Why Indian cities continue to fail us, in charts
Fuelled by migration and development, the demography of Indian cities is constantly changing, making it challenging—but vital—to build systems that work. A new report on “city systems" by Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based non-profit, has shed light on the systemic gaps in India’s urban governance that make reforms sluggish and quality of life substandard. For instance, municipal bodies rarely move laws to reform themselves: just 5% of the amendments ever made to city-level laws related to this aspect, with the rest mainly dwelling on everyday finances and elections.
The report is a study of all 82 municipal legislations in India conducted between December 2021 and December 2022. Mint explains the highlights. Burgeoning cities need robust long-term plans to prepare quality services and sustainable infrastructure for everyone.
But at least 39% of India’s capital cities lack active spatial plans, the study found. Only nine have plans for all key urban needs. The problem was acute in smaller cities.
No state has mandated street design standards for city roads or has a provision to prevent the approval of projects violating their plans. Few have ways to penalize violations. “Metropolitan planning committees", envisaged for million-plus cities, are either non-existent or dysfunctional.
The slow pace of city systems' reforms, the lack of administrative autonomy at the city level, and reliance on policies framed by the Centre rather than states, have hampered systemic reforms, the report said. Most small cities lack the power to approve their own budget, while few mega cities have mayors with tenures long enough to make a difference. A short tenure makes the mayor largely “ceremonial and inconsequential", the report said.
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