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POLICY REVIEW
augmentation of basic Council (NDMC), the ABD fail to find representation in
services (water, sewerage and project coverage is only 2.2 SPV led formulation of city
solid waste management) for sq km out of total geographic development plans in the
100 large cities in partnership area of 1,483 sq km. SCM. All these have made the
with the State Governments urban policies increasingly
and Multilateral Development Over-reliance on exclusionary in nature.
Banks. commercially viable projects
has resulted in concentration Aspects of Urban
The Budget has continued of such projects in city areas Livelihoods
its focus on MRTS and metro inhabited by the economically
rail projects with budgeted better off sections of the One concerning aspect of
allocation of Rs 24932 crore, city’s population. Second, the current budget is that
accounting for 83 percent of projects undertaken have the livelihood of urban poor
the central sector schemes failed to cater to the needs of has received less attention.
in urban development. majority of urban people. For Budgetary allocation for the
The Budget also envisions example, the big-ticket metro National Urban Livelihoods
the Transit Oriented projects, although appealing Mission (NULM) programme
Development plans for 14 to the popular imagination, has been reduced to INR
large cities with a population hardly benefit the majority 300 crore from the revised
above 30 lakh. of people both in terms of estimates of INR 523 crore in
accessibility and affordability. 2023-24 (allocation in interim
These programs with Inadequate public transport budget 2024 was 0.02 crore).
specific allocations have two infrastructure and absence The DAY-NULM program was
important implications. First, of multi-modal transport introduced in 2013 to provide
they indicate the neglect facilities has made the cities gainful employment to urban
of smaller towns at the congested and polluted. poor, thereby reducing their
expense of improving the In the smart cities, there poverty and vulnerability.
availability of urban basic are some evidences of Although about 8.7 lakh
services in very few cities/ preference given for costlier SHGs have been formed in the
towns only. This would make infrastructure projects over cities, but lack of adequately
Indian urbanisation more the basic infrastructure diversified income generation
unbalanced and exclusionary required for majority of the activities has crowded
as the incidences of service urban residents. the gainful employment
deficits are higher in rapidly opportunities for the urban
growing smaller towns. Under the SCM, projects poor. However, instead of
Even in case of 100 smart related to water, sanitation reducing the budgetary
cities, out of total proposed and health account for allocation, repurposing
investment of Rs 2.05 lakh only 18 percent of the total of the NULM with focus
crore, 80 percent of the fund completed projects while on entrepreneurship
is earmarked for Area Based the corresponding share for development is urgently
Development (ABD) projects ‘smart mobility’ is 20 percent needed.
while the rest is for the Pan and only 2 per cent of the
City Development (MoHUA, entire transportation budget Even the PM SVANidhi
2024). The ABD projects have is focused on buses (Rana (Prime Minister Street
covered only a fraction of the et al., 2024; Taraporevala, Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar
city areas, for example, in case 2018). Moreover, the needs Nidhi) sees a cut of Rs. 141.68
of the New Delhi Municipal and priorities of urban poor crore in 2024-25. IGSSS (2021)
October, 2024, Volume 25. No.1 - SHELTER 63
