Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission - Backdrop

Backdrop

JnNURM is a unique project dedicated to the redevelopment of India’s cities, as India has traditionally primarily focused on the development of rural areas, especially its underdeveloped villages.

As per the 2011 census, India is home to about 1.21 billion people, making it one of the most densely populated areas of the world. However it was also estimated that 68.9% 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 percent 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.