印度亟需反思城乡关系_图文

1、印度亟需反思城乡关系Indias 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

2、while largely ignoring growing cities.印度备受尊崇的独立运动领袖圣雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi认为,“真正的”印度存在于乡村中，城市则是腐朽堕落、外国势力汇聚的堡垒。这一偏见深刻影响了数十年来印度的政策这一政策主要注重于改善农村地区条件，而基本忽略了不断发展的城市地区。India is urbanising rapidly as young people from the countryside flock to cities in search of jobs and economic opportunities. Some estimates

3、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，来自乡村的年轻人大量涌入城市，寻找工作以及赚钱机会。一些估算显示，平均每分钟就有30名印度人从农村迁往城市地区。Yet, after decades of neglect, Indian cities are struggling to cope. They are plagued with problems including choking air pollution, snarling traffic, and short

4、ages of everything from water and affordable homes to schools, public transport and open spaces.但在被政府忽视了数十年之后，印度城市眼下难以招架这样的人口涌入。困扰印度城市的问题包括呛人的空气污染、喧嚣嘈杂的交通以及各种资源的短缺(从自来水、价格合理的住房到学校、公共交通以及公共空间。Indian cities fare poorly on liveability indices. Experts on urbanisation warn that conditions are likely to

5、deteriorate without dramatic action that changes how Indian cities are governed, including new finance arrangements for urban infrastructure.印度城市在宜居指数排行榜上名次不佳。城市化领域的专家警告称，如果不采取重大举措改变目前印度城市的管理方式包括针对城市基础设施建设的新融资安排城市地区的状况很可能进一步恶化。“India has been a very reluctant urbaniser,” says Amitabh Kant, head of t

6、he governments National Institution for Transforming India. “In todays 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 worlds top 100.印度政府下属的“改造印度国家研究院”(National I

7、nstitution for Transforming India负责人阿米塔布康德(Amitabh Kant表示：“印度对待城市化一直是不情不愿的。当今世界，互相竞争的已不是国家，而是城市。孟买(Mumbai、金奈(Chennai、德里(Delhi它们本应发展成为世界级大都市。”相反，他指出，这些城市没能跻身全球前100大城市。But Indias prime minister Narendra Modi, elected two years ago, differs from many of his predecessors in his view of cities, which he

8、touts as hubs of entrepreneurial energy that can drive economic growth and potentially offer ways to lift people out of poverty.但两年前当选的印度现任总理纳伦德拉莫迪(Narendra Modi对城市的看法不同于以往的许多任印度总理，他将城市宣扬为汇聚创业活力的中心，能够推动经济增长，同时还可能提供帮助民众摆脱贫困的方式。During his 2014 election campaign, Mr Modi spoke often of the need to crea

9、te “smart cities”. 在他2014年的竞选活动中，莫迪常常谈到打造“智慧城市”的必要性。Now in power, he is putting the management of Indias urbanisation process higher than it has ever been on the countrys policy agenda and he has started two programmes aimed at improving urban infrastructure and planning.作为现任总理，莫迪把对印度城市化进程的管理提到了该国政策

10、议程表上前所未有的靠前位置，此外他还启动了两个旨在改善城市基础设施和城市规划的项目。“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.”世界银行(Wor

11、ld Bank城市化专家巴哲E梅赫塔(Barjor E Mehta表示：“在印度国内，公开支持城市化是一件很不容易的事。但现任总理从一开始就把城市化这个词当做机遇来说，不带任何负面含义。”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 sp

12、aces.莫迪启动的第一个城市化项目名为Amrut，该项目计划在五年的时间里向500个印度城市提供约75亿美元资金，用于投资清洁饮用水、下水道系统、公共交通以及公共空间等基本的基础设施。Mr Modis government has also launched its so-called Smart Cities Mission, in which cities compete for funds to redevelop different zones and improve public services.莫迪政府还启动了所谓的“智慧城市计划”(Smart Cities Mission，在

13、该项目中，城市之间将竞争资助资金，以用于重新开发不同的区域及改进公共服务。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.公众参与度对于哪些城市能够获得资助提名至关重要未能展现出公众积极参与的城市将在竞争中遭到淘汰。到目前为止，已有20个城市被选为了资助对象。“Its

14、an innovation programme where new things can be done and, if the arrangements work, we will try to mainstream them,” says Mr Mehta. “Youve also made cities compete for the first time, and generated a lot of interest.”梅赫塔表示：“这是一个能办成新事情的创新型项目，如果相关安排行之有效，我们将尝试将其大面积推广。该项目还首次激发了城市之间的相互比拼，引发了广泛关注。 ”“This is the first government in India that is talking about smart urbanisation,” says Mr Kant.康德称：“这是印度首届公开讨论智慧城市化的政府。”Even with such initiatives, however, India still faces an uphill battle to improve its cities and the quality of life of their residents.