The Centre has asked the states to repeal archaic housing rent laws. The Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja said this will help instill confidence in people in rental housing sector. She also sought private partnership to reduce the gap in demand and supply of housing in urban areas and appealed to private developers to focus on affordable housing sector instead of catering only to the needs of a small section where the demand is limited.

She was releasing a report by a technical group on estimating urban housing shortage for the 12th Five Year Plan in New Delhi on Saturday.

AIR correspondent reports, the group has estimated housing shortage of 18.78 million at the beginning of the 12th Plan period. The maximum shortage exists among economically weaker sections and low income groups. The report has suggested several measures, including bringing vacant houses into the housing market through taxation and incentives polices, to eliminate housing shortage.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday urged the Centre to place adequate funds at disposal of the states. This is to ensure all round urban development through the Local Government Institutions.

Addressing the 105th National Executive Committee Meeting of the All India Council of Mayors (AICM) at Bathinda he pleaded for liberal grant of funds by Centre. He said states alone cannot execute development works in the urban sector due to paucity of funds. Chief Minister asked the Mayors to frame such policies under which lower and middle class could get houses on affordable prices to solve the problem of mushrooming of slums.

The Urban Development Ministry today said that satellite images of 152 towns have been procured by Survey of India under the National Urban Information System, NUIS scheme. In order to facilitate the preparation of ‘Master Plan’ of cities, the Ministry of Urban Development had launched the NUIS Scheme in March 2006. Under the scheme the local bodies of 152 towns and cities in the country are to get detailed maps provided by satellites for making plans in the cities. Such a comprehensive information infrastructure with a spatial database and the Geographic Information System can be made available to all departments in states so that plan formulation is done in a cost effective and efficient manner.

Interacting with Media persons, Dr. Sudhir Krishna, Secretary of the Urban Development Ministry said the city master plan is a fundamental planning document which may provide solutions to many city problems. He said that a Geographical Information Database has been generated for 142 towns under the scheme.

The Government will speed up the development of satellite towns near mega cities to ease the pressure of urbanisation. The Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr. Sougat Roy said this in New Delhi while inaugurating a Conference on the creation of an International Financial hub at New town in Kolkatta. 

He said, the Financial Hub will be developed at par with global standards to boost business and jobs creation. Mr. Roy added that development of Satellite towns with full fledged infrastructural facilities, including metro trains will offer better living environment to the people. 

India and Germany have decided to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development through exploration of solutions to problems of mutual concern and exchange of information.


The Joint Declaration envisages promoting discussion and strategies on integrated policies and principles for urban development and revitalization in the two countries.

It also envisages fostering fair, equitable and sustainable urban communities in the two countries and the ideals of a democratic society with equal opportunity for all.

He said it would provide an enabling platform for the officials, professionals and business leaders to meet and share knowledge and best practices in the urban sector. He expressed hope that this joint declaration will lead to enhanced cooperation and deepen the engagement between the two countries.

He informed that the Government is likely to launch the next phase of the Urban Renewal mission shortly with an allocation of around 40 billion US dollars over the 12th Five Year Plan period.

The country will add another 497 million to its urban population by 2050. According to a report released by the United Nations today, the largest increases in urban population are expected in countries like India, China, Nigeria, US and Indonesia.

The report titled ''2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects' says, urban population in Africa will increase from 414 million to over 1.2 billion by 2050 while that of Asia will soar from 1.9 billion to 3.3 billion. It says, the projected increase in urban population in India and Nigeria between 2010 and 2050 will be higher than that of the past 40 years.

The unprecedented increase will provide new opportunities to improve education and public services in Africa and Asia, as more concentrated populations become easier to reach. However, this will also pose new challenges of providing urban jobs, housing, energy and infra­structure to mitigate urban poverty, expansion of slums and deterioration of the urban environment.