Urban policy in India has evolved over three phases from 1951-2000. The early plans from 1951-1966 focused on housing and rehabilitation due to large refugee populations in cities post-partition. Plans from 1969-1984 emphasized balanced urban growth and developing small towns. This period also saw the creation of development authorities and the Urban Land Ceiling Act. The third phase from 1985-2000 saw greater private sector involvement and economic reforms. Key policies and acts like the 74th Constitutional Amendment decentralized power to local governments.

1. URBAN POLICIES
S U BJECT: U R BA N P L A NNING,
CO D E:TIUA R - 8 0 2
B . A RCH 4 T H Y R , S E M 8 , 2 0 21
P R EPA RED BY D R . S H REYA DA S

2. WHAT ARE GOVERNMENT
POLICIES/ PUBLIC POLICIES?
• Public policy is a set of decisions by governments and other political actors
to influence, change, or frame a problem or issue that has been recognized
as in the political realm by policy makers and/or the wider public.
• Public Policies are goal oriented. Public policies are formulated and
implemented in order to attain the objectives which the government has in
view for the ultimate benefit of the masses in general. These policies clearly
spell out the programmes of government.
• For example:
– Urban Policy,
– Economic Policy
– Environmental Policy,
– Transport Policy
– Foreign Policy & National Security
– Housing Policy
– Energy Policy
– Education Policy
– Waste management policy
– Retail policy
– Gender policy
– Health policy
– Water policy
– Taxation policy
– Food policy
– Real Estate policy
– Pharmaceutical policy
– Agriculture policy

3. TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
• Fiscal policy
• Monetary policy
• Social Assistance Policy
Other Classifications of public policies
• Substantive
• Regulatory
• Distributive
• Redistributive
• Capitalization

4. TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
Fiscal policy
• Refers to patterns of government taxing and spending that are
intended to stimulate or support the economy.
Monetary policy
• Refers to policies that affect the supply, demand, and value of a
nation’s currency.
Social Welfare policies
• The nation that the government is responsible for its citizens is a
relatively new idea.
• Social welfare policy is implemented through many programs
designed to improve health, education, housing, employment.
• Urban Policy is another example of Social Welfare Policy

5. TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
Substantive
• These policies are concerned with the general welfare and development of
the society.
• The programmes like provision of education and employment
opportunities, economic stabilization, law and order enforcement,
antipollution legislation etc. are the result of substantive policy formulation.
Regulatory
• Regulatory policies are concerned with regulation of trade, business, safety
events, public utilities, etc. This type of regulation is done through
independent organizations that work oh behalf of the government.
• In India, we have Life Insurance Corporation, Reserve Bank of India,
Hindustan Steel, State Electricity Boards, State Transport Corporations, State
Financial
• Corporations, etc., which are occupied in regulatory activities.
• The policies made through the government, pertaining to these services
and organizations rendering these services are recognized as regulatory
policies.

6. TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
Distributive
• Distributive policies are meant for specific segments of society.
• It can be in the area of grant of goods, public welfare or health
services, etc.
• These mainly contain all public assistance and welfare
programmes. Some more examples of distributive policies are
adult education programme, food relief, social insurance,
vaccination camps etc.
Redistributive
• Redistributive policies are concerned with the rearrangement of
policies which are concerned with bringing in relation to the basic
social and economic changes.
• Certain public goods and welfare services are disproportionately
divided in the middle of certain segments of the society, these
goods and services are streamlined through redistributive

7. TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
Constituent policies:
• It creates executive power entities or deal with laws, it also deals
with fiscal policy in some circumstances.
Miscellaneous policies:
• Polices are dynamic they are not just static lists of goals or laws.
Policy blueprints have to be implemented, often with unexpected
results.

8. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
POLICY & LAW
• Law is a formal document of rule whereas policy is an informal
document for the working of the government.
• Law is administered through the judiciary on the other hand
policy is administered by the government itself.
• Laws are established in order to bring justice to society and
equality to society on the other hand policy is made for
achieving specific goals by the government.
• Law is laid in the constitution on the other hand policies are
informal documents of the government which are not laid in the
constitution.
• Non-adherence law is punishable whereas non-adherence to
policy does not lead to severe punishment
• Policies are informal which can be changed by the government
and does not include judiciary in changing policies. They are
completely decisions of the government of what and how to

9. SOME IMPORTANT PROGRAMMES
UNDER GOI PUBLIC POLICIES
ENERGY POLICY
• UDAY(Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana), Ministry:-Power
and Coal.
– It aims to improve financial and operational efficiencies of power
distribution companies.
– UDAY has incentives in the scheme to encourage state
governments to restructure their debts.
– Recently, RBI has released UDAY bonds worth 1Lakh crore ,on
behalf of 8 states. UDAY bonds fetch Rs.99,000 crore

10. SOME IMPORTANT PROGRAMMES
UNDER GOI PUBLIC POLICIES
INDUSTRIAL POLICY
• MAKE IN INDIA, Ministry:-DIPP(Department of Industrial
Policy & Promotion)
• Under it ,the main focus is on simplifying procedures to improve
ease of doing business in India ,IPR protection, focus on various
sectors to encourage domestic manufacturing industries,
opening new sectors for FDI etc.
• It aims to increase share of manufacturing industry in GDP from
current 16% to 25% by 2025, with key focus on defence,
infrastructure etc.

11. OTHER EXAMPLES OF GOI
POLICIES
• SKILL INDIA, Ministry:-Mini. Of Skill Development .
• Namami Gange, Ministry:-Water, Ganga Rejuvenation
ministry
• DIGITAL INDIA, Ministry:-Communications and IT
• HRIDAY-(Heritage Development and Augmentation Yoajana),
Ministry:-Urban Development
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Ministry:- Petroleum and Gas.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ministry of Housing & Urban
Affairs
• Beti Bachao- Beti Padhao, Ministry :-HRD+ Women
Development + Health

12. WHAT IS URBAN POLICY
• Urban policy refers to the cluster of policies that are aimed at
influencing the development of urban areas and urban lives. It
could be fragmented and diverse in practice due to the fragility
of social needs and political institution.
• Urban policy is a broad category of policies tackling public
problems in urban areas.

13. EVOLUTION OF URBAN
POLICY IN INDIA
• The First Phase: 1951–1966
• The Second Phase: 1969–1984
• The Third Phase: 1986 onwards
• Current phase

14. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The First Phase: 1951–1966
• The Partition in 1947–48 provides the backdrop for urban policy in
India. The millions of refugees who arrived in North India from
present day Pakistan sought shelter and livelihoods in various cities.
• This development coupled with the employment opportunities
created in cities during the Second World War due to the setting
up of war production plants resulted in substantial increase in the
urban population—by 53.7 percent between 1941 and 1951.
• The result was a phenomenal increase in sub-standard housing and
slums containing insanitary mud-huts of flimsy construction, poorly
ventilated, over-congested and often lacking in essential amenities
such as water and light in urban areas.
• As a response to the problems created by the sudden increase in
urban population, the 1st Five Year Plan (1951–56) was mainly
concerned with housing and rehabilitation of refugees. The
• Ministry of Works and Housing was set up to ensure speedy spatial
and occupational rehabilitation of refugees. A large number of
rehabilitation colonies and sub-towns were set up in Delhi, Bombay,
Ahmedabad, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Calcutta.

15. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The First Phase: 1951–1966
• 1st Five Year Plan (1951–56):
– Due to the sudden increase in urban population, mainly concerned with housing
and rehabilitation of refugees.
• 2nd Five Year Plan (1956–61):
– identified “rise in land values, speculative buying of lands in the proximity of
growing towns, high rentals and the development of slum areas
– Town and Country Planning legislation was enacted and in many states
institutions were set up for the preparation of master plans.
– In 1956, the Slums Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act was passed.
• 3rd Five Year Plan (1961–66):
– Urban policy and development planning began to acquire a cogent form.
– During this period Master Plans for various cities were prepared and the need to
strengthen urban local governments, especially their financial and administrative
aspects, was recognized.
– In order to guide and enforce the planned development of cities through the
implementation of master plans, para-statal development authorities, such as
Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Mumbai Metropolitan Regional
Development Authority (MMRDA), Madras Metropolitan Development Authority
(MMDA), were set up.

16. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Second Phase: 1969–1984
4th Five Year Plan (1969–74):
• Achieving balanced urban growth through dispersing populations in
smaller urban centres was the overriding thrust of the 4th Plan
(1969–74).
• This was to prevent the concentration of population in metropolitan
cities such as Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
• The creation of small towns and ensuring the spatial location of
economic activity in a planned manner consistent with the objectives
of the Plan was underscored.
• The Plan articulated the need for urban land policy at the state level
and provided specific guidelines for the formulation of the same.
• It recommended that—
• the state level urban policies should aim at (a) the optimum use of
land; (b) making land available to weaker sections; (c) checking the
concentration of land ownership, rising land values and speculation
of land; and (d) allowing land to be used as a resource for financing
the implementation of city development plans

17. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Second Phase: 1969–1984
• In 1970, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation
(HUDCO) was set up to provide loans to urban development
authorities and state housing boards for housing and other
development projects such as infrastructure development, land
acquisition and essential services.
• One of the main goals of the HUDCO was the “promotion of
housing for the persons belonging to low income groups and
economically weaker sections”

18. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Second Phase: 1969–1984
• 5th Five Year Plan (1974–79):
– The Plan was mainly concerned with introducing measures to control
land prices in cities; providing a framework for the development of small
and medium towns; augmenting basic services in cities and towns;
addressing the problems of metropolitan cities with a regional
perspective and assist development projects having national significance
in metropolitan cities.
– The Plan also emphasized the need for infrastructural development of
cities with population over 300,000.
– To achieve this goal a scheme called Integrated Urban Development
Programme (IUDP) was launched.
– Also, the Sites and Services Scheme for making serviced land available
to the poor was launched in this Plan period.
– In order to control spiraling land prices in cities, the Plan suggested
several measures, including, “differential taxes on land based on its use,
higher taxes on vacant lands to discourage speculation, conversion tax
on change of land use and enhanced stamp duty on transfer of lands
– One of the most important steps that were taken to check land prices
and speculation in land during the fifth plan period was the
promulgation of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act

19. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Second Phase: 1969–1984
• 6th Five Year Plan (1980–85):
– The focus of the 6th Plan (1980–85) was largely on the development
of small and medium towns and provision of basic services in urban
slums.
– Though the Plan underlined the need to improve environmental
conditions in slums through improvement in drainage, sewerage
and sanitation the urban component of the 6th Plan is remembered
primarily for the introduction of a centrally sponsored scheme called
the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns
(IDSMT) with the objective of promoting growth in towns with less
than 100,000 population through provision of infrastructure and
basic services

20. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Second Phase: 1969–1984
• Pitfalls of ULCRA
• Thus while the ULCRA was promulgated in the name of securing equitable
distribution of urban land, the Act had too many loopholes in its very design
to allow for any meaningful implementation.
• It is not surprising then that only about 8 percent of 1,66,162 hectares of
surplus land identified was acquired and only 2 percent was physically taken
possession of.
• Moreover, only 0.37 percent of the total surplus land was used for
construction of low income housing which was ostensibly the main reason
given for the enactment of the Act.
• While the ULCRA did not ensure redistribution of land it did indeed create
opportunities for windfall profits for builders and land mafia who, making use
of the artificial land shortage in cities, went on a spree of speculative buying
of land on the fringes thus making the prices shot up even further.
• As a result, while the poor continued to live without security of tenure in
dilapidated hutments on marginal lands, the distribution of urban land
became even more skewed in favour of the elite.
• Thus in 1989 while half the population in Mumbai lived in slums, 55 percent
of the total vacant land in the city was owned by just 91 individuals

21. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Third Phase: 1985– 2000
The 7th Five Year Plan (1985 to 1990):
• The 7th Plan heralded a shift in urban policy by initiating a process of
opening up avenues for private sector participation in urban
development.
• The Plan called for “radical (re)orientation of all policies related to
housing” and entrusted the main responsibility of housing
construction to the private sector.
• The government’s role was sought to be reduced to “mobilization of
resources for housing, provision for subsidized housing for the poor
and acquisition and development of land”
• In order to boost the housing finance market, it recommended
setting up of the National Housing Bank.
• It also proposed to set up a National Urban Infrastructure
Development Finance Corporation to augment the capacity of urban
local bodies to undertake infrastructure creation, particularly water
supply and sewerage facilities.

22. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Third Phase: 1985– 2000
The 7th Five Year Plan (1985 to 1990):
• The Plan reiterated the need to integrate town level plans into
the regional systems.
• Thus in 1985 itself the National Capital Region Planning Board
was formed to reduce population pressure on Delhi by dispersing
and diverting population and economic activity to other urban
centres within the National Capital region thereby ensuring the
balanced development of the region as a whole.
• In 1991, Economic Liberalization happened in India.

23. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Third Phase: 1985– 2000
The 8th Five Year Plan (1992–97):
• The Plan expressed the need to link urban growth with economic
development and advanced the following policy directives:
– Consolidation and operationalisation of spatial and economic
dimensions of planning by:
• involving an integrated hierarchy of rural and urban settlements based upon
primary economic functions;
• linking the urban development plans with respective district level planning
processes including the programmes of various state level and central
departments like agriculture, rural development, environment,
telecommunications, industries and other such organizations.
• . Taking legal, organizational and financial measures for enhanced
and equitable supply of urban land and promotion of housing,
including review of master plan standards, amendments to Land
Acquisition Act, Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act, Transfer of
Property Act and Rent Control Laws.
• Promoting public-private partnerships in the urban development
sector.
• Developing appropriate specialized institutional support at the

24. EVOLUTION OF URBAN POLICY IN INDIA
The Third Phase: 1985– 2000
The 8th Five Year Plan (1992–97):
• At the beginning of the 8th Plan period, in 1992, the 74th Constitutional
Amendment Act was promulgated. It was a landmark Act which sought to
decentralize decision making in cities and towns through creation of elected
urban local bodies (ULBs) as institutions of democratic self governance and
devolution of essential function related to city planning and service provision to
these bodies.
• The ULCRA was repealed through an Ordinance in January, 1999.
• Initially, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Pradesh, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, & West Bengal adopted the
Act.
• Most states have repealed the Act except for few including West Bengal
• In 1992, the Town and Country Planning Organisation prepared a draft National
Urban Policy.
• The main objectives of the draft NUP were to a) evolve a spatial pattern of
economic activities and population distribution based on regional development
and planning considerations; b) secure a balanced distribution of population
among the urban centres of various sizes, so as to maximize economic gain and
minimize social costs of urbanization; c) control further growth of metropolitan
cities by dispersal of economic activities in the new growth centres; d) prioritise
development of those urban centres which have been identified as prime
economic movers in national economic development,

25. URBAN POLICY: THE
PARADIGM SHIFT
• Earlier the focus was on development of “URBAN AREAS”
• Urban Areas are defined as “HUMAN SETTLEMENTS”
• Hence all the planning focus was on meeting the needs of
humans and their daily activities including Housing, Water,
Drainage, Sewerage & Sanitation, Employment, Health,
Education etc
• However, the new Urban Policy Framework (NUPF) 2020,
focuses on “URBAN ECOSYSTEMS” and not just “URBAN AREAS”

26. WHY ARE URBAN
ECOSYSTEMS IMPORTANT?
• The United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the United
Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development
(Habitat III) in October 2016, in Quito, Ecuador, to reinvigorate the global
commitment to sustainable urbanization, and to focus on the
implementation of the New Urban Agenda with a set of global standards of
achievement in sustainable urban development
• The Habitat III Conference and its preparatory process provided a unique
opportunity to bring together diverse urban actors, particularly local
authorities, to contribute to the development of the New Urban Agenda in
the new global development context after the historic adoption of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goals, the Paris Agreement on
Climate Change, and other global development agreements and
frameworks.
• The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
made environmental sustainability a key component of the agenda, whose p
reamble recognises that social and economic development depends on the
sustainable management of Earth’s natural resources.

27. WHY ARE URBAN
ECOSYSTEMS IMPORTANT?
• Urban ecosystems are especially important in providing
services with direct impact on human health and security such
as air purification, noise reduction, urban cooling, and runoff
mitigation.
• Urban ecosystems, like all ecosystems, are composed of
biological components (plants, animals, and other forms of life)
and physical components (soil, water, air, climate, and
topography). In all ecosystems these components interact with
one another within a specified area.

28. FOCUS OF NATIONAL URBAN POLICY
FRAMEWORK INDIA 2020
• So in addition to conventional Urban Planning, Urban Economy, Physical
Infrastructure, Social Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Transportation, Urban
Finance, Urban Governance, Information Technology & Environmental
Sustainability has also been given importance.
• Now the Planning Approach has shifted from an Urban Master Plan to City
Comprehensive Urban Plan (CCUP)
• The thrust areas and objective will be overall ‘more economically vibrant and
productive’ cities. The CCUP shall bring out the Local Economic Development
(LED) strategy with a purpose to strengthen its economic base, improve its
economic future and quality of life for all. The economic focus shall directly
contribute to the NUPF rationale’s of improving job base, Atmanirbhar Bharat
and achievement of USD5 trillion Indian economy.
• Natural ecosystems should be leveraged as infrastructure systems for resilience ƒ
• Use integrated digital technologies further build on ICCC resources

29. ROLE OF MUNICIPALITIES, STATE &
CENTRE UNDER NEW POLICY