RAMJAS COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
EST.1917

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
URBAN ISSUES
Presented by: B.Sc. Physical Science
Section C
Semester II
GROUP MEMBERS
024 Abhay Sundriyal

033 Surbhi Gole

023 Simran Chahal

020 Ayush Pathak

034 Aman Beniwal

015 Kavita Gulia

DISCUSSION STRUCTURE
Topics we will tackle

 Introduction
 Degraded Environmental Quality
 Traffic Congestion
 Urban Crimes
 Unemployment
 Water Shortage
 Housing Problems
Introduction
• Urbanization - Urbanization is the movement of people from rural areas
to urban areas like towns and cities.

• In India, it began to accelerate after independence, due to the country’s

adoption of a mixed economy, which gave rise to the development of the
private sector.
• In our country, urbanization is unplanned due to an uncontrolled
migration. As a result, there is a rapid rise in urban population leading
to many problems like overcrowding, unemployment etc on which we
will discuss in depth.
Degraded Environmental Quality

024 Abhay Sundriyal

DEGRADED ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY??

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the

environment through depletion of resources such as

i. quality of air, water and soil

ii. the destruction of ecosystems
iii. habitat destruction
iv. the extinction of wildlife, and
v. pollution.
How can environmental degradation be related to urban issue?

As population increases Environmental degradation also occurs

very rapidly causing many problems like:
o land insecurity
o poor water quality
o air pollution
o noise and the problems of waste disposal
Depleting water quality
 One of the consequences of overpopulation is the
pressure that is put on available water resources.

 By the year 2030 approximately 50% of the worlds’

population will be living in regions around the globe
that are considered “water stressed”, a term defined
as when the demand for water exceeds the amount
that is available, either due to lack of it, or poor
quality.

 Increasing water demand follows population

growth, economic development and changing
consumption patterns. Global water demand has
increased by 600% over the past 100 years.
Air pollution
 Air pollution represents a prominent threat to global society by causing
cascading effects on individuals, medical systems, ecosystem health, and
economy.

 About 90% of global citizens lived in areas that exceed the safe level in the
World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines.

 Among all types of ecosystems, urban produce roughly 78% of carbon emissions
and airborne pollutants that adversely affects over 50% of the world’s
population living in them.
Solid waste management

 Around the world, waste generation rates are rising. In 2016, the worlds’
cities generated 2.01 billion tons of solid waste.

 With rapid population growth, annual waste generation is expected to

increase by 70% from 2016 levels to 3.40 billion tons in 2050.

 Compared to those in developed nations, residents in developing countries,

especially the urban poor, are more severely impacted by unsustainably
managed waste.

 In low-income countries, over 90% of waste is often disposed in unregulated

dumps or openly burned. Poorly managed waste serves as a breeding ground
for disease vectors, contributes to global climate change through methane
generation.
TRANSPORT CONGESTION
033 Surbhi Gole
Is India condemned to a complete gridlock due to its fast pace of urbanisation? Is urban
mobility slowing only at peak hours or slow all the time?

India is a country with the second largest road network in the world.
Out of the total stretch of 5.4 million km of road network, almost 98,000 km is covered by national
highways.

But still the traffic picture in all Indian cities is extremely un­
satisfactory.

With traffic bottleneck and traffic congestion, almost all urban cities
in India are suffering from transport problem.
Definition and Causes
Traffic Congestion is a condition in a transport that is characterised by

 Slow movement of traffic.

 Increased travel time, fuel wastage
 Environmental pollution and causes stress.

Thus, reducing the overall productivity.

Causes

1. Rapid urbanization.
2. Vehicle registrations have increased by almost threefold in the last decade.

3. People not using public transport.

In 2011, with nearly 17 million registered vehicles,
the four big cities—Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and
Hyderabad—alone accounts for 12.3% of the total
number of registered vehicles in the country.
Delhi accounts for the highest vehicle population with
almost 6.3 million vehicles. (source Sarma et al., 2011)
The given graph shows the growth of registered vehicles
in India in millions.
It can be noticed from the graph that two-wheelers are
a dominant form of private transport on Indian roads
constituting about 71.8% of the registered vehicles in
2011.
The share of buses is negligible in most Indian cities as compared to personalised vehicles.
For example: two-wheelers and cars together constitute at least 91% of the total vehicles in
Ahmedabad, Delhi (90%), Lucknow (93%) and Nagpur (91%) whereas in these cities’ buses
constitute only 1%, 0.7%, 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.

100% Share of two-wheelers

93%
and cars
91% 90% 91%
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%
1.00% 0.70% 0.30% 0.40%
0%
Ahmedabad Delhi Lucknow Nagpur

two-wheeler & car bus Column1

CASE STUDY AREA: PUNE
Pune is in a jam (source Hindustan Times, Aug 2019)

o Pune is set to become one of the largest cities in

India, but its plans to solve road congestion aren’t
helping.
o In one of its documents on Smart City project, the
Pune Municipal Corporation states that the city
‘aspires to become global urban centre’.
o The population of Pune and adjoining areas has
already touched 55 lakh and is expected to grow one
crore by 2030.
o Ramchandra Gohad, a senior urban town planner, said, “From 1982 till
2017, Pune has grown beyond recognition. If the city’s traffic has to be
improved, there is need for strong infrastructure in place which is
currently lacking.”

o In the last few years, one of the common solution authorities have offered
to minimise the traffic chaos is to build flyovers.

o The citizens expect pace in getting the infrastructure projects along with
better traffic policing to avoid jams, which has become an everyday scene
in the city.
EFFECTS OF CONGESTION
 Waste of valuable time - On average, travellers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata
spend 5 hours more on their daily commutes than their counterparts in other.
 Economic loss - India’s biggest cities may be losing up to $22 billion annually to traffic
congestion.
 Air and noise pollution

SOLUTIONS FOR THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION

 Proper dividation of road should be done.
 Proper channelization of tempo and buses should be done.
 Heavy motor vehicle should not enter at peak hours.
 Peak hour traffic management should be maintained by traffic police.
 Use of Intelligent Traffic Monitoring System.
URBAN CRIMES
023 Simran Chahal
URBAN CRIMES
These are the crimes which take place in urban areas. It makes city life
unsafe. The problem increases with the growth in urbanization.

Types of Urban Crimes:

1.Abuse- Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing often to unfairly gain.
It can come in many forms such as; physical or verbal maltreatment rape ,unjust
practices or other types of aggression.
2.Rape- It is a word for sexual assault. It can also 3.Murder-It is the crime of unlawfully
mean to plunder or strip something of resources. killing a person especially with malice
This word isn't an obscenity, but its meaning is. aforethought.
4.Kidnapping- Criminal offense consisting of the
unlawful taking and carrying away of a person by
force or fraud or detention of a person against his
will.
5.Cyber-crime - Also called computer
crime, the use of a computer as an
instrument to further illegal ends,
such as committing fraud, trafficking
in child pornography, stealing
identities or violating privacy.
CAUSES OF URBAN CRIMES
o The unchecked and unplanned growth of cities as well as a large floating population are
major contributing factors for urban crimes. Criminal propensity is also known to be higher
in urban industrial areas.
o Nature:
(a)Younger people tend to have higher rates of crime.
(b)Some people suggest teenagers can be more impulsive and can act without
considering the consequences.
o Nurture:
Nurture argument says that people are more likely to commit crime because of world
around them i.e., they are living in poverty, drink alcohol or experience peer pressure.

IMPACTS OF URBAN CRIMES

1.Reduces safety
2.Disrupts social order
3.Creates serious economic cost to both the people and the nation at large.
SUGGESTIONS TO MINIMIZE URBAN CRIMES
1. With advancements in the field of criminology, we have tools to gather scientific
evidence to focus on hotspots or habitual offenders.
2. The focus of the executives should be on preventing the conditions that lead people to
criminality which ultimately leads to the commission of offences.
3. Criminality has proliferated even to the web and it is high time now to take some strict
actions against the cyberspace.

CONCLUSION
Trends in crime and the crime rate in India over the past four decades is always fluctuating.
In India economic, political, and social factors play a crucial role in the commission of
crimes. If these factors should be controlled and stabilized, we can anticipate the
improvement of the crime situation which in turn would reduce the overall crime rate.
UNEMPLOYMENT
020 Ayush Pathak
Unemployment: - The term unemployment refers to a situation when a person
who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work.

1. It is considered to be a key measure of the health of the economy.

2. The most frequent measure of unemployment is the unemployment rate, which
is the number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the
labour force.
Types of Unemployment
Digging deeper, unemployment—both voluntary and involuntary—can be broken down into
four types.

1) Frictional Unemployment: Occurs when people voluntarily change jobs within an

economy. After a person leaves a company, it naturally takes time to find another job.
2) Cyclical Unemployment: It is the variation in the number of unemployed workers over the
course of economic upturns and downturns, such as those related to changes in oil prices.
3) Structural Unemployment: Technological changes, such as the replacement of horse-
drawn transport by automobiles or the automation of manufacturing, lead to unemployment
among workers displaced from jobs that are no longer needed.
4) Institutional Unemployment: Institutional unemployment results from long-term or
permanent institutional factors and incentives in the economy.
Causes of Unemployment
 Inadequate Economic Growth
 Increase in Population
 Loss of Small-Scale Industries
 Labour Immobility
 Lack of essential skills

IMPACTS
 The problem of unemployment gives rise to the problem of poverty.
 Young people after a long time of unemployment indulge in illegal and wrong activities for
earning money which leads increase in crime in the country.
 It is often seen that unemployed people end up getting addicted to drugs and alcohol or attempts
suicide, leading losses to the human resources of the country.
Suggestions to Solve Unemployment Problem

(i) Policy regarding seasonal unemployment

(ii) Change in education system
(iii) More assistance to self-employed people
(iv) Increase in Production
(v) High rate of capital formation
(vi) Population control
WATER SHORTAGE
034 Aman Beniwal
Water shortage— where demand exceeds availability—is a key determinant of water
security and directly affects the wellbeing of urban residents and urban environmental
quality.

o At present, many of the world’s urban populations face water scarcity. Population growth
and urbanization are expected to increase water demand by 50–80% over the next three
decades.
o In the summer of 2019, Chennai’s reservoirs ran dry, forcing the government to truck in 10
million litres of water a day.
o For a city that gets an average of 1,400 mm of rainfall a year, more than twice what London
receives, this was striking.
o And not just Chennai, cities across India have been facing acute water shortages due to
massive population growth and rapid, unplanned urbanisation.
According to a 2020 report by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) ‘By 2050, at
least 30 Indian cities will face a grave water risk.’
o At present, 163 million people do not have access to safe drinking-water in India. In urban
areas, 96% have access to an improved water source.

o In addition, there is a lack of waste-water treatment facilities to treat the wastewater of a

growing population. There is a need to reuse treated wastewater in order to meet the
current and future demands for water.

o The prevention of pollution of water sources is extremely critical in order to continue to

supply water of quality standards.

o Available data suggests that pollution levels have increased in surface water as well as
groundwater. More than 100 million people in urban areas exposed to poor water quality.
According to a World Bank study, of the 27 Asian cities with populations of
over 1,000,000
 Chennai and Delhi are ranked as the worst performing metropolitan cities
in terms of hours of water availability per day, while
 Mumbai is ranked as second worst performer and Calcutta fourth worst.
(Source: Background Paper - International Conference on New Perspectives
on Water for Urban & Rural India - 18-19 September, 2001, New Delhi)

Delhi:

1. The nation's capital is perpetually in the grip of a water crisis,

more so during the dry season, when the situation gets

particularly worse.
2. Of the water supplied by the municipality, approximately 11% comes from

groundwater reserves and remaining from the Yamuna River.

3. In Delhi approximately 13% households do not receive water every day.

 Chennai and Bengaluru, once water abundant cities, have both faced challenges related to
water security in the recent past.
 While Chennai faced one of its worst water crises in 2018-19, Bengaluru delayed
impending water day zero in 2019 by further exploiting the Cauvery River with tankers
supplying water to over 50% of the city.
 In both cities, water resources are overworked and overused, and not adequately
replenished.
Solutions:
 Development of watersheds

 Improving storage of surface water

 Recharging groundwater

 Mitigating floods through storm water

drains
HOUSING PROBLEMS
015 Kavita Gulia
Housing problems: -

Housing may be defined as an architectural unit for accommodation in order to protect the
occupants from the forces of nature.
● Housing covers all the services and community facilities which are essential to human
well-being.
● It includes water supply, sanitation, and disposal of water, recreation and other basic
amenities of life.
Role of Housing:

Housing performs multiple functions including many social needs of the

household:

1. closely associated to the process of overall socio-economic development.

2. Provides shelter and raises the quality of life.
3. Generates conditions which are congenial to the achievement of social
objectives such as health, sanitation and education.
4. Provides employment opportunities to the rural and urban people.
VARIOUS PROBLEMS REGARDING HOUSING

1.Connectivity- For Affordable Housing to be truly sustainable, it is important for both development
and throughput to be speedy and large scale. However, the lack of affordable and adequately
sized land parcels in inner urban localities has driven the development of Affordable Housing to
urban peripheries.

2. Cost of ownership- Lack of affordable land, various forms of taxes like Service Tax, Stamp
Duty etc. constitutes anywhere between 30% to 35% of the home cost, which increases the cost
of home ownership.
(i) Homelessness
(ii) Shortages of housing
(iii) Entitlement to land
(iv) Entitlement to housing
Affordable HOUSING Schemes in India

1. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

2. Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana

3. DDA Housing Scheme

4. Rajiv Awas Yojana

5. NTR Housing Scheme

6. Tamil Nadu Housing Board Scheme

7. MHADA Lottery Scheme

 Conclusion
The government has now started focusing on providing housing facilities but

has not thought much about solving problems that are connected with human

settlements, such as the problems of improving and managing the civic

services, constructing inexpensive houses and conserving energy and

recycling waste lack of proper water supply and sanitation facilities for

drainage system and garbage disposal are major problems in most of the

modem urban centres of today.

References
o Pune is in a jam: Why flyovers haven’t helped traffic congestion - Hindustan Times
o Urban Mobility: What causes India’s congestion? | The Financial Express
o Traffic Congestion in Delhi: Causes, Outcomes and Solutions - India (mapsofindia.com)
o Chart: The Cities With The Worst Traffic Congestion | Statista
o https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in
o lawtimesjournal.in
o bbc.co.uk
o https://www.statista.com
o https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unemployment.asp
o https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-economy-3/poverty-and-unemploymen
t/unemployment/causes-of-unemployment-in-india/
o https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/unemployment-in-india#:~:text
=latest%20data)%3A-,The%20unemployment%20rate%20in%20India%20ros
e%20to%207.2%20percent%20in,million%20employed%20in%20February%2
02017
.
o https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/articles/suggestions-to-solve-
unemployment-problem/2287
THANK YOU!