Objective of the series of essays on Indian History and Culture is to select contributions which could interest, educate and inspire our readers. Attempt has been made to make available to our readers best literature written by renowned scholars, through the ages, to enable our students, teachers, policymakers and our general readers to analyse the themes, they are interested in, in proper historical perspectives. This will enable them to think, write and dream of a developed India of twenty first century. How far the study of our history, religion, culture, economy, philosophy, music, science, law, education, technology, trade, art, architecture etc. can provide to us inputs for a bright brilliant and vibrant India, is one of the major concern of these volumes.

Based on primary data collected through a nationwide survey, the report aims to resolve some of the contradictions that have stymied the expansion of infrastructure in rural India with the aim of encouraging balanced regional growth of rural infrastructure. It proposes - Forming public-private partnerships - Greater decentralisation of regulation and ownership - Greater reliance on user fees to recover costs - Greater use of microfinance This is a definitive report on the state of rural infrastructure in the four major sectors of power, telecommunications, roads and transport, and water and sanitation. Given that the solutions to rural infrastructure problems are necessarily going to be unique in rural areas, where people are already underserved, this study focusing on rural infrastructure is valuable in that it advocates for new financing methods; attracting new players to provide services; adopting new policies to support privatisation and decentralisation of infrastructure services. In sum, it outlines a financially sustainable and inventive new approach.

This Book Would Be Extremely Valuable As Guideline To Planners, Geographers, Economists, Academicians, Researchers And Others Who Are Keen To Appraise Themselves Of The Tremendous Development In The India Transport Sector.

This book surveys the intersections between water systems and the phenomenology of visual cultures in early modern, colonial and contemporary South Asia. Bringing together contributions by eminent artists, architects, curators and scholars who explore the connections between the environmental and the cultural, the volume situates water in an expansive relational domain. It covers disciplines as diverse as literary studies, environmental humanities, sustainable design, urban planning and media studies. The chapters explore the ways in which material cultures of water generate technological and aesthetic acts of envisioning geographies, and make an intervention within political, social and cultural discourses. A critical interjection in the sociologies of water in the subcontinent, the book brings art history into conversation with current debates on climate change by examining water’s artistic, architectural, engineering, religious, scientific and environmental facets from the 16th century to the present. This is one of the first books on South Asia’s art, architecture and visual history to interweave the ecological with the aesthetic under the emerging field of eco art history. The volume will be of interest to scholars and general readers of art history, Islamic studies, South Asian studies, urban studies, architecture, geography, history and environmental studies. It will also appeal to activists, curators, art critics and those interested in water management.