ABSTRACT
Built as a settlement for the relocation of displaced villagers from the nearby Jharia coal mines, it functions as a container for the surplus population created by neo-liberalism. This chapter explores the work of Henri Lefebvre for an analysis of the changes unfolding across eastern and central India. The materialisation of Naya Raipur represents neither a complete rupture nor complete continuity from earlier urban forms. Independent India has a history of creating state-planned cities embodying modernist aspirations. Naya Raipur exists in symmetry with Belgaria, created by and hiding the ugliness of neo-liberalism and displacement. The initial impetus for the building of Naya Raipur was the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000. While Chhattisgarh has a rapidly growing economy due to the boom in natural resource extraction and processing, most of its population continues to be impoverished, reflected in an HDI ranking placing it at the very bottom of all Indian states.
