Scripting India’s Urban Affairs

Urban development has been one of the key areas for the Narendra Modi-led government, since it came to power three years ago. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), now known as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has launched a number of flagship programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban, the Smart Cities Mission and the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). The programmes aim to make India’s cities defecation-free by providing individual and community toilets, develop smart cities with digital solutions, and develop 12 selected cities as heritage cities to promote tourism.

High expectations

Venkaiah Naidu, who led the ministry before being appointed as India’s Vice President, had recently stated that never have people’s expectations been so high. Flyovers, drainage, metros, clean water supply and continuous electricity, and IT solutions such as free Wi-Fi are the demands of all Indians, but urban Indians in particular.

“Cities cannot be built overnight and smart cities will take 10 to 15 years to develop,” Naidu had said in an interview. “Execution and land lie with the State and the final supervision with the urban local body… This constraint one has to appreciate.”

The aspirational urban India population is growing at a faster …read more