Urban Governance in Karnataka and Bengaluru: Global Changes and Local Impacts

Full text

Urban Governance
in Karnataka
and Bengaluru

Urban Governance
in Karnataka
and Bengaluru:
Global Changes
and Local Impacts
Edited by
Anil Kumar Vaddiraju,
Satyanarayana Sangita,
Kala Seetharam Sridhar

Urban Governance in Karnataka and Bengaluru:
Global Changes and Local Impacts
Edited by Anil Kumar Vaddiraju, Satyanarayana Sangita,
Kala Seetharam Sridhar
This book first published 2016
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2016 by Anil Kumar Vaddiraju, Satyanarayana Sangita,
Kala Seetharam Sridhar and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-0125-9
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0125-6

Dedicated to the memory of Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao,
Founder Director,
Institute for Social and Economic Change

CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................................ ix
Introduction ................................................................................................. 1
Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India:
Status and Concerns .................................................................................. 16
C.M. Lakshmana
Part I
Urban Governance and Planning: A Study of Selected Urban Local
Governments in Karnataka ........................................................................ 46
M. Devendra Babu
Urban Governance, Air Pollution and Health Implications ....................... 63
D.R. Ravi
Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues .................... 68
Natasha Kalra
Globalization and Inclusive Growth: A Study of Electronic Waste
in Bangalore .............................................................................................. 83
S. Manasi
Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City: Vanishing Lakes
and Over-Exploited Ground Water in Bangalore .................................... 107
P. Thippaiah
Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints in the Delivery of Water
Supply and Sanitation for Urban Poor in Bangalore Metropolis ............. 132
K.C. Smitha

Contents
viii
Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions: A Study of Urban and Rural
Households in Selected Districts of Karnataka ........................................ 151
D. Rajasekhar, G. Sridhar, Ms. R. Manjula, R.R. Biradar
and N.L. Narsimha Reddy
Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged:
The Health of Unorganized Workers in Bangalore ................................. 169
K. Asha
Part II
Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring: The Case
of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) .................................. 190
N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse ............................... 208
Kala S. Sridhar
Contributors ............................................................................................. 225

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The majority of papers in this book were presented at the conference
on Urban Governance(Administration) Development and Service Delivery
at Institute for Social and Economic Change, September 2012, jointly
conducted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Bangalore
Chapter and Institute for Social and Economic Change. We thank the
Bangalore Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), Karnataka for
their generous grant toward the conference. We thank all the contributors
to the seminar. Professor Satyanarayana Sangita (one of the editors of this
volume) ably organized the seminar and helped conduct the sessions.
Some time has lapsed since the conduct of the workshop and some of the
authors of the papers have already published their papers elsewhere, so we
could not include all the papers presented. However, that loss is more than
compensated for by the new chapters on the latest issues that we
commissioned especially for this book. Rajasekhar et al.’s, Sivanna and
Suresh’s, and Natasha Kalra’s papers are newly written for this book, as is
the chapter by Kala Seetharam Sridhar. We thank them all for taking the
time and effort to write the papers, and revise the papers too in light of the
comments provided by the editors. Once again we are grateful to them. We
are grateful to the IIPA, ISEC and all the contributors to the workshop and
the book. We thank the ISEC administration for facilitating the conference.
Finally, we are grateful to the editorial committee at Cambridge Scholars
Publishing for reviewing the manuscript and accepting the same for
publication. Special thanks to Victoria Carruthers, Carol Koulikourdi and
Amanda Millar for their help and cooperation. We are also grateful to
M.A. Stanly and Ms. Marlene de Wilde for their diligent copy editing and
proofreading. Without their help, it would not have been possible to bring
all the articles to their current state. We are very grateful to them both.
We hope this book meaningfully contributes to the governance of and
policy toward cities in Karnataka; especially Bengaluru.

INTRODUCTION
ANIL KUMAR VADDIRAJU
AND KALA SEETHARAM SRIDHAR
The (study of urban politics and governance) is about the study of
government, institutions and public engagement in dialog and partnership
with, or against, government. It is about the dynamic relationships between
people, conflictual or otherwise. The volume shows that the field of urban
politics cannot do other than address questions of livelihood and
reproduction, space and migration and the web of relationships between
state, market and citizen. Thus inevitably, it transgresses other disciplines.
Centrally of course, urban politics is and always has been about power: its
genesis, its acquisition and its forms and uses.
—Jonathan S. Davies and David L. Imbroscio1
I
It would be far from true to say that urbanization began in India with
colonialism. Historically speaking, the civilization of India was urban to
begin with. Harappa and Mohenjodaro were cities. As historical research
progressed, we learned that the adage “India lives in its villages” is
actually a product of the more recent past.2 Another interesting fact is that
1 Cited from Urban Politics in the Twenty-First Century (Davies and Imbroscio,
2009:4–5).
2 This view of India where the villages formed the solid bedrock of the civilization
while it is the states based on cities that have developed, attained power, glory and
wealth, seen revolutions and upheavals, and both villages and states have remained
separate from each other is a view accorded to us by Henry Maine, whom even
Marx follows. However, the adage that we mentioned is usually attributed to
Mahatma Gandhi and while we cannot expect M.K. Gandhi to have been oblivious
to the significance of the cities and power relations, what perhaps led Mahatma to
say this indicates the decline of the rural and countryside during the long colonial
period. Mahatma Gandhi’s passion for the countryside is also the reason why the
country’s flagship rural employment guarantee program was named after him.

Introduction
2
though the cities in India have existed for 4000-odd years, the changes that
different historical times have made on the space are immense. It is also
important to understand, in order to understand urban India, that the
current Indian city is a product of many layers of past. As such it reflects
the complexity of India in a nutshell. Cities in India today originated from
ancient, medieval and colonial areas as well as from local princely states.
Therefore their built environment, architecture, social traditions, social
diversity and plurality are reflected quite prominently in their current state.
Not only that, in terms of time too, cities are in different time-space
matrices. This is more generally true with Indian society as such. To state
this in clearer terms, today “global cities” exist along with cities that are
more integrated into the local society and economy, and even within a city
it is entirely possible that different parts of the city operate in distinct
historical times.3 The colonial contribution to this complexity is by no
means small because colonial power and cities went together. This
tradition of cities being the center of power continues today. One major
fact is that the colonial propping up of the city happened at the expense of
countryside, as did the flight of capital. Therefore the fact that we are
67.8% rural and only 31.2% urban does not diminish the qualitative
significance of the urban.4 However, the necessary point that emerges
from this long past of urban civilization and the current predominance of
the rural is that urbanization both grows and declines5—and that cities
grow and decay, even disappear, as do civilizations themselves.
3 “…the city of the Third World is a city of fragments, where urbanization takes
place in leaps and bounds, creating a continuously discontinuous pattern. In the
fragmented city, physical environment, services, income, cultural values and
institutional systems can vary markedly from neighbourhood to neighbourhood,
often from street to street” (cited in Stern, 2009: 156–57).
4 Cohen (2004) argues that if India’s definition of urbanization were made more
liberal, a majority of India, rather than the 31% that we observe, would be urban
today.
5 For example, Rakesh Mohan (Patel and Deb, 2006: 61–62) has this to say about
India, even taking a miniscule 90-year period (we call this period so because in the
longue duree of a civilization, 90 years is just a passing phase: “…the data over 90
years do not reveal an obvious pattern of urban growth over decades. Observing
the annual rate of urban population growth …, there had been a steady acceleration
of growth from 1911 to 1951, a slow down during 1951 to 1961, acceleration again
from 1971 to 1981, and again a deceleration to 1991.” And a somewhat increasing
pace from 1991 to 2011 has been witnessed in urbanization. However, 90 years is a
small slice of time over the longue duree in which cities and urbanisation develop
and flourish.

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
3
Coming to the colonial impact per se, South Asia in totality did not
witness the same amount of urbanization as, for example, Latin America
did. Africa may have witnessed even lower levels of urbanization.
Consequently, in the southern hemisphere, Latin America continues to be
the most urbanized part of the developing world; and so there are more
urban social and political movements in that region. India, the largest
country of South Asia, also witnessed less urbanization than its level of
industrialization would have predicted. Indeed, Mumbai, Chennai and
Kolkata were the three outposts of colonial urbanization. Non-colonial
cities existed in India, and exist today, as part and parcel of the local
princely history of India. These cities and towns exhibit different built
environments, architecture, social diversity and plurality, and a cultural
and religious diversity that is remarkable and unique to India. The point
we intend to make here is that the colonial impact was differential. Not all
areas of the country, certainly not all cities, witnessed the colonial impact
evenly.
In post-colonial times too, the Indian state paid differential attention to
urbanization at different times. There was no major impetus given to
transform the cities other than by moving industrialization away from the
bigger cities to encourage the growth of small and medium towns (see
Annez and Buckley (2009)). Also, as the overall economic growth was
steady but slow, the cities have not seen rapid growth. Urbanization did
not arrive on the scene till the late 1980s. The economic reforms since the
1990s have changed the scenario to some extent. The urbanization process,
increases in the populations of already existing cities and the development
of new urban localities have altered the situation in the states where
economic growth has been rapid. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Kerala and undivided Andhra Pradesh have made great strides
toward urbanization.6 However, this urbanization has largely favored,
6 Patel and Deb (2006), for example, note the recent growth of urbanization in
India thus:
“Most theorists now agree that unlike regions in Europe, North America, Japan
and Australia, those in the underdeveloped regions have seen rapid urbanization;
for example, the 2001 census informs that 43.9% of Tamil Nadu’s, 42.4% of
Maharashtra’s, and 37.4% of Gujarat’s population is urban. The same census
suggests that Maharashtra leads, with 41 million of its population urban, which is
14% of the total population of the country… Additionally, of the 39 cities in the
world which have registered a population over five million, 30 are from
underdeveloped countries. The Indian cities in the list are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata,
Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.’ (Patel and Deb, 2006: 2–3.) As per Census

Introduction
4
again, the large cites in which the earlier public and private sector
industrialization took place. In place of the public sector, the liberalization
reforms brought export-oriented private industries and new wealth. This
new wealth, however, is unevenly distributed, leading to new poverty and
therefore a severe escalation of urban inequalities, besides raising an entire
range of issues for governance, sustainability, citizenship and wellbeing.
The paragraph below gives a glimpse into this state of affairs:
Much of the global assembly line and finance capital markets facilitating
exports and foreign investment are located invariably in the primate
metropolises of those countries. Globalization has increased the share of
these cities in export processing and has led to a proliferation of informal
economic activities which support and subsidize export production. This
has resulted in significant expansion of the manufacturing proletariat and
segregated workforce with men working in basic and women in consumer
industries. There is also an excessive and visible growth of tertiary sector.
(Kidwai, 2009, 116–17)
This is the current case with urbanization in India in general and Karnataka
too. The above paragraph particularly summarizes the urban economies of
major cities such as Bengaluru in Karnataka. The problem, however, with
such a description of the urban political economy approach is that it does
not provide us with any clues as to how to solve the immediate urban
governance problems at hand. Therefore, this book does not adopt any
particular theoretical approach. We do not, for instance, see the
contributors as either approaching reality or explaining the empirical
findings from any one theoretical perspective. The studies are primarily
empirical. That being the case, the time-honored theories in political
economy7 such as dependency, the world system and the internationalization
of capital, or even the globalization theory are not sufficiently approached
or addressed in this volume. This is a major lacuna as well. In a sense,
2011, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat were, respectively, 48%, 45% and
43% urban.
The process of urbanization is supposed to have gained even greater momentum
since the 2001 census, and the recent 2011 census, for example, puts Karnataka’s
urbanization at 37%. That of metropolitan agglomerations has been increasing
particularly by leaps and bounds.
7 Mike Geddes, for example, provides a good summary of critical approaches to
urban politics (2009, 55–73). Not only this, the theoretical developments in urban
politics in the South need to urgently address the empirics, and empirically
oriented social science needs to catch up with theoretical developments.

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
5
given the strong empirical grounding of the contributions, an equally
theoretical orientation on either side of the spectrum would have
contributed positively to both enriching empirics and theories.
The major advantage of the empirically driven articles is that they can
address policy issues better. For example, the dependency theory or world
system theory, or even the internationalization of capital theory, do not
address the urban policy in a major way, though they attempt to explain
the reality from a certain standpoint. Considering all the chapters in this
volume, only Sivanna and Suresh’s contribution addresses the question of
a theoretical approach in that it follows the explanatory/ normative
paradigm of New Public Management. We do not speak of post-modernist
theories here. The studies presented here are light miles away from that,
however advantageous the post-modern approaches are.
Besides this, we also make no attempt at analyzing urban sociology in
this volume. Time-honored questions of language, caste, community,
religion, ethnicity and culture and related political issues are hardly
addressed in this book. As one can observe, cities are often also divided on
the lines of caste, with slums often constituting the spaces where most of
the socially marginalized sections live. These do not have secure housing
and hardly any civic amenities. In this case, however, it is paradoxical that
cities at the same time provide anonymity and access to modernity, which
is supposed to dilute the hierarchy of caste, though this proposition still
needs to be soundly established empirically. Inter-commensal intermarriage
among castes is still very low even in the modernity of cities. Cities are
repositories of a high quality of both traditional and contemporary culture.
We have to admit that there is no paper in this volume that addresses the
caste inequality in the cities, which we admit is important. All that can be
said is that much work needs to be done in this direction too.
Before we conclude this introductory section, we have to address the
interdisciplinary nature of this book. Governance as such is an
interdisciplinary approach; for example, many new, and some old,
governance theories model themselves on neo-classical economics. In the
following paragraphs, we look briefly at the absence of concern toward
increasing problems of urban reality in some disciplinary approaches to
the social and political reality in India.
Of all the areas of urban studies, urban governance and urban politics
have received the least attention in the Indian context. The areas of studies
in urban governance where there is a critical shortage belong to the
implementation of 74th amendment to the Constitution, urban citizenship
and urban service delivery. In the first, there are few sub-state capital level
studies, and whatever writings do exist, they belong to the tradition of

Introduction
6
focusing on the metropolitan regions. Urban service delivery and urban
citizenship too are highly neglected areas in urban studies: Sridhar and
Reddy (2010) is one of the few studies focusing on the state of urban
services in India’s cities, taking the cases of Bengaluru, Jaipur,
Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Though in the last few years there were
spectacular urban movements in the national capital Delhi, such as the
civil society movement for greater accountability in governance and
against atrocities on women, these have not translated into the disciplinary
writing of political science in India. The discipline of urban politics is
virtually non-existent in India, with honorable exceptions.8
In contrast, however, the public administration has addressed some of
the issues pertaining to urban conditions. The leading institute of the
discipline in India, the IIPA (Delhi), publishes a journal devoted to urban
issues titled Nagarlok. Of late, decentralization scholars have begun to
work on urban governance issues and civil society organizations have been
mobilizing and spreading knowledge on urban sustainability, urban service
delivery and governance issues in a big way.
II
This book deals with urban governance and policy in Karnataka.
Overall, urban governance and decentralization issues are addressed for
Bangalore; while we have three chapters devoted to urban governance in
Karnataka as a whole, the majority of the articles deal with Bangalore.
There are two points to draw attention to here. First, the overall
urbanization in the state of Karnataka, at 37%, is above the national
average of 31.2%. Second, the primacy of Bangalore for Karnataka is
enormous in terms of polity, economy and governance, and society (see
Paul et al. (2012) to understand Bengaluru’s contribution to the state’s
investment, economy and public service delivery). Bangalore stands atop
Karnataka quantitatively. In terms of sheer size, Bangalore consists of
more than eight million people, and it is also eight times bigger than the
nearest city in terms of size, Mysore. Therefore the prominence of
Bangalore city for urban Karnataka cannot be exaggerated. Karnataka in
general and Bangalore in particular are global centers for software
production and export, and are together called the silicon valley of the
8 This is in consonance with Richard Stern’s argument in “Globalization and Urban
Issues in the Non-Western World” (Jonathan and Imbroscio, 2009: 153–69).

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
7
global South.9 Therefore it is very much in the fitness of the things to
focus attention on Karnataka in general and Bangalore in particular.
The second point to be noted is that given the importance of the urban
phenomenon for Karnataka’s economy, polity and society, the state, in
2009, formed an Urban Development Policy. While the majority of Indian
states do not have a clearly spelled-out Urban Development Policy10 at the
state level, it is possible that urbanized states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Maharashtra and Gujarat have similar policy thinking. Often urban
development in the country is haphazard, ad hoc and unplanned. While
one may assume that to have clear policy thinking is indeed itself an
achievement for the urban question in India, it is hardly an advantage that
the state’s Urban Development Policy has not been finalized seven years
after it was conceptualized. Clear thinking on urban issues helps guide the
urbanization process. The 2009 document clearly underscores the urban
development issues in the state. The questions of spatial distribution of
urbanization, infrastructure shortfall, resources for further development
and urban governance are all acknowledged and to some extent addressed.
There is clear recognition that urbanization is over-concentrated in
Bangalore and that a spatial distribution of the same is necessary for better
regional development and a lessening of regional disparities. The question
of the lack of sufficient resources at the level of different cities is also
mentioned; and the importance of the 74th Amendment and the formation
of Metropolitan Planning Committees for larger cities, and district
planning through District Planning Committees too are recognized. The
need for local democratic governance is also mentioned.
However, we do not know how many of the goals of this policy
document are realized in practice. There are two broad points here: One,
the nature of urbanization in Karnataka’s districts is rapid. Most of this is
led by the private sector, real estate, for example, which needs an
enormous amount of regulation and governance.11 The existing structures
of governance fall severely short of the needs for the same. At the district
and sub-district levels, governance is still done through a small section in
9 The nature, scope and economic impact of ICT sector in India in the context of
globalization are brought out extensively by Devesh Kapur (in Nayar, 2007: 387–
409).
10 Urban Development Department. 2009. Urban Development Policy for
Karnataka (Draft), Bangalore: Government of Karnataka.
11 At the time of writing, in March 2016, the government of India had passed the
Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill for protecting the interests of
consumers and home buyers.

Introduction
8
the District Magistrate or Commissioner’s office.12 The District Planning
Committees are not yet fully active, which they should be by law. And in
the bustling metropolises such as Bangalore, there are far too many
parallel urban governance organizations—the local body, the BBMP, the
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the Bangalore
Development Authority (BDA), the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional
Development Authority (BMRDA), to name a few— competing for
political space. Thus, the vested interests in the urban growth of the state
are far too many. And since Bangalore keeps on growing to be a powerful
economic center, where political power too is centralized, we arrive at a
state of affairs where political and urban interests cohabit. This renders the
governance question in Bangalore enormously complex and fraught with
difficulties. This book addresses only a few of the issues involved in such
a complex urban phenomenon. We indeed might just be exploring the tip
of the iceberg.
The first chapter by C.M. Lakshmana sets the tone for the urbanization
pattern in the country as a whole. Lakshmana’s chapter takes a historical
approach, examining migration and concerns arising from urbanization for
the environment, which sets the tone for the rest of the volume and
remaining chapters. This paper makes an attempt to connect the issues of
urbanization, migration and sustainable development in India. Lakshmana
specifically focuses on urbanization and migration leading to sustainability
problems for urban growth. Lakshmana contends that there is increasing
urban-to-urban migration as well as rural-to-urban migration. He argues
that the large cities in the country such as Bengaluru have been the prime
beneficiaries of these trends since the liberalization and globalization of
economy. According to him, the country’s urbanization since the 1991
reforms has resulted in the over-concentration of population in large cities
and has led to the overexploitation of the urban natural resource base,
leading to questions of urban sustainability. Further, he holds that this kind
of unplanned, uncontrolled urbanization is lopsided toward large urban
agglomerations and metropolises, which leads to serious challenges for
urban governance.
Once the broader context is set, part one of the volume focuses on
basic services such as water supply, lakes, air pollution, and solid waste
12 Anil Kumar notes this with Karnataka, regarding the district level urban
governance in India (Sharma and Sandhu, 2013: 318–30). A similar case can be
made with other states, with the only caveat that in actively urbanizing states such
as, for example, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the need to develop clear policy
thinking is yet to dawn on policy makers.

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
9
and e-waste management. This part also focuses on social services—the
delivery of pensions and the health of informal sector workers, taking the
case of a particular industry as an example. Part two of the volume
focuses on the governance of Bengaluru, given the attention that service
delivery needs in the metropolitan area.
The following chapter by Devendra Babu deals with urban governance
issues at the district and sub-district levels in Karnataka. As Annapurna
Shaw (Shaw, 2013, 36–54) has argued elsewhere, while the smaller cities
and towns are conspicuously neglected by urban policy, both by the
central and state governments, the private sector, in the post-liberalization
period, finds them full of opportunities to extend their business in goods
and services in two senses: a) Cities themselves provide sufficient
economic space for markets, and b) cities serve as links in the chain of
private market expansion further into rural areas. The new purchasing
power unleashed since liberalization and globalization fuels the demand
for the private markets in these cities. Although Devendra Babu limits
himself to the governance question, the context for this comes from the
aggressive marketeering by the private sector and the apathy of the
governance institutions at that level to be able to manage it.
The paper by Babu assesses the availability of basic services such as
the provision of potable water, drainage, solid waste management, street
lights, roads, sanitation, parks, housing, education, health, and others
across the urban local bodies (ULBs) of the state, analyses the resource
pattern and their availability to evaluate priorities, and suggests policy
measures for better governance. Babu notes that while the functions of the
ULBs as given in the Twelfth Schedule of the 74th Constitutional
Amendment Act cover a wide spectrum that encompasses urban planning,
regulation of land use, planning for social and economic development, and
urban forestry among others, the ULBs in Karnataka prioritize only the
provision of potable water, roads, street lights and solid waste disposal.
While this may be a strategy given the resource constraints the ULBs face,
the author draws the attention to the need for equity in the provision of
services.
Following a discussion of a range of basic services, a short overview is
provided by D.R Ravi of the urban environment, taking the case of
Bengaluru and focusing on air pollution and the health threats, based on its
study of the city. The chapter discusses the urban environment, particularly
air pollution and its related threats as the outcomes of urbanization. The
author observes that mortality rates and the incidence of pollution-related
diseases have significantly increased in the 1990s and 2000s. The research
reported in this paper uses Bengaluru as the study area, and the primary

Introduction
10
data of 100 households in the city within close proximity to each of the air
quality monitoring locations, adopting the contingent valuation method, to
support its conclusions. Based on their findings, they report a high
incidence of asthma, accompanied by a cough, possibly caused by dust
allergy. Further, the contingent valuation shows an annual expenditure of
Rs.5,650 incurred by respondents on diseases due to air pollution alone.
The chapter suggests the mechanisms to combat air pollution in the
interests of public health in the growing mega city.
Following this, there is a focus on basic services, which are part of the
reasons for the decline in the urban environment—solid waste management
and the case of vanishing lakes and overexploited ground water in
Bengaluru. The chapter on solid waste management recognizes the crisis
that Bengaluru has been going through. From this viewpoint, the chapter
documents the profile of the waste that is generated, and highlights the
policy issues of relevance. This is especially useful because the profile of
the waste contains inferences for its management. Bangalore has been
generating an enormous amount of solid waste and the disposal of the
same for public health and sanitation purposes is a huge problem for a city
the size of Bangalore. Governance authorities there have been making
herculean efforts to overcome this problem. Solid waste disposal has
become a serious political problem for Bangalore as the amounts of being
dumped near villages are huge, and villagers in the outskirts of Bangalore,
say in Mandur, Mavallipura and other places, have been registering their
protests through political channels. So much so that the Chief Minister
himself had to visit these areas and give a hearing to the voices of the
affected. While Natasha deals with these issues in a technical manner,
what is at stake is clean sanitation for the residents of the city and for
areas/villages around the city. The political leadership in Bangalore finds
it particularly difficult to balance these two needs. Fernand Braudel notes
in his (1992:479–558) study of development in Europe’s cities that in
today’s advanced capitalist Germany, the early conditions were such that
people had to walk with stilts in the city lanes! While Bangalore’s
condition is better in this respect now, walking on the stilts may become a
necessity in the future if the governments do not resolve this issue.
Bangalore, being a silicon city and home to such software giants as
Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, and innumerable other
software firms, generates huge amounts of electronic waste. The question
of how to dispose of this—recycle the same or dump it on unfortunate
localities—is an existential issue for Bangalore’s governance. The chapter
by Manasi provides insights into the emerging challenges of electronic
waste generation based on invaluable data, both primary and secondary,

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
11
gathered for purpose of the study. Manasi’s article provides the staggering
figure of 12,000 metric tons of discarded electronic waste. In Bengaluru,
such a magnitude raises issues of governance, environmental sustainability
and legality. In this article, the current status of the management of this
problem and how formal and informal initiatives are being made to
grapple with the electronic waste are described based on a study. In a
certain sense, the nature of this problem is not unique to Bangalore since it
also exists in cities like Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad where the usage of
computers and digital technologies is also expanding. Electronic waste
may engulf entire metropolitan regions wherever the policies of active
promotion of information and communication (ICTs) are driven forward.
Manasi needs to be complimented for highlighting an emergent and
futuristic problem. The paper has clear policy implications.
The chapter by Thippaiah on lakes and groundwater highlights the case
of vanishing and polluted lakes, and how groundwater is exploited in
Bengaluru. It maps the demand for water supply in the city, documents the
information about its lakes, makes an attempt to quantify the vanished
ones, taking into account the complete and partial encroachments on the
lakes, and then focuses on the impact of disappeared and encroached
lakes—namely, the pollution and overexploitation of ground water.
Following this, the chapter focuses on policy measures to rejuvenate the
lakes and their impacts. The findings are stark. This article is enormously
important from the point of view of safeguarding the urban environment.
Of late, the unauthorized occupation, despoiling and industrial and non-
industrial pollution of lakes have literally become a “burning” issue. So
much so that media, both national and local, has reported widely of the
case of the burning lakes of Bangalore. That is, owing to excessive
pollution, the city lakes are filled with so much effluence that they catch
on fire. Therefore there is no need to exaggerate the significance of this
chapter.
As promised, the final couple of chapters in part 2 of the volume focus
on social services —the first one focuses on pensions and their delivery to
senior citizens across rural and urban areas of the state; the other focuses
on the health of unorganized sector workers, taking the case of the
agarbathi industry (incense sticks) in Bengaluru.
With increasing life expectancy on account of improvements in health
and medicine, the percentage of the elderly population (60+) in Karnataka
increased from less than 8% of its population in 2001 to more than 9% in
2011, which is greater than the average for the country as a whole (which
is a little above 8%, as per data from the Census of India 2011). Thus
social assistance and pensions to the elderly has become important, as has

Introduction
12
the need for equity in the provision of services. Rajasekhar et al.’s paper
deals with the delivery of social security pensions in rural and urban areas
of Karnataka. The paper finds that in the delivery of old aged, widow and
disabled pensions there are often many problems. These include paying
bribes to middlemen, delays in the Money Order (MO) delivery by post
offices, and even paying some amounts to the postal personnel. The paper
finds that such difficulties are in fact more common in urban localities
than in rural, and the new scheme to streamline the delivery of these
pensions by the Karnataka government (called the Sakala scheme) may
take care of some of these problems. This article is important from the
point of view of urban and rural social policy, and is a significant
contribution in the sense that according to a study conducted by the Public
Affairs Centre in Bangalore, Karnataka ranks number three among all 29
Indian states in providing social protection to its rural and urban citizens;
the first being Kerala and the second Tamil Nadu.
The chapter by Asha examines the impact of globalization on the
demand for cheap labor and the health of women workers in the informal
sector, taking the case of the agarbathi (incense sticks) industry in
Bengaluru, based on primary surveys of workers in the industry. Given
that the urban informal sector occupies an important place in the economy
of cities such as Bengaluru in providing employment, this chapter assumes
increasing significance. The research in this chapter focuses on the health
of women workers in the agarbathi industry in Bengaluru, presumably as
a result of their working conditions. The study report documents that the
women were all from the lower socio-economic groups, as we would
expect. While the average working hours per day was eight, the study
reported that the workers enjoyed no benefits such as provident funds,
gratuities or bonuses. However, a majority of the workers complained of
musculoskeletal problems such as bending their knees, moving their legs
and arms, moving from side to side, and stiffness in their waist. The
working conditions and health problems of the women workers in the
incense industry led the author to conclude that some form of social
security benefits would help to alleviate the living conditions of women
workers in the informal sector.
In section II, which deals with the governance of Bangalore, the first
paper by Sivanna and Suresh deals with governance reforms from a public
administration point of view, examining the internal organization of
BBMP in order to make it function better. They take the approach of New
Public Management and address the BBMP question from the point of
view of how to enable it to become more economic, efficient and effective
in its operation. The paper sums up the organizational dilemmas of BBMP.

Anil Kumar Vaddiraju and Kala Seetharam Sridhar
13
Sivanna and Suresh discuss the capacity and urban administrative structure
of the in-delivery services, with a historical overview.
The paper by Kala Seetharam Sridhar deals with decentralizing the
governance of Bangalore by its major governance entity BBMP into three
zones. She compares this process with that of the earlier experience of
Delhi, and argues that such city level trifurcation of governance entities
has not proven very beneficial there, though it may yet prove advantageous
for service delivery and the overall governance in Bangalore. This paper is
significant in the light of the recent debates as to whether further
decentralization of Bangalore governance will improve service delivery,
governance and the overall wellbeing of its citizens.
Overall, what are the lessons for governance and the policy
implications of the unique research in this volume? We recognize that
urbanization, while being not unprecedented, is an important phenomenon
that cannot be ignored, especially taking into account the fact that few
countries have reached a per capita income level of $10,000 without
reaching 60% urbanization. However, we need to be conscious of its
impact on the environment and air quality. The urban commute and
extensive use of vehicles have led to deteriorating air quality and public
health. Other impacts of extensive urbanization include the vanishing lakes
and the pollution of water bodies, as reflected in the case of the lakes
catching fire.
While cities across the country are extensively adopting information
and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the delivery of public
services, and even bridge the rich-poor divide, we find that the urban local
governments in the state prioritize only a few services, such as water
supply, roads, street lights and waste disposal. There are presumably not
many resources left for tackling economic development, poverty
alleviation, urban forestry, and planning, although these are mentioned in
the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. Further, as a by-product of ICT,
private firms have been disposing of e-waste indiscriminately, causing
health hazards of a different nature. This book also provides documentation
that the profile of the solid waste in the city is organic, and can be used to
generate energy.
Some ways in which the environment can be improved is to try and
enforce strict penalties on industry polluters, the burning of solid waste,
and the inappropriate disposal of e-waste. One way this could be done is
by educating the public about their ill impacts for public health. This may
be operationalized by allocating a higher budget for information, education
and communication (IEC) on waste management than has been the case
thus far.

Introduction
14
We find that the delivery and state of social services leaves much to be
desired both in the state and in the city when we take the case of specific
industries (e.g., incense sticks). The globalizing city of Bengaluru and the
progressive state of Karnataka have much to do in this regard—to treat
senior citizens with more respect and recognize their contributions
(Ravindra and Sridhar, 2015). Finally, taking the case of governance of the
city of Bengaluru itself, we find that based on the theoretical frameworks,
it is possible for Bengaluru to become more efficient if its governance
were to be trifurcated, provided certain conditions are met.
Finally, to come back to the point where we began, we have to mention
that, after all, Bengaluru’s governance problems are not of one day’s
making. Bengaluru consists of its pre-modern past as well its colonial
transformation—Bangalore has its Cubbon Park and Richmond Place—
and the later transformations from a public sector industry and research-
dominated “science city” to an information technology and bio-
technology-dominated economy and society, with increasing in-migration
from all areas of the country and even abroad. Therefore Bengaluru is
representative of all the complex transformations that Indian cities are
going through on their way to modern urbanism. This is particularly the
case since the economic reforms have resulted in both new poverty and
wealth; new inequalities and new freedoms. Thus we welcome the reader
to the following chapters with the reminder that different layers of time
persist in the space of an Indian city. Different horizons meet and interact.
Thus it is a complex phenomenon. Despite all its British-sounding streets,
Bengaluru also consists of many semi-urban villages, and the process of
incorporation continues. Thus this volume makes a modest contribution
toward comprehending the complexity that is Bengaluru.
References
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Davies, Jonathan S. and David L. Imbroscio. 2009. Theories of Urban
Politics (2nd Ed). London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi and Singapore:
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and David L. Imbroscio (eds) Theories of Urban Politics. Los Angeles:
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Srinath. 2012. The State of our Cities: Evidence from Karnataka, New
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Sharma, R.N. and R.S. Sandhu (eds). 2013. Small Cities and Towns in
Global Era: Emerging Changes and Perspectives. Jaipur: Rawat.
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in Global Era: Emerging Changes and Perspectives. Jaipur: Rawat.
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of Urban Politics, Los Angeles: Sage. Pp. 153–69.
Urban Development Department. 2009. Urban Development Policy for
Karnataka. Bangalore: Government of Karnataka.

URBANIZATION, MIGRATION
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA:
STATUS AND CONCERNS1
C.M. LAKSHMANA2
1. Introduction
Urbanization is the process by which human habitations like cities and
towns develop and grow into larger areas, and this process includes the
movement of people from rural-to-urban areas as well as movements
across towns and cities (UN-HABITAT 2002). Urbanization is the
principal process among the five main processes integral to demographic
transition; the others being mortality decline, population growth, fertility
decline and population aging. However, currently, different parts of the
world are at different stages of urbanization. Sustainable economic growth
provides increased employment opportunities, and the urban manufacturing
sector is likely to offer better wages than rural agriculture. Better earning
potential in the urban sector attracts rural migrants, and the ensuing cycle
of events results in urbanization and infrastructure development.
Historically, it is evident that sustained economic growth in the urban
sector increases employment opportunities and encourages rural-to-urban
migration; and economic growth tends to hasten both the growth of towns
and cities as well as the process of urbanization (UNDP, 2009). The
pattern of urbanization in India is characterized by a continued
concentration of population and activities in large cities (Premi, 1991;
Davis and Golden, 1954) where people come not due to urban pull but
rural push. In the Indian context, the urbanization process is not solely
1 Presented in the Prelude Conference on Urban Governance, Development and
Service Delivery, organized by the Centre for Political Institutions, Governance
and Development, ISEC, Bangalore 560072
2 Associate Professor, PRC, ISEC, Bangalore-72.Email-lakshmana@isec.ac.in

C.M. Lakshmana
17
migration-led but also a product of a demographic explosion due to natural
increases besides rural out-migration.
According to the UNDP (2005), the rapid and unplanned growth of
cities caused by migration and natural increases has outpaced the
government’s ability to provide basic services such as housing, physical
infrastructure and social facilities, often causing a crises in living
conditions. Cities are considered the engines of economic development,
and urban-based economic activities account for more than 50% of the
GDP (Swati, 2005). However, this phenomenal economic growth has not
been accompanied by steps to neutralize the impact of rapid urbanization
and the resultant threats to human health as well as environmental quality
and urban productivity (Leitmann et al., 1992). The sustainable
development of cities provides many opportunities such as employment to
both educated and uneducated youth at various levels. However, a large
proportion of workers, i.e., over 92% (skilled and unskilled), are absorbed
in the unorganized sector (NSSO, 2007), and the majority of the labor
force is concentrated in class I cities. Sadly, the unprecedented pace of
urbanization and the consequent spurt in economic activities have not been
able to provide suitable employment for the large majority of those who
have migrated to Indian cities.
2. Key issues of urbanization
Urbanization has become a major demographic issue in the 21st
century not only in India but all over the world. There has always been
great academic interest in the Indian urbanization process and a number of
scholars have analyzed India’s urban experience, particularly in the post-
independence period (Bose, 1978; NIUA, 1988; Mohan, 1996; Bhagat,
2010).
According to United Nations’ projections, the global level of
urbanization will rise from the current 50% to about 70% by 2050.
However, the estimated level of urbanization will be lower in South
Central Asia (32%) than in any other region of the world (Dyson, 2011).
According to projections, the speed of urbanization in South Central Asia
appears to have been distinctly slower than in the developed countries in
the world. Traditionally, rural population growth was higher than urban
population growth in India, but in recent years, the urban population has
been growing faster than the rural population for obvious reasons. The
increasing share of urban population in India’s overall total, even under
the impact of globalization, was lower than the average level of urban
population in developing countries like Pakistan (36%) and China (50%)

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
18
but, interestingly, the pace of urbanization in India was higher than the
average level of the neighboring countries of Sri Lanka (23%), Bangladesh
(27%) and Nepal (17%).
3. The process of urbanization in India
The total urban population of India in the year 1901 was 25.85 million;
it had increased to 44.15 million by 1940. Further, in the post-
independence period, the increase in urban population in terms of size has
been significant; from 62 million in 1951 to 159.46 million by 1981.
During the post-liberalization period, i.e., 1981–2011, the total size
increased by more than two-fold (159.46 in 1981 and 377.25 million in
2011). However, the percentage increase of urban population in the total
was not significant until 1951 when it gradually picked up speed from
17.29% in 1951 to 25.72% by 1991, and further increased to 31.17% by
2011 (Table 1).
Table 1 Number of Urban Agglomeration/ Towns and their Population in
India (from 1901–2011)
No. of UA/
Towns
Total
Population
(in millions)
UA/Town
Population
(in millions)
% Urban
Population
1901 1827 238.39 25.85 10.84
1941 2250 318.66 44.15 13.86
1951 2843 361.08 62.44 17.29
1981 3378 683.32 159.46 23.34
2001 5161 1027.01 285.35 27.78
2011 5497 1210.19 377.25 31.17
Source: Census of India (various)
Note: The total number of Urban Agglomeration (UA)/Towns includes out-growth
cities
Even though India is among the countries with lower levels of
urbanization, the increase in the proportion of urban population in the total
during the period from 1981–2011 was about 8% (23.34% in 1981 to
31.17% in 2011). Strangely, about 70% of its urban population is
concentrated in class I towns/cities only. This has resulted in big cities
attaining inordinately large population sizes and densities, leading to a

C.M. Lakshmana
19
virtual collapse of urban services and a severe degradation of the
environment. Thus, the beginnings of economic development through
liberalization, privatization and globalization absolutely led to a steep
increase in urban population in India, especially in class I cities and only
to some extent in class II cities.
4. Pace of urbanization
The urban population of India was 23.34% in 1981; it increased to
27.78% by 2001 and further reached 31.17% by 2011. As illustrated in
fig.1, the increase in urban population during 1981–2011 was the highest
in north, south and west regions. Also, the share of urban population in the
above regions has been higher than the national average throughout the
period under review. In contrast, the central and east regions had urban
populations below the national average in all the census years.
Incidentally, the increase in urban population even in the central and
north-eastern regions in the recent decade 2001–2011 is also above the
national average.
The above regional analysis of urbanization confirms that the urban
population in India has not been growing equally across the region and the
states. Hence, there is significant regional inequality in urban population
growth because of relatively better economic development in the southern
and western regions of India in recent times. The western region consists
of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa.
Though Delhi is the political capital of India, the city of Mumbai in the
west is the business hub. Presumably for this reason, the impact of
economic development has been more pronounced in the western region,
where over 50% of the total population resides in urban areas, unlike in
other regions where this percentage is much lower. The increase in the
urban population in this region during 30 years of development (1981–
2011) was almost 25%. Surprisingly, there was a big jump in the share of
urban population in the total population in the north-eastern region also
(from 16% in 1993–94 to 42% in 2004–05). The central region also
registered a steep rise in the proportion of urban population, with the
increase during the 30-year period (1981–2011) being about 16%. In
contrast, the cumulative increase of urban population during the same
period in the other regions, i.e., south, north and east, was 12, 8 and 7%,
respectively.

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
20
5. Urbanization Trend in various towns by class and size
Table 2 presents the absolute numbers of urban agglomerations/towns
and their urban population for the period 1961–2011. There was more than
a two-fold increase in the number of towns in India, from 2,363 in 1961 to
5,161 in 2001, and to 5,497 in 2011. At the same time, there was a
continuous increase in urban population, from 17.97% in 1961 to 31.17%
in 2011. This clearly indicates that there has been a continuous process of
urbanization in the country during the post-liberalization period, in tandem
with economic development. But the striking feature of the urban
population in India is that unfortunately it has been largely concentrated in
class I cities. Hence, it reflects a certain degree of abnormality in that
about 70% of the urban population of the country lives in class I
towns/cities alone, and the remaining 30% in other class II and III towns,
which is not acceptable from the point of view of sustainable development.
In contrast, during the same time span, the absolute numbers as well as the
population in class V and VI towns have declined rapidly, which again is a
worrisome development.
Figure 1 Region-wise Urban Population in India (1981–2011)
In this regard, table 2 further shows that over the years, the number of
class I towns has increased three-fold, from 102 in 1961 to 393 in 2001. A
similar pattern was observed in regard to the second category of towns (II,
32
19 17 16.03
33
26 23.34
40.00 34.50
23.68
41.64
56.28
38.28
31
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
North Central East North-East West South India
% age of urban popualtion to the total
Region
1981 1991 2001 2011

C.M. Lakshmana
21
III and IV), but in regard to towns in classes V and VI, the trend fluctuated
over time, and in fact had declined by the end of the period under review.
At the same time, if we consider the trends of the urban population across
the various classes of towns (see fig. 2), it can be seen that in 1961, over
50 % of the total urban population of India was residing in class I towns,
which increased steadily during the next census. The increase in urban
population during 30 years (1981–2011) was almost 20% in class I towns,
while the towns in the other categories registered negative growth. But in
1961, about 12% of the urban population was residing in class II towns,
which had decreased to 10% by 2001. A similar pattern can be seen in
regard to class III, IV, V towns, where the decrease registered was 10% by
2001. The decrease in the proportion of urban population was highest in
class V towns, i.e., from 6.8% in 1961 to 2.3% by 2001. The proportion of
the population in class VI towns was negligible.
6. Metropolitan growth
During the post-liberalization period, metropolitan cities in India have
been contributing greatly to the urbanization process. Literally, the word
metropolis means a mother city, a meaning that no longer has any
significance, though it also means a dominant or large city (Dikshit, 2003).
Generally, million-plus cities are also called metropolises. Metropolitan
growth was very low during the pre-independence period. There were
hardly two cities (Kolkata and Mumbai) in 1941, which increased to five
in 1951. The later period saw a continuous increase in the number of
metropolitan cities, from seven in 1961 to 35 by 2001, and in the
subsequent decade, this number rose to 53. At the same time, the
population in these cities increased rapidly and by more than two times
during the period, from 42.12 million in 1981 to 107.88 million by 2001,
and to 160.61 million by 2011.
The average population for each million-plus city was more or less
identical during 1991 to 2011, i.e., 3.07 million in 1991, 3.08 million in
2001 and 3.03 million in 2011. This is because of the significant number
of new metropolises that have joined the ranks of million-plus cities since
1981, compared to earlier decades. On the other hand, the proportion of
the population in million-plus cities in the total urban population of India
over a period of 50 years has almost doubled, from 22.93% in 1961 to
42.57% by 2011. For further details, see table 3. Further, the decadal
growth rates of the population in million-plus cities for 1991 and 2001 are
presented separately for UA and city proper (within the municipal
corporation area) in table 4. In India there were 35 million-plus cities in

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
22
Table 2 Different Classes of Towns and their Population (in percentages) in India
Year Total Class I % II % III % IV % V % VI %
1961 2363 102 51.4 129 11.2 437 16.9 719 12.7 711 6.8 172 0.7
1971 2590 148 57.2 173 10.9 558 16 827 10.9 623 4.4 147 0.4
1981 3378 218 60.3 270 11.6 743 14.3 1059 9.5 758 3.5 253 0.5
1991 3768 300 65.2 345 10.9 947 13.1 1167 7.7 740 2.6 197 0.3
2001 5161 393 68.6 401 9.67 1151 12.2 1344 6.8 888 2.3 191 0.2
2011 5497 Not yet finalized
Source: Census of India for the various years
Note: Size of population according to census classification: Class I town (100,000 and more), Class II (50,000–100,000), Class III
(20,000–50,000), Class IV (10,000–20,000), Class V (5,000–10,000), Class VI (less than 5,000)

2001, whic
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Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
24
Table 3 Population Size and Pace of Urbanization in Million-plus Cities in
India (1961–2011)
Census Number Population India's Percentage of
year of in million total urban urban population
cities plus cities population of India
1961 7 18.1 78.93 22.93
1971 9 27.83 109.11 25.51
1981 12 42.12 159.46 26.41
1991 23 70.67 217.17 32.54
2001 35 107.88 285.35 37.81
2011 53 160.61 377.25 42.57
Source: Census of India for various census years.
7. Urbanization trends in UA in six large mega cities
A comparison of figures of UA population growth rates for the decades
1991–2001 and 2001–2011 is presented in table 5. The greater Mumbai
UA is the largest mega city in India in terms of population, followed by
Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. However, in terms of
population growth rate during the decade of 1991–2001, Delhi grew by
almost 52%, followed by Bangalore with the second-highest growth rate
of 38%, and Mumbai in third position at 30 %.

C.M. Lakshmana
25
Table 4 Growth of Population in Million-plus Cities (1981–2011) in India
Urban Agglomeration (Growth rate) City proper (Growth rate)
1981–1991 1991–2001 2001–2011 1981–1991 1991–2001
1 Greater Mumbai 33.7 29.9 10.75 20.4 20
2 Kolkata 19.9 19.9 6.42 6.6 4.1
3 Delhi 46.9 51.9 21.06 43.2 36.2
4 Chennai 26.4 18.5 24.56 28.2 9.7
5 Bangalore 41.3 37.8 33 7.4 61.3
6 Hyderabad 66.5 27.4 25.9 39.2 12.8
7 Ahmadabad 29.5 36.4 27.49 22.9 18.9
8 Pune 44.8 50.6 25.53 30.2 38.3
9 Surat 64.4 85.1 38.68 62.2 62.3
10 Kanpur 23.8 32.5 7 25.8 35
11 Jaipur 49.6 53.1 24.43 49.2 59.4
12 Lucknow 65.7 35.8 22.61 70.8 36.3
13 Nagpur 36.4 27.6 17.59 33.2 26.2
14 Patna 19.7 55.3 17.04 18.1 33.4
15 Indore 33.7 47.8 30.51 31.6 46.3
16 Vadodara 44 32.4 17.95 40.4 26.6
17 Bhopal 58.4 36.9 22.56 58.3 34.9
18 Coimbatore 19.6 31.4 32.09 15.9 13.1
19 Ludhiana 71.8 33.7 13.35 71.7 33.7
20 Kochi 38.3 18.8 35.98 13.5 2.4
21 Vishakhapatnam 75.1 25.7 22.21 33 28.9
22 Agra 26.9 39.4 23.77 28.5 29.2
23 Varanasi 29.3 17.5 16.11 29.6 18.4
24 Madurai 19.7 10 17.73 14.6 -1.9

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
26
25 Meerut 56.5 37.4 18.47 67.9 42.5
26 Nasik 63.7 58.8 26.26 80.6 63.9
27 Jabalpur 17.4 25.7 13.38 20.8 22
28 Jamshedpur 21.9 32.9 17.38 5.1 23.8
29 Asansol 52 42.7 14.13 42.9 85.4
30 Dhanbad 18.9 30.5 10.87 26.2 31.1
31 Faridabad 86.7 70.8 24.83 86.7 70.8
32 Allahabad 29.9 24.3 14.34 28.7 24.9
33 Amritsar 19.2 42.6 15.19 19.2 27.3
34 Vijayawada 37.8 19.6 30.29 32.9 17.6
35 Rajkot 47.1 53.1 27.89 25.7 72.8
Source: Bhagat R.B. (2004) Demography India and Census 2011.

C.M. Lakshmana
27
The observed growth rate of population in Hyderabad was 27 %, while
the growth rates of Chennai and Kolkata were almost identical at 20.28%
and 19.91%, respectively, during the same time. However, this trend saw a
rapid decline in the next decade of 2001–2011; the growth rate was lowest
in Mumbai (4.83%) and highest in Hyderabad (9.28%). The decline in the
growth rate was modest in Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata, i.e., 8.65,
7.94 and 6.64%, respectively. This significant decline in population
growth can be attributed to the saturation of UAs during the previous
decade. Another reason could be the addition of several new million-plus
cities as a result of the globalization process in the previous decade.
Moreover, the increased congestion and crowding in the primary metro
cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi seem to have caused a
shift of population to tier II/III cities, like the fast-growing metro of
Faridabad adjacent to Delhi and Meerut since 2001, for example.
Similarly, Surat and Pune near Mumbai are growing fast, and could result
in a significant decline in the growth of Mumbai. As a result, two clusters,
i.e., Mumbai and Delhi, have emerged as the core urban population centers
in the western and northern regions of India.
However, the city proper has also shown a greater decline across UAs
in India in recent decades, with the city of Bangalore as an exception to
this trend probably because of the changes effected to its municipal
boundary during the last decade. Economic liberalization led to the growth
of several secondary metro cities in India, and there has been a consequent
concentration of populations in million-plus cities and class I cities during
2001–2011.
To estimate the proportion of the urban population in states, an
exercise was undertaken, using the data for the decades of 1991–2001 and
2001–2011. The result of this exercise is presented in table 5. The capital
city of Delhi certainly had the highest proportion of urban population in
the year 2001, but the proportion has since declined from 99.15% in 2001
to 92.67% in 2011. The experience of Mumbai and Kolkata is similar. In
Mumbai, the proportion decreased from 39.81% in 2001 to 35.34% by
2011, and in Kolkata it declined from 59.92% in 2001 to 55.38% by 2011.
The situation was significantly different in other metros like Bangalore,
Chennai and Hyderabad. However, the overall decline of urban population
during 2001–2011 in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta with 6.48%, 4.47 % and
3.54%, respectively. In contrast, there was an increase in the urban
populations in southern UAs like Bangalore and Hyderabad and Chennai.

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
28
Table 5 Population in Six Largest Mega Cities (UA) in India (1991–2011)
Name of
UA
Total Population (in
millions) Growth Rate
Total Urban Population (in millions)
of respective states
Percentage of UA
Population
2001 2011
1991-
2001
2001-
2011 2001 2011 2001 2011
Greater
Mumbai 16.36 18.41 29.94 4.83 41.10 52.10 39.81 35.34
Kolkata 13.21 14.11 19.91 6.64 22.42 25.48 58.92 55.38
Delhi 12.79 16.31 51.93 4.81 12.90 17.60 99.15 92.67
Chennai 6.4 8.6 20.28 8.65 27.48 36.70 23.29 23.43
Bangalore 5.6 8.4 37.69 7.94 17.96 22.09 31.18 38.03
Hyderabad 5.5 7.7 27 9.28 20.80 23.48 26.44 32.79
Source: Census of India for various census years, and author calculations

C.M. Lakshmana
29
As can be seen from table 5, the increase in the proportion of urban
population was the highest in Bangalore UA, from 31.18% in 2001 to
38.03% in 2011. Similarly, the urban population in the UA of Hyderabad
increased from 26.44% in 2001 to 32.79% in 2011. However, the latest
figures for the Chennai UA population are yet to be released by the Census
directorate and, therefore, the numbers pertaining to 2001 and 2011 given
in the table are identical.
8. Urbanization and migration
The movement of people from rural areas to urban centers is one of the
major drivers of urban growth, especially in the developing countries of
the world. This is true for India also. The major component of urban
population growth is still natural growth. Of the decadal increase of 91
million in urban population (377 million in 2011 minus 285.35 million in
2001), about 40 million (43%) can be attributed to natural growth, only
about 22 million (24%) to net rural-to-urban migration, and the rest (about
33%) to the changes of municipal boundaries and reclassification of urban
areas (Census, 2011).
Reference needs to be made here to the extensive studies done by
certain Indian scholars (Sarangia and Himanshu, 2007; Kundu, 2006;
Srivastava, 2003) on the specific aspect of migration patterns in the
context of urbanization and the existing urban problems and governance
issues. They have studied the relationship of urbanization and its close
linkages with migration by analyzing national sample survey data
available for different years, i.e., 1992–1993 (49th round), 1999–2000
(55th round) and 2007–2008 (64th). These studies have pointed out that
the process of urbanization since independence has been generally large-
city oriented during both colonial and post-colonial periods. This is
manifested in the concentration of a high percentage of urban population
in class I cities apparently because they offer better employment and
earning opportunities (Kundu, 2006). During the eighties and nineties, the
gaps in the growth rates widened and urban growth became more
unbalanced in developed states. Several class I cities with strong economic
bases evolved in these states by drawing resources through institutional
borrowing and innovative credit instruments, which attracted people as
well as economic activities from far and wide.
The above studies also dealt with the existing urban problems and
governance issues of Indian cities meaningfully, focusing on urbanization
and migration and highlighting the government’s efforts to implement the
policies and programs contained in the Sixth Plan (1980–1985) to the

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
30
Eleventh Plan (2009–2013) approach papers. However, these
recommendations (and follow-up actions, if any) are yet to make any
significant reduction in the urban problems in India. Hence, these
problems still affect about 377.25 million (31%) Indian urban residents.
The worsening situation has been causing serious environmental decay
and health problems in urban areas. The impact of globalization and
urbanization processes has been negative, and detrimental to people’s
health and wellbeing in India, particularly in the urban sector (Kundu,
2006) though the impact has been similar in rural areas also. In the name
of development projects like the special economic zone (SEZ), the
construction of Japanese-sponsored cities, etc., a huge mass of the rural
population has been displaced and divested of its livelihood, resulting in
the displaced people flocking to cities and towns seeking a livelihood, and
adding to the crowding and proliferation of slums in the host cities. The
process of globalization has also led to the weakening of institutions like
family and community, and also the degradation of common property
resources. In the following section, a detailed analysis has been done on
recent migration trends in the context of the changing scenario of rural and
urban development.
Table 6 provides information on the changes in the migration rate in
India for both rural and urban areas for different time periods. In general,
the rates of total migration gradually increased by 3 percentage points in
rural and 5 percentage points in urban areas during the years between 1993
and 2008. However, migration rates registered a downtrend trend for rural
males and an upward trend for urban males at 5 percentage points during
the same period. The migration rates of women, both rural and urban, have
increased over time for various reasons (for details, see table 8).
The lack of infrastructure development, particularly housing, in bigger
cities has led to the formation of urban slums, where the rural migrants
take shelter. The low socio-economic status, poor education and high
fertility rate of the rural poor have been found responsible for the steady
increase in the slum population in Indian cities. Currently in India, one-
fourth of the urban population, i.e., 93 million (25%, 2011) is residing in
slums; and according to one estimate, about 50% of the slum population
will be residing in urban areas by 2030. This huge estimated increase is
engaging the attention of planners and policy makers because of its
probable impact on the quality of human life and health, as well as the
fragile environment, and the consequent behavioral consequences like an
increase in antisocial activities and organized crime.
Our mega cities are already facing the deleterious effects of rapid
unplanned urbanization such as increased threat perception and the

C.M. Lakshmana
31
resultant financial burden of augmenting security measures. There is also
the challenge of providing health care to the increasing number of
children, women and the elderly in urban areas. The urgent need to
provide infrastructure services like roads, power, and water and sanitation
facilities is another major challenge. Historically, the key factors of rural-
to-urban migration have been poverty, misery, unemployment, etc. But in
recent times, several other factors have been found to cause rural-urban
migration, and these are contributing to urbanization.
The period of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) has
provided greater opportunities to industrialists in general and multinational
companies (MNCs) in particular all over the world. This, however, has
resulted in the overuse of natural resources, especially land, water and
power. The experience of China is a typical example of the overuse of
resources and the degradation of environment. China’s hyper-growth has
made it the single largest importer of natural resource-based commodities
and India is, sadly, catching up fast (Cronin and Pandya, 2009). This
consequence of globalization has been particularly responsible for the
displacement of both farmers and agricultural laborers and pushing them
into the urban labor market.
In India, a huge chunk of farmland has been converted for non-
agricultural purposes; as a result, farmers are moving away from
agriculture and migrating to urban areas in search of a livelihood. The
shrinking of the land for agriculture in India by region is examined in table
7. However, these people are neither the houseless nor landless poor; their
migration is due to factors like unsustainable livelihood, distressed rural
economy, low wage rate, high investment requirements for agriculture,
unpredictable monsoons, shortage of power supply, passing of traditional
economic activities, neglect of village economy, etc.
Table 6 Changes in Migration Rate (per 1,000 persons) during Recent
Times (1999–2000 to 2007–2008) for all of India in percentages
Rural Urban
Year Persons Male Female Persons Male Female
NSS Round 49th (1993–1994) 22.8 6.5 40.1 30.7 23.9 38.2
NSS Round 55th (1999–2000) 24.4 6.9 42.6 33.4 25.7 41.8
NSS Round 55th (2007–2008) 26 5.4 47.7 35.4 25.9 45.6
Source: NSS Report No.533: Migration in India: July, 2007–June 2008.

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
32
To this can be added the people who are forced to migrate due to
displacement caused by development projects, natural disasters, social and
/political problems, etc. These issues also require in-depth studies to
pinpoint the exact cause and magnitude of the problem. Due to the
continuous decline of tertiary and, to some extent, secondary level towns
and the resultant unsustainability of economic prosperity, a large segment
of the population has started to move from smaller cities to bigger ones in
search of better employment opportunities and living conditions. All of
these factors have been contributing to urban-to-urban migration in recent
decades. Hence, sustainable development should mean “development” that
meets present needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs. This is one of the challenges of achieving
sustainable urban development and mitigating unsolved urban hardships.
In other words, the destination and origin of migrants need to be discussed
broadly.
Table 7 Available Cultivable/Arable Land for Agriculture in India by
Region
State Available Land Shrinking Arable
Land
Availability of Land
(in 10,000 hectares) (in 10,000
hectares)
Per capita
1995–
1996
2005–
2006
1995 –2005 1995–
1996
2005–
2006
North 355.84 355.92 0.08 0.35 0.27
Central 435.81 366.44 -69.37 0.21 0.13
East 246.99 198.61 -48.38 0.13 0.1
North-
East
62.55 61.67 -0.88 0.2 0.16
West 337.27 337.67 0.49 0.28 0.23
South 395.76 391.64 -4.12 0.2 0.18
India 1834.22 1711.95 122.27 0.22 0.18
Source: Calculated by the author using census data.

C.M. Lakshmana
33
8.1. Migration streams
The migration stream from rural-to-urban and urban-to-rural is
presented in table 8. If we look at particular issues of rural-to-urban
migration, it can be seen that the total migration rate increased from 18.8%
in 1999–2000 to 19.5% by 2007–2008. The trend in regard to female
migration is a similar one; the increase in the proportion of migration
during the eight years under review was just 0.5%. However, the
proportion of male migrants increased at 5 percentage points during the
same period. The next section contains a detailed discussion on the major
reasons for migration. While the globalization era indeed witnessed rapid
economic development in the country, it also resulted in the forced
migration of a large number of farmers as well as agricultural laborers to
urban areas in search of a livelihood.
The decrease in migration from urban-to-rural was almost identical
during the periods of 1999–2000 and 2007–2008 for both males and
females; here it is important to note that sustainable development and
urbanization have resulted in increased urban-to-urban migration due to
several reasons. The percentage of migrants from urban-to-urban areas
increased from 12.9% in 1999–2000 to 13.1% in 2007–2008. Similarly,
the increase in the proportion of male migrants during the same period was
2%. Given this background, it is imperative that researchers and
demographers address the issue of sustainability both at the destination as
well as source of migration. Current trends show that in order to ensure
economic prosperity and better living conditions, and to avail education
and employment opportunities for themselves and family members, even
urban residents from small and medium towns in India are migrating to
class I cities. This trend is clear from empirical evidence, and it is likely to
continue in the next decade.
Hence, the above evidence clearly indicates that there is no
sustainability in small and medium towns. This has many aspects. For
instance, during the period of liberalization, more and more commercial
activities/residential activities took place in class-one cities but such
activity was totally negligible in second and three-tier cities. Hence all-
round development is a matter of sustainability for people who migrate
from urban (secondary and tertiary cities) to urban places (class I and II
cities) in their quest for a better quality of life. Such migration is driven by
the prosperous and sustainable development in destinations, i.e., class I
cities. As a result, urban-to-urban migration is evident in Indian cities. In
view of this, the study strongly suggests that unless and until sustainable
development is seen in second and three-tier cities, this situation will
continue in the future.

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
34
8.2. Reasons for migration
In India, while economic liberalization permits the cheap import of
goods, which adversely affects the rural economy, privatization causes the
retrenchment of workers, and this vicious cycle forces poverty-induced
migration from rural-to-urban areas. Hence, as already mentioned, the
phenomenal increase of migration to cities is not due to urban pull but due
to rural push (Mukherji 1993; Kundu and Basu, 1998). Class I cities like
Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, etc., have already reached a
saturation level of employment-generating capacity, and are therefore ill-
equipped to absorb the ingress of distressed rural migration of poor,
landless, illiterate and unskilled agriculture laborers (Kundu 1997). This is
seen as a transfer of rural poverty into urban poverty. Urbanization
accentuates social and economic inequalities, which in turn give rise to
social conflicts, organized crime and antisocial activities. Mega cities
promote growth in the urban population, but not urban prosperity and
culture. Hence the urbanization in India has been without urban functional
characteristics (Nayak, 1962 and Mukerji, 1995).
It is a known fact that traditionally the main reason for female
migration in India was marriage. About 91% of rural and 61% (2007–
2008) of urban females migrate after their marriage. Given this
background, this study focuses on causes for present-day female migration
like employment opportunities, studies and even forced migration due to
displacement, etc. Table 9 lists three important types of migration; namely,
(a) employment-related migration, (b) studies-related migration, and (c)
forced migration, along with the sub-reasons. Though the percent of
migration related to employment among rural males was 33.3%, migration
related to study was about 5.3% in the year 1999–2000. However, during
2007–2008, migration relating to employment among rural males
decreased 3 percentage points, but studies-related migration increased
from 5.3% in 1990–2000 to 10.7% in 2007–2008.
The data on forced migration was not available for the year 1999–
2000. The comparative picture of urban migration in relation to the above
reasons shows that almost 52% of urban males were moving for
employment reason; this has increased to 55.7% in 2007–2008. However,
in contrast, migration among urban females for the same reason has come
down from 3% in the previous years to 2.7% in 2007–2008. At the same
time, migration among urban males and females for study increased from
6.2% to 6.8% for males, and 1.3% to 2.2% for females during the same
period.

C.M. Lakshmana
35
The above analysis confirms that, strangely, migration for employment
reasons has been higher among urban males than among rural males in
recent times, i.e., 55.7% for urban males and 28.6% for rural males. Study-
related migration among urban males and females was 6.8 and 2.2%,
respectively. Here the issue of forced migration needs to be highlighted.
With the onset of globalization, in the name of development of projects,
vast tracts of cultivable land were diverted for non-agricultural use,
forcing rural cultivators and laborers to migrate to urban areas in search of
a livelihood. Hence, about 4.2% of rural males and about 1.3% of urban
males were forced to migrate (2007–2008). Researchers and social
scientists in the country need to sit up and ponder not only the reasons and
triggers for migration but also the social and economic status of the
displaced persons in their new abode, i.e., the towns and cities of India.
They also need to address how far globalization has promoted economic
and rural development, and promote the development of women and
children.
Historically, marriage was the common causative factor for the
migration of both rural and urban women in India. However, for various
reasons, such as the availability of job opportunities and facilities for
higher education in cities, etc., there has been a gradual increase in female
migration in India. Hence, the % age of female migration to towns and
cities for studies and other reasons is close to that of males. The search for
better employment, better living conditions and overall economic
prosperity are the main reasons for female migration in recent years. The
decline seen in out-migration among rural people for employment reasons
needs to be analyzed further. However, the recently introduced Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA, 2005)
seems to have reduced rural-to-urban migration significantly. In view of
this, the inter-relationship of rural migration and employment generation
needs to be discussed at this juncture.
In general, large cities have been the beneficiaries of LPG, and its
impact on economic sustainability in urban areas has been constant. The
MNCs have been concentrating their business activities in class I cities
due to the availability of resources and infrastructure. Hence, more and
more development activities are taking place in metro cities in particular,
and class I cities in general. As a result, these urban areas attract more
migrants from rural hinterlands and smaller towns. Sadly, the development
of tertiary towns does not seem to have received due attention in India.
The uncontrolled growth of urban population seriously affects the health
of the population, causing natural resource depletion and environmental
degradation. Hence, the study seeks to find remedies for the deterioration

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
36
caused by urbanization in Indian cities. The various dimensions of the
impact of urbanization and urban growth on society need to be addressed
separately in relation to geography, demography and health in general, and
sustainable environment in particular, in the context of governance issues
in order to make the delivery of urban services more effective.
Table 8 The Comparative Picture of Internal Migrants (per 1,000),
Migrants of Rural-Urban Migration Streams, as per NSS 55th and 64th
Rounds (at all-India level)
Category of 1999–2000 2007–2008
Migrants Total Male Female Total Male Female
Rural to Rural 61.8 32.3 70.3 61.7 27.2 70
Rural to Urban 18.8 34.4 14.4 19.5 39 14.8
Urban to Rural 6.4 10.7 5.2 5.7 8.9 4.9
Urban to Urban 12.9 22.6 10.1 13.1 24.8 10.3
Source: NSS Report No.533: Migration in India: July 2007-June, 2008

C.M. Lakshmana
37
Table 9 Distribution of Migrants (per 1,000 persons) by Reason for Migration during 2007–2008
Reasons Rural (1999–2000) Rural (2007–2008) Urban (1999–2000) Urban (2007–2008)
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
(a)Employment- related 30.3 1 28.6 0.7 51.9 3 55.7 2.7
(b)Studies-related 5.3 0.4 10.7 0.5 6.2 1.3 6.8 2.2
(c) Forced Migration NA 4.2 0.3 NA 1.3 0.5
Source: NSS Report No.533: Migration in India: July, 2007-June 2008.
Note: (a) Employment -related reasons: (10) in search of employment; (2) in search of better employment; (3) business; (4) to take up
employment/better; (5) transfer of service/contract; (6) proximate to place of work
(c) Forced migration: natural disaster, social/political problem, displacement by
development projects

Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
38
9. Consequence of urbanization and major concerns
In India, urbanization and urban growth are the major drivers of
resource degradation and the resulting environmental pollution. The
unbridled exploitation of national wealth like land, minerals, forest and
other resources in the name of economic and infrastructure development is
depleting natural resources, most of which are non-renewable. This
consequence has further affected human health, wellbeing and
environment, and cautions us to arrest resource degradation and harm to
human wellbeing in both rural and urban areas.
First and foremost, over the years, three important factors – high
population growth, urbanization and urban growth – have shrunk
agriculture land and changed the land use pattern in India. Additionally,
the diversion of land for urban and industrial use has resulted in serious
damage to bio-diversity, flora and fauna, and ecosystems. This poses a
serious threat to our future food production potential. The development of
SEZ and other related activities have displaced the rural cultivators and
agricultural laborers, who are forced to migrate to cities in search of a
livelihood.
During the post-liberalization period, traditional rural livelihood
activities like livestock farming and handicrafts, etc. are slowly
disappearing. In addition, the need for high investment in modern
agriculture, unpredictable monsoons, shortage of power, ground water
depletion, etc. are pushing many farmers away from agriculture and
forcing them to migrate to cities. This particular aspect points to the
necessity to revitalize the rural economy by making rural livelihood
systems economically viable and sustainable.
Second, haphazard rural-urban migration has led to the formation of
slums and resulted in environmental degradation in several Indian cities,
impacting human health and wellbeing. In the absence of suitable
livelihood avenues, rural migrants often end up in organized criminal
gangs and become a curse on the society. Extreme poverty and the non-
availability of suitable jobs in large cities for urban youth have resulted in
increased crime rates and heightened social tensions. There is reason to
believe that globalization and high economic development have negatively
impacted employment generation in general, though the impact is more
severe in rural areas than in towns and cities. Particular attention needs to
be given to prevent social conflicts that could threaten society cohesion
and create law and order problems. In addition to better law and order,
more employment opportunities need to be created in urban areas. In this
regard, the study recommends extending the Mahatma Gandhi National

C.M. Lakshmana
39
Rural Employment Guarantee scheme to urban areas also. The low socio-
economic status, low level of education and high fertility and mortality
rates among slum dwellers call for special attention to be paid to public
health care for children, women and the elderly population in urban areas.
The third important consequence of urbanization is that it is causing
rising air pollution. India’s economic development has been associated
with air pollution and increasing emission levels. The rapid growth in the
number of motor vehicles and the resultant road congestion has had a
severe impact on air quality. The poor quality of maintenance of
automobile engines, particularly diesel engines, leads to unacceptable
levels of noxious emissions. This poses health hazards at different levels.
This can be seen in fig. 3.
Fourth, high pollution is creating health hazards. After 65 years of
independence, about 45% of households in India are without toilet and
sanitation facilities. Not even urban India is an exception to this sad
situation. For a population of approximately 340 million, an open space is
the toilet place (fig. 4). Urban slum dwellers, migrants and even poor
people in urban areas do not have sanitation facilities. This causes land
degradation, and water and air pollution, etc. in cities.
Fifth, an important cause of pollution is the haphazard growth of urban
settlements and the inability of municipal bodies to provide basic services
to the residents for several reasons, particularly due to the unplanned
nature of such settlements. Municipal bodies should regularize such
settlements in order to provide urban services uniformly. Currently, the
availability of urban services varies from one ward to another and across
residential areas. For example, unauthorized residential houses and
commercial buildings are being constructed without first obtaining a
planning sanction from the respective municipal authority. The provision
of uniform services is next to impossible in these unauthorized
settlements. Unless the required development fee is paid to the respective
city municipal authority, new residential layouts are beyond the purview
of city municipal authorities.
In most cities, approximately 40% of garbage collection is done by
municipal authorities, 20% by private institutions, and the rest (about
40%) is still being dumped in unauthorized landfills. Vacant and unused
residential and undeveloped land in cities is being used to dump solid
waste by the surrounding households.
This leads directly to land degradation and, more importantly, air and
water pollution. In Bangalore, for instance, several hectares of land
developed by the BDA for site formation—where hardly 20-30% of site
owners have built houses in the new layouts—are being utilized by the

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Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development in India
42
Conclusion
India has experienced an unprecedented rise in urbanization in the post-
LPG period, and the mega cities are already overcrowded and bursting at the
seams. Action should be taken to make our rural areas more attractive places
to live, with jobs, utilities and other amenities of modern life, in order to
slow down rapid urban growth and retain potential rural-urban migrants in
the rural areas. Due to the rapid growth of the number of motor vehicles,
traffic congestion has increased and made urban life miserable, in addition to
taking pollution beyond permissible levels. Hence, stringent traffic rules
need to be formulated and implemented by the transport authorities in urban
areas. Establishing public-private partnerships (PPT) needs to be encouraged
and promoted to provide the needed urban infrastructure to cope with the
ever increasing population in Indian cities. There is a need to increase
government budgetary allocation to local authorities, i.e., the respective city
municipal councils, to provide for the basic needs of the growing urban
population. This must be accompanied by fixing accountability on municipal
authorities in order to eliminate corruption through the involvement of local
self-help and civil society groups.
In order to address the complex issues of urban environmental
problems, there is a need to enforce the government bylaws, laws and
legislation. City municipal bodies (CMCs) should prepare land use plans
for the systematic development of cities, keeping in view the needs of the
future growth of both population and commercial activity in their
jurisdiction. This should also aim to strengthen the rural economy by
promoting rural entrepreneurship and inviting global investors/MNCs to
establish their enterprises in rural areas in preference to urban areas. India
has to learn lessons from those countries that have adopted development
strategies aimed at balancing urban and rural population growth in
accordance with the available resources. For instance, countries like South
Korea initiated the New Village Movement in the 1970s in order to raise
rural incomes and discourage rural-to-urban migration. China is another
example in that it has successfully regulated the growth of cities by
restricting migration and investing heavily in the countryside. As a result,
the income of many rural Chinese is higher than that of their urban
counterparts. In the matter of effective policies for a clean environment,
healthy life and sustainable development, countries like Sweden, Germany
and the US provide examples that we in India can emulate profitably.
Municipal authorities should make some effort to raise money through
bonds, and encourage community participation to shore up sagging urban
services.

C.M. Lakshmana
43
The exploitation of natural resources is a key factor in the economic
growth and development in India. Lopsided and uncontrolled urbanization
is a serious challenge to urban governance and though the government has
given priority to industrialization, the question of urbanization has not
received much attention. Several schemes and policies were thought of to
tackle urban development issues in the country but these management
strategies have failed to provide quality services to the urbanites. Hence,
maintenance issues become more important than the initial implementation.
Hence, in order to pursue India’s current sustainable development
strategy meaningfully, we need to bear in mind that unless and until we
bestow sufficient attention on preventing natural resource depletion and
resultant environmental degradation, there is the danger of today’s engines
of economic growth, i.e., urban cities, taking a U-turn and fouling up the
course of development in the near future, hence the need to realize the
interconnection of the two words “sustainable” and “development.”
Development should be such that it meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Previous
generations do not seem to have realized this but we are fortunate in that
our generation has realized that present development should not be at the
cost of future sustainability.
References
Brennen-Galvin. 2001. The Future of the World’s Mega Cities: Global
Outlook. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Centre for Scholars.
Bhagat, R.B. 1992. “Components of Urban Growth in India with
Reference to Haryana: Findings from Recent Census.” Nagarlok
25(3):10–14.
—. 2004. “Dynamics of Urban Population Growth by Size Class of Towns
and Cities in India.” Demography India 33(1): 33–47.
Davis-Mattis, L. 2005. Marine Debris: Jamaica’s Response. UN Open-
Ended Informal.
Consultive Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (6th Meeting). New
York.
Dyson Tim. 2011. “Population and Development.” Rawat Publications,
Jaipur, India.
Jones. 2003. “Urbanization Trends in Asia.” United Nations Population
Fund, available at http;//www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm.
Kundu and Basu, S. 1998. “Informal Manufacturing Sector in Urban
Areas–An Analysis of recent Trends.” Manpower Journal, 34 (1),
April-June 1998.

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44
Kundu, A. Sarangi, N. Dash B.P. 2003. ”Rural Non-Farm Employment:
An Analysis of Rural Urban Interdependence.” Working Paper, 196,
Overseas Development Institute, London.
Kundu, A. 1994. “Pattern of Urbanization with Special Reference to Small
and Medium Towns in India” in Chadha, G.K., Sectoral Issues in the
Indian Economy. Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi.
Lakshmana C.M. “Effects of Population Growth on Environmental
Degradation” Demography India, 37 (1) Jan. –June, 2008.
—. 2011. Population Change and Health Care. Rawat Publications,
Jaipur.
—. 2011. “Population and Development: Transition in Southern States of
India.” Project draft report submitted to ISEC, Bangalore, August.
Leitmann, J. et al. 1992. “Environmental Management and Urban
Development: Issues and Options for Third World Cities.” Environment
and Urbanization” 4 (2).
Mukherji, Shekhar. 1993. “Poverty-Induced Migration and Urban
Involution in India: Cause and Consequences.” International Institute
for Population Sciences. Pp 1–91.
Nayak, P.R. 1962. “The Challenges of Urban Growth to Indian Local
Government” in Turner (ed), India’s Urban Future. University of
California Press, Berkley.
National Coordinating Agency for Population & Development “Migration,
Urbanization and Environment in Kenya.” Policy Brief, 2009.
Pranati Datta. 2006. “Urbanization in India.” Conference Paper presented
at European Population Conference
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27348441/Urbanizatrion.
Premi, M.K. 1991. “India’s Urban Scene and its Future Implications.”
Demography India, 20 (1).
Registrar General. 1991. “Census of India, Emerging Trends of
Urbanization in India.” Occasional Paper No.1 of 1993, New Delhi.
Richard Cronin, A. Pandya (eds). 2009. Exploiting Natural Resources.
The Henry L. Stimson Centre, Washington DC.
The New York Times, June 7, 2007.
UN-HABITAT. 2003. The Challenges of Slums: Global Report on Human
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Washington DC.
United Nations Population Fund. 2005. “Urbanization: A Majority in
Cities.” http;//www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm

PART I

URBAN GOVERNANCE AND PLANNING:
A STUDY OF SELECTED URBAN LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS IN KARNATAKA1
M. DEVENDRA BABU2
1. Introduction
The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts effected to the Indian Constitution
in the year 1992 provide for the creation of a third tier of governance in
the Indian federal structure. The 73rd Amendment Act relates to rural local
bodies (panchayats) whereas the 74th relates to urban local bodies (ULBs).
Like the 73rd Amendment Act, the 74th has similar provisions relating to
the powers, functions and finances of ULBs. The important provisions
include regular elections, the power to prepare development plans, a
domain of functions and financial sources/powers. The Twelfth Schedule
under Article 243W of the 74th Amendment Act contains 18
subjects/responsibilities (Table 1) to be considered for transfer to ULBs by
the states. The important powers/functions entrusted include planning for
orderly urban growth and economic and social development (productive
activities); the provision of basic services such as water supply, health and
sanitation, street lights, parking lots, etc.; infrastructure such as roads,
markets, parks, playgrounds, fire services; and social justice functions
such as caring for the disabled, slum improvement, poverty alleviation and
the protection of environment. For the autonomous functioning of local
bodies, finance is very important. These local bodies must have their own
resource-raising and fund-transfer powers to enable them to carry out the
functions entrusted to them efficiently. Property tax is the most important
source of revenue for the ULBs. There is also a provision in the
1 Paper Presented at the Prelude Conference on Urban Governance
(Administration) Development and Service Delivery Conference, ISEC, September
1, 2012.
2 Associate Professor, Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institute for
Social and Economic Change, Bangalore 560072.

M. Devendra Babu 47
Constitution (Article 243I) for the establishment of a finance commission
by every state for the determination of tax powers and the sharing of
revenue between local bodies and the state. Again, the Central Finance
Commission is also entrusted with the responsibility of considering the
needs of local bodies.
Table 1 Functions of Urban Local Bodies as given in the Twelfth
Schedule of Constitution of India
1. Urban Planning, including town planning
2. Regulation of land use and construction of buildings
3. Planning for economic and social development
4. Roads and bridges
5. Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes
6. Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management
7. Fire services
8. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of
ecological aspects
9. Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the
handicapped and mentally challenged
10. Slum improvement and upgrading
11. Urban poverty alleviation
12. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens and
playgrounds
13. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects
14. Burials and burial grounds, cremations, cremation grounds and electric
crematoriums
15. Cattle pounds; prevention of cruelty to animals
16. Vital statistics, including registration of births and deaths
17. Public amenities, including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and
public conveniences
18. Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries
Apart from providing basic services in general, the local body is
supposed to take a special interest in the poor and the neglected. The poor
living in slums and pavements have to be accorded priority in the
provision of a minimum level of basic services. In other words, the local
bodies have to prepare medium/long-term plans with a clear-cut vision,
which includes reaching standards in certain services within a reasonable
time period, the inclusiveness of all those who have been excluded from
the basic core services and their economic development, and protection of
environment.

Urban Governance and Planning
48
In 2008, the Planning Commission of India instructed all the states to
initiate district plan preparation for both urban and rural areas for the 11th
plan period. To facilitate the functionaries of local governments to initiate
this, the Planning Commission issued guidelines based on the Expert
Committee Report (MoPR, 2006). Among others, the guidelines stressed
the adoption of a participatory planning approach, a vision document, and
integration of urban and rural plans. While preparing the plans, the
institutions and staff concerned were expected to start with an inventory of
resources (natural, human, physical and financial). Identifying the
institutions, especially the parallel bodies involved in similar activities at
the district level, and aligning their physical and financial plans with that
of the UBs’ plans was also proposed. These parameters if followed would
result in the optimal utilization of resources, overcoming duplication and
overlapping, fine-tune targeting, and above all ensuring transparency and
accountability for actions. In this regard, some questions that arise here
are: (1) Do the urban bodies have adequate powers and capabilities to
govern and meet the responsibilities placed on them? (2) Do they have
adequate financial powers, and do they make sincere efforts in resource
mobilization? and (3) Do the ULBs have the capacity to prepare an
integrated plan for a medium-term period that can be implemented? These
are pertinent questions, and there is need to find the answers to them.
With all of this as a background, this paper broadly attempts to analyze
the problems and planning by the ULBs in the state of Karnataka. The
specific objectives are: a) To assess the extent of services made available
and the gaps therein; b) to analyze the resource pattern and availability; c)
to evaluate the priorities and allocation of outlays; and d) to suggest policy
measures for better governance and planning by ULBs.
This paper is based on the study pertaining to ULBs in Karnataka
State. For an in-depth study, 44 UBs, which include town panchayats,
town municipal councils, city municipal councils and corporations, in
seven districts of Karnataka—Bangalore Rural, Chikballapura, Dakshina
Kannada, Kodagu, Mandya, Ramanagara and Tumkur—were selected.
The UBs in these districts prepared a medium-term plan coterminous with
the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007–08 to 2011–12).
2. ULBs in Karnataka
As elsewhere in the country, the urban population is increasing at a fast
rate in Karnataka. The two main reasons for this are the natural growth of
population and migration from rural areas. In Karnataka, the share of
urban population in the total population in 1991 was 31 percent, in 2001 it

M. Devendra Babu 49
was 34% and in 2011 it stood at 38.57%. In the decentralization set-up,
ULBs in Karnataka have five categories. The category-wise differentiation
is made on the basis of size of population and special geographical status.
The number of different types of UBs in Karnataka is shown in table 2. It
can be seen from the table that of the total 218 UBs, the majority belong to
town panchayats (TPs) and town municipal councils (TMCs) (162). Of the
remaining, 44 constitute city municipal councils (CMCs), 8 city
corporations (CCs) and 4 notified area committees (NACs).
Table 2 Category-wise Number of Urban Bodies in Karnataka
Sl. No. Category Number
1 City Corporation 08
2 City Municipal Council 44
3 Town Municipal Council 68
4 Town Panchayat 94
5 Notified Area Committee 04
Total of all Urban Bodies 218
Source: Urban Development Department, Government of Karnataka
In the prescribed system of revenue assignment, ULBs have tax
powers. The major sources of income of ULBs are: municipal rates and
taxes on buildings and land, revenue from advertisements, hoardings and
non-tax sources like user charges, license fees, etc.; and grants from state
and central governments, loans, contributions, etc. The major expenditure
of ULBs comprises drinking water supply, drainage, sewage, health and
sanitation, public lighting, roads, slum improvement, environment,
poverty alleviation, and housing, etc.
3. Background of selected ULBs
As stated in the methodology, a total of 44 UBs in seven districts were
selected for the study. The district and category-wise number of UBs in
the 7 districts is given in table 3. It can be seen from the table that the
Tumkur district has the highest number of UBs, totaling 10. The
headquarters of each of the 10 taluks is an urban body. This is followed by
the Dakshina Kannada district with 8 UBs. In this district, some taluks
have more than one urban body— the Mandya district has 7. The lone city
corporation, the Mangalore City Corporation, is in the Dakshina Kannada
(DK) district.

Urban Governance and Planning
50
Table 3 District-wise Number of Selected Urban Bodies
District City
Corporation
City
Municipal
Council
Town
Municipal
Council
Town
Panchayat Total
1.Bangalore
Rural - 1 3 1 5
2.
Chikballapura - 2 3 1 6
3.Dakshina
Kannada 1 1 3 3 8
4. Kodagu - 1 - 3 4
5. Mandya - 1 6 - 7
6. Ramanagara - 2 2 - 4
7. Tumkur - 3 5 2 10
Total 1 11 22 10 44
With regard to the population in these urban bodies, the information is
provided in table 4. It can be seen from the table that the highest
population is in the DK district, and this is mainly because of the
Mangalore City Corporation. The next highest population is in the Tumkur
district, and this is because of the existence of a large number of urban
bodies. The lowest urban population is found in the Kodagu district, and
this is understandable as the total population of the district itself is very
small.
Table 4 District-wise Population of the Selected Urban Bodies
District 2001 2007 (projected) 2011 (projected)
1.Bangalore Rural 186,162 223,546 316,466
2. Chikballapura 220,992 255,992 285,227
3.Dakshina
Kannada
621,504 640,741 702,219
4. Kodagu 71,637 77,639 90,525
5. Mandya 274,022 287,904 310,233
6. Ramanagara 387,429 395,181 403,718
7. Tumkur 502,966 595,395 694,840
Total 2,264,712 2,476,398 2,803,228

M. Devendra Babu 51
4. Status of slums, services and infrastructure
in the selected ULBs
a. Slums
Slums are a common feature of Indian cities. Immigrants in general
stay as squatters on the pavements that mostly constitute the slums. It is
the responsibility of the urban body to improve the living conditions of the
people in the slums by at least providing the basic core services if not
resettle them in a decent housing estate. It is important here to spotlight the
position of slums and within them the extent of availability of various
services and infrastructure. This information is presented in table 5. It can
be seen from the table that there are 280 slums in the 44 urban bodies of
the 7 districts. The highest number of slums is in Tumkur UBs, followed
by Mandya, Chikballapura, Bangalore Rural, DK, Ramanagara and
Kodagu. The number of households and total population in all these slums
are 62,576 and 647,104, respectively. The average population per slum is
2,311. The highest and lowest average population per slum are in the
districts of Bangalore Rural and Ramanagara, respectively. Of the total
houses in the slums, just 44% are electrified. The highest and lowest
numbers of electrified houses are observed in the UBs of Ramanagara and
DK districts, respectively. Though DK is comparatively a developed
district, its major problems are road connectivity and electrification. This
deficiency is due to scattered housing settlements and the district’s
topography. As for drinking water, on average 20 households per district
have an individual water connection. Among the districts, the UBs of
Ramanagara have the largest number of individual water connections in
the slums (64.68%), and the lowest level is seen in Bangalore Rural
district (5.13%). With regard to public water facilities, there is one tap for
every 13 households. Urban bodies in the district of Mandya have fewer
public taps in relation to its total households. None of the UBs in the
Chikballapura district reported any information on the existence of public
taps. Another important service made available in the slums by UBs is
community toilets. A large number of public toilets are made available in
Bangalore Rural district, and this is followed by Mandya, Tumkur and
Chickballapura. The dependency of the population on public toilets is
highest in Bangalore Rural, followed by DK, Ramanagara, Tumkur and
Chickballapura districts. The overall outlook in the slums is that there are
large gaps in the provision of services and infrastructure.

Urban Governance and Planning
52
Table 5 Status of Slums in the Selected Urban Bodies
District No. of
Slums
Popu-
lation
No. of
House-
holds
No. of
Houses
Electri-
fied
No. of
Indivi-
dual
Taps
No. of
Public
Taps
No. of
Public
Toilets
No. of
Public
lights
Average
Population
per Slum
% HHs
Electrified
% of
Individual
Tap
Connections
% of No. of Public
Taps
Population
per Public
Toilet
1.Bangalore
Rural 31 426,690 8,089 3,871 415 855 54 1,208 13,764 47.86 5.13 9.46 7,902
2.
Chikballapur 47 52,084 12,232 3,758 1,966 0 15 760 1,108 30.72 16.07 0 3,472
3. Dakshina
Kannada 31 25,956 5,232 1,235 1,758 162 6 1,344 837 23.60 33.60 32.30 4,326
4. Kodagu 11 11,011 2,006 1,221 454 91 7 170 1,001 60.87 22.63 22.04 1,573
5. Mandya 51 41,803 7,970 5,281 3,298 109 24 1,435 820 66.26 41.38 73.12 1,742
6.
Ramanagara 30 14,758 3,938 2,988 2,547 361 4 1,875 492 75.88 64.68 10.91 3,690
7. Tumkur 79 74,802 22,909 9,004 2,202 3,162 21 1,088 947 39.30 9.61 7.25 3,562
Total 280 647,104 62,376 27,358 12,640 4,740 131 7,880 2,311 43.86 (av.) 20.26 (av.) 13.16 (av.) 4,940
Note: (av) = average
Data Source: Comprehensive District Development Plan (CDDP) of Respective Districts.

M. Devendra Babu 53
b. Service and infrastructure gaps
It is the responsibility of every UB to provide certain basic services at
reasonable levels to its dwellers. The important services include drinking
water, sewage and solid waste disposal, drainage and sanitation, and
streetlights. Apart from this, basic infrastructure such as roads, footpaths,
market yards, burial grounds and poverty alleviation also place high on the
list of a local body’s prime responsibilities. In this regard, an attempt is
made here to put forward the extent of gaps or otherwise in the services
and infrastructure in the selected UBs of the 7 districts.
The information relating to the status of various services and
infrastructure in the UBs of the selected districts is presented in table 6. It
may be seen from the table that, except for Mandya, all the UBs face
shortages of drinking water. The normative level of required drinking
water in terms of LPCD (liters per capita per day) is 70 for TPs and TMCs
and 135 for the bigger urban bodies. Considering this norm, the gap is as
large as 50 LPCD in Ramanagara district followed by DK district with 41
LPCD, Tumkur with 38 LPCD and Chikballapura with 37 LPCD.
Incidentally, the UBs in Bangalore Rural district have a smaller gap, with
just 13 LPCD. With regard to an underground sewage system, only 4 out
of 44 UBs have this facility. These are the Mangalore City Corporation
and Moodabidre TMC in DK) district, the Chintamani CMC in
Chickballapura district and the Tumkur CMC in Tumkur district. This
shows that the majority of UBs lack an important sanitation-related
service, i.e., underground drainage facility. Again, of the total UBs, only 5
have sewage treatment plants. Coming to waste dumping yards, each of
the UBs has at least one dumping yard. As for street lighting, many UBs
are in short supply. Similarly, the majority of the UBs lack sufficient road
infrastructure and footpaths are almost non-existent. In contrast to this,
almost all the UBs have adequate burial grounds. Housing is another
important basic need of human beings and a large number of the people in
urban towns and cities live in huts and dilapidated houses. However, the
majority of UBs in the selected districts failed to consider this as a
problem in their plans. Similarly, poverty alleviation is also an important
objective but the majority of the UBs have shown scant concern for this
problem. Above all, in most of the UBs, relevant and authentic data on
various services and infrastructure are lacking, and this is particularly
evident in the Mandya district.

Urban Governance and Planning
54
Table 6 District-wise Availability and Gaps in Services and Infrastructure in the Selected Urban Bodies
District
Deficit
in
Drinking
Water
(LPCD)
No. of
Street
Lights
Requi-
red
No. of
Existing
Trea-
tment
Plants
No. of
Waste
Dumping
Yards
Existing
Under-
ground
Drainage
(In km)
Required
Road
Length
(km)
Existing
Footpaths
(km)
No. of
Required
Burial
Grounds
Poverty
Allevi
ation
(Bene-
ficiaries
to be
Covered)
Housing
Target
for Poor
Bangalore
Rural 13 - 0 4 12 435 0 0 0 0
Chikballapura 37 8,000 1 6
48
(Chinta-
mani
only)
411 93 8
15,506
(2 UBs)
4,360 (#
UBs)
Dakshina
Kannada 41 5,434 2 7 238 1,151 80 18 8,893 0
Kodagu 23 4,879 0 1 0 86 32 8 26,237 0
Mandya 0 6,983 NA NA NA 840 NA 13 3,200 750
Ramanagara 50 989 1 4 0 21 NA 4 0 0
Tumkur 38 6,814 1 10 350
385
(Tum) 54 17 0 0
Note: NA - not available

M. Devendra Babu 55
4. Pattern of resources of UBs
In terms of resources, the state of ULBs in India is slightly better as a
whole compared to the rural local governments. Here too there is a great
deal of heterogeneity, with some doing well (city corporations) while other
smaller municipal councils are increasing their dependency on the higher-
level governments (Reserve Bank of India, 2000, 18). The functions of
ULBs broadly indicate their powers and capacity to raise revenues and
also to spend. The major sources of revenue of the ULBs include taxes on
property, professions, vehicles, advertisement, lighting and entertainment.
During 2001–02, the LBs’ revenue accounted for around 1.75% of GDP,
with ULBs accounting for about 0.75% and panchayats accounting for
1.0% (Babu et al., 2011, 217–18). In the same period, the relative share of
municipal revenue in the combined state and central government’s
revenues was 2.33%. Again, the ULB share of receipts in India of the
combined revenues of all government level receipts was 1.65% (Babu,
2009).
In Karnataka, the ULBs have been bestowed with only property tax since
1996 but they also have powers to mobilize resources from various non-tax
sources. After the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts were implemented, the
First State Finance Commission of Karnataka recommended a share in the
total tax revenues of the state instead of individual taxes. The subsequent
Finance Commissions of Karnataka recommended the same pattern.
Hence, the LBs (urban and rural) get grants from the state on the basis of
the recommendations of SFC. As for their own tax power, i.e., relating to
property tax, it is an important source but what is needed is the will to
collect revenue to meet the needs. Good governance, efficient and
adequate personnel, reforms in widening the tax base, tax determination, a
revision of tax rates, etc., matter very much in mobilizing the required
resources of ULBs. Transfers are another important source of revenue for
ULBs. The transfers consist of central and state government grants
(specific schemes), Central and State Finance Commission grants, and
external grants (select ULBs and schemes). In Karnataka, the ULBs also
have the power to borrow from institutions for infrastructure and service
delivery. They can tap resources in other ways too. For instance, the
members of parliament and state legislature receive annual grants from the
respective governments. If planned well and rapport is built with these
members, this would be another source of revenue for the urban bodies.
In their preparation for a medium-term plan (11th Five-Year Plan), the
UBs need to estimate the available resources. They should also make
special efforts to mobilize the larger resources required for planning. Some

Urban Governance and Planning
56
of the ULBs were able to realize the actual revenues for the years 2007–08
and 2008–09, and for the remaining years it is the estimated figures. The
source-wise income of all the selected urban bodies of the 7 districts is
given in table 7. It can be seen from the table that the UBs have a variety
of income sources of their own —shared grants from higher-level
governments, grants on the basis of finance commissions, and other
sources. It can be seen from the table that own revenue (tax and non-tax)
for the five years (average) account for about 21% of the total income.
Government grants constitute the largest share in the total income. Of the
various grants, the State Finance Commission grants constitute the largest
share with 52.53%. The next highest grant is that of the Central Finance
Commission, which accounts for about 9%. All grants taken together
account for nearly 72% of the total income. This shows that the
dependency level of UBs on higher-level governments is very high. The
contribution of other sources, such as Member of Parliament Local Area
Development (MPLAD) and Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area
Development (MLALAD) grants, contributions and loans, account for just
7%.
It is interesting to note that of the 44 sample UBs, only the Mangalore
City Corporation has availed of loans, and intends to avail of them in the
subsequent years too. No other UB, including CMCs such as Tumkur and
Mandya, availed or thought of borrowing. This means it is beyond the
capacity of small towns and cities to seek loans for funding infrastructure
development or delivery of services. Another important point to be
observed here is that there are specific schemes of both the central and the
state governments for which funds are made available for UBs. Central
schemes such as the Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY), a
self-employment program for the poor in urban areas, the Rajiv Awas
Yojana (RAY), a housing program for the homeless, the Integrated Low
Cost Sanitation Scheme (ILCS), Basic Services to the Urban Poor
(BSUP), and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM), and state schemes like the Chief Minister’s Small and
Medium Towns Development Plan (CMSMTDP) are meant to supplement
the resources of the UBs for providing basic core services like housing and
poverty alleviation, etc. However, a glance at these schemes and grants
across the selected UBs reveal that very few UBs accessed them. It
appears that in most of the UBs the functionaries are unaware of the
existence of these schemes. They are also not serious about understanding
the guidelines of the schemes and preparing proper plans for their
implementation.

M. Devendra Babu 57
Table 7 Source-wise Income of UBs of Seven Districts of Karnataka (Rs. 100,000s)
Sources of Income 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 Total of 5 Years % of Total
1. Opening Balance 297.19 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 297.19 0.12
2. Own Revenue (Tax and Non-tax) 8,398.26 9,788.25 10,795.22 11,816.06 12,941.97 52,447.14 21.00
3. Shared Taxes 278.26 364.69 437.46 495.29 555.41 2,131.11 0.85
4. Assigned Taxes 18.33 28.18 37.01 40.16 46.65 170.33 0.07
5. State Government Grant 2,239.72 3,227.81 3,963.01 4,564.31 6,170.62 20,165.42 8.08
6. Central Government Grant 959.55 1,546.02 2,235.16 1,134.00 1,232.55 6,928.17 2.77
7. Central Finance Commission Grant 2,795.73 3,792.64 5,501.87 4,771.81 5,506.35 22,368.43 8.96
8. State Finance Com. Grant 19,397.79 24,126.61 28,789.80 27,964.62 30,882.52 131,161.28 52.53
9. Loans/Borrowings 0.52 10.23 145.36 170.23 197.12 523.46 0.21
10. Contributions 37.32 38.32 1,797.10 139.03 139.37 2,151.14 0.86
11. MPLAD Grant 93.00 191.55 306.75 347.48 407.36 1,346.14 0.54
12. MLALAD Grant 37.51 254.53 392.00 426.01 572.64 1,682.69 0.67
13. Others 340.86 197.19 2,449.90 3,292.30 1,939.35 8,219.60 3.29
Total 34,894.01 43,565.98 56,850.61 55,161.35 60,517.11 24,9696.38 100.00
Data Source: Respective CDDPs

Urban Governance and Planning
58
5. Outlays of UBs
In the light of gaps in services, infrastructure, poverty, environment,
etc., and the extent of disposable resources, it is possible to see the
priorities accorded by the UBs to various needs. It is the responsibility of
each and every UB to provide at least a minimum standard of basic core
services, a minimum level of infrastructure, a reduction of poverty, and
protection of the environment. The information on the allocation of
outlays for the various needs of all the selected UBs is presented in table 8.
The table reveals that the allocations were made for services like drinking
water, waste management, sanitation, and street lights, and for
infrastructure like roads, buildings, markets, parks, playgrounds, etc., as
well as poverty alleviation, environment, and health and education. The
outlays allocated reveal that the highest priority of UBs is road
construction, which received 31% of the total outlay. The next priority
schemes are drainage construction (11.94%), drinking water (11.22%),
solid waste, sewage, street lighting, and buildings, which received 5.5 to
6.70%. On the other hand, improvement of slums received a share of
3.56%, poverty alleviation 3.13%, housing 2.72%, health and education
1.85% and the environment 0.29%. This pattern of allocations remains
almost the same across all the UBs. Except for two or three, no UBs have
underground drainage systems; footpaths are non-existent, the availability
of services in slums is abysmally low, and no concrete plans have been
drawn for provision of housing to the needy, or poverty alleviation and
protection of the environment. The four main reasons for their low priority
are: a) a resource crunch at the local body level, b) involvement of
multiple agencies in delivering services and infrastructure in municipal
areas, c) implementation of central and state-sponsored schemes in select
urban areas, and d) lack of knowledge on the part of functionaries on
integrated planning and development. Still worse, the UBs are supposed to
spend 22.75% of the development funds for the benefit of scheduled
castes/scheduled tribes (16.20% for SCs and 6.55% for STs), but the
selected UBs have not drawn up a separate budget and plans for the
welfare and development of SC/STs. This situation is not exclusive to
these few UBs but common to all. For instance, at the state level, the
actual outlay allocated by the UBs for SCs/STs was a meager 1.1% (UDD,
2008).

M. Devendra Babu 59
Table 8 Schemes and Outlays of the UBs of Seven Districts (Rs. lakh)
Items of Expenditure 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 Total % of Total
1. Improvement of Slums 390.02 909.48 1590.25 1770.75 1818.75 6479.25 3.56
2. Drinking Water Supply 2182.39 3518.48 4032.73 5388.8 5296.7 20419.1 11.22
3. Drainages 2425.04 2816.44 4860.43 5581.71 6036.46 21720.08 11.94
4. Sewage 862.6 2072.04 1904.15 2845.7 3746.6 11431.09 6.28
5. Solid Waste Management 1092.01 2159.85 2775.54 2811.63 3360.66 12199.66 6.70
6. Street Lights 1556.94 1501.43 2121.9 2300.6 2616.23 10097.1 5.55
7. Road Construction 6043.63 11936.17 12142.65 10832.41 15444.7 56399.56 31.00
8. Buildings 616.15 1296.1 2014.04 3398.85 3053.8 10378.94 5.70
9. Public Toilets 41.5 238.8 297.31 401.5 382.9 1362.01 0.75
10. Burial Grounds 293.8 624.5 584 1016.95 848.82 3368.07 1.85
11. Poverty Alleviation 334.96 750.9 1509.53 1368.4 1725.5 5689.29 3.13
12. Public Parks 56.8 63.25 126.5 353.5 296 896.05 0.49
13. Housing 341.55 563.03 1198.5 1283.89 1562.9 4949.87 2.72
14. Environment (Forest) 65 138.22 82.35 128.4 120.6 534.57 0.29
15. SC/STs Development 296.12 242.3 535.51 254.71 669.6 1998.24 1.10
16. Play Grounds 70.5 314 406.5 333.75 497 1621.75 0.89
17. Markets 4.5 42 274 187 82 589.5 0.32
18. Tourism 38 152 172 154 193 709 0.39
19. Education 54 105 132 137 204 632 0.35
20. Health 80.5 470.5 676 721 781 2729 1.50
21. Others 1127.63 936.75 2064.04 1014.56 2609.23 7752.21 4.26
Total 17973.64 30851.24 39499.93 42285.11 51346.45 181956.37 100.00

Urban Governance and Planning
60
6. Conclusions and suggestions
The analysis of the above reveals various dimensions in urban
governance and planning. What stands out is that the urban bodies in general
restrict their functions to a few activities. The immediate concentration is on
the provision of drinking water, roads, streetlights, and solid waste
disposal. The other functions are not on their priority list.
While preparing the five-year plan, most of the UBs devoted their time
to assessing the gaps in core basic services and infrastructure but not to
issues related to inclusive development and environment. They seem to be
generally ignorant that equity is to be maintained while providing services
and infrastructure. The problem in Karnataka is that while amending the
Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, some of the functions, such as slum
improvement, environment protection, mitigation of urban poverty, art and
culture, education, etc., were made non-obligatory hence the neglect by the
UBs on these issues.
Another interesting fact is that many UBs failed to have a long-term
vision in their plans. They restricted their boundaries to annual
requirements that they have followed for decades. Added to this is that
there was no attempt to link the plans of urban bodies with rural plans. It
was just a bureaucracy-driven plan that ignored the importance of
involvement of elected representatives, non-governmental organizations
and citizens.
Coming to the most important aspect of urban function, i.e., resource
mobilization, the urban bodies do not seem to have attempted any new
innovative methods/avenues. Their own revenue mobilization is not up to
the mark. For instance, at the state level, the collection of property tax
against demand was 64% only in 2009–10. There is large scope for UBs to
tap non-tax sources but no attempt is forthcoming from them. Similarly,
the power to borrow from state, central and financial institutions has not
been exercised by any of the selected UBs. Hence, the UBs’ dependency
on transferred grants is very high.
Linked to the above issue is the fact that the maintenance of accounts
in most of the UBs leaves much to be desired, in spite of grants made
available by the 11th Finance Commission of India specifically for this
purpose. The personnel lack knowledge of budget making, accounts
maintenance and auditing. This has greatly affected good plan preparation.
Again, the state also enjoys power over the functions that are supposed
to be performed by the ULBs. The state exercises power through various
agencies (parallel bodies) in providing services and infrastructure
development in urban areas. There is no coordination between UBs and

M. Devendra Babu 61
other parallel institutions in planning and implementation. For instance,
the Slum Clearance Board at the state level is involved in providing certain
services and infrastructure in slums so the urban bodies think that the
improvement of slums is not their responsibility. Similarly, the Karnataka
Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) is involved in
providing drinking water and underground drainage in towns and cities.
The Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) is engaged in developing housing
colonies catering to the needs of various sections in urban areas. As for
health and education, the Zilla panchayats have control over these
departments in the districts, and these departments are responsible for
urban areas too. As a result, most of the UBs restrict their area of operation
to pressing basic needs only, without taking a holistic view of
development.
In the light of the above shortcomings, there is a need for overhauling
the entire functioning of the UBs.
References
Babu, M. Devendra. 2009. “Financial Empowerment of Local
Governments in Indian Context: A Myth or Fact? – A Macro Inquiry.”
Asian Studies Review, 7, November.
Babu, M. Devendra, B. S. Sreekantaradhya, D. Rajasekhar. 2009.
“Comprehensive District Development Plan for 2007–08 to 2011–12 –
Bangalore Rural District” (Memeo). Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bangalore.
Babu, M. Devendra, D. Abdul Aziz, D. Rajasekhar. 2010.
“Comprehensive District Development Plan for Eleventh Five-Year
Plan (2007–12) – Ramanagara District” (Memeo). Institute for Social
and Economic Change, Bangalore.
Babu, M. Devendra, M. J. Bhende, M. Padmanabha. 2010.
“Comprehensive District Development Plan for Eleventh Five-Year
Plan (2007–12) – Kodagu District” (Memeo). Institute for Social and
Economic Change, Bangalore.
Babu, M. Devendra, M. J. Bhende, B. Sheshsadri. 2010. “Comprehensive
District Development Plan for Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007–12) –
Mandya District” (Memeo). Institute for Social and Economic Change,
Bangalore.
Babu, M. Devendra, B. S. Sreekantaradhya, D. Rajasekhar. 2011.
“Comprehensive District Development Plan for Eleventh Five-Year
Plan (2007–12) – Chikballapura District” (Memeo). Institute for Social
and Economic Change, Bangalore.

Urban Governance and Planning
62
Babu, M. Devendra, M. J. Bhende, V. L. Vasanthakumari. 2011.
“Comprehensive District Development Plan – Dakshina Kannada
District” (Memeo). Institute for Social and Economic Change,
Bangalore.
Ministry of Panchayat Raj (MoPR). 2006. “Planning at the Grassroots
Level: An Action Programme for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.”
Government of India, New Delhi.
“Powers to the People.” n.d. Kannada, Bangalore.
Reserve Bank of India. 2009. “Strengthening Decentralisation –
Augmenting the Consolidated Fund of the States by the Thirteenth
Finance Commission: A Normative Approach.” DRG Study No. 29.
UDD (Urban Development Department). 2008. “GO No. NAE 186 GEL
2008, dated 4-3-2009.” Government of Karnataka.

URBAN GOVERNANCE, AIR POLLUTION
AND HEALTH IMPLICATIONS
DR. RAVI D.R.
1. Introduction
Human settlement in the developing world is witnessing an
unprecedented shift into the cities. The economic base through expanding
industries, trade, commerce and services has contributed to this shift. The
urban population in developing countries is expected to grow from 2
billion in 2000 to 3.9 billion in 2030 (UN, 2006), while the total world
population may grow from 6 to 8 billion. The United Nations Population
Fund predicts that the world’s population in the next 2–3 decades will be
in the urban areas of developing countries (UNFPA, 2007). There is an
agglomeration of cities due to the increased pollution throughout the
world. Even though India’s population remains substantially rural, it is
also emerging as one of the fastest urbanizing countries in the world. It is
the second-largest urban system with an urban population of about 340
million in 35 cities (MoUD, 2011).
The land occupied by cities is not sufficient to provide the necessary
resources to feed its economy, or the capacity needed to absorb its waste.
The environmental impact of urban centers extends beyond the city
boundaries. The sustainability of cities depends upon their ability to
provide basic environmental services like potable water, safe wastewater
disposal, effective solid waste management and urban air pollution
control.
2. Urban planning & governance
Urban planning is necessary for the achievement of a better
environment in the urban center. A strategic urban planning system
involves decisions about economic, social and environmental priorities in
the interests of sustainable development.

Urban Governance, Air Pollution and Health Implications
64
Urban governance should ensure that economic growth is equitable,
sustainable and improves living conditions. It is defined as “the sum of the
many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, plan and
manage the common affairs of the city. It includes formal institutions as
well as informal arrangements and social capital of the citizens.” Good
urban governance is inextricably linked to citizen welfare, and enables the
community to access adequate shelter, security of tenure, safe water,
sanitation, a clean environment, health, education and nutrition,
employment and public safety and mobility.
3. Urban environment
3.1 Air pollution
The urban environment is under severe threat due to the unprecedented
increase in population and commercial and industrial activity. These have
fueled the generation of waste and non-ecological use of resources. The
availability of water and its quality is under severe stress, and the
discharge of industrial effluents and household sewage into the water
bodies has trigged the severity. The scant urban infrastructure has added to
the danger of disease and epidemics. In the larger cities, the unbridled
increase in the number of vehicles has rendered the air unfit to inhale, and
incidences of respiratory diseases are steeply rising.
Urban air pollution is caused by the rapid urbanization of the cities, the
growing demand for energy, and the exponential growth in the number of
vehicles, which has contributed to 72% of the total urban air pollution,
followed by industrial (20%) and domestic activities (8%) in India
(Navade, 2002). A survey by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
found that 23 urban cities in India are critically polluted in terms of urban
air pollution—12 major metropolitan cities emit 352 metric tons of
nitrogen oxides, 1,916 metric tons of carbon monoxide from vehicular
emissions, and 672 metric tons of hydrocarbon (CPCB, 2005).
3.2 Health threats
Urbanization is a major public health challenge for the 21st century as
urban populations are rapidly increasing and social and economic
inequities in urban areas result in significant health inequalities (Vlahov et
al., 2006, 2007). The environmental burden of disease is 15 times higher in
developing countries than in developed countries due to differences in
exposure to environmental risks and access to healthcare (WHO, 2004).

Dr. Ravi D.R. 65
A study of urban health status reveals that, in terms of mortality rates
per 10,000 people, in polluted areas circulatory system diseases (heart
failure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiovascular disease) have increased
from 7.0 to 16.4%, the infectious and parasitic diseases mortality rate
(cholera, tuberculosis, malaria and hepatitis) due to water pollution has
increased from 4.7 to 9.0%, and respiratory diseases due to urban air
pollution (acute respiratory infections, pneumonia and chronic respiratory
conditions) have increased from 4.0 to 7.6%. In India, one in every ten
children in urban slums does not live to see their fifth birthday (MoHFW,
2010).
The number of deaths attributable to urban air pollution ranges from 2
to 3 million, and many of these deaths are caused by acute respiratory
infections and other cardiovascular diseases (WHO, 1999). According to a
study by Paramesh for Bangalore City, there was a steady increase in the
prevalence of asthma from 9% to 29.5% from 1979 to 1999. Further, it
was observed that persistent asthma increased from 20% in 1994 to 36.6%
in 2004. In this background, a study was conducted to measure the extent
of air pollution and its health impact on the city of Bangalore.
4. Study area
Bangalore is a rapidly developing megacity located in the south of
India. The city has experienced rapid population growth in the recent past
and the city boundary has also expanded (JNNURM, 2006). The existing
urban infrastructure is insufficient for the efficient promotion of such
growth and poses a need for immediate and consistent urban
environmental management (Sudhira et al., 2007). The Bangalore urban
public transport system is not sufficient to foster economic development.
Traffic problems are acute, and local authorities are developing many
improvement plans, like the construction of highways and the
improvement of the road network. Even so, vehicles can only go slow, and
this results in long travel times (the average speed in the city area is as low
as 10–13 km/hr, which is very low when compared to many other growing
Asian cities).
5. Methodology & data source
The environmental burden of disease was measured based on the
standard method proposed by WHO, and the economic quantification of
the burden by the Cost of Illness (COI) method. The data on air quality of
the city was obtained from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board,

Urban Governance, Air Pollution and Health Implications
66
Central Pollution Control Board and Tata Energy Research Institute.
Secondary health data was collected from major hospitals to establish the
association between the increases in air pollution with respiratory-related
diseases. Primary data was collected by conducting a contingent valuation
(CV) survey using a structured questionnaire covering 100 households
around a 500- meter radius of each air quality monitoring station.
6. Results and discussions
The rapid growth of the city in the last two decades has polluted the
ambient air. The PM10 (called Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) levels
have been almost three times that of the standard, exposing people to
unhealthy levels and raising concern over growing pollution and health
risks. The ambient air quality with respect to RSPM and SPM in the
industrial zones is moderate to highly polluting (i.e., 75 µg /NM3 to 186
µg/NM3), in the mixed zones (residential, rural & other areas) with respect
to NOx it is moderate (52 µg / NM3) while with respect to RSPM and SPM
it is moderate to highly polluting (62 µg / NM3 to 136 µg /NM3). The
ambient air quality with respect to SO2 & RSPM in the sensitive zone is
highly polluting (86 µg/NM3) while with respect to NOx & SPM it is
critically polluting (i.e., 218 µg /NM3) (Nagappa, 2010).
By considering the average concentration of PM10 as 211.62 µg/m3and
that of PM2.5 as 80.69 µg/m3, the quantification of the environmental
burden of disease (extrapolated value for total Bangalore population)
indicates that the mortality of about 334 children per annum (less than 6
years of age) can be attributed to urban air pollution- induced diseases.
The death of between 230 and 305 people per year (over 45 years of age)
can be attributed to cardiopulmonary disease and acute respiratory
infections, respectively, due to the increase in urban air pollution when
compared to all other risk factors in the city.
The study indicates high incidences of coughs, dust allergies and
asthma. About 55% of the respondents are affected by cough, 26% by dust
allergy and 8% by asthma in the study area. The study also revealed that
about 49% of respondents visited the doctor more than two times
(maximum of three visits/month) for various respiratory-related diseases,
about 27% of respondents visited 4–6 times per month, and about 17% of
respondents go to doctors regularly.
Finally, the economic quantification of environmental burden of
diseases indicates that the average additional total economic cost incurred
by the respondents due to increased air pollution-induced diseases is Rs.

Dr. Ravi D.R. 67
5,650/year, which is very high when compared to the respondents from the
control area1 (Rs 686/year).
7. Conclusions
Hence it is necessary to formulate a strategy through consultation to
identify problems, solutions and implementation. It is also necessary to
create community awareness and to enforce and support cost-effective
technologies in urban governance. Integrated waste management systems,
waste recycling, clean technologies and non-conventional sources of
energy should be promoted and supported at all levels. The monitoring
mechanisms for the control of various facets of pollution should be
strengthened in cooperation with research institutions, government
agencies and NGOs, so that the people are not adversely affected.
References
Stephens C. 1996. “Healthy Cities or Unhealthy Islands? The Health and
Social Implications of Urban Inequality.” Environ Urban, 8 (2): 9–30.
Fry S., Cousins B., Olivola K. 2002. Health of Children Living in Urban
Slums in Asia and the Near East: Review of Existing Literature and
Data. Washington, DC: Environmental Health Project, United States
Agency for International Development.
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
1991. General Comment No. 4. New York: United Nations.
Confederation of British Industry (CBI). 2001. Planning for Productivity:
A Ten-point Action Plan. London, United Kingdom: CBI.
WHO Regional Office for Europe [WHO ROE]. 1989. Environment and
Health: The European Charter and Commentary.
—. 1997. Health and Environment in Sustainable Development: Five
Years after the Earth Summit. 81, 87–88.
—. 1998. Health for All in the 21st Century, 26.
Valuing Environmental Costs in India: The Economy Wide Impact of
Environmental Degradation. 1997. Dewaram.
1 The control area was Vijayapura, a village near Devanahalli, about 48 km from
Bangalore City.

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN BANGALORE:
SOME POLICY ISSUES
NATASHA KALRA
Introduction
The population in India accounts for nearly 17% of that of the world,
and there are serious contrasts in terms of population increase and the
availability of resources and technology to handle solid waste. The per
capita waste generation rate in India increased from 0.44 kg/day in 2001 to
0.5 kg/day in 2011, fueled by changing lifestyles and the increased
purchasing power of urban Indians (Annepu, 2012). According to a report
on globalization and waste management by the International Solid Waste
Association (2012), globalization has improved the per capita income of
countries but this has been accompanied by a population increase and
conditions of high waste generation in developing countries.
At present, 90 % of the waste in India is disposed of unsatisfactorily in
the open (Das et al., 1998), causing health as well as environmental
hazards; and the improper management of solid waste is a growing
concern in various cities today (Sharholy et al., 2006). In India, more than
100 million metric tons of municipal waste is generated in a year. In terms
of a per capita basis, this is far lower than developed nations, but the rate
of waste generation in India is accelerating fast, and is accompanied by a
poor waste management infrastructure, maintenance and recycle system
(Balasubramanian, 2015).
Over the years the waste disposal techniques have changed, and India
is now moving from open dumping and burning toward exploring other
alternatives like source reduction, recycling, composting, incineration,
landfill dumping, waste-to-energy, fuel pellets, and pyrolysis (Hoornweg
and Tata, 2012). The present municipal solid waste (MSW) process
involves different phases, which include collection from different sources
like households, commercial establishments and slaughterhouses, etc.
through door-to-door collection and then taking it to community bins.

Natasha Kalra 69
From community bins, the waste is transported to landfills or processing
units.
The purpose of this paper to see how much waste is generated in
Bangalore, what its composition is and what issues are related to
magnitude and disposal of solid waste in Bangalore are.
Literature review
Different studies have pointed out the different factors that have led to
high solid waste generation rates, like growth in urban population, rise in
GDP, etc. Sharholy et al. (2006) note that factors such as an increase in the
living standards of the community, rapid economic growth and
accelerating population growth have fueled solid waste generation rates in
India. However, the study by Khajuria et al. (2012), which analyzed the
course of GDP per capita with municipal solid waste generation from 1947
to 2004, did not find a correlation between economic growth and the
municipal solid waste generation rate in developing countries such as India
in 1997. Gidde et al. (2008), Bundela et al. (2010), and Singh and Dey
(2011) attribute the migration of people from rural areas to urban areas due
to rapid industrialization and high population growth as one of the major
factors contributing to the increased solid waste generation. The study also
points toward other factors such as change in seasons, food habits and
degree of commercialization, which also significantly contribute to high
waste generation. Urbanization and globalization are also seen as some of
the factors that have posed challenges for solid waste management.
Achankeng (2003) discusses how globalization has played a negative
role in solid waste management in African countries. As globalization
reinforced rapid unplanned urbanization, it was observed that there was an
increase in waste quantity and variety in these countries. Similarly,
Bundela et al. (2010), based on an analysis of solid waste in India, states
that the unplanned growth of urban centers has put stress on the existing
solid waste infrastructure and maintenance system, and this has
significantly aggravated the solid waste problem as, along with poor
infrastructure and maintenance, there has been no upgradation of activities
associated with the entire process (Kaushal et al. 2005). A study by
Balasubramanian (2015) also states that high population growth and
urbanization are responsible for high solid waste generation rates. A
committee set up by the Supreme Court in India identified that an increase
in the average income led to a higher per capita waste generation in India.
Developed nations face different causes of high solid waste generation
hence their strategies to manage waste mainly focus on waste reduction,

Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues
70
recycling and waste-to-energy alternatives, while developing nations like
India still practice incineration and landfills as waste disposal and
treatment alternatives. Both types of countries have faced their own
problems with respect to the financial, economical, technological and
feasibility of alternatives.
Some of the problems identified with respect to the mismanagement of
solid waste relate to the financial aspects. In India, urban local bodies
(ULBs) spend around Rs.500 to Rs.1,500 per metric ton, out of which
around 70 % is spent on waste collection and only 25 % on waste
transportation (Balasubramanian, 2015). Other developing countries show
a somewhat different trend—20-50 % of the budget in African countries is
spent on solid waste management; only 20–80% of it is collected. Out of
the total budget allotted for waste management, more than half is spent on
transportation alone, and only a limited amount is moved to treatment or
disposal centers (Achankeng, 2003). However, developed nations, which
have overcome the financial, technological, and transportation issues, have
now moved toward exploring new and better solid waste disposal and
treatment alternatives like waste reduction at source, recycling and reuse.
Italy has successfully used Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) to assist the
local administration and stakeholders in the successful administration of
waste management (Blengini, 2012); provinces like Guangdong in China
use spatial location, data acquisition and thematic analysis in hazardous
waste management (Yuan and Guanying, 2009); and countries like
Singapore and Germany have effectively reduced the landfilling and
incineration of MSW and moved toward efficient technologies, which
have converted waste into a valuable resource. This has been achieved in
the light of the fact that the highest proportion of waste in Singapore is
paper and carton (21.15%), which is almost the same as for Germany
(20%). The main focus of waste management in both countries is recycling
and reusing (Zhang et al., 2010).
Problem of solid waste in India
The urban population in India as per the 2011 census was 31.16%, an
increase from 27.81% in the 2001 census, and that of the rural population
68.84%. The fast pace of urbanization is accompanied by its own set of
challenges, like the burden on civic services, infrastructure, water supply,
sewage disposal and waste generation, and air and water pollution, etc.
(Sridhar, 2013). As the standard of living for a population increases, the
waste generated also increases (Sridhar, 2016). The severity of the
problem of solid waste in India can be understood by some of the studies.

Natasha Kalra 71
For instance, Kumar et al. (2009) collected data from nine cities to analyze
the impact of solid waste on ground water. The cities included in the study
were Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Jammu, Srinagar, Trivandrum, Coimbatore,
Kochi, and Hyderabad. Samples collected from the bore wells and tube
wells located around the landfill sites of Jammu, Srinagar, Trivandrum,
and Coimbatore indicated extremely high concentrations of iron and lead.
The water quality in Kochi and Hyderabad is continuously deteriorating
because of chloride and total dissolved solids (TDS) content, which is
beyond the permissible limits. Another major problem pointed out by this
study is the mixing of biomedical waste in the municipal solid waste in
India. Though hospitals in many cities in India have incinerators installed,
they do not function properly and hence most of this waste is disposed of
at municipal waste sites. Most of the cities were found to not be keeping a
record of the daily quantity of waste transported from various community
bins/containers. Also, there was a lack of proper transportation vehicles
and routes, which led to a huge quantity of waste remaining unattended.
A study done by Hunt (1996) found a different set of problems arising
due to inefficient solid waste management. The study was done in
Bangalore, where a group of 100 children were studied in informal
settlements, and the health of those who work as waste-pickers was
compared to those who do not. Often waste is contaminated by fecal
material, and the bacteria and germs in this waste are transferred from
hand to mouth, causing severe health problems to such children. Such
issues need considerable planning and action from the civic as well as
health authorities.
As per the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules,
2000, solid waste is the responsibility of the ULBs. And as per the report
of the committee constituted by the Supreme Court in 1999, some reasons
for the poor performance of the solid waste service in India were the lack
of awareness among the masses, inefficient institutions handling solid
waste, the lack of financial resources, weak technology and insufficient
legislative measures (Kumar and Pandit, 2013).
Table 1 clearly indicates that the waste generation rate in small cities is
lower than in larger cities. The highest waste generation rate is observed
for Delhi, followed by Bangalore and Calcutta.

Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues
72
Table 1 Waste Generation Rate in Indian Cities
City Waste Generation Rate (kg per capita per day)
Delhi .60
Bangalore .53
Calcutta .51
Hyderabad .35
Sonepat .34
Hardwar .40
Meerut .45
Source: Kumar & Pandit 2013
Stakeholders
There is a huge network of stakeholders who play their respective
role in the solid waste management process. ULBs are responsible for
creating awareness among the citizens over the issues related to solid
waste. There are around 34 State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution
Control Committees, which issue authorizations to ULBs/Municipalities.
State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are supposed to submit annual
reports to Central Pollution Control Boards (CPCBs), which then submit a
consolidated annual review report to the Ministry of Environment and
Forest. CPCBs conduct studies from time to time through institutions
engaged in municipal solid waste management and document the same for
stakeholders’ reference. Even the waste disposal facilities, which include
composting, incineration, palletization, energy recovery, etc., can be set up
only by approval from the CPCBs. At the state government level, the
secretary in charge of the Department of Urban Development and the
district magistrates/ deputy commissioner ensure the enforcement of the
provisions of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling)
Rules, 2000. At the national level, CPCBs along with other central
ministries such as the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and the
Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) take initiatives
like demonstration projects, where the states are helped toward
implementation of MSW rules in an integrated manner. Also at the
national level in the appropriate ministry, a cell is specially designated for
providing assistance to state governments with respect to the
implementation of MSW rules. Central ministries such as the MoUD,
Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE) provide technical assistance as well as assistance in selecting
appropriate technology related to waste processing and disposal. They also

Natasha Kalra 73
assist states to look for private sector participation in waste management.
The financial allocation for solid waste management in urban areas is done
specifically by the Finance Commission (Central Pollution Control Board
Annual Report, 2006–2007).
Studies have also been done to identify the stakeholders’ role and
participation in solid waste management. Globally more than 15 million
make a living out of the informal collection of waste (Balasubramanian,
2015) hence the formal participation of the informal sector in waste
management holds a lot of potential. Urban solid waste management
comprises of two sub-systems, formal and informal. The formal system
basically comprises of municipalities or concerned urban authorities taking
care of waste management in the area under their jurisdiction, it may also
include private organizations or NGOs, while the informal sub-system
comprises of rag-pickers (waste-pickers), scrap dealers and wholesalers
(Sudhir et al., 1996). The collective role of both these sub-systems and
other stakeholders promises huge potential. Various studies have indicated
the multiple factors responsible for the solid waste problem like
globalization, urbanization, migration of rural population toward urban
centers, increase in per capita income, etc.
Solid waste in Bangalore
Between 2001 and 2011, Karnataka’s urban population grew by
31.27%, which is higher than the growth of 7.63% in the rural population.
This was followed by the unexpected migration from rural to urban areas
(Vij, 2012), which also led to the growth of a large number of slums
without any adequate waste disposal mechanisms. Bangalore has 21.5% of
the slum population of Karnataka (Karnataka Economic Survey, 2013–14).
Slums contain 15% of the city’s population (Sridhar and Reddy, 2015) and
generate around 20 metric tons per day of solid waste. After households,
hotels and eateries generate a major portion of the municipal solid waste in
Bangalore (Chanakya and Sharatchandra, 2005, cited in Chanakya et al.,
2010). Population pressure and the overexploitation of natural resources,
etc. have led to the ineffective administration and management of waste in
Bangalore. As per popular media reports, the city presently generates
around 5,000 metric tons of waste daily, out of which only a small
proportion is effectively treated or disposed of.
According to the 2011 census, with an area of around 800 sq. km and a
population of 9,621,551, Bangalore’s share in the total population of
Karnataka is 15.75%. The population of Bangalore in 2001 was 6,537,124,
so the city has seen a decadal growth rate of 46.68%. The population

Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues
74
density increased from 10,732 in 2001 to 13,392 in 2011, and the spatial
area of the city increased over ten times since 1949. Over the years the
total amount of MSW generated has also increased from 650 tpd in 1988
to 1,450 tpd in 2000. The increase in the per capita generation from 0.16
(1988) to 0.58 kg/d/person (2009) is attributed to the changes in
consumption patterns (Ramachandra et al., 2014). Bangalore has around
2,500,000 households and 350,000 commercial bodies. The estimated
municipal solid waste generation for 2009 from all sources of BBMP
zones was 3000 tpd; per capita domestic waste was around 350 grams per
day.
Cosmopolitan culture and the presence of IT companies have led to a
huge urban and rural worker migration into Bangalore. With its 250,000
households, Bangalore is facing a huge problem of solid waste
management, with households contributing approximately 54% to MSW
generation (Table 2). If we look at the composition of the MSW, the 30%
of vegetable waste is a major constituent followed by the 23% of organic
waste. At present, 70% of the MSW activity, from primary collection to
disposal, has been outsourced and 30% is being managed by BBMP. Still,
the city is under the burden of waste collection and segregation. City roads
and residential areas stink because of the waste being dumped on roads
and in the open, leading to unhygienic conditions. Monsoon showers
further aggravate the problem. Every year, a large number of people in
Bangalore are infected by dengue, malaria, chickengunya and many other
life-threatening diseases. The city goes through periodic influxes of
disease.
Table 2 Proportion of Waste Generated from Various Sources in
Bangalore
S. no. Source %age of the Total
Waste
1. Households 54
2. Markets and function halls 20
3. Commercial establishment &
institutions
17
4. Others 9
Source: Bruhat Bangaluru Mahanagara Palike 2016
From table 2, we can see that the residences in Bangalore contribute
54% of waste, which is the highest among all the sources. Markets and
function halls produce 20% of the total waste while the commercial

Natasha Kalra 75
establishments and institutions constitute 17%. Other sources constitute
9% of the total waste in Bangalore. Table 3, on the composition of waste,
shows that vegetable waste constitutes 30% of the waste, which is, again, a
compostable proportion. The chemical composition of the waste shows
that the moisture content is 40.90 % and the carbon content 42.60%.
Composition of solid waste in Bangalore
Solid waste can be divided into two categories, namely, organic and
inorganic. Organic, or wet, waste includes all those items that can degrade
back into the environment, such as vegetable and fruits, or food leftovers.
Inorganic, also known as dry, waste includes recyclable and non-
recyclable waste (Ramachandra et al., 2014). Organic waste constitutes
74% of the total waste produced in Bangalore (ibid.). A high degree of
fermentable (vegetable and fruit) MSW is present in the waste generated at
the household level. Other waste components include papers, plastics and
metals (Ramachandra, 2011). Over the past decade, the organic component
of waste has remained constant; however, the usage of recyclable material
like plastic and paper has changed (Chanakya et al., 2006). According to
Bruhat Bangaluru Mahanagara Palike (2016), the physical composition of
MSW includes vegetable waste as a major component while paper, plastic,
cardboard, textiles, grass (leaves/woods), leather, batteries, electronic
items, metal, glass and biomedical waste constitute a lesser proportion of
the total waste. The chemical composition of MSW, as mentioned in table
3, indicates a high moisture content, with a maximum limit of 40%. The
maximum range for carbon in MSW was found to be 42.6%.
Table 3 Chemical Composition of MSW(%)
SI.
no. Constituent/ Property Minimum Maximum
1. C 13.00 42.60
2. N 0.28 1.23
3. P2O5 0.46 0.92
4. K2O 0.45 1.07
5. Moisture Content % 13.80 40.90
6. Bulk Density 341.00 91.00
7. Calorific Value 684.00 1,240.00
Source: Bruhat Bangaluru Mahanagara Palike 2016

Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues
76
Bangalore landfill controversy
Using landfill as a disposal method for solid waste has long been
criticized globally as it leads to gas and leachate generation (Fadel et al.,
1995), and the soil and water contamination of the nearby areas. It is
widely practiced in developing nations, and India, as it is one of the most
economical methods to dump the waste. What has been the cause of
concern in recent times in Bangalore has been the residents’ opposition to
these sites as they have seriously affected their surrounding environment,
causing severe health problems and soil and air pollution. The residents
have complained that public opinion is never invited at the time of the
selection of dumpsites, and this is accompanied by the ignorant attitude of
authorities toward the proper maintenance and treatment of waste at these
sites. The city’s largest landfill site at Mavallipura was shut down in
August 2012 after protests by residents, who pointed out that the dumping
of waste is not followed by any scientific treatment of it (Kurup, 2012). It
was only after the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board noticed the
pathetic living conditions of the residents around the landfill that it was
closed in 2012. However, the landfill was reopened the very next month
with an announcement of financial and health support to the residents.
Similar opposition was observed by the residents of Mandur, who also
complained about the tons of garbage, stagnant water, mosquitoes, stray
dogs and the stench (Kulkarni, 2012).
Figure 1 shows the waste disposal methods followed in Bangalore.
Over 50% of waste is dumped at landfills in Bangalore; only 22.47% of it
is recycled and 15.83 % is composted. Also only 10.33% is used to
recover energy.
According to the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2000, a
landfill site has to be selected by the development authority or by the
municipal authority concerned, and while doing so they have to coordinate
with the related departments to get environmental clearances. Another
important thing to note here is that the landfill site has to be away from
habitation clusters. There are also provisions to monitor the pollution
levels, methane generation and water quality around the landfill site. But
the above controversies and resident opposition clearly indicates the extent
to which these stipulations have been followed.

Figure 1 M
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Solid Waste Management in Bangalore: Some Policy Issues
78
support environmentally friendly waste management (Kaushal, 2012).
Though in the case of Bangalore, the BBMP has decentralized 70% of the
solid waste management process to private contractors, the policy-making
decisions are centralized in nature but they totally ignore the stakeholders’
perspectives and roles. Solid waste is not just a contemporary issue in
Bangalore; the garbage scam came into limelight in 2005. Citizen Matters,
Bangalore, which has been very active in solid waste issues, reported how
the BBMP issued the garbage tender in 2006 without any public
discussion and feedback. The magazine reported that when it interviewed
citizens, they indicated that the conditions were better before the solid
waste management was privatized as the BBMP workers were quite
regular in waste collection (Chamaraj, 2011).
In contemporary times there are multiple alternatives for waste
disposal and treatment, like composting, fuel pellets, pyrolysis, etc., and
after years of waste management failure by the BBMP, a question can be
raised as to why the administration is still practicing the landfill method
only. Not only have studies abroad set successful examples of exploring
new alternatives of waste disposal and treatment but also some studies
done in Indian cities have shown the availability of other successful
alternatives. Does this indicate a lethargic view by the administration,
which is sitting on this problem and is resistant to change, or it is due the
NIMBY (not in my backyard) and “Who Cares” syndromes (Srivastava et
al., 2005) of the citizens. Public apathy and accountability toward this
problem can play a significant role in managing waste in the present
scenario. What is actually required is the meaningful and collective
participation of all the stakeholders. The community-based participation or
employment of unemployed youth can open new opportunities in solid
waste management (Srivastava, 2005). There are studies like Baker’s
(1997) in Kathmandu where community-based participation led to job
creation for local waste-pickers. Various key stakeholders like environment
regulators, NGOs, citizens, public, media, scientific community, etc. can
collectively play a significant role in waste management. Most Asian
countries witness the disposal of huge quantities of waste on their streets
daily, and if public participation in this situation were encouraged, the
waste problem could be sustainably reduced (Joseph, 2006).
The irony of the situation is that while the Bangalore International
Airport sets benchmarks for other Indian airports in terms of cleaning and
solid waste management, the administration fails to give a thought over the
study and implementation of a similar solid waste management system for
the city. Also, the solid waste-processing partner of Bangalore International
Airport is none other than M/s. Terra Firma Biotechnologies Ltd at

Natasha Kalra 79
Doddabalapura, which is one of the BBMP’s solid waste processing and
disposal sites. This unit is well equipped with the requisite facilities, and
helps the airport with scientific processing of the solid waste
(Parameshwar, 2011).
Conclusion
Increases in population, rural population migration to urban areas,
informal settlements in urban areas and the lack of proper planning and
basic infrastructure to handle waste have led to the recent waste crisis not
in only in Bangalore but also all over India. The majority of the
composition of waste all over India as reported in different studies is
fermentable waste. Even Bangalore has fermentable waste as a major
component of the total solid waste produced by the city at the generation
stage as well at the dumpsites (Ramachandra, 2011). The improper
handling of waste has led to lot of conflict between municipal authorities
and the citizens, and has also led to severe health and environmental
problems.
Some feasible options for the effective management of waste include
the decentralization of the waste management process, waste reduction at
source, household waste management and maximizing waste recycling and
reuse. Studies have indicated a 20% reduction in waste management is
possible through basic household practices (Ramachandra, 2011). On the
other hand, the decentralization of waste management has ensured a
greater coverage of population in terms of solid waste management.
Furthermore, the option of the use of public land as a financing tool for
solid waste management should be explored (Sridhar, 2016). The role of
citizen participation, various NGOs and Resident Welfare Associations
cannot be ignored in effective waste management. Municipal authorities
need to plan waste policies where the participation of such groups is
encouraged. Such partnerships hold the potential to effectively handle the
waste crisis to a large extent, and this aspect needs further research.
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Management, 30: 921–33.

GLOBALIZATION AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH:
A STUDY OF ELECTRONIC WASTE
IN BANGALORE1
S. MANASI
1. Introduction
The introduction and development of computers and the internet since
the 1980s contributed to the emergence of the globalization era.
Globalization has opened up avenues on the economic front with its
increased interdependence, connectivity and integration across developed
and developing countries, providing numerous opportunities across sectors
and levels; however, it has a murky side too—the emergence of a new
category of waste—e-waste (electronic waste). Globally, e-waste is the
most commonly used term for denoting electronic waste though there is no
standard definition. However, in most cases, e-waste comprises the
relatively expensive and generally durable components used for data
processing, telecommunications and entertainment in private households
and businesses. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the
world. The discarding of electronic products worldwide has intensified in
recent years, with 20–50 million metric tons being generated every year
according to the international environmental group Greenpeace. In the
USA it accounts for 1 to 3% of the total municipal waste generation; in
developing countries, it equals 1% of total solid waste generation. It is
estimated that India’s e-waste from old computers will increase by 500%
from 2007 levels while South Africa and China will witness a 200–400%
rise in computer-related waste. E-waste from mobile telephones in India is
expected to rise 18 times from 2007 levels, and China will witness a 7-fold
increase. The growth with respect to television and refrigerators will be 2–
1 The study on e-waste referred to above was supported as an ISEC project. I draw
substantially from the report “Eco-threats of E-Waste – A Case Study of Bangalore
City,” prepared along with co-authors Dr. Bibhu Prasad Nayak and N. Latha.

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
84
3% in developing countries (United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), 2010).
1.1 Illegal dumping
Technological gadgets pass through different stages during their life
cycle, thus providing opportunities for e-waste trade across countries. As
processing e-waste is expensive, the developed countries look for cheaper
options. Developing countries have comparatively cheap labor and fewer
environmental regulations, which make it possible for e-waste to be
routinely exported by developed countries in Europe, US and Japan to
developing countries in Asia, often in violation of international law. About
80% of the e-waste generated in the US is exported to India, China and
Pakistan (Ghana Business News, 2009). It is estimated that around 50,000
metric tons of waste are illegally imported into India. The Basel
Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 and came into force in
1992 with the objective of preventing the economically motivated
dumping of hazardous wastes from the rich to the poorer countries.
However, this has not been effectively implemented despite a 1997
Supreme Court directive preventing the import of hazardous waste into
India. Trading in e-waste gets camouflaged in the form of obtaining
“reusable” equipment or as “donations” from developed nations.
1.2 E-Waste hazards
The highly toxic chemicals found in different components of computer
parts can contaminate the soil, groundwater and air, and the dangers
become more prominent if e-waste components are not recycled properly.
The most common practices adopted for the disposal of e-waste are acid
baths, land filling and open-air burning. When electronic equipment is
burned, it releases abundant fumes that are dangerous for environment
way beyond our imagination. Improperly monitored landfills can cause
environmental hazards. Mercury will leach when certain electronic
devices, such as circuit breakers, are destroyed. The same is true for
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from condensers. When brominated
flame-retardant plastic or cadmium containing plastics are land-filled, both
poly brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and cadmium can leach into the
soil and groundwater. It has been found that significant amounts of lead
ion dissolved out of broken lead-containing glass, such as the cone glass of
cathode ray tubes, gets mixed with acid waters; and this is a common

S. Manasi 85
occurrence in landfills. Heavy metals like phosphor, lead and barium, etc.
are not only harmful for humans but for the soil, under-groundwater and
air as well (Qian Luo et al., 2007). The open dumping of e-waste results in
the breakdown of the toxic substances present in them, and these then
leach into the soil and groundwater. E-waste accounts for 70% of the
overall toxic waste currently found in open field dumps. Depending on the
location of the landfill or dumping fields, the migration of the poisons into
the groundwater can be immediate or take place over a long period of
time. In many places, where open dumping takes place in and around
water bodies, leachates can enter surface and groundwater immediately,
and their concentrations in groundwater tend to decrease during the post-
monsoon season and increase during pre-monsoon season.
The improper handling of e-waste affects workers and the communities
living around them. Moreover, workers engaged in computer-waste
recycling operations generally get exposed to potentially dangerous health
hazards as health and environmental conditions are compromised at these
work places. Hence, there are clear reasons to be concerned about e-waste
trading, the technology in practice and the existing poor disposal practices
of computer waste in India. The management of e-waste has to be assessed
in the broader framework of the Extended Producer Responsibility and the
Precautionary Principle so as to ensure that future policy responses are
more responsive to addressing this issue. At present, e-waste management
options are extremely polluting in nature and hence are of a grave concern.
Several initiatives have been taken by various governments to handle
this problem. Apart from governments, many NGOs and private
companies are also putting in their best efforts to address this issue.
Against this backdrop, this study intended to provide further insights into
the emerging challenges of e-waste generation and management in
Bangalore. The current study centers on a situation analysis of e-waste
management in Bangalore. Apart from looking into the process of e-waste
management and the role of various institutions, the study also tries to
explore the issues and constraints facing various stakeholders in e-waste
management.
The objectives of the study are to explore the emerging trends in e-
waste management in Bangalore, and assess the quality, safety and pricing
of the recycled products emerging from these management processes. The
study also looks at the roles of existing institutions in channeling e-waste
and assesses the impacts of indiscriminate dumping on urban ecology.
Finally, an attempt is made to suggest strategies for improved management
of e-waste.

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
86
The paper is divided into various sections, beginning with an overview
of e-waste in section 2, followed by regulations concerning e-waste in
section 3; details of the study area and methodology in section 4; a
situation analysis based on focus group discussions relating to e-waste
generation and management process, formal and informal recyclers in
section 5; the role of institutions in e-waste management in section 6;and
ending with conclusions and suggestions for improved management in
section 7.
1.3 Indian scenario
There are various estimates done across organizations. Greenpeace
estimates that India will triple its e-waste generation over the next five
years, with the total e-waste generation amounting to 146,180 metric tons
per year. According to the estimates carried out by Toxic Links, India
annually generates about $1.5 billion worth of e-waste. According to the
MAIT-GTZ e-waste assessment study, the annual generation of e-waste in
India works out as 400,000 metric tons annually, and 19,000 metric tons
are being recycled, based on the data by hardware manufacturers
(Business Standard, 2011). Sixty-five cities in India generate more than
60% of the total e-waste. On the other hand, ten states generate about 70%
of the total e-waste in India. Of the top ten cities generating e-waste,
Mumbai ranks first, followed by Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkota,
Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat and Nagpur (Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF, 2008).
In India, the problem of e-waste began after the first phase of economic
liberalization, i.e., after 1990. The major shift in the economic policy in
1990 triggered an increase in the consumption pattern. During the same
period, there was a shift in the pattern of governance, there were
infrastructure reforms and e-governance initiatives were taken up. Thus
liberalization and globalization processes led to new openings in the
growth of the service sector and knowledge economy. As India had both
skilled and cheaper personnel, it attracted IT companies and BPO
agencies. In the last decades, Indian IT-BPO has achieved significant
growth in terms of revenue, employment generation and value creation as
well as becoming globally well known for its products and services. The
growth in the number of operating and exporting units since 2001 is given
in table 1.

S. Manasi 87
Table 1 Growth of Operating and Exporting Units
Year Operating units Exporting
units
2001–02 4,279 3,429
2002–03 4,644 3,544
2003–04 5,587 3,910
2004–05 5,806 4,379
2005–06 6,383 5,116
2006–07 7,543 6,321
2007–08 8,188 6,842
2008–09 8,455 7,214
2009–10 7,007 5,814
2010–11 6,554 5,565
2011–12 5,235 4,542
2012–13 4,534 3,755
2013–14 3,676 3,335
2014–15 3,124 2,831
Source: STPI, Annual Report 2014–15
Besides this, there was a higher rate of growth during the post-
liberalization period, the consequence of which there was increased
purchasing power. The technological revolution has made electronic
gadgets cheaper and user-friendly, and the changing lifestyles and the IT
boom have contributed to this quantum jump in their usage and
subsequently to the piling up of e-waste (WISTA, 2002). In India, of the
total generated quantity of e-waste, only 19,000 metric tons are recycled
due to high refurbishing and reuse of electronic products and poor
recycling infrastructure. Currently, e-waste recycling, especially
processing, remains concentrated in the informal sector, which, in turn,
due to poor processing technologies, contributes largely to pollution and
environmental degradation.
2. E-Waste—an overview
Globally, e-waste is the most commonly used term for denoting
electronic waste. The most widely accepted definition relates to the EU

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
88
directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). WEEE
Directive (EU, 2002a): “Electrical or electronic equipment which is waste
including all components, subassemblies and consumables, which are part
of the product at the time of discarding.” Directive 75/442/EEC, Article
1(a) defines “waste” as “any substance or object which the holder disposes
of or is required to dispose of pursuant to the provisions of national law in
force.”2
2.1. Categories of e-waste
Studies have categorized e-waste based on the source of generation or
on the functional utilities and the type of components they contain. MoEF
guidelines (MoEF, 2008) classify e-waste into three main categories—
large household appliances, IT and Telecom and consumer equipment.
Refrigerator and washing machine represent large household appliances;
personal computer, monitor and laptop represent IT and Telecom, while
television represents consumer equipment.3
2.2. Hazardous and non-hazardous components
Environmentalists and officials allege that e-waste contains more than
1,000 different toxic substances—hazardous and non-hazardous—harmful
to human beings and the environment. Broadly speaking, it consists of
ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, glass, wood and plywood, printed
circuit boards, concrete and ceramics, rubber and other items. Of them,
iron and steel constitute about 50%, followed by plastics (21%), non-
2 (a) “Electrical and electronic equipment” or “EEE” means equipment that is
dependent on electrical currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work
properly, and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such
currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA to Directive
2002/96/EC (WEEE) and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding
1000 volts for alternating currents and 1500 volts for direct currents.
3 Each of these e-waste items has been classified according to the twenty-six
common components found in them. These components form the building blocks
of each item and, therefore, are readily identifiable and removable, such as metal,
motor/ compressor, cooling, plastic, insulation, glass, LCD, rubber, wiring/
electrical, concrete, transformer, magnetron, textile, circuit board, fluorescent
lamp, incandescent lamp, heating element, thermostat, BFR-containing plastic,
batteries, CFC/HCFC/HFC/HC, external electric cables, refractory ceramic fibers,
radioactive substances and electrolyte capacitors (over L/D 25 mm).

S. Manasi 89
ferrous metals (13%) and the remaining by other constituents. Non-ferrous
metals consist of copper, aluminum and precious metals like silver, gold,
platinum, palladium, etc. The presence of elements like lead, mercury,
arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and hexavalent chromium and flame
retardants in e-waste beyond threshold quantities is classified as hazardous
waste (UNEP, 2007). The most hazardous waste material is the computer
monitor and the television cathode ray tube, which contain between five to
eight pounds of lead.
3. E-Waste regulations
3.1 Basel Convention
The Basel Convention is an international treaty that was formed to
control the transboundary movement of hazardous waste and its disposal,
including its illegal dumping specifically from developed to developing
countries. It also aims to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes
generated and ensures their environmentally sound management.4 It is a
global agreement ratified by 168 member countries (in 2006) and the
European Union for addressing problems and challenges posed by
hazardous waste. The Basel Convention with regard to the Control of the
Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes5 and their Disposal was
signed by India on 15 March, 1990, and ratified and acceded to in 1992.
Until then, there were no specific environmental laws or guidelines in
place for managing e-waste in India. None of the existing environmental
laws had any direct reference to electronic waste nor referred to its
handling as hazardous in nature. However, several provisions of these laws
were applied to various aspects of electronic waste management. Since e-
waste or its constituents fall under the category of “hazardous” and not
“non- hazardous” waste, they were covered under the purview of The
Hazardous Waste Management Rules, 2003, an amended version of the
Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rule, 2000, which
included a detailed listing of the categories of waste, rules for processes,
waste streams of units generating hazardous waste, and concentration
4 ESM means taking all practical steps to minimize the generation of hazardous
wastes and strictly controlling its storage, transport, treatment, reuse, recycling,
recovery and final disposal, the purpose of which is to protect human health and
the environment.
5 The categories of hazardous waste covered by the convention includes toxic,
poisonous, explosive, corrosive, flammable, eco toxic and infectious.

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
90
limits of the constituents in the waste. As there were several limitations, a
more comprehensive legislation was devised by the MoEF, which notified
the e-waste management rules for the first time. The E-Waste
(Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, make the producers liable for
recycling and reducing e-waste in the country. The rules came into effect
on May 1st, 2012, and fall under the Environment Protection Act. The
producers are to establish collection centers, introduce take-back systems,
and create awareness about handling the equipment after use through
booklets to ensure segregation at source. Bulk consumers will be
responsible for recycling e-waste and channelizing it to authorized
collection centers. Records are to be maintained about details on e-waste
generated and made available to the State Pollution Control Boards for
submission to the Central Pollution Control Board annually. The Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has to submit the compiled information
to the government along with the recommendations each year.
Currently, most of IT companies are registered with the Software
Technology Park under the Export-Oriented Units (EOU), Software
Technology Part (STP) and Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP)
scheme. This scheme allows them to import locally, without payment of
duty, all types of goods, including computers and peripherals. Under this
scheme, computers must remain under a custom bond. There are then three
options available to the companies—donation to non-commercial
educational institutions, charitable hospitals, public libraries and
government organizations, sell them as scrap or the physical destruction of
computers so as to render them useless for secondary sale. The companies
are allowed to then sell the material as scrap after paying the customs duty
and being released from the bond. The IT industry prefers to donate rather
than destroy. In Bangalore, all the 1,322 software companies coming
under the Software Technology Park of India and the 36 hardware
manufacturers can thus import equipment, including computers, duty-free.
It is a well-known fact that all of these companies make use of this
regulation. As mentioned before, under this regulation, computers remain
under a custom bond, which implies that they cannot be sold (Porst, 1989).
4. Study area and methodology
Bangalore, which is located in southern India, is one of the top IT
destinations in the world. After the liberalization of the economy in the
early 1990s, was seen prominently in Bangalore. While positive impacts
have led to significant economic development, the IT boom has also led to
negative impacts, like changing lifestyles that exert immense pressure on

S. Manasi 91
resources (energy) and the environment. Both primary and secondary data
were collected for the study. Primary data was collected from key
informants and secondary data was collected from the Pollution Control
Board, NGOs, processing units and formal units. The study was conducted
in Bangalore from February to June 2009. Information was collected
through interviews with the personnel concerned and focus group
discussions around the e-waste processing clusters. First, a pilot study was
conducted and questionnaires tested. Based on the pilot survey input, it
was considered important to design questionnaires, keeping in view
various areas based on their specialization in processing—segregation,
collection or extraction of specific components like plastic, CRT tubes,
etc. However, it was not possible to administer the questionnaires in the
respective areas as (a) the respondents (informal recyclers) were reluctant
to provide information as they felt threatened due to the ban imposed on
informal e-waste recycling by the PCB; and (b) respondents were unable
to answer the questions as they had not kept any account of information
on, for instance, the quantity of waste processed, health problems
experienced, etc.
5. E-Waste management in Bangalore—a situation
analysis
5.1. Bangalore’s mounting e-waste
Increased e-waste, one of the recent outcomes of the IT boom, is seen
as a major threat to the already deteriorating environment in Bangalore.
With little awareness among the majority about the magnitude of the
problem, e-waste has been accumulating almost unhindered as one of the
most serious management challenges in recent times. Experts have
cautioned against the potentially harmful impacts of e-waste and hence the
need for its safe disposal. Home to more than 1,200 foreign and domestic
technology firms, Bangalore figures prominently on the danger list of
cities faced with e-waste hazard (Habib Beary, 2005). As IT firms
continue to inundate India’s technology hub of Bangalore, the city is
beginning to choke under the impact of the e-waste generated.
E-waste, or WEEE, is no longer a subject for academic discussions at
environmental forums. Instead, there is a growing realization that the issue
may assume dangerous proportions over the next few years if it continues
to be left unaddressed. Efforts are being made toward involving the IT
companies with a view to making them responsible; however, with hardly
any data available on the number of unregistered companies, tracking

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
92
them remains a problem. The Pollution Control Board is taking steps to
ensure safe disposal. The Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling)
Rule 2003, with major amendments, covers various aspects in detail;
however, implementation has not been so effective.
5.2. E-waste generation
There are several estimates on the quantity of e-waste generated in
Bangalore. During discussions, PCB officials reported 13,000 metric tons
of e-waste generation in 2009, which excluded household appliances. As
estimated by E-Parisaraa, Bangalore generates 12,000 metric tons per year,
and 330,000 metric tons per year are generated in India, with another
50,000 metric tons being illegally imported. The secondary market for old
PCs accounts for an average of 40 metric tons/hr while it is 4,000 metric
tons/hr for the whole world. Manufacturers and assemblers generate about
1,800 metric tons of electronic scrap every year. According to another
estimate, about 1,000 metric tons of plastics, the same equivalent of iron,
300 metric tons of lead, 0.23 metric tons of mercury, 43 metric tons of
nickel and 350 metric tons of copper are generated as e-waste in
Bangalore, and this figure might increase ten-fold in 2020, with the city
generating one-third of the state’s total e-waste.
Discussions with the officials of the Karnataka State Pollution Control
Board have revealed that the quantity of waste generated is based on the
obsolescence rate of computers in the IT industries. E-waste generating
sources include IT companies, public and private sectors, hospitals,
factories, commercial establishments, computer retailers, manufacturers,
and households. Given the context, Sridhar et al. (2011) view that the
evolution of technology is rapid and new technologies are at risk of
becoming obsolete at a faster pace, hence, domestic R&D should be
developed to aid cost-effective indigenous technology in the place of
imported technology, and make it suitable to Indian consumer
requirements. Besides, the government should encourage R&D for
fostering home-grown products and process innovation using directly
targeted R&D subsidies rather than tax incentives for imported packaged
software. These domestic labs require producers to convert their ideas into
usable innovations thus implying need for strong industry lab partnerships
(Sridhar et al., 2011).

S. Manasi 93
5.3. Flow of e-waste
One of the major constraints in disposing of e-waste is the absence of
scientific landfills. In the absence of scientific and formal e-waste
management mechanisms and policy guidelines, the user industries that
have custom bonded electronic equipment are forced to dispose of
obsolete computers to illegal traders. The disposal and treatment of e-
waste is a distinct production chain, and as such should not be treated
solely as a way of disposing of waste because it involves both reuse and
recycling. The character of the production chain differs in the formal and
informal sectors as the formal sector is constrained by regulations, either
governmental or international modes of self-regulation (ISO 14001
standards). Three factors are of major interest here: First, sources of e-
waste are domestic and international, and e-waste is imported even though
it is illegal unless 1) the purpose is direct reuse, or 2) it is handled in an
environmentally sound way (the Basel Convention and Toxic Link note
that e-waste has only been classified as hazardous by law in India since
2008 (E-Parisaraa, 2009)). Second, formal e-waste treatment plants are
new in the Indian context (E-Parisaraa was established in 2004–2005),
which explains the third significant fact that 95% of the e-waste is handled
by informal recyclers (E-Parisaraa, 2009; Sinha-Khetriwala, 2005). Thus,
the process of formalization of e-waste management in India has just
begun. This process faces the dynamics and dilemmas generally associated
with the “informal” economy.
The current dynamics and infrastructure of the e-waste sector pose
some barriers. First, E-Parisaraa receives e-waste from large companies
only due to domestic and international factors. Large international
companies (IBM, Intel, etc.) often face demands from stakeholders to
document their corporate social and environmental responsibility, which is
why they, to some extent, follow certain standards of self-regulation. The
formal disposal of e-waste has recently become mandatory in Karnataka;
this has, to some extent, reduced the e-waste flow to the informal sector.
However, the law faces some constraints with respect to the capacity of
the formal sector to absorb large quantities of e-waste and the multiple
ways of circumventing such regulations. This is actually achieved through
the “business as usual” fixing through donations of used equipment to
schools or NGOs, or through disposal for reuse. Eventually, the equipment
might end up in general households, which do not face any constraints in
disposal. In the absence of any kind of waste collection infrastructure, the
informal recyclers happen to be a readily available outlet for getting rid of
waste. Thus, in the current situation, it is difficult to ignore the role of the
informal sector in e-waste management.

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
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The formal recycling of e-waste channeled from source to recycling
center and finally to the disposal site accounts for hardly 5% of the total e-
waste generated. Hence, it is the informal e-waste recycling process that
assumes a major concern. Under informal recycling, several levels of
management are under process. The physical flow of e-waste begins with
agents, waste dealers and even ordinary kabadiwalas, who acquire
computer systems from the public and private sectors. After segregation,
both agents and small waste dealers sell the waste to the mediating waste
dealers. In the case of small waste dealers, some of the waste is sold to the
public as second-hand goods while the remaining is diverted to the open
market. From the mediating waste dealers, the scrap flows to the service
industry (as purchase parts for repair and maintenance of old computers).
Again, some residuals in the service industry get back into the open
market while the rest is sold to large waste dealers. From the large waste
dealers, it gets channeled again in three ways: (1) Recycling of certain
parts; (2) selected waste sold to specific individuals; (3) certain parts come
back to the open market. At the other end of this chain, there is a network
of dealers operating from large cities like Mumbai and Delhi through
agents, middlemen and company agents. All of them approach large
dealers in Bangalore to acquire scrap directly or through the open market.
The process can be better understood in the form of a flow chart.
As there are very few formal recycling units6 in Bangalore, some
companies store or donate their e-waste, or dispose of it to informal
recyclers through open auctions. The informal recycling activity is very
unorganized, with traders thriving as small and large-scale dealers doing
brisk business in their backyard recycling units where materials like gold,
copper, etc., are recovered using dangerous chemicals and processes in a
non-scientific way. The informal recyclers mainly operate in seven major
congested and thickly populated clusters in the city, comprising both
residential and business establishments. People working in the informal e-
waste sector are struggling to be recognized as formal sectors as their
livelihoods are wholly or partly dependent on this trade (E-Nam, 2008).
6 During the time of the study, there were 6 formal recycling units; currently, there
are 29 formal recycling units registered under the Karnataka State Pollution
Control Board.

S. Manasi 95
Flow Chart 1: Informal E-waste recycling process in Bangalore
Source: Author
5.4. Formal disposal site—treatment storage and disposal
facility
The Pollution Control Board, in association with GTZ, a German
engineering firm, set up an e-waste disposal landfill site, an investment of
Rs.550 million, 50 kilometers from Bangalore at Dobbaspet, near Tumkur
Road. The landfill has been operating since February 2009 despite
opposition from activists, local residents and politicians fearing hazardous
impacts on health and environment. The landfill, a treatment storage and
disposal facility (TSDF), is spread over an area of 93 acres, with a
potential storage capacity of 40,000 metric tons of industrial and
biomedical waste every year and an actual storage capacity of 800,000

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
96
metric tons, enough to last for two decades. Industries registered with
Karnataka (more than 2,000) are required to pay between Rs.1,500 to
Rs.2,500 for each metric ton of waste they deliver to the TSDF.
5.5. Informal e-waste recycling in Bangalore
Informal e-waste recycling is carried out in certain pockets of
Bangalore (Table 2) that are highly congested and densely populated with
low-income levels by minority communities. Recyclers are engaged in
various forms of partnerships in the establishment of e-waste businesses. It
could be a single individual or partnerships at various levels based on the
financial investments they can afford. For instance, they pool their
investments to purchase e-waste from companies and process it to share
profits, or set up individual businesses by establishing small business
enterprises, employing labor to process the waste.
5. 5.1. Informal e-waste recycling process
These recyclers run small enterprises (area of 4x4 sq. feet—small
enterprises, and 20x20 sq. feet—large enterprises) where they process
waste in various combinations (Table 10). Usually, 25% of the total
computer scrap collected is reusable. The general trend is that they
accumulate waste up to one metric ton, which they then sell to second-
hand dealers specialized in the processing of respective components.
Generally, recyclers specialized in certain processes or a combination of
processes congregate in specific areas; for instance, recyclers who collect
only wires sell them to large-scale dealers, where only the collection is the
focus, while recyclers in Gowripalya are specialized in extraction;
recyclers in the Nayandahalli and Tilak Nagar areas process plastic
waste—all these aspects have been documented in detail across various
areas.
5.5.2. Employment
Recyclers (the ones who invest) and employees mostly belong to the
25–35 years of age group. However, young children are also engaged in
the recycling process, doing simple chores like collecting specific kinds of
waste, and women are employed for processing the waste at households.
Laborers are usually paid on daily basis (ranging between Rs.75 and 90 for
women and Rs.100 to 120/day for men), while a few are hired on a
monthly basis (Rs.5,000 – 6,000) depending on the e-waste procured.

S. Manasi 97
Although informal recyclers are keen to become authorized recyclers, they
are ignorant of the procedures and how to approach the Karnataka State
Pollution Control Board; as a precondition for becoming a formal recycler,
one has to own land in an industrial area. As most of the informal
recyclers are economically poor, they find it difficult to meet the stipulated
requirements.
5.6. Formal recyclers
The authorized dealers receive e-waste from corporates for the
scientific recycling of waste. There were six authorized recycling units in
Bangalore during the conduct of the study but currently there are 16. The
organized recycling companies are equipped to process e-waste at
different degrees of excellence. However, it is very important that the
formal recycling is in place so there is accountability, while the processes
can always be refined. Apart from processing e-waste, formal recyclers are
also involved in awareness programs in collaboration with NGOs and
schools. The formal recyclers are supposed to abide by rules and
regulations in processing e-waste, including safety aspects concerning
employees.
Table 2 Areas and E-waste Processing Enterprises in Bangalore
Sl.No. Area Ward no. No. of
Enterprises
1 Nayandalli 39 18
2 Kenchenahalli 17 1
3 Tannery Road 90 16
4 Hebbal 96 27
5 Bommanalli 135 2
6 Singasandra 191 1
7 Nagavara and Thanisandra 12 6
8 Saraypalya 12 3
9 Arabic College 12 1
10 Govindapura and Hegde nagar 12 2
11 Rajajinagar 99 15
12 New Guddahalli 42 2
13 Old Guddahalli 42 5
14 Satellite town (Bapuji nagar) 42 3
15 Rajarajeshwari nagar 160 3

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
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16 Sunday market 30 15
17 Jolly moholla 30 7
18 Wannarpet 71 1
19 Neelasandra 69 10
20 Ashoka nagar 76 6
21 Tilak nagar 58 6
22 Gowripalya and
Padarayanapura
44 22
23 Seepings Road and Thimmaiah
Road
79 5
24 Balajinagar 64 10
25 New Gurappanpalya 64 1
26 Bismillanagar 64 2
27 J.C. Road 46 20
Total 220
Source: Compiled during field visits
Note: The areas in bold highlight the highly active areas of e-waste processing.
6. Institutions’ role in e-waste management
The roles and responsibilities are unclear as yet in managing e-waste,
and until such time as they are clarified, the problem will continue. Most
consumers of electronic waste are unaware of the health and environment
implications of large corporate offices, and households have not given
much attention to what happens to e-waste after it is sold as scrap. The
general view of the industry is that the government should regulate scrap
trade through authorized dealers. However, there is a larger issue
concerning extended producer responsibility (EPR), where producers are
now called upon to take up the responsibility of the safe disposal of their
products toward the end of their shelf life. This has become an
internationally accepted practice, regulated by appropriate legislation in
other parts of the world. In the Indian context, however, both multinational
and domestic companies seem as yet to be unwilling to embrace this
practice.
The IT industry, as well as the other generators of e-waste, has yet to
fully comprehend its role in dealing with the problems related to e-waste
disposal. Collection and recycling processes need to be strengthened and
systematized. Several organizations have taken up various initiatives in
managing e-waste. An overview of their aims and functioning highlight

S. Manasi 99
their efforts and further requirements for strengthening the institutional
structure in managing e-waste.
The Indo-German-Swiss e-waste initiative involving several partners—
the Ministry for Environment and Forests, CPCB, BMZ, German
Technical Cooperation, SECO and EMPA—is a case in point with respect
to the coordinated management of e-waste. Further, the MoEF is the nodal
agency in the administrative structure of the central government for
planning, promoting, coordinating and overseeing the implementation of
environmental and forestry programs. The Ministry is also the nodal
agency in the country for the UNEP. The CPCB is an autonomous
organization under the MoEF, the apex organization in India for the
prevention and control of pollution. Among the many functions of the
CPCB, it plays an important role in drafting guidelines, advising the
MoEF on policy issues, conducting field tests and coordinating the
activities of the State Pollution Control Boards.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and
Development (BMZ) develops the guidelines and concepts of German
development policy. It determines the long-term strategies for cooperation
with different participants and defines the rules for their execution. The
Advisory Services in Environmental Management (ASEM) is a joint
program of the GTZ and the Indian MoEF focusing on urban and
industrial environmental management and sustainable development.
The SECO is the Swiss Confederation’s competence center for all core
issues relating to economic policy, and in 2003, SECO initiated the
Knowledge Partnerships program in e-waste for developing and transition
countries. EMPA is an independent, neutral institution for multidisciplinary
research on sustainable materials and systems engineering. Within EMPA,
the competence center for e-waste recycling forms part of the technology
and society laboratory that analyzes the impacts of technological
developments on the society and environment. E-waste recycling is one of
EMPA’s research areas, at the level of both material flows and components.
The role of KSPCB, as it is known, is to enforce laws and acts, and
with e-waste being an emerging issue, it is coordinating with other
agencies in e-waste management. The government has formed a WEEE
(European Community directive) task force, comprising the CPCB, the
Ministry of Environment & Forests, Ministry of IT & Electronics, Industry
associations, NGOs and some independent experts. The Indo-German-
Swiss e-waste initiative is a joint project involving India, Switzerland, and
Germany. The vision of this initiative is to establish a clean e-waste
channel aimed at establishing: (a) a convenient collection and safe disposal
system for large and small consumers; (b) a voluntary system for the

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
100
producers concerned to care for their products post-their-useful-life; (c) a
financially secure system that makes environmentally and socially
responsible e-waste recycling viable; (d) reducing risks to the population
and pollution of the environment from unsafe e-waste handling; (e)
focusing on knowledge transfer and skills upgradation across stakeholders
through trainings and seminars; and (f) targeting the existing informal
recyclers for their maximum but safe participation in future e-waste
management by facilitating their growth and integration with the formal
structure.
The Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA), formed in 1992,
is the umbrella organization representing all the companies operating in
the Electronic City, Bangalore, with the aim of providing an e-waste
management system for safe disposal as well as organizing waste-
sensitization programs.
The E-Waste Agency (EWA) is a nodal agency for e-waste management
in Bangalore formed by IT companies, NGOs and the KSPCB with the
main objective of curtailing the unregulated dumping of electronic waste
in Bangalore. EWA constitutes of representatives from the IT sector such
as Nasscom, Manufacturers Association for Information Technology
(MAIT) and STPI, the State and CPCBs and various formal recyclers and
NGOs. Currently, EWA, with support from the Indo-German-Swiss e-
waste initiative, is engaged in training groups from the informal sector in
the eco-friendly management of e-waste, with the objective of being
included as authorized recyclers.
6.1 Initiatives
Various initiatives have been taken to introduce policies and guidelines
for managing e-waste. In India, the MoEF in association with the CPCB
developed guidelines for the environmentally sound management of e-
waste in March 2008. Several NGOs and civil society groups like
Greenpeace, Toxics Link and GTZ, in coordination with the MAIT,
framed the rules and submitted them to the MoEF. Under the new E-Waste
(Management and Handling) Rules, each manufacturer of electronic
gadgets will be “personally” responsible for the final safe disposal of e-
waste. Eighteen electronic brands have begun implementing plans for a toxic
chemical phase-out and take-back of old end-of-life products in India.
(http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/india-prepares-strictest-
rules-on-disposing-of-e-waste_100234233.html)
In Bangalore, WeP Peripherals Limited, in association with Saahas, an
NGO, and E-Parisaraa, has launched an e-waste collection drive program

S. Manasi 101
at various locations in the city. WeP also has set up the Social
Development Trust through contributions from its net profit. Moreover,
WeP has taken initiatives in addressing the growing threat of e-waste
disposal by consciously introducing and promoting environment-friendly
products like green toners, green printers, and green printer programs.
7. Conclusions and policy options
To sum up, e-waste management is presently largely unorganized, and
only in the initial stages of working toward proper management in
Bangalore. There are no accurate estimates available on the quantity of e-
waste generated and recycled given the magnitude of the problem and
poor accountability. The findings have also thrown up new research issues,
which are of critical importance to e-waste management viz., exploring the
dimension of health impacts on informal workers engaged in e-waste
processing and the impacts of e-waste on the urban environment. There
exists less awareness amongst manufacturers and consumers alike about
the potential hazards of unsafe e-waste disposal. An increase in exported
e-waste is exempt from basic customs duty, which makes it convenient to
import of obsolete computers under EXIM policy 2000. The roles and
responsibilities are as yet unclear with regard to managing e-waste, and
need to be properly defined. The only legislation in place relates to
Hazardous Waste Management and Handling Rules (Amended Rules
2003), which while listing e-waste under Schedule 2 (list A and B) puts
restrictions on the import and export of e-waste. The Guidelines for
Environmentally Sound Management of E-Waste, developed by the MoEF
in 2008, are of high relevance in terms of addressing several issues
concerning e-waste management. However, it also mentions that there is a
need to work out specific ways for managing streams of e-waste. For
instance, the problem of CFL disposal is a major threat in cities. Further, it
also provides guidelines for an integrated e-waste recycling and treatment
facility, indicating that it would be more relevant to prescribe specific and
stringent rules by the State Pollution Control Boards depending on the
local conditions. Given this scenario, there is an urgent need for ensuring
appropriate regulations are in place to address the various aspects of e-
waste management.
Discussions with informal recyclers highlighted some important issues.
Although informal recyclers are keen to become authorized recyclers, they
are ignorant of the procedures and how to approach the Karnataka State
Pollution Control Board; the precondition for becoming a formal recycler
is that one has to own land in an industrial area. As most of the informal

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
102
recyclers are economically poor, they find it difficult to meet the stipulated
requirements of the government. However, interestingly, a few informal
recyclers are willing to work in a common recycling treatment unit
provided they receive training. It is obvious that they feel their livelihoods
are under threat given the strict regulations, and hence the reluctance to
share information.
Recyclers also complain about poorer business trends owing to the
stringent rules and regulations laid down by the Pollution Control Board
that make it mandatory for the companies to hand over e-waste only to the
authorized recycling units. As the formal recyclers are few in number and
unable to process the e-waste, they pass it to informal recyclers for
processing at a lower price, resulting in the exploitation of informal
workers and the failure to attain the objective of formal recycling.
Furthermore, informal recyclers are experiencing health problems (skin
irritations, burning and irritated eyes, acidity and respiratory problems).
They do recognize that dismantling, segregating and shredding cause less
discomfort compared to burning of e-waste. However, they were unable to
understand the reasons why and the hazardous effects of e-waste. They
were keen and willing to participate in awareness training programs as
well as requested protective gear and land for processing e-waste.
7.1. Options for improved management
We came across many options discussed in various reports dealing
with the issue of e-waste management. There is a definite scope for
working on these options for the sustainable management of e-waste in
order to avoid imminent threats to ecology and human health in Bangalore.
 Reuse: Reuse is already in practice; however, increasing a product’s
lifespan with adequate precautions could further strengthen it.
There are many companies and non-profit organizations promoting
the reuse of discarded computers at schools and work places.
Manufacturers like Sony, Panasonic and Sharp pay certain
recyclers to process their products and consumers purchase them at
statewide collection events. In short, a formal system should be
evolved for promoting the reuse of electronic waste, with
awareness made part of the working system.
 Recycle: The recycling of hazardous products has more negative
implications for health and environment, including the
neighborhood communities. In this context, it would be more

S. Manasi 103
relevant to redesign the products as well as encourage sustainable
product designs using non-hazardous materials.
 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) — EPR aims to
encourage producers in terms of preventing pollution and reducing
the resource and energy use in each stage of the product life span
through effecting changes in product design and processing
technology. This includes upstream impacts arising from the choice
of materials and the manufacturing process as well as the
downstream impacts, i.e., from the use and disposal of products.
This would facilitate the research and development activities of
companies toward sustainable technologies and materials, and
probably raise the price of electronic equipment in the intermediate,
as companies might add some additional costs to consumer product
prices, lowering the demand in the process. However, product take-
back needs to be complemented with mandatory legislation for
phasing out e-toxics.
 Incineration: Although incineration is a practiced option, it is not
considered a safe method for the disposal of e-waste as it releases
heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury into the air and
land,.
 Mercury released into the atmosphere can bio-accumulate in the
food chain, particularly in water bodies, and consequently in fish—
a major route of exposure for the general public. If products contain
PVC plastic, highly toxic dioxins and furans are also released.
 Landfills: Landfills, considered the safest and effective option, also
have negative implications. In Bangalore, we have the first
established landfill where safety measures were implemented. It is
argued that even the best landfills are not completely secure always
and that a certain amount of chemical and metal leaching might
occur, hence proper care should be taken.
 Governance: Managing of e-waste should be the joint
responsibility of all the stakeholders concerned. Several institutions
have come forward to work toward the integrated management of
e-waste; however, the government institutions should play a major
role in systematizing management. It is important that a regulatory
authority is set up exclusively to manage hazardous waste as well
as formulate e-waste policy and legislation. Any company,
institution or organization established in India should be subjected
to certain mandatory terms and conditions concerning e-waste
disposal. Fostering partnerships with manufacturers and retailers by
creating an enabling environment is essential for disposing of e-

Globalization and Inclusive Growth
104
waste scientifically at reasonable costs. The establishment of
necessary infrastructure for collection of domestic e-waste and fees
from manufacturers/consumers for the disposal of toxic materials
should be subsidized by recycling and disposal industries, along
with incentive schemes for garbage collectors and the general
public for collecting and handing over e-waste. At present,
formulating and regulating the occupational health safety norms
related to e-waste recycling are mainly confined to the informal
sector. The programs should also be made available for students in
the form of a certificate course, like any other skills training.
Research and development in respect of developing and
standardizing hazardous waste management, environmental
monitoring and the regulation of hazardous waste disposal needs to
be promoted.
 Regulations - Governments should be responsible for developing
an adequate system of laws, controls and administrative procedures
for hazardous waste management. A comprehensive law
encompassing e-waste regulations and management and proper
disposal of hazardous wastes is required. Such a law should
empower the agency to control, supervise and regulate the relevant
activities of government departments. Under this law, the agency
concerned should:
o Collect basic information on the materials from manufacturers,
processors and importers and maintain an inventory of these
materials. The information should include toxicity and potential
harmful effects.
o Identify potentially harmful substances and make it mandatory
on the part of the industry to test them for adverse health and
environmental effects.
o Standardize methodologies for different processes involved
during recycling; CPCB should specify such methodologies
relevant and applicable to Indian conditions (regardless of any
state) and also the permissible limits for dissolved heavy metals
in the atmosphere since metals involved in e-waste recycling
happen to be mostly heavy.
o Control risks from the manufacture, processing, distribution,
use and disposal of electronic wastes.
o Encourage the beneficial reuse of e-waste and business
activities that use waste; set up programs so as to promote
recycling among citizens and businesses.
o Sensitize e-waste generators on reuse/recycling options.

S. Manasi 105
 Awareness Creation - Participatory governance models need to be
promoted through generating awareness of health impacts and
environmental consequences of current practices. Awareness
programs on e-waste impacts for school children and the general
public need to be effectively implemented. Further, there is a need
for enforcing the labeling of all computer monitors, television sets
and other household/industrial electronic devices, stating hazardous
contents with a view to identifying environmental hazards and
ensuring proper management and e-waste disposal. So far,
awareness levels have been very low, almost absent, among the
informal processors of e-waste and the civilians. The efforts in this
regard have to be made more intensive to protect the health of both
the environment and people.
 Formalizing the Informal Sector - Since e-waste processing is a
source of livelihood for many poor families, they should be
formally trained in e-waste processing and provided with
authorization. Procedures and the duration involved in obtaining
authorization should be as simple as possible. Getting them
together to build an action plan under the guidance of the
government and companies is essential. Further, there is a need for
providing alternative sources of livelihood, thereby reducing the
“social necessity” of informal e-waste recycling. In this context, it
is also relevant to carry out a situation analysis of the constraints
faced by the customs department across different harbors of India,
as this is one of the main sources of informal recycling.
References
Agarwal Ravi, Ranjan R and P. Sarkar. 2003. Scrapping the Hi-tech Myth:
Computer Waste in India. New Delhi: Toxics Link.
Coby S.C. et al. 2007.
http://dste.puducherry.gov.in/envisnew/ABSTRACTS-2007.htm.
ENDS Report 283. 1998. “Evidence Mounts on Risks of Brominated
Flame Retardants.” London, UK.
Guan Hua Xing et al. 2008.
linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0160412008001505.
Hilty, L. M. 2005. “Electronic Waste: An Emerging Risk.” Environmental
Impact Assessment Review 25 (5): 431–35.
Hoque, A. et al. 1998. “E-waste Flooding Landfills.” Epidemiology 9(4):
373–78.

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Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. July-August, 2004. E-Waste –
Bangalore Wakes Up to a New Threat. Mission Report.
Mehra, H.C. 2004. “PC Waste Leaves Toxic Taste.” The Tribune, 22nd
March.
MoEF. (2008). Guidelines for Environmentally Sound Management of E-
Waste. New Delhi: Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), and
Central Pollution Control Board.
Portes, Alejandro, Manuel Castells and Lauren A. Benton, eds. 1989. The
Informal Economy. Studies in Advanced and Less Developed
Countries. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Qian Luo et al. 2007. ewasteguide.info/biblio/polybrominate.
Rane, Baadsgaard. 2008. E-Waste: How to Create a Sustainable
Formalisation? NCI ISEC course, Approaching the Environment in
India, Assignment.
“The Global Information Economy.” Environmental Impact Assessment
Review 25: 492–502.
Toxic Link. E-Waste in India – System Failure Imminent – Take Action
Now! www.toxic-link.org.
UNEP. 2007. E-Waste – Inventory Assessment Manual, Volume 1.
—. 2010. “Recycling – From E-Waste to Resources.” Prepared by the
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Testing and Research,
Umicore and United Nations University (UNU).
Vinutha V. 2005. “The E-Waste Problem.” Basel Action Network Library
- Express Computing.
Wang, Dongli. 2005.
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0045653505005588.
W.J. Deng et al. 2006.
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1352231006006674.

WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL
CRISIS IN MEGA CITY:
VANISHING LAKES AND OVER-EXPLOITED
GROUND WATER IN BANGALORE
P. THIPPAIAH
1. Introduction
Bangalore city has experienced a relatively fast urbanization in India.
Its built-up area increased from 130 sq. km with 1.2 million in population
in 1961 to 366 sq. km with 2.92 million in 1981, 439 sq. km with 5.8
million in 2001, and 741 sq. km in 2011 with 8.43 million. This is
projected to increase to 15.2 million by 2020. Because of this growth,
from the 16th largest city in the country in 1941, it became the sixth
largest urban agglomeration out of 23 metropolises, urban agglomerations
and cities in India in 2001. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in the
world. It is called the Silicon Valley of Asia. Obviously, the fast-growing
city demands more infrastructures of different kinds, including access to
drinking water.
As we all know, water is important for irrigation, drinking, recreation,
ground water recharges, fisheries cultivation and a good climate. Over a
period of time, water has become a scarce commodity both in rural and
urban areas. In urban areas, particularly in Bangalore, the problem is very
serious. The demand is always more than the supply. To augment this
short supply, various water supply programs have been undertaken by the
government from time to time. Despite this, water crises have become the
order of the day. Various factors and problems have contributed to the
present water crisis. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyze two
contributory factors viz., the encroachment of lakes and overexploitation
of ground water. Some analysis is also made about the supply and demand
of water in the city over the years.

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
108
2. Water supply and water crisis in Bangalore city
The water needs of the city were met by tanks/lakes1, wells and ponds
until 1895, as Bangalore does not have perennial rivers to supply piped
water. According to evidence, many reservoirs, called lakes or tanks, have
supplied water to the city. A few of them were Ulsoor, Sampige, Sankey,
Kempambudi, Dharmambudi (which supplied drinking water until 1895)
and Miller. It is believed that Sarakki Lake was also used until 1970. In
1960, Ulsoor Lake, and the Shoolay and Pudupachery tanks were used to
supply water to the Bangalore Cantonment area (Agarwal and Narain,
1997:207). The Domlur tank was used by the British military for watering
artillery horses (presently it is a BDA Layout). In addition, tanks such as
Ullalkere, Jaraganahalli-Sarakki, Ulsoor, Madivala, Hebbal, Hennur,
Agara and Bellandur were used to provide drinking water to the city in
addition to open wells and step ponds (Venkataraman, 2000:45). The
noted environmentalist A. N. Yellappa Reddy once said, “As a boy I used
to drink water from Bellandur and Madiwala lakes” (The Times of India,
2008). Many of the existing lakes/tanks, including these two, look like
small water bodies now because of encroachments. Many of these lakes
around the city were constructed by Bangalore founder Kempegowda
during the 16th century. Later, Wodeyar of Mysore and the British
maintained them to provide water for drinking, bathing and washing
(dhobis) purposes and for livelihood activities such as agriculture,
livestock and fishing. The lakes have also been used over the years for
holding rituals and religious ceremonies. These tanks not only served these
purposes but also influenced the micro climate and rejuvenated the ground
water for ages.
The existence of three major valleys around the city has facilitated the
development of lakes. The three valleys are Hebbal Valley, Koramangala-
Challaghatta Valley and Vrishabhavathi Valley. Across these valleys,
several small reservoirs were built. These almost supplied one-third of the
total demand of the city. This source has completely disappeared now as a
result of their destruction (Government of Karnataka (GoK), 2002–
2003:3). They were mostly neglected after a piped water supply was
provided to the city in 1896. It was stated that this was the starting point
for the destruction of the lakes as they were not required for the purpose
for which they were meant initially. The lakes were converted into
1 Tanks and lakes are used synonymously throughout this article.

P. Thippaiah 109
residential and commercial localities and the irrigation and drinking water
capacities from these totally diminished.
After 1896, arrangements were made by the Bangalore Water Supply
and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to supply treated water from two small
reservoirs, Hesaraghatta Tank, commissioned in 1896 (this tank has
completely dried up and only a few bore wells in the tank bed area
maintain the water supply pipes), and Thippagondanahalli Dam,
commissioned in 1933 with a potential of 36 and 148 million liters per day
(MLD), respectively. As these sources were not adequate to meet the
drinking water needs of the growing population, a major scheme, the
Cauvery Water Supply Scheme, was implemented in four stages to draw
water from a distance of 100 km from the city. The fourth stage included
two phases, and would exhaust the utilization of Cauvery water as per the
Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award on Bangalore’s drinking water
quota. From all these sources, the potential available supply was 1,435
MLD (this includes the Cauvery River share of 19 thousand million cubic
feet (TMC)/annum), including 500 MLD (6 TMC/per annum) at the end of
2012. The present supply is 935 MLD (13 TMC), with a deficit/shortage
of 465 MLD. The shortage is met by water tankers, bore wells and bottled
water (mineral water). Still, many of the areas are deprived of drinking
water.
Of the current supply, 60–65% goes to the city’s core areas. By 2012,
the 500 MLD water supply from the second phase of Cauvery IV could
cover the 7 newly added City Municipal Councils (CMCs) and 1 TMC,
barring 110 villages which did not have infrastructure to supply water.
Population projections for the city show that by 2021, the city will have 10
million people, with an additional demand for 330 MLD. By 2036, the
additional demand is expected to reach 1030 MLD for the projected
population of 12.5 million (Table 1). This shows that the water crisis can
be expected to continue to grow over the years.
The supply is inadequate compared to the demand. Per capita
availability of water varied between 100–110 liters per capita per day
LPCD (Raju et al., 2008), against the Government of India norm of 150
LPCD and WHO norm of 135 MLD for metropolitan cities. But the
actual receipt of water by the consumers is about 75 LPCD. Data
by the WHO suggests that by 2020 there will be only 60 liters of potable
water available per person per day in Bangalore as against the required
150 liters. To tackle this problem, the BWSSB, which is the agency
responsible for water supply and sewage services to Bangalore city, plans
to tap the water from five lakes viz. Nagavara Lake (50 MLD), Kalkere
Lake (20 MLD), Kengeri Lake (30 MLD), Bellandur Lake (150 MLD) and

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
110
K. R. Puram Lake (20 MLD) (Bangaloreblogspot, 2008). In the second
phase, it intends to take up the recycling of water from another seven
lakes—Doddabele, Y.M. Chetty, Hulimavu, Pillarakatte, Agaram,
Puttenhalli (J.P. Nagar) and Madavara (Divya Gandhi, 2008). Various
options are also under consideration for bringing water from Almatti Dam;
Hemavathi, Netravathi, Tungabhadra, and Krishna Rivers; and the
Ettinahole tributary of the Cauvery River in Sakleshpur of the
Chikmagalur district.
Table 1 Population and Water Demand in the BBMP Area
Year
Population
in Lakhs
Water Demand
in MLD
Water Supply
in MLD
Shortfall
in MLD
2001 83.79 870 540 330
2010 96 1300 850 450
2015 100 1500 1470 30
2021 110 1800 1470 330
2036 125 2500 1470 1030
Source: BWSSB
The city gets about 935 MLD (16 TMC per annum) of water per day at
present from the Cauvery and Arkavathy sources as against the demand
for 1,400 MLD. Of the 935 MLD actual supplies, 35–40% is being wasted
either due to leakage/loss or is unaccounted for. Out of 935 MLD, 150
MLD is used for non-domestic purposes. One fine example of this is the
waste of drinking water to the extent of 175,000 gallons at the
Yeshwanthpur railway station every day for washing railway bogies
(Anonymous, 2012).
The pattern of dependency of the water needs of the Bangalore Urban
District indicates that most households are deprived of treated water.
Census of India 2011 data stated that out of 2.337 million households,
16.9% of the district’s households/population still depend on bore well
water. Over 12.5% still depend on “untreated” tap water. This is clear
from table 2. Going by this, the magnitude of shortage could be even
higher in the city considering that piped water from the Cauvery supply is
limited only to the core city areas at present.

P. Thippaiah 111
Table 2 Percentage of Households/Population Depending on Various
Sources in Bangalore Urban District–2011
SL No. Source Quantity (%)
1 Treated Tap Water 66.6
2 Untreated Tap Water 12.5
3 Well Water 0.8
4 Tube Well Water 16.9
5 Other Sources 3.2
Total 100
Note: Total Number of Households in Bangalore Urban District–2.337 million
Source: Afshan Yasmeen (2012)
3. Lakes in Bangalore City
Several tanks/lakes are being constructed in the country, more so in the
Southern Peninsula of India. Karnataka is one of the major states in the
southern region, and it has 36,676 lakes and tanks with an irrigation
potential of 685, 000 hectares. These tanks were built at different times by
different rulers and philanthropists. Some of these tanks/ lakes become
part of urban areas that have expanded over time, as cited above. One such
urban area is Bangalore.
There are varying estimates of the number of lakes/tanks in the
Bangalore Urban District, of which a major part is the mega city
Bangalore. There are two official sources that provide some data on the
lakes/tanks in the district but they differ sharply on the number. As per the
Minor Irrigation Census1986–87 of the Department of Minor Irrigation,
there were 608 tanks of all sizes and classes, but the Directorate of
Economics and Statistics data show that around 652 tanks existed in the
same year, and that there is the same number to date even though many
lakes have disappeared as the city expanded. In contrast again, the Task
Force for the Protection of Government Land report states that there were
937 lakes in the district, with a water spread area of 26,468 acres (GoK,
2011). With these differences, it is difficult to make any definitive
statement on the exact number of tanks; however, one can broadly agree
that there were about 630.
The picture is similar in regard to the number of lakes/ tanks in the
city because different agencies and researchers considered different city
boundary limits, such as the BBMP area, BDA area, Bangalore Urban
Agglomeration, Bangalore Metropolitan Area and Bangalore Metropolitan
Regional Authority (1985), in their estimation. The study on the landscape

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
112
of Bangalore by Mathur and Cunha (2006) indicates the existence of
several tanks (1,000 lakes) in Bangalore. BMRDA sources indicate there
were 2,298 tanks; some other sources indicate that the city had 261 lakes
until 1961 (GoK, 2002–2003:3, GoK, Lake Development Authority
(LDA) and Indo-Norwegian Environment Programme (INEP), 2002:5,
GoK, 2001:4) and their number declined to 81 as per the Lakshman Rau
Committee Report (1986), a decline of 35.09%. The water spread area too
declined by 8.66%. According to Lakshman Rau’s Report (1986), there
were 389 lakes/ tanks in Bangalore Metropolitan Area (1,279 sq. kms),
which was under Bangalore Development Authority jurisdiction as per
CDP 1984. These lakes accounted for 20.60% of the Bangalore Urban and
Rural districts together as per DES, and 59.66% of the Bangalore Urban
District in 1986–87.
Out of 389 lakes (Lakshman Rau et al., 1986), 262 lakes were in the
greenbelt area (839.72 sq. km) and the remaining 127 lakes/ tanks in the
conurbation area (449 sq. km). Out of 127 tanks in the conurbation area,
81 tanks were tanks in use and 46 were unused. The average water spread
area worked out to 12.62 ha per lake/tank as against the state average of
11.98 ha. This means the city lakes were bigger compared to the rural
tanks in the state. The bigger tanks had been built around the city with a
view to providing irrigation and drinking water to the growing population
of Bangalore as there were no perennial rivers around the city.
3.1. Vanishing lakes (Complete encroachments)
One of the major reasons for the disappearance of lakes, their storage
capacities and the shrinkage of water spread areas is encroachments.
However, there is no proper estimate on encroachments, either on the
number of lakes that have completely disappeared or on the extent of
encroachments, to understand their magnitude and impact. Even the
existing limited information is not adequate enough to draw any inferences
as it differs across sources. However, one thing is clear: both public as
well as private sectors, as well as companies in the booming information
technology and embedded services, have encroached upon vast tracts of
lakes/ tanks for the provision of housing, public utilities and infrastructure
facilities for the growing population. In the process of expansion, several
lakes have been either destroyed or encroached upon.
Going by various estimates, one can broadly agree that the city had
about 400 lakes; today it has 129. There are varying estimates, from 421 to
195, on the disappeared lakes. According to a study by IISc, the number of
lakes declined from 51 with 321 ha. in 1973 to 17 with 87 ha. in 2007 in

P. Thippaiah 113
the city area. Similarly, the number of lakes declined from 159 with 2003
ha. in 1973 to 93 with 918 ha. in 2007 in greater Bangalore (Ramachandra
and Uttam Kumar, 2008). A study by Thippaiah (2009) indicated that
about 195 have disappeared. The report by the Justice Patil committee
(2011) indicated that out of 386 in the BDA planning area, including
BBMP and the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning
Authority (BMICAPA) areas (this figure is close to the 389 lakes
estimated by the Lakshmana Rau Report), the fate of 121 lakes is
unknown and over 100 lakes have disappeared due to rapid urbanization,
poor land use management, weak regulations, administrative and political
apathy and the lack of public involvement in their maintenance. The lakes
that have disappeared were used for forming residential layouts; building
schools, hospitals, bus stands, and other complexes; or used as garbage
dumps, truck stations, etc. Some of the important lakes converted for
various purposes were Dharmambudi (now the Kempegowda Bus Station),
Sampangi (now the Kanteerava Stadium), Siddikatte (now the City
Market), Karanji (now the Chamarajpet and Gandhi Bazaars) (Agarwal
and Narain, 1997:206), and Millers (now hospitals, Guru Nanak Bhavan,
IT companies, schools and residential buildings).
Furthermore, the conditions of lakes/tanks did not improve after the
Lakshman Rau report. This is evident from the condition of the 127 tanks
transferred to the Forest Department and other departments on the
recommendation of the Lakshman Rau Committee Report (1986). From
table 3, it is clear that most of the lakes are filled with sewage (60 lakes)
water, and many others were breached and encroached upon.
Table 3 Status of Tanks/Lakes in Bangalore
Sl.
No.
Current Status No. of
Lakes
1 Dried up and already leased out by the government 13
2 Sewage water filled and some of them are in advanced
stages of deterioration
60
3 BDA was breached for forming extensions, creating
public utilities and housing sites for general public
28
4 Unauthorized occupation by slums and private parties 15
5 Recognizable as small pools of water (cesspools) due
to encroachments
7
6 Cannot be traced (fully encroached) 4
Total 127
Source: 1. Forest Department, Government of Karnataka, 2. Chandramouli (2002)

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
114
3.2. Partial encroachments
The story of existing tanks in the mega city and around its area is no
better in recent times, as many of these tanks have been partially
encroached upon by government and private individuals for various
purposes. However, there is no adequate and reliable information available
on this to understand its magnitude. Even the available information does
not help us to understand due to variations in estimations by various
sources (Table 4). From the table, it is evident that the extent of
encroachment of water spread areas of 48 lakes in Bangalore city was
between 228.02 acres (92.28 ha.) (Thippaiah, 2009) and 519 acres for 114
lakes (210 ha.) (Department of Forests). The proportion of water spread
area encroached was found to be 20.38% for 48 lakes. Across the lakes,
the encroachment varied between 1% and 100% of the water spread area
(Thippaiah, 2009). If we consider Department of Forest data on
encroachment, it was found that 553 people encroached about 313 acres of
lake beds. It works out that 12 people encroached upon each lake. The
Department of Forests filed cases against several of these encroachers
without much success. The data computed from the records of the Deputy
Commissioner’s Office, Bangalore Urban District in 2009, shows that
about 228.02 acres (92.28 ha.) of land were encroached. This works out to
20% of the water spread area and 4.75 hectares of land per tank
(Thippaiah, 2009). When we consider the Bangalore Urban District as a
whole, the encroachment is larger (1,848 acres, GoK, 2011). But the
average encroachers per tank is 3 and the proportion of encroachment
7.18% of the water spread area. Of the encroached land, mostly 50% has
been encroached by public agencies for the construction of roads, flyovers,
bridges, pipelines, railway tracks, and layouts, and for the dumping of
hazardous wastes. Another 50% has been encroached by greedy private
builders, slum dwellers, industrial complexes and adjoining farmers.
Apart from this, some of the layouts and residential areas close to the
lakes have encroached upon a portion of them. The remaining part of these
lakes has been simply left in several of these layouts without being
maintained for several years. The BDA also left these to fulfill the
requirement that 13.27% of the land be available for lung space (parks,
playgrounds and recreational areas) according to CDP 1984 (Rau et al.,
1986: 77). However, many of these lakes have not been developed as
parks and amusement parks as stated in urban planning. In fact, the public
agencies and private individuals have been using these lakes for dumping
domestic waste in new layouts. As a result, they are highly polluted and
covered by water hyacinths and aquatic weeds.

P. Thippaiah 115
Table 4 Estimates of Lake Encroachment in Bangalore
Sl.
No.
Source Extent
1 Department of Forest
(2004)
519.00 acres
2 Deputy Commissioner’s
Office, Bangalore Urban
District (2006)
228.02 acres (Computed by the
author from the records of Deputy
Commissioner Office, Bangalore
Urban District, pertaining to 2006)
3 A.T. Ramaswamy
Committee Report, May
2007
The encroachment of 48 tanks in
the Urban Forest division has an
encroachment of 313 acres out of
3379 acres of water spread area by
553 people (May 2007)
4 Department of Forest,
February, 2007
313 acres by 441 persons (Feb
2007)
5 A joint survey of lakes by
BBMP and Revenue
Department (Sharath S.
Srivatsa, 2011)
Identified 287 acres encroachment
on 91 lakes out of 132 lakes in
800 sq.kms
Sources: 1. Department of Forests
2. Mathang (2004)
3. Government of Karnataka (2007), Joint Legislature Committee on
Encroachments on Bangalore Urban District- Interim Report-II, July 2007 p51
4. Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Bangalore Urban District
The encroachers of lakes/tanks in Bangalore include religious figures,
politicians, bureaucrats and realtors. The unholy nexus between the land
grabbers, politicians and bureaucrats is mainly responsible for this. The
powerful land grabbers have formed layouts on these encroached lands
and sold them to the city residents. They have been permitted by the local
authorities without verifying the documents as they have been bribed.
Further, in many of the cases, the parties obtained permission for
residential buildings by producing false and fabricated documents. Some
of the officials have also assisted them in such activities. This clearly
indicates that there has been a nexus between the officials, builders,
politicians and government agencies.

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
116
3.3. Encroachments of drainages and rajakaluves (main canals)
The studies by Ramachandra and Uttam Kumar (2008) and Thippaiah
(2009) have indicated that the natural drainage leading to lakes and the
catchment areas has been encroached by the land mafia in connivance with
government machinery. Drainage of the Nagavara, Sankey, Belandur,
Madivala and Yelachenahalli lakes was encroached. The story is the same
for a majority of the lakes. Besides this, rajakaluves, which have a total
length of 840 km in the BBMP area to facilitate the flow of storm water
and surplus of the lakes, have been encroached upon by 575 people at
different places (Keerthi Prasad, 2011). The unauthorized structures built
on 29 encroached rajakaluves are blocking drains and flood waters (GoK,
2011).
3.4. Comparison of urban tank/lake encroachment with rural
tank encroachments
The extent of encroachment of urban lakes is about 20.38% of the
water spread area if we consider the encroachment of 48 lakes (Table 4).
This is higher than that of some of the rural tanks and also the average of
state tanks. The average encroachment in the state stands at 10% of the
water spread area (Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development
(ANSSIRD), 1999:30) with 6.69% (Thippaiah, 2006:14) to 15.86%
(Thippaiah, 1998:111) in the case of some rural tanks.
3.5. Eviction of encroachments
The eviction of private and public encroachments by using existing
Acts has quite often been emphasized. There are more than 16 Acts,
including the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure Act,
Revenue Act, Forest Act and Civic Bodies Acts, for evicting the
encroachments from public properties, including lakes. But the progress
made in this regard is far from satisfactory if we look at the magnitude of
encroachments in the state. The extent of encroachment was 40,000 acres
in and around Bangalore (Ramaswamy Committee Report, GoK, 2007),
and 1,107, 000 acres including lakes/tanks in the state (Balasubaramanian
Report, GoK, 2011). In respect of the lakes in Bangalore, the LDA, with
the help of the Forest Department, with whom the ownership of lakes was
vested until recently, has attempted to identify some encroachments and
evict them in association with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force
(BMTF) and local police. But the efforts did not fully solve the problems

P. Thippaiah 117
due to a lack of coordination among different agencies, and because the
lands had been encroached by influential people. For instance, the LDA
wrote letters to the CMC, Bommanahalli, for the eviction of the
encroachers of the Puttenahalli and Doddabegur tanks/lakes; but this local
body did not act (Kushalappa, 2005). The A.T. Ramaswamy Committee
(Joint House Committee of the Legislature on Land Encroachment in
Bangalore) has also revealed that the LDA had failed to prevent the
encroachment of lakes; and in this context, it made the observation that the
LDA was a useless authority. It also blamed another urban planning
agency, the BMRDA, which had not only violated the law but also given
approval for development activities on lake beds. The failure of state
machinery to evict encroachments can also be gauged from the poor
eviction rate in the Bangalore Urban District. In 2007, the Revenue
Department had surveyed 842 tanks/lakes out of 937 tanks in the area and
identified 1,849 acres of encroachments by 2,488 individuals. Out of this,
only 179 encroachers with 672 acres were evicted, and the other 2,309
encroachers with 1,176 acres continue to remain in possession of the
encroached land (GoK, 2011).
3.6. Impact of disappeared and encroached lakes
The disappearance of lakes/encroachments and the neglect of
lakes/tanks in urban areas have triggered a whole spectrum of issues such
as the reduction in the tank-irrigated area and the lifespan of the tanks,
water pollution, ground water depletion, health hazards, deprivation of
livelihood of fishermen and agriculturists, and a scarcity of water for
drinking and washing. These have affected the society and the
environment in several ways. The most important among these is the
pollution of lake water, and the depletion of ground water and its
pollution.
4. Pollution of lake/tank water
In the heart of the city as well as in the suburbs, the encroachment of
tanks by individuals and public agencies has made the tanks not only very
small but has also considerably reduced the storage levels. Both the
encroached and the existing ones have been used by public agencies and
private agencies for the easy dumping of industrial hazardous waste,
poultry waste, slaughter waste, hospital waste, household waste, building
debris, bio-medical waste and the immersion of the Ganesha idols. Even
though the city generates about 5,000 metric tons of solid waste per day,

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
118
only 63% reaches the composting sites; the rest reaches the lakes through
storm water drains. This has not only reduced the storage capacity of the
lakes but has also contributed to the deterioration of the water quality,
making it unfit for human consumption. In fact, the BWSSB has
connected sewage pipes to these lakes in 7 CMCs, 1 TMC, and 110
villages, all newly added to the BBMP in 2007. In the 569 slums where
30–40% of the city's current population do not have a proper sewage
system (underground drainage system or UGD), the sewage flows into the
water bodies. Apart from this, many builders with connections to civic
agencies flout all the rules by constructing houses around lakes and letting
sewage into lakes with impunity, thus destroying precious water bodies
and spoiling water quality. Many studies on the quality of lake water in the
city have found that the water contains high levels of phosphate, sulfate,
lead, calcium, alkalies, copper, zinc, nickel, lead and chromium, etc.,
which make the water very hard. In some of the major lakes, the levels are
higher than in the small lakes in Bangalore city. Byrasandra, Bellandur
and Varthur fall into this category. The lead content in Bellandur Lake is
1,590 times more than the permissible limits, and the mercury levels are
200 times more. Similarly, the nitrate level in the Varthur tank is 6 times
more than the normal level because of the presence of these metals; as a
result, the LDA has declared the water of these lakes unsuitable for
irrigation as the consumption of any vegetable crops irrigated by the water
would be harmful.
The polluted water of these tanks also pollutes other water bodies as
the water of upstream polluted tanks flows into other tanks in the chain of
tank systems. Observing the condition of the lakes, the Balasubramanian
Report (GoK, 2011) says Bangalore, once the land of a thousand lakes,
can now be called the land of a thousand sewers.
A study conducted by the Karnataka Pollution Control Board (KSPCB)
on 70 lakes shows that they are highly polluted. According to this study,
31 lakes/ tanks in Bangalore were being used for dumping domestic
sewage, 5 for both domestic and industrial sewage and 32 for solid waste
(Narayan, 2005). All of this has made the tanks highly polluted, with
bacterial counts and dissolved solids that are twice the permitted levels;
even the dissolved oxygen levels are several times less than the
benchmarks. This is also clear from the testing done on the water from 11
lakes by the LDA in coordination with the KSPCB between January 2003
and March 2003. According to this study, the quality of water in all 11
lakes was found to be highly polluted, and the content of dissolved oxygen
was also very low. In many of these lakes, it was found to be below the
desired level of 4 mg/l, indicating organic pollution (see table 5). This led

P. Thippaiah 119
to fish deaths in Iblur Lake of Sarjapur Road, Siddapura Lake, Marathalli,
and Jakkur Lake in 2008. Again in 2011, the LDA did a lake water
analysis on 86 rejuvenated and non-rejuvenated lakes in Bangalore.
Thirty-nine lakes were highly polluted and 47 moderately so. The BWSSB
has established 17 sewage treatment plants (STPs) with an installed
capacity of 463 MLD in the major valleys for treating sewage water before
letting it into lakes; however, the average sewage generated is 1,200
million liters a day. Only 120 MLD of sewage is treated and the remaining
1080 MLD untreated sewage ends up polluting Pennar and Cauvery Rivers
downstream (GOI, CAG Report, 2011). One of the reasons for treating
such low quantity is that the private firms managing the units are operating
the units only for a few hours a day in order to save on the cost of
electricity.
Table 5 Pollution Loads of Lakes in Bangalore
Sl.
No. Name of the Lake PH DO Mg/L BOD Mg/L
1 Benniganahalli Lake 8.1.9.0 4.4-8.4 13.6-150.0
2 Deepanjali Lake 7.5-7.6 2.8-4.4 13-15
3 Jaraganahalli Lake 7.01-8.2 1.2-10.0 40-130
4 Karithimmanahalli Lake 7.4-8.0 Nil 235-260
5 Kempambudhi Lake 7.2-8.0 Nil 80-190
6 Madivala Lake 7.5-8.4 0.5-6.4 6.9-37.0
7 Nagavare Lake 7.5-7.7 0-05 16-125
8 Nayandahalli Lake 7.2-8.0 0-8.1 80-180
9 Sankey Tank 8.4-8.5 6.4-6.9 6.0-9.3
10 Vengaihankere Lake 9.6-9.8 4.6-8.1 17.5-75.0
11 Yediyur Lake 7.5-8.0 2.8-12.7 130-360
Source: GoK (2002-2003)
Note: 1.DO = Dissolved Oxygen (Normal Level: more than 4ppm)
2. BOD = Biological Oxygen Demand (Normal Level: 3ppm)
3. PH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in a solution
(Our drinking water PH level varies between 6.5 and 9.5. The safest PH level of
drinking water is 7, which is the PH level of pure water).
4. Figures listed above indicate minimum - maximum levels.
5. Water samples were collected from different points in the lake.
6. The samples were taken between January 2003 and March 2003.
In the past, the tanks around the city had not only contributed to the
salubrious climate but had also prevented many diseases. They have now
become highly polluted and a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
120
spread malaria and dengue fever. The contaminated water of these lakes
also causes diseases such as jaundice and cholera, skin conditions,
breathing problems and other serious health hazards in the immediate
environs. The percolation of this water into the ground has resulted in a
high nitrate presence in the ground water. Drinking this water causes blue
baby syndrome.
5. Overexploitation of ground water
As the supply of piped water is inadequate or unavailable in certain
areas, particularly in revenue layouts, people have started digging bore
wells for their water requirements. When the tanks were healthy, these
were recharged and provided safe drinking water to people living near the
lake. There was a time when one could get ground water in Bangalore at
7–10 meters; now the average depth of the bore wells in Bangalore is 240
to 300 meters. This shows the lakes are not replenishing. Over a period of
time, because of the indiscriminate drilling of bore wells, the water table
has dropped all over the city, particularly in the peripheral areas, but is
rising in the city center due to leaking pipes. It was found that more than
70% of apartment complexes in Bangalore have bore wells as alternate
sources of water supply, but the water level for them is falling ever deeper.
The study by Raju et al. (2008) shows that there has been a
phenomenal growth of tube wells in the Bangalore Urban District—from
5,000 to around 408,000 over the last three decades. This indicates the
increased dependence on ground water. It is estimated that 750 MLD of
ground water is being extracted every day. According to the 2011 Census
of India, about 16.9% of the population of the Bangalore Urban District
depend on bore wells (Afshan Yasmeen, 2012). Although bore wells are
plenty in Bangalore city, there is no proper estimate on their number.
BWSSB sources indicate that there were 91,018 bore wells in the city and
they went up to 105,501, an increase of 16%. Although about 30–40% of
them have gone dry, still approximately 40 new bore wells are dug every
day; 18.84% of the houses and one in five buildings in the city have bore
wells. However, the Department of Mines and Geology, Karnataka (Hegde
and Subhash Chandra, 2012) indicates that there are 312,000 bore wells in
the city. Of them, the private bore wells registered with Bangalore Water
Supply and Sewerage Board number 106,000, and the remaining 200,000
are unregistered. They provide 9,161 ha. mt. (3.23 TMC) of water per
annum. The present water supply to the city by surface and ground water
is 37,374 ha. mt. (13.19 TMC) per annum, but the annual demand is
48,600 ha. mt. of water (17.16 TMC). There is a shortage of 11,226 ha. mt.

P. Thippaiah 121
(3.97 TMC) of water per annum, which means 220,000 people are facing a
water scarcity. Further, the Department of Mines and Geology, Karnataka,
and the Central Ground Water Board have classified the districts of
Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rural as critical as far as the availability
of ground water goes, and cautioned that any further drilling will imperil
the existing sources. As per the Hydro-Geological Atlas of Karnataka,
published by the Central Ground Water Board in 1994, the Bangalore
North and South and Anekal taluks, in the Bangalore Urban District, were
found to be gray areas due to overexploitation (cited in GoK, LDA,INEP,
2002:10, Venkataraman, 2000:54 and Puttaswamaiah, 2004:61). The
situation is much worse at present because more than 500,000 bore wells
are extracting ground water, resulting in a steep decline in the ground
water level.
5.1. Quality of water in bore wells
The studies carried out by the Department of Mines and Geology
during 1994, 1995 and 2003 on the ground water quality of the Bangalore
metropolis found that the groundwater pollution in the city is mainly due
to sewage disposal. A more recent study by the Department of Mines and
Geology (2011) also showed that the ground water in the city was highly
polluted due to the presence of high levels of dissolved solids, heavy
metals, fluoride, nitrate and e-coli bacteria well in excess of desirable
standards. The high presence of heavy metals in groundwater is also
attributed to the infiltration of effluents from industrial waste disposals.
The presence of all these elements has made water non-potable. It was
stated that only 0.9% of the ground water in Bangalore is fit for
consumption and the rest is contaminated, which means the people are
vulnerable to health problems.
6. Rejuvenation of lakes/tanks
Realizing the importance of lakes for providing adequate drinking
water, maintaining the microclimate, and enhancing ground water
recharge, aquaculture and tourism, several initiatives have been taken in
recent years in order to preserve/ revive/develop them in a proper manner,
with financial grants from the central and state governments and external
agencies. As part of the rejuvenation of lakes, activities such as the
desilting of lake beds, putting up silt traps and screen barrages to avoid silt
formation, removal of encroachments on the lake beds, strengthening

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
122
embankments, stopping the flow of sewerage water into lakes, as well as
creating lung space and pathways around the lakes have been undertaken.
The LDA, in collaboration with other departments such as Minor
Irrigation, Forest, Science and Technology, Fisheries and Horticulture and
civic agencies such as BDA, BWSSB, BMRDA, BBMP, Karnataka Urban
Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Ltd (KUIDFC),
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and district
administration, has made efforts to rehabilitate lakes/tanks in the urban
areas of Karnataka in general, and in and around Bangalore city in
particular. The LDA has adopted three broad approaches to save the lakes:
a) restoring lakes with the financial grant of the Union Ministry of
Ecology and Environment under the National Lake Conservation
Programme (NLCP) with the state’s share at 30%, which is granted to the
Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology and LDA; b) inviting
private participation in the restoration and maintenance of tanks; and c)
inviting NGOs, residents welfare associations, and corporate and private
sectors in the restoration and maintenance of tanks. Under the first
approach, the LDA, in coordination with forest and other departments, has
taken several steps to restore some of the tanks by desiltation, and
increasing their original storage levels with a view to improving the status
of the ground water and overall ecology of the region.
6.1. Investment on lake rejuvenation in the city
If we look at the rejuvenation/restoration of the lakes under different
schemes by different agencies, we can see that so far 46 lakes in the city
have been rehabilitated through desilting, bunding and diversion of sewage
and fencing with an investment of Rs.786,891,000 for 32 lakes (See Table
6). A large proportion of these have been restored with grants from the
centrally sponsored scheme, namely, the NLCP. Recently, an amount of
Rs. 2,940 million was earmarked for the rejuvenation of 33 lakes. The
BDA will develop 12 lakes at a cost of Rs. 1,040 million and the BBMP
will develop 21 lakes at a cost of Rs.1,900 million (Deccan Herald, 2012).
The rejuvenation of some of these lakes is completed and others are in
progress.

P. Thippaiah 123
Table 6 Number of Lakes/Tanks Developed by Different Agencies in
Bangalore City
Name of the Agency No. of Lakes
Developed
Investment
Available
For Lakes
Amount
Rs. Lakhs
BDA 3 3 782.00
BDA/KUIDFC 5 3 757.00
NLCP/LDA/KFD 5 5 2,018.29
KFD 13 11 898.84
LDA 12 2 26.00
HUDCO/INEP 1 1 343.96
BBMP 1 1 300.00
KUIDFC 1 1 500.00
KFD/INEP 2 2 767.82
BBMP/BDA/KFD 1 1 400.00
BBMP/BWSSB 2 2 1,075.00
Total 46 32 7,868.91
Source: Computed by author from various sources.
Note: LDA- Lake Development Authority, BDA- Bangalore Development
Authority, KFD- Karnataka Forest Department, BBMP-Bruhat Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike, BWSSB- Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board,
HUDCO- Housing and Urban Development Corporation, KUIDFC- Karnataka
Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, INEP- Indo-
Norwegian Environment Programme, NLCP- National Lake Conservation
Programme.
The average investment made on the restoration of each lake/tank was
about Rs. 17,100,000, which worked out to Rs. 578,000 per hectare of
water spread area of the lake/tank as against the requirement of Rs. 6–
700,000 per hectare for larger tanks and Rs.1,000,000 per hectare in the
case of smaller tanks (GoK, LDA, INEP, 2002:30). However, Rs. 578,000
per hectare investment in urban areas is high when compared to rural tank
restoration, where the amount provided was Rs. 54,300 per hectare (civil
works of tanks) for tanks having a command area of less than 40 ha (small
tanks) and Rs.37,900 per hectare for tanks having a command area of more
than 40 ha (large tanks) under the Karnataka Community Based Tank
Management Project (KCBTMP), 2002.

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
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6.2. What impact the rejuvenation made
Various agencies have spent about Rs.796,800,000 in the last one and a
half decades on the lake restoration program. Some of them were restored
4 times in a span of 10 years. Tens of millions of rupees borrowed from
international agencies to clean the lakes have not been fruitful and the
advantages expected from rehabilitation have not been achieved. First, no
one has strictly maintained the rejuvenated lakes; second, the rehabilitation
failed to remove the encroachments; third, it did not prevent the entry of
sewage and dumping of all kinds of waste into lakes; fourth, many lakes
are dry due to the blockage of inlets; fifth, the flooding of roads and
residences during the rainy season has not stopped; seventh, no one is
drinking the water of the rehabilitated lakes as the sewage continuously
flows into the tanks; and eighth, large water spread areas have been filled
for parks, buildings, jogging tracts and plantations. This has reduced the
storage levels of lakes. Besides these, some of the tanks were rehabilitated
again and again. For instance, the Narasipura Lake-II (5.9 ha) in
Vidyaranyapura was rejuvenated earlier by the Department of Forests at a
cost of Rs. 1,341,000; and in 2011–2012, the BBMP took up the
rejuvenation of this tank, spending a lot of money. Doddabommasandra
Lake (124.19 acres) was rejuvenated in 2003–2004 under the INEP at a
cost of Rs.30,000,000. Again in 2007–2008, the BBMP spent
Rs.7,513,000 to put up a chain fence around the lake and constructed a
walking path for the benefit of people. Despite these investments, this lake
is empty of water. It has some sewage water, but a major part of the tank is
used as a sports field and as grazing land for hybrid cows and buffaloes.
Some of the farmers are harvesting grass/fodder from these lakes/ wet
lands. This might cause a health risk for both human beings and animals.
7. Management of lakes
Prior to 1986, the lakes in the city were under the jurisdiction of nearly
16 departments, including Defense, Zilla Panchayats, Horticulture, and
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In 1986, on the recommendation
of the Lakshman Rau Committee, 127 lakes were transferred to the Forest
Department and others for development or ownership. In 2010, the State
Government transferred the maintenance and development of 71 lakes,
which were hitherto maintained by the Forest Department, to BBMP on
the recommendations of the High Court Lok Adalat. With this, the total
number of lakes in BBMP control is 94, including the 23 lakes handed
over earlier. Table 7 presents the jurisdiction of these transferred tanks. It

P. Thippaiah 125
is clear from the table that the Forest Department alone owned most of the
lakes in the earlier period while a small number were owned by one or
more departments. Later, the BBMP and BDA had more lakes under their
jurisdiction.
Table 7 Jurisdiction of Lakes in BBMP Area
Agency According to Lakshman
Rau Report 1986
At present
Forest & BBMP 2 129
Forest & BDA 8 49
Forest Department 90 5
Forest,Tourism & Minor
Irrigation Department
1 18
LDA - 9
Forest & Tourism
Department
12 -
Forest & BWSSB 4 -
Not indicated 10 -
Total 127 210
Note: 1. KSTDC- Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd; BDA-
Bangalore Development Authority; BBMP- Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara
Palike; BWSSB: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board.
2. In all, 115 lakes were under Forest Department in 1986, with some under joint
jurisdiction
Source: Lakshman Rau Committee Report 1986.
As lakes are under the jurisdiction of various departments, it was expected
that they would take collective action, and have proper coordination to
rejuvenate and maintain them. However, experience indicates that the
multiple agencies approach has failed in all respects in protecting the
existing lakes. For instance, the LDA wrote letters to the CMC,
Bommanahalli, regarding the eviction of encroachers of Puttenahalli Lake
and Doddabegur tank, but the local body did not act upon this
(Kushalappa, 2005). Many agencies, rather than working together, started
a blame game. For instance, the issue of pollution of the Bellandur Lake
was raised by the Bellandur Gram Panchayat at the Lok Adalat organized
at Bellandur on 17th October, 2006, in which the LDA, Karnataka State
Pollution Control Board, Bangalore Development Authority, and
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board participated. BWSSB
representatives accused the BDA and CMCs of indiscriminately issuing

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
126
construction permits around the lake bed, contributing to sewage collection,
and they also blamed the Revenue Department for encroachments (Deccan
Herald, 2006). Another incident of not having mutual consent was
observed in the case of the privatization of four lakes under the PPP
model. During the hearing of a PIL case by the High Court on the
privatization of lakes, the BWSSB maintained that the LDA had not
obtained its consent before privatizing the lakes.
There is also no coordination between the different agencies. For
instance, the LDA says it is the duty of the State Pollution Control Board
to see that industrial effluents and domestic wastes are not dumped into the
water bodies. Similarly, the BWSSB has to prevent the flow of sewage
water into the water bodies. But the BWSSB has said many a time that it is
the duty of the LDA to take care of the tanks. In this way, each agency
tries to pass the buck to the other. Another instance is that BBMP blamed
BWSSB for not shifting the sewage line that runs through the
Halagevaderahalli Lake, one of the oldest water bodies in the city, which
recharged the ground water and provided drinking water to people living
near the lake (The Hindu, 2011).
The court orders clearly indicate that the lake should not be disturbed
or breached or encroached upon for the process of urban development. For
instance, a 2006 Supreme Court judgment (No. 1251/2006, Intellectuals
Forum vs. the State of Andhra Pradesh) states that “the tank is a
community property and the State authorities are trustees to hold and
manage such properties for the benefit of the community and they cannot
be allowed to commit any act or omission which will infringe on the right
of the community and alienate the property to any other person or body”
(Swathi Shivanand and Divya Gandhi, 2007). In Karnataka also there are a
few directions by the courts for preventing the misuse of lakes. In 1992, a
High Court of Karnataka order stayed all human habitation on the lakes.
However, the BBMP violated this order and tried to build a bund on
Byrasandra Lake. Another instance is that in 1995, the High Court of
Karnataka directed that the government has no power to allot any lake area
for any purpose. However, the Revenue Department allotted 18 acres and
16 guntas of Rachenahalli Lake near Jakkur to the Jawaharlal Nehru
Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in 2003. This was
contested by LDA (Anonymous, 2005), but violations of this kind are
rampant.

P. Thippaiah 127
8. Concluding remarks
It is a well-known fact that Bangalore is facing an acute shortage of
water at present. There is likely to be a serious water crisis in the years to
come and even a water famine by 2020. People argue that the restoration
of lakes will be one of the solutions. As things stand today, the condition
of the lakes/tanks in and around city is at its worst; the lakes are drying up,
dying and vanishing despite the rejuvenation efforts. They are filled with
sewage and the water is not potable. Many of these tanks are also not
receiving inflows as the inlets are closed. The bore wells supplementing
the present shortage are also experiencing low yields due to their
mushrooming growth and over-extraction, and even here the extracted
water is contaminated. One cannot ignore the problem. Certain measures
have to be taken. In this direction, the following measures may be given
due importance and implemented strictly. Lake/tank encroachments have
to be removed as per the recommendations of N. Lakshman Rau’s, A.T.
Ramswamy’s, Balasubramanyan’s and Justice Patil’s reports. Though the
Karnataka Land Revenue Act was amended in 2007 to punish encroachers,
no action has been taken as the bill is pending with the president. Efforts
should be made by the chiefs of various bodies to enforce the existing acts
in respect of encroachments by punishing the culprits and clearing the
encroachments at the earliest. Surveillance of urban lakes should be
undertaken in all metropolitan cities by using GPS and GIS technology to
monitor the lakes and prevent encroachments. In the BBMP area, the
polluters of the lakes, which can store about 18.68 TMC of water, have to
be strictly punished. The BWSSB has enough powers under the Water Act
to prosecute and close down the establishments of polluters. But it has
failed to file charge sheets against the polluters and has only issued
notices. It is time it exercise the powers that have been bestowed on it as
the pollution of water bodies in Bangalore is alarming.
The wastage of 40% of the piped water supply should be plugged at
the earliest. The use of ground water and further growth of bore wells have
to be regulated. In this regard, a ground water regulation bill was passed
recently in the state legislature but instead of strictly implementing this,
the government is promising more bore wells in the city to ease water
scarcity. The sewage water has to be promptly treated before it is allowed
to flow into lakes so that people can use the water; and contamination of
ground water is prevented. In case people do not intend to use it, the
industries have to be asked to utilize this water instead of Cauvery water.
Dual pipelines have to be laid in the entire city for potable and non-potable
(for treated sewage water) purposes. Rain water harvesting (RWH) has to

Water and Environmental Crisis in Mega City
128
be made compulsory, but without affecting the flow of water to the water
bodies downstream, as they facilitate irrigation and provide drinking water
for livestock. So far only 150,000 buildings with the Bangalore Water
Supply and Sewerage Board (BWWSB) connections have rain harvest
facilities (Bangalore bore well data (http://praja.in/blog), which is very
few. The planners should take necessary measures to retain the tanks and
catchment and command areas while forming new layouts. Necessary
steps should be taken to rejuvenate and restore the original status of the
lakes that are damaged, threatened and endangered. If possible, efforts
should also be made to reconvert the residential areas that were earlier lake
areas back into lakes.
Also, the government needs to restore the cutoff links from one tank to
another with sufficient drainage, demolish houses or structures built on
tank properties even if they are legal ones, and evict occupiers from tank
bed areas and drains and rehabilitate them elsewhere. These measures can
be defended on the grounds that many roads in Bangalore have been
widened in recent years by demolishing houses and commercial properties.
Civic consciousness among the urban community is lacking as people are
greedy and do not hesitate to destroy the lakes. They have to be educated
about the value of the lakes and their benefits to society. At present
different aspects of lakes are looked after by different agencies but there is
no proper coordination among them, leading to the pathetic condition of
lakes. In order to solve this problem, there is a need to bring them under
one department, with forest, fishery, land development, water management,
and tourism wings, that could look after the overall development of the
tank water sources in the city. The residents welfare associations (RWS)
and trusts have to be promoted to take care of rejuvenated lakes. A few
have come up for the maintenance of Puttenahalli Lake, Kaikondanahalli
Lake, Arakere Lake, and Akshayanagara Lake. There was initial
enthusiasm until the funds from BBMP and BDA for rejuvenation ran out.
The residents around the lake must be entrusted with taking care of lakes
rejuvenated by public agencies. Recently, a “Wake the Lake” campaign
was initiated by United Way Bangalore (UWBe), an NGO. The objective
of this effort is to inculcate a sense of community ownership of lakes
among the people residing nearby and prevent lakes from further
degradation. Already, it has made an impact on two lakes
(Kaikondanahalli and Uttarahalli); the NGO’s campaign will soon cover
another 11 lakes. More of such organizations have to come up to make
tanks viable. There are engineering colleges aplenty in Bangalore, and
each can be motivated/directed to develop and monitor a lake/tank. This

P. Thippaiah 129
kind of strategy can help them acquire practical knowledge about lakes as
well as protect them.
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Presented at the Workshop on Tank Irrigation for Southern States.
Mysore, July 13–14.fshan Yasmeen. 2012. “Too Many People, Too
Little Water.” The Hindu, Bangalore, August 9.
Agarwal, Anil and Sunita Narain (eds). 1997. Dying Wisdom: Rise, Fall
and Potential of India’s Traditional Water Harvesting Systems. New
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Bangaloreblogspot. 2008. “Pipe dream: More Water for City.”
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city.html.
Chandramouli, K. 2002. “City of Forsaken Lakes.” The Hindu, Bangalore,
September 19.
Deccan Herald. “Bellandur Lake: Another Row.” October 18, 2006.
—. “33 Lakes to Get Lease of Life.” August 19, 2012.
Gandhi, Divya. 2008. “Government Muddles the Waters.” The Hindu,
Bangalore, June 22.
Government of Karnataka (GoK). 2001. Restoring a Lost Heritage:
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Norwegian Environment Programme. Bangalore: Department of
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Encroachment of Lands in Bangalore District, July, Bangalore. Under
the Chairmanship of A.T. Ramaswamy.
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Balasubramanian.
GoK, LDA and INEP (2002). A Dossier of Lakes in Bangalore.
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Hegde, G. V and, K. C. Subhash Chandra. 2012. Resource Availability for
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Kushalappa, Kavitha. 2005. “When Concrete Eats into Lakes.” Deccan
Herald, Bangalore, October 19.
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2012.
Mathang, Seshagiri. 2004. “Blame Civic Bodies Too for Choking Lakes.”
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Narayan, Pushpa. 2005. “Thousands of Fish Die in Mahadevapura Lake.”
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Puttaswamaiah, S. 2004. Rural and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation.
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Raju K.V., S. Manasi and N. Latha. 2008. Emerging Ground Water Crisis
in Urban Areas – A Case Study of Ward No 39. Bangalore City, ISEC
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Ramachandra T.V. and Uttam Kumar. 2008. “Wetlands of Greater
Bangalore, India.” The Greendisk Environmental Journal, 26.
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P. Giri Gowda and P.D. Shenoy. 1986. Beautification of Bangalore: A
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“Research Institute Asked to Stay Construction Near Lake.” The Hindu,
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Sharath S. Srivatsa. 2011. “Survey Finds 287 Acres of Tank Bed Area
Encroached Upon.” The Hindu, Bangalore, April 1.
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Swathi Shivanand and Divya Gandhi. 2007. “Recreational Centre on
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and Under.” The New Indian Express, Bangalore, August 20.

POLITICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STRUCTURAL
CONSTRAINTS IN THE DELIVERY OF WATER
SUPPLY AND SANITATION FOR THE URBAN
POOR IN BANGALORE METROPOLIS
K.C. SMITHA
The city of Bangalore has fast emerged as the preferred location for
large, hi-tech and innovative industries demanding adequate infrastructure
and services, but there is little attention paid to structural issues, policy
problems and city planning for the provision of water and sanitation to the
urban poor. This chapter examines how institutions impact on the
provision and differential access of water supply and sanitation for urban
poor households. Differential access can be illustrated by the presence of
various stakeholders involved, their relationship, institutions and structural
constraints. The analysis explores the role of the water supply utility
(BWSSB) and City Corporation, land use policies and related structural
issues, and tariff-related problems that impair the delivery of water and
sanitation to the urban poor in the Bangalore metropolis.
1. Introduction
More than 90% of the world’s urban population growth is taking place
in developing countries, coupled with an increasing number of larger cities
(UN-HABITAT, 2010: 4; UNHSP, 2011: 2). In South Asia alone, the
number of urban poor increased from 107 to 125 million between 1993
and 2002. Over 900 million of the world’s poor still live in Asia (UN-
HABITAT, 2010/11: 108). As per Census 2011, 31.16% of the Indian
population live in cities. This unprecedented growth of urban areas1 is a
severe strain on infrastructure and the delivery of urban services such as
1 Urban areas contribute about 60% to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
estimated at US$ 486 billion in the fiscal year 2002–03.

K.C. Smitha 133
clean drinking water and sanitation, health, housing, transport and so on.
The services provided by the urban governments are costly, ineffective,
unreliable and/or poor quality (World Bank, 2003; Devarajan and Shah,
2004; Paul et al., 2004; WSP, 2009). Poor resources, weak institutional
capacities and regulations, political patronage, corruption, and the absence
of citizen participation have further aggravated the public service delivery
problems.
Among urban residents, the urban poor are often the ones who do not
have adequate access to water and sanitation services (UNCHS, 2006;
UNDP, 2006; UNDP, 2007; GoI, 2012; Hawkins, Blackett and Heymans,
2013; NIUA, 2015). Many of them live in congested slums and squatter
areas of the metropolis without municipal water and sewerage services.
Residents of urban poor areas located in peripheral zones are basically
denied water connections because of the likelihood that they will be
evicted and because they lack land tenure status. As a result, many urban
poor have to depend on alternative sources such as public taps, hand
pumps and bought water from vendors at prices that are often as high as
ten times what richer people pay. The provision of sanitation includes
access to individual toilet, drainage and sewerage facilities. Most often, a
cluster of households share a latrine so access is not only difficult but
maintenance is inadequate. Many latrines are unsafe and lack the provision
of water for hand washing and anal cleaning. More often women and
children openly defecate in the slums. While urban slums generate solid
waste, but municipal garbage collection and disposal systems do not exist
in such areas.
This chapter is organized as follows: the first section presents urban
governance and service delivery in India, tracing how the introduction of
structural reforms impacted service delivery. The next section discusses
present institutional and governance arrangements in the city of
Bangalore2, including the roles of the local government, private sector, and
at the community level. This is followed by the current status and
constraints in service delivery in Bangalore. The analysis extends to
examining how institutions impact the provision and differential access of
water supply and sanitation for the urban poor households in Bangalore.
Differential access can be illustrated by the presence of various
stakeholders, their relationship, institutions and structural constraints to
access water supply and sanitation for the urban poor. The analysis
2 Bangalore was renamed “Bengaluru” with effect from 1November, 2014.
Bangalore or Bengaluru refer to the same place here.

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
134
examines the role of the water supply utility (BWSSB) and City
Corporation, water norms, land use policies and related structural issues
linked to water utilities, and tariff-related problems that impair the
delivery of water and sanitation to the urban poor in the slums of
Bangalore. The chapter illustrates and explores the institutional and
structural constraints that hamper access to these services.
2. Urban governance and service delivery in India:
Neo-liberalism and the city
Developing countries that experienced structural reforms of city
governance between 1998 and 2001 tended to focus on technical issues,
infrastructure development and service delivery as valid economic and
efficiency arguments (Devas, 1999:2; Rakodi, 2001a:347; Devas,
2005:351). One of the most important changes in the past few years has
been the proliferation of various forms of networks and partnerships
between public versus private and civil society for service delivery
(Smitha and Sangita, 2008: 10–11). The potential drivers of a partnership
in developing countries include new technology and expertise, risk sharing
and access to capital, mobilization of resources and capacity building
(Smitha and Sangita, 2008: 6–7; Gosh, 2005: 2), and a market orientation
that raised questions on access and affordability of services to the poor
(Rakodi, 2001b: 343). New reforms were introduced in the urban water
sector such as (i) corporatization of water utilities; (ii) decentralization of
management; (iii) private sector contracting and concessions; and (iv)
strengthening government regulatory roles (Batley, 2004: 32). Through
JNNRUM reforms, greater emphasis was laid on cost recovery tariffs,
achieving financial autonomy, and improving coverage and quality of
services, competitiveness and management innovations. These reforms
increased stress and poverty, particularly for the urban poor who could not
access the services like water supply and sanitation and thereby faced
exclusion.
3. Urban Governance in Bengaluru
Bangalore continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in India,
with a decadal growth rate of 41.36% coupled with high-technology
business activities in the last two decades. As per the census 2011, the
population of Bangalore reached 9.6 million, registering a growth rate
from 35% to 47%. An exponential growth in terms of population
anticipates 9.9 million in the year 2021. It is the fifth-largest urban

K.C. Smitha 135
agglomeration in the country and amongst the fastest-growing cities as
well as being the tech outsourcing capital of the world. The city, now
recognized as a “global” city, is the preferred choice of many global
corporations when positioning their businesses. It has indeed been a
challenge to the local government agencies, including the urban local
bodies, to meet the unprecedented demands and challenges of the global
companies and citizens expecting international-class services.
The urban poor in the city of Bangalore account for about 20% of the
city residents, and are a rapidly growing population due to in-migration
(Schenk 2001). As per the 2001 census, about 30% of the Bangalore
population was regarded as urban poor, and the number of slums
amounted to 733, and housed 345,200 inhabitants. The Karnataka Slum
Development Board (KSDB) identified 597 slums in the city (KSDB,
2013–14) but the unofficial estimate is more than 1500.As per the survey
by the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA), nearly 1.5
million, i.e., at least 25% to 35% of the Bangalore population, reside in
slums (Gupta, 2015). These slums place a severe strain on service delivery
3 in the city, with public agencies reluctant to provide services without
guaranteed land tenure, so those slums without legalized tenure status
mostly depend on subsidized services. The Bangalore slum area is
scattered over the former city corporation and municipalities with three
core zones in the inner part of the city, in commercial and formal as well
informal employment zones.
Most of these slums are the result of illegal encroachments by migrants
and coolies working in construction on a daily basis around the city. They
remain in the city for years, expand, and are gradually integrated in the
city without legal recognition as a slum; they are usually referred to as
non-notified slums. These clusters of slums occupy different sets of land,
like private land, city corporation land, vacant military and railway lands
and so on. Eventually they depend on various ways to access basic
amenities like public taps and public toilets, and they dump their waste on
private land. The massive influx of migrants and labor from a radius of 45
kms around Bangalore are being absorbed unrestricted. Schemes and
programs such as the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small
and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) (until 2006) and JNNRUM under BSUP
3 Nearly one billion people who are alive today —one in every six human beings—
are slum dwellers, and that number is likely to double in the next thirty years
(UNHSP, 2003).

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
136
to improve and develop slums are applicable only to the “notified slums”4
through the BWSSB, and are normally financed by the central government
schemes, occasionally by the government of Karnataka, funding agencies
and development loans.
The tenure rights5 of the majority of the urban poor have not long been
recognized, as access to secure tenure6 is often a prerequisite for access to
other opportunities (Devas, 1999: 6; Choguill, 2002:415; Lasserve, 2005:5)
and most of these slums are illegible for public service provision. The
status of tenure rights distinguishes between “notified slums” and “non-
notified slums” in the city. The process of globalization is characterized by
the lack of appropriate urban land markets and the paradigm shift in the
city level policies for the provisioning of municipal services (Narayana,
2008: 2; Sridhar and Reddy, 2010). The study by Castells (2005)
demonstrated that intensifying global connections that valued and
powerful parts of cities were combined with a growing partitioning and
disconnection at the local scale within cities. The city of Bangalore thus
experienced the shifting terrain of public policy on service delivery,
constantly redefining and accommodating the local according to the
global. Additionally, service delivery in the city is impacted by three
significant factors: (a) the role and functions of institutions involved in the
provisioning of services; (b) the planning instruments available to regulate
growth and provision of services; and (c) the visionary city development
plans (BDA, 2008: 16).
4. Local Institutions and Service Delivery
The presence of various governance structures critically influences the
provisioning of services in the city of Bangalore. Those responsible for the
city’s service delivery include: (a) Bruhat Banglaore Mahanagara Palike7
(BBMP); (b) Bangalore Metropolitan Corporation (BMC); (c) Bangalore
Development Authority (BDA); (d) Bangalore Water Supply and
4 Notified slums are those listed in the government gazette; also referred to as
“listed slums” by the local bodies.
5 Lack of tenure rights results in a deterioration of economic and housing
conditions, which is often referred to as “market-driven displacements” or
“market-driven evictions” (Lasserve, 2005: 2).
6 In legal terms, the right of an individual or group to possess a particular property.
In practice, security of tenure may be achieved through formal titling (leasehold or
freehold), customary or communal, and/or through the rental market.
7 The jurisdiction of BMP is about 226 sq. km, with 4.3 million people.

K.C. Smitha 137
Sewerage Board (BWSSB); (c) Karnataka Slum Development Board
(KDCB); (d) ITBT; (e) Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development
Authority (BMRDA); (f) Karnataka Housing Board (KHB); (g) Bangalore
International Airport Area Planning Authority (BIAAPA); (h) Karnataka
Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC);
and (i) Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). The
overlapping functions and jurisdictions of the public agencies is a major
problem for service delivery in Bangalore. At present, the key planning
instrument addressing Bangalore city development is the Master Plan
2015. Though the objective of Master Plan 2015 is to achieve integration
of spatial, economic, social, transportation, and ecological planning, there
is no long-term planning vision for spatial growth and service delivery for
the city.
The city of Bangalore is host to more than 400 NGOs working on
different agendas and themes of service delivery. There are now
organizations for squatter settlements, tenant’s associations—RWAs,
neighborhood organizations, savings and credit associations, religious and
caste groups, area development committees, women’s associations, and
academic and research advisory bodies. Clearly, there is a move away
from the one-sided bureaucratic and hierarchical approach to the city to
institutionalizing networks and qualitative partnerships through regular
interaction and work practices.
5. Status and constraints
The rapid economic growth and industrialization in Bangalore and the
surrounding region have led to a tremendous strain on infrastructure and
service delivery, resulting in the deterioration of quality of life and the
status of urban service delivery. A few of the problems encountered in the
city include high population densities, heavy traffic movement, increasing
environmental pollution, and a larger concentration of poor population,
with a consequent poor water supply, growing traffic congestion with
pollution, discharge of untreated waste water into natural drains and a lack
of comprehensive planning for city services.
The root cause for service delivery deficiencies in slums can be traced
to poor water and sanitation governance, inadequate tariffs and a low level
of knowledge, awareness and communications on the subject among
stakeholders (Madon and Sahay, 2002: 13; Davis, 2004: 13; World Bank,
2003: 163; Satterthwaite and McGranahan, 2007: 28–30). The city today
suffers from several institutional complications leading to overlaps,
organizational conflicts, managerial voids, and duplication in service

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
138
provision, obviously leading to the tension between scale and voice
(Bakker and Kooy, 2008). By contrast, the urban poor’s inability to
organize exerts influence at the municipal governance through local
councilors (Devas, 2005: 356; Benjamin and Bhuvaneswari, 2001: 55).
Further, the schemes and projects under annual plans (like JNNRUM–
Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP); Integrated Housing and Slum
Development Programme (IHSDP); and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)) and
budgets are mostly short term, and lacked a need-based approach in
determining the needs and setting service delivery standards and access for
the poor. Generally, the problems of slums are addressed through social
welfare schemes and programs (AusAID, 2002a: x; BMP, n.d.: 2) that lack
a holistic approach to service delivery. The most critical question has been
in evaluating whether a water utility like the BWSSB in Bangalore is able
to extend access to improved and affordable services to even the
households of slums and squatter settlements and thus ensure equity.
The city of Bangalore has been declared a 100% metered city, with the
BMP area well connected. However, less than 10% of the households in
slums are connected to BWSSB. There are major disparities regarding
access to potable water by the households in the slums. In the absence of a
network, the majority of slum dwellers resort to public taps, bore wells,
and mini water tanks to access water. According to the NSS, nearly 33.4%
of slum dwellers live in non-notified slums in cities, out of which 77%
have access to tap water, and only 24% have access to sewerage.
Furthermore, 24% do not have access to drainage and 53% do not have
access to latrines (Zerah, 2005:135).
The problem of access to water is also often linked to the problems of
sewerage and drainage, which often have broken or clogged sewer lines,
and poor sanitation facilities (CIVIC and Jana Sahayog, 2006; AusAID,
2002: xii–xiii). The slums are not usually connected to sewerage systems,
leading to unsanitary conditions that impact on public health. There were
46,000 unauthorized water connections, out of which 27,000 have been
regularized and 10,900 disconnected; the remaining 8,100 connections will
either be regularized or disconnected. The BWSSB also maintains 26
water supply lorries that supply water to areas of complaint. They charge a
nominal fee of Rs. 275 per 9,000 liters. To supplement the water supply in
thickly populated areas, the Board maintains 6,000 bore wells with hand
pumps and 750 bore wells with electrical pumps. An additional 120 bore
wells were drilled in 1999 and 2000 (www.bwssb.org). According to the
Revised Master Plan 2015, prepared by the BDA, 30% of ground water is
tapped to fulfill the city’s water requirements through about 5,850 bore
wells and 15,180 public taps (BDA, 2007: 47). Further, according to the

K.C. Smitha 139
BWSSB’s updated bore-well database for the city, there are around
170,000 bore wells (Subramanyan, 2013).
Additionally, the disposal of solid waste sewerage has remained a
largely unsolved problem. The city of Bangalore generates 3,000 metric
tons of solid waste per day, of which only about 1,100 metric tons are
collected and sent to composting units. The uncollected solid waste is
dumped in open spaces or on the roadside.
Municipal garbage collection and disposal systems do not exist in the
slums. Firstly, the urban poor are located in congested areas that are not
readily accessible to garbage trucks/autos. Secondly, municipal garbage
collection and delivery systems do not cover slums or squatter settlements
as most of them are located on private land without security of tenure.
Thus, most often, the garbage remains uncollected and is dumped on
vacant private land and street corners or in drain streams and canals.
6. Politics of institutions and structural constraints
The politics of institutions constitute a range of policies and legislative
frameworks that determine service delivery. These may emanate from
local government, a CBO, the private sector or from an NGO. Institutional
circuits mentioned in the study of Benjamin and Bhuvaneswari (2006:
222) set clear contract or local regulations against performance. The
essential purpose is to protect consumers, ensure that services comply with
national standards and monitor the quality, quantity and overall service
delivery.
The politics of institutions are related to hidden institutional strategies
that are essentially set by local governance, referred to as “politics by
stealth,” or within local government, or the “porous bureaucracy,” that are
politically manipulated by the urban poor to influence governance
structures reflected in different institutional settings (Benjamin and
Bhuvaneshwari, 2006: 221). Service delivery for the urban poor is shaped
thus by institutional aspects of urban planning. In this context, examining
some of the pro-poor measures initiated by the BWSSB to connect to the
urban poor in the slums is most appropriate to capture how far they have
been successful in-delivery of services under the following sub-headings.

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
140
7. Policy issues
a. Citizen-centric measures versus pro-poor reform strategy
by BWSSB
The BWSSB set out with organizational and institutional reforms to
enhance management and technical competencies, thereby “performance,”
by introducing a series of tangible “efficiency-enhancing” and “citizen-
centric” measures. They include a citizen’s charter, monthly WAs (water
dispute resolution courts), which are held in 17 subdivisions, and an
interactive IVR system for recording and attending to complaints. These
citizen-centric measures benefited the BWSSB in asset management,
consumer management, billing systems, employee management, water
quality management, sewerage maintenance and water supply maintenance.
They invariably attended to the quick delivery to those who could afford the
services, such as the middle class, upper middle class and affluent.
b. Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project
(GBWASP) Project for the periphery
Though the GBWASP project, funded by the JIBC, was launched in
2003 to cater to the new additions to the city, i.e., 7 CMCs, 1 TMC and
111 villages, these households are still not able to access water in 2016.
The BWSSB initiated Cauvery Phase Stage IV Phase II for supplying
drinking water to the areas of Greater Bangalore (Ray, 2012). The project
was initiated in 2005 with the aid from the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JIBC). Under this project, an additional 500 MLD,
and a total of 1,400 MLD, of water is expected to be supplied to the city
(The Hindu, 2012a). The percentage of water supply coverage varies
greatly between the erstwhile BMP areas to the newly added areas.
Particularly in the CMCs, there are about 80,0008 unauthorized
connections. There are a total of 160,000 households; water pipes have
reached near the premises of 130,000 households but only 65,000 have
meters. Most of the residents in the Greater Bangalore region depend on
ground water sources and other coping strategies. Most slums on the
periphery cannot afford access to drinking water supply, and usually rely
8 Details collected during an interview with the Chairman and Executive Engineers
of BWSSB, on 9th April, 2014.

K.C. Smitha 141
on ground water sources such as bore wells, mini water tanks and tankers
to access water.
While master-planned industrial estates and corporate, middle and high
income residential areas were equipped to pay for basic amenities,
including a beneficiary payment to access water and sanitation, a study by
Ranganathan (2009) reveals that the data on population and properties
measured initially for GBWASP were not accurate, with the result that the
demand projections were severely underestimated. After the completion of
the distribution pipeline, only approximately 100,000 connections were
provided against a total estimated potential of 450,000 in the periphery of
the city. A key component of GBWASP was “beneficiary contributions,”
entitling consumers to pay for the connection charges for their water
supply, ensuring a “full cost recovery.” Beneficiary contributions resulted
in the following: (i) attempts to privatize the water supply and sanitation;
and (ii) depriving slum and low-income communities, particularly those
whose income ranges between Rs. 600 to Rs. 1500 per month for the
whole family. Thus, beneficiary contributions had implications in terms of
equity and entitlements (Ranganathan 2009: 59), depriving larger
communities of slums in the periphery region of access to water and
sanitation.
The GBWSSP, currently being implemented by the GoK with
uncharacteristic zeal, was slated to privatize the distribution of water in
eight municipalities of the city. This move was met with many protests
and demonstrations by local networks, including some NGOs. The study
by Ranganathan, Kamath and Baindur (2009) clearly testified that: (i) the
GBWASP project with respect to water supply and sanitation in the
periphery of the city was symbolic of “market-based reforms,” entitling
institutional financial innovation in water management; (ii) the GBWASP
model seriously disconnects in terms of technical feasibility and socio-
economic realities; (iii) there is a lack of information, and non-inclusion of
political representatives; and (iv) customer responsiveness and participation
are evaluated only in monetary terms.
8. Structural issues
Many structural issues have been identified as impacting access to a water
supply and sanitation for slum dwellers in Bengaluru.
1. There is always a difficulty in identifying the real poor, i.e., those
occupying the main city corporation area, peri-urban, non-
notified/non-legal slums and squatter settlements, communities and

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
142
so on, as there is a lack of baseline data and social mapping. There
is always a greater degree of spatial and disorganized segmentation
of the poor who suffer social exclusion. The “master plan” culture
in mega cities like Bangalore, has, in fact, further complicated the
identification of slums. For instance, the City Development Plan
2015 referred to slums as “shadow areas.” A shadow area is
defined on the basis of two criteria—deficiency in water supply and
the number of teachers. Half of Bangalore’s seven million
inhabitants live in shadow areas, according to government figures.
The infrastructure for these areas—housing, roads, lighting,
drainage and toilet facilities—is grossly inadequate (Menon, 2005).
Most of the slum land within the administrative jurisdiction of the
city is not listed9 in the land zoning. Slum dwellers often receive
temporary possession certificates or Hakku Patras from local
authorities,10 but they do not possess registered titles to the land
they have occupied. Slum dwellers do not usually participate in
local government, and obviously they are disconnected from the
municipal service network. Often there is no clear database for the
families of those living in informal settlements without legal tenure
status. Thus, the overall character represents the marginality,
displacement and social polarization of the urban poor in the city.
2. A large number of public, parastatal (autonomous) and private
sectors are entrusted with planning and urban development tasks
(Baindur & Kamath, 2009). Clearly, there is a widespread
dissatisfaction and lack of commitment by the government
authorities, and the slum dwellers feel excluded by the complexity
of institutional structures, particularly those slums that are
deregularized/non-notified and are often invisible in the city
planning. They do not possess election/voter cards or have access
to public distribution facilities, and are consequently not identified
in, or are consciously left out of, planning for access to urban water
and sanitation services.
3. Different land legal tenure/status is practiced in the city of
Bangalore. The status of legal tenure determines whether the slum
is notified or non-notified. There is an obvious link between
9 Those slums listed by local bodies like BBMP, BDA or KSDB will be referred to
as notified while those slums not listed are non-notified.
10 These local bodies can be Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagarapalike (BBMP),
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Karnataka Slum Development Board
(KSDB) and so on.

K.C. Smitha 143
infrastructure and service provision and the legality of the land
occupation by slum dwellers. Public utilities are reluctant to serve
those slums on illegally occupied or subdivided land. Often slum
dwellers are forced to resort to extralegal means to access services.
There are more than 500 slums awaiting recognition from the
KSDB to facilitate service delivery that does not conform to the
planning regulations of the city. Ad hoc or unconventional land
tenure practices are used to settle the immediate housing problems
of slums in the city. The city corporation does not offer to supply
services to those slums that lack land tenure because land tenure is
symbolic of political acceptance of the settlement as a bona fide
place of residence. This study reveals that land tenure rights of
slums are key to claiming and accessing services. In principle, land
ownership, in terms of declared status/listed, does not shift the right
to own land but it is starting a process for slums in terms of: (i)
presence of government and financing certain basic amenities like
public water taps and the construction and maintenance of toilets
through sponsored schemes and programs; and (ii) access to basic
amenities like paid or legal water connections.
4. The existing Geographical Information System (GIS) has not
produced a data map to provide an accurate picture of the target
population—such as social mapping, participatory consultation and
satellite imaging.
5. There is a complete lack of information on citizen consultation
forums and citizen charters displayed for accountability. This
nullifies BWSSB’s efforts to reach the poor in the city. There is a
complete lack of consumer education at low-income levels and in
the slums.
6. Land development practices in the city of Bangalore constitute a
strong inter-linkage between local economy and politics. Such
processes of development are traditionally defined as “clientalistic
politics,” in which the poor have very fragile claims (Nunan and
Satterthwaite, 2001: 417; Benjamin and Bhuvaneswari, 2006: 237;
Benjamin et al., 2008: 251). With the promotion of megacity
projects, the institutional emphasis is on homogenizing land tenure
and claims. New institutionalization creates an illusion of a
“planned city,” and redefines legality in favor of middle and upper
income groups. Eventually, the advent of large-scale master

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
144
planning paved the way for large-scale developers, the IT11 sector,
and territory connected to global institutions. In addition, the BDA
has the strategy of initiating demolitions on weekends to prevent
the aggrieved party from obtaining a stay. Large institutional
funding agencies like the World Bank, IMF, US-Aid, ADB and
JIBC have led the corporate-led privatization of basic amenities
like water supply, sanitation, electricity, and other infrastructure
projects without adequate attention to the equity issues.
7. The Social Development Unit (SDU) was constituted by BWSSB
as an offshoot of AusAID pilot projects to improve service
delivery, but in effect there was no cumulative impact in all the
slums of the city. High revenue targets functioned as an incentive
for connecting slums because when the gap between the projected
collection and revenue targets was large, the officials had a new
customer base. Additionally, those slums with no access to other
sources of water are most likely to be amenable to new
connections. This clearly implied that project “incentives” for
building a consumer base among slums included high revenue
targets and the elimination of other competing sources of water.
Another adverse factor was that the SDU was less effective in
terms of building a coherent and strong organizational or
institutional structure. There were no concrete, enabling conditions
for the effective collaboration by the BWSSB, NGOs and
community organizations to bring a sustainable piped water supply
and sanitation facilities to the slums of Bangalore (Connors 2005).
8. Public taps are particularly symbolic of the state welfare strategy
to provide free basic amenities to those households who cannot
afford them; for instance, slum dwellers living in pukka houses. In
2000, a study conducted by the TCE located over 23,000 stand-
posts in Bangalore, out of which 20% are non-functional. There
were about 4,331 public taps in slums alone (TCE, 2004). The
BWSSB had made an informal commitment to phase out standpipe
services. The effect of moving the policy in the direction of paid
connections led to the gradual elimination of state subsidies for
infrastructure investment in low-income areas, a move that
11 KIADB was set up in 1995, and introduced “single window clearance” and
special incentives for investment on mega-projects like IT-BT.

K.C. Smitha 145
undermined the ability of the BWSSB to deliver services more
equitably. The BWSSB was encouraging subsidized paid
connections under a package program under consisting two
categories: (i) individual household connections and (ii) community
level connections.
9. The BWSSB’s policy is to encourage both paid individual and
shared connections serving multiple households for a minimum fee.
But this is not feasible because the Board’s network is available
only for a couple of hours per day at the most, and the argument is
less convincing for the poor in the slums.
10. Studies have proven that institutionalized mediation gave rise to
patronage relationships as “political contact” which is a crucial
factor in accessing basic amenities like water supply and sanitation
in slums (De Wit, 2001:10 and 2002:3939; Edelman and Mitra,
2006). Such informal or indigenous relationships exist in Bangalore
slums. At the slum level, a partnership exists between local slum
dwellers and government officials like maintenance and operation
level officers—valve men, billing agents, water inspectors, health
inspectors, garbage collectors, etc. Particularly the role of
government representatives such as ward members, councilors and
the MLA mediate between dwellers and the agencies that service
them. In addition, the support of the urban poor is most cynically
sought by politicians and political parties during elections in
exchange for money, or access to the most basic of services—the
promise of free water, toilets or some improvement in their living
conditions.
9. Tariff issues
The present tariff12 structure introduced by the BWSSB does not fulfill
the urban governance criteria of equity. Equity is assessed in terms of the
block tariff structure and subsidies introduced for households in slums.
Tariff reform emphasizing economic efficiency through “full cost
recovery” is one of the means of “institutional strengthening” designed to
transform citizens accessing free services to consumers or users. Tariffs
were kept low with a view that water is a social good that must be
12 Tariff can be defined as “a set of procedural rules that determine the service
conditions and charges for various categories of water users” (Sridhar and Mathur,
2009).

Politics of Institutions and Structural Constraints
146
provided at a low and affordable cost to the consumers, particularly for the
slum dwellers. But, in reality, the low tariff structure restricted the ability
of the BWSSB to expand service delivery in slums (Connors, 2005;
Sridhar and Mathur, 2009).
Even the BWSSB’s special rates of Rs. 800 deposit and monthly
minimum of Rs. 115 were unaffordable for the urban poor. Besides, the
slum dwellers were apprehensive that even if they opted for individual
connections, the monthly rate would be hiked. Arousing this fear was the
slapping of huge monthly bills ranging from Rs. 500 to 12,000 on the
residents13 due to the delay in billing. Due to the legal status attached to
the poor in the slums, the provisioning of services remained out of their
reach as they were unable to afford them. The per capita water
consumption of water was very low, and so was the subsidy given to them.
Those who can afford it, on the other hand, get a smaller subsidy per unit
of water, but since the total consumption is very high, the total subsidy
also worked out to be very high. In reality, the supposed pro-poor subsidy
of the BWSSB does not benefit the poor (Connors, 2005; Sridhar and
Mathur, 2009). Rather, the poor end up subsidizing the rich and affordable
communities.
10. Conclusion
Urban governance with its often contradictory policies and practices had
mixed outcomes. As a result, the structural issues during both policy
formulation and the implementation for delivery remained fundamentally
untouched. It is evident that the BWSSB could not guarantee access to
services, without which such slum households are left to the mercy of
market forces and are unable to meet their basic needs. What is most
controversial is the goal of urban planning, which is essentially directed at
efficiency, reinforcing the current distribution of power and wealth toward
the elite and financially able. The poor emphasis on the equity aspects not
only reflects the weak water governance but also brings out the inability of
the institutions to effectively deliver the service to slum dwellers in the
city of Bangalore.
13 The KKNNS, the slum federation in Bangalore, suggested a revision of the
tariffs with subsidized rates for slum dwellers and exclusive consumption slabs.

K.C. Smitha 147
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Institute.

URBAN GOVERNANCE
AND DELIVERY OF PENSIONS:
A STUDY OF URBAN AND RURAL
HOUSEHOLDS IN SELECTED
DISTRICTS OF KARNATAKA
D. RAJASEKHAR,1 G. SREEDHAR,2
R. MANJULA,3 R. R. BIRADAR4
AND N. L. NARASIMHA REDDY5
The context
The government of Karnataka has been implementing three social
security pension schemes, viz., the Indira Gandhi National Old Age
Pension (IGNOAP) scheme (since 1964 under different names) for the
elderly, the Destitute Widow Pension (DWP) scheme for widows (since
1984) and the Disability Pension (DP) scheme for the disabled (since
1977). The monthly pension amount was enhanced from Rs.100 to Rs.200
in July 2006, to Rs.400 in April 2007 and recently to Rs.500 under all
these schemes. The demand for social security pensions has been on the
1 Professor at Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institute for Social
and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore.
2 Professor at Dept. of Rural Development and Social Work, Sri Krishnadevaraya
University, Anantapur.
3 Research Officer at Centre for Decentralisation and Development, ISEC,
Bangalore.
4 Associate Professor at Department of Studies in Economics, Karnatak University,
Dharwad.
5 Former Chief Executive Officer, Poverty Learning Foundation, Hyderabad and
currently working with NABARD Consultancy Services Private Limited
(NABCONS), a wholly owned subsidiary of NABARD.

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
152
increase over the last few years. In view of this, the state government
launched a new scheme called the Sandhya Suraksha Yojane (SSY) in
August 2007 for the benefit of the elderly by relaxing certain eligibility
conditions, but keeping the pension amount same as in the case of
IGNOAP. The Department of Revenue administers these schemes both in
urban and rural areas. In 2007–08, 1,948 thousand people in the state
received pensions under the above four schemes.
Governance issues in the selection and delivery of pensions
Social assistance is meant for the deprived sections of the population,
and the schemes are completely non-contributory and financed from
general revenue because of their potential to alleviate poverty among the
elderly, widows and disabled persons. Studies (Government of India
(GOI), 2006; Handyani, 2012) have identified a number of the potential
benefits of social pensions, such as enabling the elderly to gain access to
health care, enhancing the status and social standing of the pensioners and
thereby improving their dignity, promoting gender equality, etc. The
promotion of gender equality is particularly relevant in the case of widow
pensions as the mortality rate tends to be higher among widows compared
to non-widows (Dreze and Srinivasan, 1997). Widows are also likely to be
discriminated against in the intra-household distribution of food and other
items. The elderly and disabled suffer more on account of illness (GOI,
2006). All three categories are likely to depend on others within a
household. Dutta et al. (2010) found that the old- age and widow pensions
are likely to be preferred by households that consist of single pensioners so
that they do not have to depend on others.
The studies argue that the social pension schemes in Karnataka have
performed very well. Dutta et al. (2010) describe the social pension
schemes as small but effective, with remarkably low leakages of public
funds and pro-poor targeting of benefits. They find that the targeting of
old-age and widow pensions in Karnataka has been in favor of the low-
income households. They also show that the distribution of benefits among
the elderly and widows is more progressive in Karnataka compared to
India as a whole (Dutta et al., 2010: 66).
However, the studies point out that there are a number of governance-
related issues relating to the selection of beneficiaries and the delivery of
pension benefits. As far as the selection of beneficiaries is concerned, the
Revenue Department sanctions the pensions in both urban and rural areas.
People complained that the selection process is cumbersome, time-
consuming and involves considerable expenditure (GOI, 2006).

Rajasekhar, Sridhar, Manjula, Biradar and Narsimha Reddy
153
The beneficiaries have also been facing problems in the receipt of
pensions. An important problem is the delay in their disbursal. At the
national level, an evaluation found that 40% of the beneficiaries were not
getting their pension on a regular basis, and 18.83% reported that their
pension payments had been delayed by more than 2 months (cited in
Kumar and Anand, 2006). A study in Karnataka found that 73% of the
pensioners (old-age, widow and disabled) faced some delay or the other in
receiving the pension amount (PAC, n.d). The second problem is the
unauthorized payment to the agents delivering the pensions. The studies
reported that this ranges between Rs. 20 to Rs. 40 (cited in Kumar and
Anand, 2006). A third important problem is the considerable proportion of
ineligible beneficiaries among pensioners and the lack of a system to weed
out such ineligible beneficiaries.
Thus, it is perceived that the delivery mechanisms of social pensions
cause delays in the sanction and disbursal of benefits, appropriation of
benefits by middlemen, and delivery of benefits to ineligible persons. An
examination of these issues assumes importance not only because of their
significance in improving the mechanism for both sanction and
disbursement of pension benefits to the poor but also because not many
studies looking at these issues in an in-depth manner exist for Karnataka.
Objectives and methodology
The objectives of the paper are to: i) Examine the process through
which the poor households have been obtaining pension benefits in rural
and urban areas of Karnataka; ii) Find out actors on whom households
depend for obtaining pensions; iii) Examine the extent to which the
sanction of pensions has been delayed; iv) Find out the expenditure
incurred by the households in obtaining the pensions; and, v) Examine the
extent to which the delivery of pension benefits is delayed, and arrive at
the unauthorized payments made to receive pension amounts.
The sample comprises 1,076 pensioners from the Bellary (361),
Chitradurga (362) and Gulbarga (353) districts in Karnataka, drawn on the
basis of the multi-stage cluster sampling method, giving proportional
representation to the three categories of pensioners viz., the elderly, the
widows and the disabled. The sample represents both urban (352) and
rural (724) areas in the sample districts, drawn from two towns/ cities and
12 villages in two taluks of each district. The sample for the study
comprises 365, 403, and 308 pensioners belonging to the OAP, DWP and
DP schemes, respectively. The data were collected in 2009, and analyzed
according to urban and rural areas and pension types to find out whether

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
154
there is any difference in the delivery of the types of pension across rural
and urban areas.
Sanctioning of pension benefits
The procedure adopted for the selection of beneficiaries was the
following. The applications for the sanction of pensions, supported with
necessary documents, are submitted to the Tehsildar. The revenue official
(revenue inspector (RI) in the case of urban areas and village accountant in
the case of villages) scrutinizes the applications, including the physical
verification of the applicants in accordance with the eligibility criteria.
Based on the report of the RI, the Shirastadar sends in the papers to the
Tehsildar for sanction. Upon sanction of pension, the order copy is sent to
the applicant and the sub-treasury officer (STO). The STO gets the data
entered into the computer, and releases the pension amount.
The evaluation studies found that the process adopted to select pension
beneficiaries is fraught with several problems. GOI (2006) found that the
procedure to select the households for availing benefits was cumbersome
in all the sample states. The application form has to be accompanied by
certificates of proof, which vary across the states. The procedure for
getting the certificates authenticated also differs from one state to another.
The compulsion to obtain these documents caused considerable delay and
increased the amount spent in the sanction of benefits.
Another major problem in this process is the delay in scrutiny of the
application and physical verification of the applicant by the RI, especially
in cities, because of the large geographical spread. In order to reduce the
delays and move toward simplification of procedures, the government
made an arrangement to access pension schemes under Sakala, which is
nothing more than a legal arrangement where the beneficiary is entitled to
receive the membership/ benefits within the stipulated time (70 days in the
case of pension schemes) under the Right to Services Act (Rajasekhar,
Manjunath and Manjula, 2016). However, the new arrangement has not
been all that successful in all the districts in ensuring that people do not
run around to collect the necessary support documents before coming to
the Sakala center (ibid).
Who helped to get the pension sanctioned?
The pensioners usually depend on four major actors to get the pension
benefit sanctioned; these are local officials, local politicians, middlemen,
and others (friends, relatives and familiar persons) (Table 1). Local politicians

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Table 1 Distribution of Respondents by Source of Help to Obtain Pension (%)
Source of Help
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Local official 48.1 37.1 50.5 39.8 55.1 42.4 51.1 39.5
Local politician 11.2 10.6 11.3 20.3 6.5 13.0 9.8 14.8
Middlemen 18.5 30.3 15.6 12.5 10.6 12.0 15.1 19.0
Others* 12.9 19.7 14.5 25.8 18.1 23.9 15.1 23.0
Self/ No help 1.7 0.8 1.8 0.8 6.0 8.7 3.0 2.8
No information 7.7 1.5 6.2 0.8 3.7 0.0 5.9 0.9
Total (N) 233 132 275 128 216 92 724 352
* Friends, relatives and persons familiar to the respondents

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
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are usually the GP or urban local body representatives either at the time of
application or in the past. Barring 3% of the respondents in rural and urban
areas, all the sample pensioners depended on someone to obtain their
pension. While a considerable proportion of respondents in rural (51%) and
urban (40%) areas were helped by local officials, the percentage of those
depending on local politicians stood at 10% and 15% in rural and urban
areas, respectively. Across the pension types, a majority of the respondents
(ranging from 55% to 62%) were helped by local officials/ politicians,
except in the case of old-age pensioners in urban areas, where the
corresponding figure was 48%.
The middlemen and “others” constituted the next most important source
of help for the respondents. Across the pension types, the role of middlemen
was more pronounced in the case of the old-age pension, especially in urban
areas, as compared to widow and disability pensions. However, “others”
played a more important role in respect of disability and widow pensions
when compared to old-age pensions, especially in urban areas.
Extent of delay in getting pensions sanctioned
Delay is measured as the number of days between the application and
sanction. The delay was more than one month for over 90% of the sample
pensioners (Table 2). Not much difference was found between rural and
urban areas, although the delay tends to be relatively less in urban areas.
The average delay was 140 days in rural areas and 133 days in urban areas
for all pension categories. The extent of delay in obtaining a pension was
more pronounced for disability and widow pensions than for old-age
pensions, more so in urban areas. The delay of about four months between
application and sanction is not surprising given the long list of documents
that the officials ask for, and the cumbersome sanctioning procedure.
The average time lag1 between the date of application and sanction by
source of help for the respondents is shown in table 3. The delay was
longer for those depending on others and middlemen when compared to
those who depended on local officials and politicians in rural areas. Those
not seeking help from anyone spent the maximum time (174 days) to
obtain their pension compared to other actors in rural areas. In urban areas,
however, the time lag was longer in the case of those respondents who
depended on local officials and middlemen when compared to those who
depended on local politicians and others.
1 This is worked out by eliminating the cases with “no information” and “not aware.”

Rajasekhar, Sridhar, Manjula, Biradar and Narsimha Reddy
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Table 2 Distribution of Respondents by Time Lag between Date of Application and Sanction to Obtain Pension
(%)
Time lag between
date of application
and sanction
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
<1 month 6.9 15.9 7.6 2.3 4.6 6.5 6.5 8.5
1 – 3 months 34.8 42.4 38.9 50.8 42.6 34.8 38.7 43.5
3 – 6 months 32.6 26.5 36.4 37.5 32.4 43.5 34.0 34.9
6 – 12 months 12.4 6.1 7.6 7.0 14.4 10.9 11.2 7.7
>12 months 0.9 0.8 1.8 2.3 1.4 1.1 1.4 1.4
No information 6.9 5.3 6.5 0.0 2.8 2.2 5.5 2.6
Not aware 5.6 3.0 1.1 0.0 1.9 1.1 2.8 1.4
Total (N) 233 132 275 128 216 92 724 352

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
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Table 3 Average Time Lag between Application and Sanction for Pension Schemes
Source of Help
Average time lag between date of application and sanction (No. of days)
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Local officials 133 111 138 168 131 141 134 141
Local politicians 144 96 117 106 164 197 136 124
Middlemen 148 125 137 163 129 134 139 136
Others* 147 108 130 119 190 154 156 125
Self/ No help 130 120 302 90 134 111 174 110
All sources total 139 113 137 141 144 148 140 133
* Friends, relatives and persons familiar to the respondents

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159
Thus, it took anywhere between 1 and 6 months for the majority of the
respondents to obtain their pension, and the delay was more pronounced in
urban areas. Sanctioning disability and widow pensions also took longer
when compared to old-age pensions. However, in the case of old-age
pensions and all pensions taken together, sanctioning took more time in
rural areas. One of the main reasons for this delay was due to the process
of scrutiny of applications and physical verification of the applicants by
the RI or VA, who has to cover a large area, especially in urban areas. The
other reasons are limited infrastructure and human resources in the
Revenue Department and Treasury office.
Amount spent to get pension benefit sanctioned
In order to get the pension benefit sanctioned, the beneficiary
households had to spend money on documents, travel and miscellaneous
expenses, including bribes. A small proportion of the sample beneficiaries
stated that they did not incur any expenditure to obtain their pension
(Table 4). The expenditure incurred ranged from less than Rs.100 to more
than Rs.1,000. The percentage of respondents spending some money to
obtain their pension was slightly higher in urban areas at 79% as compared
to 75% in rural areas in the case of all pensions; this was the same across
the three pension categories.
Across the pension types, the percentage of respondents who spent
some money to obtain their pension was the highest in the case of
disability pensions, followed by widow and old-age pensions, in both rural
and urban areas. This could perhaps be due to the requirement to submit a
certificate from the government doctor on the extent of the disability. In
the field, it was learnt that a considerable amount needs to be paid to a
doctor in order to get this certificate.
The average amount spent by the respondents to access pension
schemes by source of help (Table 5) shows that the expenditure was higher
in urban areas, except in the case of old-age pensions, where the average
amount was higher in rural areas. For all pensions, the average amount of
expenditure was Rs.379 in urban areas and Rs.344 in rural areas. Across
the pension types, disabled pensioner households spent the highest
amount, followed by households of widow and old-age pensions.

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
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Table 4 Distribution of Respondents by Amount Spent to Obtain Pension (%)
Amount spent to
obtain pension (Rs.)
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Zero 26.2 16.7 16.0 9.4 11.1 9.8 17.8 12.2
<100 14.6 19.7 24.4 19.5 17.1 16.3 19.1 18.8
100 – 250 20.2 23.5 20.0 23.4 17.6 17.4 19.3 21.9
250 – 500 20.6 18.9 23.6 19.5 27.3 26.1 23.8 21.0
500 – 1000 10.3 8.3 10.2 18.8 18.1 16.3 12.6 14.2
>1000 1.3 0.0 0.4 2.3 4.6 9.8 1.9 3.4
No information 6.9 12.9 5.5 7.0 4.2 4.3 5.5 8.5
Total (N) 233 132 275 128 216 92 724 352
Table 5 Average Amount Spent by the Households for Accessing Pension Schemes (%)
Source of help
Average amount spent for obtaining pension (Rs.)
Old-Age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Local officials 359 245 324 372 410 482 363 373
Local politicians 287 176 145 217 303 246 225 215
Middlemen 363 349 310 511 570 682 388 442
Others* 182 174 222 377 454 554 307 367
Self/ No help 92 300 264 1000 482 800 374 770
Total 323 265 282 370 435 526 344 379
Total no. of cases
where some money
was spent
150
(64.3)
93
(70.5)
212
(77.1)
106
(82.8)
182
(84.3)
79
(85.9)
544
(75.1)
278
(79.0)
* Friends, relatives and persons familiar to the respondents. Note: Figures in the parentheses indicate percentage of total cases.

Rajasekhar, Sridhar, Manjula, Biradar and Narsimha Reddy
161
In rural areas, the average expenditure was the highest among those
depending on middlemen, whereas in urban areas it was the highest among
those who did not seek help from anyone. Next to middlemen, the average
amount spent was higher among those depending on local officials as
compared to others, both in rural and urban areas; a similar trend could be
noted with respect to different pension types, except for the disability
pensions.
The average expenditure was, however, the lowest among those
depending on local politicians both in rural and urban areas, when all
pensions are taken together as well as in the case of widow and disability
pensions. In the case of old-age pensions in rural areas, it was the lowest
among those not seeking help from anyone. The lesser amounts spent in
the case of respondents depending on local politicians could be due to the
realization among the seekers of their legitimate right to get help from
their elected representatives, or due to the electoral politics.
Thus, the sample beneficiaries incurred higher amounts of expenditure
to obtain a pension in urban areas as compared to rural areas. The
expenditure was also more in the case of those depending on middlemen.
The respondents depending on local politicians spent the least to obtain
their pension in both rural and urban areas.
Arrangements to distribute pensions
Over 90% of the pensions are disbursed through the Department of
Posts, and the rest through public sector banks. The delivery mechanism in
the case of the Department of Posts is as follows: The sanction order is
sent to the respective Treasury for the payment of pension to the
beneficiaries every month; the Treasury prints money orders; one check is
sent to the respective post offices along with 100 money orders (MOs) in
one bundle, manually; post offices disburse the pension as per the address
printed on the MO; and the money is delivered to the beneficiaries’ doors.
Thus, an important positive feature of the delivery mechanism is that it
delivers the pension to the doorstep of the pensioner every month on the
prescribed date. Note that the pension has to be delivered by the 7th of
every month.
The government has the following problems in the delivery of
pensions: i) A commission of 5% is paid per transaction per beneficiary to
the Department of Posts. This amounts to approximately Rs. 400 million a
year; ii) A huge indirect cost is incurred by the Treasury on such items as
cost of printing, stationery, etc.; iii) There is a shortage of human
resources at the Treasury, and this contributes to the delay in

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
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disbursement; iv) Post offices take their own time to sort the MOs village
and locality- wise, and this contributes to a further delay in the disbursal of
MOs. An added problem is that postal workers cannot carry more than Rs.
20,000 per day for disbursement for security reasons, as per the rules at the
time of the field study; v) Due to the shortage of human resources at the
Tehsildar’s office and the Treasury, the pension for those pensioners
whose MOs have not been acknowledged consecutively for three months
are not being suspended or cancelled. A reconciliation of the list of
beneficiaries is not being done by the Tehsildars; vi) Life certificates are
being given by the Tehsildars every year but are not asked for by the
Treasury for the continuation of pensions.
The arrangements to distribute the pension consist of two methods,
viz., 1) through post offices and 2) through banks. The STO releases the
pension amount through checks to the postmaster, Taluk Head Post Office
and the concerned banks. The STO sends one check for every 100 MOs to
the Taluk Head Post Office. From there, the pension amount is sent to the
sub-post offices for the booking of MOs. The process of booking the MOs
at the sub-post offices takes about a week. From the sub-post offices, the
MOs are sent to the branch post offices. At the branch post office level, the
postmaster has to make indents to the sub-post office, obtain the amount,
and arrange for the distribution of money to the pensioners through the
postal workers.
Extent of delay in the delivery of the pension
Even though it was stipulated that the pension amount should be
distributed to the pensioners by the first week of every month, delays in
the distribution through post offices were common. Discussions with
officials in the Department of Revenue and Posts and the Treasury
revealed that the time taken for the release of the pension from the
Treasury to the beneficiary ranges between one and two months due to the
shortage of human resources in the Treasury office, limited infrastructure,
power cuts, etc. Although the computerization of addresses reduced the
time taken to print MOs, delays could not be avoided. Procedural
problems such as the postal worker being allowed to carry only Rs. 20,000
a day for security reasons also contribute to the delays.
Because of these problems, Treasury offices across the districts have
started to adopt the practice of releasing pension amounts once every two
months. Thus, technically speaking, the pensions are no longer disbursed
monthly. Once the money is released to the branch post offices, it depends
on the postal workers to distribute pensions to the beneficiaries in their

Rajasekhar, Sridhar, Manjula, Biradar and Narsimha Reddy
163
Table 6 Distribution of Respondents by Extent of Delay in Delivery of Pension (%)
Extent of delay in the
delivery of pension
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
No delay – always
delivered in the first
week of every month 19.3 12.1 9.8 2.3 9.3 2.2 12.7 6.0
A few weeks 3.0 2.3 4.0 3.9 5.1 8.7 4.0 4.5
A month 6.0 4.5 10.5 10.9 10.2 14.1 9.0 9.4
Two months 50.6 61.4 52.4 60.9 57.9 57.6 53.5 60.2
Three months and
above 21.0 19.7 23.3 21.9 17.6 17.4 20.9 19.9
Total (N) 233 132 275 128 216 92 724 352

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
164
area of operation. Therefore, the actual time taken for the distribution of
pensions through post offices could be 2 – 3 months or more from the
stipulated date. On the contrary, those beneficiaries receiving their pension
through bank accounts may not experience any delays.
Table 6 shows the extent of delay in the delivery of pensions to the
respondents. It can be seen that only about 13% of the respondents in rural
and 6% in urban areas reported no delay in the delivery of their pension.
This proportion is relatively higher in the case of old-age pensions when
compared to widow and disability pensions. The percentage of
respondents reporting some delay was higher in urban areas for all
pensions put together and also across different pension types. A majority
of respondents (54% in rural and 60% in urban areas) reported a delay of 2
months, while about 21% of the respondents in rural and 20% in urban
areas reported a delay of 3 months or more. Thus, a vast majority of the
respondents reported a delay in the delivery of their pension. This could
cause hardship to those households depending on these pensions for their
subsistence.
Unauthorized payments made to delivery agent
Apart from delays in the delivery of pensions, the pensioners faced the
problem of unauthorized payments to the delivery agent, i.e., the postal
worker. These were either paid voluntarily by the pensioners in
appreciation of the role of the postal worker in traveling a long distance
and delivering the pension safely to their doorstep or deducted by the
postal workers presumably for performing the said role, even though
delivering pensions is part of their duty. The payment usually ranges
between 2.5% – 10% of the total pension amount, i.e., from Rs.10 to Rs.40
for a pension of Rs.400 per month.
Table 7 shows the amount paid by the respondents when receiving
their pension. It should be noted that about 30% and 21% of the
respondents in rural and urban areas, respectively, did not make any
payment. The percentage of respondents not paying any amount was
higher in rural than in urban areas, and in the case of disability and old-age
pensions when compared to widow pensions in rural areas. In urban areas,
however, the percentage of respondents not paying any amount was higher
in the case of old-age and widow pensions when compared to disability
pensions. The main reason for this is that due to the poor economic and
health status of the pensioners the postal worker did not demand money
rather than the latter refusing to pay.

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165
Table 7 Distribution of Respondents by Amount Paid When Receiving Pensions (%)
Amount paid at the time
of receiving pension (Rs.)
Old-age pension Widow pension Disability pension All pensions
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Not paid any amount 31.8 22.0 26.2 21.9 34.3 19.6 30.4 21.3
<10 33.5 37.1 38.9 34.4 38.4 33.7 37.0 35.2
10 – 20 24.5 28.8 25.8 37.5 19.9 41.3 23.6 35.2
20 – 30 2.6 6.1 1.5 3.1 2.3 1.1 2.1 3.7
30 – 40 0.9 3.8 1.1 3.1 1.4 3.3 1.1 3.4
> 40 1.7 0.8 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 0.3
No information 5.2 1.5 5.1 0.0 3.7 1.1 4.7 0.9
Total (N) 233 132 275 128 216 92 724 352

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
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Regarding the actual amount paid to the postal worker, it should be
noted that 37% of the respondents in rural and 35% in urban areas paid
Rs.10 when they received their pension. Further, 24% and 35% of the
respondents, respectively, in rural and urban areas paid Rs.10 – 20. In
other cases, the respondents paid an amount ranging between Rs.20 and
Rs.40. On the whole, the percentage of respondents paying some money to
the postal worker when receiving their pension was higher in urban than in
rural areas.
Thus, a vast majority of the respondents (70% in rural and 79% in
urban areas) made an unauthorized payment at the time of receiving their
pension. While about half of them paid voluntarily, the postal worker
deducted the amount before distributing the pension to the rest. The
tendency to make an unauthorized payment was slightly higher in urban
than in rural areas, and in the case of disability and old-age pensions than
in widow pensions in rural areas, while there is no marked difference in
this regard in urban areas. However, the behavior of the postal worker was
stated to be cordial in most cases.
Conclusions and policy implications
The procedure to sanction pensions involved considerable delays due
to problems such as shortage of human resources, limited infrastructure,
power cuts, etc. at the taluk level. The scrutiny of applications and the
physical verification of applicants are delayed because there is only one RI
in each taluk, irrespective of its size, even if it is a town or a city. The
process of sanctioning a pension takes about 1 – 6 months in the majority
of the cases, and the delay is likely to be more in urban areas, and also in
the case of disability and widow pensions as compared to old-age
pensions. The delay is mostly caused by systemic problems, which could
be reduced considerably by improving the governance in terms of
provision of adequate human resources and infrastructure.
The pensioners depend on local officials, local politicians, middlemen
and “others” for getting the pension sanctioned. Those depending on
middlemen and “others” spent more money to get the pension sanctioned
than those depending on local politicians and local officials, more so in
urban areas. Those not depending on anybody to get the pension
sanctioned also spent considerable amounts. The amount spent was higher
in the case of disability and widow pensions compared to old-age
pensions. These transaction costs could be reduced to a great extent if the
process of scrutiny, verification and sanction is expedited by improving
governance in the Revenue Department and the Treasury at the taluk level.

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167
The government of Karnataka introduced the Sakala scheme to reduce
the delay between the time of application and sanction. Under Sakala, the
pension is to be sanctioned within 70 days. It is, thus, possible that Sakala
may reduce the time taken between application and sanction but
complicated procedures and the need to get numerous support documents
not only compel the prospective beneficiaries to depend on middlemen but
also increase the number of days spent on the application process before
even coming to the Sakala center. Hence, there is need for a simplification
of the procedures and applications. There is also a need for a single
window service center in each urban ward or grama panchayat to render
prospective applicants a helping hand (Rajasekhar et al., 2014).
There are considerable delays in the delivery of pensions to the poor
through post offices, ranging from 2 to 3 months or more. The delay is
more pronounced in urban areas.
Unauthorized payments to the delivery agent (postal worker) at the
time of receiving a pension ranged between Rs.10 and Rs.40 (2.5% and
10% of the pension amount) per month. The tendency to make
unauthorized payments is higher in urban areas.
Even though the delivery of pensions through post offices has certain
inherent advantages such as a vast network, delivery to the door and the
return of MOs to the Treasury in the event of death of the pensioner, this
system has several disadvantages, including the huge delay in
disbursement and unauthorized payments to the delivery agent. On the
other hand, although the delivery of pensions through banks has the
advantage of prompt payment and the absence of unauthorized payments,
this system also has certain disadvantages, such as the limited network, the
high transaction costs to the beneficiaries and the absence of any
mechanism to return the money to the Treasury in the event of the death of
the pensioner.
The decision of the state government to make it a condition that all
pensioners should open an account in banks or post offices is a welcome
feature. Once this is done, the payments can be made through checks from
the Treasury and the money can be directly credited to the accounts.
Further, the delay in the delivery of the pensions could be avoided and the
unauthorized payments made to the postal worker can be stopped.
Secondly, the process of the release of the pension from the STO needs to
be expedited. Thirdly, computerization of the data at the sub-Treasury
office needs to be expedited so as to avoid the initial delay in the delivery
of pensions to new pensioners.
The recent initiative of the state government to introduce a smart card
system for the delivery of pensions through business correspondents of

Urban Governance and Delivery of Pensions
168
public sector banks in the districts chosen for the study on a pilot basis has
the potential to resolve several problems in the existing delivery
mechanisms but there could still be some problems, including unauthorized
payments to the delivery agent. Technology (bio-metric data) and the
disbursal of the pension through business correspondents may reduce the
delay in the delivery of pensions and the number of ineligible pensioners
but technology is unlikely to solve the problem of unauthorized payments.
References
Dreze, J. and P. V. Srinivasan. 1997. “Widowhood and Poverty in Rural
India: Some Inferences from Household Survey Data.” Journal of
Development Economics 54: 217–34.
Dutta, Puja, Stephen Howes and Rinku Murgai. 2010. “Small but
Effective: India’s Targeted Unconditional Cash Transfers.” Economic
and Political Weekly XLV (52): 63–70.
GOI. 2006. Report of the Working Group on Social Protection Policy –
National Social Assistance and Associated Programmes. Government
of India, Ministry of Rural Development, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
Handyani, Sri Wening. 2012. “The Challenge of Rapid Aging:
Development of Social Pensions in Asia” in Handyani, Sri Wening and
Babken Babajanian (eds). Social Protection for Older Persons: Social
Pensions in Asia. Asian Development Bank: Manila.
Kumar, Anand and Anand Navneet. 2006. Poverty Target Programs for
the Elderly in India with Special Reference to the National Old Age
Pension Scheme, 1995. Background paper for the Chronic Poverty
Report, 2008–09. Chronic Poverty Research Centre.
PAC (Public Affairs Centre). n.d. Social Audit of Public Service Delivery
in Karnataka. Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore.
http://www.pacindia.org/uploads/default/files/publications/pdf/75b2ebf
ef8c1c2b9eaaacbbe8300ccfc.pdf.
Rajasekhar, D., Erlend Berg and R. Manjula. 2014. Improving Access to
Social Security Benefits among Unorganised Workers in Karnataka.
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
Rajasekhar, D., K.S. Manjunath and R. Manjula. 2016. Simplifying
Delivery of Social Security Benefits in Karnataka. Indo-German Social
Security Papers, Paper III, GIZ: New Delhi.

GLOBALIZATION, URBANIZATION
AND MARGINALIZATION
OF THE DISADVANTAGED:
THE HEALTH OF UNORGANIZED
WORKERS IN BANGALORE
K. ASHA
Introduction
According to Anthony Giddens, “Globalization can be defined as the
intensification of the worldwide social relations which link distant
localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away and vice versa.” Globalization has led to a
proliferation of industries, rapid urbanization and an increase in the
number of cities. Privatization has become so common in every sphere of
our lives that the concept of welfare has remained a question of debate,
especially for the disadvantaged sections of the society, namely, the
socially and economically backward groups. The processes of
globalization, urbanization, industrialization and privatization have
definitely created many job opportunities for different sections of society,
but they have also brought socio-economic costs by way of occupational
health risks for the working society.
A significant addition of workers in the manufacturing sector,
especially as unorganized workers, has been witnessed since 1983. The
share of organized and unorganized employment across industries shows
that in the manufacturing sector, there was an increase from 80.3% in
1983–84 to 82.7% in 1987–88, 83.9% in 1993–94, 85.1% in 1999–2000
and 87.7% in 2004–05 (DGE&T Reports and NSSO Reports).
The impact of globalization saw a demand for cheap labor and the
beneficiaries of this job opportunity were the poor, but the irony was that it
came with no social security coverage. Thus, employment opportunities
increased for the poor, especially in urban areas, and women were easy

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
170
targets for the procurement of cheap labor. Globalization demanded
competition and quality control for exports, and these required expenditure
on infrastructure and other facilities, leading to a compromise on wages
for the workers. More women found employment in various home-based
activities, and agarbathi (incense sticks) was one industry that occupied
women in their homes as well as in temporary sheds and workshops.
In the urban set up, the unorganized sector is dominant in the sectors of
manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and
restaurants, and transportation, storage and communication. According to
the National Statistical Commission report, the share of labor input in the
unorganized sector is: manufacturing (87.7%), construction (92.4%),
wholesale and retail trade (98.3%), hotel and restaurants (96.7%), and
transportation, storage and communication (82.2%).
The agarbathi industry in India operates in the informal sector. The
labor force engaged in it is largely unorganized with no social security
benefits. Manufacturing is done on a piecemeal basis, with many
individual families contracted to assemble the agarbathi sticks. Out of the
total domestic sales, South India accounted for the most at 35%, West
30%, North 18% and East 17%.1
The industry is highly labor intensive. All the laborers are women,
especially in the rolling sections. The industry comes under the
unorganized sector, and lacks social security measures. Further, the
laborers suffer from many handicaps, viz., high poverty levels and
casualization of employment, with the industry employing the elderly and,
in some cases, children as well. The sector does not enforce labor laws
either. A market survey by the National Council of Applied Economic
Research (NCAER) put the total quantity of agarbathi produced in the
country at 147 billion sticks, valued at around Rs. 7 billion (US$ 196
million).2
The number of women workers in India has increased over the years.
The NSSO data for India shows a steady increase of women in all the
major work sectors. When we look at the percentage of women in the
category of “usually employed,” we see that in the manufacturing sector,
28.7% reported as usually employed compared to 18.1% in the agricultural
1 Hanumappa, H. G. 1996. Agarbathi: A Bamboo-based Industry in India. INBAR,
Working Paper, No. 9.
2 NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research). 1990. Agarbathis:
Market and Marketing–A Survey of Households. NCAER, New Delhi,
(mimeograph).

K. Asha
171
sector. The percentage change of women employed in chemical and
chemical products sector shows a significant 35.3% increase.3
India’s workforce is comprised of nearly 92% unorganized workers,
with virtually the entire farm sector falling under the informal category,
and only one-fifth of the non-farm workers in the organized segment.4 The
authors observe that social security schemes have largely ignored the
economically and socially vulnerable sections of society.
Indian culture restricts women’s access to work so much of their
economic activity is not reflected in the statistics. The informal sector acts
as an important source of work for women. More women may be involved
in undocumented or “disguised” wage work than in the formal labor force.
There are estimates that over 90% of working women are involved in the
informal sector and are not included in official statistics.5 The authors
observe that female employment does not ensure economic independence
and the relationship between women’s education and work is not
straightforward.
In terms of principal status, the share of women workers in
manufacturing has fluctuated sharply between 23 to 27%, and there is no
evidence of a clear trend. However, the share of women working in
manufacturing in a subsidiary capacity has been increasing continuously
since 1987–88, and now accounts for as much as nearly 3% of all urban
workers. This in turn is now as much as 11% of all women employed in
manufacturing; surely not a small proportion.6 Unlike men, working
women in the informal sector have poor access to education, skill
upgradation and health care.7
All unorganized workers are badly treated in varying degrees by
employers but such exploitation reaches alarming proportions in industries
where the majority of the workers are women and most of the employers,
supervisors, contractors, etc. are men. Here, in addition to bare economic
exploitation, there is also an element of gender bias—many employers
3 NSS Report 434. Manufacturing and Repair, Unorganised Manufacturing
Enterprises in India: Salient Features. 51st round, July 1994–95.
4 Sakthivel, S. and Pinaki Joddar. 2006. “Unorganised Sector Workforce in India,
Trends, Patterns and Social Security Coverage.” EPW, May.
5 John E. Dunlop and Victoria A. Velkoff. Women of the World, Women and the
Economy in India. Jan 1999, US Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
6 Chandrasekhar, C. P. and Jayati Ghosh. Women Workers in Urban India.
http://www.macroscan.org/fet/feb07
7 Pande Mrinal. 2005. “Women, Make Them Partners in the Progress in India: The
Task Ahead.” http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
172
believe that female workers constitute the weaker sex and therefore they
can squeeze more out of them at much lower costs.8 “At Times When
Limbs May Fail,” a study on social security for unorganized workers in
Karnataka, stresses the role of policies, civil society and governance,
which can go a long way in bringing social justice to the unorganized
workers.9
Women engaged in the agarbathi industry are mostly employed in the
rolling of sticks. The major raw materials used in the industry are bamboo,
wood, charcoal and processed perfumes. Agarbathi requires the stick, a
paste made of jigat powder, an adhesive-like substance made from the
powdered bark of the maclilus makarantha tree, charcoal powder and a
series of natural products in various combinations. Bamboo is the
preferred material for the sticks. India uses bamboo in its incense stick
industry, estimated to be worth US$400 million.10
Health of the unorganized workers
Occupational health plays an important role in the health of
individuals, reflecting the wellbeing of the society at large. Working
conditions determine the health of the workers to a large extent as
occupational factors can cause disease and injury to workers. They add to
the burden of the individual, work place and society. Absenteeism due to
illness results in many days lost, and hence productivity. Due to ill health,
the individual’s quality of life too suffers. Illness and diseases cause a
socio-economic burden to the individual and society. The workers
sometimes suffer loss of wages due to ill health if they are not covered
under any social security scheme. WHO estimates of occupational health
and injuries show that India ranks highest among all regions in both non-
fatal and fatal injuries, at 37% and 32 % respectively, followed by China,
with 22% and 24% respectively, of the total world figure (Leigh et al.,
1999).
8 Rajasekhar, D. and J.Y. Suchitra. 2006. Showing the Way Forward: India’s
Redistribution Experience in Extending Social Protection to All. ILO, New Delhi.
9 Rajasekhar, D., J.Y. Suchitra, S. Madheswaran and G. K. Karanth. 2006. Design
and Management of Social Security Benefits for Unorganised Workers in
Karnataka. GTZ, New Delhi.
10 INBAR (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan). 1994. Constraints to
Production of Bamboo and Rattan. Report of Consultation held from 9 to 13 May
1994, Bangalore India, INBAR, Technical report No.5, INBAR, New Delhi, p.
245.

K. Asha
173
Women suffer from health problems owing to socio-cultural factors,
the gender factor and the nature of job. Long hours of squatting and
monotony lead to various health problems. A majority of the working
women are employed in the unorganized sector, which deprives them of
any social security measure, making them more vulnerable to health risks
and insecurity. This is a very specific feature of a developing economy
wherein women have to multi-task, and given the fact that most of the
unorganized working women fall under the lower income class, they are
the most vulnerable population to be exposed to various health risks. This
calls for the attention of policy makers, who need to intervene in the work
situation of these vulnerable women to ensure a healthier working force,
and also social justice in terms of social security at the work place and
safer and healthier work conditions. The major problems suffered by
women at their place of work include:
- Ergonomic problems resulting from improper posture at work
- Musculoskeletal problems
- Stress resulting from the nature of the job
- Reproductive problems
- Health problems as a result of chemical exposure
- Respiratory problems resulting from dust exposure
A detailed health study by SEWA in Ahmedabad in 1988 revealed the
following health problems among women agarbathi workers: back pain,
blisters on hands, body aches, chest pain, dizziness and exhaustion, eye
problems, headache, nausea, neck pain, pain in abdomen, pain in limbs,
shoulder pain, white discharge, heavy bleeding, early periods, lack of
breast milk and itching or burning while urinating. They also reported that
the workers had taken no preventive measures.11
The nature of their job is extremely arduous and repetitive, with legs
stretched under low tables in dingy, ill-lit, sooty surroundings. The
workers are not covered under any schemes such as provident funds and
pensions; neither do they get maternity, medical, sickness, disability or
gratuity benefits. The workers are exposed to many hazards. The ILO
reference guide on women workers rights in India insists on the
importance of the roles of the tripartite organizations of ILO-government,
11 Chatterjee, M. and J. Macwan. 1988. Occupational Health Issues of Self
Employed Women: Agarbathi and Masala Workers of Ahmedabad. National
Commission of Self Employed Women Workers

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
174
employer and employee organizations. Women workers’ rights are defined,
encompassing the social, economic and political rights of women.12
There is a demand for hand-rolled incense sticks as they are
considered to be superior to machine-made ones. Hand-made incense
sticks are made from aromatic herbs and the oils of specific plants. The
rolling of agarbathis, perfumed and non-perfumed, is done as a home-
based job by women in urban slums. They suffer from a lack of nutrition,
health and housing, and also insecure employment and income.
This paper deals with the socio-economic and health dimensions of the
women workers in the agarbathi industry against the backdrop of
globalization and the increase in the unorganized sector, and the associated
health issues with specific reference to an urban setting as well as the
challenges of urban governance in ensuring the health of workers in the
unorganized sector.
Objectives of the study
1. Study the socio-economic conditions of women workers
2. Study the health status of employed women
3. Assess the relationship between working conditions and health of
workers.Methodology
There are approximately 500,000 agarbathi workers in the country, of
which 90% are estimated to be women, and about 80% of the work is
home-based family labor. Of these workers, half, or 250,000, are based in
Karnataka, the bulk of them around Bangalore and Mysore; another
60,000 or so are in Gujarat; 50,000 in Kerala and Tamil Nadu; and the
remainder distributed across other states.13 There are more than 350
companies in Karnataka, and 150 of them are located in Bangalore. The
subjects for the study were selected from five industries who willingly
participated in the study. The ethical committee clearance was obtained.
The purpose of the study was explained to the subjects in the local
language. The management was informed about the significance of the
study and their cooperation was sought. The workers who willingly
offered to participate in the study were included.
12 ILO. 1999. Women Workers’ Rights in India: Issues and Strategies–A Reference
Guide.
13 Kaur, G. 1999. “Content with Rolling Agarbathis.” The Hindu, Hyderabad
edition, 19th April.

K. Asha
175
This is a pilot study conducted on women workers in the incense sticks
manufacturing industry. A pre-designed questionnaire was administered to
the employees to assess the socio-economic situation and previous and
present medical history of the women employees. With this as baseline
information, a health status examination and occupational exposure was
assessed in the next stage.
The designed questionnaire was tested, validated and administered on
150 workers engaged in incense manufacturing. It dealt with the following
aspects—socio-economic profile, employment details, promotions and
benefits, details on working conditions, facilities at workplace, occupational
and health safety measures followed in their workplace, and a checklist of
medical problems faced by the workers, which included respiratory
problems, chest illness, symptoms related to gastro-intestinal problems,
skin problems, gynecological problems, musculoskeletal problems, stress-
related symptoms and a history of their medical condition. They were also
interviewed on issues related to collective bargaining, consultative
mechanisms, work relationships and other management practices.
Results and discussion
The data obtained was analyzed to reveal the socio-economic condition
of the workers and the health complaints reported by them. The data was
summarized for some of the factors that could have an impact on their
health condition. A total of 28.7% of the subjects earn a monthly income
of less than Rs. 1,000, and 50.7% earn Rs. 1,001–2000. Put together,
79.4% earn less than Rs. 2000, which reflects their low socio-economic
condition (Table 2). It was revealed that 56% earn a family income of less
than Rs. 3,000 per month (Fig. 1). The family size of the workers ranges
from 2 to 14; 73% of the families are nuclear families and some are joint
families with more than one earning member; and 73% of them have a
family size of less than five. In total, 95% of the workers are Hindus, and
5% are Christians. The community composition of these workers is: 49%
are scheduled castes and the others are backward castes, belonging to
various communities. Fifty-six percent are illiterate. Many of them speak
Tamil and Telugu as well as the local Kannada language. Among the
married, it was observed that many of the husbands did not earn an income
for the family. Some of the women reported that their husbands had
abandoned them. The women reported many economic problems as they
are the single earners of the family.

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
176
Table 1 Age-wise Distribution of the Women Employed in the Incense
Manufacturing Industry
Age (in years) No. (%)
Less than 25 years 21 (14%)
26–35 43 (28.7%)
36–45 46 (30.6%)
46–55 15 (10%)
56–65 19 (12.7%)
Above 65 6 (4%)
Total 150 (100%)
In the above table, it can be seen that the two age groups 26–35 (28.7%)
and 36–45 (30.6%) put together form 59.3%. Older women were also
engaged in this occupation. In spite of all the health problems, they
continue to do this job as this earns them some money for their livelihood.
Table 2 Income-wise (individual income) Distribution of the Women
Employed in the Incense Manufacturing Industry
Individual Income per
Month (Rs.)
No. (%)
Less than 1000 43 (28.7%)
1001–2000 76 (50.7%)
More than 2000 31 (20.6%)
Total 150 (100%)
As can be seen, 50.7% of the workers earn an income of Rs 1,001–
2000 per month and 28.7% earn less than Rs.1,000. Thus put together,
79.4% of the workers earn a monthly income of less than Rs. 2,000. The
wages are based on the number of sticks they roll. The more the
experience they have in rolling, the more they earn. The process of rolling
the sticks is a very monotonous and strenuous job and is done in dusty
surroundings. Experienced workers manage to roll more than 2,000 sticks
per day.

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Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
178
Table 3 Distribution of Workers According to Working Hours Per Day
No. of working hours per day No. (%)
2 to 5
17 (11.3%)
6 to 9
88 (58.7%)
More than 9
45 (30%)
Total 150 (100%)
Most workers (58.7%) put in 6 to 9 hours of work per day, which is
very tiring considering the work posture. They said they have no choice
but to put up with the discomforts of the job to earn a living. The nature of
the job is monotonous, is done in a dusty environment and in a very
uncomfortable position yet they said they were thankful to have a source
of income near their homes, which enabled them to do their household
work and also earn a living.
Table 4 Experience in Job Across Age Categories Among Women
Employed in Incense Sticks Manufacturing
Experience at work (in
years)
No. (%)
0–10 90 (60)
11–20 30 (20)
21–30 19 (12.7)
31–40 6 (4)
41–50 4 (2.7)
Over 51 1 (.6)
Total 150 (100%)
Of the workers surveyed, 60% have 0–10 years of experience. It can be
seen that there are some workers with more than 20 years of experience in
this industry. Those who have more experience reported that they had been
working childhood.

K. Asha
179
Health complaints
Health complaints as reported by the workers have been analyzed in
two categories: major health and minor health complaints.
Table 5 Health Complaints as Reported by the Subjects (N=150)
Health Complaints Reported No. (%)
Major Health Complaints
Difficulty in bending your knees 121 (81)
Difficulty in moving legs and arms 118 (79)
Pain or stiffness when you lean forward or backward at the
waist
118 (79)
Back pain 114 (76)
Difficulty fully moving your head up and down 113 (75)
Difficulty fully moving side to side 111 (74)
Difficulty squatting on the ground and getting up 104 (69)
Headache 96 (64)
Fatigue 85 (57)
Muscle cramps 76 (51)
Minor Complaints
Sleep disturbance 67 (45)
Anxiety 61 (41)
Forgetfulness 60 (40)
Lack of appetite 58 (38)
Eye problems 54 (36)
Fever attacks 45 (31)
White discharges 46 (31)
Cough 44 (49)
Irregular periods 44 (29)
Skin problems 40(27)
Breathlessness while walking 40 (27)
Miscarriages 38 (25)
Major health complaints are those that have been reported by more
than 50% of the workers. They are those related to pain and stiffness. The
major complaints are difficulty in bending knees (81%), difficulty in
moving arms and legs (79%), pain or stiffness when leaning forward and
backward at the waist (79%), back pain (76%), difficulty moving head up

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
180
and down (75%), difficulty moving side to side (74%), difficulty squatting
on the ground and getting up (69%), headache (64%) and fatigue (57%).
Fatigue was related to physical tiredness.
Fig. 3 Major Health Complaints Reported by the Workers
The workers reported that due to the sitting posture, which involved
squatting on the ground without enough space to stretch their legs, they
experienced a lot of pain. It was observed that in many places, the rooms
were small, full of dusty tables, and almost 8 to 10 women work in a 100
sq. ft. room. They just had enough space to sit and barely had space to
stretch their legs to ease discomfort. As can be seen from table 5, they
complained of all kinds of joint problems, headache and back pain. Apart
from other pain complaints, fatigue was also a major complaint. Muscle
cramp (51%) was another major problem they experienced in the midst of
their work.
81 79 79 76 75 74 69 64 57 51
0
20
40
60
80
100
Major Health Complaints %
%

K. Asha
181
Fig. 4 Minor Health Complaints
The minor complaints were those related to stress, sleep disturbance
(45%), anxiety (41%), forgetfulness (40%), lack of appetite (38%), eye
problems (36%), fever attacks (31%), cough (29%), breathlessness while
walking (27%), white discharge (31%), irregular periods (29%),
miscarriages (25%) and skin problems (27%). Lack of appetite was one of
the prominent complaints of about 38% of the workers, who complained
of irregular meal timings. Eye problems reported by the workers were
related to eye strain due to constant staring at the sticks and the
monotonous work of rolling the sticks. The subjects mentioned that as
soon as they enter the work place, they experience an irritable cough as
they are exposed to the agarbathi masala. Later in the day, they get used to
the pungent smell and the dusty surrounding of the workplace. They
reported skin problems, and itching and burning, which occur more in the
initial days of work.
45 41 40 39 36
31 31 29 29 27 27 25
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Other Health Complaints %

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
182
Age-wise distribution and health complaints
When we look for a relationship between the age groups and the health
complaints reported, it can be seen that the youngest age group displayed a
somewhat healthy status, as they complained less.
Fig. 5 Age-wise Distribution of the Health Complaints
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Chart Title
Less than 25 years 26-35 36-45 36-55 56-65 Above 65

K. Asha
183
Table 6 Age-wise Distribution of Health Complaints (No. Reported)
Age
Difficulty
in bending
knees
Pain/
stiff
waist
Difficulty
in moving
arms/legs
Back
pain
Diff. in
moving
head
up/down
Diff. in
moving
side to
side
Diff.
squatting
Head-
ache Fatigue
Muscle
cramps
Total
<25
years 12 11 11 12 11 11 8 9 6 4
21
26–
35 34 34 36 33 32 32 31 28 28 21
43
36–
45 40 40 36 35 38 36 36 35 29 30
46
36–
55 13 13 14 13 13 13 12 11 10 9
15
56–
65 16 14 16 16 14 14 13 10 10 9
19
> 65 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 3 2 3
6

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
184
Regarding the various major health complaints, slightly more than 50%
complained of such problems. Regarding cases such as fatigue, squatting
problems and muscle cramps, less than 50% complained. Difficulty in
bending knees was a common complaint across all the age groups and it
was reported as a major problem. The age group of the 26–35 years
category was comparatively better than the older age groups as far as
health problems are concerned but reported more problems than the
youngest age group. The age groups over 35 years complained of all major
health problems, the proportion being more than 80%. The older age group
of over 55 years complained the most about all the major health
complaints except for fatigue and headaches, about which not many
complained.
When we compare the health complaints across levels of job
experience (Table 7), it can be seen that health complaints are reported by
workers in all experience categories. Since the number of workers in the
most experienced categories is fewer, we cannot compare the groups. Yet,
it can be seen that the lowest experienced groups of fewer than 10 years
had all the complaints. Difficulty in bending knees was a common
complaint across all the categories. The group with fewer than 10 years’
experience had all the major complaints, with more reporting difficulty in
bending the knees. The 11–20 years’ experience category complained
comparatively less about difficulty in squatting. The 21–30 years’
experience category complained less about fatigue and headache and more
about pain in knees, arms, legs and stiffness in waist. The 31–40 years’
experience category complained less about muscle cramps and difficulty
in squatting, but significantly more about fatigue problems. The 41–50 age
group showed fewer muscle cramps and squatting problems. On the
whole, the experience group of 31–50 years reported many of the major
health complaints, but this could also be attributed to both their age and
experience.

K. Asha
185
Fig. 6 Experience Versus Health Complaints
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Experience versus health
complaints Muscle cramps
Fatigue
Headache
Diff squatting
Diff in moving side to
side
Diff in moving head
up/down
Backpain
Pain/stiff waist
Difficulty in moving
arms/legs
Diff bending knees

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
186
Table 7 Experience-wise Distribution of Health Complaints (No. reported)
Experience
in Years
Diff
bending
knees
Difficulty
in moving
arms/legs
Pain/stiff
waist
Back
pain
Diff. in
moving
head
up/down
Diff. in
moving
side to
side
Diff.
squatting Headache Fatigue
Muscle
cramps
Total
< 10 70 70 68 66 66 65 62 55 48 44
90
11–20 27 25 27 27 26 26 23 24 22 21
30
21–30 14 13 14 11 11 10 12 8 6 8
19
31–40 5 5 4 5 5 5 3 5 5 1
6
41–50 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 1
4
Above 50 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1
1

K. Asha
187
Infrastructure facilities and incentives
The women workers had minimum facilities with regard to an eating
place and washrooms. They ate their food where they worked. As far as
promotions, incentives, leave, bonuses etc., they had no such facilities.
Sometimes the owners gave them vessels or cash during the festival
season of Deepavali. However, the workers said the owners of their
factories were cordial and helpful in times of need.
Observations of the study
1. The subjects were all from the lower socio-economic groups with a
low income—28.7% earned an income of less than Rs. 1,000 and
50.7% earned less than Rs. 2,000. Fifty-seven percent of them are
illiterates. Most of the married women are destitute and living in
deplorable conditions.
2. The age range of the workers is 16–85 years. The average age of the
workers is 40 years. The workers are mostly in the age groups of 26–
35 (28.7%) and 36–45 (30.6%).
3. The workers get paid according to the number of sticks they roll.
Those working in industries covered by the Minimum Wages Act get
paid on a monthly basis.
4. The wage rate for 1,000 sticks rolled differs from agency to agency.
They range from Rs. 10 to 20. There is no uniformity in the wage rates
across the agencies.
5. Experience in years in this job ranges from recently joined to 53 years,
with an average of 11 years. Most of them are in the experience
category of fewer than 10 years.
6. The average working hours are around 8 hours per day, with a
minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 12 hours. A total of 58.7%
work for 6 to 9 hours per day.
7. The workers have no promotions or benefits like ESI, allowances,
provident funds, gratuity, bonuses, etc. Some reported receiving a
nominal bonus of Rs. 1,000 to 2,000 during one of the major festivals.
8. The major health complaints reported by more than 50% of the
women workers related to musculoskeletal problems, difficulty in
bending knees (81%), difficulty in moving legs and arms (79%),
stiffness at waist (79%), back pain (76%), movement of head (75%),
difficulty moving side to side (74%), squatting problems (69%), head
ache (64%), fatigue (57%) and muscle cramps (51%).

Globalization, Urbanization and Marginalization of Disadvantaged
188
Conclusion
The women workers employed in incense manufacturing come under
the unorganized sector, with no social security benefits except for those
covered under the Factories Act. They are from the lower socio-economic
and socially disadvantaged communities. The women workers engaged in
rolling incense sticks experience many health problems related to pain and
stiffness, which could be a result of the work posture. They suffer from
musculoskeletal problems such as joint pain, back pain, headaches, etc.
They also complain of stress-related symptoms such as lack of appetite,
sleeplessness, and anxiety. Other problems were coughs, and skin and
gynecological conditions. Agarbathi rolling is a specific phenomenon in
urban slums, and there is a need to take up the issue of unorganized
workers’ health by focusing on the urban governance of the sector. This
can be achieved through an integrated model of public-private partnership
that will ensure social security to those in the unorganized sector in the
cities.
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the support and cooperation given by the
factory owners and workers in conducting the study, and my special
thanks to our officer-in-charge, Dr. H. R. Rajmohan and the research team
for making this study possible.

PART II

URBAN GOVERNANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL
RESTRUCTURING:
THE CASE OF BRUHAT BANGALORE
MAHANAGARA PALIKE (BBMP)
N. SIVANNA1 AND LAVANYA SURESH2
Introduction
Market and global forces over the past two-and-a-half decades have
ushered in a transformation in India. After the 1990s, economic growth,
commercial activity and rapid in-migration were seen in metropolitan
areas. This has led to a rapid expansion of human settlements, with ever
changing economic, demographic, political and social characteristics. This
rapid rise of sprawling metropolitan areas with high population density
and haphazard industrial growth has put tremendous pressure on the
existing infrastructure of these urban areas (Pethe, Ghandhi and Tandel,
2011:187)(Pethe, Gandhi, & Tandel, 2011, p. 187). Given these
complexities, the governance of metropolitan areas has become a huge
task that is only set to grow more complex in the coming decades. It is
clear that organizations at the local level need to rise to the challenge of
handling this enormous task of governing, planning and efficiently
executing their administrative duties. The BBMP, which governs one of
the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in India, faces this formidable
challenge to adapt to the changing demands of a growing globalized city.
Tackling these issues requires an assessment of the capacity and efficacy
of the existing systems in the metropolitan area of Bangalore.
The population growth in Bangalore Metropolitan Area has been
among the highest in the entire country. Bangalore district’s population
increased 46.68% over the past decade to around 9.59 million in 2011.
1 Adjunct Professor and Head, Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and
Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
2 Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad.

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
191
This growth rate is several times higher than that of Mumbai, Chennai,
Delhi and Hyderabad (Bose, 2011). Despite the attempt to deflect growth
toward tier II and tier III cities in the state, there are 4,378 persons per
square kilometer. The growth in population has been coupled with the
expansion of the urban area; it increased from 28.85 sq. km in 1901 to 741
sq. km in 2008 after the merger of seven city municipal councils, one town
municipal council and 111 villages with the erstwhile Bangalore City
Corporation. In this backdrop, this chapter sets out to analyze the
functioning of one of the largest urban governance organizations in the
city of Bangalore, the BBMP, a relatively new administrative body. As per
the notification issued by the Government of Karnataka on January 16,
2007, the BBMP comprises seven erstwhile city municipal councils, one
town municipal council and 111 villages. The BBMP now has four
administrative divisions – East, West, South and Central – and eight zonal
offices, of which five are big and three small in terms area and population.
Consequently, the BBMP now has to cater to a population of more than
8,474,000 (2011 Census) across an area of 741 sq. km as against the
4,592,000 population across 226 sq. km under the erstwhile Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike (BMP). As per the notification, the BBMP has set for
itself the four-fold objectives of improving and coordinating
infrastructure-based development activities, upgrading the quality of urban
civic services, strengthening administrative capacity for better service
delivery and optimizing expenditure on establishment. Hence, the newly
formed BBMP has to manage the challenge of governing the expanding
city of Bangalore.
At this juncture, the questions that need to be raised are: Can it actually
do so, given its current organizational resources? Does the BBMP have
adequate qualified personnel to undertake the challenges? Can it manage
its workload with the existing staff? Does it have the competency required
to perform its functions? To answer these questions, this chapter attempts
to review the organizational structure and functional necessity of each
administrative level of the BBMP.
The objective of the study, hence, is to understand the capacity and the
outcomes of the urban administrative structure—the BBMP. First, we will
attempt to identify the core functions of the BBMP in order to examine the
rationale behind the expansion of its area of operation vis-à-vis the
expansion of departmental functions and activities and the impact on
responsive governance. Secondly, the study will assess the adequacy or
inadequacy of the work force available at various administrative levels and
field offices. Third, we will look at the horizontal and vertical linkages in
terms of devolution and delegation of functions. Ultimately we hope to

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
192
answer the questions above and suggest corrective measures based on the
findings of the study. Methodologically, the study is based on primary data
collected by the use of structured questionnaire and open-ended interview
schedules administered to BBMP officials of different groups/cadres.
Information has also been collected from secondary sources such as
administration reports, budget estimates, manuals and circulars.
Theoretical framework
In order to understand the capacity and the outcomes of this urban
administrative structure, the study engages with two theoretical streams in
public administration—Capacity-Building Framework and New Public
Management (NPM). In the first theoretical discourse, capacity is defined
as the ability of organizations or organizational units to perform functions
in such a manner that they are effective, efficient and sustainable. To
enhance this, the capacity-building process is often taken up by the
management. This practice aims at strengthening the abilities of individuals,
organizations and systems to perform core functions sustainably, and to
continue to improve and develop these over time. To enable capacity
building, three components need to work—individual/workforce,
organization and systems—within a specific setting. This also entails
looking at the inter-relations of these concepts (UNDP, 2008). This
framework is meant to strengthen existing components and support the
current activities of a system. Based on this framework, the study focuses
on the structure and functions of the BBMP, human resource development,
staff patterns, capacity of staff, etc. It also concentrates on the changes
made to improve its service delivery with emphasis on efficiency and
effectiveness. It is in this regard that the study draws from NPM literature.
There are a number of key theories of NPM, like those of Pollitt, Hood,
Aucion, Kettl, Olsen, Barzelay, Osborne and Gaebler, etc. The theories are
greatly influenced by such doctrines as homo economicus and the basic
desire to do away with the rigidity and tediousness of bureaucracy and
make it more efficient, effective and economic. The characteristics relate
to “organizational leadership, policy and strategy, people management,
resource management, processes, measurements of objective and
subjective results, values and ethics of the organization, and the
functioning of government at local level” (Tolofari, 2005:82) (Tolofari,
2005, p. 82).
Based on the above, the theoretical framework for this study is as
follows:

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
193
Fig. 1 Theoretical Framework

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
194
We used the analytical categories given in figure 1 to conduct a
functional review of the BBMP. Hence, based on the capacity-building
framework, the components of the process for the BBMP are as follows.
Systems and policies of urban governance in Karnataka within
which the BBMP functions
The first urban Municipal Committee to govern Bangalore town was
headed by a Municipal Board that consisted of an elected president, vice-
president and seven members (Hasan, 1970:178)(Hasan, 1970, p. 178). At
about the same time, a similar but separate Municipal Board was
constituted for the Cantonment area of Bangalore. Thus, for the first time,
two municipal boards administered Bangalore city. As per reports on the
administration of Mysore (1945–46), the City of Bangalore Improvement
Act V of 1945 was promulgated on 26 January, 1945, and the Bangalore
City Improvement Trust Board was established. The Board consisted of 11
members, of which 7 were appointed by the government, including the
chairperson, while 4 members were elected by the Bangalore City
Municipal Council. The main works entrusted to the Board were the
formation of industrial suburbs, layout of extensions for housing, layout of
residential extensions for the homeless, slum clearance schemes and
improvement of certain areas and works related to city drainage.
In 1949, the Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act 1949 (Act LXIV of
1949) was passed. Under the provisions of this Act, the Bangalore City
Municipality and the Bangalore Civil and Military Station Municipality
were merged to form the Bangalore City Municipal Corporation on
December 8, 1949 (Somashekara, 1968). This body governed for the next
two decades until the government passed the Karnataka Municipal
Corporations (KMC) Act, 1976, with effect from June 1, 1977, to govern
all municipal corporations in the state. The Act established the
corporation, standing committee and the commissioner as municipal
authorities. It also conferred certain powers on the mayor and deputy
mayor. It specified the obligatory and discretionary functions of the
Corporation, and strengthened the administrative machinery in respect of
administration, accounts and audits.
Subsequently, many amendments were effected to the Karnataka
Municipal Corporations Act 1976 (KMC) to improve the administrative
structure. Among such amendments, Act No.35 of 1994 is very important
as it was introduced in view of the changes brought about by the 74th
Constitutional Amendment. This amendment redefined the role, powers,
functions and finances of urban local bodies (ULBs) across the country. It

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
195
enabled the ULBs to function as effective, democratic and self-governing
institutions at the grass root level for the upkeep and development of
towns and cities. Article 243W of this amendment, along with the 12th
Schedule, provides the basis for the state legislatures to assign functions to
the local municipalities. The 12th Schedule listed 18 functions to be
included in the respective state municipal enactments. Karnataka was the
first state to pass the legislation to structure the organizational and
functional aspects of its ULBs.
Structure and functions of the BBMP
It is this historical development of urban governance legislation in
Karnataka and in Bangalore specifically that laid down the provisions for
the functioning of ULBs within the city. For the first time, under the KMC
Act of 1976, the functions of the BMP were described in detail. Further,
they were divided into obligatory and discretionary functions. As per the
Act, there were 31 obligatory functions and 23 discretionary functions
(Sections 58 and 59, respectively). Subsequently, by the Amendment Act
of 35 in 1994, two obligatory functions and four discretionary functions
were added to the existing list.
The executive responsibilities for the management of the BBMP’s
affairs are vested with the commissioner of the BBMP and a number of
senior officials. The commissioner and the heads of various departments
are usually appointed by the government from among the officers of the
Indian Administrative Service, and the state’s Civil and Technical
Services. Several departments of the corporation are also headed by the
BBMP’s own officials. These include several additional commissioners,
joint commissioners, deputy commissioners, chief engineers and health
officers, chief accounts officer, legal adviser, engineer-in-chief with chief
engineers (from the Public Works Department), joint director of town
planning, welfare officer and education officer. All these officers are either
on deputation from the government or from within the BBMP.
When we look at the structure of the executive in the BBMP, it is
observed that the organization consists of one central office and eight
zonal (three old and five new zones) offices headed by an additional
commissioner or a joint commissioner. These zones have several divisions
and subdivisions, and engineering, health and revenue departments. At the
ward level, the field staff of these three departments work as a team. At the
administrative level, the zonal offices are regularly strengthened to
function with a substantial delegation of powers from the commissioner.
This enables the zonal offices to take care of most functions of a routine

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
196
nature and the central office to focus mainly on policy formulation, project
monitoring and servicing the council and the standing committees.
One of the major departments under the BBMP is the General
Administration and Human Resources Department. This department works
directly under the commissioner and deals with the service matters of the
employees, including recruitment, promotions, transfers and other related
issues. This department also deals with the general policy issues of the
BBMP and supervises other activities such as the redressal of public
grievances, protocol, publicity, elections and human resource management.
Retired district judges are appointed to deal with the disciplinary cases
against the employees of the BBMP.
To augment the functions of the administrative department, a number
of technical departments, like the Engineering Department, were
established. The Engineering Department is one of the most important
departments in the BBMP and has to perform many obligatory and
discretionary functions. Its main functions are: Construction and
maintenance of roads, drains, footpaths, buildings, subways, culverts,
causeways and public utilities; removal of obstructions or projections in or
upon streets, bridges and other public places; securing or demolishing
dangerous buildings; and taking measures to tackle calamities affecting the
public.
Apart from these functions, the department is responsible for ensuring
that buildings are constructed as per the bylaws, maintaining streetlights
and disposing of the solid waste generated in the city. The two distinct
functions of the department are the execution of project works, i.e.,
implementation of works related to roads, drains, buildings, etc., and
ensuring the quality of all the projects executed by it. The prevention of
unauthorized constructions is also a vital function of the department. A
separate wing with dedicated staff has been created in the BBMP for this
purpose.
The Engineering Department is headed by the engineer-in-chief. For
administrative purposes, the department is geographically divided into
zones, divisions and subdivisions. Each zone is headed by a chief engineer
who is assisted by the superintending engineer. Each division is headed by
an executive engineer and each sub-division by an assistant executive
engineer. Further, each sub-division consists of three to four wards, and
each ward is looked after by an assistant engineer or a junior engineer.
Another technical department that plays a major role is the Department
of Health. This department carries out functions related to solid waste
collection and disposal, mosquito control, prevention of food adulteration,
control of epidemic diseases, etc., to name a few. One of the important

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
197
functions of the department is the issue of birth and death certificates. The
birth and death records have been computerized and the certificates are
now issued to the public online. The medical officers issue these
certificates at range offices. This department is also the licensing authority
for different trades in the city. It dispenses licenses for different types of
trades after taking into consideration public health issues.
The public health wing of the Health Department is headed by the joint
commissioner/ deputy commissioner of health in the central office. At the
zonal level, the health section is headed by a health officer. At the division
level, it is headed by a deputy health officer. The range office is headed by
a medical officer (health), and the sub-health officers take care of birth and
death registrations. The Health Department is also responsible for clinical
services, which involves providing citizens with maternity child health,
revised national tuberculosis control programs, treatment of dog bites,
implementing national programs like pulse polio immunization,
HIV/AIDS programs, family health awareness campaigns, cancer
screening programs, sanjeevini, nutritious meal programs and preventive
health care projects.
The discussion on the functions of the BBMP would not be complete
without understanding the role of the Revenue Department. The main
functions of this department are the collection of property tax, land
acquisition and property management—both public and private. Through
property management, the department maintains documents of property
details and property tax identification and issues Khatha3 certificates,
extracts, registrations and transfers.
The department has computerized all property records and digitized all
the assessment and DCB registers. Under the IT e-governance programs,
this department has introduced innovations such as the Sarala Khatha
system and computerized tax receipts in 30 ARO offices, 4 Citizen Service
Bureaus and Bangalore One centers, which help the people pay their taxes
at a place convenient to them.
The Revenue Department is the major revenue-collecting department
in the BBMP. In the central office, it is headed by the deputy
commissioner (Revenue). Each zonal revenue office is headed by a
revenue officer under the control of the zonal joint commissioner. They
3 Khatha in terms of property stands for an account of a property. This assessment
is carried out for properties that lie within the Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagara
Palike (BBMP) jurisdiction and every person who owns property within the BBMP
limit is mandated to have a Khata. This account or assessment contains details
about the property like size, location, area, built up area, etc.

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
198
are further assisted by deputy revenue officers, assistant revenue officers,
revenue inspectors, assessors and bill collectors. It should, however, be
understood that the maintenance of receipts and payments is not the
function of the Revenue Department but that of the Accounts Department.
This department of the BBMP is headed by the joint commissioner
(Finance), who is assisted by a chief accounts officer and two accounts
officers with other support staff. It also maintains accounts related to
salary, pension and other expenditures of the various development works.
An internal audit wing within the Accounts Department audits the receipts
and payments of the BBMP. The functioning of the department is
governed by the BBMP (Accounts) Regulations, 2001 (Resolution No.
436 dated 21.3.2001). The department has adopted the Fund-Based
Accounting System for the financial management of the BBMP.
The BBMP also has the Department of Education, which is responsible
for managing 78 nursery schools (Shishuvihara), 11 primary schools, 31
high schools and 13 junior colleges, with a combined student strength of
about 19,000 and a teaching staff of 910. The non-teaching staff strength is
472. This department also maintains 169 playgrounds in the city. The
children attending the BBMP schools are given free textbooks, uniforms
and other facilities. They are also given lunch free of cost by the BBMP,
which is currently seeking the involvement of several non-governmental
organizations to provide additional facilities in the schools to improve the
quality of education. In the central office, the activities of the Education
Department are looked after by the deputy commissioner (Development),
who is assisted by an officer of the Deputy Director of Public Instruction
deputed by the state government. Other departments of interest are the
Town Planning Department, Horticulture Department, and Social Welfare
Department among others.
Implementation of Schemes by the BBMP
One of the major functions of the BBMP is the conceptualization and
implementation of many innovative schemes such as the Self-Assessment
Scheme for property tax collection, Fund-Based Accounting System for
financial management, Nirmala Bangalore for the construction of public
toilets, Swacha Bangalore for door-to-door waste collection and solid
waste management, and several initiatives in traffic management. Of these,
the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS) is quite innovative as the basis of this
scheme is the mass appraisal system of properties. The city is classified
into six zones based on the property valuation done by the Department of
Stamps and Registration. The properties are classified based on the cost of

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
199
construction prevailing at the market rate and allowances are made for
depreciation. Standard rates are worked out for each zone based on these
criteria. The essence of the scheme is that it allows the owner to assess the
tax payable for his property and declare the same before the designated
authority. This innovative scheme has helped improve property tax
collection and has become popular among the citizens as it ensures
simplicity and transparency.
On the other hand, the Fund-Based Accounting System (FBAS) seeks
to address lacunas in the financial management of the BBMP. It is a
program that has allowed the BBMP to emerge as a model for other
municipal corporations in the country. The FBAS is basically a double
entry or accrual system that replaces the earlier single entry cash-based
accounting system. An important feature of FBAS is the multiple basis of
accounting it uses to achieve the objectives of accounting control.
The BBMP has also been instrumental in implementing popular social
welfare projects, like the Swacha Bangalore (SB) campaign. It introduced
the door-to-door collection of garbage in Bangalore and is one of BBMP’s
most successful initiatives. The dedicated BATF (Bangalore Agenda Task
Force) team worked diligently on fine-tuning the strategy from designing
the push carts to creating a corps of citizen volunteers called Suchi Mitras
to help the BBMP keep the city clean. The BATF also created a helpline to
register complaints on garbage collection and enable a closer monitoring
of these functions, and is involved in the preparation of scientific plans for
sanitary landfills for the city. The success of this initiative has earned
Bangalore a good name as one of the cleaner cities in the country. The
scheme’s aims also stated that citizen involvement will be ensured by
frequent monitoring of the program by citizen groups and by obtaining the
signatures of at least two residents in each block for effective door-to-door
collection and cleaning of the streets; and monthly meetings comprising
representatives from resident associations, Shuchi Mithras, corporators,
peoples’ representatives and officers of the Health Department effectively
monitor the program.
The organization has also implemented innovative schemes to address
the complexity of dealing with property management in the city. One such
scheme is the Suvarna Khatha Scheme, under which the citizens can get a
Khatha Certificate, Khatha Extract, Khatha Registration and Khatha
Transfer on payment of a fee through the citizen service centers in the 30
revenue range offices. The Suvarna Khatha Scheme Book gives all the
details, such as documents to be filed, fees to be paid, schedules of times
for the services and the rates for assessment of property tax under SAS.
The documents can be obtained by the citizens from 7 to 30 days. Another

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
200
scheme that enables better property governance is Prahari. This is a
mobile squad that attends to all the complaints received from the citizens,
especially regarding unauthorized constructions, violation of building
bylaws, felling of trees and any other complaint that requires the
immediate attention of the BBMP. Each zonal office is provided a Prahari
squad to help the citizen get a quick response on any issue.
The implementation of all-India central government programs is also
undertaken by the BBMP. For example, one of the programs launched by
the Government of India for the development of larger metros is the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The
BBMP, as Bangalore is one of the cities selected under the program,
chalked out several infrastructure improvement works in slums and low-
income settlements. Bangalore city is included under A Category cities
and the central government provides 35%, the Karnataka government 15%
and the concerned institution 50% of the cost for all projects undertaken.
Under this scheme, a city development plan was prepared with an
estimated budget of Rs. 225,360 million, and the projects had to be
implemented within seven years from 2007. The main thrust of this project
is infrastructure development like storm water drains, flyovers, basic
services to the urban poor, etc. As part of the mission, the BBMP had to
implement many statutory reforms, particularly e-governance initiatives.
The above analysis of the organizational and functional aspects reveals
that the BBMP has been actively involved in providing both civic and
welfare services to the citizens. In addition, it has been able to implement
many innovative city-specific schemes and programs. The effective
formulation and implementation of these activities calls for committed and
well-trained personnel. Hence, it becomes essential to understand and
study the issues concerning human resource development and its
repercussions on day-to-day administration and governance. This is the
third aspect of our analytical framework.
Individual/workforce
As seen above, each department has specific functions, like planning
and implementation, besides general administration. To carry out these
activities, the role of the workforce is very important. An attempt was
made to work out the ratio between the serving BBMP officials vis-à-vis
the population and per capita expenditure incurred by the BBMP, focusing
on the five new zones. This information is provided in table 1.

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
201
Table 1 Population, Working Strength, Expenditure and Officials Ratio in the New Zones
Sl.No. Zones Population Working
strength*
Ratio between
officials and
population
Expenditure
(in Rs.)
Expenditure
per head
1 Byatarayanapura 349,388 726 1:481 309,206,537 884.99
2 Mahadevapura 392,253 749 1:523 183,608,847 468.08
3 Bommanahalli 282,764 632 1:447 - -
4 Rajarajeswarinagara 181,786 691 1:263 112,785,360 620.42
5 Dasarahalli 310,274 576 1:538 322,595,804 1,039.71
Total 1,516,465 3,374 1:449 928,196,548 612.07 (av.)
* Working strength includes staff from all cadres
Source: Budget Estimates Books of BBMP

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
202
As revealed by table 1, the ratio of officials and their serving
population is 1: 449. In the Dassaralli and Mahadevapura zones, the ratio
is more than 1:500; in Byyatarayanapura and Bommanahalli less than
1:500 and in Rajarajeswarinagara less than 1:300. This indicates that each
officer in the BBMP is required to serve a large number of people. It is an
indicator of the work pressure that they experience. In terms of per capita
expenditure, on average, the BBMP spends around Rs. 612 per head for
providing its services, which is quite cost effective. Taking the analysis
further, we look at the ratio between the field staff (current strength and
required additional staff), population and distance covered, especially by
the Revenue, Engineering and Health departments. It was found that each
member of the existing staff in the Revenue Department, on average, looks
after 2,699 properties covering almost 2 sq. km. At the zonal level, the
ratio is way above the average in Bommanahalli (1: 6043 and 3.38 sq.
km), which is quite a heavy workload. Each member of the existing staff
in the Engineering Department, on average, serves a population of 9,586,
covering almost 2.10 sq. km. At the zonal level, the ratio is much higher
than the average in Byatarayanapura (1:10,037, covering 2.93 sq. km) and
below average in Rajarajeshwari Nagar (1: 3139, covering 2.27 sq. km).
These figures indicate a heavy workload for the staff serving in the
Engineering Department in the BBMP. The situation is not better in the
Health Department, where on average, the officers serve a population of
7,247, covering almost 1.58 sq. km. At the zonal level, the ratio is much
higher than the average in Byatarayanapura (1:8,085, covering 1.58 sq.
km) and below average in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, which is consistent with
the above departments.
On the whole, across the BBMP, the workforce strength was 10,623,
including all new zones, in 2009–10. This is against the sanctioned
strength of 19,835, which amounts to a 54% shortage of staff. In terms of
the ratio between the serving officials and the population, on an average,
each official is set to serve around 640 persons (computed for the working
staff). The one-on-one interviews revealed that the officials, especially
from the Engineering, Health and Revenue departments, found it very
difficult to manage the assigned workload due to too many additional
assignments.
When we compare the ratio between staff and population across other
city corporations, we find that in Mumbai, Chennai and Visakhapattanam,
the ratio is much lower compared to that of the BBMP. In Mumbai it is
1:113, in Chennai 1: 285 and in Vishakhapattanam 1: 264, compared to
1:640 in Bangalore for the BBMP. Even if we were to look at the average
ratio prevailing across other cities, which is 1:325, the existing ratio in the

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
203
BBMP is nowhere near this average. Hence, this study indicated that there
is a need to reduce the ratio of staff to population to enhance efficiency in
the delivery of services to the public in Bangalore.
With regard to the staffing pattern, it is significant to note that 72% of
the BBMP staff are drawn from Cadre D, followed by Cadre C (24.46%),
Cadre B (2.11%) and Cadre A (1.70%). The department-wise staffing
pattern shows that the Health Department had a larger share (55.73%)
followed by the Engineering Department (14.27%) and the General
Administration Department (13.46%); together these three departments
accounted for almost 80% of the total sanctioned staff strength. However,
what is significant is the gap between the sanctioned staff and the working
staff strength. As per the data available, recruitments have not been made
for almost 44% (during 2007–08) of the sanctioned posts, especially in all
the important departments like health, revenue, education, horticulture and
general administration. The overall staff requirement in the new zones is
more than 76%. Further, almost 60% of the existing staff in the new zones
is temporary, and from the old CMCs and Grama Panchayats. To make
matters worse in the Department of Town Planning, at present, in all the
new zones, only two assistant directors of town planning (ADTP) are
working, with no support staff like clerks and computer operators.
Analysis
The above systematic description of the capacity-building mechanisms
of the BBMP, in terms of context, organizational structure/functions and
workforce, reveals the inner working of this urban body. Based on an
understanding of the relationship between the policy context, functions
and workforce, the study has been able to find some interesting issues with
regard to the functioning of the BBMP. These findings are from the
standpoint of ensuring that this system is efficient and effective, for which
the objectives are laid out in NPM. This brings us full circle in terms of
our analytical framework. These findings have also prompted the authors
to give a few recommendations.
One such recommendation is that, keeping in view the need for
adequate staff at all levels, we strongly recommend the immediate filling
of vacancies to enable the BBMP to address its tasks and responsibilities
more efficiently. Furthermore, the paucity of staff is presently seen as
critical at the zonal level, especially in the new zones. In view of this
finding, the BBMP should immediately initiate the process of recruitment
or at least appoint staff on a contract basis because the regular recruitment
process takes time. Another option open to the BBMP is to conduct

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
204
departmental tests/exams to regularize their temporary staff. The study
also finds that the BBMP has a paucity of additional field staff like estate
surveyors, gang men, security guards, pourakarmikas and other support
staff in its zonal offices. In view of the importance of support staff, we
recommend a strengthening of the middle level (implementing officers)
and field level staff to enable the departments to function effectively and
responsively.
One of the findings of the study was that there was consensus among
the officers interviewed that the BBMP should have sufficient autonomy
to have its own recruitment process within the framework of a separate
“municipality service cadre.” This would enable the BBMP to decentralize
its recruitment process and finally establish a separate service cadre for
ULBs.
When it comes to the empowerment of senior level officers and heads
of departments, we recommend that all the senior level officers be
entrusted with discretionary, regulatory and disciplinary powers. At
present, they have powers only to supervise, monitor, coordinate and
implement development and administrative activities. Specifically, the
additional/joint commissioners could be entrusted with powers to
discipline erring C and D Group staff, issue tenders (for street lights, trade
licenses, solid waste management, etc.) and give discretionary grants of up
to Rs. 50 million (in times of natural calamities). Further, the health
officers should be involved in the process of inviting and processing
tenders and they should be given disciplinary/regulatory powers to control
their field level staff.
A step in the direction of empowering senior officers was taken by way
of an order on 1 April, 2008. This order states that the executive engineers
(EEs) can sign checks, the power of which was hitherto with the assistant
conservator of forest officer (ACF). However, the ACFs are not happy
about this development. They were of the view that the EEs and ACFs
should be made joint signatories, as was the practice in the old zones until
recently. Similarly, the superintendent engineers (SEs) were of the view
that they should be given the power to sanction building permits, which is
presently with the ADTPs. There was a demand from SEs that they should
be made members of the Building Sanction Committee. This illustrates
that the situation is complex and there is no one simple solution.
Another major finding of this study was that after the formation of the
BBMP, the employees of the old CMCs and Gram Panchayats were
retained in the new zones. This has had a significant negative impact on
the work culture. Hence, we recommend that a foundation course be
conducted for such staff on the functioning of the BBMP to enable them to

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
205
meet the challenges of working in an urban governing body. Similarly,
middle and lower level staff also need to be trained in administration,
especially in e-governance. To strengthen the academic component of the
teaching faculty of the BBMP schools and colleges, especially the subject
specialists, we suggest special training in teaching methods and teaching
languages, and upgrading the knowledge levels of the assistant masters.
There should also be a special training program on moral values and
administrative ethics.
To ensure effective and responsive governance and to meet the
growing challenges of urbanization structurally, we strongly recommend
that the BBMP be divided into two administrative zones, each headed by a
special commissioner (Administration). Keeping in view the expansion of
the area and functions of the BBMP, we suggest a video conferencing
facility be provided to higher-level officers because it offers instant clarity
in communication, and rapid clarification of the doubts and questions
raised, ensures accountability and makes the governance process
foolproof. This facility would also save time and energy and make the
officers more productive.
One issue that was supported by all the respondents of the study was
the need to revise, amend and update the 1977 Manual of Office
Procedure to avoid duplication of roles, ensure role clarity, demarcate
roles, authority and responsibility, and facilitate the easy flow of files
between different levels of governance. In view of the recent and ongoing
developments, we suggest that the BBMP constitute an independent
committee or a sub-committee to draft a new manual.
Another major lacuna that was identified was the lack of utilization of
information and communication technology. We strongly recommend that
all the senior level and middle level officers be provided with computers
and internet facility to ensure that quick decisions are taken to produce the
desired results. As of now, computers are used only for documentation and
not for the exchange of ideas or correspondence. As part of the recruitment
process, there is an immediate need to insist that the applicants have a
diploma in computer science, and such a course needs to be introduced as
part of the vocational courses in BBMP’s educational institutions for
economically backward students.
Keeping in mind the views expressed by the zonal officials and our
own discussions with the joint commissioners/deputy commissioners/heads of
departments and other officials, it was found that there is a case for right-
sizing the existing administrative structures. One such finding was that
there is no need to have two senior level officers (JC and DC) in the new
zones; instead, one senior officer (either additional or joint commissioner)

Urban Governance and Organizational Restructuring
206
should be in charge of the administration. Hence, we suggest that the new
zones have either an additional or a joint commissioner as the head of the
zone aided by a head office assistant. When it comes to health services,
some doctors said that their services should be used only for carrying out
community health-related activities and implementing national health
programs, and not for activities like solid waste management. In this
regard, they submitted a memorandum (dated 14-05-08) to the
commissioner of the BBMP for reorganizing the Health Department. In
view of their sentiments, we suggest bifurcating/reallocating tasks and
responsibilities.
The respondents also spoke of the redundancy of the chief engineer’s
post in all the zones; hence it is suggested that two zones could be brought
under one chief engineer. The executive engineer, with all the necessary
powers, could look after zonal level works. Similarly, there was a
suggestion that instead of having two ADTPs in the new zones, one ADTP
with support staff is sufficient to carry out the assignments. Hence, our
suggestion is that these two departments be restructured accordingly.
Conclusion
The implementation of these policy recommendations and suggestions
will go a long way in strengthening the BBMP in terms of recruitment,
inter and intra-departmental relations, enhancing the capabilities of its
employees, improving governance, empowering its officers and right-
sizing its various departments. The assessment reveals that in order for the
BBMP to function efficiently in an urban context, certain systemic issues
need to be addressed. The study emphasizes the need to bring about micro
reforms in the institutional framework for governance to be successful in
Bangalore. However, it should be kept in mind that reforms at a macro
level would be difficult to implement, and require political will to
undertake a combination of micro reforms and structural change. Such
reforms should aim at mitigating the institutional weaknesses found as
well as ensuring that the BBMP is up to meeting the challenges of
urbanization.
In conclusion, we find that the capacity-building framework has
enabled us to identify ways in which this administrative structure may be
made more effective in its functioning. However, it should be kept in mind
that metropolitan governance systems in India are the result of the 74th
constitutional amendment. Hence, the idea of efficiency should always be
understood in the context of ensuring self-governance, social justice and
economic development.

N. Sivanna and Lavanya Suresh
207
References
Bose, P. 2011. "Population Boom: At 46.68%, Bangalore Tops Urban
Districts." Business Standard, April 7.
Hasan, F. M. 1970. Bangalore Through the Centuries. Bangalore:
Historical Publications.
Pethe, A., S. Gandhi, S., and V. Tandel. 2011. Assessing the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region: A Governance Perspective. Economic &
Political Weekly, xlvi (26 & 27), 187–195.
Tolofari, S. 2005. New Public Management and Education. Policy Futures
in Education 3(1).
UNDP. 2008. Capacity Development Practice Note (2008). New York:
United Nations Development Programme.

BANGALORE’S RESTRUCTURING:
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE?
KALA S. SRIDHAR
Introduction
India’s 74th Constitutional Amendment Act recognized urban local
bodies as the third tier of government, which marks a major breakthrough
for local governments in the country. Decentralized urban governance is
much appreciated because of its impacts on accountability, and due to the
assumption that a local government located closer to the citizens is much
more sensitive to their needs and priorities compared with a national
government located remotely. In the case of Bangalore, in 2001, with a
population of 4.3 million, the city’s local body was the Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike (BMP), which was the single urban local body. In
2006, seven city municipal councils (CMCs) and one town municipal
council (TMC) (along with several surrounding villages) were merged to
create the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).1 However, the
merged BBMP (with a population of 8.4 million in 2011) became too
unwieldy to rule, so in late 2014 the government of Karnataka set up the
1 The following are the local governments that were merged with the Bangalore
City Corporation, along with 110 adjacent villages, to form the Bruhat Bengaluru
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP):
• Bommanahalli City Municipal Council
• Byatarayanapura City Municipal Council
• Dasarahalli City Municipal Council
• Electronics City
• Kengeri Town Municipal Council
• Krishnarajapura City Municipal Council
• Mahadevapura City Municipal Council
• Rajarajeshwari Nagar City Municipal Council
• Yelahanka City Municipal Council.

Kala S. Sridhar
209
B.S. Patil committee to examine the restructuring of Bengaluru into two or
more smaller municipalities.
In this paper, the question of whether or not the BBMP restructuring is
conducive for better delivery of urban services is addressed. The response
provided is based on the way basic urban services have evolved in the
metropolitan area over time, theoretical arguments, and examining the
case of Delhi’s trifurcation and the lessons thereafter.
This paper is organized as follows: First, it reports the city’s
governance, followed by a summary of the city’s economic base, based on
secondary data. Following this, the paper summarizes the current state of
public services in the city, based on a pilot study by Sridhar, Manasi and
Smitha (2015) conducted in one ward of the city. Then the paper presents
the theoretical arguments in favor of and against sub-municipal
decentralization. The section that follows presents the lessons from the
trifurcation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for Bangalore. A final
section summarizes and concludes.
Governance
Bangalore is governed by the BBMP. The city and Cantonment
municipalities were amalgamated to form the corporation of the city of
Bangalore in December 1949. A historical overview of the evolution of the
local body is presented by Sivanna and Suresh in this volume. While the
municipal status of the city was the BMP until 2006, in January 2007, the
BBMP was created by amalgamating the seven CMCs, one TMC and
adjacent villages with the BMP. By the time the writing of this chapter
was complete, there were proposals for splitting the BBMP again into
three parts for ease of governance, and the B.S. Patil committee had been
set up to look into this issue.
The BBMP area in 2016 was divided into 198 wards in eight zones,
with elected “councilors” whose term of office is five years. The mayor is
elected from among the councilors, and his/her term extends up to a year
from the date of his/her election. The BBMP is the policy-making body
headed by the mayor presiding over the councilors. The commissioner, the
executive head of the corporation, is a bureaucrat from the Indian Civil
Services and is appointed by the government after consultation with the
mayor. The commissioner reports to the mayor, who is authorized to give
directions to the commissioner regarding the implementation of any
resolution of the corporation—this way, at least in theory, the
democratically elected mayor’s preferences are reflected in the policies of
the municipal corporation. However, in practice, the allegiance of the

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
210
municipal commissioner is to the state government, hence citizen
preferences are not usually reflected in the actual functioning of the local
government.2
Socio-demographic dimensions
The BBMP’s literacy rate, as per the 2011 census, was 90%, above the
urban literacy rate for the country (which was 84%), and above that for
Karnataka for its urban regions (85.78%) as per the 2011 census,
reinforcing its superior human capital.
The population density is the number of persons living per square
kilometer of the BBMP area (which came into being in January 2007). The
density of BBMP for 2011 was 11,470 people per sq. km (with a
population of 8,495,492 and land area of 740.64 sq. km), decreasing from
a density of 19,068 people per sq. km in 2001 (population of 4,313,248
and area of 226.2 sq. km). This trend should be interpreted in the light of
the fact that in 2001, the only municipal body was the BMP, whereas in
2011, it became the BBMP by including in its fold seven CMCs, one
TMC, and 110 surrounding villages, with the result that the land area was
huge.
Economic base: Workers and sectors
In presenting Bangalore’s economic dimensions, we examine the
sectoral composition of workers, which reflects on its economic base. In
2001, the majority (63%) of Bangalore’s workforce was in services,
covering areas such as trade and commerce, transport, storage and
communications, hotels and restaurants, banking, insurance, real estate and
other services, with another one-fourth (26%) of its workers in
manufacturing (both household and non-household-based industry). The
remaining 11% of the workers were in agriculture, construction, mining
2 An alternative to the prevailing commissioner model is implemented in Kolkata.
This model has been in existence since 1984 and is frequently referred to as the
mayor-in-council form of city governance. This system consists of a mayor and a
ten-member cabinet with individual portfolios chosen from among the elected
councillors. In that system, the municipal commissioner serves as the principal
executive officer subject to the control and supervision of the mayor as the chief
executive officer, a system which is typically desirable. A different version of this
integrated model is known as the chairman-in-council system, where the mayor is
the chairman of the council.

Kala S. Sridhar
211
and related activities. While comparable data on the city’s sectoral
composition of employment are not available for 2011, we observe that
during 2001–11, there was a significant increase in the workforce
participation rate from 38% to 44% (Table 1). However, there was no
change over this period in the proportion that main and marginal workers
formed, of the total number of workers, whereby main workers accounted
for more than 90% of the workforce. Those who were looking for jobs in
the six-month period preceding the date of enumeration but did not find
one constituted only 9% of the workforce, and this remained unchanged
during the decadal period 2001–11.
One way to identify whether or not a divided city scores over a unified
city is to review the basic public services. We review the current state of
water supply, sewerage, and solid waste management for Bengaluru from
a pilot study by Sridhar, Manasi and Smitha (2015), based on
Nagarabhavi, and compare it with earlier estimates of the levels of these
services.
The forthcoming section summarizes the state of basic services such as
water supply, sewerage and solid waste in Bangalore as of 2015, when a
pilot survey based in ward 128 (Nagarabhavi) was completed.
Water supply
Based on a pilot study in one ward of the city by Sridhar, Manasi and
Smitha (2015), nearly all the households had piped water supply and toilet
facility on their premises (which was applicable to the slum households
that we surveyed as well). With respect to water, more than 95% (85% in
the case of slum households) of respondents reported having a metered
connection. On average, the consumption of water was 321.5 liters daily
per household, which, assuming a size of 3.88 (mean for the sample), turns
out to be 82.87 LPCD (liters per capita daily), with a mean duration of 5.9
hours. While this is for 2014, Paul et al. (2012) reported a consumption of
124 LPCD for the Bangalore Metropolitan Area as a 3-year average (for
the period 2006–7 to 2008–9). If so, this implies that the availability of
water has declined for the five years since 2009.

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
212
Table 1 Bangalore’s Economic Base, 2001 and 2011
2001 2011
Dimension Total Percent Total Percent
Total workers (Population) 1,624,984
(4,313,248)
NA 3,716,788
(8,495,492)
NA
Work force participation % of total population 37.7 % of total population 43.8
Total main workers 1,536,430 NA 3,386,364
Marginal workers 90,954 NA 330,424
% of main workers % of total workers 91.1 % of total workers 91.1
% of marginal workers
(out of total workers)
% of total workers 8.9 % of total workers 8.9
Sectoral composition
% in industry % of total workers 26 NA*
% in services % of total workers 63 NA*
% other workers
(agriculture, construction and mining
activity)
% of total workers 11 NA*
Source: Census of India Primary Census Abstract
*At the time of completing this writing, the Census of India had not released the final sectoral distribution of workers for 2011.

Kala S. Sridhar
213
The water consumption, based on the pilot study, was lower for the
slum households, at an average LPCD of 59 (and a mean duration of
nearly 10 hours, this duration being higher than that of other households
for which it was only 5.9 hours as explained above). Given the slum
household LPCD consumption is lower than that of all households with a
longer duration, if these data are representative, it must be the case then
that the pressure of the water supply to the slums is very low.
The per capita consumption of water (by slum or other households), if
representative, is quite low, even when compared with the obsolete norm
of 135 LPCD recommended by the National Commission on Urbanization
and endorsed by the Ministry of Urban Development’s service level
benchmarks (2010). This is especially low in light of the observation made
by 67% of households that they used washing machines, known to be
differential in their usage of water. If the differential water needs of
different models of washing machines were to be taken into account, the
norms themselves would have to be different.1 No doubt, 6% of the ward’s
households supplemented their unsatisfied water needs with other sources.
Due to the uncertainty of the water supply, 90% of households used an
overhead tank, sump or other storage mechanism to stock water, the
average capacity of such a tank being nearly 2,000 liters, but there was
also a lot of variation, with a minimum of 100 liters to a maximum of
10,000 liters of storage capacity. For the slum households, the mean
storage capacity was lower, as one would expect, at 893 liters.
While 96% of respondents were satisfied with the water quality, nearly
90% of respondents reported treating their water before using it for
drinking and consumption (70% of slum households reported treating their
water prior to consumption), with a majority (90%) using Aquaguard,
ZeroB or other filters. The average expenditure per month on water supply
was quite low, being Rs. 102.50, with a maximum of Rs.600. In fact, 84%
of the respondents rated the water rate as being satisfactory. Sridhar and
Mathur’s (2011) estimate of the marginal costs of providing water supply
in India’s cities, using the average cost of water production today as the
basis of the pricing for water, underestimates the cost of water production
in the future, since a city would typically access the cheapest sources of
water supply first, following Williamson (1988). Their results indicated
1 For instance, a study done by Sridhar and Mathur (2007) for the Andaman and
Nicobar administration reported water consumption desired by the households in
Port Blair was 130 LPCD, whereas their actual consumption was only 90 LPCD,
leaving a gap of 40 LPCD.

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
214
that Bangalore’s marginal cost estimate is about Rs.2.43 per KL of water
provided, and they concluded that closing the doors of cities to migration
was not the solution in a democracy such as India; the solution is merely
one of fixing the pricing of services such as water supply.
For the slum households, the mean monthly expenditure on water
supply was higher than it was for all households, being Rs.191. This could
be due to the fact that slum households are vulnerable given their low
consumption of water, and it is possible that they resort to more expensive
sources of water such as private water tankers, which tend to exploit them.
In fact, this is what the World Bank’s World Development Report (2004)
argues, highlighting that the privatization of basic public services such as
water supply increases the cost of them for the poor, hence service
providers have to be made accountable to the policy maker.
Sewerage and solid waste
For all respondents (including slum households) except one in the
sample used for the pilot study by Sridhar, Manasi and Smitha (2015), a
sewerage and drainage facility was available. Consistent with this finding
from the pilot study, Paul et al. (2012) reported that 52% of the entire
metropolitan area (post-BBMP creation) was covered by a sewerage
connection (which was a 3-year (2006–2009) average). In the 2015 pilot
study based on one ward, nearly all respondents reported that the systems
had been installed since 1970 onwards. For those that had open drains,
only about 60% (of both all and slum households) reported that their
drains were being regularly maintained. More than 60% of those who
reported regular maintenance mentioned the frequency as being bi-weekly
(this was 55% in the case of slum respondents). More than 90% of
respondents (all of the slum households) had flush latrines. While a small
percentage (2%) reported using a public toilet, one respondent reported
defecating in the open. It is interesting to note the observation made by
Paul et al. (2012) that while there were 331 private vehicles per kilometer
of road length in Bangalore, there was not even a single toilet per slum.
The average expenditure on sewerage and drainage was much higher than
on water, being Rs.1,610 (Rs.1,333 on average in the case of slum
households), and that on toilets was Rs.307.
Figure 1, put together from various sources, summarizes the coverage
of households with a sewerage network in various cities across the
country. Figure 1 shows that the coverage with sewerage is the best in
Chennai, where nearly the entire city’s households are covered, followed
by Surat. Chennai’s performance could be due to the fact that it was an

Kala S. Sridhar
215
integrated city corporation whose boundaries remained steady over a long
period of time, at least until 2010, to which these data extend.2
Figure 1: Household Coverage with Sewerage, Selected Indian Cities
Sources: Paul et al. (2012); Sridhar and Kashyap (2014); Sridhar, Borole and
Bhaumik (2014)
Regarding solid waste, more than 95% of the respondents (all in the
case of slum respondents) from the 2015 pilot study reported that the local
authority collected the waste. One-fifth of our respondents mentioned
door-to-door collection. Nearly all of the respondents (save one)
mentioned a visit by a sanitary worker for the purpose of collecting the
waste daily. On average, the monthly expenditure on solid waste was a
meager Rs.25 (which was even less, Rs.14, in the case of slum
respondents).
As with the sewerage, we compared Bangalore with the other large
cities of the country (Figure 2, which has been put together from various
sources) with respect to solid waste management. In the case of merged
2 However, it should be noted that in September 2011, after the census count, a
merging occurred of surrounding areas into the Chennai corporation limits.
52% 42%
54%
83%
99%
40.16%
25%
87.60%
NA
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
2006-
07 to
2008-
09
2007-
08 to
2009-
10
2008-
09 to
2010-
11
BangaloreMumbai Delhi KolkataChennaiBhopal Patna Surat Vizag
% of HHs having sewerage connections

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
216
Bangalore, again, only 40% of the metropolitan area’s households are
covered with door-to-door waste collection whereas 100% of Chennai’s
households are covered by the service. The same explanation that applied
in the case of sewerage could be valid here as well, which is that
Chennai’s boundaries have remained stable over a long period of time
whereas, due to the creation of the BBMP, the coverage is lower in
Bangalore.
Figure 2 Household Coverage with Solid Waste Management, Selected
Indian Cities
Sources: Paul et al. (2012); Sridhar and Kashyap (2014); Sridhar, Borole and
Bhaumik (2014)
Summarizing the delivery of basic services, Bangalore’s water supply
availability has declined over a 5-year period since 2009, after it became
the BBMP, even taking the case of a single ward. With respect to solid
waste management, the coverage in 2012 (as per Paul et al. (2012)), was
52% whereas it had increased to 95% in the 2015 pilot study. This could
be an artifact of the sample ward in the metropolitan area. In the case of
sewerage, the 2015 pilot study based on one ward shows that there was
nearly 100% coverage of households, whereas the coverage with sewerage
40%
NA NA
61%
100%
17.25%
0% NA
70%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
2006-
07 to
2008-
09
2007-
08 to
2009-
10
2008-
09 to
2010-
11
BangaloreMumbai Delhi KolkataChennaiBhopal Patna Surat Vizag
SWM: % HHs covered by door to door collection

Kala S. Sridhar
217
in 2009 was only 52% (as per Paul et al. (2012)). This could also be an
artifact of the sample ward chosen in the 2015 study.
Bangalore’s performance leaves much to be desired if these data are
true and representative of the metropolitan area. While the data on basic
services we have reviewed for Bangalore begin from 2006, the merging of
the CMCs and TMC could well explain Bangalore’s performance, since it
likely added to the expenditure burden of the local body while adding little
in the form of revenue capacities.
What are the reasons for Bangalore’s poor performance on the public
service delivery front? This could be inadequate revenue or administrative
capacities in relation to its expenditure needs. As Sridhar and Mathur
(2009) point out, the elevation of Bangalore at 930 meters above mean sea
level increases the cost of pumping up water supply significantly. While
that is an exogenous factor, to verify administrative capacities, we
examine the population per ward across cities of the country.
Figure 3 summarizes the population per ward for four metropolitan
areas of the country based on Census 2011. Mumbai is highest, with nearly
500,000 people per ward; the lowest is in Chennai, at 30,000 persons per
ward. This is possibly one reason why Sridhar and Kashyap (2014) report
that Chennai is relatively better among the four cities (also Mumbai,
Kolkata and Delhi) they studied in terms of delivery of public services
such as water supply and solid waste management, although no causality is
established by that study.
Now that we’ve reviewed the state of basic services in the “merged”
metropolitan area of Bangalore, we take stock of the theoretical case for
sub-municipal decentralization, followed by the lessons Delhi’s
trifurcation hold for BBMP’s restructuring.
Theoretical case
When there are a large number of local governments in a metropolitan
area, the assumption is that due to competition in the provision of public
services, the delivery of public services such as water, sewerage, sanitation
and solid waste will be better than when a single government in the
metropolitan area delivers these services. This is not just a theoretical
possibility; it has empirical validity even for Indian metropolitan areas.
For instance, the Kolkata Metropolitan area consists of 40 other urban
local governments in addition to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Prior
to its merger, the Chennai urban agglomerations (UA) sprawled over 36
urban local bodies (ULBs) and 17 census towns.

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
218
Figure 3 Population per Ward, Selected Cities
Sources: Sridhar and Kashyap (2014); Census of India (2011) and author’s
computations
The advantage of an increased number of local governments in a
metropolitan area is the competition that it introduces with respect to the
delivery of basic services such as maintenance of roads, solid waste
management and sanitation, and public safety indicated by street lighting.
As Hacek and Grabner (2013) point out, intra-municipal division is an
organizational provision that enables decision-making processes to be
brought closer to the public, to adapt to the specific needs, preferences and
priorities of a territory, and to decentralize tasks that are otherwise within
a broader jurisdiction.
Sridhar (2007), taking the case of all Indian UAs, found that the
number of local governments had a positive impact on the suburbanization
of employment, which indicated that the number of governmental
jurisdictions in the UAs might be more than that which promotes
competition in the provision of public services. Alternatively, this could
imply that in a UA with a large number of local governments (likely found
in metropolitan areas), only the one in the central city (usually the local
government of the primary town) is most efficient in the provision of
public services. For instance, in the case of the Chennai UA, this could
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
Delhi Mumbai Chennai Bangalore
pop/ward
pop/ward

Kala S. Sridhar
219
refer to the Chennai Municipal Corporation; in the case of Kolkata UA,
this could be the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Hence, employment
tends to be concentrated in the primary central city.
On the other hand, theoretically, there is a case for a unified
government as well. As has been argued, fragmented governments stifle
their own ability to solve collective challenges. And it costs them
economically, too. The OECD, in their (2015) book Metropolitan Century,
found across all its member countries that when the number of
municipalities per 100,000 residents within a single metropolitan area was
doubled, regional labor productivity declined by 5 to 6%.3 The reason is
that, as the study points out, local economies and commuting patterns don't
end at municipal borders; when services and public resources are divided
that way, those economies are undermined. This is not to say that cities
have to annex all surrounding local bodies and be one mammoth local
government. The OECD found that regions that have coordinating bodies,
like metropolitan planning organizations, or the regional council of
governments around Washington, DC, seemed to be doing better at some
of the things we would expect cooperating governments to achieve.
Metropolitan areas with such governing bodies had less sprawl and greater
population growth. Metropolitan areas without them, meanwhile, had on
average higher levels of pollution and other problems with public service
delivery.
Trifurcation of Delhi: Problems and lessons for Bangalore
One can see from figure 3 on population per ward in selected cities that
Delhi has the highest population per ward, after Mumbai, as per Census
2011. After functioning as a unified civic agency for over 50 years, the
Municipal Corporation of Delhi, consisting of 1,397.3 sq. km of land area
and 15 million population, was trifurcated into North, South and East
Delhi Municipal Corporations in April 2012 (see Table 2) to ensure better
governance, improved delivery of basic services, and the greater
participation of citizens.
3 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/18/what-happens-
when-a-metropolitan-area-has-way-too-many-governments/.

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
220
Table 2 Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Post-Trifurcation
Number
of wards
Area
(sq.
kms)
Population
(in 100,000s)
Population
per ward
South Delhi
Municipal
Corporation
104 656.91 56
53,846
North Delhi
Municipal
Corporation
110 640 55
50,000
East Delhi
Municipal
Corporation
64 105.98 40
62,500
Source: Times of India report,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/BBMP-trifurcation-Delhi-failed-
Can-we-pull-it-off/articleshow/47008163.cms, and author’s computations
What are the lessons Bangalore can draw from the trifurcation of Delhi
to emulate or avoid?
A year after its trifurcation, in 2013, newspaper reports showed that the
expected results had not been accomplished in Delhi.4 As a report by the
DNA pointed out, there was a severe shortage of staff faced by all the
three bodies—North, South and East Delhi corporations. For instance,
there was only one chief town planner for all three bodies. As this report
from the DNA pointed out, the trifurcation of the MCD also resulted in
substantial additional expenditure for an already cash-starved local body
with the creation of standing committees and other ad hoc committees.
This media report highlighted the fact that post-trifurcation, the condition
of civic amenities in the capital region had not improved. Further, several
projects failed to see the light of the day.
A different report from the Times of India three years after the
trifurcation highlighted the fact that two of the three corporations (North
and East) were on the verge of bankruptcy and had not paid salaries since
January 2015.5 The corporations moved a proposal in March 2015 to
4 http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report-trifurcation-some-lessons-from-delhi-
1893703.
5 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/BBMP-trifurcation-Delhi-
failed-Can-we-pull-it-off/articleshow/47008163.cms.

Kala S. Sridhar
221
merge and go back to the single municipal corporation system. While the
quality of road coverage and other civic infrastructure in Delhi is much
better than that of other cities in the country, the ToI report speculated on
why the trifurcation did not work as well as it was expected in Delhi.
First, there was no explicit criterion on which the trifurcation was
based, and even after the trifurcation, there was no planning for the
allocation of civic functions, and citizens continued to be in touch with the
same officials as before.
Second and most importantly, as the ToI report pointed out, the
segregation of citizens' records and files pertaining to works undertaken
for the city before the trifurcation was one of the biggest challenges in
Delhi. The central server for e-governance (the online payment of citizen
services) had to be decentralized but this exercise was futile since it
resulted in the server having an inadequate capacity of the server, and it
eventually crashed.
Third, in Delhi, as we would expect, the assets of each of the divided
corporations—Delhi South, Delhi North and Delhi East—varied. The
result post-trifurcation was that South Delhi got all A category properties,
earning more revenue and getting a surplus budget. As a natural corollary,
North and East corporations, with an inadequate revenue base, struggled to
mobilize revenue and ended up borrowing from the state government. The
other aspect of an uneven distribution of resources was that while the
equipment for undertaking repairs had to be split across North and South
Delhi corporations, East Delhi got one for itself. As the ToI report points
out, the East Delhi corporation was not even in a position to appoint
employees such as gardeners due to the confusion. Further, for a long time
after the trifurcation, there was just one commissioner for two
corporations.
Hence, based on the above experience from Delhi, the circumstances
could well repeat in the case of Bengaluru, and the implications are not
favorable for the BBMP’s trifurcation. The Delhi story is a case of a
fragmented government that has the potential to make entire metropolitan
areas inefficient.
But the experience from Delhi should not discourage the restructuring
of the BBMP since, as is clear, acceptable basic services are beyond the
reach of its citizens. It is possible that the division may work in Bengaluru,
based on standard principles of decentralization, valid even in the case of
new states/regions, and at level of the district, which is similar to the case
of new ULBs that is being discussed here. Typically, chronic intra-state
disparities lead to the demand for new states – as in the case of
Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000, and more recently,

Bangalore’s Restructuring: For Better or For Worse
222
Telangana. Let us take the case of India’s newest state of Telangana,
which was created out of Andhra Pradesh on June 2, 2014. As per the
official documents of the Government of Telangana, the Gross State
Domestic Product (GSDP) growth of the new state during 2014–15 was
estimated at 5.3%, as compared to the growth rate of 4.8% recorded in
2013–14 (in constant prices of 2004–05). At an administrative level lower
than that of the state, the district as well, newer districts have been carved,
as the case of many districts demonstrates. For instance, within Karnataka,
Chikkaballapur was carved out of Kolar in 2007; Yadgir was created out
of Gulbarga in 2010. However there are no reliable data within India for
assessing economic performance at the sub-national level.
Similarly, even at the metropolitan level, we may note that for the sake
of administrative convenience, Mumbai consists of the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai, and the Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation; further, in the aftermath of the creation of Telangana, there
has been much debate about the splitting of Greater Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation into three—Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Cyberabad—
municipal corporations.
In some countries such as China, sub-municipal units have been
successful in their delivery as they are able to take initiatives without
getting the formal approval of the higher levels of government. There is
intense competition for foreign firm investment among these units, which
Sasuga (2004) documents.
Summary, caveats and conclusions
Hence, based on the theoretical case, and empirical evidence with
respect to the creation of smaller administrative units, we surmise that the
restructuring of the BBMP may bode well for public service delivery and
better overall governance. Of course, restructuring is not a substitute for
better governance.
There are several caveats of the research documented in this paper that
should be mentioned upfront.
First, the data for the 2015 study compared with that from the 2006–09
are only for a single ward, not for the entire metropolitan area of
Bangalore. Hence it cannot be stated for sure that public services such as
water supply have deteriorated. However, anecdotally, one finds that
public services in Bangalore have worsened over time. For instance, if we
were to take travel time, Savage and Dasgupta (2006) report that the one-
way travel time in Bangalore increased from about 24 minutes in 1991 to
roughly 40 minutes in 2001. Sridhar, Manasi and Smitha (2015) found that

Kala S. Sridhar
223
the one-way travel time for commuting to social occasions such as
weddings had further increased to 59 minutes.
Next, the associated evidence for success (or failure) with the
trifurcation of Delhi is largely anecdotal, not systematic or methodical.
There is no quantitative evidence available to support or negate that
restructuring.
It is not clear whether the proposed restructuring will be made logically
based on revenue capacities or expenditure responsibilities. Presumably,
the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will continue
to supply water and sewerage, and the Bangalore Electricity Supply
Company (BESCOM) electricity, to the entire metropolitan area. But it is
not yet clear how the other basic services—solid waste, sanitation,
municipal roads and street lights—will be divided across the smaller
municipal bodies. With respect to these services, the revenue capacities of
properties located in the areas (given property tax is the primary source of
revenue), and the expenditure responsibilities that will be imposed as a
result of these services need to be mapped clearly. Hence, based on
whether or not plans will be made for a trifurcation of the BBMP, only
time will tell whether the restructured governance will be better.
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CONTRIBUTORS
K. Asha is presently Scientist ‘C’ at the Regional Occupational Health
Centre (South), Indian Council of Medical Research. She works in the area
of research related to occupational and environmental health, with a focus
on the unorganized sector, women’s health, stress and the psycho-social
aspects of occupational health. She has a PhD in Mental Health Care
System–Role of Voluntary Organisations from the Osmania University
with an ICSSR fellowship from ISEC. Other research interests have been
the reclamation of river water, child labor, quality of life of the elderly,
sexual and reproductive health, emotional abuse in the family, rape
victimization, community-based rehabilitation of the mentally ill,
agriculture marketing, policy research and voluntary action. She was a
lecturer on lien from ICMR for two years in the Dept. of Sociology,
University of Pune.
M Devendra Babu, PhD in Economics from Bangalore University, is
currently associate professor and head, the Centre for Decentralisation and
Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC),
Bangalore. His research areas include rural decentralisation, rural
development and public economics. In his long service in the Institute, he
carried out quite a large number of research projects for the Karnataka
government and for international agencies. He has a number of
publications to his credit, both in national and international journals, and
has co-authored two books and one monograph.
R. R. Biradar has been a faculty member in Economics at the Karnataka
University since 1999. Previously he worked at the Centre for Multi-
disciplinary Development Research (CMDR), Dharwad and the Institute
for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru. He has carried out
several research projects. He has published several research articles in
reputed journals, edited books and government reports. He received the
Sanjay Thakur Young Labour Economist Award conferred by the Indian
Society of Labour Economics in 2005. He visited China under the Indo-
China Cultural Exchange Programme jointly sponsored by ICSSR New
Delhi and CASS, China in 2007. He recently prepared the District Human
Development Reports of two districts in Karnataka.

Contributors
226
Natasha Kalra is a doctoral scholar at the Institute for Social and
Economic Change, Bangalore, in the Centre for Decentralisation and
Development. Her research interests include urban development and
governance issues, solid waste management and environmental
conservation. She is an MBA graduate and has over five years of teaching
experience in various business schools. Her academic work includes
papers on spirituality, management and behavioral studies.
C. M. Lakshmana is an associate professor of the Population Research
Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru,
Karnataka. He obtained his doctoral degree from Benagaluru University.
His current areas of research interest are the linkage of population,
development and environment, urban issues, population, health and
gender. He has published a few books and more than 30 research papers in
peer review journals both at the international and national level. He has
presented more than 40 papers on various issues of population, health,
development and environment in the international as well as in national
conferences. His major work was presented in international conferences
such as the Population Association of America (PAA), European
Association of Population Studies (EAPS), and Asian Population
Association (APA).
R. Manjula is a research officer at the Centre for Decentralisation and
Development at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengalure.
Her areas of interest are decentralization, social security, public works
programs and health insurance. She was academic visitor at the
Department of Economics, University of Oxford, UK. She has several
books and papers (published in national and international journals, and as
book chapters) to her credit. Her paper on “Collusion, Co-option and
Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka, India”
(published with Salim Lakha and D. Rajasekhar in Oxford Development
Studies) was awarded the Sanjaya Lall prize for the best article in 2015.
N.L. Narasimha Reddy is a development anthropologist. He is currently
working in the Planning Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh as a
consultant. He worked for over three decades in the continuum of
development research, grassroots innovation and policy aspects through
his association with the design and implementation of pilots on needs-
based tribal development, large-scale bi-lateral projects, and monitoring,
evaluation and learning initiatives. Based on his policy research, he
authored books and articles on NGO and government interface, watershed

Urban Governance in Karnataka and Bengaluru
227
development, water and sanitation, rural livelihoods and governance. He
has influenced the grassroots development toward a more inclusive and
people-centric path.
D. Rajasekhar is professor of economics at the Centre for Decentralisation
and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengalure,
India. In a career spanning over two-and-a-half decades, he has undertaken a
number of research studies on decentralization, social protection, micro-
finance, local organizations and agrarian transformation. He has published
19 books/monographs, and over 60 papers as journal articles and book
chapters. He has served in policy bodies constituted by the central
government and Karnataka government. He is currently undertaking
research studies on decentralisation and development, and models of social
security delivery for unorganized workers.
D.R. Ravi, who completed a PhD in Environmental Economics from the
Institute for Social & Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore and an M.
Tech in Environmental Engineering, is a seasoned professional with over
23 years of experience involving monitoring, liaison, effluent treatment
plant operations, environmental management, maintenance management,
urban governance and statutory applications, with extensive and diverse
experience in private and government agencies. Presently working as
Environmental Officer at the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
(KSPCB), Bangalore; expertise in environmental policy, environmental
legislation, environmental economics, urban water supply and sanitation
and environmental impact assessment.
Satyanarayana Sangita is a former professor and head of the Centre for
Political Institutions, Governance and Development, ISEC, Bangalore; and
is currently working as visiting faculty at the National Law School of India
University, Bangalore. He obtained an M.Phil. and a PhD from the
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has 36 years of research and
teaching experience, has published 2 books and 77 papers, completed 23
research projects and guided 10 Ph.D. students. He has worked on issues
related to law, governance, ethics and development politics; has been a
consultant for state and central governments (Second Administrative
Reforms Commission, Commission on Centre-State Relations, Karnataka
Administrative Reforms Commission, Fifth Pay Commission, Review
Commission on Higher Education); and a visiting professor of various
universities.

Contributors
228
N. Sivanna has a PhD in Development Studies, and is currently working
as adjunct professor and head, Centre for Political Institutions,
Governance and Development at the Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru. He is a development practitioner, researcher,
consultant and trainer with special interest in decentralization and its
process. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has the working
experience of conducting independent research in the areas of political and
administrative decentralization, guiding PhD students (ten students),
handling projects sponsored by the World Bank, Ford Foundation, IDPAD
and governments of India and Karnataka. He has authored three books,
seven monographs, nine working papers and more than 40 research
articles published in various research journals.
Dr. K.C. Smitha, research scientist, Centre for Research in Urban Affairs
(CRUA), Bengaluru. Her research focuses mainly on urban governance,
service delivery, urban poverty, urban informality, urban political
economy and urban political ecology. She has a PhD in Political Science
& Public Administration from the Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bangalore through the University of Mysore. Over the years she
has been actively engaged in various urban research projects like the
structure of the Indian Metropolis, rural-urban migration, urban
deprivation, urban infrastructure, urban poverty and urban land
governance from interdisciplinary perspective. She has published several
book chapters and many articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has co-
edited a volume titled Entrepreneurial Urbanism in India: The Politics of
Spatial Restructuring and Local Contestation, Springer, India, 2016
(forthcoming).
G. Sreedhar has over 35 years of experience in rural development. He
worked in the Council for Social Development, New Delhi/ Hyderabad for
five years before taking to a career of teaching and research at Sri
Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapuram, Andhra Pradesh. Besides
offering courses for post-graduate students in rural development and social
work and guiding doctoral students, he conducted independent, sponsored
and funded research for 25 years. He has published refereed articles and
books, besides completing several research projects. His areas of interest
are natural resource management, rural poverty reduction and women
empowerment.

Urban Governance in Karnataka and Bengaluru
229
Kala Seetharam Sridhar is a professor in the Centre for Research in
Urban Affairs, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. She
has written several books, journal articles and chapters in books on urban
issues. She has been a member of expert committees of the government of
Karnataka on urban development, was India’s expert for the ADB project
on green urbanization in Asia, and a referee for several journals, Oxford
University Press, Springer and Sage. She was senior adviser to GDN’s
global project on urbanization. She is empaneled to visit Indian Council of
Cultural Relations professor of Indian studies in foreign universities.
Lavanya Suresh is assistant professor at the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad. Her areas of research interest are political
ecology, gandhian studies and decentralization. She has a Master’s degree
in both Public Administration and Sociology, and a PG Diploma in
Environmental Law from the National Law School, Bangalore. She
pursued a PhD in Political Science at the Institute for Social and Economic
Change (ISEC), Bangalore as a UGC Senior Research Fellow. She had
earlier worked as a research associate and taught online for a few years.
She has been involved in the curriculum development of the Masters in
Natural Resources at TISS, where she teaches and guides students at both
the bachelors and masters level. She has published research papers in
reputed journals.
P. Thippaiah is currently Indian Council of Social Science Research
Senior Fellow, associated with the Institute for Social and Economic
Change (ISEC), Bengaluru. Prior to this he served ISEC in several
capacities for more than 35 years and worked as deputy director in the
Planning Department, Government of Karnataka, on deputation. He retired
from ISEC as associate professor at the Agricultural Development and
Rural Transformation Centre (ADRTC) of ISEC. He is the author of the
ISEC monograph, Vanishing Lakes: A Study of Bangalore City (ISEC
Monograph Series-17). He was one of the co-authors of the book, Crops
and Cultivation: State of the Indian Farmer: A Millennium Study,
published by the Government of India, in association with Academic
Foundation.
Anil Kumar Vaddiraju is associate professor in Political Science at the
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, India. He studied at
the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kakatiya
University, India. His books include Sisyphean Efforts? State Policy and
Child Labour in Karnataka; Peasantry Capitalism and State: The Political

Contributors
230
Economy of Agrarian Societies; Decentralized Governance and Planning
in Karnataka; and Land, Labour and Caste: Agrarian Change and
Grassroots Politics in Andhra Pradesh among others. He has also
published in Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy( SAGE),
Studies in Indian Politics (SAGE), Journal of Asian Public Policy
(Routledge), Economic and Political Weekly (Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai,
India) and Indian Journal of Federalism among others.