In the run up to the 2019 General Elections, Pragati asked experts to help compile a pre-election wish list for good governance. In this section of the Pragati Manifesto, my colleagues at IDFC Institute and I lay out how to plan for India’s urban future. We draw attention to the country’s declining state of urban infrastructure, weak systems of service delivery, and growing urban populations. In light of this, we advance a ten-point agenda for improving urban governance.
Excerpt from the paper: “Cities are drivers of economic growth and are labour markets that promote economies of scale and agglomeration. The misclassification of urban and rural areas leads to uneven public service delivery, which can be dangerous to and negatively impact quality of life in cities. Hence, there emerges a need to recognise growth as it happens by planning ahead for it, efficiently improve land utilisation, use transport as a mechanism to effectively link labour markets, streamline government coordination, and cultivate soft infrastructure across urban centres.”
Read the full paper here.