Nepal, Aug. 31 -- Paul Collier, one of the most famous development economists of our times and author of several bestselling books including The Bottom Billions (2007) and The Future of Capitalism (2017), equated British cities of the 1840s with killing fields. The industrial revolution (1780-1830) had triggered rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. The British rural population rushed to emerging megacities that had become new manufacturing hubs. A combination of inadequate urban infrastructure for the added population, pollution from coal-burning factories, cramped accommodations, poor quality of water supply, malnutrition and lack of proper personal hygiene etc. resulted in frequent outburst of cholera, often in epidemic scales, and...