Coinciding with the centenary year of what is now known as New Delhi, this collection of documents illuminates the infant capital’s evolution between the years of 1911 and 1914. It includes letters, reports, and memoranda that describe the initial hurdles encountered – administrative, financial, legal, military, and interest group-based – in establishing a new capital city. By bringing together official government correspondence, this volume captures some of the debates and discussions surrounding imperial Delhi (as the new city was popularly known during its construction), revealing the highly bureaucratic and oftentimes fractious nature of the process. Presenting primary material from the first few years of the capital’s existence, this volume will complement the existing literature and demonstrate how several features of the built city – such as its political symbolism and its relationship with the old city – were of concern to government officials right from the project’s inception. This book will be of considerable interest to scholars and students of modern Indian history as well as the general reader.
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