{"id":921,"date":"2018-07-07T14:29:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T14:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/?p=921"},"modified":"2018-07-08T05:14:50","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T05:14:50","slug":"%e0%aa%85%e0%aa%b8%e0%aa%b2%e0%ab%80-%e0%aa%95%e0%ab%8b%e0%aa%a3-vhp-%e0%aa%95%e0%ab%87-ahp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/%e0%aa%85%e0%aa%b8%e0%aa%b2%e0%ab%80-%e0%aa%95%e0%ab%8b%e0%aa%a3-vhp-%e0%aa%95%e0%ab%87-ahp\/","title":{"rendered":"India’s “smart” city proposals consider migrant, unskilled population a security threat to urban citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Rajiv Shah<\/h3>\n

A new\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0of by well-known Delhi-based civil rights body, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), has said that only 8% of India\u2019s total population or 22 per cent of its urban population is likely to benefit from the Government of India\u2019s Smart Cities Mission (SMC) project, which has been initiated in 99 cities from whom proposals have been received.
\nPointing towards a clear bias against the marginalized communities, the report states, \u201cOf the total proposed investment of Rs 2.04 lakh crore (2,039 billion) in \u2018smart cities,\u2019 80% will be spent on Area-based Development (ABD), i.e. only on specific areas in each city, with only 20% of funds being devoted to \u2018pan-city development\u2019.\u201d In fact, it says, \u201cThe city area covered by ABD is less than 5% for 49 of the 86 cities for which information is available\u201d, even though it would lead to forced displacement in the name of development.
\nFurther noting that most of the capital outlay would be coming the private sector \u201cthrough a variety of Public Private Partnership (PPP) models with large companies, including several big multinational players\u201d, the report states, despite this, the progress of the implementation of the project, begun in 2015 and likely to end in 2022, is extremely slow.
\n\u201cAs of May 2018, PPP projects worth Rs 734 crore had been completed in 13 cities while projects worth Rs 7,753 crore were under the implementation\/tendering stage in 52 cities\u201d, it states, adding, its analysis suggests that \u201cas of March 2018, projects worth Rs 4,583 crore (3%) of the total cost of identified projects (Rs 139,038 crore), or 8% of the total identified projects (3,008) under the Mission had been completed.\u201d
\nPointing towards discrimination towards vulnerable groups, the report, titled \u201cIndia\u2019s Smart Cities Mission: Smart for Whom? Cities for Whom?\u201d, states, \u201cWhile women are mentioned in almost all Smart City Proposals, most references are limited to check marks on women\u2019s safety and, in some proposals, to the provision of women\u2019s shelters and working women\u2019s hostels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report says, \u201cThe installation of CCTV cameras is also listed as a measure to promote women\u2019s safety in cities. Gandhinagar\u2019s proposal mentions \u2018women\u2019 only once, in the context of security, while Gangtok has no mention of \u2018women\u2019 in its entire Smart City Proposal.\u201d
\nIt adds, \u201cOther cities like Raipur, Karimnagar, Bengaluru, Bilaspur, and Allahabad have mentioned \u2018gender equality\u2019 as a key priority in their proposals, but projects are restricted to the provision of women\u2019s hostels, toilets, and skill development.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The report states, \u201cThe provisions for children in the Smart City Proposals are mostly about their safety, including through improved surveillance. A few cities such as Bareilly, Bhagalpur, Chandigarh, Imphal, and Raipur have proposed the creation of outdoor spaces for children, including parks. But there is an absence of a focus on street children and children of low-income groups.\u201d
\nComing to the scheduled castes (SCs), the report says, \u201cWith the exception of Bhagalpur, Gwalior, and Ranchi, there is no mention of SCs in any of the proposals, thereby ignoring not just their rights but also the pervasive discrimination that they face, at multiple levels, in urban areas.\u201d It regrets, \u201cadequate\u201d waste management and sanitation mechanisms have not been discussed in the context of \u201cmanual scavenging\u201d in most proposals.
\nThe report says, \u201cSome of the proposals — Kavaratti, Kohima, Bhagalpur, Gwalior, Ranchi, and Rourkela — mention Scheduled Tribes, while describing the city demographic, while others such as Dahod, Jabalpur, and Silvassa mention \u2018tribals\u2019 and list some projects to be undertaken for them.\u201d
\nIt adds, \u201cThe Smart City Proposals of Dahod, Jabalpur, Kohima, Rourkela, and Silvassa mainly focus on providing livelihoods through tourism, promoting tribal identity and culture, building tribal museums and exhibitions, and showcasing tribal art and handicrafts.\u201d
\nThe report underlines, \u201cWhile migrant labour is discussed in several proposals, the approach envisaged by cities is not uniform. Jhansi, in its proposal, identifies the construction of shelters and community kitchens for migrant workers. Its proposal also recommends that any \u2018encroachment\u2019 by the migrant population engaged in street vending may be removed by developing vending zones and gaining their \u2018prior willingness\u2019 to shift to these zones, through incentives.\u201d
\nWorse, the report states, \u201cThe Smart City Proposal of Vadodara refers to migrant workers as a \u2018threat\u2019 to the security of the city: \u2018The emergence of the city as transport and tourism hub can also attract large number of migrant population which would include unskilled workers from outside the state. This<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Rajiv Shah A new\u00a0study\u00a0of by well-known Delhi-based civil rights body, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), has said that only 8% of India\u2019s total population or 22 per cent of its urban population is likely to benefit from the Government of India\u2019s Smart Cities Mission (SMC) project, which has been initiated in 99 cities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUKPQ-eR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions\/951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}