UrbanUpdate April 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VI, Issue XII

APRIL 2021

PM SVANidhi

Bringing Street Vendors into Mainstream European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

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March 2021

Let’s commit to making an equal world

Cities’ role primary in increasing uptake of RE

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ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Editorial

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

Street vendors add colour to cities Achievement of India’s $ 5 trillion economy objective has the potential to catapult the nation to the top league while at the same time lifting millions of our population out of poverty and towards a brighter future. Needless to say, every sector of the economy will play a role in achieving this mission. India’s large informal economy comprising among others, its street vendors, will be a key player.

The informal sector, including street vendors, is an important, rather vital part of India’s economy. The street vendors provide goods and services at the doorsteps of households across social and economic profiles in an efficient, effective and economical manner. Most often one is able to buy fruits, vegetables and several household goods, as also snacks, food, and ice-cream at informal marketplaces. Services such as ironing of clothes, travelling ‘kabadiwallas’, and even kids’ entertainment are available at street corners. The street vendor then is a kay participant in the supply chain that reaches goods and services to consumers. In fact in many cities, some informal markets are key landmarks and large populations depend on them for all their food, clothing and daily needs.

During the COVID-19 related economic lockdown and other restrictions last year, one has seen that this sector consisting largely of migrant population from villages and smaller towns came under severe stress; while on the one hand due to restrictions on their activities and earnings, and on the other due to near zero-access of this population to any social security system.

The PM SVANidhi (Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi) came in handy at this time. The Scheme works to make available micro credit to the vendors at attractive interest rates with a comprehensive package including incentives for prompt payment. In this issue of Urban Update, we carry an interview with the Joint Secretary, MoHUA who is overseeing the implementation on this scheme. He throws light on the role of street vendors, the difficulties they faced and how the Government through PM SVANidhi has been able to address the needs of this crucial sector and alleviate their hardships.

We believe that policy-makers at the national and state levels could address several aspects of the street vendors’ activities. Firstly their livelihood requirements which includes facilitating their functioning through appropriate regulation such as hawking zones and timings. Such regulation is needed largely to ensure smooth access for all road users and to address congestion and safety concerns. The SVANidhi Scheme ensures a crucial input namely access to capital without pushing the vendors into the arms of exorbitant informal sources. Access to affordable housing, education for children, medical insurance, and old age pensions are several aspects which are being addressed by the national and state governments with various schemes. NGOs, civil society and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interventions can play important roles while working with local governments in these areas. All of this is necessary if we are not to ever again see those traumatic images of migrants during the last lockdown.

In this issue of Urban Update we carry, in addition to the interview mentioned above, some other views and reports on the street vendors’ ecosystem in India. We trust readers will find the issue engaging.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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Quotes

The global burden of disease has time and again highlighted the massive health burden of air pollution on health. I think it’s time that new technologies should be used to assess where air pollution exposure has reduced

Our common assumption that continued growth in consumption is what is needed to fuel our shared prosperity ... this belief comes at the cost of the health and wellness of our planet

Kalpana Balakrishnan Director, ICMR’s Centre for ARAQCH

KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz Chief Executive, Sustainable Life Media

PIN POINT

We are living in a multi-hazard era with compounding disasters hitting us. The countries need assistance to deal with the complex nature of disaster risks. Narendra Modi’s initiative to create ICDRI2021 could not have been more timely

Many parts of the world experienced unprecedented, but short-lived improvements in air quality in 2020.

This meant tens of thousands of avoided deaths from air pollution

Mami Mizutori Special Representative of the Sec-Gen, DRR

Lauri Myllyvirta Lead analyst, CRECA

BUZZ Durga Shanker Mishra

Organisation for Economic Co-

International Energy Agency (IEA)

António Guterres

Secretary, MoHUA, GoI

operation and Development

@IEA

Secretary-General, United Nations

@Secretary_MoHUA

@OECD_ENV

The industry needs to adapt new, innovative & sustainable technologies of the future to build a better & #NewIndia with efficient utilisation of resources for the flourishing #AatmaNirbharBharat

ClimateChange places millions of lives at risk, particularly the most marginalised. Commitment on NetZero emissions must be complemented by ClimateResilience

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April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

@antonioguterres

India’s rapid economic ascent has increased demand for both energy & water, putting these interconnected resources under growing pressure

The #COVID19 pandemic has demonstrated that we are not prepared for the future. We face unacceptable risks and are vulnerable to all kinds of threats. We will continue to pay a high price until we prioritize global safety, solidarity and resilience

Content

Inside Volume 6, Issue 12

6 10 13

Newscan

23 46

Numerograph Urban Agenda

City Image

April 2021

girl power Project

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Pin Point

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Spreading awareness on gender issues on International Women’s Day

Cover Story

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Bringing Street Vendors into Mainstream Street vendors are visible in every nook and corner of urban spaces and account for a substantial urban employment share. The ongoing health crisis has brought into focus their issues. The Government of India has tried to address their problems with a slew of measures and make their socio-economic situation better. An analysis of the present situation and scope for improvement

one on one

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“Government is committed to improving socioeconomic status of street vendors through PM SVANidhi”

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LEADERSPEAK

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Articles

Creating prosperity with social security for street vendors

Street vending provides employment to millions of

migrants and locals in cities and towns. Generally, these are people who could not get jobs in formal economic activities for whatever reasons hence lack social and health security for themselves and their families. The government is trying to build an ecosystem where they cannot just become a formal part of the urban economy but also access social security schemes of the governments

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Street Vendors: The undervalued elements of urban aesthetics Street vendors find encouragement across the globe

COVID-19 threw street vendors into a deeper state of uncertainty

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XV FC: Recommendations For Cities

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Water makes us happy, let’s understand its true values!

E-Dialogues 23.0

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Responsible management of waste is key to a sustainable future All India Institute of Local Self-Government, in association with United Nations Centre for Regional Development, 3R Waste Foundation, and Urban Update, organised the 23rd edition of E-Dialogues on the topic ‘Waste to Wealth – Moving towards Circular Economy in India’ on March 22

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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Girl Power Project

Spreading awareness on gender issues on International Women’s Day Team girl power project

A

one-day training/ orientation program was organised on International Women’s day for 20 partner CSOs from 10 districts, orienting them on the Girl Power Project and briefing about the importance of soft skills in entrepreneurship. A total of 40 participants were present in the programme. The discussion started with the role of women in different trades and services & how the project visions to empower women as entrepreneurs. Three stages of the project were described which would lead to meeting the larger goal of the project; identification of CSOs and skilling them to meet the requirements, marketing of products manufactured by entrepreneurs, and their linkage with government & financial schemes.

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April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

The project aims at the sustainability approach, wherein systems have been developed and are in a place to support women entrepreneurs.

During the training, best practices were shared by some of the CSO partners on the work they have been doing. Usha Devi of Jharkhand Mahila Uthaan shared how they saw an opportunity during COVID-19 lockdown to start their social enterprise of making sanitary pads and how the enterprise is running successfully at present. Anita Hembram, Director of Caring and Sharing Foundation, East Singbhum shared on how mushroom was identified as a potential product.

She continued to mention the market study that led to the identified the value chain of the product, where it was seen that at regional level the demand is very high but with the large distance to the market it was difficult to market it.

Therefore, aggregation centres were opened at village level; a model

was developed and was implemented in other villages too. As a result, a mushroom cluster is created which has impacted the income of the households.

Girl Power carried out a baseline study of 5000 women to assess the livelihoods of the 10 districts of Jharkhand. The study also aimed to identify and explore the availability of raw materials, potential for entrepreneurship, current entrepreneurial activities & market access and environmental sustainability. The data collection was conducted during November 2020 to March 2021. Training for baseline survey was conducted in three districts of Jharkhand: Dumka, Deoghar & Saraikela. For collection of data, the KoBo Collect software has been used. Training was conducted before baseline study on how to collect data through KoBo Collect. A total 24 community resource persons were trained on app-based baseline

data collection, KoBo Collect. Similar training has also been conducted in seven districts. So far 121 CRPs have

been trained, who are now familiar with data collection, using mobile app-based technology.

Training program was conducted in each block where the importance of data collection, use of technology in data collection was focused upon. One day practical was also organised for the field staff to get acquainted with the new technology for data collection.

Orientation on questionnaire was given to Community Resource Persons who are engaged for collection of data. Importance of each question was discussed.

The baseline survey was carried out with 5000 women in 10 districts of Jharkhand covering 20 blocks in all zones. There are four divisons in the state of Jharkhand namely North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur, Kolhan& Santhal Pargana. The districts have been finalized on the

basis of following parameters: ♦♦ Presence of marginalized groups ♦♦ Equally dispersed across the major zones of the state ♦♦ Presence of supporting institutions ♦♦ Market Networks ♦♦ Women Entrepreneurs ♦♦ Strong grassroots institutions For collection of data, KoBo Collect software has been used. KoBoCollect is an Android app that is used in surveybased data gathering. It supports a wide range of question and answers types, and is designed to work well without network connectivity. KoBo Collect renders forms into a sequence of input prompts. Users work through the prompts and can save the submission at any point. Finalized submissions can be sent to a server. Collect supports location, audio, images, video, barcodes, signatures, multiple-choice, free text, and numeric answers.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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NEWSCAN

9 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India: Report

NEW DELHI: World Air Quality Report 2020 was globally released by IQAir, a Swiss organisation. The report found 22 of the world’s most polluted cities to be in India. According to its findings, 84 per cent of all monitored countries observed improvements in air quality in 2020, as the report revealed the impact of COVID-19 lockdown and behavioural changes on global particulate pollution (PM2.5) levels. The report, presenting the ranking of cities across the globe from among 106 countries, is based on data of concentration of PM2.5, which has been measured by groundbased monitoring stations, most of which are operated by the respective government agencies.

Ghaziabad, a city in Uttar Pradesh and a part of the National Capital Region, is the second most polluted city in the world after Xinjiang (specifically Hotan region) in China.

The report said that the high levels of air pollution in Delhi are a matter of concern. Although Delhi’s air quality experienced improvement by nearly 15 per cent from 2019 to 2020, the report stated, the city still ranked as the 10th most polluted city and the most polluted capital in the world.

According to the analysis, some of the major sources of India’s air pollution

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April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

are transportation, biomass burning for cooking, electricity generation, industry, construction, waste burning and episodic agricultural burning.

The report established that the transportation sector has come out as one of the major contributors to India’s leading PM2.5 emission sources across cities. Besides Delhi and Ghaziabad, other cities in the top 10 polluted cities are Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Bhiwari.

Noticeably, eight of these nine cities are from the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Faridabad, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Bandhwari, Gurugram, Yamunanagar, Rohtak, and Dharuhera in Haryana; Muzaffarpur in Bihar; and Meerut, Agra, and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh are the other cities included in the top 30 cities. Notably, 35 of the world’s 50 most polluted cities in 2020 in the report have also been found to be from India.

Avinash Chanchal, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace India, attempted to put the global IQAir report in the Indian context and said that the health and economic costs of air pollution in India remain severe, even when many Indian cities recorded marginal improvements in air quality

due to lockdowns. In February 2021, an analysis of IQAir data prepared by Greenpeace Southeast Asia said that air pollution caused by hazardous PM2.5 led to the death of 54,000 people last year in Delhi, where pollution levels remained almost six times above the prescribed WHO limits.

He said it would be pertinent for governments to prioritise sustainable and clean energy sources and for the cities to encourage low cost, active and carbon-neutral mobility choices such as walking, cycling, and accessible public transport. Chanchal further added that speeding up the transition to clean energy and clean transportation in India will save lives and dramatically reduce healthcare-related costs.

Frank Hammes, Chief Executive Officer, IQAir, at the release of the report, commented that the year 2020 brought an unexpected dip in air pollution but added that in 2021, the world would likely see an increase in air pollution due to resuming human activities, again.

With this report, the organisation is hoping to highlight the need for urgent action to combat air pollution, which currently remains the world’s greatest environmental health threat.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

Urgent need to tackle data inequality World Development Report 2021 NEW DELHI: The ‘World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives’ was released by the World Bank and highlighted the tremendous potential lying in the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, and simultaneously noted its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies.

David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, said that the perspective of poor people has largely been absent from the global debate on data governance, and therefore it urgently needs to be heard. A lack of institutions, financial resources, and decision-making autonomy in lowincome countries, he believes, “hold

back…the effective implementation and effectiveness of data systems and governance systems.”

The report notes how the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored opportunities and challenges associated with data use and thus how urgent it is to provide equitable access to data and to improve data governance to citizens around the world. It observed that shifts to virtual work during the worldwide lockdowns had illustrated the digital divide between those with and without access to technology, thereby putting light on the challenges related to inequitable access to mobile phones and the internet for people in poor and low-income countries.

The report, in particular, proposes international engagement on World Trade Organisation arrangements for trade in data-enabled services, reform of international taxation rights for datadriven businesses, regional collaboration on the development of data infrastructure, bilateral cooperation on law enforcement and antitrust regulation.

Over 67.5 lakh people brought back under VBM

The Government of India has stated that over 67.5 lakh people have been brought back from overseas as part of the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) so far.

India started one of the world’s largest relocation operations from May 7, 2020, to bring back marooned Indians from foreign countries. In the beginning, Air India, and its ancillary Air India Express, played a major part in the operations. Subsequently, other air carriers were permitted to take part in the programme.

In addition, ships were also used to bring back Indian citizens.

DDA approves new parking norms

New Nagar Van Scheme will aid in setting up urban forests: Javadekar

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), on March 18, approved the parking norms to rationalise the existing parking provisions to resolve the growing parking problem in the Capital. The policy was finalised in a meeting chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. He approved other proposals such as TransitOriented Development and set up a committee to monitor the restoration of the Yamuna floodplain.

The parking policy, which will be public for people soon, suggests that the parking space in residential areas is based on the size and number of dwelling units on a plot rather than the total built-up area. The officials from DDA said that it would help reduce the congestion on roads, as these roads have been turned into parking spaces by the residents.

An official from DDA said that presently, the parking norms are based on the designated use premise, and it is observed that the surplus vehicles from these buildings are spilt on the roads, which result in increased congestion in public spaces. He added that there is a need to rationalise the parking norms to address the parking problem, especially in residential areas. In government housing, the norms for (General Pool Residential Accommodation) GPRA colonies will be adopted. In the case of banquet halls, parking norms will be decided keeping in view the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In government hospitals and offices, the parking norms will be based on actual usage, the DDA official added.

Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, said that the new Nagar Van Scheme will assist in building of urban forests in cities. Javadekar, in a message on the occasion of the International Day of Forests on March 21, said that the scheme will also fill the gap between cities and villages in terms of having their own forest cover. Under the Nagar Van Scheme, urban forests will be developed in 200 cities in its first phase. Nagar Van Scheme, or Urban Forest Scheme, was launched by Javadekar on June 5, 2020, on the occasion of World Environment Day.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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NEWSCAN

India ranks 139, Finland tops the World Happiness Report 2021 NEW DELHI: The World Happiness Report 2021 was published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) on March 19. Although India displayed a slight improvement in the ranking, it is part of the ten lowestranking countries in the Happiness Index, ranking 139 out of 149 countries assessed. Of the top ten countries in the Index, nine were from the continent of Europe. Finland, securing the first rank, was followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Austria.

The report relies on the Gallup World Poll, an annual survey that started in 2005 and is conducted in more than 160 countries covering 99 per cent of the world’s population. It includes at least 1000 observations per country per year, covering both urban and rural areas, aiming to oversample major cities. The survey is nationally representative of the resident population aged 15 and above in each country. The World Happiness Report evaluates happiness levels among citizens from different countries by taking into account factors such as Gross Domestic Product, social support, personal freedom, and levels of corruption in each nation.

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This year, however, authors from UNSDSN addressed a new issue during the analysis for the report — the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on nations around the world. As a new addition, this year’s report provided two different sets of rankings — one list was based on the average of three years of surveys taken between 2018 and 2020 by Gallup, while another focused solely on the year 2020 to understand how COVID impacted subjective wellbeing.

The report this year provided insight into how people are happier in societies where there is a high degree of trust between people. One way we know this is from a hypothetical ‘benevolence’ question included in the World Happiness Report. A large body of research suggests that having a strong ‘sense of purpose’ is vital to our psychological wellbeing. The researchers noted in the report that the life satisfaction of employed people was approximately 1.2 points higher on the 0 to 10 life satisfaction scale.

Furthermore, employment was one of the strongest determinants of life satisfaction during the pandemic. In some cases, countries that were more effective in keeping their citizens working, especially their low-skilled

workers, showed more psychological resilience through the pandemic.

Jeffrey Sachs, one of the authors of the report, said that the World Happiness Report 2021 reminds everyone that the world must focus on wellbeing rather than mere wealth, which will be fleeting indeed if the governments do not do a much better job of addressing the challenges of sustainable development. According to the authors of the Index, trust was the key factor used to measure happiness in each country; nations where citizens had more faith vested in its institutions and had greater income equality, were considered to be more successful in combating the pandemic.

Jeffrey further said that the findings reflect that the people have not thrown up their hands about their lives because of all the tumult caused in 2020. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, mentioning the latest report, commented that the world saw the most massive changes in social behaviour it has ever seen in a long time. So she expected much, much more significant declines in wellbeing. But, she said that it was not the case according to the Index, which indicates how adaptive and optimistic the future is.

City Image

Artists use paintings to spread awareness about COVID To acknowledge health care and frontline workers’ role in combating the pandemic, graffiti artists painted walls in Mumbai with various COVID artworks.

Some artists chose to reinterpret classic Renaissance and modern painters in the context of COVID-19. Some artists even depicted the Statue of Liberty and Marilyn

Monroe donning the COVID appearance to spread awareness on the importance of following COVID appropriate behaviour all the time.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Bareilly Mayor elected as President of UP Mayors Association Dr Umesh Gautam, Mayor, Bareilly, has been unanimously elected as the President of Mayors Association of Uttar Pradesh (UP). 17 Mayors took part in the elections which were held in Lucknow on March 16.

The session was inaugurated by Dinesh Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister (CM) of UP. Dr Umesh Gautam was announced as the President of Mayors Association in the next session of the event.

He met CM Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma after the session. The discussion in the meeting was held on the issue of extending more powers and responsibilities to Mayors.

Delhi HC suggests lanes for emergency vehicles

France supports Kochi’s sustainable development initiatives KOCHI: Lisie Talbot Barre, the Consul Generale of France, after meeting with M Anilkumar, Mayor of Kochi, said that more technical and financial help would be provided for sustainable development and cultural projects that the Kochi Corporation is implementing. The Consul Generale promised help in implementing an environmentfriendly mobility project for the city along with offering technical assistance to deal with plastic waste. She stated that sustainable urban transport projects will be a focus area.

The Alliance Francaise in Thiruvananthapuram is all set to collaborate with Arts Space Kochi, a corporation to promote art in public spaces in the city. Under this collaboration, cultural projects and events that the Alliance Francaise organises will be extended to Kochi, including art- and film-related events. A plan for partnership between educational institutions here and in France is also under discussion to promote exchange programmes between students in schools and colleges.

The Kochi corporation is currently working on the north-south railway corridor project in the city with help from the French Development Agency (AFD). This corridor between the North and South railway stations has been designed to be pedestrianfriendly and is expected to facilitate non-motorised transport. The significance of integrating the various modes of transport in Kochi and rationalising bus routes was also discussed at the meeting. Anilkumar informed that some of these projects are likely to make head way before the Urban Mobility India conference takes off in Kochi in October this year.

ITC partners with Karnataka govt for watershed development

Delhi High Court suggested authorities to consider a plea seeking a reserved lane for unrestricted travel of emergency vehicles round the clock.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh said that some policy formulation is required in this and the Court has no reason to direct the authorities. The plea also seeks the Court to direct the Delhi Police to ensure immediate implementation and enforcement of the law, and to also direct the Delhi Disaster Management Authority to provide required support and infrastructure for the implementation of the dedicated reserved lanes.

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BENGALURU: The diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd is partnering with the Government of Karnataka to execute a watershed development programme, which will be covering over one million acres and 100 watersheds in the state. A memorandum of understanding has been signed between ITC’s social investments programme Mission Sunehra Kal and the Karnataka Watershed Development Department this month.

According to the agreement, ITC will create a council of experts, which will train the team from the Karnataka government for the application of the company’s drought-proofing framework for planning, implementation, and monitoring of the programme. An official statement from ITC said that the agreement comes as a part of the state government’s ‘Watershed development for drought proofing’ programme, which aims at covering 1.16 million acres of watershed area in 29 districts.

Ashesh Ambasta, Executive Vice President and Head, Social Investments, ITC, said that it is a matter of immense

satisfaction for the company to be able to partner with the Government of Karnataka, and said, “We are delighted to be able to support the government in its laudable endeavour to tackle water stress.”

Venkatesh MV, Commissioner, Watershed Development Department, Government of Karnataka, said that training sessions by ITC on droughtproofing will be a major support for the programme’s implementation and would make this a unique public-private partnership in the state for watershed development.

NEWSCAN

IIT-D develops EV charging station with inbuilt solar capability NEW DELHI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, have developed an environmentfriendly and scalable smart Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station. The innovation has been modularised in a way to have inbuilt solar photovoltaic interface capability. This multifunctional charging station is an outcome of the ‘Demonstration of Grid Supportive EV charger and Charging Infrastructure at LT Level (D-EVCI)’ project, which is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, to save energy and reduce pollution The 20 kilowatt (kW) smart charging station is a multi-functional charger capable of charging a wide range of EVs like cars, two- and threewheelers. Professor Sukumar Mishra, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, said that the scalable multifunctional charger had been designed keeping in mind the increasing demand from both the automobile industry and EV charger operators for ease of scalability in their charging units.

Mishra, who is acting as the Principal Investigator of the project, also mentioned that the built-in modularity of the developed charging platform would allow charge operators to scale up basic requirements with minimal expenses.

Explaining the innovation, Mishra added that it also has a solar interface, which works in tandem with the electrical grid for energy sharing and said that in future, “the capacity of the solar panels can be increased and a totally green EV charger can be built that can act as an independent unit not taking any power from the conventional grid.” According to the team of researchers, the charging current can also be modulated based on the grid frequency, which will allow a more stable operation, hence ensuring

a reduction in grid failure. Currently in India, EV charger operators only have the option to choose from a set of prefabricated charging options and have to incur significant unnecessary costs if and when they want to scale-up their charging output, for the entire set-up then requires to be revamped to cater to higher power vehicles.

A release from the institution informed that the charging power of the IIT Delhi charger could be increased in increments of 2 kW, starting at 2 kW up to a maximum of 20 kW. Besides offering ease of scalability through a modular approach, the platform also has a slim design with low maintenance requirements and a userfriendly interface. The release stated that this charger’s smartness is because its output current can be controlled remotely based on the grid load. The controlled loading in the station will mitigate damage to infrastructures

like distribution transformers, power cables, and even total power blackouts.

The statement added that this kind of controllability is beneficial during peak load times like afternoons in summers, when everyone uses high power rated air-conditioners at their homes.

In the charging station, according to the release, each module of 2 kW capacity will help improve the reliability of the charger because if one of the modules fails, the other modules step in and make sure to deliver uninterrupted power supply to the vehicles. As a result, although the charging time may increase minimally, it will not shut down and go to a state of zero charging. This controllable charging infrastructure that has been made with the help of the Department of Science and Technology, IIT Delhi, and Silov Solutions (P) Limited, is low maintenance and has a userfriendly interface.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

“India only G-20 country implementing Paris accord commitments”

Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, answering a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, said that the world has accepted India’s leadership in terms of advocating measures to mitigate climate change.Javedekar added that India is the only country in the G-20 forum implementing the Paris accord commitments on renewable energy and afforestation. He also informed that India is committed to realize the aim of achieving 175 Gigawatt renewable energy by 2022.

Development of STPs in Moradabad to reduce load of pollution in Ganga An agreement has been signed between the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam and GA Infra Private Limited-LahotiBuildcon Limited, for development of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Moradabad. The contract for the tripartite concession agreement was awarded at a cost of `99.68 crore. The lending for this project has already been offered by the State Bank of India Capital. According to a statement released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, the project’s goal is to eliminate the flow of untreated sewage from the city of Moradabad into River Ganga.

16

April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

PM Modi launches ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign via video conferencing on the occasion of World Water Day on March 22. A memorandum of agreement has also been signed between Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India; Chief Minister (CM) of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan; and CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, to implement the Ken-Betwa Link Project.

PM Modi said during the launch that it is an essential step towards realising the dream of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and benefitting millions of families in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. He added that the growing water crisis is increasing continuously with India’s development, and it is the responsibility of the present generation to fulfil their commitment towards the coming generation.

PM Modi also said that it is crucial to manage rainwater to decrease the dependency on groundwater, and that’s why the success of ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign is important.

He added that ‘Jal Shapath’, which is organised across the country, should become the pledge of every individual and if people change their nature positively towards water, nature will also support humanity. PM Modi mentioned that 1.5 years ago, just 3.5 crore families out of the total 19 crore families in our country had piped drinking water but after the launch of ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’, about 4 crore new families have been provided piped drinking water connections. He also pointed out that the government is working seriously towards water testing. Moreover, during the lockdown period itself, about 4.5 lakh women were trained for water testing and 5 women are trained in every village for water testing, he added.

Piped water supply on the rise in Gujarat cities: Study AHMEDABAD: A study carried out by the Centre for Water and Sanitation at CEPT University found that a majority of the cities in Gujarat are supplied piped water and now there is a need to improve water management in these cities. The study also suggested the use of water audit and metered connections to monitor the usage effectively.

The study was titled ‘Urban drinking water security in Gujarat’ and was conducted by Meera Mehta, Dinesh Mehta and Jaladhi Vavaliya. The report was published in the Journal of Social and Economic Development. On the occasion of World Water Day on March 22, experts said that the state has decreased the dependence on groundwater as the reach

of Narmada canal has been extended at a cost of about `47,000 crore. This has improved water supply in Gujarat and Saurashtra regions and hence improved economic growth.

The study said that as the Government of Gujarat has now achieved water security in urban areas, now the aim is to focus on improving water management.

It also added that the smaller cities with a less-than-required water supply need to be provided more water and the amount of non-revenue water (NRW) should also be brought down as more water does not necessarily convert to higher level of services to the consumers.

The researchers found that the prime reason in analysing water consumption is the lack of metres which is a necessity if the state aims to provide 24*7 water supply. They also added that the total quantum of water supply in the cities has increased but the duration of supply and number of days of water supply has not changed significantly.

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Bengaluru, Shimla top Ease of Living Index

Super Specialty Hospital in SAIL to meet needs of three states

Bengaluru tops the list of most liveable cities in India in the Government of India’s ‘Ease of Living Index’ released on March 4. Bengaluru is followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodra, Indore and Greater Mumbai. Among the cities with more than 1 million population, Delhi stands at the 13th spot, where as Srinagar is at the bottom. The index was released by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. Shimla topped the list of cities with population less than a million, followed by Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere and Tiruchirapalli.

ROURKELA: President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated a Super Specialty Hospital at the Rourkela Steel Plant on March 21.

In his address, President Kovind noted that the Rourkela Steel Plant has been visibly sensitive in this regard and has made conscious efforts to bring changes not only in industrial activities but also in the fields of healthcare, education, culture, sports, etc through the years. He said, “Till now, this area was deprived of a super specialty medical facility,” and how the Ispat General Hospital, for which the Prime Minister had laid the foundation about six years ago, is ready to serve the people of the region. Stressing on the significance of this Hospital, he said that it would not only cater the super specialty medical needs of Odisha but also of the adjoining areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

President Kovind mentioned that good governance consists of two pillars – education and healthcare. But in the

1.11 crore houses licensed under PMAY-U: MoHUA

Over 12 million displaced due to climate related disasters

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has said that so far, 1.11 crore houses have been authorised under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.

Of these, 73 lakh have been approved and over 43 lakh have already been delivered. Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, said that the Ministry is dedicated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to provide ‘Housing for All’ by 2022. Puri stressed that access to better housing had dynamic inter-linking impacts on the lives of women, their children, and the entire family.

NEW DELHI: A new report by The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) revealed that 12.6 million people have been internally displaced worldwide in the last six months due to climate and weather-related disasters. The report named ‘Responding to Disasters and Displacement in a Changing Climate’ was released on March 16.

Helen Brunt, Asia Pacific Migration and Displacement Coordinator, IFRC, said that in the last six months, 80 per cent of the 12.6 million displaced forcefully are due to disasters which were triggered by climate and weather disruptions. She added that Asia suffers more than any other region, which is affecting some of the poorest communities who are already suffering due to economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report shows that when the people are displaced due to disaster and it destroys villages and entire neighbourhoods, they face long-term housing, land and property issues. Women and children are also at increased risks of violence due to climate-related displacement, the report mentioned. Brunt said that the world is seeing an alarming trend of people affected by extreme weather conditions such as Typhoon Goni, world’s most ferocious storm, that hit land last year.

She added that investment in long-term solutions is urgently required before the disaster forces more people away from their homes.

18

April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

recent past, he said, the importance of healthcare has received worldwide attention as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown its macabre form across the world. “In this difficult time, the country’s medical fraternity has fought an extraordinary battle against an invisible and unknown enemy.” He noted that in Rourkela and its adjoining areas, the medical teams of the Steel Authority of India Limited have done commendable work of protecting people by their tireless efforts, and added that the nation would always be indebted to them.

NEWSCAN

Ranjit Chavan elected Co-President of UCLG ASPAC again AIILSG is the oldest member of IULA (original body). IULA had set up the International Union of Local Authorities – Asia Pacific section in Sept 1989

Jakarta (Indonesia): Ranjit S Chavan, President of All India Institute of Local Self-Government and former Mayor of Vadodara, has been re-elected as the Co-President of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) during the Deferred Council Meeting that was virtually hosted from Jakarta, Indonesia.

In his address, Chavan said, “I believe there is an even greater obligation on me, after being re-elected, to work more vigorously for local governments.

Since increasing urbanization and evolving challenges are growing together fast, keeping this in mind, UCLG ASPAC with its Manifesto Development Committee has come out with a Manifesto that will guide all of us to work for a common goal. It will help us in measuring our progress

against the goals set. I am privileged that AIILSG was part of the committee that developed the manifesto after a series of discussions.” He added that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought so many changes and challenges to our working lives. The ongoing Pandemic has taught us to focus on improving health services and infra. All of us have to work together to find suitable solutions for cities. And, I am sure, together we can, and we will.

He also congratulated the newly elected President of UCLG ASPAC Ashok Kumar Byanju (Shrestha), who is also the President of Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN) and Mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality and bid adieu to the departing President by wishing her all the best for future endeavours. AIILSG is the oldest member of IULA (original body).

IULA had set up the International Union of Local Authorities – Asia Pacific section in Sept. 1989.

UCLG ASPAC also released the second manifesto that was developed by the Manifesto 20212025 Development Committee to guide the Organisation for the next period of 2021-2025. The committee members were from the four subregions of UCLG ASPAC. It was unanimously accepted for immediate implementation while the official adoption will happen during the UCLG ASPAC Congress scheduled for August/September 2021 in Zhengzhou. Earlier, the meeting was supposed to take in April 2021 but was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Draft of the UCLG ASPAC’s Manifesto 2021-2025 is continuing the four Key Strategies of the first Manifesto 2015-2020, in addition to adding a new Strategy to address COVID-19 recovery and postCOVID-19 regeneration.

The outcome Strategies include: 1) Promote Effective Democratic SelfGovernment and Good Governance; 2) Equal and Adequate Basic Services to Improve Quality of Life and City Resilience. 3) Put Global/Regional Agendas and National Commitments into Effective Local Implementation.

4) Aggregate, elevate and advocate for local voices and issues to national, regional and global levels. 5) Empower and Enable COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience for Local Governments and Cities. 6) Strengthen performance and service delivery of the Secretariat to achieve. A work plan of the organization was also accepted and the Executive Bureau also approved the inclusion of Palembang as a new member.

The Meeting was attended by over 100 representatives of Local Governments (LGs) and Local Government Associations (LGAS) from various countries of the Asia Pacific region including India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Japan among many others.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

19

BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

Local sources are behind surge in pollution in east, north Delhi

Centre for Science and Environment, on March 3, released a winter analysis of air quality in Delhi and NCR as compared to the previous year. The report showed that east and north Delhi recorded the worst levels of (Particulate Matter) PM 2.5, whereas the air quality monitoring stations in West Delhi were ‘cleaner’. Road dust, open garbage burning and vehicular emissions on internal roads were the primary causes which worsened the air quality in east and north Delhi, residents of the area said. Open burning and abandoned old vehicles have become the prime reasons of pollution in east Delhi.

AAP wins four seats out of five in MCD bypolls, Congress gets one The Aam Aadmi Party won four seats in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bye-polls held on March 4. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated everybody and said that people have voted in the name of work.

The AAP won Rohini-C (Ward no 32N), Trilokpuri (Ward No 02E), Kalyanpuri (Ward 008E) and Shalimar Bagh North (Ward no 62N). Zubair Ahmad Chaudhary bagged the seat of Chauhan Banger by 10,642 votes. The result of these bypolls were being closely observed as they indicate the mood of voters and is likely to have an impact on the Delhi civic body elections which are due to be held in 2022.

20 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Northeast has country’s biggest carbon stock: Report GUWAHATI: The northeast (NE) region is India’s largest carbon sink, accounting for 28 per cent of the country’s approximated total of 7124 million tonnes, revealed the India State of Forest Report 2019 released on March 8.

Arunachal Pradesh individually, where the forest covers more than 60 per cent of the state’s geographical area, has the leading carbon stock of 1051 million tonnes among all states and union territories in the country. The states following Arunachal Pradesh are Madhya Pradesh – 588.73 million tonnes,

Chhattisgarh – 480.25 million tonnes, and Maharashtra – 440.51 million tonnes.

The per hectare carbon stock among different states and union territories shows that Sikkim has the maximum per hectare carbon stock of 171.04 tonnes per hectare, followed by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – 167.09 tonnes per hectare, Jammu & Kashmir – 165.25 tonnes per hectare, Himachal Pradesh163.51 tonnes per hectare, and Arunachal Pradesh – 157.65 tonnes per hectare.

The carbon stock for 2019 in India’s forests has been estimated at 7124.6 million tonnes, which is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes as compared to the estimates of the previous evaluation. India aims of creating an additional sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover in the country by 2030.

Karnataka allocated `7.7K cr for Bengaluru’s development BENGALURU: BS Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka, announced that the government has decided to allocate `7795 crore for the development of Bengaluru city in Karnataka’s Budget 2021-22. Mentioning that Bengaluru is an extremely fastgrowing city, he said that his government has decided to give priority to provide required infrastructural facilities and excellent quality of life. He said that it was a matter of pride for the state that Bengaluru topped the Ease of Living Index released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Yediyurappa informed that the state government is currently implementing the K-100 project to develop Koramangala Valley as a tourist attraction at an expenditure of `169 crore. In the budget, the government has also proposed converting the land belonging to Mysore Lamps Works Limited in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru to Experience Bengaluru Centre, which will depict the culture of Karnataka. He also mentioned another proposal put forward by the government on the development of Tree Parks in NGEF, Byappanahalli, along with three other locations. The CM also mentioned ongoing construction of a 65-km long and 100-m wide peripheral ring road to reduce traffic congestion around the city of Bengaluru. He said that the Government of Karnataka is awaiting approval from the Government of India on the construction of a 58.2 km long Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru, the cost of which is being estimated at `14,788 crore. He added that actions to rejuvenate and upgrade 248 million litres per day capacity of sewage treatment plant of Kormangala Valley has been initiated in collaboration with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike through Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board, at an estimated expenditure of `450 crores.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

USA and Biological E collaborate to increase vaccine development NEW DELHI: The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced its decision to support efforts of Biological E, an Indian manufacturer, to produce one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines will be produced with attainment of stringent regulatory authorization (SRA) and Emergency Use listing of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The announcement is a part of an initiative named Global Health and Prosperity launched by the DFC under which it is working to increase manufacturing, production, and distribution capacity for vaccines, including the vaccines for COVID-19.

The American Administration, under the leadership of Biden and Harris, highlighted this announcement during the Quad Summit held virtually. At the summit, leaders from the United States of America, Australia, India, and Japan also announced a marker partnership between them to further accelerate the fight against COVID-19.

DFC said in a statement that its assistance and financing would help Biological E’s plan to vaccinate as many people in the world as possible in the shortest amount of time.

The release also mentioned that Biological E is a women-run and women-operated business, which will advance DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative to promote global gender equity. David Marchick, Chief Operating Officer at DFC, commented that expanding vaccine manufacturing, especially the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters, will increase vaccination rates and ensure the protection of communities worldwide.

Countries including India slashed their education budget post-pandemic: Report NEW DELHI: A report released by the World Bank, in collaboration with UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring, established that the current levels of government spending on education in low- and lower-middle income countries fall short of that required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It said that education budgets were cut by 65 per cent in these countries after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while only 33 per cent of high and upper-middle income countries did so.

The report informed that the sample represents about 54 per cent of the world’s

school and university aged population.

According to the report, countries including India, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Egypt, Myanmar, Russia, and Nigeria have education shares below 10 per cent and therefore are likely to have other main financing sources besides budget assigned by their respective central governments. It said that it is unclear whether these countries, which have seen a decline in their education budget, will be able to cover these costs increased during the pandemic in conjunction with the regular increases in funding needed to support school-going and growing population.

The report stated that making a riposte to the COVID-19 crisis will require additional spending in order to have schools compliant with the necessary measures to control the spread of SARSCoV-2 and to fund programs to make up for the losses students experienced in learning while schools were closed.

All Delhi government vehicles to switch to EV within six months An order from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that all the vehicles of the Government of Delhi will be replaced by electric vehicles (EVs) within the next six months. Any department or autonomous body of the Delhi government can hire an EV for the first time with the permission of the Department of Finance. The Department of Transport will oversee the switch to EVs and all the departments will have to submit a report to the transport department on how the transition of vehicles to EVs is going on, identify the gaps and give some suggestions to complete the target within six months.

Rajasthan to give `5 lakh insurance benefit to every family

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, on February 24, assured that every family will get an insurance benefit of `5 lakh under the Universal Healthcare Scheme. He added that people who are covered under Ayushman Bharat Mahatma Gandhi Rajasthan Swasthya Bima Yojana can avail the benefits of this scheme for free, including contract workers, small and marginal farmers. CM Gehlot, in his speech during the Budget session 2021, said that the state government will also introduce a ‘Right to Health’ bill which will provide preventive and curative cure to the people.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

21

survey

Delhi believes new rules good for traffic’s health NEW DELHI: Team Urban Update conducted a survey on ‘Adherence to Traffic Regulations’ in the National Capital. When asked if drivers in Delhi have started adhering to traffic rules after installation of surveillance cameras at various spots, 63.6 per cent of the respondents said yes, while 24.2 per cent of them believe that cameras have not resulted in any improvement.

To the question whether drivers tend to stop behind the stop line at red light, 48.5 per cent of the respondents replied to it with a yes and 48.5 per cent said no. This puts into perspective that Delhi drivers continue to neglect the rule of stopping behind the stop line, even after a fine has been put in

place for this offense.

India claims the number one spot when it comes to road accident fatalities in the world, and one of the biggest reasons for road accidents in India is that people fail to follow the traffic rules, including wearing seat belt or helmet, stopping at signals, etc., which are designed only to help drivers stay in control and stay safe while driving. Under the amended Motor Vehicles Act implemented in September 2019, hefty fines have been introduced on motorists. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has said that it has enhanced penalties on offences where no penalty was previously specified, introduced several

Have drivers started adhering to traffic rules after installation of CCTV cameras?

Do you think drivers in Delhi tend to stop behind the ‘Stop Line’?

3%

12.10%

24.20%

48.50%

63.60%

Do you find e-challans to be effective?

48.50%

Do you think the new traffic regulations and increased fines will be beneficial?

15.20% 12.10%

21.20%

24.20%

84.80%

YES

63.60%

NO HAVEN'T NOTICED

22 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

78.80%

new penalties and made penalties on offences such as driving under influence of alcohol, speeding, uninsured vehicles and lacking documentation, much stricter. Similarly, there are now stricter penalties on drivers and passengers not wearing seat belts, carrying an excess number of passengers, minors driving cars and incorrectly seating children in a vehicle. New Delhi is one of the few states to implement the new rules.

Prashant Gautam, Deputy Commissioner, Western Range Traffic Police, Delhi, said in a very recent notification, “It has been observed that a very high number of two-wheeler riders have been driving with the rearview mirrors removed across the roads of Delhi. Driving without a rear-view mirror is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous since it blocks a significant field of view of the driver, causing collisions with the faster moving vehicles from behind.” Therefore, the Delhi traffic police started a special drive against riders driving without side-/rear-view mirrors.

According to the survey report, 84.8 per cent of the respondents found e-challans to be more effective than previously existing challan processes, and 78.8 per cent of the respondents said that they believe that these new traffic regulations, with increased fines, surveillance cameras, and e-challans, will be beneficial in making Delhi’s roads safer in the long term. The Supreme Court of India had recently issued an order directing the set-up of a special lane for emergency vehicles, to which 84.8 per cent of the respondents said that it is a much needed step.

However, 3 per cent believe that cost of infrastructure will be an extra burden on middle class, and instead it is better to emphasise on awareness about these issues.

When asked about areas where both the Delhi government and the Delhi Traffic Police can improve upon to make Delhi roads safer, various kinds of responses were received, including, making sure that all the street lights function properly, ensuring women safety, and reducing road crimes like robbery.

EVENT

Indian cities discuss development in the post-pandemic world NEW DELHI: The 6th Smart City Expo 2021 was organised by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and Exhibitions India Group at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from March 2426. It was a 3-day event filled with

various industry experts and public leaders who decimated knowledge about the vision of smart cities and the way forward. City Leaders Conclave was conducted on March 25 and was organised by ITPO, in collaboration

List of Smart Cities Awards 1.

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Best Academic Program – International Institute of Digital Technologies, Tirupati Best Architectural Design – Sabarmati Riverfront, Ahmedabad Smart City Best Digital City – Environmental Systems Research Institute India, Varanasi Best Energy Efficiency Infrastructure – Solar Rooftop Plant, Jabalpur Smart City Most Green and Clean City – Telangana for Haritha Haram Programme Best Green Building – Apollo Gleneagles Hospital Limited Best Health Project – Migrant Tracing and Health Monitoring Best Heritage City – Jabalpur Smart City for Kamaniya Gate Best Public-Private Partnership – Agra Smart City for Smart Health City Best Real Estate Project – Riverfront Flower Park, Ahmedabad Smart City Safe City Award– Sagar Smart City for Virbhaya Sagar Mobile Application and Gujarat Police, Government of Gujarat for Vishwas Project.

Best Smart SPV – MO BUS, Capital Region Urban Transport Smart Village – Smart Urban Village Fatehpur Chandela, Faridabad Smart City Smart Waste Disposal Project – New Municipal SWM, Government of Telangana Smart Start-up – WE Hub, Government of Telangana Urban Mobility – Public Bike Sharing Project, Ahmedabad Smart City and ATAL (Align Transit on All Lanes), Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited Best Water Project – Nagpur Municipal, Vishvaraj Environment Private Limited Best Fintech Founder – Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO and Founder, Paytm Best Digital Founding – Paisabazaar.com Fintech Company of the Year – BharatPe Fintech for Financial Inclusion – Fino Payments Bank Limited Best Innovative Use of Technology – Edelweiss General Insurance Limited Women in Fintech – Pria Chandrakumar, SysArc Informatix Private Limited

with the All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG). Various leaders joined the Conclave from around the world physically and digitally to share their experiences in making our cities resilient to unforeseen circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post-pandemic revival of the Indian cities is the next step as urban clusters faced numerous challenges in fighting the novel coronavirus as well as ensuring the safety of its citizens. While responding to an unknown crisis of this scale, cities have strived to maintain the delicate balance between life and economic well-being as both ultimately meant the same thing- precious human lives had to be saved at all costs, and the quality of life of its citizens had to be improved. The introductory session of the City Leaders Conclave was attended by Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

City Leaders discussed about the Smart Cities Mission 2.0 and how it will be different from the first phase now when the parameters have flipped.

The event included a lot of informative sessions such as ‘Building Better Cities’, ‘Smart Cities Response to Pandemic’, ‘Has COVID-19 shifted the priorities of Smart-Cities?’, among others.

Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG, was also part of the panel in the session on ‘How Important is to create Sister Cities concept for Smart and Sustainable Cities?’

He talked about the contribution of AIILSG in building resilient cities by working with the urban local bodies at the very core of the administrative structure. Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General, UCLG ASPAC, and Hemanthi Goonasekera, CEO, Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities, were also part of the session’s panel.

The last day of the expo was dedicated to the Smart Cities Awards.

The Chief Guest of the session was Jibesh Kumar, Minister of Information Technology, Government of Bihar. He lauded the ITPO and other partners for successfully organising the event in the times of pandemic.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

23

Cover story | Street Vending

Bringing Street Vendors into Mainstream

S

treet vendors are an integral part of cities, and they make urban life lively. Can one think of a bustling Chandni Chowk or Juhu Beach without street vendors? The answer is an obvious no. They add colours to urban life and make them safer, but their own life in almost every country and city remains dreary. They work in an uncertain environment. At times, they do not know whether they will be able to operate the next day at the place where they had been running their business for years. Their lives and earnings hang in the balance.

Street vendors are an integral part of our city systems. And, the Apex Court of India has also recognized this. From a consumer point of view, the Supreme Court of India noted that street vendors “considerably add to the comfort and convenience of the general public, by making available ordinary articles of everyday use for a comparatively lesser price”. They also help fellow citizens belonging to economically weaker section who cannot afford to use services available in formal markets. Informal food vendors in our big cities play an essential role in urban food security. This is especially true for developing and less developed countries. A report by the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN), for example, found that 70 per cent of 6,453 households surveyed across 11 sub-Saharan African cities sourced food from informal outlets, with 59 per cent of households reporting that they patronized informal food outlets once a week or more. Though there is

24 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

no exclusive study available for Indian cities, it is apparent that street vendors cater to the food needs of the urban poor in Indian cities too. They do not just generate employment for themselves by selling products and services on the roadside at economical rates and make life easier for urban citizens but also contribute in developing demands for products and services for multiple businesses and entities. They are a valuable link for the supply chain. In India, according to a media report, street-vending accounts for 14 per cent of the total (non-agricultural) urban informal employment in the country.

But the licensing cap on the street vending license is unrealistic and very low even in big cities. Hence, most of them become ‘unauthorized’ and ‘illegal’. Still, they live in fear of violent eviction, relocation, and harassment from different agencies. Many cities in some countries have introduced laws banning street vending. Many incidents have been reported in Angola, Jordan, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and the Philippines. In the African continent, purchasing from street vendors was made a criminal offence.

When street vendors’ role in city systems is so important, why they remain excluded in policies is intriguing. Many cities evict street vendors to make their cities modern, hygienic and ideal for attracting foreign investments, but city leaders have to think glass and concrete buildings only will not make their cities attractive. It is no denying that the existing street vending system needs overhauling and streamlining to make it orderly for integrating into future cities. Our

city planners must learn from cities’ experiences and provide innovative solutions for street vendors in Master Plans. Still, in many cases, they lack creativity in addressing issues outside the realm of conventional planning.

However, India’s government has taken policy initiatives in the last couple of years to bring them into the mainstream and formalize its street vending ecosystem. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act was introduced in 2014 to protect the street vendors’ rights operating in cities. The provision of having town vending committees in the Act has ensured the representation of street vendors and also provided them with a platform to raise their issues. The Act is being implemented in Indian cities for street vendors’ benefits, but many states’ progress is slow. In some states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Goa, the progress is reasonable, but some states need to pull up their socks.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs also announced a special scheme the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Aatma Nirbhar Nidhi during the pandemic to help them financially.

In October this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through video conferencing, distributed loans to nearly three lakh street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme. The scheme aimed to provide credit for working capital to street vendors affected due to the Covid-19 crisis. The scheme has a budget outlay of `5000 crore to benefit almost 50 lakh street vendors operating in Indian cities.

Street vendors are visible in every nook and corner of urban spaces and account for a substantial urban employment share. The ongoing health crisis has brought into focus their issues. The Government of India has tried to address their problems with a slew of measures and make their socio-economic situation better. An analysis of the present situation and scope for improvement

Abhishek Pandey Editor

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

25

One on One | Sanjay Kumar, JS, MoHUA

“Government is committed to improving socioeconomic status of street vendors through PM SVANidhi” The pandemic impacted one and all but the urban poor were the worst affected. They lost their jobs and depended on financial assistance from governments and food supply from charitable institutions. Street vendors selling goods and providing services at our doorsteps suffered severely because of the lockdown restrictions. They spent whatever little saving they had to run their families and struggled to be back on their feet because of financial constraints. The Government of India took note of this and announced the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s AatmaNirbhar Nidhi, or PM SVANidhi scheme, to help them with initial assistance with working capital to restart their businesses. To know more about the scheme, its nationwide implementation, how it transformed people’s lives and what are the long-term goals, Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviewed Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Excerpts from the interview...

Cities are vibrant places. Street vendors add colours to urban life and are an integral part of urban economies. Covid-19 has brought forward their vulnerabilities and concerns of their social security into focus. Government of India has made sincere efforts to empower them and provide them assistance required to run their day-to-day lives. PM SVANidhi is one scheme that focuses on their holistic development. Could you briefly explain how the scheme benefited street vendors?

You are right in saying that street vendors add colour to urban life because, in my opinion, there is no better sight than a bustling market with many street vendors. Vendors serve our day-to-day requirements at our doorsteps at affordable rates. However, when we talk of street vendors, we tend to visualise a vegetable or flower vendor. This is not the case as the street vending ecosystem is quite diverse.

26 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

According to the Street Vendors Act 2014, any person conducting business at a roadside, or any public place, is considered a street vendor. PM SVANidhi Scheme covers an extensive range of occupations.

At the onset of the lockdown, the visuals of people walking to their native places became popular. As soon as the issue came to light, various ministries of the Government of India stepped into action and brought out many schemes for the urban poor. At MoHUA, we began looking into ways of helping the street vendors. We noticed that their access to formal lending institutions, say banks, was limited. Generally, they relied on taking loans from informal sources with interest rates as high as 6000 per cent. We noticed that their savings were exhausted in either getting their families back to their native places or simply running their families. There was an urgent need to assist them so that they could restart their businesses. This was the context in which the PM SVANidhi Scheme

was introduced.

The scheme provides a blueprint for the street vendors to go up the economic ladder. In fact, under the scheme, the first tranche of the loan is `10,000. If repaid in time, the street vendor will be eligible for the second tranche of `20,00. If this is repaid on time, the vendor becomes eligible for the third tranche of `50,000. The scheme’s main objective is to integrate street vendors into the formal urban economy and assist them in expanding their businesses. During implementation, umpteen vendors have expressed their gratitude that the government helped them restart their business.

When the GoI envisioned the scheme, what challenges did you foresee in its implementation at such a large scale? How did you tackle them?

When you deal with the urban poor, many challenges crop up. One is that our lending institutions are not designed to cater to them. They did

Sanjay Kumar JS, MoHUA

not have adequate experience in dealing with this particular strata.

After analysing the Mudra Shishu Loan scheme, under which loans of up to `50,000 are given, we observed that more than 90 per cent of the loans were in the upper end of the spectrum of the 0 to 50,000 group. In the case of loans of a smaller amount, say 10,000 or 20,000, there was no substantial contribution from the banks.

The main contributions to street vendors’ loans were from non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs). Our formal lending institutions were broadly unaware of the sector. The challenge was, therefore, in encouraging these formal institutions in lending to the street vendors. For that, we roped in the Department of Financial Services’ Reporting Department. We looked at the guarantee structure to determine what hinders the institutions in conducting business with the vendors, or primarily the urban poor. We noted that the government’s guarantee

structure was inadequate, and we, therefore, decided to re-structure it.

The second challenge was rentseeking. This happens every time the government introduces a new policy.

To counter that, we designed an endto-end IT system where no document is required. The applicant need not come to any government office. They can apply for a loan from any kiosk or can take the help of someone who knows how to use a computer or a laptop.

The third challenge was communication.

According to information received by the officials, there was a possibility that this scheme might be viewed as a grants scheme instead of a loan scheme. This is, however, a loan scheme. The vendors have to repay the loan amount. We tried to communicate with the vendors through various channels like the state governments, media, social media etc.

The fourth challenge was in identifying who a street vendor is.

Since the scheme is only available to street vendors, many people try

to influence the system to become eligible. The challenge was to ensure proper documentation for street vendors. Following the Street Vendors Act 2014, urban local bodies are responsible for conducting surveys to identify street vendors. However, the overall quality of the survey varied.

It was also impossible to conduct a fresh survey during the pandemic. So we allowed street vendors to submit their documents on the IT platform and mandated the ULBs to dispose of them within 15 days. So far, we have identified 25 lakh new street vendors, who were up till now untraceable.

Since its launch in June 2020, the scheme has already sanctioned loans to over 23.5 lakh street vendors and disbursed loans to around 19.2 lakh out of 50 lakh targeted beneficiaries. The scheme seems to be on track and would likely benefit all as envisioned. What is the next step?

How do you envision the long-

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

27

One on One | Sanjay Kumar, JS, MoHUA term benefits of the scheme?

The first benefit is that the street vendors must have access to formal credit facilities. I’m thankful to public sector banks for supporting this scheme and set the interest rate of the loans issued under the scheme between 10-12 per cent. This interest rate is not even 1/10th of the actual interest rates that the street vendors paid for when they took loans from the NBFCs or the MFIs. Secondly, we have also incentivised regular repayment. The government is providing an interest subsidy of 7 per cent on timely payment of the instalments.

Simultaneously, the government is also trying to create a credit trail for the vendors, helping build their credit score. We are giving incentives worth `1200 for digital transactions during the period of a loan.

We have also started the ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi Scheme’ where the government conducts the socioeconomic profiling of street vendors and their families to facilitate

access to various government welfare schemes under implementation post2014. We have selected eight schemes which have been divided into three categories. The welfare schemes like that of Janani Suraksha Yojana, Matru Vandana Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Suraksha Bima Yojana have received tremendous response from street vendors and their families. These schemes have witnessed the highest enrolment. Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana, which will entitle beneficiaries from the unorganised sector to a steady pension, has been selected by the government to create a social security net around the street vendors.

The Street Vendors Act 2014 gives the role of administration of vending affairs to the street vendors themselves.

There is a provision of a town vending committee where 40 per cent of the members are street vendors. Though this has been in place since 2014, the government is trying to strengthen this network and build their capacities to make decisions for their administration.

It was impossible to conduct a fresh survey during the pandemic.

So we allowed street vendors to submit their documents on the IT platform and mandated the ULBs to dispose of them within 15 days.

So far, we have identified 25 lakh new street vendors, who were up till now untraceable”

28 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

India is in a phase where approximately 35 per cent of the population resides in cities.

This number could increase significantly when the results of the next census are out. How important do you think is the role of the urban poor in India’s growth story?

Any society is rated based on how the government treats the poor. Initially, India was termed as a ‘reluctant urbaniser’. However, as per the 2011 Census, our urban population was close to 38 crores. But, if we consider the peri-urban areas, which look like cities but have not been declared so by the respective state governments, the proportion of the urban population in India may very well cross 60 per cent.

The role of urban poor is vital because if we extrapolate the concept of national domestic product or state domestic product to the city-level and calculate the city domestic product, then the urban poor’s role is magnified.

Our Hon’ble prime minister’s vision of making India a $5 trillion economy will never be fulfilled till we take care of our urban poor.

The main constituents of urban poor are migrants from rural areas or small towns who come to cities searching for employment and better opportunities.

The government is already working on formulating a mechanism to handle migration. The government has commissioned many studies. We are also making sincere efforts to enable them to access our welfare schemes and convince state governments to extend their schemes’ benefits.

The Deendayal Antyodaya YojanaNational Urban Livelihoods Mission, which is being implemented since 2014 for the urban poor, has different components. One of them is skill development and placement. We train urban poor in market-oriented skills through the scheme and provide them opportunities to either join wage employment or set up their microenterprise.

As part of the scheme’s second component, we also organise our urban poor women into self-help groups

(SHGs). So far, we have close to 60 lakh urban poor women across the country enrolled in SHGs, allowing them to access loans at affordable rates.

The collective so formed also helps them raise their voice and demand for services for which they are eligible.

The third component is concerned with providing shelters to the urban homeless. We have so far created shelters for close to one lakh urban homeless. The fourth component is, of course, street vendors. So, the Ministry is trying to help the urban poor, but it is ultimately the role of the state governments and the ULBs to take care of them as it is a state-subject.

Nonetheless, the Ministry keeps issuing advisories and keeps conversing with state governments on how to make the lives of the urban poor better.

You rightly said that the role of the urban poor in India in achieving the $5 trillion economy goal is essential. You are a qualified civil engineer from IIT and studied public management and governance at the London School of Economics (LSE). What is your outlook on India’s changing urban landscape? What should be the nation’s priorities?

We have been taught from our childhood that India lives in villages.

Soon, this narrative will change as a majority of our population will be living in urban areas. Since we know that this will happen, we need to prioritise and focus on a few things. The first is infrastructure in urban areas. We still cannot claim that all houses are covered with water supply or sewage system.

Cities need loads of infrastructure to prepare for the migrants.

Urban governance is another aspect.

In the implementation stage of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, many states and ULBs performed tremendously well. Some did not do so well, and a few others still need to be pulled up to improve their services. Unless urban governance is improved and every person living in the jurisdiction of a ULB is given a voice, planned development of any

city is impossible. We must keep in mind that urban development should not be an accident but be planned well in advance.

The third aspect is that we have to change our notion of judging cities based only on their infrastructure. We must realise that the cities, or even rural areas for that matter, are made up of people and must make the lives of the people better. We have so many schemes and so many Acts in the Indian Constitution. The only thing we need to do is ensure that the people that these schemes and Acts are formulated for can enjoy its benefits. I think this would be a great service to the people.

Do you think ULBs are equipped well enough to handle this rapid urbanisation rate or do they need specialised training for that? How vital will be the role of local governments in achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goals, New Urban Agenda, Paris Climate

Accord? Are they prepared to take the challenges head-on?

ULBs have a role in mitigating climate change, but there are numerous other departments. However, they are not all under the jurisdiction of the ULBs. We have a multiplicity of organisations and departments working to make cities resilient. It was not the idea of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act to have multiple departments working in the urban landscape. The time has come to hand over all the functions mentioned in the CAA to the ULBs. Of course, we need to engage the ULBs in capacity building. But as the saying goes, “The kind of responsibility you give to a person, they will exhibit similar talents.” Once you give the responsibilities to the ULBs, I am sure that they will be able to perform.

The central and the state governments will have to chip in to build their capacities.

[You can also watch this interview on YouTube Channel of Urban Update]

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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Numbrograph | Progress So Far

Helping street vendors get back on their feet The Pradhan Mantri Street Distribution of vending activities among street vendors Vendors AatmaN irbhar Nidhi Scheme is a flagship scheme of the Government of India which aims to uplift the lives of the street vendors. This is being done by helping them combat the COVID-19 pandemic by making financial services accessible to them, working towards including them in the formal economic system of cities, and making them socially secure. Team Urban Update tried to encapsulate the scheme’s success so far 45%

21%

13%

5%

Furits and Vegetables

Ashley Paul | Reporter

30 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Fast food and food items

Cloth and handloom items

Beauty and fashion accessories

4%

Services

3%

Flower and pooja items

2%

Home décor and Handicrafts

2%

2%

2%

Plastic items Footwear and Kitchen items Leather Products

1%

Electric and Electronic goods

Top 10 mega cities with highest enrollments 67,699

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporations

44,855 35,533

32,449 26,277 66,152

Chennai Municipal Corporation

28,695 16,261

2,389,468 Sanctioned Applications

32,872

Surat Municipal Corporation

14,125 12,021 49,664

BBMP* Municipal Corporations

18,493

2,013,308

11,445 21,508

Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporations

Kolkata Municipal Corporations

4,130,284 Total Applications

62,336

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporations

National Capital Territory Municipal Corporations

Progress of PM SVANidhi so far

9,664

Disbursed

5,662 1,252 770 638 703 638 17

Applications

Sanctioned

402,985

Disbursed

Ineligible

2,383.78 Cr

1,992.69 Cr

Sanctioned Amount

Disbursed Amount

20

41

Average Days to Sanction a loan

Average age of applicants

60% Male 40% Female Gender distribution of applicants

Source: https://pmsvanidhi.mohua.gov.in/, https://pmsvanidhi.qcin.org/

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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Leaderspeak | Associated Schemes

Creating prosperity with social security for street vendors Street vending provides employment to millions of migrants and locals in cities and towns.

Generally, these are people who could not get jobs in formal economic activities for whatever reasons hence lack social and health security for themselves and their families. The government is trying to build an eco-system where they cannot just become a formal part of the urban economy but also access social security schemes of the governments

S

treet vending is increasingly accepted as an essential aspect of urban economy and city life, yet most city planning does not have adequate space for their inclusion. Street

vendors work in an unfavourable and uncertain environment despite playing a significant role in the urban economy and providing services and products to common people at affordable rates. A significant issue for street vendors is to get legal status to sell their products

A progress report released in January 2019 by the Centre for Civil Society said that the state-level progress remained sluggish, and implementation disregarded several provisions of the Act. The Act states that each Urban Local Body (ULB) should have at least one TVC. Currently, there are only 2,382 TVCs for 7,263 ULBs in India. Moreover, 42% of these TVCs do not have vendor representatives, defeating the purpose of a ‘participatory committee’. Only 4 out of 28 states and 2 Union Territories (UT) that responded to requests for data have a grievance redressal committee

32 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

and services without fear of eviction or confiscating of their assets. While the problem is closely related to their legal status, it should be approached from an urban planning perspective.

How spaces are defined and planned is critical for street vendors, who are seen to occupy ‘public’ land and disturb order in ‘public spaces’. The challenge for policymakers now is to translate the newfound recognition of street vendors.

Street vendors, their rights and limitations

Almost three decades ago, the New Delhi Municipal Committee evicted Sodhan Singh, a street vendor who used to sell garments at Janpath in New Delhi. Singh filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the Supreme Court, saying that the action of the NDMC violated his fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. In its judgment in the Sodhan Singh versus NDMC, 1989, the Apex Court ruled that “If properly regulated according to the exigency of the circumstances, the small traders on the sidewalks can considerably add to the comfort and convenience of the general public, by making available ordinary articles of everyday use for a comparatively lesser price. An ordinary person, not very affluent, while hurrying towards his home after

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

a day’s work, can pick up these articles without going out of his way to find a regular market. The right to carry on trade or business mentioned in Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, on street pavements, if properly regulated, cannot be denied on the ground that the streets are meant exclusively for passing or re-passing and no other use.” This judgment proved to be a relief for street vendors as it not only spotlighted the significant role of street vendors for urban communities but also provided an insight to local bodies to regulate the use of public spaces so that those are used optimally without affecting the livelihoods of the poor street vendors.

The debate on the right of pedestrians to use sidewalks freely and the right of street vendors to do their business is quite old and conflicting. There could be many judgments, observations from courts, Acts and Regulations, but still, street vendors operate under inhospitable conditions, with no guaranteed access to basic facilities, and under constant fear of harassment and damage to their goods by authorities.

However, the Street Vending Act 2014 has given some hope to them, but its effective implementation remains a challenge. Some states have fared well, while many have not been able to conduct street vendors’ survey or form Town Vending Committees (TVC) as mandated in the Act. A progress report released in January 2019 by the Centre for Civil Society said that the statelevel progress remained sluggish, and implementation disregarded

several provisions of the Act. The Act states that each urban local body (ULB) should have at least one TVC. Currently, there are only 2,382 TVCs for 7,263 ULBs in India. Moreover, 42 per cent of these TVCs do not have vendor representatives, defeating the purpose of a ‘participatory committee’.

Only 4 out of 28 states and 2 union territories (UT) who responded to data requests have a grievance redressal committee.

Svanidhi se Samridhi

The government is making efforts to provide social security net to street vendors by enabling their access to several existing social security schemes. Under this initiative, the government is trying to assess the socioeconomic profile of the beneficiaries of the PM SVANidhi scheme and facilitate the linkage to existing welfare schemes of the central government.

The profiling includes collecting data relating to housing, health insurance coverage, education, skills, migration status, and occupation category, among others. In the first phase, it aimed to cover as many as 125 ULBs in India. A total of eight schemes being implemented by the five ministries have been earmarked to benefit street vendors. These are Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Issuance of RuPay Card, Registration under BoCW, Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana, Food and Public Distribution NFSA portability benefits - One Nation One Ration Card

(ONORC), Janani Suraksha Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). Three steering committees at the central, state and district level have been constituted to monitor the implementation of the schemes.

As per the guidelines of the schemes, ULBs are entrusted with the responsibility to collect data of the PM SVANidhi beneficiaries and their families on a web or mobile-based platform. ULBs would also spread awareness about the program. After data collection, they would share with the District level committee for further processing the scheme benefits to the eligible beneficiaries.

In the time of the health crisis, millions of poor street vendors suffered not just because of losing their livelihoods but also because they did not have any access to health and social security schemes of the government. Urban Local Bodies can enable their access to these schemes and bring relief to reviving their businesses. Street vendors could also get access to schemes announced by the state and national governments during the crisis. For this, they will have to have accurate data of the street vendors operating in their jurisdiction, empowering TVCs and having an effective operational communication mechanism.

ULBs can also engage with local Civil Society and street vendors’ unions for building an orderly system that does not affect the local citizens and their access to public spaces. And also provide a hospitable environment to street vendors to do their business.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

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ARTICLE | Street Vendors & Land-Use

Street Vendors

The undervalued elements of urban aesthetics

I

ndia’s urban atmosphere is a mix of formal and informal settings, of crowds and traffic jams, of architectural marvels and historical monuments.

However, one element that most of us neglect but are closely tied to is street vending.

A large part of economic activity in many urban centres across India is owed to street vendors. They not only make commodities affordable for the public but also make them accessible.

From flowers to vegetables and from electronics to clothes, street vendors run through the length and breadth of urban India.

Street vendors also contribute in a big way to changing the aesthetic

34 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

appeal of cities. While conducting their businesses, they often occupy spaces that were initially meant for other purposes or simply leave the area dirty after they close shop. However, at the same time, street vendors also cater to a wide range of advantages to the city’s landscape. Apart from making daily-use commodities accessible, street vendors also help in making cities safer. In her book ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’, American-Canadian author and journalist Jane Jacobs said that diversifying land use can greatly help make women feel safer. This includes, but is not limited to, formally opening up our public spaces to street vendors.

In India, street vending can widely

be divided into two types – Periodic temporary markets and Fixed Individual spots. This is based on how street vendors utilise public spaces for their businesses.

Periodic Markets

These markets are primarily set up on a daily or weekly basis. Vegetables, fruits, flowers, plastic products like combs and mugs, and cutlery are some of the things that are most commonly found in these markets. Markets like those that crop up in RK Puram in New Delhi on Fridays and Sunday, or like those that inhabit Arpora in North Goa on Friday nights, are often the lifeline of the area’s economy. In Arpora, for example, shopkeepers set up shop in

Ashley Paul Reporter

Newspaper vendors & their unique ways One of the first people to get up in the morning, most newspaper vendors perform two jobs to make ends meet. However, their role in utilising public spaces is unique. What are roads for thousands of vehicles throughout the day are their places of business during the early hours of the day. Vinod Bhagvat, a newspaper vendor, sets up a shop to receive the bundle of newspapers at 05:00 AM. After distributing the newspapers to the subscribers, he runs back to his house only to return to the same spot to sell pakoras and jalebis. The exact location used as a point to rendezvous with newspaper distributors is used for the rest of the day to sell snacks. This diversity of uses to which a piece of land is subjected is a USP of urban India.

In many cases, activities like newspaper distribution also trigger other street vendors in the vicinity. To stay fresh, newspaper vendors look for different vendors selling tea.

This, in turn, prompts other vendors selling snacks to set up shop. In turn, a small economic ecosystem emerges only for a few hours every morning and disappears for the rest of the day.

an almost carnival-like environment.

Not only do they sell products and make profits but also have a good time listening to live music performances or by going on rides. This not only makes the area a bustling hub of business but also a fun location for families living in the vicinity to come and enjoy. Not only this, the Arpora night market in Goa is a rather interesting tourist destination too. One can find traditional Goanthemed food and keychains, mugs and earrings, along with jackets and electronics.

Ongus Mathews, the owner of a handicrafts shop in Arpora, said that the market helps his family eat three meals a day. “If it were not for this market, we would not have been able to sustain ourselves. Even during the lockdown, all the shopkeepers worked together to help each other,” he said.

Adding that the market management committee is often applauded for its method of managing the space they occupy and the visitors, Ongus told us that we try out best not to trouble any of the residents nearby. “We realise that we must keep our neighbours happy. If we turn the market into a headache for those living nearby, then it is obvious that the market is not a good use of the land,” he remarked.

On the other hand, the Friday market in RK Puram is relatively typical compared to the one in Arpora.

However, it does serve as a source of low priced and fresh vegetables, fruits and spices for the area’s residents. Not only this, but the market also serves as a one-stop-shop for all cutlery.

Additionally, to ensure that the people visiting the markets do not have a hard time, the market is divided based on the types of products being sold.

This, in turn, makes shopping at the Friday market easy for the consumers. Along with the market, it is also common to find vendors serving street food.

It is interesting to see how a public place transforms into a bustling market for one night every week and ends up serving the requirements of thousands of people.

Fixed Spots

The vendors who fall in this category sell products at one spot only. These spots are usually in front of other shops, at the roadside or near an office space. Street vendors in this category also sell a variety of things. However, due to their fixed place of business, their customer base is usually fixed.

Additionally, they may or may not be a part of a management committee or a union. Since they conduct their business alone, they typically do not have other street vendors selling products next to them. Since they are not a part of any committee, they do not plan when and where they set up shop. For some street vendors who set up shop in market areas, the market management committee is responsible for the spot they can claim for selling their products. They also have to pay rent to the market management committee to continue their business.

“Sometimes, the market committees raise the rents suddenly. This may mean that the rent may suddenly double. In such a case, it gets tough for us to cope.

Many of my friends had to close their shops due to this,” said Ram Shankar, a shopkeeper in the Green Park market in South Delhi. These shopkeepers add a different touch to the otherwise structured market areas. Apart from the high-end branded products sold by shopkeepers in markets like Green Park, the street food and phone covers sold by these street vendors enhance visitors’ shopping experience.

One of the problems here is that unlike periodic markets with a welldefined public space for them to conduct their business, these individual street vendors are often the cause of a disrupted walking path for visitors in market places. This creates a problem for them and dramatically increases the amount of time they spend navigating the market places, making them less interested in visiting the said market.

It is, therefore, important for market management committees to make sure they come up with possible solutions for accommodating an essential element of market places in urban India.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

35

ARTICLE | International learnings

Street vendors find encouragement across the globe

The urban economy is a mix of numerous elements. In a crisis, governments push for sustaining the organised sector with policy and technological interventions, but at times, the unorganised sector is ignored. Street vending, which constitutes a large part of any urban centre’s unorganised sector, has to be given due importance in the post-pandemic world as both city administrations and citizens have realised how important its role is in delivering services and products at citizens’ door steps

U

rban local bodies and governments worldwide have tried to include street vendors in their formal economic sphere. This not only helps the street vendors become better off economically but also makes it easier for the governments to plan policies further to develop the city’s economic and social ecosystem.

Team Urban Update tries to analyse the street vending trend globally and list the initiatives taken by governments and ULBs to make the lives of street vendors better.

China takes them online

As China is recovering from the economic fallout post-COVID-19, the nation has shifted its focus towards the vending economy. According to experts, with a bit of push from government policies, this sector will employ more than nine million people in China. The government has collaborated with the technology and e-commerce giants, including Alibaba, JD.com, and Tencent and announced support measures such as easy cash transactions. Shanghai had also launched street festivals in June-July last year to boost the vending economy as the pandemic faded away.

Spain’s way to manage urban spaces

Barcelona, last year in July, allocated a dedicated place as a handicrafts market for their street vendors, or rather mantero (a term for street vendors). It helped the city manage urban spaces as well as organise them. Street vendors are particularly vital in the strategic spatial planning of the urban regions as they are the major stakeholders of public spaces. Moreover, Manuela Carmena, Mayor, Madrid City, introduced a residency permit last year for manteros which would offer them health care facilities and essential public services, as per a story by New York Times. The vendors in the city took their small businesses to people’s doors during the pandemic when they were unable to shop outdoor.

Barcelona’s Union of African street vendors provided necessities such as food and medical supplies to the people during the lockdown.

A different side of street vendors in Colombia

A study conducted by John Rennie Short, Professor, University of Maryland, and Scholar Lina Martinez, found a sophisticated operation of street vendors in Cali, Colombia and multiple levels. The vending economy in the city was found to be a wellestablished sector in the busy spaces with better working conditions and relatively higher income. The study found significant flows of money, and

36 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Hitesh Nigam Editorial Assistant

it suggested that street vending often provided higher wages than the formal economy. Strict measures are kept in place to support the community. For example, it is illegal to remove the street vendors from public spaces without giving them proper compensation or guaranteed participation in the income-support programmes.

Food Trucks in the USA and the UK

Countries have realised the potential in the vending economy and have tried to evolve it to better suit the urban economy and spaces. The United States of America introduced the motorised version of food vending in the form of food trucks. With its success, the

USA and other countries have begun encouraging this form of street vending.

It has become a tourist attraction across the country, and advocates are bidding for an increase in licences and permits, which were seriously curbed till the 1980s in New York. These food trucks have become a part of the urban street vending community in many countries, including India.

A study conducted in the United Kingdom by Caterer.com found that people in the UK have shifted their priority to food vans and small street shops. The study found that around a quarter of the population (26 per cent) prefers to stop at a street vendor’s shop to eat, which, for them, is a cost-effective option as compared to eating at a restaurant. Around 48 per cent of the people accepted that they prefer authentic cuisine experiences, and street food reigns supreme in authenticity. London has been reigning as the street food capital of the country, with almost a third of its diners (1.1 million) eating at street food corners every week, according to UK based UMI news.

Replicating the innovations in India

The street vendors’ community in India has a wide range of customers and can contribute greatly to the

A study conducted in the United Kingdom by Caterer. com found that people in the UK have shifted their priority to food vans and small street shops. The study found that around a quarter of the population (26 per cent) prefers to stop at a street vendor’s shop to eat, which, for them, is a cost-effective option as compared to eating at a restaurant

economy if managed efficiently.

Taking them online and giving them dedicated spaces in the urban centres are some of the steps that authorities can implement on the lines of China and Barcelona. Moreover, urban areas are considered safer when they include small vending hubs and street markets.

An opinion poll of Spaniards published in El Mundo suggests that in case of any mishappening, people want the police to fine manteros instead of detaining them. On the lines of PM SVANidhi, various cities, including New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Varanasi, and Hyderabad, have taken their street vendors online via tie-up with various food delivery applications. Local bodies have also come forward to help the vendors’ community. For instance, in Hyderabad, the Telangana Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas had issued a notice to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) regarding the harassment of street vendors.

The Government of India has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Swiggy and Zomato to onboard street vendors on their online food ordering platform and to create one of the world’s largest street food vendor project.

Street vendors worldwide have presented some of the best models of operation when they get appropriate support from the local bodies, especially in urban regions. They face almost similar challenges in every country as they are associated with encroachment of urban spaces, traffic congestion, immigration, bad hygiene, etc. Even before the pandemic, they faced various issues, including forced relocations and evictions, police fines, and vending bans. The informal economy constitutes a significant part of the urban economy, mainly made up of street vendors and small roadside shops. Hence, the authorities and the government need to develop targeted welfare schemes and policies for them to boost their presence and acknowledge their contribution in boosting the local economy.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

37

ARTICLE | Street Vendors In Urban Economy

COVID-19 threw street vendors into a deeper state of uncertainty The COVID-19 pandemic created perturbing disturbances in the economic structure of India, a developing country already dealing with existing socio-economic uncertainties. In March 2020, the Government of India imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. Street vendors in India, an integral part of the nation’s informal economy, were thrown out of their senses with the announcement of a month long lockdown overnight, which left them exposed to the virus, unemployed, and vulnerable

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eriodic Labour Force Survey, conducted in 2017-18, found that there were around 11.9 million street vendors in India.

With job opportunities decreasing in India and cities having continuous inflow of migrations from rural areas, the profession of street vending became lucrative for the unskilled, uneducated, urban poor to survive.

Challans fined by urban local bodies (ULBs) due to lack of registration and licenses, bribery indirectly asked by government officers, lack of access to social security, rising inflation rates in cities, and debts were already pressing on the shoulders of street vendors when the COVID-19 pandemic hit India. Recognising the urgent need to provide credit for working capital to street vendors to help them survive during the lockdown and to

To Abdul, the COVID-19 pandemic seems very similar to Delhi’s municipality and police, for both of them have pushed him into living a life of high uncertainity.

Nobody knows when the government might impose lockdown again, shutting his source of income, and nobody knows when the police or the ‘Committee’ might show up and ask him to pay fine for working as a street vendor, which currently amounts to more than his two weeks’ income

38 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

resume their business afterwards, the Government of India in June 2020 launched the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, which aimed to facilitate working capital loan of up to `10,000 each to street vendors across the nation’s cities.

However, according to reports published by the Centre for Civil Society, out of 7263 towns across the nation, only 33 per cent have a notified town vending committee (TVC) and only 50 per cent of these notified TVCs have issued ID cards to vendors.

Additionally, Thomson Reuters Foundation held a series of interviews last year in New Delhi and found that out of 15 street vendors interviewed, only three said that they had applied for the loan offered under PM SVANidhi, while others said they did not plan to apply because of lack of interest in the amount that is being offered and an

Pooja Upadhyay Editorial Assistant

unwieldy and unnecessarily complex process of license procurement.

Team Urban Update took interviews of few street vendors located in South Delhi in a bid to understand their situation before and after the pandemic.

Abdul Waheed, a 76-year-old man, sits on a small carpet made out of old bags at the roadside near a bus stop in South Delhi. He remains exposed to the fuming Sun in the middle of the afternoon, and as he starts making tea for his third customer of the day, he stays alert for any siren of the municipal corporation van, for they, if caught sight of him, would turn his little source of earning upside down and confiscate all his products. In the little place that he occupies, he sells tea and tobacco, which, ever since the lockdown was lifted, had not produced enough earning to feed his family three meals a day. He clarified that

even before the pandemic, his little shop was not bringing him riches, but he was not starved either. To Abdul, the COVID-19 pandemic seems very similar to Delhi’s municipal corporations and police, for both of them have pushed him into living a life of high uncertainty. Nobody knows when the government might impose lockdown again, shutting his source of income, and nobody knows when the police or the ‘committee’ might show up and ask him to pay fine for working as a street vendor, which currently amounts to more than his two weeks’ income. On being asked if he had heard of PM SVANidhi Scheme, he shakes his head to indicate a firm no and then says, “Even if I had come to know about the scheme, I do not have the documents to prove that I am a street vendor because nobody ever issued one. All that they ever issue are fines. Fines to work by ourselves because I am not educated or qualified enough to have a job, and neither is my son.”

A young man, Santosh, cooks and sells chole kulche and paranthe on his pushcart near Dera More, and has been able to save only around `150, in comparison to earning `600-800 before March 2020. He said he had heard a lot about the Prime Minister’s scheme to help street vendors during the lockdown, but he had realized very early that the scheme would never reach him because of the lack of an identity card. His relative in Gurugram engaged in a similar business received the amount promised by the government under the scheme, but Santosh never tried to get a license like his relative. This is because he saw his relative pay `50,000 for a street vending license at a place 20 kilometre from his house. Santosh said that therefore, he chose to sell things including his bed and fridge, borrow money from friends instead of trying to find long lost and inexistent documents. “The process of obtaining a license is cumbersome. We have to stand in long lines and lose many days of income, and end up paying a hefty

amount to obtain our right of selling on the side of roads. Since we do not have a smartphone and because of COVID, no one is readily available to lend their laptops, we are forced to go to the office to physically fill out the forms,” said Santosh.

Mohammad Manzur, hailing from Bihar, sells footwear on his pushcart near Fatehpur Beri. He said he has not been able to earn even half the amount that he used to earn before the pandemic. Even Sunday markets fail to bring any crowd, and nothing in the market or sales is comparable to before.

He said he has adapted to the habit of sleeping on an empty stomach since the lockdown was imposed in March last year. Even after hearing about the PM SVANidhi scheme, he chose not to apply for it as the amount offered was not enough and the process is hectic.

Another street vendor, Ganesh Chaudhary, and his wife sell eggs a few steps away from Manzur’s cart.

His family of six (him, his wife and four children) survive on two carts, which he uses to sell eggs and tobacco from. He asked, “If I am not stealing or murdering, and am only trying to make an honest living, how come my work of street vending is ‘illegal’ or ‘criminal’, for which I and other vendors are made to face constant insult, harassment, and fines?”

Each of the vendor interviewed by Team Urban Update were in a state of uncertainty, almost waiting for the news of lockdown getting imposed again amidst the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, yet praying and hoping that it does not happen. All that street vendors need is a little space to earn, to not be tagged as ‘illegal’, and to have access to their right to life.

It is high time that governments and ULBs step up their efforts to recognize the due significance of street vendors in cities’ economy and daily life on practical ground, and also expedite the implementation of existing schemes, otherwise millions of street vendors will have to continue living in extreme vulnerability, under constant uncertainty and threats.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

39

ARTICLE | 15th Finance Commission

XV FC: Recommendations For Cities

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or the next five years, the road map for devolution of funds to the states as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission (XV FC) is ready. The XVFC has met in the last few years and the previous year was the year of COVID pandemic and as a natural corollary-lessons to be learnt.

Much has been written on this aspect; I, instead, would like to focus on the recommendations of the XV FC and the urban. The urban which is nearly 34 per cent of the population and contributes 67 per cent of the GDP. It was expected that witnessing ghastly scenes of the inequity led to reverse migration of the workers in the cities during the lockdown; greater emphasis on the FC recommendations would directly affect this aspect. However, this aspect remained unnoticed by the commission. Let us see what is there for the urban.

But before going into that, it is essential to note that the two quotes made by the commission at the beginning of the main report are contradictory to each other. The first one is Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, where it states that “the future depends on what we do in the present”. The focus

is on planning and why present is more important. The second one is from the Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius: “Never let the future disturb you.

You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

Apparently, the XV FC report is also quite contradictory to the quotes.

Whereas the running commentary it mentions the unusual times and the challenges posed by Covid; however, in the effective part, it recommends the reverse instead of ameliorating the concerns.

Let us see how it figures in the urban recommendations. Though the total outlay for the urban is more than the XIV FC, however, in actual terms, it is a status quo.

The XIV commission’s total outlay was `87,144 crore, and 15 per cent of this was not released. Hence the actual amount spend was `74,529 crore.

The total outlay for the urban local bodies for 2021-26 is `1,21, 055 crore.

However, 2021 is lesser than 2020; it is a shortfall from `25,098 crore to `22,114 crore. This is 11.71 per cent of the total grants in five years.

The criteria for grants to local bodies are distributed amongst states based on population and area, with 90 per cent

and 10 per cent weightage, respectively.

There are two conditions for availing of these grants: firstly, the local bodies will have to publish provisional and audited accounts and secondly, fixation of minimum floor rates of property taxes by states and improvement in the collection of property taxes. Grants will not be released to local bodies after March 2024 if the State does not constitute a State Finance Commission and act upon its recommendations.

The XV FC has categorically stated that “we recommend the provision of a one-year window for notifying the floor rates of property tax; this will trigger in two stages from 2022-23. In the first stage, States are expected to notify the floor rates and operationalise the arrangements in 2021-22. The condition of notifying the floor rates of property tax will apply for eligibility of grants from 2022-23. Once the floor is notified, the condition of growth in property tax collection being at least as much as the simple average growth rate of the State’s own GSDP in the most recent five years will be measured and taken into account from 2023-24 onwards.”

Another fund called the challenge fund is opened up for million-plus cities; this will be linked to these cities’ performance in improving air quality, and meeting service level benchmarks urban drinking water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management. The total fund under this head is `26,057 crores for five years.

XV FC and devolution of funds

The XV FC missed the core element in the devolution of funds. As pointed out in the beginning, addressing equity and transforming the large informal sector to almost 93 per cent in the cities is an important challenge. Here are a few missed points: Firstly, the devolution of a mere 11 per cent is too meagre to meet

40 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Tikender Singh Panwar Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

any of the challenges the cities face today. According to a high-powered committee set up by the MOUD in 2011, urban infrastructure investment requirements annually in 2013 were estimated to be `50,000 crore and Rs 4 lakh crore by 2032. This amounts to nearly 0.75 per cent of the GDP in 2012 -13 and 1.5 per cent in 2032. Presently the total outlay from the XV FC and the union budget is not even 0.19 per cent, and that of urban grants is 0.07 per cent. Over the period, the combined expenditure of urban local bodies in the country is continuously shrinking from 1.74 per cent of GDP in 1990 to near one per cent in 2011.

The memorandum of the ministry of housing and urban affairs submitted to the XV FC sums the municipalities’ requirements: “A substantial increase in grants is needed for bridging the resource gap of municipalities, which is anticipated at `12.27 lakh crore over the period 2021-22 to 2025-26. Devolution to municipalities may be increased by at least four times (`3,48,575 crore), as

compared to the FC-XIV award.”

Secondly, the paranoia over collecting property tax and linking it to availing the grant must be given up.

No doubt that the property tax is one of the important sources of resource mobilisation in the municipalities, but to over centralise it would be erroneous. The provision for asking the state governments to decide the floor area rate for property tax is completely flawed. Every town and city have a different capacity, and even intracity, there are differences in property appreciation. This task must be left out to the municipalities and not to the state governments. The best practices must be followed to ensuring the collection of property tax. Besides, the previous year has been a year of disaster for the people and many businesses. A complete waive off of property taxes, especially from the hospitality industry and in lieu of that, a grant could have been a better option.

Thirdly, as in the past, the same mistakes of considering cities as the engines of growth continue to plague the XV FC. Since the UN-Habitat III, there has been a concerted effort to focus on sustainability goals and not treat cities as market entrepreneurs.

We have seen how unsustainable our cities have become with humongous inequity being spread rampantly. The effort should have been to check that.

Unfortunately, the recommendations continue with the same jargon and intent. Take, for example, the

Y

The XV FC recommendations on the health sector and granting an outlay of `70,051 crore is a welcome move.

Universal comprehensive health care is planned to be provided through urban health and wellness centres and polyclinics. Linking it with the ULB is a step in the right direction

language of the document- creating model PPP contracts, modernising municipal budgeting, evolving national municipal borrowing framework including provisions equivalent to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act for urban local bodies; all these points at the same mindset of cities being converted into attractive investment zones.

These insinuations are berserk. Not realising that nearly 90 per cent of the urban local bodies are unable even to meet their salary expenditure, such recommendations are completely out of insanity. Further, the XV FC did not pay heed to the inequity widening in the cities; according to Oxfam, the marginalisation of the poor has shot up rapidly.

Fourthly, in such a situation, the XV FC was expected to create a separate fund for the urban employment guarantee or address acute unemployment in the cities, akin to what it has recommended on pollution and air quality.

Health Intervention one of the Positive Recommendations

The XV FC recommendations on the health sector and granting an outlay of `70,051 crore is a welcome move. Taking a cue from the Kerala experience, affirmatively quoted in the report, the commission has admired the people’s plan of the Kerala government started in 1996 where 3540 per cent of the state government’s developmental budget was marked to local governments.

Universal comprehensive health care is planned to be provided through urban health and wellness centres and polyclinics. Linking it with the urban local bodies is a step in the right direction. The state governments must provide space and capacity for this idea to bloom, and as the pandemic has proven, the public health institutions stand as a saviour. How will this be effectively implemented in the absence of both will and resources to be watched keenly in the coming years?

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

41

ARTICLE | Value Water

Water makes us happy, let’s understand its true values!

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n amount of around $US 15 trillion, about a trillion less than India’s and China’s GDP put together, is currently being spent globally in COVID-19 recovery. This figure is rising, and we are still unsure when we will recover completely from this pandemic. Covid is part of the larger climate crisis. As the economies struggle to recover from this unprecedented crisis to humanity, each penny spent on the recovery is essential and is an opportunity at our hands to align the investments to the Paris Climate Agreement goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is also an opportunity to mend our ways and approaches to development to not tamper with nature anymore. We all need to reorient ourselves so that we can love nature and cohesively co-exist with it. Current development models have made us grow at the cost of nature, and that is why these cannot be called sustainable models.

While people like us have been asking for a change in the way we view the economy, the UN has recently recognised this thought process. A new UNEP report, ‘Making Peace with Nature’, says that the global economy has grown nearly fivefold over the last 50 years, primarily due to a tripling in the extraction of natural resources and energy that has fuelled growth in production and consumption.

Realising the unsustainability of growth, the UN has just adapted a framework that includes nature’s contributions when measuring economic prosperity and human well-being. Adopted by the UN Statistical Commission, this new framework called the System of EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting—Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) marks a major step forward beyond the commonly used statistic of gross domestic product (GDP) that has dominated economic reporting since the end of World War II. It is stated that this measure would ensure that natural capital such as forests, wetlands and other ecosystems are recognised in economic reporting.

The human race has already emerged as a

42 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network

competitor of nature, and we do not know whether any such new thinking or reporting would help us from the doomsday we are heading to. However, these are undoubtedly new hopes and can be used to reorient the policymaking and reorganise our economies so that the chances for survival of other species in the short run grow and that our survival is better in the long run. Things are moving at a pace that we shall first destroy all other species before facing a mass extinction period ourselves. We have polluted our rivers, water bodies, oceans, and most places to a huge extent, but we have also been very slow in finding solutions to these problems created by us. We have made plastic pollution land in the Atlantic, deep inside the oceans. We have made our forests vulnerable to such an extent that their capability as a carbon sink has been going down drastically.

The generation shift and a hope

The good thing about us is that we still have some species among us thinking to live in harmony with nature. We have been slow in finding solutions, but the hope is that we are trying.

Another hopeful thing about this world is, it is getting younger in so far as the number of youth population we have now. If we can make these youths understand the value of nature in their lives and future, we can find opportunities for the civilisations to stay alive, happy and prosperous. Let us start with World Water Day that gives the right call to raise awareness of water’s true values.

Water has socio-cultural, ecological

and economic values. Human bodies are composed of a huge share of water, which also means our health and wellbeing are dependent on water. While water policies and programmes cater to specific areas of water, such as irrigation/livelihood, WASH, fishery, and so forth, it is yet to be considered in its holistic value. Most importantly, the thought processes of the people, as well as the principles of water resources policy and practice have been narrowing down to pricing of water as compared to this holistic value.

We are fast transforming from a generation that lived happily with water resources to consider water as a commodity for exploitation. The youths and children – a substantial portion of them, especially in urban areas - are starting to believe that water comes from bottles and taps.

While many of them derive happiness from visiting water bodies and forests, during picnics and at other times, they cannot connect the fact that these are the same sources that bring them the water vital for their survival. Such a lack of knowledge and understanding would impact the conservation of the resources and sustainability of the services and happiness linked to water.

There is an urgent need to work towards regaining the real values of water in people’s minds. And if we can tap the youth power in this, we can make a lasting change.

A European way of valuing water

Recent collaborative research involving the University of Exeter and the University of Stirling that used data from thousands of visits to water bodies from across European countries has tried to analyse the economic value of these ecosystems through a new lens: costs incurred by Europeans to visit rivers, lakes, waterfalls, beaches and seaside promenades.

The assessment found that people across Europe spent above £700 billion annually in trips to water-based settings. This research has further

pointed out that people have shown a greater interest in visiting natural spots ever since Covid-19 struck.

Access to natural areas has been a priority of the people as they have realised the importance of the same, more so due to Covid.

Another critical dimension of this study was assessing the loss of people who did not want to visit sites with bad water quality. The study estimates the total annual loss for such reasons has been well over €100.

We are water creatures

Not only that, our body is composed of a significant portion of water; almost 90 per cent of the world’s population lives within six miles of a surface water body; most often than not, that freshwater comes from a river.

However, the same rivers bear the maximum brunt of our toxic wastes.

We discharge to the rivers and water bodies pollutants, most of which could be recycled and reused. That is criminal negligence. That shows we do not value our water resources in their totality. We are just happy pricing the water we use, be it through taps or bottles. Commodifying water has cost us, dear. As in the European study, quantifying the value are good ways to show people the amount of money they spend to stay happy.

However, water gives us happiness in many ways, many often which are not countable. The very feeling of being water secured is happiness. Millions still go to bed thinking about the next morning’s problems they would face if there is no water supply. The Cape Town residents went through that for years. The Californians have been going through the same.

In India, we have many pockets where women have to walk miles to fetch water for their families. All this has to end if we want to call us human civilisations. We have to understand the real value of water. We have to be happy!

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

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

43

E-Dialogues 23.0 | Waste Management

Responsible management of waste is key to a sustainable future All India Institute of Local Self-Government, in association with United Nations Centre for Regional Development, 3R Waste Foundation, and Urban Update, organised the 23rd edition of E-Dialogues on the topic ‘Waste to Wealth – Moving towards Circular Economy in India’ on March 22 Team Urban Update

T

he Webinar was moderated

by Dr Kulwant Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), 3R Waste Foundation. He began by saying that waste to wealth is the need of the hour and according to the website of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, it is set to be an opportunity worth $14 billion by 2025. He added that it is the first step towards developing a circular economy and will go a long way in managing our waste sustainably. The panel of the webinar consisted Swapan Mehra, Vice-President (Waste to Wealth), Invest India; Harish Babu, Senior Executive, Banka Biloloo Limited; KD Bhardwaj, Regional Director (EEIS), National Productivity Council (NPC); Sampath Rajkumar, Consultant, Rural Development Organisation (RDO)FINISH Mondial; Dr Rajesh C Iyer, Founder, Chairman, CYRA Engines Private Limited, Surat and Nimish Gupta, CEO, RVM (Reverse Vending Machine) Recycle Private Limited.

44 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Mehra began the discussion by defining the ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission of the Government of India. He showed various case studies and on-going projects to convert waste to a more useful form such as ‘Inert waste to Road’ to convert the inert waste of Ghazipur for the construction of roads. He also stressed upon the need to have bio-medical waste disposal facilities at various places and showed various solutions for it. He informed about various sentinels which are working under the Mission Plastic Management Sentinel at Taj Mahal, Agra; Hydrogen from Sewage and Paddy Straw in Ludhiana, Punjab, etc.

He concluded by requesting the other panellists to present their suggestions and technologies so that the authorities can work together for a better waste management culture.

Babu took the discussion forward and talked about the treatment of faecal sludge and the way forward. He explained various projects undetaken

by Banka Bioloo Limited in the field of faecal waste management across the country. He also explained the process of faecal sludge management

in the plant, beginning from the sludge reception to the very end going, through various stages of treatment. He added that the technology of Banka Bioloo is such that 20 to 30 per cent of the excess load can be accepted easily and scaled.

“The USP (Unique Selling Point) of the technology is that it is an odourless plant and discharge norms are achieved with minimum electricity and mechanical intervention,” he added. He concluded his session by showing a video of a brief visit to the plant, showing the whole process and infrastructure of the plant which produces treated water and compost for agricultural usage as the output.

KD Bhardwaj continued the event with his introduction about the NPC which provides a range of services in the field of Human Resource Management, Energy Management, Information Technology, etc. He spoke about the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and its need in the present times as it will help in reducing waste. Several categories of waste can be clubbed under EPR such as lead acid batteries, plastic waste, e-waste, etc. He also told about the various stakeholders in EPR such as the Central Pollution Control Board, 6 pollution control committees, 900 producers/ manufacturers, multiple collection centres, more than 4000 urban local bodies etc. which have varied roles to play in it. He addressed the issue of slow pace of adoption of EPR and said, “EPR is being adopted, but the process is slow.

It is mainly because it has a number of stakeholders responsible for making the process clean for waste management, especially e-waste.” Bhardwaj also cited the example of Taiwan where the system

of EPR is completely online, making it easy to adopt and operate. He went on to elaborate on the initiatives of Japan, Germany and Korea, all of which are also adopting EPR. He concluded his presentation by citing the challenges that India is facing in ensuring a smooth EPR process, including selling of e-waste to informal sectors, lack of awareness among consumers, low involvement of municipalities in EPR management, etc.

Sampath Rajkumar talked about the Nilgiris and its challenges in terms of sanitation, where women faced problems and it was ranked the second district in Tamil Nadu for open defecation in 2008. “Various awareness programs and infrastructure development were carried out and the situation has improved drastically since then,” he added. The main goal was to produce usable compost for agriculture from faecal sludge treatment, to establish market linkages to manage finances and to establish a circular economy in sanitation. He added that various technological innovations, like blackwater treatment and recycling, were involved in the process. He said that more importance is given to women to adopt the new innovations as they are connected at the ground level. He also added that the resultant co-compost is analysed for quality standards by various organisations such as Bureau of Indian Standards, European Union, World

Health Organisation, etc. He concluded by enumerating the challenges that stakeholders face, such as engagement with panchayats, establishment of source segregation, etc.

Dr Iyer talked about how we can use waste to wealth in an efficient way.

He talked about his organisation and their involvement in various fields of waste management such as power generation, bio-gas plants, etc. He said, “Collection and segregation is the most effective part of Waste-toWealth and unless this is not taken care of, successful implementation of the program is difficult.” He then explained how waste disposal process like pyrolysis and bio-methanation are effective tools for plastic and biodegradable waste respectively. Dr Iyer also discussed about the financial side

EPR is being adopted, but the process is slow. It is mainly because it has a number of stakeholders responsible for making the process clean for waste management, especially e-waste” KD Bhardwaj, Regional Director (EEIS), National Productivity Council

of various types of waste treatment plants including cost, raw material and benefits of purchasing such facilities.

He concluded by citing the example of CBG (compressed bio-gas), which is also produced from waste, being a good solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Gupta talked about managing solid plastic PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) waste in India. He talked about the function of Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) and how it collects waste plastic bottles, crushes them and then dispenses discount coupons for the user. The collected bottles are then sent to the centres where they are recycled or sustainably disposed. He said, “Our initiative supports Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and extends the producer responsibilities to all the beverage manufacturers. Moreover, it is a clean technology initiative contributing to circular economy and it is a streamlined waste handling process.” He also showed how RVMs have an average of 150 users per day per machine and have collectively recycled around 190 tonnes of PET bottles. RVMs are installed in some of the most important places such as railway and metro stations, bus stands, schools, offices, temples, etc, he added. He concluded by discussing the effect of pandemic on RVMs and said that people were scared to use the machines initially due to health issues and the collection rate has come down but still the RVMs are in use and they are being used more and more by the people.

www.urbanupdate.in | April 2021

45

Urban Agenda

Need of the hour is all-inclusive urban planning Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

Over the years, street vending has always been the easiest means of survival for poor migrants. It is one of the indispensable spheres of urban economies, for it not only acts as a source of livelihood but also because a large part of the urban population depends on the vendors for getting produce at affordable prices. Even then, in terms of the level of income, the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector in 2007 found that street vendors in India are largely located in the lowincome self-employed group of workers, those who are mostly poor and vulnerable.

Street vending comes with its baggage of insecurity and uncertainty. This is due to an unstable income, an unsafe business environment--prone to accidents, long-term illnesses due to exposure to pollution, and no access to social security. A significant proportion of street vendors still manage their social protection by borrowing from different sources at an exorbitant rate of interest of around 3-10 per cent per month and often end up falling into a debt trap.

With India striving towards beautifying urban spaces, cities have started to lose sight of the significance and demand of street vending. Street vendors remain vulnerable to harassment, bribes, confiscations and evictions. Initiatives like urban renewal projects, infrastructure upgrades and mega-events tend to routinely displace street vendors from natural markets, leaving the most vulnerable urban population without a workplace.

At the level of policymaking, street vendors were given their due recognition for the first time in independent India through the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014. Still, proper facilitation of street vending will require the government at every single level to take a slew of proactive measures. With the high scope that street vending offers, appropriately designed urban spaces can turn street vending into a substantial part of urban planning and operational statutes.

As the COVID-19 pandemic struck India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged the hit taken by the street vendors in cities, launched the PM SVANidhi Scheme and announced several financial assistance and food security programs All tiers of the government must prioritise their requirements and make urban policies and local economic development strategies to ensure security of informal workers. Mumbai, in a pioneering move, recently introduced Mumbai Development Plan (DP) 2034. This DP has the concept of multiutility land, where the predominant user/owner will operate for long periods. Meanwhile, hawking would be permitted in time slots when the other activity is suspended. Similarly, vending spaces will be created in housing schemes, markets and other large developments. Other cities in India can learn a lot and introduce similar provisions in their urban planning and development.

Street vendors provide a wide range of essential products at affordable prices. But what they still lack is the provision of licenses, which will make them less exposed to harassment and confiscation they often face. Formal financial institutions look for resources and credit history while providing a loan, but the urban poor, including the street vendors, have none, which prompts them to rely on other sources to borrow money, ultimately leading them to a debt trap. Access to social security for street vendors is of paramount importance now, more than ever!

Thorough research and understanding is a must on the part of the administration and policymakers to achieve implementation of modified street vending designs while simultaneously addressing the existing challenges in allotting space to vendors. Such proactive measures can handle the complexities of urban poverty and generate increased opportunities for the urban poor.

46 April 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

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