Pandemic and the City

Context: Pandemic induced urban crisis in congested cities has exposed uneven rural-urban development axis and need of comprehensive urban policy.

Urban Policy Challenges

• Health and environmental challenge: due to rising congestion in cities.
• Cities are more vulnerable to spread: of contagious diseases 
• Forced to accommodate migrant workers :Many slums in megacities have become COVID-19 containment zones
• Difficult to practice social distancing in absence of basic services.

• Overburdened health systems in megacities: Class I cities have 1.4 beds per 1,000 people.
• Low Testing: The low number of COVID-19 tests conducted in these towns reveals a lack of capacity

• Oversimplified notions of the rural-urban binary: have influenced policy formulation and created huge disparities in the allocation of public resources.
• Biased Funding and Policies: Urban development programmes provide more funds for developed cities that already have relatively better infrastructure and overlook smaller towns.

• JNNURM allocates 70% of funds to large cities and 30% to smaller towns.
• AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission focus on Class I cities for infrastructural development.
• National Health Mission’ fund allocation for urban areas is just 3%, while for rural areas it is 97%.
• The Centre’s allocation for the rural component of the Swachh Bharat Mission is about seven times more than for urban areas.
• Absence of Employment Generation Scheme: like MGNREGA for urban poor.

Conclusion: Unequal and unplanned development of urban settlements undermines their social-economic advantage.