With greater administrative accountability, the rule of law can be enforced in Delhi without crass considerations of cash or kind. For the last few weeks, Delhi has been shaken up by demolitions. Half the city thumps the table gleefully as each rumbling bulldozer thrusts its rhinoceros head into one more illegal building. The bigger the building the better. It is a vindication for all those who thought it worthwhile to stay on the right side of the law. The other half of the city rants and raves, "The extra construction is merely a response to a felt need because the laws are so unreasonable... This is a sign of democracy at work."

Leaving the seven cities of Shahajanabad far behind, Delhi now houses six more cities enmeshed in their independent lives but shrouded in mutual mistrust. At the top of the heap are some 1,000 regular colonies (including 567 colonies which were brought under the legal fold in 1962 and again in 1977). That was the beginning of the process of legitimating unauthorised colonies. Since then, 1,071 more unauthorised colonies have been ...

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