After a slew of scams and controversies for India’s ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) coalition, the newly unveiled 2013-2014 budget signals a return to the UPA’s primary agenda of economic growth. At various points in his speech, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram assured investors and voters that the UPA government was firmly committed to the “Indian [...]
April 19, 2013
In March 2013, the Registrar General of India (RGI) published, for the very first time, comprehensive datasets on housing, amenities and assets in Indian slums, based on information collected during the 2011 Census. Up until this report, the assessment of challenges pertaining to urban poverty had no disaggregated numbers to substantiate or inform policy design. [...]
April 19, 2013
Slum redevelopment and rehabilitation projects are often in a state of deadlock: any significant change requires more resources and land. However, availing of more resources and land requires significant change on the ground. Reflecting the magnitude of the challenge, several ambitious slum redevelopment projects have either been ineffective or have become notorious non-starters. For example [...]
April 19, 2013
Sharadha, aged 14, lives in one of Hyderabad’s slums. Her mother works as domestic help in local housing complexes. Sharadha likes going to school and aspires to be a teacher someday. However, because she has a poor attendance record, she may not be able to move onto the next grade. She has invariably been skipping [...]
March 20, 2013
In January 2013, the Indian Railways Ministry announced a fare hike – the first after almost a decade – across India. The fares of Ordinary Second Class (suburban) trains went up by INR0.02 (<US$0.01) per kilometer, while non-suburban travel will increase by INR0.03 per kilometer. In fact, by the end of January, Mumbai suburban train [...]
March 20, 2013
India’s landmark Right to Education (RTE) Act was legislated in 2010, and since then, central and state governments have been working together and independently to support the cause of universal education. Over 220 million Indian children between the ages of six and 14 are recipients of a sub-par education. This is overwhelmingly due to issues [...]
April 19, 2013
0