On September 16, 2021, a report titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’ was released by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog’s Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Amitabh Kant and Special Secretary Dr K. Rajeswara Rao.
- The report has been developed by NITI Aayog over a period of 9 months, in consultation with concerned ministries and eminent experts in the domain of urban and regional planning.
Key highlights of report:
i.India is home to 11% of the total global urban population and will surpass China as the most populous country in the world by 2027.
ii.There is a dire need for the planning and management of cities as the existing urban planning and governance framework is complex. In order to overcome this scenario, the report has recommended the following:
- Every city must aspire to become a ‘Healthy City for All’ by 2030. In this regard, a Central Scheme ‘500 Healthy Cities Programme’, for a period of 5 years has been recommended, wherein priority cities and towns would be selected jointly by the states and local bodies.
- The report also recommended a sub-scheme ‘Preparation/Revision of Development Control Regulations’ for strengthening development control regulations under ‘Healthy Cities Programme’.
- States/UTs should expedite the filling of vacant positions of town planners ensuring qualified candidates.
- It suggested a ‘Citizen Outreach Campaign’ to ease the process of urban planning.
- The other recommendations include Re-engineering of Urban Governance, revision of Town and Country Planning Acts, and Enhancing the Role of Private Sector.
iii.Apart from above there is a need of Strengthening Urban Planning Education System under which Central universities and technical institutions should be encouraged to offer postgraduate degree programmes (MTech Planning). These offerings can be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and respective state rural development departments/directorates.
iv.The report recommends the constitution of a ‘National Council of Town and Country Planners’ as a statutory body of the Government of India along with the creation of ‘National Digital Platform of Town and Country Planners’ within the National Urban Innovation Stack of MoHUA.
Dassault Systèmes, NITI Aayog partner to boost innovations
NITI Aayog and France’s software maker Dassault Systèmes have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) during a virtual event to support various current and future initiatives of AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) programs and AIM beneficiaries in India.
- Under the pact, Dassault Systèmes will support AIM beneficiaries viz. Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), AIM incubators (AICs and EICs), Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACIC), grantees under Atal New India Challenge (ANIC), and Atal Research & Innovation for Small Enterprise (ARISE).
- The collaboration will act as a catalyst for innovation.
6 aspects of SoI:
i.Access to Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab start-up acceleration program to selected AIM start-ups
ii.Mentorship to selected AIM start-ups for capability building of their products;
iii.3DEXPERIENCE Lab related global community access to selected AIM start-ups
iv.Industry connect for selected AIM start-ups with Dassault Systèmes’ worldwide customers, partners and technology collaborators
v.Participation of selected AIM start-ups in Dassault Systèmes national and global events
vi.Organization and participation in joint events, hackathons, challenges with AIM and NITI Aayog
Key Points:
i.AIM develops programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy
ii.As per NITI Aayog, AIM’s initiatives have played a role in India’s position going up from 81 in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 to 48 in 2020.
Recent Related News:
i.As India’s policies and programmes are aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog released the Study on Not-For-Profit Hospital Model in India-Web providing insight into their operation model. As of June 2018, these hospitals account for only 1.1% of treated ailments.
ii.The report was released by Dr. Vinod Kumar Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog.
Dr. Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary of NITI Aayog & Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets and Security, International Energy Agency (IEA) jointly launched the ‘Renewables Integration in India 2021’ prepared by NITI Aayog & IEA.
About NITI Aayog:
Establishment– 2015
Chairperson– Prime Minister of India (Currently- Narendra Damodardas Modi)
Headquarters– New Delhi
