Thursday 16 June 2011

Govenrment of India Initiative - Basic Services to the Urban Poor

As per 2001 census, 61.8 million people live in Indian slums. The ever increasing number of slum dwellers causes tremendous pressure on urban basic services and infrastructure.To cope up with the rapid urban growth, the Government of India initiated a mission called Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) under the Jawahar Lal Nehru NAtional Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).


The main aim of the mission is to attain a reform driven outlook that can achieve fast track, planned development of some identified cities with a focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure/ services delivery mechanism, community participation and accountability of Urban Local Bodies towards citizens. It is planned with a framework for a period of 20-25 years with 5 yearly updates. A city development plan is required before the city can access mission funds.


It focuses on integrated development of basic services (security of tenure at affordable prices, improved housing, water supply, sanitation, and delivery through convergence  of other already existing universal services of the government for education, health and social security). Providing housing near place of occupation is also aimed at.


The financing pattern has been formulated as under:


Category of cities                                                           Grant                              State/ ULB/ 
                                                                             Central Government         Parastatal share, 
including 
Beneficiary Contribution
Cities with 4 million + (2001 census)                            50%                                        50%
Cities with 1-4 million (2001 census)                            50%                                        50%
Cities/towns in North East states & J&K                       90%                                        10%
Other cities                                                                 80%                                        20%


It has been decided that housing should not be provided free to the beneficiaries by the state government. A minimum of 12% contribution has to come up from them, which in case of SC/ST/ BC/OBC/PH and other weaker sections is 10%.


The cities selected under the mission are as follows:


Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Patna, Faridabad, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Lucknow, Madurai, Nashik, Pune, Cochin, Varanasi, Agra, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Vadodara, Surat, Kanpur, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Meerut, Jabalpur, Jamshedpur, Asansol, Allahabad, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Dhanbad, Indore, Guwahati, Itanagar, Jammu, Raipur, Panaji Shimla, Ranchi, Thiruvanantpuram, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawal, Kohima, Bhubaneshwar, Gangok, Agartala, Dehradun, Bodh Gaya, Ujjain, Puri, Ajmer-Pushkar, Nainital, Mysore, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Haridwar, Mathura, Nanded.


To know more about the mission : http://smcsite.org/bsup%5B1%5D.pdf