Children at the Centre of Climate-Resilient Cities
Children are disproportionately affected by climate harms—they need to be at the center of local efforts to build resilience.
Category Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies
Rethinking Tiger Conservation: Why the State Must Take the Lead
TK Arun India promised tax certainty through grandfathering. The Supreme Court’s Tiger Global verdict undermines that. It’s the government that must restore credibility. It is a mystery why the government did not address, in the Budget, the damage done to India’s tax credibility…
Beyond the Summit: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Funding
TK Arun AI sovereignty is not about apps or agents. It rests on GPUs, high-bandwidth memory, chip fabrication, political will, and the capital to fund long-term risk. The Artificial Intelligence Impact summit is on in Delhi. There is natural interest…
India’s Next Frontier: Building New Cities Right
Fast-growing countries urbanise, and the share of urban population rises. Since India has not had a Census since 2011, the size of the current urban population is an estimate. The World Bank puts it at 37%, below the world average of 58% and China’s level of 66%. Towns are where the bulk of economic activity, particularly in the modern, evolving sectors, takes place. If India is to grow, so must its total urban space.
Opening the Hills: The Ecological Cost of Land Reform
The Himachal Pradesh government has again opened the debate on relaxing Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 — a provision that has, for five decades, protected the state's most sacred resource: its land. Under this Section, a non-agriculturist cannot buy land in Himachal without prior permission from the state government. This legislative instrument ensures that land is not reduced to a commodity but continues to embody livelihood, culture and ecological balance.Today, in the name of "encouraging investment, industry, tourism and housing", the state government is tempted to loosen this protective clause. But to tamper with Section 118 is to play with fire.
Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitat and Tangible Income (MISHTI) – A Gender Perspective of Mangrove Governance in India (2026)
Mangroves are one of the keystone species that cover 0.15% of the total geographical area of India as per the Indian State of Forest Report 2023 (ISFR 2023). They play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of the coastal ecosystem. They also act as natural barriers against storm surges, protect the coastline from erosion and help fight climate change by serving as carbon sinks thereby storing blue carbon.
What the Budget Holds for Urban India?
Tikender Singh Panwar The Union Budget 2026 has cut urban development allocations by 11.6%, lowering funding from ₹96,777 crore to ₹85,522 crore. This reduction raises concerns about the sustainability of essential services amid rising challenges such as mass migration, climate…