The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs recently unveiled the year-end review for the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. The goal of this initiative is focused on developing and enhancing urban areas through infrastructure upgrades. Essentially, AMRUT is a mission co-strategized with the Smart Cities Mission, with an objective to provide basic civic amenities such as water supply, drainage, city transportation, and parks, thereby uplifting the quality of life for all, with particular attention towards underprivileged communities.
A Centrally Sponsored Scheme: AMRUT
The AMRUT scheme is a centrally sponsored project, where 80% of the budgetary backing comes from the Centre. The key purpose of the scheme is to ensure adequate robust infrastructure that would result in improvement of the quality of life and a reasonable standard of living for everyone, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.
Operation and Impact of AMRUT
AMRUT has been devised with a five-year plan in mind, focusing on transforming 500 cities and towns into efficient urban living spaces. This ambitious timeline emphasizes the extensive reach of the project and the potential impact it can have on urban rejuvenation across the country.
Instead of being a one-size-fits-all model, the scheme allows each state to formulate a State Annual Action Plan (SAAP) detailing strategies that make sense for them, taking into consideration their unique requirements and resources. These plans are then implemented over five years, ensuring steady and focused progress across all states.
Key Components of AMRUT
Some of the major components of AMRUT include providing every household with water supply taps, increasing the sewage network in cities to cover all households, ensuring efficient urban mobility and public transport, providing green spaces like parks and recreation centres, and promoting digitization for governance, citizen services, and accountability.
Progress Made & Key Highlights of AMRUT
Given the mission’s massive scale tackling significant urban improvements across India, progress is typically measured in a number of ways. This includes checking the percentage of households with improved water supply, the number of cities where sewage and septage management practices have been upgraded, and the number of green spaces created or upgraded.
Fact Check of AMRUT
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Launched | 2015 |
| Operational timeline | 2015-2022 (5 years) |
| Targeted towns & cities | 500 |
| Budget support | 80% from the Centre |
| Main Components | Water supply, Sewerage system, Urban transport, Green spaces |
Looking Ahead: The Future of AMRUT
The future prospects for AMRUT present a promising landscape. With its target to reach 500 cities and towns within five years, the scheme seeks to usher in a new era of urban rejuvenation in India. And while there are many milestones yet to be reached, it is envisioned that the success of this mission will serve as an inspiration for other similar endeavours, not just in India, but across the globe.
