Isher Judge Ahluwalia delivered a special lecture on ‘Urban governance in India’ on 12 April 2017 at CSDS. The lecture was chaired by Awadhendra Sharan.

The pace and growth of urbanization in India poses enormous challenges to urban governance. The lecture will examine the institutional features and devolution mechanisms within which cities have to deliver better quality of life for their residents and generate an investment climate capable of sustaining the rapid growth. The lack of empowerment of cities is constraining their ability to translate the urban development agenda into action and institutional reforms are crucial for reaching out to the private sector for sharing the financing burden and ensuring that it results in improved service delivery.

Isher Judge Ahluwalia is an eminent Indian economist and Chairperson of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi. Her research focuses on policy oriented challenges facing the Indian economy in the areas of urbanisation, sustainable public service delivery, macroeconomic issues, industrial growth and productivity.

Her publications include Transforming Our Cities: Postcards of Change (2014), and a co-edited volume Urbanisation in India: Challenges, Opportunities and the Way Forward (2014). She was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2009 for her services in the field of education and literature.

Awadhendra Sharan is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.

Wednesday, 12 April 2017
5.30 pm, CSDS Seminar Room