Fact Sheet

    The twentieth century has been called the age of urbanisation. At its commencement, the world was predominantly rural; only 8 per cent of the population lived in urban settlements. By 1950, the percentage had risen to 29 and by 1990 to 45. It is estimated to be around 50 at present. The current decade, 1990-2000, has seen an increase of about 83 per cent in the world urban population, and the cities have added, on an average, about 81 million people annually. Cities in India are undergoing rapid changes because of increase in population and strain on infrastructure. The Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty alleviation is entrusted with the responsibility of planning of different facets of urban development.

    Water supply and sanitation are important basic needs affecting the quality of life and productive efficiency of the people. The Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation assists the State Governments/UTs by providing guidance of schemes, Central assistance, facilities for training, seminars/workshops and external assistance from bilateral/multilateral agencies. Under the Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP), upto 31.3.1999 330 water supply scheme in 330 towns were approved at a cost of Rs.341.04 crores and central assistance of Rs.136.57 crores was released by the Ministry to different State Governments as central share. During the year 1990-2000, detailed project reports for 74 towns at a cost of Rs.112.60 crores have been approved by the Ministry and an amount of Rs.31.30 crores has been released to various State Governments.

    The need to effectively manage solid waste is also one of the priorities. An expert Committee constituted by the Ministry finalised the draft of the manual on Solid Waste Management. A Conference was held with the Mayors this year to finalise the manual .

    Urban Development is a State subject but the Ministry has the responsibility of broad policy formation and monitoring of programmes in the areas of Urban Development. The Ministry of Urban Development is in the process of formulating a National Urban Policy keeping in view the recommendations of the National Commission on Urbanisation, the economic reforms and the elements of national urbanisation strategy list out in the regional Action Plan on Urbanisation adopted by the ESCAP countries vide the New Delhi Declaration.

    The Constitution (74^th Amendment) Act, 1992 relating to Municipalities (known as the Nagarpalika Act) was passed by Parliament in the Winter Session of 1992 and it received the assent of the President on 20.4.1993. This Act seeks to provide a common framework for the structure and mandate of Urban Local Bodies to enable them to function as effective democratic units of Local Self-Government.

    The Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999 was notified in the Gazette on 22.3.1999 in replacement of an Ordinance on the same subject. The Repeal Act has already come into force in the States of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat & Karnataka and all the Union Territories. These guidelines basically emphasise the need for imposition of vacant land tax, on the land likely to be made available after the repeal of the Act and a provision for EWS and LIG category houses, while sanctioning housing projects.

    The total population of the country has increased from 361 million in 1951 to 844 million by 1991, whereas, urban population increased from 62 million to 217 million, while in the same period, the number of urban agglomerations has increased to 3768 from 2843. This indicates that the increase in urban population was 250% whereas increase in urban agglomerations was only 32%. To improve the economic and physical infrastructure and to provide essential facilities and services the Centrally sponsored, scheme of Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) was initiated in the year 1979-80 and is being continued with timely amendment and modifications.

    Urban Transport is one of the most important components of urban infrastructure. A good network roads and an efficient Mass Urban Transport System make a substantial contribution to the "working efficiency" of a large city.

    Urban population of India is projected to be 308 million by 2001 and 538 million by 2021 which will be 29.3% and 37.1% of country’s total population. The number of class-I cities is expected to rise to 437 by 2001 and 781 by 2021. The number of million-plus (metropolitan) cities is expected to be around 51 by 2021. The Total population in million-plus cities which was about 71 million in 1991 is projected to grow to 164 million by 2021 A.D.

    Average two wheeler and car ownership levels in metropolitan cities which were 112 and 14 per 1000 population in 1994, are expected to grow to 393 and 48 respectively ;by the year 2021. This would mean 53 million two wheelers and 6 million cars in next 20 years in metropolitan cities.

    At present a subsidy of 40% is given by the Central Government to State Governments for the preparation of Comprehensive Traffic System Management plans, feasibility studies and for Urban Transportation Projects i.e. Mass Urban Transport Projects.

    The proposal for Delhi Metro Rail Transport System Project was approved ‘in principle’ by Union Government in 1994. However, the investment proposal for the 1^st phase of Delhi MRTS were approved by the Union Government only in September, 1996. The project envisages introduction of a metro rail system of about 55.3 kms comprising of 11kms of underground rail corridors. The total cost of the project is about Rs.4860 crore at April’96 prices.

    The project is scheduled to be completed by March, 2005 for which the construction has already been commenced in October, 1998.

    To ensure timely implementation of the project an MRTS Cell has been set up in the Ministry to monitor the progress of the project and to take appropriate action wherever necessary.

    National Housing and Habitat Policy 1998 was formulated to address the issues of sustainable development, infrastructure and for strong public private partnership. The objective of the policy are to create surpluses in housing stock and facilitate construction of 2 million additional dwelling units each year in pursuance of National Agenda for Governance. It also seeks to ensure that housing alongwith-supporting services is treated as priority sector at par with infrastructure.

    An action plan for implementation of the new policy for achievement of targets has been drawn up and the progress is being monitored closely. The following was the achievement for the year 1998-99 :

    The following revised targets for HUDCO, cooperative sector, National Housing Bank and others have been fixed for 1999-2000.

As per latest reports, current year’s achievements, so far, are given below :-

HUDCO (upto 29.12.99)

Cooperative Sector (upto Nov.99)

    Essentially, the DDA constructs houses of various categories viz. SFS/MIG/LIG/Janta/ EWS etc. for a large number of registrants.

    As a gratitude to the martyrs and disabled soldiers at Kargil, it has been decided to construct flats in South Delhi area. A layout plan was finalised in Sector-18A, Dwarka, befitting the needs of 312-two bed room flats having an area of 135 Sqm and 90 Sqm respectively have been planned.

    All the three Urban Poverty Alleviation Schemes, namely, Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP), Nehru Rojgar Yojana (NRY) and Prime Ministers Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Programme (PMI UPEP) stand subsumed in a new scheme namely Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) with effect from 1.12.97. The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana seeks to underemployed through encouraging the setting up of employment. This programme relies on creation of suitable community structures on the UBSP pattern and delivery of inputs through the medium of urban local bodies and such community structure. The SJSRY is funded on a 75:25 basis between Centre and the States.

    The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) consist of two special schemes, namely –

1. The Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP)
2. The Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP)

    The Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP) is applicable to all urban towns in India, the programme is being implemented on a whole town basis with special emphasis on urban poor clusters.

    The Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP) seeks to provide wage employment to beneficiaries living below the poverty line within the jurisdiction of urban local bodies by utilising their labour for construction of socially and economically useful public assets.

    The programme applies to urban local bodies, the population of which was less than 5 lakhs as per the 1991 Census.