The only company which can supply power at a reasonable tariff to Mumbai is Tata Power as it generates power near Mumbai. It has periodically increased its generation to meet the needs of Mumbai. It supplies to BEST and the Reliance.Why should power supply come to Mumbaikars through intermediates who will only increase the tariff ?
We should prepare a sort of white paper on the power supply in Mumbai and its cost of generation and publish it for public information and education. Then,request the government to give to those who can generate near Mumbai and supply at a reasonable tariff. It is in the public interest. If it rejects it, we can go to the High Court get justice through a pill. Mumaikars have right to get power at a reasonable tariff.
( A contribution to the discussion on power tariff in Mumbai in Karmayog)
The very fact that the Tendulkar Committee has found that 38 percent of the people in India are poor is an indictment of the present development model. This poverty is more visible in all tribal areas.
The tribals living in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivli, near Mumbai, is to be seen to be believed. They have no schools and no medical facility.The tribals in Thane area are dying of mal-nutrition and suffering from TB and other diseases. This is in Maharashtra.
The tribal land in other states ( Jharkhand, Bihar,Orissa etc) is rich in minerals and is being mined by Indian and foreign companies displacing tribals without compensation and rehabilitation.
The people displaced due dams and irrigation projects have not been rehabilitated in adequate measure.
We all know what is happening in Vidarbha Thousands of farmers have committed suicide. People flock to cities in search of work and live in slums without proper sanitation.
There is injustice everywhere. However, can we set all this right by taking to the gun ? What development activities have the Maoists undertaken in their area of operation ? Blowing up schools and bridges cannot be called development. Maoists are like Jehadists who believe theirs is the only way of upliftment/salvation.
Maoists and their supporters have answer these questions before condoning heir violence. Violence cannot solve anything. It will delay development.
However, imperfect our democracy is, it allows change of government and change of policy. Cutting heads is not the way change things. The counting the heads also can change things. It used to be said if there is a general election, there is no need for a general strike. Democracy has changed countries like UK,USA and France. It can also change India too. All it requires is mobilization of people's will to change and a programme of change which should include the following to empower the people to solve their problems themselves :
1. Every village or a cluster of 5 to 10 villages should have a primary and secondary school, not just imparting literacy but empowering the children with knowledge/information on modern agriculture practices which can increase production and make them self-sufficient in food. Even adults should be encouraged to avail them. Every school should have several teachers for basic literacy, maths, science and agriculture.
2.Every village or a cluster should have a primary health-care centre. This should be possible now as at long last government is planning to have three-year medical course to cater to the needs of the villages.Ayurvedic and Unani medicine should be given its due place in this scheme.
3.Every village should have one or more gobar-gas plants or solar panel to light up the villages and their huts. Villagers should to trained to maintain them.
More could be added depending on the need of each village or a cluster.
Where is the money for all this ? All that the government has to do is to divert mos of the money allotted for various rural development schemes which do not reach the people. " The government can raise about Rs.341,000 crore by reducing its stake in listed public sector undertakings to 51%, according to the 13th Finance Commission report ( DNA,26/2/2010).
How do we do it ?
Encourage graduates to go back to their villages to change them. We have a very good example which has been highlighted in the newspapers. His name is, Popatrao Pawar, who changed the face of Hirve Bazaar, 100 miles from Pune in Ahmednagar district.He is a commerce graduate who returned to his village. This rain shadow region receiving 300-400 ml of water, was changed into a green oasis with watershed programme. ( Mumbai Mirror, Nov.9,2009).
India produces 3 million graduates which includes 450,000 engineers, 600,000 plus commerce graduates and 1.1 million in humanities. There are 95 agricultural colleges and 15 agricultural engineering colleges. Many of them are unemployed. Send them all to their own villages with a salary they could get in a town or a city, half to be paid every month and the other half after they transform their villages.
In an interview to DNA ( 30/11/2009), Faquir Chand Kohli, (formerly of TCS) and one of the founders of Agricultural Consultancy Management Foundation, has given a blueprint to increase agricultural production. He says that the agricultural production in California is six times that of India because we do not use science and technology to the agricultural set up.In an experimental farm, his foundation was able to increase corn from 700 kgs to 3,100 kgs. and sunflower from 300 kgs. to 1,100 kgs.
We should have a plan to use science and technology to agriculture with the thousands of graduates who come out from our colleges. Task is gigantic and it requires a national will. If the government can mobilize the corporate sector's management skill, empathy of the NGO sector and the cooperation of political parties, we can change the face of our villages in ten years.
Can our civil society take up the challenge ?
In the meanwhile, violence of the Maoists has to be eliminated at all costs.
( A response to the discussion on the subject in Karmayog.)
A look at the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest municipal corporation in India with a revenue of about Rs.21,000 crore,gives a glimpse ofthe decay in the Indian cities. Every civic need and every civic amenity is inadequate – water supply and distribution, sewage collection and treatment, road construction, maintenance and repair, public transport, elementary education, open spaces, affordable housing etc. Almost 50/60 percent of the people live in slums. The same situation is repeated in other cities as well with some variation.
The civic facilities have not kept pace with the natural population growth and the exodus of poor people coming to cities from villages in search of work in all the cities of India. This is so in all cities especially in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. The inadequate revenue with city governments are mainly due to the populist measures such as not recovering the cost of providing civic services and mis-management of funds (accepting the lowest tender, cost and time over-runs, corrupt practices by politicians and the bureaucrats). There is also lack of vision on the part of the elected representatives and the administration. In addition to this, there is hardly any financial support from the state and central governments to the local governments though they collect most of the revenue from the urban areas.
All these issues have been analyzed and many suggestions have been made for urban renewal in the recent study, "India's urban awakening : Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth", by Shirish Sankhe, Ireena Vittal and Ait Mohan of the Mckinsey's & Company's Mumbai office. The authors have summarized the reasons for urban malaise in a few sentences : " Indian cities are paying the price for years of chronic under-investment"; "India has not recognized the complexity of city management"; " Surprisingly, there is little bottom-up pressure from citizens to improve governance".
The Urban Scene in India in 2030.
The study states that the population of urban India would be 590 million in 2030 almost the double of 290 million in 2001. There would be 68 cities with more than one million, 13 with more than 4 million and 6 megacities with a population of 10 million plus. The study projects a five-fold growth in GDP in the next 20 years of which 70 percent would be from the urban areas and 70 percent employment would be created in urban areas. The middle class would be 91 million households, from the present 22 million. However, 75 percent of the urban population would earn only Rs.80 ( $1.80) per day. All these are based on the assumption that the Indian economy would grow by an average of 7.4 percent in the 20 years.
The study was initiated by The Mckinsey Global Institute (MGI) and prepared by the Mumbai office after studying the urban scene in India and other developed (UK & USA) and developing ( China, South Africa, Singapore)countries over a period of 21 months and consulting a number of urban planers, experts and economists all over the world. The 234-page study has an appendix comparing urbanization in China and India and has made 34 recommendations. This is perhaps the first study on urban India, comprehensive but compact, which all our state and central governments should discuss and adopt some of the most important recommendations to improve the civic life in our cities. Transparency and accountability, which are conspicuous by their absence now, are part of the recommendations. Common man should take up these suggestions through many NGOs who are striving for a better civic life. Politicians and political parties should be persuaded to include urban renewal agenda in their manifestos.
The study envisages need to build 700-900 million metres of commercial and residential space and 2.5 billion sq.mtrs of roads, 7400 km of metro and subways to be constructed. This would require an investment of $2.2 trillion including a capital investment of $ 1.2 trillion. About 80/85 percent of investment could generated internally through proper property taxes, user charges, sale of developed property in CBD (Central Business Districts), municipal bonds, private sector participation as has been demonstrated by some of the cities such as London, Shanghai and Johannesburg.
The mind-boggling figures of infrastructural investment is not merely needed but are feasible and could be implemented if some important structural changes are made in the administration of urban bodies, according to the study. It states that the urban scene could be changed in the next 10 years if the suggestions made by the study are implemented.
The structural changes necessary.
The authors of the study have given a number of suggestions to improve the governance through some structural changes in constitution of local bodies:
!. Powers and functions : These should be devolved to local bodies as mentioned in the 74th Constitutional Amendment. The Amendment stipulates that 18 functions to be transferred from the states to Urban Local Bodies (ULB), District Planning Committees (DPCs) and Metropolitan Planning Committees (MPCs). These functions include land use, urban planning, economic development, water, roads etc. No state government has transferred all these functions up to now.
2. Leadership :Institutionalizing metropolitan structure, elected mayor and modified mayor-commissioner system for leadership, vision and responsibility. " India is the only G20 country that has not adopted a system in which empowered mayors run cities, observes the study.
3. Improved service delivery :Modernize service delivery structure through corporatization of selected municipal functions to be headed by expert professionals with functional autonomy. Water, sewage treatment, roads, waste collection and disposal, education, affordable housing could be corporatized.
4. Transparency and accountability through the city charters ( five-year plan for the city along with a target for each year) and MOUs between the Mayor and the agencies entrusted with the delivery of municipal services, and a state level urban regulator to monitor delivery standards, fix tariff for municipal services, set benchmarks and ensure transparency.
5. Access to managerial talent through establishing a new civic service cadre specializing in municipal administration ( just like IAS/ IFS/IPS ) and allow lateral entry for professionals from the private sector.
How to raise finance for urban development.
The recommendations to raise finance are well-tested in other well-administered cities all over the world by unlocking sources of revenue:
1.Monetize land assets to fund infrastructure : Sell prime land in CBD ( Central Business District) or creating a new CBD . For example, MMRDA ( Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) used land asset sales to fund $4.5 billion on roads, mass transit and affordable housing in the last five years. It is expected to spend more than $ 22 billion largely funded by land assets, debt, private sector participation and viability funding from the central government. Urban areas can mobilize up to $27 billion a year in India through land asset sale alone.
2.Maximize the potential of property tax and user charges: Urban India now collects only 0.04/0.08 of its property value, one of the lowest in the world and it could easily go up to 0.3 percent through better assessment and collection. Presently user charges only 60 percent of the operational expenditure and zero percent of capital expenditure on water. This could be increased to cover the operations and maintenance costs.
3.Debt and private sector participation : Municipal bond market has raised only $800 million in the last 15 years due to poor internal financial management and this can go up to fund infrastructure worth $12 billion along with private sector participation.
4.Formula-based grant system from state and central governments :The financial support from the state and the central governments is very low. JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urabn Renewal Mission) is a good beginning but it has to be increased five-fold. The study suggests that at least 18 to 20 percent of GST ( Goods & Services Tax) should be transferred to the urban local bodies. China allows the cities to keep 25 percent of the VAT ( value added tax) collected by them.
5.Create enabling mechanism ( SPV – Special Purpose Vehicle- and City Development Fund) to facilitate use of the revenue sources.
The challenge of change.
If the remedial measures are not taken and the present approach is continued, the study observes that the urban decay would continue: the peak vehicle density would be 610 per lane kilomtre as against the benchmark of 112; water supply would drop to 65 litres per capita against the norm of 150; the slum population would go up from 17 to 38 million. This should not be allowed to happen.
India has to take up the challenge of change to make our cities productive, innovative and livable. The recommendations of the study would make this change possible.
However, three reservations have to be mentioned here. (1) There is no visionary leadership visible in the political horizon unless professionals from industry and education enter the civic arena. If we want good governance, people from these fields should be encouraged to take up the challenge of change; (2) The mega-cities tend to promote alienation and the anonymity of city life may lead to deviant behaviour. We should have more small towns which could reduce alienation and anonymity, and at the same time preserve the vitality of civic life through interaction between industry and research institutions, industry and educational institutions, industry and cultural institutions, competition and promote innovation in all spheres of life; (3) The study has praised MMRDA which has raised financial resources by auctioning land in Bandra-Kurla complex. This has raised the cost of all commercial and residential construction in the area and now it is impossible for even middle class residents to get a flat at a reasonable price. The middle class and the poor who serve in this area have to stay far away and commute daily and add to the transport bottleneck. It may be a good idea to develop an integrated township where all people who serve can stay and work, and reduce commuting which has many benefits – people will have more time for family and recreation, reduce carbon foot-print. Instead of auction, the cost of development of infrastructure could be recovered through a suitable tax over a period of time, say 20 years.
This is a visionary report which has come at the right time when the Indian GDP is on an upward trend. One hopes that the politicians, political parties and, central and state governments would discuss this study and come up with a consensus on the major recommendations to improve civic life in our urban areas.
The common people, businessmen and politicians have a stake in the future of our cities as they will generate wealth and employment. Since this requires a change in the structure of the city government, there could be some opposition to the recommendations. If the citizens want better civic facilities, they have to change the mind-set of politicians and his elected representative through constant reminder for better governance. The citizens of all urban India have to ask the politicians to 'fix the institutions that fix the roads' instead of asking them just to 'fix the roads', as the study rightly points out. McKinsey & Company's Mumbai office has done a great service to India with this study. The ball is on the court of politicians and people.
The closing of the of US academic/ religious mind?
Your report on the MIT workshop on the minorities in India ( India Abroad, April 30) and the scorn poured on Hinduism by Reverend Franklin Graham (May 14) gives the impression that some of the US academic and religious elite have aclosed mind. Both seem to be partisan and one-sided. The MIT work shop could have invited people with other perspectives on the issue and Rev. Graham would not have made sweeping remarks on Hinduism if he had some nodding acquaintance of the fundamentals of Hinduism.
In the workshop, two issues seem to have been highlighted – violence in Orissa and in Gujarat. The violence erupted in Orissa after the murder of a swami who was doing social service to the poor through educational and health facilities. Why the Maoists, who are supposed to be for the poor, have killed him but not the missionaries, who also are working for the poor along with 'saving the souls'?Is there a link between the Maoists and Missionaries? I wish the work-shop had thrown some light on that aspect. Is the right to practice and propagate religion also includes the right to disturb social structure that served the tribal community for a millennium?Why kill a culture and a way of life? Does God Almighty have only one name and only one book? Are you not limiting HIM?
Godhra has become a cause for minority rights activists and secularists to bring disrepute to Indian democracy, secularism and condemn the chief minister of Gujarat. Nobody mentions the burning of 68 kar sevaks ( volunteers) , who were returning from a pilgrimage to Ayodhya, the birth-place of Rama, the Righteous? Nobody mentions that delayed response of the police and the administration almost in every such event including the one in 1984 in Delhi and in 1993 in Mumbai. Nobody mentions that 250 Hindus were shot by the police out of about 1000 killed during the riots. Nobody was shot by police in Delhi when some 3000 people were killed. Ghastly atrocities have been fed to the media which are now being scrutinized by the SIT ( Special Investigating Team) appointed by Supreme Court.
Whether it is violence or corruption, it is a failure of the state and the central governments and the bureaucracy including the police to uphold the rule of law. The police need functional autonomy which is denied to them. The bureaucracy should be serve state, not the ruling politicians. Politicians should be prevented from interfering with the rule of law.
India has been engaged in a great effort to improve the living standards of its billion plus people for the last sixty-three years in a democratic frame-work. Rising expectations are giving rise to million mutinies. The identity politics of caste and religion are part of the rising expectations and mutinies. They are also part of the vote-bank politics. The increased economic growth since 1991 if combined with equity ( directly helping the poor) is likely to derail the identity politics and vote-bank politics. That would be the triumph of the ideals of the Indian Constitution – liberty, equality and fraternity.
Your report, "Urgent need for reforms in Urban India" by Shirish Sankhe, Ireena Vittal and Ajit Mohan (India Abroad, (May 7) is a breath of fresh air as far as urban India is concerned. The reasons for the urban decay have been well spelled out by the authors in their study, " India's urban awakening .." in these words : " Indian cities are paying the price for years of chronic under investment"; "India has not sufficiently recognized the complexity of city management "; " Surprisingly, there is little bottom-up pressure of citizens to improve governance." No Indian can disagree with this diagnosis.
A look at the BMC ( Mumbai Municipal Corporation), the richest municipal corporation with a revenue of about Rs.21,000 crore,illustrates the decay in the Indian cities. Every civic need and every civic amenity is inadequate – water, sewage treatment, roads, transport, education, open spaces, affordable housing etc. Almost 50/60 percent of the people live in slums. The same situation is repeated in other cities as well with some variation. Exodus from the villages in search of work and progress is the main reason which is compounded by inadequate civic facilities due to mis-management of funds and also lack of vision and lack of financial support from the state and central governments.
The authors of the study have given a number of suggestions to improve the governance through structural changes – empowered leadership ( elected Mayor), administrative system (city charters and MOUs), service delivery mechanism ( corporatization of civic functions), access to managerial talent ( a new civic cadre) and transparency as well as accountability ( proper accounting system, disclosure and state level urban regulator). .
Their recommendations to raise finance are well-tested in other well-administered cities all over the world – unlocking sources of revenue untapped like prime land in CBD or creating CBD like MMRDA – Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority ( monetizing land assets can mobilize up to $27 billion a year in India); property tax ( now collects 0.04/0.08 of property value, one of the lowest in the world) ; municipal bond market ( raised only $800 million in the last 15 years due to poor internal financial management); proper user charges ( now collect only 60% of operational expenditure and zero percent of capital expenditure on water); financial support from the state and the central governments ( now, it is too little and too late – JUNNURM funds), devolution of powers/ functions ( not all 18 functions been transferred mentioned in the 74th Amendment urban local bodies in 1992).
This is a visionary report which has come at the right time when the Indian GDP is on an upward trend. One hopes that the politicians and, central and state governments discuss this study and come up with a consensus on the major recommendations to improve civic life in our urban area. The citizens of all urban India have to ask the politicians to 'fix the institutions that fix the roads' instead of asking themjust to 'fix the roads', as the report rightly points out. McKinsey & Company's Mumbai office has done a great service to India with this report. The ball is on the court of politicians and people.
While there is an increase in population in general and in cities like Mumbai in particular, there has been inadequate increase in educational institutions. This is the root of the problem.
1.Since education empowers, every parent, including poor, want to send their children to school, especially English medium school. BMC is closing Marathi medium schools and allows builders to take over the property. Surely, BMC can allow educational trusts to run the schools to meet the needs of the society.
2.Society also suffers from some inferiority complex and neglects the mother-tongue and the local language. Globalization does not mean you cut your roots. Money alone cannot be the aim of life. The language, religion and culture of India manifested in our vast land give our country a unique lustre. Only Marathi can capture the beauty of Maharashtra the way the people feel in their bones. It is so with other Indian languages as well. If we neglect our languages, we will give rise to a generation of rootless individuals who will be neither at home in our country, nor abroad.
3.Since India has youngest population in the world and would be so so for the next couple of decades, the only way India can reap the population dividend by increasing the educational opportunities for our people, including vocational education and agricultural related education.
4.Almost 70 percent of our people live in villages and 60 percent depend on agriculture. Making agriculture productive is important to improve the living standards of the people.If we can grow two blades of grass where one grew before, it would help the people. Farmers and their children have to be taught modern agricultural practices - soil testing, fertilizer use, seeds selection, cultivating fruits/vegetables, agro-industries, storage and marketing - to increase production and income. All these should be in small modules or short duration courses in local languages and should be free or at a small fee. This would empower our people rather than all the subsidies and concessions - free electricity, free ration, subsidized fuel etc.
5.Those who do not have land, should be given free vocational education - carpentry, electrician, brick-lying, dairy farming etc. They could be given all implements required for their vocation free of charge. Farm workers could be given land wherever there is surplus/vacant/ land. The aim is make people productive and self-reliant.
6. As far as the cities and towns are concerned, there has to be an increase in educational institutions from KG to the graduation level and beyond. Now the parents have to beg or use influence for admission to KG class, school, college.
7.We have a strange situation of educated unemployment and lack educational facilities. Many B.Eds and M.Eds are unemployed. Teachers are taken on contract at a low salary.There is no incentive to teach with devotion. People are ready to send their children to tuition classes at a high fee but reluctant pay higher fee to the school.
8.Education has become profit-making proposition with many schools and colleges asking for capitation fee and donations. This has to change. Setting up educational institutions should be made a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility, and the companies should be encouraged to build quality schools and colleges.
7. Conclusion :
Just as the long queue for cars/bikes disappeared after their production increased, after the increase of all types of educational institutions, capitation/donation would stop. Ask the Corporate Sector to promote education in a big way in the towns and cities even with incentives and concessions. The governments - local, state and central - should take the responsibility of providing literacy, vocational and agricultural-related training in the villages or cluster of villages.
( A response to Karmayog's discussion on 'Corruption in Education'.
Several changes have been initiated in the Education sector in India recently.
The government of India has introduced a new law in Parliament which prohibits the charging of capitation fee by an educational institution, that covers schools, medical, engineering and other technical colleges.
The shortage of seats available for students has lead to a practice of the Management of educational institutions demanding lakhs of rupees (in cash) over and above the presecribed fees.
Students with even 98% marks are unable to secure seats and often their parents feel there is no option but to pay such bribes. The number of official complaints filed with the government is low, though the media (especially television media) has conducted several sting operations exposing institutions demanding cash for seats in schools and colleges.
Complaining about corruption in the education sector and sharing such information in the public domain can have many benefits:
- streamlining of admission procedure to eliminate discretionary power for allotment of seats
- improvement of examination system, admission criteria, fees charged, etc.
- boost to second-tier institutions that do not take bribes
- etc.
1. Please send us brief examples from your own experiences, with details such as of Location of Educational Institution, Subject / Discipline, Management quota charges exluding fees. We will compile information received for authorities to take action on.
P.S. See over 160 responses to "Why are govt. tenders advertised in newspapers?" at http://www.karmayog.org/messages/message.aspx?id=2603 that were also submitted to concerned government authorities who have initiated necessary action. Keep the comments coming.
