I T P I

ITPI JOURNAL
4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09 JOURNAL
www.itpi.org.in

BUILDING INFORMAL SECTOR INTO DEVELOPMENT PLAN – MPD, 2021

D.S. MESHRAM
President, Institute of Town Planners, India

ABSTRACT
Informal sector in fact is functioning as a buffer zone between formal employment generating activities and the
unemployed and under-employed sections of the community who, for various reasons such as lack of skill, education,
or resources, have been denied access to employment avenues in the formal sector, but they are also extremely
intelligent, hardworking, creative and resourceful and endeavoring to solve their own problems to fulfill their own
needs, without depending upon government to support. Both the formal and internal sectors must be recognized
as two separate but complementary sectors of the urban economy, and it is imperative to reshape the settlement
structures of our large cities to enable them to absorb the expanding informal sector along with planned expansion
of formal sector. Therefore, taking into consideration the role of informal sector as employment generator in retail
trade and its share in economic activities of Delhi, the author examines the building up of informal sector in MPD-
2021.

1 INTRODUCTION and recycling, shelter development in marginal and

The presence of the informal sector in substantial
measure may be upto 50 percent of all commercial
activity is a characteristic feature of cities in most
developing countries. This has been attributed
largely to structural disturbances within the entire
economy. The low rates of industrialization and
the presence of surplus labor have been cited the
principal reason why a dualistic system has sprung
up in Third World cities, where the informal sector
is traditionally said to include the mass of the
working poor whose productivity is much lower
than in the modern, informal urban sector. It is
also recognized that a very large part of the urban
multitude is dependent for their subsistence on
employment in the informal sector, a situation in
which Indian cities find themselves.
While population growth in urban areas through
natural causes and migration from rural areas as
well as small towns continues unabated at
approximately 4 percent annually, the capacity
of urban areas to create jobs well above the
poverty line in the formal sector has been
dwindling. The capital intensity of modern urban
enterprises, industrial location policy, energy crises,
industrial sickness, labor unrest, restrictive
legislation, frozen housing activity and the low level
of investment in the development of urban
infrastructure and services have colluded to keep
down the growth of urban formal employment. A
non-formal sector has been growing interstitial
spaces of economic activities ignored or exploited
by the formal sector. It includes waste collection
ordinarily uninhabitable lands, cart and lorry
transport low-cost catering services, repair and
maintenance services and street vending (NCU,
Vol. II: 67).
The existence and continuing expansion of the
informal sector are increasingly being accepted
as an inevitable phase in the development process,
with the informal sector functioning as a buffer
zone between formal employment generating
activities and the unemployed and under-
employed sections of the community who, for
various reasons such as lack of skill, education, or
resources, have been denied access to
employment avenues in the formal sector.
2 INFORMAL SECTOR
With unabated growth of population in urban areas
due to natural and in-migration, the capacity of
urban areas to create jobs in the formal sector in
proportion with the population growth has been
dwindling as stated above. Informal sector in fact
includes street vending, low cost catering services,
repair and maintenance services, etc. Negative
perception that street vendors are encroachers
and create unfair competition for shopkeepers who
pay taxes is the major reason as to why informal
entrepreneurs are constantly under threat of
eviction and demolition which affect their family
budget and deprives economic opportunities
required for their livelihood. Such trends if
continued, the urban economy will be crippled,
unemployment would rise to alarming magnitudes
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
and cities will experience anarchy making urban
governance very difficult.
In fact poor in-migrants who migrate to the cities
in search of employment, being unskilled they are
unable to get jobs in formal sector and opt for
whatever jobs come their way, even though not
very remunerable. Economists underscore that
the basic reason for the existence of informal
economy is ‘excessive amount of regulations and
licenses that make it difficult to operate with the
formal economy’, while political analysts says that
vendors constitute a `Safety Value’, for what
otherwise would be massive unemployment. They
may be illiterate, but they are also extremely
intelligent, hardworking, creative and resourceful
and endeavoring to solve their own problems to
fulfill their own needs, without depending upon
government to support.
As per International Labor Organisation (ILO), an
enterprise should be classified as informal if it
employs only a handful of workers on low income,
using simple equipment, and works outside the
framework of laws and regulations. It is
characterized by the ease of entry, reliance on
indigenous resources; family ownership of
enterprises; small scale of operations, labor
intensive and adapted technology, skills acquired
outside the formal school system, and unregulated
competitive market.
The informal sector is usually defined to include all
economic enterprises and employment that are
not protected or regulated by the government
laws and social security system. The criteria that
are conventionally used to distinguish the informal
sector enterprises, employment and habitat from
their formal sector counterparts are size, nature
of technology, organizational and operation
characteristics and coverage by social security
system and protection, etc. (Narul Amin, 8).
Kanpe Ronald Hope Sr. (111) defines informal
sector as the subterranean sector alternatively
referred to as the informal, hidden, underground,
shadow, secondary, black, invisible or parallel
economy – now constitutes an important
component in the economic activities and process
of development in the Third World. While
2
according to Nick Devas and Carole Rakodi (211)
the informal sector is a common shorthand term
for small scale, un-enumerated, sometimes illegal
economic activity. Kulshretha defines informal
sector as the sector of economy where the labor
force is self employed with family support in
income activities such as trading and street
vending that do not have formal structure and
designated areas and is characterized by small
scale labor intensive operations. In fact, the
features that distinguish the informal sector are
(a) labor and employment; (b) economic activities
and enterprises; (c) land and housing settlements;
and (d) credit market from their counterparts in
the formal sector (see Table 1).
Formal commercial uses are planned on
hierarchical basis from neighborhood level to the
town or city level and cater to different levels of
commercial requirements of the urban areas.
However, lower order commercial developments
which come up in informal ways in the form of
petty shops, hand carts selling goods have
remained unplanned. Such activities occur
generally at traffic junctions; in front of higher
order commercial activity centers on foot paths,
etc. The formal commercial development can be
seen in the form of convenient shops at
neighborhood level, the pure commercial and
mixed commercial cum residential complexes at
district centers and the higher order commercial
activities at CBD. The lower level commercial
service shops and the ancillary commercial shops
like cycle repairing, pen shops, cloths mending,
tea shops, pan shops, hair cutting shops, sale of
fruits, snacks and eatables are the need of sector
level commercial center, district centre and CBD.
These shop owners can not afford a regular built
up shop in the formal commercial set up at the
initial stage. Any forcible eviction or checking of
their encroachments by law and order agencies
would exacerbate the problem because they are
required by the people. As the spatial planning is
for the people their requirements and wants are
needed to be catered by locating these informal
activities at appropriate locations which do not
create hindrance to the residents and do not
create traffic and transportation bottlenecks. The
next section of the paper examines the provisions
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09

Table 1 Features of Informal Sector

Sr.No Employment Enterprise Habitat Credit

People engaged in the Activities in the Informal Sector Land Informal Credit
informal sector Informal Sector & Housing Markets (ICMS)
Settlements
1. Absence of official Unregulated and Unauthorized use of Unregulated and
protection/recognition competitive markets vacant private land non-subsidized
2. Non - coverage by Small-scale operation Illegal subdivision / Easy accessibility
minimum wage with individual or rental of land
legislation and social family ownership
security system
3. Predominance of own- Relative ease of entry Unauthorized Availability in very
account / self construction of small size and for
employment work structures and short-terms
buildings
4. Absence of trade union Reliance on locally Reliance on low cost Low administrative
organization available resources and locally available / and procedural costs
scrap construction
materials
5. Low income and wages Family ownership of Reliance on family Little or no collateral
enterprises labor and requirement
artesian techniques
for constructions
6. Little job security Absence of restrictive Absence of Flexible interest rates
standards and restrictive standards (from very high to
regulations and regulations no interest at all)
7. No fringe benefits from Absence of access Non-availability of Highly flexible
institutional sources to institutional credits mortgage or any transactions and
and similar supports other subsidized repayments tailored
or protect- ions finance to individual needs

of Master Plans of Delhi with reference to informal
sector.
3 MPD - 1962
To check the haphazard and unplanned growth
of Delhi, following the partition of the country and
the phenomenal growth of the city’s population,
with its sprawling residential colonies, without
proper layouts and without the conveniences of
life and to guide the growth of the city; Central
Government established the Delhi Development
Authority in 1957. The DDA with the help of Town
Planning Organisation (TCPO) prepared MPD -
1962 which is the first comprehensive plan, for
the development of Delhi and has been the frame
for guiding developments since then. An efficient
circulation network and extensive lung spaces are
the two major contributions of this plan. The plan
also provided a useful base for regulating the
development and building activity in different
urban sectors. The MPD-62 shall always remain a
unique document, being the first attempt on
comprehensive urban planning for the Union
Territory of Delhi. Some basic postulates
enunciated by the plan more than two decades
ago, reproduced below, remain as true today as
they were in 1962. In fact they need to be re-
emphasized.
• Delhi should be planned in the context of its
region;
• For balanced development of the city and
minimum friction, there should be

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 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
decentralization of employment and its right
relationship with residential areas;
• While guiding developments in new areas along
desirable lines, those areas that have healthy
organic pattern must be conserved by
checking the encroachment of undesirable
and conflicting land uses; and
• Delhi a beautiful city and its pleasing
architecture should not confine to the
monumental civic and cultural centers, but
should pervade the design of all public and
private buildings.
Land Use Plan in essence is the translation into
physical form of the planning policies and principles.
The policies have been based on the realities of
the present dynamic but rather unregulated and
chaotic conditions obtaining in the metropolis.
Accordingly, land use plan 1962 of Delhi
recognizes that to achieve a rational growth of
Delhi, which has been expanding in a most
haphazard way, it is necessary to plan the whole
Delhi Metropolitan Area comprising 800 sq. miles
and comprising of Delhi and Ring Towns of Loni
and Ghaziabad in UP, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and
Gurgaon in Punjab and Narela in Delhi territory as
a composite unit. Land use plan for urban Delhi
has been conceived to find solutions for the entire
complex inter-related urban problems i.e. social,
economic and governmental and it aims at
balanced and integrated development to take care
of present and future growth upto1981 for
estimated population of about 50 lakh.
Plan also recognizes that because of its location
Delhi will continue to be a major financial, business,
commercial and distribution centre and with the
growth of population there would a proportionate
increase in the people employed in trade and
commerce which would provide the necessary
diversity to the economy. To meet the problems
of settlements of low income group people who
migrate to Delhi from rural areas every year,
suitable sites in several zones were earmarked for
the low income groups who migrate to Delhi on
account of the relentless ‘push’ from rural areas.
It is noted in the plan that physical plans should
avoid stratification on income or occupation habits.
4
It can thus be noted that MPD - 1962 even though
recognizes the problems of incidence of settlement
of low income group who migrate to Delhi and
intends to avoid stratification on income or
occupation habits, does not give the informal
sector due recognition.
4 MPD - 2001
In the Preamble to MPD - 2001, it is stated that
Delhi, the focus of the socio-economic and political
life of India, a symbol of ancient values and present
aspirations, the capital of the largest democracy,
is assuming increasing eminence among the great
cities of the world. The city of Delhi has a distinct
personality. Presently, growing at unprecedented
pace, the city must be equipped to face the
contemporary challenges. It should be able to
integrate its elegant past as well as the modern
developments into an organic whole. The
inhabitants of this city should be able to live in
safe, convenient and lively surroundings. They
should be able to improve their economic
capabilities and share the fruits of modernization.
All this demands purposeful transformation of its
socio-economic, natural and built environment.
The plan notes that there are a number of stages
from the enunciation of planning principles to its
accomplishment. All the postulates, enumerated
in MPD - 1962, during the process needed
adequate acceptance, detail planning and
execution during implementation. They
sometimes tend to suffer some loss at every
stage; the end results in some spheres have,
therefore, been insubstantial. There are other
issues of importance like rapid urban population
and employment growth, land use permissibility,
land use intensity, informal sector and incompatible
uses which overwhelmed the MPD - 1962 in the
process of its implementation. Planning is a
continuous process; responding to multifarious
developments internal and external, the city has
new roles to play and urban development needs
new directions. With the experience of plan
implementation of last two decades and on the
basis of planning studies, the Master Plan for Delhi
has been extensively modified in accordance with
the provision of Delhi Development Act and the
modified document is entitled as ‘Master Plan for
Delhi Perspective – 2001 (MPD-2001).
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
The Perspective Plan-2001 ensures an appropriate
balance between the spatial allocations for the
distribution of housing, employment social
infrastructure, shopping centers, public and
individual transport and so on and adequate
arrangements and reservations to accommodate
different kinds of physical infrastructure and public
utility systems. The MDP – 2001, therefore
comprises of a set of co-ordinated policies
concerned with virtually all aspects of development
in the city. The basic postulates of MPD-2001 are
that Delhi should be planned as an integral part of
its region, ecological balance to be maintained, the
Central City area to be treated as ‘special area’,
urban heritage of Delhi to be conserved, city
centre to be decentralized; Mass Transport
System to be multi model; urban development
to be ‘low rise high density’ and also to be
hierarchical.
MPD – 2001 recognizes that the genesis of Delhi’s
growth lies in the increasing urbanization which
continues to offer most important opportunities
for increasing employment and to provide the
basis for specialization and increased productivity
in manufacturing and supporting services. Delhi
is growing at a rapid pace because of increasing
migration being more than 1.6 lakh person per
annum and therefore, in the context of
urbanization and migration, adopts restrictive
policy for employment generation and strives for
balanced regional development. As per MPD-
2001, the population of Delhi would 128.10 lakh
by 2001 while the NCRPB has assigned the
population of 112 lakh for Delhi.
While taking the cognizance of the informal sector,
MPD-2001 states that in the city of Delhi, informal
sector in retail trade plays a very important role.
About 1.39 lakh informal sector retail units without
roof are working within the shopping areas, along
road side and other areas of public concentration.
Delhi has the tradition of weekly markets and at
present there are 95 weekly market site. 1.8
weekly markets per 1 lakh population with about
6,000 daily shopping spaces. These markets work
once in a week at one place and the entrepreneurs
keep moving to different places on different days
of the week. But this sector which is generator of
5
employment remains at low productivity in the
absence of proper infrastructure. It is possible to
create lively shopping areas by suitably introducing
informal sector.
To accommodate, required shopping, commercial
offices, offices for undertakings and other related
activities like cinema, hotel and needed facilities,
five tier system of commercial activity has been
envisaged, comprising of Central Business District
and Sub - Central Business District; District
Centers; Community Centers; Local Shopping
Centers; and Convenient Shopping Centers.
However, large sections of unemployed and under-
employed in rural areas and small towns look
forward to the metropolitan cities like Delhi for
employment and enter the city to move up the
economic ladder. This brings forth a multitude of
small enterprises, petty trading and casual labor.
Thus a metropolis like Delhi has modern wage paid
sector; and equally large if not larger traditional
bazaar type informal sector. This sector with highly
reduced needs of equipment and buildings is
important as a source of employment and also
for economic functioning of Delhi.
Informal sector units locate themselves strategically
near work centers, commercial areas, outside the
boundaries of schools, colleges and hospitals,
transport nodes and near large housing clusters.
As a single item, eatables constitute the highest
number (35.14 percent) followed by personal
service (14.36 percent). The Walled City and
Trans-Yamuna area particularly show a very high
percentage of this activity. The Municipal
Corporation of Delhi is charging a certain fee
termed tehbazari for continued use of particular
space by such units. However, a large number of
units are either mobile or not covered under the
tehbazari. The MPD - 2001 proposes to
incorporate informal sector in trade in the planned
development of various zones for which norms
are given in Table 2.
The plan also underlines that it would be desirable
if few standard efficient and colorful designs for
mobile as well as stationery units are evolved and
are placed all over the city. It would add to the
cityscape and would be bringing in lot of richness
and experience of the city in a developing country.
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09

Table 2 Norms for Informal Sector Trade, 1990

Sr. No. Use Zones / Use premises No. of informal shops / units
1 Retail trade:
Central Business District No. of informal shops / units
Sub-Central Business District 3 to 4 units per 10 Formal shops.

District Centre As specified in the norms.

Community Centre Separately
Convenience Shopping Centre
2. Government and Commercial offices 5 to 6 units per 1,000 employees
3. Wholesale trade and Freight complexes 3 to 4 units per 10 formal shops
4. Hospital 3 to 4 units per 100 beds.
5. Bus Terminal 1 unit per two bus bays
6. Schools Primary / secondary - 3 to 4 units
Senior Secondary /Integrated - 5 to 6 units
Regional Park/District parks - 8 to 10 units at each major entry
Neighbourhood Parks - 2 to 3 units
7. Residential 1 unit / 1000 population
8. Industrial 5 to 6 units per thousandemployees
9. Railways Terminus To be based on surveys at the time of
preparation of the project
Note: The above activities may need suitable location of taxi stands.

At the time of sanction of the building plans or
layout plans, the provision of informal sector trade
units should be ensured so that the poor clientele
to which informal sector serves are not exploited
upon, and informal sector units are developed to
cater to the target groups.
The traditional style of retail shopping is quite
popular in Delhi, specially among the lower and
middle income groups. These markets are
operating in a systematic manner choosing
locations central to a large population either on
vacant land or road sides. The largest city level
weekly market is held every Sunday on the Ring
Road at the rear of the Red Fort. Norms for the
provision of weekly markets has been worked out
as 1 to 2 locations per one lakh population with
300 to 400 units per location with area 0.4 ha.
Parking and other open spaces within the
commercial centers could be so designed that
weekly markets can operate in these areas during
non-working hours. The areas of informal sector
should have suitable public conveniences and solid
waste disposal arrangements.
Although there are large number of informal sector
eating units in the city but there are no organized
clusters. There is a need for this to provide for
evening and late evening eating places to be
located strategically all over the city. On
experimental basis, locations are identified. These
are (i) Behind Andrews Ganj in South Delhi; (ii)
Proposed community center near Mandi House;
(iii) Near Revolving T.V. Tower Pitampura; and (iv)
Near C.B.D. Trans Yamuna Area. In the urban
extension such places could be part of the planned
development on the norm of one sub-cluster for
one lakh population at community level. Thus, it
is quite clear that MPD – 2001, taking the
cognizance of existence of informal sector as a
source of employment and its share in the
economic activities of Delhi has made the
provisions for the informal sector activities.
5. MPD – 2021
MPD-2021, in its visions statement mentions that
Delhi, a symbol of ancient values and aspirations
and the seat of national governance and a center
of business, culture, education and sports today

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 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
stands at the crossroads. The choice is between
either take a road to indiscriminate uncontrolled
development and slide towards chaos or a
movement towards making Delhi a world-class city.
Adopting later option, the Vision–2021 is to make
Delhi a global metropolis and a world-class city,
with a decent standard of living and quality of life
in a sustainable environment. This will necessitate
planning and action to meet the challenge of
population growth and in-migration into Delhi;
provision of adequate housing particularly for the
weaker sections of the society; addressing the
problems of unorganized informal sector; dealing
with the issue of slums, and shelter; provision of
adequate infrastructure services; conservation of
the environment and preservation of Delhi’s
heritage and blending it with the new and complex
modern patterns of development. The Master
Plan - 2021 would be the first plan of the 21st
century catering to 230 lakh people on an area of
1,483 sq. km.
Delhi as a mega metropolis and as the National
Capital Territory has a distinct and unique
character and attracts the people from all across
the country. Therefore, planning of Delhi can not
be limited within its boundaries. It inevitably
influences developments in the immediate
surrounding areas and in turn gets influenced by
them. Therefore, the stipulations of Regional Plan
- 2021 have been taken into consideration in the
draft MPD–2021 elaborately. As already mentioned
Delhi has a limited area of 1,483 sq. km out of
which about half of the area is already urbanized.
For the remaining area, optimum utilization of land
is required to be taken to cater to additional
requirements.
The policy of MPD-2021 regarding shelter is based
on ‘The National Housing and Habitat Policy’, which
has the ultimate goal to ensure ‘Shelter for All’ by
harnessing the potential of the public, private or
corporate and household sectors. Based on the
projected population of 230 lakh by 2021, the
estimated additional housing stock required will be
around 24 lakh dwelling units. This includes an
estimated housing requirement of 20 lakh DUs
for additional population added during 2001 to
2021 and backlog of about 4 lakh units. Four lakh
backlog as per Census 2001 comprises of 1 lakh
7
net shortage and the rest by dilapidated and
Kutcha structures requiring replacement. The
housing strategy of this Plan incorporates specific
approaches for development of new housing
areas, upgradation and intensification through
redevelopment of existing housing areas including
unauthorized colonies, housing in villages and
Special Area.
As stated earlier the large sections of unemployed
and under employed population in rural area and
small towns look forward to the metropolitan cities
like Delhi for employment and enter the city to
move up the economic ladder. This brings forth a
multitude of small enterprises and petty trading
activities in the informal sector. Thus, a metropolis
like Delhi has organized sector and an equally large
informal sector. This sector with highly reduced
needs of floor space and investment is important
as a source of employment and services in the
economic fabric of Delhi. A survey conducted by
the Directorate of Economics and Statistics on
unorganized trading activity in Delhi estimated the
total number of unorganized trading enterprises
as 2 lakh and the number of persons employed
about as 3.18 lakh. The contribution of this sector,
which is measured in terms of Gross Value added
to the economy of Delhi, was estimated at Rs.
1.01 lakh per enterprise per annum.
Keeping in view the National Policy of Urban Street
Vendors the following provisions are made in MPD
- 2021:
• The location and concentration of present
stationary informal units shall be considered
on case to case basis and steps for relocation
and improvement shall be taken. It should be
ensured that such activities do not spillover
on the right of way. The Government and
concerned local agency should coordinate the
policy;
• The areas of informal sector shall have suitable
public conveniences and solid waste disposal
arrangements;
• Formulation of guidelines for schemes would
include ‘Hawking’ and `No Hawking’ Zones.
Specific areas should be earmarked for
stationary and mobile street vendors by the
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
Table 3 Norms for Organized Informal Bazaars
Population About 5 lakh
Area(ha.) 5.0
Activities permitted Informal shops, weekly market,
organized eating places, handicraft
bazaar used books / furniture /
building materials bazaar, cycle and
rickshaw repair, kabari, etc.
Note: Utilities, public conveniences shall be provided as per requirements.
concerned local authority in consultation with
RWAs;
• The local authorities should take up new
designs of stalls, push-carts and mobile vans
of various sizes and with cleaning facilities,
giving due consideration to urban design
requirement of specific area, where informal
shopping is being permitted;
• Defining the role and responsibility of NGOs
along with specific obligations on part of
hawkers towards the society for maintenance
of law and order within the hawking zones and
weekly markets; and
• An informal unit shall not be permitted within
a distance equivalent to half the width of the
road, from an intersection.
There is large number of informal sector units in
the city but no organized clusters. There is a need
to provide for organized informal eating places
along with casual shopping, etc; to be located
Table 4 Definitions and Activities Permitted in Use Premises
Use premises Definition
Weekly Market An area used once in a week by a
group of informal shop establishments
in the form of a market. These
markets shift from one area to another
on different days of the week.
Informal Sector Retail/service unit, stationary or
Unit mobile, working without roof including
small khokhas on roadside.Street
vendor – A person who offers goods
or services for sale to the public
without having a permanent built up
structure but with a temporary static
structure or mobile stall (or head load).
8
About 1 lakh
0.1
Informal shops, weekly markets,
handicraft bazaar, cycle and rickshaw
repair and kabari etc.
strategically in the city and at the identified
locations like: near TV Tower Pitampura; near sub
CBD Trans Yamuna Area; Rohini; Geeta Colony;
and adjacent to transport nodes including ISBT.
Implementing agency may identify locations as
per requirement for such activities. The norms for
organized informal bazaars are given in Table 3.
In new urban areas, informal bazaars could form
part of the planned commercial areas at two levels.
These could be implemented in the initial planning
stages along with development of residential area.
Weekly market, which is the traditional style of
retail shopping, is quite popular in Delhi especially
among the lower and middle income groups.
These markets are held in various areas. Further,
parking and other open spaces within the service
markets and commercial centers should be so
planned that weekly markets can operate in these
areas. The specific locations and timings of
operation of such markets should be specified and
regulated by the concerned local body.
Activities permitted
Weekly market, informal Retail trade,
Soft Drink and Snack Stall (All structures
will be either temporary or mobile), only
for one day in a week.
Informal Sector Unit
 D.S. Meshram / ITPI Journal 4 : 3 (2007) 01 - 09
Informal sector trade would be incorporated in
the planned development in various use zones.
Provision of informal sector trade units should be
ensured at the time of sanction of building plans
and layout plans as per the norms given in the
Table 2, i.e. planning norms for informal trade are
the same as prescribed in MPD – 2001. The
informal activities permitted in use premises are
given in Table – 4.
6 CONCLUSION
According to various estimates, contrary to
popular belief, the contribution of the informal
sector to the national product is much greater
than originally believed and has possibilities for
accumulation of a capital which would enable
informal enterprises to expand. Relationships
between the formal and informal sectors should
be strengthened in order to bring a harmonious
co-operation between them for their mutual
advantage. They must be recognized as two
separate but complementary sectors of the urban
economy of Third World cities, each with its own
institutional facilities, rationales and structures.
However, the prevailing under development and
backwardness of the informal sector can be
brought to an end only through restructuring the
urban economy. In the context of this scenario,
it becomes imperative to reshape the settlement
structures of large cities to enable them to absorb
the expanding informal sector along with planned
expansion of formal sector activities, and facilitate
efficient functioning of both (NCU, Vol. II: 67).
Accordingly, taking into consideration the role of
informal sector as employment generator in retail
trade and its share in economic activities of Delhi,
MPD–2021 has made the adequate provisions to
incorporate this activity along with formal sector
of economy and accordingly, given prescriptions
in terms of norms and standards. However, it is
pertinent to mention here that in MPD–2021, Delhi
has been divided in 15 zones (A to P, except I)
and Zonal Plans are required to be prepared (within
12 months of the approval of MPD – 2021)
detailing out the policies of Master Plan.
Accordingly the Delhi Development Authority is
engrossed in the preparation of Zonal
Development Plans on priority in order to
complete the work by targeted date. Therefore,
it can be hoped that the proposals of informal
sector would be appropriately and adequately
incorporated in the Zonal Plans.
REFERENCES
National Commission on Urbanisation, Vol. II – 1988
The Compulsions of Accommodating the Informal Sector
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