Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

06 Oct 2022 Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

Source: The Hindu

News: In recent years most urban centers  such as  Delhi (2013, 2021), Mumbai (2005, 2017), Chennai (2015, 2021), and Hyderabad (2020) and recently Bengaluru faced extensive losses to property and life due to adverse weather phenomena that brought the city to its knees.

Impact of these events:

• Adverse social and human costs as these events disproportionately affect the poorer sections of society 
• Disruption to environmentally vulnerable areas as several informal settlements were also destroyed.

Issues with response to these adverse weather phenomena:

• These events show lack of preparation on part of urban authorities.
• Reflects knee-jerk reactions of policy makers.
• Most activity by the administrators like river/drain cleanup measures, anti-encroachment drives, and stormwater network projects appears  to appease the public and the media.
• Lack of climate consciousness in the planning process: Due to dearth of climate mitigation measures in urban planning and the uncontrolled urban sprawl.
• Absence of master plan across India for urban settlements: Approximately, 65% of urban settlements do not have a master plan and even if they exist, they usually do not address issues related to environmental protection or climate change mitigation.
• No statutory backing to the master plan developed by city administrations dealing with drainage/flood mitigation.
• Centralisation of urban environmental governance: Most of the power to prepare a master plan to address issues of environmental protection remains with the State government while city governments are reduced to ‘stakeholders’ without much authority.
• Issues of credibility: Most climate action plans developed by city administrations such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Nagpur (among others) lacksl element of public participation. 

Way forward:

• Systemic solutions to urban issues instead of a piecemeal approach.
• Creation of a comprehensive climate action plan for all key Indian cities with statutory backing.
• Institutionalise public consultations processes within the plan preparation so that it  effectively addresses the issues of underserved neighbourhoods.
• Environmental protection agency along the lines of the unified transportation authority formed by different cities  for coordinated action  to tackle issues related to climate change. 

Article: Calamity-prone — urban India’s worrying storyline(Venkat Jayagopi; Venika Menon)

Article Link: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/calamity-prone-urban-indias-worrying-storyline/article65972833.ece

Yojna IAS Daily current affairs eng med 6th Oct

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