Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has indicated that the government will shut down the flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, or JNNURM, to be replaced with a scheme of its own devising. If this is merely a question of rebranding - of a few tweaks, based on learning from the JNNURM, and the replacement of Nehru's name with that of a "national icon", to quote Mr Naidu - then there will be little to quibble about. However, there are reasonable concerns to be addressed. Mr Naidu, for example, suggested that the primary focus of his ministry would be on reducing the interest rate on home loans. There is reason to be worried that such a move at this stage is merely a bailout for real estate companies, and nothing more. It would be a pity if that were the main task of the urban development ministry.
Mr Naidu also spoke of the need for satellite towns. But is that enough? The tasks are monumental. Consider Mumbai: more than 50 per cent of its population lives in "informal housing" and, on current reckoning, there is no hope of ever having enough proper homes for all in the city. Changing the floor space index and creating transferrable development rights will only scratch the surface. What is needed is action by both the Centre and the states to create large supplies of urban land (the biggest constraint) on which enough homes can be built. Substantial land rests with the railways, ports and defence. Some of it can be spared. The states have to redesign the roles of their revenue and urban development departments and ensure that all urban land ceiling laws are killed in both letter and spirit. Landholdings have to be mapped and digitised; tenure clarified; building by-laws rationalised; and the process of converting farm land to non-farm category simplified after building necessary safeguards so that land-use change norms are not exploited by vested interests in the real estate sector. While this goes on, safe drinking water and sufficient community toilets have to be provided in slums, irrespective of whether they are legal or not, so that people can live there in minimum health and dignity. Those who provide the city with essential low-cost services should not live in slums, or far away in satellite towns.
The other major urban issue crying out for immediate attention is that of public transport. Cities cannot function unless traffic in them can move reasonably. The air quality in major Indian cities, substantially dictated by automobile emission, is already seriously deficient and will pose a major health hazard if it is not addressed. India needs to avoid the mistakes China has made in this regard. Vastly improved public transport can both unclog urban roads and improve air quality by making it possible to manage with fewer private cars. Wholly state-funded and subsidised public transport is expensive. Indore has another model: it auctions routes to concessionaires; buses are owned and run by them; infrastructure like depots and bus shelters are publicly funded and revenue is shared. A critical differentiator is buses being monitored by a global positioning system, or GPS, to ensure they run on the routes and frequencies prescribed. This model can be further developed and replicated. Higher car taxes and inner city congestion charges, meanwhile, can discourage the use of cars.
