Blogs

From Bangalore to Bengaluru

In 1970, Bangalore had 1.6m people. Within the decade, the emergence and expansion of public sector institutions such as the Indian Space Research Organisation, Bharat Electrical Limited, and Hindustan Machine Tools caused a sudden growth spurt, followed quickly by more growth owing to the textile and information technology industries gaining a foothold in the city. By the 1980s, the population was growing at the rate of 45...

India’s power sector has ambitious targets. The Indian government has pledged to develop a renewable energy (RE) capacity of 175GW from the existing 57GW in the next five years, and promised electricity for all homes in the next two years, powering more than 300 million people. The realisation of these targets hinges heavily on a holistic electricity planning process.

At...

On Sunday, June 25th, Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, launched India’s first fully automated bicycle sharing system as part of its second anniversary of the much-talked-about Smart Cities program. This development comes just three weeks after Mysore launched the country’s first city level bicycle sharing project.

The Bhopal bicycle sharing system...

Karnataka is facing a water crisis. The adverse effects of climate variations experienced through fluctuations in temperature and precipitation have a significant bearing on the growth of the state economy. Farmers, in many parts of the state have faced loss of crops due to drought-like conditions owing to scarce rainfall and severe depletion of ground water.

Devendrappa, a farmer from Doddaballapur, a taluk in the Bangalore metropolitan area, says that people are now more aware of the impacts of climate change and what causes them than they were 20 years ago, when he took over...

Last year, WRI India launched India Vision Zero, a road safety forum to deliberate on the challenges, opportunities, and solutions towards reducing road traffic fatalities in India. The event brought together representatives from the national and state governments, as well as city authorities and other stakeholders to share ideas and strategies for road safety reform in the country. India currently tops the list with the highest number of road traffic deaths in the world. By contextualising...

Population growth and an increasing vulnerability to climate change means that India faces an uphill task in effectively and efficiently tackling its water problems. World Resources Institute (WRI) research has shown that almost 54 percent of India faces high to extremely high water stress, and resulting in heightened agrarian distress in the country.

India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, NABARD, launched a Water Campaign on 22nd March...

The real estate sector is one of the largest contributors to India’s GDP and touted to grow by 30 percent over the next decade. However, it is also considered the “most ambiguous sector to transact under”, with insufficient regulations leading to numerous cases of consumer-developer conflicts and project delays...

Over 300 people attended the launch of Haryana Vision Zero in Gurgaon organised by the Government of Haryana in partnership with WRI India and NASSCOM. Participants included senior government officials from various departments like the police, transport, municipal corporation; and others from the private sector, civil society, and academia.

Haryana Vision Zero is a campaign aimed at reducing road traffic deaths in the state and was launched by Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, Transport Minister...

On 6th April 2017, WRI India Sustainable Cities in partnership with Startup India program of the Government of India convened the New Mobility Dialogues held in New Delhi, as part of Connect Karo 2017. The New Mobility Dialogues brought together existing and aspiring startups, seasoned entrepreneurs, mobility experts and other stakeholders to learn about new initiatives, tools and collaborations in the new mobility ecosystem.

The sessions included discussions on using commuting data for better decision making in cities, and collaborations between various stakeholders for furthering...

Revenue generated from taxation allows governments to invest in infrastructure and resources that allow for the delivery of essential services. Broadly speaking, these investments are expected to work towards improving the quality of life for the country’s citizens.

India’s fiscal policy for public buses – the mainstay of public transport in the country – however appears to contradict this objective. A previous blog post on this topic has highlighted the contribution of...