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THEME PAPER
India is a rapidly urbanizing that marginalised groups consideration of the diversity
country and is witnessing face in accessing urban of urban users and their
a steady increase in services and infrastructure, varying needs, inconsistent or
migration from rural areas social protection measures, multiple policies and schemes
to urban centres. This employment opportunities, which have dense information
poses stress on the already education and housing and are not easily understood
overburdened infrastructure are caused due to limited by all, siloed departments
of the cities, such as housing, implementation of national- working on urban planning,
transportation services, and level legal and planning design, and service delivery
provision of clean water mandates at the local level with little interface among
and sewage treatment. It is and lack of on-the-ground themselves, and lack of sex
therefore essential to promote knowledge and tools to and disability disaggregated
inclusive and sustainable
urbanization as well develop effectively incorporate gender data to understand the needs.
capacity for participatory, and disability-inclusive To address these concerns and
integrated, and sustainable strategies that leave these challenges, the 2030 Agenda
human settlement planning specific groups of people for Sustainable Development
and management. further and further behind. and the New Urban Agenda
GENDER AND Women, children, the have highlighted a central
DISABILITY INCLUSION transgender community, and transformative principle
and persons with disabilities of ‘Leave No One Behind’
In India, women account face additional challenges in (LNOB) which “represents
for 48.5 per cent of the accessing safe healthcare and the unequivocal commitment
total population and sanitation facilities in cities of all United Nations
approximately 2.1 per cent due to low availability of Member States to eradicate
of the total population accessible Water, Sanitation poverty in all its forms, end
live with either mental or and Hygiene (WASH) discrimination and exclusion,
physical disabilities (Census infrastructure, stigma and reduce the inequalities
2011). Despite this, the and shame associated and vulnerabilities that leave
needs of vulnerable groups, with disability, lack of people behind and undermine
including women, persons easily accessible gender- the potential of individuals
with disabilities, the elderly, neutral facilities, and and of humanity as a whole” .
2
among others, are often not limited autonomy and LNOB entails focusing on
prioritized in the urban design decision-making power in the needs of the furthest
and planning processes. the context of health and behind and addressing
A combination of socio- sexual and reproductive the intersecting challenges
economic factors among these rights. Many of the gender- faced by vulnerable groups,
vulnerable groups, including and inclusion-specific including ethnic and
poverty, age, religion, caste, challenges arise in cities due linguistic minorities, persons
class, and ethnicity further to limited implementation with disabilities, migrants,
intersect and compound of participatory and gender and sexual minorities,
the type of exclusions faced people-centric urban and the youth and elderly.
by them. Many barriers planning processes, lack of
Several mandates and
2 Leaving No One Behind: Equality and Non-Discrimination at the Heart of legislations have been put
Sustainable Development, United Nations, 2017, https://unsceb.org/sites/ in place to facilitate the
default/files/imported_files/CEB%20equality%20framework-A4-web-rev3.pdf mainstreaming of the LNOB
October, 2022, Volume 23. No.2 - SHELTER 7
