Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is a massive city modernisation scheme launched by the Government of India under Ministry of Urban Development. It envisages a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years. It is named after Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. The scheme was officially inaugurated by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh on 3 December 2005 as a programme meant to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the cities.
JNNURM is a huge mission which relates primarily to development in the context of urban conglomerates focusing to the Indian cities. JNNURM aims at creating ‘economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive Cities’ by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP)[1] and wide-ranging urban sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.
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The JNNURM project is a one of a kind project dedicated to the redevelopment of India’s cities. This is quite a unique step considering the planning ideologies of India. Till date India was primarily focused on the development of rural areas. India’s comprehensive network of underdeveloped villages required such development.
As per the 2011 census, India is home to about 1.25 billion people, making it one of the most densely populated areas of the world after China. However it was also estimated that 70% of India’s population lies in rural areas. However urban India is fast growing but sometimes in unplanned ways. India is benchmarked to be the next superpower. India even held a steady growth rate during the recent recession. However, unplanned growth has taken a toll on urban India, especially due to problems in the agricultural sector in rural India. Hence, the rising population due to migration from rural to urban cities as well as other factors have also contributed to the increase of slums in the cities and degradation of cities due to lack of planning has also taken place.
Inadequate infrastructure, rising population rates as well as rising urban poverty are also major causes to the degradation of the cities. Hence the Government of India has taken up the initiative to redevelop the urban towns and cities by developing infrastructure, municipal reforms and providing aid to the State Governments and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), in order to develop urban India. As per the information in the JNNURM mission brochure as launched by the Authorities, cities and towns account for 30 percent of the country’s population, contributing 50 – 55 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The degrading conditions of the cities have forced the Government to rethink their strategies in order to adhere to the socio-economic objectives of the country.
JNNURM essentially functions incorporating primarily two sub-missions into its program. The two sub-missions are:
In addition to this, it also has two further components:[3]
The duration of the Mission is of a period of six years beginning from December 2005-06 up to end 2011. During this period, the Mission will seek to ensure sustainable development of select cities. An evaluation of the experience of implementation of the Mission would be undertaken before the commencement of Eleventh Five Year Plan and if necessary, the programme calibrated suitably.
The funds are channeled through state-level agencies, where grants from the Central and State governments are pooled and passed on as grants or soft loans to cities provided that they have prepared city development strategies and that the investments identified fit within these strategies. The mission emphasizes transparency and accountability. It supports public-private partnerships and cost recovery to make service providers financially self-sustaining.[2] The share of grant funding by the central government can vary from 35% in the largest cities to up to 90% in cities located in the Northeast. Most cities receive grants covering 50% or 80% of costs depending on the size of the city.[7] Capacity building is also included in the mission to assist urban local bodies to prepare strategies and projects.
Currently, ten projects are being covered by JNNURM funds pertaining to road network, storm water drains, bus rapid transit system, water supply, solid waste management, sewage treatment, river and lake improvement, slum improvement and rehabilitation, all fall under its scope.
As per the JNNURM guidelines, only select cities/Urban Agglomerations (UAs) as per 2001 Census have been chosen for the implementation of the programme as per norms/criteria mentioned below:[6]
| A | Cities/UAs with 4 million plus population as per 2001 census | 07 |
| B | Cities/UAs with 1 million plus but less than 4 million population as per 2001 Census | 28 |
| C | Selected Cities/UAs (State Capitals and other cities/UAs of religious/historic and touristic importance) | 28 |
A total of 65 cities are eligible (up from 63 initially), provided that they have elected bodies in position. 13 specific reforms are mandatory for states and municipalities before funds can be accessed. At the municipal level, they include the adoption of modern accounting systems, improvements in property tax collection, better cost recovery by utilities and targeting of investments to the poor. At the state level, they include the implementation of decentralisation measures, as well as the enactment of laws for community participation and public disclosure.[2] JNNURM is currently being implemented in 63 cites.
State level reforms. As of 2009 Gujarat led the tally for the state level reforms. Except for rent control, the state has achieved all the other reforms. Other states, which have achieved the maximum number of reforms, are Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. Public disclosure and community participation laws have progressed slowly, with only five states managing to enact them as part of the reform agenda.[8]
City level reforms. As of 2009, Visakhapatnam had the distinction of having accomplished all the reforms pertaining to water supply and sanitation. Other proactive cities to have made significant progress in implementation of reforms are Vijayawada, Chennai, Coimbatore, Greater Mumbai, Hyderabad and Madurai.[8]
Sanctioning of projects. As of 2009, 415 projects requiring an investment of Rs. 440 billion (about US$10bn), equivalent to half the total envisaged program amount, have been approved. Among the states, Maharashtra has been sanctioned the maximum number of projects under the mission. Among cities, Bangalore has had the highest number of approved projects.[8]
| Category of Cities/Towns/UAs | Grant | ULB or Para-Statal Share/Loan from |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Center | State | ||
| Cities/UAs with 4 million plus
population as per 2001 census |
35 % | 15 % | 50% |
| Cities/UAs with million plus but less
than 4 million population as per 2001 census |
50 % | 20 % | 30% |
| Cities/towns/UAs in North Eastern | 90 % | 10 % | - |
| Cities/UAs other than those mentioned above |
80 % | 10 % | 10 % |
| For setting up de-salination plants within 20 Kms. From sea-shore and other urban areas predominantly |
80 % | 10 % | 10 % |
The following table provides for a list of the cities/urban agglomerations (UAs) identified to receive the benefits of JNNURM. They also include data pertaining to which state they belong to and the population in these cities given in lakhs as per the census of 2001.[9]
Note: National Steering Group may choose to add or delete cities/UAs/towns under Category-C (other than State Capitals) based on the suggestions received from State Governments. However, the number of cities under the Mission shall remain around 60.