The City-Building Never Sleeps

Context: The Government has taken many steps to usher a new era for India’s cities.

Budget 2021-22 provisions for cities: Outlay of Rs 7 lakh crore is split into a:

• Substantive allocation (Rs 5 lakh crore) for water and sanitation (including solid waste management),
• Rs 88,000 crore for Metro rail,
• Rs 33,000 crore as untied grants for cities with less than one million population,
• Rs 26,000 crore for health services,
• Rs 18,000 crore for bus transport,
• Rs 15,000 crore for clean air, and
• Rs 8,450 crore for new cities and shared municipal services.

Steps taken to usher in a new era for India’s cities

• Increased funding: a six-fold increase (between 2004-14 and 2014-20) to nearly Rs 11 lakh crore.
• Schemes: The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, the Smart Cities Mission -
  • The Jal Jeevan Mission with an outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore over five years;
  • Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, with an outlay of Rs 1.41 lakh crore, intend to take civic amenities and infrastructure to the next level across India.
• Sustainable urban mobility solutions: Investments in bus transport and Metro rail for making public transport affordable, enhancing the quality of life, opening up more options for better livelihoods and increasing women’s participation in the workforce.
• Digitalization: To reduce human interface including online building plan sanctions at scale, and simplification of licence regimes in cities,
• Strong institutional mechanisms:
  • Strengthened local governments in cities to inculcate professionalism in urban governance.
  • Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs): were converted into Covid ‘war rooms’ and provide critical real-time information to city administrators
• 15th Finance Commission recommendations -
  • Million-Plus Challenge Fund: of Rs 38,000 crore for agglomerations of one million-plus population.
  • Encourages integration and coordination: between various civic agencies - The seed fund (Rs 8,000 crore) for new cities provides space for innovation by states in planned urbanization.
• Skilling: The Urban Learning Internship Programme (TULIP) has been launched by the education ministry to develop skills for solving problems in municipal administration.
• Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs): To deal with an emergency situation. E.g. ICCCs were converted into Covid ‘war rooms’ and provided critical real-time information to city administrators.