Acknowledging the continuity between rural and urban areas

• India is expected to become more urban than rural due to massive demographic shifts and the need for infrastructure.
• These changes are occurring in Tier II and Tier III cities, as well as the peripheries of major urban centres and agglomerations.
• India needs to view these challenges as part of an urban-rural continuum, not as either rural or urban.

Current Policy Framework
• Over-centralisation of finances has compromised financial decentralisation, compromising autonomy to local bodies.
• Financial constraints arise from tied nature of grants linked to centrally sponsored schemes and financial devolution.
• Flagship programmes like the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Atal Mission for Rehabilitation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) miss the urban-rural continuum.
• Funding for urban infrastructure for liquid waste management is not available to contiguous areas, such as census towns and urban villages.

Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0
• Both programs aim for nearly the same outcomes, but could yield better results through imaginative practices.
• Solid waste management plants in peri-urban and urban areas could be designed collaboratively at the district or regional levels.

Governance Models
• The framework established by the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments needs to be revisited and strengthened.
• District Planning Committees need to be strengthened and mobilised to address the challenge of a urban-rural continuum.
• The urban and rural continuum in rapidly expanding urban areas needs urgent interventions at both the infrastructure and governance levels.