Housing Ministry Launches 'Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge'
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on November 4 launched the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge, under which cities will be provided technical assistance and capacity-building to make cities children-friendly by developing green public spaces close to home, safe transport systems and a healthy environment with air quality at safe levels and low noise pollution. Puri also launched a data maturity assessment framework (DMAF) to evaluate data ecosystems of cities and a training programme for city data officers (CDOs) of 100 Smart Cities. “Thoughtful urban planning and design can play a major role in addressing such challenges and in giving children a good start in life. This includes walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods that cater to the basics a young family needs within 15 minutes on foot; lively, green public spaces close to home that offer amenities for caregivers while allowing small children to explore safely; safe transport routes and transit systems that make it easy, affordable and enjoyable for families with young children to travel; and healthy environments with safe levels of air quality and low noise pollution and lastly a vibrant community life that supports family well-being," Puri continued, highlighting the different aspects of the initiative. For a city to be responsive to all people, it needs to consciously address the needs of the most vulnerable groups. Incorporating an early childhood lens in city planning will support more holistic, people-oriented urban development, said Durga Shankar Mishra, secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). On the DMAF cycle-2, the ministry said it would support cities in the creation of a "culture of data" under the 'DataSmart Cities' initiative of the Smart Cities Mission. The objective of this framework is to enable cities to assess their own data maturity with respect to a standardised framework covering aspects of enabling policies, governance structures, data management, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement at the city level. Under the CDO Training Programme, the ministry has partnered with Tata Trusts to launch a six-week guided e-learning course called 'Enabling Data Driven Decision Making in Urban Local Bodies'. Since the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, the government has released Rs. 21,102 crore for the 100 Smart Cities out of which the cities have already utilized around Rs 16,000 crore, around 76 percent of the funds. Out of a total 5,151 Smart City projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore, the Mission has already tendered 5,084 projects worth Rs 1,73,063 crore (84 percent of total projects) out of which 4,274 projects worth Rs 1,36,480 crore (66 percent of the total projects) have been work ordered. 1,935 projects worth Rs 32,368 crore have been completed. So far, 51 projects related to Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) have been completed and 31 ICCC projects are under implementation/tendering. The Mission targets to operationalize ICCC in all 100 Smart Cities by 2022. These ICCC were instrumental in COVID crisis management, acting as a city war room, according to the government.
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