Published as -
“An Overview of the Emerging Pattern of Urban Development in India” Australian Planner, Volume 44, Number 1, March 2007
Introduction
With over 270 million people living in cities and 35 cities with million plus population, India has the second highest urban population in the world. By 2015, three of the world's fifteen largest cities will be in India. The percentage of people living in cities is projected to rise from 28.3% in 2001 to over 50% by the year 2020.
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.
Economic Growth and Urbanisation
The liberalisation of economy started in 1991. Since then, the economy had been on an upswing, mainly powered by growth in the IT and other services. 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.
The living conditions of migrants are poor and include overcrowded and unhygienic slums along railway tracks, river banks, under flyovers and pavements near work places. There are over 170 million slum dwellers. In cities like Mumbai (Bombay) or Calcutta, slum population constitute almost 40% of the urban population.
About, 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 tapped water within premises. Water consumption in slum neighbourhoods hover around 27 litres or just about one bucket a day.
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
Provision of reliable and potable water supply in most of the towns does not exceed 1 to 3 hours per day and 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.
Source: Hindustan Times, New Delhi, May 13, 2003
Figure – 2: Water Distribution in Municipal Areas of Delhi
On the other hand, due to rising economy, there is spiralling demand for quality commercial and residential space. The real estate market India is growing at a high rate of 30 percent. 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 big cities.
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 becoming islands of prosperity, without any linkage with its immediate neighbourhood.
Planning Process
The combined impact of demographic growth and economic development had led to major the environmental degradation of the cities Most of the cities have a Master Plan, (prepared by the respective Development Authority) - which however had most often turned out to be idealist vision documents divorced from ground reality
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.
The reality of migration and informal economic activity are again mostly kept out of the ‘formal’ panning process. Public participation is practically non existent. Multiplicity of authorities and weak institutional capacity of the urban local bodies prevents possibility of periodical reviews and corrections.
In the recent decade, the Supreme Court of India had given strong verdicts about Master Plan implementation and environmental quality, in favour of litigations filed by the environmental activists. The 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 has finally galvanised the highest level government machinery into action.
National Urban Renewal Mission
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 (Less than Aus$ 2.00) per city dweller.
However, in Budget 2006, a special allocation of Aus$ 14 billon was made for National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) for 60 cities. 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]
Release of funding under NURM is tied to the states and their urban local units becoming signatories to a tripartite memorandum of understanding with the national government for accepting to undertake the reforms.
The core reforms include–
- Decentralisation and autonomy in the functioning of the Urban Local Bodies
- Public-private-partnership models for development, management and financing of urbaninfrastructure
- Passage of public disclosure law to facilitate quarterly performance information to all stakeholders
- Community participation law to institutionalise citizen participationin planning
Conclusion
Over the past couple of decades, India has seen the implementation and framing of efforts to modernise urban governance and a commitment to urban development. Nevertheless, it remains a system in transition that has room for further evolution to match the pressing demands of the day.
Explanatory Notes
- India follows a three tier federal system of governance, similar to the Australian system. As per the Indian Constitution, urban development is a State (or Provincial) subject. National Government allocates funds for specific projects only. Routine urban administration and management functions are handled by the democratically elected Municipality, under the overall control of the State Government.
- Urban Planning and major infrastructure development work in the Indian cities are performed by the Development Authorities (e.g – Delhi Development Authority, Bangalore Development Authorities etc.) – which were set up, to isolate planning from the pressures of local politics. The Development Authorities function directly under the State Governments and are not answerable to the municipalities. However, the functioning of the development authorities often proved to be bureaucratic and not in tune with the local ground reality.
- The Indian Constitution was amended (74th Amendment Act) in 1992, to provide constitutional status to the municipal governments, with power to perform planning tasks. But due to a host of political reasons, the transfer of power from State Governments to the local authorities had not really been effective in most cases.
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
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Ministry of Urban Development (1992): The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
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UN HABITAT (2001) The State of the World’s Cities 2001 Nairobi United Nations Centre
for Human Settlements
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Slum Dwellers, page 13
World Bank (2003) Metropolitan Governance Series: Metropolitan Governance in India
[1] Prime Minister’s speech in the Parliament launching NURM on 7th December 2005, downloaded from the website of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Government of India http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/
