COMMENTARY Economic & Political Weekly EPW June 28, 2014 vol xlix nos 26 & 27 29 A Struggle Over Class and Space in an Indian City Shankar Gopalakrishnan, Trepan Singh Chauhan Daily wage workers, the most marginalised urban residents, standing at roadsides to secure work is an age-old practice in India. The recent police atrocities towards them at the Jakhan Chowk in Dehradun, in the name of “clearing”, reflect several facets of the evolving political economy of India’s cities. I ncreasing political and policy atten- tion has come to be focused on urban areas in India, seen as the future centre of both society and the economy. In the process there has also been some discus- sion of the nature of class and social struggles in these areas. We present here one example of such struggles, which we believe, highlights several of the key aspects of the future of urban areas. Background Our example concerns the urban construc- tion workers of Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand and a medium-sized “Tier C” city of north India. Dehradun is fairly typical of many other cities, distinguished perhaps only by its importance to colonial and postcolonial elites and its function as a state capital. As in most Indian cities, Dehradun has a large number of construction workers who live in and near the city. The vast majority of the workers are male migrants from other states, and there is considerable variation in their manner of employment. Some workers are attached “permanently” (the term is used by the workers, but does not refer to any formal “permanent” position) to one or the other company or a large contractor. The majority, however, are daily wage and casual workers who are constantly changing worksites. Out of these daily wage workers, in turn, the majority stand at certain “chowks” – road crossings or roadsides – where contractors, employers and house- owners pick up workers in the morning as they require (some of the better estab- lished workers secure work over the phone and do not go to the chowks). These “mazdoor chowks” are a familiar site in all Indian cities, and Dehradun has several major ones, including at Ghanta Ghar, Lal Pul, Rispana Pul, Kanwali Road and Jakhan Chowk. Between eight and nine every morning, thousands of workers assemble at these chowks. The space of the chowk is important at two levels. First, it is essential to the liveli- hood of this very vulnerable and inse- cure group. Second, the chowk is the sole space where workers experience their existence as a class (or, more accu- rately, as a segment of a class). Though this experience is rarely articulated in class terms, it is immediately visible to an observer. Workers come to the chowk to discuss work opportunities, to negoti- ate mutual payments, and simply to so- cialise; even workers who have secured employment somewhere will often stop at the chowk on their way out to meet others. Meanwhile, tea sellers, paan- walas and vegetable hawkers also come to the chowks to sell their wares to the workers, and often occupy the same space for the rest of the day. However, insofar as the formal state is concerned, these chowks do not exist. They have no formal recognition and no facilities. They do not appear on the city’s master plan or in its other planning documents. They are ignored by the labour department and the municipality. Despite existing for decades, they are treated by all officials, as we shall see, as at best a kind of temporary nuisance – and, at worst, as a problem to be eradicated. Struggle Over Jakhan Chowk The authors of this article are activists of a fledgling new union of daily wage workers in Dehradun district – the Utta- rakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh (though we are also affiliated to other mass organisations). During the discus- sions around the formation of the union, the workers repeatedly raised police harassment at chowks as an issue. In particular, in the name of clearing roads for traffic, the police would forcibly dis- perse workers. Beatings were routine. Meanwhile, the same police never inter- vened to protect workers from speeding vehicles or contractors denying their wages. Hence the union took up formal recognition of the chowks as one of its four central demands. It also demanded regulation and provision of basic facili- ties, with workers’ committees control- ling the chowks. On 9 August 2013, such police harass- ment reached a qualitatively different Shankar Gopalakrishnan (shankargopal@ myfastmail.com) and Trepan Singh Chauhan are activists of the Uttarakhand Nav Nirman Mazdoor Sangh.