Paper short abstract:

Through an ethnographic study of the Amma Canteens in Chennai, I show how a state-run subsidised meals scheme has the potential to enable social justice in the urban.

Paper long abstract:

Amma Unavagams(canteens) are a network of subsidised public canteens that serve cooked meals to its clientele at minimal costs. Based on a qualitative study of the canteens conducted over a period of six months, I argue that they hold meanings beyond that of a meal-centre as they act as ‘spaces of care’ in the city catering to different social groups. The beneficiaries of these canteens are able to make a claim on the state’s resources while their status as rights-bearing citizens is weakened by poverty, old age, unemployment, sickness or gender. The old who have no means for decent meals ; the young factory worker struggling to save money to be sent to his family back home ; a home-maker trying hard to make ends meet ; a mentally challenged person who is left to fend in the streets ; all seek the services of the Amma canteens to satiate their hunger. Despite limitations to state-capacity, the scheme has been operational for over a decade serving different sections of the population including the poor and the marginalised, shielding them from the pressures of inflation. In the context of unbridled urbanisation marked by exclusion and precarious employment, this paper proposes that local initiatives for food security hold the promise of social justice. Public canteens, through their ability to care for the vulnerable population by provisioning cheap meals, make way for ‘just cities’.