Why did thousands of Andhra Pradesh farmers voluntarily give up their land for Amaravati? In this episode of Frontline Conversations, social anthropologist Carol Upadhya discusses the rise, fall, and revival of Andhra Pradesh’s capital city project, exploring caste politics, land pooling, real estate booms, environmental risks, the Amaravati protests, and the political contest between Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Drawing on more than ten years of fieldwork and her new book, Urbanizing the Future: A New City Project in Agrarian South India, Upadhya examines why many farmers willingly gave up their land for the Amaravati project. She examines the experiences of farmers, landless labourers, Dalits, women protesters, activists, planners, and policymakers, while looking at larger questions about urbanisation, dispossession, environmental risk, and development in contemporary India.
Carol Upadhya’s book is available as an open-access publication here.