In recent months, the BJP-dominated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Congress-led Delhi government have been outdoing each other in floating proposals and schemes for better governance. The MCD is in the throes of implementing a new Residents' Welfare Committee (RWC) scheme.

The environmental problems confronting Indian cities today have arisen because millions of people have been forced to live in illegal settlements that lack adequate sanitation and other basic urban services. This is the result of two factors. The first is the legacy of the colonial city characterized by inequitable access to sanitation services, a failure to manage urban growth and the proliferation of slums, and the inadequate funding of urban governments.

While the discussion on social democracy in western countries often puts the emphasis on its high costs and issues of incentives for work and enterprise, in India high inequality, massive poverty and a vast informal sector make the challenge of implementing social democracy extremely daunting as much as it is highly imperative.

The author explores the nuances of inclusive growth and the technological infrastructure that is required for modernising India. The areas covered include, amongst others, IT, agriculture, transport, education, services and energy.

Why is India so eager to reactivate and conclude a dormant Doha Round that has little to offer the country? (Editorial)

Although financial inclusion

It is not the sterilisation operations of the Reserve Bank of India, but policy changes agreed to by the Government of India and the central bank in the early 1990s which have led to a smaller fl ow of funds to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.