Alumni&Development

Bangalore city saw unprecedented growth in the 1980s and 90s, in size, population and global importance. This derived chiefly from its positioning as a centre for Information Technology and associated industries. Even as the world watched this amazing growth in wonder, Bangalore’s own response was typically dichotomous. On the one hand, there was a throwback to a mythicized past, a longing for the pensioner’s paradise and garden city of old; there was also an aspiration for a neoteric future, a Singapore in Bangalore.

This paper studies the phenomenon of Bangalore’s growth through a kaleidoscopic lens. It asks the question: How has this growth affected and manifested in Bangalore’s Economy, Society, Politics, Planning and Spatial characteristics? It points that the corporate-led development imperative has resulted in, and is partly sustained by, a concomitant growth of a working class, and assorted migrant and poor groups. So Bangalore’s divided response to growth is in fact the inability of this erstwhile middle class city to accept the plebeian democracy that threatens notions of restraint and order. The paper positions itself in the literary terrain of studies on Bangalore, deriving from three streams of literature: Bangalore-specific studies; scholarship on Bangalore as a typical Indian city; and Bangalore in a global context. The paper draws also upon interviews, policy documents, contemporary journalistic literature and pictures.

The consequence of growth is a fragmented and polarized society, partly a legacy of a divided history. In the economic sphere, the corporate neo-liberal ideology stands in contrast to small local economies of trade and textiles that are still major employers; socially, there is a nouveau elite who prefer to invisibilize the migrant and poor; politics and policy become handmaidens to either group, both of whom influence policy through very different political alliances and processes.

The paper leaves us with an open question: What is Bangalore’s way forward? It solicits your opinion regarding the city’s future agenda.
This is a work in progress, part of my research work on public private partnerships in India.  I have tried to bring together theory and practice, drawing upon both scholarship and my personal experience as a public servant in the region for 26 years.

Bangalore city saw unprecedented growth in the 1980s and 90s, in size, population and global importance. This derived chiefly from its positioning as a centre for Information Technology and associated industries. Even as the world watched this amazing growth in wonder, Bangalore’s own response was typically dichotomous. On the one hand, there was a throwback to a mythicized past, a longing for the pensioner’s paradise and garden city of old; there was also an aspiration for a neoteric future, a Singapore in Bangalore.

This paper studies the phenomenon of Bangalore’s growth through a kaleidoscopic lens. It asks the question: How has this growth affected and manifested in Bangalore’s Economy, Society, Politics, Planning and Spatial characteristics? It points that the corporate-led development imperative has resulted in, and is partly sustained by, a concomitant growth of a working class, and assorted migrant and poor groups. So Bangalore’s divided response to growth is in fact the inability of this erstwhile middle class city to accept the plebeian democracy that threatens notions of restraint and order. The paper positions itself in the literary terrain of studies on Bangalore, deriving from three streams of literature: Bangalore-specific studies; scholarship on Bangalore as a typical Indian city; and Bangalore in a global context. The paper draws also upon interviews, policy documents, contemporary journalistic literature and pictures.

The consequence of growth is a fragmented and polarized society, partly a legacy of a divided history. In the economic sphere, the corporate neo-liberal ideology stands in contrast to small local economies of trade and textiles that are still major employers; socially, there is a nouveau elite who prefer to invisibilize the migrant and poor; politics and policy become handmaidens to either group, both of whom influence policy through very different political alliances and processes.

The paper leaves us with an open question: What is Bangalore’s way forward? It solicits your opinion regarding the city’s future agenda.
This is a work in progress, part of my research work on public private partnerships in India.  I have tried to bring together theory and practice, drawing upon both scholarship and my personal experience as a public servant in the region for 26 years.

This presentation was made in the International Public Policy Conference in IIM Bangalore in August 2013. It traces the complex and meandering process of land acquisition and the micro managerial processes of decision making for the Bangalore international Airport.  The qualitative case study analysis on infrastructure PPP mega projects throws up surprising findings that challenge popular perceptions about this slice of contemporary history; as well as theoretical perceptions in scholarship about the way governments work.

My first published book traces the evolution and consequences of Bangalore's growth. Bangalore city saw unprecedented growth in the 1980s & 90s, deriving from its positioning as a hub for IT & associated industries. Even as the world watched its amazing growth in wonder, Bangalore's own response was typically dichotomous. There was a throwback to a mythicized past, a longing for the pensioner’s paradise & garden city of old; there was also
an aspiration for a neoteric modern future. This book studies Bangalore’s growth through a kaleidoscopic lens. It asks the question:How has growth affected & manifested in Bangalore’s Economy,Society,Politics,Planning & Spatial characteristics? It points that a corporate led development imperative has resulted in,& is sustained by,a concomitant growth of a working class & assorted migrant poor groups. The consequence is a fragmented polarized society. Corporate neoliberalism stands in contrast to
small local economies; socially there is a nouveau elite who prefer to invisibilize the poor; politics & policy become handmaidens to groups that influence them through very different processes. The book brings together theory & practice, drawing upon both scholarship & the author's professional experience in the region."

This paper is a study of Public Private Partnerships as a product of intelligent design and strategy elements. It constructs an integrative theoretical framework for infrastructure PPPs based on a comprehensive literature review. The Public Private Partnership is a public policy entity, sired by economics and nurtured by specific instruments of finance. Therefore any attempt to identify the organizational design elements necessitates an integrative cross-disciplinary perspective. 
The paper begins with an apparently simple question in Part I: What is a Public Private Partnership? But it moves beyond definitions to distinguish today’s PPPs from public-private interaction over history, and from outsourcing, contracting-out and privatization.  A view of PPPs as a language game links it to New Public Management on the one hand, and also establishes our approach to PPPs as an organizational entity with defining characteristics on the other. Part II strengthens the theoretical framework connecting PPPs to NPM and Economics. It traces the changing view of organizations in Public Policy literature, from hierarchies to networks. This is paralleled by changes in economic thinking regarding the provisioning of public goods. Strategic Alliances, Resource Complementarity and the theory of Hybrid Organizations from Transactional Economics offer further rationale for PPPs. Part III continues the theme, dealing with the Risks associated with the ‘marriage of convenience’ between the private and public sectors.  The possibility of Cheating and Opportunism are seen in the light of Transactional Cost Theory, Agency theory and Strategic Alliances. Part IV looks at organizational design elements which mitigate risk through cooperation and collaboration. We first look at Governance mechanisms, including PPP structure and financial instruments of risk management. Part V and VI are a discussion of organizational Trust and the strategies flowing from it. Here we see PPP as a partnership and process, and examine various strategies to bring about trust between public and private players. Part VII shifts from analysing the bilateral interactivity between the public and private partners, and places the PPP in the wider landscape of its engagement with the citizenry and community through a study of Accountability and Public Interest issues. Part VIII studies the potential advantages & disadvantages of PPPs and where their use is appropriate. Part IX looks at the Indian scenario, with policy recommendations to foster successful partnerships.
The paper provides a useful theoretic framework to study PPPs. A modest contribution is its integrative view, combining the thinking in economics, public policy, organizational studies and finance to study PPPs. Secondly, it focuses attention not on the firm, but the Partnership, viewing it not as an entity, like a company, but a process. In doing so, it takes PPPs from the hard core of Economics and Finance, to the fuzzy pragmatism of Organizational Studies and Trust. Public Policy practitioners must integrate organizational thinking into the design and management of PPPs if the incubator PPP experiment is to succeed. Academic literature and practitioner experience of PPPs in India is limited today. Through a cross-disciplinary approach, this paper attempts to identify research gaps for further exploration, which is the substance of my concluding section.

This is a paper prepared by me for the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore-CRERI Real Estate Research Initiative. The paper is intended as a overview of the affordable housing sector with special emphasis on India. Affordable Housing is fast taking centrestage in the national agenda. In India, affordable housing is a term largely used in the urban context.Affordable housing refers to any housing that meets some form of affordability criterion, which could be income level of the family, size of the dwelling unit or affordability in terms of EMI size or ratio of house price to annual income.
The demand drivers for affordable housing are several.Alongside the growth of the urban population, rising incomes have led to the expansion of the middle class. This has led to a spike in demand for housing that is affordable but includes basic amenities. The agencies working in the affordable housing sector can be classified into . the public sector and the private sector. Both are dogged by issues such as scarcity of land,scarcity of marketable land parcels,titling Issues, rising costs and regulatory concerns. The way forward calls for a collaborative multi-pronged multi-stakehoder approach.

SEZs. Chinese model of economic enclaves. Governed by SEZ act of 2005. Land acquisition by State significant feature. Nandigram incident has thrown certain issues into relief. Elements of Public Law in SEZ controversy- Constitutional and Judicial interpretation thereof: Right to Property, Doctrine of Eminent Domain, Concept of Public Purpose, Judicial Review, Competing Interest. Role of judiciary in resolution.