UrbanUpdate August 2018

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Volume V, Issue IV

August 2018

The cure for

urban policy paralysis is coming soon!

book review

India, after China, has the second largest urban population in the world and its cities contribute over 55% to national GDP. Yet, in the last 72 years of post-independence era, the nation remained stuck to the maxim that its soul resides in its villages. An analytical report to understand the requirements of cities and expectations from the proposed National Urban Policy...

A ‘smart book’ on smart cities article

Crisis of urban governance in India technology

swachh bharat governance climate change policy smart city

transformation

mobility jnNURM

amrut public space

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Magazines & Journals

Energy Efficiency

AMRUT Knowledge Management

Seminars

Project Management Customised Training

Sustainable Development Goals

Policy Research

Advisory Services

Swachh Bharat Mission

ECBC

Smart City Mission Capacity Building

Skill Development

All India Institute of Local Self-Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East, Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 61805600, Fax: +91-22-26572115, Email: contact@aiilsg.org

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG — a project funded by European Union’s ‘Equi-City’ programme for India.

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor

Mail Box Readers’ comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. Letters to the Editor can be sent by e-mail, or regular mail. They should include name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address, if available. The subject of the communication should be clearly mentioned, and we reserve the right to edit for sense, style, and space.

Address Urban Update (All India Institute of Local Self-Government) Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING RELATED ASSISTANCE, CONTACT Phone: 011 - 2852 1783/ 5473 (Extn. 37) E-mail: contacturbanupdate@gmail.com

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor Aniruddh Gupta Media Associate Prateek Singh Aman Saxena Editorial Assistants Rajesh Singh Meenakshi Rajput Senior Graphic Designers Volume V - Issue IV Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

Printed at Artz & Printz, 208, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Industrial Area Phase-I New Delhi-110020 Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area D-Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 Note: Subscriptions are only invited from municipal corporations, government bodies, academic & research institutions, etc. working in the domain of urban development.

We only charge courier and handling charges. We may fully wave-off the charges for municipalities and academic institutions upon receiving such request and approval from our management.

Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy of the contents. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. The views expressed in the articles are the personal opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the All India Institute of Local Self-Government. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Join Urban Update Community Online to read our previous issues, regular posts and news updates.

WWW

urbanupdate.in urbanupdatemag urbanupdatemgzn urbanupdatemag

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

4

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

The Kerala floods

Fighting climate change

T

he recent floods in Kerala have reportedly displaced over 3,00,000 people in possibly the biggest natural disaster to have hit the State in the last 100 years. The people of the State need all humanitarian aid including physical, financial and emotional which has started to come in from not only within the Country but overseas as well. The heroic efforts of the rescue forces from various sectors is a matter of great pride for the entire nation.

The event has once again exposed the soft underbelly of developing economies especially with respect to environment degradation. Rapid and relentless urbanisation has resulted in widespread deforestation, reduction in urban green spaces, unsustainable groundwater exploitation, encroachment of sensitive wetlands, and increasing vulnerability of ecologically fragile assets; galloping consumerism is creating heaps of waste choking rivers and waterways; all of which are an invitation to disasters like floods. Steady growth of industrial activity in both manufacturing and services pushes up greenhouse gas emissions leading to climate change and disastrous environment degradation.

A serious question to address is whether it is possible to decouple economic growth from environment degradation. The world has long been used to the argument that greenhouse gas emissions and environment damage is the price we must pay for economic growth and prosperity.

Let’s remember that countries like India require several decades of sustained high economic growth rates in order to pull millions out of poverty and improve living standards. So there is no way, it seems, we can abandon the quest for high growth rates. Yet, can we afford the huge costs, especially human costs of tragedies like the Kerala floods? It seems there is a way. In a surprising but welcome development, the International Energy Agency (IEA) had reported a couple of years ago that there had been virtually no increase in energy related CO2 emissions in 2015 compared to the previous year. Importantly this happened for the second straight year. And these years were accompanied by world economic growth, not weakness. During the two years 2014 and 2015, when emissions fell

year on year, the world economy actually grew over 3% each year. Several factors helped. Most significant among them is the heightened focus on renewable energy all over the world. Rapid technological advances have driven down costs notably of wind and solar. An interesting piece of statistic provided by the IEA states that ninety percent of all new energy generation in 2015 came from renewables. Half of this was from wind alone.

(However as world economic growth improved further to 3.5 percent in 2017 (IMF estimates), energy related emissions too grew 1.4 percent in 2017 and reached a record 32.5 gigatons, as per IEA estimates, largely due to higher demand and slowing efficiency improvements).

This serves to prove that given strong focus on renewables and energy efficiency improvements, it is possible to achieve ‘green growth’. We need to drive low carbon technologies aimed at reducing emissions and sustainable economic growth.

There is need for policies to promote long term investment in clean and renewable energy sources and disincentivisenon renewable energy such as coal and petroleum. Many measures have been taken; for example several state governments have put in place attractive fiscal incentives for promoting electric vehicles and charging stations to support them. Also policies to promote energy efficiency such as subsidising use of LED lamps and LPG use to prevent deforestation.

All these measures are in practice in several regions. However, implementation, compliance and enforcement are modest rather than robust.

Improving this combined with higher citizen awareness can accelerate our drive towards more environmentfriendly economic growth.

The Kerala floods, though a very painful human tragedy, can bind society in efforts towards such green growth.

Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief dg@aiilsg.org

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

5

Quotes

Much needs to be done and our destination is still several countries away — the 73 million Indians living in extreme poverty today add up to more than the populations of Thailand, France and the UK

By 2030, 700-900 million sqare metre of urban space would have to be developed every year to accommodate 40 per cent of the total Indian population and cities would contribute around 66 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product Hardeep Singh Puri Union Minister of State with Independent Charge, MoHUA

Gautam Chikermane Vice President, Observer Research Foundation

PIN POINT I follow the adage of Baba Dioum: In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught

Waste recycling increases growth, create wealth, and generate employment in India. Wastage is a huge problem but this can be solved through a holistic policy taking into confidence various related ministries Nitin Gadkari Union Minister, Road Transport & Highways

Dia Mirza UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador for India

BUZZ Energy4Europe

Kumar Manish

Urban Institute

@Energy4Europe

@kumarmanish9

@urbaninstitute

@henkovink

EU Commission’s DG for Energy

Chief Communicator, Communicate Karo

Social Policy Researcher

Principal, Rebuild by Design

Cities are the main drivers of the economy. While tackling energy challenges, several policies, proposals & initiatives are in place to promote more attractive, competitive urban areas healthier & more sustainable places to live in

Walk, Cycle and Bus are the only future. Need better urban planning and designing to support it. The over dependence on car culture and car centric policies are killing the cities in India. There is no escape from carmageddon

We need policies addressing the volatile nature of low-wage jobs, the low wage growth associated with those jobs, & the barriers to employment that further hinder better employment outcomes for low-income people

To address water challenges, we must work in close collaboration & partnership. Intelligent water management should create benefits for everyone. Water has the power to build trust & contribute to peace & development

6

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Henk Ovink

inside

Inside Volume 5, Issue 4

newscan

22

Ease of living index released, Pune ranked most livable, and Rampur the worst

August 2018

24

Grabbing attention of urban planners, municipal authorities and citizens, the survey aiming to push cities towards urbanization and creating healthier competition among the cities declares the living quality of cities

Articles

32

Crisis of urban governance in India In the light of rapid urbanisation, it is important to cross the present boundaries of the existing laws and enact mandatory provisions that would give real powers to urban local bodies. At a practical level, the policy makers must think of what is doable if revolutionary changes are not possible at once

40

26

Need for equitable delivery of municipal services for sustainable urban development Increasing Urbanization and Urban Development is accompanied by demand for more efficient and equitable basic services. Policymakers and Local Authorities need to focus on innovative ways to achieve quality and sustainability in the service delivery system, which are the essential constituents to achieve Sustainable Urban Development

Pin Point Equi-City Newscan

The cure for urban policy paralysis is coming soon!

India, after China, has the second largest urban population in the world and its cities contribute over 55% to national GDP. Yet, in the last 72 years of post-independence era, the nation remained stuck to the maxim that its soul resides in its villages. Policy makers had put the requirements of a strong and robust urban policy regime on the backburner until the beginning of this year.

The government of India is coming out with a National Urban Policy. An analytical report to understand the requirements of cities and expectations from the proposed policy framework....

LEADerspeak

30

Make villages smarter before you make cities smart To solve these problems of urbanisation, policymakers must look at our rural habitats, improve their basic infrastructure and promote selfsufficient economic activities. These initiatives can significantly reduce the burden on cities’ services and infrastructure. How can a village be developed as a smart one? This is a million-dollar question. For this, we will first need to understand what actually makes a village smart...

one on one

RegularS

6 8 10

Cover Story

15 44 46

City Images Book Review Urban Agenda

34

Land acquisition is a hindrance in developmental work We thought of creating a greater Ranchi but then there is opposition from various groups. “We will sacrifice our lives but not our land”. Now both the things are not possible. We cannot take anybody’s land forcibly. They have to be convinced

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

7

feature Equi-City

Campaign to bring behavioral change among urban citizens Political awareness is key to stimulate self-mobilization and it is important for policy makers and public as well. Awareness raising campaigns requires strategies to reach the desired outcome. Public awareness is equally important Team Equi-City

P

ublic awareness is important to increase enthusiasm and support, stimulate selfmobilization and action, and mobilize local knowledge and resources. Raising political awareness is important as policy makers and politicians are key actors in the policy process of adaptation. Awareness raising campaigns require strategies of effective communication to reach the desired outcome. The combination of these communication strategies for a targeted audience for a given period can broadly be described as ‘awareness raising campaign’. The aim of awareness raising campaigns most often differs between contexts but generally includes increase concern, informing the targeted audience, creating a positive image, and attempts to change their behavior.

Awareness campaigns can address groups of people in a region affected by a particular threat, groups of stakeholders, the general public, etc.

The ultimate aim of such campaigns is to achieve long-term lasting behavioral changes. Awareness raising campaigns addresses the knowledge of individuals and organizations. It aims to ensure that all relevant regional and sub-regional bodies understand the impacts of, and take action to respond to certain climate impacts.

However they also can focus on a certain impact that is considered as the

8

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

most tremendous e.g. The Netherlands “Live with Water”. Such campaigns are mostly considered as effective if several ways of communication are served: dissemination of printed materials; organisation of public meetings and training; professional consultation; communication and information through social and massmedia; using informal networks for information dissemination. It can be combined with the establishment of

community self-protection teams that promote self-reliance among residents and businesses to minimize the risk to personal safety and property damage e.g. during a flood event.

Keeping above mentioned theme in consideration Equi-City Team started conducting awareness campaigns to achieve its objective of sensitizing 200,000 citizens in Nagpur. First awareness campaign on Swachh Bharat Mission was successfully held

on 14th July, 2018 at Providence Girl’s High School, Nagpur. The event was coordinated by Equi-City, Centre for Sustainable Development along with Paper Traders Association.

The theme of the event was ‘Single Use Plastic Ban’ and 1500 students participated in it. The event progressed as follows: ♦♦ Awareness on plastic and sanitary waste disposal through presentation. ♦♦ Pledge to keep the Environment Clean ♦♦ Drawing Competition on the theme ‘Plastic Ban’ Second Awareness Campaign took place on 18th July, 2018 at Saint Ursula High School, Civil Lines, Nagpur.

The theme of the event was also on ‘Single Use Plastic Ban’ and 1500 students participated in it. The event focused mainly on the menstrual hygiene and sanitary waste disposal which is a major source of single use plastic in the city. The session was conducted by Smt. Annusuya Kale Chabbrani representing Centre for Sustainable Development. She also touched upon the roles and

responsibilities of a citizen to segregate waste at the household level into dry, wet and inert waste so that the waste can be further used in the formation of compost and recycling. This session was followed by a Drawing Competition on the theme ‘Plastic Ban’.

Focus group discussion for developing Community Scorecard

Moving forward with the ongoing activities of Municipal Rating System a Focus Group Discussion to develop Community Score Card was carried out in the NMC library located in the NMC School, Kapil Nagar, Nagpur. The area Kapil Nagar comes under Prabhag-2 of Zone-9. FGD was scheduled on 3rd August, 2018. People were informed a day before, about the location and theme of FGD. This information was given by Equi-city team by visiting houses in the locality covering almost entire area of Kapil Nagar. The response was reasonably good and around 35 people were present on the day of FGD. Out these six were female and the rest male. The discussion started at 8 am in the morning with the introduction of

Equi-city project and reasons behind conducting FGD in the Kapil Nagar.

People participated with keen interest along with 3 corporators to discuss the services provision by NMC regarding water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste management. Various parameters of the provision were discussed on these 3 major services.

The feedback was obtained by listening to the people and by taking votes for the level of service provision by NMC. The feedback according to the citizens was thatsome parts of zone are provided with better services as per the work efficiency of the corporators.

Other areas are totally ignored. If people are giving more money to the worker or employee, the services are regular and efficient. Hence, financially sound households are getting better services than financially weaker households due to unaffordability to pay extra money for the services. Also, the funds provided for the particular scheme are not utilized. If a complaint is registered in NMC, it was found that in 80% of the cases employees demand for extra money. Sweepers and workers only mark the attendance but don’t work.

Due to high charges of bills and extra money paid for the services, people are unable to invest more for education and house. To regulate and make efficient service delivery efficient, NMC employees should visit the area periodically. Also, meetings should be conducted to understand the demands and suggestions from the citizens. If the facilities are provided by NMC, then NMC should also take care of them.

According to the corporatorspeople are unaware about the procedure and time taken to provide the services. If a particular process is taking more time, people lose confidence on the corporator immediately. Also illegal construction activities that have taken place in many areas on the drainage lines damage the network and create inconvenience for the people.Corporator has to answer to the higher authorities and other citizens affected by the damage. Many meetings were taken in the past but there is no implementation yet.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

9

NEWSCAN

AIILSG

DIARies

President of AIILSG, Ranjit Chavan called on the Honorable Governor of Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao

President of AIILSG called on the Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and invited him to AIILSG convocation

The Independence Day was celebrated by the All India Institute of Local Self-Government at its headquarters in Mumbai and at its regional centres. In Mumbai it was celebrated at Sthanikraj Bhavan, the headquarters of the Institute in Andheri. After the traditional parade, Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, the Director-General of the Institute hoisted the national flag.

10

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

NITI Aayog launches Move Hack, global mobility hackathon to crowdsource solutions NITI Aayog has launched a major campaign to crowdsource solutions to resolve mobility issue in India. Move Hack, as it is called, is envisaged to be largest hackathon globally and is structured at three legs: online, followed by Singapore leg and the final in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog has launched Move Hack, a global mobility hackathon to crowdsource solutions aimed at the future of mobility in India on August 2. Envisaged to be one of the largest hackathons globally, Move Hack is focused on 10 themes and structured over three legs: online, followed by Singapore leg, and the finals in New Delhi.

Transportation and mobility are emerging as potential drivers of innovation and economic growth of the 21st century. Rapidly evolving technologies and business models for delivering mobility services have dramatic potential to transform the global transportation sector. Mobility that ranges from pedestrian and personal transport to public transit and freight movement is extremely critical and impacts rural and urban daily lives. Move Hack aims to bring about innovative, dynamic and scalable solutions to problems pertaining to mobility. Move Hack is open to individuals of all nationalities, making it a truly global hackathon.

The top 30 teams from the online submissions will travel to Singapore for

two days (1 and 2 Sep 2018) and will be mentored by a curated group of top experts advising the teams on a host of parameters including design improvement, business viability, technical solution and customer targeting/marketing.

The top 20 teams from Singapore leg will participate in the Final Round to be held in New Delhi on 5 and 6 Sep 2018.

The winners will be announced during the Move Summit 2018, which is also organized by NITI Aayog on 7 and 8 Sep 2018 in New Delhi (http://movesummit.in/) and is being inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

Awards for the hackathon include recognizing top 10 winners, with the total prize of more than Rs 2 crores.

The hackathon is organized in partnership with the Government of Singapore and is powered by Hacker Earth.

PwC is the Knowledge Partner and NASSCOM is the Strategic Partner.

The evaluations will be done by the jury comprising of subject matter experts, venture capitalists, business leaders and successful entrepreneurs. Notable leaders who have agreed to serve as Champions for Move Hack include Debjani

Ghosh (President, NASSCOM), Nivruti Rai (Country Head, Intel India), Dennis Ong (Distinguished Architect and Head of Architecture & Systems Engineering, Verizon) and P. Anandan (CEO, Wadhwani AI).

Move Hack is expected to unravel pioneering and ingenious solutions to pertinent mobility-related challenges and pave the way for developing integrated, interconnected and inventive global community.

Commenting on the launch, Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog said “Move Hack is the first platform in the world which has enmeshed public transport, private transport, road safety, multimodal connectivity, and new age transport technologies such as zero-emission vehicles and intracity aerial transport in a hackathon platform spearheaded by a Government. We want the best minds in India and globally to compete and come up with prototypes and solutions for these challenges. India has some of the most diverse problem contexts in the world. If you can solve for India, you can solve for the world and we will help you get there.�

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

11

BRIEFS

Bidhannagar authorities to set up special waste disposal mechanism

In order to address the issue of dumped garbage waste disposal in different areas of Kolkata city and to solve the rising problem of waste recycle, Bidhannagar civic authorities have been working to set up special waste disposal mechanism in all of the 41 wards of the corporation and also to introduce a zero-waste system where waste would be recycled.

Civic authorities have already taken an initiative and started to promote the zero waste disposal system by encouraging a number of households, and housing complexes to set up their own waste recycling plants within their complexes.

NEWSCAN

Authorities to seal private hospitals, hotels and malls for charging parking fees New Delhi: The SDMC has once again warned the malls, hotels, and hospitals charging parking fees from ordinary people. The corporation has said that the parking charges are violation of the building rules and that such institutions can be sealed. South Corporation has started preparing for the new rules to get the benefits of the parking available in the shopping malls and hospitals located in the area. The corporation says that the parking is mentioned as free on the building map of these hospitals, hotels and shopping malls. This is why they have been given a discount on the floor area ratio (FAR) of the building.

Recently, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the corporation, Shikha Rai, inspected the Hotel Hyatt in this regard. There was a complaint of getting two hundred rupees in the name of parking here. After the talks with the corporation officials, they said hotel agreed with full agreement on making parking available for free. Also, the corporation has been surveying restaurants which do not have parking space.

Gatwick airport to introduce electric car sharing service

Electric powered bikes to roll out of metro stations from Aug 15 HMRL will be introducing electric powered bikes to the metro passengers from 15th August. To get the bike, passenger has to download the Metro Bikes app, verify their document and get their license from the application. The passenger has to pay Rs 4 per km for the bike, passenger can drive the bike home, keep it overnight and drive back to the metro next day. At present, one can avail conventional metro bike service at Secunderabad, Nagole, Rasoolpura, Miyarpur, Parade Ground and Begumpet metro stations. NVS Reddy managing director of HMRL said the passengers will only be charged for the distance travelled.

12

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

LONDON: London’s Gatwick Airport has partnered with car sharing service Bluecity to provide greater zero-emission transport.

A new car sharing hub at the airport contains 10 electric vehicles and charging stations, with plans underway to add more. The initiative is one of the steps Gatwick is taking to become more sustainable; it already sources 100 per cent of its electricity from renewables.

Guy Stephenson, the airport’s chief commercial officer, said, “Gatwick leads the way on airport innovation and this UK airport first not only offers a new, flexible option for getting on and off the airport, it also improves air quality.”

The partnership creates a cleaner and potentially more affordable way to travel to and from the airport. Users are able to reserve cars in advance using an app which picks them up on arrival.

They can then drive the vehicles to any of the 300 pick-up or drop off points throughout London. The service works both ways as passengers can pick up a car anywhere in the city and leave it at the airport. A typical ride to Gatwick, in moderate traffic, will cost about £15. “We are particularly proud of this milestone agreement with Gatwick Airport and look forward to our collaboration for years to come” said Bluecity’s managing director Christopher Arnaud.

This move towards electric vehicles matches a larger national trend emerging in the UK. The government has set out ambitious goals to bring about lower carbon emissions from transport and sales of electric vehicles are reaching all-time highs. It is estimated that there could be upwards of 36 million electric cars on the road by 2030.

Subscribe to

UrbanUpdate

For 3 Years (36 Issues) Rs 2520 For 2 Years (24 Issues) Rs 1920

A magazine dedicated to Urban Infrastructure, Governance & Sustainability

For 1 Year (12 Issues) Rs 1080

Yes, I want to subscribe to Urban Update Tick

Year 1 2 3

Monthly Courier Issue/Year & Handling 12 Charges 24

100

36

Charges/Annum 1200 2400 3600

You pay Discount 1080 10% 1920 20% 2520 30%

Please fill this form in Capital Letters Name Organisation Designation Address

Mobile

City E-mail

Pin Code

Cheque/DD/MO No For Rupees

Drawn on Dated

State

(specify bank)

In favour of ‘All India Institute of Local Self-Government’ is enclosed.

Mail this form along with your Cheque/DD to the following address All India Institute of Local Self-Government Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 You can pay Subscription charges through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). Details for NEFT transfer are: Axis Bank Limited A/C Name: All India Institute of Local Self-Government Please e-mail your details (Name, Address, duration of subscription, transaction no.) to contacturbanupdate@gmail.com for initiating A/C No: 207010100182768 subscription after the NEFT transfer.

IFSC: UTIB0000207 Terms and Conditions

For any query, please contact our Subscription Department Phone No.: 011-2852 1783 / 5473 (Extn. 37) Or e-mail at contacturbanupdate@gmail.com

• Subscriptions are only invited from municipal corporations, government bodies, academic & research institutions, etc. working in the domain of urban development. We only charge courier and handling charges. We may fully wave-off the charges for municipalities and academic institutions upon receiving such request and approval from our management. • Allow one week for processing of your subscription • All disputes shall be subject to Delhi jurisdiction only

BRIEFS

NBCC readying Rs 15000 cr plan to finish NCR flats National Buildings Construction Corp. Ltd. a public sector construction company is readying a plan to complete the apartments that were to be completed and delivered by Jaypee Infratech and Amrapali Group and will seek support from authorities of Noida.

It is estimated that the cost of completion of Amrapali apartments project is at around Rs 7,000 crore, while the Jaypee Infratech flats projects and other small projects will require another Rs 8000 crore for completion. While NBCC is not keen to take over the companies, it is open to the idea of being a project management consultant.

Construction workers to get free DTC bus rides

In a bid to make construction workers get rid of their travel cost, Delhi government is planning to provide construction workers with DTC bus passes with free of cost travel anywhere in the city. According to the officials, there are more than two lakh construction workers registered with Delhi building and other worker boards which work on various govt. projects.

Some of the construction workers are given housing nearby the construction site but majority of them are living in the outskirts and far off areas which costs them a lot for daily travelling. “The free bus pass would help the workers save a substantial amount on commuting,” Gopal Rai said.

14

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Emergency talk back system for women in railways

MUMBAI: The year 2018 has been declared by the Ministry of Railways as the year of women security. For ensuring round the clock security of women passengers, various measures have been planned to be introduced in Indian railways. On trial basis, Emergency Talk Back System has been provided in six ladies coaches of two Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) rakes (03 coaches each) in Mumbai Suburban trains. One air conditioned EMU rake running in Mumbai Suburban has also been fitted with this system. Provision of Emergency Talk Back System is also being envisaged in all newly manufactured EMU rakes under Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-III project.

Initiation of proposal for amendment

in the Railways Act, 1989, deployment of women police personnel in suburban trains during night hours, escorting of all ladies special trains, running in metropolitan cities, by lady Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, escorting of ladies compartments in local trains

by RPF and Government Railway Police (GRP) during peak/non-peak hours, and signage’s and media campaign on women security, regular announcements to create awareness regarding helpline at stations and trains and in society, constitution of a three-member women officers’ Committee and formation a three member committee at Railway Board level to supervise and monitor implementation of Action Plan and constitution of similar committees at Zonal and Divisional levels etc.

Solar panels to light up corp. buildings Chennai: GCMC project of fitting solar panels on the top of corporation owned building finally got approved by the state government, which has enabled the civic body to reduce the electricity bills by tapping into solar power.

662 buildings owned by corporation including primary health centres, offices, public halls, dispensaries and schools will be fitted with solar panels as opposed to earlier proposal of fitting solar panels on 1000 corporation owned buildings. “The total capacity of the panels installed across these buildings will be around 3.06MW, which will bring us a reduction in electricity bills. While the capacity of solar panels will differ from one building to another, based on the total capacity of 3MW, we are expected to save 72,000 per month,” an official said.

Except Ripon Building, which is a heritage building, other offices and building which come under GCMC will be fitted with solar panel on rooftops. The expected price to carry out the work is Rs 22 crore. Another official said that they are planning to set up solar panels with capacity to generate 50kW of energy behind Ripon Building at Amma Maigai that houses the corporation department offices.

CITY IMAGES

NATURE’S Protest Few days back, Kerala suffered nature’s fury that completely destroyed the whole state. The natural calamity displaced more than three lakh population of the state. Entire state was submerged in water after continuous deluge that went on for days. Entire infrastructure of the state collapsed. Roads and bridges were submerged in the water. When water started receding, as the picture shows, heaps of garbage, plastic bottles were found on the roads and bridges. This picture is just one example. It is being termed as revenge of Nature. Some time back Mumbai faced similar situation.

The sea sides of Mumbai were strewn with the plastic & garbage.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

15

BRIEFS

KMC plans to take up road repair work across city

Kolkata Municipal Corporation plans to take up repair work in large stretches across the city, as the condition of roads is getting poorer day by day. KMC said that four roads Diamond Harbor Road, MG Road, parts of Central Avenue and Park Circus, are in very bad shape and calls for immediate action. “Road repair work is an ongoing process and work has begun in phases.

Repair work has been taken up in large stretches as well as some portions of Diamond Harbour Road where we are helping PWD which is the custodian of the road,” said an official.

BMC upgrading sewage plants to check untreated discharge

BMC has informed the Bombay High Court that it is planning to upgrade its sewerage system by constructing new ones, and is also acquiring land for replantation of mangroves that may be destroyed in the process. “In Mumbai there are several different types of sewerage systems in place for waste disposal, including storm water drains, and it is noted that some of the sewerage system of Mumbai are older than 130 years and are upgraded timely.

Present system that is in place for sewerage was developed in 1975”, official said.

16

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Five eco-inclusive enterprises receive prestigious SEED Low Carbon Awards NEW YORK: From a collaborative recycling WebApp enabling waste management services to users in Colombia to composters designed for urban households in India–these are few highlights of the innovative five winners of this year’s SEED Low Carbon Awards announced during the High Level Political Forum 2018 in New York.

The SEED global partnership recognizes the most innovative, inclusive and environmentally friendly start-ups in developing countries and provides them with business know-how support and profiles them regionally and nationally to help them grow and share their experiences. SEED was founded in 2002 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The 2018 SEED Low Carbon Awards are supported by the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

This year’s SEED Awards are placing particular emphasis on eco-inclusive

enterprises from Colombia, India, Tanzania, Thailand and Uganda. During the coming months these Winners will be supported by SEED through tailored one-on-one advisory service that offers assistance with their business and financial plan, as well as additional marketing and promotional activities to scale their operations and provide replicable business cases that can be established by peers all around the world.

The support methodology and content is based on SEED’s more than 10 years of experience in assisting eco-inclusive enterprises globally. The winners will also join a network of more than 230 enterprises from 38 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America-laureates of the SEED Awards. The winners will be honoured at the SEED’s high-level Awards Ceremony.

These five winning enterprises were selected by an independent Jury of International Experts from nearly 250 applications. The innovative enterprises are active in the sectors of waste management, energy and green technologies. Further details about them can be found on SEED website.

Hyderabad Corporation to impose Rs 5000 penalty for burning garbage in public places Hyderabad: New rules will be implemented in Hyderabad to protect the environment from damage and to keep the city clean. The state government has prepared to impose a penalty on those who burn garbage in public places. Under the proposed rule, fines can be imposed from 5,000 to 25,000 rupees for burning of garbage at public places.

Anyone who is caught holding high amount of waste will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000. There is a fine of 200 rupees for spreading dirt in public place. Urban Local Bodies are working on an arrangement where in fines can be imposed on people who fail to handle solid waste management and those who spread the dirt.

A new draft has been prepared on the State Policy and Solid Waste Management Strategy. Under this, fees have been set for garbage collection.

Under the scheme, taking ‘door to door’ garbage, every flat and apartment will be charged a fee of 30 rupees. This fee has been kept for Rs 500 for commercial institutions. At the same time, hotels and hostels will have to pay 750 rupees for the garbage collection. Marriage Hall, Function Hall and large establishments will be charged 3000 rupees for garbage collection.

NEWSCAN

SSG 2018 launched in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra NEW DELHI: The Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018 announced by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on July 13th, 2018, was launched by three States on 24th July. Under the SSG 2018, an independent survey agency will conduct the survey in all districts from 1st to 31st August 2018, and the results will be announced in the form of a ranking of all districts and states on the basis of quantitative and qualitative sanitation parameters. The top-performing States and Districts are expected to be awarded on 2nd October 2018.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, launched the SSG in Lucknow on 24th July. Speaking at the occasion, the Chief Minister called upon the people of Uttar Pradesh to step out and clean their villages and surrounding areas with pride, underscoring the importance of Swachhata for health and dignity of the people of Uttar Pradesh.

Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das, launched the Survekshan in Ranchi.

The CM asked the people of Jharkhand to ensure that the State gets the top position in the Grameen Survekshan just as it did in the Urban Swachh Survekshan. He asked District Officials to popularize the survey and ensure that people are aware of the survekshan and participate actively in it, through an intensive communication campaign launched in the State.

Babanrao Lonikar, Cabinet Minister, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Government of Maharashtra, launched SSG 2018 in Maharashtra at an event in Pandharpur.

As part of Swachh Survekshan Grameen 6980 villages in 698 districts across India will be covered. 34,000 public places namely schools, anganwadis, public health centres, haat/bazaars/religious places in these 6980 villages will be visited for survey.

Citizens’ feedback will be collected from over 50 lakh citizens on SBM related issues through direct interaction as well as online feedback.

GMDA nod to new broadband network for Gurugram GURGAON: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority has sanctioned 65 crores for laying optical fibre network across Gurugram and Manesar for increasing the broadband connectivity.

Under the plan around 2000 CCTV cameras will be installed at 358 locations, and around 60,000 private cameras will be integrated with the fibre network in the first phase of the project which it set to complete within nine months.

According to the officials, of the Rs 65 crore, Rs 25 crore will be provided by the Haryana Police department, while remaining will be borne by GMDA. The project seeks to connect major crime sensitive areas, intersections, entry/ exit points, that have been identified through a detailed field survey for public safety equipment deployment. Officials further elaborated that optical fibre will be used for traffic management, CCTV surveillance, street lights, Wi-Fi connectivity etc. It will also create a robust network infrastructure for providing connectivity to parking lots, shopping malls, residential colonies, educational institutions etc. E-Challan system will also be included under the project to issue automated challans to traffic violators. “The feed of fibre network will be sent to all government departments, police stations, schools and institutions. It will also provide internet and Wi-Fi facility. About 60,000 CCTV cameras already installed in shopping malls and other private institutions will be linked with this with this network and its control will be with GMDA,” Khattar said.

BRIEFS

India’s first W2E plant with zero emission to come up in East Delhi

East Delhi Municipal Corporation and A G Dauters Company signed an agreement to set up a second waste to energy plant at Ghazipur landfill site. As per the agreement, EDMC will provide three acres of land to the company to set up the plant for creation of energy.

Daily consumption of plant is estimated to be 1500 metric tonne waste and will produce 560 MW green energy, 4.75 lakh litre of water and two lakh litre of zero-carbon fuel. “This would be India’s first plant for creating energy with zero carbon emission and zero residues,” said Mayor Bipin Bihari. The plant is expected to produce electricity

by March 2019 and it will be based on LT Plasma Gasification Technology.

Smart e-rickshaws for better last mile connectivity DMRC in association with a private firm has launched e-rickshaw facility at several metro stations in Dwarka, after introduction of this service in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Vaishali.

Lt. Governor Anil Baijal flagged off this service called Smart-E. “This eco-friendly initiative will enable commuters to prefer non-polluting public transport modes over personal vehicles,” said Anil Baijal. You can avail this facility from Dwarka Sector 8,9,10,11,12,13 and 14 from 6am to 11pm, to get more information about this service you can visit their website www.getsmarte.in

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

17

BRIEFS

More wheelchairs for differentially abled at railway stations

Southern Railway will provide more wheelchairs for differentially abled, elderly and ailing for their help at major stations. To support this initiative NGO Helpage India and TE Connectivity a technological firm have come up, and provided 60 wheelchairs at KSR Bengaluru Station.

More railway stations will have this facility and the remaining wheelchairs will be presented on October 1, World Elderly’s Day. Divisional Railway Manager RS Saxena said Bengaluru division has strived to be passenger friendly with special focus on passenger amenities.

Plastic use banned in West Garo Hills from August 15 Ram Sing deputy commissioner of West Garo Hills has issued an order to prohibit the use of plastic throughout the district from August 15. He has also prohibited the use of plastic products with a thickness of 50 microns, including plastic cups, trays, plates and thermocol.

He also announced that any person who found violating the law will be penalised under section 15 of Environment protection act, 1986 which leads to an imprisonment of upto five years and a fixed fine of rupees one lakh. “The plastic ban is imposed after taking into the consideration of facts that how much plastic is affecting our environment and causing serious pollution issues,” Singh said.

18

August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

124 industries polluting Kali-Krishna and Hindon rivers will be closed: NGT New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 8 August, ordered closure of 124 industrial units polluting Kali, Krishna and Hindon rivers in six districts of western Uttar Pradesh and register cases against them. The bench, chaired by NGT president Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said that people have the basic right to get clean air and water. The bench directed the District Magistrates of Ghaziabad, Bagpat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Gautam Budh Nagar, Shamli and Meerut to present the action plan to provide drinking water in a timely manner to the villagers.

Along with this, the NGT directed the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately seal all the hand pumps which are getting contaminated water. He also asked to present an action plan to clean Kali, Krishna and Hindan rivers. The NGT also asked the state government to make health benefits schemes for the people suffering from drinking contaminated water.

Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, on behalf of the petitioner NGO Doaba Environment Committee, said that due to the worrisome attitude of the authorities,

children are forced to drink contaminated drinking water and arsenic due to which serious diseases like cancer are occurring. Hearing on a petition demanding a ban on cutting of trees in seven colonies of South Delhi, the NGT said that it is not appropriate to think together on the same issue in different legal forums.

The bench, chaired by NGT chairman Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said that the hearing is already underway in the Delhi High Court and parallel proceedings should be avoided.

The green panel said that when the High Court decides on this matter, he will look into the issue. The bench said that on July 4, the Delhi High Court has ordered the same issue. It is not fair to think together on different legal forums.

Tamil Nadu sets up district-level transport mobility groups CHENNAI: In a first, the state government has set up district-level working groups to provide seamless mobility for all modes of transport in the district and to reduce the response time in tackling problems of the travelling public.

The seven member panel in each district, will meet every month to plan, coordinate, network and integrate various modes of transport and to report to the higher authorities. “The working group on mobility will comprise district level departments that have a direct or indirect bearing on the mobility requirements of the locals. Academia and non-government organizations, Industry and trade bodies specialized in mobility will be a part of this effort,” transport secretary PWC Davidar said. The move comes when 2.44 crore two-wheelers, and 23.61 lakhs four wheelers are plying on Tamil Nadu roads, leading to vehicular pollution and congestion in the state. Mobility ranging from pedestrian, personal transport to public transit and freight movement has become critical over the years.

“Any traffic solution will work only if it comes from the district level and not state headquarters,” Davidar said. Certain ‘corrections’ could be done at the district level with early fund allocations made for each department.

NEWSCAN

Hong Kong to start ‘producer pays’ scheme for 70,000 tonnes e-waste generated in city HONG KONG: Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing called the breakthrough a “step forward for achieving sustainable use of resources” in the city, which has gained notoriety for one of the highest rates of e-waste generation per capita in Asia.

The producer responsibility scheme, that enabled legislation and subsidiary laws passed in 2015 and 2016, aims to promote recycling as well as the proper disposal of electrical and electronic equipment waste. It does so by making suppliers and sellers pay for the collection, handling and disposal of old, unwanted appliances.

From August 1 onwards, those who supply air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, computers, printers, scanners and monitors must have in place a free removal service for customers. Their service must be approved by the Environmental Protection Department.

In addition, sellers must clearly display recycling labels on the appliances and state on receipts the terms of their levies.

The charges have been set at HK$15 (US$1.90) per item for computers, printers and scanners, HK$45 for monitors, HK$125 for washing machines and air-conditioning units, and HK$165 for television sets and refrigerators. Sellers must pay the government on a quarterly basis.

“In future, members of the public who purchase these appliances will be provided a free removal service arranged by the seller to dispose of an item of the same class they intend to abandon,” Wong said. “The abandoned item will be sent to a recycler holding a valid waste disposal licence for proper disposal.”

About 70,000 tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment waste is disposed in Hong Kong annually. Of this amount, 80 per cent is shipped off

Hongkong has achieved a dubious distinction of generating highest per capita e-waste in Asia. Now the government has geared up to deal with the crisis, described as sustainable use of resources and recycle of electronic equipment waste

to regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia, while the rest is handled locally and dumped in landfills.

An investigation in 2015 by environmental group¬Basel Action Network found Hong Kong to be a dumping ground for unwanted e-waste from the US. Under the new rules, a permit will be required for the import and export of regulated e-waste.

Edwin Lau Che-feng, founder and executive director of environmental group The Green Earth, believed the long-awaited move was needed to improve what he called substandard handling, processing and storage of e-waste in Hong Kong.

“These materials are potentially hazardous and could pollute soil and groundwater, especially if handled improperly such as dumping at brownfield sites in the New Territories,”

he said. “Many residents like to take advantage of cheap collection services, but God knows where the waste is brought to in some cases.”

The government’s new integrated recycling plant, run by private company Alba IWS, has been running since last year and will help detoxify and dismantle e-waste. The plant turns e-waste into secondary raw material such as plastics, aluminium, copper or iron, which can be reused for manufacturing or sent to landfill locally.

But Lau said officials should ensure that over the long term the entire process of handling e-waste, including its collection and disposal, not be handled solely by the plant.

“It would be more efficient if they split some operations for other smaller operators in the city to handle such collections,” he added.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

19

BRIEFS

New stations inaugurated on Pink Line

Minister of state (I/C) Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal flagged off the DDSC-Lajpat Nagar section of Delhi Metro’s Pink Line on 6th August. With a length of 59 km, Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar is the longest metro route with 38 stations. All six stations are platinum rated by Indian Green Building Council for adhering to environment-friendly building norms, DMRC officials said. The DMRC spokesperson also said that the remaining section of the Pink Line would be operational

by September this year.

Pollution control board to get Rs 11 crore for research

NEWSCAN

MoU signed to introduce mass rapid transit system in Nagpur NAGPUR: Indian railways signed MoU with MahaMetro (Metro Railway Project Company of Maharashtra) for introducing mass rapid transit system in the city. Under the agreement signed, the railways and MahaMetro would work toward linking railway line to metro coaches on broad gauge network and creating a MRTS in Nagpur.

The MoU signing ceremony was held in Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s Suresh Bhat Auditorium and was attended by local public representatives, officials of Maha Metro, NMC, Mahagenco, Indian Railways, officials of district administration.

Piyush Goyal said that, the Railway Ministry is also trying to execute a plan for setting up railway lines across the national highways. One such proposal is to connect Nagpur–Mumbai Super Express Way (Samriddhi Mahamarg) to Railway line connecting NagpurMumbai. The construction of such a Hi-speed Railway Corridor will make it

feasible to cover the distance between Nagpur & Mumbai in just five hours.

Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari while speaking on rising pollution in metro cities, advocated for ‘public transport on electricity’. He informed that this MoU signing will pave the way for towns like Bhandara, Wardha distant from Nagpur to come closer and be developed into satellite cities.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis said that these three projects will be hailed as innovative steps and will be followed by the nation.

Ananad Vihar ready to become a major transporte hub The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) will receive a grant of 11 crore under the Center’s Namai Gange Programme to conduct research on water pollution. The board’s lab will be upgraded under the programme and four additional scientists will be added to conduct research said BSPCB chairman Dr Ashok Kumar Gosh. A research advisory committee headed by Dr Ghosh has also been formed to oversee researches being conducted by the BSPCB on all types of water pollution. The committee has seven members, including two from the United Kingdom.

20 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEW DELHI: Anand Vihar of Delhi is ready to become the chief transport hub soon. Anand Vihar will become the busiest interchange station of Delhi Metro network. Here, a metro station of Pink Line has also been added, the Blue Line already halts here. Both the Blue Line and the Pink Line are very close to the ISBT station and the railway station is not far away. Now there will also be a station of Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System and with this, Anand Vihar will be an important point for travellers.

The new station will be opened at Anand Vihar on the segments of Trilokpuri from Shiv Vihar of Pink Line. The DMRC said, “There will be four lines on the Integrated Platform, two for the Blue Line, which leads to Vaishali and Yamuna Bank and other Majlis Park and Trilokpuri will go.” When the new station opens, the passengers of Gokulpuri, Jafarabad, Maujpur, and Welcome will be able to reach Vaishali and Western Delhi in less time. The Interchange of Anand Vihar Metro Station connects the Indraprastha Extension of East Delhi, Vinod Nagar and Trilokpuri to Blue Line.

Due to the problem of land acquisition, Trilokpuri has a gap of 1.5 kms on the Pink Line, but as soon as the problem is solved, areas of South Delhi and Southwest Delhi will have a special advantage. Opening it, trains can be changed at Anand Vihar Metro Station and Indira Gandhi Airport will be easily accessible.

NEWSCAN

Cities can’t be developed haphazardly: PM LUCKNOW: The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on 28 July addressed an event in Lucknow on “Transforming Urban Landscape,” which marked the third anniversary of three key Government initiatives related to Urban Development. These include: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban); Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT); and the Smart Cities Mission.

The Prime Minister also visited an exhibition on Flagship Missions of Urban Development.

He laid the Foundation Stone for various projects under Flagship Missions, in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that urban administrators present in the gathering, are representatives of the cities which symbolize the hopes and aspirations of New India, and the new generation.

The Prime Minister said that under the Smart Cities Mission, projects worth Rs. 7000 crore have been completed,

and projects worth Rs 52,000 crore are under implementation. He said this mission aims to provide the lower, lower middle and middle class with better civic amenities, and make their lives simpler. He said Integrated Command Centres are an important part of this mission. He said these Centres have started functioning in 11 cities, and work is underway in many more cities.

He said that India is growing at a fast pace today, and the cities are the growth engines, and they cannot be developed haphazardly. Smart Cities Mission will become a platform for helping the cities to take up challenges of New growing India, and will prepare the cities into world class amenities, for the 21st century, he added.

He also mentioned that living space in the cities should be characterized by the five “E”s:Ease of Living; Education, Employment, Economy and Entertainment.The Prime Minister also said that the Smart City Mission is based

on civic participation, civic aspiration, and civic responsibility. He said the cities of Pune, Hyderabad and Indore have raised significant sums of money through Municipal Bonds; and other cities such as Lucknow and Ghaziabad would soon follow suit. He said that as civic services become available online, queues, which were a source of corruption, are being eliminated.

He said smart, secure and sustainable transparent systems are transforming the lives of crores of people.

Hardeep Singh Puri Union Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation awarded Madhya Pradesh for innovation in the Urban Development sector. The award was given to MP for Waste to Energy Plant and smart class rooms of Jabalpur Smart City and B-Nest Incubation Centre and public bike sharing in Bhopal’s Smart City. In addition, Govt. of India granted Rs 34 crore to the state as incentive for best implementation of AMRUT.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries at an event in Lucknow to mark the 3rd anniversary of Smart Cities Mission & AMRUT

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

21

NEWSCAN

Ease of Living Index released Pune ranked most livable, Rampur the worst Grabbing attention of urban planners, municipal authorities and citizens, the survey: aiming to push cities, towards urbanisation and creating healthier competition among the cities declares the living quality of cities New Delhi: Pune is ranked at first position and Rampur at the bottom in the ease of living index, released by the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on 13 August 2018.

The assessment was conceived in June 2017 and started in January this year.

111 cities participated in this survey.

The key features that determined the ranking include the indicators such as governance, education, health, water and waste management, the quantity of data available with the cities, quality of information provided and the population group the city belongs to.

Cities are marked out of 100.

The most livable city as per the report, Pune (Maharashtra) is known as the city of knowledge and culture. It scored 58.11 out of 100 and gained first place for livability in the population range of 10lakh to 40 lakh. It ranked second position in assured water supply and pollution reduction, eighth position in education, fourth in health, 23rd in housing and inclusiveness, 25th in safety and security and, gained the lowest rank 49th in mixed land use and compactness. Education sector has contributed most to its development.

Although people are facing problems regarding traffic, waste disposal, etc., yet it is better than other cities. Navi Mumbai, Greater Mumbai, both from

22 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Maharashtra are ranked after Pune.

None of the cities of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu found place in the top 10. National capital New Delhi ranked low at 65, mainly due to data gaps. Chennai ranked 14th place in the list. Varanasi secured rank 33rd, Ahmedabad 23rd and Hyderabad 27th, Gurugram 88th spot, Jammu 95th and Srinagar at 100th spot.

With goal of making Indian cities more livable, MoHUA developed a set of ‘Living Standards in India’ to rate cities. The living standards are

categorised into 15 categories. Total of 79 indicators including 57 core indicators (essential measure) and 22 supporting indicators (adding value to the core indicators) are organized in these 15 categories.

These categorieswere divided further into sub-indexes to form 15 ‘Category Indexes’. Aggregation of the category index formed a common ‘City Livability Index’.

Depending upon the four pillars (Physical, Institutional, Social and Economic) of comprehensive

National Average: 35.64/100 Top Five Performers

Rank

City

Score

1. Pune

58.11

2.

Navi Mumbai

58.02

3.

Greater Mumbai

57.78

4. Tirupati

57.52

5.

53.16

Chandigarh

Bottom Five Performers 107.

Bhagalpur

108.

Bihar Sharif

20.40 18.84

109.

Patna

18.67

110. Kohima

18.13

111.

17.00

Rampur

development of cities weights were assigned to the Category Indexes.

The physical pillar had the highest weightage of 45 per cent, followed by social, institutional and economic. The ‘Economic pillar’ cannot be influenced by the government’s actions alone so it was given the least weightage of 5 per cent. Social and institutional pillars contribute 25 per cent individually.

The institutional pillar includes the governance. Social pillar includes the Identity and Culture, Education, Health, Safety and Security. Economic Index comes under the economic Pillar.

The fourth and most weight carrying, physical pillar includes Housing and Inclusiveness, Energy, Water Index, Mobility, Waste Water, Solid Waste, Pollution, Open Space, Mixed Use and compactness.

As per the Institutional pillar Navi Mumbai, Tirupati, Karim Nagar were at the top three. On economic pillar basis Chandigarh, Ajmer and Kota rank the top three. As per social category, Tirupati topped the rankings followed

by Tiruchirappalli and Navi Mumbai.

Under the Physical Pillar Greater Mumbai, Pune and Thane secured the top positions.

Cities were placed into 5 groups on the basis of population ranges. This will ensure that comparison of cities is done with similarly placed peers. These group are small towns that include population less than 50,000,medium towns including population range between 50,000 to 5 lakh, large town population ranging between 5lakh to 1 million, Metropolitan cities with population range of 1 million to 5 million and the Metropolis with population more than or equal to 5 million. Delhi is the best with population more than 4 million, under 4 million Varanasi ranks first, under 1 million Chandigarh and, Raibareilly in under 0.5 million group.

Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, stood last as it lacks behind in sanitation, education, health and transportation. For the population of 3.5 lakh residing in the city there is no system for solid waste management. Hospitals are far from being equipped to handle medical emergencies. There is shortage of

Pillar

Category

City

City Score

Max Score

Institutional

Governance

Navi Mumbai

16.70

25.00

Social

Identity and Culture

Chandigarh

4.39

6.25

Education

Faridabad 6.01

6.25

Health

Tiruchirappali

6.16

6.25

Safety and Security

Sagar

4.54

6.25

Economic

Economy & Employment Chandigarh

3.78

5.00

Physical

Housing & Inclusiveness Ghaziabad

2.82

5.00

Public Open Spaces

Gandhinagar

5.00

5.00

Mixed Land Use & Compactness Greater Mumbai

4.75

5.00

Power Supply

2.91

5.00

Transportation & Mobility Thane

3.46

5.00

Assured Water Supply

Erode

4.70

5.00

Vijayawada 4.20

Thane

Waste Water Management

Solid Waste Management Tirupati

5.01

5.00

Reduced Pollution

4.42

5.00

Ludhiana

doctors and specialists. There are power cuts of 5-6 hours every day.

To collect data cities were invited to a data collation exercise. It was performed through an online data entry portal. Departments were asked to provide data to 500 questions.

The cities that had strong systems to generate the data and reporting them along with the evidence base history of planning (City Sanitation Plan, Mobility Plan etc.), were better equipped to provide data and thus found their performance better. Cities that lacked the record keeping systems were found at disadvantage.

To receive quality data, cities were asked to present right data, and a higher weightage incentive was deployed for indicators backed up by supporting documents.

The cities that could support the data provide with strong secondary documents (ex. Slips, DPRs, City Mobility Plans etc.) were given due weightage in their score. Three layered data check and audit was done to ensure the accuracy.

5.00

As per the urban affairs minister this was the first attempt to “empirically capture ease of living” that citizens need to be provided by the state. This survey was one of the kinds globally in terms of coverage and scale. The indicators were adapted from various national and international sets.

This initiative of ministry is to help the cities assess the quality of living on national level. It was initiated to encourage cities towards urban planning and management. This will create a shift to data driven and outcome based approach. This could help in developing policies and actions and create a competitive approach among the cities. This will generate acute interest, critiques, comparisons, and analysis from citizens and experts.

It will help cities to get investments and improve tourism. The ‘Ease of Living’ standards are linked with Sustainable development goals (SDGs), and will help in systematic tracking of SDGs in the urban areas. Eight out of 17 SDGs are directly linked with the assessment framework of ‘Ease of Living Index’.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

23

NEWS feature

400 dead. 300,000 displaced.

Kerala faces worst flood in 100 years

K

erala witnessed the most unprecedented natural disaster in a century, which has brought the state almost to a standstill over a span of days and called for heavy relief and rescue operations. A disaster of this scale has reportedly never been seen in Kerala since the great flood of 1924, which is described as the “Disaster of monstrous dimensions” claimed to have taken 1000 lives and caused massive infrastructural and psychological damage.

The flood which Kerala is facing presently has nearly taken 370 lives, displaced 780,000 and caused `50,000 crore worth of damage as per some estimates. The floods after opening of around 80 dams, washed away 10,000 kms of roads, have caused massive infrastructural damage, as the flowing water entered the homes of common, and damaged many buildings. The disaster has forced around 223,139

24 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

people to live in 1500 plus relief camps; families have been separated and great psychological damage has been caused.

Among the most affected areas of the state are many village roads especially in the hilly region close to Wayanad and Idukku districts and mudslides which have completely cut-off certain parts such as Nelliyampathy. Many institutional buildings and educational institutions have been affected, as many of them have been converted into relief camps. Kochi international airport has been shut down for over a week, resulting in delayed supply of relief material into the state.

What has triggered the floods?

Undoubtedly, the answer is heavy rains that Kerala has seen in the month of August, which was 255 per cent more than normal rainfall every year. This deadly impact of incessant rains got aggravated when combined with the

fallout of continued environmental neglect, the high density of population and unique geography of the state. As per the experts, the flood could have been easily avoided if better management would have been done before, as one of the major reasons of flood as pointed out was the overflowing of dams, which resulted in the dams releasing water into already flooded areas.

According to the experts many dams that have been built in India are built explicitly for flood control, in theory, and they all have the properties to minimize flood damage. But the two largest dams of Kerala - Idukki and Idamalayarwhich together store 21.3 per cent of the Periyar’s (Kerala’s longest river) annual flow, which greatly limit the flood’s damage-were already near full capacity by July-end even as rains were relatively weak during that period.

When the rains arrived in August, the Idukki dam was forced to release water into the flooded area.

Kerala, which enjoys the prestigious tag “God’s Own Country” had to face God’s wrath in an unprecedented way, denting the State’s ‘Green’ image and causing untold misery

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People said “Filling up the reservoirs before the end of the monsoon is an invitation to disaster; while dams can help control floods, they need to be managed properly”.

Experts believe that imprudent use of land is accountable for making some regions of the state more prone to floods and landslides. Incursions into areas of rivers that have dried up and mountainous areas have rendered settlements in their neighbourhood susceptible to the quirkiness of nature.

Further, Kerala is yet to implement recommendations of the Gadgil Committee on conservation of Western Ghats, which was submitted in August 2011. The Gadgil Committee was originated by the Centre in 2010 over concerns that human intervention was changing the face of the Western Ghats, the mountain range liable for breaking down cloud formations and

dissipating rainfall. Ecologist Madhav Gadgil, who headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also claimed that the floods Kerala is facing were a man-made disaster as illegal constructions on river beds and unauthorised stone quarrying contributed to the calamity.

Rescue and relief operations

The authorities faced major problem in the rescue operations in major part of flood affected regions as people refused to move to relief camps or safe places even after the ground floor or the premises were flooded as they expected water to recede soon. Many others couldn’t reach out to rescue teams as power supply and telecommunications failure made it difficult to contact others. However as the water started to recede in some areas, authorities have focused on relief operation and fast tracked their supply of food, water and

medicines. Many different authorities, private firms, and countries have come to the aid the state in numerous ways. ISRO has placed five satellites Oceansat-2, RESOURCESAT-2, CARTOSAT-2 and 2A and INSAT 3DR for monitoring, data collection and real time image providing facilities, for the rescue operation to be fast tracked and more and more people to be saved early.

The finance ministry has announced that it will exempt goods and service tax on the goods imported or supplied for flood relief operations in Kerala from basic customs duty and Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) till December 31, 2018, after a letter of request was received by Piyush Goel Union Finance Minister from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In a wake of unpredictable events which have happened in Kerala, one more has come up as Ministry of Earth Sciences have warned of tropical cyclone to hit Kerala next month.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

25

COVER STORY Urban Policy

The cure for

urban policy paralysis is coming soon!

India, after China, has the second largest urban population in the world and its cities contribute over 55% to national GDP. Yet, in the last 72 years of post-independence era, the nation remained stuck to the maxim that its soul resides in its villages. Policy makers had put the requirements of a strong and robust urban policy regime on the backburner until the beginning of this year. The government of India is coming out with a National Urban Policy. An analytical report to understand the requirements of cities and expectations from the proposed policy framework...

technology

swachh bharat governance climate change policy smart city

transformation

mobility jnNURM public space

26 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

amrut

ndia has remained an agrarian society for long but the future is apparently looking different.

Since more people stayed in villages, just 3 out of 10 people were living in cities for quite long,the focus of Indian polity remained onrural development in the last 70 years.

The situation is rapidly changing and the present cities are almost full to the brim and facing extreme stress on their resources and services. It is expected that by 2030, the population in Indian cities will rise upto 600 million. In the times cities are failing on many fronts including climate resilience, it is imperative for the government to revisit its urban policy regime and make requisite amendments to suit the present demands of the cities. The present government is planning to come up with such a framework—National Urban Policy. But before we discuss the issue in detail, it is important to understand what have policymakers done for cities in independent India?

What can we learn from our erstwhile initiatives?

is the large-scale planning and development of the new capital city of Chandigarh during the 1950s and 1960s. The city was considered a dream city of India’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru and was planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier. The city gained the tag of the first planned city of India.

In following years, India like many other countries of the world followed the five-year planning model of development. The first two five-year plans of Government of India did not have much for cities and some state governments that had big cities were taking steps to improve the functioning of their cities but all of them were doing things in silos. There was no common link connecting them.

The third five-year plan (1961-66) was a turning point for planned urban planning in India as itstressed on town and cities in balanced regional planning. Other important milestones of urbanisation in post-independent India include the formation of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 1974, passing of Urban Land Ceiling Act during the fifth five-year plan period in 1976, and a government mandate to develop small and medium-size towns during the sixth five-year plan. The eighth fiveyear plan had development scheme for megacities including Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. During the same period, the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) was passed that is still waiting to be implemented in letter and spirit and most corporations are crying for more administrative and financial powers. In between, some states also took initiatives to improve their cities.

In Calcutta now Kolkata, metro service was introduced and it took almost twenty years to reach another city that was Delhi. The pace of development in cities has been sluggish to this extent.

Post-independence urbanisation

National Commission on Urbanisation

Abhishek Pandey | Editor

I

One of the few post-independence antecedents for incorporating urban infrastructure, policy and governance

In the 21st century, JnNURM could be one of the first transformative initiatives of the Government of India

for changing the face of its cities but a few other initiatives were taken in the late eighties after it was realized that cities’ population is growing faster than their rural counterparts. In 1986, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi constituted the National Commission on Urbanisation. Charles Correa and Dr MN Buch were appointed its Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.

Other members of the Commission included BG Fernandez, Kirti Shah, Cyrus Guzder, Ashish Bose, Nilay Chaudhary, Xerxes Desai, VK Pathak, Amit Sen and Naresh Nared was appointed as Member Secretary. The Commission had a mix of architects, planners, industrialists, economists, environmental engineering experts and administrators. The Commission submitted its final report to the PMO in August 1988. But the report turned out to be of no use, not because it was not laid down well but it was submitted and was left to gather dust since then.

MS Buch in one of his write-ups recently wrote: “In fact, the Census of India tells us that between 1901 and 2011 the total population of India grew five-fold, whereas the urban population increased seventeen times.

However, in these 110 years, the urban population as a proportion of the total population grew three-fold.” He explains the role of the Commission saying: “decaying urban infrastructure, defective planning, administrative inefficiencies and inadequate resource mobilisation and allocation are all part of the urban malaise. Therefore, it was decided by the government to set up a Commission to examine the whole gamut of urbanisation and facilitate the formulation of policy which could set matters right.”

In the first volume of its report, the National Urban Commission observed that the urban situation in India was one of deep crisis and called for measures analogous to those used “when a house is on fire, or there is a city-wide epidemic”. The Commission formed a view, which can best beillustrated by a quotation from the same volume of the Commission’s report “Having examined the crucial issues (from

www.urbanupdate.in www.urbanupdate.in||August August2018 2018

27

resource mobilization and land supply policies to water and shelter for the poor) this Commission has identified … viable programmes … We must acknowledge the positive aspects of cities and the opportunities which they represent. Urbanisation is a necessary concomitant of the development path we have chosen”.

Interestingly, the Commission that was made for providing a roadmap for cities suggested that ‘development and reform must be carried out with the greatest urgency within rural India’ to solve the problems of cities in India. In addition to this, Commission strongly suggested an active urbanisation policy for building a prosperous economy.

The Commission was of the view that “Instead of remaining isolated centres of economic activity, with weak linkages with the rural hinterland, the cities must become vibrant.”

Tracking urban reforms

The present government has taken a slew of measures for transforming urban spaces with its initiatives such as Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan among others. Earlier governments too have initiated some major urban reforms some here and few there but none of them brought

desired results; as envisioned while formulating the policy. The major one among the failed ones was Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) that was launched in 2005 by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The objective was to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in cities but even after the Mission was over in 2014. There was no uniform yardstick on which its success could be measured effectively.

However, many scholars and critics have appreciated the reforms under this Mission and they believe it laid down the foundation for institutional and infrastructure reforms in cities while some critics believed that it promoted centralization of urban governance,

In 1986, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi constituted the National Commission on Urbanisation. Charles Correa and Dr MN Buch were appointed its Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively. Other members of the Commission included BG Fernandez, Kirti Shah, Cyrus Guzder, Ashish Bose, Nilay Chaudhary, Xerxes Desai, VK Pathak, Amit Sen and Naresh Nared was appointed as Member Secretary. The Commission had a mix of architects, planners, industrialists, economists, environmental engineering experts and administrators. The Commission submitted its final report to the PMO in August 1988. But the report turned out to be of no use, not because it was not laid down well but it was submitted and was left to gather dust since then.

28 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

weakened role of urban local bodies especially of elected representatives, affected public participation in planning of cities’ projects, and induced inter-city and intracity inequalities in planning. The Mission almost did nothing to improve the financial condition of urban local bodies as most of the funds for the programs under the Mission was coming from the Central and State governments.

The Mission was launched for a period of seven years (2005-2012) but later it was extended for two more years, and around 50,000 cr was committed by the government which was also raised to 66,000 cr. As per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs reports, the Mission strived to create economically productive, efficient, equitable, and responsive cities by integrated development of infrastructure services; securing linkages between asset creation and maintenance for long-run project sustainability; accelerating the flow of investment into urban infrastructure services; planned development of cities and universalisation of urban services so as to ensure availability for the urban poor.

David Sadoway of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada writes about his understanding of the JnNURM in Economic and Political Weekly. The article’JnNURM as a Window on Urban Governance’that was co-authored

by Govind Gopakumar of Concordia

University Montreal, Vinay Baindur and Madhav G Badami of McGill University, says: “The JNNURM’s aspirations were belied by its realities of progressive centralization, degraded local capacities, commercially-oriented infrastructure development, and intercity and intra-city inequalities.”

The article also talks about the role played by the consultancies and the limited or almost non-existent role of public participation. The article adds: “At the level of policy formulation, the numerous procedures associated with executing the JNNURM also became fertile ground for consultancy work. The introduction of policies, guidelines, or evaluations—driven by consultants— created important entry points for them to insert themselves again into managerial or other influential roles...

Many consultant-authored CDPs were practically identical, despite the wide variation in the socio-economic, cultural, and geographical attributes of Indian cities; and often, their technology recommendations were similarly unsuited to the context. According to one informant, the consultants “should at least be congratulated that they didn’t mix up the names of the cities on the different CDPs”.”

The dependency of cities on the third party ‘consultants’, many of which were ‘foreign’ and had no or little understanding of the cities made plans of the cities and those were faraway from the ground realities.

This also took away an opportunity from the municipal officials to learn the intricacies of the subject and get involved in the process and contribute to sustainable development in the long run. Under the Mission, the instructions and directives were coming from the top and corporations were asked to implement. This was corrected in the program launched by the present government and capacity building of municipal officials and elected representatives were features one of the key components. In a way, JnNURM taught what would not work for cities.

National Urban Policy

Cities in India are in a chaotic mess.

And, one of the reasons is that they grew without having any policy guiding them towards a specific idea of development.

Slums mushroomed when the huge movement of people started happening and the housing facilities were neither available nor affordable to them.

Mumbai is a fine example of this kind of development as 55 per cent of the city’s population still lives in slums. Every city in India has been facing the issue of affordable housing which could not be solved yet.

It is not expected that the upcoming National Urban Policy will find a solution to this and have a feasible solution for cities to get rid of slums, their redevelopment and plans to avoid creation of new slums in upcoming new

Under JnNURM, many consultant-authored City Development Plans were practically identical, despite the wide variation in the socio-economic, cultural, and geographical attributes of Indian cities; and often, their technology recommendations were similarly unsuited to the context. According to one informant, the consultants “should at least be congratulated that they didn’t mix up the names of the cities on the different CDPs” Economic and Political Weekly

cities. Another problem that is glaring in the face is of mobility in cities. A city like Bengaluru that became the hub of IT companies is plagued with traffic snarls. Sometimes, if you see on Google Map, the time to reach a destination on foot is say 15 minutes and by car, it’s over an hour.

The most important aspect of creating great cities is making the municipalities stronger. The government must include some provision through which urban local bodies can become selfsufficient financially. It is to be noted that Indian cities spend very less on urban infrastructure in comparison to their counterparts around the globe.

According to reports, India spends about $17 per capita annually on urban infrastructure projects, against a global benchmark of $100 and China’s $116.

What is needed in India are not just “smart cities” but also livable and inclusive cities that provide ease of living for its citizens without any discrimination. It is expected that the upcoming policy will address the problems of every urban stakeholder and more important, will chalk out a way through which urban local bodies could promote sustainable development.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

29

leaderspeak Smart Villages

Make villages smarter before you make cities smart To solve the problems of urbanisation, policymakers must look at our rural habitats, improve their basic infrastructure and promote self-sufficient economic activities. These initiatives can significantly reduce the burden on cities’ services and infrastructure. How can a village be developed as a smart one? This is a milliondollar question. For this, we will first need to understand what actually makes a village smart...

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

R

ural-urban migration is putting severe strain on urban infrastructure.

There is a crying need to arrest this trend. But the policymakers and governments have no clear-cut solutions. It is evident that until rural areas have adequate economic opportunities and facilities, the exodus is bound to continue.

One way is to make villages smart.

So, what is a smart village? According to one of the accepted definitions of the term, a smart village is one where people have access to quality education and healthcare, access to clean drinking water, sanitation and nutrition, improved security, gender equality and democratic engagement with communities. In order to develop a smart village, all the above criteria need to be met and a sustainable environment needs to be created which is supportive of efforts to develop a smart village successfully.

The empowerment of Panchayat Raj

30 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Institutions (PRIs) should also be on the cards of the governments if they want to create smart villages. The scheme like AMRUT in cities can also be introduced for capacity building of elected representatives in villages and officials at village and block level.

Such programs can be started on a pilot basis in some villages and later, these can be scaled up on the basis of lessons learnt. The world may be becoming increasingly urban but a large number of people will continue to live in villages. There is no doubt that we need to improve services and infrastructure in cities but villages cannot be ignored. Villages can also be instrumental in achieving the objectives under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Villages in the last couple of decades have changed a lot because of the increase in access to communication technology. But we need to look at the rural sectors which need immediate attention.

Education: Education in villages has always been a matter of concern.

There are many reasons. The first one is unavailability of good academic infrastructure. A village community must have access to education which would empower them with the knowledge required to create better lives for the people around them.

Therefore, this is probably one of the most important criteria when it comes to developing a smart village.

In this direction, many initiatives have been taken by central and state governments and the gap is reducing.

The issues relating to the primary education have been addressed but the lack of good academic institutions for higher studies still remain a challenge. This has to be addressed.

Programmes can be designed to impart education in subjects relevant to the rural landscape – agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, etc.

Healthcare: Big cities have robust healthcare systems but for our villages,

a unified healthcare system needs to be developed which guarantees access to healthcare for every citizen. A community cannot thrive if the people can’t even access basic healthcare.

Governments need to think beyond primary health centres for villages.

Drinking water and sanitation: Clean drinking water is a basic need for survival. Similarly, proper sanitation is also required to ensure that people live healthy and fulfilling lives. Access to piped water supply is significantly

lower in rural areas. Provision of better civic services has to be strengthened in rural areas. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is improving sanitation and many Indian villages have become open defecation free already.

Nutrition: The government of India has launched the Right to Food initiative. Still, there are many hurdles in achieving zero hunger in remote villages and many people still sleep without food. The performance of India on Hunger Index underlines this

The empowerment of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) should also be on the cards of the governments if they want to create smart villages.

The scheme like AMRUT in cities can also be introduced for capacity building of elected representatives in villages and officials at village and block level. Such programs can be started on a pilot basis in some villages and later, these can be scaled up on the basis of lessons learnt

issue. Government has Employment Guarantee schemes and these can be strengthened by improving economic opportunities in rural areas by promoting small and medium scale industries.

Connectivity and security: We are in the age where connectivity and security are two of the most fundamental requirements. Proper policing and maintenance of law and order are paramount for the safety and security of a community.

Connectivity is another aspect which needs to be looked into, irrespective of whether we are talking about the roads, transport or digital and mobile connectivity. Only when a village meets the above criteria and is able to deliver them without hiccups will it meet the status of a smart village.

People in villages still lead simple lives. Although they are connected nowadays with cell phones and digital television transmission, yet they are cut off from the mainstream of urban areas due to poor road connectivity and the market for their agricultural commodities.

The villages do not have enough electricity supply and all work dependent on electricity is affected.

The health, educational and civil facilities are also either absent or not up to the mark. Making such villages as ‘Smart Villages’ is surely a noble program announced by Government.

But no one in villages has seen what exactly, in the Indian context, smart village means. Government of India has started Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) and its vision statement says: “Development of a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural community life with a focus on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a cluster of “Rurban villages”. The irony is that Rurban Mission has been a nonstarter and exists on paper only. Rural Development Ministers of various states are not even interested in it.

That is a tragedy.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

31

Article city GOVERNANCE

Crisis of urban governance in India In the light of rapid urbanisation, it is important to cross the present boundaries of the existing laws and enact mandatory provisions that would give real powers to urban local bodies. At a practical level, the policy makers must think of what is doable if revolutionary changes are not possible at once

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

U

Urbanisation boom is a fact in India and the country is in the midst of this process. If we take the figures of Census 2011, 377 million Indians comprising 31.1% of the total population lived in urban areas. According to UN-habitat world series report this could have risen to 420 million in 2015. India’s level of urbanisation is lower than some other developing countries experiencing massive urbanisation. For example, China (45%), Indonesia (54%), Mexico (78%) and Brazil (87%). Looking ahead, by 2030, India’s urban population is projected to increase to 600 million.

This positive trend is also accompanied by its own unique set of issues. Indian cities are confronted with challenges in terms of deficits in infrastructure, governance and sustainability. These problems are going to aggravate in the near future with rapid urbanisation, and can also possibly cumulatively pose a challenge to India’s growth trajectory.

Keeping in mind the challenges that the country is going to confront in future, the government launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)).

This was intended to harness the agglomeration economies of the urban centres and making cities engines of

32 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

growth. The policy lays emphasis on creating infrastructure, improving service delivery, making cities smarter for improved livelihood and providing for faster and integrated mobility. It also envisages convergence across various initiatives taken by the government such as AMRUT, Smart Cities, HRIDAY (National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana), Pradhan MantriAwasYojana and Swachh Bharat.

The intent must be matched with a corresponding mobilization of resources. For 2018-19, the government increased the budget for the housing and urban affairs ministry by 2.8%, to Rs41,765 crore. The government has also formulated separate policies for urban sanitation, transport, transitoriented development. It also has come forward with a national mission on sustainable habitat, each with a specific mandate and vision. The government wants that each individual should have a house by 2022.

Lack of comprehensive framework

But what is lacking is a comprehensive framework that takes a holistic approach to the interrelated challenges that have an impact on the growth of cities. Sustainable urban development needs to be led by the central

government working closely with state and local governments.

Need of National Urban Policy

India needs to address this on urgent basis to salvage the situation. The country needs to develop its own national urban policy (NUP) as an instrument for applying a coherent set of interventions in relation to the future growth of cities, in partnership with all stakeholders. Globally, around one-third of countries have a NUP in place.

The importance and objectives of the cities must be outlined and highlighted in that policy. There is a need to update our definition of urban areas, understand the importance of cities and what we can achieve through urbanisation with responsive infrastructure.

Sunita Sanghi, senior adviser and public policy specialist at NITI Aayogsays “India needs to fine-tune this vision in light of the aspirations of citizens, state capabilities, historical legacy, cultural context and present economic situation.Once the vision is outlined, this national framework will also highlight the key enablers, crosscutting principles, desired outputs and eventual outcomes. All these

ingredients will further direct the policy discourse towards urban issues— which, unfortunately, have remained on the back burner for the major part of independent India’s history.”

Complexities of urbanisation

There is no denying the fact that urbanisation in India is a complex issue because majority of city-related issues are state subjects. States need to take the lead in order to not only make cities vibrant economic centres but also propel national economic growth. But what is required is to build adequate capacity at the state/urban local bodies level to prepare cities for future challenges. The National Urban Policy needs to set the common minimum agenda, involving participation of all stakeholders.

If we look at NUP across the globe national urban policy document identifies objectives of productivity, sustainability, livability and governance as key agenda drivers for its cities. It is actually required in India too. Setting up such an agenda would encourage programmes and policies to be integrated and aim at operationalizing the spirit of the 74th Amendment.

The importance of such a common

minimum agenda is of immense importance. It is required to get the entire eco-system of urban-related stakeholders on the same page as a starting point. The problem is that it’s not happening and every stake holder is working independently without any coordination.

The important point is that 21st century is different from the traditional urban world of 20th century. It is much more complex today. Earlier the stakeholders were only citizens, government and civil society to a large extent. The present urban scenario has new stakeholders who are more connected than ever. There are players who may not be physically present in the cities of operation but make the situation more complex Sunita Sanghi, of NITI Aayogsays “various aggregators like Uber and Amazon; distance learning universities; the active participation of non-resident Indians; service aggregators such as UrbanClap present a complex web of interdependent and interconnected stakeholders. A NUP framework would recognize all these stakeholders and prevent cities from seeing through these participants. Once their presence is acknowledged, states and cities would be better placed to develop the

right processes and systems to utilize the potential of these stakeholders.”

Constitutional changes required

A National Urban Policy will provide a framework for states, which would be encouraged and nudged to adopt a state version of this policy. Urban development in 21st century India needs to change and redefine the paradigm of the process in order to toensure network effects. This is a prerequisite. It’s a must for leveraging urbanisation to the fullest extent and with the greatest efficiency. A solution to India’s current urban woes would not be possible without such a stepping stone and will be considerably more difficult otherwise.

India’s urbanisation process has laid bare the crisis, or rather absence of urban governance. India’s urban local bodies, which are democratic institutions conceived to be closest to the citizens, have almost been rendered inefficient by the governments at the Centre and the States. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act was brought to devolve power to urban local bodies has till now turned out to be merely a cosmetic exercise which has not brought about any changes in the way our municipalities are governed.

States continue to have overriding powers and accountability structures in urban areas are weak. Urban local bodies are still devoid of the three most powerful tools — legal, financial and administrative. In facturban local bodies still remain a tool of party politics at the grass-root level.

In the light of rapidurbanisation, it is important to cross the present boundaries of the existing laws and enact mandatory provisions that would give real powers to urban local bodies. This must be done with the conviction of making the country a genuine democracy. At a practical level, the policy makers must think of what is doable if revolutionary changes are not possible at once. There is an urgent need to review existing constitutional framework to redefine urban governance.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

33

one on one CP Singh

We thought of creating a greater Ranchi but then there is opposition from various groups. “We will sacrifice our lives but not our land”. Now both the things are not possible. We cannot take anybody’s land forcibly. They have to be convinced Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

Land acquisition is a hindrance in We see urbanization is a fact that governments across India are facing.

You are also urban development minister of Jharkhand. Since the time your government came to power in Jharkhand, what is the vision that you moving ahead with?

The first thing that we have to recognise is that urban population is burgeoning every day. People from villages are migrating to cities in large numbers.

They come to cities with their dreams.

When they come to cities they expect a better living standard, basic civic amenities like good roads, street lights, cleanliness, parks, bus stands and other basic needs that they look for. In addition they wish for a better accommodation.

The wish of Prime Minister Modi is that every citizen in this country should have their own house by 2022. We are building houses under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana. We are also building toilets in every house if it’s not there.

Also we are building community toilets in crowded areas.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a crucial and critical project of the government of India. What have you

34 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

done in this regard?

Yes. We have taken it on priority. We have made urinals in the streets so that people don’t relieve themselves in the open. In Jharkhand all the cities and towns are open defecation free.

We are trying to improve upon it.

Sewerage and drainages are being laid.

In addition let me add that street lights have been changed. We have replaced them with LED lights. Even in the houses it is being Another big scheme of the government is skill mission. What is being done on that front?

It’s a dream project of Prime Minister.

He believes that there are all kind of people in cities, well educated, less educated, poor people. Our young generation is sitting unemployed. The idea is to skill them so that they get employment. They are being skilled and just skill them and leave them alone but also ensure that they get the placement. People are looking at cities and towns for a better future and the policies of government are directed towards that. But let me add we are not just concentrating on cities. We are

equally concerned about villages. We are working on both.

Right, I have travelled in Jharkhand for last few days. I saw that the condition of roads and highways is very good.

But as said earlier that people are migrating from villages to cities, it is causing congestion. How are you trying to deal with that?

I believe that when a city is being set up it must be according to new and modern ideas. What has happened is that people in the real estate sector, in the greed of making more money, did not focus on infrastructure. For example, they did not leave space for the roads and narrowed it. There was a movement for Jharkhand state for many years but nobody thought that it will become a reality one day. But when it happened, it came with its own problems. Take for example Ranchi. It became capital once Jharkhand came into existence. Roads are the same. If you want to make it wider the problem that you face is that no one is willing to give land. And this does not apply only to roads. It’s true for any project you want to take up for public good. Land is

CP Singh UD Minister of State Jharkhand

developmental work Our young generation is sitting unemployed. The idea is to skill them so that they get employment.

They are being skilled and just skill them and leave them alone but also ensure that they get the placement. People are looking at cities and towns for a better future and the policies of government are directed towards that. But let me add we are not just concentrating on cities. We are equally concerned about villages. We are working on both”

a big problem. The construction of ring road ran into problem precisely because of this reason. But I hope this will be sorted out soon and construction will be completed. Once that happens the big vehicles will not come inside the city. We are trying to set up a transport hub outside the city, that will also help to mitigate the situation. There is a need to create awareness that we also need to focus on our civic sense. This cannot just be the responsibility of the government, every citizen has to cooperate. This is true not just about Ranchi but all other cities in the state.

If we take the overall national picture,

today Jharkhand though lagging behind is in a much better state. I am looking at 2050. More and more people will migrate to cities. And from that point of view there is a problem. We thought of creating a greater Ranchi but then there is opposition from various groups. We will sacrifice our lives but not our land.

Now both the things are not possible.

We cannot take anybody’s land forcibly.

They have to be convinced. We are trying to get rid of congestion.

You made an important point that Jharkhand is lagging behind so far as urbanization is concerned. It’s such a

rich state in terms of natural resources and industrial production such as minerals, then why is it so?

Let’s not look at it just in terms of Jharkhand. I believe and if you look at it closely you will find that in any mineral rich state whether in India or even in other countries the situation is the same. Take for example South Africa, it’s a mineral rich country but the situation is the same. Now what exactly is the reason behind it, I have not gone deeper into it. But if I try to analyse it, I once went to Chennai and found there are 18000 thousand villages. It’s a big state. Jharkhand is a small state but it has 32000 villages. But I can say this much that irrigation facilities have been provided in the villages and it will stop migration from villages to the cities. What I am saying is based on 2011 census, when the next census happens there will be drastic changes.

So what is your assessment on migration? Have the numbers gone down or gone up?

No, there is no decrease of numbers.

People are still coming in large numbers. The population is increasing by the day. Land is limited in a family and then there are divisions. So that land is not enough for a person to sustain his family so he is going to cities to earn. The population is increasing in the cities because there are better opportunities of employment whether inside Jharkhand or out of the state.

Finally let me ask you; Government of Jharkhand has signed a MoU with All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment to skill the youth of Jharkhand. Two mega skill centres have become operational at Ranchi and Madhupur. They are getting placements as well. Your thoughts?

AIILSG is doing great work in the state.

The good thing is that the youth who are getting skilled are being placed as well. That is what the vision of the government is. I know there are long term policies and immediate results may not be seen. But I hope our partners like AIILSG will keep up the momentum.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

35

ARTICLE Garbage menace

Why should urban planners take the SC observations seriously?

India’s big cities like Delhi and Mumbai has been in the news for poor management of their waste. In this connection, the apex court has rapped the local and state governments for not being able to handle the situation efficiently. Indian cities need to look within and must strengthen their capacities and not allow the situation to go out of their hands

O

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India

n the 6th of August, the Supreme Court (SC) was found quite infuriated by the fact that the East Delhi Municipal Corporation had identified a garbage dumping site in Sonia Vihar, allegedly without taking consent of the local residents. In fact, the SC bench of Justice M B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta made a rather scathing remark while hearing a case in this regard as it said, “Just because underprivileged persons are staying there (in Sonia Vihar), it does not mean you can dump garbage in front of their houses. Try dumping it outside (L-G’s residence) Raj Niwas or in this area (NDMC).”

This remark comes within a month of another such strong remark by the SC on Delhi’s ever increasing garbage menace.

On July 10, the SC had said how Delhi was being buried under “mountains of garbage” and that the government was doing nothing. Just about three and a half months before that, on March 27, it had said how the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi would soon match the height of the iconic QutubMinar and that red beacon lights might have to be used to

36 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

ward off aircrafts flying that way. The QutubMinar is about 73-metre high.

The SC has been constantly slamming the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of complacency in this regard. During the recent hearing, the SC said that Delhi was facing almost an “emergency situation”. The city generates 3,600 tonnes of solid waste every day and it was facing an “emergency situation” as a result.The court observed, “We are in an emergency situation and unfortunately, your response is not. As per a hospital report, 50 per cent of Delhi citizens are susceptible to lung cancer even without smoking. NITI Aayog report says Delhi will have no water by 2020. At least 50 per cent of citizens will leave because of this.”

Delhi’s garbage menace came to national and international limelight in September last year when collapse – owing to incessant rains – of Gaziapur landfill, one of the biggest landfills of the city, swept many people into nearby canals, killed two people and spread polluted water in a huge area. According to some reports, dumping in this landfill site should have stopped fifteen years ago when the piled garbage reached

about 20 metres high. However, when it collapsed, the height of the mount was more than 50 metres.

Increasing pollution load

Delhi is not alone.Mumbai has also been in the news for problems concerning garbage management.Mumbai, as per government data, is the largest waste

generator among Indian cities during the last more than one and half decade period. According to the data published in EnviStats 2018 from the Central Statistics Office, the city’s wastes have grown by about 105 times in 17 years between 1999 and 2016.

The city now generates about 11,000 tonnes per day (TPD) as against the 5,355 TPD it was generating in 1999.

Interestingly, Delhi generates 8700 TPD, that’s almost two and half times more than the figure the SC bench mentioned about. So, Delhi’s “garbage emergency” is much worse than the SC currently envisages.

Garbage dumping yards are piling up across the country. Our municipal bodies are dumping the solid wastes irresponsibly, and most of the times illegally, in such dumping grounds and many other open places including river beds, flood plains, abandoned water bodies, crop fields and nearby villages.

Data from government sources put it that Indian cities generate around 1.43 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of garbage daily, of which, barely a quarter – that is about 35,600 MT – is being processed.

Garbage dumped in the open does not only spread stinky smells but pollutes the nearby soil, air, surface water bodies and ground water sources.

Open garbage dumping has also several negative health implications.

Groundwater contamination

Recently, the government revealed to the Parliament that groundwater in more than 50 percent districts of India are facing high level of contamination by toxic elements such as nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, iron and heavy metals.

While groundwater in 386 districts was found with presence of excess nitrate, that in 335 districts was found with fluoride contamination, 301 with iron, 212 with salinity, 153 with arsenic, 93 with lead, 30 with chromium and 24 with cadmium contamination.

Landfills are among the major sources of such contamination, the government admitted.

Municipal landfills as well as illegal dumping of garbage on the roadsides and other areas put our groundwater resources at severe risk. The wastes contain several types of synthetic materials including plastics, oils, pesticides and solvents. All of these can go down the ground as pollutants.

According to the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, toxic leachates from landfills are among the major groundwater quality risks.

Many of these pollutants can cause health risks such as nervous system disorders, kidney and liver ailments, intestinal and stomach distress, anaemia, cancer, damage of

reproductive systems, damage of lungs and bones, high blood pressure, changes in blood-glucose levels and cholesterol levels and so on and so forth. That’s perhaps the reason we are witnessing manifold increase in such diseases in the society.

Equality in city governance

The recent SC judgement has another strong message for urban planners. It has shown the mirror to the governments about the inherent discriminatory practices they follow in garbage dumping, by taking poor and underprivileged people for granted. The court categorically mentioned that the urban bodies cannot dump wastes near the habitations of the underprivileged people and that the rich people should start segregating their wastes. This speaks of the reality that exists in India’s urban spaces. The poor, slum dwellers and even lower middle class people have to bear the stink, pollution and inconvenience of solid waste generated by the entire city. There exists a clear distinction of treatment meted out to the informal settlements and walled settlements.

The rich generate more wastes due to the high standard of lifestyle – often wasteful – they maintain. It is the responsibility of the urban local bodies to take initiatives to involve the rich in segregating, reusing and proper disposal of wastes. Cities are already finding it difficult to get lands for landfill sites, therefore,segregation and recycling is a sine qua non. More than 75 per cent garbage is recyclable and can generate livelihoods for millions of rag pickers.

This needs to be integrated in urban planning. Urban local bodies must go for sanitary landfills and prevent pollution of soil, air and water bodies including groundwater resources.

This SC case should be an eye opener and pointer to more such litigations to come. The urban planners need to notice this with all seriousness and must go for sustainable waste management practices and inclusive cities.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

37

Article URBAN GOVERNANCE

Who runs our cities?

The recent interventions of the courts on the issues of urban governance raise the question of the efficiency of our existing urban governance mechanism. The article digs deep into­-why are we witnessing such pro-active intervention of the judiciary?

Tikender Singh Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

I

n one of the seminars in which I participated in Delhi on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), I had stated that the foremost town planner in the country is the Supreme Court (SC) of India. This has been substantiated by the intervention of the courts especially the SC in matters related to city governance. The recent comment made by the judges of the apex court - “Mumbai is sinking and Delhi is stinking: where’s the government”, as the article published in Tribune India explains the grim picture of our two important cities. The condition is other cities of the country is more precarious and worse than Mumbai and Delhi.

Varanasi - the city represented by Modi, the PM, is termed as one of the dirtiest cities of the North.

The SC on July 12, reprimanded the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for imposing himself as a superman, according to the hindu, but when it comes to the onus–then passing on the buck to someone else is the way of governance. This was in reference to the garbage disposal in the city of Delhi.

In similar interventions, the Himachal Pradesh High Court virtually metamorphosed into the civic body of Shimla city, to ensure that water is distributed adequately during the summer months. The Chief Justice

38 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

of HP high court was seen visiting the water control room himself and magistrates were assigned the task to ensure that proper water distribution takes place, reported Hindustan Times.

The citizens of Delhi just recently were forced to knock the doors of the court to ensure that 17,000 trees are protected from felling for a housing project in Sarojini Nagar. So, does it mean that the cities will have to be governed by the courts and that too the apex court of the land? Will the courts have to take the initiative for effective delivery of services for the citizens in the cities?

Why are we witnessing such proactive intervention of the judiciary?

Except in Jammu & Kashmir (where the elections to the local bodies have not been held in the recent past) almost all the other states have local body administration. This comprises the elected council, Mayor/President, etc.

Why is it that the local bodies, which were supposed to get the responsibility of managing the cities, through the 74th constitutional amendment have not been able to perform?

The overstepping of the judiciary cannot be ridiculed as the cities have actually failed to deliver!

The 74th constitutional amendment was considered to be a milestone for urban governance. In fact, this year

(2018), happens to be the silver jubilee of the 74th amendment. But 25 years have shown that the cities capacities were not developed and the central and state governments actually controlled them through their representativesthe bureaucracy. The NITI Aayog has admitted the failure to implement the provisions of the afore said amendment according to economic times. Except in a few states, like the Left ruled West Bengal and Kerala and also Madhya Pradesh, where the Mayor in council takes the decisions, in the rest of the country, the real authority in the cities is with the state government appointed bureaucrats.

While reviewing the 74th constitutional amendment in the year 2012-13 through a ‘task force’ headed

by KC Sivaramakrishnan (former secretary of MOUD), of which I was also a member, the task force had castigated the non-devolution of powers and had strongly recommended for financial devolution, according to Center for Policy Research India. The task force had also recommended, for the planning in the city to be handed over to the city administration, instead of para-statals or other bodies like the greater development authorities, which are never answerable to the people.

The neo liberal reforms have further incapacitated the city governments to

perform. The cities not just contribute to over 70 per cent of India’s GDP but also to 90 per cent of the total revenue collection of the government as per the article published by NIUA. Nearly one third of the country, now, lives in the cities and the pace of urbanisation is rapid. The neo liberal paradigm of governance has been highly perilous for city management. It has affected the city management in various ways.

Firstly, the large scale municipal cadres and workforce has reduced substantially, invariably, in all the cities across the country. The hardest hit areas have been water supply & distribution, sanitation, maintenance of infrastructure and such other utilities. The BJP government at the centre has brought in its flagship programmes of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) & the Smart City plan, but all of them have fallen on the ground. The SBM is an utter failure. The human resource that was employed to clean the cities in the past has substantially reduced by over 50 per cent in the post 1990s period. Simultaneously, the planning was so centralized that a ‘one size fits all’ solution was prescribed, which failed miserably.

According to news published on rediff.com, the SC had to comment on the Ghazipur dumping site in Delhi saying it has reached a few metres short of the Qutub Minar height. What an astounding feat that the SBM has achieved in the past few years especially in the national capital!

Secondly, the financial capacity of the cities has been robbed, and through the centralisation of the taxes, the cities become mere adjuncts of the respective state governments. The cities are motivated through foreign and national big-business funded consultants, to move for more user fees for utilities and preferably to outsource them. One of the reasons for the present mess in the solid waste management in the cities is that in almost all the cities, the garbage collection and also its treatment, has been outsourced. The City Sanitation Plans (CSPs) of the cities were planned by international consultants, some of whom had no connection with the ground realities and once the plan got to the implementation stage, they ran away leaving the city in a tizzy.

Thirdly, instead of enhancing the capacities of the cities with multistakeholders participation, the new model of governance, is that of the PPP. The new model of smart cities alienates the cities further from the elected bodies. The Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) formed in the smart cities are registered under the Companies Act. The city’s elected administration is completely aloof of this structure, where investment in the city has been routed through this model. The SPV mainly comprises bureaucrats and other technical staff. The SPV is not even answerable to the elected council. Some of the commentators have termed the formation of SPVs synonymous to writing the obituary of the 74th constitutional amendment.

Fourthly, the plans of the cities, called

the ‘master plans’, or the ‘development plans’, have mainly been the land use plans, without taking into consideration overall urbanisation. The master plans are mainly concerned about the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), or the Floor Space Index (FSI), as termed in some states.

This is nothing more than the land use plan. How city transport, service utilities, sanitation, etc. is to work-hardly finds mention in the master plans. Above all, never have these plans, been inclusive. Take for example, the Delhi Master Plan and its implementation. Though the Delhi Master Plan did mention about social housing, the fact remains that in Delhi the housing projects developed by the DDA, have been 80 per cent for the middle and upper middle classes and just 20 per cent for the poorer sections.

These plans, for the cities, have never (barring a few exceptions) been prepared by the cities. Rather, some development agencies or authorities have been responsible for preparing them. Hence, in such a background, the city which is a live dynamic unit of public life is turning out into a nightmare for the people. No big surprise that nearly 40 per cent in tier I and 60 per cent people in tier II cities live in slums. There is no plan for them.

Only contingency plan works for such areas. Their life and movement is on the basis of spontaneity.

In such an environment, the courts intervene, but with a middle class or upper middle class lens; not realizing that it is a systemic failure. The courts want the cities to be clean, but throwing the ‘city cleaners’ out of the city, uprooting them from their hutments. This is a paradox, which no court order can normalize. What is required is a more decentralized approach of governance where the people participate and have a ‘right to the city’. This right must be not only for material utilities, like water, sanitation and housing, but also for their own planning and governance.

Unfortunately, the courts cannot do that!

(The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.)

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

39

Article civic services

A case study of Nagpur

Need for equitable delivery of municipal services for sustainable urban development Increasing urbanisation is accompanied by demand for more efficient and equitable basic services. Policymakers and local authorities need to focus on innovative ways to achieve quality and sustainability in the service delivery system, which are the essential constituents to achieve Sustainable Urban Development

Dr. Amrita Anand Project Manager-Equi-City

I

ndia in the 21st century has urbanised with the fastest rate than any other time ever.Indian cities are increasing in size and numbers. Urbanisation is critically important not only in terms of economic growth and socio-political evolution but also for international development.

Sustainable urban development highlights the need to achieve balance between the environmental, social and economic considerations within a region.

Increasing urbanisation however poses a challenge for achieving this balance.

About 32 per cent of the Indian population lives in cities. Among the states of India, Maharashtra as a state has relatively high levels of urbanisation of almost over 45 per cent (in top 5 states in India), which isdue to the increasing urban population base of big urban centres like Mumbai and Pune, along with cities like Nagpur and Nashik which are urbanising rapidly too. The levels of increasing urbanisation can be compared at various levels.

40 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Pranita Lakhe Project Associate-Equi-City

As evident from the figure, one can observe that the levels of urbanisation in Nagpur over the period of time have been more than that of Maharashtra (state total) and also that of India (national level). The rate of

urbanisation for India has increased very slowly (from 18 per cent in 1961 to 31.20 per cent in 2011), with the overall increase in the rate of urbanisation being of 13.20 per cent since 1961.

For the state of Maharashtra, around

the same time it is noticed that it was more urbanized (compared to the national level) and the overall increase in urbanisation was recorded as 17.03 per cent from 28.20 per cent in 1961 to 45.23 per cent in 2011. In comparison, Nagpur has experienced a high rise in the level of urbanisation of 16.25 per cent (from52.06 per cent in 1961 to 68.31 per cent in 2011). This increase of 16 per cent is not only the actual number of people which were added to the urban population base but also the increase in number of people demanding efficient Municipal services across the city.When studying the basic services, it can be easily observed that the increase in the number of people in urban areas is unevenly matched with the existing resources and this further affects the provision of basic amenities to all. And with expanding urban base the need for better and efficient municipal services grows ever more.

As accurately put up by the ADB report on sustainable urban development issues, the rapid rate of urbanisation needs to be effectively managed to ensure that the potential economic and social development arising from urbanisation are optimised to reduce poverty, improve the quality of life and protect the environment.

Also, increasing urbanisation and

the commitment towards the SDG’s put tremendous pressure on the ever increasing demand for equitable and efficient basic services. Specifically in the background of SDG 6 which relates to providing clean water and sanitation to all, the focus is on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

This is very important in provision of effective and efficient municipal services resulting in building up of an inclusive and sustainable city thus relating it to SDG 11 which advocates about inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities. Urbanisation can contribute to sustainable growth if managed well by increasing productivity, allowing innovation and new ideas to emerge. There exists a massive gap in India between demand for basic services (prominently sanitation and water supply) and investment in urban development which affects the ultimate goal of achieving sustainable development. In the background of above points this paper will address 2 main objectives: ♦♦ To analyse the levels and distribution of basic services for sanitation and water supply in Nagpur ♦♦ To find out the adequacy/ inadequacy in terms of equitable

distribution of selected services.

Analysis of ground realities

The current study focuses on the provision and level of basic services in Nagpur while comparing the city level data for selected indicators with that of the selected Prabhag level data.

While studying the city level data the selection of Prabhags have been done based on the background research, which identifies various Prabhags in terms of their performance in the service delivery.

After identifying the Prabhags in terms of level of services, 4 Prabhags have been selected (2 in both peripheral and core areas of the city). The Prabhags 2 and 12 lie in the periphery of the city and Prabhag 31 and Prabhag 15 are in the core of the city.

At the next step, selection of indicators has been done at 2 levels.

First based on the SLB report of Nagpur city (2015), whereby those indicators which are relatively poor, i.e. Sewerage and Solid waste and Watersupply (good performance, but taken further critical analysis as it is a major indicator of basic services) have been selected.

Secondly, the indicators have been selected at Prabhag level on the basis of the survey carried out by the EquiCity Project identifying the nature and problems of these services in various Prabhags.

All these indicators were studied in the selected Prabhags at Household level. A questionnaire was prepared for the household survey to understand the on-going practices for the provision of services following a framework formed to measure the quality and efficiency for selected indicators. The survey was limited to four selected Prabhags considering the levels of availability of basic services and geographical location within Nagpur City. A total of nearly 3000 households were surveyed for the study of the selected indicators.

The basic hypothesis is that the level of basic services provided are unequal being better in the core areas and not so good in the peripheral areas of the city. The area selection for the survey includes slum, non-slum, core areas

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

41

and peripheral areas of the city.From the background research on the level of services, the study first identifies the indicators having poor level of services in past.

The study is based on the analysis of the selected indicators of sanitation, under three major services provided

by Nagpur Municipal Corporation and the final indicators selected are-Access to individual Toilets, Individual Toilets connected to Sewerage Network, Percentage of Population facing Water logging problems, Coverage of door-todoor waste collection, Segregation of Municipal solid Waste (Dry and Wet), Coverage of Water supply connections, Percentage population with Drinking water supply.

With the help of SLB data, selected indicators at the city level and also for the selected Prabhags, a comparative analysishas been carried out to study the distribution and performance of level of services at both City and Prabhag level. The detailed comparison and analysis for the selected indicators represented in a concise format is described as below.

♦♦ The provision and access to individual toilets has attracted more attention in India specifically since the initiation of Swachh Bharat Mission launched in 2014.

The mission illustrates that every citizen should have access to toilet in order to make the city free from open defecation. Nagpur has been declared to be an open defecation free city in 2017. With regard to the state of individual toilets, it is evident as shown in the figure 2, that 94 per cent of the total households in Nagpur have individual toilet facility. It is also observed that, even though the selected Prabhags are located in different areas of the city geographically, the percentage of availability of individual toilet is very good as not less than 97 per cent of the population has toilets in each Prabhag. ♦♦ The state of individual toilets connected to sewerage network is also good. Comparing with the city level, only Prabhag 2 and Prabhag 12 (located towards the periphery) have lower values for coverage of

Source: Nagpur Municipal Corporation Database

42 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

individual toilets than the Nagpur average and also that of Prabhag 15 and 31 (core of the city). One point though which needs to be noticed is that although the access to individual toilets is more than 94 per cent in the city households, all the toilets are not covered by sewerage network. Some of the toilets in the city are connected to septic tanks and pit latrines. Hence there is a need to provide sewerage network connection to the rest of the areas to ensure hundred per cent coverage. ♦♦ According to the MoUD there should be 100 per cent coverage of storm water drains within the city but Nagpur performs fairly acutely in this category. Water logging is one of the major problems faced by the citizens, caused due to absence in the water drainage network for the outlet of water through proper channels. Less than half (47 per cent) of the city has access to storm water drains according to the SLB report, which clearly brings out the reason for water logging problems as reported by the citizens. This underlines the urgency to expand and install the network of storm water drains throughout the city at all the uncovered locations efficiently. Also, drains which are not functioning and/or are chocked should be fixed properly and maintained. ♦♦ Solid waste management is one of the prominent issues in terms of efficiency in collection and segregation of waste. Before the implementation of door to door garbage collection system, citizens used to throw household waste in their nearby containers which was further collected by the Municipal Corporation and sent to the dumping site. Due to the new door to door collection scheme, citizens are required to store household waste in the dustbins which is then collected by the door to door waste collection vehicle. As per the SWM rules, the garbage collection vehicle has to collect the waste daily from

the all the areas of the city. The household level collection of waste in Nagpur is very good whereby waste is collected daily from almost 91 per cent of the households.

Analysing at the local level the coverage of waste collection services varies from 20 per cent in Prabhag 2 and 25 per cent in Prabhag 12 (peripheral part of the city)to 55 per cent in Prabhag 15 and 69 per cent in Prabhag 31 (core city). This once again brings out that there is a stark contrast in the provision of these basic services between the core and peripheral areas of the city, and a more equitable approach should be adopted for the overall development of the city. ♦♦ Waste segregation is important in terms of recycling of solid waste.

Effective waste segregation leads to reduced amount of waste to the landfill sites and ultimately better for environment and surrounding areas. Building up a sustainable environment and thus a sustainable city requires that all waste should be recycled and/or reused after segregation, but the amount of segregation of solid waste (dry and wet) in case of Nagpur stands at as low as 32 per cent for the entire city, prominently due to lack of awareness among people as people do not segregate waste at the household level. Comparing the segregation of waste in selected Prabhags, Prabhag 2 and Prabhag 12 (with around 50 per cent segregation) perform worse than the Prabhag 15 and Prabhag 31 (segregation around 67 per cent). There is huge scope for improvement in the segregation of waste in Nagpur and the local authorities should focus on trying to raise awareness regarding the same. ♦♦ The availability of clean and adequate water supply is the basic need of an individual to have a healthy life. The supply of water through individual or community taps is the key responsibility of the Municipal Corporation in terms of provision of basic services. The privatisation in supply of water is a

major initiative towards increasing the effectiveness in delivery and reducing the non-revenue water since 2011 in Nagpur. It is because of which, around 86 per cent households in Nagpur are connected with water supply network (either by individual or community water taps). The condition of water supply in Nagpur when studied at the micro level is again very good with almost 90 per cent coverage of water supply network in all the selected Prabhags, with Prabhag 15 having 99.55 per cent coverage of water supply. As mentioned above this can be attributed to the PPP model of water supply in Nagpur which is also counted as an example of best practices in the country. ♦♦ As outlined by the SDG 6, it is imperative that every citizen should have access to clean drinking water.

According to the Census of India 2011, almost70.62 per cent of the urban population in India has access to tap water, for Maharashtra it is around 89 per cent. In case of Nagpur it is 82.34 per cent, which has increased to 97 per cent as given in the CDP of Nagpur. For the selected households in the selected Prabhags, this figure majorly holds well with more than 80 per cent households having access to drinking water except for Prabhag 2, where it is quite low as 65 per cent. Therefore once again there is a need for providing drinking water facility to the entire population especially in the peripheral areas of the city which are lagging behind than the core areas of the city.

urbanisation are not only limited to increasing need for basic services but also to the efficient and effective management of these services.

In the case of Nagpur, as already mentioned the major problems in the provision of basic services particularly relate to solid waste collection and segregation, provision of sewerage network and the quality of drinking water. There is a clear demarcation in the level of services provided in the core and peripheral areas of the city.

This needs to be eliminated through equitable distribution of services to all regardless of their geographic location.

There has to be conscious effort to cover the entire city through proper storm water drains which is currently at just 47 per cent. In case of waste collection, services in the peripheral parts of the city have to be made efficient and regular. The condition of segregation of waste during and after collection has to be improved by conscious efforts by the Corporation by increasing awareness in the people and strategizing the process of segregation after collection. While the provision of water supply is very good, the quality of water provided to the citizens in some areas needs to improve so as that everybody has access to drinking water.

The precise notion of development needs to be inclusive and sustainable providing everyone with equitable services so that every citizen becomes a conscious part in the process of development.

References ♦♦

♦♦

Conclusions

Generally the major issues that influence the sustainable development of cities can be named as weak policies implementation, inadequate funds, and poor performance in providing municipal services. Urban local bodies are most of the times faced with resource crunch which ultimately affect their performance in the service delivery. But this is just one side of the problem. The challenges of increasing

♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦

CDP for Nagpur, 2041 (Final Report), March 2015, MoUD, GoI and The World Bank Municipal Services in Nagpur Municipal Corporation: A Benchmark Study, A Report

by Equicity Project, 2017 A study of urbanisation in Nagpur district (2010), KirtiBhonsle, India Journal, Institute of Town Planners, Vol.7-3, July-Sept. 2010 Census of India, Registrar General of India, 1961, 1971,1981,1991,2001 and 2011 District Census Handbook and Rural Urban Distribution of Population, Census, 2011 Urban Development: Issues, Challenges, and ADB’s Approach Documentation of Best Practices, Draft Report, Vol. 1, May 2009, NIUA, New Delhi.

Mahalaya Chatterjee, Journal Paper, Centre for Urban Economic Studies, CU

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

43

BOOK REVIEW GOOD READS

A ‘smart book’ on smart cities The book by Dr Sameer Sharma, former Mission Director of Smart Cities, illustrates the background of the concept behind creating 100 Smart Cities in India, provides a definition, tries to show how a global concept that was in vogue since early 90s was localized and parameters and framework for the new urban growth were outlined with direct linkages to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets

Abhilash Khandekar | Sr Journalist

I

ndian bureaucrats are increasingly turning authors.

Some write non-fiction, others are seen indulging in highly rated literary stuff; while another lot of officers like AS Dulat narrate their experiences in government as chronological events with an expose or two in it with eye on sale. Whether they actually make good or bad authors is quite subjective but one thing is certain that the genre of non-fiction writers (read serving bureaucrats) help one get official information of the subject matter that they have dealt with in the government at one point of time or the other. A book authored by a serving bureaucrat and one by a retired officer, however, tells you the difference. Those in office have their limitations but they extensively use official paraphernalia to cull out information from policy documents and decisions to provide a lay reader with something he would not get to read at one place, easily.

That limited purpose such books do serve well.

This one under review for the readers of Urban Update is by a serving IAS officer who was in charge of creating the so called ‘smart cities’ in the country when they were being rolled out after lot of thinking and borrowing knowledge from Bloomberg

44 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Philanthropies of the US. Of course, no one officer can claim the full credit of implementing any government scheme, especially one like the Smart Cities Mission which has pan-Indian presence, but Dr Sharma was there in 2014 as the Mission Director when smart cities and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transport) were being designed on paper and then launched for implementation in June 2015.

Smart Cities Mission is one of the flagship schemes of the Modi government about which a number of apprehensions are now floating around. The real purpose of the scheme which is impacting lakhs and lakhs of urban Indians is being questioned both by the independent urban planners and the citizens alike. The intentions of the Government may have been grand but the implementation is quite shoddy across many states and hence being criticised squarely. Failure in raising of adequate funds by central and state governments is also a big hindrance.

The short book by Dr Sharma, himself an urban expert, gives us the background of the concept, provides a definition, tries to show how a global concept that was in vogue since early 90s was localised and parameters and framework for the new urban growth

were outlined with direct linkages to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.

Reading the book gives you a fair idea of the scheme and its details that had excited Indian urban dwellers initially but now three years after its launch (100 cities are to be made smart) in June 2015, the public excitement has clearly evaporated and is replaced by widespread cynicism. Only the suppliers of electronic wares and civil contractors doing retrofitting works, besides engineers and senior bureaucrats involved in developing the smart cities in various states appear enthused, the reasons for which are nor far to seek! But the people for whom the cities were aimed to be made smarter from what they earlier were are hugely disillusioned. That surely is not the main issue here, but interestingly enough, about the time the book hit the market, Dr Sharma, additional secretary, was transferred from the Urban Development Ministrythe reasons could be administrative or political, or both.

But Sharma, the former Commissioner of Municipal Corporations in Vijayawada and Greater Hyderabad, has taken pains to give some historic perspective of India’s urban development process,

the process of determining a city to be smart such as creating special purpose vehicle, how citizens consultation was stressed upon, strategy for integrated urban planning, economics of smart cities, and explaining integrated areabased development by linking all parameters to the global SDGs, decided by the UN three years ago.

Though many concepts have been picked up from the West and integrated into the plural society of India, the definition of an Indian Smart City is a fusion of the West and Indian situations: “Smart City is one that features but is not centered exclusively on technology and includes a strong emphasis on areabased development, citizen preferences and basic infrastructure and services” the author tells us.

He writes that Smart Cities vision was woven around 24 Smart Features and 79 indicators for which metrics were developed. And that includes details about schools, bicycle paths, parks, solid waste management facilities, hospitals and health care, percentage of slum areas covered through basic services, power supply issues, net density, citizen services available online, hotel occupancy, primary education facilities (studentteacher ratio), sports and cultural activities, open public spaces and green spaces and so on. The author has given detailed tables and graphics to explain the whole idea and tells the readers that Smart Cities are investing 80% in just 2 per cent areas in different cities such as Vellore or Varanasi; Dharmashala and Kalyan (near Mumbai). Dr Sharma also clarifies that the Mission did not start with a definition of a smart city. Instead a ‘ loose fit, light touch’ framework was prepared, and it was then left to the

Book Smart Cities-Unbundled Author Dr Sameer Sharma Publisher Bloomsbury Pages 152

Good

Price Rs 499/-

Reads

Recommendation Read it from library

cities to define their idea of ‘smartness’ and how to achieve it. “The rationale for such a step was that a Smart City has different connotations in India than in other countries. Even in India, a Smart City means different things to different people and the conceptualisation of a Smart City varies across cities, states and regions, depending on the level of development, willingness to change and reform and resources and aspirations of the residents”. There is also adequate reference available in the book to the Leipzig Charter 2007 which the European Countries used for their integrated urban development.

While reading the book it all looks very fine as an idea but when it comes to practice, many failures are being seen in India, mainly due to complex governance pattern. In Ahmedabad, for example, the Wadaj area near

The former Commissioner of Municipal Corporations in Vijayawada and Greater Hyderabad, has taken pains to give some historic perspective of India’s urban development process, the process of determining a city to be smart such as creating special purpose vehicle, how citizens consultation was stressed upon, strategy for integrated urban planning, economics of smart cities, and explaining integrated area-based development by linking all parameters to the global SDGs, decided by the UN three years ago

Sabarmati Ashram was picked up for making it Smart but locals have not seen much change there until recently.

Same is in new Bhopal area where the bicycle concept did not work due to various technological issues as also the typical topography of the city which incidentally saw change in the original location under public pressure to save a large number of trees. In Delhi, forget smartness, the pollution factor is yet to be addressed properly by various agencies of Government of India and the State Government.

But Sharma, drawing upon The Climate Group’s publication, adds in one of the concluding chapters that “becoming a smart city is a process rather than a destination...it’s not a linear process: cities will achieve different levels of maturity in different areas in different times”. His endeavour is to clear some misconceptions that are so common now in the minds of people of India who were supposed to have been the principal stakeholders of the Mission.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.

The Author is a senior journalist and writes on politics, urban affairs and environment. He can be contacted at kabhilash59@gmail.com and Twitter @abhikhandekar]

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2018

45

Urban Agenda policy

New urban policy is open to all possibilities Indian cities are in a transition phase and this seems the right time to frame National Urban Policy that should integrate policy-frameworks for different urban sectors and improve collaboration and cooperation among different development agencies. All stakeholders must participate in formulating the draft and ensure it becomes a guiding force for urban development in future

U

rbanisation in India has been haphazard. Cities and towns sprung up without being planned by governments.

Mostly economic opportunities, industrialization and their geographical proximity to big cities led to their development. Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Navi Mumbai, Gandhi Nagar and Cyberabad are some of the examples. These were not planned from the scratch and urban planners and city leaders of these cities did not have a vision for the growth of cities.

Planning by private builders paved the way for city-layout, design and further, their demands decided what the city required.

The economic prosperity of these cities has been undoubtedly wonderful but a majority of these mushrooming cities lack equitable distribution of urban infrastructure and civic services across the city. Almost every city has the rich and poor divide but this phenomenon is much evident in these cities. We are standing at a perfect time when the urban transformation is picking up its speed. This seems the perfect time for a

46 August 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor, Urban Update

The economic prosperity of these cities has been undoubtedly wonderful but a majority of these mushrooming cities lack equitable distribution of urban infrastructure and civic services across the city.

This seems the perfect time for a course correction course correction.

Governments and other stakeholders must have a handy framework for urban development so that they can steer the direction of sustainable development.

The government of India along with many other nations has committed in Habitat III event that it will have a National Urban Policy. According to report, only one-third countries have a national urban policy in place and a very few among developing countries have such a policy. This is worrying because the trend of urbanization will be witnessed at a fast

pace in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. It is estimated that the global urban population will have increased from less than one billion in 1950 to roughly six billion by 2050, and to around nine billion by 2100, corresponding to close to 85 per cent of the projected total population.

More specifically, a National Urban Policy can strengthen the alignment of national and local policies affecting urban development; empower local authorities and communities, grassroots organizations, social and traditional leaders, women’s movements and civil society at large; promote shared urban dividends throughout the territory and actors, and increase investment in urban areas by improving the business environment; and foster cooperation and collaboration across jurisdictions, for instance by overcoming metropolitan fragmentation. The government must engage various stakeholders and should not formulate a policy just for the compliance of its commitment made at an international forum. This is an opportunity which I think will be utilized for drawing a strategic roadmap for cities of the future.

#StandWith

Kerala

Help the Victims of Kerala Floods

Kerala is in the midst of an unprecedented flood havoc. The calamity has caused immeasurable misery and devastation. Many lives were lost. Hundreds of homes were totally destroyed and many more were damaged. Never before had the State witnessed a calamity of this scale. Now it is our duty to help the affected rebuild their lives. The path to recovery can be long & arduous, but you can make a difference by joining the rebuilding efforts. Contribute generously to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

Donate Online Name of Donee: CMDRF Account number: 67319948232 Bank: State Bank of India Branch City branch Thiruvananthapuram IFS Code: SBIN0070028 PAN: AAAGD0584M In case you plan to send to mail a cheque/ DD, you can address it to The Principal Secretary (Finance) Treasurer Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, Secretariat Thiruvananthapuram – 695001

UPI ID

keralacmdrf@sbi

Website https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/ https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/