Our cities suck. Latest data from global agencies reminds us that 15 of the 20 most polluted cities are in India. Given how rapidly we are worsening, and urbanising, it is a matter of time when we count, maybe, 25 of the dirtiest 30, and so on.
Traffic in our cities crawls. In Mumbai, it is now at 8 kmph. Bengaluru is worse. My suggestion to Google Maps: Rename it as ‘Waterloo’ — its own, of course.
Hyderabad may be a bit better, Kolkata even improving, which is a gift of its economic decline. And Delhi may not catch up with Mumbai or Bengaluru just yet. But work in progress. Particularly if you are commuting to its twin ‘downtown’ of Gurugram and Noida.
Between these biggest metros, Delhi-Mumbai-Kolkata-Bengaluru-Hyderabad, more than 9 crore people live. For ease of understanding, since New Zealand is the new liberal El Dorado right now, the population of these metros is about 20 times the wonderful nation that gave us icons like Jacinda Ardern and Kane Williamson. And 150 times that of Luxembourg.
Why I bring in that tiny jewel of Europe, I shall let you know soon. Suffice it to say, a mass of humanity lives in fast urbanising India’s cities. I can quote McKinsey Institute and many other studies, but nobody now disputes that in another five years—just another five years—more people will be living in India’s cities than the entire population of the United States of America.
Nearly 50 per cent of Mumbai’s population lives in slums or semi-slums. They make great movie sets and plots for ‘feel-sorry-for-these-poor-and-lovely-wretches’ liberal writing. But think New Zealand again. Our commercial capital keeps a population two times that country in subhuman living conditions. Kolkata is no better and Bengaluru is making rapid progress. No other city in India, even that planned sarkari utopia Chandigarh, is without slums.
What is a slum in Mumbai is usually an unauthorised or illegal colony in Delhi. The quality of life may not be as abysmal as in Mumbai, but isn’t much better either. In any case, about the same population as Kane Williamson’s country lives as ‘illegals’ in our national capital. Our public hospitals, medical care, education and colleges are all rotting, overcrowded and either of sub-Saharan quality, or demand Harvard-level scores—check out cut-offs in top ‘public’ colleges in Delhi.
Also read: Power to water: If India wants to fulfil economic goals, it needs better infrastructure
If our cities are so bad, why do millions still keep leaving their supposedly more virtuous villages and moving to the cities? Because our villages suck too. On practically every parameter except air quality, they would be worse than the cities.
India may have become the fifth or even third-largest economy in the world, but our mindset towards our cities is still conditioned by one of the great Gandhian hypocrisies we have perpetuated. That the cities are evil, villages virtuous. We’ve all heard in some context that famous old exchange where Ambedkar apparently responded to Gandhi saying India lives in its villages by asking: But must it continue to do so for ever?
The union cabinet has always had a rural development ministry. But, for nearly five decades after independence, we didn’t quite have a full ministry of urban development. It was more like, ‘Works and Housing’. The ‘India lives in its villages’ romanticism endures, to the great detriment of India’s cities, their poor, and at zero benefit to the villages. Or crores wouldn’t be fleeing them.
Even during the tenure of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the mythology was furthered by an idea called PURA, or Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. Everyone applauded his PowerPoint presentations on this, and sniggered on the side.
First of all, an Indian village simply did not have the scale or economics to build urban-level infrastructure. Especially as the political class is unwilling to charge the village Indian for water, power or any other utilities. And then, what urban facilities was he talking about when our cities are such a disaster?
This mindset has had deeply damaging and far-reaching consequences. Because we think cities are evil, villages are virtuous, Indian cities are never planned. They grow by themselves into massive, self-governing slums, punctuated by islands created by individual builders, ‘audacious’ real estate entrepreneurs and mafias who can work the system.
Our cities therefore grow without infrastructure. It comes later, usually over three generations. Then the millions living there need water, power, roads, rail, metros and you have to dig underneath them, build above, go over the seas.
Yet, millions of cars and two-wheelers have no place to park except sidewalks (where they exist) and public spaces, usually blocking entire roads. It isn’t just the poor that are victims of this. Check out the fancy Worli-Parel development in Mumbai.
Scores of fancy apartment and business towers have come up in the past two decades, mostly on old textile mill lands. But most have built their own infrastructure, from water to parking to security. They nestle in the middle of old, much poorer populations native to the area, deprived of such comforts. This makes for a very unequal neighbourhood, not just in terms of economic status, but also what the state, or a city should give equally to all its residents.
Or you can go to the fanciest buildings in Gurugram. They all float on their individual, giant septic tanks and diesel reservoirs. The first, because nobody ever bothered laying down a sewer system for India’s fanciest new post-reform development, and second, because nobody trusts state power utility. You want to know how ridiculous this is?
You’d remember a phase of labour unrest in the Maruti factory a few years ago when unions and activists alleged that a large number of workers had been killed by the police, their bodies thrown in the gutter and sewer. The chief minister asserted, in confident, self-righteous defence, that it had to be a lie because no sewer has ever been built in this Gurgaon.
This week’s National Interest is provoked (or triggered, which millennials prefer) by the Bombay High Court order stopping work on Mumbai’s long-delayed coastal road project. The 219-page order written by Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice N.M. Jamdar is among the best-crafted and comprehensible judgments I have read in sometime. The judges have spoken sense on there being no conflict between environment and development, need for balance and adherence to laws.
They haven’t struck down the project on merits of feasibility or environmental damage, but on a technicality. The project, they say, got its clearance as a road. But it also involves reclamation of 90 hectares (about 230 acres, or 40 football fields) from the sea. It is, therefore, a building project, never mind that the reclaimed land is only to be used for public spaces like parks, cycle and jogging tracks, and bus parking. So, the government can come back for clearances again, but as a city development project. You can’t grudge the activists their celebrations. They’ve won.
Read the judgment carefully, however, and you may cry. I cannot fault it on law. I only highlight a point where the judges say, the project also needs wildlife clearance.
Because the petitioners said corals along the coastline will be destroyed. Studies—presented in the court—have indeed shown coral near Haji Ali and Worli: All of two patches of 0.251 and 0.11 sq metres respectively, or about four sq feet in all. I know the perils of walking into a ‘lovely coral’ versus ‘ugly human’ debate, but what the hell.
The fact is, the project will ultimately get built. A year later and a thousand crore costlier. I am not sure the coral would survive, though I’d hope it does. Because people in the condominiums and slums can wait. Activists can savour victory until then.
This is like living on Cloud ‘Coral’ Cuckooland. Or, remember one of the arguments advanced in favour of free rides for women in Delhi Metro and buses: Luxembourg has done it. It has 6 lakh people, or about 3 per cent of Delhi, and a per capita income of $1.1 lakh, that is nearly 55 times India’s. As long as we have our Luxembourg and “four square feet of corals are better than 20 million humans” fantasies, our cities will rot. And millions will still keep flocking to them from even more rotten villages.
Also read: Household savings hold the key to funding Modi govt’s mega infrastructure plans
You know the hypocrisy I see in this article – Gurugram was there, even Chandigarh was there along with “metros” like Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Isn’t Shekhar saab old enough to know India had 4 metros initially before Bengaluru and Hyderabad joined the list ?
Yes he never mentioned Chennai ! Or is it because Chennai is free of such problems and is India’s New Zealand ? Or is Chennai not part of India any longer ?
Let Mr Shekar (and journalists/politicians of his ilk) learn Indian Geography and hopefully that Indian Geography stops at Kanyakumari and not at Hyderabad/ Bengaluru before they talk of India.
I for one am sick of this divisive debate. Environment or development is hackneyed. Last weeks vomit served as today’s fresh meal. Unless you have basic human needs of water, air, food, transport, housing employment, you cannot have development.
MUMBAI needs public transport, trains and Metros not some fancy road that 2%of the population will use. The 12,000 crores for just the Southern segment has gone up from 6,000 crores for the entire road. Even before any objections were raised.
How blind can you get?
Sure you can blame it on the environmentalists or citizens who said no to the road. We can’t stop you from voicing your point of view but when your children have no access to a Beach in Bombay you can proudly say I supported the Coastal Road but I will take you to the Bahamas.
Not all of us are that privileged Mr Gupta.
Nothing gives the Govt and the BMC the right to destroy our city.
If you are so confident of what MUMBAI needs ask the people. Let’s there be a referendum. Let people who live in Mumbai decide if they want a better Train service or a Coastal Road.
Can you do that?
Perhaps this will resolve the question once and for all.
Only problem is the government should take all clearances honestly to avoid such delays. Also, now urban development ministry is there to improve our cities. our cities have grown so badly because of building mafias supported by politicians . all blames are on politicians for corruption in implementing new laws and approving substandard illegal constructions.
A lot of Indian cities (e.g. Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad) in the 1970s and 1980s were as beautiful and clean as European ones. Once the population started growing beyond a certain limit, they literally collapsed. It is not easy to run big cities without money and engineering talent. Mumbai contributes a lot to Central taxes, but gets back a pittance.
What is pointed out in the article is a secondary issues that can be debated separately. The main problem is the population growth.
Who can believe that Delhi had a population of about 100,00 one hundred years ago?
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist,Barnala (Punjab)
It is fine that National Interest has gone in for a change in the parleys bothering about the
miserable plight of cities and humans in India !
Shekhar Sahib, excess of everything is bad ! The Print should not fritter away too much space
and energies on bringing politics, political leaders and political outfits off and on under the
scanner. Right from the earth to sky there is a lot more to deliberate and ponder over !
Kudos to The Print for this pleasant innovation ! Fed up with politics, leaders’ roles and the
political outfits !
Hoping for something new and absorbing in the next week’s NATIONAL INTEREST
introspection and ruminations of public and nation’s interests !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest,Barnala (Punjab)
Very few remember that Indira Gandhi brought in the Agriculture Land tenancy act in the early 70s. This resulted in fragmentation of farm lands. The result was that only one son of a farmer could remain on the farm land as it could not support other children. Thus started the exodus to the cities.
The other reason is that with better education facilities and growth in employment younger generation flicked to the cities.
The third reason is that farming has become distressful with climate change affecting crops and middle men making bigger profits.
Cities became very crowded while the Govt allowed unplanned expansion without proper town planning. Narrow roads and increase in vehicular traffic combined with narrow roads and widespread building construction is the root cause of the poor state of our cities.
WE can blame our politician/bureaucrat/builder mafia nexus for the sorry state.
So where does Mr Gupta draw the line when it comes to environmental damage which is irreplaceable? If you want to throw the economic argument Mr Gupta, first measure the value of environmental degradation. While you do that, live with the fact that homo sapiens have wreaked destruction wherever we have gone and when we are in nature’s dock, the only living thing that will speak for us is the mosquito. Maybe!
Yes, Shekharji, you are right about the perils of walking into a ‘lovely coral’ versus ‘ugly human’ debate! We in India have been living on this Cloud ‘Coral’ Cuckooland for years! GM mustard, developed by Indian scientists will raise yields by 20-30%, and improve farm income by over Rs 1,000 crore. It will also reduce India’s dependence on imported edible oil. GM Cotton has revolutionized cotton farming, doubled output and converted India from an importer to a major exporter of cotton. GM mustard and GM brinjal could replicate this stunning success. Our environmentalists block dams, block GM crops that will cut the use of dangerous pesticides and reduce hunger by bringing more bountiful and nutritious harvests.
I have to remind of the Indian media getting intoxicated by reports of pesticides Coca Cola, and the Supreme Court on Dec.6th 2004 making it mandatory for Pepsi and Coke (the newspapers did not mention other names!) would have to display on their bottles a warning that the soft drinks may contain pesticide residues! The SC was not worried about the hundred of brands of “bottled drinking water” and “mineral water”! If Coke and Pepsi contain pesticides, they must have entered these drinks from the water drawn from sources in this country! No such thought ever entered the judicial minds. I read later that the lawyers employed by Coke and Pepsi argued (unsuccessfully) in the Supreme Court that at levels like 0.027 parts per million etc., the pesticides are quite harmless. Did their Lordships understand the point? Probably they were furious and hence the ruling. In the present case also, it is more their moral concern or fury, not logic that saved the coral and ditched the road!
The dismal science , that is what somebody called economics , on T.R.Mathus prediction of ever growing popultaion and inability of mankind to keep up supply of food and other amenities . Shekhar Gupta is the new Malthus . But Malthus was predicting the future and Gupta is describing the present .I am not a great fan of demographic dividend , any day I would take the 1% economic growth along with a stable population , rather than what India offers at present , an ever burgeoning population with 7% growth (is it ?) which of course is contested by economists of Indian origin sitting in New York (where else) .Like China it is time to propogate 1 child norm in India . You don’t want father Malthus to be right in the context of India.
Thanks to Shekhar Gupta for bringing up this issue. Without Indian media taking up this issue with honesty and not bringing politics in it like they done for Modi’s Swach Bharat programme. By culturally Indians follow double standards one for there own home and another for public utilities and places. Few journalists like Tavleen Singh has been writing on these issues. However, there is combined movement from the media to take the issues head on and ensure that the government programmes are not laughed at. The biggest change must come in the way Indian children are raised and their attitudes are shaped at home and at school. If we can’t make our schools as the model examples, how can we expect the conditions in cities to improve.
Yes, quite true. But life in villages is even worse. Rural India is primarily afflicted by lack of opportunities, which the reason for unabated flow to urban India. Inadequate civic facilities, overcrowding, traffic jams, intolerable delays in daily commutation, growing filth.. the list is endless- all these constitute today’s urban life. Add to that water shortages- Chennai is the worst example, unsafe housing- collapse of old buildings in Mumbai, age-old bridges are threat to life, inexorable rise in pollution that causes lungs related health problems: again the list is endless. Comparison with New Zealand or Luxembourg is hilarious. The concept of ‘Ease of Living’ simply doesn’t apply to India- rural or urban. The question is what are the solutions. It is a trillion dollar question that defies answer.
The first step could be getting less cynical and sarcastic which you seem to be displaying in abundance. India has what it has. Nothing wrong in advocating ease of living and trying to come up with ideas even if our people are nowhere near New Zealanders.
Ok. First step taken. Let us view things with pure optimism and hope. Now tell me what is step no two. Without any concrete solutions it is just an empty bravado.
Much / most / all of the incremental GDP from here to $ 5 trillion will be generated in urban India, disproportionately in the largest cities. They are being starved of investment, partly because rural development – now including so many more toilets and houses – has to be paid for. India will need to strike a better balance, create cities that are some way from being Smart but more congenial places to reside in. 2. As far as Bombay’s four square foot Great Barrier Reef – it is small enough to be accommodated in one corner of the Taraporevala Aquarium – is concerned, the coastal road has been so long in the planning, the basic point of law on which the Bombay High Court has faulted it ought to have been dealt with in good time. Public functionaries sometimes regard it as a sign of dynamism that they have met their counterparts in Delhi and breezed through environmental clearances for a prestigious project. The cost overruns and delay that will follow in the wake of the judgment could easily have been avoided with a little foresight.
A column by Ms Smruti Koppikar in HT points out that there has been no Environmental Impact Assessment for this 14,000 crore project.
I agree to what you say but what is the solution? Is it going to be incremental or transformational? While we have all the problems we can think of we must talk of solutions and is there any redemption?
Nobody can talk of solutions as none exist. On an individual basis one can try to migrate to better places. That’s all.