Augmenting living processes of traditional fishing community:

Abstract

India is a country with diverse cultural and ethnic groups. Contemporary development is forcing these indigenous communities away from their urban habitat. As in case of Mumbai, the aboriginals of the city such as Kolis (fishermen), Agris (Farmers) and east Indians of Bombay have been shifted from their traditional occupations. Being third in a fish production in the world, Kolis become important part of Indian economy. In metropolitan city like Mumbai, this fishing community is under constant pressure of various forces of urbanization. The everyday living processes of these fishermen such as livelihood, culture and festivals are closely knit with the coastal areas of Mumbai. Displacing them away from the coast would cause a major disturbance in their everyday urbanism. After a long protest, some of these fishing villages are now marked on a proposed development plan of Mumbai, i.e. 56 years after the first development plan. This prolonged neglect has resulted into transforming such traditional communities into slum like conditions, ultimately affecting their intrinsic cultural and professional identity and making them isolated pockets in a city. The other environmental problems such as reclamation of the sea edge, destruction of mangroves, water pollution are also adding into the poor living conditions of these fishermen. The intent of this thesis is to bring the traditional fishing community of Mumbai to mainstream and upscale their living conditions by augmenting their living processes through sustainable approach, so as to safeguard their unique identity in the thriving cosmopolitan nature of the city of Mumbai