HYDERABAD: The rampant development in the Financial District of the city has led to a significant transformation in its polity, society and economy. However, economic prosperity does not mean there has been a change in mindset among those directly impacted by these changes, a study has said.
Aloka Parasher Sen’s study: Documenting Documenting Heritage of Localities around Hyderabad Issues and Challenges, has recorded how people are having a hard time adjusting to the rapid development in the area, and also focused on the cultural loss that these fast-moving changes have led to. It was conducted in Gachibowli, Gopanpally, Hafizpet, Khajaguda, Kothaguda and other areas.
In Nanakramguda, the study recorded oral narratives from 30 people and 25 per cent of the inhabitants informed the vagaries of development in the area and how it impacted them. “While, some like the washermen, or dhobis, benefitted financially with more households to work for, others like the toddy tappers found it difficult to compete with the new liquor shops,” Sen said in the study.
It also observed that while the material culture in Raidurgam and Dargah was still intact -- like in other places in the Financial District -- the urban sprawl and corporatisation of the region has subsumed and transformed some of the traditional practices. At Masjid Banda, the study notes that most people have given up traditional occupations such as cattle rearing, not because the quality of life has developed, but because “their resource base no longer exists around this village.” The cultural moorings in these localities has forced people to migrate to other places in search of livelihood. Now, “Outsiders dominate the retail economy of the village,” it said.