COVID-19 being the headliner of the year 2020, in the absence of a vaccine or medication, has engulfed the whole world. In India, though the lockdown was conceived as a response at a very early stage, the number of cases have multiplied more than 1000 times since then.

Pandemic in simple terms is an infectious disease spreading into various regions and continents affecting large populations. World witnessed several pandemics earlier like Spanish flu which led to heavy human loss and suffering hundred years back. In recent years viruses like SARS, Ebola, Nipah, etc., have affected humans. The latest of this is Covid-19 virus belonging to SARS group.

Lucknow is a historical city. Its administration owes its genesis to British days. It is, however presently the largest city in most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Being the state capital, it enjoys distinctly placed status and position. Lucknow Municipal Corporation is a leading municipal corporation in the state. It strived hard to become the role model for others. Its revenue balance is encouraging.

The term resilience has been defined as the ability to bounce back or bounce forward. Building resilience in the urban systems is an upcoming research field pertaining to the various challenges posed by the climatic and environmental changes. The resilience of an urban system depends upon the available infrastructure to maintain acceptable levels of functionality during and after disruptive events and to recover full functionality within the specified period of time.

Cities of the developing world have become the centre of opportunities. The concentration of resources in the cities has led to a major socio-economic inequality between urban and rural life. It is necessary for city planners to find innovative, hybrid and cohesive policy planning approaches for the development of the urban system.

Infrastructure projects (urban or otherwise) are meant for greater good of people and therefore reflect their needs. Citizen participation is of utmost importance considering this goal. Studies in the past have attempted to define the success of projects through benefits realisation. In public infrastructure projects the end user is the citizen of that nation. However, meaningful citizen engagement has been a challenge for cities all over the world. With the advent of Smart Cities Mission in India in 2015, this aspect of citizen engagement has been brought to the forefront again as an important objective to be achieved. The mission aims to be truly reflective of citizen’s aspirations through a massive public outreach programme. In this paper, the processes followed in citizen engagement during the proposal formation phase as well as during the execution phase are studied. The example of City of Pune, is taken to understand the processes during formulation phase.

Rapid urbanisation in India over the last few decades has resulted in the overcrowding of cities and the emergence of slums. Mumbai, one of the largest cities in India, houses a considerable segment of its population in slums. There have been several attempts to initiate slum policies that meet the housing and community needs of slum dwellers while also gaining the broader objective of urban development. This article examines the impact of slum policies on slum dwellers in Mumbai, using the lens of Henri Lefebvre’s “Right to the City” specifically the aspects of equality, equity and justice. The author concludes by stating that the existing policies overlooked most of the rights of slum dwellers while benefitting other participants such as the real estate developers.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India falls amongst the states experiencing moderate urban growth but quantum jump in the emergence of census towns, as per census 2011. The increase was quadrupled over 2001. The eastern part of the state has larger number, but smaller census towns, in comparison to its western counterpart which is more urbanised, commercialised and industrialised. These towns contain about eight per cent of the state’s urban content, but are administered rurally. The Ministry of Urban Development has advised the states to convert these census towns to statutory towns with urban local body on priority. The state government seems determined to expand its urban network provisioning basic services to a large segment of the population. In last decade little more than a score of census towns have been converted to statutory towns, whereas about 80 new towns with municipality have been created. It is advisable that census towns near to statutory towns should be merged with existing statutory towns. Census towns in western region containing large population should be converted to statutory towns with municipality on priority.

Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand province of India, created in 2000 after carving it out of Uttar Pradesh province. Since then, Dehradun has been the hub of all the major developmental activities. Due to population influx from its neighbouring hilly districts and huge growth of the industries, there was high pressure on its civic authorities and the municipal bodies to dispose the waste generated by the households and the commercial units.

The present article examines the issue of utilisation of land in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. A significant proportion of land is lying vacant in SEZs. Low proportion of operational SEZs—with the addition of only few new—together with denotification are co-existing. Since India is a land-starved country, any under utilisation of land is a colossal waste of the scarce resources. The article, therefore focuses on understanding the land aspect of the SEZs at macro and micro level. The macro level analysis is carried out at an all-India level using secondary data while micro level at the level of particular SEZ using primary data generated from the field survey conducted in two SEZs located at Jaipur. Much of the analysis is based on cross tabulation and GIS mapping technique. The analysis reveals level of utilisation of SEZ land to be about 37 per cent at the national level. Within processing area around 45 per cent land is lying vacant. The issue is visible at micro level as well. The setting up of new units in already existing SEZs and linking incentives and conditions to quantum of exports, investment achieved, and location of those zones in unproductive lands appears to be the best possible strategy to ensure land utilisation.

Landscaping gives the expression of freedom and extreme happiness in an individual’s mind. This study discusses how to conserve energy in a site or a building through landscape architecture. Since the world is going through adverse climatic changes, it is important to conserve energy and do our best to make it a habitable place for our future generations.

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The research tries to evaluate the type and dynamics of the spatial growth pattern in the Indore peri-urban areas using spatial metrics over the built environment. It also explores the importance of the regional road network and the economic geography in the development of this zone and its related characteristics. The study of spatial growth of the city using spatial metrics enables the planners and policymakers to undertake the decision for sustainable development of the city.

It has been found that own resources of Municipalities and Panchayats are not sufficient to meet their expenditure requirements. Also, for some years, Municipalities and Panchayats have not utilised their entire resources. The delays involved in the provision of grants and other transfers towards Municipalities and Panchayats must be prevented. To improve the functioning of Municipalities and Panchayats, we need manpower and elected representatives to be street SMART (Simple, Moral, Action Oriented, Responsive and Transparent).We have to adopt a sustainable fiscal path including judicious expenditure by keeping in mind the receipts that fall in the domain of needonomics (economics of needs).

This article examines the effect of neoliberal policies and processes—namely accumulation, dispossession, conversion and annexation, on urban land use in Bhubaneswar. Indian government’s smart city drive to control unplanned urban growth is also tampering with existing urban land use. Under this backdrop, the author first argues that the ultimate outcome of all this is land grabbing. 

Property tax is considered as the backbone to the own source revenue of municipal governments in India. However, several Indian cities have not been able to tap the full potential of it for several reasons. One of the important issues affecting property tax revenue is that their taxation systems are designed on the basis of - Annual Rateable Value (ARV) of properties. Mumbai is the first Indian city to move away from ARV system towards adopting Capital Value (CV) based taxation of properties as a step forward. The reforms led to gains in property tax revenue for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). This case describes the salient features of this property tax reform undertaken by the MCGM, which can be replicated by other Indian cities.

Navi Mumbai, the city situated on the Indian west coast is surrounded by various ecologically sensitive elements both on land and in waters. As the city keeps on growing, these areas also become vulnerable so as the population residing in the city. The present article is an attempt to identify and review green building alternatives for the city by studying the various parameters and strategies given by different rating organisations in the context of Navi Mumbai and Indian scenario for sustainable development of the city in the future.

The present article attempts to study, analyse and understand the major challenges, key issues of governance, various factors, intricacies, impact of currents and undercurrents of the political power affecting the various dimensions of the desired efficient performance of the urban governance of Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

The Covid -19 pandemic has affected the life, health and livelihoods of millions, especially the poor, migrants, children and women. This needs revisiting the concepts of housing and community planning, which focus on public health and hygiene, livelihoods and composite redevelopment. The buildings by themselves should be able to detox the air, function as water capturers, energy generators and promote waste recycling. The paper suggests a resources pyramid and morphotectonic strategies for green and hygienic communities and buildings.

Through 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, Panchayat and Municipal systems were provided a systematic and endurable structure of participatory political process at grass root level. State finance commission is constituted for determination of vertical and horizontal transfers to municipalities and panchayats. Haryana state finance commission (SFC) has been constituted regularly. Sixth SFC was constituted on 22nd September 2020 for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26. The state has also showed progressive development towards achieving sustainable development goals except gender equality (SDG 5) and life on land (SDG 15) goals. Haryana has been a pioneer state in carrying out fiscal reforms. As per the budget estimates for 2020-21, fiscal deficit was projected at Rs. 25,682 crore, constituting 2.73 per cent of GSDP, which is well within the stipulated norm of three per cent under FRBM Act. Similarly, the debt to GSDP ratio has also been maintained below the norm of 25 per cent as prescribed under the FRBM Act. The state of Haryana through the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 has devolved all 29 functions, included in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution, to all the three rungs of Panchayats. Fifth SFC recommended vertical devolution of seven per cent and horizontal devolution in the ratio of 45 per cent for Municipalities and 55 per cent for Panchayats. Sixth State Finance Commission may review previous SFC reports, suggest, inter alia, new local taxes, present data on which the reports are based, complain about poor data base, attempt estimates of local taxable capacities in terms of measurable indicators, indicate full O&M requirement of core services and suggest budget and accounting reforms of the local governments.

Since decades, the debate has been going on about social, economic, cultural and political development. In recent years, there has been a growing need for “inclusive development” to meet contemporary development demands and challenges. It is argued that although economic growth is important, but it is not enough to foster people’s welfare. The time demands for such a development approach which may ensure the equal, fair and equitable distribution of growth benefits across all parts of society, especially large sections of vulnerable communities. In Indian context, inclusion and exclusion have multiple dimensions as the country has lot of heterogeneity and diversity in terms of many aspects; it may be culture, language, beliefs, geographical location, educational status, caste, religion, creed, races, etc. Keeping in view these dynamics, each area people have different needs and concerns and their visualisation and expectations of inclusion and exclusion also differs. Therefore, each area has a different system of governance structure at local level. The research study attempts to delve into relevant literature to discuss the role of urban local governments in ensuring inclusive development.

The rapid urbanisation in India has resulted in un-ubiquitous regional development and multilateral difficulties at diverse levels starting from city to regional levels, which clearly demonstrated the lopsided urban planning and unregulated governance of the urban ecosystem unfavourably. Indian cities are facing the problems of traffic congestion, reduction of green cover, haphazard peri-urban settlements, an increased traffic, affecting the cities and surrounding areas’ environment adversely. The present problems will worsen over the coming decades with phenomenal urban population that requires an urgent attention to urban planning with reference to smart city mission project. The article evaluates the significance of smart city missions in comprehensive planning which could deliver an improved urban milieu and help achieve the goal of resilient Urban India.

Urban local bodies can substantiate their relevance in the decentralised structure of governance by measuring up to competitive environment in which they have to function. The mandate of being institutions of participative democracy is to be vindicated with a changed paradigm of accountable service delivery. To this end, restructuring aimed at a financial and functional autonomy, is the key to institutional reforms in the modern day urban governance. This paper highlights structural and functional dimensions of urban governance system in Haryana as well as the best practices being followed in the other states. The state has challenges peculiar to its geopolitical realities and the prevalent system of urban governance in Haryana needs to be streamlined for coping with the increasing pressure owing to the rapid pace of urbanisation in the State which is likely to be accelerated in the years ahead. Adaptive structures of local governance are needed to maintain social capital and address economic interests that are engines of growth in the emerging cities.

Town Planning Scheme is one of the best tools in Urban Land Management for transforming irregular shaped lands into serviced plots. For Government organizations implementing mega infrastructure projects, this is the paramount alternative to Land Acquisition Act in today’s world where land prices are sky-high. In Town Planning Scheme public participation in the project through consultation and interaction is one of the primitive factor for transparency and effective implementation of the project. The paper portrays case of City and Industrial Development Corporation of India’s (CIDCO) Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) Town Planning Schemes (TPs), a regulatory time bound micro level planning adopted to implement infrastructure in sanctioned NAINA Development Plan under the ambit of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MR & TP) Act, 1966. The objective of this article is to enhance the environmental and institutional framework of land Owners’ Meet conducted in NAINA Town Planning Schemes. The outcomes of consultative mechanism of NAINA TPs in pre-COVID and post-COVID times is the tangible learning for Global practices.

As the public policy and initiatives are a dynamic process, several new initiatives were added in the urban Agenda of Government of India in the first quarter of 2021-22. These initiatives give due cognizance to urbanisation and its ability to contribute in the inclusive, productive and environment friendly growth along with more effective response to COVID-19. T

The Planning Commission during its 9th Five-Year Plan highlighted the need for additional resource development for railways through non-tariff methods and stated “Railways being owners of vast tracks of lands, can supplement their financial resources by certain non-tariff measures like utilisation of land/air-space for commercial purposes”. Thus, the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) was constituted in 1989 by an amendment to the Railways Act. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Railways that aims to develop land/air space entrusted to it on sound commercial principles for the generation of non-tariff revenue and creation of assets for the Indian Railways. The Indian Railways (IR) has approximately 43,000 hectares of vacant land. The zonal railways will identify the land which is not required for operational purposes in the foreseeable future and the details thereof would be advised to Railway Board. These identified plots will then be entrusted to RLDA for their commercial development in phases. The Railway Development Land Authority is working on four major projects, namely – Commercial and Residential Development, Multifunctional Complex, Colony Re-development and Station Development.

Parking spaces in cities have emerged as a major policy problem, especially in Metropolitan cities. Increasing population in urban areas and growing economic well being has put pressure on the parking infrastructure in most of the cities as people prefer owning personal vehicle rather than depending on the public transport, if they can afford. However, growth in vehicular population has meant that more space is needed for parking these vehicles. Studies have indicated that millions of barrels of oil are consumed everyday in the search for parking spaces. Parking is a stressful experience for drivers and consumes a lot of time as well. Governments world over have focused more on providing and managing parking spaces in commercial areas though parking in residential areas is equally problematic.

Declining ground water level is one of the major concerns of urban India. Among them, Delhi is one of the water-stressed cities of the world and is going to become a water scarce city in due course. This scarcity of water in the city gets accentuated by many factors. The growing population, coupled with ever-increasing pollution, increasing demand from industrial and commercial water along with the leakage in the supply systems and wasteful consumption practices pose major challenges for the City Administrators.

In 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration (CTRMA) was established in IIPA with the support of Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Government of India, the then nodal ministry on urban local bodies. The Centre was created with specific objectives to operate as a knowledge centre and think tank on urban sector issues and an apex institution at national level. CTRMA was rechristened as CUS (Centre for Urban Studies) in 1974-75. Director General, IIPA is the Director of CUS and chairperson of the Steering Committee. A faculty of CUS is nominated as Coordinator CUS, who becomes the Member-Secretary of the Steering committee. CUS has an interdisciplinary team of faculty members from Economics, Public Administration, Urban Planning and Civil Engineering background. In addition other faculty members of IIPA drawn from environment, disaster management, social development and e-governance background provide their professional input to CUS on case to case basis.

Urban self-governance in India has its own set of challenges. There are some critical, both institutional and non-institutional road blocks that are obstructing the efficient and autonomous functioning of urban local bodies in the country. Against this backdrop, the present paper throws light on the overwhelming obstructions that are making the notion of democratic and participatory self-governance, a distant reality for the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in India. This paper argues that the municipal bodies in India function as mere vassals of state governments. They neither pose obligatory strategic flexibility nor do they have political legitimacy. Partly this is because of the failure of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act and JNNURM, the most concrete and profound initiatives of the Government of India regarding the acknowledgement of India’s urban contingency, to envisage dynamics of the complex urban conformations. Furthermore, the paper suggests some alternative avenues through which the current urban reality of India can be lined up with the constitutional directives and existing legislative frameworks. Finally, the paper paves the path for some future research endeavours that can hold forth to the existing knowledge apertures in the field of urban self-governance in India, so that ULBs can maximise their capabilities to work as democratic institutions for local people and their interests through bridging the gap between local communities and the upper strata of democratic government.

Governance relates to the structure and functioning of the government and the institutional arrangements and processes of civil society. A society having high degree of resource scarcity due to intense competition for raw materials and increasing demand for livelihood resources requires an efficient and just environmental governance system. This article attempts to include environmental governance initiatives at the international, national and local levels. Further, an attempt has been made to identify the key challenges at the local level related to environmental governance.

Kerala has made tremendous achievements in poverty reduction over the decades, the baggage of the poverty and unemployment has been continuing in the urban areas of Kerala. A large proportion of the work force among urban poor is still in the informal sector. It has given a view point that economic indicators such as nature of employment and sources of income should be accorded with the highest priority for poverty reduction. It is clear that the growth in employment opportunities has a strong influence to reduce the extent of urban poverty. This paper looks into the profile of economic activities of urban poor to measure the extent of urban poverty at household level. It covers the areas such as employment status, category of workers, monthly earnings and determinants of income of urban poor households in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

Urban landscapes have some perennial problems like water pollution, air pollution, depleting aquifer, water scarcity, and sewage. Though they look unsolved as of today, but these are all linked towards sustainable living and understanding of the natural ecology. Vaidic Science has a sustainable solution for all these, and the same is also implemented successfully in many places across the country. The author is one of the designated partners of Vaidic Srijan LLP, which is a Limited Liability Partnership firm formed in March 2021. He and his partner have built their technology for “resurrection of the native ecology” for restoration and rejuvenation of Soil, Water and Air.

Delhi has seen an influx of population during the 1941-1951 decade primarily due to the partition of India. The Government, Cooperative and private sector developed residential colonies through large scale acquisition of land, to accomodate increased population. The land was acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1894.

This section includes national urban events and innovations as reported by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through its facebook and twitter account. The period of second quarter of current fiscal year - July to August 2021 - has seen specific focus on Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav-celeberating (75 years of independence from the historic year of 1947), Digital connectivity and mobility in urban Sector in India. Various urban institutions are gearing up in these areas for a sector wise follow up. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is taking actions with its institutions and also engaging states and ULBs for further replication.

Development is inextricably linked to urbanisation, which is a significant driver of economic growth. As India approaches the tipping point of shifting from a predominantly rural to an urban culture, the focus must be on securing the best economic growth possibilities for all sections of the population. The change is most likely to result in uncontrolled crisis and to avoid such situations; we must promptly and considerably increase the country’s current cumulative capacity of urban planning and development.

Trading of carbon credits emerged as an incentive for implementing ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ (CDM) emphasized under Kyoto Protocol. One carbon credit permits any entity to emit equal to 1 ton of carbon dioxide. So the entity reducing its Green House Gas (GHG) emission earns carbon credits to the extent it is able to reduce its GHG emissions, which it can sell in a carbon market to another entity which is emitting more than the permissible limits.

During the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdowns and restrictions were enforced, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUA) took several initiatives under the National Urban Livelihood Mission to address the livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors by facilitating. These initiatives facilitate access to institutional credit, suitable online market space, social security, etc.

I n 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration (CTRMA) was established in IIPA with the support of Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Government of India, the then nodal ministry on urban local bodies. The Centre was created with specific objectives to operate as a knowledge centre and think tank on urban sector issues and an apex institution at national level. CTRMA was rechristened as CUS (Centre for Urban Studies) in 1974-75.

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Urbanisation is defined as an index of transformation from agrarian economies to modern industrial ones. In the world, the majority of the population lives in urban settlements with 55.29 per cent in 2018, though the definition of urban settlements differs from continent to continent or country to country. In fact, the variation in the number of criterions has also been observed between the countries of the same continent. Therefore, to compare the urbanisation level between different countries by using national criteria is broadly non-comparable due to the variation in the definition of ‘urban settlement’. India describes the definition of ‘urban settlement’ more specifically and in a more meaningful manner. Thus, the analytical research has been carried-out to analyse the urbanisation pattern, assess the level of urbanisation, and study the urbanisation trend at both the levels i.e. international (continent-wise) and national (state-wise).

By 2030, India’s urban population is projected to increase to 600 million. However, the present level of urbanisation (31.1%) is lower than its peer group of developing countries like China, Indonesia and Brazil. Nevertheless, Indian cities face severe urban challenges in terms of deficits in infrastructure, governance and sustainability that cumulatively pose a challenge to India’s growth trajectory. The major challenge is to create competitive and inclusive cities. The flagship programme of the Government of India, the Smart City Mission tries to address these challenges to make its cities liveable and sustainable. This paper focuses on the nature of unbalanced urbanisation in India and whether the Smart City Mission (SCM) can work towards sustainable development synchronising spatial and economic growth. Bulk of investments of this Mission is earmarked for the cities which are already contributing to increasing inequality. It is quite likely that such investments will increase migration, leading to more deprivation of smaller towns. Unless, benefits of the smart cities are spilled over to the neighbouring areas, the intended inclusive mission may result in exclusion of economically weaker sections of the cities as well as the rest of India.

Growing contestation on the policy reforms and implementation is quite significant in the last few years. Diverse narratives related to water policy reforms and discourses have achieved considerable scholarly attention. These narratives vary from water rights, challenges of groundwater management, access to clean water and sanitation, gender equity for access to water and sanitation, integrated water resource management to inter-state river management. Adding to the global agenda of water security, climatic change has given a new dimension to the discussion. Availability of freshwater has been severely hit by natural disasters leading to water scarcity in major parts of the world. Therefore, to handle the scenario wisely, the focus of the current water management reform relies on efficient policymaking to strengthen the overall water governance, water planning and water management. This research explores the structuring of the water policies in India focusing on the components of existing National Water Policies.

Urban system, generally referred to as networking of towns and cities having socio-cultural and economic interdependencies, is witnessed to experience varying spatial distribution patterns on account of varying accessibility levels, economic potentials, availability of natural and human resources, administration primacy, statutory urbanization policy, etc. Studies on distribution of urban settlements reflect varying accessibility levels and absence of urbanization policy, which tend to bring about imbalances in their distribution pattern. Punjab is a rapidly urbanizing state of India, which presents different distribution patterns due to variations in physiography, economic base, and transportation network in its regions. An appraisal of urban settlement distribution pattern reveals clustered, nucleated, and linear patterns of distribution in the State. Disaggregated analysis through application of nearness neighbourhood principle on the urban settlements of Punjab reveals three distributional segments in the State namely random distribution of settlements in the west, linear clustering in the central and eastern parts. However, parts of the State away from the central rail–road corridor and closer to inter-state boundaries show varying spatial distribution patterns. The present paper focuses on the investigating varying distributional patterns in different regions of the State with an objective to suggest policy framework for balanced urban system.

The study aims to understand the issues faced by street vendors: impact of covid shutdowns, eviction, rent payment, ID cards, people who benefitted from PM Street Vendor AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Yojana: the policy meant to help street vendors rebuild their business by giving them loans without collateral. We conducted mixed research with quantitative questionnaire by survey method and qualitative research by freewheeling chat after the questionnaire to bring out their perspectives. Many interesting observations came to light from our research. Like in most other industries, the gender composition of street vendors is heavily dominated by male vendors. 61 per cent of street vendors are migrants, out of these 56 per cent have migrated to native places during Covid crisis. On the bright side, 86 per cent of street vendors possess ID cards. 88 per cent of those who applied for PM SVANidhi loan, have received it. The study draws important observations on issues faced by street vendors and the success of PM SVANidhi Yojana in the disbursement of loans to street vendors.

Urban communities around the globe are confronting with everexpanding challenges. These challenges are being driven by, and exacerbated by, increments in urban population and environmental change. Urban areas grow perseveringly while fears of an unnatural weather change and ecological calamity loom ever more prominent, and the ‘green’ or ‘sustainable city’ is playing a significant role in planning and policy discourse to manage the emerging situations. In this context recently published book Blue infrastructure: Natural History, Political Ecology and Urban Development in Kolkata, by Jenia Mukherjee takes a ‘longuedurée approach’ to deal with catching the dynamicity of the delta through nuanced investigations of the steady exchange among land, water, and mud. It uncovers how this space could decide, and thus get dictated by, political power, finance, and social livelihoods across changing temporal directions and moving towards political-financial goals that convey long-term suggestions for sustainability. The author has used ‘Historical Urban Political Ecology’ (HUPE) as a perspective to contextualize the “urban nature” with special reference to Kolkata and beyond.

The last quarter of 2021 ended with an important event covering change of guard in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Senior bureaucrat Shri Manoj Joshi, IAS, 1989, Kerala Cadre took over the charge from Shri Durga Shanker Mishra (1984 batch, Utter Pradesh Cadre) as Secretary, MoHUA on 30th December 2021. Nagarlok, Centre for Urban Studies and all IIPA family welcome the new Secretary, during this year of Amrit Mahotsav. Shri Joshi has assumed the responsibility at a crucial time when for the first time union budget has made special reference to the role of urbanisation in the growth story of India during next 25 years. We are sure that Government of India will evolve due strategy for structural adjustment (the expansion of manufacturing and services) and competitive edge which involves cities and towns as enabler of economies of scale, environment friendly, pro-poor, productive and sustainable development

Heritage is full range of our inherited tradition, monuments, objects and a culture. Most important it is a range of contemporary activities and behavior that we draw from them. Dimensions of heritage are summarised in the Fig. 1. Heritage is a broad and a dynamic concept which includes the cultural as well as natural environment. It encompasses built environment, historic places sites, landscapes as well as biodiversity, knowledge collection of past and different cultural practices and living experiences. It is a point of concern and positive tool for growth and change. Heritage is a collective memory of each locality and community. Heritage provides emotional and intellectual platforms on which individuals and communities establish their identity.

I n India, urban areas started receiving focused attention starting this century with the realisation that cities contribute significantly to the economic growth. However, the interventions initially were response to lack of basic infrastructure across the country. It was understandable because a large population in the cities did not have access to even basic services like drinking water, sewerage, solid waste management, etc. As the population in the cities grew and estimates showed that it would grow even further with the economic development, both the Central Government and the various state governments prepared road-maps for meeting all concomitant challenges. The city governments were also given and assumed important role in the endeavour.

The future of India’s vibrant and rapidly growing cities largely depends on an efficient, reliable and safe transport system. In the last few decades our cities have witnessed tremendous growth in private vehicles. Unfortunately it has turned into increased vehicle population, congestion on city roads, and lack of public space along the road side. In fact the rapid growth in vehicle numbers needs to be supported by an efficient, reliable, safe and green transport system in the long term. At present cities of India are amongst the worst affected in terms of air pollution. As per World Air Quality Report, 2019 six out of ten most polluted cities worldwide are located in India including Delhi, which is ranked as the world’s most polluted city. It is thus necessary to focus on mass public transport systems, non-polluting modes, and pedestrian friendly transport network to achieve safer and healthy cities.

I n 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration (CTRMA) was established in IIPA with the support of Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Government of India, the then nodal ministry on urban local bodies. The Centre was created with specific objectives to operate as a knowledge centre and think tank on urban sector issues and an apex institution at national level. CTRMA was rechristened as CUS (Centre for Urban Studies) in 1974-75.

Waste management in urban areas can pose manifold challenges that can threaten the goal of achieving sustainable cities. The need of the hour is to assess the existing waste management practices in our cities and explore new alternatives to develop cost-effective, non-hazardous long-term waste management plans. The Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 instructed Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in India to investigate and analyse existing dumpsites to explore their potential for biomining and bioremediation. This paper briefly touches upon the challenges posed by poorly managed municipal solid waste and also provides a glimpse into measures adopted by the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) in successful implementation of Bio-remediation of process.

Water is an essential natural resource which is not only necessary for human life but also for flora and fauna. It is a known fact that scarcity of water for agriculture and the poor quality of drinking water will result in shortage of food and it will also adversely impact the human health. To make available clean and affordable drinking water and proper sanitation especially in urban areas is a gigantic task that requires appropriate policy designing, planning, sustainable management and effective implementation. Water also forms the part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 that state “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. The clean water supply along with providing other amenities to citizens has always remained critical in the Indian context. In Delhi, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) shoulders the responsibility of providing drinking water and sanitation. But the DJB comes across a number of issues and challenges while providing safe drinking water and sanitation which need to be addressed and resolved on an urgent basis.

Increasing urbanisation has led the cities to sprawl beyond their municipal limits on the rural lands, known as peri-urban areas. The development in the peri-urban areas is characterised by conversion from agricultural land to other land uses. The upcoming new development in the peri-urban results in various changes in socio-economic and physical characteristics. Punjab Urban Planning & Development Authority (PUDA) approved planned, regularised, and unplanned/ unauthorised residential developments in the peri-urban area of the Amritsar metropolis are appraised to assess the level of satisfaction of residents about the basic amenities available within it.

Zamindari/Samsthan Palaces built during the 17th—20th Centuries across India are buildings of historical and architectural significance but are unprotected and lying in neglect and disrepair. Zamindars and Rajas, who were heads of local areas in preIndependent India, were divested of their positions, privileges and major land holdings after the Independence and abolition of Zamindari systems and political integration of princely states. Interactions with the present generation of Zamindar families/ lineage of erstwhile rulers have revealed situations and dilemmas due to changed/changing political, legal, economic, social and cultural conditions, and the challenges, opportunities they face in maintenance and management of the historic properties that they have inherited. As part of the Doctoral research at School of Planning and Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture & Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, 27 Samsthans/Zamindari palaces of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were studied under the research work. This paper presents the findings from the research work, listing out a few of the socio-cultural dilemmas of the owners of the historic properties, affecting the present state of preservation of erstwhile Samsthan/Zamindari Palaces of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as representing the Unprotected Heritage in India.

Amritsar, also known as the holy city due to the presence of Golden temple, has a history of about 570 years. The city has experienced various setbacks, like 1947 partition, and 1984 Operation Blue Star, but it has still not lost its glory and history. The redevelopment project namely the Heritage Street project from Town Hall to Golden Temple has been considered as a marvellous wonder for tourists, and pilgrims but its actual reality explains a different scenario altogether. As, behind the façade of stone cut latticework (jallis/ pinjrakari), there are a cluster of shops where no renovation has been done over several years. The aesthetically beautiful re-development project of Heritage Street has been restricted to a stretch of one km approximately. Some of the shopkeepers behind these facades are facing major hardships in terms of business. These older areas need preservation to overcome all the drawbacks. The present article examines a recent development that took place along the approach roads leading to Golden Temple. The authors have tried to evaluate the gaps in terms of infrastructure and facilities as well as other planning issues encountered during the study.

The study analyses the impact of various policy measures promulgated for the removal of practice of manual scavenging in our country. The news about the deplorable death of manual scavengers during cleaning of gutters is common across India. It is worth noting that the practice of manual scavenging persists even after being outlawed in 1993 and 2013. District Magistrates had been submitting false affidavits before the Hon’ble Supreme Court claiming absence of manual scavenging in their district. Although the Government of India claims the country to be free of open defecation and manual scavenging, even then, deaths of manual scavengers are occurring in the gutters. In contravention to it, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment reports the existence of 62334 manual scavengers in the country as on December 31, 2019. These factors prove the existence of a significant number of manual scavengers and manual scavenging which is a pertinent issue.

The important events in the urban sector in India in first quarter of 2022 are (i) first ever focus on urban sector in the speech of Union Finance Minister, (ii) Meetings on Bilateral Collaboration on urban issues, (iii) Environment Promotion, (iv) PMSVANidhi, (v) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, (vi) Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, (vii) Metro rail, (viii) Municipal Bonds.

Lately the focus of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, has increased towards use for Geospatial Technology in all aspects of urban planning and development in Urban Sector. Use of Geospatial Technologies in various urban sector missions since 2015 follows:

Getting recognition and appreciation for the efforts put in by the people has long been accepted as an effective motivational strategy. This strategy seems to be working effectively in the smart cities programme of the Government of India as well. Smart Cities Mission (SCM) is an ambitious program and necessary for developmental needs of the country and the concerned officials need to be engaged on a continuous basis.

Urbanization, a global phenomenon, has several ramifications. The uncontrolled generation of waste by city population coupled with unscientific waste handling by municipalities is causing severe health hazards and urban environment degradation. At present our municipal waste mostly ends up in illegal dumps on streets, in peri-urban areas, open spaces within the cities, wastelands, drains or rivers. As per Ahluwalia and Patel (2018), approximately 80% to 90% of the municipal solid waste in India is dumped in landfills without proper management practices and open burning, leading to air, water, soil pollution.

I n 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration (CTRMA) was established in IIPA with the support of Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Government of India, the then nodal ministry on urban local bodies. The Centre was created with specific objectives to operate as a knowledge centre and think tank on urban sector issues and an apex institution at national level. CTRMA was rechristened as CUS (Centre for Urban Studies) in 1974-75.

Worldwide governments are being pushed to alter their government systems in order to provide citizen-centric service delivery through the use of cutting-edge Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The use of e-governance has emerged as a critical tool in the fight against the evils of mismanagement and corruption. Over the course of more than two decades, e-governance initiatives have been introduced in India. The present study is set in the context of the growing significance of governance, public service delivery and e-governance, which highlights various issues like awareness, efficiency, transparency, responsiveness, participation and accountability. The study particularly examines the critical e-governance parameters of the Citizen Services Monitoring System (CSMS) initiative in urban areas of Telangana. Based on the study results, important policy suggestions have been provided.

The activities at national level witnessed consolidation of proposals of flagship urban missions and other specific schemes/projects towards annual follow–up, and inter-country and multi-lateral cooperation with a particular reference to (i) PMSVanidhi, (ii) Smart City Mssion, (iii) AMRUT (iv) Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, (v) Housing/PM Avas Yojana, (vi) Urban Mobility and (vii) Bi-lateral/Multi-lateral Cooperation.

Coal mining in India has initiated the process of urbanisation in sparsely populated interior regions of India, and most of the colliery towns of India are small in size and mono-functional in nature. Coal mining in central India was initiated at the beginning of the 20th Century, and a few small urban settlements evolved with the beginning of the collieries. Most of these colliery towns are mono-functional and still insignificant in population size.

The higher education institutions act as role models for incorporating sustainable practices by adopting various development strategies and actions in the core activities such as teaching, research and community outreach as well as in other activities like spatial planning, management of physical growth and development, maintenance of buildings and open spaces, supply of electricity, water and other utilities, etc. These institutions play an important part in taking different sustainable initiatives. This paper attempts to benchmark and appraise the sustainability concerns based on the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The indicators of sustainability under physical and social pillars have been localised for the Guru Nanak Dev University Campus and the campus has been assessed based on the identified parameters.

Urbanisation is closely related to the three dimensions of development: economic, societal and environmental. There is a strong consensus that urbanisation is critically important to global development, but there is considerable confusion over what urbanisation actually is and how the ideas are to be conceived. Generally, urbanisation is tied up with economic and infrastructural advancement and thereby people preferred to stay at such places, resulting in large urban places, that we call metropolitan cities today. However, this idea need not hold true in all circumstances as there are other alternative models of urbanisation coming up. Kerala postulated a different model of urbanisation and it has now attracted the world by its urban agglomerations hitting the tag ‘world fastest growing’ in demographic terms. Therefore, the absence of polar urbanisation and the population-based urbanisation trend is the core of discussion in this paper. In addition, it compares the state patterns in urbanisation with those of metropolises in India.

A house is essentially an expression of people’s way of life and culture. It is a symbol of pride, an identity of one’s social affiliation to different groups and communities. It is expected that a good - quality housing shall be responsive to a wide variety of human needs. Hence, the need of a house ought to be seen through the prism of both quantitative as well as qualitative attributes by the policymakers and providers of houses. Although literature on housing in India, nay of different countries is replete with different aspects of affordable housing, such as affordability of house, area, volume, amenities, location, household income, policy aspects of housing, etc. there has been no study so far to assess the Quality Standards for LIG Housing Projects in India or elsewhere. This study therefore seeks to identify the set of Housing Quality Indicators (HQIs) for quality assessment of LIG housing in India. It is expected that such an identification of HQIs would help assess housing quality either through a participatory process (comparing end users’ expectation and perception about the quality of housing) or by any independent organisation.

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Urbanisation refers to an increase in the proportion or share of the population residing in urban areas as opposed to rural areas. It is growing faster in East Asia and Pacific regions. Consequently, 
the city area of different states starts growing, which in return 
has exerted great pressure on the existing urban infrastructure 
like availability of water, transport system, health facilities and drainage system etc. The local government across the world plays an important role in providing basic services to the people, 
but these institutions especially in developing countries face great challenges like rapid urbanisation, climate change among others.

Mixed landuses are extensively promoted in the contemporary urban planning concepts and policies. In many cities like Pune, mixed landuse is a natural phenomenon existing without being 
a regulatory compulsion. The form and extent to which different uses mix can vary extensively, giving rise to various mixed landuse types. It gives the opportunity to observe and research 
the various types in which mixed landuses occur. This research, through literature review and field observations, has defined the mixed landuse typologies. 

The concept of Smart Cities has remained in great hype in the whole world and literature emphasises that Smart Cities actually require Smart Citizens. So, this paper questions: whether or not Citizens are worthy of accommodating Smart Cities? Data of 300 citizens from Ambala Cantonment of Haryana State of India was collected on selected parameters of Smart Behaviour with certain socio-demographic attributes with the help of a questionnaire.  With the analysis of data, two segments of citizens named sluggish and smart emerged based on citizens’ level of Smart Behaviour. 

The COVID-19 pandemic had led to a significant surge in bio-medical waste (BMW). Due to the contagious nature of diseases, 
the safe treatment and disposal of BMW became a significant challenge during the pandemic. The study entirely relies on secondary data and primarily focuses on the generation and management of BMW in Raipur city in the recent past. The study suggests that due to the countrywide lockdown, the amount of BMW  initially decreased; however, it increased significantly when 
the COVID-19 cases increased in the city.

Though the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) gave autonomy to local governments, equivalent devolution of financial autonomy is absent. Municipal Finances in India are identified 
by the mismatch between the funds and functions of local governments. The investment requirement of urban infrastructure over the years is increasing with the increase in population. Prior 
to 1990, urban infrastructure was financed largely through grants and Plan funds of governments. After 1990, the concept 
of municipal bonds has evolved. The present study focuses on the overview of municipal bonds in India, trends, process of issuing municipal bonds using secondary data. And it concludes that 
the municipal bond market has grown drastically over the years.

Poverty remains the greatest curse ever perpetuated on humanity

The third quarter of current fiscal has witnessed specialmention on role of cities and urban area in the Amrit Mahotsav (75-100 years) of Independence at highest level of decision making. Hon’ble Prime Minister on 30th September emphasised, while inaugurating first phase of metro in Ahmedabad,that cities will shape India’s vision to become a developed nation in next 25 years. it was also indicated that cities need to be reorientedin a regular manner as per changing times. Twin cities should be developed. Further cities should be built in line with global business demand, Gati Shakti National Master Plan, Logistics Policy and focus on speed with e-vehicle policy.

The Chandni Chowk, one of the largest and oldest markets of the Walled City in Delhi is currently being remodelled by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC), the nodal agency executing the Chandni Chowk pedestrianisation and redevelopment project. Structure of this column flows from Shahjahanabad’s evolution from Mughal Empire to current Master Plan for Delhi-2021, constitution of SRDC and the status of Chandni Chowk pedestrianisation and redevelopment project.

Earlier people looked forward to monsoons- farmers in rural areas for their cropping and city dwellers for getting relief from sweltering heat. But now people living in the urban areas dread even the thought of it, as we are now witnessing cases of urban flooding across the country, year after year. The situation is worst in metros like Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai. Mumbai this year got 45% excess rainfall in July. Santa Cruz weather station of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 1244.6 mm of rain against the normal of 855.7 mm. In July 2021, the city had recorded 1122.6 mm of rain.1 Many parts of the city remained inundated in waist deep water, throwing city life out of gear. 

Climate change is a global phenomenon with several ramifications, including sea level rise, increase in extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and storms, air pollution and the spread of tropical diseases. Right now almost half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. They consumes three fourth of the energy production and account for almost equal share of global CO2 gas emissions. In case of India, urban areas contribute to nearly 44% of India’s carbon emissions, driven by transport, industry, building and waste1. Since, most of the cities are densely populated and located either in coastal or floodplain areas, rise in sea level or frequent floods have huge impacts on cities’ basic services, infrastructure, housing, human livelihoods and health. At the same time, most of the cities are dependent on distantly located water resources, even a small drought creates water crises for cities.  The other consequences of climate change are urban heat island effect and air pollution which has increased the risk of health hazards in cities.

In 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration In 1966, Centre for Training and Research in Municipal Administration Health and Family Planning, Government of India, the then nodal ministry on urban local bodies. The Centre was created with specific objectives to operate as a knowledge centre and think tank on urban sector issues and an apex institution at national level. CTRMA was rechristened as CUS (Centre for Urban Studies) in 1974-75. 

This article discusses the role of civic groups in the protection and management of lakes in Bangalore.  It explores the different activities of civic groups and how they help improve the city environment in lake management. Nowadays, civic groups play 
a significant role in community interests where the ecology and environment are central concerns. In addition, this paper discusses how urban expansion has collected huge tolls from the lake environment and how civic groups form over a period to save 
the lake environment. The paper also examines how the groups negotiate with the government and other agencies for policy change and the adaptation of sustainable practices to save the lake environment in the city.

Urbanization leads to changes in the social, cultural, physical and environmental structure of cities, generating criminal elements 
in cities. The higher the rate of urbanization, the higher will be 
the crime rate of cities. The overall crime rate of India increased 
by 3.4% from 2014 to 2015. In the case of Amritsar city, the registered crime rate in 2015 was 163.8 per lakh population. This paper attempts to understand the nexus of crime, landuse, population density, and vulnerability factors to identify vulnerable areas, crime hotspots, and crime rates. It aims to identify crime-prone public spaces for snatching and vehicle theft and suggests planning strategies to counter them. It provides an insight into crime prevention strategies from the perspective of a land use planner. Thus, the present paper provides a way forward to initiate 
a potential partnership between the government, the police and spatial planners to work with communities to reduce crime in public spaces. 

Road accidents have been a major safety issue and are causing a significant loss to the economy. To minimise this economic loss, 
one needs to be able to assess the existing road safety scenario of 
the public transport undertakings and plan safer bus routes in cities. Public transport whether road or rail based are considered 
as the safest mode of travel for most people across the globe. In absence of a database at world level focusing only on traffic safety associated with buses, individual data sets/information has been presented in this paper from various countries from the developed 
as well as from the developing parts of the world. The case of India and particularly the case of Delhi Transport Corporation 
(DTC) which operates public transport buses in Delhi has been elaborated in this paper. In order to plan safe public transport routes in any city, it is important to understand the road safety scenario of public transit buses in the cities of urban India. Few Indian bus corporations operating in major metropolitan cities have been undertaken for this study. An attempt has been made to carry out a detailed spatial and temporal analysis of all the DTC 
bus accidents, to understand the causes of accidents, the probable remedial solutions to avoid the crashes and the way forward. 

Major parts of India are moving towards urbanisation leading 
to rise in population in cities, globalisation and increased motorisation. Rise in number of motor vehicles creates huge demand for parking in the cities, causing various problems like traffic congestions, pollution, etc. This paper focuses on review of parking policies for various Indian metro cities to understand the means adopted by such cities to deal with this emerging parking issue for our country at a policy level. 

A smart city is a new form of urban construction that has emerged gradually in the process of rapid urbanisation. The city of Ajmer 
is among 100 cities to be created as a smart city in India and to fulfil this mission, various construction projects are going-on in various parts of the city. Therefore, the case of elevated road project sanctioned under the Smart City Mission has been taken up in this paper as the conversion of earth’s land surface to urban uses 
is one of the most irreversible human impacts on the biosphere.

Architecture is a unique blend of technical, artistic, economic and socio-cultural developments. Spanning both art and science, it is closely linked with urbanism, ecology, micro-climate, environment, natural resources, water, energy and public health. According to RIBA Gold Medallist and Pritzker Award winner B. V. Doshi “we cannot look at architecture as merely a product because it is not what one calls a passive space, form or structure. Architecture is an extension of our body. It’s not outside of me, it is a part of me and we live within it. When you think it is part of yourself then the questions are the food you eat, the life you live, the people you meet and the world in which we live. It is an understanding of culture, aesthetics, climate and space. That’s how I understood Corbusier. He would talk about behaviour, attitudes and about climate. He spoke about the relationship between people and the building, about the space. And I think because of that my whole understanding of architecture is different”.

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The intellectually and spiritually ever-fertile soil of India has produced many great men in the fields of polity, culture, economy, religion, philosophy, and beliefs. Standing tall amongst the luminaries of India’s struggle for freedom was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The book Sardar Patel: Builder of Aspirational India is a tribute to the iron man of Indian politics, Sardar Patel. We all know that he was the pivot of integration of several hundreds of princely states strewn around the length and breadth of the country and an able initiator of the process of India becoming- a nation state. Sardar’s contribution in redesigning and aligning the central civil services around the notion of unity and integrity, drafting of the constitution, and of course, as the leading light of the freedom struggle on the lines of the Gandhian principles has certainly been well documented, acknowledged, and celebrated. However, his contribution and the values he stood for and devoted his life for, signifies, all the more, importance in today’s circumstances of heightened geopolitics and nationalistic sentiment that has gained currency in all parts of the world.

“We always speak of India’s culture, of India’s civilisation, but do we ever pause to think that the relief of the poor, mutual aid amongst neighbours, charity to the helpless and kindness to the downtrodden have been the shining virtues of that culture and civilisation? Let us ask ourselves if we are living in the spirit of those ancient virtues!” — Sardar Patel Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is one of the foremost figures in the annals of the Indian national movement. Due to his versatile personality he made manysided contributions, to the national cause during the struggle for freedom and subsequently after attainment of Independence for consolidation of our hard won freedom. While assessing his contribution to administration indeed governance, one has to take into consideration his personality, the forces that shaped the man, his philosophy of life and the organisational and public as well as experience that he gained while mobilising forces for political resistance to alien rule in different ways for different purposes, and at different times. It will be a narrow view of the subject to confine oneself only to the evaluation of his direct association with administration after the formation of the Interim Government in September 1946 till his death in December 1950. What he strived for and achieved during this span of about four years as part of the Government, was largely motivated and sustained by his observations and experiences during his earlier public and political life and the ideals that sustained the freedom struggle.

India @75 which we celebrate today and take it for granted, underwent perilous circumstances during the period 1946-50. Humanitarian horrors of the partition, religious riots, refugee settlement, scarcity of all kinds on the one hand; while on the other, the challenge of integrating princely states to a united India and drafting of a constitution for the Republic of India. And in midst of all, the founding fathers of India had to, with depleted number of civil servants to assist them, ensure the transition of India to a state of peace, order, liberty and stability while effecting demobilisation of politically active elements and guiding them to nation-building.

Sardar Patel is hailed as the greatest visionary administrator of India. His contributions towards building up the civil services in post-independence India and his vision and ideas about administration can be considered as the ‘gold standard’ of public administration, governance and public policy. Though there are hundreds of great lessons we learn from Sardar Patel, seven of them are highlighted here – existence of IAS, minister-administrator relations, values and ethics, leadership lessons, the real meaning of freedom, vision on economy, and lessons for future administrators. When in need, a modern-day administrator should look upto Patel for a solution – apt, timely and effective.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a mass leader, politician, administrator and an astute diplomat. A patriot to the core, Sardar Patel was imbued with practical sagacity and ranks amongst the greatest architects of free India. The contribution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as the ‘Iron Man of India’, to the Indian Freedom struggle has been remarkable and incomparable. A man of sharp intellect and character, he has always been an immense source of inspiration not only during the Indian freedom movement but also in the present times

The historical root of the concept of India as a modern nation acquired form, shape and identity through the process of anti-colonial movement. Before the emergence of Indian national movement, India as an identity was portrayed as a mere geographical entity with divisive social, cultural, linguistic, religious and political expressions by imperialist and neo-imperialist historians. In the process of research on the notion of nation it has emerged as a complex concept. Social scientists agree that it may not be easy to define a nation. There is always the danger of reification, emanating from singular aspect of nation and nationalism – be it cultural, religious, political or economic. It has also been seen how significant myth, history and reason become essential in defining concept of nation and nationalism.

How much do we know about this man to whom we owe our ‘Union of India’. Was his indispensability even known to those who were unfurling tricolor from the Red Fort on 15th August 1947 or on the previous night met as a Constituent Assembly to kickstart a visionary legal framework for the world’s largest hula-hoop of 566 independent kingdoms? Was it even possible without Sardar’s iron manacle that fastened all intransigent, self-serving and avaricious micro-kingdoms, into the ‘Union of India’. What meaning was the exercise of independence when 48 per cent of India’s land was owned just by these princes and nawabs? Despite accepting a two-nation theory and making a choice in favour of absurdity for peace, lights from greed and ego-filled palaces mocked and blinded the new republic

In the state of Gujarat hitherto unknown, a place called Nadiyar has now become a place for tourists coming wide-eyed to see the statue. One of the tallest in the world– Sardar Patel, who was not onlyuniversally regarded but alsoa stalwart in freedom movement. The statue is visible to miles and if anyone asks as to who was, people looked at him in utter surprise. He was not only a great freedom fighter and incomparable organiser, a good speaker and a hard worker, but also a suave and persuasive man. At the same time, he was a no-nonsense hardliner who for the sake of the country could go to any length. A great devotee of Gandhiji, Patel sometimes differed with him and had the courage to tell it on his face. But when it came to the question of personal interest unlike Subhas Bose, Pandit Nehru differed with Gandhiji. Netaji Subhas Bose even contested for the post of President of Indian National Congress against Gandhiji’s nominee Pattavi Sitaramaya and won. Whereas in 1928 after his victory in Bordoli, Patel came to break the news to everyone. He earned approbation everywhere and obviously he was the choice for almost all leaders for the post of Chairman of Indian National Congress. Motilal Nehru who was sick, pleaded for his son Jawaharlal. Gandhiji asked the Sardar to recuse and like a good obedient student that the Sardar withdrew. When again in 1946 the question of choosing the Prime Minister arose, out of 12 state Congress Committees, 9 were in favour of Sardar Patel and 3 for Pt. Nehru. Yet Mahatma Gandhi opted for Pt. Nehru and asked Sardar Patel to withdraw. The reason for this decision by Gandhiji is yet to be known. Had Patel been the Prime Minister of India, many historians guess that, maybe Tibet would not have been lost and Kashmir not vivisected. Anyway conjectures are propositions but what really happened is placed before historians for scrutiny.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, ‘the Iron Man of India’, has been a prominent name that gave us the delineation of today’s India. His role in uniting for more than 500 princely states into one `Bharat’ can never be forgotten. He has been a firm personality, renowned barrister, great freedom fighter and a leader, par excellence. Patel, who later became the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, showed India the path of self-sufficiency and economic development. His visions and actions always led the country towards a better future. Sardar Patel, in several ways laid the foundation of entrepreneurial India. Many of his Satyagraha brought out the entrepreneurial qualities in people, especially the peasants of Gujarat. After becoming the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, his major focus was on the development of the country as a self-sufficient and entrepreneurial nation. Many times, he laid focus on the import imbalance of country and encouraged the countrymen in a way that led them to be great entrepreneurs. A befitting tribute to him, the magnanimous Statue of Unity, in Kevadia (Gujarat) stands as a testimony to the honour and acknowledgment that Sardar Patel and his contributions warrant. The paper focuses on the major steps of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that helped our country to lead a way of self-sufficiency and develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today, India is one of the most desirable entrepreneurial ecosystems for budding entrepreneurs. This has been made possible only because Sardar Patel initiated steps to build a strong and united nation

Vallabhbhai Patel popularly known as Sardar Patel is one of the most revered figures in modern Indian history. Besides his total and uncompromising commitment to the cause of national integration, Sardar’s sense of justice and personal sacrifice endeared him to the generations to come. As we know, the most significant contribution of Sardar Patel was to take up the arduous challenge of integrating 565 Princely States to make the union of India. Sardar Patel accomplished this through dint of diplomacy and statesmanship, and rare if any use of violence, earning him the sobriquet ‘Iron man of India’. Howard Spodek writes that Sardar Patel was, “The Iron Man of strength, supporting other leaders in times of struggle, the man of will and direction when others vacillated or were muddled in their goals; the pragmatist with his feet on the ground when others took to the clouds”.1 He is also celebrated as the ‘patron saint of India’s civil servants’ for aligning and orienting the all-India services system to the administrative needs of an emerging nation. The services since then have provided the edifice of a steel frame to the organisational structure, and administration of the country.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was one of the greatest Indians who ever strode this earth. His was a multi-faceted and multi-splendoured personality. His contributions to building and enriching the nation were varied and in many diverse fields. Beginning his political career with the membership of the Ahmedabad city board, Vallabhbhai gave expression to his vision of independent India when he said that “no one would die of starvation in independent India”, its leaders would not “use a foreign language”, “military expenditure would not be heavy”, “army would not subjugate its own people or other lands”, “its best-paid officials would not earn a great deal more than its lowest paid servants” and “finding justice in it would be neither costly nor difficult”. As years and decades roll by and we are faced with newer and newer problems, Sardar Patel’s vision and message become more and more relevant.

I would like to begin my article by stating at the very outset that the Constitutional foundations of the civil services in India owes a great deal to the vision of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and his perception of what a future public servant’s mandate should look like in democratic India after independence. I will commence with a few reflective assertions on the world’s largest and longest written constitutional text, the iconic 395 articles and 8 schedules of the Indian constitution. As the fundamental law of the land, it has now been transformed to 448 articles grouped into 25 parts, with 12 schedules and five appendices. This transformed Constitution is my point of reference and should be every civil servant’s point of reference as they take the oath to serve the nation and its people. I look at the overarching values as stated in the Constitution and then revisit the civil service rules which are constitutionally embedded largely due to the efforts of Sardar Patel. These articles can be invoked by all civil servants to operationalise laws pertaining to the constitutional values of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice.

I was asked to write on the Sardar as a political leader. I thought it would repeat other pieces in the volume by Netajis; more competent than me since I was only a temporary politico. But I am a teacher and planner and have chosen Gujarat as my Karma Bhumi. So I volunteered to write on the educational and social institutions in the State, commemorating his memory. Most of them were created and led by those who knew him.

On a pleasant June morning in 1895, 20-year-old Vallabh walks roughly 17 Km, from his home in Karamsad to his school in Petlad. He left home at 5 am to just be in time for the school assembly. On the way to his classroom, he notices that one of his classmates is pulled out of the assembly by a strict teacher and barred from attending classes, till he clears the fine imposed on him for an earlier mischief. The young boy pleads forgiveness and expresses his inability to pay the fine because of the poor financial condition of his family. The disciplinarian teacher refuses to give head and bars him from entering the classroom. Vallabh watches the exchange quietly from a distance as a storm starts to brew in his head.

The establishment of independent India derived legitimacy and power, broadly speaking, from the exertions of three great men, Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. But while its acknowledgments are fulsome in the case of Nehru and dutiful in the case of Gandhi, they are niggardly in the case of Patel. “That there is today an India to think and talk about ”, President Rajendra Prasad wrote in his diary on May 13, 1959, “is very largely due to Sardar Patel’s statesmanship and firm administration”. “Yet” added Prasad, “We are apt to ignore him”. Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875, in a peasant family at Nadiad, a town in Kheda district from which his mother Ladbai hailed. His father Jhaverbhai, a small farmer with 10 to 12 acres of land in Karamsad village was a sturdy, upright and straightforward man of independent nature to whom the village folk flocked for advice and succour in times of distress. It is said that Jhaverbhai took part in the Great revolt of 1857 under the Rani of Jhansi and was later taken prisoner by the Holkar of Indore. He was an expert in chess and at a game so impressed Holkar that he released him and he returned to Karamsad after an absence of about 3 years. Vallabhbhai inherited from his father the skill to organise and plan a campaign or a movement at the opportune movement.

The unprecedented floods in Ahmedabad in the last week of July, 1927 was the first acid test of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s politico-administrative skills to deal with a climate-related disaster. He was the President of Ahmedabad Municipality when one of the worst climate-related disasters in India’s preindependence history struck the city. It followed incessant rainfall in Ahmedabad for seven consecutive days, starting in the evening of July 23 and continuing till July 29, 1927. ‘Meteorological records show that Ahmedabad received more rainfall during this week than the average rainfall it normally received in a year. According to the Monthly Weather Report of the Indian Meteorological Department, 1270 mm of rainfall was recorded in Ahmedabad during six days of which 737 mm were recorded in just 48 hours’.1 The scale of devastation unleashed by heavy rainfall and the consequent floods were so huge that, at one point of time, almost the entire city had got submerged in a few feet of water. In his biography on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, his close political aide, Narhari B. Parikh has given a graphic description of the panic and fear in Ahmedabad when the heavy downpour was accompanied by very strong winds on July 24, forcing Vallabhbhai Patel to walk-out of his home late in the night with just an umbrella to take stock of the worsening situation:

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a statesman gifted with the rare quality of astuteness and pertinacity in his approach to problems. Despite his stern exterior, he possessed a generous heart in the pursuit of larger objectives. He never allowed emotions or sentiments to weaken his resolve. Patel’s realism rested on the sound principle that the cause is greater than the individual. He was essentially a man of action and there was no place for vacillation, selfishness and cowardice in his scheme of things. He was a visionary and unifier of modern India.

While writing the story of his time, Athenian historian Thvucydides (460-400 BC) said that men and events should not be judged earlier than 100 years after their happening in order to give a right perspective to the story. Sardar Patel does not meet that historical deadline and may be for this reason his role in the making of modern India is not fairly judged. It may not be right to ask what would have happened to the US without Washington, to Turkey without Ataturk, to Germany without Bismarck and to Italy without Garibaldi. But we owe it to history to answer what would have happened to India without Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (October 31, 1875 to December 15, 1950), a man with stern, rough hewn face, the dhoti clad Gujarati lawyer whose education and training at bar in London did not change the Indianness which was in his blood. But for Patel, India would never have been united. The creation of Pakistan was the beginning of the division of Indian Territory, but further splitting was firmly checked by Patel, who persuaded and forced the Indian princes to merge with the Indian Union. Those who resisted had to face the consequences, as for example, the police action in Hyderabad.

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