Tag: Informal Economy
Cleaner Streets, Emptier Homes: The Cost of West Bengal’s New Bulldozer Drive
Weeks after the new BJP government took office, a sweeping anti-encroachment drive across West Bengal has transformed bustling railway markets into demolition sites. From Jadavpur to Konnagar, midnight operations have left thousands of hawkers facing sudden eviction, sparking fierce protests and a profound constitutional crisis over the right to livelihood.
You Can’t Regulate an Economy by Destroying It: The Case for India’s 90% Workforce
India's informal economy employs nearly 90% of the workforce and powers local markets. As demolition drives, business closures, and street vendor evictions increase, the challenge is balancing legal compliance with livelihood protection. Sustainable development requires rehabilitation, gradual formalisation, and policies that safeguard both economic growth and millions of livelihoods.
The Sound of Bulldozers and the Making of a New Bengal
BJP's demolition drives across Bengal signal the arrival of a politics where spectacle overtakes due process, and the urban poor increasingly become targets of governance shaped by exclusion, fear, and corporate expansion.