New Delhi is the political capital of India, Mumbai the financial capital and Kolkata the cultural capital.
Forget these epithets and you will find that these three major Indian cities, home to some 49 million people, are also fraught with many contradictions.
If Mumbai is home to Antilla — the billion-dollar residence of Mukesh Ambani, the world’s ninth richest man, according to Forbes magazine — it also has more than half of its people living in slums.
Similar contrasts can be found in New Delhi, Kolkata and other Indian cities.
A Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry report estimated that by 2011 India’s slum population would have risen to 93 million — 7.75 percent of the total population.
“These contrasts are confounding but real and common, and I don’t know if (they) can be seen anywhere else,” says Partha Pratim Ganguli, a former chairman-cum-managing director of the Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, a public sector undertaking.
“Here is a country where growth is neither inclusive nor equitable, the government’s periodical pamphleteering notwithstanding.”
Alongside glitzy malls and multiplexes, condominiums and penthouses countless people live in decrepit tenements. Many are born and die on public pavements.
More than half of Mumbai citizens live in slums. In Kolkata and New Delhi, things are no better.
The so-called growth theory is a denial of reality, says Ganguli, who is now India adviser to The Indus Foundation, a US-based educational consultant.
He says, “It’s a mockery of the country’s shining growth graph and feel-good stats dished out by analysts.
“Ironically, cities in India are actually home to the virtual homeless.”
According to social scientists, Indian slums are, however, a heady mix of intellectuals, passionate social activists, cheap labor, lumpenproletariat, and occasionally, successful politicians.
“In many ways, these impoverished dwelling places are microcosms of Indian societies,” says Professor Suvo Ray, the head of the Department of Anthropology at Calcutta University.
According to a UN report, the world’s urban population will swell from 3.4 billion in 2010 to 6.3 billion by 2050.
“In just over a decade from now, nearly 500 million Indians will need new urban homes, close to the needs of China, North America and Western Europe put together,” says a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report released on Feb 5.
The report Urban Infrastructure in India says with 900 million Indians estimated to live in cities, there is an increasing need to build more housing units.
“City capacity will need to grow nearly 400 percent in less than 50 years,” the report says.
“There is insurmountable pressure on civic infrastructure systems such as water supply, sewerage and drainage and solid waste management.”
“We have to rethink the way we live or there is no tomorrow,” FICCI Urban Development Committee Chairman Pradeep Puri tells the Press Trust of India news agency.
FICCI is urging for a proactive approach, sound planning and its efficient implementation.
A report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) says $1.2 trillion capital investment is required to meet the projected demand in India’s cities.
Experts say the country can accelerate its economic growth and reduce poverty by increasing the productivity of its cities.
But that’s easier said than done.
“The housing market in India has become increasingly skewed against the poor,” says the FICCI report, adding, “(The) bulk of the housing market caters to middle-income groups. Given the supply-side constraints on availability of land and the attendant high and unrealistic land price, the housing market is driven by high margins and low volumes.”
The MGI report predicts that the country’s urban population will soar to 590 million in 2030, from 340 million in 2008.
“India’s cities could generate 70 percent of the net new jobs created by 2030, produce more than 70 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and stimulate a near-fourfold increase in per capita income,” it says.
Equitable growth, however, remains the biggest challenge.
“We need a holistic approach and must ensure that people living in urban slums get east access to education, healthcare and a semblance of respect from society,” Swapan Chattopadhyay, a civil servant, tells China Daily Asia Weekly.
Of the three big cities, Kolkata, once called the “Second City” of the British empire after London, lost much of its glory since the colonial British rulers shifted the capital to New Delhi in 1911.
Then came two major exoduses from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), in 1947 and 1971. Following a war, millions of people crossed the border to settle in Kolkata and on its outskirts.
“The city embraced them all,” says Chattopadhyay. “Kolkata has always shown a humane face even in inhuman conditions. That is why it is still called the ‘City of Joy’”.
However, Kolkata-based green activist Subhas Dutta warns that without proper controls, Indian cities, including Kolkata, will face disastrous consequences.
“A large number of people live in places and conditions where the air quality is suspect, water quality is extremely poor and sanitation is wretched. Unless you address all this, (these cities) will degenerate into hell holes.”
Dutta calls for government intervention to protect the poor and the environment from “land sharks and corrupt politicians”.
The government is aware of the enormity of the task at hand.
In a speech in Parliament in 2009, President Pratibha Patil spoke of the need for a slum-free India in five years.
That’s not a simple target to achieve, admitted Culture, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja, citing constraints.
According to the Ministry of Urban Development, India needs an investment of Rs 39.2 trillion ($0.8 trillion) in infrastructure over the next 20 years.
The 201l-2012 budget earmarks Rs 12.14 trillion for urbanization.
However, there are doubts whether the money will really benefit the people.
Tags: green bags, greenbags, recyclable bags, non woven bag, non woven bags, nylon bag, cotton bag, cotton bags, messenger bag, reusable bags, bag, bags, handbag, eco bags, tote bag, paper pen, promotional, promotional gifts, promotional products, promotion products, promotional bags, promotional bag, business card, name card, shopping bags, canvas bag, calico bags, calico bag, environmental bags
没有评论:
发表评论