Reducing Urban Poverty in India: The Evolution of DFID India's Urban Poverty Reduction Programme

This paper summarizes the work done by Department for International Development (DFID) in reducing urban poverty in India. It begins with an overview of urban poverty in India and discusses the subject under the following frameworks:

• Effect of decentralization and subsequent economic development on moderating the bane of poverty;
• Urban growth, environmental degradation, shortage of civic amenities negatively impacting urban poverty;
• Inadequate employment opportunities due to the growing urbanization, making it difficult to keep poverty levels low.

The next section describes DFID's response to the urban poverty problem. It includes descriptions of the players and the steps taken by them to promote sustainable urban development through emphasis on:

• State level planning to address poverty at source;
• Investment in various sectors to provide more employment;
• Reforms in administration to provide basic amenities to urban citizens;
• Slum improvement programs for enhancing the quality of life in the urban centers.

The paper concludes by outlining DFID's course of action in accomplishing the objectives in partnership with other state and developmental institutions.