Production of an ‘Educational’ City: Shadow Education Economy and Re-structuring of Kota in India

Abstract

Urbanization of recent times is qualitatively different from that of the past as it is now largely driven by the political economy and the market forces. In India too, these factors did shape the way city spaces are produced and transformed, often resulting in divesting the ‘old’ forms and innovating ‘new’ forms of urban sprawl. Most importantly, the neoliberal urban growth and transformations are rooted in some form of post-industrial economic activity such as information and knowledge based services. The old identities of the cities are now undergoing dramatic shifts amidst such transformations of cities. It is in this context, the story of Kota in Rajasthan is significant as it shows how a small industrial town in the 1960s–1980s had undergone transition due to de-industrialization in the late 1980s and had innovated its rejuvenation in the idea of shadow education that has now turned savior producing an entirely different identity around the education economy. The rise of education capital in Kota made city sprawl grow at a much faster pace in just 15 years from 2001 to 2015, which in turn is shaping transformations in other small towns to emerge as shadow education hubs in Northern parts of India. It is this shift that this chapter will discuss.

The author expresses a deep sense of gratitude to Professor Geetha B Nambissan, the Editor of the India section for providing him an opportunity to explore the Kota story. Without her encouragement this paper would not have seen its completion. The author expresses gratitude to Mr. Sanjay Kumar, an old student of ZHCES, JNU, for facilitating his fieldwork in the city of Kota. He also thanks his doctoral students, Ms Smriti Singh and Ms Sriti Ganguly, for offering constructive criticism on the first draft of the chapter.