Dreams that light up my world

Dreams of the poor, of the rich,

Of old, young and sick

Of courage, escape and encounters,

You find them on all platters.

In all shapes, sizes and places,

On streets and shallow spaces

Dreams that light up my world

(J K Nagar Jhuggies, Bhopal 24th Dec. 2015)

The hullabaloo over Smart Cities

Whether the Government’s recent proposal for 100 smart cities should be totally new green field projects or improvements of existing towns or a combination of both can be debated and contested vociferously. But I strongly contest it to be used as a medium for fear mongering about smart city being morally and socially indefensible as argued by Janaki Nair piece “In pursuit of smartness”.  

The author in undue haste claims smart cities as scaling up of gated community vision to city level. Contrarily, the gated communities prop up for the reason that urban local bodies are unable to provide minimum basic services in an equitable manner to all citizens. Such gated communities largely attempt to create alternative water supply, sewerage and solid waste systems and spaces for other social pursuits. The reason that our cities (big and small) are grappling with financial resources to invest in city systems and deliver basic acceptable levels of service, the relatively well off sections of population will continue to seek alternatives. This at times may also result in huddling based on caste or related economic activities.

While accusing nation to be short on just and humane urban vision, one needs to recognize such a situation is a result of utopian expectations of physical form delivering in absence of technical, financial and social resources that are bare essential to run our cities. Thus, before jumping to larger narratives, it is imperative to break down the fantasy of “humane urban vision” of the author in to clear indicators of various services and fix responsibility to the Institutions who will deliver this in a participative manner. Some dirty calculations may come in handy of how we plan to fund these ventures not only for capital cost but also for operational expenditures that will be needed to be raised from its users. The privileges of being on the “Activism” and “Always Oppose” mode should be toned down if they allow an escape without raising pertinent questions or providing ideas (if not a road map) to the contentious issues surrounding us. A rather good way of articulating concerns on the smart city hullaballoo is illustrated in editorial by Sunita Narain http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/how-smart-smart-city where she actually shares some ideas for being smart. It also lays down the argument for reinventing urban growth through smart thinking for water, sanitation and transportation. Such ideas convey real concern and challenges and help to think.

To quote from the Finance minister’s maiden budget speech: “The Prime Minister has a vision of developing 'one hundred Smart Cities', as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernizing the existing mid-sized cities”.[1] Thus the idea of modernizing existing small towns in not ruled out completely. While the framework for smart cities evolves and plans post JNNURM get concretized amidst highly opiniated stakeholders, it is important to offer realistic narratives to the collective urban vision. This is important at a time when JNNURM has left behind lessons of little role Centre can play in incentivizing real change through conditional funding. While some advocate for Centre loosening its control and allowing States to play the lead, the Centre can contribute by creating models for the States to look up to while planning their urban vision. The State or Cities by themselves have shown little interest to various reforms including enactment of community participation law, which was expected to create spaces for citizen’s participation and reduce the rabid arguments between various stakeholders.

Yes, the smart sensors and other Wi-Fi gadgets can advance comforts for those who can afford to pay, but lack of imagination and undue haste on Janaki Nair’s  part is evident when she fails to put forth ideas / possibilities to use techno babble for delivering more equitable services (or basic minimum services) to all sections of the population. In this debate, attributing markets as part of the problem, can lead us to situation where State alone is the provider of (affordable) housing and may end up with low quality (State Housing Board type solutions) housing layouts that lacks imagination and creativity. Read in conjunction with our poor performance on implementation of development projects, our city dwellers will have to wait endlessly to avail basic infrastructure. [2]

While land is largely used as a financing instrument in creative urban development ventures, the challenge over the years have been to demonstrate models that can be built / affordable for a larger section of population and do not end up as ivory castles for those who have the willingness to pay. Thus the energies of those who have an itching urge to detest the “smart brigade” need to concentrate on leveraging the technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency in service delivery for water, sanitation, transportation, health, education and safety to all its population.

Our lack of collective imagination is evident in the 7000+ census towns that cannot assure equity in service delivery to its urban population. Our Metros and the splurging small towns have one thing in common; they fail to achieve benchmarks for service delivery and exhibit huge variations and unreliability in the basic services they provide to various inhabitants of the cities. At times, such considerations are guided by technical barriers, at other times by social favoritism to certain wards of the cities. There is a scope to leverage the technology to narrate a more Indian version of smart ways to deliver urban services.  

Smart cities have technology infrastructure as one of the enabler, other two obvious but seldom emphasized are Institutional and Human enablers. Thus while technology can provide real time data and information to take fair decisions, it cannot substitute a clear conscience. The moral obligations from a city can be met through an articulated dialogue and an open mind that values transparency, efficiency of resources and participatory decision making in true sense. If the smart gadgets can open up a possibility to probe deeper in black boxes of the urban service delivery systems it should be a welcome move.  

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[1] http://ibnlive.in.com/news/full-text-finance-minister-arun-jaitleys-maiden-budget-speech/485007-3.html

[2] As reported in Pioneer “In what speaks volumes about poor performance of the housing schemes for urban slum dwellers under the UPA’s key flagship programme, JNNURM, just 8.15 lakhs out of the total 14.42 lakhs sanctioned houses constructed from 2005 to June 2014” accessed at http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/poor-show-of-housing-plans-under-jnnurm-exposed.html

Increasing demand for new States & failure of Balanced Regional Planning

Imbalanced regional development and improper allocations of resources within Indian States (both large and small) continue to impact on key social and economic indicators. Development projects largely remain influenced by political interests and not by actual need on ground. Revenue generating urban centres tend to receive more attention and continue to be islands of investments, if not excellence.

Image Source : http://www.niticentral.com/2013/08/01/the-list-grows-longer-112403.html

This inequity at State level coupled with issues of identity, culture and linguistic differences has often triggered vociferous demands for smaller administrative units. The demands tend to be largely proliferated by the political leadership, students and common citizens who take pride in their distinct regional identity. The claims are backed by disparity in sharing of infrastructure, water, power, roads and even government jobs. The process of carving new states is a tough one and is usually aided with frequent presence and support of police and paramilitary forces. Sentiments run high and are supported by self immolation bids that put undue pressure on the machinery. There is always a risk to buy in bias on boundary identification. It stems from political aspirations, economic gains and several vested interests.

 An article by Down to Earth states that demands are usually backed by issues related to disputes of sharing and utilisation of natural resources with mother states. It adds that linguistic and cultural reasons, which were the primary basis for creating new states in the country, have now become secondary in most of these cases.” 

However, from a regional planner’s perspective, there are a few items that gain utmost importance. Balanced regional development is a sentiment that has been echoed in Indian development planning since five year plans were attempted. The failure to do so has continued to show impacts in such inequitable distributions which gain a political magnitude. Further, lack of immediate answers also creates a lot of bitterness and competing sentiments in the people of same State. Thus, it is essentially the failure of planning machinery that triggers social, political and economic unrest in the first place. 

Decentralization and stake in participatory development have been promised on paper but still need to be translated to the lowest level. While a robust decentralised environment, could provide a more independent and participatory approach to development, failure to do so has ensured that pettiest decisions remain related to State clearances. While new investments remain a priority to provide for impressive growth rate by State governments, failure to prioritize new investments leads to development that does not relate to true aspirations of people. Even if it happens, it is not accountable to deliver mutually agreed performance levels. Investments continue without regular assessment and monitoring of the dividends that they are delivering at the smallest level. 

There are 53 urban agglomerations in India with a population of 1 million or more as of 2011 against 35 in 2001.Today about 43 percent of the urban population of India lives in these cities. As employment opportunities increase in urban centres, the migration of population in and out of these cities will continue creating pressure points that challenge the plans for balanced regional development. With smaller states, the political space will also get more crowded and less clear mandates with emerge at Centre. As elaborated in Down to Earth article,

“since 1984 not a single national party has formed government on its own. The 1980s and ’90s witnessed the electoral boom of regional political parties. Regional parties have been expanding both in number as well as in vote share. In the first Lok Sabha election in 1952, of the 55 parties that contested 18 were regional parties. The number went up to 36 in the 2004 election.

 In the 1984 general election the regional parties got 11.2 per cent of the votes; in 2009, their share went up to 28.4 per cent. In the past 20 years the share of regional parties in total votes has consistently increased. For the next elections in 2014, analysts estimate regional parties will contest in 150-180 seats where the two national parties may not be significant players.”

It will thus create a cocktail of political, social and economic aspirations that may be challenging to provide for.

The Singur issue has been dominating media headlines for quite some time. While the debate and negotiations featured, I was convinced that it will set a trend for a healthy developmental debate and set path for several developmental projects to come...

However, I am dissapointed. Tata's finally decided to move out dream Nano project out of Singur. While this has sent out negative vibes to many industries waiting to set foot in Bengal, it is also a set back for the civil society groups that have failed to work out a middle path that can beenfit all. What is bothering me is following:

Is there a way to consider interests of all varied groups in developmental projects?

If not, I doubt if India can develop and propagate a common developmental agenda for its diverse groups. This essentially means that divide between rich and poor will continue to grow further in the coming years. Civil society groups will continue targeting capitalists for profiteering and capitalists will loose ground to cater to social objectives of equality, employment and rural development.

I wonder if it really makes sense for any of the groups. But yes, it definitely makes sense for Mamta Banerjee who's political career has managed some sensational vibes ! Thanks to Singur !

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY !

This time, I happened to attend Republic day celeberations in a small school in Hyderabad. It was a little difficult to leave my bed or Sarcozy's speech (include Bruni's attaraction) on the chilly morning, but I managed. I think, it was worth it.

The school is run with the help of private donations and caters to approximately 350 children of labour (stone cutters ) families. The mid day meal scheme attracts the children of nearby localities who otherwise are unable to afford the same given their economic conditions. I was told that there is a public school in the vicinity, but children and their families do not prefer it. Reason I was given is the lack of interest by teachers to retain the students and harsh punishments. This school had full attendance, with girls and boys in almost equal proportions. I could see that the teachers were patient with the kids.

It set me thinking, the challenges facing our country are immense, but at the same time, the energy required to tackle them is in abundance! The way these children performed was amazing...And I earned hundreds of smiles - with every bright face smiling back to my camera!!

Lets pledge that we can assure basic services (including education, health) and a dignified life to every child in our country irrespective of his/her economic and social background!

Will Globalization deliver?

I have been inundated with the subject “globalization” and it seems to have been the talk of the town for quite some time. So I was not at all surprised when Friedman (one of my favorite American journalist) was in India to explore what outsourcing means to India in the changing context and how is it benefiting. The sneak peek of his findings was telecasted on Discovery (30th April, 8 pm IST). Friedman deserves an appreciation to be able to compare what effects it has on India culture, society and of course economy. (in a simple layman’s language without using the lengthy statistics, so that non economists like me who claim a pie of development planners don’t shy away due to lack of economics/social science background) He is also able to put forth the disparity in the benefits and highlight the plight of the poor who seem to have missed the cake.

When we put forth the above question, the opinion is polarized between those who want to push it through any means and those (at the receiving hand) who hold the prejudices about it. What we lack is a balanced mind that can weigh the pros and cons and devise a win-win strategy. But a strategy that considers social, economic or physical factors in isolation is definitely going to fail disastrously or face a public outrage. This is what happens to the current government’s proposition for increasing OBC quota in higher education. We may argue that the heterodoxy in the Indian society (amongst the educated/activist class) is increasing and the handful benefiting from the globalization will stretch out to protect their interests. So what happens to those (so called orthodox) who are not able to find out a voice for themselves? You may argue that they have been finding their voices being heard, thanks to the NGOs in the Indian context. But such a voice always lands the risk of opinion being influenced by the NGO interests. The last few years has seen a never ending war of words/debate on the same. What I am looking for is some balanced models that will benefit all!

INFLUENCED...

Mumbai is the city of Dreamers and Achievers. It presents an interesting mix of those who made up to their dreams and those who could not. Amazingly each face in the city is a story in itself. I have been a keen observer of such stories since last 2 years and 9 months (to be precise). On the streets, in the train, amidst shopping lanes, malls, seaside, everywhere you will observe this story which has two simple answers – yes or no!

I completed a few tasks and took up the train to Sewri around 2.00 PM from Kharghar. The train is noisy and cluttered at various stages, especially from Vashi to Govandi then around Kurla and Vadala. The afternoon time seems the best for these vendors who sell anything from toys, jewellery, striking earrings and other edible items. The Chinese market has dominated the products varying from pencil boxes, household items and stationery. Young men, women and at times children market and sell these products, shouting the rates, products and attracting customer. At times people find these vendors irritating, at time useful. They save you a lot of time making the important things at the trainstep.

Nothing seemed important enough to attract my attention in years. I observed them and forgot them. Never did I buy any of these products, may be thinking what would people think about me buying this low grade stuff. I had been conditioned for the mall/s.

But this day was different. Interestingly, I was reading this book which talks about inner purpose, purpose of life etc. etc. and I was not able to relate to what it means being in present and not being conditioned by the obnoxious past and the mysterious future. I wondered if there was anyone who could reach a stage like this. I was trying to think about it, but it was getting difficult to think in absolute terms, not getting in to the past or procrastinate about future. Finally, I gave up and closed the book to catch up with it later.

I peeped out of the window for some fresh air, took a deep breadth and closed my eyes for a fraction. When my eyes opened, I saw this old woman standing in front of me selling stuff and shouting for attention to her customers. There seemed hardly any. Aunty, as she is addresses by other co-workers, she must be in her late fifties, with a thin skeletal structure, with hardly any flesh. The bone structure was evident. Her face was full of wrinkles, half covered by the thick glasses in the well-defined black frame. I pondered what her eyes could be like, it was difficult to cut through the thick glasses and glance through them. She had tied her short hair with a shabby rubberband in to a ponytail. She was wearing a light biscuit coloured salwar kameez, with a duppatta that was tightly wrapped in the sides. It seemed she had never washed it and would never do. She didn’t have the looks that could sell her products, but she had energy to talk to women, convince them and take on some additional tasks as well. She never got tired of locating seats for women who were standing and was quick enough to point out as more and more seats got vacant. It seemed she was totally occupied in her work, marketing the Mehandi cones, the home made sweets and the additional play items that she was testing before she invested in more of them. She was occupied fully in locating new customers, counting her pennies and arranging for change if she was short of it.

Maybe, Aunty was unaware about what could happen to her job if Mumbai switched to metros in next few years that allow entry only for the elite? What would happen if the train fares were raised and were redesigned on willingness to pay. She didn’t seem to bother either about what would happen if Mumbai turned in to Shanghai and all the poor were forced to move out of the city? She didn’t have to bother about market trends, sales forecast and the consumer behavior. It seemed irrelevant.

She was in her present and was too occupied to serve the NOBLE purpose. I wondered how does Mumbai label her - as an achiever or a non-achiever. But how does it matter!

Someone called her from the other part of the compartment. She quickly gathered her stuff and disappeared to serve her new customer. I smiled and got back to my reading hoping the book will make more sense to me now.