The role of cities in ensuring good jobs
In light of India's rapid urbanisation, Rana Hasan looks at various factors which set large cities apart from smaller cities and rural areas: more job opportunities, higher wages, large manufacturing ...
- Rana Hasan
- 14 September, 2022
- Perspectives
Are cities holding India back from reaching its ambitious net zero targets?
While per capita emissions in global cities are significantly lower than the national average, large Indian cities like Delhi and Kolkata emit up to double the national average. Shah and Downes look a...
- Sam Downes Jagan Shah
- 10 August, 2022
- Perspectives
Mobility and congestion in urban India
Urban transportation in developing countries is prioritised for massive investments, yet little is known about the determinants of urban mobility in these countries. This article applies a methodology...
- Prottoy A. Akbar Victor Couture Gilles Duranton Adam Storeygard
- 24 July, 2019
- Articles
The Growth of Cities in India, 1870-2020
The aim of this project is to understand the determinants of city growth in India in the short run and over the long period. By analysing data on cities from every decennial Census conducted in India ...
- Chinmay Tumbe
- 20 February, 2016
- IGC Research on India
Data-jam: Could data reduce road congestion in Dhaka?
While urbanisation is key to economic growth, failure to address the downsides of the process - such as congestion - may deter the ability of cities to achieve their full growth potential. This colum...
- Filippo Sebastio
- 01 February, 2016
- Articles
The Changing Face of Circular Migration in Bihar
The aim of this project is to investigate the changing patterns of circular migration from rural Bihar, the place of origin for many of India's labour/seasonal migrants. The study focuses specifically...
- Indrajit Roy
- 14 January, 2016
- IGC Research on India
One step forward, one step back? Ahmedabad's evolving urban policy
India’s urbanisation process has come to be characterised by haphazard growth of cities, the costs of which are borne disproportionately by the poor. This column analyses Ahmedabad’s urban policy...
- Tanvi Bhatkal
- 02 November, 2015
- Articles
India on the move: The commuting worker
About 25 million workers in India commute daily for work, from rural to urban areas or vice versa, or have no fixed place of work. This column finds that rural households with at least one rural-to-ur...
- S. Chandrasekhar Ajay Sharma
- 10 September, 2014
- Articles
Growing through cities in India
Do cities grow through specialisation or diversity? This column measures specialisation and diversity for the manufacturing and services sectors in India. It finds that Indian districts with a broade...
- Ejaz Ghani William Kerr Ishani Tewari
- 20 June, 2014
- Articles
A unique, informal banking system of rickshaw drivers in cities
Seasonal, rural migrants that drive rickshaws in cities have little or no access to formal financial institutions. Based on a survey of over 100 rickshaw drivers in Delhi, this article highlights a un...
- Garima Agarwal Shashank Bhatt Skand Goel Arushi Kaushik
- 04 June, 2014
- Notes from the Field
What makes cities more competitive in India?
Policymakers in both developed and developing countries want to make cities more competitive, attract new entrepreneurs, boost economic growth, and promote job creation. This column shows that the two...
- Ejaz Ghani William Kerr Stephen D O'Connell
- 07 March, 2014
- Articles
India's spatial disparities: Have big cities become too congested?
A key driver of the Indian economy is its rapidly growing service sector. This column compares the spatial growth pattern of the sector in India and other countries. It is found that while in US and ...
- Klaus Desmet Ejaz Ghani Esteban Hansberg Stephen D O'Connell
- 17 January, 2014
- Articles
JNNURM and environmental sustainability
Can entrepreneurship be a vehicle for social mobility in India? This column analyses data from micro, small and medium enterprises, and finds clear and persistent caste and gender disparities in virtu...
- Kavita Wankhade
- 23 September, 2013
- Articles
Electricity demand in urban Indian households: Influencing consumer behaviour
The huge and fast growing urban middle class of India uses a significant amount of electricity at their homes. This column argues that there is a need to focus on managing demand of electricity, and d...
- Anant Sudarshan
- 08 April, 2013
- Articles
Is India's manufacturing sector moving out of cities?
While urbanisation is moving ahead at a rapid pace in India, industrialisation has slowed down. What explains this disconnect between urbanisation and infrastructure? This column presents results of a...
- Ejaz Ghani Arti Grover Goswami William Kerr
- 15 February, 2013
- Articles
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Residential segregation in urban India and persistence of caste
B.R. Ambedkar had exhorted lower-caste people to move towards cities to defy localism and benefit from the virtues of cosmopolitanism that urbanisation might provide. Using 2011 enumeration block-leve...
- Naveen Bharathi Deepak Malghan Sumit Mishra Andaleeb Rahman
- 01 July, 2020
- Articles
Challenges of solid waste management: The case of Patna city
Rapid urbanisation with insufficient planning has led to problems of solid waste management in several Indian cities. In this note, Uma Sarmistha discusses preliminary findings from a field study in t...
- Uma Sarmistha
- 25 January, 2021
- Notes from the Field
Seasonal migration and health in India: Constraints for research and practice
Seasonal migrants in India engage in temporary informal work in work environments that actively flout labour laws on wages, work hours, and living conditions. The most significant impact of this is on...
- Divya Ravindranath Divya Varma
- 25 March, 2019
- Notes from the Field