People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 5 August, 2017

Are Our Cities Liveable?

NO, THANKS TO RISING SLUMS

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

The plight of Indian cities has been deteriorating over the years in spite of the Government’s best efforts. Eminent experts including urban planners are deeply concerned about this and it is being discussed at seminars and workshops. The dilemma clearly is the migration from villages and neighbouring areas to bigger cities in search of livelihood thereby worsening the urban situation.

Undoubtedly, the high density of population in cities has become a humongous problem resulting in many municipal corporations finding it impossible to provide the necessary facilities for a huge population. Recall, India’s Registrar General in a 2006 report had underscored a rise of 248 million people living in cities between 2001-2026.

In 2010 another report ‘India’s Urban Awakening’ by the McKinsey Global Institute Report suggested a rise of 250 million citizens between 2008- 2030. In other words, between 10 million and 11.4 million new people had to be accommodated in cities every year.

Predictably, this has led to slums and slummish type of settlements in metros and big cities notwithstanding improvement of sanitary conditions over the years.  Consequently, improved amenities have resulted in more migration to cities. This relocation had been warned by Prof. M. N. Srinivash decades back resulting in “slummification of cities which seems unavoidable unless drastic steps are taken immediately to prevent it.

Think. In Mumbai and Kolkata around 2000 migrant families move every week while Delhi gets its share with over one-and-a-half lakhs intake every year. In cities like Kanpur, Jabalpur and Visakhapatnam over 40 per cent of the population live in large slums or as migrants waiting to make their own ‘slummish’ settlements.

This is exactly what has happened and though the minimum standards of living are evident in recognized slums, these are not there in unrecognized ones. Also, most metros have expanded but slums and squatter settlements are very much manifest in the older city.Those who once advocated a no slum city in the eighties and nineties realized that this was not possible. Moreover, the urban poor have a right to live in the city.  

It needs to be pointed out that the continued influx to metro centres has primarily been due to employment and income opportunities that exist in cities. Over the years surveys have pointed out this fact given that agricultural income being stagnant and incapable of providing employment to all family members they are forced to seek alternative sources of livelihood in nearby cities. Figures reveal that compared to the late twentieth century, employment in agriculture and allied sectors has been dwindling.

While creation of ‘smart cities’ might improve infrastructure facilities in urban areas, it would have been desirable if the plan of PURA (providing urban facilities in rural areas) propounded by our late President, Dr Abdul Kalam was taken up on a war footing.

Of course, there are Central Government planned schemes for sanitation, water supply and building rural houses but these are mainly concentrated in certain districts and those residing in remote areas are not benefitting to the desired extent. Undeniably, there has to be an integrated plan of transforming the blocks and sub-divisional towns where all amenities that are available in big cities are accessible.

Clearly, the most important challenge at this juncture is to ensure that employment opportunities are created in the rural and semi-urban areas of the country. The emphasis on ‘Make in India’ and skill development programme, initiated by the Government are positive indicators to resist the flow of people from the rural and semi-urban areas to big cities.

Simultaneously, there is need to develop urban infrastructure to keep pace with the ever increasing demands. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals agreed upon by all 192 UN member countries ("United Nations MDGs" 2010) stated in Goal 7 the need to ensure environmental sustainability.

Reportedly, one of the targets under this goal was “to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers”. As the MDGs touched on the issue of slums, it refocused attention on how to alleviate the problem of slums.

Hence, the most important task is the need for slum upgradation and making available facilities like potable tap water and proper sanitation. Though urban planners have been talking about this there is need to ensure the transformation of slums and squatter settlements in designing smart cities.

According to the 2006-2007 UN Habitat State of the World's Cities Report Egypt, South Africa, Mexico, Tunisia and Thailand stand out in their efforts towards slum upgrading. Indeed, their slum growth rates have fallen markedly despite the fact that the growth rate is still positive, highlights that slums are not going away or even shrinking.

The report also states that in order to stem or at least slow down the growth of slums in the world's cities, countries are going to have to make some hard decisions and major financial commitments, perhaps with the help of the World Bank which is a major player in promoting efforts at slum upgrading in order to accomplish the MDGs.

Importantly, the challenge before India is quite grave due to the huge density of population living in cities. Obviously, huge resources would be needed to make these liveable for those residing in slums, squatter settlements and colonies. True, the Government is aware of the dimension of the problem and is expected to take up the matter seriously. 

In this connection, the NDA Government has accorded housing top priority. Not only the poor and the economically weaker sections but also the lower income groups have been encouraged to build their own homes for which incentives and loans have been made available.

Recently a meeting was held wherein Prime Minister Modi via video conferencing with State Chief Secretaries expressed unhappiness over the progress of the Pradhan Awas Yojana (Urban) and asked officials to accord top priority to the implementation of the scheme. In fact the States were directed that houses sanctioned for construction in 2016-2017 should be completed before the end of this financial year by March 2018.  

In sum, cities are the engines of growth and there has to be sustained efforts with resources and skill coupled with sincerity of both the political leadership and urban planners to make these liveable, specially for the poor residents who comprise about 40 per cent of the population. ---- INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)