UPSC Mains 2023 GS1 Q18: model answer

About 35% of Indians now live in urban areas. Metropolises drive growth, but who benefits is uneven.

How urbanisation segregates and marginalises the poor

• Slums: Census 2011 counted about 6.5 crore slum dwellers; Dharavi in Mumbai is among Asia's largest slums.
• Gated communities and costly housing keep the poor out of central areas.
• Evictions: beautification and infrastructure projects push the poor to distant resettlement colonies, far from work.
• Informal work: most migrants work without contracts or social security, as the 2020 lockdown exodus showed.
• Poor services: water, sanitation and health care are weakest in informal settlements.
• Caste and religious clustering: Dalit and Muslim families face discrimination in rental housing.

But the city also opens doors

• Jobs and higher incomes than villages.
• Anonymity loosens caste rules.
• Access to schools, hospitals and networks.
• Schemes: PMAY-Urban, Affordable Rental Housing Complexes, One Nation One Ration Card, Odisha's Jaga Mission granting land rights to slum dwellers.

Way forward

• Inclusive master plans with reserved land for affordable housing.
• In-situ slum upgrading rather than eviction.
• Social security for gig and informal workers.
• Stronger urban local bodies under the 74th Amendment.

Urbanisation itself does not exclude; unplanned, market-led urbanisation does. Planning for the poor can make the city a ladder rather than a wall.