Infrastructural Challenges of Urbanisation

ISSN NO: 2320-7744

ideas & ideologies (i&i) international e-journal

an interdisciplinary journal of humanities and social sciences

Volume 2: Issue- 5

INFRASTRUCTURAL CHALLENGES OF URBANISATION1

RAGHAVENDRA Lecturer in Economics, Dr.N.S.A.M .First Grade College,Nitte -574110.

e-mail: [email protected]

DR.V.B.HANS Associate Professor and Head, Dept of Economics and Dean, Faculty of Arts, St Aloysius Evening College,

Mangalore -575.

e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

The world is now half urban. In 2008, human kind achieved a momentous milestone. For the first

time in the history, half of the world‘s population, or 3.3 million people, lived in urban areas

(UNFPA, 2008).Everyday about 1.93 lakh new city dwellers are added to the world‘s urban

population, which translate to slightly more than two people every second. Interestingly, the

growth in cities in the developing world is ten times that of cities in the developed world.

Annually, cities in the developing world grew at a rate of 2.5 per cent in 1990s compared to the

annual growth rate of 0.3 per cent in the developed world. In the last two decades, the urban

population of the developing world has grown by an average of three million people per week.

By the middle of the current century, it is estimated that the total urban population of the

developing world will be more than double, increasing from 2.3 billion in 2005 to 5.3 billion in

2050. Altogether, 95 per cent of the world‘s population in the next four decades will be absorbed

by cities in the developing countries.

1 This paper was presented in the International Conference on Infrastructural challenges in Urbanization Organized by Department of Studies and research in Economics, Tumkur University on 12 – 13 ,2012.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

i&i e journal www.ideas-ibookpub.com ISSN NO: 2320-7744 Vol 2, Issue 5

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Urban and Urbanization There is no standard definition of urban. It varies from country to

country (United Nations 2009). India‘s urban areas are defined on the basis of two criteria. First,

the state government grants municipal status – corporation, municipal council, notified town area

committee or nagar panchayat, etc. to a settlement. Such settlements are known as statutory or

municipal towns in the census definition of urban areas. Second, if a settlement does not have an

urban civic status, but satisfies demographic and economic criteria, like a population of more

than 5,000, a density of 400 persons per square kilometer and 75 per cent male workforce in non-

agricultural sector, it can be declared urban.

Urbanization is defined as a process and happens when a nation moves from agrarian to

industrial society. In other words, it delimitates as a process of massive shifts of labour and

capital from predominantly rural to urban areas activities. It is an index of modernization and

largely associated with economic growth and development. Urbanization is the result of the

increase in the extent and density of urban areas. The density of population in urban areas

increases because of the migration of people.

Evolution

The beginning of urbanization can be traced back to Renaissance times in 16th century. Turkish

assaults resulted in movement of Christians from the east to western European countries. As a

result, trade grew and European cities along the coasts developed greatly. A further boost for

urbanization was created with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. Populations of cities in

Europe and USA started to increase significantly in the 18th and 19th centuries. However,

urbanization started in Asia only in the first half of the 20th century and in the second half of the

20th century in Africa, when the countries obtained independence from colonial rule. An

example for a dramatic increase in extent and population of cities is Chicago in USA. The

population increased from 15 people to about 20 million, within a span of 78 years.

Different levels of urbanization, however, reflect different degrees of modernization and

development in the economy. It is a multi-dimensional process and to a large extent depends

upon the incentives for industrial and service sector development. Supporting this Mills and

Becker (1986) pointed out that "urbanization is an inevitable process that is experienced by all

nations in their transaction from agrarian to industrial and service societies and is a necessary


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factor behind the economic growth". Capital accumulation, technological change and the growth

of socio-economic infrastructure seem to be the most important determinants of this shift

(Kundu, 2004).

Emergence of Urbanization

It is true that in a growing economy there is mounting demand of industrial and service sector

products. Accordingly, there is spontaneous increase in industrial and service sector production

and hence, employment generation in the economy. This also follows increase of service

facilities for various purposes like distribution of increased output, financial management

through banking and financial institutes as well as civic services for the population experiencing

increase in income levels (GOI, 2003). Economic development, therefore, foretells

industrialization and that promotes the concentration of people in the urban areas, where

maximum attempt is made to economize the land inputs (i.e. the land requirement per unit of

output being less than the agricultural sector). In the modern world, problem of large urban

concentrations affects not only in the advanced countries but also all the areas with dense

population and so in large cities.

Urbanization usually occurs when people move from villages to cities to settle, in the hope of a

higher standard of living. This usually takes place in developing countries. In rural areas, people

become victims of unpredictable weather conditions such as drought and floods, which can

adversely affect their livelihood. Consequently many farmers move to cities in search of a better

life. This can be seen in Karnataka as well where farmers from Raichur, Gulbarga districts which

are drought-stricken areas, migrate to Bangalore and Dakshina Kannada to escape poverty. Cities

in contrast, offer opportunities of high living and are known to be places where wealth and

money are centralized. Most industries and educational institutions are located in cities whereas

there are limited opportunities within rural areas. This further contributes to migration to cities

from less industrialized regions or industrialized areas. There is striking difference between more

developed and less developed countries in the globe with regards to the pattern of urbanization.

While most of the population of the less developed regions currently lives in rural areas, the bulk

of the population of the more developed regions resides in urban areas. But developing countries

today face greater urbanization challenges than developed countries faced. It is observed that the

growth rate of urban population is much higher in less developed countries in contrast to more


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developed countries (UNDP, 2001). India is the second largest country in the world in terms of

maximum urban population. India‘s size of urban population exceeds even the total population of

each country in the world except China. India had only 10.8 per cent of urban population in the

beginning of nineteenth century which substantially increased to 27.8per cent in the turn of the

century.

India is on the path of urbanisation. Rapid urbanisation and growth of towns and cities is

irreversible and gaining momentum. It is estimated that by 2051, half of Indian population would

reside in urban settlements. The total number of urban centres would be more than 600 and the

contribution of urban settlements to the GDP would be round 80 per cent. It took nearly forty

years for India‘s urban population to rise by 230 million. It could take only half the time to add

the next 250 million. The urbanisation pattern and projections for the next 20 years is indicative

of the fact that the bulk of the population will be living in urban areas. To facilitate and sustain

this growth, cities have to provide high quality of life as well as sufficient infrastructure to its

citizens. If not, this inevitable increase in India‘s urban population will an enormous stress on

the system. India seems to suffer from ‗over-urbanisation‘. Already large scale urbanisation has

imposed severe strain on urban infrastructure like water supply, road and water transport,

sewerage and sanitation, drainage and solid waste management.

According to the 2011 Census, urbanization has increased faster than expected. This has reversed

the declining trend in the growth rate of the urban population observed during the 1980s and

1990s. Also, for the first time since independence, the absolute increase in the urban population

was higher than that in the rural population. This has huge implications for providing

infrastructure and other civic amenities in urban areas. Of late, there has been a change in the

thinking of policymakers about urbanization. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan argued that

urbanization should be seen as a positive factor in overall development as the urban sector con-

tributes about 62percent of the GDP. There is also a growing realization that an ambitious goal

of 9-10 per cent growth in GDP fundamentally depends upon a vibrant urban sector (Planning

Commission 2008). The future of India depends on pattern of urbanization. This goal can be

realized only by speeding up the phase of urbanization which again depends on how our nation

will be able to meet the infrastructural challenges of urbanization.


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Therefore the Objective of the study is

To understand trends in urbanization in India

To probe into the causes responsible for the emergence of urbanization in India.

To highlight its pressure on available urban infrastructure

To analyse the challenges of rapid urbanisation.

To suggest possible solutions to strengthen the urban infrastructure and to strengthen it to

speed up the process of urbanisation and economic development.

This paper is based secondary data obtained from various published works such as books,

reports, journals, articles, magazines and electronic web materials.

Urbanization: Still a neglected sector in India

The speed of urbanization posed an unprecedented managerial and policy challenge to Indian

economy. Urban India today is ―distributed‖ in shape - with a diverse range of large and small

cities spread widely around the nation. India will continue on a path of distributed model of

urbanization because this suits its federal structure and helps to ensure that migration flows are

not unbalanced toward any particular city or cities.

As the urban population and incomes increase, demand for every key service such as water,

transportation, sewage treatment, low income housing will increase five- to sevenfold in cities of

every size and type. And if India continues on its current path, urban infrastructure will fall short

of what is necessary to sustain prosperous cities. India spends $17 per capita per year in urban

infrastructure, whereas requirement is $100. The investment required for building urban

infrastructure in India, over the next 20 years, is estimated at approximately US$ 1 trillion. There

is wide gap between what is spent and what is required. This shows where we stand in achieving

urbanization. The investment in urbanization is totally insufficient to speed up the phase of

urbanization. And we know that rapid urbanization accelerates the process of economic

development. If India had to capitalize the advantages of urbanization, all the infrastructural

requirements are to be immediately addressed. Otherwise it will be a hurdle in the process of

development.

If we look at the challenges of development that India faces today, there is a high probability that

India‘s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to multiply five times by 2030. India‘s

projected urban population in that year, 600 million, will be double the current population of the


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United States. Seventy per cent of new job creation will be in cities. 7,400 kilometers of metro

rail and subways need to be created to address public transportation requirements (McKinsey

Global Institute 2010). These figures suggest the rising significance of urban growth as well as

the challenges it raises for infrastructure and welfare.

Urbanization: A movement

As large number of people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results. The

rapid growth of cities like Chicago in the late 19th century, Tokyo in the mid twentieth, and

Mumbai in the 21st century can be attributed largely to rural-urban migration. This phenomenon

is common in developing countries. This phenomenal growth is attributed to the lure of not just

economic opportunities, but also to loss or degradation of farmland in the name of development,

pollution, land grabs, or conflict, the attraction and anonymity of hedonistic pleasures of urban

areas, proximity and ease of mass transport, as well as the opportunity to assert individualism. Of

late special economic zones are in the lead role in taking away fertile agricultural land with the

sole agenda of development. Today special economic zones have transformed into an association

of land grabbers in India and are posing a threat to Indian agriculture.

Trends in Urbanization

India projected the urban population for the year 2011 to 358 million, and estimated that urban

population growth rates would decline from 2.75per cent per annum observed during 1991-2001

to 2.23 during 2001-2011 (Registrar General and Census Commissioner, 2006). Urban experts

also believed that India‘s urbanization would slow down because of its exclusionary nature and

its inability to spur rural-to-urban migration (Kundu 2007 2011). According to the 2011 Census,

the urban population grew to 377 million showing a growth rate of 2.76 per cent per annum

during 2001-2011. The level of urbanization in the country as a whole increased from 27.7 per

cent in 2001 to 31.1 per cent in 2011 – an increase of 3.3 percentage points during 2001-2011

compared to an increase of 2.1 percentage points during 1991-2001. It may be noted that the

Indian economy has grown from about 6 per cent per annum during the 1990s to about 8 per cent

during the first decade of the 2000s (Ahluwalia 2011). This clearly reflects the power of

economic growth in bringing about faster urbanization during 2001-2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country


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Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of

human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly village culture is being rapidly

replaced by predominantly urban culture. Village culture is characterized by common bloodlines,

intimate relationships, and communal behavior whereas urban culture is characterized by distant

bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and competitive behaviour. This unprecedented movement of

people is to continue and intensify in the next few decades, mushrooming cities to sizes

incomprehensible only a century ago.

Infrastructure challenges of urbanization

Infrastructure is the combination of fundamental systems that support a community, region, or a

country, from water and sewer systems to road and rail networks to the national power and

national gas grids, it includes everything which is required for modernizing the fundamental

structures that support civilization. The problem with regard to availability of infrastructure is

particularly acute in the urban areas where growing population stress society‘s support systems

and natural disasters, accidents and terrorist attacks threaten infrastructure safety and security.

The declining trend in the urban population growth rate observed during the 1980s and 1990s

was reversed at the national level, and the level of urbanization increased faster during 2001-

2011. The urban population grew from 286 million in 2001 to 377 million in 2011 – an incre-

ment of 91 million, which is larger than the rural population increment of 90.5 million for the

first time since independence. A substantial increase in the urban population is due to a net rural-

urban classification and rural-to-urban migration. A huge number of new towns emerged during

the last decade, contributing significantly to the speeding up of urbanization. On the other hand,

although the contribution of the natural increase in urban growth has declined in terms of pro-

portions, its share in absolute numbers (about 40 million) continues to be huge due to the large

base of the urban population. This has implications not only for providing urban infrastructure

and civic amenities, but also for reproductive and child health services in urban areas.

The urban infrastructure facilities can be classified into two categories – physical infrastructure

and social infrastructure. The physical infrastructure includes water, drainage and sewerage,

transport, communication, power, streetlights, garbage disposal etc. which meets generalized

basic needs of the community. Social infrastructure comprises of education, health, housing,


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commercial activities, recreational and cultural facilities including places of worship, other

community facilities etc. which meets the individual and personal needs of the citizens and in

turn contribute to the overall development of the society.

The urban infrastructure problems cover large spectrum of issues such as urban residence,

business premises, power, transport, water, sewerage, airports, railways, seaports, roads, bridges,

tourism infrastructure, solid waste management, healthcare, entertainment, communication etc.

Due to tremendous growth of IT, manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries, the limited

infrastructure in India has already been consumed by them. The brunt of infrastructure

inadequacy is borne by the poor and the not so well off urban populace. The upper crust

population can manage to have sufficient access to basic amenities either on their own or by

taking benefit of the urban as well as pro – rich bias of service provision in the towns and cities.

It is for the poor to suffer. There is an urgent need on the part of the government to develop

infrastructure in urban areas so that masses in India can lead a contented life. Urbanization brings

with it several consequences – both adverse and beneficial. They impact on social and

environmental areas. There is increasing competition for facilities due to the high standard of

living in urban areas, which has triggered several negative effects.

o Population concentration

Industrialization and urbanization lead to an increase in the population of the cities at a very fast

rate. Increase in population growth resulted in a situation where the available resources and

facilities provided by the government are to be shared among many. This gives rise to

inequitable distribution of wealth and resources. Providing the huge population with scarce

resources becomes a big challenge for the governments. It also puts tremendous srtain on the

public exchequer. Increasing rate of urbanization of India‘s population has resulted in the

urbanization of poverty.

o Water, sanitation and transport

The rise in the number of vehicles puts a huge strain on the infrastructure available for transport

such as roadways and railways. Need for robust mass rapid transit and non-motorized transport

systems in cities are growing day-by-day. When urbanization takes place, water cycle changes as


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cities have more precipitation than surrounding areas. Due to dumping of sewage from factories

in water bodies, water pollution occur which can lead to slums.

Water problems are quite common in many parts of urban cities and providing safe drinking

water is the biggest challenge for the government. People have to travel hours together to move

from the place of stay to place of work. Travelling time required is more than the hours they

work in offices. In major cities this problem is very common. People in India know how to live

with problems. Complaint from the public goes unheard. Keeping the cities clean is a distant

dream.

o Housing and Slums

Providing shelter at affordable prices to people belonging to all economic groups is indeed a

major challenge posed by urbanization. The lack of space for construction of houses and

buildings results in deforestation which causes several environmental problems. Before we see

the metropolitan city small petty houses greet us. This has become the order of the day. The

problem of slums in urban cities is becoming more and more difficult to tackle due to the issue of

displacement that the huge population residing in these slums will face. With urban sprawl

increasing, poor road conditions, absence of reliable, using efficient and good quality public

transport there is an increasing usage of private vehicles and subsequent high pollution levels.

There is inequity in road space with 80 per cent of the space occupied by less than five per cent

of population using four-wheelers.

Many people including farmers who move to cities in search of a better life end up as casual

laborers as they lack adequate education. Rented houses are beyond the reach these people. Since

they are poor they prefer to live in slums which are highly unhygienic and will have inhuman

living conditions. This leads to one of the worst problems of urbanization - the growth of slums.

These are urban areas that are heavily populated with substandard housing and very poor living

conditions. As a result several problems arise.

Slums are usually located on land, which are not owned by the slum dwellers. They can be

evicted at any time by the landowners. Poor living conditions,crowding and lack of sanitation are

main problems here. This contributes to outbreak of diseases. Ubiquities such as water,

electricity and sewage disposal are also scarce.


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As a result of burgeoning population in cities, the problems of space and housing for all have

intensified. Slums have become an inevitable part of the major Indian metropolises. The

proportion of the population in towns and cities living in slums has been increasing over the

years, and has risen from 18.8 percent of the urban population in 1981 to 21.5 percent in 1991. In

absolute terms, the population living in slums in Indian cities has increased from 30 million to 47

million. The State of Maharashtra is one of the most glaring examples of this state of affairs.

Nearly 7 million people lived in slums in 1991, although as a proportion of the total urban

population of the state -- the percentage works out to be only 22 percent, close to the national

average. This is explained by the fact that the state‘s urban population is a very high proportion

of the total. The second highest slum population is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which has 5.8

million, followed by West Bengal with 4.6 million. Slums of Delhi comprise 2.4 million people,

accounting for 28.6 percent of the city‘s population.

The proportion of people living in slums appears to be smaller than the actual, as the National

Building Organization and the National Sample Survey (1988-89) have operationalized very

liberal criteria of identifying slums in the country. The NSS has defined slum as a compact area

with a collection of poorly built tenements crowding together, usually with inadequate sanitary

and toilet facilities. If an effort is made to identify slums in India on the basis of a universal

definition, the proportion of slum population would comprise more than 50 percent of the total

urban population in the country and from western standard the proportion would be still higher -

maybe around 80 percent of the total urban population.

Since most of the new migrants to cities are poor and homeless, slums and shantytowns spring

up to accommodate them. Thus, the contrast between the rich and the poor becomes quite

conspicuous. In fact, it is more visible in Indian cities than those in the West because the

proportion of the population living in slums is much bigger and their living conditions far worse.

The slums in big cities put off foreign visitors and many may decide never to return again, which

is a loss to the tourism sector.

The people in slums live under the most deplorable conditions. With little access to effective

social and health care services, potable water, or sanitation facilities they are therefore more

vulnerable to epidemics and developmental challenges. Their low socio-economic status, low

level of education and high fertility and mortality all indicate that they need special attention in


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terms of public health, family planning and reproductive health programmes. But unfortunately

reverse is the case with such segments of urban population.

The plight of the urban poor is no doubt real and 33 percent of a big city‘s population lives

below the poverty line, which often means living in sub-human conditions. About 19 percent of

the population in cities still does not have access to running water. Poverty or the misery is so

transparent in the life of slum dwellers that there is no need of any criteria, measurement, or

probing analysis to recognize raw poverty and to understand its antecedents. Efforts have been

on to remove the problem of poverty since Independence. Ever since then the government has

been trying hard through various developmental programs to raise the average standard of living

of people. Nevertheless, our performances or achievements in the field of poverty alleviation

have been quite dismal and disheartening.

In a recent survey of 27 big Asian cities with over a million populations, India‘s four largest

cities have been ranked among the five worst with respect to availability of water per day. The

lack of sufficient water affects the urban poor. In Delhi, when the official supply per capita is

supposed to be 200 liters a day, around nine million people (a third of the population) get less

than 25 liters a day. Also, 36 percent of the urban population does not have access to proper

sanitation and most slum-dwellers do not have a toilet of their own.

o Rising cost of living and wealth inequality

The cost of living in urban cities is quite high thus compelling many people to live in poverty.

Inequality in the distribution of wealth that widens the gap between the rich and the poor is also a

serious problem.

o Environmental Pollution and degradation.

Pollution and degradation of the environment is one of the most prominent challenges of

urbanization. The increased number of vehicles on the roads and industrials wastes is the main

sources of air pollution. Urbanization also leads to a rise in the noise pollution levels.

Contamination of sea, river and lake water due to various human activities is also a serious issue

resulting out of fast urbanization. Land pollution is also a matter of great concern. These types of

pollution can cause adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of the people.


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Due to factors such as paving over formerly vegetated land, increasing number of residences and

high-rise apartments and industries, temperature increases drastically. Factories and automobiles

are symbols of urbanization. Due to harmful emissions of gases and smoke from factories and

vehicles, air pollution shows high amount of suspended matter in air, particularly in cities, which

contributes to allergies and respiratory problems thereby becoming a huge health hazard. Our

development is at the cost of ecology. To make an area urbanized, a lot of forested areas are

destroyed. Usually these areas would have been habitats to many birds and animals.

o Increase in Crime

One of the biggest challenges of urbanization is the increase in the crime rate. Crime rate is

much higher in urban cities as compared to backward regions. The rise in the number of crimes

is due to the need to earn wealth which results in people resorting to unfair means. The common

man in the urban areas suffers the most because of the rise in criminal activities. Slum

conditions make maintenance of law and order difficult. Patrolling of slums is not a priority of

law enforcing officers. Unemployment and poverty force people into anti-social activities. Slums

become a breeding ground for criminal activities. Besides, there are some specific challenges,

which need urgent attention of the policy makers, planners and executives. These challenges are

multifarious and need flexible strategies to overcome them. These could be listed as follows

o Haphazard growth of the cities

o Poor governance – archaic rules, unenforceable regulations and procedures,

inadequate service delivery

o Lack of professional management-fragmented urban administration, multiple

agencies, no or little scope for innovation and creativity

o Growing urban poverty and unemployment – Housing shortage and homelessness,

unemployment and marginalization of labour force, growth of informal sector with

weak market linkages, increasing child labour.

o Crumbling infrastructure and services

o Poor organization and management of infrastructure and other assets

o Weak financial position and inability to mobilize

o No cost recovery mechanisms

o Absence of prospective planning


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o Traffic and transport hazards

o Decaying inner cities

o No comprehensive urban policy or strategy

o Poor local governance

o Inappropriate planning that leads to high costs of housing and office space, in some

Indian cities these costs are among the highest in the world.

o Critical infrastructure shortages and major service deficiencies that include erratic

water and power supply, and inadequate transport systems

o Rapidly deteriorating environment (Garg 2011).

Unfortunately despite growing importance of cities in the overall development of the economy,

Indian cities lack in infrastructure facilities. The provision of infrastructure facilities and services

has lagged far behind the pace of urbanization. About 21 per cent of the urban population is

living in settlements, where access to basic services is extremely poor. Although 89 per cent of

the urban population have to have access to safe drinking water there are severe deficiencies

with regard to equitable distribution of water. Nearly 46 per cent of urban households have water

toilets, but only 36 per cent of the urban households are connected to public sewerage system.

The gap between demand and supply of essential urban services and infrastructure deteriorates

the physical environment and quality of life in the urban areas. The increased awareness towards

environment and a sustainable society coupled with a need to make our cities worth living,

demand side interference, i.e. managing the existing demand and monitoring the ever increasing

demand in the provision and management of the urban infrastructure which is the need of the

hour.

Tackling challenges: Way forward

Urban infrastructure development is indispensible for overall development. In this dynamic,

competitive and global economy, development and investment will move where there is

infrastructure to support. India needs to work on several areas to manage its urbanization: The

following are perhaps the most important steps needed to overcome the infrastructural

bottlenecks in urban India.


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o Inclusive Policy:

The poor and lower income groups must be brought into the mainstream in cities. Regulations

intended to manage densities and discourage migration both limit the supply of land and require

many households to consume more land than they would choose. This pushes up the price of

land and the cost of service delivery for all. High standards for parking, coverage limits,

setbacks, elevators, road widths, reservations for health centers schools etc. prevent the poor

from choosing how much to consume of the costliest resource (urban land) to put a roof over

their heads, and comply with legal requirements. Informality is now the only path to affordable

housing for the bulk of the population in India‘s cities. But informality implies illegality and

therefore vulnerability. While lower income groups pay dearly for shelter and services - they are

bereft of normal property rights protections and their investments are thus far riskier than those

of the well off. They must instead depend on the good will of bureaucrats and politicians—to

safeguard their homes and places of business. These barriers to healthy urbanization come not

only at a high human cost, but take a toll on productivity. Chronic informality discourages the

very investments in education, health and housing improvements the lower classes need to

improve their own lot and contribute more to the national economy.

o Urban Governance:

Reforms have to happen that enable true devolution of power and responsibilities from the states

to the local and metropolitan bodies according to the 74th Amendment. This is because by 2030,

India‘s largest cities will be bigger than many countries today. India‘s urban governance of cities

needs an over-haul. India also needs to clearly define the relative roles of its metropolitan and

municipal structures for its 20 largest metropolitan areas. With cities growing beyond municipal

boundaries, having fully formed metropolitan authorities with clearly defined roles will be

essential for the successful management of large cities in India.

o Infrastructure Development

Optimal infrastructure development has to be based upon sound land use planning and being able

to provide unencumbered land with clear title for the various infrastructural requirements. It also

requires sound local planning to permit optimal use of the infrastructure being developed.

Urban infrastructure needs to be developed in such a manner that it can withstand likely natural

disasters as per the likelihood of various disasters in various regions. Rainy season is a nightmare


15

for the people in cities like Bombay and Bangalore. Destruction of life and property in cities is

very common due to man made disasters like flood. It also needs to be designed to suit local agro

– climatic conditions and cultural situations (Hooja and Gupta, 2011).

Urban development should be seen in the context of shelter and slums, basic urban services,

financing urban development, workable land policies, urban governance, and managing urban

development to keep pace with internal migration. As more people shift from agriculture to

industry and services, cities are faced with massive influx of migrants. Today agricultural lands

are converted in to house sites and sold at higher price for housing and commercial purposes.

Slums precede a metropolitan city. Population explosion in urban areas has put further stress on

the already inadequate services (Hooja and Gupta, 2011).

o Financing:

Devolution of powers should be supported by more reforms in urban financing that will reduce

cities‘ dependence on the Centre and the states and unleash internal revenue sources. Efforts

should be to generate revenue through sources like monetizing land assets, higher property taxes,

user charges that reflect costs, debt and public-private partnerships (PPPs) greater exposure to

capital market for funds and central/state government funding. Such revenues generated can be

utilized for enhancing urban infrastructure .India is on a high trajectory and requires huge

investment in infrastructure both from public and private sources for urban development.

o Planning: India needs to make urban planning a central, respected function, investing in

skilled people, rigorous fact base and innovative urban form. This can be done through a

―cascaded‖ planning structure in which large cities have 40-year and 20-year plans at the

metropolitan level that are binding on municipal development plans. Central to planning in any

city is the optimal allocation of space, especially land use and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) planning.

Both should focus on linking public transportation with zoning for affordable houses for low-

income groups. These plans need to be detailed, comprehensive, and enforceable.

o Local capacity building: A real step-up in the capabilities and expertise of urban local

bodies will be critical to devolution and improvement of service delivery. There is the need for

development of professional managers for urban management functions, who are in short supply

and will be required in large numbers. New innovative approaches will have to be explored to

tap into the expertise available in the private and social sectors. India needs to build technical

(engineers) and managerial depth (Business management) in city administration.


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o Civil Society Activism

Recently there has been change in urban governance in the country. Civil society organizations

are emerging in almost all big cities and play an effective role as people in a locality or

belonging to a group can see their interest being served by these organizations. The participatory

model helps the people to get involved to voice their concerns by building local pressure groups.

Their involvement is more dominant in areas of operation and management of civic services,

capital investments in infrastructural projects, planning and participatory budgeting and

maintenance of neighborhood security. With citizens‘ involvement and mass awakening towards

responsibilities, responsible political process and enlightened leadership, we can do it, or we will

miss a golden opportunity.

o PURA Model

PURA model advocated by former president of India Dr .A.P.J .Abdul Kalam can be an

alternative strategy to halt the migration of youth from rural to urban area and can tackle the

challenges of growing urbanization. PURA aims at providing urban amenities in rural areas. If

rural people are provided with amenities which urban people are enjoying, rural India can retain

its population and process of urbanization becomes easier. This model provides for physical

connectivity (villages connected by roads), digital connectivity (telecommunication and

information technology services), Knowledge connectivity (education), economic connectivity

(market for the rural people to sell the produce).These advantages will transform rural India into

urban India and can tackle the pressure on limited urban infrastructure (Datt and Mahajan,

2011)Transport logjams can be reduced if housing and the workplace (as well as marketing,

education, health and recreation service) can be planned and located closer to each other. So,

planned urbanization is an imperative for India to unleash a further accelerated pace of

development. Undoubtedly, the country needs a significant withdrawal of workforce from

primary activities and accelerated growth of non-agricultural employment based on a spatially

distributed model of urban development

o Change in Policy Perspective

It is a matter of some satisfaction that of late policymakers are questioning urbanization in India

which is one of the lowest in the world. Planned urbanization through the creation of new growth

centers in the form of small and medium towns is a major challenge. It expressed concern

regarding concentration of demographic and economic growth in and around a few cities and


17

underscored the need to bring about spatially balanced urbanization. The Plan recognizes that

urbanization is occurring at a slow pace. It however stipulates that the pace is ―now set to

accelerate as the country sets to a more rapid growth‖. Importantly, it talks of a distributed model

of urbanization which would ensure that migration flows are not concentrated in any particular

city or cities. Of late BPO companies are moving towards smaller cities which will halt the

migration process. If employment opportunities are generated in smaller cities evils of

urbanization can be avoided.

Better City:

Better Life is a dream for every democratic and welfare state like India. Developing Nations like

India are passing through a transitional phase, where government expenditure is increasing to

fulfill the expectations of the general public and poll promises made during elections.

Expectations of the people are many. What is required today is the common man oriented

approach or human approach to overcome these challenges. Rapid urbanization with human

touch can reach the poorest of the poor. Urbanization and infrastructure development should see

that affordable houses for all the people with nearby stores, cultural ,recreational health services,

adequate, safe and clean water, pure air to breathe, public parks or green areas, regular power

supply, sewerage and sanitation, healthy air to breathe, street light, pedestrian streets, wide

sidewalks, bicycle tracks, greenways, public walkable distance from

residence/workplace/educational centre to public transport mode, adequate network of roads

along with rain water drains within the city, efficient public transport system, well designed

public educational health and marketing facilities for the common man who may not be able to

afford the state of art or world class private facilities etc. Such an infrastructure development can

lead us to healthy and wealthy Urban India


18

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19

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Infrastructural Challenges of Urbanisation

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