Urban India

The growth of the manufacturing sector is important for employing a growing labour force and much is also dependent on their skill level. Enterprise surveys in six sample towns of Bihar, a state characterised by slow industrialisation and urbanisation, find evidence of fairly strong rural–urban linkages for manufacturing enterprises. Although the linkages indicate that the manufacturing sector has the maximum potential to create employment by absorbing the surplus labour in the rural areas, it was found that this sector has been languishing in the sample towns. The findings also flag the challenges and areas of growth for industries.

This paper presents a review of the available literature on integrated care for older persons in the urban context in India. Our methodology is a systematically conducted scoping review. Our findings present the epidemiological and demographic profiles of older persons in India, the health services available to them, and the policies and programmes that govern these services. Based on our review, we provide an understanding of the gaps in the available literature and offer some policy recommendations.

Urban fiscal policy in India remains poorly understood compared to many rapidly urbanising countries. Using underutilised data from the 2001 Census Town Directory and state legislative records, this study examines the level of fiscal transfers from states to urban centres across India to assess the factors which influence urban dependency. The study finds that urban centres depend on state grants for more than two-fifths of revenue, yet dependency levels vary greatly by the state. It presents the first national, empirical evidence of the determinants of city-level dependence on state government in India. The study also contributes to the very sparse literature on public finance for infrastructure in small- and medium-sized towns across developing countries.