Both manifestos have made laudable assertions regarding city problems, however, the issues of the financial domain of ULBS and certain pending urban reforms are yet to be addressed.
An election manifesto is a document of a political party placed before the electorate before an election. The manifesto outlines a roadmap of the party’s goals, objectives, policies and programmes. It serves as a reference document both for the party as well as the electorate. The voters could compare the manifesto content of different political parties and form their opinions regarding parties and their action plans if they come to power. The voters may vote for the party that best meets their political philosophy and aspirations. Therefore, properly studying the manifestos is critically important for voters to make well-informed decisions. However, assurances in election manifestos are not legally enforceable in India, and the courts have left this to the people to decide.
This article examines the election manifestos of India’s major national political parties (the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress) from the limited point of their assertions regarding cities. The idea is to get a picture of what lies in store for cities if either of these parties comes to power. This article looks at the core averments regarding cities in manifestos where the parties talk exclusively about city issues.
This article examines the election manifestos of India’s major national political parties (the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress) from the limited point of their assertions regarding cities. The idea is to get a picture of what lies in store for cities if either of these parties comes to power.
The Congress Election Manifesto 2024, titled ‘Nyay Patra’ (NP), clubs rural and urban development under one head. Of the 10 points mentioned under this head, six deal exclusively with cities and two display shared objectives for both rural and urban areas.
The NP promises an urban employment programme that guarantees work for the urban poor in the reconstruction and renewal of urban infrastructure. Secondly, it will “regulate the mindless expansion of existing cities and will support the construction of a twin city near an existing city,” but separated by a clear no-construction zone between the old and new cities. Further, to improve urban governance, the mayor/chairperson will be directly elected for a fixed five-year term along with a Council with executive, financial, and administrative powers conferred upon them.
Furthermore, transport facilities and “connectivity between rural areas and the nearby town/city” will be augmented so that people may live in rural areas and work in urban areas. The party will implement a comprehensive plan for safe multi-modal urban public transport in towns and cities. The NP highlights the menace of stray dogs in cities and assures that it will find humanitarian solutions. Lastly, the party pledges that it will prevail upon the states to implement the 74th Amendment to the Constitution in letter and spirit.
The BJP election manifesto, titled ‘Sankalp Patra’ (SP), comprises a section called ‘Ease of Living in Cities’. The party’s vision is to provide world-class city infrastructure and promote sustainable living. There are 13 points listed in the section. The first talks about promoting affordable housing by strengthening the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) and facilitating home ownership through cost reduction and simplified approvals. Secondly, it will encourage the creation of “new satellite townships near metro cities across India” through a combination of reforms and policy initiatives. The party will promote mixed-use and transit-oriented development and expand the piped gas connections to all major cities.
BJP’s SP wants to create “unified metropolitan transport systems” that reduce commute time and “implement AI technologies for traffic management and transport efficiency”. It will also expand the fleet of e-buses and create water-secure cities that treat their wastewater. The party will begin long-term infrastructure projects with centre-state-city partnerships with a vision to revitalise urban landscapes. Dwelling on the quality-of-life aspect, the party assures that it will develop more green spaces, revive water bodies, and develop natural spaces to make cities more sustainable. The SP promises to eliminate open landfills, undertake the formation of the Digital Urban Land Records System and create big convention centres. The party intends to work with state governments and cities to encourage them to create a modern set of legislation, by-laws and urban planning processes and craft a fresh urban curriculum for teaching.
The party will begin long-term infrastructure projects with centre-state-city partnerships with a vision to revitalise urban landscapes. Dwelling on the quality-of-life aspect, the party assures that it will develop more green spaces, revive water bodies, and develop natural spaces to make cities more sustainable.
The Indian National Congress’s intended launch of an urban employment scheme would be a welcome initiative focusing on the urban poor. It appears to have taken a leaf out of the Rajasthan book where the state government launched an urban employment guarantee scheme in 2022, which afforded the urban poor 100 days of work annually.
The NP rightly highlights the mindless expansion of the existing large cities. However, constructing a twin city near an existing city by inserting a no-construction zone between them runs the dangers of very high urbanisation in the west and the south of the country and comparatively very low urbanisation in regions with low urbanisation. Surely, urbanisation needs to be spread across the country as far as possible. Additionally, given the poor ability of ULBs and parastatals to prevent unauthorised construction, the maintenance of an intervening green, no-construction zone is suspect.
The idea of empowering the ‘mayor as the chief executive’ has broad support. However, it is unclear how the central government would do this unless it can amend the Indian Constitution to make this mandatory. No such provision was made in the 74th Amendment. Rural-urban connectivity and implementing multi-modal urban public transport are well-known objectives, but they are mainly unimplemented. Surprisingly, and pleasantly so, the NP recognises the menace of street dogs, and their disappearance from the streets of cities would be a highly desirable step. Cognisant that the spirit of the 74th Amendment has not found statutory resonance in states, the NP assures that it will prevail on the states to implement it in letter and spirit. This appears difficult since the states, including the ones ruled by Congress, have paid little heed to this.
The BJP’s promise of promoting affordable housing is laudable. However, strengthening the RERA Act alone may not yield the desired results unless a whole gamut of reforms on land utilisation and rent control are undertaken by states. Encouraging satellite townships near metro cities is what the NP also states, and the same caveats mentioned above apply to SP’s objective. Expanding piped gas to all major cities is welcome, and so are unified metropolitan transport systems with AI technologies and the expansion of e-buses.
The BJP’s promise of promoting affordable housing is laudable. However, strengthening the RERA Act alone may not yield the desired results unless a whole gamut of reforms on land utilisation and rent control are undertaken by states.
Highlighting water-secure cities, wastewater treatment, infrastructure partnership between the centre, state and cities, reinvigorating cities with more open spaces and water bodies, eliminating open landfills and creating digital urban land record systems are all essential to city governance. Encouraging states to modernise their laws and processes, creating convention centres and revamping the urban governance curriculum are also well-received.
Sadly, starkly missing in both manifestos is the absence of a whole set of urban reforms that have been pending for decades and lie at the heart of the rejuvenation of cities as significant urban economies and great places to live for all urban citizens. They are also silent on the financial and functional domains of urban local bodies. Nor do the urban planning and governance reforms almost universally seconded by urban academicians and thinkers find any reference. Indeed, manifestos cannot detail all the steps. However, given their significance in getting urbanisation right, an indication about undertaking fundamental structural reforms in the manifestos would have been heartening. Without them, many other initiatives may prove counter-productive.
Ramanath Jha is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Dr. Ramanath Jha is Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. He works on urbanisation — urban sustainability, urban governance and urban planning. Dr. Jha belongs ...
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