Challenges faced by the Urban Policy Framework in India

Source: The post challenges faced by the Urban Policy Framework in India has been created, based on the article “Realising the rural-urban continuum” published in “The Hindu” on 16th September is 2024

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 1- Society – Urbanization

Context: The article discusses how India’s growing urban areas need better infrastructure and governance. It highlights financial and policy challenges, urging a shift from viewing problems as rural or urban and instead addressing them as part of a connected urban-rural continuum.

For detailed information on Challenges faced by Urban Local Bodies in India read this article here

What is the Current Urban Policy Framework in India?

1. The urban policy framework in India is highly centralized, limiting financial autonomy for local bodies.
2. Programs like AMRUT focus on urban areas for infrastructure projects like sewage treatment but exclude smaller towns and urban villages. This oversight affects a significant part of the population not living in major cities.
3. Solid waste management is handled separately under the Swachh Bharat Mission, which aims to keep urban and rural India clean but operates without unified management for urban and adjacent rural areas.

What Are the Challenges faced by the Urban Policy Framework in India?

1. Centralized Finances: There is excessive centralization, reducing financial autonomy for local bodies. The 13th Finance Commission mentioned that local bodies are being “asphyxiated” due to financial constraints.
2. Tied Grants: Grants are increasingly tied to centrally sponsored schemes, limiting local flexibility. For example, towns risk losing grants if there is no connection between property tax increases and State Goods and Services Tax.
3. Overlook the Urban-Rural Continuum: Programs like AMRUT and Swachh Bharat Mission focus on urban infrastructure but overlook the urban-rural continuum.
4. Governance Challenges: District Planning Committees, intended to coordinate between rural and urban local bodies, are now subordinate to district bureaucracies, weakening their role.

What Should be Done?

1. Empower District Planning Committees: The 73rd and 74th Amendments need to be revisited. District Planning Committees must be strengthened to reduce bureaucratic control and improve local governance.
2. Collaborative Waste Management: Solid and liquid waste management should be planned at the district or regional level, integrating both urban and rural areas for efficiency.
3. Learn from Kerala: In Kerala, public pressure led to the cancellation of a landfill site. This was possible due to integrated governance where both rural and urban bodies fall under one ministry, unlike other states.

Question for practice:

Examine the challenges faced by the urban policy framework in India and suggest measures to improve governance and infrastructure development.