India’s cities
India’s cities
In India, cities have been historically neglected - for a long time, they did not fit into the post-independent notion that ‘India lives in its villages.’ The political weakness of the cities led to their financial impoverishment. These cash-strapped cities began to abdicate their role in providing basic public services like roads, water, sanitation, garbage collection, health and education. However, the recent amendments to city government, and the reforms suggested in the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) provide the basis for city empowerment. The greater voice for citizens that the JNNURM reforms offer, will hopefully begin to change the trajectory of the cities.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Indian cities have been developed well mainly due to the administrative excellence of the British Rulers. Cities such as Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Delhi owe their infrastructure to the britishers when they ruled India till 1947. After Independence, the public has been careless and helpless in civic administration. Citizens of India have let down their own Urban Infrastructure by electing corporators who sit in BMC and NMMC offices and eat paan during their tenure in public office. It is time the entire program of Managing Cities is placed in Private Hands such as those of MNCs that can plan and construct an entire city on its own. One prime example is Jamshedpur which was a rural village before the TATAs transformed it into a Steel City. The same can be done to cities such as PUNE, BOMBAY, Navi Mumbai and Chennai. The Government must speed up the process of land acquisition for important projects such as Navi Mumbai International Airport and Panvel Railway Terminus. We need to create and make modern cities that define India’s future growth and India’s natural resources.
Santosh Shivaramakrishnan
INDIA.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
We need our cities to become A class like some of the cities in the west. However, given the different and diverse groups (based on education, culture, income) that live in the cities, it is currently quite impossible to ensure the following:-
-Cleanliness
-Law and Order
-Consistent infrastructure
We need to think of what could be the various options to address this issue.
-A city has to have a purpose for its existence. There cannot be a city just because there are people. Every city should have one or two industries/areas around which it is focused
-We should limit the size of the cities in terms of the population that can be accomodated. Hence creation of new cities is a must.
-No unauthorized construction should be allowed. No slums. There could be areas that could be low income housing etc which could be a seperate city in itself. This might lead to ghettos getting created.
-Provide high speed reliable transport between cities so that commuting for jobs is not an issue.
-Make every city have its own P&L that is owned by the people. Cities should compete on various things like employment rates, revenue generated, citizen happiness index etc.