City Image

Odisha: setting example in uplifting urban pOOr

WHEN MIGRANTS FROM Odisha returned to their home state, the Government of Odisha launched the Urban Wage Employment Initiative that ensures guaranteed minimum number of workdays, annually. The initiative engages the workers in public works to mitigate the economic stress of impoverished urban labour force due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 5th Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation recognised this effort of the state government and named it one of the four outstanding initiatives for its contribution to urban innovation.

NEWSCAN Rourkela among winners of Global Mayors’ Challenge

ROURKELA: The 15 winners of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge are to be awarded $1 million each to help cities implement their breakthrough ideas. India’s city Rourkela came in the list of 15 winner cities this year. The winners of the Global Mayors’ Challenge include Amman (Jordan), Bogota (Colombia), Butuan (Philippines), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Hermosillo (Mexico), Istanbul (Turkey), Kigali (Rwanda), Kumasi (Ghana), Paterson (USA), Phoenix (USA), Rochester (USA), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Rourkela (India), Vilnius (Lithuana) and Wellington (New Zealand). Rourkela from India has been awarded for its initiatives in economic recovery and inclusive growth. Rourkela’s project focused on empowering female food entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs in Rourkela have long struggled with a shortage of storage facilities, reducing the shelf life of their products. The city is minimising food loss and extending the selling window for vegetables by providing cold-storage facilities to women entrepreneurs. In a single programme, this provides several benefits including economic empowerment, food security, and mobility for women. Because the majority of the sellers are women, the storage facilities will be managed by women’s federations throughout the city. Dibyajyoti Parida, IAS, Commissioner, Rourkela Municipal Corporation and CEO, Rourkela Smart City Limited, had said that climate change solutions, women empowerment, social inclusion have been the core themes of the project and are the driving forces toward strengthening the local economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and postCOVID scenario.

Ola, Uber must switch to EVs: Delhi Govt

NEW DELHI: By March 2023, the Government of NCT of Delhi has mandated cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber, as well as delivery service providers, to ensure that 50 per cent of all two-wheelers and 25 per cent of all four-wheelers in the fleet be electric vehicles. The tailpipe emissions from two and four-wheelers operated by cab aggregators and delivery partners will be significantly reduced as a result of this approach. Once the process of reviewing objections is completed at the conclusion of the 60-day period, notification will be sent. The draft notification will be made available on the official website of the Delhi government. The authorities would even solicit residents’ thoughts for a period of 60 days.

Delhi to set up sensors to combat pollution

Delhi has decided to install mesh of sensors at the neighborhood level to improvise spatial grid, alerting the anti-pollution body of changes in air quality levels so as to enable intervention in places which are badly hit. These sensors will work in the same way as the automatic real-time stations in Delhi, but they will be able to pinpoint local sources of pollution, which a real-time station would not be able to detect because it covers a much greater area.

Green corridors to be set up in two phases in India

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accredited the `12,031 crore second phase of setting up transmission projects for supplying electricity from renewable energy projects. The second phase of the transmission corridors will provide 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to the national grid from Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The move came after PM Modi pledged in November at the COP26 summit in Glasgow to fulfill half of India’s energy needs with renewables by 2030.

NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India announced the Union Budget 2022-23. The budget reflected that India is on the path of building an inclusive master plan which would revamp the growth of the nation’s urban development.

Amrit Kaal

Prime Minister Narender Modi, in his Independence Day speech, addressed the central government’s vision for the next 25 years as India approaches 100 years of independence. Sitharaman elaborated that the government

hopes t o accomplish the vision by: ♦ Promoting digital economy & fintech, technologyenabled development, energy transformation, and climate action. ♦ Relying on a virtuous cycle that starts with private investment and ends with public capital investment assisting to crowd-in private investment. ♦ The Budget 2022 included a blueprint of how the works in Amrit Kaal will proceed. This futuristic and inclusive plan will be guided by PM Gati Shakti and benefit youth, women, farmers and invite public investments for advanced infrastructure. Sitharaman elaborated on PM Gati Shakti, saying that it is a transformative method for economic growth and sustainable development. Roads,

Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass

Transportation, Waterways, and

Logistics infrastructure are the seven engines that power the strategy. All seven engines will work together to propel the economy ahead. The complementing responsibilities of Energy

Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk Water and Sewerage, and

Social Infrastructure support these engines. ♦ The Amrit Kaal will witness the next phase of Ease of Doing Business 2.0, and Ease of Living will be launched.

In this phase, the manual processes and interventions will be digitalised and different governmental tiers will be integrated through IT bridges. Government of India will also encourage the involvement of citizens and businesses by crowdsourcing suggestions.

Enhanced connectivity and urban mobility

♦ To enable the speedy flow of mobility and commodities, the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan for expressways will be developed in 2022-23. The National Highways network will be extended by 25,000 kilometres. To supplement public resources, a total of Rs 20,000 crores will be raised through innovative financing methods. ♦ Striving for ecologically sustainable alternatives for transportation in hilly areas, the National Ropeways Development Programme will be implemented. The objective

What Union Budget 2022 promises for India’s urban development

Up to five existing academic institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence to develop India’s specific knowledge in urban planning, and design & deliver certified training in these areas. Endowment funding of `250 crore would be allocated to each of these centres

would be to enhance the convenience of commuters and promote tourism. ♦ She added that contracts for implementation of Multimodal Logistics Parks at four locations through PPP mode will be awarded in 2022-23.

Clean mobility options

♦ The use of public transportation in urban areas will be promoted.

Clean technology and governance solutions, special mobility zones with a zero-fossil-fuel policy, and electric vehicles will be added to this. ♦ Given the scarcity of space in cities, areas for establishing large-scale charging stations, a battery swapping strategy and interoperability standards will be developed. The commercial sector will be encouraged to build sustainable and creative ‘Battery or Energy as a Service’ business models. The EV ecosystem will be more efficient as a result of this.

Expanding city horizons

Sitharaman forecasted that over half of the population would be inhabiting the urban landscape. She emphasised that an orderly urban development is critical to actualising India’s economic potential. “There is a need to reimagine the cities that centre sustainable living with equal opportunities for the demographic dividend,” she stated. ♦ Sitharaman announced the formation of a high-level committee of urban planners, economists, and institutions to recommend policies for urban development, capacity building, planning, implementation, and governance, with a focus on urban planning and development. This move is reflective of the recently released NITI Aayog paper titled “Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India.”

The report criticised the country’s shortage of urban planners as well as capacity gaps. According to the report, 63 per cent of India’s 7933 urban local bodies lack master plans for their settlements, leaving them with no road map for dealing with the settlement’s future development concerns. ♦ States will be given assistance in improving urban capability.

Building bylaws will be updated, along with Town Planning Schemes (TPS) and Transit-Oriented

Development (TOD). This will make it easier for people to live and work around places with public transportation options.

Capacity building and skill development

♦ Skilling programmes and industry partnerships will be reoriented to promote ongoing skilling, sustainability, and employability. The National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) will be updated to meet the changing needs of businesses. The DESHStack e-portal, a digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood, will be established. Through online instruction, residents will be able to skill up, reskill or upskill. It will also offer API-based trustworthy skill certifications, payment, and discovery layers to help people locate appropriate employment and start businesses. ♦ Start-ups will be encouraged to help ‘Drone Shakti’ through a variety of applications and Drone-as-a-

Service (DrAAS).

Upgraded education quality

♦ The pandemic forced the children,

mostly in government schools, to lose out on almost 2 years of formal education. To provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12, the ‘one class-one TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. ♦ Sitharaman also stated that the

Government of India will set up 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics, 75 skilling e-labs to promote critical thinking skills in vocational courses. ♦ A Digital University will be built to provide students from all across the country with access to world-class universal education and a tailored learning experience right at their doorstep. This will be offered in a variety of Indian languages as well as ICT formats. The university will be developed on a hub-and-spoke network to develop cutting-edge ICT capabilities. As a network of hub-spokes, the country’s leading public universities and institutes will collaborate.

Gender inclusivity

♦ Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi, and Poshan 2.0 are the initiatives that were introduced to give integrated benefits to women and children. Saksham Anganwadis are a new generation of anganwadis with upgraded infrastructure and audiovisual aids, as well as being powered by renewable energy and offering a better environment for early childhood development. Under the scheme, two lakh anganwadis will be refurbished. The Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal scheme will receive `60,000 crore in funding, with the goal of reaching 3.8 crore households by 2022-23.

Housing for all

In 2022-23, 80 lakh dwellings would be built for the PM Awas Yojana’s identified eligible participants, both rural and urban. A total of `48,000 crore has been set aside for this purpose.

Global City Lab releases the list of top 500 Cities in 2021

New York, London and Tokyo grabs the first three spots. 63 and 40 cities from the USA and China, respectively, make to the list

NEW DELHI: The “Global Top 500 Cities” was compiled by Global City Lab and released on December 30, 2021, in New York City. According to the survey, New York is the most valuable city in the world, with a brand worth of $2.04 trillion. With a brand worth of $1.90 trillion, London has surpassed Tokyo to take second position. Tokyo’s value fell 5.37 per cent, putting it at the third place with a $1.78 trillion market capitalisation. Brand values of Paris, Singapore and Sydney, all exceeded $1 trillion. Top 10 is completed by Los Angeles, Toronto, Shanghai and Hong Kong, with the last two placed at 9th and 10th, respectively. The analysis discovered that blockchain and cryptocurrency are having an impact on the city’s future.

The brand of a city shows its overall strength. It has an impact on a city’s development potential because it affects the flow of capital, information, goods, and talent. As a result, assessing a city’s brand value will provide you a better understanding of it. Global City Lab is the first professional organisation dedicated to assessing city brand values in the globe. It uses six metrics to determine brand value: economic growth, culture, governance, environment, talent, and reputation. The criteria for the list in 2021, is $18.06 billion, down from $18.51 billion in 2020 for the second year in a row. Six cities now have brand values above $1 trillion, compared to five in 2020.

There are 18 cities in the world with brand values ranging from $500 billion to $1 trillion. More than 60 per cent of the cities surveyed, have a brand value worth of under $100 billion. The top 500 cities’ average brand value in 2021, is $141.94 billion, up 0.5 per cent over the average of $141.22 billion in 2020. These cities are spread over six continents, with Europe, Asia and North America accounting for more than 80 per cent of the total. Europe topped the list of regions, with two more cities added to bring the total number of cities to 179. Asia and North America each lost one city, bringing their totals to 154 and 90, respectively. Each of the three remaining areas has a similar number of cities on the list.

In the post-pandemic era, major world areas are recovering economically. Due to a variety of government policies, pandemic preventive propaganda beliefs, and economic development models, recovery rates vary widely. In comparison to 2020, the average brand value of European and North American cities decreased by 1.06 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively, indicating a considerable deceleration. Asia was steady as a result of effective pandemic containment; average brand value only fell by 0.85 per cent. The top 500 cities are located in 125 different nations. With 63 cities, the United States is leading, followed by China with 40. Third to sixth place go to Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and India. Europe has five of the top ten countries, owing to its well-preserved cultural buildings, unique landscapes, and strong economic underpinnings. Many countries that had blocked their borders to travellers are reopening them as the global COVID-19 situation improves. The normalcy of international trade and cultural exchange is returning. Due to free contact between countries, Europe has always reaped the benefits of globalisation, but it has also been under increased pressure to contain the pandemic.

NEWSCAN Exhaustion of groundwater levels may cause parts of Delhi-NCR to sink

NEW DELHI: The capital’s worrisome pace of groundwater depletion may be leading to a different kind of slowmoving crisis: portions of the city’s surface are sinking, a phenomenon known as land subsidence, which could damage the international airport. Researchers have discovered that over 100 square kilometres of land in the national capital region is at risk of ground displacement, with the greatest of these, around 12.5 square km, in southwest Delhi’s Kapashera, just 800 meters from the airport, according to the satellite data.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, the German Research Centre for Geosciences, Cambridge; and the Southern Methodist University in the United States, conducted a study titled ‘Tracking hidden crisis in India’s capital from space: Implications of unsustainable groundwater use’ that was published in the peer-reviewed Natu journal. It said that the rate of “sinking of land” in the neighbourhood near the airport is accelerating and the subsidence feature is rapidly expanding towards the airport, potentially threatening it. “During the years 2014–2016, the subsidence velocity was estimated to be around 11 centimetre (cm)/year, but it increased by nearly 50 per cent over the next two years to roughly 17 cm/year. During 2018–2019, the trend stayed nearly unchanged,” according to the report.

According to Shagun Garg, a PhD researcher from the University of Cambridge, who was part of the team that researched these land deformations, Kapashera, near the airport was the most vulnerable of all the regions under threat since the subsidence rate is exceedingly high. “Airports require stable ground because significant ground movement can cause major disturbance,” Garg explained. “The Kuala Lumpur airport serves as an illustration of the consequences of land subsidence, including fissures on taxiways and water logging as a result of soil settlement. It is critical to keep an eye on the IGI (Indira Gandhi International) airport and its related highways.”

Another deformation was discovered in Mahipalpur, barely 500 metres from the airport, where deformation of 15 millimetres (mm) per year was measured in 2014-16, 30 mm per year in 2016-18, and 50 mm per year in 2018-19. Land subsidence is a global issue that occurs when substantial volumes of groundwater are drained from certain types of rocks and subsurface soil. When water is taken from aquifers, the clay between pockets of water progressively collapses, causing the ground beneath to deflate. It’s not like a sinkhole or a cave in, when the effects are immediate, rather it happens gradually across a broad region. Water-stressed Delhi has a demand-supply mismatch of 300 million gallons (MGD) per day with a forecast demand of 1236 MGD.

The demand in capital is expected to rise to 1746 MGD by 2031, according to the draft Master Plan 2041. Groundwater extraction is used to provide a considerable portion of unfulfilled demands. The water table is available to a depth of 80 metres in some parts of southwest Delhi, and it is depleting at a pace of 3-4 metres, each year. According to the US Geological Survey, excessive groundwater extraction is responsible for more than 80 per cent of global land subsidence. According to the study, a 100-squarekilometer area in the national capital region is at “high risk of ground displacement.” Bijwasan, Samalkha, Kapashera, Sadh Nagar, Bindapur, and Mahavir Enclave in Delhi; Dundahera, Sector 22A, and Block C in Gurgaon; and Pocket A, B, and C of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Nagar in Faridabad are among the locations that demand immediate attention. Land subsidence is known to inflict billions of dollars in damages around the world, to infrastructure, roads, pavements, and underground utilities such as drainage systems, despite its slow speed. The sinking also increases the risk of flooding and causes more frequent waterlogging.