After restructuring almost every scheme in its kitty, the rejuvenated ministry of rural development plans to lend a hand to its urban counterpart in towns and cities that have recently shed their overgrown village tag.
The ministry plans to reform one of its ambitious yet unostentatious programmes - Provision of Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) - to facilitate creation of urban infrastructure in around 2,000 new towns that have been identified by the 2011 decadal Census.
Most of these towns are considered grey areas of administration, often termed as "rurban" areas, and do not officially fall under the purview of urban development ministry while ceasing to be a core focus of rural programmes.
"This would be the second generation of projects under PURA. I will like to make PURA cater to these new census towns in the 12th plan," Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh told.
"Urban development provides infra in urban areas and rural development in rural areas. PURA should do the same for these r-urban areas," Ramesh added.
A working group set up by the Planning Commission for the 12th Plan is firming up the proposal to be implemented in the next plan that will significantly enhance rural development ministry's clout.
"Using and existing scheme to streamline urbanization process is an optimal way considering that we have limited monetary and human resources," said a Planning Commission official.
The 2011 Census recorded an increase of 54 % in urban settlements to 7935 from 5161 in the 2001 Census.
The Census considers any settlement to be urban if the area has a municipality or a corporation, or it has a population of 5,000 or above with a density of at least 400 persons per square kilometer.
However, the Census classification does not have any bearing on the administrative set up of the areas or development parameters.
"A census classification automatically does not bring them under or outside the purview of any ministry or scheme," said an official in the office of the Registrar General of India.
Therefore, a village that witnesses an increase in population gets classified as a new town in the Census even as it does not have any urban infrastructure like electricity, sanitation facilities, water supply among others.
"Considering the uncertain and transitional status of these areas within the administration, the needs of these areas are often neglected," added the Planning Commission official.
This is the gap which PURA, which in its current form is restricted to rural areas, is expected to fill.
The scheme currently implements projects in public private partnership mode with an active involvement of the village panchayat.
The private company bids for a project with an anchor economic activity like distribution of electricity, water supply among others and facilitates other allied economic activity.
PURA, envisioned by former president APJ Abdul Kalam, currently has eight projects in five states.
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