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.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Taylor ‘Fema’ Hiester, commander of USAF F-16 Viper Demo Team, hit out at air show organisers for continuing with the show after Wing Commander Namansh Syal lost his life in the incident.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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.