Why We Need To Actively Involve Indian Citizens In Urban Planning

            Over the years, governance structures in most Indian cities have followed a simple and traditional top-down approach with little or no room for citizen engagement. People rely on the good intentions of the mayor or the municipal corporation, who they trust will take decisions in the overall interest of its citizens. This system has worked fairly smoothly in most Indian cities as the focus of urban local bodies has essentially been on the provision of basic services. And while expectations may have remained low, in the situation that the unofficial trust code is broken and the citizenry are disenchanted with the local administration, there's not much recourse available to remedy the situation in the short term, and the status quo prevails.

No real framework exists within local government structures to ensure participation of the citizens in developing a city's agenda or plan.

However, this status quo in Indian cities is now being challenged by two key developments. The first is that cities are now confronted with newer challenges that were either irrelevant or considered unimportant in the past. Today, cities need to have plans in place to deal with climate change and its effects, develop resilient infrastructure systems, build and secure data network processes, ensure social cohesion etc.

The second and more important development is that India is getting younger by the day. Now, 761 million aspirational Indians are between the ages of 15-64. With estimates of 462 million now having some access to the internet and another 140 million to be added to the middle-class by 2025, there is a real chance to capitalise on the quickly changing demographic situation. In light of these changes, the idea of participative governance may well begin to be seen as the norm rather than the exception.

The challenge, though, is that no real framework exists within local government structures to ensure participation of the citizens in developing a city's agenda or plan. Involving citizens is merely seen as just one of many boxes to be checked in the whole planning process. Till a decade ago, the easiest way to tick this box was to organise an essay-writing and painting competition calling for proposals and ideas. In the present day, some amount of money is invested in developing a website, an Android app or a Facebook page through which citizens can respond by providing their suggestions or uploading pictures of potholes and suchlike.

More recently, as part of the Smart Cities Competition, several cities sought to seek inputs from the citizens in order to be graded highly and make the final cut. However, as various reports have now emerged, most decisions with respect to the design and planning were already in place and these events were merely a façade to promote what had already been decided.

The current approach is far from participative. Cities hire international consultants like McKinsey, PwC, E&T etc. who then seek out technology vendors such as Cisco, Siemens, Tata, L&T, Microsoft that offer solutions like intelligent traffic management systems, smart street lighting solutions and a bouquet of IoT services. These projects are then incorporated into the overall plan. Some effort is made to show that the projects were a culmination of extensive consultation with the citizens and the community, which is far from the truth.

Some effort is made to show that projects were a culmination of extensive consultation with the citizens and the community, which is far from the truth.

When confronted about this phenomenon recently, an IAS officer was quick to point out to me that while having utopian notions of ensuring inclusivity in the planning process makes for great prose and intellectual debate, it was easier said than done in a complex and densely populated country like India. The top-down approach is so deeply embedded within our governance systems that the overall economic, political and social cost of charting a new pathway might in fact be counterproductive, particularly in the short term. Although cynical, it was a valid reservation. There's potentially more to lose if citizen engagement only delays the planning process, owing to little or no organisational capacity within urban local bodies or the lack of interest among other stakeholders, including the citizenry

In the current paradigm, it's become all about getting the ball rolling on the ground in the shortest possible time. The situation in our cities is already so bad that rapid prototyping and deployment of different technology solutions is seen as the only way out in the existing ecosystem. In this process filled with uncertainty, some projects may succeed and these may be scaled and implemented elsewhere. This method of constant trial and error is synonymous with a view held by noted American urban planner Robert Moses:

"You can draw any kind of pictures you like on a clean slate and indulge your every whim in the wilderness in laying out a New Delhi, Canberra and Brasilia, but when you operate in an overbuilt metropolis you have to hack your way with a meat axe."

The top-down approach is so embedded... that the economic, political and social cost of charting a new pathway might in fact be counterproductive, particularly in the short term...

As we reimagine what our cities and public spaces could look like in the 21st century, there is an immediate need to support cultural pluralism while incorporating a spectrum of voices and histories that promote participation and engagement. In principle, the Union Minister for Urban Development, Venkaiah Naidu ranks citizen engagement very high on his priority list. While it is still left to be seen if this translates to an institutionalised change in mindset, several micro-initiatives championed by the local community and civil society are now taking shape independently in a number of cities. The government apparatus must assume an ethical obligation to work in a collaborative fashion to gather the voices of community members. It must advocate for this diversity of voices on their behalf as well as provide the necessary impetus to pilot, scale and institutionalise successful initiatives.

If done right, technology can play its part in citizen engagement. For example, the city of Nagpur has identified a 6-kilometre "smart strip" to be equipped with a range of state-of-the-art ICT interventions such as smart transport, solid waste management, smart lighting etc. As citizens go about their lives around this 6km strip, the government will be able to gauge the degree of success of each service through constant feedback gathered from users. Big data also can potentially reveal patterns, economic trends, and associations relating to human interaction with technology.

Small data, a concept pioneered by author Martin Lindtsrom, will also be critical. In the framework of the city, small data would refer to planners and designers relying on a mix of keen observations of small samples and applied intuition by spending time with real people in their own environments and understanding how they interact with the city. Both big and small data are equally vital and one cannot possibly work without the other. In the words of Lindstrom, if we want to glean real insights, big data and small data would have to be "partners in dance."

[Republished with due permission of the Author. Originally published here]

About The Author:

Nandan Sharalaya is a German Chancellor Fellow and is sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and the Institute for Industrial Organisation at WHU, Otto Beisheim School of Management. He is also the Founder & Editor of The Decent Neta.

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Demon-itization & Terror Financing: Are we there yet?

In what is being labelled a Surgical Strike against black money, the government, without the slightest of hints, has demonetised a large portion of the Indian currency.  This swift manoeuvre was targeted at a diverse stratum of defaulters, which includes everybody from politicians to the Seth Ji next door. However, this initiative is being lauded primarily for the big gash it would leave on terrorism in India. Eminent people including the Defence Minister has showered heavy praise on this move calling it a strike on the “Core of terror funding.” In this regard, the article aims to study the various modes of terror financing and the effect of the demonetization scheme on them.
Terrorism holds a major stake in the flourishing counterfeiting racket. Reports suggest that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, has access to templates of Indian currency. This, along with the fact that India and Pakistan, both, buy the similar ink and silver lining, makes it extremely easy for state and non-state actors across the border to accurately counterfeit Indian currency.

Hordes of fake notes are discharged into the Indian economy, after manufacturing, either by infiltrating insurgents or through the hawala system, which is another important source of income for the terror organisations. This modus operandi came to light through the arrest of many terror operatives, the most famous being David Coleman Headley, the primary scout during the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. Interrogation revealed that the entire Mumbai expedition was financed through high quality fake notes.Instances like the above and scores others have led investigators to believe, that the primary source of terror financing in India is counterfeiting currency.

Therefore, what the Centre has essentially done with the demonetisation scheme is rob the terrorists of their primary source of funding.  In its essence, the initiative renders the huge caches of fake Indian currency with terror outfits, worthless. It leaves insurgents with little to  no money to carry out missions or even survive in India.

Secondly, the initiative also tightens the noose around arms dealers and the drug trafficking mafia. India’s gun markets have been the go-to places for terrorist sleeper cells or recruits from within the country to procure weapons. Infamous markets like the Munger gun market in Uttar Pradesh run entirely on black money. From the manufacturers to transporters and the customers, which range from small time criminals to terrorists, everybody with a stake in these underground markets operate on black money. Therefore, demonetisation would lead to the immediate collapse of such markets and create a huge supply gap in the illegal arms trade. It can be concluded that, along with losing sources of income, terrorist now have been left with absolutely no place to stock inventory and buy weapons and explosives to carry out their objectives.

Further, like the arms industry, narcotics dealing also runs on stock piles of black money. Capitalising on this, terrorist organisations profit considerably from transporting opium from Afghanistan and smuggling it into Indian territories, majorly, Rajasthan and Punjab. Like anything that runs on non-taxable money, the drug industry would also collapse days after the implementation of the move. With this, the government can celebrate the delivery of yet another blow to terror financing in the country.

So far, I have commented on the various effects of the demonetisation of notes, with respect to the terror financing in the country. However, I would like to add that despite of various adverse effects the initiative might deal with, it is sadly not a strategy that deals a 360-degree blow. To prove my point further, I have listed a few points that have been overlooked by the  policy makers.

Firstly, a major drawback with the design of the new currency is that there are no significant differences from the older notes. The changed graphics, colour and denominations may seem enough to prevent duplicating, but sadly are not. The new notes use ink and lining from the same vendor as before, and, the fact that the security features remain same is concerning. It is only a matter of time that the counterfeiting industry figures out a way to bypass the meagre changes induced by the government. Therefore, it would be justified to say that the policy makers did not opt for a very far sighted approach but stuck to a one that would avail short term results.

To affirm long lasting results, India must make a strong effort directed at the international community to stop the vending of ink and other raw materials, to unofficial buyers. It must also make diplomatic parleys with the government of Pakistan to ensure material doesn’t end up with terror organisations and pressure it to beef up security. Additionally, the international community through the U.N. must be persuaded to pass resolutions that ban and lay down strong deterrent measures to curb counterfeiting of currency. To achieve the deterrent effect internally, a suggested way would be to bring counterfeiting under the anti-terrorism laws of the country and pronounce strict punishments.

Further, though gun markets in India will face the brunt, markets outside the country will be unaffected. It must be noted that a major part of terrorism is carried out by insurgents infiltrating the border. These operatives, seldom carry weapons that originate in India and function solely on weapons manufactured beyond Indian borders and paid for in foreign currency. Hence, the shutting down of indigenous gun markets will prove to be a precision shot for your local don but a mere flesh wound for terrorist organisations. The only way supply to terrorists can be stopped is to physically crack down and put an end to internal gun markets as well as tighten security at the borders to prevent supply from abroad.

To conclude, I would like to reiterate a view opted by many experts, stating that terrorism is like not a single headed demon but multi headed monster. It is a self-sustaining movement that has umpteen ways to finance itself, some of which are listed above. The demonetisation of Rupees 500 and 1000 notes will indeed hinder terror operations in the country, but in my view, only for a short time. Though the Prime Minister’s effort can be lauded, it must be understood that this initiative must be complemented by several more, such as strengthening legislation, surgical strikes and others. It’s high time that terrorism is cornered and initiatives drawn to strike all its heads at once. Hence, the monster shall be slain.

About the Author:

Nazeer if a fifth year law student from the Faculty of Law IFHE. He is an avid reader of war history politics and law. He has high interest for foreign policy and the legality of armed conflict. He is also a staunch pacifist.

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