Baanskhedi crafts village, Bhopal

Abstract

Baanskhedi Community is a bamboo crafts community comprising of about 200 families in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Both the male and female members are associated with bamboo works like basket weaving, bamboo stools, sofas and other products. The community is particularly famous for their 10-20 feet tall ravana figures they make during Dussehra festival (Dussehra is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year). The residence of these families used to mark Sanjay Nagar Slums near Shahpura Lake. The demarcated area is called ‘Ravan Mandi’ (Translation- Market of Ravan Figures). Under several urban renewal and slum eradication programs like BSUP and RAY, the families were relocated to 12 number EWS (Economically weaker Sections) Housing. Having lived together like a closely-knit community for five generations, the families face utter discomfort and alienation with five or six other slum communities they are not acquainted to. Their problems not only end with alienation. The12 number EWS Housing is no different from a vertical slum, where slurry of faeces and garbage marks the boundary between buildings. Apart from inhumane living conditions and no communal spaces to work on their crafts together, the relocation has left them stranded. A community that was once holding and uplifting everyone together is now competing against each other for hand-to-mouth survival. These issues combined with several other factors like forced formal living, loss of livelihood and social network etc. give us residents who lack any kind of psychological connection with their dwellings and neighbourhood. This in turn gives us unstable neighbourhoods, unmaintained buildings, etc. which finally lead to failure of social housing. The following thesis project proposes rehabilitation of Baanskhedi community in order to strengthen their social network and enhance their skills