Articles by Meghna Bandelwar

India is undergoing rapid urbanisation, the pace of which poses significant challenges to urban governance. India’s urban population has expanded from 26 percent of the total population in 1991, to 31 percent (or 400 million people) in 2011. It is estimated that by 2030, more than 40 percent of the Indian population will be living in cities. The question is: Are local urban governance structures in India equipped to respond to the needs of their citizens and tackle future problems? Why is local government important? Local governments are the closest to understanding the problems and requirements of their citizens, and are therefore best equipped to make…

Co-authored by Milind Mhaske and Meghna Bandelwar India has witnessed, dealt with and survived an outbreak of several epidemics such as swine flu, small pox, plague, dengue, hepatitis amongst many others, the most recent being the Nipah virus outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, seems to have created an unprecedented global emergency and the entire world is grappling with the challenge of curbing its spread and providing medical care to the huge numbers of people infected. India has taken measures at the Central and state level to prevent and curtail the spread of the pandemic. The city governments too are trying…