Cities at Crossroads: Heaps of hazards

So-called landfills do not address the problems of solid waste management.

A city cannot be smart if it is not swacch, that is, clean. At the same time, a city cannot be clean if it does not manage its waste — garbage as well as sewage — well. My last two columns tried to spell out the chain of scientific management of municipal solid waste (MSW) from segregation at source to collection, transportation, treatment and scientific disposal. In this column I go behind some buzzwords — the broom and the landfills, for example — which have entered the discussion on municipal solid waste management in India and have distracted attention from the basics of what needs to be done if we want to clean up our cities. The issues connected with waste to energy plants will be taken up in the next column.

The image that is most associated with Swacch Bharat is of VIPs wielding brooms to sweep the dirt and/or garbage in the streets. Sweeping streets with brooms only touches the tip of the problem, especially if there is no mechanism to dispose of what is swept up. The way to keep a city clean is to ensure that segregated waste is collected from homes and/or commercial establishments, and after providing for recycling and resource recovery, what is left (which is much reduced in volume) is disposed of scientifically. While the Solid Waste Rules of 2016 and the MSW Rules of 2000 call for “primary” door-to-door collection of waste segregated at source, most municipal corporations and municipalities only make “secondary” collection of unsegregated waste from community bins. The focus of Swacch Bharat should, therefore, be on motivating and nudging people to reduce their waste and segregate it into wet, dry, recyclables, etc, and for the municipalities to collect this waste and put it through separate treatment streams for resource recovery and dispose of the residue scientifically.

Community bins are temporary dumpsites from where the waste is removed ever so often and is taken to permanent dumpsites either inside our cities or at their outskirts. Garbage is stacked at these sites for months, years and even decades. They are mistakenly called “landfills” but are better described as “garbage hills” and are huge public health hazards. If we focus only on clearing the community bins in different localities but not on what needs to be done with the waste from that point onwards, we will only make the garbage hills around us higher and will not create swacch cities.

News of fires at Deonar, one of the three landfill sites into which Mumbai’s municipal solid waste is dumped, and also at Bhalswa and Ghazipur, two of the three landfill sites for Delhi, hit the headlines in recent months. There are a number of settlements on the edge of the Deonar site, and a study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai has documented the average life expectancy in this area at less than 50 years — much lower than the all-India average of 68 years — and every second child is underweight and there is very high incidence of maternal mortality. In Delhi, the landfill fires became the subject of a blame game between the state government and the Municipal Corporations of Delhi and an enquiry committee was set up to clear the political air. Actually, fires at these sites are nothing new and are only to be expected because inflammable material such as plastic, wires and cables, rubber, clothes, paper and garden waste are part of the unsegregated garbage that has been dumped there routinely over several decades. The methane produced is highly combustible and catches fire easily, particularly in the summer months. Only Ghazipur has a plant to capture methane and convert it into energy, although even there, its limited capacity can generate only 12 MW of energy. A mere cigarette stub or a half-lit match is enough to cause accidental fires. More often, youngsters are paid to set fire to waste heaps at these sites to recover metals and other materials of scrap value.

Ghazipur is Delhi’s oldest and largest “landfill” site which is spread across 71 acres and is filled beyond capacity. It was never engineered as a sanitary landfill. Since 1984, indiscriminate dumping has produced a hill of unsegregated garbage which is 45 metres high — about two-thirds the height of the Qutab Minar. Like Bhalswa, which was started 10 years later and covers an area of 51 acres, Ghazipur is also spewing toxic gases into Delhi’s environment and causing enormous damage to health. A colony of ragpickers has set up home next to Ghazipur slum, risking their health for the sake of their livelihood. If a recycling mechanism can be put in place by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation by working with informal rag-pickers, as has been done in Pune and Pammal, it would reduce their compulsion to live in toxic surroundings and also reduce the wastage of fuel in carting large volumes of waste to the dumpsite which is euphemistically called a landfill. Indeed, this is a good practice that should be followed by all three municipal corporations of Delhi.

In responding to a query from the Supreme Court, a public official is reported to have said, “We will come up with the instructions whether these landfill sites can be moved to some other place and what are the steps taken to remove the garbage.” If true, this betrays a lack of understanding of what is involved in managing the legacy of accumulated municipal waste and how to start working at the margin by managing the current flow of waste effectively and disposing of the residual waste in sanitary landfills. Sanitary landfills are sites where waste is isolated from the environment until it is safe, that is, until it has completely degraded biologically, chemically and physically. This is done by preparing large and deep underground pits into which the residual waste is deposited in layers and compacted with bulldozers in between scientific layering of geotextile material, and sealed with impermeable synthetic liners to ensure airtight closure and prevent leaching of harmful chemicals into groundwater. Provision is also made for collecting the methane gas that is generated to be used as a substitute fuel. After closing a landfill scientifically, a cover of topsoil is placed and the land is reclaimed for developing public parks or other green spaces. Given the scarcity of land, landfills must be only for the residual waste after the waste has been reduced, segregated, recycled, and resource recovery has been accomplished.
A lot of media attention on the alarming state of solid waste management in our cities is justified because this is playing with our health and that of our children and grandchildren. But it is important to separate the legacy issues from the current management of the waste in making assessments and finding solutions to this gigantic problem. As far as managing our current flow of waste is concerned, we must begin with making segregation at source mandatory and enforcing it ruthlessly. Together with campaigns on reduction and recycling of waste, it would then leave us with a number of options on converting waste to energy and prepare sanitary landfills only for what remains.

The writer is chairperson of ICRIER, Delhi, and former chairperson of the high-powered expert committee on urban infrastructure and services.

Source: The Indian Express, 26-10-2016

Making cities inclusive

The challenges of a rapidly urbanising world and of providing people with equal opportunities in cities were the central themes at the just-concluded UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, in Quito, Ecuador. As a once-in-a-generation event, the Habitat conference sets a guiding compass for member-countries for the next 20 years, and attracts wide governmental and civil society participation. Yet, the process has to be strengthened to evaluate how countries have fared since the two previous conferences on issues such as reducing urban inequality, improving access to housing and sanitation, mobility, and securing the rights of women, children, older adults and people with disability. Moreover, as services come to occupy a dominant place in the urban economy, the divide between highly paid professionals and low-wage workers, the majority, has become pronounced. All these trends are relevant to India, where 31 per cent of the population and 26 per cent of the workforce was urban according to Census 2011, with more people moving to cities and towns each year. Urban governance policies, although mainly in the domain of the States, must be aligned with national commitments on reduction of carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement, and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11.

India’s ambition to harness science and data for orderly urbanisation is articulated in a set of policy initiatives, chiefly the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. There is little evidence so far that these could achieve the scale needed to address the contradictions of building 21st century cities for 20th century industrial technologies. Today, these conflicts are reflected in the lack of adequate parks and public spaces, suitable land for informal workers who offer services in a city, egalitarian and non-polluting mobility options and new approaches to low-cost housing. In the national report prepared for the Quito conference, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation identified subsidised redevelopment of slums (which represented 17 per cent of urban households in 2011) involving private agencies, and low-cost, disaster-resistant, prefabricated constructions as key to the ‘Housing for All’ policy. This important programme should be pursued with a vigorous annual review that ranks States on the basis of performance. The Centre should also take its own National Urban Transport Policy on developing cities around mobility networks seriously, and liberate cities from the tyranny of traffic. UN Habitat plans to review country-level progress on its New Urban Agenda in Kuala Lumpur in 2018. India’s performance on improving the quality of life in its cities will be watched.

Keywords: Habitat conference, UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, urbanisation

Source: The Hindu, 24-10-2016

The benefits of rapid urbanisation have not reached real India

We were heading towards Mumbai’s Peddar Road. The cabbie suddenly pointed towards a multi-storeyed building and announced: “This is Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s residence.” His voice was brimming with pride. India’s lower middle class generally takes pride in the monuments and renowned personalities of its cities. Till a few years ago, they used to point tourists to the residence of Lata Mangeshkar.

From Lata Mangeshkar to Mukesh Ambani. How did such a huge shift happen?

We know that about 70%of Indians were born after 1980. Their dreams reflect an ambition to become rich rather than live by sentimental slogans. That’s why founders of unicorn companies are their role models. In the malls of Delhi and Noida, cricketers such as Virat Kohli are discussed only when a cricket match is on. But Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar or Flipkart’s Binny Bansal can be the topic of discussion anytime, anywhere. For them the arrival and departure of a CEO of a large company to India is much more important than the battle between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The reason? Most of them were born in middle class families and managed to succeed and create a place in the changing world owing to their determination. ‘Start-up’ is an enticing buzzword for the young and a new slogan for the prime minister.

Has this become a national phenomenon?

Let us not jump to a conclusion in haste. Manmohan Singh’s ‘perestroika’ may have given the gift of corporatisation to metropolitan cities, but for the real India that resides in mid-sized cities, towns and villages, it is merely a fantasy.

So far, rapid urbanisation has failed to address this problem since turning villages into half-baked cities cannot be a solution. Cities are known for the way they function. That’s why the first priority of youngsters staying in the real India isn’t a start-up, but getting a job in the government. They perceive government jobs to be secure and full of “additional” income. That’s why the sheen of administrative services has still not worn off.

By now, you would have understood why government jobs have lost their way. In a nation full of glamour, if the primary motivation of its youth in choosing a career is misplaced, how can a country be on the right path?

So, how can we arrest this slide?

For this, businessmen in small and Tier 2 towns need to be motivated to create as many jobs as possible. Unfortunately, quarter of a century after liberalisation, businessmen in the Hindi belt still are not given the respect that they actually deserve.

The reasons for this are concealed in the folds of history.

According to author Nirad C Chaudhuri, India is the only country in the world where the rich are expected to fill the stomachs of the poor. It is true that Indians have a tradition of caring for the poor and taking every section of the society along. In cahoots with blood-sucking feudal landlords, the British turned this tradition into a joke. As a result our nation went into reverse gear.In 1757, when Clive laid the foundation for long-term British rule by winning the battle of Plassey, 25% of the world’s industrial outpuWhile celebrating Independence from British rule, instead of reviving the golden bird, the newly independent governments began showering the people with freebies. On top of it, nationalisation broke the back of the industry that had survived.

I was speaking to a few distinguished businessmen before the last elections in Bihar. I was saddened to know that they had sent their children to study outside the state. They don’t want their children to stay or settle down in the state. On top of it, the children of those goons who are instilling fear in these businessmen, themselves study in other “peaceful” parts of India. If the crumbling law-and-order and back-breaking taxation were not enough, the common man perceives us as corrupt, they complained. In lieu of paying their entire taxes, if these businessmen can get security and the respect of the society and the ruling classes, they are ready to give up on the “tainted” income from illegal activities.

Bihar isn’t an anomaly. Many other states are also in the grip of this epidemic.

What is the way out? A news item last week has given me a sliver of hope. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has announced that those who pay their taxes and file their tax returns on time will get certificates of appreciation from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).t used to take place in India. By 1900 this share had reduced to just 2%. The British left behind a skeleton of the Sone ki chidiya (golden bird) that India used to be known as.

In the first phase, 843,000 taxpayers will get these certificates of appreciation. The amount of tax has been divided into four sections: Platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

For a country where businessmen have been perceived as walking-talking deposits of black money for such a long time, it is indeed a welcome change.

We should remember that just 1% of the 1.21 billion people who live in India pay income tax. The figure for the United States and China is 45% and 8% respectively.

The difference in these numbers reflects the ground reality in these three countries. One hopes the initiative that the government has taken to bridge this gulf will not die half-way down the road as it usually happens.

Source: Hindustan Times, 26-09-2016

Which city in India is safest to live in?

How do various cities compare with each other in terms of crime?

The ‘Crime in India 2015’ statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last week answers these questions. Apart from national and state-level statistics, NCRB also compiles data for 53 major cities which have a population greater than 10 lakh.

In 2015, 25 per cent of all crimes registered in major Indian cities that fell under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) took place in Delhi, which houses 10 per cent of the total population living in these 53 cities. IPC crimes constitute murder, dacoity, theft, crimes against women, children etc.

Kollam, however, had the highest crime rate. Rate refers to crimes committed per lakh population. In 2015, 1194 crimes were committed in Kollam for a lakh people followed by Delhi, where the crime rate was 1066.

The story is different for crimes under Special Local Laws (SLL). It constitutes crimes related to Gambling Act, Information and Technology Act, Electricity Act etc.

In sharp contrast with IPC crimes, just 0.5 per cent share of all SLL crimes were registered in Delhi. Lucknow, which constitutes 1.8 per cent of the total city population, contributes the highest share – 18.3 per cent – of SLL crimes followed by Ghaziabad which has a 12 per cent share. Lucknow (8717.2), Raipur (7132.1), Agra (7116) and Ghaziabad (7040.4) are the four cities having SLL crime rate greater than 7000 crimes per lakh population.

Note that NCRB numbers have a caveat: they are based on FIRs alone. Crimes for which FIRs were not registered are not accounted for in this data set.

How do various cities compare? The interactive charts the numbers for various crimes for these major 53 cities. Crime rate is a better indicator to compare crimes in cities compared to the absolute number of incidents due to varying population sizes across cities.

Instructions to read the chart: The bubble size is proportional to the number of incidents for that crime. Larger bubble size corresponds to more number of crime incidents. Crime rate is placed on the vertical axis – the higher the placement of the bubble on the vertical axis, the higher is the crime rate.

Delhi, Patna and Jodhpur turn out to be worst for various crimes.

For robbery, criminal trespass/burglary and theft, Delhi had the highest crime rate.

Jodhpur turns to be the most unsafe for women, having the highest crime rate for molestation, rape and cruelty by husband/relatives.

Patna had the highest crime rate for murder, kidnapping/abduction and dowry.

77 per cent of all cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in Mumbai. A total of 24,018 FIRs were filed under the act of which 18,628 were in Mumbai.

Source: The Hindu, 7-09-2016

Zurich is world’s most sustainable city, according to a new index

A new index, the 2016 Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index by international design and consultancy firm Arcadis, has ranked 100 global cities according to their social, environmental and economic health. The index has assigned to them overall as well as parameter-specific rankings. These three parameters are people, planet and profit.

In overall rankings, Zurich, Singapore, Stockholm, Vienna and London make the top five spots on the list. But when ranked according to performance on the people parameter, Zurich appears in 27th place, Singapore is placed 48th and London is at number 37. This parameter takes into account demographics, education, income inequality, work-life balance, crime, health and affordability.

The planet sub-index, which considers energy consumption, environmental risks, green spaces, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management and drinking water and sanitation, placed five European cities—Zurich, Stockholm, Geneva, Vienna and Frankfurt—in the top five positions.

The profit sub-index includes transport infrastructure, economic development, ease of doing business, tourism, connectivity and employment. Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Dubai and Zurich came in the top five under this parameter.

Indian cities were among the last 12 to appear on the overall index with Chennai ranking 89th, Bengaluru 91st, Mumbai 92nd, New Delhi 97th and Kolkata taking the last spot on the list.

The report recommends that cities must aim to create a sense of community by ensuring equality among different neighbourhoods. This means they must ensure that all people enjoy at least a basic standard of living, with access to dwelling, water, employment, education and health. The report also asks cities to improve people’s quality of life by increasing the number of green spaces. Increasing cities’ resilience to extreme weather events and unforeseen water shortages is another way of making cities sustainable.

“Getting a city to invest, develop, evolve and, ultimately, be a better host for its permanent residents, will propel it to become more sustainable and competitive,” writes John Batten, Global Director of Water and Cities at Arcadis, in the report.

The release of the index assumes importance in the context of Habitat III, an event by the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to be held in October in Ecuador. At the conference, countries will negotiate and possibly adopt the New Urban Agenda, an international roadmap for achieving sustainable urban development.

Source: Down to Earth, 13-09-2016

India will have seven mega cities by 2030

Subodh Varma





Delhi Will Continue To Be 2nd Most Populous City

At present, India is home to five mega ci ties, with over 10 million population, but by 2030 this number will go up to seven. Delhi will continue to be the second most populous city in the world till 2030, adding a staggering 9.6 million people to its population ­­ the most in any mega city .The facts have been re vealed in the 2016 World Cities Report issued by the UN's department of economic and social affairs.
The report has not relied on the administrative boundaries of cities but has, instead, preferred to use the concept of “urban agglomer ation“ which is the “the contiguous urban area, or builtup area“. For example, in the case of Delhi urban agglomeration, the satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon are included. Such inclusion makes sense as people in these contiguous areas are economically and socially integrated with the main city .
Around the world, about 500 million people live in 31 such mega cities. That's about 6.8% of the world's population or 12% of the world's urban population.The report calculates that by 2030, the number of mega cities will increase to 41 and their population to about 730 million or 8.7% of the world's population. Other Indian cities figurg in 2016's mega cities list ing in 2016's mega cities list are Mumbai, Kolkata, Ben galuru and Chennai. By 2030, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad will join them, as their re spective populations would cross 10 million.
The UN report shows that only a minority of urban dwellers actually live in mega cities. Nearly 21% of the world's population stays in cities of population between 500,000 to 10 million, while an even bigger share of 26.8% resides in smaller cities and towns with a population of less than 500,000.
By 2030, the world's population will decisively shift to urban living with 60% of the estimated population living in cities, big or small. Currently , about 54% of the world's population is urban.
Most of the urban growth is happening in de veloping countries in Asia and Africa. By 2030, as many as 33 of the 41 mega cities will be from the third world.
Of the 47 cities that grew by over 6% every year be tween 2000 and 2016, six were in Africa, 40 in Asia (including 20 in China) and just one in North America.
Interestingly , not all cities are growing. Out of the 1,063 cities with a population over 500,000, as many as 55 have shown a decline since 2000. Most of these cities are located in Europe and some in Japan. Their decline is mostly due to falling fertility levels, although some have shown a dip in population due to natural calamities like New Orleans (due to hurricane Katrina) and Sendai in Japan (tsunami).

Source: Times of India, 7-09-2016

91% Indian families spend on barbers and parlours

Subodh Varma





Urban Folk Shell Out Most On Mobiles & Net

In a deep dive into the comp lex ways in which Indians live, a recent report reveals what proportion of families spend how much on such integral parts of life as maids and cooks, the press-walla, the plumber, the daily tea and snacks at office, newspapers and pets and even priests. Unsurprisingly , spending on mobile phones and the net, as well as on daily transport is the most universal and accounts for a large share of average household expenditure.But barbers and beauty parlors are equally used, while recreational services like cinemas, pets and newspapers too are fairly popular.These insights emerge from a first ever focused stu dy on family spend on several key consumer services carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Earlier surveys of NSSO too had these items but they were buried somewhere in the 350-item list. It was felt that fatigue in filling up the massive survey ques tionnaires was leading to under-reporting of these minor items that make up the nuts and bolts of everyday life.Hence this focused survey of over 83,000 households was conducted from June 2014 to July 2015. About 15% of city dwellers but just 1% of rural folk employ domestic service providers like maids, cooks, gardeners, watchmen etc. Laundry and dry cleaning services are much more prevalent with 29% of urban and 11% of rural families using them. This may seem surprisingly high but the prevalence is driven by ironing of clothes, an almost universal habit among middle class Indians.
The high share of households using haircutting and beauty treatment services is mainly on account of the universal need for haircuts by male family members although in recent ears women members have taken to beauty parlors.
Communication services, which includes mobile phones and internet services mainly , were being used by about 84% households in both rural and urban areas with city dwelling families spending nearly Rs 500 per month on them, more than double of rural families.
Outside food, ranging from full meals to tea and coffee, juices, even bhelpuri and pakoras, emerges as one of the major spending heads with an urban family spending Rs 854 every month while a rural family spent Rs 329.
The NSSO report has omitted the proportion of households spending on outside food. In the 2011-12 consumer spending survey , such spending was reported by over 80% households.
An intriguing aspect is that expenses on priests and religious donations etc were reported by just over a third of the households, although by all accounts the devout make up a much larger share of the population. This may indicate that piety is more of a private affair.
The survey report does not give any estimate for the total monthly spending of a family .So, it is impossible to say what share of total expenses these consumer services make up.

Source: Times of India, 25-07-2016

Chandigarh at bottom of `quality of life' list again





Mumbai topped the list of 21 big cities in a survey on the capability of a city administration to deliver better quality of life over the medium and long term.While the maximum city moved eight places from last year and Thiruvananthapuram retained second position, Delhi moved one place down, to sixth, from fifth in 2014. Bhubaneswar, which came first in the smart cities contest recently , came 18th.The Annual Survey of India's City-Systems by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy covered 18 states.
According to the survey report, all 21 cities had very low scores compared to cities such as London and New York, indicating the need to push major reforms in municipal governance as pressure increases on major urban centres. In fact, one of the few planned cities -Chandi garh -has the dubious distinction of being at the bottom for the second time in a row.The survey has revealed how all Indian cities continue to score in the range of two to 4.2 on a scale of zero to 10, while London and New York have scored 9.4 and 9.7 respectively.
Cities that have made major improvements include Hyderabad, which has moved up from 17 to nine within a span of one year and Kanpur, which ranked at 14 in 2014, moving up six spots last year.
Similarly , Chennai made remarkable improvement, while Raipur and Surat slipped significantly .
Highlighting the importance of the report, Janaagraha coordinator Srikanth Viswanath said at a time when governments have been launching urban rejuvenation programmes, “floods in Mumbai, garbage crisis in Bangalore, and more recently air pollution levels in Delhi and Chennai floods are alarm bells that more of the same solutions -a series of patchwork projects -will not suffice“.
“Root causes need to identified and addressed; the disease needs to be treated and not just the symptoms,“ he said.

source: Times of India, 15-03-2016

Hyderabad offers best quality of life, Chennai safest: survey

Southern

India emerged at the top for quality of life and safety in a ranking of cities released by human resources consulting firm Mercer on Tuesday.

Hyderabad offered the best quality of life in India, according to Mercer. The joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, however, dropped one position from last year’s 138th rank in Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living rankings because of frequent power disruptions and a heat wave that claimed 1,700 lives.

Other Indian cities to be featured among the top 230 cities across the globe are Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai, ranked 144, 145 and 150, respectively.

The rankings took into account factors such as the political and social environment, medical and health care, public services, recreation facilities and natural environment among others.

Over time, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai have emerged as the cities of choice because of factors including a relatively low crime rate, cleaner air and higher number of reputable and international English schools, said the report.

“Fewer traffic jams, a more balanced weather and the warmth in people add to the advantages of staying here in Hyderabad,” said M.R. Rao, managing director and chief executive of SKS Microfinance Ltd who has lived in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

For Biocon Ltd chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the inclusive and cosmopolitan nature of Bengaluru, a city she was born and raised in, and citizens’ engagement in policy development has played a role in making the city safe and improved the quality of life.

However, Indian cities have not made much progress on the quality of living scale, after scoring nearly the same as they did last year. In fact, none of the Indian cities made to the top 100 of the 230 surveyed.

Despite being ahead of other Indian cities in the Mercer rankings, a lot of improvement will be needed before Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Chennai can match top cities in the world.

Suresh Reddy, chairman and chief executive of digital marketing and wearable tech firm Lycos Internet Ltd, said Hyderabad’s workforce needs an upgrade. “We could use better colleges. We have very good colleges now. But we could use a few more tech colleges which are reputed.”

Bengaluru, according to Mazumdar-Shaw, has not paid enough attention to its infrastructure. “We have been underinvesting in improving roads and sorting the garbage situation. We should also aim for being the cleanest city, besides these metrics,” said Shaw.

Chennai was recognized as the safest city in India based on its internal stability, levels of crime and local law enforcement, followed by Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The cultural foundation of the city gives it an inherent stability, said Lakshmi Venu, director of Tafe Motors and Tractors Ltd. Moreover, the government and police force have also consistently focused on enforcing law and order, added Venu.

“Both as a citizen and as a business person, I find the city very secure. Even during the floods we saw that there were few thefts,” said Venu.

Globally, European cities, led by Vienna, topped the quality of living rankings. Luxembourg was found to be the safest city and Baghdad the least safe.

The quality of living and safety record of cities help employers compensate their employees fairly when sending them on international assignments. Employee incentives include a quality-of-living allowance and a mobility premium. For instance, an employee moving from Mumbai to Chicago, would be entitled to an allowance amounting to 23% of base salary on account of the cost of living, said Ruchika Pal, India practice leader, global mobility, Mercer.

Interestingly, the survey suggests that Indian cities are safer than most others in South Asia. Dhaka in Bangladesh is ranked 216 and Pakistan’s Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi are ranked 193, 199 and 202, respectively.

Yogendra Kalavalapalli and Trushna Udgirkar contributed to this story.

Source: Mint epaper, 24-02-2016

Avg urban household debt soared 620% in 10 years

Subodh Varma





Outpaced Rise In Value Of Home Assets

With everything from a pair of jeans to a nose job available on EMIs these days, it's no surprise that the average Indian family is deeper in debt now than ever before. Though a household's assets have become more valuable over the past decade, its debts too have grown at times outpacing the former.In rural India where people borrow from both financial institutions and moneylenders, the average debt per rural household jumped from Rs 7,539 in 2002 to Rs 32,522 in 2012 -a hike of over 330% after adjusting for inflation. In urban areas, the average debt zoomed from Rs 11,771 in 2002 to Rs 84,625 in 2012, an inflation adjusted jump of nearly 620%.
Household debt varies widely across states: The southern states are the most indebted; over 40% rural households and over 30% urban ones live in debt.
Odisha, however, tops the debt tally . Richer states like Punjab and Haryana and those at the bottom of the economic pile have a more balanced household economy .
In Delhi, average asset value has exploded -from Rs 5.7 lakh in 2002 to nearly Rs 25 lakh in 2012. But so has its average debt -from Rs 1,441to Rs 33,130.
Both have been driven up by sky-high real estate prices in the past decade.
This data of household finances evolving in a globalizing economy emerge from a recently released National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), carried out in 2012-13.
Compared to 2002, the share of indebted households increased from 27% to 31% in rural areas and from 18% to 22% in urban areas, in 2012. In Telangana, the share is a shocking high of 59% in rural areas.
Richer states -Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra -have large household assets in both rural and urban areas. Himachal and J&K also fall in this category -being states where land ownership is more evenly distributed historically. The lowest assets are, ex pectedly , among poorer sta tes of Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and West Bengal.Andhra's the odd man out among the bottom rankers.
Trends in the growth of debt and assets can be seen in one parameter -the debt to asset ratio (DAR). If debt rises faster than value of assets, DAR increases. People rush to borrow but are losing value. A falling DAR means family budgets are healthier.
DAR in Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and MP's dipped since 2002, while Jharkhand and Punjab exhibit no change. Across India, DAR's increased marginally in rural areas from 2.8% to 3.3%; in urban areas from 2.8% to 3.7% between 2002 and 2012.

Source: Times of India, 22-02-2016

Govt names 20 cities for smart makeover; Bhubaneswar tops list

Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday announced the first list of 20 cities to be developed as Smart Cities, with Bhubaneswar topping the list and Pune and Jaipur coming in second and third respectively.

The others on the list include Surat, Kochi and Ahmedabad.

These cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation.

“The states selected cities and sent us a list of 97 names. There was a competition among these names and 20 cities have been selected,” Naidu told a news conference. “Bottom up approach has been the key planning principle under Smart City Mission,” he said.

“The Smart City Challenge Competition was as rigorous and demanding as the civil services competition conducted,” Naidu quipped.

These are the 20 cities named in the first list: Bhubaneswar; Pune; Jaipur; Surat; Kochi; Ahmedabad; Jabalpur; Visakhapatnam; Solapur; Davanagere; Indore; New Delhi; Coimbatore; Kakinada; Belgaum; Udaipur; Guwahati; Chennai; Ludhiana; Bhopal.

List of the 20 smart cities announced by the government.

In the subsequent years, the government will announce 40 cities each to be developed as smart cities as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to develop 100 smart cities in the country.

The government plans to build these smart cities by 2022 to help accommodate its swelling urban population, which is set to rise by more than 400 million people to 814 million by 2050.

The cities are competing on a variety of matrices, including urban reforms and their plan of action in four key areas -- Swachh Bharat, Make in India, good governance (modern accounting system, rationalisation of property taxes) and e-governance.

Naidu said that a total of 15.20 million (1.52 crore) citizens had participated in the preparation of the ambitious Smart City plans at various stages.

Some sent their ideas to city officials via Twitter, Facebook or SMS. Others entered local contests for designing logos or writing essays. Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, unfurled a 10-kilometer-long canvas banner across the city and invited residents to scroll down their suggestions.

Many of the proposals mentioned a need for better transportation, sewage treatment or trash management.

The Rajasthani heritage cities of Jaipur and Udaipur, and Agra, the city of the iconic Taj Mahal, all wanted to clean up their downtown tourist areas, while people in Amritsar, best known for its Golden Temple and location near Pakistan, suggested CCTV cameras and an emergency call center to address their main concerns about safety and security.

He further said that Smart City plans will demonstrate how integrated planning and smart technologies can deliver better a quality of life.

The Centre and states will equally split the overall cost of the project estimated at Rs 96,000 crore. The central government will provide on an average Rs. 100 crore per chosen city per year. The project cost of each smart city will vary depending upon the level of ambition, model, capacity to execute and repay.

Raising funds is the key challenge as also is developing older cities with limited scope to overhaul. Heavily populated areas may need complete rebuilding which will then involve temporarily rehabilitating people and, in some cases, acquiring land.

Source: Hindustan Times, 28-01-2016

The problem with smart cities

Urban administrations and the private sector must join hands for the Special Purpose Vehicle model to work

By 15 December, 85 cities out of the total 98 included under the Smart Cities Mission had submitted their respective Smart City Plans to the ministry of urban development. Hopefully, the remaining cities will follow suit shortly. The stage is ready for this ambitious mission that aims to make Indian cities sustainable and competitive.

The journey so far has a few lessons and concerns that need attention. Apart from criticism on the quality of proposals and public participation, there were indications of a few cities hesitant to submit their proposals. One of the main reasons for the apathy of urban local bodies of some cities pertains to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which is to be mandatorily constituted for the implementation of their respective Smart City Plans. SPVs with private investments have been increasingly encouraged as an efficient mechanism for infrastructure projects. This would be ideally seen as an attractive option for urban local bodies struggling to meet investment requirement. Then why have these local bodies been so disapproving of the smart city SPVs? According to media reports, the local bodies of Greater Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Kochi and Nashik have indicated that the essence of ‘local self-governance’ will be defeated with specific focus on private sector driven SPVs.

An SPV is a legal entity created for a specific purpose, which can theoretically be shut down after the specified purpose has been achieved. The major advantage of an SPV is that it allows investors to limit their risks and maximize profits, and bypass cumbersome legal and regulatory issues. In India, SPVs have come to dominate the infrastructure landscape. A prominent example of this would be road construction, operations and maintenance. In certain other cases, like metro rail projects, the private-public partnership efficiencies are yet to be realized.

One of the reasons for setting up SPVs in smart cities is to ensure objective and efficient decision making, independent of municipal councils, which are subject to local politics. The Smart Cities Mission (SCM) guidelines mandate an equal share of equity contribution by the state government and urban local body, thereby making them the majority shareholders. Nevertheless, urban local bodies are disturbed by the idea of an SPV bypassing the elected municipal council as proposed in the SCM guidelines (4.1.1 and 4.1.2). It threatens to chip away at the notion of decentralized and democratic decision making. A demonstration of this contestation was noted when the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation mandated that there would be no private sector participation, and the mayor would have veto power over the SPV’s decisions. Although the central government may not honour this resolution, it signals that empowering an SPV will not be easy.

Currently, according to the SCM guidelines, cities are required to create an SPV once they have been selected. However, in the absence of clarity on specific projects and assured revenue streams, it would be very difficult for private companies to participate. This, combined with a lack of management control, may reduce the attractiveness of SPVs for private investors.

The SCM guidelines also stipulate that government funding can only be used for projects that have public benefit outcomes. What are the criteria to decide the degree of public benefit of projects? Such distinction could lead to a tiered hierarchy of projects based on a user’s ability and willingness to pay in the context of cities with a significant percentage of urban poor.

Finally, there is the issue of convergence at city level. There are cities that are covered under more than one such flagship programme. For example, Varanasi is included under both SCM and the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). The manner in which a smart city SPV interacts with the implementing agency for HRIDAY, and how two projects under the two separate programmes complement each other, is yet to be seen.

Clearly, there are issues regarding SPVs which need to be clarified. An important first step would be to build safeguards to protect the democratic nature of governance structures. There is merit in understanding the mindset behind some of the caveats voiced by unhappy urban local bodies. A robust governance structure, which allows for sharing of power and financial resources between urban local bodies and the private sector stakeholders, would go a long way towards assuaging fears.

The second important aspect would be for the government to clarify the financial nature of SPVs and how the private sector can contribute effectively. The nature of the asset and price sensitivity of citizens towards that asset could be used as a factor in deciding issues of charging user-fee.

Critical issues of capacity and skill building for local bodies need to be addressed in parallel. Matters related to intellectual property rights, open standards and technology transfer should be enshrined at the highest level of government since it is difficult for individual urban local bodies to negotiate with private parties. The current SCM guidelines do not cover these aspects.

Only when these issues are addressed can SPVs be truly successful.

Source: http://epaper.livemint.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru Top Global Commercial Realty Mkt

Mumbai: Our Bureau





ON THE RISE While Bengaluru tops the list with 10.5% annual yield, New York, Singapore, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong range between 2.9% and 7%: A global survey of property consultant Knight Frank

Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru have topped the global commercial property market in terms of annual rental yields as demand for commercial spaces has picked up in recent times.These three markets have outperformed all other global business hot spots with 9.5% to 10.5% annual returns led by growing depth of lease market and demand for commercial properties.
While Bengaluru topped the list with 10.5% annual yield, cities like New York, Singapore, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong ranged between 2.9% and 7% at best, showed a global survey of property consultant Knight Frank.
Mumbai and Bengaluru have also featured among the list of top 5 global cities for future rental growth and are expected to grow to nearly 22% and 16%, respectively.
The rising appetite for Indian commercial properties is attributed to about 67% of investments flowing into Indian real estate from overseas -highest among all other countries.
“Indian office market has been maintaining a healthy traction of 2014 and has clocked office space transactions of 18 million sq ft in the first six months of 2015, and we expect the year to complete at about 40 million sq ft which is the highest since 2011. This is a record year for Bengaluru which is expected to transact office space to the tune of around 12 million sq ft in 2015,“ said Shishir Baijal, chairman & managing director, Knight Frank India. While yields have registered a robust growth, current office rentals in Mumbai and Delhi are still lower than the 2007 peak levels by 17% and 19%, respectively.
“Rentals across Mumbai and Delhi are still below the 2007 peak levels, though Bengaluru is an outlier wherein rentals are 8% more. Currently, these cities are facing an acute shortage of good quality office space in the face of robust demand which is creating an upward pressure on office rentals that is expected to scale up in the range of 6-7% in the next six months year-onyear,“ said Samantak Das, Chief Economist & National Director of Research, Knight Frank India.
The Indian Real Estate Investment Trusts are expected to give a further push to commercial real estate and is estimated to attract investments worth $100 billion in the next few years.
According to Baijal, even though the aggregate vacancy level is at 17%, occupiers and investors are still facing the challenge of getting quality office spaces across prime business districts, wherein vacancy is in single digits.
Due to a robust demand from start-ups and ecommerce, other than IT ITeS, BFSI and manufacturing, office rentals are experiencing a substantial surge. Going forward also, he expects the demand to continue outstripping supply.
The commercial real estate market is making a comeback after being in the dumps for over three years, with recent deals and a healthy pipeline indicating early signs of recovery, especially with large transactions picking up.
While big institutional investors such as Blackstone and GIC have been investing in commercial properties for some time, even big corporate occupiers are returning to the market, hinting at improved business demand and the need for expansion.
Bengaluru and Mumbai have been leading with these large transactions.Recently, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) entered into an agreement to lease over two million sq ft of built-tosuit space at Hiranandani Estate in Thane for 15 years, what's being billed as the largest single office space transaction in India in terms of area. Another large office space deal was concluded in May when Flipkart leased a 2-million sq ft custom-built office campus in Bengaluru.

Source: Economic Times, 16-10-2015

How urban farming can make our cities more sustainable

The condominium where I live in Gurgaon was recently awarded a certificate of appreciation from the city’s municipal corporation for voluntarily promoting natural resource conservation by reusing, recycling and reducing solid waste; and taking steps to prevent pollution and to try to achieve a zero-waste goal. It certainly isn’t the only condo or community in that city or for that matter in any of the other big Indian cities where residents are doing things such as those. In otherwise dystopian Gurgaon — where the roads, public amenities, the law & order situation, water and power supply are in a shambles — it is the citizens groups that offer the rare glimmer of hope.

It’s a visible trend. Whether it is by trying to ease the traffic gridlock by designating a weekly car-free day; putting up rain and waste water recycling units inside their gated communities; or, solar power facilities that can take care of a condo’s need for electricity in common spaces, urban citizens are increasingly taking voluntary action to make things better. Up next could be farming. Yes. Urban farming. And here’s why you shouldn’t laugh that idea out the door. Urban farming is the practice of growing crops, vegetables, herbs and plants within and on the periphery of cities and, unlike rural farming, it can complement and be an integral part of a city and fit neatly into its ecological system. Such farming can use a city’s solid waste that is compostable; its treated effluent water that can be used for irrigation; provide self-sufficiency and, at a stretch, by integrating with local small retailers and transporters, even provide a viable small business model. Besides, it can make use of urban spaces that are commonly underutilised or unproductive in cities — think terraces and balconies of condominiums and other residential buildings; and rooftops of schools, office buildings and commercial complexes.

That it’s not entirely a mad-hatter concept is borne out by the fact that it’s really happening. In Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and other cities, small groups of citizens are increasingly taking to urban farming. There are organisations too that facilitate, guide and help city folk to start growing vegetables, herbs, fruit and plants organically — a trend that is well-established in many global cities and now taking root in India. There are many benefits of urban farming that can accrue to a city and its people and they span a spectrum of economic outcomes. Besides providing communities with control and self-reliance in their food needs, it can generate additional job opportunities to migrants, and provide a fillip to neighbourhood retail.

The benefits depend on which part of the (erm!) food chain you look at. At the top end, middle and upper middle-class urbanites are getting more discerning about what they eat: Is it organic and pesticide-free? Is it locally produced and fresh? Is it seasonal or not? And so on. Local community-driven farming gives more control over aspects such as those. But the real benefits could be at the lower end of the chain.

For a city’s poor who live in its slums and where there are yawning gaps between dietary needs and what is affordable. Converting dumps near slums into community farms that organically produce vegetables, fruit and even crops can transform the lives of slum-dwellers. Early this year, Worldwatch Institute, a research organisation, published an article on its website that described how a former dumping site in Mumbai’s Ambedkar Nagar slum has now been converted into a community garden. And of how some slum dwellers in Cuttack have begun relying on organic farming to grow their own vegetables and sell surplus to local markets.

Undoubtedly, there are challenges to urban farming. Chief among them is land, the most acutely finite resource in Indian cities that are typically densely populated. But there could be innovative solutions. And as the Mumbai slum example shows, it is possible to convert waste dumping sites into productive farms. Rooftops and unused institutional land — even universities and institutes inside Indian cities have sprawling campuses and are profligate when it comes to land — could be another opportunity to explore. There will be other challenges too — of getting people to see the benefits of urban farming; of getting communities to work together; and of co-opting local businesses. The good news from many Indian cities is that all of this has already started to happen.

Sanjoy Narayan is the editor-in-chief of Hindustan Times, he tweets as @sanjoynarayan.

Source: Hindustan Times, 5-10-2015

Solutions can come from the slums

Urban planning that involves the people and alternative service providers gives far better results than top-down efforts from the government, finds an IIT-M study

In Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, the responsibility of managing and maintaining a set of more than 160 community toilets was handed over by the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation to a federation of women self-help groups. A post-programme field survey of 803 households revealed that the community participation had resulted in the public toilets being far better maintained, with improved community hygiene, reduced open defecation and an increased number of toilet users than has been the case with similar public toilets elsewhere. The same results are seen with NGOs working in Chennai slums in Kalyanapuram, Sivarajapuram, Semmanchery, Thuraipakkam, and Kodungaiyur, where the community has been involved in water and sanitation programmes.

Clearly, wherever slum development programmes have involved the community at various levels, it has generated a sense of ownership over the project, and has helped ensure its success.

As the government tries to promote the concept of Swachh Bharat, the road ahead might be to use less government interventions and more community participation. And one of the places where the work has to begin is in the rapidly mushrooming number of slums. With unprecedented urbanisation, city slums are growing at an alarming rate. According to Census 2011, the slum population in India makes up 18.3 per cent of the total urban population. In absolute terms, the slum population is projected to increase from 93.1 million in 2001 to 104.7 million in 2017.

One of the characteristic features of a slum is the lack of access to basic services as compared to non-slum areas. The glaring inequality between slums and other city settlements can have serious repercussions on the societal fabric. Robert McNamara, World Bank President from 1968 to 1981, said, “If cities do not begin to deal more constructively with poverty, poverty may begin to deal more destructively with cities.” Unfortunately, providing access to basic services in slums is progressively becoming a political agenda rather than a social one. The dramatic victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly elections this year is proof of that.

While everyone agrees that living conditions in slums need drastic improvement, the big question is how to achieve this. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) demand fresh approaches that can ensure universal access to basic services. A recent study conducted by Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has used 248 instances collected from various slum development initiatives to analyse just what works in urban planning and what does not. The results were interesting and insightful.

Easing access

Traditionally, all urban planning has adopted a top-down approach, attempting to solve the problem of access to basic services by simply providing the services and the connections to them. While this method serves the needs of political book-keeping, a more holistic approach is needed for long-term results. Access is not just about providing connections, but also about the services being affordable, adequate and durable. Further, the residents of slums should not be expected to spend laborious time and effort to access basic services. The IIT-M study showed that the involvement of alternative service providers such as non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations (CBOs) in service delivery showed far better results than the traditional route.

Why is this so? The findings from the study provided several explanations. In the traditional public provision model, the planning and positioning of infrastructure is quite ad hoc. This results in overuse of infrastructure, which leads to disrepair or abandonment of the infrastructure itself. In contrast, NGOs and CBOs use a bottom-up approach to planning, construction and maintenance of infrastructure. This model vastly improves access. By paying adequate attention to the needs to the community, alternative service providers have adopted innovative and cost-effective designs to provide better access to service. And, most important, there has been an effort to maintain the facility to ensure that infrastructure is always available. For instance, Mahila Milan, the National Slum Dwellers Federation, and the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres have joined hands in Mumbai to adopt cost-effective designs and materials to create well-ventilated toilets with sufficient running water and lighting.

All projects by alternative service providers have not been equally successful. Why do some projects have better outcomes than others? The analysis shows that wherever there has been greater community participation, the results have been positive. Second, such projects have simultaneously trained the community members in planning, design and maintenance of the infrastructure, so that they may take over the running of the projects over time.

Rights of the informal

Without security of tenure and legal status, slum residents cannot demand the provision of basic services from the government. And, according to the 2011 Census, 36 per cent of all slums are “informal” or “unrecognised”, denying their occupants the most basic government infrastructure. What goes unrecognised is the fact that these people might be illegal settlers but they are rightful citizens of the country. Government agencies hesitate to provide any form of infrastructural access to such slums since it could lead them to claim de facto tenure security. Slum residents, for their part, cannot and do not invest their own resources in building infrastructure because there is always the impending threat of displacement. They opt instead for illegal connections that are expensive and unreliable.

This is where alternative service providers play a big role. They can work in informal slums and low-income groups, since their involvement does not affect or confer legal status on the slums. In some cases, they have in fact leveraged their position to negotiate with the government authorities to seek legal connections that could eventually change the status of the slums.

The government has an ambitious target of making India slum-free by 2020. Under the Rajiv Awas Yojana, which comes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, and some other programmes, more than $20 billion dollars was planned as investment to realise this goal. The World Bank, for one, doesn’t seem to think this is possible — it estimates that long after 2020, nearly 200 million Indians could be living in slums, up from the current 90 million. This prognosis makes it all the more urgent that instead of relying on tried and tested methods, we try new approaches. While the top-down approach to urban planning may be necessary, it is not sufficient in itself. It needs to additionally take advantage of the complementary strengths of NGOs and the wider community to get better results. Such a partnership approach may not give speedy results, but it can create lasting facilities. And that’s what finally matters.

(Thillai Rajan A. is a Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, and Sriharini Narayanan is a Project Officer at IIT Madras.)

Keywords: socio economic and caste census, urban population, Millennium Development Goals, Tiruchirapalli City Corporation, community toilets, slum development programmes