Why do India's urban poor not make concerted efforts to demand public goods? Given the widespread deficits in public services, one would expect low-income groups to make claims on the state to improve them. However, collective action for public goods is at best short-lived and sporadic. Based on prior research, but also drawing from field studies in two low-income communities in the city-state of Delhi, this paper identifies the main reasons for the lack of effective demand for public goods.
