INDIA: URBAN POVERTY REPORT 2009
Summary . As the world moves into the year 2008, there will be more number of people living in urban areas than rural areas. In fact, the 20th century witnessed a rapid growth in urban population. The next few decades will see unprecedented scale of urban growth in the developing world including those in Asia and Africa continents. The urban population in these two continents will double in a period of 30 years.
Asia has been witnessing the triple dynamics of growth, rapid urbanisation and growing poverty. While many Asian countries witnessed higher economic growth, the growth pattern brought about enormous disparities across and within nations.
India has shared the growth pattern and rapid urbanisation with some of the fastest growing regions in Asia. The Country has witnessed around 8% growth in GDP in the last couple of years and has planned to achieve a target of over 9% growth by the end of 11th plan period. India’s urban population is also increasing at a faster rate than its total population. With over 575 million people, India will have 41% percent of its population living in cities and towns by 2030 AD from the present level of 286 million and 28%.
Economic development and urbanisation are closely linked. In India, cities contribute over 55 % to country’s GDP and urbanisation has been recognised as an important component of economic growth.
With India becoming increasingly globalized and urban, there is also an increase in the number of poor people living here. As per the latest NSSO survey reports there are over 80 million poor people living in the cities and towns of India. The Slum population is also increasing and as per TCPO estimates 2001, over 61.80 million people were living in slums.
It is interesting to note that the ratio of urban poverty in some of the larger states is higher than that of rural poverty leading to the phenomenon of ‘Urbanisation of Poverty’. Urban poverty poses the problems of housing and shelter, water, sanitation, health, education, social security and livelihoods along with special needs of vulnerable groups like women, children and aged people. Poor people live in slums which are overcrowded, often polluted and lack basic civic amenities like clean drinking water, sanitation and health facilities. Most of them are involved in informal sector activities where there is constant threat of eviction, removal, confiscation of goods and almost non-existent social security cover.
With growing poverty and slums, Indian cities have been grappling with the challenges of making the cities sustainable i.e. inclusive, productive, efficient and manageable. The sustainability of urban development in India is seen in the context of shelter and slums, Basic urban services, Financing urban development and Governance and Planning.
India has entered the Eleventh Plan period with an impressive record of economic growth. However, the incidence of decline of urban poverty has not accelerated with GDP growth. Infact, urban poverty will become a major challenge for policymakers in our country as the urban population in the country is growing, so is urban poverty. Therefore, a need has arisen to develop new poverty reduction tools and approaches to attack the multi-dimensional issues of urban poverty. For this, policymakers at the national and local levels should have a good understanding of the nature of urban poverty as well as accurate data on various issues relating to it, in order to develop programme/policies to manage urban poverty in a systematic manner.
India Urban Poverty Report using human development framework provides a good insight on various issues of urban poverty such as basic services to urban poor, migration, urban economy and livelihoods, micro finance for urban poor, education and health, unorganized sector and livelihoods.
The Report is presented in 16 chapters divided in 3 parts. A summary of the report is given below (Chapter wise):