13.3.13 Much of, the ills of urban housing and resource mobilisation in larger urban areas can be perhaps attributed to the problems inherent in the urban land market. While urban development programmes have to depend largely on a well coordinated land development programme, the existing legal and administrative machinery has impeded supply and development of serviced land. Also, very little efforts have been made to mop up the large appreciation in values of real estate particularly in metropolitan cities.
13.3.14 The role of ULBs has weakened progressively over the last two or three decades. In recent years, some of the functions per-
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formed earlier by the ULBs have been transferred to State level bodies., including Urban Development Authority and Functional Bodies. This process needs to be reversed so as to foster stronger and more responsive local governments, reflecting local initiatives, percep- tions and priorities.
13.3.15 A corollary to the above process is exploration of avenues through which private initiatives can find a greater role in urban development programme. The role of private sector needs to be expanded. The extent and the manner in which private developers can contribute to urban renewal and squatter settlements and peripheral areas in metropolitan regions (including residential and trunk infrastructure development) needs assessment.
13.3.16 Attention needs to be focussed not only on the growing challenges of urbanisation but on the relationship between urban and rural development. The rapid transformation in the country's urban scenario must be taken into account and provided for, in order that urban growth becomes compatible with healthy socio-economic development of the nation. It will be necessary to take note of the prevailing dichotomy in rural and urban development and evolve a mechanism for bringing about rural-urban cohesion in the management of growth. This can be achieved through the process of spatial planning, which is an integrating concept that makes it possible to achieve the composite development of human settlements while stimulating economic growth. Spatial development plans would need to be prepared keeping in view the "growth centre" concept. This will provide a framework for identification of "nuclei of development " and lower order centres " where investments could be attracted, depending upon their infrastructure level and growth potential.
The Perspective 13.3.17 Population projections made by the Expert Committee, indicate doubling of India's urban population in two decades i.e. 1981-2001. Growth rate of labour force in urban areas is expected to be even higher. However, the 1991 census recorded significantly lower urban population than that projected. Yet, it may not be prudent to be guided by this transitory trend. Population projections, have been made on the basis of a longer term trend of annual growth of urban population with base year population corrected on the basis of 1991 census. Estimates worked out are presented in Table-7. The overall level of urbanisation by the turn of the century is likely to be less than that projected earlier, but absolute addition will still be quite large (148 million during two decades). Moreover, a higher share of population in "million plus" cities imply proportionately higher burden of demand for urban services and also higher per capita cost in real terms.
TABLE-7 Urban population projection - 1991-2001
Total Urban Population % Urban population % share of
(in million) million plus
cities to
Urban
population
Committee Now
of Experts Projected
(A) (B) (A) (B)
1991 235 217 27.5 25.7 32.5(23)
1997 - 267 - 28.3 -
2001 332 307 33.0 30.5 35.8(40)
Figures in the bracket indicate Number of million plus cities.
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Thrust areas in the Eighth Five Year Plan 13.4.1 In the light of experiences gained during the Seventh Plan and the two Annual Plans and also taking into consideration the emerging issues and perspective as indicated above and as elaborated in the Report of National Commission on Urbanisation (1988), the thrust areas for the Eighth Plan will consist mainly of more effective implementation of the strategies adopted during the Seventh Plan and partly in formulation of new strategies. The overall Seventh Plan strategy of urbanisation being supportive of economic development with appropriate location of industry and other employment generating activities will be continued. The programmes for the urban poor and for the small and medium towns will have the same focus, but the content and manner of implementation of these programmes will be made more comprehensive and compatible with the overall strategy at the State level. Resource mobilisation and programmes aimed at strengthening of institutions will be given a concrete shape. The distinctive features of the Plan are as follows:-
i) Spatial and economic dimension of planning for the urban sector needs to be consolidated and operationalised.
ii) Convergence of all related programmes to create the desired impact in small and medium towns beyond the threshold level is necessary.
iii) The key to success of urban development strategy lies in taking measures-legal, financial and organisational --for enhanced and equitable supply of urban land.
iv) Private and public sectors have to act in tandem for urban infrastructure and housing. Innovations in funding pattern and role of private developers in specific areas need to be explored.
v) In view of the deteriorating environmental conditions caused by both natural and man-made factors, the conventional city plans should be modified to incorporate the measures needed for restoration of healthy environment.
vi) Programmes to deal with the problem of urban poverty should be developed in integrated manner emphasising both employment generation and access to basic services involving community level organisations.
13.4.2 Specific thrust areas of Eighth Five Year Plan (a) Macro strategy for urban development with explicit recognition of rural-urban linkages has to be evolved. In particular, the benefits of accelerated pace of agricultural development should be taken advantage of through appropriate utilisation of backward and forward linkages. This, together with appropriate location policy for development of industry and other major employment generating non-agricultural activities, can provide an effective avenue for absorption of surplus rural labour force.
(b) As a corollary to the above macro level strategy, an integrated plan of hierarchy of rural and urban settlements needs to be evolved. This will imply introducing explicity spatial dimension.
(c) Particular emphasis will be placed on the development of small and medium (S&M) towns which serve as an important link between the village and the large cities. In order to realise the objective of more bal- anced distribution of urban growth both in terms of its distribution over space and also by size class of urban areas, the small and medium towns have to act as important centres of attraction, in terms of economic opportunities, to the potential migrants not only from villages but also from urban areas to large cities. To operationalise this planning approach, the integration of this strategy for development of small and medium towns in a spatial context with the existing district planning process may be attempted. The concept of GEMS as identified by the National Commission on Urbanisation will be kept in view for this purpose.
(d) The programme implementation approach has accordingly to undergo a change from
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the present practice of implementing urban development programme in an ad-hoc and isolated manner. Not only the physical infrastructure but also the economic infra- structure should form part of urban development programme. The policy of locating industries in rural areas only at a short distance away from the metropolitan or large cities is only symbolic of dispersal policy. Instead, it will be worthwhile to promote industries in small and medium urban centres having the desired impact on decentralisation of urban growth. It would also be necessary to plan for more efficient land use and economic regeneration of old city areas in the metro region keeping in view the new Industrial Location Policy which aims at more flexible approach to location of industries in the metro region. Similarly, the programmes of the Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development and Telecommunication need to be oriented to small towns which primarily serve as Rural Service Centres.
(e) In order to achieve better co-ordination of various related programmes within the Ministry of Urban Development, the programme of IDSMT, housing and infra- structural development programmes of HUDCO, and also employment generation scheme under NRY can be suitably integrated. Identification of towns and cities should be made on a selective and priority basis and the investment plan properly coordinated and placed above the threshold level to have the desired impact. Prioritization should be done in the first instance, with regard to primary economic functions (eg. rural growth centres, service towns, tourist towns, industrial towns, etc.) and later integrated with service level deficiency in the urban areas.
(f) Increasing reliance on institutional finance which needs to be dovetailed to an overall plan of infrastructure support in the urban areas is necessary.
(g) With regard to the problem of urban poverty and unemployment, the NRY can be made more effective by identification of potential and more a appropriate activities, and by suitable organisation at the district/local level and people's participation.
(h) With regard to the access of the urban poor to basic services like water supply, sanitation, health and education, a combined package of UBSP and EIUS may provide effective means of overcoming the problems.
(i) Resource mobilisation measures of the metropolitan Governments, including rationalisation of existing tax and non-tax resources, and the need for devolution of funds from the State to the Local Government need an urgent plan of action.
(j) Legal bottlenecks (for example, Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation, Transfer of Property, Land Acquisition and Rent Control Acts) need to be removed. This aspect has been examined in detail by the National Commission on Urbanisation and also incorporated in the draft National Housing Policy. A time bound action to effect necessary amendments to these Acts is now called for. Rationalisation of regulatory framework is also necessary as a complementary measure.
(k) A decentralised framework of urban Government with necessary participation of local communities and opinion leaders in planning, implementation and monitoring of urban development programmes is another prerequisite for the success of urban development strategy. In addition to the enactment of the Nagar Palika Bill, which is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for efficient urban development, other normal management improvement schemes, including national and local level training programmes and delegation of administrative functions and responsibilities, will help the process. In case of large city government, shift from one centralised authority to a system of smaller area-based committees may be more effective in delivery of urban services.
(l) In view of the large size and the complexity of urban development programmes, insti-
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tutional support and delivery systems at town and area level (for large cities) need to be developed in the immediate future.
(m) It is necessary to examine the feasibility of developing appropriate specialised organisations at the Centre and State level to deal with financing and development of urban infrastructure.
Eighth Plan Programmes 13.5.1 Given the above thrust areas of the Eighth Plan, the Plan programmes, covering both the State and the Central sectors have been worked out in detail. While most of the programmes are extension of those of the Seventh Plan and 1990-91 /91- 92 Annual plans, the con- tent, physical coverage and funding pattern have been revised in most cases in accordance with the thrust areas of Eighth Plan. The major/priority programmes are discussed in detail in the subsequent sections:
Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns 13.5.2 The Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) scheme was initiated by the government in 1979-80 with a view to reducing the migration of population from rural areas to large cities, generating employment by creating resource generating ventures in the small and medium towns and providing sufficient infrastructure, facilities in these towns. The scheme provided for Central assistance on matching (50:50) basis with a ceiling of Rs.40.00 lakhs, which assumed the form of a loan repayable in 25 years. Until March 31, 1991, a total of 457 towns had been covered under the scheme for which the loan assistance released was Rs. 162.73 crores.
13.5.3 The scheme has broadly served its objective but it has not had the desired impact on the hinterland. Delays in land acquisition and development and inadequate counterpart funding by the States/UTs have been identified as major bottlenecks in the scheme.
13.5.4 Therefore, the Eighth Five Year Plan envisages a fresh approach to the development of the towns, dovetailing the activities under the employment generation programmes into the supportive infrastructure development programme with a view to:-
i) generating employment opportunities to reduce the rural-urban and urban-urban migration;
ii) developing growth centres for the betterment of rural hinterland adopting a regional approach;
iii) providing infrastructural facilities to support such employment generation activities; and
iv) evolving resource generating schemes for local bodies for meeting the expinditure or, operation and maintenance of the infrastructural facilities so created. The IDSMT scheme is intended to cover objectives (ii), (iii) & (iv) and objective (i) forms part of larger framework of employment generation.
13.5.5 To overcome the financial constraints inherent in the original IDSMT, the reformulated approach envisages that the scheme should not depend solely on budgetary finance but should seek support from institutional finance. The budgetary provisions should be used mainly for the provision of seed capital to the State Corporation/local bodies for generation of funds and for critical infrastructure which does not have any direct return.
13.5.6 The coverage of the scheme will be in towns with population between 20,000 to 3 lakhs as follows:
Population Categories
20,000 - 50,000 A
50,000 - 1,00,000 B
1,00,000 - 3,00,000 C
Less than 20,000 X
The guidelines for the scheme indicate the criteria and the order of priorities for selection of towns. The actual selection of the towns is, however, being left to the State Governments.
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13.5.7 The scheme will make the towns with a population of 20,000 to 50,000 the prime target, while the inclusion of towns in 50,000 to 3,00,000 category and less than 20,000 category will be on a selective basis.
13.5.8 The schemes eligible for central assistance will depend on the category as well as special characteristics of the town. Central assistance will be available in general for the following activities:
i) Strengthening of link road facilities;
ii) Provision of bus terminals;
iii) Development of market yards;
iv) Industrial sheds;
v) Water supply;
vi) Construction/upgradation of road and side drains;
vii) Development of Shopping Centres;
viii) Provision of tourist facilities; and
ix) Localised drainage works.
13.5.9 Land acquisition and development have been a bottleneck. The modified scheme seeks to tackle this problem by excluding payment of land acquisition cost from the Central share and by stipulating that land for the scheme is to be made available within a year of approval. Access to institutional funds need not be limited to local bodies and urban development authorities. Moreover, the borrowers are expected to adopt a basket type approach so that the expenses incurred on the non-remunerative side and for the weaker sections are made up through adequate returns from the remunerative components. The projects under the scheme will have to be comprehensive coveting all facets of development including social services and amenities, and be based on the long term Master Plan/Development Plan of the town within its district or regional context.