An impressive double digit growth, scores of venture capitalists opening their kitties for budding entrepreneurs, hedge funds betting on the great Indian Story and innumerable studies and research predicting the Indian economy's massive stride which can overtake Big Sam in near future. But the key question remains that despite all the hype and frenzy are we somewhere near the predictions. Although I am optimistic, I believe that realities are always better than hollow optimism.
As an Indian one feels proud when a Tata acquires a Corus or a Vodafone finding value in Indian telecom space or when an extra cautious Calpers investing in India, but then one wonders for how long would we maintain this advantage.
Even if one discounts the remote parts of India or villages which as a matter of fact are still waiting for that flicker of electricity or clean water, the Indian metros are in no better state. While a summer symbolizes water woes for most north Indian metros, a heavy shower means derailment in the lives of most urban centres in India.
One still remembers the famous Mumbai Deluge two years ago which meant complete shutting down of business and resulted in the loss of thousands of crores of rupees.
Over the years the situation in Indian urban centres has transcended from bad to worse. Whether it is Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai, the story of the metros seems to be the same. A recently concluded study by UN on metros of the world estimates that more than 56 per cent of residents in the metros live in slums, more than 2.6 lakh people die due to poor sanitation and hygiene and almost 80 per cent of them are big city residents (Source: World Health Organisation), and so on.
The development propounders predict that India is fast moving from big cities to Tier-II and Tier-III cities which are indeed next hotbeds for growth. This is partially true, but mostly false. There are certain important aspects that one needs to understand when thinking about such transitions.
However, in terms of infrastructure Tier-II and Tier-III cities are still undeveloped. They are indeed no better than their bigger counterparts. Take for example, a Tier-III city like Nagpur has a slum population of almost 33 per cent (Source: CDP for JNNURM of Nagpur) who have little or marginal access to pure water, electricity and other requisite services. Poor infrastructure including roads, electricity, availability of water and above all the absence of requisite social infrastructure often act as a spanner in large scale shift from metros to non-metros.
Although some organizations have started exploring possibilities of Tier-II and Tier-III cities, most businesses still operate from the metros. Almost 45 per cent of the entire GDP and 60 per cent of consumption is contributed by the top 15 cities of India. While technology penetration has made it easy for IT and ITEs export companies to move to non-metros, a non-uniform tax structure, labour availability issues, infrastructure, etc have played their own role in shifting of other enterprises.
One would argue that schemes like JNNURM are indeed conceptualized to strengthen the dwindling urban infrastructure and provide that much-needed support to the urban local bodies to counter the challenges of the present and future. But a close observation of City Development Plan (CDP) and policy initiatives of the ministry of urban development leaves an observer confused. Most CDPs lack the long term vision and a concrete implementation plan. This becomes all the more clear when one observes the details about unused and surrendered amount of ULBs to JNNURM.
The key question is then how can one solve the Metro Woes. Is money a problem? It's hardly unlikely, because big ULBs and development agencies have ample resources. If there is a crunch, it is mostly due to non-realisation of dues; that's an efficiency problem of ULBs which can be resolved easily.
The most important aspect is vision and greater role of private and people sector in developmental initiatives of big cities. While models of PPP have proved effective in this area, there should also be models of people participation in these. Resident welfare associations, NGOs, students, teachers, housewives, retirees have a role to play in this. I believe this is a big opportunity for the private sector because they can bring that much-needed vision and management in this entire game.
We must remember that metros are and would still remain the spine of our growth for sometime and their woes would ultimately be the woes of the entire nation.
(Pankaj Sharma is Governance Advisor to the Government of India)