NEOLIBERAL ZONING AND THE NEW SPATIALITIES OF EXCEPTION IN INDIA

The nation-state in India is at crossroads as there is an increasing detachment of the state from the nation. New spatialities of exception are created throughout the territory of the country in an uneven, unprecedented manner, marking the onslaught of neoliberal spatial experiments. Popular sovereignty, state sovereignty and national sovereignty are being increasingly compartmentalized and the equilibrium among them is being lost. Social change is now clubbed with territorial changes in a dangerous fashion, opening up spatially bounded upheavals across the country. The present situation in India can best be portrayed as manifestations of internal colonialism and spatial struggles for decolonisation. The emergent themed spaces, colonised by the dominant, are restrictedly open to the marginalised sections. The marginalised are constantly pushed over to the extreme margins and their fighting back reflects a new spatiality of struggles. The emerging spaces of insurgent citizenship in India cut across the rural-urban divide and are expressive of constitutive forms of spatial democracy.