The Future of Urban India

Since the Manmohan Singh government has squandered billions by waiving farm loans and guaranteeing rural employment, they do not have the funds necessary to invest in urban infrastructure.

Here is the news:

"NEW DELHI, JUNE 22: For UPA government’s ambitious project to provide urban infrastructure under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, there is an estimated investment shortfall of Rs 48,715 crore annually."

Read the full story here.

The only solution is to invite private players into urban infrastructure.

This is the only way by which every little town can get a tramway.

Then there are other solutions in the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM) by which almost everything can be handed over to the private sector.

Read my old article on NPM here.

Yet it does seem like a criminal misappropriation of public money when resources are diverted from crucial areas like urban infrastructure and thrown away on foolish schemes.

The news report mentions that “municipalities are neither financially sound nor credit-worthy”. Further, they are entirely dominated by the state government.

So let us abandon panchayati raj and focus all attention on building sound institutions of urban local self-government.

Read my earlier post: “We Need Mayors, Not Panchayats.”

Let us build a nations of over 500 free trading and self-governing cities, and thousands and thousands of such towns.

The USA has 350 million people in 200 cities.

For our 1000 million people we need three times that number of cities.

Let us build them – and ensure that the local government works.