Delhi polls: Whoever wins, the city matters and needs to be fixed

Whoever wins, know this. Delhi matters for three reasons. It remains one of two cities that is a magnet for migrants from across the country (the other being Mumbai) and hence demonstrates how our cities make success of new citizens. While it is a historic capital, given the central government is seated here, it also represents the future face of India whispering who we want to be as a people. Finally, it is a great place to experiment with how we will urbanise as a nation (hopefully as it is a city-state, the experiment should be easier here). Given over half of our urbanisation journey is ahead of us, what we do in Delhi can show the way for other Indian cities.

So what should the new government do in its first month in office ?

1.) Fix safety. Delhi has to be made safe for all by, one, right policing including community policing; two, a strong behaviour/mindset effort targeted at the society on what it means to be Indian/who is an Indian.

2.) Create jobs. Craft an economic policy to make the Delhi economy vibrant, even as it leverages the NCR area. What kind of investment does Delhi want? And what will it do to attract these investors?

3.) Renew the city. This historic city needs an urban renewal program that will improve quality of life of all its citizens and drive infrastructure investment. So a thoughtful renewal of different parts of the city: the old city, the CP area, the university area, the suburbs. Not plot by plot but area by area. As we do this, we create the future version of Delhi, create multiple economic centres and fix issues with citizen-access to power, water, transport and affordable housing.

4.) Improve social infrastructure. Innovate with charter schools to improve access to education. Similar fix for healthcare. There is too little supply for a fast growing city.

5.) Fix city governance. Redraw how the development authorities work: rationalise powers and jurisdiction. Ensure capacities in critical areas.

Finally, what needs to be done for Delhi is different from what was needed in the past. Define minister mandates to reflect what the government has to do to make the city work. For example, have a minister for Delhi growth, a minister for city renewal and not fall into the traditional job description.

In the future, the path to leading India could be through her cities. China, Indonesia, and Korea are examples of this. As political parties in India realise that citizens demand accountability and measure it by seeing what has improved in their life, local governance will matter more. The leader of Delhi could demonstrate this in the coming years.