URBAN DEVE LOPM ENT

PROG RAMM ES IN INDIA

URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROG RAMM ES SINCE

INDEPENDENCE
· ' · I · d II · tion of poverty '. has been one of
Urban devd 0 pment programmes wtth a focu s on rec uct1on an a evta
the obiecti\'es of fi ve-ye;r plans in the country since thebeginning of the planned era. This w_as, however,
brougi1t into the core of planningexercise only during the Fifth Year Plan. The consumption ~eve ls of
ditfe;ent commodities were projected in this plan by taking higher growth rates for pe~plem_ lower
consumption brackets. Extensive research has since then been carried out to study the drmenstons of
poverty, its temporal trend, spatial pattern etc.
This led to identification of theoretical solutions for reduction of poverty and launching of
programmes during the past Five Year Plans.
An analysis of the govenunent policies and programmes and investment pattern during the
fifties , sixties and seventies reveals a distinct bias for urban areas. Public sector investment in
infrastructure and basic services improved the level of services in urban centers, which
accentuated the rural urban disparity. Theseinvestments were concentrated mostly in the large
cities that attracted private investments as well as subsidized institutional funds. This resulted in
creation of employment opportunities at a higher level of productivity earnings than in rural areas,
widening the gap between their income levels. This period also witnessed the creation of a
number of Boards and Corporations at the state level and development authorities at the city
level. Considerable funds were routed throughthese agencies that improved the level of services
for at least a section of the urban population.

Removal of poverty received attention initially in the Fifth Five Year Plan. Theearli er plans did
not emphasize on proper analysis of the dimension of poverty.The Fifth Plan noted that the
consumption levels of the bottom 30 per cent of thecount ry's populatio n remained below the
minimum ofRs.40. 6 per capita per month at 1972-73 prices. No distinction was, however , made
between rural andurban poverty. The plan stressed poverty could be removed by promotin g
economic growth and through proper implementation of the national levelprog rammes like
Minimum Needs Programme. The Sixth Plan addressed the problem of poverty in a more
focused manner and recognized that economic growth process by itself was not enough to tackle
poverty. It noted that about 51 per cent of the rural population and 41 per cent of the urban
population were living below the poverty line in 1979-80. Specific progranu nes like Integrate d
Development of Small and Medium Towns, Minimum Needs Program me, UrbanBa sic Services ,
Integrated Rural Development Programme, National Rural Develop ment Program me (NRDP)
etc. were recommended for urban and rural areas. The Sixth Plan showed a distinct bias in favour
of rural poverty by implementing specific programmes. The program mes that have been
launched since independence have been briefly discussed in the following section.

i) I ntegrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT): The program me .

 . d I . 1' small and med ium town s part ly by
for eve opu g . · dt'tions so that
was law1ched in 1979-80 basically • . ing their econ omic con
. mme was
d I b ov l
providing basic services to poor an a so Y tmpt ie pro1g9ra7 l C
the Q'fowth of metro cities could be arres ted. rnitia
lly, the scop e oft
. I d I d as per the ensu s.
e
w one hunc re t ious an ' . f fi h dred
restricted to towns with populc1tion belo ° ive un
citie s having popu latw n
It hadbeen decid ed in the Eighth Plan to include
thousand as per the Census of 1991.
eigh ty
ii) Low Cost Sanitation Prog ram me (LC
S): The goal of prov iding sani tatio n facilities to
of the UN
eighties with the anno unce men t
per cent of urban population was fixed in the early
tation. Acc ordi ngly, a cent rall~ spon sore d
Decadal Programm e for Water Supply and Sani
of elim inati ng man ual scav engi ng thro ugh
scheme was launched in I 980-81 , with the objective
ehold whic h have dry latrines thos e who have
conversion of d1y lattines. It covered all the hous
ements. Und er this scheme, loan and Cen tral
having no lat:Iines including slwn and squatter settl
subsidy were both channeled through HUDCO.
ramm ewa s laun ched in
Shel ter and Sani tatio n for Pav eme nt Dwellers (SSP D): This prog
iii)
having sizable shel ter less popu latio n. The
large urban areas including metropolitan cities,
bsid y unde r the sche me has to be adeq uate
Tenth Plan has pointed out that the provision ofsu
ter construction. The gran ts per bed shou ld
to make it feasible for the NGO s to take up shel
iding a suffi cien t num ber of nigh ts -she lters
also be revised to achieve the objective of prov
and Use com pone nt of this sche me is bein g
for the homeless wom en and children. The Pay
AY.
merged with the Nirmal Bha ratA bhiy an ofVAMB
ram me (AU WSP ): This is anot her cent rally
iv) Accelerated Urban Water Supply Prog
for prov idin g wate r to the town s havi ng
sponsored scheme launched during the Eighth Plan
1991, oper ation ally unde r the State PHE D
less than 20,000 population as per the Census of
ernm ent and conc erne d ULB s on 50:4 5:5
to be funded by the Central Government, State Gov
itories.
ratio . TheCentre met the entire cost in Union Terr
P): The NSD P initiated inl 996 as a sche me
v) National Slum Development Prog ram me (NSD
ent, hasb een prov idin g addi tion al cent ral
of Special Central Assistance for slum improvem
supply and sani tatio n amo ng othe r facil ities
assistance to state governments to provide wate r
to the slums.
na): This sche me has been laun ched in 2001 -
vi) VAMBAY (Valmiki-Ambedkar Awa s Yojo
ter of thep eopl e living belo w pove rty line in
02 to provide shelter or upgrade the existing shel
state gove rnm ents who will set up the
~rban slums_ implem~nted in partnership with
re required and for the credit com pone nt for
tmpl~mentation machinery, arrange for land whe
be in prop ortio n to their slum popu latio n.
housmg. The state funds under the scheme will
y
vii) Nehru Rozgar Yojana (NRY): In order to
alleviate the cond ition s ofur banp oor, a Cen trall
was launched at the end of the Seve nth Five
Sponsored Programme - Nehru Rozgar Yojana -
of prov iding emp loym ent to the urba n
Year Plan (October 1989) with the objective
Central Gov ernm ent indicated its over all
unem_plo~ed an_d underemployed poor. The
earm arkin g and coor dina ting the relev ant
contnbut~on while the essential task of identifying,
ernm ents . The NRY cons isted of three
se~toral mputs was undertaken by the State Gov
o Enterprises (SU ME) ; (ii) the Sche me of
sc emes namely (i) the Sche meo f Urban Micr
 lter
plo ym ent (SU WE ); and (iii) the Sch eme of Hou sing and She
Urb an Wa ge Em e util ized but
n (SH AS U). Dur ing the Eig hth Plan, 92% of the ava ilab l.e funds wer
Upg rad atio er SH AS U, the
sho rtfa ll in the num ber of dwe llin g units upg rad ed/ in pro gre ss und
for the
the oth ersc hem es.
targets hav e been achieved und er all
i1:11plem_ent~d as a
ban Bas ic Ser vice s for the Poo r (UBSP): The UB SP Pro gra mm e was
viii)Ur spe cifi c obj ecti ves of
the Eighth Five Yea r Plan wit h the
Cen tral ly Sponsored Sch eme dur ing n, mobilization and
sec tor goals; community organizatio
effective ach ieve men t of the social itur e on the
nt; and con verg enc e thro ugh sust ainabl.e support system. The exp end
empowerme
and the Sta te
gra mm e was bein g sha red on a 60: 40 basis bet wee n the Cen tral
Pro itur e on any slum
ures). Fur ther , the per cap ita exp end
Gov enu nen ts and UTs (wi th legislat s afte r the bas ic
Rs. 50/ - from the sec ond yea r onw ard
pocket is Rs.75/- in the first yea r and
infrastmcture is developed.
gra mm e (PM
Urban Poverty Eradication Pro
ix) Prime Minister's Integrated erty pro ble ms,
EP) : Rec ogn izin g the seri ous ness and com ple xity of urb an pov
IUP emb er, 1995
PM I UP EP was lau nch ed in Nov
especially in the small towns, the gin g bet wee n
lom erat ion s wit h a pop ula tion ran
applicable to all Class II urb an agg e bee n
one lakh sub ject to the con diti on that elec tion s to loca l bod ies hav
50,000 and
held.
gar Yoj na (NR Y)
The Swa rna Jay ant i Sha har i Roz gar Yojana (SJSRY): The Neh ru Roj
x) e (PM I UP EP)
an Pov erty Era dica tion Pro gra mm
and Prime Min iste r's Integrated Urb hou gh the ir
imp orta nt dire ct pov erty alle viat ion pro gra mm es in urb an areas. Alt
were two com pon ent s
generation for urb an poo r, thes e had
thrust was on employment and income r 199 5-9 6 wit h
l. PM I UPEP was laun che d in the yea
for provision of basic services as wel elop men t and
ion, shelter upgradation, social dev
the objectives of employment generat 1997, the thre e
mun ity emp owe rme nt. It may , however, be noted that dur ing
com le emp loy men t
IUP EP hav e been mer ged into a sing
programmes ofU BS P, NR Y and PM ).
Jayanti Shahari Roj gar Yoj ona (SJ SRY
generation programme called Swa ma
wit h exp end itur e
RY is a Cen tral ly Spo nso red Sch eme applicable to all the urb an areas
The SJS gra mm e has two sub-
the Centre and States/UTs.T he pro
to be shared in ratio 75:25 between Wa ge Em plo ym ent
plo ym ent Programme and (b) Urb an
schemes namely: (a) Urban Sel f -Em
Programme.
IUP EP hav e bee n
ent components of the NR y and PM
The self-employment and wage employm bot h NR Y
und er this sing le pro gram me. The shelter upgradation com pon ents of
re-organised gra nun e.
PM IUP EP hav e bee n mer ged with the National Slum Dev elop men t Pro
and
d or und erem plo yed
t? emp~oyment to the urban une mpl oye
The SJSR Y seeks provide ga_inful visi on of wag e
by enc our ~gm g the set~ mg up of self-employment ventures or pro
poor nity structures on the
d on the creation of suitable com mu
employment. This prn~ramme 1~ base local
delt very _ of_ mp.u ts . und erth i s pro gramme was dev ised tlu·ough urb an
UB~P pat te~ ~nd tion of con unu nit
ies and sim ilar com ~um ty m~t ttl'.t1 onal structures and rests on the founda
bod , Nei ghb our hoo ~
s like Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs)
empowerment.Commumty orgamsat10n
 ties (CDS s) have been set up in the
Committees (NHCs) and Community Development Socie
focal point for purpo ses of ident ificat ion
target areas based on the UBSP pattern. The CDS s is the
of recov ery and gene rally provi ding
of beneficiaries, preparation of applications, monitoring
whatever other support isnecessary to the progr amm e.