🏙️ Rethinking Urban Development in India: For the People, Not Just the Projects
— A
Suryavanshi IAS Blog | UPSC-Focused |
🧭 Context: Visakhapatnam Raises the Alarm
At a
seminar held in Visakhapatnam (June 29, 2025), eminent scholar Prof. C.
Ramachandraiah strongly opposed “Western-modeled” urban development,
especially Metro Rail obsession, unsustainable tax regimes, and
neglect of basic civic amenities.
He
stressed that common citizens, not corporations, should be the focal
point of urban policy — a concern echoed by planners, citizens, and courts
across India.
📉 Metro Rail: A Misplaced Urban
Fantasy?
🚇 Case: Hyderabad Metro
- Projected ridership by 2024:
20 lakh/day
- Actual ridership in 2025: 5
lakh/day
- Public bus share has
declined, walkability worsened
🚇 Case: Jakarta (Indonesia)
- Initially copied metro
models from Japan
- Shifted focus to Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) — more affordable, scalable, and accessible
👉 Insight: Metro works only with strong
feeder systems, public footpaths, and people-first urban layout.
🚌 Buses vs. Metro: The
Visakhapatnam Equation
According
to urban transport norms:
🔸 60 buses per lakh population is ideal
For Visakhapatnam:
- Estimated Population: 25
lakh
- Required Buses: 1,500
- Actual Buses: 600
💧 Water: From a Right to a Metered
Commodity
The Supreme
Court (1990s) ruled:
60
litres/person/day of drinking water must be supplied free.
Yet:
- Many urban areas have water
meters without full supply
- Privatisation in cities like Nagpur has
led to:
- Higher charges
- Disconnected poor
- Legal disputes over
affordability
📜 Relevant Article:
🏠 Property Tax on Capital Value: A
Middle-Class Trap
📌 Problem:
- Capital value-based taxation
ignores:
- Actual income of homeowners
- Inflation impact
- Unfair burden on retirees
& fixed-income families
⚖️ Case: Mumbai & Ahmedabad
- Property tax hike triggered protests and
legal challenges
- Result: Many sold ancestral
homes to escape tax burdens
🚩 Larger Trends: Commodifying the
Civic Contract
"Governance
is being replaced by gated growth." – Urban researcher Harini Nagendra
|
Service |
Was |
Becoming |
|
Water |
Public good |
Commodity |
|
Roads/Footpaths |
Public right |
Commercial space |
|
Transport |
Subsidised mobility |
Premium, exclusionary |
🛑 Result: High taxation + low-quality service
= civic anger, legal battles, and inequality
🌐 Other Indian Case Studies That
Mirror Visakhapatnam
📍 Delhi – Overbuilt Flyovers,
Underbuilt Walkways
- Outer Ring Road: High speed, no zebra
crossings — pedestrian deaths rose
- Delhi BRT (failed) due to poor design, not the
concept itself
📍 Bengaluru – Smart City Projects
vs Sewage Overflow
- Crores spent on digital
kiosks while lakes overflowed and footpaths vanished
📍 Indore – A Better Model
- 450+ electric buses,
digitised garbage tracking, clean roads
- Citizen-first policies made it India’s cleanest
city (Swachh rankings)
📚 UPSC Questions You Must Know
✅ UPSC GS Mains Paper II – 2021
“Do you
agree that regionalism in India appears to be a consequence of rising
inequality rather than just cultural assertion?”
👆 Link: Regional disparity in urban planning,
resource allocation
✅ UPSC Essay – 2016
“Urbanisation
and its problems”
👆 Relevance: Metro vs buses, commodification,
displaced priorities
✅ UPSC GS Mains Paper III – 2014
“Smart
cities in India cannot sustain without smart citizens.”
👆 Apply: Public participation in planning, RWAs,
ward committees
🧠 Model Questions to Practice
- Mains GS II (Polity):“Urban governance is increasingly becoming exclusionary.” Discuss with examples.
- Mains GS III (Infrastructure):Critically examine the viability of Metro Rail as a solution for Indian traffic congestion.
- Essay Practice:“Cities should be built for walking children, not racing cars.”
✅ Way Forward: From Projects to
People
- 🚌 Public Transport First, Metro Second
- Focus on buses, autos,
walkability, not just elite transit
- 🏠 Tax Reforms for Equity
- Base property taxes
on usage and income capacity, not market rates
- 💧 Universal Civic Services
- Water, sanitation, housing
= rights, not tradables
- 📊 Participatory Urban Planning
- RWAs, NGOs, slum leaders,
disability groups must be part of urban boards
- 🔍 Review 'Smart City' Metrics
- Shift from tech obsession
to human-centered development
✍️ Conclusion: Build Cities that
Build Citizens
A city is
not just a network of roads and rails — it’s a living space of people
with dreams, rights, and daily needs.
Urban
India must reject the aesthetics of exclusion and embrace inclusion
as infrastructure.
Visakhapatnam’s
struggle isn’t isolated. It’s a wake-up call.
🧭 By Suryavanshi IAS — Where
UPSC Learning Meets Real India
“We don’t
just build toppers. We build thinkers India needs.”
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