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Journalism of Courage
Indias burgeoning aspirations and crushing restrictions on agriculture that cripple its growth and productivity combine to cause the search,as old as modernity,for places where non-farm employment is to be had. But Indias policy towards urbanisation has been horribly lax,the most glaring lacuna in reform. To remedy that,the government has now been presented a new report on urban infrastructure and services,drafted by a committee that includes Isher Ahluwalia and Ranesh Nair,who have been writing on these issues for The Indian Express.
The report argues that from both growth-enhancement and poverty-alleviation perspectives,the needs of urbanisation have to be taken into account by policy-makers: Indias economic growth momentum cannot be sustained if urbanisation is not actively facilitated. Nor can poverty be addressed if the needs of the urban poor are isolated from the broader challenges of managing urbanisation. It argues that strengthening governance and investment in infrastructure requires prioritising urban self-government: municipalities should have clear functions,independent financial resources,and autonomy to take decisions on investment and service delivery. The committee stresses how crucial is a refocusing of energy on ensuring that local government can provide adequate services or,as the report argues,shifting the focus of policy from creating physical infrastructure to delivering services. The challenge is to focus on reforming governance for service delivery. Service delivery,however,is not independent of the ability to raise revenue for those services requiring the capacity to access forms of financing that include the private sector and predictable,rational,transfers from the Centre and states. It also,however,will need the setting up of a rational framework of user fees for services,and the political will to enforce it.
