Gautam Bhan is an urban researcher, writer and faculty member at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. [1] As the faculty member of IIHS, he works and teaches politics of poverty, inequality and development in Indian cities with a focus on housing, social security and urban planning. He is a frequent columnist and is actively involved in the sexuality rights movements in India. [2] [3] [4]
A visiting undergraduate scholar at Harvard University, Dr. Gautam Bhan completed his graduation from Amherst College with Political Economy and Development Studies in 2002. He then did his masters on Urban Studies from University of Chicago and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning from University of California, Berkeley. [5]
Gautam Bhan is a senior consultant at Indian Institute for Human Settlements, an educational institution that intends to amalgamate research, teaching and practice urban housing, along with generating insight from the south. He was a research fellow on a study with the Society of Applied Studies for two years. Bhan is also the co-founder of New Text, [6] a "print and electronic publishing house committed to expanding equitable, open and affordable access to knowledge and books". [7] He appeared on TED Talks India in December 2017, where he spoke about his "bold plan to house 100 million people". [8]
Bhan writes frequently for various magazines and dailies including The Caravan, Hindustan Times, India Today, Tehelka, The Indian Express and The Times of India. [9] He is an active proponent of LGBT rights in India and one of the petitioners in the legal battle to decriminalize homosexuality in India.
Fellow, Social Science Research Council 2009–10; Berkeley Fellow 2007–2012; Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley 2012. [10]
Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nilekani was appointed as non-executive chairman of the board effective 24 August 2017. He was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP. He is a member of Indian National Congress but not active in politics as of 2019.
Harsh Mander is an Indian author, columnist, researcher, teacher, and social activist who started the Karwan-e-Mohabbat campaign in solidarity with the victims of communal or religiously motivated violence. He is the Director of the Center for Equity Studies, a research organisation based in New Delhi. He also served as Special Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food Campaign and was a member of the National Advisory Council of the Government of India, set up under the UPA government.
Christopher Charles Benninger is an Indian architect and urban planner. Born in the US, he permanently migrated to India in 1971. Benninger contributed to the field of critical regionalism and sustainable planning in India.
Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level. The Directive Principles of State Policy, enshrined in Part IV of the Indian Constitution reflects that India is a welfare state. Food security to all Indians are guaranteed under the National Food Security Act, 2013 where the government provides highly subsidised food grains or a food security allowance to economically vulnerable people. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with social protection in various situations in their lives.
Angana P. Chatterji is an Indian anthropologist, activist, and feminist historian, whose research is closely related to her advocacy work and focuses mainly on India. She co-founded the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir and was a co-convener from April 2008 to December 2012.
Rakesh Mohan is an Indian economist and former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India. He is the Vice Chairperson of Indian Institute for Human Settlements. He was appointed in November 2012 as an executive director of the IMF for a three-year term, and in April 2010, he joined Nestlé India, as a non-executive director.
Ananya Roy is a scholar of international development and global urbanism. Born in Calcutta, India (1970), Roy is Professor and Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She has been a professor of City and Regional Planning and Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Bachelor of Comparative Urban Studies (1992) degree from Mills College, and Master of City Planning (1994) and Doctor of Philosophy (1999) degrees from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley.
Richard Paul Taub was an American sociologist noted for his research on urban, rural, and community economic development. He was a faculty member of the University of Chicago's Department of Sociology and Department of Comparative Human Development and was also the Paul Klapper Professor in the Social Sciences.
Renana Jhabvala is an Indian social worker based in Ahmedabad, India, who has been active for decades in organising women into organisations and trade unions in India, and has been extensively involved in policy issues relating to poor women and the informal economy. She is best known for her long association with the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), India, and for her writings on issues of women in the informal economy.
Shirish B Patel, is an Indian Civil Engineer and the founder of Shirish Patel & Associates (SPA), a company which designs, manages and inspects structural engineering projects. Patel is a writer and speaker in the media on the topic of urban planning and urban density.
R. S. Khare is a socio-cultural anthropologist and a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Virginia, U.S. He is known for studying “from within/without” India's changing society, religions, food systems, and political cultures, and for following the trajectories of contemporary Indian traditional and modern cultural discourses. His anthropology has endeavored to widen reasoned bridges across the India-West cultural, religious-philosophical, and literary distinctions and differences.
Mahesh Neelkanth Buch was an Indian civil servant and urban planner, considered by many as the architect of modern Bhopal. The Government of India honored him, in 2011, with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the nation.
Arcot Ramachandran (1923-2018) was an Indian scientist, anthropologist, author and a former Under-Secretary General of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, known for his scholarship on the subjects of heat and mass transfer and environment and his social commitment to the cause of sustainable development. The Government of India honoured him in 2003, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the fields of Science and Engineering.
Rajendra Pal Gautam is an Indian politician, Dalit activist, Social worker and the former Minister for Water, Tourist, Culture, Arts & Languages and Gurudwara Elections in the Government of Delhi. He is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party and represents Seemapuri Assembly constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Bimal Hasmukh Patel is an architect from Ahmedabad, India, with over 35 years of professional, research and teaching experience in architecture, urban design and urban planning. He was the President of CEPT University in Ahmedabad from July 2012 to January 2024. He leads HCP Design Planning and Management Private Limited, an architecture, planning and project management firm. He also founded Environmental Planning Collaborative, a not-for-profit, planning research and advocacy organization.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a credit-linked subsidy scheme by the Government of India to facilitate access to affordable housing for the low and moderate-income residents of the country. It envisaged a target of building 2 crore (20 million) affordable houses by 31 March 2022. It has two components: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G and also PMAY-R) for the rural poor, the former administered by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the latter by Ministry of Rural Development. This scheme converges with other schemes to ensure that houses have a toilet, Saubhagya Scheme for universal electricity connection, Ujjwala Yojana LPG connection, access to drinking water and Jan Dhan banking facilities, etc.
The Third Kejriwal cabinet is the Council of Ministers in Delhi Legislative Assembly headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Slum clearance in India is used as an urban renewal approach to redevelop and transform poor and low income settlements into new developments or housing. Millions of people live in slum dwellings across India and many migrate to live in the slums from rural villages, often in search of work opportunities. Houses are typically built by the slum dwellers themselves and violence has been known to occur when developers attempt to clear the land of slum dwellings.