Mysore City Corporation has sent the draft Urban Development Policy of the Karnataka government to various NGOs and has asked for comments. Mysore Grahakara Parishat has carefully gone through the draft and feels that it is such a poor starting point for any meaningful discussion that it should be scrapped and a new draft made.
Problems with the present draft start with its atrocious language.The words and the grammar are so poor that it is not possible to make sense out of many of its sentences.
Much of the present draft consists of cliche-ridden generalities. It talks of "the need to strengthen governance", "maintaining the highest standards in design and execution", "taking a holistic view of urban development", "making sure that people of all classes participate in the development process", "empowering local urban bodies", "new angle for urban planning", "eradicating poverty", "bringing accountability in administration", etc. without being specific on how to do these things. When on rare occasions the policy gets to specifics, it makes illogical, inconsistent and often foolish statements. The motivation for this policy is itself highly suspect. In the opening section, the policy says: "It is advisable to take a positive view of urbanization itself. In the past urbanization has been viewed primarily as a 'problem'. To overcome this, it is first important to accept that urbanisation is a welcome phenomenon, and that it reflects the aspirations of millions of people in the state. What is needed is not to discourage urbanization, but to steer it correctly towards ends that are desirable." This in our opinion is a foolish statement. Studies have shown that only a small percentage of migrants are attracted by the "bright lights" of the cities, but for the vast majority, it is either migration or starvation. When the skewed policies of successive governments deny rural areas basic infrastructure, health care, power and potable water, promote unsustainable agriculture and offer very poor returns on rural products and agricultural produce, it has become very difficult to eke out a living in villages and so rural people are forced to migrate to cities. Such a forced migration can not be "welcomed" as "the aspiration of the state's millions of people". It is like denying the people food grains and when in desperation they start eating leaves and grass to survive, welcoming the change in the eating habits as a reflection of the aspiration of the people.
The majority of sociologists and economists are worried about the dangers of urban migration and are busy devising ways to increase the standard of living in rural areas so that urban migration will slow down and eventually stop. Development plans for cities such as Delhi have explicit provisions to discourage migration. In this light, it is very surprising that Karnataka planners consider urban migration beneficial.
Now some examples of self-contradictory statements in the draft. On p. 3, it is stated that the poverty levels in city slums are worse than in villages (and so drastic steps have to be taken to alleviate city slum poverty). If this is true, why are villagers migrating to city slums?
On the same page, the policy notes that Bangalore is growing faster than other cities and recommends steps to promote other cities as a destination for migrants. But to be consistent with the aims of the policy, should not migration to Bangalore be welcomed as it reflects the "aspiration of the people"?
There are several statements in the present draft whose implications are disturbing. Some examples. On p.8, it says that we should not worry about whether present land use is legal or illegal! On p.10, it says that slum dwellers should be given ownership rights to the land. If this information gets out, there will be an explosive increase in encroachment of public and private land!
The draft policy seeks to give more power to elected representatives in the planning process and to reduce the role of government officials. If the draft policy is implemented as it stands, it will encourage unlimited growth of cities leading to astronomical land values in cities and will vest the control of all public lands with politicians. This is a sure-fire recipe for unlimited corruption and destruction of public property. As it is, thousands of crores of rupees are being spent under JNNURM and other projects to improve the cities. If the statement that urban migration is the will of the people and is welcome is made into a state policy, then even more money will be allotted to urban development. With so much money to be spent, becoming a city politician willl become irresistibly attractive as a career option.
Prof. S.K. Ananda Thirtha, Mysore Grahakara Parishat