Plans on paper

Today, our village-towns grappling[grap-ling(fight,लड़ना)] with the consequences[kón-si-kwun(t)s(result,परिणाम)] of rapid urbanisation. The census of 2011 tells us that there are 7,935 such towns in the country, and more than 6,000 of them are part of urban agglomerations[u,gló-mu'rey-shun(collection,समूह)].

It is in light of this that we must look at the ambitious Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM), which has recently got the Cabinet’s nod and is expected to be launched soon.

Beginning with drainage and water pipelines, SPMRM envisages[en'vi-zi(imagine,विचार)] building social infrastructure such as hospitals, quality schools and colleges in these clusters. In a way, it aims to bring urban facilities to the rural landscape.

The SPMRM looks at integrating and delivering small-scale manufacturing, digital literacy, sanitation, transportation, health and literacy services at the village-town levels. It effectively calls for close cooperation between State governments and, subsequently, Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs).

PRIs, though made official government bodies through the 73rd Amendment in 1992, are struggling to find economic and functional independence in the current framework.The SPMRM can become the harbinger[haa-bin-ju(announcer,अग्रदूत)] of decentralised development.

If the selection of rural clusters is done in an unbiased[,ún'bI-ust(impartial,निष्पक्ष)] manner, the Rurban Mission could iron out[I(-u)rn awt(settle,समाधान)] the regional imbalances.

The SPMRM is like the UPA government’s Providing Urban Amenities[u'mee-ni-teez(comforts,सुविधा)] to Rural Areas (PURA) scheme. It can tackle several challenges of unplanned urbanisation — especially the demand for water, low income housing, sewage treatment, transportation and job creation.

On the ground, however, PURA proved to be a disaster; it became yet another rural development programme that brought more tied funds to the villages, over and above the existing schemes. A Planning Commission report suggests that investment required for planned urbanisation in India over the next 20 years is close to $1 trillion. The Centre and States must show political will to converge all on-going schemes under one mission.

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