1. INTRODUCTION

Where does Chennai City stand with respect to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? How realistically can policy makers hope to improve upon these indicators in the near futures? What are the specific developmental challenges that the City administrators face now and what are the specific developmental programmes that are already in place or being planned to address such developmental challenges in the near future? What are the specific gaps in knowledge and efforts for addressing such issues? How best can developmental agencies, policy researchers, policy makers and people at large participate in addressing effectively developmental issues specific to Chennai City in the years to come?

The purpose of this report is to present the available evidence for Chennai City in the light of questions such as the ones mentioned above, and use them as a sounding board for further reflections to make the policy making process more effective in the years to come.

This report, which provides baseline data on a number of indicators of progress, could be used for assessing the impact of several developmental programmes in the future, despite the gaps in data in several respects, as will be made clear from the following sections.

The report is organized as follows: Section provides an overview of the structure of City’s governance and administration. It highlights some of the salient features of the present administrative structure and how they are equipped to address many challenges peculiar to large cities such as Chennai city.

Section 3 highlights some of the recent policy initiatives and programmes that are both unique to the City and a part of state level developmental programmes. This chapter in particular highlights (a) a programme that aims to manage solid wastes through “source collection and segregation” (b) significant efforts being made to conserve water and overcome water shortage through Rain Water Harvesting RHW in the city (c) the introduction of Activity Based Teaching in Corporation Schools (where close to 100,000 children are enrolled) which aims to eliminate rote learning and encourage self learning and (d) Health, Education and Awareness through Local Leaders HEAL, which is an innovative programme to reduce higher order births, reproductive tract infections and promote domiciliary new born care through community health workers and create health awareness among the young and adolescents in the city.

Section 4 provides an overview of trends with respect to MDGs in the city. In this chapter, we also identify a few crucial questions that require more in depth research in the future for better policy making.

Section 5 highlights Chennai Municipal Corporation’s priority areas for the future. Three specific areas have been identified as requiring immediate attention of the policy makers: improve child and maternal health, improve educational opportunities of children and provide better sanitation facilities and waste disposal methods.

The report concludes with a few suggestions for future policy research and action.

2. PROFILE OF THE CITY OF CHENNAI

Chennai, formerly known in English as Madras is a sprawling port city on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. One of the major Metropolitan cities of India, it is also the capital of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It is India's fourth largest city and ranks 35th among the fifty most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The city's diverse and rich cultural heritage is world-renowned.

The city has a total area of about 175 square kilometers. As per the 2001 Census, Chennai has a population of 4.216 million, with a density of 24,231 persons per square kilometers.

The city has tropical climate - hot and humid. The occasional sea breeze makes it a trifle more bearable at times. Temperatures soar highest in May (Between 40°C and 45°C). Winter in Chennai (December, January and February) is not worth the name. The monsoon is intermittent (July-August and September-November).

The majority of the population is native Tamil. But the city is also home to a sizable population from other states. Visitors can manage their way with English. Dubbed a sleepy and slow-paced city for long, today it is abuzz with activity - in business, industry, entertainment and leisure. This surge is most marked by the changing lifestyles of Chennai folk, who were once thought to be extremely tradition-bound.

Chennai is one of the leading cities in India today from the point of view of trade and commerce, with the fourth largest port in the country and the first to have developed a full-fledged container terminal to international standards. The port provides trade links with Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, Bangladesh, Ceylon and other far eastern countries. Chennai is also one of the most important industrial cities of the sub-continent.

2.1. City Governance and Administration Decentralization in General

"The success of democracy depends not only on the institutional forms that are adopted, but also on the vigour of practice. The political challenge for people around the world today is not just to replace authoritarian regimes with democratic ones. Beyond this, it is to make democracy work for ordinary people." - Amartya Sen

The involvement and participation of the people at all stages of planning, implementation and monitoring is a pre-requisite for good governance. Government policies and programmes can succeed only when people feel a sense of ownership and actively participate in them. Mere participation in the electoral process will not suffice. In India, the constitution and the government aim to achieve this much needed peoples’ participation.

Prior to 1992 local governments were referred, in the Indian Constitution, under the chapter ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’. Local governments (including Chennai Municipal Corporation) existed but there was discontinuity on several occasions. The elections to local governments were not held regularly and the devolution of financial and functional power was limited. It is only during 1992 that India embarked on what may prove to be one of the most significant changes in its structure of governance. The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution of India[1], which give local governments, rural and urban, the legal and constitutional status that they lacked earlier. These constitutional provisions expect the state governments to enact necessary legislation not only to create local governments but also to endow them with financial powers and functional responsibilities, as they may deem appropriate. They are also required to appoint a State Finance Commission (SFC) to recommend adequate devolution of finances from state government to local governments.

Now the constitution provides for decentralization of power to the people by providing powers and authority to local governments. Decision making powers relating to the wide-ranging subjects as listed in the twelfth schedule of the Constitution[2] is provided to CMC like other urban local governments.

After these amendments there is a three tier of government system at central (national), state and local (city or village) level. The State government is responsible for the proper functioning of the local governments. At the state level the department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply supervises the functioning of urban local governments.

The Corporation of Chennai is the oldest municipal institution in India. It was established on September 29, 1688. A charter was issued by East India Company “constituting the “Town of Fort St. George” and all the territories thereunto belonging, not exceeding the distance of ten miles from the Fort, into a corporation.” The Parliamentary Act of 1792 gave the corporation power to levy Municipal taxes in the city. The municipal administration properly commenced from the Parliamentary act of 1792. The Municipal Act has been amended, from time to time introducing changes in the constitution and power of the Corporation. The Chennai Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 as amended from time to time provides the basic statutory framework for the administration.

Over a period of time the role of the CMC has gone through many transformations. The role of CMC till 1971 consisted of the provision of full range of urban infrastructure and civic services, including basic educational and health services within the Chennai city. With the rapid growth of the city and with the urban population spilling beyond its limits and the inability of the CMC to raise adequate resources, several important development sectors have been transferred to specialized agencies created by the government of Tamil Nadu (state government). Currently, the CMC is mainly responsible for public health, education; provision and maintenance of roads, streetlights, solid-waste management, parks and play fields and other civic services.

CMC has been divided into 155 Divisions (wards) – each division has a councilor who is directly elected by the people. The organizational structure of Chennai Municipal Corporation is given in figures 1 and 2. The mayor who is elected directly by the people is the head of the city. He also presides over the council (city assembly) meetings. Six standing committees consisting of councilors (city assembly members) supervise the administrative work. These committees are also provided with certain financial and administrative powers. Following are the six Standing committees:

• Standing Committee for Taxation & Finance
• Standing Committee for Accounts
• Standing Committee for Education
• Standing Committee for Health
• Standing Committee for Town Planning
• Standing Committee for Works

[1] On 22-23 December 1992, the Parliament of India passed two Constitutional Amendments (73 and 74) and on 24 April 1993 they were incorporated as Part IX for the Panchayats and Part IX A for Municipalities.
[2] There are 29 subjects in the Eleventh Schedule applicable for the Panchayats and 18 subjects in the Twelfth Schedule for the Municipalities. They include subjects ranging from education, agriculture, drinking water, rural housing, health and sanitation to poverty alleviation programs, family welfare, small-scale industries etc.
[3] Elections are held once in every five years. After 1992 constitutional amendments elections were held during the year 1996 and 2001. There is an independent State Election Commission to conduct elections to all the local bodies, urban and rural.

Figure 3.1. Organization structure of Chennai Municipal Corporation Executive

Figure 3.2. Organization structure of Chennai Municipal Corporation, Operative

The city Commissioner is the Executive Officer, implementing the policies and programs of the council. He is an Indian Administrative Services officer born in Tamil Nadu and is posted by the state government. In order to administer civic services in a more effective way and to facilitate better provisions at the local level, the administrative jurisdiction of CMC is further divided into 10 zones. Each zone is headed by an officer with the rank of Assistant Commissioner. There is a system of Zonal Committees comprising councilors as members.

Council meetings are held at least once in every month. Councilors can bring up any subject that falls under the gambit of CMC for discussion during the meetings. The Council has the powers to pass resolutions, frame byelaws and to pass budget.

There are 18,500 permanent staff members in CMC. In addition to these there are nearly 3000 temporary staff members on consolidated wages. The above number does not include teachers (nearly 7000), who are state employees though they work for the corporation in its schools.

Popular participation in city government is ensured by direct election of the Mayor and 155 councilors. As per the constitution after the 74th constitutional amendment, a minimum of one third of the council seats must be filled by women (through election only) and seats are also reserved for the weaker section of the society in proportion to their population in the city.

2.2. Budget

The finance wing prepares annual budget of the CMC and the council approves it. All the standing committees are consulted during the process of budget making. The 73rd & 74th amendments paved the way for the constitution of a State Finance Commission, which recommends additional resources for the local bodies (including CMC) from the state government funds.

The revenue sources of the CMC can be classified as Tax Revenue, Non-tax Revenue and Assigned Revenue.

• Tax Revenue: Property tax, profession tax and company tax are the major contributors to the CMC’s revenue earnings. A Timber tax and advertisement tax are other taxes levied by the city.
• Non-Tax Revenue: Income from trade license fees, building license fees, market fees, advertisements on lamp posts/ hoardings, parking fees etc. fall under this head. Income from the rent on land and buildings, sale of rubbish and scrap and the grants assigned by the state government are also included under this category.
• Assigned Revenue - the revenue assigned by the state government. Tax is charged and collected by the state government and a portion of that is allotted to the local governments. This revenue is in form of:
• Duty on transfer of property (viz) stamp duty – 95 percent of the surcharge on stamp duty.
• Devolution of the funds as per the recommendation of State Finance commission.
• Entertainment tax – 90 percent of the entertainment tax collected in CMC area.

The Revenue Expenditure can be classified in to following categories:

• Staff salary and terminal & retirement benefits
• Operating expenses like power charges, store consumption, medicines, fuel charges etc.
• Repairs and maintenance like storm water drains and culverts, repair charges for vehicles, electrical installations etc.
• Program expenses like Family Welfare Program, noon meal, tree planting, etc.
• Administrative expenses such as telephone charges, printing and stationary etc.
• Interest on loan.

The CMC’s revenue income for 2004-05 is about Rupees 6000 million while its expenditure for the same is year is around Rupees 5904 millions. The Capital Receipts and Expenditure for this year is 258.0 million rupees and Rupees 258.3 millions, respectively.

Capital Receipts - 2580.6 millions

Capital Expenditure - 258.31 millions

The annual corporation budget since 1990-91 is given in Table3.1.

Table 3.1. Budged of the Chennai Corporation 2003-05

2.3. Specialized Agencies and Departments

Considering the size of the city, several specialized agencies have been setup by the state government to discharge specialized functions such as urban transport, housing, small and medium industries, water supply & sewerage, development of slums etc. These organizations are fully owned and controlled by the state government. Its commissioner represents Chennai Municipal Corporation on the Board of all these organizations.

• Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB)

It is responsible for water supply and sewerage facilities. This board looks after capital investment, maintenance and management of water and sewerage infrastructure.

• Small Industries Development (SIDCO)

Is a specialized corporation for the development of industrial infrastructure in the state. SIDCO has been engaged in the development of industrial estates, construction of industrial sheds, for industrial development in the small-scale sector through out the state including Chennai Municipal Area (CMA).

• Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB)

It was originally created to deal exclusively within Chennai city where the slum problem is acute. However the operation of TNSCB is now extended to other urban area of the state. TNSCB was set up under the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Act of 1971.

• Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB)

It was set up under the Tamil Nadu Housing Board Act. It is one of the agencies under the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The TNHB was the first specialized agency set up to increase the land supply for housing and housing stock by direct intervention, i.e., acquisition of land, provision of infrastructure and construction of dwelling units.

• Chennai Metro Transport Corporation

Metro Transport Corporation is responsible for providing public transport within the Chennai Municipal Area. Presently it is operating more than 6000 passenger buses.

3. PROJECT AND ACHIEVEMENTS

In recent years many innovative projects were launched in Chennai city. Source collection and segregation of garbage, Rain Water Harvesting, Activity Based Teaching, promoting institutional delivery and Birth Companion Scheme are some of the innovative approaches adopted by the CMC. The salient features of these schemes are described below.

3.1. Solid Waste Management through Source Collection and Segregation

Collection of garbage at source was launched during May 2003. As a prelude to this campaign consultations were held with all the stake-holders. A massive awareness campaign was launched to sensitize the citizen. Source collection of garbage was undertaken in a phased manner involving city staff and through community participation.

To cover over 3000 Km of lanes and roads 1415 tricycles were provided through various sources like commercial sponsors, ward development fund, Non Government Organizations (NGOs) and resident associations. Conservancy workers, 48% of whom are women, are provided with tricycles. One tricycle covers nearly 250 households.

There was an overwhelming response to this campaign from elected representatives, community and media and field staff/conservancy workers, who are relieved from cumbersome, unhygienic operation and long working hours. It was an indigenous effort of providing reliable service to the citizen by the city without any additional cost either for the CMC or for the community.

The conservancy operation is over in the forenoon itself. Due to source collection, the city could spare a large number of workers who were otherwise engaged in street sweeping operations. These workers were redeployed for collection purposes resulting in improved efficiency. The primary collection was synchronized with secondary collection. As a result, vehicles used for afternoon operation are reduced from as high as 130 to almost nil and night operation vehicles are reduced from nearly 54 to 14.

The total number of collection bins which used to be 13730 in 2002 has been reduced to 1500 in December 2004.

Having tested the success in `collection at source’ campaign, the city launched the campaign for ‘source segregation’ of garbage during November-December 2004. The objective is to segregate the bio-degradable and other wastes at source so that the disposal of garbage could be environment friendly.

Another massive awareness campaign involving teachers, NGOs, welfare association and conservancy staff was launched during Nov- December 2004. During this campaign a team of 3-4 members accompanied the conservancy worker when the later visited the households for collection of garbage. Simultaneously door-to-door campaigns and meetings were held with the resident associations, especially in multistoried apartments. The households are advised and motivated to segregate the garbage at their end. The conservancy staff collects only segregated garbage. They are at liberty to dispose the recyclable waste so collected. This way, each of the conservancy staff is in a position to earn 25 cents to $1.5 per day, on and above their wages. This incentive acts as a motivating factor for the conservancy staff to promote source segregation.

The source segregation program is in its incipient stage and its success is yet to be established fully. Nonetheless, the CMC has succeeded in sensitizing its population about the advantage of source segregation to city environment.

3.2. Rain water Harvesting

Drinking water is one of the essentials for existence of living beings. Surface and ground water are the two major sources of drinking water. The drinking water supply in urban areas is mostly centralized and is primarily from surface sources such as natural or impounded reservoirs. As the population density and usage levels are relatively high in urban areas, water agencies construct, operate and maintain huge surface water dams and reservoirs for meeting their water demands. However, individual households in urban areas also have their own bore wells/open wells to cater to water needs other than for potable water.

Chennai city depends on a few surface reservoirs outside the city limit which are fed by rain water. However, on one hand due to poor monsoon rains these reservoirs rarely receive suffiiient inflows resulting in water scarcity and on the other hand the city is fast growing, therefore, due to excessive pressure the ground water table is fast depleting and in some cases saline water intrusion is taking place.

The concept of rainwater harvesting lies in tapping the rain water where it falls. The rain water collected can be stored for direct use or can be recharged into the ground water. A major portion of the rain water that falls on the earth’s surface, runs-off from streams to rivers and finally to the sea. On an average, only 8 to 10 % of the total rainfall recharges the ground water aquifer and most of the remaining rainfall goes waste in the form of surface runoff or evaporation. The technique of rain water harvesting involves catching the rains from localized catchments such as the roof of a house, plain and slopping ground surfaces, etc. The rain water that falls on these catchments is diverted into dugout ponds, vessels or underground tanks to store for a longer period.

The annual rainfall in Chennai is in the range of 1200-1300mm. This is much higher than India’s overall average rainfall of 800mm. However, this rainfall occurs in short spells of a few days. On an average the city receives rainfall for only 300 hours, or only 12.5 days, throughout the year. The characteristics of this rainfall demands not only to conserve large quantity of rain water during these few days but also to store whenever it rains in metros like Chennai, preferably for direct use and alternatively to recharge ground water.

The following illustration gives an idea of the quantum of water which can be harvested in Chennai city. The calculations are valid for a building of with a flat terrace area of 100 square meters:

Rain water can be stored either in containers above or below ground level or it can be charged into ground as indicated below:

Figure 3.3. Rain water harvesting chart

From the rooftop water is collected through drain pipes (the first runoff is allowed to drain away as it may contain impurities) and diverted to a storage tank through a filter unit. The surplus water from this tank is connected either to existing wells or recharge pits constructed for this purpose. In case of open space areas such as grounds, roads, open area in houses, etc. recharge pits or trenches are constructed to harvest the rain water for ground water recharge. Existing open wells and bore wells which have become dysfunctional either due to lack of water or due to saline water intrusion are also used for rain water harvesting to recharge the ground water.

Chennai city faced severe water scarcity during the year 2001 and that acted as a flash point to stimulate rain water harvesting. A special campaign was launched as a people’s movement during July 2001 to popularize rain water harvesting by the institutions as well as individual households. Simultaneously, steps were also taken to provide rainwater harvesting in public buildings. Technical assistance cells were established in various organizations such as city Corporation office, city water agency’s office etc. An awareness campaign was launched through mass media, seminars, exhibitions, rallies, mobile publicity vans, etc. Rain centers demonstrating various methods of rain water harvesting were also established in different parts of the city. Rain water harvesting was made mandatory by promulgating an ordinance during July 2003. All the citizens were directed through this ordinance to provide Rain Water Harvesting structures in all the buildings before 31 August2003.

Today, Chennai city is a rain water friendly city. All the buildings, commercial as well as residential, are provided with rain water harvesting structures. This has helped in improving the ground water table as well as in improving the quality of ground water. Moreover during rainy season the dependence on water agency has come down.

3.3. Activity Based Teaching in Corporation Schools

Chennai Municipal Corporation (CMC) is running 264 primary and upper-primary schools. Nearly 95,000 children are studying in these schools and most of these children come from economically weaker sections of society mostly living in slums. The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) is 102 percent and Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 95 percent but the completion rate is only 59 percent. It indicates that the parents are willing to send their children to schools. However there is something wrong which is resulting in such poor completion rate. This is in spite of the fact that heavy incentives such as free education, free noon meal, free books and text books are offered. It is quite paradoxical that in spite of the very high access rate, favorable pupil-teacher ratio and strong incentives the learning out comes are poor. On diagnosis it became clear that neither the teachers nor the parents and children are responsible for poor educational out comers. It was the conventional education method which was responsible for poor out comers.

In the conventional system the teacher dominates, resulting in a uniform learning pace. The system does not ensure learning by all children. Instruction material is neither interesting nor attractive; the syllabus is covered by the teacher and not by the students; the problem of multi-grade and multilevel students is not addressed and the focus is on teaching rather than learning and unscientific evaluation methods.

To overcome these probvlems, CMC has evolved a unique method of teaching and learning based on activities. The text books are converted into attractive cards based on activities. Various competencies are split into different activities or parts and units. Each unit is called a milestone. Different activities are classified as Preparatory, Introduction, Practice, Reinforcement, Evaluation and Remedial & Enrichment. Each step of learning process is represented by Logos/Colour Scheme. A ladder poster consisting of milestones is provided in each classroom. This ladder is a comprehensive tool of learning progress and is also used for evaluation. Since each milestone has activities in a logical sequence, the teacher is in a much better position to organize the class easily by grouping.

There are several benefits of this methodology. Children learn at their own pace, self learning, group learning, cooperative learning and peer learning are possible. The teacher need not teach every item and this methodology envisages judicious use of teaching time. Evaluation is done without the child knowing it; the child’s participation at every step is ensured and it effectively addresses the Multi Grade / Multi Level situation. There is no scope for rote learning; attractive cards and activities create interest among children. Freedom of the child to choose his or her own activity; the child is free to move, to talk and to express, resulting in explanatory learning and the child constructs his own knowledge. No child can move to the next higher level of learning unless attaining the prescribed competencies. The classroom transaction is based on child’s needs and interests. Moreover the sense of achievement boosts child’s confidence and morale. This methodology has transformed the teacher-child relationship from authoritarian to facilitating and the classroom is transformed in to a democratic place with teacher at the centre.

3.4. Success in Child and Maternal Health Care

In Chennai city health services are offered by the private sector as well as by the government sector; hospitals are run by the state government as well as by CMC. The city is often dubbed as the health capital of the country for the excellent medical facilities available here. However these specialized treatments in private hospitals are relatively expensive.

The people from economically weaker sections of the society depend on the government sector especially on CMC run hospitals and health centers for health care. With the intention of reducing Infant and Maternal mortality (IMR and MMR), CMC took a number of steps in child and maternal health care. Emphasis is given to institutional delivery. Sterilization (family planning operation) facilities are provided in all the hospitals and health centers where deliveries take place. Emergency cesarean section is established in hospitals and health centers to save the mother in complicated cases.

Earlier anesthetists and surgeon were attending to out patient work and they were performing only an average of one surgery/month/doctor. Now all the anesthetists and surgeons of the Corporation Hospitals are pooled together and using their services 24 hour; EOC (Emergency Obstetric Care) services have been launched in 2 hospitals to save the mothers from dying in complicated cases. As a result the number of cesarean deliveries, which used to be around 130 until two years ago, has gone up to 1500 by 2004. To make it work Corporation also started hiring private doctors as and when necessary. In fact, Chennai Corporation is the only public body in the country hiring private doctors. Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) is also encouraged by the CMC health network in cases of accidental and unwanted pregnancies.

Another approach adopted by the Corporation is to allow a birth companion with the expectant mother. Unlike western societies where the husband is allowed to be by the side of the woman in labour pain and during delivery, in India it is seen as a taboo. Though in many private hospitals a woman companion is allowed but it is not the practice in government hospitals. CMC became the first in the state to allow a birth companion, a person chosen by the expectant mother to accompany her during delivery. The Birth companion gives emotional support to the mother and hence reduces emergency cesarean cases.

It can be seen from the figures in the following table that in a short span of two years institutional deliveries have increased by 36.3%, sterilization cases by 53.7% and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) by 71%. (See Table below)

Table 3.2. Changes in Institutional deliveries, sterilization, and MTP between 2002 and 2005

HEAL (Health, Education and Awareness through Local Leaders) Project

In order to ensure that full advantage is taken of the above mentioned health initiatives and in order to involve the community, this health education program was launched in the city. The main theme of this program is to train volunteers from the community who in turn bridge the gap between the community and the health system.

There are four main target areas of this health education campaigns:

1. 1. To reduce the incidences of higher order births. Presently, nearly 14 percent of births are higher order births i.e. 3rd or more births. In 90 percent of higher order birth cases pregnancy is a result of not following family planning methods (temporary or permanent birth control measures) or they do not have free excess to sterilization. Only in 10% cases the third or later child is a result of sex preference, mainly male child preference. In order to reduce higher order births, in the 90 percent of avoidable cases, steps are taken to provide permanent sterilization (family planning operation) facilities in all the hospitals.
2. 2. The second objective is to promote Domiciliary New Born Care by training the mother to take care of new born child. This training is imparted for one month through community volunteers. During the year 1972 the IMR of Tamil Nadu was 122 of which 32 were neonatal mortality (children died within 7 days of birth). By the year 2004 IMR has come down to 48 but the neonatal mortality was still 30. In the case of Chennai the IMR is 16 of which 14 are neonatal deaths. This indicates that IMR has come down mainly due to reduction in deaths due to preventable diseases as a result of vaccination coverage. However, the neonatal mortality is high. Therefore training mothers in child care will lead to a further reduction in IMR.
3. 3. The third component of the project is counseling of adolescent girls and boys.
4. 4. The fourth objective of this project is to address the problem of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI).

4. MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL

Basic Data

The decennial population growth rates for the Chennai city and the Chennai metropolitan area are shown in Table 3.3. The population of Chennai metropolitan area increased from 3,419,393 in 1971 to 7,040,217 in 2001, although the decennial growth rate showed a significant decline, from 35.37 percent during 1971-81 to 18.98 percent during 1991-2001. Like wise, the population of the Chennai city, which is smaller than the metropolitan area, increased from 2,572,967 in 1971 to 4,216,268 in 2001, with a substantial drop in decennial growth rate from 27.35 percent during 1971-81 to 11.10 percent during 1991-2001. The administrative area of Chennai city was enlarged by about 30 percent in 1980s due to addition of some suburban zones.

Table 3.3. Population growth of CMA and Chennai City

The vital statistics for the Chennai city is shown in Table 3.4: Both the birth and death rates have shown a marginal decline since 1990. But it must be acknowledged that the current BR and DR (17.32 and 3.21, respectively) are by any international standards very impressive. However, it may be useful to make a quick survey on the reported DR for the city as it appears too low by international trends. The projected population based on these trends for the next decade is shown in Table 3.5. With this projection the population density is expected to about 28,200 square kilometers.

Table 3.4. Population Data

Table 3.5. Projected population in Chennai City-2001 census

The population distribution by sex and age groups is given in Table 3.6. The highest population is in the age group of 20-29, which accounts for nearly one fifth of the population. Nearly 80 percent of the population is below the age of 50. Only 2 percent the population belongs to the older age group (above 70 years). The sex ratio is 1.05, which again is very noteworthy by international standards.

Table 3.6. Population by sex and age group distribution as on 1 April 1995

Data on in and out migration rates for Chennai city are not available. However, from the population data the net migration has been calculated and shown in Table 3.7. The positive and negative values indicate the predominance of in and out migration , respectively. It should be noted that in the recent years, there has been more out-migration than in-migration. But the extent of in-migration was very high in the second half of 1990s, which peaked in the year 2000.. It is useful to study as to why the reversal in trends (more out-migration than in-migration) in the recent years.

Table 3.7. Migration statistic

In the rest of this report, we describe the available baseline data on each of the MDG goals for the Chennai city, and wherever possible for the metropolitan area as well.

Goal 1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Eradication of urban poverty and hunger has been a major goal for both the central and state governments. A number of unique “urban poverty alleviation programmes” have been introduced in the past supported by the state and central governments.

According to a recent survey (2004), about 21 percent of families in the slum population live under the poverty line, assuming a per capita income of 500 rupees per month (about $10.00 per month) as the cut off for below-poverty line. It was 19 percent according to a similar survey in 1997 (refer Table 3.8)

Table 3.8. Extent of urban poverty

Goal 2. Achieve Universal Primary Education

Universal primary education is an important goal of the city government. There are nearly 1400 schools including about 500 primary schools. The secondary and higher secondary schools number about 400 each. In addition to these a number of other schools, both private and partially supported by the state government are also present. The corporation employs about 20,000 full time teachers, most of them were females. They are supported by 4000 para- teachers and 430 part-time teachers (Table 3.9). The school age population and enrolment date for 2003-2004 is given in Table 9. Of the total school population of 1.5 million, nearly 1.2 million were enrolled in schools, which give 84 percent of enrolment.

Table 3.9. Education statistics

Table 3.10. School age population enrolment 2003-2004

Table 3.11 shows the completion rate of primary and upper primary education by enrolled children. There was a steady improvement in completion rates from 75 percent in 1987-1988 to 84.7 percent in 2001-2002. The noon-meal scheme, which provided free noon-meal to the children supported by the state government, was a primary reason for the improvement in enrolment and completion rate. Several experts have commented on the success of this scheme.

Table 3.11. Completion drive

In addition, free education and other incentives also helped in reaching the high completion of primary education. Along with primary education, higher education is also given importance as reflected in large numbers of higher secondary schools and colleges functioning in the city (Tables 3.12, 3.13,3.14)[4].

[4] The Chennai city also has a large number of Engineering colleges, and poly-technical institutions. The city is also known for the presence of a numerous scientific establishments.

Table 3.12. Unicersities in Chennai City

Table 3.13. Engineering colleges and polytechnics students' strenght-2002-2003

Table 3.14. College for general education 2002-2003

Goal 3. Promote Gender Equality, Empowerment of Women

With the record to the goal of gender equality and empowerment of woman, no specific data are available at the city level. However, education indices give an idea of gender equality as seen from Table 3.10. The enrolment of boys and girls in the school age population was nearly equal. Girls generally had higher completion rates than boys in both primary and upper primary education. In higher education, the proportion of girls was smaller than boys. Among the school teachers nearly 90 percent were female teachers. At primary, upper primary and secondary levels, female teachers were several times more than male teachers. For example, in 2003-04, there were 2,614 full time female teachers and 138 male full time teachers at primary levels in the city. At the secondary level, for the same year, there were 11,604 full time female teachers and 3,486 male full time teachers. Evidently, the gender empowerment is noteworthy according to such statistics. However, it would be useful to look at other sectors, such as in health, sanitation, transport.

Goal 4. Reduce Child Mortality

There are no data available on child mortality rates for the city. As a result we are unable to make any comment on this subject. . However, it may be mentioned that child mortality is likely to be very low, given the fact that IMR for the city is close to 10. By deduction, we may say that the child mortality is likely to be pretty low. However, it would be useful to make a quick survey on this aspect as well for the purpose of policy making in the future.

Goal 5. Improve Maternal Health

Reliable data on maternal mortality are difficult to obtain but it may be safely said that MMR for Chennai might not be the lowest in the state but would be among the lowest in developing world, in view of the fact that more than 95 percent of deliveries take place in institutional settings under “some level” of supervision. Chennai city has large number of secondary and tertiary hospitals and health centers run by the corporation. Although not all health centres can boast of excellent facilities for childcare and deliveries, it can be definitely be said that they provide a minimum amount of care that would otherwise become financially burdensome to those who utilize such services. The city has a very large presence of private clinics and hospitals, which may account for about 55 to 60 percent of the total beds in the city. In terms of numbers, there may well be about 800 private hospitals, most of which may have not more than 5 to 10 beds. Almost all the childbirth in the city is done under supervision of medically qualified professionals. The infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rates in hospitals run by the CMC are shown in Table 3.15. The infant mortality rate has nearly halved from about 20 per thousand in 1991 to about 10 per thousand in 2004. The declining trends of IMR are shown in figure 3.4.

Table 3.15. Infant and maternal mortality rate

Figure 3.4. Infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate in Chennai

The maternal mortality rate is quite low (at 23 per 100,000 deliveries). Its stability over time is explained by the fact that it was already very low, by any standard. This again requires a careful survey though it would be a very costly exercise. This may be attributed to a very high proportion of medically assisted deliveries. The number of underweight (at birth) is shown in Table 3.16 for three years 2000-2003. The budget for health by the Corporation increased substantially in the year 2003-04 to nearly 8 crores from about 5 crores in the previous four years. (See Table 3.17). A substantial amount of this increase has gone into improving maternal and child care programme in the city.

Table 3.16. Area deliveries, live births according to birth weight and birth order for 3 years from 2000-2003

Table 3.17. Corporation of Chennai-Health budget

Goal 6. HIV/AIDS

With regards to the goal of HIV/AIDS, specific data pertaining to Chennai city alone are not available. Further available data is mainly based on a sentinel survey done based on reportees of STD clinics. However, this data might offer some ideas on the prevalence and trends of HIV/AIDS. Table 3.18 gives the sex and age distribution of HIV positive cases for three years 2000-2003. There seems to be only a marginal variation in prevalence for the age groups up to 44. The age group of above 45 years showed an increase in 2002 and 2003.

Table 3.18. Data on HIV/AIDS positive cases from sentinel survey

Getting city specific data on HIV/AIDS is nearly impossible, although a number of initiatives have been taken to control its prevalence among the so called “high risk groups”. The Chennai AIDS Control Society (CAPACS) is entrusted with the responsibility of designing preventive and control measure against HIV/AIDS in the city. It is not within the purview of this report to comment on the policy of CAPACS; also such an exercise requires lot more time and analysis. We therefore suggest a separate study for this purpose.

Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability

(i) Water supply, sewrage and sanitation

The water supply for the city and the metropolitan urban area is provided by the special agency, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB).

Sources of Water supply

• Surface water sources
  The main source of water supply to the city is from three lakes, viz., Redhills, Cholavaram and Poondi, having an aggregate storage capacity of 175 million cu.m. Since January 2000, Chembarambakkam is also used as storage. Besides this two small lakes namely, Erattai Eri and Porur lake are also utilized as a source of supply. In addition to the above sources, an agreement has been signed by the Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP), according to which AP will supply about 8 tmc, during July to October and about 4 tmc during January to April, to the areas located in the outskirts of Chennai Municipal Corporation limits.
• Ground water sources
  The CMWSSB (Chennai Meter Water and Sewerage Supply Board) has developed 7 Well Fields accommodating about 74 deep bore wells, in the following areas: (i) Poondi (ii) Tamaraipakkam (iii) Flood plains (iv) Kannigaipair (v) Panjetty (vi) Minjur (vii) Southern coastal aquifer. In addition, the CMWSSB has also executed water purchase agreement with private agricultural owners. From both the sources mentioned above, about 100 MLD of water is extracted to augment industrial and city water supply.

Distribution supply system

Water is treated at three treatment plants located at Redhills, Kilpauk and KK Nagar and is, distributed to the city through 4 water distribution stations.

The water supplied and the demand gap is shown in Table 3.19. It shows that despite the increase in treatment capacity the metro water supply has not been able to meet the demand. This is mainly because city does not have any river sources and depends mainly on rain fed lakes for water supply. In recent years, the metro water system had to get water from sources that are located outside the city to meet the demand. The Chennai Corporation has successfully implemented rainwater harvesting programme to overcome water shortage in the city in recent years. There is perhaps no disagreement that this programme has substantially improved the water availability for domestic use in the city.

Table 3.19. Metoro water growth profile

The city has a well-laid sewer network for collection of wastewaters, which are conveyed through various pumping stations to three treatment plants and the treated wastewater is discharged into rivers, Adyar and Cooum. However, due to the growth of slums along these riverbanks, they get further contaminated with untreated sewage.

Recently, some initiatives have been taken to control the discharge of these untreated wastes and restore the quality of these rivers.

(ii) Air quality

The ambient air quality of Chennai city is monitored as a part of the national air quality-monitoring program. The results in terms of the suspended particulate matter (SPM), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen oxide (NO2) concentrations in ambient air are given in Figures 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7 respectively. It is was observed that the average SPM levels exceeded the recommended values for residential areas, but the SO2 and NO2 concentrations remained below the recommended values

Figure 3.5. Annual mean concentration trend of SPM

Figure 3.6. Annual mean concentration trend of SO2

Figure 3.7. Annual mean concentration trend of NO2

(iii) Solid waste management

The solid waste generation of the city iswas enormous, with a generation of about 32,00 megatons per day, which worksed out to about daily per capita waste generation of about 725 grams. The Municipal Corporation hasd about 10,000 temporary waste storage points/bines to collect the generated waste within the city with a combined capacity of about 5,000 cubic meters (about 2,500 megatons). The local body was clearsing the waste through a fleet of mechanized vehicles comprising 241 tippers, 160 mini trucks and 10 tractor trolleys. In addition there are other about 1,282 vehicles for transporting the generated waste. The local body hasd a sanitary force of about 10,130 sweepers for solid waste management in the city and about 220 supervisory staffs. In addition there are about 1,150 drivers for the vehicular fleet. There are two disposal sites where wastes are disposed off. These sites are located about 15 kolometers from the city.

The garbage and debris removal for the city is shown in Table 3.20. The increasing quantity of waste generation due to the population growth, financial and resource crunch of the local body have forced the Chennai Municipal Corporation to explore additional investment opportunities in the solid waste management system. Some of the recent initiatives include privatization of waste collection in some of the zones, implementation of source segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes, and development of compost plants for biodegradable wastes.

In order to provide clean environment for the poorer section of the population, the Tamil Nadu slum clearance board carried out a survey in the slums under its jurisdiction to make a demand-gap assessment of environmental infrastructure services

Table 3.20. Garbage and debris removal (in tons per day)

The salient points of this survey are given below:

• The status assessment of services were undertaken in all the surveyed slums, which included both undeveloped slums, and newly identified slums.
• The status of existing service levels in these slums has been reviewed from a point of view of its adequacy for the current population (year 2004) and the coverage of the facility wherever applicable, for the following core civic service sectors, including the dwelling units:
• Dwelling Units
• Water Supply
• Sanitation ( Sewerage and Latrine)
• Solid waste management

The 372 surveyed slums within the administrative jurisdiction of Chennai Municipal Corporation had a total of 61,140 dwelling units to cater to an estimated slum population of 547,547 persons and 119,322 families living in these slums, indicating an average of about 9 persons and 2 families/households occupying each dwelling unit.

Demand and Gap Assessment for Dwelling Units

It is estimated that there is a gap of about 5,674 dwelling units to meet the estimated demand of 119,322 dwelling units, and indicating overall deficiency of about 49 percent  to meet the demand.

Table 3.21. Demand gap for dwelling units

Table 3.22. Capital investment estimate for dwelling units

(iv) Water Supply

All the Surveyed slums located within the administrative jurisdiction of Chennai Municipal Corporation had a total of 352 public water tanks or taps to an estimated slum population of 547,547 persons and 119,322 families living in these slums, indicating an average of about 1,556 persons per public water tank or water tap. It may be noted that many of the slums did not have public water tanks or taps as these slum dwellers used to store the water supplied through Lorries. It is also very evident from the demand assessment surveys that a majority of them buy water from these Lorries.

Demand and Gap Assessment and Capital Investments for Water Supply

It is estimated that there is a gap of about 6,954 Public water tanks or taps, each of capacity of 5,000 liters (for 2 days) to meet the estimated demand of 7,301 water tanks or taps, indicating overall deficiency of about 95 percent to meet the demand.

Table 3.23. Demand gap for water supply

It was estimated that a capital investment of Rs 1.61 cores is required to meet the existing gap in water supply.

Demand and Gap Assessment for Sanitation (Sewage and Latrine)

It is estimated that there is a gap of about 17,934 public toilet seats and 10,773 public urinals to meet the estimated demand of 18,253 public toilet seats and 10,952 public urinals, respectively. In addition, about 128.31 kilometers of storm water drains need to be provided along the surfaced roads.

Table 3.24. Demand gap for sanitation

Capital Investment Estimate for Sanitation (Sewage and Latrines)

It is estimated that a capital investment of INR 107.98 cores and INR 9.62 Cores is required to meet the existing gap in toilet and storm water drains respectively. It is estimated that about INR117.60 crores is required to meet the existing gap in sanitation.

Table 3.25. Faisalabad population increase

(v) Traffic and Road Accidents

The growth of vehicles in Chennai city for the period of 1994-2004 is shown in Table 20. Overall, all forms of vehicles (two wheelers, four wheelers and buses) have almost doubled during the past decade, with wheeler-population accounting for more than 2/3rd of the total. They have increased from 5.6lakh in 1995 to 11.9 lakh in 2004.

Table 3.26. Vehicular position in Chennai City

Table 3.27. Road accidents in Chennai City

The bicycle is the most common mode of transport for students and the poorer section of people. Tricycles are used for the transport of goods. The public transport system consists of an excellent bus transport service and a suburban electric train service operated by government agencies. But it is a matter of concern that the number of private vehicles has shown a rapid growth rate causing not only traffic problems and road accidents but also air pollution problems.

It is remarkable that despite the huge increase in vehicular populations, both fatal and non-fatal accidents in the city during the past three years have been cut in half. Fatal accidents have come down from 594 in 2001 to 273 in 2003. Likewise, non-fatal accidents have come down from 4,602 in 2001 to 1,882 in 2001. It is also noteworthy that both fatal and non-fatal accidents had remained more or less constant during 1995-2001. It would be useful to undertake a separate study on the measures undertaken by public authorities to achieve such figures.

5. PRIORITIES

CMC has set three major priorities for the near future.

1. In child and maternal health care CMC is aspiring for a scenario wherein there are no IMR and MMR. To achieve this long term goal, the city has set short term goals of ensuring that the average weight of new born child is over 3 Kg, the minimum age of girl at marriage is over 21 years and the higher order birth rate is brought down to zero. Successful implementation of the HEAL project will go a long a way to achieve this goal.

Besides this, the CMC’s aim is to ensure that no child suffers from malnourishment. Total immunization coverage, supplementary feed, supplements to avoid vitamin deficiency among children etc. will go a long way in this regard.

2. Environment up-gradation is another priority of the city. Presently, the city faces the problem of open-air defecation (OAD) in many pockets, especially in slums, and desired results are yet to be achieved in solid waste management. To make the city free from OAD and to achieve 100 percent segregation at source are the short-term goals to achieve the ultimate goal of eco-friendly Chennai. Cleaning the city waterways is another priority area. There are many waterways within the city including Cooum, Adyar River, Buckingham Canal, Otteri Nallah. Today these waterways give a very shoddy picture and are a threat to the city environment. At several places sewage is let in to these waterways. There is a need to ensure 100 percent coverage of sewer-network, and to clean these waterways so that these waterways enhance the beauty of the city.

3. On the education front, CMC’s priority is to impart quality education to the children through activity based and joyful learning methods. The priority is to achieve not only a 100 percent net enrollment rate, but to achieve a total completion rate at the primary level with desired learning outcomes. Presently 1/4th of the students alone achieve desired learning outcomes, many students do not achieve desired learning outcomes in spite of completing the primary education. It is the priority of the Corporation to ensure that every child is enrolled and achieve desired learning standards.

6. POLICY SUGGESTIONS

What should CMC do in order to make their recent policy and programmatic initiative have better coutcomes in the future? We offer below some policy suggestions with respect to the three major initiatives discussed n the previous section.

1. At present, shools are in the process of "stablizing" from their experiense with ABL methodology up to the 2nd standard. However, parents are concerned about the impact of "multigrade" spproach, as children with multiple lerning abilities are grouped  together. It is important to assure parents that such an approach is not detrimental to the learning in any manner. This requires parental participation in monthly meetings with teachers, parental observations in classroom learning process, and parental involvement in the educational process. The ABL initiative should aim to address these challenges in the future. Eventually, CMC should aim to scale-up the Activity Baced Learning (ABL) methodology up to the 4th grade, over the next grade to act as a transition phase between ABL methodology and traditional methodology. It is very likely that the experience of CMC in ABL will soon attract the attention of other schools across the state.
2. As far child and maternal care, we suggest that CMC should aim to have at least one 24-hour MCM/RCH center in different parts of the city, perferably one in each zone of the municipal area in the near future and more in the long run. Experience has shown that facilities for c-secton deliveries will be better utilized by the poor in particular, who otherwise end up spending enormous amount of money out of pocket for this purpose in private facilities. CMC's experience with Birth Companinon Program has demonstrated siginificant improvement in the psychological well-being of mothers in particular. We believed careful scaling up of this program will go a long way in improving the quality of child and maternal care in the city.
3. In the field of waste management, waster-segragation at source remains the greatest challenge. At present, about 4,000 tons of waste os being cplleced from the city and are deposited in two dumping yards located outside the city limits. The city has dispensed with, in most parts, the use of Bins for waste collection and has also some experience in forming "neighbourhood groups" in smaller lanes and by-lanes for waster collection. It is a challenge to motivate people to adopt this approach  for waste segregation and collection . In the meanwhile, CMC should popularize and adopt vermiculture composting and modernize the landfills currently being used for dumping. Together, these measures will help stabilize ans sustain the waste-management practices in the city.