Girangaon
Girangaon (literally "mill village") was a name of an area now part of central
Origins
The Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company was the first cotton mill to be set up in Tardeo, Mumbai, in 1856.[4] A boom in the textile industry followed, with 10 cotton mills set up in Mumbai by 1865, employing over 6,500 workers. A gradual increase led to a total of 136 mills being set up by 1900. The textile industry was offered added government incentives in the form of long-term leases (some of 999 years), as mills stimulated the economic growth and employment.[5]
These mills were owned by former traders like the
Life in Girangaon
Both men and women worked in the mills. They would start working there at a young age (some as young as 16),
90% of the population who worked at the mills lived within a 15-minute walking distance of them. Most of the buildings were chawls; a survey conducted in Parel in 1921 determined that 27% of the population in Parel lived in rooms with six or more people.[10] These chawls were built by both the government and the mill owners, but neither paid much attention to the quality of the housing. In 1929, one chawl in Dadar was described as being a "dark, unwholesome den into which the light of day does not penetrate and which of necessity breeds disease and pestilence."[11] Often the rooms did not have adequate ventilation,[11] and the lack of lavatory and washing facilities distressed the women in particular.[12] The windows were kept closed to keep out the stench of the gutters and to keep dirty water from flowing into the house during the monsoon season.[12]
Due to this overcrowding, the distinction between home and street was blurred; Girangaon residents spent more of their time on the street than in the home.
Peak and decline
At their peak in 1980, the mills employed 300,000 workers.
Redevelopment
In recent years, the mills have been
In 2005, the government-owned National Textile Corporation auctioned five mills, covering 600 acres, for ₹20.2 billion (US$250 million).[19] In February 2009, the NTC decided to auction another nine mills, covering an area of 90 acres, for about ₹40 billion (US$500 million).[20] The Shrinivas Mills of Lalbaug, covering 16 acres, are being redeveloped into World One[21] – Asia's tallest residential building.
Conservation
There are conservation efforts underway to preserve the old mills as museums. Such a museum was opened at the United Mills in Lalbaug.[22] A popular play, Cotten 54, Polyester 64, has been written, based on Neera Adarkar and Meena Menon's book, One hundred years, One hundred voices. The Millworkers of Girangaon: An Oral History. A festival was organized by an NGO Pukar to celebrate the culture and people of Girangaon in November 2008.[15] Seven mill structures were granted heritage protection status by the Government of Maharashtra.[23]
In popular culture
The 2010 film City of Gold, directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, explores the lives of jobless Girangaon mill workers in the 1980s.
See also
References
- ^ Chandavarkar (1994) p. 239
- ^ D'Monte (2006) p. 95
- ^ Mehta, Rajshri; Chitrangada Choudhury (1 March 2005). "THE MILL MESS-II". Indian Express. Retrieved 14 April 2009.[dead link]
- )
- ^ D'Monte (2006) p. 78
- ^ D'Monte (2006) p. 79
- ^ NDTV TV segment
- ^ D'Monte (2006) p. 84
- ^ Swami, Praveen (14–27 April 2001). "A raw deal and desperation". Frontline. 18 (8). Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Chadavarkar , (1998) p. 103
- ^ a b D'Monte (2006) p. 82
- ^ a b Chadavarkar , (1998) p. 180
- ^ Chadavarkar , (1998) p. 170
- ^ Chadavarkar , (1998) p. 172
- ^ a b Mhaske, Pandurang (2 November 2008). "Girangaon festival to preserve heritage". DNA. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ^ a b c "The Great Mumbai Textile Strike... 25 Years On". Rediff.com. 18 January 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ Sharma, Kalpana (16 February 2006). "What's love got to do with any of this?". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ^ "The Hindu Business Line: Phoenix Mills setting up luxury mall in Mumbai". www.blonnet.com. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
- ^ "Bombay HC sets aside sale of NTC land". The Hindu Business Line. 17 October 2005. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Mill land auction: 90 acres more" Archived 12 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. ExpressIndia.com. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Lodha to gift Mumbai world's tallest homes". The Times Of India. 4 June 2010.
- ^ "City's first textile heritage museum to come up at Girangaon". Indian Express. 14 February 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ^ Desai, Shweta (29 February 2008). "In Girangaon, 7 mill structures get heritage protection". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
Bibliography
- D'Monte, Darryl (December 2006). Mills for Sale. Mumbai, India: Marg Publications. ISBN 81-85026-77-7.
- Chandavarkar, Rajnarayan (1994). The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-41496-2.
- Chandavarkar, Rajnarayan (1998). Imperial power and popular politics (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59692-0. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
External links