Māṇḍavlī

Negotiating with digital governance in Mumbai

Bibliographic Data

ID11670454
AuthorsSangeeta Banerji (0000-0002-3243-4036, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume45
Issue3
Pages460-483
Publication date2023-04-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2023.2200309
OpenAlexW4366420576
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited49

Mumbai’s municipal bureaucracy introduced an online complaints platform in 2016, promising increased transparency and improved public service. This article argues that this “smart” urban technology, which records grievances against land encroachments and violations of building codes, strengthens existing class and caste inequalities in who can access and manipulate state land administration. Through an ethnographic exploration of Mumbai’s bureaucracy, it makes visible a complex system of negotiation—locally known as “māṇḍavlī”—that structures a range of tacit practices of exchange and mediation between politicians, bureaucrats, and brokers. Although these arrangements remain intact, the online complaints platform has reduced the discretionary power of low-level bureaucrats by centralising and rendering opaque the functioning of ethically ambiguous local brokers. By re-focusing attention on the everyday operation of smart urban technologies within the municipal body in the megacity of Mumbai, this article furthers the agenda of alternative smart urbanisms from the Global South

Business · Corporate governance · Geography · Negotiation · Political science · Law · Public Administration · Smart Cities and Technologies · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Finance

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