The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) recently organized a virtual event to celebrate the sixth anniversary of three transformative Urban Missions: Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). This date also marks a 45-year milestone since the establishment of National Institute of Urban Affairs, an autonomous body under MoHUA responsible for bridging the gap between urbanization research and actual implementation.
Key Achievements
Under PMAY-U, the government has sanctioned 1.12 crore houses and grounded over 83 lakh houses. The scheme’s Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) has benefited 16 lakh families, and government investment in the program has resulted in approximately 689 crore person-days of employment, equivalent to around 246 lakh jobs. Additionally, the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes scheme under the PMAY-U for urban migrants and the poor has seen a considerable response.
AMRUT has provided 1.05 crore household water tap connections and 78 lakh sewer/septage connections. It’s also accomplished the replacement of 88 lakh street lights with energy-efficient LED lights, leading to significant energy savings. Under this mission, approximately 84.6 lakh tons of carbon footprint was reduced through various initiatives, according to The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
In the case of SCM, 70 cities have been able to develop and operationalize Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs).
Important Launches/Releases During the Event
The event featured noteworthy launches. India Smart Cities Awards 2020 were allocated across categories such as Social Aspects, Governance, Culture, Urban Environment, Sanitation, Economy, Built Environment, Water, and Urban Mobility. Surprisingly, this year also saw the addition of ‘Sustainable Business model of ICCC’ and ‘Innovation award especially in Covid-19 Management’. Indore & Surat won the City Award jointly for their overall development and Uttar Pradesh won the State award.
Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0 was launched to provide a roadmap to formulate, implement, and monitor urban climate actions in India. The highest accolade, the four-star rating, was obtained by nine cities: Surat, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Vadodara.
ICT Initiatives and Standardization
The event also introduced several ICT initiatives under the Smart Cities ICCC Maturity Assessment Framework (IMAF), a self-assessment toolkit designed to aid cities in identifying improvement areas in their ICCCs. Smart Cities ICT standards were also presented, aiming to ensure interoperability between products across different vendors, networks, and services in a smart city environment. These initiatives were orchestrated by the Bureau Of Indian Standards (BIS).
Other Initiatives and Programs
India Smart Cities Fellowship Program was launched which is geared towards fostering youth leadership and invigorating the design of India’s urban future.
‘TULIP-The Urban Learning Internship Program’ Report also made its debut at the event, offering a platform to connect graduates with Urban Local Bodies and Smart Cities to co-develop novel solutions.
CITIIS – Knowledge Products, developed in collaboration with the French Development Agency and the European Union, were unveiled. This initiative takes a unique approach to developing demonstrative projects and furthering sustainability and innovation within urban infrastructure.
About The Missions
Smart City Mission, an initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, aims to stimulate economic growth and enhance the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology to create smart outcomes for citizens. A key focus is on sustainable and inclusive development.
The Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in June 2015 with an aim to ensure that every household has access to essential utilities and to reduce pollution by promoting public transport and non-motorized transport facilities.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban, implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, is aimed at addressing the urban housing shortage among the urban poor and slum dwellers by ensuring a safe and secure house for eligible urban poor.
