The making and unmaking of the Bhalswa landfill in Delhi

Agarwal, Aparna (2025) The making and unmaking of the Bhalswa landfill in Delhi. Contemporary South Asia. ISSN 1469-364X

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Abstract

This paper explores the politics of invisibilising waste through peripheral spaces and built infrastructures of landfills. In particular, it examines the socio-spatial making and unmaking of the Bhalswa landfill in Delhi, from colonial to post-colonial times. It seeks to understand the processes and politics behind the opening of the landfill and the recent attempts at its closure, which have effectively failed. In doing so, it analyses the association of waste with urban marginalities both physical and social—in terms of the spaces it occupies and the lower-caste and class communities residing in the neighbouring areas of the landfill. Furthermore, the article critically explores the role of technology recently installed around the landfill in eliminating the waste crisis by invisibilising it – both spatially and materially, by incinerating waste and converting it into energy for profiteering purposes and creating new peripheries, i.e., in the atmosphere. This ‘dirty’ landscape of discarded materials, thus, offers us complex insights into the production of spatial inequalities, entrenchment of caste-based social hierarchies and the limits of technology.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Waste | Caste | Landfill | Invisibilisation | Periphery | Technology | Infrastructure and space
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Anthropology
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Behavioral Studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Cultural Studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Development
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of Government and Public Policy
Depositing User: Mr. Gautam Kumar
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2025 14:58
Last Modified: 01 Oct 2025 14:58
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2025.2530400
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/10166

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