UrbanUpdate June 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue II

June 2021

Roles, challenges in achieving sustainable development

Cities can make

Economic Rebound

equitable

More value, less waste central to sustainable urban economy

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

AIILSG 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

Quality is just one of our strengths

AIILSG has begun skill development programmes in Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The institute with its 90+ years of experience in the field of capacity building would impart training to youth living in rural areas of these two states to make them employable in various emerging sectorsApparel, Beauty & Wellness, Electronics, Healthcare, IT-ITEs, and Renewable Energy.

As per Mou singed, AIILSG will train 16,000 youngsters.

AIILSG is committed to build empowered India with skilled human workforce For Details, email at delhi@aiilsg.org

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG. Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor Ashley Paul Senior Sub-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.

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Hitesh Nigam Reporter

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate

UrbanUpdate

Volume VII, Issue I

Pooja Upadhyay Trainee Reporter

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue II

June 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Volume VI, Issue XII

May 2021

Roles, challenges in achieving sustainable development

APRIL 2021

Cities can make

Arjun Singh Digital Marketing Associate

economic Rebound

equitable PM SVANidhi

Meenakshi Rajput Senior Graphic Designer

Bringing Street VendorS into MainStreaM European Union AIILSG

European Union

Cities & the 2 Wave

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

The project is funded by the European Union.

More value, less waste central to sustainable urban economy

nd

AIILSG

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Volume VII - 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.

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

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June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Editorial

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

Sustaining economic growth in challenging times The second wave of COVID-19 hit India hard. The sheer numbers of the affected were significantly higher than in the first. Besides, the second wave in 2021 saw panic situations of hospital bed shortages, oxygen deficiency, and non-availability of crucial medicines. The healthcare infrastructure, both public and private, was stretched fully and beyond. Amid this situation, there were reports that the economy had not been as badly affected as during the COVID wave in 2020.

Since there are varying reports on the extent of economic damage during the last quarter, more clarity may emerge only over the coming weeks and months.

In any case, the two episodes of the pandemic have brought to the fore the vulnerability of economies around the globe. In India, with its large share of the informal economy and the significant contribution of the micro, small and medium enterprises sectors, the vulnerability was more evident. Large parts of the population, those engaged in these sectors saw livelihoods impacted. However, thankfully, since during the second wave the country did not see any nationwide lockdown, the blow was softened. While various states and local administrations imposed restrictions from time to time in their local jurisdictions, they also put in place several measures to ease the pain of the common man; highly subsidized food, free rations, and cash allowances to vulnerable sections were some.

Now the emergence of newer variants of the virus in some parts and predictions of further waves of the pandemic are posing new threats. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly clear that the world and its economy must adjust and adapt to a new normal. ‘Work from home’ is one of the elements of this new normal. Workplace practices must include new levels of hygiene, social distancing, and community habits. On the other hand, the informal economy may face more challenges. Cab and auto-rickshaw drivers, laundry services, small restaurants/eateries, malls and shopping centres may find the going tough. Several other occupations may be affected for varying time periods as citizens adapt and adjust by limiting their interactions with others and avoiding crowds. As livelihoods and incomes get impacted, the demand for several goods and services will become more uncertain. Whether we actually encounter further waves and if so, the intensity of these will define the extent of these impacts.

Just as we needed rapid and sustained economic growth across sectors in order to lift many more millions out of poverty, the pandemic has set the clock back and possibly erased some of the recent gains on this front. The effort must be renewed. One, healthcare infrastructure, both public and private, must be beefed up to respond effectively to future challenges. This will call for sustained and accelerated public spending at all levels so that economically weaker sections are also able to avail medical services in time and limit their income losses. Accelerated development and rapid roll-out of vaccines has been a proud achievement. Effective delivery mechanism for vaccination has already been set up and must be strengthened for future needs. Constantly alert local administrations and timely response to newer threats will be key to limiting damage and calls for suitably tweaking organisation structures and processes. The learnings of the recent past will surely aid this. Above all, administration must engage in sustained citizen awareness programmes for preventive measures and appropriate behaviour. Cities then will be able to protect and promote their economies in order to fulfil the aspirations of their growing populations.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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Quotes

Well-planned, compact, and connected cities can increase productivity and boost a city’s competitiveness; improve livability by providing access to land, housing, transport, and services; and protect the natural environment

Digital technologies can help achieve sustainability goals by integrating energy management into operations.

Sensors, IoT and predictive analytics help monitor energy usage and sustainability metrics across the product lifecycle

Isaac Sutton CEO, VALO Smart City

Jasmeet Singh Executive Vice President, Infosys

PIN POINT

Instead of trying to reduce our water demand, or decrease the amount lost through broken pipes and leaks, we are just focused on creating more supply by building new dams

Until global manufacturing and packaging practices change dramatically, we will have to contend with significant amounts of unrecyclable waste. In the meantime, landfill it or use it to safely generate energy

Akgun Ilhan Water Management Expert, Istanbul Policy Center

Ashwani Gupta Distinguished Professor, MEII

BUZZ Stephanie von Friedeburg

Joe Biden

International Union for

Prakash Javadekar

Sr Vice President, IFC

President of the USA

Conservation of Nature

Minister of Environment, Forest and

@SvonFriedeburg

@POTUS

@IUCN

Climate Change, GoI

51 trillion microplastic particles—500 times the number of stars in our galaxy—litter our oceans. At IFC, we recognize the urgency and importance of investing to create a better future: for people, #ForNature, and for the planet

This is our moment to build an economy that works for everyone — not just the super-wealthy and giant corporations. Let’s get it done

The #COVID pandemic made it even clearer how much human wellbeing depends on a healthy relationship with nature

@PrakashJavdekar

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June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

India has a culture of not just conserving and protecting nature, but living in harmony with nature.

It is due to these ethos that India, with only 2.4% of the earth’s land area hosts around 8% of the world’s recorded Biodiversity

Content

Inside Volume 7, Issue 2

Pin Point Newscan

30 46

Infograph Urban Agenda

City Image

June 2021

Girl Power Project

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6 12 15

Training women to use local, natural products for income generation

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Cover Story

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Cities can make economic rebound equitable A year and a half has passed since the first case of Covid-19 was reported, but still, urban economies have not returned to normalcy. Cities have begun to run, but they are not functioning in their full capacity. The worst affected industries, including hospitality and tourism, are still under the dark shadow of the Pandemic. With intense vaccination drives going on around the world, the economic rebound is expected soon in cities. It is the responsibility of cities and local governments to make the rebound equitable, inclusive and sustainable

LEADERSPEAK

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More value, less waste central to sustainable urban economy

Cities have to move to sustainable ways of doing business to become resilient. Local governments are best suited to promote, advocate and build a conducive environment for sustainable resource management, and adopt energy efficienct practices to reduce emissions. The circular economy concept can be of great help in the transition

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Articles

34

Moving from economic inter-dependence to independence

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Learn from the rest, implement the best

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Fate of global economy rests on COVID-19 vaccination

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Reversing ecosystem degradation working with city youths

E-Dialogues

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Roles and challenges in achieving sustainable development AIILSG, in collaboration with CityNet, organised a webinar on ‘Localising SDGs and Role of Local Governments: Opportunities and Challenges’ on June 18, 2021

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Circular economy at base of restoring planet earth AIILSG, in collaboration with UNCRD, Institute for Special Planning and Environment Research (ISPER), and 3R Waste Foundatio, organised a webinar on June 5 on ‘3R & Circular Economy for Restoring Ecosystem and Achieving Clean Water, Land, and Air’ to mark the occasion of the World Environment Day. The webinar was organised as a pre-event of UNCRD’s 11th 3R and Circular Economy Forum 2021, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow later this year

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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Girl Power Project

Training women to use local, natural products for income generation Girl Power Project team has designed the Best Practice Forum , a platform to support and promote the knowledge sharing and best practices for the benefit of upcoming women entrepreneurs in Jharkhand Team girl power project

O

ne of the distinctive components of the Girl Power Project is the Best Practice Forum. This forum was included as the project activity, with the aim of capacitating and building women entrepreneurs by engaging in knowledge sharing and promoting diversity on various topics related to gender empowerment, skill building and social entrepreneurship promotion. Girl Power Project organized a Best Practice Forum on May 24 on lac production and value addition, which is one of the product identified through the Baseline Survey Study. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) play an important role in supporting rural livelihoods and food security in Jharkhand. The state is endowed with rich forest wealth.

Out of a total geographical area of the country, Jharkhand accounts for 3.4 per cent of the total forest cover of the country and ranks 10th among all states.

There is a voluminous list of NTFP in Jharkhand’s forests but important ones, which are mostly collected here and traded in high quality for livelihood supplements apart from agriculture are Tendu leaves, sal seed, mahua, tamarind, bamboo, and lac etc. In case of lac, Jharkhand alone contributes 57 per cent of the total produce which is widely exported.

Looking upon the prospects of lac cultivation in Jharkhand, a webinar was organized on “Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs for Income Generation through Production

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Technology & Value Addition of Lac during COVID-19 pandemic” on May 24. The resource person for the webinar was Dr BK Dwivedi, Director of Bioved Research Institute of Agriculture & Technology, Prayagraj. It is pertinent to mention that Dr Dwivedi is extenesively involved in training and technology dessimination pertaining to lac production and value addtion.

During the webinar, the speaker also shared the works done on lac by the Bioved Research Institute of Agriculture & Technology. They went for value addition of lac in different products, training women and creating a platform for selling the produce.

Some of the products on which they are working and are also exporting are lac laminated.

Lac cultivation: Lac is a natural resinous substance of profound economic importance in India. It is the only resin from animal origin lending itself to diverse applications like as a protective and decorative coating in the form of thin films, adhesives and plastics. The lac insects thrive on the sap of certain plants called lac hosts. Host plants are Palas, Ber, Kusum, Peepal, Akaasmani, Galwang, Flemingia and Gular. Two strains of the lac insects recognized in India are rangeeni and kusumi. Each strain completes its life cycle twice a year.

Lac plays an important role in the economy of the country; 3-4 million tribal people who constitute the socioeconomically weakest section of the Indian population earn a subsidiary income from its cultivation. India is

the major producer of lac, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total world production. It virtually held a monopoly in lac trade during the period of First World War, producing nearly 90 per cent of the world’s total output. Today, an average of about 20-22 thousand tons of stick lac (raw lac) is produced in the country every year.

Why lac cultivation: Lac is a good source of livelihood for poor farmers and ensures assured source of income during droughts. It requires meager inputs like water, pesticides etc., is most suitably grown on marginal and degraded land and poses no competition to other horticultural, agricultural crops for land and farm operation. It does not harm the host tree’s health, or that of other flora and fauna. It also avoids migration of rural population to urban areas and increases opportunities for women for better occupation and returns on investments.

Scope of lac based enterprises: Because of its unique combination of properties, lac finds a wide variety of applications in paint, electrical, automobile, cosmetic, adhesive, leather, wood finishing and other industries. Lac has long been in use for both decoration and lacquers of various kinds and insulating varnishes.

It is usually used as a first coating on wood to fill the pores and also applied to seal knots likely to exude resin and disfigure or spoil finished paint work.

Lac is used in manufacture of glazed paper, printing and water proofing inks, lac bangles, dry mounting tissue

paper, dental plates and optical frames.

It is also used as a coat for metal ware to prevent tarnishing, for finishing various products such as playing cards, oil cloth and linoleum, and for preserving archeological and zoological specimen.

In the electrical industry, lac is used as coating of insulators and spark plugs, cement of sockets of electrical lamp, ant tracking insulating etc. In the pharmaceutical industry, lac is used in coating of tablets, micro-encapsulation of vitamins and coating of medicines.

Lac dye is used in dying of wool and silk, soft drink formulation, pill coating, confectionary and chocolate coating. Lac wax has wide variety of uses in manufacturing shoe polishes, tailor’s chalk, lipstick, crayons (for writing in glass). Nowadays, it is also used in fruit coating. In short, there are tremendrious possibilities for establishing enterprieses by women entrepreneurs for their empowerment.

Key takeaways: In Jharkhand, the possible interventions for lac cultivating farmers can be done for enhancing income and turning them into entrepreneurs through promoting the lac cultivation on a larger scale by filling the knowledge gap through capacity building and exposure visits.

If a woman farmer has lac host plants, then appropriate steps should be taken to mobilize them to take lac cultivation on all trees. If a producer does not have host trees, they can grow fast-growing host trees. At the village level, some of the women entrepreneurs can go for nursery business, wherein they can supply the lac insects for cultivation in their own village as well as nearby villages.

Individual women entrepreneurs, or SHGs, can focus on manufacturing of value added products using lac.

Possible linkages can be made through identifying the vendors for selling the raw produce as well as value added products. Promotions can be done of these products through various platforms to provide an opportunity for women entrepreneurs for their income as well as employment generation in this sector, making them financially secure and independent.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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AIILSG Diary

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) regional centres across the country organised plantation drives and planted 696 trees to celebrate the World Environment Day

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Nimeta Center for Environment and Disaster Management and National Fire Academy of All India Institute of Local Self Government celebrated World Environment Day. During the programme, Ranjit Chavan, President, AIILSG and Hansa Patel, Executive Adviser, AIILSG, were present and planted a tree

World Environment Day celebrated at Kasturba Chhatralaya, Karelibaug, Vadodara, under Shri Harijan Sevak Sangh on June 5. On this occasion, Keyurbhai Rokadia, Mayor; Nandaben Joshi, Deputy Mayor; and Dr Hitendrabhai Patel, Chairman, Standing Committee, Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), were present. Hansa Patel, Executive Adviser, AIILSG, welcomed them with Dr Jatin Modi, Emeritus President, AIILSG, by offering a bouquet of flowers

A get-together meeting of Fire Officers of Fire & Emergency Services, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, was organized by National Fire Academy, Vadodara, at Hotel Mercure, Sayajigunj, Vadodara, on June 23.

SK Patel, GAS, Dy Municipal Commissioner (Admn), VMC, is seen in the photograph flanked by Ranjit S Chavan, President, and Hansa Patel, Executive Adviser, AIILSG. Fire officers were also present on the occasion

Inauguration of 105th edition of Sthanik Swarajya Magazine of AIILSG during the oath ceremony of nursing students by Kiritbhai Parmar, Mayor of Ahmedabad city

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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NEWSCAN

Countries launch global initiative for clean energy innovation SANTIAGO: On June 2, India launched a global initiative called Mission Innovative CleanTech Exchange, or Mission Innovation 2.0, that will create a network of incubators across member countries to accelerate clean energy innovation. The network was launched virtually at the ‘Innovating to Net Zero Summit’ hosted by Chile.

The initiative has been launched in a bid to provide access to the expertise and market insights needed to support new technologies to access new markets globally. India is among 23 governments across the world to collectively launch new plans to catalyze action and spearhead a decade of innovation to drive global investment in clean energy research, development, and demonstrations.

The network is aiming to make clean energy affordable, attractive, and accessible for all in this decade, and to accelerate their actions towards the Paris Agreement and net zero pathways. Mission Innovation 2.0 comes as the second phase of the global Mission Innovation initiative, which was launched in 2015 along with the Paris Agreement at the 2015 United Nations Climate conference. Since 2015, member governments of Mission Innovation have increased clean energy innovation investments by a cumulative total of $18 billion.

Members of the Mission Innovation 2.0 are collectively responsible for over 90 per cent of the global investment in clean energy innovation. Their commitment lies in increasing investment and collaboration to deliver the technologies required to overcome the world’s most difficult challenges on the climate change front.

Half of the required reductions in global emission to achieve national and global climate targets by the year 2050 depend on technologies that already exist. However, these technologies are currently only at demonstration

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or prototype phase. They are not yet sufficiently effective or affordable to be deployed at scale. Examples of such technologies include clean hydrogen, advance battery storage, and zero emission fuels, etc. The goal of Mission Innovative CleanTech Exchange is to catalyze public-private action and investment with the help of sectorspecific missions to accelerate the development of clean energy solutions in critical areas.

In order to achieve the Paris Agreement Goals, all sectors of economy worldwide will need access to cost competitive clean energy solutions in this decade.

The Mission aims to make clean energy solutions attractive and accessible to all the countries, so that governments worldwide gain the confidence to set ambitious clean energy pathways. The launch of this mission is a key milestone in the build-up to the COP26 climate conference to be held in November this year in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Research and science ministers from 22 countries and the European Commission issued a joint statement during the launch and said that the need for innovation has never been greater or more urgent than now as governments and businesses around

the world continue to commit to ambitious climate goals. The ministers committed to step up their collective ambition and cooperation, mobilise and connect global research, development and demonstration efforts to maximize the impact of these investments, build confidence in clean energy solutions, and develop pathways to deployment.

In the statement, the ministers also committed to develop National Innovation Pathways that describe how they will enhance ambition to pioneer clean energy technologies and/or sectors to meet their climate and energy goals by 2030.

Speaking during the launch, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology, Government of India, said that Mission Innovation has played a significant role in mobilizing greater public and private investments and partnerships to move the innovation needle, thereby accelerating clean energy innovations. Mission Innovation 2.0 sheds light on the importance of collaborative scientific efforts to realise the vision of an affordable and reliable clean energy system. He added that this shall help member countries reiterate their pledge to pursue a sustainable future through research-led innovations.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

ULBs in Odisha to process rural waste

BHUBANESWAR: The Government of Odisha has decided to form an association between gram panchayats (GPs) and urban local bodies (ULBs), which will leverage urban infrastructure for efficient management of faecal sludge and plastic waste generated in rural areas. Under this initiative, the districts will tag the GPs to nearby ULBs for transportation of waste and its processing. The association has already been implemented on pilot basis in Balasore Municipality. Nearly 90 panchayats were tagged to avail the facilities of Balasore Municipality, and processing and handling of waste was found to be feasible.

Panchayati Raj and Housing and Urban Development departments of the state took a decision to this effect. According

to state officials, faecal sludge treatment plants are functioning in 45 ULBs and are under construction in the remaining urban areas. Material recovery facilities have been set up in all ULBs to process plastic waste. Linking urban infrastructure with sanitation activities of rural areas will help in effective management of waste.

Guidelines released by the departments state that collectors are required to tag the panchayats located within 20 kilometers of a ULB, and categorise them into three groups of areas falling under 10, 15, and 20 kilometers. Moreover, interested rural households having toilets and septic tanks can send their faecal sludge to the treatment plants of the concerned ULB on payment of fixed charges.

8000 children test positive in Maharashtra

As Maharashtra fights with the second wave of COVID-19, effects of the third wave are visible as 8000 children in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra tested COVID positive in May. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey is making inroads to control the situation in the state. Authorities in the region are on high alert due to increase in number of children and teenagers testing positive for COVID-19, which constitute almost 10 per cent of the total cases in the district and may be the first signs of the third wave of COVID-19 in India.

‘Sputnik V makers agree to supply vaccine to Delhi’

Long working hours affect health adversely GENEVA: A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that working long hours is killing thousands of people a year. The study came as the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours. Published in the journal Environment International, the paper revealed that around 7,45,000 deaths around the globe from stroke and heart diseases could be associated with long working hours in 2016. Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO, said that working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard.

It showed that most of the victims of health hazards associated with long working hours were men (72 per cent), and were usually middle- or old-aged. According to the study, people residing in southeast Asia and the western Pacific, which includes countries like China, Japan, and Australia, were most affected.

The study elaborated that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a 35 per cent higher risk of stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared with working 35-40 hours per week. It covered the period between year 2000 and 2016, therefore it did not factor in the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate consequences. Experts from WHO said that the pandemic could possibly feed the trend towards increased working time and hence the related hazards. They further suggested that staggered working hours or an alternative working schedule can help fix this potential health hazard.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 26 said that the manufacturers of Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine, have agreed to supply the vaccine to Delhi.

He also informed that there are around 620 cases of black fungus (mucormycosis) in the capital and there is a shortage of Amphotericin-B injection used in the treatment of the disease.

CM Kejriwal said that talks are in progress with the makers of Sputnik V vaccine and they have agreed to give the vaccine to Delhi, however the quantity has not yet been decided.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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NEWSCAN

Delhi to give `5 lakh to oxygen shortage victims

Government of NCT of Delhi has decided to give `5 lakh compensation to the families of those COVID-19 patients who died due to lack of oxygen. The Delhi government has formed a committee of six doctors to prepare a framework for the compensation. The committee will have all the rights to examine every document related to oxygen supply, stock and storage from the concerned hospitals.

Covaxin effective against new COVID-19 variants

A study conducted by Clinical Infectious Diseases, in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of Medical Research, found that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin produces neutralising effects against all the new COVID-19 key variants, including the double mutant strains B.1.617 and B.1.1.7.

The findings of the study state that there is no difference in neutralisation between the UK variant and the vaccine strain of D614G. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, had also said earlier that Covaxin is likely to be effective against the UK variant and the double mutated B.1.717 variant.

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MHRA approves first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for use in UK LONDON: Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine named ‘Janssen’ was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in the United Kingdom. This vaccine, being an adenoviral vector vaccine, is same as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and has now become the first approved single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to be used in the UK. MHRA, UK’s independent regulator, has approved Janssen for use on people aged 18 years and above. The decision on use of the vaccine on pregnant or breastfeeding women is pending and will be made after thorough consultation with healthcare professionals.

Janssen became the fourth coronavirus vaccine to receive authorization in UK after the vaccines of Pfizer, Moderna, and Oxford. June Raine, Chief Executive at MHRA, mentioned it as an encouraging news for the public and the healthcare sector because now the nation has safe and effective vaccines approved to help protect people from COVID-19 infections. The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control has been carrying out independent batch release checks on all the approved COVID-19 vaccines in the UK. Raine mentioned that they will continue to do so for Janssen vaccines as well, in order to ensure that every batch of approved vaccines meets the expected quality standards. The European Medicines Agency has also decided to add a warning about unusual blood clots with low blood platelets in the Janssen vaccine’s product information, owing to review of four cases of clots and low platelets among recipients of the vaccine during the clinical trials in the United States of America.

Third-party apps can now provide service of booking COVID-19 vaccination slots NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, released new guidelines on integration of Co-WIN app (the Indian vaccine portal) with third-party applications on May 26. The new guidelines will allow third-party applications to include Co-WIN API (Application Programming Interface) in their own apps.

Until now, only government owned apps, including AarogyaSetu and Umang,

were used to register and book vaccination slots, and third party applications were only allowed to display vaccine status and availability of slots. The inclusion of Co-WIN API will now enable third party app developers to provide services i ncluding vaccine registration, and appointment booking.

The official notification from the MoHFW said that the new guidelines have been introduced to help various stakeholders such as governments of states and union territories, private service providers, software developers, and other agencies in providing vaccine related services. This will further help in enhancement of the diversity and functionality complementing CoWIN, offer better user experience and choice to people, and improve access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The guidelines state that third party applications can be either offered directly to citizens or offered to private vaccination centres.

City Image

Mobile CNG stations for two Indian metropolises Delhi and Mumbai will get India’s first mobile CNG filling stations. This step will reduce the long queues at the filling stations by making it available at the customers’ doorstep and thus expanding the accessibility in various areas of these two cities. Each mobile station will carry 1500 kg of CNG and can refuel 100-150 vehicles, at an average of 10 Kg per vehicle.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Sisodia announces `1051 crore for salary of civic bodies’ employees

The Government of Delhi announced a grant of `1051 crore for the three municipal corporations to pay salaries of healthcare workers and other employees on May 15.

Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, said in a virtual briefing that amidst the second coronavirus wave and constrained circumstances due to the lockdown, the state government took the decision to ensure that people helping the city in fighting the pandemic receive their salaries.

Imported Sputnik V priced at `995 per dose in India

On May 14, the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine was administered in Hyderabad as part of a soft launch by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL). An official statement from DRL said that one dose of the imported Sputnik V vaccine will cost approximately `995.40 in India, adding that the doses of the same vaccine produced in India will be relatively cheaper. The vaccine has an efficacy of 91.6 per cent, which is higher in comparison to the two vaccines currently being administered in India, and has already been administered to 20 lakh people worldwide.

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June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

‘Delhi to get 3 centres to treat black fungus’ NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal informed that in view of the rising number of cases of mucormycosis, the Government of NCT of Delhi has decided to set up centres to treat the new disease in three state-run hospitals. He added that the government will ensure adequate supply of drugs to treat the condition and also spread awareness regarding the disease. CM Kejriwal said that he chaired an important meeting regarding mucormycosis and has taken some key decisions on the treatment and prevention of the disease. He added that the centres for treatment of the disease will be set up at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Hospital. Drugs used in the treatment of the fungus will be procured in adequate amounts and public awareness will be spread for its prevention and spread, he added. Cases of black fungus have been reported across the country in rising numbers, especially in Delhi. Dr M V Padma Srivastava, Head, Department of Neurology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, said that the hospital is reporting more than 20 cases daily of patients suffering from black fungus.

CM Kejriwal also urged hospitals and doctors to ensure minimum usage of steroids and asked patients to keep an eye on their blood sugar levels, especially those having COVID-19 or who have recovered from the disease. He added that there is a shortage of the injection to treat the condition and the Government of India controls the production of the injections. He said that his government has written to the Centre and hopes it will provide them with the adequate quantity to fight the disease.

Andhra Pradesh allocates `1000 crore for smart cities VIJAYAWADA: The Government of Andhra Pradesh, in a bid to achieve the goal of clean water and sanitation and to make human settlements inclusive, safe and resilient, announced the allocation of `8727.08 crore for the municipal administration and urban development department. The allocated budget amounts to around 3.79 per cent of the total budget outlaid by the state government. `1000 crore have been allocated for the development of smart cities in the state, in comparison to `300 crore allocated in the last fiscal year. The state government notably allocated `367.86 crore for AMRUT scheme, and `300 crore for Andhra Pradesh Urban Water Supply and Septage Management Improvement Project.

Additionally, Andhra Pradesh Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO), which works on housing for economically weaker sections, was allocated an amount of `226.18 crore in the budget. Municipal ward secretariats and municipal ward volunteers have been earmarked `943 crore and `395 crore respectively by the government.

Moreover, the budget allocated `179 crore for construction of community

toilets in urban local bodies under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and `80 crore for individual household lavatories.

The government also set aside a total of `85 crore for infrastructure development in grade-III municipalities and nagar panchayats, along with solid waste management projects.

Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh, noted that the government has also taken up Andhra Pradesh Urban Water Supply Project at a cost of `5000 crore, with the assistance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with the aim of providing potable drinking water to 3.3 million residents of 50 urban local bodies in the state.

Obituary

Road safety expert Dinesh Mohan succumbs to COVID-19

A pioneer in road safety and transportation, Dinesh Mohan passed away due to COVID-19 in New Delhi on May 21. He was the mastermind behind the now scrapped Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in New Delhi and contributed greatly to improving motorcycle helmet designs using his vast knowledge of road safety.

Mohan was undergoing treatment at Delhi’s St Stephen’s Hospital, where he passed away following a cardiac arrest on the morning of May 21.

Dinesh was an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi (IITD) and was loved by his students and colleagues for his caring and free-thinking nature. They remember him as a ‘great humanist’, and a fervent supporter of human rights, besides being a noted name in academia.

Mohan began his career as a bioengineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Washington DC

in the United States of America. During his time at the Institute, he worked with world-renowned road safety experts like the Institute’s President, Dr William Haddon, who was widely considered as the global expert in injury control and safety science.

Mohan also worked with Brian O’Neill, Allan Williams and Leon Robertson, who are also international authorities in road safety. This gave him a sound and well-founded understanding of the subject and its practical applications.

At the Institute, he also conducted and tested the world’s first real assessment of effectiveness of airbags in frontal crashes of cars made by General Motors. Notably, his work there also impacted the evolution of regulations requiring children to be secured in a back seat.

He moved to India in 1979 to join the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, where he served as State Bank Chair for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation

between 1981 and 1991; Henry Ford Chair for Traffic Safety Biomechanics from 1996 to 2005; and then as the Volvo Chair for Transportation and Planning and Safety from 2007 to 2015.

He also founded the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Program (TRIPP), a pioneer program leading advancements in vehicular and pedestrian safety.

Mohan was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Delaware in 2012, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of TechnologyBombay. He was a member of the Board of International Research Council on Biomechanics of Impacts, along with the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Injury & Violence Prevention and Control, and was the Director of the International Council for Road Safety International. He also served as the Director of the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System Ltd., and was a part of the editorial board of the International Journal of Epidemiology from 2010 to 2018.

Through his publications and research, Mohan also worked on sustainable development of transit systems to achieve the SDGs and to reverse the effects of climate change.

His latest publication, co-authored

by Prof Geetam Tiwari of TRIPP, was titled ‘Sustainable Approaches to Urban Transport’ and talked of methods and policies that governments must undertake to make urban transport system more sustainable and financially-independent.

Dinesh Mohan was truly a changemaker and a visionary scientist, who not only bettered road safety measures globally, but was also credited with publishing some of the earliest studies on the limited role of hard shells in motorcycle helmets, mechanical properties of human soft tissues at very high strain rates, head injury criteria for children, and safety of three-wheeled scooter taxis. He was also responsible for bringing national attention to burn injuries caused by fireworks during the Diwali festival in India and agricultural injuries due to farm machines.

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Gujarat govt declares cremation ground workers ‘corona warriors’

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, after the core committee meeting on May 12, announced that cremation ground workers will be termed as ‘corona warriors’ and they will be entitled to all the benefits associated with it, retrospectively from April 1, 2020. The state government also announced that it will set up oxygen plants at 348 community health centres (CHCs) across the state. The committee meeting also stated that the beneficiaries of the state health insurance schemes of Mukhyamantri Amrutam (MA) and MAVatsalya will now also cover the treatment of COVID-19 patients up to a daily cap of `5000 for a period of 10 days.

Indian variant can escape antibodies, not vaccines Scientists from India and the United Kingdom (UK) found that the Indian variant of coronavirus, also known as the double mutant variant, has the ability to escape antibodies developed in a person after he/ she recovers from COVID-19.

It also found that in case of the patients which are vaccinated, this variant can at best cause mild illness. Scientists from India’s INSACOG and UK’s Cambridge University have published these results in a research paper titled ‘SARSCoV-2 B.1.617-Emergenece and sensitivity to vaccine-elicited antibodies’. The scientists found that the variant can also infect those who are vaccinated.

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June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Forest & Environment department to also work on climate change in Odisha BHUBANESWAR: The Government of Odisha renamed its Forest and Environment Department to ‘Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department’. This department would now be the nodal agency of the state for climate change actions, for it would work and focus on climate change, along with forest, environment protection and conservation. The department’s responsibilities will involve development of a State Action Plan on Climate Change, projects on climate actions and implementation plan in line with the National Action Plan on Climate Change and Nationally Determined Contribution. It will also identify key vulnerabilities of the state in reversing climate change, assess the need for adaptation to climate change, and scope for incorporating these in relevant programmes. The new state department would take a leading role for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through conservation and enhancement of energy efficiency, coordination with line departments and organisations in various sectors including energy, transport, and urban development. It will also work on formulation of policies for promotion of non-conventional alternative sources of power like solar and wind energy and publicity to encourage use of such resources.

Telangana receives permission to use drones to deliver COVID vaccines HYDERABAD: Directorate General of Civil Aviation granted permission to the Government of Telangana to conduct experimental delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for short distances using drones.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) released a notification stating that Telangana has been granted conditional exemption from the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules 2021, for conducting experimental delivery of vaccines using visual line of sight (VLOS) range. This conditional exemption will be valid for a period of one year, unless further orders are released.

MoCA had granted permission to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on April 2021 to conduct a feasibility study on using drones

to deliver COVID-19 vaccine. The permission was granted after the ICMR had sought exemption from aviation rules that ban use of drones for payload delivery in India. MoCA clarified that these exemptions shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations as stated by the Ministry for respective entities are strictly adhered to. The note added that the exemption will become null and void in case of violation.

Telangana thus became the first state in the nation to receive permission from MoCA to deliver coronavirus vaccines to several primary health centres. This project has been named ‘Medicine from the Sky’, which started its trial mode from early May at Vikarabad Area Hospital.

Each drone will carry a combination of dummy vials and regular vaccines in the trial period and data obtained from the detailed record of performance in this time period will be used to frame and guide further policies regarding the full-scale adoption of delivery through drones.

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

ADB to end financing of fossil fuel production

The Asian Development Bank announced that it will no longer finance coal mining or oil and natural gas production and exploration. The multilateral development bank, which works towards eradicating poverty in Asia, released a draft policy statement on May 7 stating its decision. Although ADB provided no timeline for its commitment, its move was welcomed by environmental groups, saying that this decision was a decade overdue. ADB also laid out conditions under which certain fossil fuel projects would continue to receive funding, such as in cases where no other cost-effective technology was available.

Over 70 lakh out of jobs due to COVID-19 crisis in India: Report The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a Mumbai-based economic think tank, released research data stating that the national unemployment rate in India touched a four-month high at nearly 8 per cent in April 2021.

The national unemployment rate in March was 6.5 per cent, and according to the data, the unemployment outlook weakened majorly due to the restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 second wave.

Mahesh Vyas, MD, CMIE, said that the COVID-19 situation in the country is likely to impact employment generation in the coming months as well.

20 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Gujarat CM launches projects worth `585 crore for Ahmedabad AHMEDABAD: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, on May 28, launched several development projects worth `585 crore for Ahmedabad city. The 25 development projects announced include Phase-2 of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project. The Sabarmati project is to be developed on both sides of the river, from Duffnala to Indira Bridge, at an average length of 5.5 kilometre and an estimated cost of `850 crore.

CM Rupani said that the state government is planning to administer COVID-19 vaccines to 10 lakh youths in the coming eight days. He added during video conferencing that the state government is vaccinating around 1.25 lakh youth daily in the state and with 50 per cent of the population vaccinated, the authorities will soon find victory over COVID-19. The state government is working towards making it the first corona-free state of the country, he added. Other projects in the plan

include bridges, electric buses, water projects, garden projects, urban health centres, renovation of anganwadis, sports complexes and gymnasiums.

Keshav Varma, Chairman, Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited, said that there was delay in the construction works due to the pandemic and planning for six months was done so that authorities do not rush into it. He added that this project will be the prime example of comprehensive planning. Other development projects inaugurated include barrage-cum-bridge over riverfront Phase 2, which will help in balancing the water level of the river so that the water can be reserved for the city for 10-15 days and used when there is an emergency. With the construction of barrage-cum-bridge, areas like Sabarmati, Chandkheda, Motera will get direct connectivity with Hansol area and the airport, thereby easing out traffic snarls.

‘New COVID testing can give results within a second’ NEW DELHI: Researchers from the University of Florida and National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, have developed a new rapid and sensitive testing method for the COVID-19 biomarkers. The sensor system of the method can provide the result within a second, which has been described in a study published in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. At a time when the country is dealing with a heavy caseload of COVID-19 infections which is burdening the testing infrastructure in the country and across the world, innovative methods of self-testing are promoted. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also recently approved a self-test kit which can give the results within 15 minutes. Mingham Xian, author of the study and doctoral candidate at the University of Florida, said that this new method can alleviate the slow COVID-19 testing and help them turnaround the time issues across the world.

Detecting the presence of virus involves increased numbers of biomarkers or amplifying the binding signal for a target biomarker. This testing method uses the latter one where it uses a bio-sensor strip which is similar to a glucose test strip in shape. “Within the microfluidic channel, a few electrodes are exposed to fluid. One is coated with gold, and Covid-relevant antibodies are attached to the gold surface via a chemical method,” Xian added. During measurement, the sensor strips are connected to a circuit board via a connector and a short signal of electrical test is sent between the electrode bonded with the COVID-19 antibody. This signal is again returned to the circuit board for analysis.

NEWSCAN

Lockdown saved millions by reducing bacterial infections: Study LONDON: A study led by Oxford University revealed that diseases caused by certain invasive viruses have reduced due to the COVID-19 lockdowns imposed around the globe in the past year. Co-authored by David Murdoch, Dean at University of Otago and expert of infectious diseases, the study said that there was significant reduction in number of bacterial diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis across the world.

Pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis are not only the most common illnesses caused by invasive bacteria, but have also been reasons for a significant number of deaths worldwide, especially among children and older adults. Similar to SARS-CoV-2, these pathogens are also transmitted via the respiratory route.

According to reports, 336 million cases of lower respiratory invasive infections were reported worldwide in 2016. 2.4 million people had succumbed due to those illnesses in the same year. However, the study found all the countries to have witnessed a reduction in invasive bacterial infections between the months of January 2020 and May

2020. These were the months when most of the countries around the globe were under strict lockdown due to the recent coronavirus pandemic. When compared with the number of infections reported in the previous two years, the study found that around 6000 fewer cases were reported on average in every country during the said time. It further found that illnesses caused by invasive but non-respiratory bacterial species, which do not get transmitted via the respiratory route, did not decrease.

This showed that COVID-19 lockdowns had not significantly disturbed the reporting methods for diseases.

According to the study, infections went down by 68 per cent for streptococcus pneumonia within fourth weeks of the imposed containment measures due to COVID-19. The infections were down by 82 per cent by eight weeks. However, it noted that the number of infections due to streptococcus algalactiae did not experience any reduction. The researchers of the study believe that the reduction in cases of invasive respiratory bacterial infection was witnessed last year due to low person-to-person

transmission, instead of disruption, if any, caused in medical care or disease reporting. Angela Brugemman, coauthor of the study and Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, said that the results of the study demonstrate effectiveness of COVID-19 containment measures in reducing the transmission of other respiratory pathogens and associated diseases. However, they also impose a heavy burden on society that must be carefully considered, and therefore, she added, “Public health efforts must also remain focused on protecting against life-threatening diseases caused by these bacterial pathogens, by administering safe and effective vaccines that are available and in use in many parts of the world.”

The researchers studied data from national laboratories and surveillance programmes from 26 countries and territories of six continents across the globe. They compared the number of infections reported for three bacteria, streptococcus pneumoniae, haemophilusinfluenzae, and neisseriameningitidis, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the numbers from previous years. In addition, they analysed the available data on COVID-19 policies and containment measures with the help of Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. Information on people’s movements was sourced from Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports, which captures mobile device location history data from Google users. The researchers investigated whether the timing of any changes in the number of disease cases coincided with the introduction of national COVID-19 containment measures and reductions in people’s movements.

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COVID-19 more prevalent in urban Andhra Pradesh Anil Kumar Singhal, Principal Health Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said that the analysis of the COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh displays that the number of COVID-19 positive cases per lakh population is more in urban areas in comparison to rural.

During a press brief, he said that the number of COVID-19 cases per lakh population is 383 in urban areas and 248 in rural areas. He therefore urged people to not believe on incomplete information and panic as that may lead to further rise in cases and deteriorate the situation.

Delhi to get oxygen plants at 5 hospitals under CSR

Delhi is set to get Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) based oxygen plants at five different hospitals of the North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations by next month as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The Petronet Liquefied Natural Gas (PLNG) Ltd, a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will install three PSA-based oxygen generation plants at three hospitals of the North Delhi Municipal Corporations (NDMC).

Sanjay Goel, Commissioner, NDMC, said that the corporation will make all the necessary civil and electrical engineering installations and the location will be decided soon to ensure that oxygen shortage does not affect Delhiites, if and when COVID hits again.

22 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Mild COVID-19 infection can induce lasting antibodies: Study WASHINGTON DC: Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine, United States of America (USA), found that after months of recovering from mild COVID-19 infection, people will still have produced immunity cells which induce antibodies against the coronavirus. The study was published on May 24 in the journal ‘Nature’ and suggests that people infected with COVID-19 have lasting antibodies and repeated illness is uncommon.

The researchers found the antibodyproducing cells in people after 11 months of showing the first symptoms.

These cells will remain in the body and

produce antibodies for the rest of their lives and will have long lasting immunity, researchers said. The cells are present in the bone marrow and they continuously secrete low levels of antibodies in the bloodstream to help protect against the virus. The team had 77 participants who gave their blood samples within threemonth intervals, starting a month after they first got infected.

The study found that antibody in the blood of COVID-19 patients dropped in the first few months after the first infection and then levelled off, while some antibodies were detected even 11 months after the infection. Further, 15 of the 19 bone marrow samples from people who had had COVID-19 contained antibodyproducing cells specifically targeting the virus that causes COVID-19. Such cells could still be found four months later in the five people who came back to provide a second bone-marrow sample. None of the 11 people who never had COVID-19 had such antibody-producing cells in their bone marrow, the scientists said.

ICMR approves home test kit for COVID priced at `250 NEW DELHI: A Pune-based company, Mylab Discovery Solutions (MDS), has developed India’s first rapid home-test kit for COVID-19 infection. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) granted approval for the rapid home-test kit, named ‘CoviSelf’, to hit the market, with its price set at `250. This self-use kit will give results within 15 minutes. According to guidelines released by the ICMR, the CoviSelf kit can be used by any symptomatic persons, or their immediate contacts, to test themselves, go into isolation and get treated quickly. Hasmukh Rawal, Managing Director, MDS, said that each kit would comprise the vital testing materials, a leaflet with instructions for use, and a biohazard bag to ensure safe disposal after testing.

The test is done using nasal swab in comparison to the deep nasopharyngeal swab to reduce discomfort. Each pack of CoviSelf has a unique QR code, which has to be entered along with the outcome of the test to receive a report on the associated app.

Potential drawback of this is the lack of accuracy for antigen tests. According to ICMR’s guidelines, a validation of a rapid antigen test (CoviSelf test), requires that the test kit, in point of care settings, be accurate in least 50 per cent of the cases in identifying people with COVID-19 (sensitivity), and 95 per cent specificity—the times when identifying people without the disease.

Rawal said that this will eliminate the need for sample collection by a healthcare professional, and thus will significantly ease pressures on the overburdened testing labs, along with reducing delays in the test results. MDS is aiming to reach the doors of every Indian, to help them fight the COVID-19 pandemic, for this home-test kit can be bought from any pharmacy, without prescription.

NEWSCAN

States announce measures to help children orphaned due to COVID-19 NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) informed the Supreme Court of India on May 27 that over 1700 children have lost both their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The Government of India made an announcement that all children who have lost both parents or a surviving parent, legal guardian or adoptive parents due to COVID-19 will be supported under PM Cares. A corpus of `10 lakh will be created in the form of a fixed deposit. This collection will be used for providing a monthly stipend for five years when the child will turn 18 years of age. Under the scheme, at the age of 23 years, each child will receive the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.

Some state governments have also stepped up to lessen the plight of these children. The Government of Chhattisgarh announced its decision to launch ‘Chhattisgarh Mahtari Dular Yojana’ on May 13 for children who lost both their parents due to the pandemic.

Under the scheme, each child from classes 1 to 8 will receive a stipend of `500 every month, and children from classes 9 to 12 will receive `1000 every month from the government. The state will also fund education of the children who have lost breadwinner of the family to COVID-19 under the scheme.

These children will also get priority during admission in state-run Swami Atmanand English Medium Schools.

The Government of Delhi announced on May 25 its decision to formulate a policy under which, it will provide free education and bear other expenses of the children who have lost their parents to the coronavirus infection. Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, said that the state government will bear all the expenses for the education and upbringing of such children. In addition, it will also take responsibility to take care of the elders who lost their home youth/ breadwinner of the family due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of Maharashtra announced on June 2 that it will make

This image is for representative purpose only

fixed deposits of `5 lakh in the name of children who have lost one or both parents to COVID-19 in the state. The children will receive the FD amount with interest after attaining the age of 21 years. These children will also receive a monthly allowance of `1125 from the state government. Children who have lost one parent to COVID-19 and whose other parent is alive are also eligible for this monthly assistance, but they will not be eligible for the FD scheme.

Officials said that if any relative comes forward to take care of the child, they will be eligible to receive a grant from the Child Care Scheme of the Department of Women and Child Development as well. The state has set up a 10-member task force in each of the 36 districts to identify the children orphaned due to COVID-19 outbreak, in addition to setting up a state helpline number to seek information about such children.

The Government of Karnataka announced the Chief Minister Bala Seva Scheme on May 29. Under it, children who lost both parents and have no guardians will be admitted to government-run residential schools.

The cost of their accommodation and education will be borne by the state. Moreover, guardians caring for orphaned children will receive a monthly cash assistance of `3500 from the government.

Note: If you come across a child who you suspect has been orphaned or abandoned, you can call child helpline at 1098 -- a nationwide emergency number run in collaboration with the WCD Ministry. It is a 24-hour toll-free helpline number operated by Childline India Foundation. You can also directly contact local/district Child Welfare Committees and/or inform the local police station.

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Gujarat CM flags off 101 BS-VI compliant buses

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani flagged off a total of 101 BS-VI compliant buses in the state on May 10, officials said. Officials added that the Government of Gujarat intends to add 1000 such buses to the fleet of the state’s public transport. CM Rupani said during the video conferencing from Gandhinagar that these buses will enhance the public transport service across the state’s 16 transport divisions. He added that the state government will not allow the COVID-19 pandemic to affect the public transport services which are meant to provide comfort to residents in the state and are not seen as a source of profit.

UDD of UP launches sanitation, monitoring drive to fight COVID-19 The Urban Development Department (UDD) of the Government of Uttar Pradesh has started an initiative to sanitise the roads and streets of the cities, including the main institutions, markets, hospitals in 17 municipal corporations and 48 major municipalities of the state. According to an official from the Government of Uttar Pradesh, as of May 3, sanitation work has been carried out in all 12,016 wards of the state’s local bodies. The UDD pressed several vehicles into service to spray areas in each municipal body with one per cent sodium hypochlorite solution as a way to deal with surging infections in the state.

24 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Stakeholders discuss post pandemic governance, partnership NEW DELHI: United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), in collaboration with the Open Government Indonesia, held a webinar on ‘Local Actions on Smart and Open Governance to Strengthen Post Pandemic Partnership’ on May 20. Madelaine Alfelor, Iriga City Mayor, The Philippines Treasurer, UCLG World, mentioned in her presentation the significance of institutionalized internal governance. She mentioned how the City Government of Iriga developed an app named ‘iContact’, the first of its kind in the Philippines, for contact tracing. It continues to be used to trace COVID-19 infections through every individual living inside or outside the city. Dr H Zulkieflimansyah, Governor of Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia, talked about various innovations introduced in Indonesia for effective governance. One such initiative is an app called NTB Care, which helps the government to capture, understand, and respond to public grievances in real-time.

Dr Ir H HerwinYatin, Mayor Regent of

Banggai Regency, Indonesia, displayed in his presentation how the region handled economic impact of COVID by giving incentives and stimulus to small and mid-sized enterprises that deeply affect the economy.

Marcelino Pandin, Board Member, Telekomuniktheasi, Indonesia, talked about how COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalisation of social fabric around the world. He said that structural transformation is a prerequisite to recover and grow in the post-COVID world. For smart city development, he added that essential parts involve careful procurement program and cyber and network security.

The webinar consisted of other eminent speakers including Dr Slamet Soedarsono, Deputy of Politic, Law, Defence and Security, Ministry of Planning; and Datuk Seri Hj MahadBinCheNgah, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was moderated by Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary-General, UCLG-ASPAC.

“Indian variant of coronavirus is of global concern” NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India last year, has been classified as a variant of global concern.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of COVID-19 response at WHO, said during a press briefing that there is some available information on the Indian variant to suggest of it having increased transmissibility. She added that the information collected so far will help in work on public health and social measures, but there is need for more targeted sequencing to limit the spread of the virus. The Indian Council of Medical Research has said that the variant is highly transmissible. Dr Samiran Panda, Head, Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases, ICMR, said that the variant was firstly reported from India but it was simultaneously also reported in other parts of the world.

It may be highly transmissible, but there is no clinical data to show that it is highly virulent. According to WHO, the predominant lineage of B.1.617 variant of coronavirus was first identified in India in December 2020; although, an earlier version of this variant was spotted in October 2020. This variant has already spread to other countries, prompting many nations to cut or restrict movement from India.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

Pune ranks first, Delhi at bottom in health infrastructure NEW DELHI: As per a report by Housing.com, Pune ranked first and Delhi-NCR at the bottom among eight major cities measured on the parameters of health infrastructure including number of beds, air-water quality and sanitation. Housing.com released its report titled ‘State of Healthcare in India’ on May 12.

The report ranked the health infrastructure in the country’s most urbanised cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune. The rankings were analysed on the basis of various parameters such as number of hospital beds per 1000 people, air quality, water quality, sanitation, and liveability index.

The report mentioned that when it comes to health infrastructure, Pune is the most equipped city in India which offers 3.5 hospital beds per 1000 people. This number is higher than the national average. It added that India has the lowest number of doctors (0.86) per 1000 people, while other major economies have between 2-4 doctors per 1000 people. India’s financial capital Mumbai and its metropolitan region (which is also the largest residential real estate market in the country with a transactional value of $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021) were ranked fourth on the Housing.com City Health Card, with parameters such as the number of beds, air quality, and liveability pulling its overall score down. With almost 3.2 hospital beds per 1000 people, Ahmedabad ranked second in the list and Bengaluru, third, despite its top ranking in the ease of living index. Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata have ranked fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

96% Britons develop antibodies after one dose of COVID-19 vaccine NEW DELHI: A report published in The Guardian states that a research found that over 90 per cent of Britons developed antibodies against coronavirus after one dose of COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca or Pfizer). It added that almost 100 per cent develop it after the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Researchers from the University College London (UCL) found that both the vaccines were equally efficient in triggering antibodies against the virus.

Dr Maddie Shrotri, Lead Author, said that this is one of the earliest real-world vaccine studies in the United Kingdom (UK). Almost 9 out of 10 adults in the

UK who were administered with either Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine produced antibodies against the novel coronavirus within a month of the first dose.

The findings were analysed on the basis of 13,232 antibody samples provided by 8517 adults from England and Wales in the trial. The participants did not have antibodies before they had their first dose of vaccine. The UCL Virus Watch project team found that the vaccines stimulated the production of fewer antibodies in older people than the younger ones.

However, after the second dose, the antibodies were uniformly produced in people of all ages. Professor Rob Aldridge, Chief Investigator, UCL Virus Watch, said that data shows that for older adults and for people with premedical conditions, the antibody response is a little weaker after the first dose of vaccine but was strong after the second dose. He added that this is a reminder of getting the second dose of vaccine and also that the vaccines are our only way out of the pandemic.

Centre drops plasma therapy from COVID-19 treatment guidelines

The Government of India announced the revised clinical guidance for COVID-19 treatment on May 17 along with its decision to drop the off-label use of convalescent plasma.

This was done because plasma therapy has been found to not be beneficial in reducing the severity of coronavirus. Plasma therapy includes transfusion of COVID-19 antibodies from the blood of a recovered patient to the one being treated. This decision came after a meeting of Indian Council of Medical Research -National Task Force for COVID-19, which took place on May 14.

Delhi to set up 300 MT capacity oxygen pants for third wave: CM Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Government of NCT of Delhi will buy oxygen tankers and will set up 300 metric tonnes (MT) capacity of pressure swing adsorption oxygen plants. The Delhi government will also set up beds in order to prepare the capital for another potential wave of COVID-19 as the current wave is seeing a downward trend. Chief Minister Kejriwal said that the meeting was held on May 18 to decide on the steps to be taken to control the predicted third wave and prepare the city to be able to handle the increased caseload during the same.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

25

Cover story | Post Covid Recovery

Cities can make

Economic Rebound

equitable 26 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

A year and a half have passed since the first case of Covid-19 was reported, but still, urban economies have not returned to normalcy. Cities have begun to run, but they are not functioning at their full capacity. The worst affected industries, including hospitality and tourism, are still under the dark shadow of the Pandemic. With intense vaccination drives going on around the world, the economic rebound is expected soon in cities. It is the responsibility of cities and local governments to make the rebound equitable, inclusive and sustainable

Abhishek Pandey Editor

C

ities are witnessing uncertain times. Some cities have witnessed a drastic decrease in daily Covid-19 cases, while others face difficulty controlling the contagion.

History suggests that cities always thrived by adapting to the evolving challenges and building resilience. However, the ongoing situation has made it difficult for cities to cope with the evolving economic challenges as business and industrial activities are still affected. Street vendors, daily wage earners and

people engaged in informal economic activities are among those severely affected by lockdowns.

The worst affected cities were those that were dependent on a single economic activity such as tourism and hospitality. On the other hand, the essential commodities-related businesses, some IT sectors and the pharmaceuticals industry remain unscathed during the first and the second waves of the Pandemic. And, the cities that dodged the Pandemic’s economic impacts were those not dependent on industries that required movement of people but the movement

www.urbanupdate.in | April June 2021

27

Cover story | Post Covid Recovery May 2021 from the earlier projection of 9.61 per cent in January 2021. These cities are from the most affected states and contributed roughly 15 per cent of the country’s total GDP in 2020. In addition, the report says the real GDP growth forecast is revised downward by around 0.50 percentage points for Mumbai, Delhi and Visakhapatnam metropolitan area, followed by Chennai and Lucknow (approximately 0.40 percentage points) in May 2021 compared to January 2021.

Many other global financial agencies have predicted that the second COVID wave may derail a strong recovery in the economy and credit conditions.

The economic recovery in cities is essential to bring the country back on the fast-track economic revival as cities account for almost 70 per cent of the nation’s GDP. Additionally, the role of cities is becoming increasingly important because an average of 25-30 people migrate to cities from rural areas every minute, a new study by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum has revealed.

off the revenue that was keeping many of the state’s counties afloat. In Tunisia and Bangladesh, thousands of people working in the garment industry lost their jobs or were not paid.

After the Covid-19 Pandemic, every city has renewed its priorities and included sustainable development, resource and energy efficiency, conservation of the environment, improving livability, reducing pollution, and building green infrastructure in its futuristic agenda. But none of this could be achieved without attaining local economic sustainability. The new upcoming cities are diversifying their economic activities and are not dependent on a single industry or activity. This is making them economy wise resilient to any pandemic or disaster.

The second wave of Covid-19

India witnessed the peak of the second wave in mid-May this year when the daily cases touched 400, 000 mark and active cases reached 3.7 million. As the number of cases began to mount, health infrastructure in cities almost collapsed as people had to run pillar to post to get medical assistance and hospital beds.

Further, state governments started announcing Covid curfew measures that impacted the running of economic activities.

Against the backdrop of the second wave of the Pandemic in India, GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, released a report saying that the combined real GDP growth of nine major Indian cities has been revised downward to 9.28 per cent in

Impact on local community and businesses

53

53

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

65 65 65

59 59 59 59 59 59 59 59 5759 5759 5759 59 56 59 59 56 5759 56 5759 5557 59 59 55 56 59 59 55 56 5759 53 56 5759 5355 5759 5355 59 56 59 59 55 56 5759 53 56 5759 535557 5355 59 59 56 59 59 55 56 57 53 56 59 5759 5355 57 5355 59 59 56 59 59 55 56 5759 53 56 57 5355 59 57 5355 59 59 56 59 59 55 56 5759 53 56 5759 5355 57 5355 59 59 56 59 59 55 56 5759 53 56 5759 5355 57 5355 59 56 59 55 56 57 53 56 57 5355 57 5355 56 55 56 53 56 5355 5355 55 53 53 53

65 65 65

71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71

Unemployment rate (%) in major Indian cities, 2019-2021

55

About one billion people live in informal settlements around the world. Indian cities also house a large number of people in slums. According to government data, approximately 25 per cent of people live in slums in Indian cities. The number is much higher, above 50 per cent, in densely populated cities like Mumbai. Slumdwellers had to face health risks,and loss of livelihood as a majority of the people living in informal settlements depend on daily earnings. Most men and women working in local industries and factories, running food stalls or working in urban homes as house help and drivers suddenly became jobless after the government announced a lockdown.

This also happened because of a drastic change in the everyday urban life of a citizen. If we compare the lives of citizens in the city today to the one in the pre-pandemic era, it has completely changed. Public transport like local

68 71 68 71 68 71 71 71 71 68 71 68 71 68 71 71 71 71 68 71 71 68 71 68 71 71 71 71 71 71 68 71 68 71 71 71 68 68 71 71 71 71 71 68 71 68 65 68 71 68 71 71 68 71 71 59 65 68 71 68 71 65 68 71 5959 71 71 71 68 71 59 68 71 59 57 68 71 71 71 59 71 56 68 71 57 68 71 68 71 57 55 71 56 68 56 68 53 68 55

of information.

Generally, most of the cities have their own unique set of industries and allied activities. For example, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are known for having national and international Information Technology (IT) companies.Chennai with its thriving automotive and autocomponents industry is often referred to as the ‘Detroit of Asia’. Delhi and Mumbai are headquarters of political parties and corporate giants, and Noida is a manufacturing hub. Other cities are traditionally known for specific industries such as Aligarh for locks, Kanpur for leather and jute products, Agra and Varanasi for tourism, Mysore for wooden handicrafts and furniture,and cities in Kerala for spices. Traditionally, it has been seen as an economic benefit attached to developing such an industrial system.

When firms producing similar goods or dealing in the same sector are located near each other, it reduces cost. But the Pandemic taught us that it has negative implications too. When major economic activities in a city are disrupted, it had ripple effects on other industries in the region. Such a model can also lead to a complete collapse of the economic system.

It was the scenario world over. As per a news report by Reuters ‘US coronavirus downturn hits timberreliant towns’, a major US paper producer decided to shut two of its plants over the summer, citing the drop in demand for paper amid the coronavirus pandemic. The sudden move by one private company affected thousands of jobs in Minnesota and its neighbour Wisconsin, where it also cut

Source: GlobalData

akarta

tanbul karta

Delhi anbul Jakarta

Lima Delhi stanbul

blast) Lima w Delhi

Pune last) Lima

umbai Pune oblast)

ogota mbai Pune

Manila gota umbai

galuru anila Bogota

aluru Manila

ngaluru

28 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

trains in Mumbai and metros in Delhi used to remain packed. People worked in offices and shopped on the way back home. It has changed completely.

People are shopping online. It has impacted most of the people working in the informal economy in our cities. Their income has been affected severely.

Many national, state and local governments took the initiative to help the local community and especially those from the vulnerable communities in the informal economy.

For example, Indian governments announced loan assistance for street vendors, monthly allowances for women workers, and some states provided financial assistance to auto and e-rickshaw drivers. Such financial assistance programs were initiated in many countries around the world.

For example,Japan had extended its stimulus programmes for small enterprises to finance pandemicimpacted medium and large entities.

And, the government kept the interest rate at one per cent that is lower than the usual interest of five per cent.

Apart from national governments, local governments played an important role in providing cushion to local economies to protect them from the economic fallout. Some cities like Bilbao (Spain), Yokohama (Japan), and Seattle (USA) supported small retailers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)by providing online and telephonic consultancy. Lisbon (Portugal) created a support team with a specialist from various sectors for local small and medium-sized companies.

The team ensures information on all existing support reaches these companies. In addition, many local governments supported local businesses by providing financial aid.

For example, Milan setup a mutual aid fund for supporting local economic companies. In addition to providing a three million euro fund for local businesses, it also asked citizens to participate in helping local businesses.

It generated around 800,000 Euro on the launch day of the initiative.

The world’s most congested cities Bengaluru

71

Manila

71

Bogota

68

Mumbai

65

Pune

59

Moscow region (oblast)

59

Lima

57

New Delhi Istanbul Jakarta

56 55 53

Source: GlobalData

Agenda for cities

The Pandemic has impacted the development agendas of cities globally.

The shrinking financial resources for achieving the sustainable development goals and the pandemic’s impact have made it difficult for local governments to achieve the objectives by 2030.

Indian cities can draw lessons from the cities which have already drafted their urban agenda for the post-pandemic world. Cities are not focusing on traditional development requirements and addressing imminent threats of climate change and pollution-related threats to urban life. The Pandemic has also underlined the significance of having health among the main priorities for cities.

Managing urban spaces and proper densification with improved service delivery is essential for cities to deal with pandemics. Many European cities are now focusing on building more public spaces and building cities where more people can stay, but there is no crowding at public spaces and public transport. To address the needs of the people living in informal settlements, there should be programmes on the agenda of cities to provide a minimum standard of services for one and all.

There have been apprehensions that more people will move to private vehicles if public transportis not

transformed to make people feel safe in travelling in a bus or a metro train.

According to a WEF report, as public transport slowly reopens in India, the short‑ and medium‑term effects on urban transportation could be sizeable.

Recent perception studies have shown that 36 per cent people who previously travelled by trains will probably switch to using individual vehicles or other private transport options in the next few months. This is a worrying prospect, given that roads in Indian cities are already clogged. The 2019 TomTom Travel Index featured four Indian cities in the world’s top 10 most congested cities, with Bengaluru ranking first.

Covid-19 could become a gamechanger for India’s urban movement if cities and government agencies draw the right lessons, transform the way the cities function, and invest in urban sectors that need immediate attention.

The cities will indeed bear the load of the economic recovery of the nation.

For making it a smoother ride to recovery and prosperity, policymakers have to adhere to the demands of urban spaces and thereby build a. It should not be just about returning to normalcy but about making the right choices in our development agenda, keeping in mind the impacts on the planet and people. And the transformation has to be sustainable and inclusive.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

29

Infograph | What Should We Do?

Characteristics of the City 600 (2007)

1.5 billion, or 22% of

global population reside in these cities

$30 trillion, or more

than half of the global GDP comes from them

The Top 100 cities generated 38% of the global GDP

Predictions for the City 600 (2025)

2.0 billion, or 25% $64 trillion, or 60% 735 million households in these of global population will reside in these cities

of the global GDP will come from them

cities will live with an average per capita GDP of $32,000

Getting cities

back-on-track Numerous studies from the 2010s pegged urbanisation to be the most significant characteristic of the global scenario in the near futrue. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in negative growth of cities, in terms of its economy, demography and development. Urban Update tries to enumerate the difference between the predictions and realities and what cities can do to achieve their targeted growth Ashley Paul | Senior Sub-Editor

30 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

City 600 today Over 4 billion people, more than half of the global population, live in cities

They generate almost 2/3 of the global GDP

Measures to be adopted to revive global economy ♦♦ Creating a global resource fund to help the disadvantaged in cities ♦♦ Focussing on developing and intergrating a digital economy ♦♦ Bringing women to the forefront of the digital economy ♦♦ Reskilling and introducing new profiles for the future

Sources: McKinsey Global Institute, World Economic Forum, Cities To Be

The City 600 are the top 600 cities by contribution to global GDP growth from 2007 to 2025

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

31

Leaderspeak | Towards Circularity

More value, less waste central to sustainable urban economy

Cities have to move to sustainable ways of doing business to become resilient. Local governments are best suited to promote, advocate and build a conducive environment for sustainable resource management, and adopt energy efficienct practices to reduce emissions. The circular economy concept can be of great help in the transition

M

ore people are moving to cities for want of better life and opportunities.

Cities are places of concentrated economic activities.

The significant contribution of the urban economy to national GDPs is as high as 85 per cent in many countries. For generating such a high level of growth, cities consume 75 per cent of natural resources used globally and account for 60 to 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions the world over. The trend is not sustainable in the long run, and cities will have to find ways to transform themselves by adopting energy and resource efficienct practices. The growth in urban economic activities is vital to the fiscal prosperity of nations. With cities laying a new roadmap for their

32 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

post-pandemic recovery, streamlining and integrating economic activities with their sustainable agenda could be helpful to move from the linear model of ‘take-make and waste’ to circularity.

A report published by the World Economic Forum in 2019 illustrated that over 90 billion tonnes of materials were extracted and processed in one year. And it contributed to almost half of global CO2 emissions that year. Such regular activities for running economic activities are depleting finite resources and causing extensive CO2 emissions.

A lack of a holistic approach to urban management leads to financial losses due to inefficient resource and waste management and increasing negative environmental impacts. Cities are relatively more sensitive to the effects of climate change since a majority of them are located in coastal regions.

Factors such as inefficient or lack of

integrated land-use and transport system, lack of planning and grouping of residential complexes, etc., can lead to exposure of the vulnerability of cities.

Cities have to look at the transition to circularity as an approach to sustainable development, prosperity, minimizing resource consumption by keeping materials in use for as long as possible and maximizing their trade and industry value. Since the concentration and diversity of activities in cities, urban centres are best suited to drive the circular economy agenda.

Potential of circular economy

A report published by the United Nations Industrial and Development Organisation starts with an explainer of the Japanese concept of ‘mottainai’.

It says, “It is a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full — something that happens with regularity in a linear economy.” Indians, too, have followed this concept for ages. Indians are wellknown for using things for different purposes during their life cycle, and the products were also made that way. Now, the products are used for a shorter time or, in some cases, for single-time use.

Keeping the products in use for the maximum possible time ensures more saving for Indian households. People used jute bags instead of polythene bags. A few decades ago, people started to discard things for want of new things. It is not just wasting valuable natural resources, energy but also creating mountains of landfills in cities.

The ever-evolving fashion industry is a good example. With fashion changing in months, people discard their clothes

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

sooner than required. It is valid for other sectors such as automobile, textile, consumer electronics, etc. People are mindlessly consuming and discarding things. The way people consume today puts a severe strain on available resources that cannot be sustained for long. Unsustainable consumption is one of the primary reasons for many climatic, environmental and urban problems.

These days, the concept of circularity and reuse seems to be non-existent in our business, industrial and urban activities. This could be because of the lack of an accommodating environment available. Cities, especially urban local bodies, have significant responsibility for developing and promoting such systems locally. The promotion of a circular economy in cities can decouple natural resources and high energy demand from development. The

circular economy can provide social, environmental, and economic benefits to urban centres in the long run and help them be on the sustainability track without compromising on their development agenda. With a high concentration of resources and having proximity to related economic activities, cities are well suited to drive resource efficiency by keeping the materials in use for the longest possible time.

Innovations in circularity

Cities will have to leverage this advantage by creating a supportive ecosystem for businesses to adopt circular economy practices. Helping stakeholders and local businesses to develop industrial symbiosis is the key.

For this, Indian cities can take a cue from the experiments in China, Korea and many European countries. China

Indians are well-known for using things for different purposes during their life cycle, and the products were also made that way. Now, the products are used for a shorter time or, in some cases, for singletime use, which is unsustainable and calls for a drastic shift

developed Eco Parks, South Korea assisted businesses with incentives and tax benefits to reduce their dependency on imported materials, and Japan encouraged companies and individuals for resource efficiency. There are certain areas where innovation can help in implementing circular economy strategies. For example, Panaji city, with the help of some external agencies and their expertise, has achieved zero landfill city targets by developing composting stations and manufacturing units that recycle waste to create new products. Every city can do this by interacting with the city leadership and learn from their experiments.

All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment has taken initiatives and launched the United Network of Circular Cities during the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in 2020. The platform is designed to help urban local bodies access knowledge resources on the circular economy, share their ideas with domain experts and develop their strategies based on available local resources and skilled workforce.

At their end, all cities and urban local bodies can develop regional mechanisms to support the transition from linear to the circular economy. For this, they will have to facilitate dialogues between stakeholders, establish a local framework for collaborations and build supporting infrastructure by ensuring that businesses and industries ready to move towards a circular economy are incentivized and recognized for their sustainable move. In addition, cities should also benefit from the networks run by international and national agencies and augment their transition to circularity.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

33

ARTICLE | Economic Trends

Moving from economic inter-dependence to independence

Decisions taken by various governments to avert the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are now beginning to bring economies back to normal. However, the economic standpoint of cities post-pandemic is significantly different from that in the pre-pandemic period.

While the importance that they are giving to public healthcare and emergency response systems is unprecedented, they are also re-aligning their trade and economic policies, particularly those with respect to globalisation Ashley Paul | Senior Sub-Editor

A

lthough the effects of the pandemic may not be able to end globalisation, they are certainly reversing the trend to some extent.

Cities around the world are now looking inwards for economic stability and growth. They are now focusing

34 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

on developing their domestic markets, businesses, industries and services to increase their gross domestic product (GDP). This, in turn, will not only change the global power dynamic but will also change the flow of goods between cities. As globalisation cannot be ended completely, the flow of goods will continue but may be lesser

in volume and concentrated to nonessential goods. Cities in countries like those in Africa and south Asia, however, may not align themselves this way, keeping in mind their constricted capacity of industrial growth.

One of the main reasons why cities are doing this is because the pandemic made them realize that dependence

on another country for something as minor as a face mask is extremely dangerous and life-threatening for the country’s public health in the long-run.

Additionally, other medical supplies like PPE suits, latex rubber gloves and face shields were in short supply during the pandemic and therefore have renewed importance post-pandemic. It must be also noted that cities are not trying to be self-dependent only in terms of medical supplies but in terms of all economic goods. Thus, the shortage in supply of medical equipment has had a ripple effect on every other commodity too.

This rising sentiment in both leaders of city administration and the general public have led to various cities tying up with international organisations and strengthening relationships with sister cities to set up production facilities, or signing agreements to ensure their supply in times of need.

As a result, the polarity of the world’s power struggle may change too. Since a long time, cities in the United States of America and the European Union have been leaders in terms of economic output. This consequently resulted in them being leaders in global decision making too, which has more or less been the case during the pandemic. It must be kept in mind, however, that the position of India as the world’s largest vaccine producer has also meant positive changes for position of Indian cities on the global stage. Although the effect of the two COVID waves which India faced have been pronounced and acted against the positive changes, they have not been strong enough to neutralize them. Therefore, India is now being seen as a leader in pandemic response, its cities have been setting milestones for managing rising COVID cases, and an aid to developing and under-developed countries, in line with the suggestions of the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and other multinational organisations. This example can be used to understand how the pandemic may change how cities are ranked globally, bringing the position of some down while also taking the position of other cities up.

Supply chain management

This brings us to the next aspect of changing economic trends – supply chain management. The ban on international travel during the pandemic not only led to large-scale losses for airlines but also for many exporters and importers. For example, India, being the largest exporter of rice and diamonds faced a huge setback.

Although the government was able to use the foodgrains for feeding the poor, exporters had to witness losses like never before. At the same time, countries which imported rice and other foodgrains from India also faced problems as their essential supply chains were temporarily cut-off.

Keeping in mind that this was neither the first, nor the last pandemic that the world faces, countries are also working to improve their supply chain management systems.

However, for importers, the problem did not end when supply chains were resumed as they had to not only supply adequate amounts now, they also had to take care of the back-log of demands which had not been met during the supply disruption. Therefore, countries are also realising that managing the risk is not enough, countries need to prevent it too. Although the world is now moving slowly out of the pandemic, they are also realising that they need to work to prevent such disasters from happening again and be ready in case it does strike again.

Moreover, companies need to realise who their basic suppliers of goods are.

Before the pandemic, it was thought that knowing and being in contact with the Tier 1 supplier was enough for a company. However, it was only when even the Tier 1 supplier was unable to procure and transport goods that companies, cities and countries, realised that they need to be in close contact with all tiers of suppliers. This, in turn, has also resulted in a more penetrative role of all three entitites in keeping information about the primary sources of imports of all goods.

This also means that there is more information exchange.

Circular economy

Lastly, the concept of circular economy has also received much attention postpandemic. While the topic existed in international talks earlier, it has caught the attention of many now. Circular economy is when the products in-use in an economy follow a cycle of reuse and recycle. For example, used toothbrushes can be melted together to form a plastic chair, which can be further reformed as some other good. This helps in keeping usage and production of new materials to produce goods at a minimum and also helps in reducing excess waste to the bare minimum. During the pandemic, government, particularly urban administrations, realised the importance of proper utilisation of all types of resources. Therefore, many governments are now turning their focus towards adopting circular economy as their mantra in the hope of reducing waste production and management.

Netherlands, for example, has been the leader in adoption of circular economy and has pledged to become a 100 per cent circular economy-based country by 2050. In this regard, the country has already passed the ‘Circular economy in the Netherlands by 2050’, which sets out the actions and strategies to be carried out to manage raw materials, products and services more efficiently.

In 2018, as part of this plan, the Dutch government passed agendas covering five sectors including construction, which makes up 50 per cent of raw material consumption in the country.

Soon, these agendas were translated into projects like the one which mandates all government buildings built after 2018 to have zero emissions and that as many recycled materials and resources as possible should be used in construction. This was a very big step which has shown significant results in the country.

The pandemic has given a chance to the world to rethink their economic plans and strategies, while at the same time, also adopt greener, cleaner plans.

Only time will tell if countries will be quick on their feet to incorporate them in their policies or not.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

35

ARTICLE | International Economic Revival

Learn from the rest, implement the best

The second wave of COVID-19 hit the country right when the ailing Indian economy was beginning to realign itself. According to Bloomberg, all major economists and financial institutions cut growth projections for India, including State Bank of India (11 per cent to 10.4 per cent), after the devastating second wave Hitesh Nigam | Reporter

T

he situation was so bizarre that even Parisbased Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which had the most optimistic growth numbers of all, decreased their projection from 12.6 per cent to 9.9 per cent. According to a report titled ‘State of Working: India 2021’, the number of Indians reporting less than national floor-level minimum wage of `375 increased by more than 200 million during the pandemic.

The GDP shrunk by 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21, according to official data by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

On the other hand, various foreign nations are experimenting with new growth models and measures to tackle the economic setback caused due to the pandemic. Learning from their methods and implementing them in India can be beneficial for the country to stimulate economic revival.

Inoculating economic packages in Brazilian cities

Brazil’s economy grew by an unexpected 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the last quarter, according to data from

36 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

the National Statistics Agency. The numbers show an optimistic growth pattern for the country even after the deadly second wave of COVID-19 hit the nation. The growth of the country is led by a 5.7 per cent jump in the agriculture sector and a 4.6 per cent surge in internal investments. Brazil launched a financial package worth US$ 150 million to face the economic challenges posed by the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to official data, the Government of Brazil introduced various measures, including temporary relief in custom duty, simplifying customs clearance process and many different schemes for employment generation. As cities were first responders during the pandemic, the Brazilian Senate passed a bill which gave financial aid of US$ 116 to informal workers and US$ 1200 to single mothers.

As economic stimulus measures, especially for cities, Brazil directed the state-owned federal banks to extend credit of US$ 14.9 billion to small and medium-sized enterprises aimed at stimulating the investments and expenditure in the economy. The generous pandemic welfare programs, which reached to almost one-third of the population, helped to balance the

economy a lot. COVID-19 has hit Brazil drastically as it is the second country in the world with the largest number of deaths and the third largest number of active cases, according to official data. Amid such chaos, the country has managed to decrease the effects of the second wave of the pandemic successfully.

What Rebeca Palis from the statistics agency said about lesser restrictions this year in Brazil as compared to the previous wave is also true for the Indian scenario. The lockdown in the states during the second wave was not as strict as last year’s and the Government of India never announced a central lockdown, but economy shrunk regardless. This is peculiar and points to some loopholes in the Centre’s approach. It is high time that that we look to countries like Brazil, which are on the same level as India in many ways.

Seattle setting vaccination goals for the world

Cities are leading the vaccination drive of the United States of America (USA). Jenny A Durkan, Mayor, Seattle, announced that the city is first in the country to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of the population. It is past its second

wave of COVID-19 and is driving global economic revival with economists predicting growth of more than 6 per cent in 2021. The country has already vaccinated close to 45 per cent of the population, when in fact, it is the worst hit country in the world in terms of active COVID-19 cases. The economy of the country will take a longer time to fully recover from the effects of the pandemic. However, the recovery is faster than expected in USA. Aggressive vaccination drive across the country is clearly visible as more than half of the 30 largest cities in USA have completely vaccinated more than 50 per cent of the population, according to Seattle’s official website. Rollout of COVID-19 vaccines across the US has helped them in getting back on track as there is less anxiety among the people and domestic demand is growing which is allowing the small businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms, etc, to get back on track. Consumer spending in the country reached a 14 month-high in April and the Government of USA has spent around $6 trillion in COVID-19 relief measures since May 2020, according to an official statement.

Economists around the world believe that robust spending in the economy and conducting vaccination at a faster pace will certainly help improve the economic health of the countries. The US government, on this line, has spent $1.9 trillion in relief packages to help those in need, which was approved in March 2020. Job creation is the key in economic revival of the USA. According to BBC, employers in the US have added more than 9,00,000 jobs due to reopening of restaurants, bars, schools, etc., which has slashed unemployment by 0.2 per cent as compared to February 2021. Boost-up spending on infrastructure and its related avenues can help boost employment rate and this, in return, will show a positive effect on the growth numbers of the country.

The US is still almost 8 million jobs down as compared to the pre-pandemic levels in February 2020, according to the Department of Labour, Government of USA.

Shenzhen leading the innovation sector

China has retained its 14th position among top performing economies in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020, according to World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Shenzhen is leading China’s growth as it is the innovation and technology hub of the country and COVID-19 has further strengthened the digitisation process.

According to the World Economic Forum, Shenzhen has the largest population of the so called ‘engine room’ population, which constitutes people in 20-40 years of age.

As the only major economy to have showed positive growth in 2020, China is well ahead in its path to achieve prepandemic growth. However, due to the second wave of COVID-19, the Chinese economy’s growth took a small pause in the first quarter of 2021. Innovation and export demands have been robust due to a continuous increase in the demand for Chinese goods. The exports have increased by 9.9 per cent as compared to last year.

China is one such country where government interference has been the key in the evolution. The Chinese government has spent a lot of resources in research, development, investment and in governing the global innovation market by allocating 2.23 per cent of its

gross domestic product in research and development in 2019-20, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic in India has resulted into long-lasting chaos amongst people as it is creating a section of poor population which is not used to categorising themselves as poor. Moreover, the bruises are longlasting and will take time to heal as the economy gradually comes back on track. Authorities have to learn from countries such as Brazil, which are spending with both hands to implement economic stimulus measures and relief packages, providing spending power to people so that the economy slowly gets back on track. There is no doubt that vaccination is the key, which in India has to begin by addressing vaccine hesitancy which has loomed among people for a long time. China has shown the power of innovation and technology in pushing the economy which has given unexpected results.

Implementation of these revival measures by way of knowledge sharing and adoption of key economic models can go a long way in helping the Indian authority on its path of economic revival after the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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ARTICLE | Vaccines & Economy

Fate of global economy rests on COVID-19 vaccination Economy of a nation is run by its people. A nation and its economy freezes if the population is faced with a health hazard, thereby turning expenditure on public health into an investment for nations. Health enhancement of a population largely depends on prevention – as was recognized centuries ago by Desiderius Erasmus in his famous quote, ‘Prevention is better than cure.’ With the help of vaccination drives, nations across the globe are now trying to cure the economic fallout created Pooja Upadhyay | Trainee Reporter

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he World Bank, in a hopeful statement, had said that the collapse in global economic activity in 2020 was slightly less severe than previously projected. The reason cited was shallower contractions in advanced economies and a more robust recovery in China.

38 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

However, in stark contrast to this, the economical disruptions and collapse of the entire structure was much more acute in the emerging markets and developing economies. World Bank estimates reflect that the coronavirus pandemic reduced global economic growth to an annualized rate of -4.5 per cent to -6.0 per cent in 2020, but the

organisation also projected its growth by 8 per cent in 2021.

Late 2020 and early 2021 saw developed economies making major strides in vaccinating increasing shares of their population. This raised clear prospects of a recovery in those economies, which in turn, will improve the global economic condition. Withal, a surge in new COVID-19 cases in 2021 in large developing economies around the world and consistent resistance to vaccinations among some populations in developed economies is raising questions and worries on the speed and the strength of an economic recovery over the near term. Economic experts believe that the pandemic could risk continued labor dislocations as a result of lingering high levels of unemployment, which has not been experienced since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Effect of vaccination on economies

A look at countries’ vaccination programmes reveals that countries that have been quick to vaccinate their population against COVID-19 and are

managing to control infections through effective public health strategies are seeing their economies recover more quickly. Reports claim that job vacancies in the United States are growing, including in sectors such as tourism. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, poorer and emerging market countries are not only being left behind in the vaccination drives, but are still living in constant fear, uncertainty, and a cloud of economic downfall with no respite in sight. An organised, equitable and all-inclusive development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines can enable a transition to a new postpandemic economy.

The United Kingdom

The country witnessed a rapid rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, which lifted its GDP by 2.1 per cent in March and prevented a steep decline in its economy during the third lockdown in the first three months of the year. UK’s economy, owing to the rapid vaccine rollout, retreated by a better-than-expected 1.5 per cent during the first quarter of 2021, because it allowed easing of restrictions on economic activities and businesses were able to adapt to the new constraints at a quicker pace than expected. Even UK’s economists upgraded their growth forecasts for the rest of year after noting that the figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the economy’s momentum exceeded their expectations. As of June 1, approximately 58 per cent of the UK’s population was vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Looking at these figures, the Bank of England expects the nation to recover to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.

China

According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) midyear report released in May this year, the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, are already on the road to economic recovery from the pandemic. China had established an ambitious plan to vaccinate

40 per cent of its population by the end of June, hoping for it to pave the way for lifting its economy’s growth rate to 9.3 per cent this year. As of June 1, China had already inoculated 47.19 per cent of its population, and it achieved the milestone of administering 20 million doses in a single day. In Beijing, the capital city, 87 percent of the population had received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19 as of June 4. The city administration has made getting a shot as easy as walking into one of the hundreds of vaccination points found all across the city. Moreover, vaccination buses are parked in high foot-traffic areas, including in the city centre and at malls. This fast paced vaccination drive enabled Beijing to lift restrictions from many economic activities and it witnessed its streets coming back to life. Similarly, with rapid vaccination, city of Wuhan is buzzing with life, and if it was not for the masks, it would seem like the pandemic never happened.

WESP report said that if China is able to maintain this speed of vaccination drive, it could translate into some form of herd immunity, which would in turn translate into a 0.4 percentage point gain to the GDP growth rate from Oxford Economic’s estimated 8.9 per cent baseline scenario.

Japan

Although Japan, throughout the pandemic, has managed to keep COVID-19 cases relatively low, it is still struggling with the vaccine roll-out and had reported a contraction in GDP of -5.1 per cent in first quarter of this year. The major reason behind delay in vaccine roll-out is that as of April 2021, the only available vaccine in the nation was that of Pfizer-BioNtech, and many local governments in Japan have been struggling to hire enough qualified personnel to administer the vaccines.

The Olympic Games, scheduled to start on July 23, are expected to offer some economic boost to the city of Tokyo and consequently, the nation. The local governments of Tokyo and Osaka are currently pushing vaccination drive in preparation of Olympics and opening

the city and make most of the coming opportunity for their economy.

India

The Ministry of Finance of the Government of India, on June 9, reiterating the importance of COVID-19 vaccine rollout, said that quickening the pace and coverage of vaccination is critical to helping India heal and regain the momentum of economic recovery. India will now have to work on two major blows from two different waves of the pandemic, and therefore vaccination becomes more important than ever to avoid another fatal wave.

According to GlobalData forecasts, Hyderabad will lead economic recovery with a growth rate of 10.9 per cent in 2021, followed by Bengaluru at 10.6 per cent and Chennai at 9.9 per cent. The one thing common is that these cities are administering vaccines against the COVId-19 at full tilt. As of June 1, only 14.0 per cent of India’s population had been administered with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and United Nations is expecting India’s GDP to grow at 7.5 per cent in 2021, given that the country continues its strive to vaccinate the population in earnest.

The International Monetary Fund labeled the projected decline in global economic activity due to COVID-19 pandemic as the Great Lockdown. In its updated and revised forecast released in April 2021, IMF had concluded that the global economy was improving due to the vaccination drives across the various developed nations like USA and UK, but cautioned that renewed waves of infections and new variants of the virus pose concerns for the activity. The forecast also stated that the economic recovery will be uneven across countries depending on their access to medical interventions, effectiveness of policy support, exposure to crosscountry spillovers, and structural characteristics entering the crisis. It projected India and China particularly to outpace the rate of global economic growth, experiencing a growth rate of 12.5 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively in 2021.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

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ARTICLE | Reviving Biodiversity

Reversing ecosystem degradation working with city youths

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xygen, which is otherwise taken for granted, has been the most talked about crisis in India in recent months. However, much of the attention stayed put on the oxygen cylinders and concentrators.

Very naturally so. A few Indians, who are generally concerned about environment in normal times as well, raised the issue of oxygen that we get from natural environment. A few posts on social media emphasised the need for planting more trees. Some even discussed, rather criticized, about the damage we are doing to ourselves by destroying the trees and forests. These few people, to me, are the real thinkers of our times.

As a self-proclaimed civilized world, we should never forget the fact that each oxygen-laden breath we take, the food we eat, the shelter we are in, and almost everything that we claim to be rightfully ours, are given by the natural world.

We are part of the natural systems, an

40 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

integral component of the biodiversity ourselves. However, we have been the prime reason for destroying the ecosystems that support us. Our fight for oxygen cylinders and concentrators during the Covid pandemic may end soon but our fight for oxygen from the natural system is getting fiercer by the day. There will certainly be life beyond one pandemic, but there cannot be life when we have destroyed the natural spaces and the biodiversity they support.

While Covid is a huge challenge, perhaps the most difficult pandemic we have faced so far in our life time, loss of biodiversity, coupled with climate change, is a much bigger challenge that we face at the moment. Understanding this would help us fight not only this one pandemic but also the future pandemics.

Biodiversity loss and our peril

The loss to biodiversity has been the fastest in recent decades, even as climate change science gets

much sharper and awareness drives against destruction of ecosystems go overboard. The last 50 years have seen the maximum destruction to the biodiversity. According to estimates, about half of all the animals may have been lost in just half a century’s time.

The way we are destroying habitats now was not seen in the four billion years of Earth’s history. Some scientists are of the opinion that this may already have started the process for the sixth mass extinction.

A ground-breaking study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and reported in the Guardian, has given frightening estimates of how humans have pushed almost all other species to extinction already.

This first comprehensive estimate of the weight of every class of living creature finds out that the humans represent just 0.01 per cent of all living things but has caused the loss of 83 per cent of all wild mammals and half of plants.

Of all the birds that exist in the world today, only 30 per cent are wild. Rest are

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network

farmed poultry. Among the mammals, only 4 per cent wild ones still remain.

Livestock make up almost 60 per cent of them and the rest 36 per cent are humans. The massive destruction of forests and wetlands have also resulted in extinction of these species. That is not a good sign for us.

Destroying nature is not good economics either. The prestigious and widely acclaimed Dasgupta Review ‘Economics of Biodiversity’ clearly says that our economies, livelihoods and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature. We need to ensure that our demands on nature do not exceed its supply, and that we increase nature’s supply relative to its current level. Currently, it is estimated that humanity is using resources of 1.6 Earths. That is unsustainable and we are sure to face more pandemics and other disasters.

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

It has now been well realised that the current approaches to economic growth cannot be pursued any further.

The UN has in a report said that degradation of natural ecosystems is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people — that is 40 per cent of the world’s population.

Over the past five years, the world lost roughly 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of forests per year, an area about three and a half times as big as Belgium. We have destroyed about 64-71 per cent of wetlands during the last century. Almost 20 per cent of global farmlands are degraded, even as agriculture has cleared an estimated 70 per cent of grasslands across the globe. An estimated one-third of global

fisheries are overfished, threatening 60 million fishers around the world.

2021-2030 has been declared as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to rev up the task of conserving the remaining natural resources and also for restoring the degraded ones. The UN says ecosystems are an indispensable ally of humans if we wish to meet objectives of this decade. Unless we work towards these objectives, we cannot achieve the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Restoration is good economics, the UN says as it calls for restoration of at least one billion hectares of degraded land in the next decade. A costly proposition for sure but compared to the benefits, this is highly beneficial.

If ecosystem services decline at a steady rate, an estimated $10 trillion in global GDP may be lost by 2050. It is estimated that about half of the global GDP depends on nature.

Investing in ecosystem restoration can help the human race in many ways.

Free oxygen, water and food security, combating climate change are just a few to note. However, can the global calls and commitments be realised unless we create a foundation for these actions in the society? This question is more relevant for the urban population, who are fast getting detached from nature and their lives are revolving around the GDP-centric economic growth models and lifestyles.

Convincing them to start loving nature and preserving the same in their neighbourhood has been a daunting task. Each free inch of space in urban landscapes is being converted into something or the other that will only provide economic and other services to the city dwellers without any scope of nature to grab its own share. Let us talk about something I observed during the Covid pandemic, especially during the Covid lockdowns.

Urban youths, their dilemma and need for ecosystem education

During the pandemic, as people were

locked inside four walls of their homes, while most of the younger generations stuck to their mobile phones, people of my generation felt suffocated. The youths too were suffocated but not because they missed the greenery. I say this because I must have talked to hundreds of them. City dwellers craved for free spaces. Balconies, terraces and rooftops were thronged like never before. The parks and urban tree areas were missed the most. Water bodies too. But when it comes to the youths, they did not care about the green spaces much. Internet is where the young nation is. Well for most of them, if not all.

Urbanisation – dominated by grey infrastructure that destroys common property resources such as trees, ponds, waterways – is considered among the major causes of biodiversity loss. The world is fast getting urban and the decisions for Earth’s survival are being taken in the cities. These youths, at the current state of understanding on biodiversity loss and its impact on our common future, would not be able to hold on to the promises of the world governments who are making big commitments on climate change and biodiversity. The foundation for grassroots actions for global commitments has to be built in societies, cities.

The need of the hour for each city is to plan for biodiversity conservation and restoration. For this to happen, while each urban dweller needs to be involved, the youth must especially be educated and made to work for restoration.

Education curriculum should be designed in ways that their grades are linked to conservation actions. No matter which profession they choose, let them go through the rigour of conservation education and actions – in real terms – so that we can aspire to avoid the sixth mass extinction. After all, no civilization wants to perish.

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

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

41

CITYNET 1.0 | Localising SDGs

Roles and challenges in achieving Sustainable development AIILSG, in collaboration with CityNet, organised a webinar on ‘Localising SDGs and Role of Local Governments: Opportunities and Challenges’ on June 18, 2021

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he eminent panel of the event included Dr Pascaline Gaborit, Founder, Pilot4dev; Gaurang Rathi, Commissioner, Varanasi Nagar Nigam; Prerna Vijaykumar Mehta, Associate Director (Urban Development), World Resource Institute (WRI); Abhilash Khandekar, Senior Journalist; and Akanksha Laroiya, Programme Officer, CITIIS (City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain). The event was moderated by Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, and the welcome address was given by Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG. Guru began his part by introducing AIILSG and its working in various sectors to strengthen the missions under SDGs and the contribution of the organisation in implementing Swachh Bharat Abhiyan across the country. He added that the organisation is working

with different ULBs and assisting them in implementing the Smart City Mission in almost all Indian states.

He also mentioned about the Girl Power project, which the organisation is implementing in collaboration with European Union in Jharkhand.

He added that Urban Update is also working on ground for capacity building of ULB officials through series of webinars and events.

Dr Pascaline Gaborit began the discussion by giving a brief introduction of the Pilot4Dev initiative, which is working to boost the SDGs, address climate change, and promote good governance and knowledge sharing.

She added that cities have been hit severely by climate change issues and the problem will only increase as the urban regions will continue to suffer from increase in sea levels, landslides, air pollution, etc. Dr Gaborit addressed the issue of burst in urbanisation as increasing number of people are

shifting to cities in search of work and other facilities. She added that projects like CRIC (Climate Resilient and Inclusive Cities) are working with research centres in Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia to augment sustainable development and mitigate the effects of climate change. She then quoted Dar es Salaam’s example, a city in Tanzania, that tackled the problem of water, sanitation and SDGs in the city. She also cited the example of Banjarmasin, Indonesia, that presented a good example of water management between floods and clean water provision. One more city of Indonesia named Samarinda was suffering from three main issues of floods, environmental degradation and solid waste, she added.

Dr Pascaline added that localisation of SDGs is an important concept in this regard and there is a need for implementing the key strategies such as funding the SDGs at the local level and linking them with national plans.

She emphasised that cooperation of multiple stakeholders is key and there is a need to work with the local population to achieve the SDG targets.

She concluded by saying that an integrated adaptive design is important for cities and these needs are urgent and tremendous.

For video of the webinar, scan the QR Code

42 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Team Urban Update

Gaurang Rathi took the discussion forward by explaining the importance of SDGs, and said, “Sustainability is the most important part of SDGs, while the criteria of development consists of variable entities which shift from time to time.” He added that Varanasi, being an ancient city, has cultural significance as well and this aspect has to be integrated in the development of the region. Rathi cited the example of waste management challenges in the city and said that the city is blessed with two major water bodies of the country and the cultural aspect attached to it has to be kept in mind. The sewage treatment plants are not constructed near these water bodies, as was done during the British era. Things have changed substantially in the last 100 years, he added.

Rathi said that solid waste management is also a challenge in a city like Varanasi where religious and cultural activities are going on around

the clock. He said, “We have put localised measures in the city which contribute to the overall aim of waste management and segregation.”

Prerna Vijaykumar Mehta took the floor next and began by talking about India’s contribution in integrating the SDGs inclusively. She said, “31 per cent of the population in India lives in urban areas and 17 per cent of them are living in slums. By 2030, India will be home to 7 mega cities with more than 10 million population.” She added that the Government of India has come up with various missions and schemes which are in line with SDGs to provide basic necessities to people. However, their success depends on the attitude of local governments and how they can tap the opportunity with support and cooperation of authorities.

Integrated planning is important to achieve the goals and its absence will harm the progress towards cooperative function between the authorities.

Citing a report, she said, “90 per cent of the COVID-19 cases were from urban regions and were concentrated in areas with high population. Almost 42 per cent of households have no scope for social distancing.” She added that we have to look back to see where we are failing when we talk about slums and the informal urban population. Prerna presented some examples of cooperation in working

“Sustainability is the most important part of SDGs, while the criteria of development consists of variable entities which shift from time to time” Gaurang Rathi Commissioner, Varanasi Nagar Nigam

towards the solution, which includes partnering with cities to facilitate peer to peer learning and cooperation with community organisation such as RWAs (Residents Welfare Association), local NGOs, etc.

Khandekar emphasized on some of the SDGs which are essential for the environment. He said that the ULBs in many states are not serious about the implementation of SDGs and AIILSG in this regard is handholding with cities so that these SDGs can be effectively implemented. He congratulated Gaurang Rathi for effective implementation of SDGs in an ancient city like Varanasi, where challenges are different. He added that implementation of SDGs is not effective and not percolating to the local level and the mayors are unaware of the SDG goals. He said, “It is time that we become aware of the SDGs and join hands to achieve their targets so that our society is resilient and futuristic.”

The biggest challenges presently are how to make cities inclusive and how to make sustainable development a part of life. “People must now begin to take sustainable development seriously,” Khandekar added.

Akanksha Laroiya started her presentation by speaking about the strategies cities are undertaking to achieve SDGs. She went on to talk about the CITIIS program, its strategies and main functions. She added that understanding the objective and design of the program is important in order to understand the basics of localising SDGs. She said, “There are four major themes under which the projects are selected and technical assistance is provided to the selected cities by a group of experts and global mentors to design, develop and implement the projects.” The projects are developed in two stages - maturation phase and implementation phase.

After the monitoring and evaluation plans are designed, they are integrated on the cities’ management platforms, where the reporting was done easily by the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

All the indicators are marked with SDG goals afterwards.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

43

E-Dialogues 24.0 | World Environment Day

Circular economy at base of restoring planet earth All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) in collaboration with UNCRD, Institute for Special Planning and Environment Research (ISPER), and 3R Waste Foundation, organised a webinar on June 5 on ‘3R & Circular Economy for Restoring Ecosystem and Achieving Clean Water, Land, and Air’ to mark the occasion of the World Environment Day. The webinar was organised as a pre-event of UNCRD’s 11th 3R and Circular Economy Forum 2021, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow later this year

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r Kulwant Singh, CEO, 3R Waste Foundation, began by welcoming eminent speakers for the webinar.

Professor Asit K Biswas, Distinguished Professor, Glasgow University, United

44 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Kingdom, started his keynote address by mentioning the need to rethink the philosophy of 3R and circular economy and go beyond it in view of the ever continuing growth in science, technology, and understanding of the global issues of environment and

development. He first discussed why Indian norms involve provision of providing 130 litres of water per person per day, when the fundamental question of how much water on average a person needs to lead a healthy and productive life remains unasked and unanswered globally. He mentioned how Wales Water Regulator had suggested last year that all the water utilities of England and Wales should reduce their per capita water consumption by half by 2050 reducing it to 71 litres from the current 141 litres per capita. A study done in Singapore says that a person needs around 75 litres of water per day to lead a healthy and productive life, and this amount involves water consumption for aesthetic choices as well. Prof Asit said that reducing the per capita water consumption in India to a level that does not impact health or productivity will ensure production of less waste water, as nearly 80-85 per cent of water consumption in a household is turned to waste. He said, “Waste water is a tremendous source of energy,” and his presentation elaborated on different ways cities have adopted to channelize the energy from waste water, like the city of Aarhus and Durham.

Dr Ashwani Luthra, Professor, GRD School of Planning, Amritsar, was the next speaker. He talked about restoration of urban ecosystem in the post-COVID world. His suggestions included working on hap hazardous urban sprawl by going for compact development, and integrated townships, with ecosystem

Team Urban Update

city at its base. He sees the pandemic as an opportunity to learn, create and experience a better urban ecosystem with increased access for cyclists and pedestrians. Dr Anupam Khajuria, UNCRD Japan, presented her view on the topic ‘Role of 3R and Circular Economy to achieve clean water, land and air’. She said that recycling waste from other industries instead of sending it to landfills creates value and also minimizes negative environmental impacts. Circular economy design with new business models has the potential to contribute substantially to poverty alleviation and transition towards lowcarbon and green economy. Moreover, she explored the idea of artificial intelligence as an enabler of the circular economy and using circular economy as a toolbox for achieving the numbers of SDG goals and targets.

Her presentation talked in detail on the transitioning strategies towards New Plastic Economy, with reference to the example of Japan’s Resource Circulation Strategy for Plastics.

Rohit Kakkar, Deputy Advisor, Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation, said that some efforts have already been taken towards waste water treatment and recycling in some Indian cities.

However, there is still much that needs to be done for all-round comprehensive development in urban India. He added, “There is no dearth of policies in India on waste water recycling and reuse, but the absence of clear, actionable

directives from the respective states/ ULBs is a big hindrance.” He elaborated on the guiding principles that the government is trying to work on to facilitate reach of waste water recycling and promote its acceptance among the population.

Prarthana Borah, India Director, Clean Air Asia, spoke on ‘Achieving Clean Air through a Circular Economy’.

She said that one of the least discussed areas is the connection between proper waste management and reduction of air pollution. With rapid population growth and urbanization, annual waste generation is expected to increase by 70 per cent from 2016 levels to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050. She noted that since effective waste management is expensive, it poses a major challenge for municipalities, especially considering that a majority of the municipal budgets are utilized for collection of waste in India. Apart from this, there is inaccurate calculation of the total mass of air pollution emitted by solid waste.

Hence, it is also extremely difficult to measure exposure to air pollution from these sources, which could potentially help design relevant mitigation methods. She then went on to say that a world without waste is impossible.

Thus, we must work towards reducing it and using it wisely.

Prarthana said that in our design process and implementation programmes, the biggest challenge is to consider circular aspect, and an integrated system which can connect multiple components of waste generation and recycling. She talked about citizen engagement in reference to a study done on Delhi taken as a case.

The study highlighted the importance of integrating citizen engagement component in achieving circular economy. She was of the view that there is much that needs to be involved in India’s National Clean Air Programme, and we need better policy framework with circular economy and SDGs at its heart in fight against increasing air pollution in cities.

Dr NB Mazumdar, Chairman, International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public

Health, was the next speaker, whose presentation was on ‘Practicing 3R for achieving Zero Waste Status.’

Traditionally, Indian society has valued the concept of ‘thrift’ in contrast to modern society, which survives on consumption, and is linked to economic activity. He said that the key is to simultaneously work on waste reduction and processing and recycling of solid waste. This will ensure the final residue set to be deposited in landfill is minimum, and it is essential for cities to have a proper land use plan.

He presented how construction and demolition waste offers great potential for reuse and recycle. His presentation proposed two approaches to deal with plastic waste - utilizing the plastic waste for black top road making and processing into liquid fuel; and long term, in-depth R&D to find better materials to replace plastics and plastic packaging materials. Dr Mazumdar said that the concept of ‘zero waste’ in practice actually entails the practice of minimizing ultimate waste.

Other noted panelists in the webinar included Professor Sunil Herat, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University; Somesh Sharma, Expert, Environment and Sustainable Development Planning, IHS; Dr Harpreet S Kandra, Federation University, Australia; Dr Deepty Jain, Assistant Professor, TERI School of Advanced Studies; Girish Chadha, Editor and Publisher, India Waste Review; Rajiv Sharma, General Manager, Housing and Urban Development Corporation; Dr Gopal Krishan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, Punjab University; and Dr SL Sharma, Former Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, Punjab University.

The webinar was concluded with an interactive question and answer session having the panelists discuss questions such as possible impact of circular economy on SDG 6 and the kind of horizontal and vertical cooperation that countries can consider for better implementation of circular economy development strategies.

www.urbanupdate.in | June 2021

45

Urban Agenda

Modern Technology

Mobile applications, IoT to take over urban governance Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

One of the most evident changes that the pandemic has brought in people is that they are now preferring online methods for just about everything that is non-essential. One such area is urban service-delivery. With the help of technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), mobile applications and service automation, urban local bodies (ULBs) need to address the concerns of the public in the shortest time possible.

Smart cities are considered the future of cities, with smart, modern solutions to regular, urban problems like traffic jams, construction and environmental conservation activities etc. However, they were almost as defenseless as other cities to the pandemic. This made a number of urban planners rethink the way they ideate a smart city to be like. In post-pandemic urban planning, pandemic resilience, access to adequate medical facilities and other essential supplies is being given renewed importance. With it, automation and touch-less services are also being considered as the future of civic amenities.

What must be kept in mind is that being a communicable disease, COVID-19 has taught the public that social distancing and touch-less services must be ensured at all possible public outlets. Some cities have begun door-step garbage collection services to ensure that garbage from COVID-infected families is collected separately, more needs to be done. It must be kept in mind that post collection, segregation, treatment and disposal of COVID-infected and other waste must be done separately.

While work has been done in this regard, it is not enough.

Secondly, for regular civic services like complaint filing and redressal, payment of bills and dues and other paperwork related tasks, authorities must ensure use of online modes to smoothen the process while also ensuring ease of access and safety to customers. BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), the electricity supplier of NCT of Delhi, has done substantial work in this regard. A joint venture of Reliance Power Ltd and the Government of NCT of Delhi, BRPL allows its users to file complaints using their Android mobile application, or by calling their toll free customer care numbers. The service is quick, clear and on-time. This helps in reducing the load on offices of the BRPL and ensures that the employees can work without having to deal with the customers faceto-face. Through their mobile application, customers can even book new connections, get existing connections disconnected, pay bills, order new billing meters, etc.

Another new technology which is likely to be given much importance post-pandemic is IoT, which will majorly be used to operate all aspects of urban life remotely while also ensuring regular computerized feedback. This will help in operating traffic signals, all types of buildings, offices, parks, community centres and other public spaces from one integrated command centre, the concept of which is being applied in over 50 smart cities in India. As a result, ULBs will be able to handle the entire city from one location, without having to worry about employees running to each and every service-delivery point. In turn, it will also mean that with the help of sensors, monitors and trackers, ULBs will also be able to track real-time data. This will help in monitoring on-ground situation, which will come in handy especially at a time like the one that has affected us all currently. On the other hand, it will also help policy makers in formulating policies and implementing them in the best possible way, with the help of reliable, real-time data.

The implementation and use of such services by the authorities and the public will not be instantaneous and will take time. However, if the government wishes to avoid the havoc that was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic from striking again, they need to work proactively on delivery in a contact-less, automated way to ensure the safety of its citizens and employees.

46 June 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

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