Preeti (1992). ‘Pondicherry: A French Enclave in India.’ In Nezar Alsayyad, ed., Forms of
Dominance: On the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial Enterprise, 107-137. Aldershot:
Avebury.
Chopra, Preeti (2007). ‘Refiguring the Colonial City: Recovering the Role of Local Inhabitants
in the Construction of Colonial Bombay, 1854-1918.’ Buildings and Landscapes: Journal of the
Vernacular Architectural Forum 14: 109-125.
Chopra, Preeti (2011). A Joint Enterprise: Indian Elites and the Making of British Bombay Min-
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (1984). Calcutta Slums: Problems and Challenges. Calcutta:
Churches Auxiliary for Social Action.
Cockburn, Cynthia (1977). The Local State: Management of Cities and People. London: Pluto Press.
Cook, Nield J. (1900). ‘Appendix No. XX. Report on Plague in Calcutta.’ In Reports from Commis-
sioners, Inspectors, and Others, Volume XXX: Indian Plague Commission, 1898-99, 463-486.
London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Cotton, H.E.A. (1907). Calcutta Old and New: A Historical and Descriptive Handbook to the City.
Calcutta: W. Newman and Co.
Crinson, Mark (2003). Modern Architecture and the End of Empire. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Curtis, William J.R. (1987). ‘Modernism and the Search for Indian Identity.’ Architectural Review
182: 32-38.
Curzon, George Nathaniel [Marquis of] (1906). Lord Curzon in India, Being a Selection from His
Speeches as Viceroy and Governor-General of India 1898-1905. London: Macmillan and Co.
Curzon, George Nathaniel [Marquis of] (1925). British Government in India: The Story of the
Viceroys and Government Houses. Vol. I. London: Cassell and Co.
Davis, Mike (2006). Planet of Sums. London: Verso.

Davies, Philip ([1985] 1987). Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India, 1660-1947. New
York: Penguin Books.
Deb, Binaya Krishna Raja (1905). The Early History and Growth of Calcutta. Calcutta: Romesh
Chandra Ghose.
De Souza, Alfred (1983). Urban Growth and Urban Planning: Political Contexts and People’s
Priorities. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute.
Dey, Ishita, Ranabir Samaddaer, and Suhit K. Sen (2013). Beyond Kolkata: Rajarhat and the
Dystopia of Urban Imagination. New Delhi: Routledge.
Disney, Anthony (1981). ‘The Portuguese Empire in India c. 1550-1650: Some Suggestions for
a Less Seabourne, More Landbound Approach to Its Socio-Economic History.’ In John
Correia-Afonso, ed., Indo-Portuguese History: Sources and Problems, 148-173. Bombay: Oxford
University Press.
Dossal, Mariam (1991). Imperial Designs and Indian Realities: The Planning of Bombay City,
1845-1875. Bombay: Oxford University Press.
Duncan, S.S., and M. Goodwin (1982). ‘The Local State and Restructuring Social Relations: Theory
and Practice.’ International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 6.2: 157-186.
Edwardes, S.M. (1902). The Rise of Bombay: A Retrospect. Bombay: Times of India Press.
Elberling, F.E. ([1845] 1874). Description of Serampore: Its Population, Revenues, and Administra-
tion under the Danish Government.
Bibliogr aphy 253
Evenson, Norma (1966). Chandigarh. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Evenson, Norma (1989). The Indian Metropolis: A View towards the West. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press.
Falzon, Mark-Anthony (2004). ‘Paragons of Lifestyle: Gated Communities and the Politics of
Space in Bombay.’ City and Society 16.2: 145-167.
Fanon, Frantz (1952). Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press.
Fanon, Frantz (1967). The Wretched of the Earth. London: Penguin.
Fay, Eliza ( [1817] 1908). The Original Letters from India of Mrs. Eliza Fay. Introduction and Notes
by Walter Kelly Firminger. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.
Fergusson, James (1874). History of Architecture in All Countries: From the Earliest Times to the
Present Day. Vol. I. 2nd ed. London: John Murray.
Fergusson, James ([1876] 1967). History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. 2 vols. Delhi: Mun-
shiram Manoharlal.
Fernandes, Leela (2004). ‘The Politics of Forgetting: Class Politics, State Power and the Restruc-
turing of Urban Space in India.’ Urban Studies 41.12: 2415-2430
Firminger, W.K. (1906). Thacker’s Guide to Calcutta. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Enquiry Fails and How It Can
Succeed Again. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Forester, J. (1997). Learning from Practice: Democratic Deliberations and the Promise of Planning
Practice. College Park: University of Maryland Press.
Forester, J. (1999). The Deliberate Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Forester, J. (2009). Dealing with Differences: Dramas of Mediating Public Disputes. New York:
Foucault, Michel ([1969] 1972). The Archeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon.
Foucault, Michel ([1975] 1979). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage
Books.
Frank, Andre Gunder (1979). Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment. New York:
Monthly Review Press.
Friedmann, John (1986). ‘The World City Hypothesis.’ Development and Change 17.1: 69-83.
Fry, Maxwell E. (1955). ‘Chandigarh: New Capital City.’ Architectural Record 117 (June): 139-148.
Führer, A. (1891). The Monumental Antiques and Inscriptions, in the North-Western Provinces and
Oudh. Allahabad: Government Press, N.W.P. and Oudh.
General Garrison Orders. (1821). Garrison General Orders, by his Excellency the Most Noble the
Governor of Fort William, 7 th July, 1821. Cited in Sandeman, David Hugh (1869). Selections
from Calcutta Gazettes of the Years 1816 to 1823 Inclusive, Showing the Political and Social
Condition of the English in India, Fifty Years Ago. Vol. V. Calcutta: Calcutta Central Press
Company for the Superintendant of Government Printing.
Ghosh, Sanjukta (2013). ‘Regional Disparities of Slums, 2013: An Overview with Special Emphasis
to Kolkata.’ International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention 2.3: 48-54.
Goode, S.W., comp. (1916). Municipal Calcutta: Its Institutions in Their Origin and Growth.
Edinburgh: Corporation of Calcutta.
Goswami, Tarun (2015). ‘Mamata Steps in, Directs KMDA Not to Release Remaining Land to
Dubious Realtor.’ Millennium Post, 20 December. http://millenniumpost.in/Newscontent.
Aspx?NID=210695.
Gottdiener, M. (1994). The Social Production of Urban Space. 2nd ed. Austin: University of Texas
Press.
Government of India (1951). First Five Year Plan, 1951-55. New Delhi: Government of India, Plan-
ning Commission.
Graham, Maria ([1812] 1813). Journal of a Residence in India. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Archibald Con-
stable and Co./London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
Graham, Stephen, and Simon Marvin (2001). Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures,
Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition. London: Routledge.
Grandpré, Louis de (1803). ‘A Voyage in the Indian Ocean and to Bengal, Undertaken in the Years
1789 and 1790.’ Monthly Review, vol. 41, 428-429. London: R. Griffiths.
Grass, Günter ([1988] 1989). Show Your Tongue. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Guha, Ranajit, ed. (1981). Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Vol. I.
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Guha, Ranajit, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, eds. (1988). Selected Subaltern Studies. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Gupta, Samita (1993). ‘Theory and Practice of Town Planning in Calcutta, 1817 to 1912: An Ap-
praisal.’ Indian Economic and Social History Review 30.1: 29-55.
Gupta, Narayani ([1981] 1998). Delhi between Two Empires, 1803-1931: Society, Government and
Urban Growth. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Hackworth, Jason (2007). Governance, Ideology, and Development in American in Urbanism.

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Haithcox, John Patrick (1971). Communism and Nationalism in India: M.N. Roy and Comintern
Policy, 1920-1939. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hamilton, Alexander Captain (1727). A New Account of the East Indies, Being the Observations
and Remarks of Capt. Alexander Hamilton, Who Spent His Time There from the Year 1688 to 1723
Trading and Travelling, by Sea and Land, to Most of the Countries and Islands of Commerce
and Navigation, between the Cape of Good-Hope, and the Island of Japon. Vol. II. Edinburgh:
John Mosman.
Harvey, David (1981). ‘The Urban Process under Capitalism: A Framework for Analysis.’ In Michael
J. Dear and Allen J. Scott, eds., Urbanization and Urban Planning in Advanced Capitalist
Society, 91-122. New York: Methuen.
Harvey, David (1989). ‘From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban
Governance in Late Capitalism.’ Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography 71.1: 3-17.
Harvey, David ([2005] 2006). Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Develop-
ment. London: Verso.
Heber, Reginald (1828). Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from Calcutta to
Bombay, 1824-1825 (with Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a Journey to Madras and the Southern
Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in India. Vol. I. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, and Carey.
Himatsingka, Anuradha (2009). ‘South Special: South City Projects in Kolkata.’ The Economic
Times, 12 July. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/sunday-et/property/south-
special-south-city-projects-in-kolkata/articleshow/4767818.cms.
Hodges, William (1793). Travels in India during the Years 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783. London: J.
Edwards.
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann ([1989] 2007). A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism. Auburn, AL: Ludwig
von Mises Institute.
Hosagrahar, Jyoti (2001). ‘Mansions to Margins: Modernity and Domestic Landscapes of Historic
Delhi, 1847-1910.’ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 60.1: 26-45.
Bibliogr aphy 255
Hosagrahar, Jyoti (2002). ‘South Asia: Looking Back, Moving Ahead – History and Modernization.’
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 61.3: 355-369.
Hosagrahar, Jyoti (2005). Indigenous Modernities: Negotiating Architecture and Urbanism London:
Routledge.
Hummel, R. (1991). ‘Stories Managers Tell: Why Are They Valid as Science?’ Public Administration
Review 51.1: 31-41.
Hutnyk, John (1996). The Rumour of Calcutta: Tourism, Charity and the Poverty of Representation.
London: Zed Books.
Indiaonlinepages (2016). ‘Population of Kolkata.’ http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/

kolkata-population.html.
Irving, Robert Grant (1981). Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and Imperial Delhi. New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press.
Jacobs, Jane (1996). Edge of the Empire: Postcolonialism and the City. London: Routledge.
Jameson, Fredric (1996). ‘Actually Existing Marxism.’ In Saree Makdisi, Cesare Casarino, and
Rebecca E. Karl, eds., Marxism beyond Marxism, 14-54. London: Routledge.
Jayne, K.G. ([1910] 1970). Vasco da Gama and His Successors, 1460-1580. New York: Barnes and
Noble.
Joardar, Souro D. (2006). ‘New Delhi: Imperial Capital to Capital of the World’s Largest Democ-
racy.’ In David L.A. Gordon, ed., Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities, 182-195. London:
Routledge.
Jones, William ([1786] 1806). ‘The Third Anniversary Discourse, Delivered 2 February 1786, by
the President.’ Asiatick Researches, or Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal, for
Inquiring into the History and Antiques, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia. Vol. I. 5th
ed., 415-431. London: T. Malden.
Kalia, Ravi (1987). Chandigarh: In Search of an Identity. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press.
Kalia, Ravi (1994). Bhubaneswar: From a Temple Town to a Capital City. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois University Press.
Kalia, Ravi (2004). Gandhinagar: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India. Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press.
Kalia, Ravi (2006). ‘Modernism, Modernization and Post-Colonial India: A Reflective Essay.’
Planning Perspectives 21: 133-156.
Kerr, James (1865). The Domestic Life, Character, and Customs of the Natives of India. London:
W.H. Allen and Co.
Kerr, James (1873). The Land of Ind: Or, Glimpses of India. London: Longman, Green, and Co.
Khilani, Sunil ([1997] 1999). The Idea of India. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux.
Kindersley, Mrs. (1777). Letters for East Indies. Cited in Cotton, H.E.A. (1907). Calcutta Old and
New: A Historical and Descriptive Handbook to the City. Calcutta: W. Newman and Co.
King, Anthony D. (1976). Colonial Urban Development: Culture, Social Power and Environment.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
King, Anthony D. (1980a). ‘Colonialism, and the Development of the Modern South Asian City:
Theoretical Considerations.’ In Kenneth Ballhatchet and John Harrison, eds., The City in
South Asia: Pre-Modern and Modern, 1-19. London: Curzon Press.
King, Anthony D. (1980b). ‘Exporting Planning: The Colonial and Neo-Colonial Experience.’ In
Gordon E. Cherry, ed., Shaping an Urban World: Planning in the Twentieth Century, 203-226.
New York: Saint Martin’s Press.
King, Anthony D. (1989). ‘Colonialism, Urbanism and the Capitalist World Economy: An Introduc-
tion.’ International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 13.1: 1-18.
King, Anthony D. (1990a). Urbanism, Colonialism, and the World Economy: Cultural and Spatial
Foundations of the World Urban System. London: Routledge.
King, Anthony D. (1990b). Global Cities: Post -Imperialism and the Internationalization of London.
London: Routledge.
King, Anthony D. (1992). ‘Rethinking Colonialism: An Epilogue.’ In Nezar Alsayyad, ed., Forms of
Dominance: on the Architecture and Urbanism of the Colonial Enterprise, 347-363. Aldershot:
Avebury.
King, Anthony D. (2004). Spaces of Global Cultures: Architecture, Urbanism, Identity. London:
Routledge.
Kipling, Rudyard (1899). ‘City of Dreadful Night.’ In Rudyard Kipling, from Sea to Sea: Letters of
Travel, Volume II, 223-232. New York: Doubleday and McClure Co.
Kirby, Andrew (1993). Power/Resistance: Local Politics and the Chaotic State. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Knox, Paul L., and Peter J. Taylor, eds. (1995). World Cities in a World System. London: Routledge.
Kohli, Atul (1990). Democracy and Discontent: India’s Growing Crisis of Governability. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Kohli, Atul, ed. (1988). India’s Democracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relation.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (2005). Vision 2025: Perspective Plan of CMA: 2025.
Draft Final Report. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83sc0sJSLaXbFRMaFhCWl9sd2c/view
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (2007). Annual Report 2007. http://www.kmdaon-
line.org/home/aar_2007.
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (2011). Annual Report 2011. http://www.kmdaon-
line.org/home/aar_2011.
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (2017). ‘Kolkata Metropolitan Development
Authority.’ http://www.kmdaonline.org/home/about_us.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (2017). ‘Kolkata Municipal Corporation.’ www.kmcgov.in.
Kornai, János (2000). The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. New York:
Krätke, Stefan, and Fritz Schmoll (1991). ‘The Local State and Social Restructuring.’ International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research 15.4: 542-55.
Lang, Jon (2002). A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India. Delhi: Permanent Black.
Lang, Jon, Madhavi Desai, and Miki Desai (1997). Architecture and Independence: The Search for
Identity – India 1880 to 1890. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Lang, Jon (2002). A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India. Delhi: Permanent Black.
Lapierre, Dominique (1985). City of Joy. New York: Doubleday.
Lauria, Mickey, ed. (1997). Reconstructing Urban Regime Theory: Regulating Urban Politics in a
Global Economy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lefebvre, Henri (2003 [1970]). The Urban Revolution. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1973). Tristes Tropiques. London: Jonathan Cape.
Lewandowski, Susan J. (1975). ‘Urban Growth and Municipal Development in the Colonial City
of Madras, 1860-1900.’ Journal of Asian Studies 34.2: 341-360.
Bibliogr aphy 257
Lewandowski, Susan J. (1977). ‘Changing Form and Function in the Ceremonial and the Colonial
Port City in India.’ Modern Asian Studies 11.2: 183-212.
Lewandowski, Susan J. (1984). ‘The Built Environment and Cultural Symbolism in Post-Colonial
Madras.’ In John Agnew, John Mercer, and David Sopher, eds., The City in Cultural Context,
237-254. Boston: Allen and Unwin.
Lindemann, Albert S. (1983). A History of European Socialism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Loomba, Ania (1998). Colonialism/Postcolonialsm. London: Routledge.
Losty, Jeremiah P. (1990). Calcutta, City of Palaces: A Survey of the City in the days of the East India
Company, 1690-1858. London: The British Library.
Lottery Committee (1817). Resolution passed on 18 th December 1817. Cited in Calcutta Journal
of Medicine (1906a). ‘Sanitation of Calcutta I.’ Calcutta Journal of Medicine 25.2: 44-58.
Love, Henry Davison ([1913] 1968). Vestiges of Old Madras. Vol. II. New Delhi: Mittal Publications.
Lubell, Harold (1974). Urban Development and Unemployment: The Prospects for Calcutta. Geneva:
International Labour Office.
Macleod, Norman (1871). Peeps at the Far East: A Familiar Account of a Visit to India. London:
Strahan & Co.
Mageli, Eldrid (2004). ‘Housing Mobilization in Calcutta: Empowerment for the Masses or
Awareness for the Few?’ Environment and Urbanization 16.1: 129-137.
Mageli, Eldrid (2005). ‘Exploring the NGO Environment in Kolkata: The Universe of Unnayan,
Chhinnamul and Sramajibi.’ European Journal of Development Research 17.2: 249-269.
Magicbrick (2017). ‘Hiland Park, by Hiland Group.’ http://www.magicbricks.com/hiland-group
-hiland-park--e-m-bypass-kolkata-pdpid-4d4235303239333530.
Mallick, Ross (1993). Development Policy of a Communist Government: West Bengal since 1977.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Malls Market.com. Kolkata/Calcutta (2017). ‘Avani Riverside Mall Howrah.’ http://kolkata.
mallsmarket.com/malls/avani-riverside-mall-howrah.
Marshman, J.C. (1845). Notes on the Right Bank of the Hooghly. Calcutta Review. Vol IV, 1845.
Cited in O’Malley, L.S.S., and Monmohan Chakravarti (1909). Bengal District Gazetteers,
Howrah. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Martin, Ranald James (1837). Notes on the Medical Topography of Calcutta. Cited in Cook, Nield
J. (1900). ‘Appendix No. XX. Report on Plague in Calcutta.’ In Reports from Commissioners,
Inspectors, and Others, Volume XXX: Indian Plague Commission, 1898-99, 463-486. London:
Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Marx, Karl ([1857] 1959). The First Indian War of Independence. Moscow: Foreign Language
Publishing House.
Massey, Montague (1918). Recollections of Calcutta for Over Half a Century. Calcutta: Thacker,
Spink and Co.
Mayers, James (2001). ‘Economic Reform and the Urban/Rural Divide: Political Realignment in
West Bengal, 1977-2000.’ South Asia 24.1: 17-42.
McEwan, Cheryl (2009). Postcolonialism and Development. London: Routledge.
McLean, Douglas (2001). ‘Tension between State and Capital in West Bengal.’ South Asia 24.1: 93-115.
Mehrotra, Rahul (2011). Architecture in India since 1990. Mumbai: Pictor.
Meller, Helen (1990). Patrick Geddes: Social Evolutionist and City Planner. London: Routledge.
Metcalf, Thomas R. (1984). ‘Architecture and the Representation of Empire: India, 1860-1910.’
Representations 6: 37-65.
Metcalf, Thomas R. (1989). An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain’s Raj Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Miliband, R. (1969). The State in Capitalist Society. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
Mitchell, Timothy. (1988). Colonizing Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mitra, Prithvijit (2014). ‘Metro Cinema Shuts Down, But Show Will Go On.’ Times of India, 13 June.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Metro-cinema-shuts-door-but-show-will-
go-on/articleshow/36455981.cms.
Mitter, Swasti, and Asish Sen (2000). ‘Can Calcutta Become Another Bangalore? Looking for
Windows of Opportunity in International Telework.’ Economic and Political Weekly 35.26:
2263-2268.
Moore-Gilbert, Bart (1997). ‘Edward Said: Orientalism and Beyond.’ In Bart Moore-Gilbert,
Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, and Politics, 34-74. London: Verso.
Moorhouse, Geoffrey (1971). Calcutta. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Mukherjee, Madhuja (n.d.). ‘Narratives of Development in South Asia: Kolkata, South City and
Solace.’ http://www.kaurab.com/themudproposal/madhuja/narratives.pdf.
Mukherjee, S.N. (1968). Sir William Jones: A Study in Eighteenth-Century British Attitudes to India.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Munshi, Sunil (1978). ‘Calcutta: Classes and Class Policies in Metropolitan Development.’ Social
Scientist 6.6/7: 14-24.
Munshi, Sunil K. ([1986] 1990). ‘Genesis of the Metropolis.’ In Jean Racine, ed., Calcutta 1981:
The City, Its Crisis and the Debate on Urban Planning and Development, 29-49. New Delhi:
Concept Publishing Co.
Murphey, Rhoades (1964). ‘The City in the Swamp: Aspects of the Site and Early Growth of
Calcutta.’ Geographical Journal 130.2: 241-256.
Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (2017). ‘Home.’ http://www.ndita.org/egovernance/.

Naipaul, V.S. ([1964] 1966). An Area of Darkness. London: The Reprint Society.
Nair, Janaki (2002). ‘Architecture and Public Life in Bangalore.’ Journal of Asian Studies 61.4:
1205-1236.
NDTV (2010). ‘Mamata Wins Bengal Civil Polls, Demands Early Elections.’ NDTV website,
2 June. http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mamata-wins-bengal-civic-polls-demands-early
-elections-419690.
New York Times (1961). New York Times July 31. Cited in Munshi, Sunil (1978). ‘Calcutta: Classes
and Class Policies in Metropolitan Development.’ Social Scientist 6.6/7: 14-24.
Nilsson, Sten ([1968] 1969). European Architecture in India, 1750-1850. New York: Taplinger.
Nove, Alec (1986). Marxism and ‘Really Existing Socialism. New York: Harwood Academic
Publishers.
O’Malley, L.S.S., and Monmohan Chakravarti (1909). Bengal District Gazetteers, Howrah.
Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Ong, Aihwa (2006). Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Sovereignty and Citizenship.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Ong, Aihwa (2011). ‘Introduction: Worlding Cities, or the Art of Being Global.’ In Ananya Roy
and Aihwa Ong, eds., Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, 1-26.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Pal, Anirban (2006). ‘Scope for Bottom-up Planning in Kolkata: Rhetoric vs. Reality.’ Environment
and Urbanization 18.2: 501-521.
Pal, Anirban (2008). ‘Political Space for the Civil Society: The Work of Two Community-Based
Organizations in Kolkata,’ Habitat International 32: 424-436.
Bibliogr aphy 259
Perera, Nihal (1998). Society and Space: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Postcolonial Identity in
Sri Lanka. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Perera, Nihal (2004). ‘Contesting Visions: Hybridity, Liminality and Authorship of the Chandigarh
Plan.’ Planning Perspectives 19: 175-199.
Pons, Silvio ([2012] 2014). The Global Revolution: A History of International Communism, 1917-1991.
Translated by Allan Cameron. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poulantzas, Nicos (1973). Political Power and Social Classes. London: New Left Books.
Prakāsh, Vikramāditya (2011). ‘Epilogue: Third World Modernism, or Just Modernism: Towards
a Cosmopolitan Reading of Modernism.’ In Duanfang Lu, ed., Third World Modernism:
Architecture, Development and Identity, 255-270. London: Routledge.
Propertywala (2017). ‘South City Tower – Prince Anwar Shah Road.’ https://www.propertywala.
com/south-city-tower-kolkata
Pugh, Cedric (1989). ‘The World Bank and Urban Shelter in Calcutta.’ Cities 6.2: 103-118.
Pugh, Cedric (1990). Housing and Urbanization: A Study of India. New Delhi: Sage.
Rabinow, Paul (1989). French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment. Boston: MIT
Press.
Racevskis, Karlis (1983). Michel Foucault and the Subversion of Intellect. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press.
Racine, Jean, ed. ([1986] 1990). Calcutta 1981: The City, Its Crisis and the Debate on Urban Planning
and Development. New Delhi: Concept.
Ramirez, Ronaldo (2005). ‘State and Civil Society in Barrios of Havana, Cuba: The Case of
Pogolotti.’ Environment and Urbanization 17.1: 147-169.
Ray, Rajat Kanta (1979). Urban Roots of Indian Nationalism: Pressure Groups and Conflict of
Interests in Calcutta City Politics, 1875-1839. New Delhi: Vikas.
Reese, Laura A., and Raymond A. Rosenfeld (2002). The Civic Culture of Local Economic Develop-
ment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Richards, E.P. (1914). Report by Request of the Trust, on the Condition, Improvement and Town
Planning of the City of Calcutta and Contiguous Areas. Hertfordshire: Jennings and Bewley.
Richards, J.M. (1982). Goa. New Delhi: Vikas.
Roberts, Emma (1835). Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with Sketches of Anglo Indian
Society. Vol. I. London: W.H. Allen and Co.
Robinson, Jennifer (2002). ‘Global and World Cities: A View from off the Map.’ International
Journal of Urban and Regional Research 26.3: 531-554.
Robinson, Jennifer (2006). Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development. London:
Routledge.
Roy, Ananya (2003). City Requiem, Calcutta: Gender and Politics of Poverty. Minneapolis: Uni-
versity of Minnesota Press.
Roy, Ananya (2004). ‘The Gentleman’s City: Urban Informality in Calcutta of New Communism.’
In Ananya Roy and Nezar Alsayyad, eds., Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from
the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia, 147-170. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Roy, Ananya (2009). ‘Why India Cannot Plan Its Cities: Informality, Insurgence and the Idiom
of Urbanization.’ Planning Theory 8.1: 76-87.
Roy, Ananya (2011a). ‘Re-Forming the Megacity: Calcutta and the Rural-Urban Interface.’ In
André Sorensen and Junichiro Okata, eds., Megacities: Urban Form, Governance, and Sustain-
ability, 93-109, London: Springer.
Roy, Ananya (2011b). ‘Slumdog Cities: Rethinking Subaltern Urbanism.’ International Journal of
Urban and Regional Research 35.2: 223-238.
Rudolph, Lloyd. I., and Susanne H. Rudolph (1987). In the Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy
of Indian State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Said, Edward W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

Said, Edward W. (1993). Culture and Imperialism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Sandeman, David Hugh (1869). Selections from Calcutta Gazettes of the Years 1816 to 1823 Inclusive,
Showing the Political and Social Condition of the English in India, Fifty Years Ago. Vol. V.
Calcutta: Calcutta Central Press Company for the Superintendent of Government Printing.
Sanyal, Amit (2010). ‘Changing Urban Landscape: A Socio-Semiotic Profile of a Shopping Mall in
Kolkata.’ In Swapan Kumar Pramanick and Ramanuj Ganguly, eds., Globalization in India:
New Frontiers and Emerging Challenges, 290-314. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Ltd.
Sanyal, Biswapriya, and Meenu Tiwari (1991). ‘Politics and Institutions in Urban Development:
The Story of Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority.’ In The Urban Poor and Basic In-
frastructure Services in Asia and Pacific: Regional Seminar, Volume III: A Report of the Seminar
Held on 22-28 January 1991 in Manila, Philippines,605-634. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
Sassen, Saskia ([1991] 2013). The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Scriver, Peter (2007). ‘Stones and Texts: The Architectural Historiography of Colonial India and
Its Colonial Modern Contexts.’ In Peter Scriver and Vikramaditya Prakash, eds., Colonial
Modernities: Building, Dwelling and Architecture in British India and Ceylon, 22-50. London:
Routledge.
Sen, Jai (1996). ‘The Left Front and the “Unintended City”: Is a Civilised Transition Possible?’
Economic and Political Weekly 31.45/46: 2977-2979 and 2981-2982.
Sen, S.P. (1947). The French in India: First Engagement and Struggle. Calcutta: Calcutta University
Press.
Sengupta, Urmi (2006). ‘Government Intervention and Public-Private Partnerships in Housing
Delivery in Kolkata.’ Habitat International 30.3: 448-461.
Sengupta, Urmi (2007). ‘Housing Reform in Kolkata: Changes and Challenges.’ Housing Studies
22.6: 965-679.
Sengupta, Urmi (2010). ‘The Hindered Self-Help: Housing Policies, Politics and Poverty in Kolkata,
India.’ Habitat International 34.3: 323-331.
Sengupta, Urmi, and Allen G. Tipple (2007). ‘The Performance of Public-Sector Housing in
Kolkata, India, in the Post-Reform Milieu.’ Urban Studies 44.10: 2009-2027.
Shah, Ghanshyam (1988). ‘Grass-Roots Mobilization in Indian Politics.’ In Atul Kohli, ed., India’s
Democracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relation, 262-304. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Shankar (1974). Jekhane Jaman. Kolkata: Deys Publishing.
Shatkin, Gavin (2011). ‘Planning Privatopolis: Representing and Contestation in the Development
of Urban Integrated Mega-Projects.’ In Ananya Roy and Aihwa Ong, eds., Worlding Cities:
Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, 77-97. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Shaw, Annapurna, and M.K. Satish (2007). ‘Metropolitan Restructuring in Post-Liberalized
India: Separating the Global and the Local.’ Cities 24.2: 148-163.
Sinha, Pradip (1978). Calcutta in Urban History. Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Limited.
Sinha, Pradip(1991). ‘The Genesis of a Colonial City.’ In Biplab Dasgupta, Mohit Bhattacharya,
Dev Kumar Basu, Monidip Chatterjee, and Tapan K. Banerjee, eds., Calcutta’s Urban Future:
Agonies from the Past and Prospects for the Future, 1-7. Calcutta: Government of West Bengal.
Bibliogr aphy 261
Sinha, Sukumar ([1986] 1990). ‘The Population Problem: The Demographical Trends of Calcutta
City.’ In Jean Racine, ed., Calcutta 1981: The City, Its Crisis and the Debate on Urban Planning
and Development, 157-174. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Co.
Sivaramakrishnan, K.C., and Leslie Green (1986). Metropolitan Management: The Asian Experi-
ence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, Neil (2002). ‘New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as a Global Urban Strategy.’
Antipode 34: 427-450.
Smith, David B. (1860). Report on the Drainage and Conservancy of Calcutta. Calcutta: Bengal
Secretariat Press.
Smith, Roger T. (1873). ‘Architectural Art in India.’ Journal of the Society of Arts 7 (March): 278-286.
Spear, Percival (1965). The Oxford History of Modern India: 1740-1947. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1985a). ‘Can the Subaltern Speak? Speculations on Widow Sacrifice.’
Wedge 7/8: 120-130.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1985b). ‘The Rani of Sirmur: An Essay in Reading the Archives.’
History and Theory 24.3: 247-272.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1985c). ‘Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism.’
Critical Inquiry 12.1: 243-261.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1988). ‘Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography.’ In
Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, eds., Selected Subaltern Studies,3-32. New
York: Oxford University Press.
South City Mall (2017). ‘South City Mall.’ http://southcitymall.in/index.php.
Thomas, Frederic C. (1997). Calcutta Poor: Elegies on a City above Pretense. Armonk, NY: M.E.
Sharpe.
Tillotson, G.H.R. (1989). The Tradition of Indian Architecture: Continuity, Controversy and Change
since 1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Town Improvement Committee (1804). Cited in Calcutta Journal of Medicine (1906b). ‘Sanitation
of Calcutta II.’ Calcutta Journal of Medicine 25.3: 89-94.
Toynbee, George (1888). A Sketch of the Administration of the Hooghly District from 1795 to 1845,
with Some Account of the Early English, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and Danish Settlements.
Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press.
Trywhitt, Jaqueline, ed. (1947). Patrick Geddes in India. London: Lund Humphries.
Unnayan (1992). Basti Movement in Calcutta: Housing Struggle of the Basti Dwellers in the 1950’s
in Calcutta. Unnayan: Calcutta.
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Varman, Rohit, and Russell W. Belk (2012). ‘Consuming Postcolonial Shopping Malls.’ Journal of
Marketing Management 28.1-2: 62-84.
Voyce, Malcolm (2007). ‘Shopping Malls in India: New Social “Dividing Practices.”’ Economic
and Political Weekly 42.22: 2055-2062.
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1974). The Modern World System. London: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1979). The Capitalist World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Wang, Lan, Ratoola Kundu, and Xiangming Chen (2010). ‘Building for What and Whom? New
Town Development as Planned Suburbanization in China and India.’ In Mark Clapson and
Ray Hutchison, eds., Suburbanization in Global Society, 319-346. Bingley: Emerald Group.
Wellesley, Marquess (1803). ‘Minute of the Governor-General on the Improvement of Calcutta,
Fort William, Calcutta, 16 June 1803.’
West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (2017a). ‘Final Layout Action
Area-I.’ http://www.wbhidcoltd.com/uploads/Maps/Action_Area_I/AA-I_LAYOUT.pdf
West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (2017b). ‘Final Layout Action
Area-II.’ http://www.wbhidcoltd.com/uploads/Maps/Action_Area_II/AA-II_LAYOUT.pdf
Wilson, C.R. (1895). The Early Annals of the English in Bengal, Being the Bengal Public Consulta-
tions for the First Half of the Eighteenth Century, Summarized, Extracted, and Edited with
Introductions and Illustrative Addenda. London: W. Thacker and Co.
Wilson, C.R., ed. (1906). Old Fort William in Bengal: A Selection of Official Documents dealing
with its History, Vol. I., India Record Series. London: John Murray.
Wright, Gwendolyn (1991). The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Index
24 Paraganas 51, 124, 127 Ford Foundation 140, 237; see also Ford
73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments Foundation
Acts of 1992 176 planning paradigm (s) 19, 133, 166-167,
237
A New Account of the East Indies 39; see also Revolutionary War 73
Hamilton, Alexander Andul Rajbari 128, 131
Act II of 1848 124 Anglicists 90
Act II of 1888 115, 124 Anglo-Indian firms 147
Act III of 1899 115, 125 Anglo-Indian life 80
Act IV of 1876 114, 124 Anna Square 139
Act VI of 1863 124 Annadurai, C.N. 139; see also Dravida Mun-
Act VI of 1881 124 netra Kazhagam (DMK), Tamil nationalist
Act X of 1852 124 party
Act XVI of 1847 123 Annesley, George 59, 63-64, 122; see also
Act XXII of 1847 123 British aristocrat
Act XXV of 1856 124 Appadurai, Arjun 29
Act XXVII of 1854 124 Archer, John 57, 69, 86, 108-109
Adi Ganga 52 architectural
Adshead, S.D. 117 activity 133
Africa 59 character 59-60
Agra 101 culture 140, 142, 154
agrarian reform(s) 34, 178, 193; see also Left design principles of the West 240
Front development of 154
agricultural domestic design 23, 145, 237
growth 155 education 154
infrastructure 155 elements
land 178 borrowed from modernism to Indian
performance 193 historical architecture 148
policies 155 Buddhist 144; see also Capital Boys
productivity 193 School, Guest House Museum
Ahmadabad classical 101
Chimanbhai, Chinubhai 140 from Hindu dynasties 137
cotton barons of 140 from the past 136
Kahn, Louis 140 emerging paradigms 198
Lalbhai, Kasturbhai 140 endeavours 133, 233
Ajanta 103 experiments 233
Akashvani Bhaban 43, 144; see also All expression 91, 139
India Radio Building; Art Deco, Ballardie, extravaganza 140, 237
Thompson, and Mathews; Kerr, William B.; in stately buildings 236
revivalist style firm 105
Alavi, Hamza 155 formations 29
alderman 175 forms 30, 135, 191
alienness 26 globalized 154
All India Radio Building 143; see also history of Kolkata 36
Akashvani Bhaban; Art Deco, Ballardie, identity 136
Thompson, and Mathews; Kerr, William B.; imperial 154
revivalist style independence 142
Allende, Salvador 33 industry 191
Amaravati 91 inspiration 104
America 100 language of Christianity 94, 235
American modernist vision 134
airbase 182 post-colonial identity 136
architect 140, 154 professional 142
architecture 138 space 206, 218
civil engineer 133 style(s) 60, 92-94, 101, 136, 139, 182, 237
symbolism 22, 63, 84, 234 water closets 120

team 134 Assembly
thought 140 Chandigarh Capitol Complex 135
tradition(s) 77, 98, 139 Legislative 137
type 98 Vidhan Soudha 137-138
vocabulary of the British Empire 86 West Bengal 165
vocabulary of the imperial Roman Attara Kacheri 138
Empire 60, 235 Auckland, Lord 110
variety Austria 33
absence of variety in Kolkata 142, 237 Avani Riverside Mall 226, 229; see also Haora
architecture; see also American, A(a)rt Avenue, the 42
D(d)eco, Art Nouveau, classical, Corbusian,
Indian, international style, modernist, baboo(s)
neo-classical, revivalist, utilitarian modern Anglicized 87
A(a)rt D(d)eco 102, 235 wealthy 87
as a symbol of domination 24, 233 bagan baris 57; see also garden house(s)
as a symbol of power 22, 59, 66, 82, 236 Baker, Sir Herbert 101-102; see also Delhi
futile use of 101 Balasor 38; see also Orissa
classical 77, 92-93, 101 Ballardie, Thompson, and Mathews 143; see
classically influenced 60 also Akashvani Bhaban; All India Radio
Corbusian 135, 141, 237 Building; Birla Planetarium; Gora, G.K.,
Indian 26, 90-91, 101, 133, 136-137, 235 Kerr, William B.; Ramkrishna Mission
Indianness 102, 235 Complex; revivalist style
Indigenous 22, 91, 235 Banaras Hindu University 104
market-driven 191 Banerjee, Mamata
modern architecture 25, 146 Chief Minister 231
modern Indian vernacular 148, 150-151 Trinomool Congress leader 156, 242
monumental 24 Banerji, Amiya Kumar 76, 127-128, 130
neo-classical 22, 87, 98, 235 Banga Sanskriti Sammelan 243; see also
new forms 191 North American Bengali Conference
of commercialism 144 Bangladesh Liberation War 164, 169, 238
of Independence 133 Bardhan, Pranab 155
of spectacle 24, 64, 226 Bardhan Roy, Maitreyi 162,164-168, 172
post-colonial 23, 136, 139-140, 144, 154 bargadars 193
residential 148, 226 Baroque 74
revivalist 136, 138-139 Baruipur 199
utilitarian modern 182 Basberia 168, 181
Western 60, 154, 237 Bashaks 38-39
Armenian(s) 46-48, 52 Basic Development Plan (BDP) 159
A(a)rt D(d)eco; see also Akashvani Bhaban; All bimodal development strategy 168
India Radio Building; Ballardie, Thompson, implementation of 169
and Mathews; Kerr, William B, Ramkrishna strong opposition to 169
Mission Bastbasi Sammelan 165
architecture 102, 235 Basu, Jyoti
elements 143 Chief Minister 195
style 235 Marxist patriarch 243
style buildings 94 Batavia 72
art nouveau Batley, Claude 136
style 94 Bator 76
Aryan roots 90 Battle of Chuchura 72
Ashcroft, Bill 25, 28, 63 Battle of Palashi 51, 233, 235
Ashok Singh Palace 104 Baucom, Ian 94
Ashoka Hotel 138-139; see also Choudhury, Bay of Bengal 38
J.K., Singh, Gulzar Beattie, Martin 68, 111, 114, 116-117, 120
Asian cities effort to globalise 242 beggary 20
Asiatic Belk, Russell W. 30-31; see also Varman, Rohit
Journal 65 benami land 193
Society 84, 90 Bengal
Society of Bengal 100 Ambuja Metro Development Limited 218
Index 265
Chamber of Commerce 84, 124-125 Secretariat Building 136; see also revival-

Council 41 ism, revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L.
Engineering College 154; see also Indian Staff Quarters 136; see also revivalism,
Institute of Engineering Science and revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L.
Technology Bidhannagar 145, 148-150, 181-182, 186, 209-210,
Intelligent Park 211 213-214, 218-220, 243; See also Saltlake
Municipal Act of 1932 124 Bidyasagor Setu 183; see also second Hugli
partition of 164 Bridge
Province of 39, 101 Bie, Ole 73
region 37 Bihar 38-39, 124, 132, 197
remoteness of 37 bijouterie 82
trading potential of 38 Binoy Badal Dinesh Bagh 43, 77, 79, 82-84, 92,
Bengali 156, 235; see also Dalhousie Square, Tank
architect 103; see also Sris Chandra Square
Chatterjee Birla Planetarium 143-145; see also Ballardie,
culture 243 Thompson, and Mathews; Gora, G.K.;
diaspora 243 revivalist style
educated middle class 179 Bishop’s College 128-129; see also Madhusud-
elite 84-90, 128, 235-236 han Bhabhan
films 238; see also Calcutta 71 and Black Merchants 48
Pratidandi (The Adversary, 1970) Black Pagoda 47-48; see also Navaratna Kali
household 86 temple
intelligentsia 198 B(b)lack (T)town 19, 47, 54, 105, 122, 234, 236
middle class neighbourhood 215 Blechynden, Kathleen 37-43, 46, 51-54, 61-63,
novelist 184; see also Shankar 69, 72, 74-75
NRI(s) 195, 228; see also Mukherjee, Blunt, Alison 25, 29; see also McEwan, Cheryl
Prasoon Board of Governors 110
palate 205, 241 Boimela 146-147, 237; see also Calcutta Book
poet and novelist 238; see also Sunil Fair
Gangopadhyay Bolshevik revolution 33
society 179 Bombay 94, 101, 136-137; see also Mumbai
urban intelligentsia 179 Bompas, C.H. 117
wealthy 57, 88 boroughs 175, 201-202
Westernized elite 86 Bose, Pablo S. 204-205, 207, 209, 214, 230-231,
Bengaluru 137, 191-192, 201, 209 241
Bhabha, Homi 26, 30 Bose, Subhas Chandra 125
bhadradlok(s) 179 Bou Bazaar Street 107; see also Bow Bazaar
Bharut 91 Street
class 179, 205, 207, 239 bourgeoisie
state 179 corruption 178
Bhattacharjee, Buddhadeb 232 leaders 238
Chief Minister 209 Bourne and Shepherd 98, 108
Bhooter Bhhabishyat 243 Bow Bazaar Street 42, 110; see also Lal Bazaar
Bhubaneswar see also Orissa Street
Capital Boys School 136; see also revival- Brandenburg Gate 230
ism, revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L. Britain(s) 19, 101, 117, 167
Guest House 136; see also revivalism, British
revivalist building, Vaz, Julius L. administrators 94
Köenigsberger, Otto 133 antagonism towards 101
Lingaraja Temple complex 136 architect(s) 101, 136, 147
Market Building 136; see also revivalism, architecture 24, 81
revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L. aristocrat 59; see also Annesley, George
Museum 136; see also revivalism, attempt to segregate 234
revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L. city planning 25
Police Building 136; see also revivalism, civilizing mission 26, 116, 236
revivalist building, Vaz, Julius L. colonial planning 28, 234
Red Building 136; see also revivalism, colonial practices 109
revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L. colonial urbanism 22, 234
colonialism 91
colonizer(s) 20, 156, 236 Muslim 215

commerce 84 organizations 165
control 51 population 162, 165-166
deemed 20 rehousing schemes 166
discourse 86, 91, 235-236 social planning for 173
discursive practice (s) 56, 94 Standard Plan of 165
early colonial era 234 bustee dwellers
efforts 19 displacement of 165, 238
home design 121 eviction of 165
imperial urbanism 76-77, 127, 235, 237 hardship of 107, 158
imperialism 139 investment in dwellings 171
India 32 legal 162
lifestyles 86 neglect of 166
Military engineers 81 political mobilization of 177
obsession 20 rehabilitation of 165
planning tradition 120 security of tenure of 171
possession 22, 72 Bustee Improvement Programme (BIP)
power 25, 36, 39, 59, 75, 77 coverage to social and economic
rationales 27 development 172
Raj 32, 63, 91, 93, 102 of the Calcutta Metropolitan Development
rule 53, 63, 100 Authority 168
settlements 44, 128 participation in 171
Sovereign 99 phases 172
Suzerainty 102 success of 172
use architecture as a symbol of power 66, Busteed, Henry Elmsley 56
236 Buxar 59
victory at Palashi 53, 233
British East India Company(’s) 38, 60, 72-73 Cairns, Stephen 90
agent 38 Calcutta 71 238; see also Sen, Mrinal
chief agents of 44 Book Fair 146; see also Biomela
civil servants 60, 71 Bustee Federation 165
directors 50 British 39, 59, 75, 128, 237
Goods 44 Christian 47
losses sustained by 52 congested areas 119
warehouses 42 Corporation Act of 1951, The 165, 174
British Empire 32, 60-61, 86, 98, 100, 135, 156, Dhee 43
234, 236 documentary 20, 166; see also Malle,
Brown, Archie 33 Louis
Buckley, James 134; see also Chandigarh Improvement (Amendment) Bill of
Buddhist 1954 165
architectural elements 144 Improvement Trust (CIT) 116, 117, 175
elements 136 Journal of Medicine 68-70, 106-107, 110
building codes Metropolitan Area (CMA) 159
violated 186 Metropolitan Development Author-
violation of 154 ity (CMDA) 168; see also Kolkata
Building Commission 116 Metropolitan Development Authority
Burra Bazaar 43, 51, 115-116, 120-121; see also (KMDA)
Geddes, Sir Patrick amendment of act 173
bustee(s) budget 176
as a breeding grounds for disease 115, officials 173
119, 235 Metropolitan District (CMD) 159, 173, 177
British discourse on 235 newly defined 168
clearance 158 population of 159
demolition 114, 116 Metropolitan Group Limited (CMGL) 207
improvements 165 Metropolitan Planning Organisation
Jora Bagan 115 (CMPO) 167-169, 173-174
land in Kolkata 107, 165 demise of 173
landlords 107, 165 establishment of 167
legalizing 178 strong opposition to 169
Index 267
Metropolitan Water and Sanitation Chajjaas 101, 147-148, 154

Authority (CMWSA) 173 Chakravarti, Monmohan 127, 128, 130-132; see
Municipal Act of 1923 125, 164 also O’Malley, L.S.S.
Municipal Corporation (CMC) Act of Chakravarty, Shuhash 63
1980 174-175 Chakravorty Spivak, Gayatri 26; see also
Rickshaw Chalak Panchyat 197 post-colonial theorists
scare of 166 Chalukyan 137
Slum Clearance and Rehabilitation of Slum Chambers, William 90-91
Dwellers Act of 1958 166 Chandannagar 49, 51, 75, 182, 198; see also
Trades Association 125 Chandernagore
Urban Development Project I, Chandernagore 75; see also Chandannagar
1972/1973-1975/76 170 French 49
Urban Development Project II, Chandigarh(s)
1977/78-1981/82 172 as a symbol of post-colonial urban
Urban Development Project III 171-172 identity 237
wealth of 127 Buckley, James 134
Calicut 37 Capitol Complex 134-135; see also
Canada 100, 243 Assembly
capital Cofffey, Clara 134
accumulation 29, 214, 226 Drew, Jane Beverly 134
attracting 29, 196 Fry, Edwin Maxwell 134
flow of 29 195 Glass, Milton 134
formation 29 grandeur 23
international 195, 209 intentional rejection of a national
principle circuits 29; see Harvey, David, style 135
Lefebvre, Henri Landsberg, H.E. 134
secondary circuit 29; see also Harvey, Le Corbusier(’s) 134-135, 237
David, Lefebvre, Henri Mayer, Albert 133-134, 237
tertiary circuit 29; see also Harvey, David Nowicki, Matthew 133-134, 237
Capital Boys School 136; see also Bhubane- Oberlin, Ralph 134
swar, revivalism, revivalist building, Vaz, Stein, Clarence 134
Julius L. style of modernism 139
capitalism 31 Whittlesey, Julian 134
capitalist Charnock City 243
donors 169 Charnock(s), Job 38-41, 43-44, 242-243
money market 29 Chartered Bank Building 94, 96
nations 31 Chatterjee, Partha 26, 29, 31, 48, 50-51, 53,
urban system 32 83-84, 110, 116, 156, 158, 180, 198, 226, 240; see
Capitol Complex 134-135; see also Chandi- also post-colonial theorists
garh, Le Corbusier Chatterjee, Sris Chandra 103, 235
Carbone, Dr. A. 142; see also Mahajati Shadan Chattopadhyay, Swati 56-57, 65, 69, 80-81, 84,
Hall 86, 111, 114, 121
Carey, W.H. 52, 65-66, 77; see also The Good chattris 101
Old Days of Honourable John Company Chief Minister see Banerjee, Mamata,
Carita, Helder 49 Basu, Jyoti, Bhattacharjee, Buddhadeb,
Carpenter, Mary 89, 122 Hanumanthaiya, Kengal, Roy, Dr. Bidhan
cash block grants 176 Chandra
caste(s) Chennai 38-39, 46, 52, 56, 66, 70, 84, 195, 201,
loosing 80 236; see also Madras
trading 38 Black town 44, 54
Castells, Manuel 24, 27, 33, 179 death rates 70
dependent urbanism 24, 27 epidemics 70
urban populism 179 fort 46, 54, 67
central business district in Kolkata 226 St. George 46, 139
central government(s) (C)chief (M)magistrate 123
New Economic Policy of 1991 194 Chile 33
Mega City Programme 201 China(’s) 33-34, 39
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 169 Chinese 34
centrists 35 Chinsura 49-50; see also Chuchura
Chinubhai Chimanbhai 140; see also Clive Street 43

Ahmedabad coalition government(s) 34-35
Chiputra 228, 230; see also Kolkata West Cochin 37
International City; Mukherjee, Prasoon; Cockburn, Cynthia 31
Salim Group; Universal Success Enterprises Coffey, Clara 134; see also Chandigarh
Limited Collector of Calcutta 71
Chitpore Road 42, 85, 107, 122 College of Fort William 60
Chittagong 37 colonial
Choudhury, J.K. see Ashoka Hotel, Singh, architecture 63, 91, 237
Gulzar Bengal 179
Cholera 20, 108, 114 buildings 60, 77
‘capital of the world’ 166 city(ies) 22, 82, 123, 157, 234, 236-237
deaths 111-113, 166 dignitaries 107
epidemic 106, 166 discourse 26, 121
Chopra, Preeti 49, 67, 84, 94 discursive legacies 28
Chowringhee 107 domination 28
Chowringhee Road 42, 79; see also early period 128, 233
Jawaharlal Nehru Road economic and political landscape 27
Christianization 27 era 234
Chuchura 49, 72, 182; see also Chinsura experience 28
Churchill, Winston 138 government 67, 105, 123-125, 138
Circular Road 46 history 101
city as a symbol of power 22, 68, 233, 236 interpretation of Indian identity 135
City Centre Mall 218-221 legacy 165
City of Dreadful Night 20, 242; see also New Delhi 192
Kipling, Rudyard past 31, 135
C(c)ity of H(h)uts 37, 41, 233, 242 period 24, 35, 121, 138, 158, 238
City of Joy 21, 195, 242-243; see also Lapierre, planning 22, 28, 70, 158, 234
Dominique; Joffé, Roland; Swayze, Patrick material legacies of 158
C(c)ity of P(p)alaces 37, 54, 59, 72, 79-80, 121, policies 165
233, 235, 242 political economy 39, 43, 57, 246
city planning power(s) 25, 28
ideology 117 practice 165
legalisation 117 rule of difference 26, 109; see also Chat-
schemes 19 terjee, Partha, post-colonial theory
theory 117 societies 25
utopias 155 spaces 29
civil unrest 180 state 26, 32
class subjects 110
divisions 157 times 22, 166, 206
enemies 170 urban patterns 19, 27-28, 46
peace 94 urbanism 22, 25, 36, 131, 133, 234, 236
classical urbanization 234
architectural 139 values 28
architecture 77, 92-93, 101 colonialism
city 66 British 91
elements 84, 101 cultural 142
Hindu South Indian temples 139 discursive legacies 25, 28
idiom 102 English 63
influence 84-85, 93 resistance to 102
inspiration 60 language of 28
style 99, 101 legacies of 28, 155
classically zenith of 22
influenced 92-93 colonization
inspired 60, 84, 128 cultural 28, 142, 156, 167
classicism 77, 101 European 48
Clemow, Frank G. 116 French 75
Clive, Lord Edward 66 major instrument of 27
Clive, Lord Robert 20, 51-52, 66, 128 motivation for 27
Index 269
motives 27 report 117
Portuguese 27 congestion 20, 119, 130, 184-185, 240
Spanish 27 Congress government 237
colonizer(s) Congress (I) governments 194
British 20, 156 Congress of Socialists 33
domination by 27 Congress Party 123, 158, 166, 169
European 236 Conjeevaraum 104
memorializing the 108 Connaught Place 80
transformation of 26, 80, 82 conservative surgery 120; see also Geddes,
commissioners 114-115, 123-125 Sir Patrick
communism 19, 23, 32-34, 140, 167, 169, 237; contractor builder 152, 186, 188, 226
see also Marxism, Socialism control
communist(s) British
bhadralok state 179 controlling the native parts of the
conspiracy in Kolkata 166 city 20
governments 181 in the manner of living of the
in state government 167 indigenous population 106
international movement 34 of disease 70, 109
regime 19 of native areas 70, 234
world leaders 56 of native lifestyles 106
Communist International (Comintern) 33-34 on India 59, 77
Communist Party of India (CPI) 169 through architecture 19
founded 34 Cook, Nield J. 111, 115
labour movement in India 34 coolie town 16, 35, 127-128, 187; see also Haora
organizing bustee dwellers 165 C(c)oolies 35, 109, 128
Communist Party of India (Marxist), or Corbusian architecture 135, 141, 237; see also
CPI(M) 23, 34-35, 156, 169-170, 174-176, Le Corbusier
178-179, 194, 201, 226, 232, 238-239 Cordes, J.A. 154
abandonment of peasants 198 Cornwallis, Lord 63
creation of 34 corporate investors 195, 214
dominant party in the coalition 193 corporate-political nexus 209
infiltration at grassroots level 177 Correa, Charles 140, 219
infiltration into squatter settlements 179 Cossaitolla Gulley (Bentinck Street) 42
leadership of 179 Cotton, H.E.A. 37-39, 42-44, 46-47, 49, 51-56,
Left-Front 35, 174 61, 69, 71, 75, 94, 106, 110-111, 128
mobilizing groups through patronage 197 Court of Small Causes 92
policymaking 35 Crinson, Mark 142, 147, 154
political agenda for rural reform 23 Crown Rule 53
political base 176 Cuba 34
political space 175 Cuff Parade 144; see also Mumbai
prevention of evictions 177, 238 cultural
setbacks 232 circumstances 25
United Front 34 colonization 28, 142, 156, 167
vanguard party 179 identity 28
winning of the 1985 election 176 independence 28, 167
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) − production 25
CPI(ML) 34; see also Naxalities systems 22
established 34 Culture and Imperialism 26; see also Said,
peasant revolt 34 Edward
community-based organizations (CBOs) 35- Cumballa 144; see also Mumbai
36, 173, 177-179 Curtis, William J.R. 136
commuting cost 182 Curzon, Lord 65, 98-101, 156, 235, 243
competitive mobilization Customs House 54, 83
of the political society 239 cyclone of 1737 17, 37, 47
of the urban poor 180, 198
comprehensive planning 23 da Gama, Vasco 37
documents 203 Dalhousie, Lord 43, 101
influence on Kolkata 168 Dalhousie Square 43, 82, 156; see also Binoy
paradigm 167 Badal Dinesh Bagh, Tank Square
Danes 37, 72-74 blocks 159

Danish commercial 144, 218
East India Company 73 control 155
factory 72 control regulations (DCRs) 203
gate 74 goals for national 155
Serampore 72 industry-led model 155
settlement 72 Kolkata’s physical 170
Tranquebar 74 new town 222
Das, Chittaranjan 125 of architectural culture 154
dastaks 50; see also imperial Mughal license of Kolkata’s post-colonial identity 145
Davies, Philip 63, 66, 81-82, 91, 93-94, 128 plan (s) 166, 176, 203
Davis, Mike 21, 242; see also Planet of Slums process 179
de Barros, João 110 purposes 165
Deb, Binaya Krishna Raja 40, 44, 46, 51-52 rural 134-145
decentralization slow pace of 145
declared goals of 176 suburban 119, 205
democratic 175 developmentalism 28, 168
decentralize Dhapa dump 242
planning in India 176 Dharamtola 110
decline in manufacturing 164 Dharmatala Street 156; see also Lenin Saraini
decolonization Dilwara 104
first acts of 156 discourse(s)
initial acts of 156 British 40, 63, 86, 90-91, 235-236
major act of 158 colonial 26, 121
of Kolkata’s colonial spaces 29 functioning 25
defiance against the concept of functional imperial 25
zoning 89 institutionalized 25
Delhi legitimized 25
Baker, Sir Herbert 101-102 on Kolkata 236
Connaught Place 80 Orientalist 90
Imperial 101 popular 196
imperial capital of 101 public 196
Lutyens, Sir Edwin 101-103 role of 21, 64-65
Master Plan of 1962 167 Victorian 90, 92
School of Planning and Architecture 222 Western 166, 194
democratic government 125 discrimination in provision of services 158
Denmark 74 disease
Department of breeding grounds for 109, 114-115, 119, 235
Architecture and Regional Planning 154; spread of 108, 110, 114
see also Indian Institute of Technology disinvestment in cities 32
in Kharagpur Disney, Anthony 37
Architecture and Town and Country Plan- DLF city 191
ning 154; see also Bengal Engineering D(d)ocks 76, 127
College domestic architecture 148
Housing 222 dominance
Urban Development 221-222 military 53
dependent urbanism 24, 27; see also Castells, of wealthy over the politics of the city 180
Manuel, King, Anthony political 158
dependent urbanization 27 Doshi, Balkrisha 140
Desai, Madhavi 93-94, 104, 135-140, 142, 144, Dossal, Mariam 67
148, 154, 156; see also Lang, Jon, & Desai, drainage
Miki better 70
Desai, Miki 93-94, 104, 135-140, 142, 144, facilities 204
148, 154, 156; see also Lang, Jon, and Desai, improved 109
Madhavi improvement of 131
developers 30, 36, 107, 136, 165, 171, 209, 218, improving 204
229-231, 243 of public spaces 120
developing world 27 proper 111, 120
development schemes 132
Index 271
system 116 eminent domain 109

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 139; empire
see also Annadurai, C.N., Tamil nationalist establishment of 108
party propagation of 22, 68, 233
Dravidian culture 138 seat of 101
Drew, Jane Beverly 134; see also Chandigarh Emporium 40
Dudok, Willem Marinus 104-105; see also Engels, Friedrich 33; see also Marxism
Garden Theatre and Lighthouse Cinema England 33, 51, 63, 74, 78-79, 110, 120, 125
Dulal Mukherjee and Associates 215, 217; see English
also Meinhardt PTE; Peridian Asia PTE; Company 40
South City Mall, Stewart and Associates factory 52, 242
Duncan, S.S. 31; see also Goodwin, M. H(h)ouses 46-47, 51, 79-80
Dupleix, Marquis 49 I(i)nhabitants 48, 52
Dutch landscaping 43
architect 103 merchants 56
Chinsura 49 models 27
factory 50 mortality rates
imperial intentions 72 settlement 43, 46-47
power 72 settlers 43, 71
trade 72 Enlightenment Movement 90
Dutta, Shubhas 189; see also Haora Ganatran- Esplanade Mansions 94, 97
tik Nagarik Samity (Haora Democratic Esplanade Row 55, 58, 84, 234
Citizens Association) Etawah district 134
ethnography 35
East Asians 19 Euro-American
East Indian Railway 127 forms of housing 192, 205-206
Eastern Metropolitan Bypass 204, 209 housing 233, 243
Echoes from Old Calcutta: Being Chiefly the housing models 19
Reminiscences of the Days of Warren Eurocentric 120
Hastings, Francis and Impey 56; see also Europe
Busteed, Henry Elmsley Eastern 34
economic Western 33
autonomy 28, 167 European
decline 174, 178 architecture 35, 59-60
development 168, 172, 194 early settlements 37, 41
factors 29 enclaves 27, 72, 236
landscape 27 ideas of planning 66, 234
restructuring 31 imperialism 28
self-reliance 155 neighbourhoods 107
economy point of view 134
bazaar 89 powers 53
booming 144 presence 101
European 64 re-development
global 21, 23, 192, 209, 239-240 urban governance 105
productive 30 Evangelical movement 90
world 27, 242 Evenson, Norma 54-55, 79, 82, 84, 86, 89, 93,
Edwardes, S.M. 71 117, 121, 134-135, 139-140, 144-145, 147, 154-156,
Eight Five-Year Plan 202-203 162, 164
Elberling, F.E. 72 ex-colonial powers 31
elections 124-125, 164-165, 169, 175-176, 198, expatriates 169, 173
201, 232, 239
electoral constituencies 124 factories
electoral institutions 158 main components 37
elite Falzon, Mark-Anthony 30, 192
dreaming 242 Fanon, Frantz 30
ruling 120 Faridabad 133
Ellora 104 Fay, Mrs. Eliza 57-58
Emerson, William H. 99; see also Victoria Fergusson, James 90-91; see also History of
Memorial Hall Indian and Eastern Architecture
Fernandes, George 197 General Post Office 92, 94; see also Granville,

Fernandes, Leela 30 Walter L.B.
Fever Hospital 110, 123 geobribes 214; see also Harvey, David
Firminger, W.K. Reverend 37-39, 41, 53-54, 93 Geological Survey of India 84
First Indian War of Independence 53-54, Germany 33
71, 92 ghats 46
First World War 120 gheraos 23, 169, 197, 238
Five Year Plans 155 G.K. Gora 144-145; see also Ballardie, Thomp-
Flyvbjerg, B. 35 son, and Mathews, Birla Planetarium, the
Ford Foundation 140, 166-167, 237 revivalist style
F(f)oreign architects 104, 142, 191 Glass, Milton 134; see also Chandigarh
foreign capital 191, 194-195, 228, 232 global
foreign investments 195, 197, 225-226 architecture 191-193
Forester, J. 35 capitalists 214, 241
F(f)ort William 41-42, 44, 47, 52, 58, 60-61, 109 cities 240
Foucault, Michel 24-25, 63; see also communities 240
post-structuralism culture 31, 226, 242
France 51,73 economic systems 240-241
Frederiksnagor 72 economy 21, 23, 192, 209, 239-240
Freight Equalization Policy 194 forms of architecture 239
French image 191
Chandernagore 75 investment 196, 209, 239
colonization 75 middle-class 30, 192
defeat of 52 taste 191
factory 75 urbanism 20, 29
governor 75 Global South(s)
Pondicherry 49 black hole 242
rationales 27 realities 31, 220
settlements 75 globalization
Fry, Edwin Maxwell 135, 142; see also advent of 196, 226, 239
Chandigarh; Life Insurance Corporation Kolkata’s road to 233, 239
(LIC) Building physical manifestations 36, 204
spatial instruments of 239
Gandhi, Mahatma 138, 238 glocally 30, 207, 215
Swadeshi movement 103 Goa 37, 49
Gandhi, Mrs. Indira 169-170 Goddess Kali 40
Gandhinagar 23, 181 Golden Goa 49
Ganga 38, 46, 52, 159, 181; see also Ganges Goldingham, John 66-67; see also Govern-
Ganges 38; see also Ganga ment House
Gangopadhyay, Sunil 238; see also Prati- Golgotha 40
dandi; Ray, Satyajit Good Old Days of Honourable John Company,
garbage 172, 184-185, 188, 194-195, 242 The 65; see also Carey, W.H.
garden house(s) 42, 56-57, 128; see also bagan Goode, S.W. 40, 43, 46, 51-52,71, 106-107,
baris 110-111, 114-115, 123-125
Garden Reach 57-58, 127, 159 Goodwin, M. 31; see also Duncan, S.S.
Garden Theatre and the Lighthouse goondas 165, 225
Cinema 104-105; see also Dudok, Willem Gora, G.K. 144-145; see also Ballardie,
Marinus Thompson, and Mathews, Birla Plan-
Garia 218 etarium, revivalist style
Garstin, John 77-78; see also Town Hall Gothic
gated communities 19, 30, 36, 191-192, inspired building 128
204-206, 215, 226, 230, 233, 240, 243 revival 235
larger and more exclusive 205 revival style(s) 91, 94
low quality 226 Gottdiener, M. 29; see also secondary circuit
Geddes, Sir Patrick 120; see also Burra Bazaar of capital
Gem and Jewellery SEZ 213-214 G(g)overnment H(h)ouse(s) 62-63, 72, 77, 79,
General Committee 125 82, 234
General Garrison Orders 109 as a symbol of power 67, 234
Index 273
in Chennai 66-67; see also Goldingham, housing market in 182

John Improvement Trust (HIT) 173
in Kolkata 61, 65-66 Municipal Corporation 159, 174, 187
new 63, 64; see also Wyatt, Lieutenant Municipality 130, 187
Charles 74 Purāni Sahar 128
old 62 R(r)ailway T(t)erminus 128-129; see also
Government of West Bengal 146, 148, 156, 166, Ricardo, Halsey
176, 222 Telegraph Office 130
Governor General 43, 61, 63, 110 West 183, 186
Governor-General in Council 101 workshop of British Calcutta 128, 237
Govindapur 39, 40, 43, 53 Haora Bridge 183; see also Rabindra
Graham Foundation Fellowship 140 Setu 183
Graham, Maria 61 Haringhata 198
Graham, Stephen 30, 207, 215, 240; see also Harrington Street 156; see also Ho Chi Minh
Marvin, Simon; splintering urbanism Sarani
gram panchayats 176 Harrison Road 156; see also Mahatma Gandhi
Grand Trunk Road 128 Road
Grandpré, L. O’ Hier de 56, 58, 61-62 Harvey, David 29, 33, 214; see also geobribes,
Granville, Walter L.B. 92-95, 235; see also secondary circuit of capital, three-circuit
General Post Office, High Court, Indian model
Museum Hastings Street 107
Grass, Günter 21, 194, 242-243; see also Show Hastings, Warren 101
Your Tongue hat (mart) 38
grassroots Haussmann(s) 123, 242
planning 23, 172 Haussmannian
space 177 approach 121
Gray Town 48 plans 165, 234
Great Bazaar 43 tendency 105
Great Haven 37 hawkers 30, 196-197
Great Tank 43; see also Lal Dighi Hawkers Sangram Committee 197
Greece 91 health maps 111
Greeks 48 health reports 111
Gregson, T.S. 93, 137; see also Oriental Heber, Bishop Reginald 58, 80, 127-128
Assurance Building, Royal Exchange heroum 66
Gronthomela 146 High Court
Guha, Ranajit 26, 29; see also post-colonial Kolkata 83, 93-95, 235; see also Granville,
theorists Walter L.B.
Gujarat 37, 181 Madras 139
Gujarat Ambuja Cement Group 218 high-rise building
Gupta, Narayani 54, 67, 71, 84 Cuff Parade 144; see also Mumbai
Gupta, Samita 106-107, 110, 115-116, 120 Nariman Point 144; see also Mumbai
Gurgaon 191 Hiland Park 207-208
Himalayas 134
Hackworth, Jason 32; see also Lauria, Hindoo conservatives 87
Mickey; Reese, Laura A.; regime theorists; Hindu
Rosenfeld, A. classical South Indian temples 139
Haithcox, John Patrick 34 College 79
Haldia Petrochemical complex 195 dynasties of the region 137
Hamilton, Alexander 39-41, 44, 49, 76; see elements 91
also A New Account of the East Indies fabric 99
Hanumanthaiya, Kengal religious organizations 173
chief minister 138 Hispanicization 27
Haora(’s) see also Howrah Ho Chi Minh Sarani 156; see also Harrington
architectural styles in 182, 237 Street
Avani Riverside Mall 226, 229 Hodges, William 59
civic condition 189 Holabird and Root 142-143; see also the Tata
Ganatrantik Nagarik Samity (Haora Centre
Democratic Citizens Association) 189 Holland 72-73
global urbanism 226 Hooghly 37, 50, 57; see also Hughly, Hugli
Hosagrahar, Jyoti 54, 67, 71, 84, 154 style 138

Hossack, William C. 116 tradition 49, 137
House of Legislature 138 urban environment 28, 134, 158
house tax(es) 71, 116 wealthy 108
housing Indianised city 134
complexes 31, 205, 218, 239 Indianised façade 139
Euro-American 19, 233, 243 Indianization of designs 154
for high-end buyers 230 Indianness in architecture 102, 235
highly subsidized colonies 208 indigenous
market 182, 237 architecture 22, 91, 235
reform initiatives 207 areas 110
schemes 147, 166, 191 cities 120
stock of the poor 172 communal divisions 92
upper-income 207, huts 54
upscale housing 192, 218, 222 industry 155
Howrah see also Haora inhabitants 131
Improvement Trust Act of 1956 187 merchants 109
Municipal Act of 1965 187 population 26-27, 46, 68, 71, 106, 128
Municipal Corporation Act of 1980 174-175 settlement(s) 54, 130
Municipal Corporation (HMC) 159 style 47
Hoysala 137 Indo-European roots 90
Hughly 40; see also Hooghly, Hugli Indo-Saracenic 93, 101
Hugli 37-40, 52, 101, 159; see also Hooghly, architecture 94
Hugli design 99
Hummel, R. 35 form 92
Hutnyk, John 21; see also The Rumour of style 77, 91, 94, 235
Calcutta Indochina 75
Indonesia(n) 198, 228
ICICI Bank 213 I(i)ndustrial
I(i)mperial development 209
capital 77, 101, 234, 236 flight 193
city 19, 66 growth 155
Delhi 101, 138, 236 parks in Haora 226
discourse 25 working class 158
government 83, 235 industrialization 226
memories 101 infrastructure
Mughal license 50; see also dastaks basic 183
Roman Empire 60, 77, 235 improvements 19
Secretariat Building 83 networks 30
urbanism 36, 53, 76-77, 127, 139, 233, 235, private 30, 207
237 urban 19, 140, 164, 204, 237
imperialist/neo-social dynamic 27 intelligent buildings 19, 214, 233, 240
Improvement Trusts 120 international modernist style 140; see also
Indian(s) architecture
architecture 26, 90-91, 101, 133, 136-137, international style 235; see also architecture
235 interventionist state 29
as draughtsmen 147 Irrigation and Waterways Department 148,
Christians 128 181
civil society 180 Irving, Grant Robert 101-102
culture 92, 134 Irwin, Edward Wood 138
Institute of Engineering Science and IT
Technology 154, 128, 222; see also and Information Technology Enabled
Bengal Engineering College Services (ITES) 209-210, 222, 226
Institute of Management 140, 240 hub(s) 222, 226
Institute of Technology 154, 222 industry 211, 225
Museum 83, 92; see also Granville, Walter park(s) 19, 191-192, 209, 214-215, 222, 226,
L.B. 230, 233, 240
National Congress 34, 125 professionals 219, 222
servants 80, 121 sector 209
Index 275
Italy 101 Kirby, Andrew 31

KMA 176-177, 198-204
jaalis 101, 154 Kodambakkam 139
Jadavpur 159, 176, 218 Köenigsberger, Otto 133; See also
Jameson, Fredric 32 Bhubaneswar
Japanese investment in Haldia Petrochemical Kohli, Atul 169-170, 175-176, 179, 193
complex 195 Kolkata
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Environmental Improvement Project
Mission (JNNURM) 203-204 (KEIP) 204
Jawaharlal Nehru Road 156; see also Fire Brigade Building 93
Chowringhi Road Improvement Trust (KIT) 116, 164-166, 170
Jeanneret, Pierre 134; see also Chandigarh Metropolitan Development Authority
Jekhane Jeman 184; see also Shankar (KMDA) 168, 170-177, 181-182, 201-203,
Jemindar 48 207, 218, 221-222, 228, 230-231, 239
Jodhpur Park 215 as guarantor of the grant 172
Joffé, Roland 21; see also City of Joy; Lapierre, change in role 201
Dominque; Swayze, Patrick created 170
Jones, Sir William 90 demise of CMPO 173
Jora Bagan bustee 115 demise of KMDA 174
Journal of the Society of Arts 59 entrepreneurial role 204
judicial process of vesting 205 execution powers 173
justices of the peace 71 expansion of authority 173
of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa 124 formation of 170
of Kolkata 124 planners of 177
jute industry 164 primary urban development
authority 173
Kahn, Louis 140; see also Ahmadabad rise of 173
Kali Kota 40 redefine its role 202
Kalia, Ravi 133-137, 140, 155, 181 reduced the power 176
Kalighat 40, 42 regulatory functions 203
Kalikata 39-40 reluctance to tackle the issue of
Kalyani 181-182 tenure 171
Kalyani-Basberia 168 Metropolitan Planning Committee
Kanpur 134 (KMPC) 176
Kanvinde, Achyut 140 Municipal Act 196
Karnak 91 Municipal Corporation (KMC) 115, 159,
Karnataka 137 164-165, 168, 172-173, 178, 204
Kashipur-Chitpore 127 demise of 173
Kasimbazzar 38 design and implementation of the
Kedleston Hall 63, 65 project 172
Kerr, James 79-82, 84, 87, 89 elections 169, 232
Kerr, William B. 143-144; see also Art Deco, licensing office 197
Ballardie, Thompson, and Mathews, Operation Sunshine 196
Birla Planetarium, Ramkrishna Mission, number of wards 175
revivalist style resource base for 169
khal 40 undertook of slum improvement 204
khal kutta 40 Wards and boroughs 202
Khan, Ali Vardi 46 Wards in the fringes of the city 176
Kharagpur 159, 222 Publishers and Bookseller’s Guild 146
Khilani, Sunil 133, 135, 156 Slum Improvement Project (KSIP) 204
Kidderpore Nulla 52 West International City 221, 228, 232; see
Kindersely, Mrs. 54-56 also Chiputra; Mukherjee, Prasoon;
King, Anthony 22, 24, 27-28, 54, 67, 71, 84, Salim Group; Universal Success
108, 117, 142, 167, 191-192; see also dependent Enterprises Limited
urbanism entry gate 230
King Frederick VI 74 failure 232
King George I 71 incomplete construction 231
Kipling, Rudyard 20, 123, 125, 242; see also land acquisition process 232
City of Dreadful Night site plan 229
West International City Buyers Welfare regime 175, 177, 179, 209

Association 15, 36, 228, 231 resistance to liberalization and
Krätke, Stefan 31; see also Schmoll, Fritz globalization 23
Kund 220 rise of 19
small factions of 196
labour movement 34 leftist
Lady Duffferin Memorial Hospital 104; see agenda 23, 145
also Ballardie, Thomson, and Matthews forces 166
Lahore 133 ideologies 179
Lakhnâû 87 local state 237
Lal Bazaar Street 42; see also Bow Bazaar parties 35, 156, 169-170, 177, 179, 238; see
Street also CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), PSP
Lal Dighi 43, 58; see also Great Tank political climate 175
Lalbhai, Kasturbhai 140; see also Ahmadabad regime 145-146, 233
Lamb, Thomas W. 94, 97; see also Metro- rhetoric 169
Goldwyn-Mayer, Metro movie theatre Legislative Assembly 137
land legislative reforms 174
acquisition 197, 225, 232, 239 Legislature Library 137
development 187, 225 Lenin Sarani 156-157; see also Dharmatala
redistribution 193 Street
use(s) 89, 155, 167, 203, 222, 229, 236 Lenin, statue of 156-157
Land Use Development Control Plans Lenin, Vladimir 33; see also Communism;
(LUDCPs) 203 Engels, Friedrich; Socialism; Marx, Karl;
Land Use Maps and Registers (LUMRs) 203 Marxism
landlord system 171 Lévi-Strauss 20, 166; see also Tristes Tropiques
Landsberg, H.E. 134; see also Chandigarh Lewandowski, Susan J. 46, 52, 56, 67, 70, 84,
Lang, Jon 93-94, 104-105, 135-140, 142, 144, 139, 156
147-148, 154, 156; see also Desai, Madhavi Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Build-
Desai, Miki ing 142; see also Fry, Maxwell, Mody and
Lao People’s Democratic Republic 34 Colgan
Lapierre, Dominque 21; see also City of Joy, Lindemann, Albert S. 33-34
Joffé, Roland, Swayze, Patrick Lingaraja Temple complex 136; see also
Lauria, Mickey 32; see also Hackworth, Bhubaneswar
Jason; Reese, Laura A.; regime theorists; Little Haven 37
Rosenfeld Raymond, A. local architectural industry 191
Laxmi Vilas Palace 93; see also Mant, Major London 48, 117, 241-242
Charles Loomba, Ania 28-29
Le Corbusier 133-137, 140, 143, 237; see also Losty, Jeremiah P. 45, 47, 73
Chandigarh Lottery Commissioners 105-106
Lefebvre, Henri 29; see also secondary circuit Lottery Committee 106-107, 110, 123
of capital Love, Henry Davison 39, 44
Left Front (s) 23-24, 33, 35, 178-179, 194, 198, low-income groups 225
208, 232, 239 Lower Chitpur Road 156; see also Rabindra
advent of 238 Sarani
agrarian reform(s) 178 Lucknow 87-88, 235
alliances with the bhadralok class 205 Lutyens, Sir Edwin 101-103; see also Delhi
argument for exceptional benefits 214 Lyon, Thomas see Writers Building, The
cadre-based party 174
changing priorities 197 M’Farlan, D. 123
coming to power 35, 174, 178 Maanen, J. Van 35
electoral support 174, 176, 178 Machooa Bazar 110; see also Machua Bazaar
government 19, 23, 176-177, 197 Machua Bazaar 123; see also Machooa Bazar
hostility toward capital 195 Macleod, Norman 86, 88-90
ignoring of Kolkata’s development 193 Madhushudhan Bhabhan 128-129; see also
inability to control land 239 Bishop’s College
new industrial scheme 195 Madras 38, 44, 54-55, 57, 67, 101, 139 ; see also
Operation Barga 193 Chennai
paradigm shift 197 Magahda 103
Perestroika 239 Mahabalipuram 91; see also Mamallapuram
Index 277
Mahajati Shadan Hall 142; see also Dr. A. mauzas 51, 124, 127

Carbone Mawson, Thomas H. 117
Mahakaran 82-83, 156; see also Writers Mayer, Albert 133-134, 237; see also
Building Chandigarh
Mahatma Gandhi Road 156; see also Harrison mayor-in-council 174, 187
Road mayor’s court 71
Maidan 52-55, 83-84, 109, 146, 156, 234 McEwan, Cheryl 25, 29; see also Blunt, Alison
Malabar 37 medieval Hinduism 90
Malabar Hill 144; see also Mumbai Mega City Programme 201
malaria 41, 108 Meherota, Rahul 136
Mall in Mall 219 Meinhardt PTE 215; see also Dulal Mukherjee
Malle, Louis 20, 166; see also Calcutta and Associates, Peridian Asia PTE, South
(documentary) City Mall, Stewart and Associates
Mallick, Ross 34-35 Meller, Helen 120
Mamallapuram 91, 104; see also Merlin Group 215
Mahabalipuram Metcalf, Thomas R. 59, 66, 87-92, 94, 99,
Manikachan 213-214 101-102
Manikam, B.R. 133; see also Vidhan Soudha Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 94; see also Lamb,
Maniktalla 127 Thomas W., Metro movie theatre
Mant, Major Charles 93; see also Laxmi Vilas Metro movie theatre 94, 97; see also Lamb,
Palace Thomas W., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
manufacturing sector 194 metropolitan development 168
Mao Zedong 34 miasmata 108
Maoists 34, 198 miasmatic theory 108
Maratha Ditch 46, 51-52, 56 michils 23
Marathas 46 middle-class(es)
Marquis Curzon of Kedleston 65, 98-101, 156, conceptions of purity and safety 218
235, 243 global 30, 192
Marshman, John Clark 127 housing for 202
Martin and Company 94, 96-97 intelligentsia 158
Martin, Sir James Ranal 68, 110-111; see also lifestyle 30
Note on the Medical Topography of Calcutta new 31
and its Suburbs, chiefly with reference to the plight of youth 238
condition of Native health Middleton, Thomas 128
Martyrs’ Memorial 156 militaristic 27
Marvin, Simon 30, 207, 215, 240; see also mistiri 148, 154
splintering urbanism -built housing 153-154, 182, 184
Marx, Karl 33, 53; see also Communism; Mitra, Gobinadram 47
Engels, Friedrich, Lenin, Vladimir; Mitra, Prithvijit 94
Socialism Mitter, Swasti 195; see also Sen, Asish
Marxism 32-34, 237; see also Communism; mixed residential and commercial
Engels, Friedrich, Lenin, Vladimir; complex 207
Socialism mobilization
Marxist(s) by the left 165
agenda 146 competitive 180, 198, 239
analysis 33 history of, by the left 177-178
city 22-23, 133, 233, 237-239, 242 mass 181
government 197 popular 179
-Leninist ideology 33 site of the left 178
of Trotskyist persuasion 33 modern city planning utopias 155
party 195 Modern History, or the Present State of All
philosophy 194, 209 Nations 44; see also Salmon, Thomas
political economy 29 Modern Indian Architecture Movement 102
regime 32, 195, 204, 239, 242 modernism 104, 135-136, 148, 154
rhetoric 19, 145, 168, 174, 178, 238 Ahmedabad 140
theory 32 Chandigarh style of 23, 139
thought 33 developed in Chandigarh 135
Massey, Montaque 82-83 euphoria of 146
master planning paradigm 168 in Europe 102
influence on architects 140, 168 Munshi, Sunil 110, 166

Le Corbusier’s 133 Murphey, Rhoades 20, 37-39
limited 104 Murshidabad 52
new appreciation of 135 Muslim elements 92
Modernist Muzaffarpur 197
architectural vision 134 Mysore 66
Corbusier’s plan 134 Princely state of 133
culture 140 Public Works Department 137
inspired building 104
outlook 155 Nabadiganta 210-214
style 141 Industrial Township 210, 222
work 104 township 36
modernization 136, 155, 156, 194 Naipaul, V.S. 20, 166
Mody and Colgan 142; see also Fry, Edwin Nair, Janaki 138
Maxwell, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) Nandigram 197-198, 230, 232, 239
Building Nariman Point 144; see also Mumbai
Moffat, James 57, 75; see also Chandernagore Nasir-ad-dîn-Haidar 87
Moghul building 98 National
Mogul 39 Monument 100
monumentalism 104, 134 Planning Committee 103
Moorhouse, Geoffrey 20, 125, 156, 166 Town and County Planning Act 155
Moors 48 nationalism 101
Moscow 33-34 nationalist
Moslem Kings 99 beheaded statues of leaders 238
Mughal(s) 38, 92 city 133
authority 39 identities 28
eagerness 39 leader(s) 125, 156
emperor(s) 37-38, 43, 50, 53, 59, 128 native
imperial license 50 bazaar(s) 43, 121
officials 38 dwellings 84, 235
royal port 38 gentry 89
rule 39 houses 46, 86
Mukherjee, Prasoon 228, 230, 232; see also hovels 121
Chiputra, Salim Group; Kolkata West inhabitants 68, 111
International City; Universal Success owned buildings 69, 234
Enterprises Limited, NRIs population(s) 22, 43, 52, 107, 109-110, 116,
Mumbai 39, 59, 67, 70, 84, 94, 98, 134, 142, 144, 233
191, 195, 201, 235; see also Bombay town 47, 51, 68, 70, 86, 88-89, 107, 111,
as an icon of slums to western eyes 242 114-115, 119, 122, 234, 236; see also Black
citadel of architectural thought 140 Town
Cuff Parade 144 upper classes 157
Cumballa 144 village 114
integration into the global economy 192 Workmen and coolies 109
India’s economic capital 192 Zamindar 47
Malabar Hill 144 native-owned buildings 69, 234
Nariman Point 144 natural ecosystems 218
M(m)unicipal Navaratna Kali Temple 47; see also Black
administration 71-72, 123 Pagoda
budget 175 N(n)awab(s) 40, 50-52, 59, 61
cabinet system of government 174, 201 of Bengal 39, 41, 46, 50, 92
development 174 of Lucknow 87, 235
elections 175, 232 of Oudh 59, 87, 235
government(s) 116, 123-124, 158, 187 Naxalbari 34
improvements 105-106, 116 Naxalite(s) 34-35, 169, 171, 238
reform(s) 23, 172-174 killing of class enemies 170
tax 116 movement 34, 169, 238
Municipal Development Programme revolutionary rhetoric 170
(MDP) 176 street battles 238
municipalities of councillors 175
Index 279
Nehru, Jawaharlal 103, 133-135, 139, 155, 167, Oriental Assurance Building 92; see also
237-238 Gregson, T.S.
neo-classical Orientalism 24-26; see also Said, Edward
architectural influence on the Bengali Jones, William Sir 90
elite 84 Orientalist discourse 90
architecture 22, 87, 98, 235 Orientalist perspective 154
elements 86 Orientals 101
façade 86 Orissa 38-39, 124, 133, 136, 181; see also
manager’s house 74 Balasor, Bhubaneswar, Revivalism
mansions 128 otherness 26, 111, 121, 236; see also Bhabha,
Palladian villas 80 Homi; Chatterjee, Partha, post-colonial
revival 98 theory
style 60, 74, 77, 92, 98 outsourced 191
neo-classicism 77, 235
Nettlefold, J.S. 117 Paine, James 63; see also Kedleston Hall
New Delhi 32, 93, 102-103, 133, 140, 191-192, 238 Pakistan 133, 162
New Economic Policy of 1991 194 Pal, Anirban 175-177, 179, 181
New Kolkata Township 222; see also Rajarhat palanquin 65; see also palkhi
New Secretariat Building 140-141; see also palanquin-bearers 65
Rahman, Habib palkhi 65
New York Institute of Public Panchannagram 51, 124
Administration 166 panchayat elections 198
New York Times 166 panchayat samities 159, 198
Nilsson, Sten 37, 49, 53-54, 59, 61, 63, 66, 72, parganas 51, 124, 127
74-75, 77, 82 Park, the 43, 51
Ninth Five Year Plan 203 Parthenon 91
Nirmal Hriday 21 Patna 38
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) 191-192, 195, Patuli 208, 221
204, 222 pavement dwellers 162
nongovernmental organization(s) Payne, Arthur J. 114
(NGO(s) 16, 35-36, 193, 177-181, 189, 197, Perera, Nihal 37, 134
218, 226, 240 Peridian Asia PTE 215, 217; see also Dulal
North Africa 75 Mukherjee and Associates, South City Mall;
North American Bengali Conference 243; see Stewart and Associates
also Banga Sanskriti Sammelan physiological vertigo 242
North American-style suburban Pilkhana bustee 21
developments 205 Pipli 38
North Korea 34 Planet of Slums 21, 242; see also Davis, Mike
Note on the Medical Topography of Calcutta planned city 27, 55
and its Suburbs, chiefly with reference to planned townships 204, 221, 239
the condition of Native health 110; see also planning
Martin, Sir James Ranal American paradigm(s) 19, 133, 166, 167,
Nove, Alec 33 237
Nowicki, Matthew 134, 237; see also bottom up approach 179
Chandigarh British tradition 120
colonial legacies 19, 28, 158
Oberlin, Ralph 134; see also Chandigarh colonial paradigm 22, 234, 237
Ochterlony Monument 156; see also Shahid colonial practice 70, 155
Minar defence as a motive for 234
Old Delhi 153 general principles 117
Old Goa 48-49 grassroots 23, 172
O’Malley, L.S.S. 127-128, 130-132; see also interventions 20, 166
Chakravarti, Monmohan neglect of 187
Ong, Aihwa 24, 28-29, 214, 226, 242 new schools of 154
Operation Barga 194 policy-oriented 237
Operation Sunshine 196 post-colonial 154, 237
O(o)riental process 167
court 87 town 106, 117, 155, 158, 181
façade 92 unit 117
urban 19, 21-22, 24, 31, 35, 155, 158, 167, 191, post-independence
193, 226, 239 India 140
Western 21, 28, 117, 166, 237 era 140,187
Planning Commission 194 Kolkata 150
political period 23, 72, 154, 159
agenda(s) 23, 32 post-industrial city 31, 226, 240; see also
atmosphere 100-101 Chatterjee, Partha
authority 67, 135 postmodernism 136
climate 27, 101, 164, 169, 174-175, 179 post-Palashi period 52, 54-55
control 22, 46, 50, 52-53, 231, 233-235 post-structuralism 24; see also Foucault,
culture 179 Michel
economy 22, 39, 128 poverty 20-21, 51, 155, 194, 238, 242-243
colonial 39, 43, 57, 80 Praja Socialist Party (PSP) 165
Haora 128, 237 Prakāsh, Vikramāditya 133, 135
international 27, 72 Pratidandi 238; see also Gangopadhyay,
Kolkata 23, 236-237 Sunil, Ray, Satyajit
Marxist 29 Princely State(s) 32, 99, 133
of post-colonial Kolkata 140, 159 Princes of the House of Timour 64
endorsement of Le Corbusier’s ideas 135 private
history 193, 239-240 infrastructure 30, 207
instability 169 investment 146, 197
landscape 19, 27 sector 201, 204
objectives 101 privatization
society 29, 180, 198, 239-240; see also of services 204
Chatterjee, Partha of various economic sectors 195
space 23, 175, 177, 179, 181, 197, 240 pro-agrarian Marxist government 197
struggles 22, 239 process of attracting capital 156
unrest 180 public assistance for sick industries 194
politics of exclusion 30; see also Falzon, public health 71, 111
Mark-Anthony public opinion in England 110
Pondicherry 49, 62; see also Puducherry public-private
population growth partnerships 224, 191
of Kolkata 159, 198 ventures 195, 204, 221
post-Independence period 159 Puckah 41
port and fort 27 Puducherry 49; see also Pondicherry
Port Commissioners 125 Punjab 133-135, 140
Porto Grande 37 Punjabi officials 133-134
Porto Piqueno 37 punka 82; see also punkah
Portuguese 37-38, 46-48, 76, 109 punkah 82; see also punka
colonization 27 Purāni Sahar 128; see also Haora
empire 37
factory 37 Queen Victoria 98-99
power 38
trade 37 Rabindra Sarani 156; see also Lower Chitpur
trading outposts 37 Road
post-colonial Rabindra Setu 183; see also Haora Bridge
architecture in Kolkata 139 races
era 139, 154, 206 pre-Aryan 91
India 135 racial(lly)
period 22, 28-29, 35, 136, 142, 144, 158, 164, difference 110
182, 187, 237-238 divisions 157
plan to save Kolkata 140, 237 inferior(ity) 26, 88, 90, 111, 121, 236
planning 154, 237 origin 26, 91
response 133 segregation 19, 28, 44, 121, 128
theorists 26; see also Bhabha, Homi; superior 236
Chatterjee, Partha; Chakravorty Spivak, Rahman, Habib 140-141; see also New
Gayatri; Guha, Ranajit Secretariat Building
theory 25-26, 28, 32, 167 Raja Rajendra Mullick 84
urbanism 22, 23, 36, 133, 182, 237
Index 281
Rajarhat 210, 222, 225, 239; see also New public markets 68

Kolkata Township relief camps 162
City Center 225 state’s 180
new town 204 Renaissance
planned townships 221 style 99
plot layout, Action Area I 223 town 49
plot layout, Action Area II 224 Report by the Request of the Trust on the Condi-
resistance to land acqusition 232 tion, Improvement and Town Planning of the
Rajbhaban 156; see also government house City of Calcutta and Contiguous Area 117;
in Kolkata see also Richards, E.P.
Ramakrishna Mission Complex 143; see Reserve Bank of India 142; see also Ritchie,
also Art Deco, Ballardie, Thompson, and John A.
Mathews, Kerr, William B; revivalist style resettled colonies
Ray, Rajat Kanta 124-125 on the eastern borders of Kolkata 178
Ray, Satyajit 238; see also Gangopadhyay, sites of mobilization for the left 178
Sunil; Pratidandi resistance 28, 31, 53
real estate colonial urbanism 25
culture 209 faced in Rajarhat 232
consortium 215 from bustee dwellers 173
developer(s) 30, 36, 207, 209, 243 from the indigenous population in
developing the city 24 Kolkata 27
development 204, 209, 229 from the native population 109
entry into global economy 239 notion of 26
foreign capital 232 political 242
importance of 29 to colonialism 102
industry 24 to intervene in Kolkata’s urban fabric 19
investments 23 to large-scale development projects 239
power in Kolkata 232 to the implementation of drainage
programmes 242 schemes 132
second circuit of capital 29 Respondentia Walk 109
speculation 29, 209 revivalism see also Bhubaneswar, Vaz,
upscale 218 Julius L.
ventures 225 in Indian architecture 136
rebellion(s) inspired buildings 136
by Sobha Singh 41 popular 237
in Telangana 34 tradition of 139
Red Building 136; see also Bhubaneswar, revivalist
revivalism, revivalist buildings, Vaz, buildings see also Bhubaneswar, Vaz,
Julius L. Julius L.
Red Fort 54 Capital Boys School 136
Red Sea 39 Guest House 136
redevelopment 105, 203 Market Building 136
Reese, Laura A. 32; see also Hackworth, Museum 136
Jason, Lauria, Mickey, regime theorists, Police Building 136
Rosenfeld, Raymond A. Red Building 136
regime(s) Secretariat Building 136
local 32, 53 Staff Quarters 136
typology of 32 city 144
urban 32 phase 136
regime theorists 32; see also Hackworth, styles 136-137, 143; see also Akashvani
Jason, Reese, Laura A, Lauria, Mickey, Bhaban, Ballardie, Thompson, and
Rosenfeld, Raymond A. Mathews, Gora, G.K., Kerr, William B.,
R(r)egulation(s) Birla Planetarium, Ramkrishna Mission
absence of 71 Complex
local 232 revolution
Municipal 111 armed 33
nuisances 69 betrayed 33
of native-owned buildings 69, 234 Bolshevik 33
police 111 Russian 33
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) 169 path to socialism 33

revolutionary(ies) 35, 238 revolution 33
Marxism 160
potential for social change 168 Sacriste, Eduardo 154; see also Bengal
rhetoric 170 Engineering College
socialism 33 Said, Edward 24-26; see also Orientalism
Ricardo, Halsey 129; see also Haora Railway Saint Paul’s Cathedral 93, 96, 235
terminus Salim Group 198, 238, 232; see also
Richards, E.P. 116-120; see also Report by Chiputra; Kolkata West International City;
the Request of the Trust on the Condition, Mukherjee, Prasoon; Universal Success
Improvement and Town Planning of the City Enterprises Limited
of Calcutta and Contiguous Areas Salmon, Thomas 44; see also Modern History,
Richards, J.M. 49 or the Present State of All Nations
rickshaw(s) 197 Saltlake 181; see also Bidhannagar
pullers 21, 181, 195, 197, 239 Salt Lake Electronic Complex (Saltec) 209
trade 197, 239 salt lakes 40
union of 197; see also Calcutta Rickshaw sanad 39, 40, 43
Chalak Panchyat Sandeman, David Hugh 109
Ritchie, John A. 142; see also Reserve Bank S(s)anitary
of India appliances 116
road improvements 120 commissioner 130-131
road schemes 1180-119 conditions in Burra Bazaar 120
Roberts, Emma 65, 78-80, 82, 121-122 conditions in Burra Bazaar and Jora Bagan
Robinson, Jennifer 241 bustee 115
Roman(s) 60 conditions in Kolkata 59
allegory 60 conditions of Haora (Howrah) 130, 187
buildings 60 improvement(s) 116, 164
Empire 60, 77, 235 latrines 168
fashion 60 measures 158
Governor 60 need 131
imperial power 60 planning 43
Romanesque features 128 practices
Rome 91, 100 reform 116
Rome of the Orient 49 toilets 172
Rosenfeld, Raymond A. 32; see also sanitation
Hackworth, Jason; Lauria, Mickey; Reese, aim of 105
Laura A.; regime theorists concerns for 71, 180
Roy, Ananya 33, 146-147, 178-179, 196, 203-205, improv(ed)/ing 69, 106, 234
207, 209, 214, 242 measures for 110
Roy, Dr. Bidhan Chandra 140-141, 167, 169, no cost recovery projects 201
181-182, 237; see also Chief Minister practices 172
Roy, Manabendra Nath 34 proper 115
Roy, Rajnarayan 128 reduction in 202
Royal Exchange 92; see also Gregson, T.S. science of 111
Rudolph, Lloyd I. 155; see also Rudolph, upgrading 203
Susanne H. Sanyal, Amit 219-220
Rudolph, Susanne 155; see also Rudolph, Sanyal, Biswapriya 164, 167-171, 173-176; see
Lloyd I. also Tiwari, Meenu
rule of exception 110 Saracenic 92
rural Saraswati Puja 146
areas 176, 193, 239 satellite town 181
development 145 Satgaon 37, 76
development programs 134 scarcity of land 144
emphasis 209 scare of Kolkata 166
focus 197 Scarsdale, Lord 63
land reform 23 Schmoll, Fritz 31; see also Kratke, Stean
poverty 155 School of Art and Government Art Gallery 84
Russia 33 Scriver, Peter 90-91
Russian Sealdah Railroad station 162
Index 283
second Hugli Bridge 183; see also Bidyasagor modest 41

Setu nucleus of 41
second World Congress of Comintern 34 on private lands 178
Second World War 34 refugee 178
secondary circuit of capital 29; see also significant structures 44
Gottdeiner, M., Harvey, David.; Lefebvre, squatter 21, 162, 176-179
Henri sewerage 166, 168, 187, 203-204
Sector V 209-210; see also Bidhannagar Shah Alam II 59
secular country 135 Shah, Ghanshyam 34
segregated Shah Jahan(’s) 38, 53
discount shops 210 Shâh/Shah(’s), Wajid Alî 87
housing complexes 31 Shahid Minar 156; see also Ochterlony
lower priced shops 219 Monument
spaces for the elite 31, 225 Shahjahanabad 53
segregation Shankar 184; see also Jekhane Jeman
blanket 110 Shantiniketan 104
racial 19, 28, 44, 47, 121, 128 sharecroppers 178, 193, 204, 239; see also
Sen, Asish see Mitter, Swasti bargadars
Sen, Jai 197 Shatkin, Gavin 204, 232
Sen, Mrinal 238; see also Calcutta 71 shelter divisions 206, 240
Sen, S.P. 49 Shibpur 154
Sengupta, Urmi 165-166, 175-176, 204, 208-210, Shilpa Shastras 104
222, 225; see also Tipple Allen G. shopping mall(s) 19, 30-31, 191-192, 207, 215,
Sepoy Mutiny 53; see also First Indian War of 218, 226, 230, 233, 243
Independence Show Your Tongue 21, 194, 243; see also Grass,
sepoys 53 Günter
Serampore 72, 74; see also Srirampur sick industry(ies) 194, 215
Seringapatam 66; see also Srirangapatna Simpson, Dr. W.J. 115-116
servants 240 Simpson, Norman Skinner 156
C(c)ivil 60, 71, 77 Simpson, William 122
clad in flowing white garments 80 Singh, Gulzar 139; see also Ashoka Hotel,
company’s 41, 48, 72 Choudhury, J.K.
domestic 80 Singh, Sobha 41
encumbrances 54 Singur 197-198, 231-232, 239
entourage of 65, 80-81 Sinha, Pradip 38, 43, 47-48
Indian 80, 121 Sinha, Sukumar 162, 164
many 80 Sir Jamsethji Jijibhai School of Art 136
quarters 80 Siraj ud-Daulah 50-51, 59, 61, 92
reside in 54 Sluice Bridge 109
Seths 38 S(s)lum(s) 20-21, 89, 105, 117, 119, 162, 167, 184,
settlement(s) 27, 37, 39, 42, 49, 51-52, 72, 238, 242
74-75, 130, 181 areas 117
bazaar 43 clearance 120, 155, 164
Bengal 50 clearance programme 168
British 44, 128 clearing 105, 242
bustee 119, 132, 162, 165, 173 dwellers 30, 204, 239
Danish 72 elimination of 31
defence in planning activities 46 garbage 242
early days 41 housing 201
early phase 45 icon of 21, 195, 242
English 43, 46-47 improvement 120, 165, 168, 202, 204
European 27, 37, 41, 48-49, 72, 75, 128 infrastructure development 204
fortified 70 legal 21
foundation 39 like 158
French 75 Mending 120
illegal 180 of Kolkata 206
Indian 54, 72 on the fringe of Kolkata 242
indigenous 54, 130 proliferation of 140, 155, 237
major 72-73 redevelopment 203
Repair 120 South City Mall 215, 217-218; see also Dulal

upgrading schemes 168 Mukherjee and Associates, Meinhardt PTE,
Slum Clearance Bill 155, 165 Peridian Asia PTE, Stewart and Associates
slum lords 21 South Indian
Slumdog Millionaire 242 classical architecture tradition 139
Smith, David, B. 111 temples 139
Smith, Neil 202 South Suburban municipality 159
Smith, T. Roger 59-60 sovereignty
social Britain’s 101
arrangement of houses 80 India’s 135
change(s) 32, 35, 155, 168 Soviet
control 22, 52, 234 brand of socialism 34
control as the dominant planning experiment in socialism 33
paradigm 50 political, social, and economic model 34
control through planning endeavours 53, Republic of West Bengal 195, 243
233 socialism 33
development 172 society 33
dominance 158 style centralized planning model 155
dynamic 27 Soviet Union 34
expenditures 29 Spanish colonization 27
factors 29 spatial(ly)
fortress 30, 218, 240 arrangement in houses 80
integration 218 arrangement in stately buildings 65
life of the British 65 arrangements in architecture and
milieu 22, 236 furnishings 236
mobility 155 aspirations 31
models 28, 34 character of Marxist city 239
planning 173 demarcations of the colonial city 157
policies 32, 168 environment of dwellings 86
problems 136 formations 29
programs 136 forms 30, 133
reality 26 history 22, 36
reformer 89 instruments of globalization 239
restructuring 31 pattern of British colonial cities 236
structures 28 pattern of Kolkata 234
systems 22 requirements 147
unrest 169, 238 restructuring of Kolkata 233
workers 173 restructuring to impose political and social
socialism 32-34 control 50, 53, 234
democratic 33 structure 30, 53, 218, 233, 238, 240
evolutionary 33 transformation of Indian cities 191,192
lower stage of 33 special economic zones (SEZ(s)) 19, 191,
modern 33 197-198, 209, 213-214, 233, 240
political and societal aim of 33 splintering urbanism 30, 207, 215, 218, 240;
principles 33 see also Graham, Stephen; Marvin, Simon
revolutionary 33 Srirampur 72-75, 182; see also Serampore
Russian path 33 Srirangapatna 66; see also Seringapatam
Soviet 33-34 St. Peter’s Church 93
S(s)ocialist 33 St. Petersburg 80
camp 34 Stada Diretta 49; see also Old Goa
democratic parties 33 Staff Quarters 136; see also Bhubaneswar,
governments 33 revivalism, revivalist buildings, Vaz, Julius L.
modern movement 33 Standard Design Factory (SDF) 209, 211
regime 33 state(s)
societies 33 agency(ies) 173, 180
system 33 approval 218
Society of Arts 59 authoritarain 24
socio-spatial boundaries 30 authority 158
capitalist 31
Index 285
central 31-32, 138 States and Union Territories 32

concept of 31-32 Statesman House 93
distinguish between party and the 238 Stein, Clarence 134; see also Chandigarh
exceptional benefits for corporate Stein, Joseph Allen 154; see also Bengal
investors 214 Engineering College
facilitate capital accumulation 214 Stewart and Associates 215, 217; see
formation of 34 also Dulal Mukherjee and Associates,
Indian 155 Meinhardt PTE; Peridian Asia PTE; South
interventionist 29 City Mall
leftist agenda 23 Stone Age 91
leftist local 237 strategic initiatives 168
local 23-24, 31-32, 237-238 subaltern groups 29
machinery 179 subsidies 214
monolithic entity 31 Suburban Municipality 124, 127
power 26, 63 Sumatra 72
regulation 180 Supreme Court of India 189
relationship between squatters 33 Surman, Edward 52
stranglehold 191 Surman’s Nulla 52
structures and institutions 181 surveillance 235
State(s) architecture 25; see also Foucault, Michel
actors 209 easier 92
agencies 191, 239 Foucauldian notion 53
appointed bureaucrat 174 in guiding British city planning 25
capitals 155; see also Bhubaneswar, over indigenous population 26, 68
Chandigarh over the native population 107
Congress Party 166, 169 problem 92
elections 167, 169 strict 215
entities 220 Surveyor General of India 38-41, 43, 84
governor’s residence 156 Sutanati 242
industrial capacity 197 Swaraj Party 125
industrial decline 194 Swayze, Patrick 243; see also City of Joy; Joffé,
industries 194 Roland; Lapierre, Dominique
institutions 201 Sweden 33
land acquired by 178 symbol(s)
leadership 179 Dravidian culture 138
legislation 155 for modern India 135, 237
legislature 196 of British empire 98-99, 243
nodal agency 203 of British imperialism 139
officials 228 of colonial success 57
parties 169 of empire 84, 243
party leaders 175 of imperial power 77, 138, 235
politics 164, 170 of independence 23
power 178 of memorializing the colonizers 108
public undertakings 194 of newly acquired wealth 56
regimes 169 of progress 144
resource poor 194 of status and wealth 144
resources 177, 194 of wealth and power 128
sectors 195
tenants of the 171 Tagore, Rabindranath 104
transport garage 210 Taj Mahal 91
State government 125, 165, 167, 173-177, 197, Tallygunge 127, 159
204 Tamil Nationalist party 139
State of Tank Square 43; see also Binoy Badal Dinesh
Andhra Pradesh 34 Bagh, Dalhousie Square
Karnataka 137 Tashkent 34
Tamil Nadu 139 Tata Centre 142-143; see also Holabird and
West Bengal 19, 156 Root
State Planning Board 173 Tata Motors 197-198; see also in Singur
State Pollution Control Board 218 taxing mechanisms 166
Tebhaga movement 34; see also CPI Toynbee, George 72-75

technological innovation 136 trade
Telangana 34; see also CPI as a primary function 37
Telegraph Office as a primary motive 27
Haora 130 Bengal 38
Kolkata 83 boom 73
tenure 171 cloth 43
ambiguity of 178 Dutch 72
legal 171 duty-free 50
lure of 178 English 73
regularization of 178 European 39, 76, 236
security of 171, 178, 193 free 43
Thames 127-128 freedom of 39
thanas 124 militant unionism 193-194
Tharangambadi 74; see also Tranquebar monopoly 37
The Rumour of Calcutta 21; see also Hutnyk, overseas 76
John Portuguese 37
Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation Potential 38
Act) of 1981 107 profits from 72-73
Thika Tenancy Act of 1949 165 protection of 50
thika tenants 165, 171, 208 revenues from 39
Third World urban edge 242 rickshaw 197, 239
three-circuit model 29; see also Harvey, successful 39
David union leader 197
Tillotson, G.H.R. 59, 91, 93, 101 union militancy 195
Tipple, Allen G. 222; see also Sengupta, Urmi unionism 23
Tiruvalluvar 139 unions 23, 195
Tiwari, Meenu 164, 167-171, 173-176; see also trader(s) 38-40, 59
Sanyal, Biswapriya Trades Association 125
Town Tranquebar 74; see also Tharangambadi
and Country Planning Organization transportation 117, 134, 166
(TCPO) 173 advanced 31, 226
Council 124-125 infrastucture 241
Hall 77-78; see also Garstin, John links (ages) 181-182
Improvement Committee 69-71, 105-107, means of 65
123 network 241
town planning provision of 180
basic principle of colonial 158 strategic initiatives 168
legislation on 155 upgrading 203
Lottery Committee 106 treatise(s) 31
new 181 analytical framework 24
Westernized notions of 117 De Barros, João 110
townscaping 22, 66-67, 84, 234 drawing from 26
townships Falzon, Mark-Anthony’s 30
amenities 206 Foucault’s 24-25
build 239 King’s, Anthony 27
changing the traditional on Orientalism 26
co-existence 240 on political society 180; see also
creation of 205 Chatterjee, Partha
exclusion of the poor 206 on the styles or ‘art’ of being global 24,
in Kolkata and its surroundings 36 242; see also Ong, Aihwa
IT hubs 226 on urban populism 179; see also Castells,
mini or integrated 204 Manuel
new 192, 203 Triggs, Inigo H. 117
outside Kolkata 232 Trinamool Congress
private 19, 36, 191, 204, 206, 220-221, 233, attempts made by 24
240, 243 coming to power 24
State-regulated planned 204, 220-221, 239 constrained by 232
urban integrated mega projects 204 mobilization 198, 239
Index 287
organizing of the poor 232 growth 203

party cadres of 201 hygiene 105
policy 239 identity for modern India 237
support for struggle of the peasants 198 India 23, 32, 36, 38
tripartite negotiations 195 industrial bias 155
Tristes Tropiques 20; see also Lévi-Strauss infrastructure 104, 164, 204, 237
Trotsky, Leon 33 integrated mega-projects 204
Trotskyist persuasion 33 land 107
Trywhitt, Jaqueline 120 Land Ceiling Act 178
Turanian people 91 management 175
middle classes 180
United Front government 22, 34, 56, 169 neighborhoods 158
United Kingdom 195 new aesthetics 30
UK Department of International Development planning
(DFID) 204 as a policy tool for modernization 155
United Nations Development Program as instruments of domination, subjuga-
(UNDP) 167 tion, and control 24
United States 35, 73, 126, 140, 243 associated with globalization 191
capitalist urban systems 32 colonial policies 158
city plan for Kolkata 126 India 35
firms 191 Kolkata 22
pressure from 155 new paradigms 193, 226, 239
theories developed in the context of 32 paradigms 31
Universal Success Enterprises Limited 228; plan 167
see also Chiputra, Kolkata West Interna- programs 155
tional City; Mukherjee, Prasoon; Salim role of discourse and the Western
Group of Indonesia conception 21
Unnayan 162, 164-166, 197 political units 159
unplanned growth 187 politics 180
Unwin, Raymond 117 poor
Upohar 205-206 exclusion of 240
upper-caste 179 housing 21
upper class(s) 157, 181, 192, 204, 208 including 30
upper-income housing 207 living in outlying areas 225
upscale malls 225 mobilize(ation) 178, 180, 198
urban not forcibly relocated 238
amenities 169 patron-client relationships 158
colonial patterns 27-28, 46 services of 180, 204, 240
dependent patterns 27 swelling number of 180
design 19, 22, 104, 240 to maintain their lifestyle 206
deteriorating infrastructure 237 post-colonial identity 237
development post-colonial problems 158-159
equitable 175 projects 171
in the early 1970s 170 properties 107
institutions 32 regimes 32
methods 242 renewal 203
positive 169 renewal scheme 196
prevention of services 109, 130, 180, 204
primary actors 174 space 30
projects 170-171, 180 strategy 30, 110, 116
to curb the rise of leftist forces 170 surveys 155
disaster 21, 28, 242 terror 170
economics 134 theory(ies) 29, 32-33
elite 158 vote bank 197
environment 134 waste 242
fabric 19, 23, 120, 191, 238, 240 Urban Development Department 208
focused real estate development 239 urbanism
form(s) 54, 133, 233 definition 22
governance 105, 203 Kolkata’s 22, 36, 40, 233, 237, 239-240
vision of 146, 237 appointment of Town Improvement

urbanization pattern 155 Committee 69
US Consulate Staff Quarters 143; see also arrival in India 61
Willgoose and Chase decision on a new residence 63
Usha factory 215 improvement of Kolkata 69
USSR 156 order 46
utilitarian modern see also architecture palace 65-66, 156, 233-234; see also new
buildings 147 government house in Kolkata
forms of architecture 182 planning 68
style 146-149, 183 recall 63
utopian society 33 Wellesley Street 107
West Bengal
Valentia, Viscount 59, 63 Assembly 165
Valluvar Kottam 139 Electronics Industry Development
Varman, Rohit 30-31; see also Belk, Russell W. Corporation (WEBEL) 209-210
Vasudhara 218 Housing Board 220
Vaz, Julius L. 136-137; see also Bhubaneswar, Housing Infrastructure Development Cor-
revivalism, revivalist buildings poration Limited (WBHIDCO) 220,
Vedic Village 226 223-224
vested land in Kolkata’s fringes 178 Industrial Development Corporation
vesting 178, 205 (WBIDC) 211
Viceregal steps 138 Infrastructure Development
V(v)iceroy’s Corporation 213
house 102-103 Legislative Building 93
of India 138 Metropolitan Committee Act 176
palace 49 Public Works Department (WBPWD) 141
Victoria Memorial Hall 98-99, 101, 235; see Town and Country (Planning and Develop-
also Emerson, William H. ment) Act 203
Victorian West Bengal(’s) 33-34, 140, 174
appearance 84 capital and industrial flight 194
era 92, 235 commodities produced in 194
grandeur 235 industrial development 209
Vidhan Soudha 137-138; see also Manikam, industry 194
B.R. invest in 232
Vietnam 34 municipal elections in 232
Vijaynagar 104 Western
Vision 2025: Perspective Plan of KMA 177 amenities 206, 214-215
Voyce, Malcom 30, 218 architects 154
cities 117
war(s) civilizations 100
between England and France 51 clothes 220
between the province of Mysore and the domination 26
British 66 dress codes 220
British war with the Mughals 38 edifices 146
with Pakistan 162 eyes 20, 195, 242
world 140 facilities 205
ward(s) 70 films 20-21, 166
committee(s) 175-176 ideas 28
councillors 175-176 image 21
in KMC 202 imagination 20
in the fringes of the city 176 influence in Bengal Engineering
level(s) 125, 175, 177, 201 College 154
number of 125, 175, 201 interiors 87
of the city 71, 127 journals 154
of the Town 69 legislation and bylaws 117
Waterhouse, Paul 117 lifestyle 206
WBHIDCO 221-222 minds 20
Wellesley(’s), Lord 65, 68-69 names 205
notions 21
Index 289
quest for being 31 creation of the KMDA 170

representation 21 disapproval of BIP 171
standards 86 funding 173, 180
style living arrangements 207 goals of cost recovery and replicability 171
world 21 interest in Kolkata’s urban
Western India Products Limited development 170
(WIPRO) 210 International Development Association
Western United Provinces 134 (IDA) 170-171
Westernized pressure from 155
architectural education 154 slum upgrading schemes 168
Bengali elite 86 world economy
White Town 19, 44, 47-48, 54, 80, 105, 107, 114, development of 27
116, 121, 158, 206, 234, 236, 240 Kolkata’s strategy to integrate 242
Whittlesey, Julian 134; see also Chandigarh World Health Organization (WHO) 166-167
Willgoose and Chase 143; see also US world market 33, 164
Consulate Staff Quarters. World War II 134, 182
Wills, Lieutenant William 46 Writers Building, The Mahakaran see Lyon,
Wilson, C.R. 38-39, 42, 47-48 Thomas
window shopping 220 Wyatt, Lieutenant Charles 63-64; see also
Wood, William 79 new government House in Kolkata
working-class
families 218 Zamindar 47, 71
industrial 187 zamindari 39, 43-44, 51
World Bank(’s) 240-241 zamindars 57
agent of 174 zoning
assistance 171-172 functional 79, 89, 236
cautious stance 171 guidelines for 155
Publications / Asian Cities
Norman Vasu, Yeap Su Yin and Chan Wen Ling (eds): Immigration in
Singapore
2014, ISBN 978 90 8964 665 1
Gregory Bracken (ed.): Asian Cities. Colonial to Global

2015, ISBN 978 90 8964 931 7
Lena Scheen: Shanghai Literary Imaginings. A City in Transformation

2015, ISBN 978 90 8964 587 6
Anila Naeem: Urban Traditions and Historic Environments in Sindh. A

Fading Legacy of Shikarpoor, Historic City
2017, ISBN 978 94 6298 159 1

Colonising, Decolonising, and G - Siddhartha Sen

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Colonising, Decolonising, and G - Siddhartha Sen

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Colonising, Decolonising, and G - Siddhartha Sen

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ASIAN CITIES

IIAS Publications Officer: Paul van der Velde

Amsterdam University Press

Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden

isbn 978 94 6298 111 9

© Siddhartha Sen / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2017

3 Building a Neo-Classical, Beautiful, and Clean City 77

4 Decolonizing Kolkata 133

6 Concluding Remarks 233

List of Abbreviations 247

I have to especially thank architect Anjan Gupta of Anjan Gupta Architects,

Over some three centuries, various actors – including Europeans, Ameri-

Scope of the Book

in scope. Included is the history of architecture, urban design, and urban

Chandigarh style of modernism,3 the comprehensive planning that was

3 The style is discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

through real estate. It acted as an interventionist local state through various

To understand the central argument of the book, a discussion on the propo-

6 The definition of such cities is discussed in Chapter 6.

to impress upon Indians the nature of British power. Foucault’s treatise

The notion of constructing ‘otherness’ and ‘racial inferiority’ (see Bhabha

[t]he objective of colonial discourse is to construe the colonized as a popu-

This notion of constructing the otherness is also emphasized by other post-

of planning due to resistance from the indigenous population in Kolkata. These

8 This type of settlement is described in Chapter 2.

dictated the building activities of Europeans, as well as wealthy Indians.

revealed a remarkable capacity for change and adaptation’ (2001: 2). We

The Concept of the State in India

It is important to distinguish the various uses of the term ‘state’ employed

Socialism, Communism, and Marxism

Since the book critiques a Marxist regime by drawing from leftist-oriented

mode of thought and analysis and socialism/communism as representing a

participated in coalition governments in these countries (Lindemann

Organization of the Book

Like other early European settlements, Kolkata was rudimentary in charac-

1 The word suatanati means a loop of yarn.

by the sanad encompassed about 6.85 square kilometres and stretched

Kolkata’s Early Urbanism

Kolkata’s reputation as an unhealthy city can be found in early British

4 Hamilton spells Charnock as Channok.

in consideration that all the former buildings here are destroyed, it is

The proposed buildings included a warehouse, dining room, cook room,

Source: © The British Library Board, P1445

5 ‘Lal Dighi’ means red tank in Bengali.

Figure 2 A conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth century

Figure 3 Calcutta in 1756, by John Call and J. Cheevers

Source: Courtesy of Frances W. Pritchett, Professor Emerita, Columbia University

Several Black people having intermixed themselves among the English

Source: © The British Library Board, P940, pl. 5

of the English Inhabitants ORDERD That the Jemindar do make enquiry

Source: © The British Library Board, P2417.

sixteenth century, ‘Golden Goa’, as it was known, came to be regarded as the

Figure 6 Plan of the Dutch Factory at Hooghly-Chinsura in 1721, by an anonymous

Source: © The British Library Board, P2989

Spatial Restructuring of Kolkata and the Emergence of Social and

The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, ransacked Kolkata from 16 to 18 June

of the condition of the different buildings after the ransacking, according

11 A pargana is a revenue and administrative unit consisting of several mouzas initiated by

3 Building a Neo-Classical, Beautiful, and Clean City 77

4 Decolonizing Kolkata 133

6 Concluding Remarks 233

List of Abbreviations 247

Figure 2 A conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth century

Figure 3 Calcutta in 1756, by John Call and J. Cheevers

Figure 6 Plan of the Dutch Factory at Hooghly-Chinsura in 1721, by an anonymous

Figure 9 Writers Building, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint, 1798.

Figure 10 Old Government House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint with

Figure 13 Major settlements around Kolkata in the eighteenth century

Figure 15 Chandernagore, by James Moffat. Aquatint with etching, published in

Figure 18 Surrounded by an entourage of servants: From The Establishment of an

Figure 19 A view of the Writers Building, or Mahakaran, as it is called today