Urban Update June 2018

ISSN. 2349-6266 RNI No. DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume V, Issue II

4

South Asian Cities Summit

New Urban Agenda & Localising SDGs

June 2018

Creates a shared vision for South Asian cities

The 4th South Asian Cities Summit proved to be a great platform to discuss key urban issues in South Asian Countries and beyond. Over 80 speakers and 500 participants from 15 countries pro-actively participated in the discussions on a range of subjects varying from urban development, municipal leadership, urban design, energy efficiency, pro-poor policies and liveable urban environment

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Magazines & Journals

Energy Efficiency

AMRUT Knowledge Management

Seminars

Project Management Customised Training

Sustainable Development Goals

Policy Research

Advisory Services

Swachh Bharat Mission

ECBC

Smart City Mission Capacity Building

Skill Development

All India Institute of Local Self-Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East, Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 61805600, Fax: +91-22-26572115, Email: contact@aiilsg.org

Rethink cities with AIILSG SMART CITY

As the old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither any other city. And, of course not alone. AIILSG provides expertise to urban local bodies and state governments for buildings cities from scratch or retrofitting existing ones with technology enabled interventions. AIILSG team has developed city development plans of many cities including that of Mumbai. The institute has also prepared smart city plans for Raipur, Bilaspur, Faridabad, Karnal and also of state funded smart cities of Chhattisgarh—Rajnandgaon, Korba.

AIILSG is also advising a Swedish consortium for Smart City investment and implementation.

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG — a project funded by European Union’s ‘Equi-City’ programme for India.

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor

Mail Box Readers’ comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. Letters to the Editor can be sent by e-mail, or regular mail. They should include name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address, if available. The subject of the communication should be clearly mentioned, and we reserve the right to edit for sense, style, and space.

Address Urban Update (All India Institute of Local Self-Government) Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING RELATED ASSISTANCE, CONTACT Phone: 011 - 2852 1783/ 5473 (Extn. 37) E-mail: contacturbanupdate@gmail.com

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor Akash Mandyal Senior Reporter Aniruddh Gupta Media Associate Prateek Singh Editorial Assistant Meenakshi Rajput Rajesh Singh Graphic Designers Volume V - Issue II 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 Note: Subscriptions are only invited from municipal corporations, government bodies, academic & research institutions, etc. working in the domain of urban development.

We only charge courier and handling charges. We may fully wave-off the charges for municipalities and academic institutions upon receiving such request and approval from our management.

Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy of the contents. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. The views expressed in the articles are the personal opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the All India Institute of Local Self-Government. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Join Urban Update Community Online to read our previous issues, regular posts and news updates.

WWW

urbanupdate.in urbanupdatemag urbanupdatemgzn urbanupdatemag

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

4

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

Innovation is crucial for cities

A

piece in The Economist earlier this year stated that of the top ten plastic polluters in the world, all but two are from developing Asia.

These account for two-thirds of the plastic spewed into the ocean, the report said.

Thankfully, India is not among the top ten. This is a pleasant surprise given its population of 1.3 billion and rapid, relentless urbanization.

The Economist study found that India is out of the top ten ‘thanks to itsarmies of ragpickers’.

These ragpickers sift through mountains of waste, bearing the stench and often at risk to their health, in order to pick up things which have some residual value to be sold to recyclers and thus to earn a livelihood. Recognizing the valuable role of ragpickers in managing cities’ waste, policy initiatives at the national and local levels seek to mainstream their efforts rather than let them perish at the fringes of an informal economy.

There is urgent need for full and effective implementation of such measures.

Waste management is among the biggest challenges for cities and calls for innovative solutions. Fabric waste is an example. In India with its large population, there is a colossal amount of fabric waste that is being generated and will continue to grow with rising incomes and choices. Cloth is one of the most widely used commodities in our lives - for clothing, furnishing, home decor, bags and so on. Yet there is little recycling in the true sense. All ‘recycling’ efforts are limited to ‘repurpose’, i.e., use for other purposes. One is tempted to give away no-more-wanted clothing for charity or to use old furnishing items for making bags or cleaning rags. At best, reprocessors chop cloth into small bits and use them as insulation or to make quilts.

All claims to innovation end here. Especially in these days with extensive use of polyester and manmade fabrics (nylon, polyester, etc. could take a hundred years or more to biodegrade), safe disposal is rather tricky and calls for technological solutions to address this problem which could one day become as stubborn as plastic. There is hope, though. Several international fashion brands have joined the Make Fashion Circular movement to reduce global waste from fashion by recycling raw materials and products. A report on the subject by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reveals that less than one percent of clothing is recycled. Half a

million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released from washed clothing annually, exacerbating ocean pollution, the report says. The movement envisages a new textiles economy where clothes, textiles, and fibres are kept at their highest value during use and re-enter the economy afterwards, never ending up as waste.

Technology solutions are urgently called for in handling/disposing of all waste in our cities. Take the example of incineration of waste. It seems an effective solution as it reduces transportation cost of waste, rapidly disposes waste, puts less waste in landfills, and generates energy. However it is currently not a preferred option due to health and environment concerns caused by emissions.

Notwithstanding the concerns, Sweden and Japan appear to have adopted this method with success.

The Japanese government website states that there are 19 incineration plants in central Tokyo, all of which emit just vapour and no smoke. Technology seems to have overcome potential hazards. And therein could lie a lesson.

AIILSG, in association with several global, regional and local partners, successfully organized the 4th South Asian Cities Summit in Delhi in May. The Summit adopted the Delhi Declaration 2018 which aims to facilitate implementation of the SDGs. The Declaration resolves among others to make cities smart, resilient and inclusive while promoting sustainability, mainstreaming gender issues, encouraging innovation, sharing and cooperation. In this issue of Urban Update we bring you coverage of the event.

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

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

5

Quotes

Many cities with urbanizing waterfronts struggle with debates over whether to do tall buildings on/near the water edge. Debates about tall buildings, it shouldn’t be a yes or no argument, but rather a conversation about great urban design

Cities are the drivers of economic growth and all sections of people living in the cities need to be provided with adequate housing and other essential amenities

M Venkaiah Naidu Vice President of India

Brent Toderian Former Chief Planner, Vancouver

PIN POINT Equality in education means equal opportunity for all children, especially those who are denied the right to education because of disability, poverty, gender or location

Children have an immeasurable capacity to infuse vigour and enthusiasm into any activity.

They can become environment protectors and help the government and society overcome the menace of plastic pollution Harsh Vardhan Union Minister of Envirment Forest and Climate Change

Mohamad Safa CEO, Patriotic Vision

BUZZ Maimunah Mohd Sharif

Parveen Kaswan

Solid Green

@MaimunahSharif

@ParveenKaswan

@SolidGreen_SA

@Grow_Fwd

Executive Director, UNHABITAT

IFS Officer, ME Designs

Sustainabilty consultancy

Community-driven venture capital firm

Sustainable and inclusive urbanization is important for bringing about peace, and UNHabitat helps local governments in recovering and rebuilding after conflict. We join other UN agencies today in celebrating #International Day for Living Together in Peace

Nature doesn’t kill people, human structures do. Mithi River which drains Mumbai water into Sea has been encroached, dumped with wastes. True for Bangalore & Chennai also. Right mix of Green, Blue and Grey infrastructure is the way forward for Smart cities.

The effect of buildings and construction on the environment is astounding, with the built environment currently accounting for 20% of the world’s water usage and 40% of its electricity

Drone technology has influenced countless industries and it has finally made its way into sustainability. These tree planting drones can plant up to 100,000 trees in one day giving workers time to take care of the young trees that have already grown

6

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Grow Forward

inside

Inside Volume 5, Issue 2

Article

38

40

42

June 2018

The Shimla Crisis The persistent problem of water in Shimla town has precipitated into a full blown crisis. The situation is so precarious now that picketing, protest, demonstrations etc. are happening rampantly. The situation is so bad that the Shimla water crisis made headlines in the BBC, the Guardian-London and the New York Times

New urban spaces, the way to go?

INSIDE

24

Cities are struggling to cope with the rapid influx of populations. The legacy of ageing infrastructure and unplanned sprawl dampens their efforts and prevents an efficient and effective response to the aspirations of inhabitants. It may be time to look at building brand new cities with the best of modern technologies and infrastructure rather than just prop up existing cities…..

Cover Story

Cities can lead Inter-state cooperation to clean rivers

LEADerspeak

There is no policy in India that promotes a holistic approach to conservation of our rivers. We depend on several institutions to safeguard our rivers, that are degrading fast with increased pollution load most of which comes from our cities

24

4th SAC Summit-2018 Creates a shared vision for South Asian cities

The 4th South Asian Cities Summit proved to be a great platform to discuss key urban issues in South Asian Countries and beyond.

Over 80 speakers and 500 participants from 15 countries proactively participated in the discussions on a range of subjects varying from urban development, municipal leadership, urban design, energy efficiency, pro-poor policies and liveable urban environment

34

Sustainability should be focus of future cities The recent water crisis in Shimla, Bengaluru and earlier in some parts of Maharashtra has underlined the dangers of unsustainable exploitation of our natural resources. A similar situation was seen a few months ago in South African cities too. For building smarter cities for future, we need to make smart moves. All the city leaders must come together and commit to take corrective steps towards sustainable development of cities

one on one

36 RegularS

6 8 12

Pin Point Equi-City Newscan

15 44 46

City Images Book Review Urban Agenda

If we don’t control emissions by 2020, we won’t be able to achieve SDGs Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, launched the South Asia Chapter of Global Covenant of Mayors on the second day of South Asian Cities Summit. In a candid conversation with Kumar Dhananjay, she talks about the relevance of the Covenant and role of cities in achieving international goals including the Paris Agreement of which she was a key part

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

7

feature Equi-City

Lake cleaning initiatives to revive dying lakes in Nagpur Lakes are an intrinsic and important part of our environment and a vital water resource. They play a vital role in an urban environment and substantiate water resources required for millions of people living in a city Team Equi-City

L

akes are an intrinsic and important part of our environment and a key water resource. They play a vital role in the life of the citizens of the city and even towns and play a large role in supporting our society. They are the support unit for millions of people in this age of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.

In recent times we have witnessed severe water shortage in Indian cities.

The recent water crisis in Shimla, when residents went without water for more than a week or the recent report of NITI Aayog which has predicted that Bengaluru will run out of ground water in two years from now are looming crises staring straight in our faces.

After the severe crisis in water supply, local bodies, irrigation departments, state and central governments and other NGO’s are showing keen interest on cleaning the lakes and revitalising the existing remaining water bodies.

It is really a grim situation that at this stage also the action plan proposed to restore the polluted lakes involves only structural oriented activities and is not concerned with the ecological components of the system such as flora and fauna and the environmental aspects. The structural components like desilting, strengthening sluice and weir repairs play a very crucial role in the action plan for conservation of a

8

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

water body. The action plan does not address the waste water, solid waste, public awareness and training, etc.

Lake conservation is a sensitive issue and need to be tackled wisely before it causes havoc and irreparable damage to the environment.

To make a change and improve the lakes of Nagpur and with the intention to make it a social initiative, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) together with Equi-city team

of All India Institute of Local-Self Government with active participation of NGOs like Paryavaran Prerna Vidarbha, Swacch Association, Center for Sustainable Development, NEERI, Airforce Vayu Sena Nagar, NCC Naval Wing, Mah 4 Battalion, National Civil Defence College (NCDC), Nagpur Garden Club, NMC Fire Dept. and the very active Talav Bachav Samiti commenced a phase of comprehensive and rigorous Futala Lake Cleanliness

and Rejuvenation drive on 27th May 2017, at Futala Lake, Nagpur.

The scope of the cleaning and restoration programme included — Enzyme treatment of lake water to clean it and remove the algae, de-silting the lake and strengthening its bund to increase storage; removing solid waste and weeds from the lake to increase oxygen content and remove toxins.

The program also included planting trees along the bund to increase green cover and improve the biodiversity and launch extensive awareness campaigns to ensure active involvement of local community and sustenance of the programme.

Futala Lake is a prominent landmark of the city. It is one of the oldest lakes in Nagpur built by Bhonsale Kings of Nagpur. The lake is spread over 60 acres and is known for its colour fountains. In the evening the place is illuminated with halogen lights and Tonga (horse carriage) ride is very popular with the populace. The lake is surrounded on three sides by forest and a landscaped Chowpatty on one side. In the absence of maintenance, the use of this historic lake was limited to cattle washing only. It was therefore decided in the year 2003 to beautify

Lake cleaning initiatives like that promoted by Equi-City team in Nagpur will certainly increase or restore the water holding capacity of the lake, improve the water quality of the lake and evolve sustainable management plan after the restoration of the lake

this lake with National Institute of Technology (NIT) fund with equal aid from State Government. This spot has now become one of the most attractive spots of Nagpur City and on an average more than a thousand visitors frequent the lake daily.

But even after the beautification work has taken place, we can observe many grave problems in this area. It is seen that Futala lake water is polluted due to the following reasons: ♦♦ Surface run-off and agriculture run-off ♦♦ Washing of clothes, animals and vehicles ♦♦ Effluents from upstream surrounding residential area ♦♦ Immersion of idols of God and Goddess during festive season ♦♦ Discharge of domestic sewage and dumping of garbage ♦♦ The lake area is also misused as public toilets leading to unhygienic environment and increasing the organic load in the lake ♦♦ To the south of the lake, its banks are used as crematorium ♦♦ Dumping of garbage and other wastes around the lake is taking place, which not only pollutes the

lake but also spoils its beauty. ♦♦ Cattle grazing can be seen to the west and north of the lake. ♦♦ The volume of the Futala Lake is decreasing due to the accumulation of silt coming from the run off. ♦♦ The above mentioned causes play a very crucial role in the degradation of the lake. The social and livelihood issues are influencing the activities. Such activities and restoration drives are having a great effect on the water body as well as on the society’s awareness about such crucial issues. Following are some of the highlighted objectives/ outcomes of these activities: ♦♦ To increase or restore the water holding capacity of the lake. ♦♦ To improve the water quality of the lake. ♦♦ To evolve sustainable management plan after the restoration of the lake.

Restoration of polluted lakes like Futala involves not only the repairing of physical structures but also improving the quality of water. Both the activities need to run simultaneously. Such awareness drives are beneficial not just for the environment and society at large but also for the water bodies.

Such activities have to be undertaken in order to ensure that not only administration and local bodies but the citizens engage themselves round the year to improve our dying water bodies. This effort has shown desired results but there are many miles to go before we actually salvage the situation completely.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

9

NEWSCAN

Indore, Bhopal & Chandigarh

cleanest cities The Swachh Survekshan 2018 assessed 4203 Urban Local Bodies and was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). The exercise was undertaken between 4th January 2018 to 10th March 2018 enhanced the scope to cover a record number of Urban Local Bodies impacting around 40 crore urban citizens across length and breadth of the country by 2700 assessors

D

uring SwachhSurvekshan 2018, a record number of 37.66 lakh citizen feedbacks were collected and 53.58 lakh Swachhata Apps downloaded.

The on-field survey for Swachh Survekshan has been conducted by an independent agency and the data for ranking of the cities collected from three sources: ♦♦ Service Level Progress: To verify whether systems and processes are in place in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to implement Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) in the most efficient way ♦♦ Direct Observation: To verify and assess general cleanliness in the cities by making random field visits in different parts of the city and public conveniences (Community/ Public Toilets). ♦♦ Citizens Feedback: To collect

feedback directly from citizens and monitor the performance of Swachhata App, a citizen’s grievance Mobile App.

Indore Retains Cleanest City Title

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) has been ranked 1st in Swachh Survekshan 2018 and has been awarded India’s cleanest city followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh at 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Indore was the cleanest city last year as well but that survey was conducted only for around 430 cities. This time it was conducted for around 4,200 cities.

In Indore, the municipal corporation adopted a two-pronged strategy to promote cleanliness. Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has tied up with a number of NGO’s to ensure segregation of waste. IMC also recruited more staff for garbage collection, added new vehicles and dumping of garbage at

designated spots has been disallowed.

Instead, house to house garbage collection has been strengthened.

Ambikapur Best City in Innovation & Best Practices

Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh)has been rewarded as one of India’s best city in ‘Innovation and Best Practices,’ with a population of 1.45 lakh generates 52 metric tonnes of waste on a daily basis. But instead of putting the waste into dump yards or landfills as is the conventional practice, the city is converting its waste into wealth. Today, the city’s waste to wealth economy has a turnover of Rs 20-25 lakh per month.

Mysuru India’s cleanest medium city (population between 3 to 10 lakh)

Mysuru (Karnataka) won the award of India’s cleanestcity. A slew of awareness initiatives, coupled with increased

Category

Pop* (> 10 Lakh)

Pop(3 to 10 Lakh)

Pop (1 to 3 Lakh)

Capital Cities/U

Cleanest City

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh)

Mysuru (Karnataka)

New Delhi

Greater Mumbai (

Fastest Mover City

Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)

Bhiwandi (Maharashtra)

Bhusawal (Maharashtra)

Jaipur (Rajasthan

Citizen Feedback

Kota (Rajasthan)

Parbhani (Maharashtra)

Giridih (Jharkhand)

Ranchi (Jharkhan

Innovation & Best Practices Nagpur (Maharashtra)

Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh)

Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh)

Panaji (Goa)

Solid Waste Management

Mangalore (Karnataka)

Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)

Greater Hyderaba

Note: Pop* Population

10

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)

UTs

citizen participation helped Mysore bag the ‘ Cleanest Medium City ‘ tag among cities with a population between3and 10 lakh. The city has come on top of the rankings in this category for the fourth consecutive year under Swachh Survekshan 2018.

Tirupati grabs India’s best city title in solid waste management

Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) got the award for India’s best city in ‘solid waste management’ category, the top rank of Tirupati is the effort of more than 600 sanitation workers and supervisors of the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT), who have implemented best practices in the solid waste management.

Greater Mumbai cleanest among state capitals

Greater Mumbai cleanest state capital tag can be attributed to the open defecation free (ODF) status achieved last year on Rashtriya Swachhta Diwas on October 2 and the fact that 42 per cent of the waste generated in the city every day, is scientifically treated along with door-to-door garbage collection service in 92 per cent of its 24 wards.

Panaji bags the title of innovation & best practices among state capitals

Panaji (Goa)has been declared best state capital in innovation and best practices category. Chief Executive of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Pvt Ltd. Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri is satisfied and feels happy for Panaji city especially with the innovation of using fewer resources to manage higher

North Zone

(Maharashtra) Bhadson (Punjab)

quantum of garbage.

He said “the innovation in the capital is an efficient doorto-door garbage collection system. Panaji has been able to handle solid waste without a landfill site”.

Greater Hyderabad declared best state capital in Solid Waste Management category

Greater Hyderabad (Telangana) has been declared best state capital in Solid Waste Management category. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has done good work in the solid management system, i.e., segregation of dry and wet waste at the source itself by involving resident welfare associations, NGOs, self-help groups,and citizens. Through this, the collection of garbage has increased from 3,000 tonnes to 4,800 tonnes on daily basis. “Regular awareness of Greater Hyderabad city’s people helped GHMC in achieving this award,” said Mayor Bonthu Rammohan. Distribution of two bin systems for segregation of wet and dry wastes, introduction swacch tippers, appointing swachhdhoots against dumping of garbage in the

sewerare the effective initiatives taken by GHMC.

Best Performing States

Jharkhand was ranked 1st in best performing state category followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh at 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Best Cantonment Awards

♦♦ India’s Cleanest Cantonment-No.1: Delhi Cantt. ♦♦ India’s Cleanest Cantonment-No.2: Almora Cantt. (Uttarakhand) ♦♦ India’s Cleanest Cantonment-No.3: Ranikhet Cantt. (Uttarakhand) ♦♦ Best Cantonment in Citizens Feedback: Nainital Cantt.

(Uttarakhand) ♦♦ Best Cantonment in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’: St Thomas Mount Cantt. Chennai (Tamil Nadu) ♦♦ Best Cantonment in ‘Solid Waste Management’: Jutogh Cantt., Shimla (Himachal Pradesh).

East Zone

North East Zone

South Zone

West Zone

Bundu (Jharkhand)

Kakching (Manipur) Siddipet (Telangana)

Panchgani (Maharashtra)

Narharpur (Chhattisgarh)

Mayang (Manipur)

Bod Uppal (Telangana)

Shendrajanaghat (Maharashtra)

Biate (Mizoram)

Peerzadiguda (Telangana)

Saswad (Maharashtra)

Rangpo (Sikkim)

Hunsur (Karnataka)

Ankleshwar (Gujarat)

n)

nd)

Moonak (Punjab)

Gharaunda (Haryana) Pakur (Jharkhand)

ad (Telangana) Samthar (UP)

Chaibasa (Jharkhand)

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

11

BRIEFS

NEWSCAN

GHMC to improve civic governance The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has split its five existing GHMC zones in to six zones to improve its local governance. The already existing zones include GHMC North, South, East and West.

Central zone have been divided in to further zones which are LB Nagar zone, Charminar zone, Khairatabad zone, Secunderabad zone, Seriligamaplly zone and Kukatpally zone. The vacant posts which include GHMC zonal commissioner and head of departments for town planning, urban biodiversity and maintenance will be filled soon. GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy said, “The new zonal system has been created to ease people, so that they don’t have to travel long distances.”

CSR initiative to make learning at anganwadi fun

Under the first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for “Smart City”, AMC i-SEE (Integrated Smart Early Education), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has made learning for anganwadi children easier by providing them children friendly environment which will allow a child to develop cognitively. The AMC claims that this is the first-of-its kind initiative in the state where children will have role-play activities for Swachh Bharat, traffic signal education, safety awareness and many more interesting things to learn. The project almost took a month to get its final shape. As many as 75 children from two centres will benefit from it.

12

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

AI to manage Delhi’s traffic NEW DELHI: Delhi is all set to have country’s first Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) which will work on a radar-based monitoring with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This artificial intelligence based Traffic management system will help decongest Delhi’s traffic and will ease the work of Traffic Police. The proposal sent by the Delhi Traffic Police has been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The first phase of the ITMS will be completed by April 2019.

Confirming the initiative Dependra Pathak, special commissioner of Police, Traffic said, “The aim is to reduce the manual interface to minimal. AI to determine the flow of traffic, automated enforcement, and communication to change the face of the traffic situation in Delhi. Ideally, a traffic officer on the road would leave the carriageway opened for equal minutes in order to ensure smooth flow of traffic. In such a scenario not all

carriageways have heavy volume. With AI coming in place, the signals would work according to the volume of traffic on each road.”

The project will be implemented in three phases which costs around Rs 1000 crore. With the aim of providing relief to the people of Delhi from traffic, the ITMS system will have high-resolution CCTV cameras which not only capture commuters who will break traffic rules but automatically will raise the challan that would be sent to their home. The system will also have Automated Number Plate Recognition cameras (ANPR) and lane monitoring system. This system will analyze traffic patterns, volume, and other factors in traffic monitoring then it will be sent to the cloud server which would then be used to manage traffic in the computerized and mechanized way.

With this system coming into implementation, Delhi Police will be able to manage traffic in more efficient way.

Now floating trash brooms to clean water bodies MUMBAI: To tackle the problem of garbage in water bodies, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started installing floating trash brooms. The broom will help collecting garbage like thermocol, plastic, and other waste material from water bodies and will also prevent garbage entering the sea. The officials from civic body said that all the seven trash brooms will be installed soon and first has already been installed at Irla pumping station. The other locations which are finalized for the installation will be: Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara, Mithi River, MograNullah, and Lovegrove pumping station. Kolkata has also adapted the concept of trash brooms and bought the set of mega brooms for Rs 1.1 crore. V Khankar, the BMC’s chief engineer of storm water drains (SWD) said, “The initiative will help preventing garbage entering in to the seas. The trash brooms will be placed closed to the locations like rivers and nullah. We hope that after installing the trash broom, this will not occur in future.”

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume III, Issue III

Rs 100

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate

MaRch 2016

Volume III, Issue II

IoT

The new age of urban governance Governing growing cities in a country like India is a matter of serious concern. Efficient urban governance and ‘healthy’ municipalities will be the key to the sustenance of our evolving and existing urban spaces

Rs 100

FebRuaRy 2016

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume III, Issue I

Rs 100

JanuaRy 2016

Survival of the fittest

To revoluTIonIse cITy managemenT

Ministry of Urban Development to announce the 20 winners of Smart City Challenge in January 2016

Internet of Things supported technological solutions are leveraging ubiquitous connectivity among complex sets of distinct sensors, citizens, and apps to smoothen functioning of city systems

competitiveness drives innovation: Supriyo

DAWN Of

An interview with Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State for Urban Development

ASPIRATIONS

aIIlsg, eu launch ‘equi-city’ Project The project aims at ensuring equitable delivery of municipal services in Nagpur

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The project is funded by the European Union.

2015 was a landmark year for cities all over the world and paved a concrete path for a bright urban transition. How India crafts its urban development vision this year will profoundly impact the future of our cities

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The project is funded by the European Union.

Subscribe to

UrbanUpdate

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

For 3 Years (36 Issues) Rs 2520 For 2 Years (24 Issues) Rs 1920

A magazine dedicated to Urban Infrastructure, Governance & Sustainability

For 1 Year (12 Issues) Rs 1080

Yes, I want to subscribe to Urban Update Tick

Year 1 2 3

Monthly Courier Issue/Year & Handling 12 Charges 24

100

36

Charges/Annum 1200 2400 3600

You pay Discount 1080 10% 1920 20% 2520 30%

Please fill this form in Capital Letters Name Organisation Designation Address

Mobile

City E-mail

Pin Code

Cheque/DD/MO No For Rupees

Drawn on Dated

State

(specify bank)

In favour of ‘All India Institute of Local Self-Government’ is enclosed.

Mail this form along with your Cheque/DD to the following address All India Institute of Local Self-Government Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 You can pay Subscription charges through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT). Details for NEFT transfer are: Axis Bank Limited A/C Name: All India Institute of Local Self-Government Please e-mail your details (Name, Address, duration of subscription, transaction no.) to contacturbanupdate@gmail.com for initiating A/C No: 207010100182768 subscription after the NEFT transfer.

IFSC: UTIB0000207 Terms and Conditions

For any query, please contact our Subscription Department Phone No.: 011-2852 1783 / 5473 (Extn. 37) Or e-mail at contacturbanupdate@gmail.com

• Subscriptions are only invited from municipal corporations, government bodies, academic & research institutions, etc. working in the domain of urban development. We only charge courier and handling charges. We may fully wave-off the charges for municipalities and academic institutions upon receiving such request and approval from our management. • Allow one week for processing of your subscription • All disputes shall be subject to Delhi jurisdiction only

BRIEFS

Kolkata to have mini pumping stations In order to sort out water logging problem during monsoon, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is planning to set up four mini pumping stations with dewatering pumps at four ghats in the city which will collect accumulated water from roads and send it to rivers. The four ghats include Nimtala Ghat, Chandpal Ghat, Dilarjung Road Ghat and Chandpal Ghat (adjacent to Millennium Park).

The proposal has already been approved by the Mayor Sovan Chatterjee. “We have witnessed that water logging takes places in areas, which are adjacent to the river, during monsoons.

This is because the lockgate of the river is closed for more than five hours during high tide and if there is heavy rain, the accumulated water cannot drain into the river. The dewatering pumps will be used to channelise this water back into the river,” a senior official of KMC’s drainage department said.

SDMC to develop vertical gardens on 12 flyovers After Delhi metro’s initiative to turn metro pillars green, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation also plans to convert its 142 flyover pillars in to vertical gardens. Out of 142 pillars, work on 12 flyovers have already been started.

The first phase of the project will include the six flyovers of Lajpat Nagar, Andrews Ganj, Sarai Kale Khan, Kalkaji, Nehru Place and Raja Garden. “We have readied an action plan for developing vertical gardens in a phased manner. Only recycled water will be used on these. The development of a vertical garden has already been initiated at Savitri flyover,” said South Corporation Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat.

14

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Diu Smart City to run on 100% renewable energy during day time

NEW DELHI: Diu Smart City has become the first city in India that runs on 100 per cent renewable energy during daytime setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green. Diu had been importing 73 per cent of its power from Gujarat until last year. It has now adopted a two-pronged approach whereby a 9 MW solar park spread over 50 hectares rocky barren land has been developed besides installing solar panels on the roof tops on 79 government buildings thereby generating 1.3 MW annually. To further enhance its solar capacity, Diu offers its residents a subsidy of Rs 10, 000-50,000 for installing 1-5KW roof top solar panels.

Diu is saving about 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

Bengaluru to develop Intelligent Traffic Management Solution To improve traffic management in Bengaluru Smart City, a prototype of an intelligent traffic management solution is currently being tested in collaboration with the Electronics City Township Authority (ELCITA). It will provide traffic information that is currently unavailable, and help improve management of commuter traffic. It involves capturing video streams from several cameras and processing them using artificial intelligence so that typical traffic management tasks such as vehicle detection, traffic density estimation and control of traffic lights can be automated for real-time performance.

Night bazaar envisaged as part of Jaipur Smart City To revitalize urban public spaces and socially activating the area besides generating economic activity, Jaipur Smart City Ltd (JSCL) has planned to develop night bazaar at Chaura Rasta, in the heart of Pink city. The JSCL would register up to 700 vendors who will be allowed to set up stalls, including eateries, between 9pm and 1am. The project will provide entertainment, culture and shopping spot to citizens.

E-buses set to hit Kolkata streets next month KOLKATA: Kolkata is all set to have 80 electric buses to curb its air and noise pollution. These electric buses are zero pollution vehicles and are completely noiseless and will hit the city in planned phases. According to West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC), if they will get positive results from the initiative they will gradually add more buses in the city under WBTC. A transport department officer said, “These environment-friendly buses are symbols of future mobility. They do not require conductors to collect fares. The state is deciding on a uniform rate to simplify the automatic fare collection system.

We want to see the versatility of these buses in long run. The days are not far when our entire fleet will have such environment-friendly buses. E-buses could provide the state an opportunity to replace the diesel fleet that draws a lot of flak from the National Green Tribunal.”

Almost half of the 20 lakh vehicles that ply in the city run on diesel. Of this, around 2 lakh are commercial vehicles.

The government will install 30 battery chargers at various terminals and turbochargers also will be installed for emergency charging. The government is also planning to install rooftop solar panels so that battery can be charged while moving a vehicle. Despite having a high cost of these buses, the running and maintenance cost is considerably low.

city images

Mumbai’s First

under Flyover Garden

Nanalal D Mehta Garden, located under the Tulpule Flyover on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, was created as an initiative by local residents of Matunga with help of BMC and One Matunga NGO, to stop

the misuse of under flyover area. The garden has been designed to look like the Narmada River.

It consists of a 600-meter pathway for jogging with a replication of rock formation as found on the bank of

Narmada River. Keeping the night life of Mumbaikars in mind 300 lights have been installed in the park and 11 CCTV cameras are placed to ensure the safety of pedestrians and park visitors.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

15

BRIEFS

GHMC to carry out digital house numbering With the help of aid from the World Bank, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will soon carry out digital house numbering in Moosapet to identify every house within GHMC limits.

The GHMC official said, “The house-numbering system will have a direct impact on the city’s growth, as more property tax is likely to be collected once the uniform system is in place.”

Due to not having proper house numbers, the civic body failed to collect targeted property tax.

“To execute it in all the 26-lakh households in GHMC limits, the civic body has approached World Bank for a loan. The cost of the project is Rs 70 crore and the World Bank has asked us to submit expression of interest before May 30. Initially, we thought we will execute the project in a Public-Private partnership (PPP) mode,” said K Srinivas Rao, GHMC Director of house numbering cell.

Mumbai’s Central Railway to come up with ‘Where is my Train’ app

To ensure smoother commute for Mumbaiites, Central Railway (CR) will soon come up with a mobile app ‘Where is my Train’ for both android and IOS platforms which will share live locations of trains with the estimated time of arrival. The app will help commuters with all the information about delays and disruptions in the train services.

For the same purpose, Global Positioning System (GPS) will be installed in the trains.

16

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Extension of Delhi Metro from Noida City Centre to Sector-62

NEW DELHI: In a major boost to public transport infrastructure in NOIDA, the Union Cabinet Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved extension of Delhi Metro corridor from Noida City Centre to Sector-62, Noida Uttar Pradesh covering a length of 6.675 km at the total completion cost of Rs 1967 crores. Gol liability will be Rs 340.60 crore on account of Grant and Subordinate Debt.

The Project will be implemented by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), the existing Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Government of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Project will be covered under the legal framework of Central Metro Acts, Metro Railways

(Construction of Works) Act, 1978 and the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, as amended from time to time.

The extension of Delhi Metro corridor from Noida City Centre to Noida Sector 62 is the extension to Dwarka-Noida City Centre line of Delhi Metro system which will result into people being assured about their mobility and thus more people will like to move to this satellite town of Delhi, thus decongesting Delhi. As a result, more residential and commercial complexes will develop in this region.

With metro rail in place, there will be less vehicular traffic on roads leading to less congestion, less time and cost of journey, less consumption of fossil fuel and less environmental pollution.

Global Brands to join forces for sustainable fashion LONDON: Major global brands Nike, H&M, Burberry and Gap have signed up to an initiative that aims to improve the industry’s record on sustainability after a study found less than one percent of clothing is recycled. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, set up by the record-breaking sailor, announced that the brands were joining its Make Fashion Circular scheme to reduce global waste from fashion by recycling raw materials and products. The head of the Make Fashion Circular initiative, Francois Souchet said, “The aim was to create a “unstoppable momentum” towards an economy in which clothes are never seen as waste.”

“Over the past 15 years clothing production has doubled, while the amount of time we wear those clothes before throwing them away – usually to be landfilled or incinerated – has fallen dramatically,” said Souchet.

“We can change this ever faster model into one in which clothes are never seen as waste, through better design and new leasing and resale business models,” he said. The four brands will join British designer Stella McCartney, who last year became the first to sign up to the initiative, which aims to eliminate waste and pollution and ensure products and materials are reused. At the time McCartney, a long-time advocate of sustainable fashion, said that her industry was “incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment”, urging other brands to join.

NEWSCAN

Empowering foot soldiers of Swachh Bharat All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) recently completed training and certification of 15 batches consisting over 600 Safai Karmcharis of New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) New Delhi: The working conditions of Safai Karamchari are in a poor state in the country. They sweep and clean our public areas, buildings, roads and also collect garbage from households but there has been almost no change in the way they work despite having many technological advancements in the field of sanitation globally. The job is still considered as one of the lowest and degrading occupation. AIILSG with municipal corporation and National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) is making efforts to empower them with required skill sets to guarantee them dignified lives.

With strong belief that the only way to eradicate the disparity and provide dignified life to Safai Karamcharis is by proper recognition and technical training through skill development initiative, National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation

(NSKFDC) started Recognition of Prior Learning programme for Safai Karmcharis. The objective of the programme is to make them selfreliant by providing refresher training on various latest tools, technologies and best practices in the applied field at the same time acknowledging the existing skill of the applicant through certification from respective Sectoral Skill Council of India approved by Government of India.

The first training programme was inaugurated by Member of Parliament, Meenakshi Lekhi and Naresh Kumar, Chairman of NDMC at School of Gardening, Purana Qila Road on February 15, 2018. The recently concluded training was held on May 28, 2018. SK Bharadwaj, Sanitation Expert and the trainer for the programme, said, “It is important to empower sanitation workers to guarantee them a dignified life and

improve their working conditions.

This will also help me in making them efficient.”

The aim of the training programme was to upgrade the skills for efficient management of day-to-day activities of the Safai Karamcharis. With this vision, in collaboration with Green Jobs Sector Skill Council of India and municipal corporations, AIILSG is conducting skill training program/ workshop on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for Safai Karmcharis.

The duration of the training programme is 35 hours (Five Days) with a batch size of 40-50 candidates.

The programme is divided into 17 hours of classroom training, 16 hours of field training and 2 hours for assessment. The programme covers important day-to-day activities related aspects which are as follows: ♦♦ Job Responsibility of Safai Karamchari ♦♦ Methodology for Cleaning of Public Areas and Buildings ♦♦ Cleaning of Washrooms ♦♦ Cleaning of Buildings with Mechanized equipments ♦♦ Mechanized and Safe Cleaning of Sewer and Septic Tanks ♦♦ Progression in Activities and scope of additional income ♦♦ Information about Manual Scavenging Act, 2013 / 2016 ♦♦ Maintaining Personal Health and Safety while Cleaning ♦♦ Communication Skills ♦♦ Digital Literacy ♦♦ Assessment of Candidates

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

17

BRIEFS

Get your Metro Smart Card from vending machine Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is to soon set up smart card vending machines for the commuters at the metro stations.

Commuters will be able to buy or recharge their smart cards at these machines through cash or debit/credit cards. The benefit of this machine is that commuters will be able to recharge their card by paying a minimum amount of rupees 100 at these machines. About 70-80 per cent of Delhi Metro commuters use a smart card to travel every day.

“For the first time, Delhi Metro is installing smart card vending machines at selected stations,” said a DMRC official.

NEWSCAN

Environment ministry to train 5 New Delhi: The Union Environment Ministry has launched a training programme “Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP)” to train 5.5 lakh green skilled workers by 2021. The training

programme will include 30 courses which will train workers in environment and forest sectors in the country. Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan also launched an app ‘GSDP-ENVIS’ which will The Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr Harsh Vardhan launching a Mobile App on Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP), in New Delhi

Hyderabad to gets its first E-Vehicle charging station

London to become zero-carbon city

A contract was signed, between L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited (LTMRHL) and Power Grid Corporation of India, to develop first E-Vehicle charging station at Miyapur and BR Ambedkar (Balanagar) Metro stations. Power Grid is also developing an application for the commuters to easily locate the charging stations. Payments for charging your vehicles at these stations will be done online. With this adoption, per capita, electricity consumption shall improve substantially. “We are committed to providing best in class eco-friendly green Metro services to the citizens of Hyderabad”, said KVB Reddy, MD,and CEO of (LTMRHL).

18

June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

LONDON: London is all set to become the greenest city, as the ambitious plans have been released by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. With the new environment strategy Khan seeks to make the capital zero-carbon by 2050 and at least 50 percent green. The strategy is to tackle wide range of areas includes air quality, energy usage, green space, and waste.

The comprehensive document outlines a vision to tackle climate change head-on by accelerating the use of electric vehicles; creating zero-emission zones, increasing solar energy capacity 20 fold by 2030, and making homes more energy efficient. In addition, new funding will be made available to plant thousands of trees and create new green spaces within communities. This is designed to make London a ‘National Park City’.

Sadiq Khan said the proposals were formed through an extensive consultation with the public, business and industry. “This strategy sets out my plans to clean up our filthy air with bold new air quality measures, tackle waste and

promote cleaner energy so we can make London a healthier city that adapts to the impacts of climate change.

We must also protect, improve and add to our outstanding green spaces as we aim to become the world’s first National Park City. By continuing to invest in our environment and work with boroughs and communities, we can improve the health and wellbeing of everyone living in London.”

The document brings together, and enhances, a number of the Mayor’s initial environmental plans since taking office in 2016. These include installing free public water fountains to reduce plastic waste and creating new charging points for electric vehicles.

Executive Director of C40 Cities, Mark Watts said, “Tackling climate change and unleashing the economic, social and health potential of a low carbon future requires radical and urgent action. The London Environment Strategy is setting the standard for just how bold mayors can be in delivering the transformational climate action that humanity needs”.

BRIEFS

5.5 lakh green skilled workers help workers throughout the training programme. Vardhan considered this as an ambitious programme that will provide employment and entrepreneurship to the youth of the country. Last year the project was run on the pilot basis in 10 districts of the country in which 154 youths were trained as par taxonomists and biodiversity conservationists and most of them were school dropouts. “After the pilot project, now we are going to launch GSPD on a large scale and 80,000 youths in the country will be trained at 80 institutions in next one year. The number will be raised to over 2 lakh in the following year and by 2021 a total over 5.5 lakh youths will be trained as green skilled workers,” the minister said. He said that GSDP was likely to become an important programme in the area of skill development in the coming days. “This is our prestigious and ambitious programme

that will serve manifold purposes and achieve the aim of skill development campaign that is close to the heart of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. The ministry has started 30 courses in environment and forest sectors for the skill development of youth through its Environment Information System (ENVIS) hubs and resource partners as well as other institutions across the country. The admissions in these certified courses will start from July and courses are with the time duration of 80 hours to 560 hours. The courses include river Dolphin conservator, water budgeting and auditing, forest fire management, management of small botanical gardens, propagation and management of bamboo, bird identification and basic ornithology, and city environment surveyors among others. The courses are also open for 10th and 12th dropouts.

Environment ministry to clean water bodies in 19 states NEW DELHI: In the build-up to the World Environment Day 2018, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has formed 19 teams to take up cleaning of beaches, river fronts and lakes in the country. Cleaning up of around 24 beaches in nine coastal states and cleaning of river fronts in 24 identified polluted stretches in 19 states will be undertaken. Besides the listed rivers, a special cleanliness drive will be carried out at Yamuna riverfront in Delhi.

The 19 teams will include senior officers of MoEF&CC, state nodal agencies in-charge of eco-clubs of schools, State Pollution Control Boards, district administration, college of fisheries located along the coastal stretches and other educational/research institutions. The teams will involve school children, college students and local communities in the cleaning exercise. The Ministry will be engaging Eco-club schools, which are being provided assistance from MoEF&CC under the National Green Corps programme.

An amount of Rs 10 lakh has been earmarked for each stretch of beach, river front and lake. Cleaning up around important archaeological sites will also be taken up. The clean-up activities have started from May 15. During this period, various cultural programmes, quiz competitions, debate, awareness rallies will also be organized.

State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) are the nodal points for implementing the programme of the Ministry in every state. For cleaning the water bodies, the Ministry has identified the stretches in consultation with SNAs and institutional heads from College of Fisheries, which are near the water bodies in each state.

Electric vehicles to be deployed for garbage collection While inaugurating the bus shelters at Khairatabad and Kukatpally, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister K T Rama Rao announced that the electric vehicles will soon be deployed on the streets of Hyderabad for garbage collection. “Electric Vehicles will replace existing garbage collection vehicles in a phased manner. The government is striving hard to make city pollution free. Around 3000 vehicles belonging to state along with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) vehicles will be replaced by electronic vehicles” said the minister. The civic body official said, they have signed an agreement with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (ESSL) to execute the project on pilot basis.

SDMC is planning to build multilevel car parking

SDMC officials have said that to reduce congestion and traffic in selected 25 areas of Delhi, tenders have been floated to invite bidders to build multilevel car parking facilities in Delhi.

The development of these parking facilities is expected to be completed by 2019, said an SDMC official. These parking facilities will have capacities of parking around 100 to 250 cars.

The areas to build these parking facilities have been chosen on the basis of congestion level and major parking issues. This project will be monitored regularly by the department.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

19

NEWSCAN

WRI Africa opens with a focus on Forests, Cities, & Water

With the inauguration of new regional office, World Resources Institute (WRI) Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, WRI will focus on three core issues in Africa i.e. forests, cities and water ADDIS ABABA: Building on decades of work across the continent, World Resources Institute inaugurated a new regional office, WRI Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Drawing on WRI’s global knowledge base, hands-on experience in emerging economies, and prior work in Africa, WRI Africa will have a dual role: engaging with partners in Ethiopia and serving as a hub for WRI’s growing engagement in Africa.

“Africa is on the front lines of the most exciting economic development and environmental challenges in the world. Given the rapid growth and innovation across Africa, we have much to learn from its people, landscapes, and histories,” said Dr. Andrew Steer, President & CEO, WRI. “With nearly half the world’s poor in Africa, we are eager to expand our work with partners to bring more people out of poverty, while helping advance more vibrant landscapes, more fresh water, and more livable cities where people can thrive.”

“African leaders face choices today

20 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

that will impact the lives and livelihoods of millions of people and the stability of vital ecosystems for generations to come. WRI Africa will enable us to deepen our evidence-based analysis in the region to support civil society, companies and governments in making decisions that protect the environment and improve human well-being,” said Kitty van der Heijden, Director, WRI Europe & Africa. Recognizing Africa’s size, complexity and diversity, WRI Africa will focus on three core issues: forests, cities and water.

Forests

Africa holds almost 30 percent of the world’s forests, which provide subsistence to at least 100 million people. Yet Africa’s forests are under pressure from industrial agriculture and extraction of timber, minerals, oil and gas. WRI staff will support African countries to develop land use planning frameworks that restore forests and agricultural landscapes while advancing local communities’ needs. Africa has major potential for restoration, and 26 countries have already committed to restore more than 85 million hectares of degraded and deforested land through AFR100, a country-driven initiative that WRI helps to coordinate alongside the NEPAD Secretariat and other partners.

Cities

Africa is urbanizing faster than any

other region. By 2030, more than half of Africans will live in cities, yet most of Africa’s urban infrastructure has yet to be built. The region can avoid costly mistakes made elsewhere and instead build compact, connected, coordinated cities— urban areas that that are resilient, inclusive, and productive job centers. WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities will engage with national policymakers, mayors and regional leaders to support sustainable urban growth, advise on national urban policies, and conduct training, technical assistance and analysis.

Water

Population growth and rising demands from agriculture, energy, manufacturing and urban centers are straining surface and groundwater supplies across Africa. Through WRI’s Aqueduct platform, we will offer private and public-sector leaders locally relevant data, water risk maps and projections to manage water more effectively.

“There is a renewed sense of optimism in Africa. African economies are growing faster and its population is younger than those in other continents.

These trends can be key drivers of poverty reduction and improved livelihoods on the continent,” said Wanjira Mathai, Senior Advisor to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and Co-Chair of WRI’s Global Restoration Council.

NEWSCAN

Centre to launch National Disaster Database NEW DELHI: With an aim to develop a uniform and credible national-level disaster database, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a two-day national workshop on Data Requirements for Disaster Risk Reduction Database.

The workshop held in collaboration with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

The workshop aimed at developing a consensus among various stakeholders on disasters and thresholds and to develop standardized systems for data collection, updation and validation to ensure accuracy and quality. Such a database would help track our progress towards achieving the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk

Reduction (SFDRR).

Once ready, this database would be able to provide real time disaggregated data. This granular data would lend itself to generating evidences and analyses, which would help plan interventions that build disaster risk resilience. “It is the first step towards developing a national disaster management information system that can provide real-time information to various stakeholders for relief and rehabilitation response, policy interventions, planning and research for risk-informed development planning,” said R K Jain, Member, NDMA. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Yuri Afansiev, United Nations Resident Coordinator, India, emphasized upon the need to understand implications of disasters, especially in a country as vast as India. “There is a need to integrate the proposed database to

Bengaluru gets its first ‘Bicycle Mayor’ BENGALURU: Bengaluru has become the third city in the country to have a ‘Bicycle Mayor’ after Vadodara and Guwahati. Out of 19 applicants shortlisted for the position, a 42-yearold civic activist Satya Shankaran was announced as the winner. The selection panel included civic activists Ashwin Mahesh, V Ravichander and SrinivasAlavalli, and urban transport

experts Pawan Mulukutla and Prof.

Ashish Verma.

In order to ensure 50 per cent of the transport in the city to be bicycles, the initiative ‘Bicycle Mayor’ is an honorary two-year position envisioned by Amsterdam-based NGO By CS. In India, the project is being implemented in coordination with the NGO Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF).

various development frameworks and goals allowing policymakers to receive reliable information, analyse it and reach conclusions to take policy decisions.” The technical session on Disaster information and data management system on damage and loss and good practices was chaired by Lt Gen NC Marwah (Retd), Member, NDMA Objectives of setting up such a database as well as the challenges in maintaining and utilizing it were discussed. The session also discussed global experiences and best practices in institutionalizing disaster databases.The second session on ‘Discussion to record an event as a disaster in DRR database at national and state levels’ was chaired by Shri Kamal Kishore, Member, NDMA Issues such as data collection templates, data sources, and IT platform for entering, organizing and managing data were discussed during this session.

Shankaran has been a part of various projects which focus and promote non-motorized transport. He is the cofounder of the NGO Prajaa which has been focusing on civic interventions in Bengaluru, and the founder of Citizens for Sustainability (Cifos), focusing on technology and infrastructure.

Shankaran said, “We will bring together experts and cycling enthusiasts who will help promoting the concept of non-motorized transport among people. We will be focusing on creating awareness among school students. The idea is to approach schools and teach students subjects such as physics, health and civics through cycling.”

To promote the concept of using more bicycles, the city will soon get 400 parking hubs for bicycles.

Under a project, Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalika is constructing 125 km of cycle lanes, announced by the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT). Talking about 125 kms cycling lanes, the special officer (DULT), N. Murali Krishna said that about 50 km will be developed in sub-arterial routes.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

21

NEWSCAN

4th Smart Cities India 2018 Expo

Spotlight on Housing for All,

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Bringing five expos - Buildings India expo, Solar India expo, Transport India expo, Smart Cities India expo and Water India expo - under one roof, the vision of the 4th Smart Cities India 2018 expo is to help develop attractive and safe cities that evoke pride, passion and a sense of belonging among citizens NEW DELHI: The 4th Smart Cities India 2018 expo started with over 300 exhibitors from India and abroad showcasing innovative products and solutions for smart cities. The three day expo at Pragati Maidan was inaugurated

by CR Chaudhary Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

Reiterating the Government’s commitment to meet the Housing for All by 2022, Chaudhary said, “Development of any nation depends

22 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

on basic infrastructure. A smart city provides 24x7 power, clean energy, potable water, efficient transportation, education, healthcare and housing to all its residents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of having a roof over every Indian’s head by 2022 is to provide affordable housing to all.”

He further spoke about a new India where housing, transportation and connectivity are the key. “The pace of building highways has accelerated to 25 km a day under the Government’s roadways push.” On the role of startups in smart cities, he said, “Around 10,000 startups have been registered across the country, and they have a major role to play in building smart cities with their innovative technology, products and solutions.” Speaking about the Government’s initiatives to improve ease of doing business, the minister pointed out and said, “For foreign direct investment, the Government has brought sweeping changes by simplifying rules and regulations. As a result, now custom clearances happen round the clock.” As many as 99 cities have been selected for development as smart cities Under the Smart Cities Mission, which is aimed at urban transformation and comprises of key projects such as digitally integrated smart city centres, street re-design,

installation of solar rooftop on buildings, etc. Reaffirming that buildings, solar, transport and water make smart cities, Chaubey exhorted people to fulfill Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean and hygienic India. “First step towards a healthy and developed India is to create a clean India. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has become a mass movement, and people are joining this Jan Andolan.” The sanitation champion, who built 33,000 toilets in three years in his home state, Bihar, also stressed on the importance of housing for all, the impact of the various health schemes launched by the Government and how significant it was for India to collaborate with other nations to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As per 2011 census, 31 per cent population lives in urban areas, and by 2030, 50 per cent of India’s population would reside in urban areas. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs reiterated that with more people migrating to cities in coming decades, urbanization presents many challenges.

“Given the huge opportunities present in the challenges, the PM launched three schemes viz., Swachh Bharat, Skill India and Housing for All to address them.”

Under the Housing for All scheme, 46 lakh houses have already been sanctioned; 7 lakh houses have been completed; and 2-3 lakh houses are being sanctioned every month. He further added that every household in India will get a proper toilet and the entire country will be open-defecation free (ODF) by October 2018.

The inaugural ceremony also had HE Daniel Carmon, Ambassador of Israel to India. In his special address he spoke about collaboration between nations to build sustainable cities of the future.

“Each country has a different set of urban challenges, and every country has its own set of tools to address these challenges. No one country has all the solutions. So we need to integrate the solutions from different nations for building a sustainable future.” He encouraged all to take advantage of the networking opportunities present at the Smart Cities India expo and reach out to the world.

Newscan

UCLG-ASPAC, AIILSG organize ‘Leadership Workshop’

For elected women representatives NEW DELHI: Gender equality and women’s empowerment is an essential component of sustainable development.

Despite advances on raising gender equality in many countries and fields, gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress. Women and girls in some countries are deprived of access to education, proper healthcare, or employment hence hindering their full participation in society and hampering the development of their potential. In an urbanising world, women constituting half the population still have a very limited role in urban governance – policy and decision-making as they are not adequately represented in the urban local bodies.

Taking a larger picture into account All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment organized one day women leadership summit as part of 4th South Asian Cities Summit on 3rd May. Local governments and their officials, particularly women leaders, are important actors in transforming the prevailing circumstances. Indeed, one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality speaks of “ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.” With the increasingly importance of role played by women in growth and development of cities throughout the world, the issue of gender equality has become significant in urban development.

The relevance of gender quality and women empowerment in sustainable development has been highlighted in various intergovernmental commitments such as Agenda 21, Rio Declaration, Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals etc. This has been universally endorsed

by governments, donors, women’s movements, civil society and other stakeholders.

The objective of the summit was to increase knowledge and understanding about the concept of leadership and how women in leadership position can use their role to bring about the desired changes by promoting gender equality and women’s rights, to enhance skills on leadership and how to optimize participation in local government processes to promote improved service delivery and to strengthen capacity of women leaders and continuously participate in governance The summit brought together newly elected mayors, officials of local government with commitment to gender equality and also agencies key agencies that can accelerate progress of gender equality.

Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG gave the welcome address and emphasized that there is a need to ‘ encourage sharing of knowledge as a human resource and we must discuss critical issues of urbanisation and modernisation and ways to move closer to Gender Equality in India and across the globe. Education will play an important role to achieve these objectives”.

Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General, UCLG ASPAC in her address said that there is a lack of initiative from mayors and local government officials to bring gender equality. Men focus on the big things like infrastructure whereas women’s are inclined towards soft and minor things and try to see things from the grassroots level. Young people can change the society. Through the day notable experts from the field addressed the summit and that included Rina Shah, former mayor of bhavnagar, Kalpanan Vishwanath, CEO, Safetipin, Manju Malasi, Mayor, Silgadhi municipality of Nepal Nivedita khandekar, senior jounalist and activist.

Later in the day participants discussed the issues like ‘Women’s Empowerment Leads to Sustainable Development’ that included role of women in local bodies and mobilizing women to lead sustainable development goals.

Post lunch session was dedicated to ‘Innovative Urban Governance and City Leadership – Role of Women in Urban Transformation’. Participants also discussed two modules during the sessions on participatory Budgeting and the second module was ‘SelfAssessment of Councils’ Performance.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

23

COVER STORY Cover Story SAC Summit 2018 4 2018 4TH SAC SUMMIT th

4th SAC Summit-2018 Creates a shared vision for South Asian cities The 4th South Asian Cities Summit, organised by All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG) at India Habitat Centre on May 4-5, 2018, proved to be a great platform to discuss key urban issues in South Asian Countries and beyond. Over 80 speakers and 500 participants from 15 countries pro-actively participated in the discussions on a range of subjects varying from urban development, municipal leadership, urban design, energy efficiency, pro-poor policies and liveable urban environment Team Urban Update

NEW DELHI: The 4th South Asian Cities Summit, organised by All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) at India Habitat Centre on May 4-5, 2018, proved to be a great platform to discuss key urban issues in South Asian Countries and beyond. Over 80 speakers and 500 delegates from 15 countries participated in the discussions on a range of

24 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

subjects varying from urban development and municipal leadership to urban design, energy efficiency, pro-poor policies and liveable urban environment SAC Summit-2018 had a total of 14 technical and breakout sessions for city leaders, municipal officials and participants from a variety of disciplines from urban development domain.

Rajesh Kumar Diwakar, Member of Parliament (Hathras) inaugurated the Summit, while Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia graced the occasion as the Chief Guest during the closing of the first day.

Diwakar said that the NDA government has initiated many programmes to address issues relating to pollution, negative impacts of climate

change, and sanitation. “I am glad AIILSG is working in this domain and has delivered good results. I am confident that an event like this will encourage all stakeholders to take initiatives at their end and bring forward feasible solutions for cities�, he said.

Deputy CM of Delhi also hailed the idea of local governance and said that his government has been working

with citizens to improve health and education services in Delhi. He gave the example of Mohalla Clinics through which the Delhi government has significantly improved health service for the poor and marginalized.

Rajiv Agarwal, IAS (Retd.), Director General, AIILSG, delivered the welcome address. He said: “In this Summit, we aim to enhance the responsiveness of local governments on global commitments made for sustainable development.

This summit targets to provide a valuable platform where the governors, mayors, city officials, and other local stakeholders can learn from their peers and grow a

Mayors should have sufficient autonomy.

They should be allowed to choose their staff.

They are accountable to people but they have no control over staff.

City leaders should be able to direct policies, agendas. I think if we want to build better cities, the rules of urban governance need to be rewritten Prof Sebastian Morris Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

supportive network for local governments in South Asia.

This event underlines the critical role and participation of local governments in achieving sustainable development goals and targets under New Urban Agenda.”

He added that many urban issues are transboundary in nature and thus compel our integrated efforts and coordination between countries. These include climate change, disaster risk reduction, terror threats, as well as the preservation of rich cultures amidst modernization.

Transboundary cooperation will also bring positive economic growth and environmental improvement towards sustainable cities with sound development policy. We have always seen nation to nation bilateral relations but city to city relationships can benefit our cities. Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General of AIILSG, delivered the theme address and set the agenda for the Summit. He said that the earlier editions of the Summit focused on Smart City aspirations of citizens of India. Following which many other countries in the South Asia region have launched similar urban initiatives.

This year, we have decided to focus on New Urban Agenda and SDGs so that urban local bodies in India can jointly work to achieve the objectives under these international frameworks. Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General of UCLGASPAC, said, “We have overall 169 targets and more than 200 indicators in 17 SDGs. And, more than 65 per cent of the work required for achieving these goals has

to be done by local bodies.”

Dr M Ramachandran, Former Secretary of Urban Development, delivered the keynote address. He underlined the importance of the event and said that the conference is an important platform to take stock of the huge challenges we face in terms of creation of new jobs and prosperity for all without straining land and resources. He further informed the audience about the SDG 11 and how can these citiesplan sustainable development without disturbing urban ecosystem.

To spread awareness among all stakeholders in cities, the guests and city representatives released white balloons printed with 17 SDGs and their taglines, in order to spread knowledge of SDGs among the public and policymakers.

Sanyukta Bhatia, Mayor of Lucknow; Namgay Tshering, Deputy Mayor of Thimphu, Bhutan; Manju Malasi, Mayor of Silgadhi Municipality, Nepal; Allagamuthu Nanadakumar, Chairman Hatton PradeshiyaSaba, Sri Lanka; Md Abdul Baten, President, Municipal Association of Bangladesh & Mayor, Bera Municipality, Pabna, Bangladesh; and Nafea Naseer, Local Government Authority, Maldives were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

Designing the Local

This Session ‘Designing the Local: Realising the New Urban Agenda’was jointly organised by School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi and AIILSG. It focused on micro designs and place making activities related to resilience, gender responsive

urban design and community participation in place making.

Dr Arunava Das Gupta, HOD, Urban Design, SPA Delhi, moderated the session.

Other panellists included Prof Manu Mahajan, Anshu Sharma and Revitee Mandal.

The key outcomes of the session were: The New Urban Agenda represents a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future, one in which all people have equal rights and access to the benefits and opportunities that cities can offer. This can be achieved by exploiting locallyremarkable cultural, historic, and aspirational designs and economic development ideas to create inspired plans and projects of every kind.

“Local Area Planning (LAP) is believed to be the key for achieving community development and designing the local”, said Manu Mahajan from SPA Delhi. Community development is to be based on the decentralised Local Area Plans (LAP) with participatory approach of community by understanding the need for public participation in their community’s development and management process through installing ownership and pride among individuals in their homes, mohallas, neighbourhoods and their city and therefore all citizens will make the effort to continuously improve the process that has been started.

Sustainable management of water and sanitation

The session mainly focused on highlighting the gravity of the issues of waste management, access to sanitation facilities, problems of safe drinking water & water scarcity, etc.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

25

Cover Story 4th SAC Summit 2018

Guru, DDG, AIILSG were The session was chaired Key Outcomes

by Jairaj Phatak, former ♦♦ Every city needs to also present. ensure 24x7 water supply, All the mayors unanimously Commissioner of BMC and equitable distribution, agreed to hold regular co-chaired & moderated reduction in non-revenue dialogues at their level. Many

by Chetan Vaidya, Former water and improvement mayors also suggested that Director at SPA & NIUA and of information such meeting should be held currently the Urban Advisor management through not just in Delhi but in other to UNDP, India. Other GIS, Customers’ database, parts of the region too to eminent panellists included etc. for sustainable water ensure everyone gets firstRam Gopal Mohle, former management. hand experience of the works Mayor, Varanasi; Santosh water being carried out by other Kumar Sharma, CEO Smart ♦♦ Adequate conservation measures cities. Chandigarh Mayor City, Aligarh; Ranjan K necessary in all large Devesh Maudgil said that Panda, Convenor of Combat cities. As a result, this platform should also be Climate Change Network; concepts like the Water used for empowering mayoral JayeshMandlik; Head, Water, Footprint, Desalination powers for building better AIILSG; Nicholas Osbert; and Recycling of sewerage cities in India. He added Chief Water, Sanitation & water are seen as evolving that mayors have limited Hygiene UNICEF India; and technologies for water powers where in a city like VijayantiPadiyar; Partnerusage and treatment.

Chandigarh, the tenure of Hiranyagarbha Corporate ♦♦ Focus should lie on mayor is just one year. In such Advisors. getting the basics right a short tenure, no mayor can by enactment of strict bring phenomenal changes laws to stop rampant in the city development. exploitation of the ground Sanjukta Bhatia, Mayor of water, encroaching on the Lucknow, also agreed and said natural wet lands which that the government needs to are life line boundaries, empower mayors then only discharge of domestic & India can solve the evolving industrial wastes into our urban issues and execute the river & lake bodies; using programs/projects required to plastics in all forms, using achieve international goals. technologies which will Hansa Patel added that South effect entire communities Asian Mayors Forum would like use of chlorine toners be organised at a regular for disinfection. interval, not just during the In our country, the main South Asian Cities Summit. problem is planning. The South Asian She added that a secretariat planning is just about land Mayors Forum for the same will be created use regulation and control. AIILSG organised the South soon.

Dr Bernadia also The cities should be able to Asian Mayors Forum in which agreed and assured to extend more than 50 mayors and all possible support to the envisage what should be chairpersons of municipal initiative. done in next 20-25 years. councils across South Asian Singapore has integrated countries participated. Dr Launching of various programs through Sudhir Krishna, Chairman of United Network of its housing scheme and Delhi Finance Commission, Circular Cities chaired the Forum. Hansa United Network of Circular covers various income Patel, Executive Advisor, Citieswas launched in a groups. We also need to AIILSG; Dr Bernadia breakout session on the first integrate our policies in a Irawati Tjandradewi, day of South Asian Cities way so that they cater to Secretary General of UCLG- Summit. The objective of the needs of diverse groups ASPAC, Amanda Eichel, the Network is to create an Representative of GCoM ecosystem and partnership Jagan Shah Secretariat; Ravi Ranjan among businesses, Director, NIUA

26 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

communities and individual citizens collaborating with public and private sectors and deploy solution and economic resources for green growth and resource efficient economy in cities.

Dr. Amitha A. Jayaram, IAAS, DAG delivered the keynote address and highlighted the fact that the traditional economy was circular which we have lost, and advocated the need for integrating the circular practice in manufacturing and operational practices.

After the official launch of the Network, a panel discussion on India’s position on Resources Efficiency for Circular Cities was also held.

Dr Suneel Pandey, Director of Green Growth & Resource Efficiency Division, TERI, stated that there is great scope of circular economy in ensuring resource efficiency.

Dr Sanchita Jindal, Former Adviser, MoEF& CC advocated the importance of 100% waste segregation for zero waste economy, ensuringonly non-recyclable, non-inflammable goes to landfill. Harsh Thukral, Deputy Director, NPC, moderated the session.A session was dedicated to review the best practices on Circular Economy and Circular Cities. Silvia De Vaan, Founder–SweepSmart, shared the experiences in herjourney as a professional and the Social Enterprise, SweepSmart that is dedicated to smart inclusive waste management in India. She advocated the application of technology and IoT in smart waste management.

Narasingha Panigrahi – Founder, SGR Pvt Ltd. enlightened the audience with profit making social

enterprise business model with circular economy in its ethos and providing services to its partners through capacity building and technical assistance.

Pranshu Singhal, Founder, KaroSambhav raised the importance of extended producer responsibility (EPR and of educating the informal sector in waste management.

He added that resource recovery from waste prevents wastage, ensures green economy and creates wealth and opportunities for informal and unorganised sectors. The session was moderated by Shobha Raghavan of SAHAS Zero Waste.

Breathing Cities Network launched

Breathing Cities Network was launched on the second day of the Summit with an objective to implement Local Action Plan on Clean Air (LAP). The network aspires to create a voluntary alliance of National, SubNational, Private Sector, IGOs and NGOs with Urban Local Bodies and Cities at the core of its agenda. The primary idea is to enable and empower local governments with expertise, services technologies, solutions and financing on clean air and help implement Local Action Plan (LAP). The session was co-organised in participation with Clean Air Asia (CAA), an International NGO with focus on regional air pollution reduction, better air quality and livable cities in Asia.

Dr Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director of Integrated Research and Action for Development, listed out the short, medium and long term actions that need to be executed to reduce air pollutants in Delhi.

Her suggestions included We are from different promotion of cycling, countries and cities but our introduction of BS VI problems seem to be same. standard and electric vehicles.

In our country, the incomes She insisted on technological development for restoring which used to come to the AQ to breathable level. municipal bodies are going Shakti Singh Choudhary, to different boards. Urban Mayor, Gangtok Municipal Local Bodies should be Corporation talked about the initiatives by their financially empowered.

Government e.g. complete I have been mayor and deputy mayor for 25 years ban on fire crackers, 100 % organic and GMO-free State. but could not do anything Tikendar Singh Panwar, significant for the people Former Deputy Mayor, because of lack of power Shimla discussed means of better governance in and funds crunch combating the menace of Dr Nandakumar Allagamurhu Air pollution in South Asian Member, Hatto Dickoya countries, particularly Delhi.

Municipality, Sri Lanka

He emphasised on the need to provide a robust public transport system at a very low cost to increase the footfalls. Prarthana Borah, India Director, Clean Air Asia (CAA) moderated the Session and discussed key issues and challenges in tackling air pollution and mitigation efforts required.

Dr Arun Kumar Sharma, DirectorProfessor, Department of Community Medicine, University College of Medical Science raised the issue of lack of data regarding air pollution and its health impacts were clearly highlighted by Dr. Sharma. He questioned the data on the deaths reported by the air pollution due to cardiopulmonary diseases.

He also noted that the severe lack of data will hamper the research in the health sector.

Though air pollution is prevalent all over the nation, the source varies place to place, for example: crop burning in Delhi, humidity in Mumbai and PM due to mining in Chhattisgarh.

There is no definite data on the health implications of each of these individual pollutants on human health.

Damandeep Singh, Director, CDP India stressed the lack of real-time data to assess air quality and provide information to the public. He stressed on the importance of monitoring air pollutant levels not just in Delhi, but in most cities as 14 of the 15 most polluted cities are from India.

He also informed the audience that CDP is integrating the importance of capturing air pollution data from cities in their reporting framework.

Dr Suresh Kumar Jain, HoD and Professor, Department of Energy and Environment,

TERI University deciphered the science behind sources of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants with larger emphasis on integrated approach for SLCPs reduction.

He said that the role of CSOs could be crucial in restoring the right to breathe clean air.

Sustainable Energy Management for Cities

The Session Affordable & Clean Energy – Sustainable Energy Management for Cities had eminent panellist from the energy, development and architecture sector. Ashok B Lall, a noted architect, chaired the session. In his opening remarks, he focused on how we can achieve a low carbon resource efficient sustainable urban fabric.

He said, the urbanization in India is increasing yet the affordable and sustainable urban development is close to non-existent. He went on to demonstrate ways by which we can practice sustainable urban development from the building/plot level, the neighbourhood level and the city level. He concluded with regulatory recommendations for building, neighbourhood and street level design with case studies.

René Van Berkel, a representative from the regional office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), talked about the UNIDO’s Sustainable Cities Agenda and how industries can have a cohesive, sustainable and resource efficient symbiosis with the city. Another panellist, Shankar Haldar, Lead Technical Expert (EEC, SIDBI) started his address by introducing ESCOs (Energy

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

27

Cover Story 4th SAC Summit 2018

Key Points in Delhi Declaration-2018

We, the Mayors and elected representatives of urban local bodies, officers, members of national and International development agencies, donor organisations, Civil Societies, NGOs, representatives of wider urban development fraternity and us as citizens resolve that ♦♦ We will make our cities smarter and create sustainable habitats for the present and future generations. ♦♦ We will work towards future design and planning of cities by taking into account climate compatibility, natural disaster, vulnerability, urban resilience and promote regional development. ♦♦ We will create policies and implement initiatives which are socially, culturally, environmentally and economically inclusive by inter-alia, specifically addressing gender equality, safety, security, creating investment opportunities and conserving heritage of the built environment. ♦♦ We will empower ourselves by adopting more coordinated and coherent approach towards resolving and providing services towards efficient service delivery. ♦♦ We commit to work for conservation of resources by introducing efficient water management systems and solid waste reduction mechanisms. We will also ensure the conservation of all our natural resources. ♦♦ We will create and implement inclusive decision making processes and encourage citizen participation and private partnerships. We will also work for mainstreaming of gender issues and women empowerment in all spheres. ♦♦ We will assist local governments by building capacities of its leaders, especially women mayors and councillors, and administrators in order to provide efficient and effective urban governance. ♦♦ We would like associations of local governments and institutions to become the platforms for knowledge sharing, sharing of best practices and deliberations on various innovative ideas to improve service delivery and enhance quality of life of city residents. ♦♦ We will push for technological innovations for effective and efficient delivery, especially to facilitate accessibility to basic services in all territories. ♦♦ We will facilitate cities of the participating countries taking up SDGs and New Urban Agenda as this will be the most appropriate method of making cities more liveable and civic facilities more accessible for all city residents. ♦♦ We will plan awareness programmes for city leaders and municipal officials to understand the nuances of SDGs. ♦♦ We will make South Asian Mayors’ Forum as a platform for all elected representatives to share their ideas and work with a common vision of sustainable development. ♦♦ We will harness innovative financial resources streams dovetailing funds from the government to implement programmes for achieving objectives of the New Urban Agenda and for localising SDGs. ♦♦ We will strive to develop common or locally suitable service level benchmarks and performance parameters for the cities.

28 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Service Company) and their need in the current energy market. He explained the differences in the world and Indian markets and its challenges.

Ar Roshni Udyavar Yehuda (V.P Sustainability, ICMQ India Certification Pvt. Ltd.) shared her experience of implementing the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in Maharashtra. She explained the three different implementation approaches that can be taken in a state as well as various building permission processes under ECBC. The last session was conducted by Kanagaraj Ganesanfrom AIILSG who shared his experience in implementing ECBC across 16 states and UTs in India.

He introduced the history of the code and the different components of the code including Building Envelope, Comfort Systems & Controls, Lighting Controls and Renewable Energy Systems.

Also he spoke about updating of the Soar (Schedule of Rates) document in Karnataka and various ECBC demonstration projects taken in India.

Delhi Declaration-2018 and the way forward

The two-day SAC Summit which saw participation of about 500 city leaders and municipal officials from 15 countries brought forward several of their noteworthy ideas and experiences and showcased their innovative works in a range of areasand inspired their counterparts in other cities. The Summit concluded with the signing of the Delhi Declaration-2018 which had a series of commitments made for improving urban eco-system

in the times of evolving urban challenges relating to climate change.

Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General of AIILSG,said,“Delhi declaration is a way of showing your commitment towards listed actions for making cities sustainable and in sync with international goals like New Urban Agenda, Paris Accord, and SDGs.” Dr Jatin Modi, President Emeritus of AIILSG, also reiterated the slogan by WHO“Seven Billion Dreams.

One Planet. Consume with care.” Modi also talked about the negative impacts of globalization and its impact on human lives. He called for a collective movement from professionals, mayors and all other stakeholders to take up these issues with high priority and strong commitment so that our ecosystem is preserved and wellguarded. He also floated the idea of ‘Bio-Folic Cities’. He explained that these cities are such which are not far away from the nature.

Later, Guru read out the list of commitments in the Delhi Declaration-2018 and requested all the delegates to propose any changes. After all the delegates agreed on the final amendments, all the city leaders signed the Declaration.

Rajiv Agarwal, Director General of AIILSG, gave the concluding speech and thanked all the participants for their pro-active role in organizing the Summit.

He said that the outcome report of the Summit will be submitted to the government and also be made available to all the participants so that everyone can benefit from the learnings of the Summit.

Global Covenant of Mayors (South Asia) launched during SAC Summit-2018 ♦♦ European Union to support participation of key Indian cities through International Urban Cooperation programme ♦♦ 14 cities in South Asia including Surat and Gangtok commit to the coalition

Through International Urban Cooperation programme, the EU will support the South Asian secretariat, develop context-relevant GCoM material, support the technical assistance tools as well as promote scientific assessment processes inspired by best practices from the European Union and city networks Tomasz Kozlowski H.E. Ambassador of the European Union to India

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), an international coalition of city leaders committed to raising the global ambition for climate action, recently launched a regional chapter for South Asia during the South Asian Cities Summit.

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy - South Asia (GCoM-SA) aims to support the efforts of cities in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and make their communities more resilient toward the effects of climate change.

GCoM Vice-Chair and former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, the architect behind the historic Paris Agreement, and EU Ambassador Tomasz Kozlowski joined mayors, commissioners, key local actors and representatives from across South Asian

countries as well as global and local city network partners to share regionally relevant challenges, best practices and lessons learnt, and demonstrate how a shared vision for the future can enhance climate action in the communities and quality of life for their citizens.

Figueres said, “Tackling climate in South Asian cities is about delivering this centuries’ opportunity for economic development, jobs, growth, long-term resilience and improving quality of life…

The leadership demonstrated by cities participation in the South Asian regional chapter of the Global Covenant of Mayors is an essential part of ensuring we take this critical opportunity to create a better world.”

Tomasz Kozlowski, the Ambassador of the European Union to India, said, “Through International Urban Cooperation programme, the EU will support the

South Asian secretariat, develop context-relevant GCoM material, support the technical assistance tools as well as promote scientific assessment processes inspired by best practices from the European Union and city networks.”

To date, 14 cities in South Asia have committed to GCoM, representing a population of more than 36 million. Through these commitments to take action on climate change, cities in the region could reduce their emissions by 65%.

Surat and Gangtok signed a commitment to join cities across the globe to take action as part of this coalition. It is to be noted that Indian cities will host 200 million more people by 2030...

The country’s future urban planning and implementation will have a decisive influence on global climate and impact international efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

29

Cover Story 4th SAC Summit 2018

International Skill Conclave-2018

Draws strategic roadmap for skill missions in India

BernadiaIrawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General of UCLG-ASPAC, shared her understanding on Skilling Ecosystem. She focused on peer to peer learning, development education and skill development training centre with gainful employment. Seungeun Lee, Project Manager, Skilling projects in Gangwon province, South Korea, was optimistic on partnership opportunities from India to work together on skilling projects in South Asia Pacific region. Lee invited interested candidates to apply for various skilling programs in which 100 per cent scholarship would be provided to the selected candidates.

Jairaj Phatak (IAS, Retd.), former Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, said skilling was the need of the hour as India lagged behind in imparting the basic formal education that further created a big vacuum with regard to job opportunities and market eco-system.

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) organised the first International Skill Conclave on May 5, 2018 at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The theme of this conclave, Future Roadmap in Skills, was chosen to provide impetus to the ongoing skilling programmes that have potential to transform the lives of Exploring New millions of youngsters Opportunities – Skills for Cities of New Delhi: Many are, by far, the most System—were discussed in the Future studies in the skills sector suggest that India has the responsibility of skilling about 104.62 million fresh entrants in the workforce in the next four years, by 2022. The government has launched several schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Kaushal Yojana (DDUGKY), Udaan for Jammu and Kashmir and National Urban Livelihoods Mission to expedite the process of skilling this population.

Skill projects in India

30 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

potent opportunity for the transformation of lives of both urban and rural candidates by empowering them with basic and advanced skills as per the best industry standards.

International Skill Conclave 2018 explored the challenges and the solutions necessary to leverage Skill India Projects.

Three key areas—Exploring New Opportunities – Skills for Cities of the Future (Smart Cities), A Paradigm Shift – Traditional Education & Skill Education, and New Avenues in Skill Development & Sustainability in the Skill Eco

three separate sessions during the Conclave.

Rajiv Agarwal, Director General of AIILSG, welcomed all the speakers, delegates, and panellists. Sunita Sanghi, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, was the Chief Guest and inaugurated the Conclave. She underlined the objective of the government to make India the skill capital of world. She informed that Government of India has already rolled out over 40 schemes with different target groups.

The first session, Exploring New Opportunities – Skills for Cities of the Future (Smart Cities), was chaired by Vishal Sharma, CPO, NSDC. This panel discussed on the need of technological intervention in the context of Smart Cities which envisaged the imminent need to focus on skill projects to carve a niche for itself in the making of Smart Cities. Arun Kumar Pillai, Partner & Head – Skill Development Practice, EYLLP, delivered the keynote address.

Pillai said that there

would be many job roles in smart city sector which will get further defined but it’s going to be more about smart connectedness based on modern technologies.

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, 3D Animation & Graphics, Social, Mobile, and Analytics & Cloud(SMAC), Virtual Reality (VR), and Storage Batteries are some of the sectors which will be in huge demand with smart cities projects in India. Pashim was of different opinion and said that the smart Cities were not just about technology based development but about providing basic amenities to the people.

Tikender Panwar, on the need of Skilling for Smart Cities, said 20 per cent youth in India doesn’t have any education leading to a big unemployment figure and without any skill so how would automation and technology based intervention in smart cities actually address these pressing issues. Rural areas being neglected and no job opportunities in villages and small towns lead to the migration of people to the cities which makes

it over-flooded and thus unable to cater to the need on a mass level. Regarding the unemployment due to technology based jobloss, Piyush Bishwas stated that there was a misconception about the employment loss due to the inclusion of technology based services in smart cities. India being an IT exporter itself is a proof that there is a huge demand for skilled people in this sector.

A Paradigm Shift- Traditional Education & Skill Education

The theme of the second session was ‘A Paradigm Shift—Traditional Education & Skill Education’. Jairaj Phatak (IAS) (Retd.), former Commissioner, BMC, was the Chair. Raj Nehru, VC, Haryana Vishwakarma University, delivered the keynote address.

Other panellists included Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor, Urban Update, Dr. Anurita Saxena, GM, Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam; Col. Anil Kumar Pokhriyal (Retd.), CEO among others.

Dr Manpreet Singh was of the view that skilling is all about mindset and with correct mindset everyone can be skilled. He also spoke on optimization of the resources where in 100% can be To make India the skill achieved through 5% input capital of the world, and not the vice versa.

Government of India has Prof P S Chani presented already rolled out 40 a larger picture of skilling schemes with different where formal education at pristine institutions like IITs target groups... Industry also needs to be changed with connect has also been approach towards innovation established with focus on and freedom of research by ITI modernisation & grading the already enrolled students in experimental labs. Science Sunita Sanghi Senior Adviser (Skill Development Technology Engineering & and Employment), Niti Aayog Maths (STEM) is the new

way of innovation which is already at its peak which focuses on robust system to create thinker, planner and innovator at world level. Dr Anurita Saxena questioned the outcome of skilling where there is a big gap between the expectation of the candidate and the reality once s/he lands into a job. Vocational courses must be taken to colleges and educational institutions where certificate courses as an add-on must be introduced.

Col. N B Saxena said that skill programs need to incorporate all stakeholders and especially candidates in such a way that it must become their habit and then only one can dream or talk about shifting from formal education system to skillbased education system.

New Avenues in Skill Development

The last session was on ‘New Avenues in Skill Development & Sustainability in the Skill Eco System’. Dr Praveen Saxena, CEO, Skill Council for Green Jobs, chaired the session while Akshay Duggal moderated the discussion.

Other panellists in the session included Rajni Julka, Director Eduville LLP; Anand Kumar Singh, HeadOperations (Officiating CEO), Construction Skill Development Council of India; Dr. SarveshTandon, Consultant & ProfessorDepartment of Forensic Medicine &Toxicology, Safdarjung Hospital & Medical College among others.

In this session, the basic question of sustainability with the inclusivity of new avenues in skill ecosystem was discussed.

Skilling someone is not a six-week or

eight-week program, it is a continuous process and one needs to keep topping it up to be at par and be sustainable.

Dr Saxena said that earlier we used drivers in the field of construction but now with so many machines combined together in the same vehicle, we need operators. This is the difference and to sustain, we need to understand it on a much larger note.

Anish Baranwal shared his experience on the topic with the question of government funding which resulted in latency and many more roadblocks. Many projects picked up initially but couldn’t sustain due to fund delay or crunch so funding is also one important aspect of sustainability.

Rajni Julka said that skilling is something which can’t be just provided to anyone within a span of a few weeks.

Skill based training needs to be inculcated at very early stage of an individual and then enhance it gradually.

Skill is about being passionate, perseverance and rigorous follow up. Teacher or trainer also plays a vital role to shape a skill set in an individual so it is also of prime importance.Finlay wanted the incorporation of technology and knowledge as a pillar or foundation to skill development sector and quoted the example of the New Zealand government where the mayor gave strategic focus on Skill Sustainability, Community based start-up projects, technological support and cluster based working which played the most important role. He further said that self-organization as a cluster helped to create many jobs with sustainable approach.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

31

PHOTO FEATURE

6

South Asian Cities Summit New Urban Agenda & Localising SDGs

May 4-5, 2018 India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

1 7 2 8

9

3 10 4

5 32 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

11

12

Glimpses 13 1. Inauguration of Training on Leadership and Gender Equality for Improved Local Governance and lightning of lamp by Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG, Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradevi, Secretary General, UCLG-ASPAC and Rina Shah, Former Mayor of Bhavnagar 2. A session on women’s empowerment leads to sustainable development 3. Group photograph of International delegates and city mayors with Dr Bernadia 4. Roundtable discussion of international and national participants during a Training on Leadership & Gender Equality for Improved Local Governance 5. Women leaders posing for a group photograph after the Leadership workshop 6. Participants of SAC Summit registering for 4th SAC Summit 2018 7. Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG, presenting Memento to Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi with Rajiv Agarwal (IAS Retd.), Director General, AIILSG 8. From L to R: Ravi Ranjan Guru, Ms Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG, Rajiv Agarwal (IAS Retd.), Director General, AIILSG, Chief Guest Rajesh Kumar Divakar, Member of Lok Sabha, Dr M Ramachandran, Former UD Secretary and Dr Bernadia during the inaugural session of SAC Summit 9. Rajiv Agarwal (IAS Retd.), Director General, AIILSG delivering the welcome address at the inaugural session 10. Speakers during session on Leadership Talk-Inclusive Urbanisation -Reinforcing Synergies between People, Policies & Planning 11. Panel discussion on Sustainable Cities & Communities Enhancing Livability in Cities through Sustainable & Resilient Urban Development 12. Artistes performing at the cultural event at the end of Day-1 13. City leaders and delegates releasing white baloons to mark ‘liberating the knowledge on SDGs’ 14. Launch of the “South Asian Chapter of the Global Covenant” by Christiana Figueres, Vice-Chair, Global Convenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 15. Launch of Rural Dialogues 16. Panel discussion on Clean Water & Sanitation- Ensure Availablity and Sustinable Management of Water & Sanitation for All 17. Session on Urban Design by Arunava Dasgupta, Associate Professor of Urban Design, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi 18. Launch of United Network of Circular Cities 19. Group Photograph of AIILSG Team at the Closure of SAC Summit

14

15 16 17 18

19 www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

33

leaderspeak sustainable cities

Sustainability should be focus of future cities The recent water crisis in Shimla, Bengaluru and earlier in some parts of Maharashtra has underlined the dangers of unsustainable exploitation of our natural resources. A similar situation was seen a few months ago in South African cities too. For building smarter cities for future, we need to make smart moves. All the city leaders must come together and commit to take corrective steps towards sustainable development of cities

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

B

uilding sustainable and liveable cities is a goal that all the cities across the globe can share.

Sustainable development is increasingly becoming the focal point for all kinds of development in urban habitats. Integrating the components of liveability with this is essential as liveable cities are the kind of places where people actually want to live.

People better connect with the urban environment and with one another in the cities which provide them with adequate basic services, clean air, healthy environment and vibrant financial opportunities.

SAC Summit

All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG) recently organised the 4th SAC Summit to bring representatives from cities of South Asia together to work closely to achieve objectives and goals

34 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

mentioned in New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of the SAC Summit has always been to empower city leaders and urban local governance by strategically weaving the threads of urban development suitable to the requirements of present times.

I am convinced that we were successful in drawing inspiration from this event and most of our city leaders went back to their respective cities with knowledge of rewiring all our cities as liveable places. South Asian Mayors’ Forum organised during the Summit took a step further this year and all the city leaders agreed on organising such forum at a regular interval.

Another move was working with all the regional forums of mayors for dialogue and knowledge sharing.

Such events play a significant role in creating awareness among elected representatives and commoners

alike. Public also need to be made aware about the new innovations available in making urban eco system sustainable. All the decisions taken within a room by bureaucrats and leaders cannot become a success unless people are involved in the process.

AIILSG as an institute has been making efforts to enhance the role of people in decision making processes by disseminating required knowledge among every stakeholder in urban domain. There is no doubt about how rapid urbanization has burdened cities and yet at the same time also provided a massive opportunity to cities to transform themselves through evolving new technologies and strategic interventions from the talented citizens.

Quality of services

Urbanisation is a global phenomenon but its speed particularly in South Asian cities has seen a steep surge in

the last couple of years. Youngsters are abandoning villages and towns for big cities. That is why most of the metro cities in India are overburdened. Rapid urbanization has placed unbalanced strain on

municipal budgets and reach of city governments when it comes to delivering basic services and maintaining healthy and sustainable urban eco-systems.

There is a need to talk about

There is a need to talk about all aspects of urban life.

If we are discussing how urban innovation and other modern technologies can make urban management efficient, we will also have to talk about open public spaces and conservation of urban resources. New technologies have changed the way we think about changing the face of our cities. Sensors and real-time data are allowing municipal officials and city leaders to pinpoint the needs of urbanites and the best locations to place critical services

all aspects of urban life. If we are discussing how urban innovation and other modern technologies can make urban management efficient, we will also have to talk about open public spaces and conservation of urban resources. New technologies have changed the way we think about changing the face of our cities. Sensors and real-time data are allowing municipal officials and city leaders to pinpoint the needs of urbanites and the best locations to place critical services.

Urban governance is also changing.

It is no longer about just building community centres, keeping the streets clean, providing basic services, etc. The role of local governments and the expectations of citizens have gone up. The quality of service being provided is also under the scanner by the higher tier of governments and citizens. One of the examples of this is the introduction of Swachh Survekshan by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The survey is done in all the cities and towns of India to adjudge the standard of cleanliness.

The cities compete with each other to bag top honours. This is a welcome practice through which the cities are learning about the initiatives of topperforming cities. Such dialogues and competitions can help in other domains of urban development too.

Government of India is also working on service level benchmarking at municipal level to ascertain the quality of different services rendered by local bodies. If our cities need to become efficient in the long run by including these policies and new technologies, sustainability is the key linkage and every urban policy should be formulated keeping it in mind.

All these initiatives and programs have to be expedited because of the emergency situation in almost every big city. For this, city leaders, municipal officials, civil society organisations, corporates and citizens need to work together for making living easier and comfortable for future generations.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

35

one on one Christiana Figueres

If we don’t control emissions by 2020, we won’t be able to achieve SDGs HK Patil

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

What is the purpose of launching the South Asian Mayors Covenant?

As you said, today we have launched the ‘South Asian Chapter of the Global Covenant’ that is I would say ‘the network of networking cities’. We have many city networks including ICLEI, C40, UCLG, and have been doing very good work with the support of cities around the world.

And now we are bringing all these networks together under one single umbrella which is the ‘Global Covenant of Mayors’ that currently has more than 7000 mayors and cities already as members. Now we all are coming together to form a global family of cities that supports the other networks and work of cities.

36 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

What kind of activities are you planning to undertake under this network?

The Global Covenant of Mayors is focusing on three different areas mostly and the first is to open access to finance for cities because most cities in most countries don’t have access to finance.

So, we are working with different financial institutions to try to figure out where we can create windows of finance for cities that don’t have access to their national governments and that need finance to do their projects and that’s one and the most urgent effort. Secondly, we are expanding the exchange of information and best practices among all cities since we are now a global family. We are able to get information in capacity building to cities from anywhere around the world that are relevant. So you have much broader menu of cities to choose from in different aspects in energy, water management, waste management, transport and forestry or whatever area the cities want to work in. And thirdly we are working on data because each of the city networks has until now been using a slightly different methodology for counting how much emissions reduction they can achieve and while that has been a good discipline,if you have different methodology, it doesn’t allow you to aggregate. We are standardizing the methodology so that

you can aggregate and we will soon be able to know how much is the very beneficial contribution of all cities around the world.

You mentioned finances. As in India for example, the Constitution was amended and devolution of power took place and the local bodies were empowered. But 25 years down the line when the constitutional amendment was done, two factors, one is functionaries and other is finances still remain critical. Functionaries are there but finances are not there in place. Do you see the similar pattern across the globe or just in the developing countries?

I think this is actually true for most countries perhaps with few exceptions in Northern European cities that are more advanced. But as a whole you see it in countries whether they be developed or developing but perhaps more intensely in developing countries.

There is a process under way through which national governments are beginning to devolve not just authority or responsibility but also finances to the cities. And the process is slower or quicker in different countries but I think across the world it is something that everyone is moving towards.

As we see 2030 is the year that has

Christiana Figueres, Vice Chair of GCoM and Former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, launched the South Asia Chapter of Global Covenant of Mayors on the second day of South Asia Cities Summit. In a candid conversation with Kumar Dhananjay, she talks about the relevance of the Covenant and role of cities in achieving international goals including the Paris Agreement of which she was a key part

been decided to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Do you think it is a realistic time frame or will there be challenges?

I think it is realistic if and only if we are able to meet the challenge of climate change by 2020 otherwise we can’t do it. If we are not able, as a global community, to put ourselves in a position of bringing emissions down by 2020 we will never be able to reach the SDGs by 2030. The destruction of infrastructure around the world will be so great that everyone will have to reconstruct constantly and not have any available budget to pursue any of the other SDGs. So, getting to the turning point of climate change in being able to reduce emissions by 2020 is the path that we need to be on in order to get SDGs by 2030.

You are an architect of the whole Paris Agreement. How disappointed are you that the United States finally decided to pull out of the Agreement? And how is it going to affect global scenario?

I am sad for the United States but it is not affecting the rest of the world. It affects some part of the United States but not all. I think it’s important to differentiate between the opinion of the White House, which is a political opinion and course of the real economy in the United States. The real economy

of the United States continues to decarbonize because they understand it’s good for their economy. So, you have a growing number of states, cities, corporations, universities, institutions in the United States. They continue to decarbonize because they understand that that is the way they are going to remain competitive. That is just a political opinion which will change as soon as White House changes.

There is a view that to bring the carbon emissions down, to help the developing countries to meet their energy demands, there has to be technology transfer. But one gets a sense that there is a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to transfer of technology, so that the developing countries can use them and finances are also restricted.

Your views?

I don’t think that’s true. And I think best proof of that is India itself. India last year installed more renewable energy particularly solar energy than fossil fuels. In fact India installed twice as much energy capacity using renewable sources than fossil fuels. I don’t think a case can be made that India does not have access to renewable energy technology. India is one of the leading countries in the world on renewable technology. China is number one in Solar Panels, Wind Turbines. I think it

has been proven that it is actually the large developing countries who are the leaders of this as they should be. These technologies are best technologies for developing countries. These are the technologies that allow these developing countries to improve their economic growth, to bring their people out of poverty, and to do so in a clean and competitive way in the future.

I would like to seek your views on this - at times there are differences between two countries where they don’t talk to each other. There are the times when cities can transcend the national boundaries and can interact and exchange ideas and share experiencessuccesses or failures. What should be done and what should not be?

Yes, and that’s very normal and I don’t think that’s strange. You see it in families - if the mother and father are not talking to each other and even if they get a divorce, the children talk to each other. That’s just human behavior.

We collaborate with those who are open to collaboration and where we see benefit. If two countries are not talking to each other at national level for whatever geographic reason, if cities and provinces see things that they can collaborate across and help each other out, well then that happens. It’s just human nature.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

37

Article water crisis shimla

The Shimla Crisis The persistent problem of water in Shimla town has precipitated into a full blown crisis. The situation is so precarious now that picketing, protest, demonstrations etc. are happening rampantly. The situation is so bad that the Shimla water crisis made headlines in the BBC, the Guardian-London and the New York Times

Tikender Singh Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

T

he city administration has washed its hands of the responsibility of water distribution as just when the crisis erupted the Mayor was on a China tour. The water distribution in the city has been taken over by the HP High court which in its new Avatar is in control from top to bottom including the key man. The Chief Minister invariably every day is holding meetings and a committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the state is now responsible for water distribution in Shimla city-unheard of in the history of the town. Today there was a flash that the CM of Himachal has rushed to Delhi to apprise Modi about the Shimla water crisis. Wonder his staying in Shimla would have been better. However, both the courts intervention and the CMs meeting are unable to cut much ice and almost everyday people are screaming for water through their protests.

The situation is similar to what happened in Cape Town in South Africa.

There are fights, quarrels and soon it can lead to riots. The police is asked to guard the water supply through tankers. Just recently the police arrested the residents of Kaithu locality who had blocked the road for want of water as their locality had not got water since last seven

38 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

days. The CPIM held a massive protest demonstration in the Mayor’s office.

Arti- the BJP councillor from Sanjaulli joined the protests against her own government and the MC. The situation is really bad.

The BJP has the ominous answerability as the Municipal Corporation Shimla, local MLA who is also the cabinet minister and the state government -all are BJP ruled. The party that won the MC Shimla almost a year ago and the state 6 months after had promised to provide water on daily basis. However, the reality is very harsh as explained above. The MC Shimla is itself accepting that water is being distributed once in 8 days and in some localities, it is once in 10 days. It means that the BJP run administration is able to provide water just thrice in a month!

The institutions have miserably failed to either comprehend the situation or effectively manage the water crisis. The people continue to face the crisis and as a result are forced to fetch water from the adjoining natural sources (Bauris) which are highly contaminated.

What are the reasons for such an unprecedented crisis?

The Shimla city has supply from five major water sources. These are

Gumma, Giri, Ashwini Khad, Churat and Seog. The overall installed capacity is 65 million litres per da (MLD). The demand in the city is approximately 45 MLD. The figures would suggest that the installed capacity is far beyond the requirement and there should be no reason for the present crisis. Despite the installed capacity being high, actually the city never gets more than 35 MLD as an average throughout the year. More than 50% is leakage. This leakage takes place at both the stagespumping and distribution. No serious efforts were made in the past except by the CPIM run MC from 201217 when Giri, Gumma and Ashwani Khad leakages were checked. The Giri scheme has an installed capacity of 20 MLD whereas not more than 8 MLD was being pumped. More than 2 km pipe line was changed and Giri was able to throw more than 20 MLD-even more than the installed capacity.

Another major problem is the contaminated water in Ashwani Khad.

This source which is one of the best source got contaminated in 2005 when a sewage treatment plant (STP) Malyana was constructed just 5 km upstream. Since then there has been periodic episodes of Hepatitis in the city.

Since 2007 after every alternate year

the people got infected with this virus and many even died. The previous MC (2012-17) stopped lifting water from Ashwani Khad. This source was able to meet the requirements of 25% of the city’s population. Stopping water lift from this source is a major challenge as this cannot be compensated even by an increase from Giri. At present not more than 2-3 MLD of water is being pumped into the city from Ashwani Khad. The MC has to take this challenge seriously as if it insists on lifting water from this source then the chances of outbreak of hepatitis looms large. If they do not then the persisting crisis would further deepen. There has to be a proper mechanism to deal with this source.

The third reason for the deepening of this crisis is that there are over 50 sources in and around the city which are run and operated by the Irrigation and Public Health department (IPH) of the state government. The IPH has virtually stopped lifting water from these sources on the pretext that these are contaminated. This has further mounted burden on the MC to ensure that water is supplied even to such areas which are not under the MC jurisdiction.

In the history of Shimla MC, it was run either by the Congress or the CPIM. The BJP got elected in 2017. It is also believed that the BJP leadership is interested to get the situation worse so that it becomes a fit case for privatising of the water supply in the city.

system and more flooding as rain comes in torrents. Such water cannot be harvested.

The overall building plan in the city is also a matter of concern. As what is required is more embankments so that the flow of the water is restricted so that it percolates and recharges numerous water bodies. But the kind of infrastructure built for drains, houses etc is where water gushes fast and is hardly retained. The resilient strategies of buildings have to be made operationalised. Since for long the city is going to bank on surface water it must be ensured that large catchment areas around the water bodies are developed so that natural water recharge takes place. Just like the Seog catchment area where no construction is allowed and is a wild life sanctuary.

The Greater Shimla Water Supply and Sewage Circle (GSWSSC) must be strengthened for its autonomous functioning. The duality of water supply and distribution has to be ended.

The city requires to find another major source of water supply which is perennial. From a population of 30 thousand (during the British period) now the city has over 2,00,000 people with over 1 lakh entering and leaving the city every day. The city also has more than 4 million (40 lakh) tourists visiting every year. Hence the present set of water sources cannot suffice. The previous MC (CPIM led) was instrumental for entering into a MOU with the World Bank for lifting water from Kol Dam. The Kol Dam water supply scheme is supposed to be more than 100 MLD. This is almost thrice what the city gets at present. By now the execution of the

What is the alternative?

work should have begun. However, it is still at the negotiation stage. The BJP government has to take the initiative to ensure that the Kold Dam scheme is executed at war pace. Just like the Ghandalwater scheme which was executed by the previous government in Shimla rural constituency. There cannot be excuses for performance and the BJP must learn that. What is required is a cohesive strategy with a plan that has to be well executed and monitored.

Else the city will soon see loss of people, jobs, and economy which will be highly detrimental for both the city and its citizens.

Is climate change a reason?

Believe it or not, but climate change and its impact is profound in the Shimla city water supply system. The winters were by and large dry. The average rainfall was 80% deficient. It rained in March and April. But retention of water in these months is very less. The sources of water have gone 50% below their average. It may be put on record that the Shimla city uses surface water only for water supply. Over a period, the impact of climate change is vivid.

The eco-system supporting the city is witnessing less snow, more rain in the year but less time period of rain.

It means that there is less retention of water through natural water eco-

There has to be both immediate and long-term planning. For immediate there must be proper monitoring and management. Proper distribution of water and checking of leakages must be done on war front. The government offices and colonies both the central and state occupy almost 50% of the land mass (minus forests) in Shimla city. It has to be made mandatory that at least the government offices ensure that they become resilient and ensure that they have 100% rain water harvesting in their offices and residential colonies.

This planning is hardly there.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

39

Article Urban SPACES

New urban spaces, the way to go?

Cities are struggling to cope with the rapid influx of populations. The legacy of ageing infrastructure and unplanned sprawl dampens their efforts and prevents an efficient and effective response to the aspirations of inhabitants. It may be time to look at building brand new cities with the best of modern technologies and infrastructure rather than just prop up existing cities…..

V Vijaykumar Sr Advisor, AIILSG

S

ometime in the future one could be travelling between Delhi and Gurgaon in an elevated cabin called Pod several metres above the ground in comfort and speed, avoiding all the traffic congestion and pollution on the roads.

The taxi like shuttle operation could provide much needed relief to regular commuters on the route. The project is under active consideration and a few safety related concerns are reportedly being addressed.

This Pod Taxi project also called as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is among the various transformative, out-of-thebox solutions (a bus capable of moving on land as well as water was another one tried out in Mumbai) several cities are proposing to address urban mobility, a stubborn challenge faced by them. But urban mobility is just one of the several nightmarish challenges. Water supply, waste management and affordable housing are others which are engaging

40 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

policy makers and urban practitioners as cities face the onslaught of rapid and relentless urbanisation. As people move in large numbers from the rural hinterland to cities in search of better livelihood, there will be increasing strain on city managers to meet their aspirations.

Urbanisation is a common thread running through countries, regions and continents the world over and the trend is expected to continue. The phenomenon is even more sharply evident in countries like India where agriculture and related sectors employ a disproportionately high percentage of the population while occupying a smaller share of the GDP pie. Here farming employs more than 50 per cent of the total workforce while the sector contributes 17-18 percent of the GDP (Economic Survey 2017-18).

Professionals have argued that cities must learn to welcome the new urban dwellers rather than view the phenomenon of urbanisation as some

kind of calamity. And rightly so.

However there could be limits to each city’s capability to continually meet the demands and provide services to large numbers of new urban dwellers in a sustainable manner. Foo Say Boon, architect and urban planner of Singapore, in an interview to this magazine, argued that every city needs a defined ‘carrying capacity’ before it is allowed to expand. This according to him is necessary because every city has finite resources especially natural ones like forests, parks and lakes and it is necessary to protect these to ensure sustainability. “Carrying capacity of a city has to be considered at the planning stage. Without that, quality of life cannot be provided to the citizens”, he said.

More cities, new cities, better livability.

If populations will continue to move from villages and smaller towns to the city and if the city has a limit to

accommodate more residents then it is obvious that we need to add more cities rather than adding more muscle to the same cities. Mid-sized cities could most likely provide better quality of life to its citizens. A 2017 survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Melbourne as the most livable city in the world. It was the record seventh time in a row, from 2011 to 2017, that this city topped the chart. Others in the top ten included Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Adelaide,Perth, Auckland, Helsinki and Hamburg. One can see that these are all mid-sized cities with modest densities. Note also that wealthier cities like London, New York and Tokyo do not make it to the top ten. So wealth itself did not seem to count for much.

So how does one go about building new cities which are livable too?

Primarily to attract the migration from rural centres, the city needs to offer livelihood options. This again will become possible with growing population which can be served by the incoming migrants. Sub national and local governments will need to actively promote industry and the services sector by appropriate interventions to enable the new city offer greater livelihood opportunities. In addition there needs to be focus on aspects such ashousing, education, healthcare, sanitation, mobility, open spaces, recreation, power, waterand clean air,

If populations will continue to move from villages and smaller towns to the city and if the city has a limit to accommodate more residents then it is obvious that we need to add more cities rather than adding more muscle to the same cities all of which go towards enhancing or compromising the livability of a city.

All these need attention, mainly by the local government. Existing cities, notably the larger ones, have been hosting migrant populations for many decades. At the same time they have ageing, crumbling infrastructure such as water supply and drainage networks making service provision increasingly challenging, thereby compromising livability. While upgrading existing smaller towns may seem easier, building Greenfield modern cities too is happening in a big way the world over.

Songdo in South Korea is one example. Designed as an alternative to the bustling and overcrowded Seoul, Songdo is among the world’s ‘smartest’ cities. With a string of high rise LEED

certified buildings and green building certification by United States Green Building Council, Songdo was built from scratch. This city, about 60 Kms from the Capital Seoul was built on about 600 hectares of reclaimed land.

The city is designed as a lighthouse project in terms of sustainability with large spaces devoted to cycling and walking tracks, parks, open spaces and recreation. It offers encouragement for use of electric vehicles and has superior waste collection and management systems. The City uses state-of-the-art technologies to build in ‘smartness’. For example the city is wired with sensors to track traffic flow, energy consumption, temperature, and to provide alerts to the local body. There is no ‘handling’ of waste. Waste is sucked out from homes into a network carrying it to processing plants for converting into energy.

Other examples of such new master planned cities include Putrajaya in Malaysia, Dompak in Indonesia, King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia and our own Amaravati, the under construction capital city of Andhra Pradesh. While there is some criticism of certain aspects of these projects, it anyway seems the way to go if we are to achieve sustainable urbanisation and enhanced livability for citizens. Care is necessary however, to ensure that these new developments do not turn out to be hi-tech, ‘gated’ enclaves and communes for the elite among the population.

The use of technology should work to improve efficiency and transparency; and not result in exclusion of the less literate and less tech savvy. Inclusivity should remain a central principle governing the planners’ efforts while crafting such urban spaces. These new cities should be designed as independent urban spaces with their own governance, economy and social identities; not as suburbs or urban sprawls to accommodate that which the main city could not.

The new urban spaces need to be a worthy response to the aspirations of the tens of thousands of people moving to cities in search of a better quality of life. A response that is efficient, inclusive and above all sustainable.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

41

Article polluted rivers

Cities can lead Inter-state cooperation to clean rivers There is no policy in India that promotes a holistic approach to conservation of our rivers.

We depend on several institutions to safeguard our rivers, that are degrading fast with increased pollution load most of which comes from our cities

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India

P

ollution, a great threat to our rivers, however, does not figure in the priority list of activities of our urban local bodies.

It is believed that the pollution control boards are there to take care of our water resources against this menace.

While the urban local bodies (ULBs) should be responsible for creating better sanitation infrastructure and treatment of pollutants before they reach our rivers, there is no clear road map available for that. Project completion deadlines keep extending and there are no river pollution abatement plansthey should work to achieve.Our experience reveals that the inter-departmental coordination and convergence that is needed to generate pollution monitoring data and take effective measures to abate the same is completely missing. That’s for individual ULBs. When it comes to rivers that flow across many urban bodies, the situation is more precarious. In case of rivers like the Ganges, which have attracted significant attention of the national government for decades, thousands of

42 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

crores have been invested to clean up the pollutants and multi-city initiatives have been taken up for this. In case of most of our rivers, however, there is no such effort. Not that the Ganges has been freed from the dirt due to all this special attention, but at least some sort of multi-stakeholder actions have been initiated. For other inter-state rivers, we hardly find even any such effort.

Conflicts make things worse Our rivers are discussed in the mainstream either when there is a heavy flood or when a conflict erupts between the riparian states over sharing of water. In case of a conflict that cannot be managed by negotiations, the case is dealt by the Interstate River Water Disputes Act (ISRWDA) of 1956 that is a major instrument to protect our rivers. However, that Act deals less about protection and more about distribution of the remaining water that flows down the river, and has been termed as an ineffective Act by many experts. From Cauvery to Mahanadi, as the conflicts over our rivers are growing due to scarcity of water and increased demand from multiple users, the efforts

around resolving the conflict seem to be settling more and more on distribution of the remaining water rather than rejuvenation of the rivers, abatement of pollution and recharging of the basins and their watersheds.

The Mahanadi river water dispute, that is the latest one in the country to be tried by a Tribunal formed under the ISRWDA, can be discussed as a case in point. We have been closely observing this conflict between Odisha and Chhattisgarh and are also trying to see that the states enter into a dialogue so that a cohesive atmosphere can be created and real challenges of the river and its primary dependent communities can be addressed. Odisha, the lower riparian state that has asked for the formation of the Tribunal is claiming to be a victim of the illegal obstruction of water by Chhattisgarh through dams and barrages constructed without taking its consent. The dispute,

like other such interstate disputes, will now be tried to find out whether the upper state is obstructing water of the lower state’s share or not, and if yes, what would be an equitable water distribution formula? Would this end the real woes of the river? Certainly not.

Make pollution the focus

In a television debate, a spokesperson of the ruling party in Odisha, claimed that obstruction of water by Chhattisgarh as well as industrial pollution in that state is polluting river Mahanadi in Odisha.

This happens when conflicts get political between the state governments and/or political parties. The victim state tries to attribute almost all problems faced by the river to the wrong acts of the upper riparian state, and forgets how it has itself treated the river and how much responsible it is for the current plight of the river.

In fact, Mahanadi is highly polluted

both by industries and cities from both the states. Water quality monitoring reports between 2011 and 2015 of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) have found serious pollution levels in several stretches of the Mahanadi in the state. The Board’s report finds the major pollutants to be coming from the urban areas. Even though there are doubts about the authenticity of these reports in the absence of any independent assessment, the fact remains that Mahanadi is highly polluted.

While the fight over sharing of water continues, both the states need to enter into a process of coordinated planning to curb pollution of the rivers and the ULBs should play a major role in this. The cities and towns along the river should come together and train themselves on two major Acts that can help them make initial steps towards river conservation. These are the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.

If the cities join hands and enter into some sort of a cooperation mechanism, it could be a pioneering step even though no law of the land provides scope for that. They should have a robust mechanism of real time dynamic data set generation and joint action plan to combat pollution. The river needs to be taken as one integrated unit for such planning and most importantly such an action can also save the Bay of Bengal from plastic and other pollution loads from the cities. A timeline must be framed to end all discharges that go into Mahanadi, ban plastics and make their sanitation infrastructure completely compliant with pollution control norms. Cities along Mahanadi must show the way. The river is witnessing the youngest of interstate disputes, and the states still have the opportunity to correct many wrongs done to the river.

Pollution is one such problem that needs to be abated and a new approach to a ‘cooperation framework’ with help of the cities can be worked out. That, I am sure, would help many other rivers learn and stay pollution-free and healthy.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

43

BOOK REVIEW GOOD READS

The making of new delhi This book is a detailed architectural study and a commentary of the under-construction capital city but makes absorbing reading even for a layman because it gives us a wealth of information, critique and sociological settings of the small city now hosting a population of over two crore--in just about eight decades

Abhilash Khandekar | Sr Journalist

M

any books have been written on India’s capital New Delhi. Only Mumbai or Kolkatta may perhaps compete with this city on this count, but I am not too sure.

Full time authors, fiction writers, historians, poets and architects have all found Delhi their favourite subject and have written on possibly every facet of this quaint historic city. Yet, this small unique book with an awkward shape and size, caught my attention at my regular book shop in Delhi’s Khan Market--Bahri Sons, a few months ago.

Tucked away in a corner, the oblongshaped thin brown hard bound book is not a new book, though its looks are pretty new and modern. It was first published in London in January 1931, not as a book but as a special issue of the then famous ‘Architectural Review’, a leading magazine of Architecture and Decoration, during those days in Britain. The AES, so rightfully and imaginatively, thought of bringing it into a book form in India, which I am delighted to introduce to the readers of Urban Update. To understand what I mean by the unique book authored by Byron (1905-1941) we need to read the cover page lines embossed in golden

44 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

colour letters, of the book which is a kind of a very short preface written for its readers: “ In View of the Indian Round Table Conference now convened in London, this issue of the Review (Architectural) is devoted to the study of the new capital of India, which is to be officially opened in February”.

Actually, But that’s a separate topic in

itself. In all, the long pages of this ‘book’ contain only four chapters-- The first impression, A short history of the city, The individual buildings and finally, The significance of Lutyens’ Delhi.

With 70 small and big photographs of some of the main buildings in about a century-old city (of course Delhi existed since 450 BC by the name

Many young Delhiites may not know that trams used to criss-cross Delhi roads. An image of trams running in Chandani Chowk

Indraprastha), the author, a British travelogue writer and historian having had particular interest in Asia and India, has provided an entirely new dimension to the way most of us look at a city. Indeed, he saw it as a Britisher and as a travel writer. But to the credit of the author, it appears like he was a trained and practicing architect which he was not! Well, the name of the book could be a misnomer in a sense this small book talks about some history of the city but more extensively tells us (actually to the then British masters) about the proposed buildings and homes being built for the Viceroy.

More or less it confines itself to a few buildings built by the architect duo Lutyens and Baker and how they were built. In 1912 when Lord Hardinge had chosen Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the buildings, he gave the architect only four years for such a gigantic task.

So the buildings that house today’s President’s house, the North Block and South Blocks, then known as the secretariat and the adjoining Lok Sabha’s imposing building (then known to be Council Chambers with princes attending the house for deliberations with the British) are the prime focus of the book which carries original designs

Book New Delhi Author Robert Byron Publisher Asian Educational Services Pages 30 (thirty) Price Rs 1045/Recommendation Buy for personal library

Good

Reads

and sketches made by the architects (Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker) with some historical details of Delhi and surrounding areas.

In his first impressions, Byron writes, using old English and style all over, the following: The surprise which awaits the traveller on his first view of the imperial capital will be proportionate to the fixity of his previous ideas about it. Primarily, this conception has been political. The very words “New Delhi suggest a Canberra in Asia, a hiving of black-coated officials in a maze of offices....” But what he writes above are his preconceptions. The Reality comes later: author as traveller goes around Delhi, ventures outside the old city and looks for ancient traces of history and Mogul architecture. He feels that there was habitation before the British came to set up their capital with British standards of living and special care was thus taken about how buildings are made and urban planning is done for the Viceroy to live comfortably in an enslaved India. The objective of the long article, turned into a book much later

by AES, was to apprise the Britishers back home about what all they can expect when they arrive in New Delhi, especially, the top British rulers. The book is full of architectural designs, old black and white photographs which take us back into time and makes it a bit difficult to match the names that are now in vogue. He uses, for example, the name as South Secretariat for South Block and The Council Chamber for the Parliament, as we call it now. Lord Hardinge had worked very hard to make these buildings that we see today.

When the new British capital (to be shifted from Calcutta at the instance of King George V who had decided it on December 12, 1911) was inaugurated on 13 February, 1931, Lord Irwin had become the new Viceroy and Hardinge had gone back. King George wanted the capital of India to be shifted to its ancient site. He had wished that the planning and designing of the public buildings to be erected be considered with the greatest deliberation and care in order that the new city should be worthy of its predecessors. The

architects brought the dreams of their emperor into reality! What is the riveting aspect of this book for me is the academic interest of the Britishers in documenting things. A magazine in London publishing a special issue just before the Indian Round Table Conference, carrying a detailed report about proposed capital, is something I find really unique. What is more, the Round Table Conferences were meant for discussing political issues and constitutional reforms at a time Home Rule demand was getting louder and louder in India and Mahatma Gandhi had become an important global leader and a big trouble for the British Empire.

Ironically, within 20 years of the new capital’s inauguration, India gained independence and the Britishers had to go back in 1947. But the contribution of Sir Edwin Lutyens cannot be forgotten.

The author has repeatedly paid rich tributes to the extraordinary city planner who completed the stupendous task given to him by his Viceroy.

In the end Byron says: “ Like all humanists, Sir Edwin Lutyens had drunk of the European past, and he now drank of the Indian. He borrowed themes and inventions from both.

But he used them as Beethoven used snatches of popular songs in his symphonies, or Shakespeare old legends in his plays. In doing so, he has accomplished a fusion between East and West and created a novel work of art. It is a fusion also of tastes, comforts and conceptions of beauty, in different climates. “ That wonderful fusion clearly stands out even today in the crowded and polluted capital city Delhi. The Lutyens zone area of the city is easily the biggest craze for people during all the months of the year. It has withstood the tests of time and climatic changes. The Rashtrapati Bhawan, the South and North Blocks, the Parliament are easily counted as the Crown Jewels of this city.

(The author is a senior journalist who writes on politics, environment and urbanisation issues. He can be contacted at kabhilash59@gmail.com and his Twitter handle is @Abhikhandekar1)

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2018

45

Urban Agenda WORLD ENVIRONMENT

World needs to bring down plastic pollution now India has decided to ban all kinds of single-use plastic by 2020. We as the host country of this year’s World Environment Day can lead the world in tackling plastic pollution menace as our conventional talent of recycling is age-old and excellent

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

I

ndia was the global host for this year’s World Environment Day that is celebrated on June 5 across the world. The theme of this year was ‘Beating Plastic Pollution’ and the tag line was ‘If you can’t reuse it, refuse it’. Plastic is an environmental challenge of recent origin, but this is unprecedented in its scale and its impact on our planet. India, as the host country, made a big announcement that it will ban all kinds of single-use plastic by 2022. Most of our rivers, landfill sites are clogged with plastic waste. If India really wants to become Swachh by 2019, tackling plastic waste is a must and foremost task.

If we look at the figures and the impact of plastic on our planet, it looks very scary. There is no doubt that plastic has made life easier in some ways but its negative impacts are humongous.

From our computer, keyboard to mobile phones and our several daily use items, plastic is used in abundance. Several of such items can be recycled but the main problem lies in the single-use plastic items such as bottles and plastic bags. About 50 per cent of plastic items used today are single-use. According to data available with United Nations,

46 June 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

About 50 per cent of plastic items used today are single-use.

According to data available with United Nations, India alone produces more than 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste everyday that is almost 8-10 per cent of its total waste generated India alone produces more than 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste everyday that is almost 8-10 per cent of its total waste generated.

Plastic items if not recycled end up in landfills and do not disappear from the planet for hundreds of years. They have invaded our lands and oceans alike, killing about 100,000 marine lives across 700 marine species each year, including some endangered ones. Further, latest

studies show 83 per cent of tap water being contaminated with plastic across the world.

Now, the question is what we can do to end this problem. There are several steps which governments need to take like banning of single-use plastic items and gradually phase-out the production of plastic. There are many initiatives which individuals can take to save our planet. The first and foremost is stop using plastic items and replace them with more sustainable alternatives.

For example, big corporate houses can stop using plastic water bottles in their events. These can be easily replaced by steel or glass tumblers. Even if one has to use them, they need to be sensitized on segregating of plastic waste from other kinds of waste to maximize recycling.

Civil Society Organisations have been asking people to stop using plastic bags and carry their own bags for shopping but this has not happened at a larger scale because of easily available bags at shopping malls and street-side vendors.

We need to understand that all of us need to fight this problem collectively to save our planet and make this world a sustainable place to live for generations to come.

1

rural dialogue

A Voice of Transformation

July 6-7, 2018 Center for Rural Technology-IIT Guwahati

Contact us AIILSG, Bharat Ratna Sardar VallabhBhai Patel Bhawan D- 22-23 Institutional Area, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058 Ph No.: +91-011-28525465, 28521783 For Speaker/Partnership/Sponsorship Opportunities Write to us at ruraldialogues@gmail.com

www.ruraldialogues.in

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) whole heartedly supports Swachh Bharat Mission and is committed to play a proactive role to realise its objectives.

The institute is organising regular orientation workshops on SBM to augment the capacity of ULBs and also generating public awareness on cleanliness

Supported By