The contemporary world is witnessing several changes. Cities are becoming the habitation of choice for the majority of the globe. Neoliberalism has become the global economic force and individualism or a quest for individual rights and identity is gradually overtaking communitarianism. However, these developments have been accompanied by declining pluralism in the cities. As development has become the main agenda and mantra of growth for many cities in the country the poor are consistently finding themselves pushed to the margins. This paper undertakes to study such changes occurring in the city of Kolkata that are not just affecting the lives of the poor but also jeopardizing the ecological assets of the city.

The world has been going through constant shifts. There are more people living on it than ever, most of them have a preference for urban centers over rural areas and most have adopted individualism over communal living as the modern way of life. Although moral relativism, declining social involvement, and the subversion of the family (Brand and Thomas 2005) are being associated with the bane of the rising prevalence of individual identity, the debate about its desirability or undesirability is not yet over. However, several instances from cities show an intimate association of increasing individualism and declining tolerance in communal spaces where boundaries are being set on the basis of class, caste, region, gender, and so on.