SCHEMES FOR REBUILDING URBAN INDIA
The Indian Economic Survey 2017-18 estimated that the country will require $4.5 trillion infrastructure investment by 2040. Much of this infrastructure investment will be needed in urban India, as by 2030, 40% of the country’s population will reside in cities. According to Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs, taking cognisance of the growing need and importance of urban development, the government had launched its three flagship missions, namely, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Smart Cities Mission, and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). HOUSING FOR ALL (PMAY) The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a government of India initiative, which aims at providing affordable housing to the urban poor by the year 2022. The scheme was first launched in 2015. It plans t o address the issue of slums in cities, focus on affordable housing; provide attractive interest subsidy for those wanting to avail a housing loan; and assistance to those who want to construct house on their own land. MISSED TARGET DEADLINE 'Housing for all' target for 2022 to coincide with India's 75 years of independence has been missed. The government has already extended the rural affordable housing scheme PMAY-(Gramin) and the execution of the PMAY urban has been delayed due to various reasons including the pandemic. The issues that plague the rightful implementation range from underestimating construction costs adding to the subsidy burden, rising land prices impeding long-term feasibility, land clearances, slum resettlement and inadequate incentives for public private partnership in urban areas. Moreover, there is a lack of a wareness among beneficiaries and even local officials of credit-linked subsidy in rural areas. Moreover. it is the government alone which is responsible to build houses in collaboration with the respective state with no private sector involvement which otherwise could have fast-tracked the execution. SMART CITIES MISSION The objective of the Smart Cities Mission is to build the next generation of Indian cities by adopting technological advancement such as RFID tags for garbage collection, integrated traffic management systems ‘smart’ solutions for urban governance and effective citizen-government engagement. The mission works closely with private players, including international firms, to leverage their capital, expertise, human resource, and technology. MISSION LET-DOWN Launched in 2015, the Smart City Mission's primary objective was to develop 100 smart cities within five years to drive economic growth and improve quality of life. Seven years since its inception, the Centre has only released 59 per cent of the funds that it had allocated for the Smart Cities Mission. According to the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), an independent platform, 42% of the projects in 33 cities are unfinished and studies show that most of the plans ar e beyond their own financial and human r esources capacity. Moreover, many of the smart city projects promote disparities, as several cities chose already well-serviced pockets for development under the initiative, as per Centre for Policy Research think tank. ATAL MISSION FOR REJUVENATION & URBAN TRANSFORMATION (AMRUT) AMRUT complements the efforts of both PMAY and the Smart Cities Mission and seeks to provide water supply, sewerage, urban transport, and safe public spaces to residents of urban centers in 500 cities with populations over 1,00,000. The total mission outlay is expected to be Rs 1,00,000 crore. The State Annual Action Plans (SAAP) for execution of programmes are submitted to the central government only for broad concurrence and the center provides funding for these schemes as per guidelines. SLOW PACED PROGRESS Launched in 2015, AMRUT was to complete its mission by 2020. In 4 years from its launch, only 15% of the funds were utilised. Unable to meet set targets for urban renewal in 500 cities, the Centre had extended the mission period of its flagship initiative to 2022. The delay in securing technical sanction for projects have been attributed to be the biggest challenge in implementation of the scheme. In addition, the local bodies do not have sufficient funds, skill or staff to execute infrastructure overhaul projects. AMRUT focused only on big cities as opposed to covering smaller towns as well. URBAN PROGRAMS FOR CITIES OF FUTURE The downside of the government’s urban programs till now has been the disengagement between people’s needs and urban programs agenda as well as the knowledge gap between the government and the on-ground implementing agencies and the scheme beneficiaries. For instance improving existing city slums and settlements would have been a more sustainable option than constructing new housing on city peripheries which remain unoccupied due to limited economic opportunities. In addition, infrastructure development seems to be disjointed and various elements are spread across various programs. For example, Swachh Bharat Mission aims to improve the sanitation situation with toilet construction. But, the larger gamut of sanitation services are included under AMRUT. This creates a mismatch in proper functioning of several elements, missing from the programs. Furthermore, in the aspiration to create Shanghai in India, the smart cities in their pursuit of latest technologies, expertise and technical knowledge are showing disdain for grass-root participation and local knowledge. What is worrying is the capture of urban development discourse by smart-cities agenda which is disregarding the citizen’s point of view and the cities basic infrastructure needs. 5 STEPS FOR BETTER OUTCOMES
Tags : SMART CITIES MISSION ATAL MISSION FOR REJUVENATION AND URBAN TRANSFORMATION THE PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA-URBAN Hardeep Singh Puri India's Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs The Indian Economic Survey 2017-18 Centre for Financial Accountability The State Annual Action Plans