Bringing Hope to the Cities

Policymakers, industrialists and public figures gathered for economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia’s book launch.

The eminent audience at the book launch included politicians, industrialists, economists, and cultural entrepreneurs.

Rising population has meant more migration from the villages to the cities. This has put pressure on resources, but there is still hope. That was the prevailing mood at the book launch of economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia’s Transforming Cities: Postcards of Change, held at the Taj Mahal hotel, on Monday evening as part of the Express Book Series, which started in 2006. Launching the book, Union Finance Minster P Chidambaram said, “We must find a way that good work done by individuals cannot be undone. Some of our cities are ungovernable but that doesn’t mean they can’t be governed. We must realise the magnitude of the problem first.”

(L-R) Farooq Abdullah with actor Sharmila Tagore and Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, Hindustan Times Group.

Suggestions about scaling up successful projects in cities and replicating them were also suggested. “How can we replicate, adapt and scale up projects? I have learnt that the biggest pool starts with a few drops and in my journey I have looked at cities in a bipartisan way,” said Ahluwalia. The 280-page book (Harper Collins, Rs 590) has columns by her written for the Express, which includes case studies from across the country on improved infrastructure.

Najeeb Jung, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi with Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister.

Among the guests for the evening were actor Sharmila Tagore; industrialists such as Sunil Kant Munjal, Joint Managing Director, Hero MotoCorp; and Rajiv Luthra, Founder and Managing Partner, Luthra and Luthra Law Offices; politicians such as Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister; Union Minister Farooq Abdullah; and Congress MP Naveen Jindal; and economists C Rangarajan, Chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council; and NK Singh, former finance secretary, among others.

Fashion designer Ritu Kumar with Bim Bissell of Fabindia.

The launch was also followed by a panel discussion on the subject, “State of our Cities”,comprising Sanjaya Baru of the International Institute for Strategic Studies; Scindia; Arun Jaitley, leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha; and Sunil Jain, Managing Editor, Financial Express. The discussion, moderated by Barkha Dutt, Group Editor, NDTV explored the future of Indian cities.

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