Urban Update February 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VI, Issue X

February 2021

Cities need to balance development, resource utilisation, sustainability targets responsibly All cogs of the wheel need to work together

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate

Volume VI, Issue X

January 2021

December 2020

20 LESSONS FOR

CITIES FROM

REsHAPING OuR uRbAN FutuRE, LEssONs LEARNt FROm COVID-19

Meenakshi Rajput Senior Graphic Designer

Cities need to bAlAnCe development, resourCe utilisAtion, sustAinAbility tArgets responsibly All cogs of the wheel need to work together

Volume VI - Issue X

Leaderspeak

Build back better together AIILSG

European Union AIILSG

European Union

project The project is implementedThe by the AIILSG.is funded by the European Union.

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

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February 2021

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UrbanUpdate

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Volume VI, Issue VIII

Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

Printed at Artz & Printz, 208, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Industrial Area Phase-I New Delhi-110020 Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area D-Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Editorial

Rajiv Agarwal | Editor-In-Chief | dg@aiilsg.org

Building partnerships to build better cities ‘Trudeau dials India for vaccine; will do best to help, says Modi’ was a recent print media headline. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, India has been reaching out to several countries with support by way of supply of vaccines against the virus. This has placed India in a position of leadership in a time of global crisis; alongside it has highlighted the role of global partnerships and collaborations in creating a better world for all.

Yet another headline said ‘Biden signs order rejoining Paris Climate Agreement’. This action on the part of the US President soon after taking office is a crucial and timely step in the global fight against Climate Change given that the US is a major carbon emitter, and also the fact that the window for meaningful, effective action to limit global temperature rise is now getting narrower. The US, as a hub of technology and innovation, could play a game-changing role in achieving the Paris Agreement goal. This event too brings to the fore the essential role of international partnerships in addressing pressing concerns including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the field of urban governance and management too, such partnerships will prove valuable.

A majority of mankind already lives in urban settings with a steady, and in some cases, rapid shift of the rest of the population towards cities. With this trend, cities, and therefore local governments, will increasingly be called upon to address global developmental challenges across dimensions – economic, social, and environmental. In these efforts, partnerships among cities, or city-city collaborations can prove effective. Such collaborations could help all partners address issues of common concern such as urban mobility, air quality, security and policing, service delivery relating to water and waste management, and housing. The partnerships could go beyond just sharing of experiences of different partners; they could work to address joint concerns with individual expertise although the contexts and circumstances could be vastly different.

Cities then have much to gain from peer level collaboration and partnerships. However such initiatives could encounter challenges too. Language, culture, political and economic circumstances are some. One key challenge in the context of Indian cities could be the absence of an autonomous and empowered city governance structure. City leadership, even in the case of large metropolises with several millions in population, have widely dispersed, rather than single point leadership. Many have argued for an elected empowered mayor with say, a five year tenure to lead city administrations for more city-centric governance. Cities would then be in a position to forge partnerships and strike alliances and work jointly with global stakeholders to implement best practices and create world class urban spaces in India.

This issue of Urban Update presents more views on how such global partnerships and collaborations can help build sustainable cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Quotes

We are in a race against time to adapt to a rapidly changing climate and protect the most vulnerable

Both climate change & COVID-19 have shown us the risks of an unthinking & rapacious approach to nature and its resources

Amina J Mohammed Deputy Secretary General, United Nations

Hoesung Lee Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

PIN POINT

One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution

Malala Yousafzai Pakistani activist for female education

Making the cities water secure, providing tap water for drinking using new technology is the aim of Jal Jeevan Mission-Urban

Durga Shanker Mishra Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, GoI

BUZZ

6

Ram Nath Kovind

MoRTH

Manish Sisodia

SWITCH-Asia

President of India

Government of India

Deputy CM of Delhi

@switchasia

@rashtrapatibhvn

@MORTHIndia

@msisodia

I urge upon the countrymen to utilise this lifeline and get vaccinated as per guidelines.

Your health opens the way for your advancement

MoRTH henceforth will look after the development of Ropeways & Alternate Mobility Solutions.

The move is expected to give a boost to the sector, by setting up a regulatory regime, and facilitating research and new technology to come into this sector

It’s a matter of pride for Delhi that our govt schools have ranked top in the country in NITI Aayog’s NAS report attributing landmark transformation of the govt school system

February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Single-use or disposable items are products and packaging that we throw after only one use. These items are used for only minutes but their impact on our environment can last thousands of years. Sustainable alternatives exist

Content

Inside Volume 6, Issue 10

February 2021

Girl Power Project

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Empowering women, girls through social entrepreneurship

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Cities need to balance development, resource utilisation, sustainability targets responsibly Cities are at the core of the government’s push for infrastructure development, Foreign Direct Investment for supporting Make in India, and expedite their efforts to make India a USD 5-trillion economy.

Simultaneously, cities are also looked up to as the major players in achieving climate agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, and New Urban Agenda’s targets, among many other international objectives. There is a need to balance building a prosperous nation and a sustainable ecosystem of urban spaces. Cities will have to up their game and make their systems more efficient, agile, and well-financed to achieve all objectives at a time. For this, the outreach of the central governments to international and national agencies must be in coordination with local governments to augment the desired outcomes

Newscan

City Image Urban Agenda

LEADERSPEAK

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All cogs of the wheel need to work together

The recent changing priorities of cities because of

the Pandemic, and before that, because of looming dangers of climate change is bringing transformation in urban management worldwide. The meaningful transformation needs collective responsibility, shared agendas, and joint efforts of all tiers of governments in the region and collaboration with associations elsewhere for achieving the common agenda of our urban spaces

With the ultimate goal of capacitating CSOs and empowering women and girls through social entrepreneurship, the Girl Power Project geared towards the new year of 2021, and saw significant development in different domains of project management, marketing, CSO outreach and stakeholder management

Cover Story

13 46

Pin Point

Infograph

30

Lessons from Cities

13

Articles

34 Economy is a subsystem of the biosphere, not the opposite!

36 Initiating coordinated global urban development 38 Urban spaces await sustainable mobility 40 Economic revival of cities post-pandemic 42 Cities: Creator, victim and solution to climate change

Webinar

44 Building smarter cities with resilient infrastructure www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Girl Power Project

Empowering women, girls through social entrepreneurship With the ultimate goal of capacitating CSOs and empowering women and girls through social entrepreneurship, the Girl Power Project geared towards the new year of 2021, and saw significant development in terms of the increased team size with four new members onboarding the project at different domains of project management, marketing, CSO outreach and stakeholder management

N

etwork Building with 100 CSOs is the first and foremost step for moving towards reaching out to the project beneficiaries in different parts of the state.

The project onboarded 20 CSOs that have worked on various projects of the government with a considerable number of women self- help groups (SHGs) across sectors.

These CSOs will act as a support mechanism base for fostering rights and support to women and girls in Jharkhand.

It is imperative for the project to

enable and empower 5000 women and girls to become entrepreneurs and establish their business in the social sector. A baseline survey of 3300 women has been completed through a software KoBo ToolBox on various parameters such as demographic profile, asset holding, educational background, primary occupation, entrepreneurship potential and skill building requirements. The baseline survey has covered the identified 10 districts covering four regions of North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur, Kolhan and Santhal Pargana division of Jharkhand with 20 blocks, each with

The Girl Power project proposes to use a combination of training, skill building, network formation, policy dialogue and entrepreneurial support to achieve the larger goal of strengthening the ability of Indian civil Society to perform their role as independent agents of change that bring transformation into the lives of women and girls

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

a target of reaching out to at least 250 potential beneficiaries.

The Women Network for Social Entrepreneurship- Jharkhand has been established to promote multi stakeholder participation in Jharkhand and to identify like-minded people in the sector that can support the project.

Vasavi Kiro, a tribal social entrepreneur and founder of Torang Trust who has been identified for WNSE-J, is a source of inspiration to the thousands of women and girl beneficiaries across the state.

A knowledge sharing stage in the form of Best Practice forum has been

team girl power project

created that not only shares best practices but also promotes diversity on various topics related to gender empowerment, skill building and social entrepreneurship promotion through various national and international speakers across sectors. Dr Vibha Gupta, Director of Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti (MSS), a non-government organisation committed to the empowerment of women in rural communities of Wardha district of Maharashtra, shared her experience and knowledge on various social enterprises that have emerged in the country and the several marketing trends that have changed

in the past few years. She pointed to the large untapped market in terms of forest produce of Jharkhand and how with value addition it will benefit a large number of producers.

Market Connect, with the objective of providing a market platform to potential women entrepreneurs for their business growth and expansion is an element that would ultimately bring forth products and services of women entrepreneurs that the project will be working with. The initial step of identification of the potential products that can be value added and processed for ready market sale has highlighted various products across the intervention districts. Potential products include organic vegetable, lac (a natural resin), livestock and backyard poultry, mushroom and handicrafts.

Value addition and processing of these products will create a network with market players and a scope of potential export to other states of the country.

Through the survey, it was also found that girls were interested in learning skills of tailoring, embroidery, candle making, handicrafts and incense sticks making. Gender focused curriculum development for capacity building through training of 20 CSOs on soft skills and social entrepreneurship has been developed. Keeping in view the broader objective of skill building of women and girls to create social enterprises and develop innovative products and services promoting a growing marketplace in the longer run, modules have been designed in three levels divided into two parts. The first part of the training will consist of topics on soft skill, social entrepreneurship and a technical training on the identified potential product specific to each area. The second part of training will entirely be based on marketing and sales, skill building & government schemes and organization development & management. The unique curriculum designed for skill building of women and girls will meet the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) levels.

Liasoning with government

departments and agencies for the purpose of training and pro bono support was requested from the Rural Development department, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, Women and Child Development department, PRADAN, Ramakrishna Mission Ashram and Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra. The team contacted Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society and various other organisations that are already promoting rural entrepreneurship for identification of marketable products in the identified districts along with trainers and modules for technical training on potential products to the CSOs. Sensitisation of government officials through outreach meetings by the core team and CSOs was carried with the district and block level officials. The meetings intended to sensitise officials on objectives of the project along with domestic and societal issues of women and how the project addresses such issues creating a large impact on the lives of women and girls.

The project aims to conduct a series of trainings for 20 CSOs in the upcoming quarter on various aspects skill and capacity building. They will further train 80 CSOs/ SHGs/women led groups, benefitting the larger 5000 women and girls engaged in the purpose.

The Girl Power project proposes to use a combination of training, skill building, network formation, policy dialogue and entrepreneurial support to achieve the larger goal of strengthening the ability of Indian civil society and its organisation to perform their role as independent agents of change, implementing actions that bring transformative change in the lives of women and girls.

Through a cascade model and networks, the project aims to benefit at least 30,000 women and girls in the state and build a vibrant network of CSOs and women and girls, trained in entrepreneurial skills and actively practising entrepreneurship in various domains of social enterprise.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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NEWSCAN

Bengaluru is world’s fastest-growing technology hub: Report NEW DELHI: Bengaluru, the Information Technology (IT) capital of the country with a population of more than 10 million, has been placed at the top in the list of the world’s fastestgrowing mature technology ecosystems since 2016. Bengaluru was followed by European cities of London, Munich, Berlin and Paris. The data analysed by London and Partners (L&P) reveals that Bengaluru grew 5.4 times from $1.3 billion in 2016 to $7.2 billion in 2020. On the other hand, Mumbai ranked sixth in the list and grew 1.7 times from $0.7 billion to $1.2 billion in the same period.

London has also shown a threefold growth from $3.5 billion to $10.5 billion between 2016 and 2020. Hemin Bharucha, Chief Representative of India at L&P, said that it is good to see Bengaluru and London as the world’s two fastest-growing technology hubs. He added that the two cities share the power in entrepreneurship

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

and innovation, which creates many opportunities for investors and companies to do business. Further, he said that the Government of the United Kingdom’s recent Brexit deal with the European Union brings “certainty” for Indian companies and investors looking towards London. He also added that they look forward to welcoming more Indian businesses to the UK capital in the years ahead. The other fast-growing tech hubs that include two German cities of Munich and Berlin, and French capital Paris have doubled their investments in the 2016-2020 period.

However, the UK capital cemented its status as Europe’s leading tech hub with London companies receiving over three times the amount of investment than any other European tech city.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said that London is the global tech capital of Europe. Despite the challenges that emerged due to Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, London’s tech

sector continued to prosper in 2020 and has an important role in the city’s economic recovery. London is already home to some of the world’s best technology companies and will remain open to international investment and tech talent from all over the world.

Bengaluru is also at the sixth spot in the world’s technology Venture Capitalist (VC) investments. This global list has been topped by Beijing, San Francisco, New York, Shanghai and London as the top five cities.

Skillmine, a new-gen Bengaluru-based IT consulting and service management company which extended to London last year, credits the development of Bengaluru into a hi-tech hub to the easy access to “like-minded tech entrepreneurs alongside a deep-tech talent pool”.

Anant Agarwal, Managing Director, Skillmine, said that it has been thrilled to be part of Bengaluru’s emergence as a world-class hub. The company had grown its business operations to London in May 2019 and the Middle East and American markets. Agarwal added that London is a global tech hub with tickets to a thriving tech talent pool alongside growth capital and a broad customer base. He also expressed his excitement to grow their business in the city.

Mumbai stands at the 21st spot in the ranking, including Boston and Singapore in the high ranking cities.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and various other challenges of 2020, including Britain’s exit from the European Union, London technology firms have raised $10.5 billion in 2020.

The number is higher than what was recorded in 2017 ($7 billion) and 2018 ($5.9 billion). Another new research reveals that London is now home to 1252 Venture Capital firms, which is more than any other European city.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

India generated 33,000 tonnes of COVID waste in last seven months NEW DELHI: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recently released data which states that India has generated around 33,000 tonnes of COVID-19 biomedical waste in the last seven months.

According to the data, India generated over 5,500 tonnes of COVID-19 waste in October, which was the maximum waste in any month so far. The data added that all states and union territories have generated 32,994 tonnes of COVID-19related biomedical waste since June 2020.

This waste gets collected, treated and disposed of by 198 common biomedical waste treatment facilities (CBWTFs) situated across the nation.

The data established that Maharashtra

generated the maximum amount of waste, amounting to 5,367 tonnes of it in seven months since July 2020. Kerala generated 3,300 tonnes; Gujarat, 3,086 tonnes; Tamil Nadu, 2,806 tonnes; Uttar Pradesh, 2,502 tonnes; Delhi, 2,471 tonnes; West Bengal, 2,095 tonnes; and Karnataka, 2,026 tonnes. Around 4,530 tonnes of such waste was generated in December alone. In May last year, CPCB had developed a mobile application called ‘COVID19BWM’ to monitor coronavirusrelated biomedical waste. This application has been in use to track COVID-19 waste to ensure that the waste is collected, transported and sent to the registered CBWTFs.

39 billion in school meals missed during COVID: UNICEF-WFP NEW DELHI: A report released by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and the World Food Programme (WFP) noted that more than 39 billion in-school meals had been missed globally since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to closure of schools. According to the latest estimates, the report cited that 24 million school children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the pandemic, which will reverse the progress made in enrollment in schools in recent decades.

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF, said that despite the clear evidence available that schools are not primary drivers of SARS-CoV-2 infections, millions of children countinue to face school closures worldwide. She added, “Children depending on schools for their daily meals are not only losing out on education but also on a reliable source of nutrition.” According to Fore, the world needs to prioritize the reopening of schools and take appropriate action to make them as safe as possible by making renewed investments in proven preventive measures against the infection like clean water, masks, soap, and social distancing in every school. David Beasley, Executive Director, WFP, said that missing out on nutritious school meals is jeopardizing the future of millions of the world’s poorest children. The world risks losing a whole generation. He said that UNICEF-WFP must support governments to safely reopen schools because, for many children, the nutritious meal they get in school is the only food they receive all day.

The report revealed that there had been an overall reduction of 30 per cent in the coverage of essential nutrition services during the pandemic. It also said that in some countries, during nationwide lockdowns, all school feeding programmes were cancelled.

India needs investment in R&D to strengthen economy: Economic Survey

The recently released Economic Survey 2021 has underscored the significance of private investments in research and development (R&D). The survey revealed that the business sector in India contributes about 37 per cent to gross expenditure on R&D, which is almost half of what businesses in the top ten countries contribute (68 per cent on average), inspite of the fact that tax incentives for R&D are more liberal in India in comparison to those in the top ten economies. The survey added that India needs to ramp up investment in R&D if it aims to emerge as the third-largest economy in the world.

India’s vaccinemanufacturing capability is best aid world has: UN chief Encouraging India to play an important role in the global vaccination campaign, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), on Thursday, January 28, called India’s vaccine production capacity as the “best asset” that the world has today. Guterres said that he knows that in India, there is a high level of production of Indian developed vaccines. UN is in contact with Indian institutions for that. He said that he strongly hopes that India will have all the necessary instruments to play a major role in ensuring that a global immunisation campaign is made possible.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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NEWSCAN

Karnataka tops NITI Aayog’s Innovation Index NEW DELHI: Karnataka has captured the top spot among major states in the second edition of Innovation Index announced by the National Institution for Transforming India, also known as NITI Aayog, on January 20.

Maharashtra has leapt ahead of Tamil Nadu and grabbed the second spot.

Telangana, Kerala, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are the other states who have grabbed the Top 10 positions. Delhi and Himachal Pradesh occupied the top positions among union territories (UTs) and north-east/hill states respectively.

The average innovation score in the category of major states is 25.4.

Karnataka, which topped the table, scored 42.5 points, credited to the state’s strong number of venture capital deals, registered geographical indications and information and communication technology exports. High inflow of foreign direct investment has helped the state enhance innovation capabilities.

Maharashtra scored 38 points and secured the second spot. Bihar, which was placed at the bottom of the table, scored 14.5 points. Southern states have dominated the list with four states in the top 5. North-east and hill states scored an average innovation score of 17.9, with Himachal Pradesh at the top with a score of 25.

The average score of city-states and UTs stands at 26 points with Delhi at the top, followed by Chandigarh with 38.6.

Himachal Pradesh topped a separate index carved out for ten north east and hill states, followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur. Delhi has shown superior results due to the high number of trademarks and patent applications and new start-ups and companies in the new fiscal year. The report said it scored best in the field of internet penetration with 202.7 internet subscribers per 100 population.

Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, said that he hopes that the Indian Innovation Index 2020 can help the country recognise

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

The average score of city states and UTs stands at 26 points with Delhi at the top, followed by Chandigarh with a score of 38.6.

Himachal Pradesh topped a separate index carved out for ten North East and Hill States, followed

by Uttarakhand and Manipur the major areas of developmental intervention, with innovation as the central driver for growth.

Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog, said that as the world struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic this year, the significance of innovation is being observed more than ever before. Simultaneously, while innovation has always been essential for higher productivity and economic growth, it is also crucial for bolstering a post-crisis economy. In this circumstance, the central government’s far-sightedness in developing a culture of innovation through initiatives like the Atal Innovation Mission, Start-Up India, etc. is praiseworthy. Further, he added that the second edition of the

index would allow states to continue to assess their innovation setting and evaluate their progress. The division of innovation into two dimensions, namely innovation capabilities (Enablers) and innovation outcomes (Performance) will give the states a better perspective for identifying the critical focus areas.

The last edition of the India Innovation Index, released in October 2019, was a first-of-its-kind metric for assessing the innovation capabilities of Indian states and union territories. It was launched to exhibit the government’s initiative to create an innovation-driven economy.

The Index will help recognise areas of developmental intervention, with innovation as the central driver for growth.

As per the report, India and the world have undergone a significant shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the pandemic triggering an economic shutdown, the role of innovation to rejuvenate the economy has never been more critical. The report also pointed out that the 2020 edition builds on the previous year’s methodology by introducing more metrics to provide a more holistic outlook of the Indian economy. The framework is updated to include globally considered parameters for measuring innovation, such as the percentage of GDP spent on research and development, while keeping them specific to the Indian economy.

City Image

Beautifying Indore - One wall at a time The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) is gearing up for Swachh Survekshan 2021 by redecorating the city’s walls and roads, apart from maintaining supreme cleaning standards. The walls are being painted

with local, festive, and cultural artwork.

The emphasis on city beautification comes from the desire to meet parameters of Swachh Survekshan, which focusses on visual aspects of cleanliness too. Pratibha Pal, IMC

Commissioner, said citizens of Indore had been actively helping the IMC maintain the city’s cleanliness over the years, owing to which, Indore has been continuously winning the award for the cleanest city of India since 2017.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

70% of COVID cases from Kerala, Maharashtra Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, said on, January 28 that 70 per cent of COVID-19 positive cases are from the states of Kerala and Maharashtra. He added that 153 cases of the new UK variant of coronavirus have also been detected in the country till now.

147 districts in the country have not seen even a single case of COVID-19 in the last seven days.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra stands at 20,13,353, while in Kerala the number is 8,99,932. Other states which add to the number of COVID-19 cases are Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Delhi schools to get sanitary napkin incinerators

The Government of Delhi has directed principals and heads of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools to procure and install sanitary napkin incinerators in 3,204 toilet blocks of 553 schools of the Directorate of Education (DoE) and MCD. The Education Ministry’s Project Approval Board has awarded work to install sanitary napkin incinerators with smoke control units in girls’ toilet blocks. This will facilitate hygienic and ecofriendly disposal of sanitary napkins. DoE, addressing a letter to the schools in Delhi, stated that the principals would pay the cost of these power plugs from Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti funds or grant in aids.

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Amazon witnessed major surge in deforestation in 2020: Analysis BRASILIA: A recent analysis by Amazon Conservation Organisation (ACO) on deforestation showed that roughly 21,000 square kilometres (8,108 square miles) of old-growth forest, about the size of New Jersey, was cut or burned down in the year 2020. The research also established that there had been a surge in the destruction by 21 per cent in the region that is home to the world’s largest rainforest and spans nine countries. Matt Finer, Head-Amazon Monitoring Project, ACO, informed that Bolivia accounted for the biggest increase in destruction than 2019 as enormous fires tore through its Chiquitano dry forests. He cited the reason to be Bolivians using slash and burn tactic to clear land for cattle or soy, and the possibility of fires getting out of control and escaping into the forest in dry conditions.

According to the analysis, Brazil accounted for deforestation in 61 per cent of the hotspots in Amazon, although, Finer said, forest destruction in 2020 was similar to that in 2019 in Brazil. He commented, “I think 2019 is regarded as a really bad year for the Brazilian Amazon. 2020 got less press and attention, but it was just as bad, if not worse.” Reports of a study conducted by the Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network released in December 2020 also established that deforestation in the Amazon destroyed an area bigger than Spain from 2000 to 2018, thus wiping out eight per cent of the world’s largest rainforest.

India has the highest diaspora population in the world: UN NEW DELHI: A report titled ‘International Migration 2020 Highlights’ published by the United Nations Organisation (UNO) states that India has the highest diaspora globally, with almost 18 million people living outside their homeland.

The report was released on January 15 by Population division of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

It mentioned that other countries with the highest diaspora include Mexico (11 million) and Syria (8 million).

The report mentioned that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States of America (USA) and Saudi Arabia contain the highest number of migrants from India. Other countries which host Indian diaspora include Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Kingdom (UK). It added that between 2000 and 2020, the population migrating to other countries grew for almost all the countries and areas of the world. The US holds the top position in countries with highest international migrants (51 million) in 2020, equal to

18 per cent of the world’s total number.

Germany hosts the second-highest population of international migrants with 16 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russia (12 million), and the United Kingdom (9 million). The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic this year has disturbed all forms of human mobility due to the closing of borders and ban on travel. International migrants represent about 3.6 per cent of the total world’s population. The report added that Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the USA gained the largest number of international migrants between 2000 and 2020. On the other hand, around 53 countries showed a decline in the influx of international migrants in this period.

NEWSCAN

Janaagraha awards Indore as best municipality

NEW DELHI: The second edition of the Janaagraha City Governance Awards was virtually held on, January 12, and was presided over by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. Of the five categories, Odisha won two awards for Best State and Best Civic Agency.

Gujarat and Kerala bagged the award for Best State Election Commission and Best State Finance Commission respectively. Indore was declared the Best Municipality from among all the nominations filed for the awards.

Indore won the award for its PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) – based solid waste management system, introduced under the Smart Cities Mission.

Thiruvananthapuram emerged as the first runner-up in this category for its initiative named, ‘My City Beautiful City.’ As part of this initiative, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation collected broken glasses and useless tyres from across the city to raise awareness regarding waste management and simultaneously implemented measures to make the city clean and beautiful.

Raipur Municipal Corporation secured the second runner up position in the same category for introducing a Geographic Information System-based property tax administration system, a set of computerised tools for collecting,

storing, retrieving, transforming, and displaying spatial data. The city administration will use the generated data in property tax assessment and building permissions.

The awards were given under five categories - best state, best municipality, best parasternal administration, best state election commission and best state finance commission. It was held in memory of V Ramachandran, an Indian civil servant, management expert and the Chief Secretary of Kerala, a doyen of decentralisation. The awards recognise groundbreaking work in decentralisation in an urban context by institutions across state governments.

Odisha won the Best State and the Best Civic Agency award, while Gujarat won the Best State Election Commission award and Kerala won the Best State Finance Commission award.

For its PPP Based Integrated Solid Waste Management system, Indore won the Best Municipality and Maharashtra won runners-up in four of the five award categories.

The winners were chosen by a distinguished jury comprising of Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; Yamini Aiyer, Centre for Policy Research; Sanjeev Chopra, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration; Ashutosh

Varshney, Brown University; Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Economist, IDFC Institute; and S K Das, Janaagraha’s Governing Board. The jury, chaired by SK Das provided honourable mention to Kollam, Vellore, and Petlad municipal corporations in the ceremony. Vellore and Petlad have been working on decentralised solid waste management, and Kollam was applauded for its zerowaste initiative.

Addressing the event, Puri said that there is a need to invest in building the capacities of municipalities as institutions of local self-government in the next phase of urban development.

As part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, there is a sharp focus on shoring up revenues of municipalities through property tax and user charge reforms.

He added that there is a need for a trained body of professionals in urban governance in city municipal bodies to improve urban management in cities.

The central government is working on an urban governance learning programme where there are plans to train over 25,000 fresh graduates and 13,504 under-graduates and then post them to urban local bodies.

Non-governmental organisations should also be engaged in training the graduates so that they are not just employed. Still, there are urban governance professionals, which is the need of the hour to make cities better, Puri said. He also highlighted that there is a lack of graduates to come forward and take up these courses.

Another eminent person present at the event was D Thara, Joint Secretary, MoHUA. While talking about the recent approval of Bengaluru and Hyderabad’s new city bills, she said that the creation of city acts is very healthy, but capacity and equity in India is significant. City acts should have a public transit act, water supply and water reuse policy, solid waste management, health and education policy and resources act.

She also asserted that while governments are thinking of acts and roles of officials and elected representatives in urban local bodies, it is also vital to check whether they can handle the roles assigned.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Chandigarh to install country’s tallest air purifier The Chandigarh Administration has collaborated with Pious Air Purifier Pvt Ltd, a Delhibased private firm, to install the tallest air purifier in the country.

Debendra Dalai, Director of Environment, said that the administration would only be responsible for the giant purifier’s electricity and water consumption expenses.

Dalai added that the company approached the Chandigarh Administration and authorities agreed to provide them with space at no cost. A suitable place is still to be decided to install the purifier. However, it will be installed at polluted and crowded places in Chandigarh.

Maharashtra approves `976 crore STARS project

FM announces Mission Poshan 2.0, Jal Jeevan Urban, USBM 2.0 among others NEW DELHI: In an attempt to strengthen India’s nutritional delivery, Nirmala Sitaramam, Minister of Finance, Government of India, on February 2 announced that the government would combine supplementary nutrition programmes and Poshan Abhiyan to launch Mission Poshan 2.0. Sitaraman said that the principal objective of Mission Poshan 2.0 would be to boost nutritional outcomes in 112 aspirational districts.

The government is also set to introduce Jal Jeevan Mission Urban with an expenditure of `2.87 lakh crore over five years to ensure universal water supply in all 4,378 urban bodies with 2.86 crore household tap connections and liquid waste management in 5,000 AMRUT cities.

In the context of education, Sitaraman said that more than 15,000 schools would be conditionally nourished under

the National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020. They will hold-hands and guide other schools to achieve the ideals of the policy. She added that more than 100 new Sainik schools would be established in partnership with non-governmental organisations, including private and state board schools.

Furthermore, the government will initiate legislation this year to launch India’s Higher Education Commission, as previously outlined in the NEP. This will be an umbrella body that will look into standards, endorsement, administration and financing in the higher education space. Sitaraman also said that Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 would be enacted with a total financial allocation of `1,41,678 crore over five years from 2021. She said it would concentrate on complete faecal sludge management, wastewater treatment, and source segregation etc.

UNDP launches report for effective COVID-19 response

The state cabinet on January 20, sanctioned a `976-crore World Bank- funded (WB) project for betterment and enhancement in the quality and governance of school education in Maharashtra. Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) is to get central financial help of `586 crore and will last for five years.

The Centre had earlier chosen Maharashtra and five other states – Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, for the project, to which WB had committed `3,700 crore. Approximately 1.6 crore students and more than 2.5 lakh teachers will benefit from the project.

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

ISTANBUL: International Health Services Inc of Turkey, in collaboration with Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector Development, under the umbrella of the United Nations Development Programme, have released a report on lessons learned and strategies appropriate for locally manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) for COVID-19 response.

Haoliang Xu, Assistant Secretary-General of UN and Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, said that even though the world has received phenomenal news of vaccines and its rollout, it is as important as before to manage high demand of quality PPEs following sustainable business practices. He added that the partnership between UNDP and private sector on COVID-19 response focuses on supporting and sustaining resilience and viability in the private sector and building resilient, inclusive, low carbon recovery hand-in-hand. The report shows good practices adopted by Turkey, including the measures to mitigate challenges of coordinating the production and bottlenecks in the PPE value chain, distribution in domestic and international markets. The report has been named a one-stop for manufacturers and contains information on PPE raw materials, necessary equipment, skills, and production cost. The report also draws upon the critical sources included in the World Health Organisation’s recent publication on standard PPE manufacturing and handling requirements in the COVID era.

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Govt says Indian vaccines are one of the safest

The Government of India, on January 19 said that India’s vaccines are one of the safest in the world. The central government tried to address vaccine hesitancy among the people amid reports of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). V K Paul, NITI Aayog member, said that AEFI has been as low as 0.18 per cent and only 0.002 per cent people required hospitalisation post immunisation.

Paul said that our data shows that Indian vaccines are safe, and the concerns regarding the adverse effects and health problems seem to be negligible and insignificant.

UNDP to set up oxygenproducing plants in Tripura United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a project under which it will be setting up oxygenproducing plants in seven district hospitals of Tripura. Dr Dilip Das, Chairperson, Patient Welfare Society, said that the oxygen-producing plants would also be set up at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, which is expected to be operational by March 2021. According to a report, hospitals in Tripura are currently solely dependent on the oxygen cylinders from a private plant. No hospital has modern oxygen-producing units. This comes as UNDP’s biggest project for northeast India, aiming to end the oxygen shortage problem in state hospitals.

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February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

SMC partners with ABB to ensure 24*7 water supply SURAT: To ensure a 24*7 water supply to the residents, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has partnered with ABB India to roll out next-generation technology. This follows the two organisations’ previous investment to upgrade the city’s entire water system in 2018 digitally.

Since Surat is an industrial hub, the water demand from textile unit clusters is more than 450 million litres per day.

Consequently, the city faces the critical issue of optimum water usage across domestic, commercial and industrial consumption.

A digitally powered system boosted by safe and secure electrical distribution equipment from ABB India will enable the municipal corporation to ensure minimal water wastage through effective monitoring and sustainable distribution. A stable power supply will also provide clean and uninterrupted water to one million residents across a 38 square kilometre area. ABB’s electrification equipment such as air circuit breakers (ACB), moulded case circuit breakers (MCCB), miniature circuit breakers (MCBs), contactors,

manual motor starters (MMS), overload relays (OLR), and pilot devices help reduce system downtime by providing steady and reliable power for the water management system to function efficiently.

ABB also aims to boost the existing infrastructure by providing the corporation with facilities like a water distribution station, elevated storage reservoir, rising mainline and distribution network line, along with a remotely installed SCADA system to provide a comprehensive view of all the data assets.

ABB has partnered with the Surat Municipal Corporation since 2014 and supports its vision of supplying a smart water management system across the city through safe and smart electrification systems.

Smokers, vegetarians at lesser risk of COVID-19 infection NEW DELHI: As stated by a pan-India serosurvey conducted by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), smokers and vegetarians are at a lower risk of contracting coronavirus. CSIR also found that people with blood group ‘O’ may be at lesser risk of contracting the disease while those with ‘B’ and ‘AB’ are at a higher risk.

CSIR took samples of 10,427 adults working in laboratories or institutions of CSIR along with their family members based on voluntary participation. The study was done to examine the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in people. The results said that among 10,427 people surveyed, 1,058 (10.14 per cent) were found to have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The study said that smokers are less likely to get infected in the first report from the general population, and despite COVID-19 being a respiratory disease, smoking may be protective. The paper cites two studies from France and quotes similar studies from Italy, New York and China, which reported lower infection rates among smokers. The paper added, “The study found that higher seropositivity was found for those using public transport and with occupational responsibilities such as security, housekeeping personnel, non-smokers, and nonvegetarians.” Shantanu Sengupta, Senior Scientist, IGIB, said that this is the first time that a study has been conducted in India where people have been examined for three months to six months for antibodies, including those with neutralising activity.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

India to provide COVID-19 vaccines to 6 countries NEW DELHI: First supplies of vaccines to fight the COVID-19 virus from India, under grant assistance, have been sent to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from January 20. In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is deeply honoured to be a long-reliable partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community and that delivery of stock of injections to many countries has begin on January 20, and more will follow in the days to come.

India, one of the world’s largest drug makers, has been approached by an increasing number of countries for procuring the COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, said that our country had received several requests

from neighbouring and key partner countries to supply India-manufactured vaccines. In respect to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Mauritius, they are awaiting their confirmation from necessary regulatory clearances.

India has rolled out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive under which two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are being given to frontline health workers across India. MEA said that it has ensured that domestic manufactures will have enough stocks to meet the domestic requirements while supplying abroad. The MEA added that India has also provided training to several neighbouring countries to enhance and strengthen their clinical capabilities, under the Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials programme.

Bharat Biotech releases fact sheet for administration of Covaxin NEW DELHI: The Government of India had approved two Made-in-India vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech respectively, for the world’s biggest vaccination drive. Few days after starting mass inoculation against COVID-19 in India, Bharat Biotech has released a factsheet about the process involved in vaccination and who should avoid taking the vaccine.

The fact sheet, posted on Bharat Biotech’s website, listed side effects that a person may experience after being administered the vaccine.

The side effects include pain, swelling or itching, fever, malaise, weakness, rashes, nausea and vomiting. Recipients have also been warned of severe allergic reaction that may include difficulty in breathing, swelling of the face and throat, fast heartbeat, rashes all over the body and dizziness. The sheet also advises people not to take the vaccine shot if they have allergies, fever, bleeding disorder, weak immunity, or medication that affects their immune system. According to the fact sheet, pregnant and breastfeeding women should also avoid taking Covaxin. The company established that those who have received another COVID-19 vaccine should also not get Bharat Biotech’s medicine/vaccine.

The vaccine will be administered in two doses and stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius.

World oceans getting warmer despite reduced carbon emissions: Report

As stated in a study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences journal, despite recording reductions in carbon emissions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the oceans of the world are recorded to be warmest in 2020. The study was conducted by 20 scientists from 13 institutes from China, the United States of America (USA) and Italy. Cheng Lijing, Lead author of the study, said that ocean heating is an important indicator for measuring climate change as almost 90 per cent of the global heat ends up in the oceans. Increasing ocean temperature converts in the form of more typhoons, hurricanes and extreme rainfall.

“ULBs to select vaccine recipients through surveys” Banna Gupta, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Jharkhand, on Monday, January 11, said that the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Jharkhand are directed to identify residents with co-morbidities that need COVID-19 vaccine. Gupta told the reporters that they have estimated approximately 70 lakh people above and below 50 years of age and living with underlying health issues. These are the people who will be prioritised and required to be given the COVID-19 vaccine. Before the registration starts, all the ULBs are to identify such people through surveys.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Only 10.3% of urban workforce includes women

FM issues voluntary vehicle scrapping policy

A recent survey conducted by the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) revealed that the participation of women in the urban labour market is at a dismal low of 10.3 per cent. The survey by IWWAGE, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant-holder, reported that around 90 per cent of the women who are 15 years of age or more in urban India are neither employed nor are they actively seeking employment.

The report suggested that over half of the salaried women workers across rural and urban geographies were not eligible for paid leaves and any social security benefits.

NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India, on February 2 issued the muchawaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to eliminate old polluting vehicles.

Delivering the Budget 2021–22, Sitaraman said that as part of the voluntary vehicle-scrapping policy, personal vehicles would undergo a fitness test after twenty years while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years. She added that this would result in fuel-efficient and environment-friendly vehicles while cutting on India’s substantial import bills.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, said that policy to scrap automobiles owned by government departments and public sector undertakings which are more than 15-year-old is expected to be notified soon and will be conducted from April 1, 2022. On July 26, 2019, the government had petitioned amendments to motor vehicle norms to permit the scrapping

Mumbai ranked second in the world for congestion

of vehicles older than 15 years in an attempt to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles. Gadkari said that once the policy is approved, our nation will become an automobile hub and a decline in automobile prices will also be witnessed. Explaining the results of the policy, Gadkari said that recycled material from old vehicles would help reduce the prices, adding that the automobile industry’s turnover, which is `4.5 lakh crore with exports worth `1.45 lakh crore, will see an upsurge.

10 per cent children aged between 6 and 17 out of school: GNCTD survey TomTom Traffic, a global location technology specialist, released a report which states that Mumbai is ranked second, while Bengaluru is at the sixth position in the list of most congested cities. Delhi and Pune have been put on eighth and sixteenth position with Moscow recording the world’s highest congestion in 2020. The traffic in these four big Indian cities is going back to the pre-COVID levels, particularly in the past six months after unlock. The Index examined almost 400 cities from 57 countries across the world. Bengaluru was at the top last year but has come down the table this year due to effects of the pandemic.

20 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEW DELHI: Approximately 10 per cent children between the age of six and 17 years have either stopped coming or never attended school. Most of them dropped out due to financial strain. This was found by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi’s (GNCTD) socio-economic survey covering 1.02 crore people. The survey was conducted between November 2018 and November 2019 and finalised in November 2020. Of 22,70,497 children between ages six to 17 who were part of the research, it was found that 2,21,694 were not attending school. Among these, 1,31,584 had reported that they used to attend school but dropped out. The remaining 90,110 said that they have never been to school.

Among all age categories, financial limitation has been reported as the reason for not attending school for 29.17 per cent of children; domestic responsibilities for 13.5 per cent; 12.7 per cent said having reached the “desired level of education”; and 35.79 per cent are under the vast category of “others”, including disability, mental illness, lack of interest and no admission.

Kavita Rana, Assistant Project Director, SamagraShikshaAbhiyan, said that they have written to the Planning Department, requesting details on the children found to be out of school to trace them.

Under Samagra Shiksha, education department officials trace ‘out-of-school children’ every year and try their best to admit them in Special Training Centres which work to prepare them for mainstream school at an age-appropriate class. However, according to the report, the literacy rate of Delhi is higher than the national average, which stands at 88.54 per cent.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

Biden orders for US to rejoin Paris Climate Agreement WASHINGTON DC: Hours after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America, he signed an executive order to rejoin the historic Paris Climate Accord, thus displaying his urgency to deal with the climate crisis. The USA had formally withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in November 2020, under the administration of Donald Trump.

The Paris Accord committed 188 countries, including the US, to keep the rising global temperatures below 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and attempt to limit them even more, to a 1.5 degree Celsius rise. Former President of USA Donald Trump had argued that the Paris agreement was disadvantageous for America, whereas it provided benefit to countries like China,

Russia, and India. He had said that the deal could be economically detrimental to the US and cost 2.5 million Americans their jobs by 2025. Rejoining the climate deal was a commitment that Biden had made in his election campaign. This was one of the few executive orders that he signed in front of reporters on January 20, soon after arriving at the White House as President. According to an official, the Paris Agreement will enter into force for the USA on February 19, 2021.

John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change, said that Biden, by rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, has restored America’s credibility and commitment. He added that America would work on setting a floor, not a ceiling for climate leadership.

Odisha undertakes Konark heritage corridor plan BHUBANESWAR: Addressing its determined plans for transforming religious and heritage sites into world class tourism and spiritual destinations, the Government of Odisha has decided to begin massive embellishment work at the Sun Temple Konark and its periphery. In 1984, Konark temple was accorded the tag of World Heritage Site.

By the ongoing heritage corridor projects, including Sri Jagannath temple at Puri and Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, the state government on Thursday, January 21, released a draft architectural plan for beautifying the world-famous heritage site. The plan was approved by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha. According to the plan, Konark will go through a major redevelopment exercise to furnish the temple and its periphery with world-class infrastructure and amenities.

The work will be launched under the 5T initiative of the government. Under the Konark heritage corridor project, the 3.5-kilometre-long Ring Road around the temple will be made six-laned. All roads connecting the temple will be improved for the convenience of the tourists and visitors. Local vendors will also be rehabilitated under the project. Besides this, 30-acre land in front of the Sun Temple will also be kept open for landscaping. A beautiful entry plaza will also be built to welcome visitors into the heritage site; a multi-modal hub will be constructed for parking of automobiles. The project envisions protection of Konark temple and aims to take up its enhancement and that of the adjoining areas to give tourists a memorable and unique experience and develop the economy of Puri district.

Improvement of the adjacent areas of the temple will be harmonised with the heritage site.

People can’t select between two vaccines

Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, said that people will not be able to choose between the two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin. He added that the central government had purchased 110 lakh Covishield doses from Serum Institute of India (SII) at the cost of `200 per dose. 55 lakh Covaxin doses have also been procured from Bharat Biotech (BBIL) at the cost of `295 per dose. BBIL will give 16.5 lakh doses free of cost to the central government from its total batch as a special gesture.

Andhra Pradesh tops the list for implementation of health schemes Andhra Pradesh has topped the states’ list in implementing various welfare health schemes under the National Health Mission (NHM). The National Health Mission (NHM) survey found that Andhra Pradesh overtook Gujarat and Karnataka in the past one and a half year.

Welfare schemes such as YSR Aarogyasri, Jagananna Amma Vodi, Jagananna Vidya Deevena, YSR Rythu Bharosa, etc. are being run successfully by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The state is on top in tearms of measures taken to prevent noncommunicable diseases under NHM. It surveyed more than five crore people to examine for diseases such as cancer, heart diseases and diabetes.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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NEWSCAN

Union Budget 2021-22 stresses on improving health infra services NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharam, Finance Minister of India, released the Budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22 on Monday, February 1. She announced various changes in the taxation process of the country. Chief among them is the scrapping of income tax for senior citizens, removal of double taxations for non-resident Indians and reduction in time period of tax assessments. The FM also announced that India’s fiscal deficit is set to rise to 9.5 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020-21 as per revised estimates, in stark comparison to the 3.5 per cent of GDP that was projected in the revised estimates last year. An infusion of `20,000 crore for public sector banks was also announced during the Budget speech.

In health care spending, Sitharaman announced a total expense of around `2 lakh crore on healthcare, with `35,400 crore allocated for COVID-19 vaccine development and inoculation.

As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sitharaman said, the Centre will borrow `80,000 crore in the remaining two months to meet FY 2021 expenditure. The Pradhan Mantri Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana has also been granted an outlay of `64,180 crore over the next six years to strengthen health systems across the country.

Sitharaman also announced a number of development projects across India.

As part of the Budget, a 3,500-kilometre (km)-long corridor in Tamil Nadu and a 1,100 km long corridor in Kerala has been planned at an investment cost of `65,000 crore. Over 13,000 km length of roads, at an expense of `3.3 lakh crore, has been granted under the `5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala Project.

Additionally, with an intention of bringing down expense of logistics,

22 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

The Pradhan Mantri Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana has been granted an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over the next six years to strengthen health systems across the country the Indian Railways’ National Rail Plan was also announced which will focus on creating a future-ready system of railways in India by 2030. The next lot of airports will also be privatised in tier 2 and 3 towns and cities as well. In a major push for local public transport, the FM also announced `18,000 crore for augmentation of public bus transport services in cities across the country. Sitharaman added that they will work towards raising the share of public transport in urban areas through expansion of metro network and augmentation of city bus services.

She also announced the introduction of MetroLite and MetroNeo in Tier 2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities. To push the development of the textile sector, Mega Textile Parks will be introduced to create worldclass infrastructure in the textile sector with plug and play facilities, said

Sitharaman, while announcing the setting up of seven textile parks over a period of three years from 2021.

To develop the newly formed union territory of Leh, a central university will be set up in the area. A gas pipeline project will also be taken up in Jammu and Kashmir as part of the Ujjwala Yojana. The central government has allotted a budget of `30,757 crore for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir whereas Ladakh has been provisioned an amount of `5,958 crore in the Union Budget for 2021-22. Sitharaman said that the central government is committed to the concept of fiscal federalism. She added that in the fourteenth Finance Commission, Jammu and Kashmir was entitled to get devolution as a state but now the funds will be provided by the Centre. The Centre has said that it will soon auction the work of setting up a pipeline transport system for gas pipeline capacity as the country aims to reduce its carbon footprint and deepen its gas market.

Additionally, to protect the rights of daily wage workers, minimum wages will now apply to all categories of workers and women will be permitted to work in all categories of work with sufficient protection. A portal will also be developed to gather data on workers in all fields of work including building construction.

Event | TBPE4

Experts discuss methods of conserving urban forests EDINBURGH: Every three years, the Institute of Chartered Foresters partners with academic institutions and chartered institutes to host an international cross-discipline conference on urban greenspace.

Trees, People and the Built Environment (TPBE) provides a platform for greater understanding and exploration as researchers from across the globe showcase their work in urban greenspace. This year, TBPE4 was hosted virtually and took place over two days – February 3 and 4.

This year, TBPE4 comprised of a total of 5 main sessions along with various other parallel sessions. The event began with the inaugural keynote address by Prof Brian Mark Evans, Professor of Urbanism and Landscape at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, the Glasgow School of Art and director of the Glasgow Urban Laboratory. While inaugurating the Representative Image

session, Prof Evans talked about how the world is in dire need of help from those with resources to intervene and lead development of its cities in a more inclusive and sustainable way.

The first session of the event was titled “Case for Change”. The theme of the session was based on how we, as people, have realised the importance of open public spaces and how we can reclaim them. Speakers of the session like Prof Paul Chatterson, School of Geography, University of Leeds; and Prof Chris Rogers, University of Birmingham, participated in the session. The second session on “Positive and Negatives for Change” explored emerging research and ideas, stressing on the importance of integrating trees and the natural world in our urban decision making.

Prof Ian Bateman, Director, Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), University of Exeter

Business School; and Chris Bouch, Senior Research Fellow, University of Birmingham, were part of the session’s panel. The third session was based on “Governance and Planning” and invited discussion on how governments can plan their policies to handle the new situations brought about by climate change and global warming. Yvonne Lynch, Urban Greening Strategist, Royal Commission for Riyadh City; and Dr Athanasios Paschalis, Lecturer at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London, were part of the session’s panel.

“Collaboration” was the theme of the fourth session and focused on how inter-disciplinary collaboration is extremely necessary to ensure allround development and growth of cities, keeping in mind the importance of trees and urban green spaces. The panel for this session consisted of Kevin Lafferty, National Policy Advisor (Access, Health and Recreation), Scottish Forestry; and Prof Richard Hauer, Professor of Urban Forestry, University of Wisconsin, among others.

The last session of the conference was titled “#YourBigIdea” and focused on delegate participation and collaboration between the speakers and the delegates. This was seen as a perfect end to the event as both speakers and delegates got to discuss with each other in detail what they had heard/spoken and understood during the past two days and come up with their own ideas to solve problems related to urban forestry quickly.

Professor Cecil C. Konijnendijk, Director, New Nature Based Solutions Institute, chaired the session. The event was a huge success as it witnessed participation from all across the world with stakeholders and experts joining in to discuss the many problems they face in terms of conserving urban forests and the solutions they think will help. The conference also hosted four pre-conference webinars on different topics like “Understanding Roadside Air Quality and its Impact on Health” and “Child in the City – The Importance of Nature and Play”.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Cover story | Sustainable Development

Cities need to balance deve utilisation, sustainabilityta 24 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

elopment, resource argets responsibly

Abhishek Pandey Editor

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Cover story | Sustainable Development

Cities are at the core of the government’s push for infrastructure development, Foreign Direct Investment for supporting Make in India, and expedite their efforts to make India a USD 5-trillion economy. Simultaneously, cities are also looked up to as the major players in achieving climate agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, and New Urban Agenda’s targets, among many other international objectives. There is a need to balance building a prosperous nation and a sustainable ecosystem of urban spaces. Cities will have to up their game and make their systems more efficient, agile, and well-financed to achieve all objectives at a time. For this, the outreach of the central government to international and national agencies must be in coordination with local governments to augment the desired outcomes

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common belief is that if someone has to do something big in life, he should head to a city.

The same is true for governments.

Whether a country is planning on reviving its economy or looking for a solution to a crisis, it looks forward to urban institutions for an answer. We have seen this during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Cities were the worst affected, but they were also the ones who came up with groundbreaking solutions to deal with the Pandemic. Cities offered the best possible health care facilities to people.

Their institutions worked day and night to develop effective vaccination. Urban institutions are also playing an essential role in distributing vaccine doses in the country and the world. Cities always become a door to the world for countries and give a handy opportunity for international collaborations. That is why every country focuses on making its city-systems robust. India has also planned to revive its urban systems to

make life comfortable, prosperous and healthy for its citizenry.

National Infrastructure Pipeline and cities

Studies suggest that by 2050, 70% of the global population will be living in urban centres, some in cities of more than 100 million people. In India, It is estimated, by 2030, the urban population will be approximately 42 percent, up from 31 per cent in 2011. For a country like India’s size, this 11 per cent jump is enormous and will impact the cities’ services and burden their infra further. This will also add more pressure to create adequate employment opportunities in cities.

Estimates from a report by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, suggest that India’s total workforce will reach 0.64 billion by 2030. Out of which, 0.38 billion will be employed in the rural areas, and 0.26 billion will be employed in the urban areas. The urban regions’ contribution in total employment will increase at a higher rate than rural areas’ contribution during 2018-30. The proportion of the

The Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued some municipal bonds’ issuance guidelines. Some of these are: 1. The municipal body should not have a history of defaulting at repayments of loans or debt instruments acquired from financial institutions in the past year.

2. It should possess a positive net worth in all the three years preceding the issuance of municipal bonds.

3. Such municipal entity, its Group Company or directors, and promoters shall not be mentioned in the willful defaulters’ list published by the Reserve Bank of India.

Source: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019

26 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

urban areas in total employment will increase from 29% in 2012 to 41% in 2030, while that of the rural areas will decrease from 71% in 2012 to 59% in 2030.

Functioning and reliable infrastructure will determine cities’ quality of life. The government of India also understands this. They have prepared the National Infrastructure Pipeline for the period 2019-25, and the objective is to provide world-class infrastructure to citizens and improve their quality of life. It aims to attract investment from foreign institutions.

There are over 7000 projects worth USD 1826 Billion as of now and have been planned in 34 sub-sectors.

Though, the NIP is not just limited to the borders of the cities but also aims for building a connecting system that can help cities and augment the pace of their development. A High-Level Task Force, which was constituted under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, has submitted its final report.

The report released by the Finance Minister in April 2020 outlined some of the most pressing challenges for the country. The first is the increasing urban population, meeting the growing energy demand sustainably, freshwater availability, and social infrastructure issues. It has taken into account that an increase in natural disasters or unpredictable events will test the resilience of infrastructure, not just in terms of reconstruction but also in supply chain disruptions. The cities had witnessed such challenges during the lockdown amid the health crisis caused by the coronavirus. The task

force is of the view that government can plug the deficiency in infrastructure to smoothen urbanisation by promoting ease of living and facilitating economic activities. Hopefully,realisinga growing urban economy’s full potential will help raise cities’ contribution to GDP. As per the task force’s report, the total expenditure on urban services—Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities, MRTS, Affordable Housing, Jal Jeevan Mission—will be to the tune of 19,19,267 crores during FY 2020-25. It is to be noted that it is 17 per cent of total expenditure planned for improving a host of services under NIP. The scope of NIP is larger than improving urban infra and services. It also strives to improve road connectivity, railroad density, the efficiency of train services, airport transport services, airport connectivity, linear shipping connectivity and efficiency of shipping services. Other essential domains on which the government will stress includes industrial infrastructure, social infrastructure, agriculture and food processing, rural infra, irrigation, digital communication, roads, railways, ports, airports, and energy. Though there is no direct linkage between NIP projects and ULBs, it allows Urban Local Bodies to learn from the agencies’ experiences implementing such large projects. They can surely come forward and suggest their requirements for making urban services efficient and to the tune of evolving challenges of urban spaces.

Since local governments’ role is of utmost importance in achieving the international agendas linked to urban operations and management practices, their peer-learning experiences with global cities and Local Government Associations (LGAs) can significantly impact their cities’ future development.

Strengthening urban financing

The thrust of the government is to make municipalities financially independent. Right now, most of the municipal financing is dependent on state and central grants. Most of the time, these grants do not fulfil the

requirement of the local bodies. Only a few municipalities have a surplus from their revenue-generating resources. A slew of measures has also been taken to improve the financial condition of local bodies, such as ranking cities based on quite a few parameters. For this, local governments have to make their operations efficient and build trust among all stakeholders.

Many urban bodies have also explored the municipal bond market for getting funds for their development requirements. The corporations can utilise the funds generated through municipal bonds, a debt instrument, to implement projects as per their local needs and pay off to the investors after a period of time, ranging between three and ten years. This is in addition to the project financed by the central, state governments and international funding agencies. As many as eight local bodies in India have raised Rs 3,390 crore via municipal bonds. By 2024, fifty cities are expected to issue municipal bonds. The corporations have offered better interest rates than other debt instruments. For example, municipal bonds issued by Pune came with an interest rate of 7.5%. In contrast,the recently listed municipal bonds of Lucknow Municipal Corporation offered 8.5 %, and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority offered an interest rate of 8.9% on their municipal bond funds.

If the cities have to make this successful, cities will have to work on transparency, quality, accountability, sustainability, all at the same time.

Municipalities will have to declare their financial statements and make their operations financially sustainable by optimising resource use and creating a new stream of revenue generation. It is an opportunity for ULBs to become more economically well-organised and attract investors’ interest in their cities.

There are specific guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to issue municipal bonds.

1) The municipal body should not have a history of defaulting at repayments of loans or debt instruments acquired from financial institutions in the past year. 2)

It should possess a positive net worth in all the three years preceding the issuance of municipal bonds. 3) Such municipal entity, its Group Company or directors, and promoters shall not be mentioned in the willful defaulters’ list published by the Reserve Bank of India.

Municipalities will have to obtain a credit rating from at least one credit rating agency registered with the Board,which shall bedisclosed in theoffer document orplacement memorandum, as applicable. Many corporations may not be well placed to follow all these regulatory requirements.

The corporations must look towards the cities which have already used this instrument for their benefit. Peer learning within the country and other parts of the world could be a starting point to learn the intricacies of this instrument. Asset monetisation can be another possibility for cities to generate funds by selling land or non-operational assets through a long-term lease with a significant upfront lease payment.

Such resources can be utilised for the immediate requirement of funds for the projects planned or envisaged.

The government is also reforming the country’s project implementation with the introduction of the National Programme and Project Management Policy Framework. Last year, the NITI Aayog and Quality Council of India launched the NPMPF, which is envisaged to bring radical reforms in the way infrastructure projects are executed.Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, while launching the Framework, said, “NPMPF will help in realising the Prime Minister’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat by building a stronger India, in which we would need good quality infrastructure; we would need to reduce costs and waste material, without compromising on the environment and ecology. We also need to ensure timebound and result-oriented delivery of projects.” Cities should also have such quality check and monitoring systems, even for small projects, for improving efficiency. It can only become a possibility when the city leaders inspire their staff and present their road map for future cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Leaderspeak | Shared Goals

All cogs of the wheel need to work together The recent changing priorities of cities because of the Pandemic, and before that, because of looming dangers of climate change is bringing transformation in urban management worldwide.

The meaningful transformation needs collective responsibility, shared agendas, and joint efforts of all tiers of governments in the region and collaboration with associations elsewhere for achieving the common agenda of our urban spaces

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overty and inequality are at the root of most of the problems cities are facing today. It is a universal issue. Let’s look closer and focus on the Indian situation. The causes of urban poverty can be linked to the lack of infrastructure in rural areas, forcing inhabitants of these regions to seek employment in mega-cities. These migrants are often not skilled and unable to get a job in the formal economy eventually ending up in the vicious cycle of lowpaying, insecure jobs. They also live in informal settlements and often do not become legal citizens, and at times, they cannot access civic services. If the policymakers can address this issue at the village level, it will lessen the cities’

burden. The government has shown intention with introducing the Rurban mission, but the on-ground impact is yet to be analyzed. The government needs to stress on effective implementation of such schemes and programs so that cities and villages can grow and prosper together. The development of one should not happen at the cost of the other.

There is a strong need to strengthen policies for addressing issues of rural and urban habitats. City officials, leaders and their rural counterparts would have to work together. Every city wants to become efficiently managed, and it can only be done when they are serving the population as per its resource capacity.

It can be done when the government creates a healthy infrastructure at the village level. People need not come to

The states have to take the initiative and transfer control over functions and corresponding powers to the cities, while the authority of monitoring and holding cities accountable could rest with the state. This suggestion was proposed during the National Consultation on Urban Governance in January 2020 in New Delhi

28 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

cities for every small thing like a health check-up or sending their children to a good school. Such facilities must be available everywhere. There is no denying that we need buzzing cities for a prosperous economy. Still, cities will have to become efficient, attractive and sustainable in their practices for supporting long-term sustained growth. Cities will have to function at full steam.

State and city coordination

In the Indian context, state governments’ role becomes crucial in ensuring that their cities’ development model is in the right shape as the financing of most of the programs and projects comes from the coffer of the states. The demand from cities for transferring more powers to them is long pending. There is a need to introduce specific systematic changes as envisioned in the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) that has not been implemented uniformly in letter and spirit in all the states. City governments need to hold complete control over all the 18 functions specified in the Twelfth Schedule, 74th CAA and other vital urban functions that need to be planned and executed at the city level. The states have to take the initiative and transfer control over functions and corresponding powers to the cities, while the authority of monitoring and holding cities accountable could rest with the state. Another issue is the overlapping role of multiple agencies in a city.

Local governments should also be empowered and made a nodal agency

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

for exercising regulatory control over multiple agencies executing projects to eliminate coordination between various agencies in the city. All the cogs in the urban wheel need to work together for driving sustainable development.

These suggestions were also proposed during the National Consultation on Urban Governance in January 2020 in New Delhi.

International collaborations

We live in a connected world. The action of one country impacts everyone. Since the countries and cities are growing in size and population, their choices impact globally. If one country is emitting more greenhouse gases, then it is affecting the whole world. Similar is valid for consumer behaviour pattern, people’s fashion choices, lifestyle, gadgets, disposing of garbage, etc. Local issues do not remain local anymore. Local leaders need to

drive the change and inspire people for opting for sustainable choices in their day-to-day lives. Such an agenda is common for every city.

Cities in the developing world are trying to build superior infrastructure, flourishing industrial hubs, and smart civic services to become smart and intelligent while still struggling to provide clean water, adequate housing, functioning public spaces and mobility alternatives. On the other hand, cities in the developed world are making efforts to ensure less noise pollution, accessible and attractive public places, and create a sense of purpose in their citizen’ lives. The priorities of cities in both worlds are strikingly different.

It is undoubtedly because of their present conditions, but this allows them to learn from each other, especially cities in the developing world. They can know what model they should not adapt for development and what

could work best for them depending on their resources and strengths. Many initiatives in the past promoted sister cities engagement. Still, most of the time, in many cities, such collaborations became a one-time photo op or a couple of their representatives’ tours. The study report of such learning is hardly available for their counterparts in their countries to learn from. The model of exchange programs also needs a revisit at formulation and intended outcome level. During the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, city leaders have agreed to build on the catalyzing force of the cities and regions around the world as well as on the solidarity and capacity of their associations to multiply impact, scale up action and amplify its implications at all levels.

Such initiatives shall be formalised in the existing government systems to address cities and local associations’ concerns in time. At the local level, municipal corporations, standing/ subject committees should conduct meetings regularly, and international agendas should be discussed. It is also a good idea that cities must be members of functioning local government associations to keep abreast with ongoing happenings at a global level and be always prepared for the change in their practices to make them more efficient and sustainable.

In the post-covid world, every city is talking about transforming its existing governance and management models.

It has to build on a fair, equal and sustainable basis and keep in mind the immediate and future needs of local citizens without compromising their aspirations.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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INFOGRAPH | Covid Response

Lessons from Diu

Monitoring Entry Points: The movement of people was closely watched and all who enter were scanned using thermal guns with a database being maintained electronically Quarantine Centers: The existing sports complex was converted into an institutional quarantine zone with 60 beds Testing and Availability of Protective Gear: Diu city did not have any testing facilities, but provisions were been made to transport samples to Silvassa for testing. The administration heightened its preparedness by ensuring there are sufficient PPE kits, ventilators, and sample testing kits at hand for any eventuality

Rajkot

GIS Tagging for Sample Collection: RMC created a GIS map to tag all locations where samples were collected. This enabled more focused planning and in formulation of action plans for containment zones, etc

Auto-Rickshaws for Delivery of Essential Commodities: Every grocery, chemist and milk shop were assigned one or more auto-rickshaws and all numbers were displayed on the RMC website. A customer only needed to identify the shop to place an order over a call

Ensuring Adequate Stocks and Medicine Delivery: RMC made sure that stores displayed prominent

green colored stickers to clearly communicate that it had the needed stock. This was done to prevent panic buying and hoarding during the lockdown. A local courier association was also roped in to home deliver medicines for chemist shops that lacked a home delivery distribution system

30 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Video Monitoring: Health officials’ mobile devices were equipped with a video push feature for remote surveillance that allowed them to take videos/images that are directly sent to the ICCC for necessary action Spreading Awareness: The official portal, a citizen app, Variable Message Signs, PA Systems and SMS push notifications are being used to disseminate information and create awareness among citizens. Awareness messages were broadcasted through PAS installed on intelligent poles while COVID-19 related messages stat on digital display boards installed on intelligent poles and at bus shelters Helpline for Citizens: A helpline was set up for health queries, emergencies and for directing citizens to testing and quarantine centres

Belgaum

Cities

Indian cities were seen rising up to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of various, mostly indigenously developed solutions, which helped the country in controlling the spread of coronavirus to a great extent. Team Urban Update tries to briefly compile the initiatives taken by some of these cities

Panaji

Dashboard Application Tracking: The administration used a methodical system to track and monitor the virus’ spread by deploying an application which included a self-assessment test Door-to-Door Surveys: The survey recorded basic information and collected comprehensive data that helped identify persons with symptoms of influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory infection Tele-medical Assistance: A pilot project by Medical Tele Consultation was initiated to provide free medical support so that citizens do not need to step out for minor ailments

Answering Chatbot:

Queries

via

The administration launched an online chatbot on the official site to provide timely updates and answer queries

Aayu App: The mobile app offered citizens secure, free consultations with specialist doctors. Callers could also instantly share their prescription with nearby medical stores to order medicines

Sehat Sathi App: Geared towards helping non-smartphone users, the Sehat Sathi app connected all medical stores, e-mitra centres and other customer service points to extend Aayu healthcare services

Free Doctor Portal: A free patient-doctor portal for registered practitioners was created Student Helpline and Counselling: Dedicated student helplines were set up to address students’ queries. Student counsellors were deputed for every 50-100 students to ensure their psychological care and well-being.

Facilitating Movement of Students: An online form gathered information about students seeking to go back to their hometown. The form was published in newspapers, prominent social media channels, by various local personalities and by coaching institutes. A total of 1,048 buses and 16 trains were used to send 28,491 and 18,196 students respectively. Kota city united a total of 46,687 students with their families using state-sponsored trains and buses.

kOTA

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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INFOGRAPH | Covid Response

Yoga for Sanitation and Health Workers: Thanjavur Medical College Hospital

THANJAVUR

organized a yoga program for all frontline workers.

The program was designed to reduce stress and anxiety and offer improved respiration, energy and vitality

Medical Camp for Sanitary Workers: These medical camps offered a complete physical examination along with an assessment of functioning of vital organs like the heart, lungs, digestive system, liver, kidneys and the immune system. The sanitary workers were also provided counselling and were given a free medical & prevention kit daily

Distribution of Homeopathy Medicine: Corporation officials, along with volunteers, distributed ‘Arsenicum Album’ to 42,000+ households within the Thanjavur Corporation limits.

This homeopathic preparation purportedly improves the immune system and mitigates COVID-19 symptoms

Immunity Boosting Drinks for Workers: A special health drink was prepared for sanitary workers, health workers, corporation officials and the public at large, to boost their immune system

Low Cost Handwashing Facilities:

Thanjavur Corporation officials designed low-cost hand wash facilities and installed units in various government offices and other public access facilities.

The Corporation also received funds from sponsors to expand the reach of the handwashing facilities.

Chandigarh

Monitoring through CVD tracker app: The quarantined citizens were monitored through the CVD Tracker App and special provisions were made to ensure quarantined families receive food and other essentials. This app also enabled better planning of trips and offered realtime information to the driver about emergency needs. Integration with the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) Portal allowed citizens to view the location of delivery vehicles.

COVID Waste Collection: All vehicle drivers and helpers, deputed for collection and transportation of waste from quarantined households, were equipped with PPE kits. The drivers also wore GPS enabled smart watches powered by the E-Human Resource Tracking Project (E-HRTS). The movement of the vehicles was and is still tracked through these smart watches and displayed on a dashboard to ensure no quarantined household is left out.

Services for the Urban Poor: The Chandigarh city government tied up with civil society groups, the private sector, restaurants and various other donors for distribution of food, ration and other essentials to the needy — through the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) and vendor cell network. Personal hygiene kits (masks, sanitizers, soap and disinfectants), ready-to-eat oatmeal, pre-cooked food, 14 days dry ration and sanitary napkins are some of the items which were made available.

32 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Agra

ICCC as a 24X7 COVID-19 War Room: A GIS dashboard which is updated daily and tracks hotspots, heat maps, positive cases, recovered cases etc

Agra Lockdown Monitor App: This technology enabled video analytics that detected groups and crowds to raise an alert on the field staff’s mobile phone, thus helping the police better monitor the situation on the ground Webinar on Combating COVID-19 using Technology: As a part of sharing best practices, a webinar was conducted which was viewed by more than 80,000 citizens in which various ICT enabled initiatives were explained Sarvam Setu App: This AI-driven hyper-local SOS and emergency response management platform allowed citizens to raise geo-tagged requests for emergency help across nine categories such as food, medicine, medical help, fumigation, case reporting etc E-Doctor Seva: This tele-video consultation facility, launched by Agra Smart City Ltd, is available on a mobile application and allows doctors stationed at the Command Center to conduct video appointments and give online prescriptions to patients Citizen COVID-19 Self Registry Platform: The Self Registry platform allows citizens to assess their health risk and create a PIN code based early risk assessment matrix that helps authorities Feeding Strays: Under the leadership of the Chief Veterinary Officer, a team had been constituted to regularly feed dogs, monkeys etc Bhubaneswar

TickMe App: TickMe is an innovative app promoted by BMC and BSCL to prevent crowding and ensure social distancing.

Through this app, citizens can place online orders for groceries, medicines, and other essentials from stores in their neighborhood and choose a convenient pick-up time.

24X7 Toll-Free Helpline: The helpline was managed by BSCL as well as the health department/National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). BMC tied up with local vendors and pharmacies, and through the helpline, ensured the delivery of essential items in containment zones. The helpline also addressed queries and guided people on the various provisions made by the state for out ofstation laborers arriving from different states.

Citizen Engagement: Keeping Spirits Up: The hashtag

#MyCityBhubaneswar on Twitter became a popular trend with citizens during the lockdown. Various online activities and games such as #PicturePuzzle, #GuessThePark, #SpotIs etc., helped relieve lockdown stress and kept citizens engaged and entertained during trying times.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

33

ARTICLE | Uttarakhand Disaster

Economy is a subsystem of the biosphere, not the opposite!

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n February 6, reports came in that the NITI Aayog, the government’s apex think tank, has commissioned a study aimed at examining the “unintended economic consequences” of decisions by the judiciary that have hindered and stalled bigticket infrastructure development projects on environmental grounds.

The objective of such an exercise clearly seems to give a message to the judiciary and policy makers that development of infrastructure – roads, dams, ports, etc. – are essential for economic development and economic fallout of the environmental regulations must be considered while hindering or stalling them.

The next day, on the February 7, in the morning hours, nature sounded a completely opposite view point. A massive crack in the glacier from the Nanda Devi Bio Reserve, almost 5,600 meters high in the Himalayas, caused landslides and flash flood that

34 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

roared down the Rishi Ganga river in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand to bring in huge devastation in this highly fragile ecosystem. People died, hydropower projects were completely washed away and immense human sufferings were caused. By the time I wrote this piece, it is reported that about 70 dead bodies have been recovered and about 170 people go missing. In fact, after a rigorous and long search operation, the authorities seem to be giving up. They are considering to issue death certificates for the missing persons. The cause of this particular disaster is still being assessed, but the overall impact of climate change on the glaciers of the Himalayas are already established. Such disasters are not new for the region. However, climate change is going to trigger them more often. Time to rethink our development approaches, both at the global and national levels.

Foretold, unheeded

Raini, the village of Chamoli district,

at 3,700 metres above mean sea level, has been one of the places where the iconic Chipko movement of the 1970s started. The floods of massive mud and rocks, that gushed down from the top of mountains due to the lake burst that happened under the weight of a suspected avalanche, was first noticed by this village perched on the upper slopes above Rishi Ganga.

The glaciers in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve spread across an area of around 690 square kilometres and form the catchment of the Rishi Ganga River. A 2019 study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) found out that Himalayan glaciers are melting at twice the rate they were two decades ago.

The melting glaciers are creating larger lakes at their snouts. These snouts are also called the toe or end of the glaciers at any given point in time. These are often like ramps. At this point, the area tends to be unstable and may not be able to contain mass volume of water that might fall off the glacier.

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network

Scientists have been giving their observations on this. Using satellite imageries, some scientists have pointed out that roughly at 5600 metres above mean sea level, a crack had formed on the side of the mountain from 1 January 2020. This crack, scientists believe, caused a huge block of rock and ice of over 2 million cubic metres to fall first 2 kilometres down the mountain and then onto the valley floor. As it hurtled down the valley, the mass of fragmented rock ploughed through an ice deposit leftover from a 2016 avalanche in the area, leaving a trail of dust in its path, reported the Sky News that covered the analysis of these scientists.

This disaster was not due to a cloud burst that caused a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GOLF) in 2013 that affected a large part of Uttarakhand and killed over 5700 people. However, the damage downstream could have been prevented a lot taking a cue from the devastation that happened in June that year. The flow of the water was so high and wild that it first washed away the Rishi Ganga Hydropower Project and then the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydel project downstream in Dhauli Ganga.

Water on the Rishi Ganga was flowing almost 2 meters above the normal level and the damaged concrete structures of the first project, added with the speedy water and other substance, destroyed the project downstream. The Tapovan project of the NTPC is supposed to have suffered a loss of at least `1500 crores.

Hydropower projects multiply the impacts

These hydropower projects were not supposed to be there at this place. A Supreme Court appointed expert committee, in the aftermath of

the 2013 disaster, headed by noted environmentalist Ravi Chopra, had clearly recommended that no such hydropower projects should be built above an altitude of 2000 metres. This is a “para-glacial” zone from which glaciers have retreated. The youngest mountain ranges, the Himlayas, are fragile ecosystems and building dams and tunnels – that require tampering with the landslide prone mountain ranges – would be disastrous. The glaciers have retreated but they have left behind an unstable mix of earth and rocks not suitable for such dams and tunnels.

These dams have other negative impacts on such an ecologically sensitive zone. Such flash floods need a free river passage to pass. Hydropower projects however block this passage and thereby multiply the damage done by such natural disasters. In fact, the Ravi Chopra committee had also said that these power plants turn the landslides more devastating by blocking the flow of the gushing water from thousands of metres above. During the 2013 disasters the same happened because a number of under-construction hydropower projects blocked the flow of Mandakini and Alaknanda rivers. In the 2021 disaster, the same happened as the two dams blocked the flow of the Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga rivers.

The power projects did not consider all such environmental consequences and were given a go ahead despite ample warnings from experts and the locals.

Villagers of Raini had, in the year 2019, filed a Public Interest Litigation at the Uttarakhand High Court against the Rishi Ganga power project. They had complained that the project, set up in 2005, was resorting to environmentally unsound practices.

This they said was endangering the river and wildlife species of the area. Their rights to the river that was intricately related to the preservation and access to their cultural heritage was being impacted by this, they complained. Things don’t seem to have moved much beyond notices to the governments and the companies.

A development vision that respects nature –

Assessments are being done like they were done after the 2013 disaster in this region. However, will the things really move? That’s a big question. Climate change is certainly making these mountain ranges more susceptible to such disasters. However, unmindful alteration of the ecology is multiplying the impacts of these disasters. There should be an urgent review of all the development projects of the region, including the ones in pipeline, and a cumulative ecological assessment of the same should be done. A paradigm shift in the power sector is also needed in the region. Above all, we need to take climate change, views of the experts and wisdom of the locals seriously.

The Dasgupta Review, an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity, published by the UK government on February 1 this year – after two years of extensive research – has a very strong message for all of us. This, the NITI Ayog and proponents of the conventional development models in the Himalayas, must especially take note of it.

Humanity now uses the resources of 1.6 Earths, it mentions based on the calculations made by the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts.

Most crucially, it acknowledges that the economy is a subsystem of the biosphere. We need to change our measures of economic success to guide us on a more sustainable path, the report points out.

The economies, livelihood and well-being of all of us depend on the precious asset called Nature. The Himalayan ranges, a fragile ecosystem, holds the water and source of lives and livelihood to millions of species including humans.

Ecology therefore be the prime driver of the development vision in such a region, and everywhere.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

35

ARTICLE | Integrated Urban Development

Initiating coordinated urban development across the Globe Urbanisation has been one of the fastest growing trends of the 21st century. Data predicts that by 2050, the global urban population may double in size resulting in 7 of 10 people living in cities.

However, the infrastructure in cities may not be able to cope with this growth until all countries across the world unite to undertake integrated, inclusive and sustainable development

T

he New Urban Agenda (NUA) was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, on October 20, 2016. In little over four years, the NUA has helped countries across the globe in engaging in planned development which not only betters their urban infrastructure but also fulfils aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Addis Ababa Action Agenda and several other international frameworks and agreements.

Various programs run by countries across the world have focused time and again on development. A majority of these programs, whether started before or after 2016, contribute greatly to the NUA. These projects can be summed up in three broad categories – city level, regional level and national level.

Development at city level

Various cities across the world, like the Habitat III host city Quito in Ecuador, have begun numerous development programs since the adoption of the NUA. Recently, the city of Quito commenced a mega infrastructure development plan based on the Transit Oriented Development strategy and Land Value Capture plans. The plan will help in maximising residential,

36 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

commercial and recreational open spaces which are accessible by public transport. This is not only in line with SDG Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), but it also helps the country in fulfilling the Paris Agreement by ensuring planned, sustainable development which does not harm the environment.

In Madrid, Spain, the introduction of Cuidamos Centro project, or ‘We Take Care of the Centro District’, fulfills Part D of Point 13 of the NUA while also fulfilling SDG Goal 4, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 16. The project works towards ensuring employment opportunities for those who would have otherwise stayed unemployed while also making sure that they promote social cohesion, awareness and initiative. In 2017, a team of formerly-excluded job seekers (including 4 migrants) were engaged as Dynamizers to raise collective

awareness in the community around the importance of waste management and environmental protection, thereby contributing to realising goals of the Paris Climate Agreement too.

The New Taipei City Surplus Food Network (NTCSFN) collects vegetables, fruit, and other edible products that have an unattractive appearance from the New Taipei City markets and sends them to the Social Welfare Department for distribution.

Other social-welfare and private organisations help the government in implementing similar programs so that resources can be provided flexibly to people in need. Individual donations to facilitate the implementation of such programs are also accepted. This helps Taiwan in realising SDG Goals 2, 10, 11 and 17 and also Part A and H of Point 13 of the NUA. The initiative also eventually helps in reducing hunger and starvation, child stunting

Ashley Paul Reporter

and malnutrition. These are only some of the examples that have been implemented at city-level after the introduction of the NUA. As is evident from the analysis, all these initiatives, like countless others, are contributing to fulfilling aims of not just one but various global agreements while still adhering to standard universal frameworks.

Development at regional level

At the regional level, projects like the Urban Agenda for the European Union are making great strides. Not only are they fulfilling various goals, they are also contributing in enhancing coordination and cooperation within and among countries. The Urban Agenda for the European Union is one such project which aims to promote cooperation between member states, cities, the European Commission and other stakeholders, in order to stimulate growth, liveability and

innovation in European cities and to identify and successfully tackle social challenges. Another such regional plan is The Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean (RAP) 2016 – 2036. The RAP not only has regional plans for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda but also has sub-regional and city-level plans. This ensures that the development carried out henceforth is universal and inclusive at the same time. Moreover, countries that are part of the RAP meet regularly to discuss future course of action and progress of previous initiatives. For example, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) – the primary author of the RAP, has made plans for improving disaster resilience of cities across the region. The RAP not only helps them in realising this but also encourages every country to take up the issue proactively.

Development at national level

At the national level, countries are placing emphasis on engaging local government right from the inception stage to the execution stage. As per recent report findings, more than 50 per cent of the countries that have so far developed progress reports as a part of voluntary national reviews for the SDGs have included local and regional governments in the process. Another set of 33 per cent of countries have included local and regional governments in high-level decision-making and consultation

Without a measuring scale, it is extremely difficult for experts to assess and for countries to claim or plan as to what has already been done and what more needs to be done to achieve the NUA goals

mechanisms. Emphasis is also placed on strengthening the urban governance system, with Argentina, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Ghana and Kenya providing examples.

Here, one of the key examples comes from India – the National Urban Learning Platform. The platform is basically a tool for facilitating knowledge and experience sharing between urban local bodies (ULBs).

This will not only help in promoting equitable growth but also ensuring that ULBs do not end up making the same mistakes as others.

Challenges

Though countries and cities have shown decent improvement in their methods of functioning and their will to realise the goals of the New Urban Agenda, there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed.

Experts need to ensure the development of a set of universal indicators to measure the progress of various countries in terms of realising the NUA. Without a measuring scale, it is extremely difficult for experts to assess and for countries to claim or plan as to what has already been done and what more needs to be done to achieve the NUA goals. Moreover, the NUA also needs to accommodate capacity building of professionals to carry out such large-scale and meticulously planned development policies. Lastly, one of the biggest shortcomings of the NUA is the lack of private ownership and initiative. Only when governments are able to attract attention and interest of private players can the goals of any agreement be realised in time.

Though many of these policies may have been implemented before the adoption of the NUA, the Agenda has definitely helped countries and stakeholders in realising the importance of not only these initiatives but also of their time durations. The only thing that is left to be seen is how governments manage to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic while still working towards planned and inclusive urban development.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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ARTICLE | Urban Mobility & Environment

Urban spaces await sustainable mobility Mobility is no longer about getting from one place to another. In today’s world, mobility means being able to access education, health, culture, employment, and ability to participate in the society. In urban areas, the way people get around is changing rapidly.

Governments around the globe, slowly but steadily, have started looking for sustainable transport methods, which can provide safe and affordable mobility without impacting the health of urban residents and the environment

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urrently, all across the globe, cars dominate urban areas, taking up a lot of space, adding to air and noise pollution, and restricting the flow of traffic. Developing countries, which are witnessing a swell in their population and growth in economies, are seeing rapid rise in the number of cars on city roads, where often only a single person is travelling in a four or six seater car, which ultimately results in public transport such as buses, trams and autos getting stuck in traffic for hours, thereby nullifying the very purpose of convenient mobility.

A project called Connective Cities revealed that in contrast to developing Asian countries, Europe is seeing a fall in the number of trips taken by a private car. People have increasingly started using local public transport, bicycles

or car-sharing schemes. According to the data released by Connective Cities, in Berlin, private cars are being used for 31 per cent of all trips, while the rest are being undertaken in a more environmentally friendly way, which includes on foot (30 per cent), using local public transport (26 per cent) or by using a bicycle (13 per cent).

In Copenhagen, bicycles are actually the most frequently used means of transport, and in London, more people travel by underground metro, bus or rail than by private car.

Countries setting precedent on low carbon mobility

Paris has been pioneering innovations for low carbon mobility and has been putting efforts in making alternative modes of transport attractive. Streets all over the city have been dug up to build more cycling lanes; central squares such as the Bastille and

Paris has started walking the climate change talk. The city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is all set to ban all diesel cars from the city from 2024, and to ban all petrol cars by 2030. She has, has pledged to plant more than 1,70,000 trees across the capital by 2026, with the aim of covering 50 per cent of the city by planted areas by 2030

38 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Madeleine have been transformed to be more pedestrian-and-cyclistfriendly; residents and visitors can now glide along the car-free river banks of the Seine; the Grand Paris Express project is underway with more than 41.5 billion euros’ investment and will make it easier for metropolitan area residents to reduce the use of private cars. It was estimated that car ownership had dropped from 60 per cent of all households in 2001 to 35 per cent in 2019.

Paris has started walking the climate change talk. The city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo is all set to ban all diesel cars from the city from 2024, and to ban all petrol cars by 2030. She has pledged to plant more than 1,70,000 trees across the capital by 2026, with the aim of converting 50 per cent of the city into planted areas by 2030.

To do so, the French government has loosened building codes, so it is much easier for Parisians to plant trees in their neighbourhoods. The French government had also announced an increase in fossil fuel tax in late 2017, along with rebates on purchase of electric vehicles.

The Norwegian government focused most of its effort of promoting alternative energy sources in transport, with generous incentives for electric vehicles: zero import duty, VAT, and road tax; toll-free travel for plug-in cars; publicly financed charging stations, etc.

As a result, Norway has the highest per capita number of all-electric (battery only) cars in the world, with electric vehicles representing 47 per cent of the nation’s newly registered passenger

Pooja Upadhyay Editorial Assistant

cars in June 2018.

Strategies taken up by cities like Paris have visibly inspired India as its first pop-up cycle lane was developed and introduced in Bangalore in 2020. Even Gurugram introduced its first dedicated cycle track along a 10 km long corridor under the Centre’s Cycle4Change programme to promote green transit in the city. Increasing green cover and making cities more pedestrian and cyclist friendly is a great concept that India can adopt and include in its flagship Smart City Mission.

How far is India from smart urban mobility?

Transport demand in most Indian cities has rapidly increased, owing to the multifold increase in urban population, which is a result of both birth rates and migration. This, and increase in commercial and industrial activities, has led to demand outstripping the capacity of urban Indian roads. This has resulted in widespread, increased congestion and delays in Indian cities, indicating the seriousness of transport problems. A high level of pollution has come up as another result of the overloaded streets, along with the prevalence of traffic accidents. The Government of India realised that cities cannot afford to cater to only private cars and two-wheelers, and that cities would become inoperable without a feasible and accessible local public transport system. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance said that the central government is set on working towards raising the share of public transport in urban areas

through the expansion of the metro rail network and augmentation of city bus service. Sitharaman also announced the government’s plan to introduce two new technologies - ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ to provide metro rail systems at a much lesser cost with the same experience, convenience and safety in tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of tier-1 cities. However, these metro projects pose a challenge in the form of land acquisition.

In 2019, green activists and local residents protested and threw light on how the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation was cutting trees and clearing huge areas of the Aarey forest for Metro-3 project and construction of a car shed. Delhi learnt a lesson from the case and has received permission from the Supreme Court of India to transplant trees from a plot next to the current Parliament building to an area close to the artificial ponds near the India Gate. This solution was proposed to avoid cutting down of all trees for the Central Vista redevelopment project. However, experts differ in their opinions on the concept of transplantation of trees. According to C.R. Babu, professor emeritus at the Centre for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems at Delhi University, transplantation of trees is a complex process and many native and deep-rooted trees often cannot tolerate transplantation.

Tree transplantation nowadays involves lopping off the big branches of the tree, to which C R Babu said that a tree without its canopy will have no ecological function. Whereas, the forest

department is set to empanel technical agencies to conduct the transplantation after making a feasibility report and has also set the target of the survival rate of transplanted trees at 80 per cent.

The success of this technique could help ensure that no city loses its much needed green cover, although the cost of transplantation of trees is sky high.

Currently, only in the national capital, public bus system in its entirety runs on CNG. Additionally, Delhi is the only city in India having the facility of CNG pumps for commercial vehicles.

Therefore, even if the government increases the number of buses in cities for public transit, issues of vehicular emissions and air pollution remain.

Is the world entering the decade of electric vehicles?

Cars are responsible for a huge chunk of carbon emissions that are ejected into our atmosphere, leaving us vulnerable to various respiratory diseases. Electric vehicles (EVs) are being seen as a great step towards eco-friendly mobility.

EVs get their power from rechargeable batteries installed inside the car and are 100 per cent eco-friendly and do not emit any toxic gas or smoke.

Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV (FAME-II) scheme, India is aiming to deploy nearly 2,600 EV charging stations across the country starting in 2020. This looks like a good start, but there is a need for rapidly scaling up charging infrastructure, and primary battery cell manufacturing in India with the help of strong economic and policy drivers.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

39

ARTICLE | Cities & Economy

Economic revival of cities post-pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has begun to fade but its effects have left deep scars on some important sectors of the country, including healthcare and the economy. The economies of cities, through its businesses and markets, have suffered heavily and continue to bleed financially. It is high time to work actively on their revival

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overnment of India took major steps in this year’s budgetary allocations trying to negate the downward trajectory of the country’s economy which includes a whopping fund of `2,23,846 crores (137 per cent increase from last year) allotted to the health and wellness sector. The central government has also introduced various welfare programmes in Budget 2020-21 such as the Jal Jeevan Mission, and augmentation of public buses to revive health of cities after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effects of Pandemic on cities and budgetary allocations

Urban spaces accounted for a major chunk of COVID-19 cases in the country and around the world.

Moreover, the migrant crisis during COVID-19 pandemic has hit the very core of the urban spaces generating an urgent need to create cities which are spatially more spread out. Despite this,

according to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India has set aside `54,281 crore for urban development, a meagre 9 per cent rise as compared to last year’s allocation. The allocation is around 1.5 per cent of the total budget outlay even though, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), almost 34 per cent of the country’s population resides in urban areas. According to a study by WEF titled ‘Indian Cities in the post-pandemic world’, about 35 per cent of the total urban households cannot afford housing at market prices and there is a need to create a new paradigm for inclusive and resilient cities. Economies of cities were also hit badly as an estimated 140 million people lost their jobs due to suspension of economic activities owing to the indefinite lockdown. The Indian economy shrunk by a whopping 23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter last year, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This was the biggest economic slip due to COVID-19 pandemic among major economies of the world, including

“The corporation in times of pandemic has witnessed a drop in users of almost 3,073 lakh people which has added to the losses of the department. Continuance of public transport is essential as it supports the livelihoods of various people.”

Dr Ravinder Singh Minhas Deputy Chief General Manager, DTC

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the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States of America (USA), and China.

Post-pandemic economic revival of Indian cities

Budget allocations of the central government have been presented this year keeping the pandemic in consideration. Ministry of Finance has come up with some new policies to revive the health sector including the Prime Minister (PM) Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, with a fund of `64,180 crores over a period of 6 years.

Public Transport is an important sector which supports the economic wellbeing of the cities and has suffered serious repercussions in the times of pandemic. Metro services have been allocated `20,000 crore for this financial year, marking an increase of 6 per cent as compared to last year. In a webinar conducted by Team Urban Update, Dr Ravinder Singh Minhas, Deputy Chief General Manager, Delhi Transport Corporation, said, “The Corporation, in times of pandemic, witnessed a drop in passengers to the tune of 3,073 lakh. This added to the losses of the department.” He added that continuance of public transport is essential as it supports the livelihoods of various people. To boost public transport post-pandemic, central government has come up with innovative PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model to augment public bus transport and has also announced the induction of almost 20,000 buses which will affect more than 100 Indian cities. MetroLite and MetroNeo for tier-2 and peripheral areas of tier-1 cities respectively; Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban); Voluntary Vehicle Scrapping

Hitesh Nigam Editorial Assistant

policy etc., are some of the initiatives in Budget 2020-21 which are intended for economic revival of Indian cities.

Global initiatives and lessons learnt

Different cities across the world have designed their respective models to combat the effects of the pandemic.

Inia must learn from them and be a part of such international collaborations.

For instance, in November 2020, WEF had selected 36 cities from 22 countries across the world to engage in a dialogue and design a roadmap to safely adopt new technology post-pandemic. Four Indian cities namely Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad were selected to lead economic development of smart cities from around the world.

International economic organisations will play a major role in the postpandemic revival of cities as almost 600 urban centres from across the world contribute around 80 per cent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to WEF. Cities cannot stabilise their economy without making them resilient to disasters like those which affected Indian cities at different points of time during the pandemic, and only added to their stress. Some happened due to sheer human carelessness, such as fire at a COVID-19 facility in South Delhi, while some were a result of natural phenomenon such as the Amphan cyclone. In this area, Rotterdam presents a good example where the city is built below sea-level and despite this, the water management and economic cycle of the city is commendable.

During another webinar organised by Team Urban Update, Dr Amit Prothi, Director, Global Resilient Cities

Network, Singapore, cited the example of Rotterdam and talked about how Surat, Gujarat is working with the authorities of Rotterdam to implement the methodology used by them. Such a co-operative approach is necessary to establish a knowledge sharing framework where authorities from across the world can work together to learn the innovative models of different countries.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an important factor which helps the cities to grow and also analyse their policies depending on how favourable the location is to the investors. According to Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi are the top three states to receive highest influx of foreign investments.

This shows the efforts of the city to synchronise the policies in such a way that it makes the location favourable for investments. Such efforts will play a major role in every Indian city so that they have enough resources to boost the economy of the region.

The way forward

Economic recovery of cities coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic is a continuous and a long process. The most vulnerable section - migrant workers, have to be kept in focus during policy formulation as they play a vital role in boosting the economy of urban

centres. Urban replica of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), which was proposed by experts and economists in a letter sent to Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, is the popular policy intervention suggested for bettering the condition of the urban poor.

Conclusion

Urban centres are the backbone of a country’s development. Therefore, their economies have to be preserved and promoted to ensure economic growth of the entire country. Sustainable revival of the economy is important in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to get cities back on track. In addition to budgetary allocations and policy formulation, implementation of these policies and utilisation of budget is important to improve the face of the urban economy. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which are one of the worst hit due to spread of the novel coronavirus, have been allocated `15,700 crore, which is double the amount allocated for them in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Finance. The time has come to remember and realise the vision articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2020, when he said that India will set an example in economic revival for the world.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

41

ARTICLE | Cities Fighting Climate Change

Cities: Creator, victim & solution to Climate Change In alleviation and adaptation, cities play a critical role in controlling the unavoidable and avoiding the uncontrollable. Well-planned, compact cities can be highly resource-efficient and lead to improved quality of living for the urban population. To realise this dream of lowering the risks of climate change and leading the way to sustainable development, the centres of expertise and innovation, cities, have to make efforts not only at the international, but at the local level too

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ccording to several scientific organisations including the National Aeronautics Space Administration or NASA, the year 2020 was the warmest year on record.

Although, as a result of the lockdowns around the world to control the COVID pandemic, enormous drops in transport and industrial activity resulted in a decline in daily global carbon emissions by 17 per cent in April 2020.

However, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels reached their highest monthly average ever recorded in May last year.

The reason is that the CO2 that humans have already emitted can remain in

the atmosphere for hundreds of years; some of it could even last tens of thousands of years.

Besides the lethal carbon emissions, COVID-19 is resulting in changes in individual behaviour and social attitudes and this is consequently changing the approach and ideologies of governments from all over the world. This will have impacts on the environment and on our ability to fight climate change. At this point in time, it is uncertain how these factors will balance out in the end.

However, one thing is certain: large-scale initiatives, along with initiatives at the local level, will be essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

India was one of the ten most affected countries by climate risk in 2015. Based on fatalities and losses in 2015, India is among the fifty most vulnerable countries of the world. The growing urban population and economic growth are two important factors that are increasing the importance of adaptation and mitigation considerations for Indian cities due to associated challenges

42 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

How are cities exposed to climate change?

The population in cities is likely to increase by around 500 million over the next 50 years. The cascading impacts of rising temperatures and changes in precipitation are dire: at least 200 cities risk running out of water, heavily impacting food and water security. As the COVID-19 pandemic has already strained city resources, the ability of cities to transition to carbon-neutral economies is particularly at risk; over 10,000 cities have committed to a green transition, but they may not be able to finance this due to these difficult times. Climate change not only has economic consequences but physical too, due to numerous and diverse human activities. With respect to cities, the impacts of climate change are significant. These include increased intensity of heat waves, with direct effects on human health, especially in cities; increased risk of inland flooding; retreat of mountain glaciers, with impacts on water availability and its quality in urban areas; and an increased risk of drought and water shortage in already dry regions.

Cities both victim and cause of temperature change

Over half of the world’s population lives in cities, and as estimates suggest, urban population will increase to over two thirds by 2030. Cities use an

Shrila pokhariyal Editorial Assistant

enormous proportion of the world’s total energy supply and are responsible for approximately 70 per cent of global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which trap heat and lead to global warming. Levels of CO2, the most pervasive GHG, are at the highest levels ever, mostly due to burning of fossil fuels for energy. The immense carbon footprint produced by our cities is caused mainly due to faulty planning and arrangement.

Cities, being the primary cause of climate change, are also the most troubled by it. Most cities situated near water bodies face the risk of floods due to rising sea levels, storms, and cyclones. Nevertheless, given their role as hubs of innovation and creativity, we also look to cities to provide us with answers. Mitigation policies, energy generation, urban infrastructure, mobility, and planning solutions and innovations in cities have the potential to deliver major emission cuts.

India

According to Germawatch, a nonprofit organisation working for environment, India was one of the ten most affected countries by climate risk in 2015. Based on fatalities and losses in 2015, India is among the fifty most vulnerable countries of the world. The growing urban population and economic growth are two important factors that are increasing

the importance of adaptation and mitigation considerations for Indian cities due to associated challenges.

However, since the very beginning, India has shown proactive leadership in climate change mitigation efforts, evident in its falling carbon intensity of the economy in the last couple of years.

Domestic mitigation measures have led to an appreciable reduction in carbon intensity of Indian GDP. Many Indian cities are already taking action on climate change. For instance, New Delhi, the capital of India, launched India’s first city-level climate change agenda in 2009, while other cities such as Hyderabad and Kolkata have implemented sectorial strategies with climate benefits in areas such as transportation and waste management.

Rajkot has conducted emissions inventories using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories, has developed a Low Emission Development Strategy Action Plan, and developed a number of specific mitigation and adaptation actions to achieve its climate goals.

Last year, the Government of India launched initiatives for cities to combat climate change. The launch of this initiative intends to address two key areas in urban challenges - climate change and liveability. Recently, India was successful in dropping off 24 per cent in the emission intensity.

Cities around the world breaking ground for others

Barcelona is addressing its fight against air pollution by expanding the municipality’s tree canopy to nearly 30 per cent of the city’s land area by 2037.

The city recently created an extensive Climate Plan that aims at cutting per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent before 2030, and additionally promotes strategies such as the superblocks innovate urban model, whereby certain fragments of the city are secured for exclusive pedestrian use to enhance cleaner air and the liveliness of its streets.

On the other side of the world, in Auckland, mitigation strategies

prioritize citizen engagement by involving over 150 stakeholders in the co-creation of the roadmap to achieve the city’s target to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 per cent before 2040.

The city also started a revolving fund to minimize energy use and emissions, and the reinvested savings are expected to result in over $30 million in the coming 20 years. This will be allocated to further reduce the city’s contribution to climate change.

Oslo, the capital and most populated city of Norway, has set a target of reducing CO2 emissions by 95 per cent before 2030. It is doing this by doubling electric vehicles and charging stations, along with incentives and subsidies. Oslo government also introduced circular waste management systems, purchased a bio-gas plant, and is recycling 50 per cent of all its food waste. Cities are in urgent need of diversifying their energy production. Although in many parts of the world, the federal and state governments administer energy policies, cities wield more leverage over public and private utilities. Cities are exceptionally transforming their energy grids through initiatives such as moving to community solar and wind farms and promoting localised, or embedded energy schemes. They are reducing emissions and generating massive savings in the process. Thus far, thousands of cities have adopted renewable energy, and today more than 40 cities are entirely powered by renewables, from Georgetown in Texas to Reykjavik in Iceland and Shenzhen in China.

Conclusion

The future of perpetual development, poverty removal, and the world’s health and management of climate change are firmly aligned. The capacity of GHG emission reductions in cities and capability of cities of the world to take actions to combat climate change is significant. If this potential is fully deployed, the world will be closer to the aim of keeping global warming below 1.5 degree Celsius.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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E-Dialogues | Disaster Mitigation and Resilient Cities

Building Smarter Cities with resilient infrastructure National Institute of Disaster Management, in association with AIILSG, Foundation EMDA Southasia and Urban Update, organised the second edition of the training Workshop on “Building Municipalities and Citizen Awareness for Resilient India” on Friday, January 22. Anil Sinha, Former ViceChairman, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority; Dr A Sankarankutty Nair, Emeritus Scientist and Programme Director, Centre for Environment and Development; and Amit Prothi, Director, Green Infrastructure Solutions, Global Resilient Cities Network (Singapore), were part of the Workshop’s panel Team Urban Update

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isaster management is a growing challenge owing to the frequent disasters which have hit the health of the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disaster mitigation is needed to be incorporated in the public policies of the country and should drive infrastructure development in urban regions of the country. Urban India bears the major brunt of the burden of disaster in India and hence needs urgent attention for building disaster resilient cities.

Mohanna Manna, Young Professional, NIDM, started the workshop by stating the importance of mitigating disaster risk as India has ranked third in the list of countries recording highest number of natural disasters. The risk is higher in the urban and semi-urban areas due to lack of disaster-proof infrastructure, low-level of planning and high population density.

Anil Sinha, the first speaker for the Workshop, carried the discussion forward by stating the present situation of the country in handling the disaster risk due to lack of resources and a well-defined methodology. He added that the lack of empowerment and

44 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

institutional reforms has been at the helm of the problems. Disasters have direct consequences on urban areas and bring various challenges with them.

He added that natural disasters are not ‘natural’ in its character as they are derived from the carelessness of people where ‘overlooked’ hazards convert into disasters.

He said that people are more or less responsible for all the recent occurrences of urban flooding in various parts of the country due to continuation of operation of unregulated construction sites. Definition of disaster talks about the activities which are averse to the environment, whether natural or manmade. Accidents are not seen as a part of disaster in India which is not good as the frequency of road accidents in the country is considerable to the extent that every fourth accident on the road is fatal. He also addressed the frequent man-made disasters in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been a point of concern for experts. He said, “Disasters due to fire have been the most neglected form of human disasters even when most of states in India have a separate fire act.” He also talked about the institutional structure which has been provided in the DMA, including that at central, state and local level, and said that yet, a dedicated district disaster

management plan is not in place in many places. He recommended the setting up of a Municipal Disaster Management Authority with executional powers and jurisdiction to control the disasters with a state-of-the-art database and technology. He also raised the question about the preparedness of Delhi to handle a disaster with a risk of around 10,000 causalities.

He further discussed about the structures of municipal bodies and their architecture which were basically built for the purpose of revenue collection and drainage, among others, but now their scope has increased with the introduction of SDGs, the Sendai Framework, etc. He raised the question about the present situation of these local bodies considering the enlarged scope of these bodies. Talking about Smart Cities, he said that these cities should also be disaster resilient, in addition to them being smart.

Dr A S Nair continued the discussion by talking about the technological methodology that can be used for assessing and mitigating the effects of a disaster. He said that there are various vulnerabilities which aid disaster risk in India such as increasing population, rapid urbanisation, increasing industrialisation, etc. He emphasized on the need to categorise the levels of disasters according to the ability of the local bodies to deal with these disasters. L1 level will deal with the disasters which can be managed at the district level whereas L2 is the level which includes disasters which need the cooperation of state governments.

Lastly, L3 level disasters will include events which are too large to be handled by the state machinery and will require the assistance of the central government.

He also pointed towards spatial planning and said that when a plan is formulated, it must be made sure that

it has proper representation. He also talked about the urban dilemma as the majority of disasters are related to such regions due to high rate of migration.

The city limits of urban centres has been increasing with time which makes them more and more prone to disasters.

“Disaster risk of the cities come due to the carelessness of the urban local government and local bodies. In India, urban areas are overcrowded and faces large scale natural and human induced disasters,” Dr Nair said.

He also talked about the objectives guiding policy formulation, which include the culture of preparedness and prevention by central government keeping it on priority, encouraging mitigation based on state-of-the-art

technology and mainstreaming disaster mitigation in the developmental process. He advised the ULBs to accept the methodology of 4Rs which includes Rescue, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.

Dr Nair emphasized on the need of capacity building for elected representatives and other officials of local bodies. He said, “Disaster management is a citizen’s problem and a certain amount of awareness is important to fight these incidents. LSGs are equally responsible for providing required help but where were the LSGs when the country was hit by various disasters in 2020?” He also added that preparation of the disaster management plan should be coordinated with the

usage of GIS and GPS mapping, and satellite data.

Dr Amit Prothi commented on policy interventions and compliances at local level by saying that three major trends in the 21st century that will add to the occurrence of disasters will be urbanisation, globalisation and climate change. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic also spread to this level only due to globalization as it infected different parts of the world due to continuous travel and contact of people. He addressed the lack of people appointed as Chief Resilience Officers in the administrative structure of different states. These officers are responsible for integrating the risk and resilience strategies in the decisions of the city governments.

Like all the other speakers, Dr Amit also addressed the issue of capacity building, including knowledge regarding disaster and lesser emphasis on peer to peer study. He shared various examples including that of New York where a GIS map showed the trajectory of a flood that hit the city in the year 1992. A flood with a strikingly similar trajectory hit the city in the year 2016, putting a lot more people and infrastructure at risk.

He said, “We have to link the points from the earlier disasters to understand the incidents and act accordingly without creating high risk in such geographical areas.” He said that spatial decisions have to be made considering risk factors according to the geography of the area.

He added, “That does not mean that living in the area of risk will make you vulnerable. Rather the decision has to be taken regarding the regional risks and we have to avoid the factors which may lead to such risks and we should have an understanding about this.”

He concluded by sharing the innovative example of restoring water sources such as constructing temple tanks. He also cited the example of Rotterdam which has performed wonderfully in the area of water management even when the region is below sea level. Surat is also working to understand the methodology of their management and to develop a structure to manage water effectively.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2021

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Urban Agenda

Budget 2021: New hopes for urban infra development This year’s Union Budget is of extreme importance to understand the renewed priorities of the government in the post-covid era. The Budget has focused majorly on development of the country’s health services and urban infra reuirements. Cities must use the opportunity to use the funds to strengthen their resilience and be prepared for evolving challenges

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

The Budget has noted a drastic increase in the overall distribution of resources and reforms for infrastructure development as the government has allocated 34.5 per cent more funds to the cause as compared to last year. Not only has this made the public anxious of the future of development in India, it has also turned the eyes of world leaders towards the push that the Centre is planning on giving to COVID recovery and sustainable, ecofriendly and inclusive development.

The sector which has witnessed the most drastic change in resource allocations is healthcare. The Budget outlay for health and well-being is `2,23,846 crore in 2021-22, as against only `94,452 crore (in 2020-21) and marks an increase of 137 per cent. As an obvious impact of the pandemic, the Centre has now realised the importance of development of the healthcare sector. Keeping this in mind, the Government of India has announced the Pradhan Matri Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an estimated allocation of `64,180 crore. The scheme will focus mainly on developing primary and secondary private and public healthcare centres and equipping them with modern technologies. The Yojana will also work on strengthening five regional centres and 20 metropolitan surveillance units of the National Centre for Disease Control. This will help the country be ready if and when another pandemic hits the country.

Another sphere that has received a considerable push in the Budget for FY 2021 is urban infrastructure. Not only is the government investing in highways in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it is also working on construction of MetroLite and MetroNeo projects in Tier 2 and peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities. This is an important move as it will also contribute to encouraging people to use public transport, especially at a time when the public is wary of public transport due to the uncertainty of whether COVID-19 precautions will be followed or not. Sitharaman’s announcement of privatisation of airports is also being considered to be a welcome move as according to experts, it will help greatly in giving a push to further development and proper upkeep of airport infrastructure. Additionally, with the aim of bringing down cost of logistics, the Indian Railways’ National Rail Plan was also announced which will focus on creating a future-ready system of railways in India by 2030. The government has also announced an infusion of `18,000 crore in the public bus transport systems across the country to augment their usage and improve their feasibility as agents of first and last mile connectivity.

With the aim of boosting the textile industry in the country, the government has committed to construction of Mega Textile Parks which will provide world-class infrastructure along with plug and play facility. Sitharaman said that the Centre will work towards setting up seven textile parks across the country in three years starting 2021.

The entire Budget for the FY 2021-22 is focused majorly on urban infrastructure development. Apart from directing the focus on overall development of roads, railways, local public transport, airports and healthcare, the Centre has also made a statement that it is committed to sustainable and equitable growth of people from all walks of lives residing in cities across India.

46 February 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

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