Norms and standards of municipal basic services in India: Report by the National Institute of Urban Affairs

Studies indicate that the levels of infrastructure services available in urban regions in India are improving, however their quality is still debatable. This paper uses secondary data available from various government report to review the norms and standards for the following basic services

• Water supply
• Sewereage
• Solid waste management
• Primary education
• Preventive health care

In addition resource gaps and measures to bridge these gaps are also examined.The paper is organised into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Review of the norms and standards for the provision of basic services
• recommendations given by the state finance commissions for urban basic services
• Infrastructure norms and urban poverty
• Estimated additional investment needs for provision of basic services as suggested by the Zakaria Committee and Planning Commission
• Operation and maintenance requirements for maintaining urban basic services
• Estimation of resource gap
• Ways and mean to bridge the resource gap
• Municipal reforms in urban governance
• Conclusions and suggestions

This data intensive report includes recommended norms for the five basic services and their components as suggested by various organisations. It also provides an overview of the national programmes concerned with the provision of infrastructure services in urban regions. The investment needs required for provision, operation and maintenance of basic services in various states are also discussed.

The following data sets are included in the appendices:

• Table 1: Norms and standards of water supply
• Table 2: Norms and standards of sewerage/sanitation system
• Table 3: Norms and standards of solid waste collection and disposal
• Table 4: Norms and standards of primary education
• Table 5: Norms and standards of primary health care

These tables include the physical standards, costs of provision, and costs of operation and maintenance recommended by various agencies. The annexures present the criteria adopted by state finance commissions on norms and standards.

Conclusions:

The  authors recommend that new norms and standards may be set considering the constraints faced by municipalities. A revolving fund needs to be created to meet the O&M requirements for created assets. While services may be contracted to private agencies, control and responsibility needs to reside with the local governing body.