Managing the Quality of Life in Mumbai

Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people. Unlike standard of living, quality of life is not a tangible concept, and therefore cannot be measured directly. Furthermore, quality of life consists of two components. The first is a physical aspect which includes such things as health, diet, as well as protection against pain and disease. The second component is psychological in nature. This aspect includes such things as stress, worry, pleasure and other positive or negative emotional states. It is virtually impossible to predict the quality of life of a specific individual, since the combination of attributes that leads one individual to be content is rarely the same for another individual. However, one can assume with some confidence the higher average level of diet, shelter, safety, as well as freedoms and rights a general population has, the better overall quality of life said population experiences.

Having said that , the quality of life can also be attributed to the emotions & aspirations of the people in the society. There are various factors that contribute to the improvement of standard of living & thus , quality of life . Various measures have been devised by various world renowned credible agencies to gauge the development of human life & the standard of living . e.g. HDI ( Human Development Index ) which is based on various parameters such as Life Expectancy , Poverty Level, Level of Education , GDP Per capita(PPP Basis ) ,Gender Equality , & other minor factors viz. Social security etc. In Indian context , HDI has been around 0.614 for the year 2005. India , inspite of being one of the fastest growing economies of the world is at 128^th position in the above ranking . This can be primarily attributed to India’s huge population , improper management of Civic Amenities & the relatively high concentration of industries in some parts of the country leaving other parts impoverished . This may be relevant to say here that the major contributors to the above ranking of India being on the backfoot are the less developed areas (especially BIMARU States , & various rural areas). But , it would be unfair to attribute the whole failure to these parts of the nation. Various Metro Cities viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore ,Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata,Pune etc . are equally responsible if not less .

With Increasing Opportunities due to boom in almost all the sectors of the industry , the Infrastructure in these places has not been proportionately developed. Inadequate Infrastructure with increasing demand has spelled the failure. Some metros like Delhi , Hyderabad,Pune etc. have been able to catch up with the growth , but the situation in cities like Mumbai & Bengaluru ( aka Bangalore ) is still pathetic .

Mumbai , the financial capital of the nation & is one of the world's top 10 centers of commerce in terms of global financial flow. Mumbai is also the commercial and entertainment capital of India, contributing 25% of industrial output, 40% of maritime trade, and 70% of capital transactions to India’s economy. With an estimated population of over 20 million, it is the largest metropolis in India and one of the most populous cities in the world. With a population density of 22000 persons per Square Km, the Mumbai Metropolitan Area which includes cities of Navi Mumbai & Thane, is also the world's 5th most populated metropolitan area.

Apart from the above facts , Mumbai can be termed as a Major driver of Indian Economy with its 40% contribution to Foreign trade , 40% of total Income tax collections, 60% of Custom duties apart from the highest per capita income of Rs 48954/- which is approximately three times the national average .Mumbai is also house to India’s biggest SEZ in Navi Mumbai. But , inspite of all such feel good factors a big question that arises is why the High Quality Living standards are limited to some parts of the city? What are the reasons which are restraining the growth of such a vibrant city & pushing it on the backburner . Mumbai is also the home to Asia’s biggest Slum right in the heart of the city . A slightly deeper analysis will show that there is redundancy & also the lack of adequate facilities in various parts of the city .People travel huge distances of approximately 100+ Kms(to & fro) daily to reach their workplaces located in the plush South Mumbai in extremely unhygienic conditions in Local trains which sometimes becomes very risky . As per a recent report, the number of casualities in various train accidents were over 3200 in the year 2007 . Approximately 6 million people use Local trains daily whereas approximately 3.4 million Mumbaikars use the BEST services in no better conditions.

Mumbai city, especially its Suburbs, are undergoing rapid deterioration as far as the Quality of Life of its citizens is concerned. Pollution, Environmental degradation, rising piles of garbage, inadequate health facilities, rapid increase of encroachment and lack of adequate governmental machinery are contributing towards a grim future for the city of Mumbai

Breakup of General Tax collected by BMC in 2002-2003

	City	Suburb
General tax Collected	30%	70%
Total Revenue Expenditure of the BMC	70%	30%

Source: Administration Report of BMC 2002-2003

Quality of Life is difficult to define and means different things to different people'.It can be defined in many different ways. It could be defined by income, the area lived in, number of cars, size of house, whether or not a house has electricity and supply etc. In different countries 'Quality of Life' is defined in different ways that in other countries. It depends on the socio-economic groups of the country. To us 'Quality of Life' can be defined by income, and would not be defined by whether or not we have a water or electricity supply.

If we do an ANDREW’s SWOT analysis for analysing the various pros & cons of the city , we can boil down to following issues .

Strengths 1. Financial capital 2. High per capita Income 3. Locational Advantage 4. Highly Diversified Culture	Weaknesses 1. Inadequate Infrastructure 2. No Alternative Business Districts
Opportunities 1. Revamping the existing Public Transportation Mechanism. 2. Image Makeover	Threats 1. Increasing Pressure on the limited resources.

REMEDIES & FUTURE ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN :

OVERALL : Efforts should be made to transform the city into a purely financial Hub of the nation , & enabling all the major Corporate Houses to shift their operations either to the Suburbs or to the Proposed Satellite cities which should be developed around Mumbai.

Public Transportation:

As mentioned above nearly 10 million people travel on a daily basis in Mumbai,majority of them through the highly crowded local trains .Following are some suggestions to improve the The Public Transportation Mechanism :

1. High Speed Trains –Metro Rail or Meglev which can improve the rail connectivity apart from the good rail connectivity.With distances in Mumbai range as high as some 60 Kms (Churchgate-Virar), the feasibility of such high speed trains is equally feasible. The dependence of masses on the trains is actually unwarranted for if thought on a more rational basis. Suppose, if these trains come to a halt on a given day due to some unforeseen happening such as a Strike (quite common in India) , one can expect the whole of Mumbai to come at Standstill . One can estimate the losses due to only a single day’s suspension of routine work which can run into even lakhs of Crores of Rupees. High Speed Trains can be like Shuttles which should ply only between certain big & important locations such as Bandra, Dadar, Thane etc. A sample route can be :

Thane--- Dadar----CST ; Borivili---Bandra—Churchgate .

The above can be covered through the existing framework of Local trains . Metro Rail has already been given the clearance but is still hasn’t seen the light of the day (practically) due to some political compulsions & vaiorus unsaid reasons .

2. Monorail : This is a concept that is prevalent in most of the big Cosmopolitan cities of the world where there is a constraint on the available space like Kuala Lumpur. The same can be implemented in Mumbai as well. With the improvement in Infrastructure & building of new flyovers ,provisions for incorporating the monorails can be done to run parallely with the Buses & other means of transport .

3. An embargo should be put on the maintaining multiple vehicles in a single family,& more focus should be laid on the travelling by public transport mentioned above ,as is the case with many other major cosmopolitan cities of the world e.g. Tokyo where one can find CEOs of big companies travelling by the public transport as well .

4. Possibilities of Inland Water ways should be explored with due diligence so that the load on the Land can be eased off.

As far as the Governance & Planning of the city is concerned , a revised layout should be drawn which focuses on more participation of the General Public on the lines of BHAGIDARI in Delhi . It has been a successful experiment wherein many civic amenities have been made free of Red-Tapism of bureaucracy & has brought in more transparency in the whole system apart from the increasing the pace of execution of such activities .

Presently in Mumbai , there is MCGM ( formerly BMC) & there are various other departments like Maintenance , Sanitation, Forest , Industries ,Labour Grievances etc. but there is a conflict of Interest & redundancy in all such activities . In Rainy Season , there is hardly any requirement of any Gardening Staff but the load on the Sanitation & Maintenance staff increases tremendously .But, this mismatch of demand & Supply is not addressed properly & things actually go for a toss. The primary reason behind such a mismanagement is none but the Poor Administration & the lack of Coordination amongst the various Sub-Departments of the MCGM & State Government . In my Opinion , the whole facility of administration should be Corporatised with a CEO controlling the overall operations of the City . All the sub-departments should report to him & the organisational structure should be much more flatter than what is at present facilitating the involvement of citizens & the RWAs as is done in BHAGIDARI.The Police should also be brought under the ambit of such a system thus phasing out the requirement of a separate Mayor, Sheriff, Commissioner.Take for example , a Flyover whose work has been at halt for last 3months due to a Water Main being passing through the location where a Flyover Column was planned . Both the concerned parties are blaming each other for such improper planning but , who is suffering from such a tussle , not either of the parties but the daily commuter who has to at least wait for 15mins -25 mins to move out of such a heavy Traffic Jam . Had there been an integrated mechanism, such problems wouldn’t have even arose . So , today Mumbai needs a CEO & a COO who can look after the requirements & address to the strategic as well as day-to-day problems of the city . The abovesaid team should have a bataliion of experts & professionals who can contribute constructively & manage city in the best possible way.

Apart from the above , the Master Plan of the City needs to be revisited as in there should be a development of various Satellite Cities which are designed basically to cater to a particular sector of the industry . The design should be such that residential areas & the shopping districts should be Integrated whereas the Business districts being quite separate so that there is minimum pressure being exerted on the infrastructure as well as the health of the citizens . Such satellite Cities should have excellent connectivities with the main land Mumbai through rail , road , air & even water .The residents of such places shouldn’t feel that there are not in Mumbai rather they should feel otherwise & better due to the facilities being provided by the state .e.g. Satellite City A should be such that it should have only IT companies in one part & in the other part , complete residential area clubbed with the commercial complex & shopping district. The road planning should be such that the commuters don’t have to cross through the shopping area while going for work & vice versa. MCGM which presented a Budget of Rs 12000 crores which is the highest in the world for any Muncipal Body has plush funds at its disposal & can easily plan to invest in such ventures . The same can also be used to increase the tourism due to such fine exotic locations like Matheran, Elephanta caves, Alibagh, Lonavala , Karzat etc. which will add to more revenues to the exchequer.

Moreover, the conditions of the Local Stations is really pathetic & not just inside but even outside the stations. The Main markets of the localities are based around the Stations which increases the congestion on roads & it becomes really difficult for daily commuters to traverse during the peak hours . The local thelawallas & the roadside hawkers should be removed from such congested places so that there is atleast a room for easy movement for citizens .

The Health & Sanitation Services in the City also need immediate attention which is on the verge of turmoil & is about to tremble . There should be more involvement of citizens in addressing such issues & ensuring the adequate levels of Personal Hygiene . Another issue which needs immediate attention is the problem of Slums & the increasing crime rates .Mumbai has the biggest Slum of the Asia which some political leaders feel proud of right in the heart of the city . The main cause of existence of such a bad patch on the Map of city is the Lack of Political Will to remove the slum dwellers & relocate them to other parts of the city . I remember the Hindi Movie NAYAK where a very common Journalist turns the fate of the city in one day . The agility & commitment which is displayed is really commendable & is actually the need of the Hour . The new proposed Corporate entity should involve various NGOs & the work of supervision should be delegated to different RWAs & the old & retired bureaucrats & other Senior Govt. officials .The Administration should also focus on digitizing the whole activities & extensive use of Internet & the GPS. The Traffic management system should also be improved by installation of more automated Traffic Signals & CCTV camera Monitoring of the traffic rule violations at unmanned as well as manned signals .Such a step will have dual benefit as it will

1) Reduce the prevalent corruption in enforcement of traffic rules.

2) It will also create a fear of law amongst the motorists in case of them violating the traffic rules.

There should be efforts directed towards the protection of Consumer Rights by the increasing the awareness amongst the citizens along with the efforts made by Central Govt. The Administrative body should work towards setting up Consumer Courts as for speedy settlement of issues .The complete appointment to execution of the proceedings of these courts should be in the hands of citizens & the NGOs only & their supervision should be in the hands of the Administration . This will bring more transparency in the whole system & more credibility in the legal system .Such an involvement will ensure the proper utilisation of allocated funds apart from the satisfaction level of the localites which will bring in the feeling of belongingness in the citizens & thus creating Positive vibes . These positive vibrations which emanate from such acts will actually increase the productivity of Mumbai & hence , will contribute to the overall growth of the country, thus reinforcing the very spirit of Mumbai of CITY OF DREAMS & EVER AGILE CITY .