Let footpaths lead us to faster economic growth

If good roads are signposts of prosperity, so are urban walkways. But India's pedestrian infrastructure suffers neglect that an economy in need of inclusive growth cannot afford

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In a Peak Bengaluru moment this month, a walking tour group organized a 15-day 'BLR Walkfest,' getting people to find out if the city is 'walkable.' True to the city's brand-it-and-we'll-do-it culture, about a hundred people signed up for every walk, which included talks on historic landmarks and lots of filter-coffee drinking, to see if they could do what millions of Indians do daily—use pavements to get around the city on foot.

Many Indians ride in cushy carriages all their lives without ever stepping on a footpath, but a vast majority, most of them poor, either walk to work or work on paved sidewalks. We are so short of pedestrian infrastructure that if jaywalking were illegal in India, as it is in some countries, it would legally be impossible to get from point A to point B on foot. This is not to say Indians don't walk: 2011 Census data shows that more than 45 million Indians get to work at distant locations on foot, compared to 5 million in cars and 24 million on two-wheelers.