Making freebie promises is an insult to voters

FEROZE VARUN GANDHI'S first book, A Rural Manifesto: Realizing India's Future Through Her Villages came out in 2018 when farmers were protesting the agrarian crisis.

- PRATUL SHARMA

The well-researched book, packed with facts and anecdotes, stood out at a time when the issue was essentially discussed as a political one. Presciently, when the pandemic hit, along with the farmers' agitation, a national conversation was started about rural India. Five years later, Gandhi is back with another treatise, this time on urban India.

The Indian Metropolis: Deconstructing India's Spaces follows the earlier format of academic rigour, coupled with anecdotes and facts, to talk about our decrepit cities, flawed policies, dejected citizenry and apathetic officials. "For India to shine, transformation of its cities is necessary,”writes Gandhi. Through nine chapters, he discusses issues like urbanisation, water availability, crime, health care, transportation, affordable housing, employment, financing and planning. With its brilliant insights, easy and intelligent writing, the book is relevant not only to law and policy makers and urban planners, but also to ordinary readers.

Gandhi, a three-time MP, has made policy and governance his forte, speaking out on issues he believes in—a rarity for a politician. He now plans to scale his initiatives for marginal farmers across geographies and strata, with a focus on solving problems for the rural and urban poor. Excerpts from an interview:

Q/India’s cities are bereft of parks and face significant pollution of air and water. How can we make our cities liveable?