6 Years of Transformative Urban Missions

• 26 Jun 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) organised an online event to commemorate six years of the three transformative Urban Missions vis. Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).

• The day also marked the 45 years of establishment of National Institute of Urban Affairs, an autonomous body of MoHUA, tasked to bridge the gap between research and practice on issues related to urbanization.

Key Points

• Progress/Achievements:
  
  • PMAY-U:
    
    • 1.12 crore houses sanctioned and over 83 lakh houses grounded under PMAY-U.
    • 16 lakh families benefited from PMAY-U’s Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
    • Government investment under PMAY-U created around 689 crore person days of employment translating into around 246 lakh jobs.
    • Affordable Rental Housing Complexes scheme under PMAY-U for urban migrants/poor has elicited remarkable response on ground.
  • AMRUT:
    
    • So far, 1.05 crore household water tap connections and 78 lakh sewer/ sepatage connections provided under AMRUT Mission.
    • About 88 lakh street lights were replaced with energy efficient LED lights leading to energy savings.
    • 84.6 lakh tons carbon footprint was reduced through various initiatives under AMRUT, as per The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
  • SCM:
    
    • 70 cities have developed and operationalised Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) under Smart Cities Mission.
• Important Launches/Releases During the Event:
  
  • India Smart Cities Awards 2020:
    
    • The awards were given across the themes of Social Aspects, Governance, Culture, Urban Environment, Sanitation, Economy, Built Environment, Water, Urban Mobility.
    • Themes such as Sustainable Business model of ICCC and Innovation award especially in Covid-19 Management are added this year.
    • Indore & Surat won the City Award jointly this year for their overall development and Uttar Pradesh won the State award.
  • Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0:
    
    • Launched in September, 2020 with an aim to provide an overarching roadmap to formulate, implement and monitor urban climate actions in India.
    • The top 9 performing cities which have been awarded 4 star rating are Surat, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Vadodara.
  • ICT initiatives under Smart Cities
    
    • ICCC Maturity Assessment Framework (IMAF):
      
      • It is a self-assessment tool kit to help cities identify areas of improvement in their ICCCs to deliver better services to the citizens.
    • Smart Cities ICT standards:
      
      • These will facilitate interoperability between products in a multi-vendor, multi-network and multi-service environment that exists in a smart city.
      • Organised by Bureau Of Indian Standards (BIS).
    • India Smart Cities Fellowship Program :
      
      • To promote youth leadership and usher vibrancy in the design of India’s urban future.
    • ‘TULIP-The Urban Learning Internship Program’ Report:
      
      • It is a platform to connect graduates to Urban Local Bodies and Smart Cities to co-create new solutions for our cities.
    • CITIIS - Knowledge Products:
      
      • Launched in partnership with the French Development Agency and the European Union in 2018.
      • It has a novel approach of developing demonstrative projects and furthering the agenda of sustainability and innovation in urban infrastructure.

Smart City Mission

• About: It is an innovative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
• Objective: To promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of Smart Solutions.
• Focus: On sustainable and inclusive development and to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities.
• Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) equip cities to do more with less by graduating to real time data driven decision making with better situational awareness in an integrated manner. ICCCs are expected to deliver specific outcomes focusing on bringing positive impact on day-to-day life of the citizens.

AMRUT Mission

• Launch: June 2015
• Concerned Ministry: Housing and Urban Affairs
• Purpose:
  
  • To ensure that every household has access to a tap with the assured supply of water and a sewerage connection.
  • To increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks).
  • To reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban

• Launch: 25^th June 2015, intends to provide housing for all in urban areas by year 2022.
• Implemented by: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
• Features:
  
  • Addresses Urban housing shortage among the Urban Poor including the Slum Dwellers by ensuring a pucca house to eligible urban poor.
  • The Mission covers the entire urban area consisting of Statutory Towns, Notified Planning Areas, Development Authorities, Special Area Development Authorities, Industrial Development Authorities or any such authority under State legislation which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning & regulations.

Source: PIB