Focus of poverty is shifting to cities, leading to a phenomenon of urbanization of poverty: Selja

The Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation & Tourism Kumari Selja has said that what is striking in the trends of urbanization in developing countries is that urban poverty is increasingly becoming a pervasive feature in cities. Addressing the meeting of Board of Governors at Oslo, Norway today she said, the focus of poverty is shifting to cities, leading to a phenomenon of urbanization of poverty. The Minister said, Rural poverty has long been the world’s most common face of destitution. But urban poverty, closely linked with the mushrooming of slums and squatter settlements, is emerging as an intense, dehumanizing and life-threatening phenomenon. She said, the city governments are not able to provide basic services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the slum-dwellers and the urban poor. These services include safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable housing and public transportation. Even if the rate of urbanization is modest, the massive increase in the absolute number of urban residents, has led many Governments to hold the view that their urbanization is too rapid to cope with. Some embarked in the past on policies to control migration and spatial distribution of population. Such policies have failed miserably. Moreover, they are not warranted as migration is an exercise in free choice and further, urbanization has been the engine of growth across the globe.

Here is the full text of Minister’s speech:-

“Distinguished dignitaries on the dais, participants on the Board of Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen. At the outset I thank the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway and Urban Poor Fund International for inviting me to the Board of Governors Meeting & the international workshop on the subject of safety and security of cities.

My address today will cover three aspects. First I would refer to the trends and patterns of urbanization in the developing world. Second, I would highlight the Indian urbanization scenario and the key initiatives of the Government of India to address the urban problems. Third, I would dwell upon some key policy issues relating to urban poverty and slums confronting the developing countries so that ways can be found to address them meaningfully through debate, discussions, international public opinion and cross-learning.

As regards the world urban scenario, the 21st Century would be an urban century with a massive urbanization witnessed by the developing countries. The global urban population was estimated by the United Nations at 3.2 billion in 2005, nearly 4 times the number in 1950. This figure represented 49 per cent of the world’s total population. Asia accounted for a share of about 50 per cent of the global urban population. The number of urban dwellers is projected to have crossed the 50 per cent mark in 2008 and expected to increase to 4 billion in 2018 and 5 billion by 2030. The world will have about 60 per cent of its population living in cities and towns by 2030. By the same year, the urban population in the developing regions would be about 3.9 billion. This will be nearly four times as large as the figure of 1 billion urban residents in the developed regions in 2030. Thus, the developing countries will witness unprecedented increases in their urban population in the coming decades – an urban revolution.

As regards the urbanization in Asia, about 50 per cent of the urban residents of the world numbering 1553 million lived in Asia in 2005. The urban population for Asia is projected to grow to 2637 million by 2030. India will then have 873 million urban residents. The 21st century will present an urban revolution sweeping across Asia, including India.

What is striking in the trends of urbanization in developing countries is that urban poverty is increasingly becoming a pervasive feature in cities. The focus of poverty is shifting to cities, leading to a phenomenon of urbanization of poverty. Rural poverty has long been the world’s most common face of destitution. But urban poverty, closely linked with the mushrooming of slums and squatter settlements, is emerging as an intense, dehumanizing and life-threatening phenomenon. The city governments are not able to provide basic services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the slum-dwellers and the urban poor. These services include safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable housing and public transportation. Even if the rate of urbanization is modest, the massive increase in the absolute number of urban residents, has led many Governments to hold the view that their urbanization is too rapid to cope with. Some embarked in the past on policies to control migration and spatial distribution of population. Such policies have failed miserably. Moreover, they are not warranted as migration is an exercise in free choice and further, urbanization has been the engine of growth across the globe.

As regards India, the urban population of the country was about 286 million representing 28 per cent of the country’s total population of 1,029 million. The net addition to urban population during 1991-2001 was of the order of 69 million as against 113 million for rural areas. In percentage terms, the decadal growth of population in rural areas has been much smaller during the decade 1991-2001 at 18.1 per cent compared to 31.5 percent for urban areas. The problems that Urban India faces are similar to those in other developing countries, with about one-fourth of the urbanites living in slums faced with acute socio-economic deprivation.

Globally, 715 million people lived in slums in 1990. The figure is estimated to have gone up to 912 million by 2000 and 998 million by 2005. At present, one of three urban residents is considered to be living in slums. If the current trends continue the number of slum dwellers would increase up to 1.4 billion by 2020. Many of them live in hazardous locations with few or non-existent basic services. They remain highly vulnerable to natural disasters like floods and landslides. A large proportion of the urban poor also face social burdens and health problems worse than their non-slum and rural counterparts. The problems of urban poverty and slums are so huge and so pervasive, that it is impossible for the national and provincial governments to address them in totality. Thus, there is a case of empowered city governments to address the issues of urban poverty and slums, with focus on inter-governmental and public-private partnerships. The principle of subsidiarity, which has been adopted by many countries, including the European Union, also suggests that functions like slum development and upgradation are best handled at the local body level. Of course, the national and provincial governments ought to support the efforts of municipalities as the resources and capacities of these local bodies drastically fall short of what is needed.

On the issue of national strategies to address urban issues, including those of poverty and slums, I would like to highlight three major initiatives that the Government of India has taken. The first is the enactment of the Constitution 74th Amendment Act 1992. This accorded a Constitutional status to the Municipalities as the third tier of government. The 74th Amendment envisages a legal-institutional framework for democratic decentralization. It reserves one-third of the seats in municipal councils for women and provides for reservation for weaker sections of society. It provides for a list of 18 functions as belonging to the legitimate domain of the municipalities. The Act also suggests a framework for fiscal empowerment and devolution of resources to the urban local bodies. As regards urban and regional planning, the 74th Amendment envisages a critical role for elected local bodies in the preparation and implementation of spatial and socio-economic plans for the integrated development of both urban and rural areas.

Following the 74th Amendment, most cities and towns in the country now have democratically elected and representative local self-governments. However, the progress in the devolution of functions, finances and functionaries to municipalities by State Governments is tardy. In particular, how to enable the municipalities to undertake functions such as slum development and urban poverty alleviation is a key issue that remains to be settled.

The second major initiative that the Government of India has championed is the launching of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission on 3rd December 2005. JNNURM is the single largest initiative ever launched nationally to address the problems of infrastructure and basic services to the poor in cities and towns in a holistic manner. The Mission is to be implemented over a period of 7 years, namely 2005-12. The Government of India has committed a central grant of about $15 billion approximately. JNNURM comprises two broad segments, namely (i) the Sub-Mission on Urban Infrastructure and Governance and (ii) the Sub-Mission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor. These Sub-Missions cover 65 identified cities of national importance. The other cities and towns are covered under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP). The BSUP and IHSDP schemes focus on the implementation of a 7-Point Charter, namely the provision of land tenure, affordable housing, water, sanitation, education, health and social security.

Governance reforms are central to JNNURM. Linked to Government of India’s support to States, they are based on an enabling strategy aimed at improving urban governance for sustained provision of urban infrastructure and basic amenities to the poor. Accordingly, a series of reforms at the State and local levels are envisaged to address the key urban issues including planning, financing and governing cities.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Mission is in the 5th year of its implementation. It is expected that it would usher in vibrant cities and an era of good civic governance. As regards housing the urban poor, it is hoped that with support from JNNURM, more than 1.5 million houses would be built for the urban poor in the next two to three years. The beneficiaries would be provided all the basic civic amenities. Title to land or housing is to be in the name of women beneficiaries or jointly in the names of women and their husbands both.

The third major initiative that India has embarked on is the new scheme of Rajiv Awas Yojana announced by the President of India on 4th June 2009. This scheme aims at making India slum-free in 5 years. The benefits under the scheme, which will support provision of infrastructure facilities in slums and enable the poor to access subsidized credit for building their homes, will be extended to States that are willing to undertake legislation to grant property right to slum-dwellers. Currently, we are in the process of defining the contours of the new scheme. We are considering to make the scheme demand-driven so that affordable housing can be taken up by the poor themselves as a mass activity, with the role of the Government being a facilitator by providing subsidy for infrastructure in slums and enabling the flow of affordable credit to the slum-dwellers.

India’s experience with the implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment and various policies and programmes indicate that the issues of urban poverty and slums are complex and deep-rooted in the issues of governance. They require a multi-pronged strategy. The bottom line is that cities and towns need to inclusive and be enabled to provide good governance to their citizens, including the urban poor. This calls for drastic reforms in the system of governance. We must recognize that the concept of good governance transcends much beyond the Government or the State. Governance encompasses three actors: the Government, the private sector and the civil society. The role of the Government is to create an enabling environment for economic growth, human development and poverty alleviation. The private sector’s task is to create jobs and economic opportunities for the people. The role of the civil society is to mobilize popular support and participation of the people for the effective implementation of development programs. It is in this context that organizations like Slum-dwellers International and Urban Poor Fund International can play a critical role in making good urban governance a reality and empowering the poor.

One key area that the Urban Poor Fund International may address, in addition to mobilizing and organizing the poor, is to address the glaring failure of urban and regional planning. The city Master Plans suffer from many infirmities. They are based on a model which has driven the urban poor out of formal land markets. In the presence of sky-rocketing land prices, absence of affordable housing, hostile Master Plans that have not provided space to the poor, slums have been the only homes to these disadvantaged sections. These can be regarded as the market solution by the slum-dwellers to a problem of failure of the formal system of city planning. That is why our new scheme, Rajiv Awas Yojana proposes to create the enabling conditions that encourage the states to tackle the problem of slums in a definitive way. The scheme aims at bringing the existing slums within the formal system, providing property rights to people living in slum areas, and enabling them to avail of the same amenities as the rest of the town. The scheme will also try to redress the failures of the formal system that lies behind the creation of slums. It will focus on tackling the shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter and housing out of reach of the poor and force them to resort to extralegal solutions in a bid to retain their sources of livelihood and employment. It will adopt a state-led strategy – preventive, curative and promotive. Ownership of the vision and programme will be by the states, so that a slum free India would be an aggregate of the vision of Slum Free States. With States, it will be the cities and within cities, slum-dwellers and their federations will lead the programme.

As the goals and the objectives of the Urban Poor Fund International are strengthen the organization of the poor and make them the central actors in urban development and poverty eradication, I feel that the organization could be of immense assistance to our government in the effective implementation of Rajiv Awas Yojana. I would also urge the organization to facilitate an international forum for policy debate and cross-learning on sum development and upgrading. This may be spearheaded by the Slum Dwellers International and Urban Poor Funds International together so that adequate international opinion is garnered to focus national attention in developing countries on the critical issues of slums and urban poverty. These problems if not tackled constructively will weaken the very foundations of cities as the engines of economic growth. I may inform that my Government would extend support as needed by the proposed forum.

I wish the UPFI and Board of Governors and Slum Dwellers International all success. We would eagerly look forward to the Fund’s activities in India with which we can associate”.

AD/AK
(Release ID :52186)