School of Public Policy and Governance Tata Institute of Social Science, Hyderabad STUDENT WORKING PAPER SERIES NO. 1, DECEMBER 2015
The Case of Mitigating Congestion: Understanding its Political-Economy through the Study of Haldwani-cum-Kathgodam Urban Agglomeration Navneet Joshi
School of Public Policy and Governance Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad Roda Mistry College of Social Work and Research Centre, Opposite Biodiversity Park, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana - 500008 Email : sppg-si@tiss.edu Website : http://goo.gl/mQGBpF
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About Student Working Paper Series The Student Working Paper Series, is an attempt by the School of Public Policy and Governance, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad to assimilate papers being worked upon the topics that will help enrich the public discourses by improving upon the clarity, accuracy and sophistication of discussions on the nation's Public Policy. About School of Public Policy and Governance The School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG) is a novel research based teaching and training space designed to equip young professionals to contribute to the policy area research. SPPG provides opportunities to its students to think beyond conventional models of growth and development, and encourages them to generate ideas for developing institutional frameworks for accountable governance and the establishment of a socially equitable society. Its programs and activities are designed to create an environment for the well-trained scholars to access and collect information about contemporary policies and activities surrounding them so that they can produce timely research and undertake analysis on key topics of Public Policy. SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD
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The case of mitigating congestion: Understanding its politicaleconomy through the study of Haldwani-cum-Kathgodam urban agglomeration - Navneet Joshi
Abstract This study is an attempt to engage with the critical and urgent aspects of mitigating congestion through understanding the interplay of micro and macro causes at work. The significance of the study lies in its endeavour to go beyond the technocratic definitions of understanding mitigating congestion in Haldwani-cum-Kathgodam Urban Agglomeration. Therefore, it is an attempt to situate macro understanding of congestion in the ethnographic insights drawn from the local political-economy contributing to high congestion. The study shows that the technocratic solutions, i.e. creation of new economic infrastructure or expansion of the existing ones can never be an absolute solution for congestion mitigation in itself if they don’t take into account the local political and social factors. The study reflects the importance of tracking the institutions of informality and their indispensable association with formal institutionalised structure of governance. The research eventually aims at understanding these underlying causes of congestion and accordingly suggests policy measures for mitigating congestion.
Keywords: congestion, markets, in-migration, informality, political-economy
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Introduction How would one explain a market structure which exacerbates the case of congestion while deeply getting engrossed in the local political-economy? How could one understands the situation where strong predilections to cultivate immediate political and economic gains become the biggest stumbling block in the path towards urban regeneration? Small Indian cities and towns indeed are exquisite examples of regions of high internal turbulence and informality underneath “seem-tobe” evenly emerging spaces. When big and medium shopkeepers in already congested city centre, due to their inherent self interests, encroach a certain space of the road and allow mobile vendors to transact in front of their shops, again constraining the available road space, then one can sense a larger political-economy playing its part in increasing the congestion. Before starting off an engagement with my central argument and the subsequent analysis of it, I would first involve with understanding the entire idea of congestion and what lies beyond its formal definition.
a) The concept of congestion The word “Congestion” evokes varied connotations in the urban development space. One interpretation defines Congestion as a condition in which demand for roads exceeds supply (Managing Urban Traffic Congestion, 2007). It is seen as impedance (obstruction) that vehicles impose on each other (ibid). This alludes to the general perception where the concept is basically understood as a physical phenomenon actually hinting on to the way in which vehicles obstruct each other’s progression, as the need for limited road space reaches full capacity. Besides this, the similar interpretation argues that congestion can also be viewed in terms of a psychological phenomenon where the users define it in terms of their relative expectations vis-à-vis road system performance. Overall, in the popular literature, congestion as a term broadly connotes to traffic congestion. Having said that, I believe it’s actual meaning and implications can’t be straitjacketed into traditional technocratic definitions of over-crowding of vehicles in proportion to the space but to numerous other indirect factors at play which I would engage within the following pages. The problem of congestion is true for all cities, even those who adapted to the process of urbanisation and also for those who are still struggling to come to terms with the phenomenon. Congestion in urban spaces is affected by various macro and micro factors at
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play. Micro causes are the direct reasons that contribute to congestion in the cities which in turn can be classified as recurrent and non-recurrent causes. The recurrent causes include differential vehicle speed, fluctuations in driving behaviour like unpredictable acceleration and deceleration, jumping queues. On the other hand, the non-recurrent causes, which have immediate implications on the level of congestion, are unexpected unplanned events like protests on the roads, accidents, road works, fog or rain. Essentially, these are the issues that are caused by failure to anticipate and plan the infrastructure in the city. Without any doubt, the micro causes primarily affect the core of my concerns. However, this is only one, albeit critical factor, through which I seek the answers for mitigating congestion. I also argue that the problem of congestion cannot be understood solely through micro causes. There are numerous macro causes which contribute to the congestion of the city. Macro explanations help us to focus on understanding the causes of congestion through several inter-related factors. It includes political-economic explanation on why certain cities economically grow faster than others, expansion and diversification of markets, in-migration etc. While explaining the macro causes, I shall also analyze the policy challenges of the same.
b) Relationship between economic growth and congestion - the phenomenon of city expansion: A 2003 study1 helps us to get into the relationship between congestion and economic growth by establishing the meaning of congestion and analyzing the ways through which it affects economic efficiency and market competition. The study defines congestion as “a condition of traffic delay (i.e., when traffic flow is slowed below reasonable speeds) as the number of vehicles trying to use a road exceeds the design capacity of the traffic network to handle it.�(Weisbrod & Fitzroy, 2008). There are different interpretations relating to the ways by which the economy is affected by the high population and vehicular density (occupied space per unit area) and thereby congestion. The study by Fitzroy brought out peculiarities of rapidly growing urban and semi-urban areas in terms of characteristics like availability of skilled labour, total cost of acquiring inputs and the overall size of customer delivery market which attract large working population from nearby areas into the city center. While engaging with the above features it becomes extremely important to understand them within specific contexts, which are different for different geographies. Like, even
1A study
conducted under National Cooperative Highway Research Program on the correlation between congestion and economy
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if at the macro level we could have agreement with the above stated differential between rural and urban areas which eventually facilitates in-migration to urban areas, there are still huge differences in the degree of that in-migration at the micro level. That scale of migration depends upon the location and its perceived economic value. In addition to this, the study goes on to prove that the industries or markets with higher dependency on the skilled labor and transport are more gravely impacted by increased congestion. “It also showed that traffic congestion can nullify some of the agglomeration benefits (economies of scale) associated with operating a business in larger urban markets” (ibid). In tandem with the discussion about economic growth, one can’t understate the entire phenomenon of urbanisation which drives city expansion. In effect, we need to explicitly argue over the critical inter-linkage between urbanisation and congestion to understand the important features of the former severely affecting the later. At the outset, urbanisation is seen as a process where the occupation of majority of people changes from primary to secondary and tertiary sector, essentially a shift from rural to urban areas. In some ways, it is a phase of rapid economic growth with increased in-migration into the main center from nearby areas because of the high increase in the availability of economic opportunities there. To explain urbanization, I shall make use of standard models that have emphasized rural-urban migration under the entire gamut of urbanization. Rural-to-urban migration model focuses on rural push factors and urban pull factors (Jedwab, Christiaensen, & Gindelsky, 2014). The former event relates to well-known factors of increasing farm-mechanization or low return from agriculture, that in turn drives the labour out of the primary sector. The closely related later situation of urban pull alludes to growing industrialization initially kick-started by urban-biased policies both pre and post-independence and thereafter developing its own inertia and expanding on its own. Congestion, hence, is often seen as an outcome of this crowding in urban areas and implicitly as the result of urban policies claiming to bolster economic growth and efficiency. It can’t be denied that, “if capital (e.g., houses, schools, hospitals and roads) cannot be accumulated as fast as population grows, the cities grow too fast and the stock of capital per capita is reduced” (Christiaensen, Gindelsky, & Jedwab, 2013). This argument is supported by an evaluation done by Matthias N. Sweet, which suggests that,“higher levels of congestion are initially associated with faster economic growth” (Sweet, 2012). This could be understood through an association between economic growth and level of congestion (‘economic growth’
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as a function of ‘level of congestion’), which first proceeds in a direct relationship and then after a certain point takes an inverse direction. In other words, there is a clear representation that after helping the local economy to leverage on increased movement of vehicles and people, excessive congestion becomes a drag on growth after a certain optimum level.
c) Implications of aggravated congestion: The causes and consequences Interestingly at the first place, there are advantages attached to increased concentration/ density, which is basically spurred from agglomeration and clusturization patterns. The most important benefit of density is the presence of agglomeration externalities, which simply implies to the fact that productivity increases when firms’ location is in close proximity with each other. But what eventually perceived is actually the opposite. With the passage of time, congestion in urban regions clearly shows a negative externality as someone’s commuting decision restricts or places some degree of costs on other commuters passing through similar passages. Therefore, an efficient policy would be to internalize and mitigate those negative costs incurred by the residents of the city. Now, what this indicates is that there are two offsetting externalities at work in urban areas, a positive agglomeration externality and a negative congestion externality, where both are related to the clustering of employment and economic growth (Brinkman, 2013). An important point which Brinkman brought out is that congestion or higher concentration of population and vehicles is a consequence of agglomeration or clustering due to aggravated in-migration of people. This in turn expands the local market as more people from the adjoining areas flood-in due to elevated economic activities. In the light of above argument it is also critical to note is that policy formulation has to take up a combined approach rather than dealing with either of these externalities in isolation. d) Structure of the paper My analysis, therefore, will attempt to engage with these intriguing and urgent aspects of mitigating congestion through understanding the various macro causes at work. The study becomes peculiar and significant in terms of its endeavor to go beyond the obvious through bringing on board an ethnographic investigation of the local political-economy aiding high congestion. I believe that creation of new economic infrastructure or expansion of the existing ones can never be an absolute solution for congestion mitigation in itself if they are not viewed
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through the critical lens of local political and social factors. The primary attempt is to actually excavate the deep entrenched economic and social ideologies or sometimes the political exigencies at play in different times that deepened the problem of congestion. The explanation is closely knitted with my actual field work experiences through which I strive to put forth a reasoning which explains the various intricacies of the local market structure through the framework of political-economy, i.e. expansion of market through domination and its contribution to congestion. Eventually, my curiosity in uncovering the relationship of market expansion and State intervention, lands me in the world of informality which is tightly bordered with formality. I here seek to argue the case of continuum which exists between the two, hence needs to be taken care of while formulating the policy prescriptions.
2. Market expansion and congestion Markets of small cities and towns in India are peculiar of certain characteristics. These essentially include primary transactions in terms of agricultural produce and raw materials for building settlements. Besides these, the markets of towns or emerging small cities also act as a critical interface between small and large markets (small/large: in terms of volume of goods transacted). The agriculture market plays an important role in the daily economic activities of the region. The agriculture market is regulated under specific state acts. In effect, the entire regulated wholesale market is considered as the most important site as being the ‘first contact’ between primary producers (the farmers) and the first buyers (middlemen/retailers) of their produce. Figure 1.1: From farm to folk- value chain of products in the agriculture market
Source: (Bhardwaj, Sikka, Sharma, Singh, Singh, & Arya, 2011) SPPG TISS - HYDERABAD
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A study conducted in 2011 on the state agricultural commodity market (specifically, Tomato as a product) helps us make out a clear picture of preference of farmers regarding buyers of their produce. It revealed that 55% of farmers prefer selling their produce to local vegetable collectors only (Bhardwaj, Sikka, Sharma, Singh, Singh, & Arya, 2011). The reason being an farmers’ apprehensions to take any kind of risk and the fear of not getting expected prices at the local Mandi which eventually could inflate post- harvest losses and transportation costs. Besides this, around 25% of farmers sold their produce at the local Mandi while 15% sold tomatoes directly to consumers in local haats. The rest of the 5% sold their produce to processors of that area (ibid). What it essentially hints at is on something which lies beyond the usual day-to-day interactions between the producers, intermediaries and the consumers.
a) The agriculture market- efficiency, extraction, and exploitation: The market functions on the principles of efficiency, extraction and exploitation (ibid). These can be understood firstly, through the concept of terms of trade pertaining to the profits and investments made by merchants, i.e. the initial interactions between buyers and sellers. These interactions transform agricultural markets into instruments of resource extraction from agriculture to secondary sector. The understanding can be further affirmed through the notion of multiple exchanges within the market that take place in the process of commercial exchange. They too become the territory for exploitation of peasants and labourers. The literature written on markets in general and agriculture commodity markets in particular can’t simply be weighed through neoclassical or neo-institutional lens of efficiency and price integration analysis. During the course of my analysis of these agriculture markets, locally called ‘Mandi’, I acquired deep insights that went beyond the usual theory. My arguments and analysis are drawn from my field observation to contest the primary generalization made by the schools of neo-classical and neo-institutional economics, though I would not delve much into it for the sake of more specificity. Engaging more with the political-economy framework not only enriches us with the complexities and variations of existing markets, but also suggests realistic policymaking targeting congestion.
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Figure 1.2: Concept of Interlocked markets
" In some literature, the institution of inter-linkage is viewed as an instrument of monitoring the agent’s activities in the relationship. In effect, when lenders are not able to monitor or gauge the activities and behaviour of borrowers, it could give rise to moral aberrations and inept selection within the market. E.g. traders may refuse to lend to a farmer who tried to cheat one of them in a previous transaction, thus threatening the farmer’s subsistence. The issue may then be resolved by creating contracts that target to inter-link markets. As it could be argued that, in the midst of market imperfections like risks and high transaction costs, these mutually profitable agreements are the most apt responses. As also backed by writings of Pranab Bardhan (Bardhan, 1983), the experiences from the field validates the above arguments through the phenomenon of labour tying, which has transgressed from purely rural to semi-urban settings. All these issues have critical links with the political-economy framework.
b) The Political Economy framework: Oppressor-oppressed relationship: How do we define aberrations within a neatly regulated system of transactions? How can we look into the complex terms of trade within the market that eventually makes certain group of people more preferable and help them cultivate larger share of profits? Most of these things will be answered through the framework of political-economy within the entire system of demand and supply as per traditional economic grammar. Specifically, not just in case of smaller or closely knitted systems (where caste, class and power are more conspicuous), but also every market in general deem extreme importance to the social relations of production and exchange. Against the neo-classical reasoning of markets as independent entities, political economy angle helps one engage with the fact that the flow and prices of commodities, their volume and frequency of
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supplies and the extent of involvement of intermediaries into the system is not completely isolated from other parts of the economy. In my field area in particular, these other parts are actually the socio-political linkages within the market structure. There are instances of certain sections leveraging on their established networks and social and political capital. The traditional mercantile class of the region, in-migrants that have been well-settled long ago as well as the neo-rich class who is investing more capital is seen as major players who control the system. They have a strong hold over commodity and money markets and in a way are able to appropriate and perpetuate greater profits in order to be reinvested in other parts of the wholesale market, retail market or in land and property. This also helps them affirm and protect their monopoly position in the market. To further explain my arguments, I would be engaging with a key aspect which substantiates how political-economy framework works within the local market context. This is through the institution of middlemen, which make way for the power relations to get established and flourish. Thereafter, I would attempt to substantiate the above aspect as well as the important point of expansion of market through domination and its contribution to congestion through my field findings.
c) Institution of middlemen: market capture by powerful groups: In the system of agricultural commodity markets, the Arhatiyas (middlemen) forms an important institution across many parts of India. They are the agents that operate between the farmer and the buyer. An agent, in a typical setup, establishes relationships with peasants on a long term basis. This relationship is on the mechanism of pre-harvest credit advancement and tying of farmer’s produce post-harvest. Arhatiyas, then not only become an important source of agricultural credit (inter-locking of two markets, discussed earlier), but also in many cases, act as a critical resource to the functioning and organization of the agriculture commodity market space, where they are chiefly accountable to both the farmer and retail businessmen, facilitating the transactions. Through the instruments of preference and commissions across different class of people and commodities respectively, the Arhatiyas further the agenda of maintaining extraction and exploitation and in turn class and caste hierarchy in the system. In some states, such as Punjab and Haryana (benefitted enormously by Green revolution), Arhatiyas are a part of strong political lobbies and hence, at times creates a restricting mechanism which makes it difficult for
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the State to deal directly with the farmers, especially regarding direct payments to peasants during public procurement by the government. In terms of structure of market, my field area Haldwani also tells a similar story. It consists of a large market, mostly informal and highly concentrated in a small area, catering to the hill as well as the plain economy (due to its unique geographical location). It basically serves as a twin market: one, as a market for goods (fruits and vegetables) coming from the hills, which would go to plains from there, and second, as a market for goods (food grains, fruits and vegetables, construction raw materials) coming from the plains, which would go to the hills. The size of the market could be captured through data provided by the Sales Tax department, who has divided the whole region into four sectors. The main market, taxed under sector-1, has 1281 registered dealers. This number represents only those shopkeepers who show their annual income over a certain cap (annual turnover of more than 5 lakhs) and follow the institutional norms. Major part of the main market due to its very informal setting, not covered by taxation regime, is a highly congested area (0.2 sq. km. area approximately, excluding the local Mandi) and hence with the number of registered shops, non-registered smaller units and the street vendors, the main market becomes highly dense. In terms of volume too, the local market presents a promising picture as we establish its critical importance for both hills and plains (south-eastern Uttarakhand). Apart from being a large retail market for garments, the town of Haldwani primarily transact in three important types of goods: ‘Fruits and Vegetable, Food grains, Construction raw materials’. The first two products are transacted within the purview of Agriculture commodity market (Mandi) while the third one is left purely to private discretion. Haldwani in the Kumaon region and Dehradun in Garhwal are the biggest vegetable markets as per the annual arrival of vegetables and fruits. Importance of these markets is that they receive vegetables from hills as well as plains and hence serve as primary, secondary as well as a major retail market for vegetables.
Table 1.1: Number and Names of Regulated Markets in Uttarakhand: Prominence of Haldwani S . M a n d i No Category
Annual income (Rs.)
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1.
“ A Special
” Greater than Rs. 120 lakhs
Haldwani, Rudrapur, Kashipur, Sitarganj, Kiccha, Gadarpur and Dehradun
2.
“A”
Greater than Rs. 60 lakhs to Rs. Khatima, Jaspur and Haridwar Union 120 lakhs
3.
“B”
Greater than Rs. 30lakhs to Rs. 60 Ramnagar, Bazpur, Tanakpur, Vikasnagar, Rishikesh, lakhs Manglore and Roorkee
4.
“C”
Up to Rs. 30 lakhs
Chakrata, Laksar and Kotdwar
Source: Uttarakhand Mandi Darpan, (2008) The other important market of Haldwani, i.e. of construction raw material, also makes it a prime marketplace in the entire region. The primary products which are traded and are sold from Haldwani are sand, big boulders, bricks and iron. The booming market has catered well to the rapid demands of real estate in the city especially due to heavy in-migration after 2013 flash floods2 in the hills. According to the estimates provided by Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (Kumaun Division) 3for the financial year 2013-14, Haldwani (Gaula River) region alone had a mining produce4 of 34, 08,758.96 cubic meters and earning revenue of around Rs. 7,58,680,758.42. Fine sand is not a majorly transported mineral to the hills. The gravels and crushed boulders (Gittis) form the major part of the transit. Besides this, bricks market in the southern part of the city claims to transport exponentially high amount of units per day.
d) Understanding these markets through the prism of ‘domination’: The entire political-economy of the region and its contribution to congestion could easily be understood through the primacy of market led growth in the neo-liberal era. The politicaleconomy signals at the interaction of different power groups operating in the region. Inside 2
A multi-day cloudburst, in June 2013, centred on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused havoc through devastating floods and landslides. 3
Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation is a statutory body constituted by the State Government for
supervising the automated and centralized transaction management of minor mineral collection. UKFDC buys the forest produce from Forest department and then facilitate its availability in the market. 4Mining
Produce consists of fine sand, gravel and small & big boulders.
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stories reveal that the major chunk of the local market is increasingly controlled by in-migrants or the people who came after partition and have gradually accommodated themselves into the regional culture. This attempt to get fused with the native culture should not be perceived in terms of simply imitating the customs and traditions of the place but rather as a conscious attempt to intermix with the local people without doing away with their national and international networks. Hence, in a way, it’s an attempt to reap twin benefits. As a matter of fact, Sindhis control the major share of high-quality fruits market in the city with smaller middlemen (colloquially called arhatiyas) from various communities. In addition to this, the vegetable market has more local people involved due to the system of procurement, which is largely from the hill and nearby rural areas. It’s important to note that the people who had inhabited the region after the partition have made noticeable progress. In this league, the Mona Sikhs and the Pashtunis have an upper hand in the wholesale cloth market. By the virtue of their national and international networks, high-risk taking abilities and unconditional trust and solidarity among themselves, they are unarguably the big names of the local market. Not surprisingly, these groups have high degree of involvement not only with the local politicians and government officials but also with other tradesmen within different other sectors of the market. The construction market on the other hand is predominantly controlled by the ‘Sikh and Muslims’ communities who also happen to reside in the southern part of the town which is in close proximity with the plains. The reason for control and dominance can also be understood by their location and the perennial links they harbour in the nearby cities of Bareilly and Rampur from where the materials like bricks and iron are transported to Haldwani. High presence of Punjabis in the transport sector also validates their unchallenged advantage in the construction sector. As stated earlier, by the virtue of their positive and proactive association within their influential peers and also within the local governance structure, these groups go on elevating their social and economic positions in the region. This transformation of small towns into more economically viable and efficient spaces has automatically lent its support to the process of urbanization, attracting more number of inmigrants into its borders.
e) Tracking the current in-migration trends into Haldwani: As stated above, Haldwani-Kathgodam agglomeration is a door to the entire hill-economy (Kumaon region) of the state in terms of providing them a viable and competitive market and better connectivity to the hills. It is also home to one of the largest vegetable, fruit and food grain
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markets of Kumaon. Being the gateway to most of Kumaon and parts of Garhwal, it is an important revenue center of Uttarakhand based on its advantageous location as a base depot for goods in transit to the hills (Joshi, 2013). The following analysis helps one understand the peculiarity of the region as it stands out in terms of luring a lot of people from the hinterlands into the main city. Table 1.2: Population statistics of Haldwani UA (2011): Year
Total Population
Decadal Percentage growth rate %
Annual growth rate %
1911
7605
-
-
1921
8536
12.24
1.22
1931
11288
32.24
3.22
1941
17976
59.24
5.92
1951
25065
39.43
3.94
1961
38032
51.73
5.17
1971
52205
37.26
3.72
1981
77300
48.07
4.80
1991
104195
34.79
3.47
2001
158896
52.50
5.25
2011
232060
46.04
4.60
Source: Census 2011
Table1.3: Total number of migrants in the UAs of Uttarakhand (2011):
Dehradun UA 216,823
Haldwani cum Kathgodam UA 57,065
Roorkee UA 43,123
Hardwar UA 83,333
Source: Census 2011
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Figure1.3: Percentage of in-migrants who came from rural areas within the same district (2011):
Source: Self (Data from Census 2011)
Figure 1.4: Percentage of in-migrants who came from rural areas from other districts within the same state (2011):
Source: Self (Data from Census 2011) To track the enormity of population growth unlike the general trend, one needs to engage with the population statistics of the town. India’s average natural population growth is to the tune of 1.6%. Anything above it can be attributed to the reasons which we discussed at the outset, specifically mentioning the rural-urban in-migration. The census data (Table 1.2) reveals that
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Haldwani had continuously high annual population growth rates of 3.47% in 1991, 5.25% in 2001 and 4.6% in 2011. This strictly suggests the fact that even a very high natural increase can’t justify these figures. Hence, the statistics directly hints at the uncomfortable position the town is in where there is not only higher natural increase in population but also elevated degrees of ruralurban migration as well as burgeoning size of outgrowths in the surroundings. The evolution of city can be tracked through its story of expansion and congestion. With the rapid growth of city, the large increase in number of private vehicles and the average fluctuations in the speeds and flow of these vehicles help tap current condition of congestion in the city. When tracking the expansion of city in terms of its people, it was observed that about 96% families migrated from remote rural area of hill districts of Kumaun belonging to medium economic group (ibid). Figure 1.5: Reasons for migration into the UA: Percentage of total migrants
Source: Self (Data from Census 2011) Due to its distinct geographical advantages, Haldwani-Kathgodam UA is has come across as the most sought after location for the migrants in terms of Work/Employment and Businesses. As per the census 2011, out of total migrant population residing in a UA, Haldwani-Kathgodam UA attracts most number of migrants for work/employment (24.68%) and business (0.88%) related issues. This also bolsters the fact that the given UA puts forth unmatched availability of economic opportunities to the population. This unprecedented amount of in-migration in the Urban Agglomeration has exposed the vulnerability of the unplanned infrastructural support in the foothill city while attempting to accommodate the influx of new population and their increased mobility. Therefore, the in-migration can be largely attributed to availability of economic infrastructure and resources.
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f) Cultural reasons attributing to in-migration: How Haldwani became home to such a large and diverse population in a very short span has cultural reasons too. Culturally, the region of Haldwani-Kathgodam holds peculiar prominence as the meeting point of hill tradition, expanded market and better infrastructural facilities (than rest of the Kumaun division). This confluence of cultures can be validated through the distinct contributions made by diverse communities in the growth story of the city. Hence, for understanding the local tone and tenor, it becomes important to delve into the type of people who inhabited the area, especially, in the last three decades. Though, it’s hard to track the fact that who were the first settlers of the town. But my ethnographic study shows some evidences of almost simultaneous movement of people from hills and plains (mostly from western Uttar Pradesh), acquiring northern and southern parts of the town respectively. Demographically, some studies strengthen the fact that there are primarily four types of people which inhabited the Bhabhar region. They are essentially armed and allied personnel, government servants, private workers and businesses-men. More specifically, the population is majorly dominated by the families of armed and allied personnel. The state’s contribution is one of the largest in defense in terms of manpower, families who then settle down in the region when their head is in-service or retired. The other noticeable group is of government servants, where most of the family heads and other family members reside outside of the present place for their respective jobs with their dependents still there for better social and infrastructural facilities. The third important group of people is the private workers who are employed in industry or Private Company located at near to the present residence (as discussed in the earlier bar graph-reasons of migration). This pattern has surged especially after new state creation, i.e. with the formation of State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand (SIDCUL) in Pantnagar town, a state government enterprise which develops industrial infrastructure and promotes industries in the hill state. The fourth kind of inhabitants are the one which leverage on the informal market structure of the town through their small businesses including real estate, educational institutions, vegetable and fruit, construction raw materials etc. (as discussed in the earlier bar graph-reasons of migration). Analyzing the various push and pull factors responsible for drawing such a migration pattern from hills to the town, it can be concluded that the critical factors include division of paternal property, costly agriculture and poor yield, high disaster risks, poor infrastructural, health, education and livelihood facilities in the hills (ibid).
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In addition to this, it is found that in-migrants are largely attracted to areas with high concentration of people belonging to their own culture or ethnic group. In the context of my field: Haldwani, the above fact can be verified by some early inhabitants as well as through the story told by dilapidated buildings of the past, that the city has expanded from east to west in the last three decades with more of hill migrants residing in the eastern parts of the city. The rationale behind choosing the eastern part has again a cultural value to it. Since, the early migrants from hills were the well-to-do Brahmin and Kshatriya families. They chose to inhabit the eastern part of the city due to its proximity to the hill culture and its people. The region was alleged to be on the right side of the Gaula River and also a bit away from the habitation of emigrants from plains. Now, most of the well-to-do middle class families who occupied the peripheries of the main city and went outwards only, didn’t hesitate in owning private vehicles to access the city center and lumped market, thereby contributing to heavy congestion.
g) Simultaneous process of economic expansion and urbanization: creating ‘regional centres of growth’: Now, the above settled facts and the related arguments incites a crucial question that where is this escalating urbanisation concentrated? Kundu (2003 and 2011) in his writings argued that in the recent years the process of urbanisation is largely concentrated in the developed areas and bigger cities, neglecting the backward areas and the smaller towns. Though, the claim could not be bought as such as some recent studies have also shown that Indian urbanisation is materializing in new regions. Pradhan (2013) substantiates this fact and discusses that new census towns accounted for nearly one-third of India’s urban growth between 2001-2011 (Pradhan, 2013). This goes on to suggest strongly that the urbanization pattern in India has drifted towards smaller cities now. High in-migration has been a major cause behind this skewed distribution of population, a phenomenon which got aggravated due to improved accessibility to market activities in urban areas facilitating the creation of regional centres of growth.
h) Increased availability of economic opportunities and its contribution to congestion: As explained earlier, market and congestion have close positive connections which flows till an optimum level. Until that level, congestion supports higher productivity of the market. Perhaps,
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this might be the reason why the local tradesmen don’t oppose the entry of vehicles in the heart of main market with already narrowed streets. This is a perfect case in which the consumers compromise with speed of the delivery of services with the accessibility to goods still intact. Hence, a high level of congestion has acceptance from both sellers and buyers. The local shopkeepers in fact encourage more of vehicular movements (at least the two wheelers) in the otherwise highly concentrated space, in a bid to accumulate greater profits from well-to-do buyers. These well-to-do buyers own vehicles and feel more convenience in entering the market with their vehicles. To add up to this misery, the case of micro or the direct factors affecting congestion in the city where we can identify Haldwani as a center of lumpy infrastructure with urban planning often taken up in project modes (building brick-and-mortar structures whenever required). This provision has made certain spaces extremely attractive to access and reside while have rendered the town unarranged in general. Again, drawing from the migration pattern that followed in the city, one can argue over the interplay of market and State and thereby their participation in the process of congestion. The preliminary analysis suggests that in the region, while cash income has a substantial predominance over exchange and reciprocity mechanisms, much of that is in the informal sector rather than the formal. This in turn hints towards the level of State intervention in terms of regulation through taxation and thorough licensing of certain specific businesses. Hence, deriving a pattern between the type and extent of in-migration and the subsequent expansion of markets (mainly informal) in urban areas, we can observe that rapidly emerging regional centres of growth like Haldwani are a case of high rural-to-urban migration with higher number of agglomeration outgrowth. This indicates that semi-urban centres or small cities and towns follow a unique trajectory of population and economic growth. Due to coming together of diverse social groups and religious communities as in-migrants to the place, one has to excavate the underlying socio-political factors that defined their expansion in the city. Afterwards, the preference and mobility pattern can be derived, which has direct bearing on congestion. Moreover, one also can’t deny the close relationship between in-migration and market expansion in the city as the bulk of population had migrated in search of work/ employment and business opportunities.
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3. Understanding informality in the midst of formal institutions Till now we have established that the problem of Congestion can’t simply be solved through ad hoc solutions targeting its micro causes. More importantly, one needs to ask some fundamental questions about which macro factors work towards compounding the problem of congestion (section-1). One of the major macro causes thereafter discussed was the case of market expansion (essentially an informal type) linked closely with in-migration (section-2). Improved avenues for employment and businesses, the newly emerging regional centres of growth come across as highly favorable regions for in-migration, often to unanticipated degrees. This coupled with the mindset of market driven framework with some degrees of State withdrawal helped the informal space to stretch its feet underneath the institutionalized structures of regulation. This notion is reaffirmed through the coming together of various power groups within the market structure who have deep vested interests in keeping the informality intact. Hence, in this final section, I intend to track those regions of informality and its indispensible association with institutionalized structure of governance, to eventually understand and suggest policy measures for mitigating congestion. Eventually, I conclude to understand the shape of informal space through politicaleconomy framework and tackle it so as to handle congestion. Technically speaking, defining informality lucidly has never been an easy task, especially in the backdrop of various local level socio-economic complexities. Though, it can never be ruled out that the informal space is seen as one consists largely of ‘unorganized’, ‘un-incorporated’ enterprises, “to which legal restrictions on employment (wage minima, regulations affecting working conditions, etc.) and on acquisitions of non-labour inputs (licenses, quotas, etc.) do not apply”(Guha-Khasnobis, Kanbur, & Ostrom, 2006). In addition to that, the terms ‘informality’ and ‘informal sector’ have few subtle differences. The later alludes to more practical and visible aspects while the former suggests the space where these processes operate. Hence, in the course of my analysis, I would attempt to engage with that informal space primarily by taking help and examples from the visible informal sector processes.
a) The continuum: Formality and informality aren’t watertight: Out of many causes leading to the genesis and subsequent definitions of formality and informality, the usual description which had come to the fore during the colonial times was that one can see formal as those activities which fall beneath colonial rules and regulations, and
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informal as those that were beyond the legal and administrative reach of the colonial government (Kanbur R. , 2013). The post-colonial world esp. the country like ours is still not of this colonial hangover of compartmentalizing the twin concepts and hence subscribe to colonial administrative literature’s notion of ‘a wall’ separating the formal from the informal. On the right side of the wall, there is a well-regulated and neatly ordered State system which is subjected to a predefined set of laws, enforced and managed by appointed officials and administrators. While on the other side of the ‘wall’, there is a (predominantly native) informal sector, which one discerns to be chaotic, disorganized, with criminal elements and hence, deeply misunderstood by colonial era policy makers.
b) Managing the formal and informal space in Haldwani: In the context of economic activities in emerging towns and cities, one can’t rule out a high share of informality in the daily businesses chiefly due to predominance of market economy framework where the State intentionally recede from being too much interfering. The formal regulatory apparatus works through a licensing regime where certain services of identified criticality are mandatorily placed.
Table 1.4: Businesses kept under mandatory licensing by the Municipal Corporation of Haldwani-cum-Kathgodam UA Business
Number in 2014
Hotels
68
Meat shops
40 (Buffalo) + 22 (Goat)
Liquor Shops
22
Fruits and Vegetables shops
Not known
Aata Chakki (Flour Mill)
46
Aara Machine (Saw Machine)
9
Source: Municipal Corporation, Haldwani-Kathgodam
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As discussed in above sections, one can’t compartmentalize the spaces which are created as an outcome of direct and indirect State interventions. I would engage with two critical (informal) economic activities which directly impact the level of congestion in Haldwani, i.e. street vending and freight transport. Street Vending or Tehbazaari within the city centre is the most crucial of economic activities having deep connections with the lives of people (chiefly migrants) who had come towards the main city in search of livelihood. The term basically refers to the selling of commodities on roadside pavement where the hawkers move to different places on mobile carts. One can also attaches it to another inevitable consequence of agglomeration building which has deep bearing on the increased congestion within a limited space. Though, generally the main sources of nontax revenue for the ULBs are the money from tehbazaari (Rs. 25 per day from each cart) along with other instruments like license fees, income from property fines and entry fees into certain areas. Tehbazaari, apart from being a source of livelihood and daily sustenance for a large number of people pose serious challenges to the process of mitigating congestion. Much of these problems can be attributed to either a complete absence or a faulty implementation of street vending policies by the state government. Moreover, if we think of mitigating congestion as an eventual goal, we should never think of a clearance or removal of this important informal space but should carefully handle street vending within the circumference of institutionalized spaces. The freight transport, in the context of an economy which is highly driven by agricultural commodities, food grains and construction raw materials, is another factor having direct bearing on densification and congestion. As stated above, major markets in Haldwani, i.e. the agricultural commodity, construction raw material and the retail markets are closely interlinked to each other. The interconnection can be understood in a manner that dominant parties or communities in all these markets have overlapping. Like, Sikhs and Punjabis are better placed in the entire politicaleconomy due to their networks and connections in each of the markets including an upper hand in the crucial freight transport. Hence, it can be said that the dominance in the market is perpetuated by an advantageous position in the freight transport sector. In addition to this, in the presence of collusion between the State and these dominant groups with their respective vested interests, unchecked freight mobility and unauthorized parking takes place. This straight away has serious implications on daily congestion at the city center. This problem is compounded by high levels of encroachment by the shopkeepers within the market area, which clearly has political
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backing. Visibly, an unchallenged condition of informality is therefore preferred by these dominant groups in the entire economic structure, and hence need to be tackled carefully.
Conclusion Hence, in terms of aiming policy prescriptions for the above discussed continuum, one needs to be extremely careful of the fact that the policy conclusion should not be a usual attempt to drag the informal into the formal space by simply trying to stretch out the formality deep into the regions of informality, say for example, the removal of street vendors from the premises of the main city or relocating the auto-stand from already congested areas to a bit far away locations. The major tirade against such mental make-up for tackling informality is that as being different in a lot of ways, the formality can’t simply be implanted in the informal space. Therefore, without the full understanding of the contextual realities and the unpredictable outcomes in the informal space one can’t go with taking formal and informal as being one. All the more critical thing in this respect is to analytically engage with the limited capacity of the present policy perspective to handle informality, which essentially hints that the principal problem in tackling informality can be traced back to the rigid and ill-informed policy mind-set. A prejudiced mind-set which on one side is mesmerized by the phenomenon of ‘on the other side of the wall’ while on the other side are being complacent based on their imagination that in-formalization is bound to reduce while formalization is anticipated to increase during the process of growth and development. For better placing the arguments, it would be proper to initiate an all-pervasive discussion regarding a sheer disconnection between the socio-economic outlook of those who make the policies and those for whom the policy is made. Though, the intention of this specific discussion is not to establish the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ but rather to capture the neglect of the space which has come up due to the overlap of formality and informality. One example common to small and emerging growth centres is the issue of street vending within the urban space. What we see in these areas is either complete State withdrawal from its regulatory functions or ill-informed choices of thrusting institutionalized (often formal) norms into the informal space for the sake of regulating it better, eventually leaving an ill-managed and un-implementable regulatory framework. These unilateral mind-sets only strive to drive away street vendors from the city centres to the peripheries in the pretext of making cities more decongested and resident friendly. In terms of regulating the existing market infrastructure and its utilization by the permanent
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shopkeepers, the loitering and vending rules are often inadequately used by the local administrative authorities, who sometimes may not be the primary regulatory authorities. The vagrancy laws are often imposed by the local police, at the behest of Urban Local Body (ULB) to clear away street vendors from public spaces. To no surprise, these drives are not only biased and oppressive but it also creates a huge space for twisting the intended regulation through corruption and rent seeking. This is where the market capture takes shape and translates to the benefit of powerful groups. Street vendors usually are seen as unwanted entities within the shape and size of the main parts of the city that increases the problems of congestion and disorder within that area. It is not a rare sight to see the individual or group of informal vendors/traders being decamped frequently, many times at the whims of local administration or police officials who eventually end up playing a cyclical game and come back to the same place from where they were removed. This process criminalises the entire informal economic activity which ironically is the major form of livelihood for many. Had the regulatory framework not been unidirectional and biased, it would have created a better mechanism for the indispensable informal space to work in tandem with the formal space. In the rush to become what they think Singapore looks like, cities in the developing world are trying to sweep away the informal economy (Kanbur & Ghani, 2012). This dis-enchantment towards informality will ultimately leave the entire regulatory framework oppressive and in turn unsuccessful. There is no doubt in establishing that urbanization goes hand in hand with in-formalization and thus can’t be neglected but needed to be dealt with proper institutional channels.
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Editorial Board Co-ordinator: Shreya Dixit Editors: Abhay Yadav, Abhishek Acharya, Akheela Ashraf, Ashwin Jangalapalli, Gopal Gajbhiye, Krishna Teja Inapudi, Rajasindhura Aravalli, Rajeev Agur, and Yeshwanth Kumar
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