The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has launched the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) accompanied by various other digital endeavours. This move aims to bolster the continuous efforts to actualize the vision of a Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Key Facts About the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM)
The NUDM seeks to create a shared digital infrastructure for urban India. It proposes to work on three fundamental pillars: people, process, and platform to proffer comprehensive backing to cities and towns. By 2022, it plans to institutionalize a citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach to urban governance and service delivery in 2022 cities, before rolling out to all cities and towns in India by 2024.
Significance of the National Urban Digital Mission
The NUDM promises to consolidate and cross-leverage the various digital initiatives of the MoHUA. This enables cities and towns across India to avail diverse forms of support catered to their respective needs and local challenges. The NUDM has put forth a set of governing principles, inheriting the technology design principles from the National Urban Innovation Stack (NUIS). These principles give rise to standards, specifications, and certifications across the three major pillars. Leveraging the power of urban data, the NUIS aims to strengthen the capacity of the urban ecosystem to resolve complex problems swiftly and on a large scale.
About India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX)
The Smart Cities Mission and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have collaboratively developed IUDX. It functions as a seamless interface for data providers and data users, including Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), to share, request, and access datasets related to cities, urban governance, and urban service delivery. The IUDX is an open-source software platform which facilitates secure, authenticated, and managed interchange of data amongst various data platforms, authorized applications, and other sources.
Introducing SmartCode Platform
SmartCode is a platform that permits all ecosystem stakeholders to contribute to a repository of open-source code for various solutions and applications for urban governance. It is crafted to tackle the challenges Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) face in the development and deployment of digital applications. It allows cities to leverage existing codes and customize them as per local needs, negating the need to develop new solutions from scratch.
Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS)
The GMIS is a web-based, spatially-enabled management tool offering one-stop access to information. It successfully integrates information from multiple sources, providing with search options by topic and geographic area.
Other Initiatives by MoHUA
In addition to the aforementioned, MoHUA has also been involved with several other initiatives such as the Urban Learning and Internship Program (TULIP), India Cycles4Change Challenge and Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge, Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF). Other significant initiatives include the Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance Index, AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission Urban, Urban Transport, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and the National Urban Livelihoods Mission.