Rejuvenating the Commons or Reinforcing Exclusion? Power Dynamics and Marginalisation in the Eco-Restoration of Bengaluru’s Lake
Akash Jash
Abstract
This paper examines the restoration of Kempambudhi Lake in Bengaluru, showing how environmental projects framed as ecological improvements can become sites of exclusion and contestation. Grounded in urban political ecology and based on qualitative fieldwork, the study traces how power circulates among various actors – including state agencies, corporate entities, environmental NGOs, and local communities – within complex socio-political terrains. It finds that caste, class, and migration-based divisions within civil society limit meaningful participation by the urban poor and traditional users of the lake. These fractures create conditions for a dominant state-corporate-ENGO alliance to advance capital-intensive restoration strategies that emphasise beautification and marketable aesthetics. In the process, social and ecological justice concerns are sidelined.