Zones of compounded informality

Migrants in the megacity

Bibliographic Data

ID2290931
AuthorsShikha Silliman Bhattacharjee (0000-0003-1003-6026, Jurisprudence and Social Policy University of California Berkeley California USA)
Year2023
Volume46
Issue2
Pages226-240
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-6976 • E-ISSN: 1555-2934
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/plar.12534
OpenAlexW4387219757
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited35

This paper introduces the term zones of compounded informality to demarcate locations wherein regulatory exclusions in distinct domains interact to escalate the impact of exclusions for people who live and work in these areas. Based upon a study of India's Delhi, National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR), I explain how the interaction of flexible planning and employment in particular locales produce zones of compounded informality as a technique of governance. Circular migrant workers in Delhi-NCR overwhelmingly live and work in these zones, wherein unstable employment and housing contribute to nomadic migration. Legal exclusion from housing protections interacts with other procedural pathways, creating barriers to accessing social protection and citizenship rights. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and a survey of 981 workers, I consider how zones of compounded informality in Delhi-NCR interact with India's Aadhar biometric identification system to variegate access to the franchise and Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) for migrant and other low-wage workers

Employment and Welfare Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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