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6 - Understanding Local Politics, Democracy and Civil Society: Environmental Governance in Urban India

from Politics at Urban & Town Level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

By
Bharat Dahiya
Edited by
Crispin Bates  and
Subho Basu
Bharat Dahiya
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Speaking on ‘The Future of Indian Cities: National Issues and Goals’ at a 1960 conference organised by the University of California at Berkeley, Asoka Mehta, then a Member of Parliament, noted:

Whether we think of patchwork improvement, of reorganisation of the cities that would involve displacement of some people and their moving to other areas, or of planning for future growth, it is patent that without widespread understanding of these objectives and the enlistment of popular interests – and, where possible, active cooperation – the major tasks will remain undone, or will be done badly. The governments and civic authorities have to discover methods of contacting, informing, and interesting citizens in the plans of change and development. A network of local organisations, neighborhood groups, and citizens' forums will have to complement a carefully thought-out program of public relations.

Since then, India has witnessed wide-scale urbanisation. The urban population has grown from 61.6 million in 1951 to 285.3 million in 2001. The proportion of the urban population to total population has risen from 17.6 per cent to 27.8 per cent during the same period, and the number of urban centres has increased from 2,795 to 5,161. The populations of large cities like Kolkata and Mumbai top 10 million. Indeed, the size of the urban population of India is more than the total population of the United States. According to United Nations' estimates, India will have an urbanisation level of 40.9 per cent in the year 2030.

Type
Chapter
Information
Rethinking Indian Political Institutions , pp. 107 - 124
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2005

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