ABSTRACT
The suburbanization of India’s cities has drawn the attention of the literature. Bengaluru has been suburbanizing, as has been documented. Given this, and the dearth of studies that examine intra-metropolitan spatial variations in access to urban services, especially in the context of Indian cities, this chapter assesses the spatial inequality in water supply, sanitation, health and education in Bengaluru when compared with the benchmarks stipulated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUA), Government of India, based on an extensive primary survey of 1,500 households covering the metropolitan area. We find that for Bengaluru, the estimated population density gradients are negative, testifying to the declining density as one moves away from the city center, however it is measured. We examine if the metropolitan area’s urban sprawl has led to poor public services in the periphery as compared to that in the central city.
We find a greater proportion (78 percent) of households has access to piped water supply in the central wards, compared to peripheral wards. The consumption of water is similar across the central and peripheral wards at an average of 70 liters per capita daily (LPCD) which falls short severely of the 135 LPCD norm, defined as a service level benchmark by the MoHUA. In terms of access to schools and colleges, the centrally located wards are better – with closer proximity of one kilometer to each of these facilities – either private or government. In terms of access to health care (private and public), we find that central wards have better access with more than 70 percent of households being able to access within a kilometer. A majority of households prefer private medical consultation despite its higher costs. While we find that centrally located wards are better than peripherally located wards with respect to social services such as health and education, we conclude that overall, Bengaluru’s urban services do not measure up to the benchmarks stipulated. These findings should help the city’s ULB to correct the spatial inequality and limit its urban sprawl.
