• Contract killing workers

    Two unemployed workers set themselves on fire outside India’s most respected industrial house in Bombay. Their tragedy mirrors the desperation of Mumbai’s working class trapped in an economy where there is no room for the blue collar.

    DIONNE BUNSHA
    Photos: Ashima Narain

    Aktar Khan had had enough. It had been seven years since he lost his job in the Tata Power Company. Since then, he had not found work. All he could do was odd jobs – construction work, painting. It wasn’t enough to support his wife and five daughters. He had no money to pay the rent. They had to leave their home the next day. There was nowhere to go.
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  • Bulldozing Bombay’s Belly

    It’s a Rs 1,600 crore street economy that employs 200,000 people. Why is the municipality bent on uprooting Mumbai’s hawkers?

    DIONNE BUNSHA

    The buzz on Bombay’s streets is being silenced by bulldozers. As the machines continue to relentlessly tear down the livelihoods of Mumbai’s hawkers, a raging battle is underway between the thousands thrown off the streets and Mumbai’s demolition man- Chandrakant Rokde, deputy municipal commissioner. A man with a mission, Mr Rokde is adamant on implementing a 16-year-old Supreme court (SC) order at any cost.
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