The capacity of cities to create unprecedented levels of economic activity and innovation will all but ensure that they will take the lead in the century ahead.
Increasingly, numbers & political clout is moving from villages to cities. Being more exposed to media, cities are influencing political agenda more than politicians understand.
MGNREGA empowered citizens to engage the state on equal terms. VB-GRAMG recasts them as labharthis, who must prove eligibility to receive the largesse of a benevolent leader.
RBI Handbook of Statistics shows state’s GSDP has more than doubled in past decade, finishing second behind Maharashtra. It has performed well across health & education parameters as well.
It is argued that India-Israel ties are moving from buyer–seller dynamic to one focused on joint development & manufacturing partnership, a shift 'more durable' than traditional arms sales.
Don’t blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad, heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India.
Most of us think of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong while speaking of China. Consider the scores of new cities it has created since 1978 which are in the million plus category. Without necessarily thinking of metropolitan areas and smaller urban towns as an Either Or binary, it is unquestionably true that most of the incremental GDP that will need to be created for India to reach a per capita income of @ 6,000 will have to be generated in urban areas. Being a Nehruvian to the core, my heart tells me it will be the metros more than the smaller towns that will get us there. Which makes it all the more tragic that one half of Bombay’s population lives in slums. Our urban areas need not be Smart Cities but the quality of our urbanisation needs to be much better.
Most of us think of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong while speaking of China. Consider the scores of new cities it has created since 1978 which are in the million plus category. Without necessarily thinking of metropolitan areas and smaller urban towns as an Either Or binary, it is unquestionably true that most of the incremental GDP that will need to be created for India to reach a per capita income of @ 6,000 will have to be generated in urban areas. Being a Nehruvian to the core, my heart tells me it will be the metros more than the smaller towns that will get us there. Which makes it all the more tragic that one half of Bombay’s population lives in slums. Our urban areas need not be Smart Cities but the quality of our urbanisation needs to be much better.