印度亟需反思城鄉(xiāng)關(guān)系

India’s revered independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was of the view that “authentic” India lived in her villages while its cities were bastions of corruption and foreign influence. This bias has strongly influenced decades of Indian policy, which mainly focused on improving rural conditions while largely ignoring growing cities.

印度備受尊崇的獨立運動領(lǐng)袖圣雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi)認為,“真正的”印度存在于鄉(xiāng)村中，城市則是腐朽墮落、外國勢力匯聚的堡壘。這一偏見深刻影響了數(shù)十年來印度的政策——這一政策主要注重于改善農(nóng)村地區(qū)條件，而基本忽略了不斷發(fā)展的城市地區(qū)。

India is urbanising rapidly as young people from the countryside flock to cities in search of jobs and economic opportunities. Some estimates suggest that 30 Indians move from a rural to an urban area every minute.

印度正在迅速走向城市化，來自鄉(xiāng)村的年輕人大量涌入城市，尋找工作以及賺錢機會。一些估算顯示，平均每分鐘就有30名印度人從農(nóng)村遷往城市地區(qū)。

Yet, after decades of neglect, Indian cities are struggling to cope. They are plagued with problems including choking air pollution, snarling traffic, and shortages of everything from water and affordable homes to schools, public transport and open spaces.

但在被政府忽視了數(shù)十年之后，印度城市眼下難以招架這樣的人口涌入。困擾印度城市的問題包括嗆人的空氣污染、喧囂嘈雜的交通以及各種資源的短缺(從自來水、價格合理的住房到學(xué)校、公共交通以及公共空間)。

Indian cities fare poorly on liveability indices. Experts on urbanisation warn that conditions are likely to deteriorate without dramatic action that changes how Indian cities are governed, including new finance arrangements for urban infrastructure.

印度城市在宜居指數(shù)排行榜上名次不佳。城市化領(lǐng)域的專家警告稱，如果不采取重大舉措改變目前印度城市的管理方式——包括針對城市基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)的新融資安排——城市地區(qū)的狀況很可能進一步惡化。

“India has been a very reluctant urbaniser,” says Amitabh Kant, head of the government’s National Institution for Transforming India. “In today’s world, it is not nations that are competing with each other. It is cities. Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi — they should have been world-class cities.” Instead, he says, they do not figure in the world’s top 100.

印度政府下屬的“改造印度國家研究院”(National Institution for Transforming India)負責(zé)人阿米塔布•康德(Amitabh Kant)表示：“印度對待城市化一直是不情不愿的。當(dāng)今世界，互相競爭的已不是國家，而是城市。孟買(Mumbai)、金奈(Chennai)、德里(Delhi)——它們本應(yīng)發(fā)展成為世界級大都市。”相反，他指出，這些城市沒能躋身全球前100大城市。

But India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, elected two years ago, differs from many of his predecessors in his view of cities, which he touts as hubs of entrepreneurial energy that can drive economic growth and potentially offer ways to lift people out of poverty.

但兩年前當(dāng)選的印度現(xiàn)任總理納倫德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)對城市的看法不同于以往的許多任印度總理，他將城市宣揚為匯聚創(chuàng)業(yè)活力的中心，能夠推動經(jīng)濟增長，同時還可能提供幫助民眾擺脫貧困的方式。

During his 2014 election campaign, Mr Modi spoke often of the need to create “smart cities”. 在他2014年的競選活動中，莫迪常常談到打造“智慧城市”的必要性。

Now in power, he is putting the management of India’s urbanisation process higher than it has ever been on the country’s policy agenda and he has started two programmes aimed at improving urban infrastructure and planning.

作為現(xiàn)任總理，莫迪把對印度城市化進程的管理提到了該國政策議程表上前所未有的靠前位置，此外他還啟動了兩個旨在改善城市基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和城市規(guī)劃的項目。

“In this country, it is very hard to be overtly pro-urban,” says Barjor E Mehta, an urban specialist at the World Bank. “But right from the beginning, this prime minister used the word urbanisation as an opportunity, not with a negative connotation.”

世界銀行(World Bank)城市化專家巴哲•E•梅赫塔(Barjor E Mehta)表示：“在印度國內(nèi)，公開支持城市化是一件很不容易的事。但現(xiàn)任總理從一開始就把城市化這個詞當(dāng)做機遇來說，不帶任何負面含義。”

The first programme, known as Amrut, plans to give about $7.5bn to 500 Indian cities over five years for investments in basic amenities such as clean drinking water, sewerage, public transport and public spaces.

莫迪啟動的第一個城市化項目名為Amrut，該項目計劃在五年的時間里向500個印度城市提供約75億美元資金，用于投資清潔飲用水、下水道系統(tǒng)、公共交通以及公共空間等基本的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。

Mr Modi’s government has also launched its so-called Smart Cities Mission, in which cities compete for funds to redevelop different zones and improve public services.

莫迪政府還啟動了所謂的“智慧城市計劃”(Smart Cities Mission)，在該項目中，城市之間將競爭資助資金，以用于重新開發(fā)不同的區(qū)域及改進公共服務(wù)。

Public participation was crucial for putting together the proposals — cities that could not show citizen engagement were eliminated from the contest. So far 20 have been selected for funding.

公眾參與度對于哪些城市能夠獲得資助提名至關(guān)重要——未能展現(xiàn)出公眾積極參與的城市將在競爭中遭到淘汰。到目前為止，已有20個城市被選為了資助對象。

“It’s an innovation programme where new things can be done and, if the arrangements work, we will try to mainstream them,” says Mr Mehta. “You’ve also made cities compete for the first time, and generated a lot of interest.”

梅赫塔表示：“這是一個能辦成新事情的創(chuàng)新型項目，如果相關(guān)安排行之有效，我們將嘗試將其大面積推廣。該項目還首次激發(fā)了城市之間的相互比拼，引發(fā)了廣泛關(guān)注。 ”

“This is the first government in India that is talking about smart urbanisation,” says Mr Kant.

康德稱：“這是印度首屆公開討論智慧城市化的政府。”

Even with such initiatives, however, India still faces an uphill battle to improve its cities and the quality of life of their residents.

但即便有了此類積極舉措，印度要想改善城市條件以及城市居民的生活質(zhì)量仍然面臨艱巨挑戰(zhàn)。

According to Shirish Sankhe, a director at consultants McKinsey, India has been spending just $17 per city resident per year on infrastructure and services while the actual need is about $130.

咨詢公司麥肯錫(McKinsey)董事希里什•?？?Shirish Sankhe)指出，印度每年在每個城市居民身上投入的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和公共服務(wù)支出僅為17美元，而實際所需的支出約為130美元。

Although Mr Modi’s schemes will raise urban expenditure slightly, they still fall far short of the nearly $950bn that a high-level panel estimated that India needs to spend on urban infrastructure over 20 years to meet the needs of its cities.

據(jù)一個高規(guī)格的專家小組估算，未來二十年印度需在城市基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)領(lǐng)域支出近9500億美元，方能滿足各個城市的需求。雖然莫迪的計劃將略微提高政府在城市地區(qū)的投入，但仍遠遠不夠。

Solving such problems is not just a question of funding. India also requires new political arrangements to help administer its growing cities, which are now managed by short-term municipal commissioners who usually serve just two years before moving on.

解決城市面臨的種種問題不僅要解決建設(shè)資金來源。印度還需要新的政治制度設(shè)計，為管理日漸擴張的城市提供助力。目前印度城市由任期較短的市政官管理，他們通常任滿兩年即會調(diào)任。

“Indian cities are not well governed,” says Mr Sankhe. “The political empowerment of cities is poor, and you can’t really hold anybody fully accountable.”

?？品Q：“印度城市的管理水平不高。城市被賦予的政治權(quán)利很小，而且你無法真的讓任何人負起總責(zé)。”

Even the matter of how many Indians currently live in urban areas is a subject of significant debate. According to India’s 2011 census, just over 31 per cent of the country’s 1.2bn people live in areas that are recognisably urban, up from 27.8 per cent of its population a decade earlier.

就連目前有多少印度人生活在城市地區(qū)，也是一個頗有爭議的問題。根據(jù)印度2011年的人口調(diào)查，在印度的12億人口中，僅有略高于31%的人生活在公認的城市地區(qū)，十年前的比重為27.8%。

Yet many of these urbanised areas are not even officially recognised as cities or governed as such. India now has more than 3,900 of what it calls “census towns”, which are urbanised areas that are still classified as rural and governed with traditional rural arrangements, such as village councils.

但很多此類城市化地區(qū)甚至未被官方認可為城市，或是被當(dāng)做城市進行管理。印度目前有超過3900個所謂的“人口普查鎮(zhèn)”，這些地區(qū)已經(jīng)實現(xiàn)了城市化，但仍然被劃為農(nóng)村，并按傳統(tǒng)農(nóng)村的模式管理，例如有村莊委員會。

Many places prefer to remain designated as “rural” as they gain access to more government-funded programmes — including social welfare schemes, such as the rural employment guarantee scheme — that are not available in urban locations. Yet these increasingly non-rural areas are then excluded from appropriate urban services and expand in a haphazard manner.

很多地區(qū)更愿意被繼續(xù)劃為“農(nóng)村”，因為這樣便能參與更多的政府資助項目——包括農(nóng)村就業(yè)保障等社會福利計劃——而這些項目是城市地區(qū)無法享受的。但這樣的話，這些愈發(fā)去農(nóng)村化的地區(qū)便無法獲得應(yīng)有的城市服務(wù)，并以一種隨意的方式擴張。

India’s biggest problem is that most of the strong revenues generated by its cities — through such means as property taxes — are not spent to improve the cities themselves but are instead used to support rural areas. Answers to these problems will becoming increasingly important as up to 590m Indians, are expected to be living in cities by 2030, up from 340m in 2008.

印度最大的問題是，由城市地區(qū)創(chuàng)造的豐厚稅收收入——例如來自物業(yè)稅的收入——大多沒有被用于改善城市自身條件，而被用于支持農(nóng)村地區(qū)。找到化解這些問題的對策將變得愈加重要，因為預(yù)計到2030年將有多達5.9億印度人生活在城市地區(qū)， 而2008年還只有3.4億人。