Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the annual budget for the year 2022-23, has put emphasis on financial inclusion in urban planning with a view to chart urban development in the country in unconventional ways. The government plans to make a major overhaul in the urban sector by facilitating a paradigm shift in policy research, promoting transition-oriented development, sustainable living and methods concerning urban governance.
By the time India would complete hundred years of Independence, “nearly half of our population is likely to be living in urban areas” said Sitharaman in her budget speech. To prepare for this, the government thinks carrying out orderly urban development processes is of critical importance. With a view to realising its economic potential through livelihood opportunities especially concerning the country’s young population, the government has planned schemes to facilitate urban planning and design, so as to nurture our cities as ‘centres of sustainable living’
Urban planning cannot continue with ‘as-usual’ approach
While calling on the need to change the way we look at cities, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said, “On one hand, we need to nurture megacities and their hinterlands to become current centres of economic growth. On the other, we need to facilitate tier – 2 and tier – 3 cities to take upon the mantle in the future.”
Sitharaman emphasized that this would require the nation to ‘reimagine our cities as centres of sustainable living with opportunities for all’ including women and the youth. She said, “For this to happen, Urban planning cannot continue with the business-as-usual approach. We plan to steer a paradigm change.” The government has decided to set up a high-level committee of reputed urban planners, urban economists and institutions which will be formed to have recommendations on urban sector policies, capacity building, planning and governance.
Support to the states
For Urban capacity building, the government assures support to be provided to the states in the budget. This includes modernization of existing building bye-laws, town planning schemes, and implementation of transit-oriented development schemes. Sitharaman said that this move will facilitate reforms for people to live and sustain closer to the mass transit systems. “The central government’s financial support for mass transit projects and the AMRUT scheme will be leveraged for the formulation of action plans and their facilitation for providing the TOD and TPS by the states,” she added.
Establishing centres of excellence
For developing contextual and India-specific knowledge for Urban planning and design, the finance minister has announced the designation of up to five existing academic institutions as ‘centres of excellence.’ The institution will be built to deliver certified training in the areas concerning urban planning and design, policy and governance. These centres will be provided with an endowment fund of Rs. 250 crore each. Apart from this, the AICTE will be improving syllabi and enhancing the quality and access of Urban planning courses in other institutions.
Focus on transit-oriented development
“We will promote a shift to the use of public transport in urban areas,” said the Finance Minister in her budget speech. She added, “This will be implemented by green tech and governance solutions for special mobility zones with zero fossil fuel policy and EVs.” The government has also laid out a Battery Swapping policy considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations in scale. The policy will be brought out to facilitate swift battery charging in vehicles while interoperability standards will be also formulated. The private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative business models for battery or ‘energy’ as a service. Nirmala Sitharaman believes this will improve the efficiency of the Electric Vehicle (EV) ecosystem.
One nation- one registration policy
“Efficient use of land use is a strong imperative. States will be encouraged to adopt unique land parcel identification numbers to facilitate IT-based management of records.” FM Sitharaman added. A facility for transliteration of land records will be rolled out by the government in the scheduled eight languages. Local registration of land property with linkage with the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) with a ‘one nation-one registration’ software will be provided as an option for uniform processes of registration of property.
The Government plans to make a paradigm shift in the urban Planning sector through research, change in the implementation of policies and thinking of new ways of governance. Earlier during Modi Government 1.0, the government had announced the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) to facilitate Urban Transformation along with the Smart Cities Programme in 2015.
