India’s Urban Mess: Can A Dedicated Service Cadre Clean Up Our Cities?

From shortage of piped water to clearing solid waste, which have already attained a crisis proportion, the growing inadequacy of basic amenities and services threaten to undo the economic dividends of a fast urbanising India.

Among ideas and plans being pushed to ward off such an impending crisis is a proposal to build a dedicated service cadre of urban planners, along the lines of other centralised government services such as the Indian Economic Service, the Indian Engineering Service, or the Indian Forest Service.

The proposal is part of a report submitted to the government earlier this year by a high-level committee of experts set up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to recommend urban planning reforms. The committee worked with states and Union territories to identify gaps in urban planning and suggested short- and long-term measures in an 84-page report titled ‘Pathways to Amrit Kaal: Envisioning and Realising a New Future for Indian Cities’.

The committee recommended fundamental reforms like immediate orientation of 50,000 civil servants, enacting the Town and Country Planners' Bill, and exploring the feasibility of an All-India Urban Planning Services. Experts, however, are not sure if creation of yet another service cadre could be an answer to the enormous challenge facing urban India.

Anil Kumar Roy, senior associate professor at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, told The Secretariat that there is a lot of pressure from city and county planning to have a separate cadre dedicated to urban planning. However, raising another “bureaucratic system” for decision making “does not help our cities or project implementation process”, he said.

“This (proposed) cadre of urban planners might make procedures more corrupt and time consuming. In this aspect, European and American experience is worth keeping in mind. The American planning organisations are increasingly relying on advisory and letting democratic forms of government make the decisions, which is actually the ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ idea that India aspires to achieve,” Roy said.

Advisory is typically neutral, but power in the form of a cadre adds a layer of complication to an already complex governance framework. There is a need for more technocrats in urban planning, not another powerful bureaucracy, Roy said.

Shrawan Kumar Acharya, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for the Study of Regional Development, agrees that creating a separate civil services cadre won't resolve India's longstanding urban challenges.

Sample this: A 2020 World Bank report revealed that almost half of India's urban population lives in slums, laying bare the urgency for improved housing infrastructure. Air and water pollution is a persistent headache. Metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata report hazardous air quality levels for several days every year, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. A report by the Asian Development Research Institute estimates that over 70% of surface water in the country is unfit for consumption.

The traffic congestion is visibly frustrating and much remains desired in terms of waste management with over 90% of waste unscientifically disposed of. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the available healthcare infrastructure in urban centres with higher population density. On top of that, as Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri pointed out recently, 25-30 people are migrating every minute from rural areas to cities.

These challenges call for a new set of urban planning initiatives that are implemented with a set timeline. Being future-ready is no longer a choice for our cities; it’s a necessity. The current efforts at promoting sustainable urban development do not seem to be proving adequate. There is a need for speed, scale and vision.

To this end, Acharya said, there is a need to ensure full implementation of the 74th amendment, financial devolution, and empowering elected individuals for accountability.

While municipal commissioners are already involved in urban planning, a shortage of manpower is a significant challenge. To address this issue, Acharya emphasised the need for training and capacity building at the local level, for mayors and other officials.

Explaining his position, he said India already has about 7,000 small and medium towns, let alone the large cities. At present, the government appoints about 800 civil servants, on an average, through the civil services every year. Only a part of them are picked up for administrative services. Even if this number grows significantly, there would be a big mismatch between the number of officers required for urban planning in these 7,000 small and medium towns and the number of officers hired each year, Acharya said, fearing smaller towns risk not getting enough attention from the officers.

Besides, creating a separate cadre could further centralise the planning process instead of resolving the issues. An alternative approach could be promoting and transferring existing chief town planners and leveraging their local expertise.