Friday, 21 June 2013

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Need to Address Urban Poverty

Better urban governance a necessary condition for empowering the urban poor and improving their opportunities and security – Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)

New Delhi, 21st June 2013: A widespread check needs to be done on the challenges and opportunities of urban poverty in India, according to experts who gathered here as part of the National Consultation on ‘Urban Poverty: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities’ organized by Society for Participatory Research In Asia (PRIA), Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) and Forum of Informal Urban Poor Workers (FIUPW). 

The two day consultation organized to discuss the emergent trends and issues of urbanization, urban governance and urban poverty was aimed at bringing together different stakeholders who play a crucial role in the governance and management of cities as well as those who are engaged on issues of urban governance, especially urban poverty.

As per census estimates, India’s urban population has grown from 290 million in 2001 to 377 million in 2011; accounting for over 30 percent of the country’s population. According to estimates by the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure and Services, the contribution of urban areas is expected to rise to 75 percent of GDP in 2030.

Stressing on the need for better urban governance Dr Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA said, “The basic needs of the urban poor community cannot be ignored as a large percent of the population in cities belong to the lower income groups (rickshaw pullers, vendors, hawkers, daily wage labourers etc.). Ironically, these people are considered a burden on the city rather than equal citizens. Better urban governance is therefore a necessary condition for empowering the urban poor and improving their opportunities and security. Unless the implementation of these programmes is improved, it would be very difficult to bring the urban poor out of poverty. Policies addressing income and affordability, sanitation, health, etc. should be well structured and monitored”.  
  
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Manoj Rai, Director PRIA said, “There is a widespread perception that poverty in India is concentrated in the rural areas, however the nature and extent of urban poverty requires urgent attention. Due to the significant increase in urban migration over the last decade, there has been a struggle to meet the most basic requirements of life which further leads to more poverty”.

Though urbanization brings with itself great economic prosperity and growth, better livelihood, education and health facilities, the challenge however lies in ensuring that these are availed and accessed indiscriminately by all the citizens. Institutions of urban governance are constantly battling with this challenge as rising urbanization is also leading to increasing ‘urbanization of the poverty’.

Urban poverty poses the problems of housing and shelter, water, sanitation, health, education, social security, and livelihoods along with special needs of vulnerable groups like women, children and aged people. Over-crowded slums, without access to these basic civic amenities and social welfare nets, and with constant uncertainty associated with evictions and loss of livelihoods imposes considerable drags on the productivity and opportunities available to its residents besides constraining economic growth. It also fuels social evils like drugs and crime.

In light of the above, the Society for Participatory Research In Asia (PRIA) and Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) had initiated the ‘Strengthening Civil Society Voices on Urban Poverty in India’ project with the support of the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation in the year 2011. The project spread in 34 cities across 11 states in India aimed at facilitating and synthesizing engagements at the city, state and national levels, bringing together the broad spectrum of civil society actors - organizations of the urban poor, local NGOs, research institutions, media and other coalitions in creating a buzz on urban poverty issues.

 The main goals of the project were: organizations of the urban poor are able to raise demands and influence the designing and implementation of programmes of housing and infrastructure development for urban poor under RAY and other related schemes; appropriate capacities and mechanisms are developed in cities so that Urban Local Bodies (Municipalities) could effectively respond to demands from urban poor and civil society; state and national governments develop policies and procedures that support the participation of the urban poor and civil society in designing and implementing various initiatives meant to promote ‘slum-free cities’; an active network of civil society organizations is regularly and strongly raising voices and engaging with the governance authorities at all three levels to focus the issues of urban poor.

As part of this project, a number of interventions and endeavors have been undertaken over the past two years to strengthen the voices of the urban poor, enhance the engagement of local CSOs on issues of urban poverty, create coalitions/networks of urban poor, convene city and state level multi-stakeholder dialogues etc.

About Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA):
Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) is an international centre for learning and promotion of participation and democratic governance. Since its inception in 1982, PRIA has embarked on a set of key initiatives focusing on capacity building, knowledge building, participatory research, citizen-centric development, and policy advocacy. With a combination of training, research and consultancy, it has grounded its work with conceptual rigour and understanding of social reality to command the strategic direction of interventions.

For more details, please contact:
Asif Alam Mazumder, Shreshtha Kumar
Communicators India (on behalf of Participatory Research in Asia)
Ph:  +91- 9582041352, 9873077438

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