On June 25, 2021, an online event was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to mark the 6th anniversary of the launch of three transformative Urban Missions viz. Smart Cities Mission (SCM), AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). The event will be presided over by Minister of State (Independent Charge), Hardeep Singh Puri, MoHUA.
- These missions were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015 for urban rejuvenation.
- The date also marked 45 years of establishment of National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), an autonomous body of MoHUA.
Key Points:
i.During the event, MoHUA also released the India Smart Cities Fellowship Report, the TULIP annual report, and knowledge products developed by NIUA.
ii.It should be noted that during the last 6 years, the Central Government infused an overall investment of Rs. 12 lakh crore for urban development, as compared to Rs. 1.5 lakh crore in the period between 2004-2014.
Indore & Surat jointly won the City Award and Uttar Pradesh won State award under India Smart Cities Awards 2020
During the event, MoHUA also announced the results of India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 which were given across 6 categories of Project Awards, City Leadership Award, State UT Award, Innovation Award, COVID Innovation Award, and City Award. Following table provides a complete list of awardees:
| Category | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| Smart City award | Indore and Surat | ||
| Smart Cities Leadership Award | Ahmedabad | Varanasi | Ranchi |
| State Award | Uttar Pradesh (UP) | Madhya Pradesh (MP) | Tamil Nadu(TN) |
| UT Award | Chandigarh | ||
| Project Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Aspects | Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh (AP) | Bhubaneshwar, Odisha | Tumakuru, Karnataka |
| Built Environment | Indore, Madhya Pradesh (MP) | Surat, Gujarat | Erode, TN |
| Sanitation | Tirupati, AP & Indore, MP | – | Surat, Gujarat |
| Culture | Indore, MP & Chandigarh | – | Gwalior,MP |
| Economy | Indore, MP | Tirupati, AP & Agra, Uttar Pradesh (UP) | – |
| Governance | Vadodara, Gujarat | Thane, Maharashtra | Bhubaneswar, Odisha |
| Urban Environment | Bhopal, MP & Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN) | – | Tirupati, AP
|
| Urban Mobility | Aurangabad, Maharashtra | Surat, Gujarat | Ahmedabad, Gujarat |
| Water | Dehradun, Uttarakhand & Varanasi, UP | – | Surat, Gujarat |
| Sustainable Business Model | Agartala, Tripura
| ||
| Other Awards | |||
| Innovative idea award | Indore, MP | ||
| Covid Innovation Award | Kalyan-Dombivali in Maharashtra and Varanasi, UP | ||
Key Points:
i.Indore and Surat are jointly conferred with for overall development. This is the first time MoHUA has given awards to states for the overall performance of the smart cities.
ii.UP has got the Best Smart State for taking up the development of seven more cities on its own as smart cities. These are Meerut, Ghaziabad, Ayodhya, Ferozabad, Gorakhpur, Mathura-Vrindavan and Saharanpur.
iii.The ministry also launched the report on Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF) 2.0 that evaluated the current performance of cities across five thematic areas in which 126 cities participated.
- The top nine performing cities which have been awarded “4 star rating” are Surat, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Vadodara.
iv.India Smart Cities Fellowship Report, TULIP annual report, and knowledge products developed by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) released during event.
About PMAY-U:
It was launched to address the urban housing shortage among the EWS (Economically Weaker Section )/LIG (Low Income Group) and MIG (Middle Income Group) categories including the slum dwellers by ensuring a ‘pucca’ house to all eligible urban households by the year 2022. So far, about 1.12 crore houses have been sanctioned for its beneficiaries.
16 lakh families benefitted from PMAY-U’s Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) Government investment under PMAY-U created around 689 crore person days of employment translating into around 246 lakh jobs.
New Announcements with respect to PMAY-U:
i.At the event, a short movie contest ‘Khushiyon ka Ashiyana’ was also announced as a run up to India’s 75th Independence. In this regard, 75 movies will be selected by a jury. 25 awards each under the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories will be given away along with a cash prize and citation from MoHUA.
ii.MoHUA also announced 75 ‘Awas Par Samvaad’ workshops that will be held across States/UTs in Schools/Colleges/Institutions under the theme of ‘Housing for All’.
AMRUT Mission:
AMRUT was launched as a first focused national water Mission to address the issues of Water Supply, Sewerage and septage management, Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding, Non-motorized Urban Transport and creating green space/parks in 500 cities with more than 1 lakh population.
- The overall outlay of the mission Rs 1 lakh crore including central share of Rs 50,000 crore.
- 105 lakh household water tap connections and 78 lakh sewer/ sepatage connections provided under AMRUT Mission.
Smart Cities Mission:
Smart Cities Mission is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. As on date, 69 Smart cities have developed and operationalised their ICCCs in the country.
Recent Related News:
MoHUAlaunched the Transport 4 All Challenge in collaboration with Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) to bring together cities, citizen groups, and start-ups to develop solutions that will improve public transport.
About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA):
Secretary– Durga Shanker Mishra
Headquarter– New Delhi
