India will press on with capital city redevelopment

Significance

Modi earlier this month laid the foundation stone for a new parliament complex in the precinct. The Supreme Court has ordered the government not to undertake further construction work until it hears petitions challenging the project’s legality.

Impacts

• Modi’s government will proclaim the new Central Vista as a symbol of a new India, pushing back on critics who call it a vanity project.
• The project will provide a boost to the construction sector.
• Construction dust associated with the redevelopment scheme will worsen air pollution in the capital.