‘Urbanisation in India is Rapid and Chaotic’

CB BHAVE FORMER CHAIRMAN, SEBI

Former Sebi chairman CB Bhave, who is now nurturing the startup Indian Institute of Human Settlements, says India needs more cross-disciplinary courses in the field of urban studies

    In 1996, Chandrasekhar Bhaskar Bhave resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to help create the National Securities Depository — a landmark in the evolution of the Indian financial services industry. Sixteen years on, and after three years as chairman of securities market regulator Sebi, he is nurturing another startup which has the potential to attain world standards — the Indian Institute of Human Settlements promoted by some of India's most prominent business leaders and technocrats. In an interview with Archana Rai, he discusses the reasons why he believes 'urban practice' is an idea whose time has come. Edited excerpts: 

Why did you take up this job? 
I don't know if there is an easy answer to this. I thought I had gone into retirement, but the people who have promoted this (institute) — and (chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India) Nandan Nilekani who is also involved in this — said I should take it up, and I am also planning to shift to Bangalore. The institution (Indian Institute of Human Settlements) requires people with some experience, which I have. I thought a bit on whether, at this stage of my life, I should be taking up these executive assignments, but I thought it was worth it because the area is very interesting. 
What did you find interesting about this discipline? 
We all know India is urbanising rapidly and in a very chaotic manner. There are various reasons for that. But are we creating people with enough cross-disciplinary training to deal with this? When a person is taught architecture, that is all he or she learns, as in civil engineering or environmental engineering. But when you set up six towers of 20 floors each in an area, it raises a lot many questions — the question of transportation and logistics, whether the architecture is right et al. Individual experts don't see the other side of things. Therefore, we need an undergraduate course that is cross-disciplinary. And to offer that we need a university. We also need a lot of research and case studies in urban areas in terms of an Indian context. We need to develop a body of knowledge and some amount of consultancy, along with policy advocacy. The need of the informal sector, and what they require, is not being fed to the government. People need to be sensitised to this as it will lead to better governance. While one cannot cure all the ills you can make your own little contribution. That's the basic idea behind this institution, which I found very appealing. But it is a very tough task. 
What are your immediate priorities? 
It is relatively easy to conceptualise than realise. One of the first priorities is to see that we get sufficient funding for this project. Our idea is to try and have this project done almost exclusively through private donations. We have five different schools. The naming rights for each of these schools will be given to a donor who funds it with . 50 crore. Nandan was the first person to come forward. Then there are the chairs for our professors, those are for . 10 crore each, then there is . 20 crore for the library and . 30 crore for the auditorium. Till we get recognition as a university, we cannot offer long-term courses. Our hope is that the Bill will go through in Parliament, and we would like to work with the government to ensure that our institution qualifies for university status.
How receptive have people been so far? 
People like the idea. But in India, the tradition of giving is not very strong. In a sense, the new entrepreneurial class is setting up new traditions. We need to establish trust with them. The second factor is that it is not a small project. You have to run an endowment. You cannot make money in education. It is not an easy job. You have to be constantly innovating in terms of what are the different sources of money. 
Why do you plan to raise money purely from private sources? 
The issue with raising money from the government is that they naturally look at it from the perspective of public finance. Therefore, there will be 10 different conditions attached to it. Those conditions tend to go beyond general principles. But it is equally challenging to get it privately funded. 
Will it take you longer to find the right private sources and how much will you need? 
Our estimate for the total project is . 400 crore. That will include the construction of various schools, the administrative building and whatever is required to set up the whole campus, plus some amount of money till the institution is able to meet at least its running costs. No educational institution can recover capital costs. This is a high-level estimate, and as we go into details, and as we actually start working, there will be some variations. 
What are you hearing from potential donors? 
We are telling them the same thing I have told you: this is the idea, there is a need in the market, this is what we need to do, therefore we need generous amounts of funding. There is no return on that money. You cannot expect students to pay fees for their entire expense. It's not possible. We want to have an inclusive agenda and don't just want people who can afford to pay . 10-20 lakh to study here. We hear a lot of interest from people. They are very attracted by the idea. We need to convince them that this idea really needs this level of support. 
Is there a chance for Indian cities to be regenerated? 
You have to go to the root cause of why these spaces are in this condition — what is it that we did not understand last time around on account of which we allowed growth to take place in an unregulated manner. It's not hopeless, but at the same time it is a difficult thing to tackle. Never assume that you can provide all the solutions. Two, never underestimate whatever little effort you have made. The effect will be felt, maybe after 10 years. Different people will have different solutions. That's the beauty of democracy. Analysing the causes of success is as important as analysing the causes of failure.