In this report, ESCAP explores the future of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the dynamic shifts in the region’s urban landscape. It highlights the region’s demographic transformations, including population ageing, and the persistent challenges of urban poverty and inequality. The analysis covers urban areas of all sizes, …
Over a month after an expert appraisal committee recommended the Peddar Road flyover for coastal zone regulation (CRZ) clearance, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is still awaiting an official clearance letter from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). This means that it will take at least another …
Days after separatist leaders raised protests against a reported plan to construct a metalled road through north Kashmir forests for pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine, the Supreme Court on Thursday made it clear that it had never directed authorities for constructing a metalled road along the ‘yatra’ track. “Neither …
The state Cabinet today approved a policy for allotment of government land to private parties for urbanisation and industrial use. To ensure transparency, land allotment cases will come under the purview of the Right to Information . The committee of secretaries headed by the chief secretary, Mr Sanjay Mitra, had …
Resilient/Adaptive Agriculture in Flood Affected Areas and Urban Climate Change Resilience by Dr. Shiraz Wajih, GEAG at CSE Climate change adaptation workshop: Towards Climate Resilient Communities in South Asia: Emerging Policies and Practices (New Delhi, December 13 - 14, 2012).
Amendments to the contentious land acquisition Bill not only seek to hasten the acquisition process through tight time-schedules but also contain a provision that virtually allows the law to be applied retrospectively to cases that witnessed protests in the past. The union cabinet is due to discuss the amendments to …
Observing that the heavy traffic brought in by the sea link is causing air and noise pollution at Worli Seaface, the National Green Tribunal, in its order released on Wednesday, asked the Delhi-based Central Road Research Institute to conduct studies and recommend a traffic plan or solution to help bring …
The Pedder Road flyover has got environmental clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), thus crossing perhaps the final hurdle on its way. Keeping in view residents' opposition to the project—proposed 15 years ago— on the grounds that it will increase air and noise pollution, the MoEF …
Forest biodiversity in the Eastern Ghats is undergoing a tremendous change. Experts at the department of environmental sciences, Andhra University, believe that the hilly slopes in the district are changing for the worse. The department of environmental sciences estimates that over 80,000 acres of forest land has been permanently destroyed …
In what is an indication of the lack of big projects being initiated in the city, the three-year tenure of the two regulatory bodies that were constituted to check environmental degradation have ended without the bodies according approval to any project. However, the whole blame does not lie with the …
The State Government is planning to formulate an Infrastructure Act to speed up land acquisition for construction of roads and other development projects. Addressing a press conference at the infrastructure conference, V.K.Ebrahim Kunju, the Minister for Public Works, pointed out that most of the projects at present are held up …
With development of road infrastructure taking a backseat in North Eastern States due to various reasons, the Centre has formulated a special purpose vehicle for improvement and construction of over 10,000 km of roads. Through the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE), the Ministry Road Transport and …
In a bid to tackle urban housing shortage and to achieve the targets of providing housing to people under the National Building Code (NBC), the urban development ministry will hold a meeting with developers, financial institutions, law firms and suppliers to discuss the way forward. Also on agenda will be …
The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Consolidation of Holdings and Prevention of Fragmentation of Land (Amendment) Bill, 2012, with members of both Treasury and Opposition benches making a strong plea to the Government to ensure that agricultural land is not used for non-agricultural purposes. “The amendment of the Odisha …
India has recorded over 37,000 dengue cases, including 227 dengue deaths in 2012, the highest number in a year so far, parliament was told Tuesday. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Health Abu Haseem Khan Choudhary said the percentage increase in number of cases …
The CAG has pointed out gaping loopholes in the implementation of the JNNURM, the Centre’s flagship urban infrastructure development scheme, ranging from diversion of funds to the tune of Rs115 crore to ineligible beneficiaries getting benefits, inadequate monitoring capacity and undue favours to contractors among several others. The Comptroller and …
What kinds of subjects-in-the-making are the urban poor? The authors in this issue of the Review of Urban Affairs offer neither conclusive arguments nor radically new paradigms. They, however, nudge us to rethink poverty, not as an objective condition that can be addressed through policymaking at a distance or by …
Having grown considerably in the past two decades, Indian cities have become highly unequal spaces - economically, spatially, socially and culturally. Both quantitative approaches and qualitative methods have been used to study and measure the rising levels of inequality and the extent of poverty of the cities. While both have …
How do mass slum resettlement programmes in expanding megacities contribute to the reproduction of urban poverty? Chennai's premier resettlement colony, Kannagi Nagar, housing slum-dwellers evicted from the city since 2000 has integrated itself into the industrial, commercial and software economies of the information technology corridor on unfavourable terms, swelling the …
By 2030, according to the projections of the United Nations (UN) Population Division, each of the major regions of the developing world will hold more urban than rural dwellers; by 2050 fully two-thirds of their inhabitants are likely to live in urban areas. By 2050, India is likely to be …
Growing Indian cities have the potential to support their peri-urban futures by providing irrigation water for food production. Over 9 million ha of land could be irrigated if the city waters are rendered safe for use. While the practice of peri-urban agriculture using city water is not a new phenomenon …
