Last month marked 20 years since the launch of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Prodded by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, post-liberalisation India, too, initiated a series of urban upgradation policies. From 1990 when it comprised 25 per cent of India’s population, the urban population has risen to a third and is expected to rise to 40 per cent by the end of the decade. AdvertisementThese are just a few of the many significant questions thrown up by the urban shift that need attention. But it is not only its substantial size that gives the urban population an increasing influence in the national scenario.