As we pointed out in part 1 of this series, a master plan, designed as a long-term vision and technical blueprint for urban centres, typically spans 15-20 years and covers essential areas like housing, transportation, health, education, and livelihood.

Besides providing a strategic framework to manage resources, infrastructure, and land allocation, these plans typically manage the scale of urban development, ensuring balanced growth and control over urban sprawl.

The NIUA was tasked with conducting GIS (Geographic Information System) surveys across various sectors and development themes, along with interviewing key stakeholders, including civil society, citizens, and the government as the first step towards creating this plan for Delhi. 

Comprehensive data collection and analysis were conducted on infrastructure, transportation, migration, and other critical aspects.

Initially, the plan was to be titled MPD-2021, but its release has been delayed. The exact reasons behind this delay remain unclear.

The NIUA identifies several key challenges and strategies in its baseline study conducted in 2018-19 for Delhi's next master plan (2021–2041), specifically regarding housing.

Delhi's housing crisis is characterised by a lack of accessibility, affordability, habitability, and tenure security, with over 60 per cent of the population living in inadequate settlements and 47,076 people homeless as of the 2011 Census. 

The rapid urbanisation, unregulated price hikes in real estate, and failure to invest in public housing have exacerbated these conditions.

Delhi's Housing Crisis And Ways To Solve It

The housing crisis is further aggravated by the monetisation of housing as a commodity, shifting focus from housing as a fundamental human right to its market value, disproportionately affecting low-income groups.

To address this crisis, the NIUA outlined a multi-faceted strategy.

It stresses the importance of optimising land use through Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and land pooling, ensuring affordable rental housing, particularly for the mobile migrant population, and developing in-situ slum rehabilitation models.

Besides, there is a strong focus on integrating the housing ecosystem of the Central NCR with Delhi, with projections that the CNCR will accommodate 20 per cent of future housing needs.

The study also highlights the need for revisiting development control regulations, upgrading dilapidated housing, and creating a robust monitoring framework to ensure the timely implementation of these initiatives.

Many organisations and campaigns, including the 'Main Bhi Dilli' Campaign, came together to challenge both the processes and findings of the baseline study for Delhi's Master Plan.

One of the key critiques raised was the glaring absence of considerations for informal housing and the informal sector, as well as the lack of reserved land for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) across Delhi.

The campaign also developed its own datasets on various sectors, that contradicted several points made in the NIUA-DDA study.

In response, NIUA and DDA met with members of the Main Bhi Dilli Campaign to review these alternative datasets, findings, and analyses.

However, despite these engagements, there has been no clear disclosure regarding how these critiques were internalised or taken into account.

Many campaign members claim that the draft plan has not sufficiently addressed or highlighted their concerns, leaving significant gaps in the proposed solutions for the city’s most vulnerable populations.

The Main Bhi Dilli (MBD) campaign has engaged with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) multiple times to make the Delhi Master Plan (DMP) more inclusive.

The MBD submitted detailed technical reports to the NIUA in August 2020, which were written in the language of the DMP and intended for direct inclusion in the plan. 

Before this, the MBD had shared fact sheets covering home-based work, construction safety, housing, and transportation in November 2019 and July 2020.

A workshop held in November 2019 saw the presentation of 12 fact sheets, which the NIUA described as "very open in engaging." Despite these efforts, the MBD believes the planning process remains undemocratic and non-participatory, failing to reflect the needs of all Delhi residents.

Process Before Plan: Reimagining Urban Development For Delhi

The formulation of Delhi's Master Plan 2041 (MPD-2041) has exposed deep-rooted challenges in how urban planning is approached, raising the need to emphasise the planning process over the final product.

The complexity of a city as vast and diverse as Delhi demands that the process be inclusive, data-driven, and adaptable, but the current trajectory of MPD-2041 suggests otherwise.

One of the primary issues, as highlighted by Shalaka, a coordinator for the Main Bhi Dilli campaign, is the persistent delay in both plan preparation and its eventual notification.

"These delays are compounded by challenges in obtaining approvals, funding releases, and a lack of accurate data, which hinder the timely formulation of lower-level plans like zonal layouts," she remarked. 

The absence of a strict timeline under the DDA Act has allowed master plans to be chronically delayed, inadvertently contributing to unregulated construction.

More critically, such delays contradict the very legal frameworks set up to guide the process, weakening the city's ability to implement structured, organised urban development.

But the procedural flaws run deeper. Shivani Chaurasia of the Mahila Housing Trust points to another glaring omission: the lack of public participation.

"Despite legal provisions mandating citizen involvement, recent surveys show a large portion of the public is unaware of the plan," she explained.

This disconnect between policymakers and the people raises concerns about whether the MPD-2041 will reflect the needs and aspirations of Delhi's diverse populace. 

Moreover, the inaccuracies in population projections—particularly the underestimation of migration inflows—lead to infrastructure planning that fails to keep pace with actual growth.

"There is a need for more precise data collection to bridge this gap," Chaurasia added, emphasising the importance of crafting policies based on ground realities.

Nilesh from Basti Suraksha Manch further criticised the lack of socio-economic monitoring and the inadequate response to rapid urbanisation.

The last few master plans did not account for the evolving needs of poor migrant workers and informal sector growth, a failure that has exacerbated congestion and environmental degradation. 

The rising density in unauthorised colonies, coupled with weak monitoring mechanisms, has thwarted the city's aspirations of balanced development.

“The informal workers and slum dwellers of Zone O, who form the backbone of the city, are marginalised,” Nilesh stated, echoing a sentiment shared by many activists who feel the city's most vulnerable populations are left behind in the name of large-scale development projects.

He also stresses the fact that the plan must internalise various street vendors acts and other acts that have come up for the welfare of the workforce in the last 20 years and that will be a big game-changer. 

Moreover, the evolving socio-economic landscape requires a master plan that is flexible and adaptable.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as Abdul Shakeel Basha—a long-time activist—noted, exposed how the city’s planners failed to fully integrate the needs of marginalised communities. 

"The pandemic was used as a reason to marginalise many groups. While consultations with Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) were carried out online, most others were excluded," he remarked.

The pandemic's aftermath underscores the need for a plan that can address new challenges, such as shifts in housing preferences, growing reliance on private transportation, and the demand for better civic services like health, water, and sanitation.

Finally, the challenge of financing remains critical. Previous plans have failed to provide a sustainable roadmap for securing the funds necessary to implement their grand visions.

While MPD-2041 holds the promise of being different, effective financing strategies must be central to its execution if the city is to break free from its pattern of unfulfilled aspirations.

In essence, the process of creating a master plan cannot be reduced to a mere bureaucratic exercise.

It must be a dynamic, inclusive, and responsive endeavour—rooted in accurate data, bolstered by genuine public participation, and driven by a vision for equitable growth.

Only then can Delhi hope to transform its master plan from a mere document into a blueprint for a more sustainable and inclusive future.

(Please click here to read Part 1 of the series)