Sarai began work in 2000 on issues of media, urban life, and the public domain, at a time when such issues were hardly on the horizon in India. In addition, Sarai brought together academics and practitioners in a new dialogue and collaboration. Sarai was initiated by Ravi Vasudevan, Ravi Sundaram , both faculty at CSDS; and the Raqs Media Collective (Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula & Shuddhabrata Sengupta). Sarai’s early research foci on urbanization, media life, and information are now part of any serious thinking about the contemporary. Since its inception, Sarai has initiated research projects on media urbanism, Cybermohalla, critiques of intellectual property, free software, art practice and the public realm, language and the city, and many others. It has supported unique independent fellowship programmes, and held a host of events including conferences, workshops, and performances. Like all experimental research initiatives in India, Sarai has seen cycles of expansion and contraction, involving the dispersion of some nodes and the emergence of new sites and publics. Sarai’s current projects address the larger themes of media archeology, infrastructure, data and law. Sarai has generated regular publications. These include the widely circulated Sarai Reader series, graphic novels, the urban classic Trickster City, and researcher broadsheets. Practice based works have also emerged from Sarai’s fellowship projects and the Media Lab. Sarai is the home of the academic journal BioScope. This is a blind peer-reviewed journal focusing on film and media studies, with an additional interest in image and sound practices Source text Sources images Saria.net

JAGA Mission as advanced, with each passing day. From land security, it has elevated to become a slum upgrading and renewal programme. For a mission of less than half a decade, JAGA has been a juggernaut of sorts, with 1.6 million urban poor having received land rights, 550 slums upgraded in-situ with basic infrastructure and services in the pilot phase, eight settlements becoming slum-free through upgrading, and 2225 slums in various stages of slum upgradation. 121 slums with 15,978 households have been identified to be located in environmentally hazardous areas and therefore are to be relocated to 26 new habitats, to be planned, designed, and built by the community themselves. Five cities with the potential for increased migration have been converted into living labs for “slum proofing” – the process of progressing from slum upgrading to slum-free cities which have recipes against the future creation of slums. As slums emerge out of a systemic failure, their transformation requires a triangulation of political will, committed leadership, and empowered communities that enable urban reforms to be consistent and inclusive. Odisha sees the perfect combination of these features. Source: Odisha News Tune Drone survey under JAGA Mission © JAGA Mission SDA leaders in Community Meetings in Odisha © JAGA Mission Chilldren in upgraded slums of Odisha © JAGA Mission