The Pandemic and Reimagining the Urban

The Covid-19 pandemic is the most severe disruption experienced worldwide since structural adjustment and liberalisation of economies in the 1990s. Indian cities have been unsettled to an extent that happened never before since independence. Reverse migration of millions of urban poor from cities to villages is a testimony to the scale and intensity of the pandemic’s adverse consequences in the icons of prosperity – our shining mega cities. So, what is fundamentally wrong with Indian cities? Why are the engines of economic growth coming to a standstill and jobs and services being severely affected? The outbreak has laid bare the life and livelihood uncertainties made visible through the return migration of millions of informal sector workers to the villages as a result of an unplanned lockdown imposed by the centre.