National Urban Digital Mission

• 25 Feb 2021

Why in News

The National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) along with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).

• Several other digital initiatives of MoHUA viz. India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), SmartCode, Smart Cities 2.0 website, and Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS) have also been launched.
• These initiatives will further the ongoing efforts of both Ministries to realise the vision of Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Key Points

• About the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM):
  
  • It will create a shared digital infrastructure for urban India, working across the three pillars of people, process, and platform to provide holistic support to cities and towns.
  • It will institutionalise a citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach to urban governance and service delivery in 2022 cities by 2022, and across all cities and towns in India by 2024.
• Significance of the NUDM:
  
  • The shared digital infrastructure will consolidate and cross-leverage the various digital initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, enabling cities and towns across India to benefit from holistic and diverse forms of support, in keeping with their needs and local challenges.
  • NUDM has articulated a set of governing principles, and inherits the technology design principles of the National Urban Innovation Stack (NUIS).
    
    • The principles in turn give rise to standards, specifications, and certifications, across the three pillars of people, process, and platforms.
    • NUIS will strengthen the capacity of the urban ecosystem to solve complex programs at speed and scale by unlocking the power of urban data.
• India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX):
  
  • It has been developed in partnership between the Smart Cities Mission and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
  • It serves 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.
  • It is an open-source software platform which facilitates the secure, authenticated, and managed exchange of data amongst various data platforms, 3^rd party authenticated and authorised applications, and other sources.
• SmartCode Platform:
  
  • SmartCode is a platform that enables all ecosystem stakeholders to contribute to a repository of open-source code for various solutions and applications for urban governance.
  • It is designed to address the challenges that ULBs face in the development and deployment of digital applications to address urban challenges, by enabling cities to take advantage of existing codes and customising them to suit local needs, rather than having to develop new solutions from scratch.
• Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS):
  
  • GMIS is a web-based, spatially-enabled management tool, providing one-stop access to information.
  • GMIS integrates information from multiple sources and features search options by topic and geographic area.

Other Schemes/Programmes of MoHUA

• Urban Learning and Internship Program (TULIP)
• India Cycles4Change Challenge and Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge
• Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF)
• Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance Index
• AMRUT
• Swachh Bharat Mission Urban
• Urban Transport
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission

Source: PIB