Throughout my almost five decades as a print medium journalist, I have always wanted to write a detailed investigative story on how and why India, which has a long heritage of fine design architecture, textiles, furniture, eye-pleasing gardens, pottery and spatial design aesthetics has transformed into a nation with ugly roads, bridges and public spaces. But this aspiration never materialised. Although occasionally one stumbles across fine, culturally connected buildings, exquisite textiles, carpets, evocative paintings, they are the exception rather than rule. The usual experience is of over-crowded cities with ill-designed buildings, chaotic traffic, misaligned and potholed roads.

The usual response to queries related to how the mighty have fallen is that the country’s population has tripled since independence and it’s impossible to smoothly manage it. But India is a sub-continental size nation (3.28 sq. km) and its population density per sq. km is almost on a par with several countries such as Holland and Japan. Yet these countries are models of civic and manufactures design, order and neatness. Therefore, one has to dig deeper to ascertain why the sub-continent whose fine textiles, jewelry and finely crafted wares provoked stampedes in European countries less than two centuries ago, is now a peripheral presence in global markets.

A chance encounter with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the erudite founding Vice Chancellor of the World University of Design, Sonipat (Haryana) which is receiving encomiums countrywide, provided an opportunity to pose this conundrum to him. The fruitful outcome of that encounter is this month’s never-before cover story, written mainly by him with some jazzed up inputs, mainly interviews — which I suspect aren’t entirely welcomed by his academic tradition and style, but he is too polite to say so — contributed by me. In particular, my grievances against socialism and central planning and sustained neglect of primary-secondary education, which I believe is the root of all evils that have laid this high-potential country low, have been smuggled into this deep-enquiry cover story. I hope it will provoke deep thinking about the imperative of making all infrastructure projects, manufactures, and public spaces not merely utilitarian, but beautiful. As the British poet John Keats wrote, “a thing of beauty is a joy forever”.

This unprecedented cover story apart, there’s more in this early monsoon issue. Check out the responses of top-ranked nominated Arts, Science and Commerce colleges and universities of the EducationWorld Grand Jury India Higher Education Rankings 2026-27 to learn how much low-profile, off-the beaten track higher ed institutions value recognition awarded to them. Also the inspiring Eyewitness Report from interior Andhra Pradesh and excellent Expert Comment columns.