Nagpur finds mention in New York Times

NAGPUR, India — A year ago, this relatively small, forgettable city in the heart of India did not have an air-conditioned cinema. In the sweltering heat of summer, the rich would fly one hour to Mumbai, India’s financial hub, to see a movie and stock up on Levi’s jeans, Domino’s Pizza and other big-city treats that they could not find at home.

A renovated airport will become the cargo hub of India, with a terminal that will be 100 times larger than the existing one and will handle at least 100 jets at a time instead of the current five.

No one knows if India has the stamina to make Nagpur a truly international hub, and then transform scores of other cities. But many experts say that the plan to remake smaller cities could be a key to India’s continued economic growth.

“Much of India’s future will undeniably be made in the second-tier cities,” said Ashutosh Varshney, a specialist on Indian political economy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The existing metropolises “will reach saturation points before long, or have already reached such points.”

Taken from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/world/asia/13nagpur.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin