When we imagine a local train in urban and metropolitan India the image that pops up in our mind is of congested trains with aspirational eyes travelling in it. And if we try to hear their stories, most of these individuals would be having a same outline, i.e. they want to have a better-quality life. This story has remained the same for more than three decades now, but now we are witnessing a silent brewing crisis i.e. increasing cost of living. If we see it from a birds-eye perspective, this was an impending disaster. But then a question arises what’s the problem if these individuals come to urban places? The answer is very simple, the existing infrastructure and opportunities available are unable to accommodate the ever-increasing influx of migrants. When we say migrants’, we need to bifurcate them in two classes, first are skilled migrants who possess exceptional talent and in long run can become wealth creators of society, the second type of migrants are unskilled or semi-skilled migrants who become part of the cheap labour pool and they are the ones who have to face the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.

The next question which arises is, does overcrowding affect only humans? The clear answer is NO. Overcrowding not just affects humans, but it also affects physical infrastructure, government social support infrastructure, law and order etc. Let’s take a deep dive in each factor individually.

1. Effect of overcrowding on physical infrastructure

Every public infrastructure built, has a certain lifespan and maximum loading capacity. Whenever the infrastructure is overloaded, either its lifespan is reduced or it requires high maintenance to prevent failure, sometimes even collateral damage can be caused by overloading of an adjacent infrastructure. Best examples to understand the situation are, first, the overloaded solid waste treatment system, according to the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board’s 2020 report, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation lacks capacity to treat around 1161 metric tonne per day (MTD) out of total 6661 MTD Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and this causes a ripple effect i.e. Mumbai’s one of the largest dumping site is not just facing space issue but is also prone to landfill fires which emits toxic fumes and ultimately affects health & wellbeing of citizens residing nearby. Another example can be of overcrowding, seen on public roadway transportation system, we primarily assume that overcrowded vehicles possess harm not just to passengers but it also decreases vehicle’s lifespan and increases maintenance cost, it also increases pavement maintenance cost for the municipal bodies. ²

2. Effect of overcrowding on social infrastructure

Social infrastructure essentially refers to resources and facilities available to general public which comprises of facilities such as healthcare institutions, educational institutions etc.

When population of an urban area increases, two types of problems are visible with respect to social infrastructure, firstly, class segregation is observed i.e. one who possess higher monetary power or social status gets better treatment in comparison to one who doesn’t. Secondly, facilities to pupil ratio gets impacted i.e. examples,

• Skewed Doctor-population ratio, in Mumbai the doctor-population ratio is 0.54:1000 ³ and India’s average is 1:834 ⁴ whereas WHO recommends the ratio to be 1:1000.
• Education comes with a price tag today, in India according to OCED, pupil-teacher ratio of private institution is 19:1, whereas in public institute its around 42:1.
• Water supply system for residential and industrial area is one of most important social infrastructure which gets stretched by overcrowding. According to World Wide Fund for Nature’s report 30 Indian cities would be facing grave water scarcity by 2050. ⁵
• Personal health is one of the pillars which gets compromised by overcrowding, for example, due to low-income group migrant influx many shanty towns have popped which provides only single rooms for accommodation on rental basis and washrooms are usually community based. These community-based washrooms are breeding ground for communicable bacterial infections such as UTI and E. Coli infections.

3. Effects of overcrowding on law and order

Police are primarily responsible for law-and-order maintenance, currently they are facing human resource crunch at multiple levels. According to United Nations 222 police are required per 1,00,000 citizens though there is no exact data available in public domain to find out police to public ratio of leading Indian cities, but according to leading media outlet reports Mumbai police⁶ has ~13,700 posts vacant out of ~51,000 sanctioned strength and as of 2021, Delhi police⁷ had around 21% manpower shortage from its sanctioned strength.

4. Leakages in the Public Distribution System (PDS)

When lower income group migrants come to any city, most of them do not have a ration card which can be used in their current area of residence and they usually don’t have purchasing power to fulfil their needs from open market, effectively they end up paying bribes at PDS to get few kgs of grains which in turn contributes weakening up the entire PDS ecosystem, looking from a humanistic perspective we can’t blame a ‘Antodyaya’ for PDS leakages rather we need schemes like One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) to come in effect as soon as possible.

5. Overcrowding and Increased crime rates against migrants

One of the most disheartening aspects of overcrowding is the hate against migrants. In a diverse country like India, we have multiple languages, dialects, religions, culinary practises and festivals, when these migrants come, they bring their practises and traditions with them, many political party candidates like to persuade their voter bank by pinning blame of policy failure onto these migrants’ group, due to which migrants have to face hate of local population, which sometimes turn to physical violence against them. And when these factors are combined with fake news instances like, Bihar-Tamil Nadu migrant crisis can be seen.

How can overcrowding and migrant influx be reduced?

Overcrowding can’t be reduced overnight; it needs sustained efforts at policy level. Some changes which we need are-

1. Restructuring the education system

We need to restructure our education system, and include vocational education as a part of early education, where a student can identify his/her interest and pursue their career accordingly, which will effectively diversify our skilled talent pool in long run. We also require to do social engineering to remove the stigmatization attached with ITI and Vocational Training institutes. National Education Policy 2020 can be a game changer if implemented properly as it aims to restructure our education system.

2. Industrial hubs in tier-three cities

Currently the semi or unskilled labour migrating to urban India, does so only because they don’t have enough employment opportunities available at their hometown. Special Economic Zones (SEZ) can be a game changer, metropolitan cities, tier 1 and tier 2 cities have already reached a saturation point, SEZ in tier 3 cities can offer some breathing space. The congestion in metropolitan, tier 1 and tier 2 cities have not just increased working capital for industries but they have also increased cost of living for low-income group migrants and locals. With development of SEZs in tier 3 cities, fundamental issues of connectivity, electricity and unemployment can be solved in an effective way.

3. Restructuring the village and local economy of small town

Banking facilities have improved a lot in past few years but we require more credit facilities in rural areas, so the population residing there can start their own businesses. Though PM Mudra Yojna has tried solving these issues, but a lot more confidence building measures are needed to be taken to decouple the rural people from informal lending mechanism.

Conclusion

Overcrowding of urban cities is not a problem but rather an accumulation of various underlying issues of our society which needs systematic correction at policy and societal levels to solve it. We can only reduce overcrowding of urban places when we have adequate lifestyle and employment opportunities available at tier 3 and rural places.

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References:

• (2020). MPCB/JD-WPC/B-201019-FTS-0180 [Review of MPCB/JD-WPC/B-201019-FTS-0180]. Maharashtra State Board of Pollution Control.
•  Pais, J. C., Amorim, S. I. R., & Minhoto, M. J. C. 2013. Impact of Traffic Overload on Road Pavement Performance. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 139(9), 873.
• Mar 27 Mumbai has 54 doctors per lakh: City has 54 doctors per lakh population against Beijing’s 355 | Mumbai News - Times of India. The Times of India.
• Government has taken multiple steps to further increase availability of doctors in the country. Pib.gov.in.
• Cities across the globe face an alarming rise in water risks and must urgently invest in enhanc. Www.wwfindia.org
• Mumbai police staff crunch intensifies as officers move out of the city. (2023, October 30). Hindustan Times.
• Bumper 13,000+ vacancies coming up in Delhi Police. Here are details. (2023, October 25). The Economic Times.
• False information is being spread: Officials on fake news over attack on Bihari migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. India Today.