COMPREHENSIVE AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA THROUGH DECONGESTION AND DECENTRALISATION

1.      The development of our country since independence has been city-centric.  The villages and small towns, even tier two and three cities were neglected in favour of Metros and large cities (MLCs). Such a lopsided development model has attracted Crore of people from small towns and villages to MLCs. Such concentration of population in MLCs has made them a living hell for many people as these places grew without any planning. 

2.      There have been many reasons for people from small towns and villages to migrate to large cities. For example, good education, health care facilities and infrastructure attracted the population to such cities. In the absence of such necessities and facilities, people had no option but to migrate to MLCs. Another significant reason for migration was the availability of jobs in MLCs. It became a vicious circle by which more development means more migration.

3.      The concentration of people from various parts of India to the few MLCs has created multiple problems, including disturbance in social harmony. With an increase in population in MLCs, everything became chaotic and what was adequate, to begin with, became insufficient, leading to shortages with accompanying many-hued problems. The concentration of people put an unbearable burden on infrastructure, education, health, and other facilities, leading to a breakdown of such cities. It also led to the controllable spread of all types of diseases, such as the present pandemic. Had there been a lesser concentration of people in MLCs, it is quite likely that the spread of the current pandemic could have been less severe.

4.      An apt example is Mumbai, where millions of people are travelling for hours every day in the most inhuman condition in the so-called lifeline, which should be termed as the “Death Line”. Such travelling as is very well known is, for most unidirectional. The total number of productive hours wasted in such travelling must be mind-boggling, which is a significant loss to the nation and the travellers’ families. Not only travelling, but the living conditions are also deplorable, which has given birth to possibly one of the largest slums in the world.

5.      Therefore, to ensure a better quality of life to the citizens of India, its overall development, lesser social cost, and cost of development of infrastructure, lesser diseases, and transmission of infectious diseases, it is necessary to decongest such MLCs. In fact, it should be accorded the highest priority. An incredibly significant advantage would accrue in the field of climate/environment. Decongestion will certainly reduce pollution of all kind and environmental hazards. This advantage itself is so compelling that the respective governments should immediately focus on this aspect.

WAYS TO ACHIEVE DECONGESTION

6.      There are many ways by which such decongestion can be achieved, but the respective governments must take the first few steps. Not only MLCs, but even the state capitals also need to decongest.

7.      To achieve an effective remedy, it will be necessary to identify the primary reasons for migration. The most important reason is job-related. Crores of people in India are working in a state which is not their home state. While jobs cannot be created overnight, proper distribution of available resources can provide a sustainable source of living to people in their home state.

8.      People also migrate for availing better health and education facilities. Therefore, world class health and education and other related facilities must be made available in each state. It is also necessary that in larger cities, such facilities are also made available within a defined area, say, within five KMs. It will reduce intra city travel daily. Even for jobs, it should be mandatory that the employees reside within a defined radius, say, 15 KMs.

DECENTRALISATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICES

9.      An important step is to decentralise governance and the government offices from MLCs and the state capitals. In other words, MLCs and the state capitals should have only those offices, both in the government and the private sector, which require interaction with the people of those cities. All offices which require no interaction with the people, such as back offices, should be shifted out of such cities.

DECENTRALISATION OF BUSINESSES

10.  It is seen that there is a tendency of forming registered and head offices in the MLCs. Such practice should be discouraged. Therefore, an additional fee should be charged to the registered and head offices of businesses that need not be present in these cities. For this purpose, the applicability of necessary rules should be relaxed for a defined period. Once that period is over, an additional fee will become chargeable. However, such additional fees should apply to large companies only, such as companies having authorised capital of, say, Rs. 100 Crore.  Large businesses should be encouraged to transfer their RO/HO in the same state without significant external compliance or formalities.

11.  It should also be ensured that in future, all registered offices of large companies are in the state where such companies’ primary business/plan/factory is located. Moreover, all compliances, including tax assessments, should be made at the place of the registered office. If companies have pan India business, such entities must provide a good and sufficient reason for RO in a metro or large city.

12.  The governments should also see that tax advantages, if any, are denied to those companies who have their registered/head offices in MLCs. Even the offices in such cities should be dispersed in different areas, within the same city, so that people are not required to travel long distance.

13.  Provision of all services in the digital format, will require minimum travelling and contact with the offices. A positive side effect of such digital services will be reduced corruption and faster completion of services.

DECENTRALISATION OF JUDICIARY

14.  It is also necessary that the judiciary, that is, the Supreme Court, should also move out of Delhi so that the litigants do not have to travel thousands of kilometres to get justice. Therefore, it is suggested that the Supreme Court should have at least five more benches, that is, one each in Northeast, East, Central, South and West India. The establishment of benches of the Supreme Court at different places in India will result in early and affordable justice to the litigants. It appears the Supreme Court, being in Delhi, has become too Delhi centric and sometimes I cannot help but feel that our Supreme Court is a Supreme Court of Delhi and not India. Similarly, the High Court should have as many benches as possible in their respective states so that no litigant is required to travel more than 250 km from his/her place of residence to get justice.

I hope that decentralisation will lead to the decongestion of metro and larger cities leading to a comprehensive development of the country.