Issues For Indian Urban Planning: Trapped in central planning

Source: The post issues in Indian town planning has been created, based on the article “Cities: Trapped in central planning” published in “Business standard” on 19th January 2024.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper1-Society-developmental issues, urbanisation, their problems and their remedies. & GS paper3-economic- infrastructure

News: The article discusses the problems with town planning in India. It highlights how detailed government control leads to inefficient land use and fails to create nice cities.

Recent Issues in Urban Planning?

Uncoordinated Private Development: The private sector, built in an uncoordinated manner and focused on individual profits, results in the overuse of land for private projects and insufficient space for public amenities. Consequently, essential services like water, sanitation, electricity, and telecom suffer due to poorly planned and executed infrastructure.

Excessive Government Control: Development authorities in cities meticulously plan urban areas, often over-regulating and mismanaging land use. This includes dividing cities into detailed zones (residential, commercial, industrial, and green) with strict compliance requirements.

Constitutional Violations and Legal Issues: These overly detailed plans can violate constitutional principles. For instance, landowners in green zones face restrictions on building or modifying properties, leading to legal disputes and land misuse.

Widespread Corruption and Arbitrary Power: The system’s complexity and over-regulation breed corruption and give undue power to authorities, enabling them to selectively enforce rules.

How Does Government Control Impact Land Use?

Rigid Zoning Laws: Government authorities divide cities into detailed zones, like residential and commercial areas, leading to inflexible land use.

Restrictions on Property Rights: In green zones, property owners face severe limitations, such as being unable to build or modify houses, which infringes on their rights.

Excessive Land for Open Spaces: Indian cities, as per renowned urban planner Mr. Patel’s observations, allocate 50-60% of land for private open spaces, compared to less than 10% in well-planned foreign cities.

Lack of Economic Understanding: The planning approach shows a misunderstanding of urban economics, leading to inefficient and underutilized urban spaces.

What Should Be Done?

1.Use minimal yet effective state interventions, avoiding over-regulation and rigid zoning laws.

2.Create laws and institutions that can efficiently manage urban growth and planning, based on a deep understanding of urban economics.

3.Emulate successful urban planning models from abroad, where less than 10% of land is private open space compared to 50-60% in Indian cities.

4.Align planning policies to support economic growth while achieving sustainable development goals, as suggested in the Barker review of 2006 in the UK.

Question for practice:

Discuss the impact of excessive government control on land use in Indian town planning and the suggested solutions to address.