India’s economic survey 2018, estimates that the country’s urban population will reach 600 million by 2031, which should be a cause for concern for urban planners. Urbanisation in India is not just because of the pull factor of cities such as job opportunities, better income and prospects for wealth creation. There is a push factor as well from the rural economy, which includes lack of employment opportunities, rural poverty and unsustainable livelihood.

The migration that we see in India is largely distressed migration, driven by the end of livelihoods in agriculture and other occupations in the rural areas. Rural people living in conditions of extreme distress are moving towards cities in search of livelihood. Indian cities are extremely hazardous for migrants, since they live on the edge of the city and they still migrate because the push factor from rural areas is strong.



Cities in India will need to create hundreds of new housing, provide access to quality education, health care services, water, and transportation infrastructure to accommodate the flow of migrants. But, our city economies are not geared for it.

The single largest reason for the poor condition of India’s cities is the failure of municipal governance. Urban local government bodies such as municipalities were constituted for the development and maintenance of urban areas and to ensure that cities have access to basic infrastructure and services.

But, municipal governance in India is a complete failure. City infrastructure such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management and transport are all under pressure. There is a complete lack of planning and governance at the urban local body level. Urban planning is critical to ensure success of cities. Planning allows cities to make informed decisions. Indian municipalities do not have the management capacity to either plan economic activity or execute it.

The finances of municipalities are in a bad shape. Municipalities depend heavily on grants from state and central government for funds. The other source of revenue is property tax but as the Economic Survey of 2017 pointed out municipalities do not realise the full potential of property tax. The Survey showed that Bengaluru and Jaipur are currently collecting 5-20 per cent of their respective potentials for property tax.

City municipalities do not collect enough taxes to pay the salaries of their own employees. They don’t have the expertise or the finances or the autonomy to take decisions. Municipalities are in a bind in every way, particularly in the area of finance and they have lost the will to function. The Economic Survey of 2017 rightly pointed out that local bodies have large infrastructure deficits, poor finances and poor governance capacities. Municipalities can’t collect garbage, clean sewer, or supply water; let alone provide health care facilities or housing. It is because they are unable to deliver normal services that India’s cities have a decrepit environment.

The inefficiency of urban local bodies is catching up with India’s cities. It is no co-incidence that incidents of flooding in cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai are on the rise every year. Poor urban planning and rapid unregulated growth in cities because of developer-friendly laws has caused severe damage to India’s cities. For instance, Chennai experienced severe flooding for the first time in 2015, because of the mindless urban expansion in the water shed areas of the city. Buildings have come up on top of water bodies and marshlands, which earlier acted as sponges, soaking up the rainwater. For instance, Chennai’s airport is built on the floodplains of Adyar river. Urban development has destroyed the city’s marshlands, waterbodies and reduced the size of rivers such as Cooum, Adyar, Velachery and Mogappair, making it impossible for rain water to percolate.

Poor planning, poor accountability, and poor governance have led to disasters such as flooding in cities. In Hyderabad, all the new city developments including development of airport are completely against the contours of the city’s water flow. Urban planning is done at the state government level and municipalities have little or no role in it. City municipalities are given a masterplan to implement and often people who prepare the plan do not even visit the project site. There is no direct responsibility for consequences of planning as long as the municipality completes the plan and goes through the legal process.

The only solution to this is to give greater autonomy to municipalities. India needs to follow a devolved model that empowers urban local bodies. The 74th amendment to the Constitution in 1992, did give constitutional status to municipalities and delegated 18 functions including urban planning to urban local bodies. But, in practice municipalities have very little autonomy. State governments continue to take decisions on matters such as property tax, octroy, which have an impact on the revenue of urban local bodies. Municipalities should be more autonomous in their functioning, so that they can deliver quality service. Until there is course correction, India’s cities will continue to be vulnerable to disasters.

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