Published as -
“Cities in Transition: Emerging Trends in Urban Development in India – An Overview” – Book Chapter in Latest Developments in the Field of Housing and Planning, 12th Edition December 2006, International Federation of Housing & Planning, The Hague, Netherlands
1.0 Introduction
With over 270 million people living in cities, India has the second highest urban population in the world. By 2010, urban population will be nearly 481 million - that is about 40 per cent of the total population and by 2020 over half of the people will be living in towns and cities.
According to a United Nations study, by the year 2015, ten of the world's fifteen largest cities will be in Asia, three of these will be in India. In 1950, this list had only three cities from Asia, and only one from India (UN HABITAT 2001) There are 35 cities with million plus population.
There are several complex and paradoxical features associated with the emerging urban development pattern of India, due to simultaneous coexistence of contrasting forces like globalisation and high economic growth along with centuries old tradition, extreme poverty and the compulsions of democratic politics.
The liberalisation of economy started in 1991. Since then, the economy had been on an upswing, mainly due to growth in service sector – Information Technology, biotechnology, tourism and specialized high end manufacturing. The contribution of urban centres to GDP increased steadily from 29 percent in 1951 to 47 percent in 1991 to 62 percent in 2006.
But the growth is not evenly distributed. Despite growth in agricultural productivity, employment generation in the farm sector had reached saturation. Rural economy as a whole, continue to languish in poverty and under employment - particularly amongst the poor and landless labourers- who then seek to migrate to the cities in search of economic opportunities.
However, contrary to what demographers would expect, and what happened in other developing countries, India’s rate of urbanisation has actually slowed while its economic growth curve accelerated.
The pace of urbanisation has also been slower in India as compared to other countries in the world. As per the UN estimates the degree of urbanisation in the world in 1950 was around 30 percent which increased to 47 percent in the year 2000. In India, it increased from 17.3 in 1951 to 27.8 in 2001. China and Indonesia which had lower levels of urbanisation in 1950, have now overtaken India with percentage of urban population being 32.1 and 40.9 respectively.
The living conditions of migrants are poor and include overcrowded and unhygienic housing, in squatter settlements along railway tracks, river banks, under flyovers and near areas of economic opportunities. In cities like Mumbai or Calcutta, slum population constitute almost 40% of the urban population (Imura et all 2005)
Delhi (Municipal Corp. Area)
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Source: Census of India 2001
Figure – 1: Proportion of Slum Population in Ten Largest Cities of India
The combined impact of demographic growth and economic development had led to major the environmental degradation of the cities which are beyond the institutional and financial capability of the urban local bodies. Most of the cities have a Master Plan. However, plan implementation and development control are week, leading to poor urban quality of life.
In the recent decade, the judiciary in particular the Supreme Court of India had given strong verdicts about Master Plan implementation and urban environmental quality, in favour of litigations filed by the environmental activists. This had led to major political standoffs, as the local administration mostly wanted to maintain status quo, citing economic impact and hardship for people. However, the landmark judgements had led to relocation of polluting industries and closure of big shopping malls in Delhi and other major cities; preservation of urban wetlands in Calcutta and bringing urban development issues in the front pages of the national media and finally galvanised the highest level government machinery into action.
Urban Development had traditionally been low priority agenda in annual budget allocation. Even in National Budget of 2005 combined allocation for Urban Development was just 4.8% of the total. After deduction budget support for the construction of Delhi Metro Rail and maintenance of Government properties – the balance worked out to a meagre Rs.92 (about US$ 2.00) per city dweller.
However, in Budget 2006, a special allocation of US$ 11 billon was made for National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM). Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh called this “the single largest initiative of the Government of India for a planned development of our cities” and acknowledged that urbanisation as a “relentless process”[1]
Therefore, the critical urban development issues in India, at the present juncture are-
- Access to basic services for the poor
- The process of Master Plans and its implementation
- Institutional capacity building of the urban local bodies
- Development of new urban centres to meet the demands of economic growth
- National Urban Renewal Mission
The issues are discussed in detail below.
2.0 Access to Basic Services for the Poor
According to United Nations estimate (UN 2005), there are over 170 million slum dwellers in India Nearly one third of the urban poor have no access to safe water and more than two-thirds do not have access to adequate sanitation. Though 82 percent of the urban population have access to safe drinking water, only 63 percent have access to tapped water within premises. Water consumption in slum neighbourhoods hover around 27 litres or just about one bucket a day. (Chatterji 2005)
Provision of reliable and potable water supply in most of the towns and cities do not exceed 1 to 3 hours per day and provision of 24x7 water supply is a distant dream. Often the aggregate city level figures meet the norms. But there are pockets of scarcity and plenty in the same city. For instance in Delhi, there are high levels of disparity in intra city distribution of water (Raghupathi 2003). Distribution losses are high. Bangalorelooses as much as 37 percent water in the process from the pumping station to the consumer’s tap.
Source: Hindustan Times, New Delhi, May 13, 2003
Figure – 2: Water Distribution in Municipal Areas of Delhi
However, there are interesting new developments which promise hope. In January 2003, Change Management Forum, an Indo-British joint venture, on municipal capacity building initiated steps for 24x7 water supply through public-private partnership and provision of group connection to 10 households. A pilot project was launched in RamagundamMunicipality, in Andhra Pradesh, which has shown encouraging results, and efforts are on to replicate the success elsewhere.
3.0 The Process of Master Plans and its Implementation
City specific Master Plans, which are prepared for a typical plan horizon of twenty years, had most often being idealist vision documents divorced from ground reality and out of sync with the national level Five Year economic plans prepared by the Planning Commission.
For instance, the Second Master Plan of Delhi (1981-2001) never took into consideration that as a result of the economic growth, 200,000 new vehicles will added on the Delhi roads every year. Similarly, demand for commercial spaces ware also grossly underestimated, leading to commercialisation of the residential areas – which again led to litigations and Supreme Court intervention.
The reality of migration and informal economic activity are again mostly kept out of the ‘formal’ panning process and public participation in the planning process, practically non existent. Multiplicity of authorities also prevents systematic implementation. Weak institutional capacity of the urban local bodies prevents possibility of periodical reviews and corrections (Chatterji 2003). There is an urgent need to strengthen the planning process.
4.0 Institutional CapacityBuilding of the Urban Local Bodies
Through the 74th Constitutional Amendment in 1992, the Central Government aimed at strengthening the municipal administration to have the institutional capability to deal with problems of urbanisation and urban population. However, fifteen years down the line it appears that the act did not meet expectations despite being considered a historical development in urban governance at that time.
In fact, the 74th Amendment has partially, if not fully, contributed to the deterioration of basic services in the urban areas. This is largely due to the devolution of responsibilities to municipal bodies and, therefore, reduced focus by the State governments on basic urban services. According to K. C. Shivaramakrishnan, former Secretary to the Government, Urban Affairs, devolution of power to the lower tiers is often seen as a threat to the State-level politicians rather than a process of political pluralism.(World Bank 2003)
Presently the local bodies are overwhelmed in handling routine tasks of delivering basic services and financial management. There are serious doubts about their ability to take up complex and challenging tasks like planning and development of new centres of urban growth.
5.0 Development of New Urban Centres
Powered by the growth in IT and other service sectors of the economy, the real estate market India is growing at a fast pace and there are construction booms in the major cities.
Research by global real estate consultants DTZ has revealed that India is becoming one of the world's key emerging real estate markets. Size of the Indian real estate market is around $12bn and growing at 30 percent per year[2].
Most of these developments are in the nature of self sufficient Technology Parks – Enclosed complexes containing high-end offices, hospitals, schools, shopping malls and high income residential buildings – in the periphery of the large cities.
Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore had almost reached saturation point. Corporates are now locating to Gurgaon and Noida (suburbs of Delhi), Pune, Mysore and Calcutta for software and BPO operations.
The townships undoubtedly provide world class facility to the corporate sector and are major stimulants of economic growth. Disturbingly however, in several cases, the townships are coming in urban fringes (often technically outside the city limits) without any overall master plan and are often islands of prosperity, without any linkage with its immediate neighbourhood.
The township boom has led to urban sprawl and there is rising demand for better transportation. Currently Calcutta and Delhi has metro rail, while projects for Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai are starting in near future.
6.0 The National Urban Renewal Mission
In December, 2005, the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) was launched with the objective to upgrade urban infrastructure and reform the urban situation of 60 cities.
However, release of funding is tied to the states and their urban local units becoming signatories to a tripartite memorandum of understanding with the national government of accepting to undertake the reforms required. The reform agenda includes core reforms, mandatory reforms and five optional reforms.
The core reforms include implementation of decentralisation measures as envisaged in the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the drawing up of public-private-partnership (PPP) models for development, management and financing of urbaninfrastructure, the adoption of an accrual-based double entry system of accounting, passage of public disclosure law to facilitate quarterly performance information to all stakeholders and a community participation law to institutionalise citizen participation.
There is also the requirement for the states to transfer, over a period of five years, all special agencies that deliver civic services in urban areas and the creation of an accountability framework for all urban civic service providers during the transitional period. This is an effort, it seems, to reduce the multiplicity of authorities.
Compulsory reforms to be undertaken by the states include repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, reforms to the rent control law tostimulate private investment, and the introduction of independent regulators for urban services. Its degree of success will be learned over the course of time.
7.0 Conclusion
Over the past couple of decades, India has seen the implementation and framing of efforts to modernise urban governance and has also revealed in the course of these efforts a commitment to urban development that was hitherto a weak link in the Indian system. Nevertheless, it remains a system in transition that has room for further evolution to match its prevalent ground conditions and capacity building mechanisms.
References
Chatterji, T., (2005) Focus on Basic Services, Times of India, New Delhi, 3rd August, 2005
Chatterji, T., (2003) City Blights – Master Plans as Masterly Failures Times of India, New
Delhi, 8th September, 2003
Hidefumi, I., Yedla, S., Shirakawa, H., Memon, M.A (2005)– Urban Environmental Issues
and Trends in Asia, International Review of Environmental Strategies Vol.5, No.2,
Kundu, A (2001): Urban Development, Infrastructure Financing and Emerging System of
Governance in India: A Perspective , Management of Social Transformations - MOST Discussion Paper No. 48, UNESCO
Kundu, A., Bagchi, S. and Kundu, D. (1999): Regional Distribution of Infrastructure and Basic
Amenities in Urban India – Issues Concerning Empowerment of Local Bodies, Economic and Political Weekly, 34(28), July 10
Ministry of Urban Development (1992): The Constitution Seventy-fourth Amendment
Act 1992 on Municipalities, Government of India, New Delhi
Ministry of Urban Development (1992): The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
Renewal MissionGovernment of India, New Delhi
Raghupathi, U., (2003) Privatising Water Distribution, Change Management Forum
Newsletter, Hyderabad, September, 2003
UN HABITAT (2001) The State of the World’s Cities 2001 Nairobi United Nations Centre
for Human Settlements
UN Millennium Project (2005) A Home in the City Task Force on Improving the Lives of the
Slum Dwellers, page 13
World Bank (2003) Metropolitan Governance Series: Metropolitan Governance in India
[1] Prime Minister’s speech in the Parliament launching programme on 7th December 2005, downloaded from the website of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Government of India http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/
[2] Indian Real Estate News November 21, 2006
