Milind Mhaske: ‘Mobility, housing, lack of open spaces, key civic issues that will impact Mumbaikar’s vote’

Although this is general elections and not civic polls, it still has a huge impact on how our cities run as we have not devolved the powers sufficiently. We have created a taxation structure where money goes to the state and the Centre, and so cities are dependent on them for all work.

One of the most serious issues that will influence the voter is the matter of mobility. Most infrastructure projects have been stalled. For example, the metro project has seen many delays. While the coastal road has been prioritised, other road projects that affect 98 per cent of citizens are not getting due attention.

From a mobility standpoint, that will definitely affect the voter’s decision.Housing, including affordable housing, quality etc, also has always been a struggle. While we have had the RERA mechanism come up in the past few years, we still find that many projects get stalled which affects the middle class.

Besides this, while public healthcare has seen some investments, a lot more is still required in the suburbs. To address this, we need an empowered local government in place.
Access to open spaces, which allows for a good quality of life, will also play a definite role. People are becoming more vocal about lack of open spaces and are raising demands for it.
That said, in any developing economy and modern democracy like ours, people tend to vote from an emotional standpoint of view. Usually, people look at immediate developments, and not necessarily into past issues and then vote accordingly.

Owing to infra projects, Mumbai has become a huge construction site leading to a very poor AQI. In your findings, how does the issue of air pollution factor in the minds of voters?
For masses and the majority of the city’s population, air pollution comes a little down the order. While it is a significant problem, in our studies and observations, we found it is not in the top order of the list for Mumbaikars. Where everyone is complaining about mobility, housing etc, air pollution does not get talked about that much.
If you look at Delhi or any other north Indian city, during winter months, you will find thick pollution in the entire belt due to several reasons. So perhaps it is a bigger issue for people there.

Mumbai also has a better track record compared to other issues. Of course, this is not because governance is doing something great, but the city has a geographical advantage. Despite the fact that we have several days when the AQI is very high, it is not something that worries the general masses in Mumbai perhaps because we don’t have prolonged periods of poor AQI days like in northern India.

Amidst civic polls on hold for two years, and absence of local public representatives, how will civic issues play out in upcoming LS polls?

—Currently, it has been a particularly exceptional period in terms of local governance, especially in terms of Maharashtra, where we have generally had regular elections and we have actually devolved a lot of powers to our cities. Because, in the last two years, we have not had a local government, civic polls. In that context, these Lok Sabha polls are very important. People need to come out and raise demands from candidates and political parties who come to campaign, that they strengthen the local governance.

Technically, going by the constitutional structure, with this being the general elections, people should be not thinking of local issues while voting. However, in the absence of civic polls as well as the fact that our cities in the past few years are being run through funds from several central and state schemes, civic issues will also have an impact.

As per statistics, the rate of enrolment of first time voters in the city is abysmal so far. What could be dissuading youths from voting?

The general perception, thanks to the reporting, and what is projected largely, is that politics and governance is bad and that things don’t work. Therefore, there is a sense of disillusionment amongst youngsters, who are coming of age, and that pushes them away from the issues unless they get any exposure around it.

Besides highlighting the real heroes who are doing things right, we really need to educate them so that they become more engaged. It is not the problem of the youngsters but the larger society, who needs to build awareness about civic issues.

Moreover, even though colleges, political parties conduct election awareness drives, efforts are pretty limited. Our education system and faculty also need to do more practical orientation for them, so that they engage and learn through their own experiences. Civics, as a subject taught in school, gets the least amount of attention. We need to reform our education system, as education isn’t just about professional training, but also about molding a good citizen.