India is experiencing rapid urbanization, with over 35% of its population now residing in cities—a figure projected to reach 40% by 2035. While urban growth drives economic development, it has also intensified ecological stress, reducing green cover and increasing vulnerabilities to climate change.
The story of urbanisation in the Global South – and particularly in India – is not one of industrial expansion or prosperity. It is a story of pauperisation. Cities today are swelling not because factories are hiring, but because the countryside is expelling. This new urbanisation is driven by desperation rather than development – by the push of agrarian collapse, not the pull of industrial promise.
It was excellent journalism on the part of Pranshu Verma and Ravi Nair to do the Washington Post story on the government having persuaded LIC to invest in Adani at a time when global investors were hesitant in the wake of an American case against Adani for having bribed officials in India and for having raised funds from American investors on false pretences. Kudos to the two, and to WaPo for publishing the story that Indian publications would have been reluctant to.
From the exploitative moneylender of iconic movies like Mother India to the factory owner who employs goons to beat up workers who dare to stand up against exploitation, the protagonist of business has tended to be portrayed, in the public discourse, as being deficient in ethics. Of late, a subspecies of the immoral tycoon has grownlarger than life: the crony capitalist.
The most momentous event of the last week has been the Gaza ceasefire. It has brought respite for Palestinians from genocidal slaughter and famine, and brought 20 hostages back home to Israel. The peace deal is still fragile, and could unravel.
Despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR Act, 2013) legally banning the dehumanizing practice of manual scavenging in India, the crisis persists. Deadly accidents during sewer and septic tank cleaning tragically demonstrate the failure of implementation, showing that this decades-old scourge remains a fatal reality.
Taking this matter into consideration, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) in convergence with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme in July 2023. The scheme is to be implemented with an outlay of Rs. 349.70 crore, over the three-year period up to 2025-26, in all 4800+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the country.
The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, was introduced by the Government of India to strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India, in order to provide food and nutritional security by ensuring access to food of sufficient quantity and quality to all beneficiaries. Before this Act, all households of India with a valid ration card received a fixed amount of commodities at a subsidised rate under the Targeted Public Distribution System.