What do political parties promise our cities?

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha
09 April 2014, 04:05 PM IST

Rapid urbanization it is often said, is one of the biggest transitions facing India today. The expanding urban footprint was captured by the Census 2011 findings which showed that 31.16 per cent of India's population or a staggering 377 million Indians lived in cities, as of 2011, an increase from 27.81 per cent, a decade ago. With the Election 2014 season catching on and major political parties flaunting their manifestos, it is worth analysing what the future custodians of our government hold out for these cities? More interestingly, is the fare that they dole out for urban pockets any different from the promises that they offered last election?

As a disclaimer, I have only analysed aspects of the political manifesto that pertain exclusively to urban reform in the narrowest sense of the term and have been clearly spelt out as such; parameters that could help a voter gauge a party's vision of a city. There may of course be a whole gamut of governance promises that are generically spelt out (for instance, police reforms, food security or education) which are crucial for the welfare of India's cities but aren't considered here.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

For a party that claims to have had a rather urban genesis, self admittedly arising "from the struggles of Ramlila Maidan or Jantar Mantar", the AAP seems to shy away from presenting a clear vision for the aam Indian city.

In an interesting contrast, it dedicates a whole section to "Reinvogarating the Rural Economy" and another to "Improving Farmers Livelihood" on the justified premise that "India still lives in its villages". The party manifesto is committed to providing people in rural areas access to basic services enjoyed by their urban counterparts. This assurance somehow seems to implicitly suggest that the urban citizen is better off than his/her rural counterpart, thereby failing to acknowledge the existence or challenges of the urban poor in Indian cities.

The manifesto addresses this to some extent with its promise to provide social security for the unorganized sector, more specifically, "construction labourers, security guards, street vendors" etc. many of which are assumed to be city-centric jobs.

The rural prioritisation is however, hard to miss. Even the AAP's promise of "creating infrastructure in Tier II and Tier III cities and smaller towns is with the view that they become engines of growth "for surrounding (rural) areas".

AAP is more specific when it comes to charting out a model for urban governance. It seeks to bring governance closer to its people by devolving powers to the mohalla sabhas in cities. Such sabhas shall have untied funds for developmental activities in their areas, to be used by their own needs.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Urban reforms seem to have emerged as a clear priority in the BJP manifesto in 2014, bagging more space than in its 2009 vision document. The party document outlines "Quality life in Villages and Cities" as one of the focus areas in its pledge towards achieving "Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat".

The manifesto refers to cities as "high growth centres" and seeks to position urbanisation as an "Opportunity rather than a Threat".

Some of the BJP's promises for cities are borrowed from its 2009 manifesto, with the scale of delivery undeniably exaggerated since then. It promises for instance, the roll out of a low-cost housing programme with the unrealistic promise that "every family" would have a pucca house of its own by the 75^th year of Indian Independence, replete with a toilet, piped water supply, electricity and proper access. This aspect had been tackled in 2009 with a more realistic proposal of constructing10 lakh dwelling units for the poor every year, towards a goal of 'shelter for all'.

Its much-feted promise of 100 smart (technology-enabled) cities too is borrowed from its previous manifesto. The only difference being that it humbly proposed 15 such cities in a five year term in 2009. Makes one wonder whether this is a raising of ambitions or mere failure to plan effectively and provide realistic roadmaps?

In other significant mentions, the BJP clearly seeks to financially and administratively empower Urban Local Bodies (ULB). It aims to upgrade existing urban centres by tackling their waste and water management system and promises urban poverty alleviation schemes. Innovations for cities are on the plate, with promises to introduce "sanitation ratings" to benchmark and incentivise cities to improve their sanitation amenities. It also tackles job creation in urban areas, particularly in IT-enabled jobs.

Indian National Congress

Cities feature more prominently in the Congress manifesto this election as compared to 2009. The Congress, this time over seeks to take a "proactive approach" towards addressing the challenges of urbanisation.

Towards this end, the manifesto uses all the obvious catch phrases that are crucial to building decent cities, including 'planned urbanization', 'inclusive cities' or the need to 'revamp urban governance'. Needless to emphasize how little of its earlier promises were delivered during its decade in the seat of power.

Take for instance, its promise of 100% access to electricity in urban areas, an increase from what it claims is currently 94%. The manifesto itself admits that access notwithstanding, availability and quality of electricity remain areas of concern.

The manifesto is muted in presenting the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission), a flagship scheme aimed at fast-tracking planned development of select cities by improving urban infrastructure and service delivery. While the Congress' 2009 manifesto flaunted the JNNURM's budget of Rs 1.6 lakh crore and offered physical progress of work done, its 2014 vision document skirts specifics. The scheme has after all, been widely criticised for its underutilisation of funds, poor planning and lack of expertise to implement the provisions.

Among innovative approaches, the Congress manifesto proposes giving Mayors and Municipal Commissioners full financial powers to operate as CEOs of cities, explicitly suggesting that they have been ceremonial positions till now. It also proposes extending the term of mayors, a welcome proposal given that some of Mayoral terms are as short as one year in megacities like Delhi and Bangalore.

The Congress proposes to create 100 new urban clusters around existing small and emerging cities with power and transport linkages to scale their economic activities as well as better delimitation of cities. They too make the unrealistic promise of expanding the Rajiv Awaas Yojana to "all" poor urban households, with no acknowledgement of how poorly the scheme took off in many states.

There is much scepticism over whether Manifestos really have any signficance in this age of dynamic electoral politics. They are after all, merely road maps. The key will lie in how the policies and plans incorporated here are ultimately implemented by the party that sails through in Election 2014. We can only wait and watch.