[Indian Year Book 2022-23]* Indian Year Book Notes | Chapter 20. Housing And Urban Affairs

 

Indian Year Book

(2022-23)

Chapter – 20. Housing And Urban Affairs

 

Ø  The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is the nodal ministry for planning and coordination of urban transport matters at the central level. Urban development is a state subject and the Constitution (Seventy-Fourth) Amendment Act, 1992, enjoins upon the state governments to delegate many functions to urban local bodies.

Ø  The 2030 development agenda of the United Nations has emphasised the role of sustainable cities by incorporating Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), i.e., Sustainable Cities and Communities for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. As per the Census of India 2011, the population of India is 1,210.50 million, of which 377.10 million (31.2 per cent) is urban and 833.40 million (68.8 per cent) is rural.

 

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana—Housing for All (Urban)

Ø  Mission Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) for ensuring housing for all in urban areas was launched in 2015 as a fl agship mission and is to be implemented during 2015-22. The mission provides central assistance to all eligible families/ benefi ciaries across all statutory towns for houses.

Ø  States/UTs will have the fl exibility to include the Planning Areas (to the exclusion of rural areas) as notifi ed with respect to Statutory Towns and such Planning Areas (to the exclusion of rural areas) as notifi ed by development authorities. EWS family has been defi ned as the family with annual income up to ₹ 3 lakh and LIG with annual income between ₹ 3-6 lakh.

Ø  Progress of the scheme

·          A comprehensive and robust MIS system is in place that helps all stakeholders to seamlessly manage information pertaining to physical and fi nancial progress. The MIS is equipped with geotagging features and integrated with BHUVAN Portal of National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and BHARAT MAP of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for monitoring the progress of construction of houses.

·          The MIS is utilising services from UIDAI servers for ‘on the fl y’ demographic authentication of Aadhaar of benefi ciaries. The MIS has also been integrated with UMANG Mobile App, NITI Aayog Dashboard and DBT Bharat Portal for sharing of mission critical information with different stakeholders.

·          The mission has crossed the momentous milestone of 1 crore and is now one of the largest affordable housing programme in the world.

 

§  Affordable rental housing complexes

·         Covid-19 pandemic threw a lot of challenges on the entire economy. The biggest challenge being reverse migration of urban migrants/poor in the country. Due to the temporary shutting down of industries and other sectors, the migration took place.

·         These urban migrants stay in slums, informal settlements, unauthorised colonies, peri-urban areas to save cost on housing. Hence, they need decent rental housing at affordable rate near their worksites. In order to address this need and to promote economic activities post pandemic, MoHUA Initiated ARHCs, a sub-scheme under PMAY (U).

 

§  Smart cities mission

·         In the approach of the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ’smart’ solutions. Under it, 100 Smart Cities have been selected in 4 Rounds based on an All India Competition. All 100 cities have incorporated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), City Level Advisory Forums (CLAFs) and appointed Project Management Consultants (PMCs).

 

§  Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

·         The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) was launched in 2005 as the fi rst fl agship scheme of this Ministry. The JnNURM implemented by MoHUA has two components: Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), which are aimed at integrated development of slums through projects to provide shelter, basic services and other related civic amenities with a view to providing utilities to the urban poor.

·         Under BSUP, project cost is shared between centre and the states in the ratio of 50:50 for cities with population more than 1 million (as per Census 2001), 80:20 for other smaller Mission Cities and 90:10 for North Eastern and special category states.

·         The two components of JnNURM were mandated to pursue 3 key pro-poor reforms, namely, (a) earmarking of 25 per cent of municipal budget for the urban poor for provision of basic services including affordable housing to the urban poor; (b) implementation of 7-Point Charter, namely provision of land tenure, affordable housing, water, sanitation, education, health and social security to the poor in a time-bound manner ensuring convergence with other programmes; and (c) reservation of 25 per cent of developed land in all housing projects, public or private, critical for slum improvement.

 

§  Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

·         The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in 2015. In all, 500 cities have been included in the Mission. All Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with a population of one lakh or more, all other capital cities of states/UTs and all Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) cities, identifi ed cities on the stem of the main rivers, from hill states, islands and tourist destinations. Approximately 60 per cent of urban population in the country is covered under AMRUT.

 

§  Heritage City Development

·         The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), a central sector scheme of the Government of India was launched in 2015 with the aim of bringing together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner. By November 2018 and after a total outlay of ₹ 500 crore, the scheme is being implemented in 12 identifi ed cities, namely, Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal.

 

§  PM SVANidhi Scheme

·         Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns have adversely impacted the livelihoods of street vendors. To address the urgent need to provide credit for working capital to street vendors to resume their business, the Ministry launched ‘PM Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, as part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat package’, to facilitate collateral free working capital loans upto 10,000 for 1 year.

 

§  The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016

·         Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) was passed by the Parliament in March 2016, heralding a new era of transformation in the real estate sector. The core objective of this transformative legislation is to ensure regulation and promotion of real estate sector in an effi cient manner and to protect the interest of home buyers. The Act is applicable to all the states/UTs, except Jammu & Kashmir. Most

of the states/UTs have notifi ed the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules.

 

§  Urban Transport

·         The sustainable development of all urban centres largely depends upon their physical, social and institutional infrastructure. Urban transport is an important component of urban infrastructure. The rapidly growing urban population also calls for a systematic approach to plan cities with comprehensive mobility plans, optimal land use and proper transport infrastructure thereby ensuring all aspects of road safety, intelligent transport systems, promotion of non-motorised systems like cycle-tracks and walkways.

 

§  National Urban Transport Policy

·         Realising the rapidly growing challenges of urban transport, Government of India formulated a National Urban Transport Policy in April, 2006. The policy set the tone for countering the mobility problems of big cities, recommending that they be addressed through demand management, and investments in public transport systems. The objective of the policy is to ensure accessible, safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable mobility for all.

 

§  Metro Rail Policy

·         The Metro Rail policy which was framed in consultation with various metro rail corporations, state governments, central ministries and domain experts was launched in, 2017 for ascertaining and enhancing the feasibility of metro rail projects from economic, social and environmental perspective.

 

§  Metro Lite

·         Standard specifi cations for Light Urban Rail Transit System named “MetroLite” have been issued by the Ministry in July, 2019. This system is suitable for Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffi c (PHPDT) up to 15,000 and can be developed at about 40 per cent cost of conventional metro system due to its lighter civil structure, low axle load, smaller stations with basic amenities, requirement of low power rated electrical equipment, etc., Low construction, operation, and maintenance costs makes MetroLite fi nancially sustainable for Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of big cities.

 

§  Metro Neo

·         Standard specifi cations for Rubber Tyre Electric Coaches Powered by Overhead Traction System with exclusive right of way named Metro Neo have been issued in November, 2020. This mass rapid transit system is suitable for Tier-2 cities with PHPDT up to 8,000 and can be developed at a cost of about 25 per cent of conventional metro system.

 

§  Delhi Metro- Unattended Train Operations

·         The country’s fi rst ever fully-automated train service/Unattended Train Operations (UTO) also known as Driverless Train Operations (DTO), was fl agged off in Delhi in 2020. With the launch of these fully automated DTOs, India enters into the elite league of few countries having this facility in their metro system.

 

§  I-Metros (Indian Metro Rail Organisations’ Society)

·         A platform to exchange ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations, etc., among the Indian metro rail companies to nurture excellence in performance, was launched in March 2018.

 

National Common Mobility Card

·         India’s fi rst indigenously developed payment ecosystem for transport based National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) was launched in March 2019. This will enable people to pay multiple kinds of transport charges, including metro services and toll tax, across the country. This inter-operable transport card allows the holders to pay for their bus travel, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdrawal of money.

 

 

 

 

 

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