jnnurm is a recent new scheme for urban india which is controversial also. urban india, which is chaotic and energy intensive apart from being insensitive to urban environment with zero awareness of rural areas, is a huge emerging area for india's policy makers in which they want 'development' to be more streamlined.

with upto 50% of india's population to live in urban india by 2020 or so, it is of utmost importance to make sure urban india is well planned, well zoned along with being intensive recycling, waste reducing, low energy intensive in all of its spectrum.

but this blog posting is not to bash jnnurm, but to show how poorly this issue might have been addressed in indian media.

indian express had an article on this scheme and stunningly they had a very misleading picture which was showing multi level flyovers zigzagging across water bodies and greenery and cars crisscrossing nicely.

this is hardly the urban india that india should pursue. good viable public transportation system, low energy transport, proper zoning so that travels (especially office commutes) can be reduced, etc should be the goals and the picture in the article should not be the one that a reputed(??) media newspaper should display.

well, if it is the key word 'development', anything sells.

(indian express article on jnnurm. totally misleading picture to paint an utopian urban dream for india??)