Citizen Direct at India Together: Urban voices not being heard

11 March 2005

From the perspective of spending on urban development, there are two sources for funds. The first is part of the Central Plan, in the budgets of the two ministries, Urban Development (MoUD) and Employment and Poverty Alleviation (UEPA).

Urban plan expenditure from the Budget-2005

1. Delhi Metro : Rs 507 crores
2. Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns: Rs100 crores
3. Mega City Scheme: Rs150 crores
4. Other Urban Development Schemes : Rs 732 crores (includes viability gap funding for the now-famous Special Purpose Vehicle being proposed for infrastructure projects)
5. Poverty alleviation schemes for two schemes: Rs 400 crores

These Central Plan figures total about Rs 1,900 crores.

The second source of urban funds is the National Urban Renewal Mission, also an announcement that has received much media attention. Funding for this Mission shows up as part of Central Assistance for state plans, and is composed of:

1. Urban Renewal sub-mission for slum development: Rs 1989.62 crores
2. Urban Renewal sub-mission for urban infrastructure: Rs 3477.55 crores

While the total plan for this mission is Rs 5,467 crores, central grants would only be Rs 1650 crores, with the remaining to be raised as debt by the states themselves.

Therefore, total plan funding for urban areas is Rs 3,500 crores.

When measured against a total Plan budget of Rs 145,000 crores, this works out to just over 2%. At an urban population of over 30 crores, the overall per capita urban plan expenditure works out to around Rs 100. For the urban poor as well, this figure is approximately the same, given that Rs 1,000 crores are being spent on about 10 crore poor.

Rural plan expenditure

Compare this to plan expenditure on the rural poor. A few highlights:

National Food for Work programme: Rs 5400 crores Rural employment Programmes: Rs 4462 crores Other Rural Development programmes: Rs 1992 crores Rural housing programme (IAY): Rs 2500 crores Rural drinking water and sanitation program: Rs 4275 crores Agriculture and allied: Rs 6425 crores Education programme (SSA): Rs 7150 crores Mid-day-meal programme: Rs 3000 crores Rural health mission: Rs 6600 crores Women and child development: Rs 3142 crores

The total expenditure on these programmes alone comes to Rs 45,000 crores. There are others, not including non-plan expenditures that also have a rural bias, like the Rs 26,000 crore food subsidy.

The total rural population in India is 75 crores, hence this works out to a spend of Rs 600/capita, six times the amount being spent for the urban citizen. To estimate the expenditure specifically on the rural poor, let us remove programmes like the roads programme, and assume a conservative estimate of 50% of the total rural population as poor. The figure still works out to Rs1000/capita, ten times the figure for the urban poor.

The statistics tell a stark story.

• Ramesh Ramanathan, Campaign Coordinator, Janaagraha, Bangalore, www.janaagraha.org, from a recent Financial Express column.

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