Ensuring Indian cities sustainable through JNNURM
Student name: Ms Sushmita Singha
Guide: Ms Namrata Gulati
Year of completion: 2011
Host Organisation: National Institute of Public Finance and Policy
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Anit N. Mukherjee
Abstract: JNNURM program was launched to support urban infrastructure and governance in Indian cities
in due recognition of the dismal state of infrastructure in most cities and towns. This study tries
to uncover the relation between the infrastructure gaps that exist in the cities with that of the
investment in various sectors for sustainability under the program. A cross section analysis of 34
cities, representative of the different classes of cities, shows that the fund allocation under the
program is not contingent on the state of infrastructure, neither on other parameters as population
pressure, municipality efficiency, except in the water sector for cities with over-supply of water.
Political strategies could be one of the possible reasons behind these investment decisions,
rendering the objective of JNNURM redundant.
