Scripting India's Urban Affairs

Urban development has been one of the key areas for the Narendra Modi-led government, since it came to power three years ago. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), now known as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has launched a number of flagship programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban, the Smart Cities Mission and the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). The programmes aim to make India's cities defecation-free by providing individual and community toilets, develop smart cities with digital solutions, and develop 12 selected cities as heritage cities to promote tourism.

High expectations

Venkaiah Naidu, who led the ministry before being appointed as India's Vice President, had recently stated that never have people's expectations been so high. Flyovers, drainage, metros, clean water supply and continuous electricity, and IT solutions such as free Wi-Fi are the demands of all Indians, but urban Indians in particular.

"Cities cannot be built overnight and smart cities will take 10 to 15 years to develop," Naidu had said in an interview. "Execution and land lie with the State and the final supervision with the urban local body… This constraint one has to appreciate."

The aspirational urban India population is growing at a faster rate than the rest of India. As per 2011 Census figures, the urban population has grown by 32 per cent from 2001 to 2011 while India's overall population has seen an 18 per cent growth. As much as 31 per cent of the country's population today live in cities, and this demographic has a projected growth of 600 million by 2031.

Three-step approach

The government has taken a three-step approach to deal with the growing urban population. The first involves improving infrastructure in cities that have been inundated with migrations. Official figures show investments towards basic infrastructure have gone up. Investments worth Rs 4.5 lakh crore have been approved in the last three years for basic urban infrastructure projects, as opposed to Rs 85,000 crore approved between 2004-14, during the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) tenure.

The second move has been to convert towns into statutory towns with strong urban local bodies. A government release defined urban towns as those "which have a minimum population of 5,000; at least 75 per cent of the male main working force is engaged in non-agricultural activities, and population density of at least 400 persons per sq km".

These towns should have statutory local bodies with a municipality, corporation cantonment board or notified town area committee. For this, however, the Centre insists it needs assistance from the states. The Centre says it is doing all it can to incentivise states by promising larger allocation of funds to those with a greater number of statutory towns.

The third area of focus has been housing, and promoting the ease of doing business. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, construction of 23,92,061 affordable houses have been approved in two years since the launch of the mission with a total investment of Rs 1,27,480 crore.

As far as business is concerned, the Centre is working on ensuring that the world sees India as a business-friendly country. India ranks 130th in the world on the World Bank's 2017 Ease of Doing Business Index, a position the government wants to improve. Efforts are on to get India into the top 100 this year and within the top 50 by 2020.

While various ministries are working on it, the urban ministry has a key role to play in licensing permits. To enhance ease of doing business in Delhi and Mumbai, in respect of construction permits, the ministry has introduced a simplified online building plan approval system, which has brought down approval time to under 30 days. Change of property titles, which accounts for about 70 per cent of physical transactions between local governments and citizens, will help both the businessman and the common man.

Scope for improvement

Through such schemes and initiatives, the government has put forward a vision that is forward looking but not without faults. The creation of smart cities is perhaps an utopian vision in a country when even the national capital does not have uninterrupted power supply. Secondly, the 'smart' city plan leads to only certain areas of a city being developed, not all of it. Finally, questions about how the smart cities were selected persist, despite government clarifications, leading to charges of elitism, which could lead to lack of non-cooperation from states.

Next, the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban, is well-intentioned but several issues need sorting. For instance, the clash of ministries: while urban areas fall under the MoUD, sanitation in schools is under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Due to a lack of coordination between the two ministries, little has been done to achieve the common aim.

Lack of independent monitoring has ensured that some toilets only exist on paper, others have no water. Disposal of waste and drainage remain a major challenge in many urban cities, thanks in part to a clash of government agencies.

Finally, the Modi government's bid to make India investor- and business-friendly through easing of permits addresses only one half of the problem. Indian and global firms still face problems in getting land, registering a company, enforcing contracts, registering property and declaring insolvency, all of which require greater co-ordination between ministries, which hasn't happened yet.

Clearly, a review needs to be done by the ministry and the Centre as a whole on how effective their policies have been over the last three years, and what they can do to improve the lives of urban Indians. This is a task the new man at the helm needs to undertake without delay.

THE STICKY ISSUES

SMART CITIES MISSION

Vision: Smart Cities Mission aims to provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment, and application of ‘Smart’ IT Solutions to improve quality of life. It is to be implemented in 100 mission cities where it can benefit around 13 crore people.

Government claims: Smart City plans of 90 cities are as per schedule. According to the government, plans of 10 more cities need to be approved to achieve timely results.

Investments approved: An amount of Rs 1,91,00 crore has been approved for 90 cities. Central assistance has provisioned Rs 48,000 crore at Rs 100 crore each year per city over five years.

Challenges: Converting approved Smart City plans into actionable projects for timely implementation. The fact that Smart Cities Mission will benefit only a portion of the selected city has attracted widespread criticism. The government, however, insists that the mission has been conceived as a “light house” for replication in other parts of the city in due course. Further, provisions making private firms eligible for 40 per cent shareholding in Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) has also been criticised.

AMRUT

Vision: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aims to ensure basic urban infrastructure in all the 500 mission cities. It includes provision of water taps to all the urban households, substantial improvement in sewerage and drainage networks, non-motorised transport, and green and open spaces.

Government claims: About 1.40 crore urban households will receive water supply through taps and 60 per cent increase in sewerage connectivity. A total of 1,900 parks and green spaces besides storm water drains and cycling and walking pathways have been planned. Of the 500 mission cities, 320 have so far obtained credit ratings, required for issue of municipal bonds.

Investments approved: Investment of Rs 77,000 crore and an additional Rs 23,000 crore as reform incentive and administrative expenses.

Central assistance: Rs 50,000 crore. State and city governments to mobilise an equal amount.

b Ensuring operation and maintenance (O&M) of the assets. Government says O&M for at least five years has been made mandatory.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION (URBAN)

Vision: To make India Open Defecation Free (ODF) and ensure 100 per cent door-to-door collection, transportation and processing of municipal solid waste.

Government claims: About 33 lakh individual household toilets, and 1.25 lakh community and public toilet seats have been constructed since the scheme’s launch on October 2, 2014, meeting half the mission’s targets. Cost of the mission is estimated to be Rs 62,009 crore.Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have declared all cities and towns as ODF besides Chandigarh. Another nine states to be ODF by the end of 2017. Over 1,000 cities and towns have so far declared themselves ODF, and 900 such claims have been independently certified.

Budget allocation: Central assistance of Rs 14,643 crore has been earmarked for the five-year mission from 2014 to 2019.

Challenges: For solid waste management, private investment of about Rs 20,000 crore is envisaged. However,  Rs 6,000 crore of this is tied up.

PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJNA (URBAN)

Vision: To provide affordable housing to the urban poor: economically weaker sections, low-income groups and middle-income groups.

Government claims: Construction of 23,92,061 affordable houses have been approved in two years since the launch of the mission with a total investment of Rs 1,27,480 crore, as against only 12.40 lakh dwelling units approved during 2004-14.

Central assistance: Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.60 lakh per beneficiary under the four components of the Mission. Total central assistance of Rs 37,271 crore has been approved so far.

Challenges: In-situ slum redevelopment, the Technical Group set up by the Government in 2012 to ensure decent living for all reported about 13 million slum households in the urban areas. Progress, however, has not been commensurate with the task at hand.