India's Blind Spot: Understanding and Managing Our Cities

"Indian policy has been characterised by a denial of urbanization. This has prevented us from meaningfully addressing the blizzard of policy issues that come with the phenomenon: from governance deficit to infrastructure shortfall, from effective management of land to lack of focus on growing city economies; from access to potable water to incessant flooding; from traffic congestion to sufficient urban green and public spaces; and from lack of safety to marginalization of urban poor, migrants, and vulnerable communities. Consequently, cities have truly become India's blind spot. And blind spots can be fatal. India's Blind Spot will explore our understanding of Indian cities and how we have reached this point of exasperation. The book illustrates that cities are critical to achieving India's promised destiny and provides policy solutions and innovations to tackle complex issues in our cities. The book vividly explains that Indian cities will be at the frontier of driving key global political-economy trends in coming decades. This is a comprehensive study on the phenomenon of Indian urbanization, and what comes with it."

Devashish Dhar is a former Public Policy Specialist at NITI Aayog. He is a Mason Fellow from the Harvard Kennedy School and Li Ka Shing Scholar from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore. He is also a Raisina Fellow, an IVLP Fellow, and has authored several articles for national publications.