The COVID-19 brought with it various difficulties and challenges, particularly for urban local bodies (ULBs), who had to ensure continuity of essential services even during some of the world’s strictest lockdowns. At the same time, they also had to make sure that neither the residents, nor their employees were infected with the virus and that the economically backward sections of society, a majority of which lost their source of income during the lockdowns, had access to three meals a day and a roof over their head. In the midst of all this, ULBs in India did not stop working on climate change related projects either, showing their will to reverse global warming. To know more about how they were able to do all this, and what role the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) played in assisting them, Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviewed Hitesh Vaidya, Director, NIUA.
During the pandemic, how did cities respond so quickly? What was the Government of India’s plan when dealing with this new challenge of COVID-19? The Centre came up with plans for street vendors, medical professionals, SWM, etc. What was NIUA’s role and how was it supporting the government in this?
I think a lot of things have changed in going from the pre-pandemic to the post-pandemic world. It is almost like the division of ‘Before Christ’ and ‘After Christ’. That is the change that we are looking at now. NIUA, as you know, is a think-tank of the Government of India. Our key mandate is to build capacities of ULBs, conduct on-ground research and advocate reforms and new ways of doing things. I think all three mandates were really followed after the pandemic. Cities have, I will say, responded really well during the pandemic. We used to say that our cities are not prepared but I particularly feel that the way they responded to the pandemic situation was a great way of handling the situation and I think our cities did a much better job than any other city in the world. And our work was comparable to all other cities.
After the pandemic, the main task is that cities have to rebuild their infrastructure, capacities, and their way of citizen-engagement. And NIUA is supporting them in this rebuilding exercise by building templates, preparing DPRs, and defining standards, so that cities can respond to the needs in a better way. Instead of each city preparing their own template, we can provide a standardized template to all of them so that they can prepare their project faster. Secondly, we are also providing information on the technologies available, both in terms of digital and infrastructure technologies. We are creating a repository of technologies, which can be made available to the cities and they can appropriately select those technologies, contextualize them according to their environment and apply them.
Thirdly, we are conducting training and capacity building workshops. We have started the National Urban Learning Platform, for which we have almost 27 institutes and 83 partners. With this, we are moving towards e-learning, where we can reach the scale of Indian ULBs much faster. Fourthly, we are recording the good practices that a lot of Indian cities have done during the pandemic. And we are making them available to 4000 local bodies across the country, where if one city has done it, others can follow suit. So we are becoming a repository of innovations, best practices, and of different technologies. And that is how we are supporting not just smart cities, but all 4000 ULBs across India.
Talking about 4000 ULBs, India is a vast country in terms of local governance. In the post-pandemic world, the effects of climate change are imminent and they are going to affect our cities badly. India ranks 7th among the most affected countries globally, as per the Global Climate Risk Index 2021. So we think that India is on an urbanisation fast-track, we are building cities, we are bringing so many schemes and missions for rebuilding cities and making them resilient, smart and effective. How do you see the Climate Smart City Framework Assessment by the NIUA, which is very timely, is going to impact at the local level, how cities are going to respond and what are its benefits?
You will be surprised that the Climate Self-Assessment Framework that NIUA has launched is the first-of-its-kind self-assessment framework across the world. No other country has carried out a similar task at this scale. Under the Framework, we covered 126 cities across 27 indicators falling in five broad categories: built environment, energy efficiency, mobility and air quality, urban planning and water and wastewater. Vey surprisingly, if you see the results coming out of the Framework, Indian cities have really started mainstreaming climate action in their day-to-day work, and the results are really showcasing the initiative.
I will say that the pandemic has forced cities to take the bull by its horns approach and they are actually working to mainstream climate-action in their everyday tasks. But, the major objective of this Framework was to create awareness among cities with regard to climate action, and to create capacity building tools so that the cities can use those tools based on the requirement they have. So if a city, or a cluster of cities, are working on improving their air quality, they can focus only on the tools which are available for air-quality monitoring. We have also gotten a climate alliance prepared, where we have around 50 to 60 climate partners, which are multi-lateral bodies and institutions, and we are making them available to the cities.
So the institutions can hand-hold cities and create a roadmap for climate action implementation. We are also tying up with training institutes, who are being made responsible to ensure that need-based capacity can be created. The major focus of NIUA is not only on assessment but on taking it forward with an action-oriented approach.
Taking cue from what you said, cities are responding very well and they are very interested in taking up climate-related work. We are currently in the Decade of Action. Thus, we need to hurry up and make cities aware of SDGs, Paris Accord, New Urban Agenda, etc. So what are the main priority areas we have to focus on?
You will see, India signed around five global frameworks in 2015, including SDGs, Paris Agreement, and New Urban Agenda. The major focus of all these frameworks is sustainability and inclusiveness. If you look at all our Missions, whether Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, PMAY, etc., they all are touching one aspect or another of sustainability and inclusiveness. You will agree with me that these global frameworks came up in 2015, whereas we had started working on these missions in 2014. We had already talked about water to all, universal access to services, and bringing 100 Smart Cities. So India was actually thinking much in advance than even the global stalwarts. Knowing the Indian complexity and scale, we may have been a little slow, but I think the policies and strategy are in the right direction.
We are talking about reducing energy demand and are also looking at measures to increase our share of renewable energy, and we are also moving towards green-blue infrastructure. NIUA is actually supporting Delhi’s Master Plan 2041 and for the first time, we have adopted a strategic approach rather than a typical planning approach. Our focus is on how to improve green-blue infrastructure and how to create principles of planning based on the global frameworks rather than just preparing a Master Plan. So I think India is on the right path and the success and failure of the SDGs will depend largely on the success and failure of India.
We were really ahead of our time and made policies for sustainability and inclusivity. But, we have seen that there were many hiccups when we were implementing these policies. Do you think it is very important for Indian cities to have some global collaborations and a knowledge sharing platform? What do you think is the importance and role of global collaboration and cooperation at the city level?
Again, I do agree with you. But India has taken two prompt approaches. One is of creating a policy framework at the national level so that you can make these global partners available to the cities. The second approach is of actually creating a framework where you create the market-oriented structures at the local-level. So I agree with you. But, I think that there has already been so much learning from best-practices and what we really need is to contextualize the practice. You cannot simply pickup Singapore and turn Bihar Sharif into that. We have to look at the process, the reality and the demand of it.
I think that is the role that institutions like NIUA and the All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) have to play. We have to be the honest broker. We have to create the link between best-practices and the demand of the city. So we need to invest in knowledge-sharing platforms, where soft investment is needed. And I think that soft investment is hard to get. Thus, we need to focus on that soft investment and think how we can motivate, incentivize, as well as create the leadership domains within the ULBs to bring the knowledge to the right person at the right time.
This brings me to the question regarding the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Whenever we speak to Mayors, they always complain that it has not been implemented uniformly. In Some states, it has been implemented very well, and in others, the implementation has been flawed. How do you think urban governance reforms are important for cities right now?
I think the 74th Amendment definitely was a paradigm shift. We need to work on it. I do agree that its implementation has been the biggest challenge. It has been almost 25 years now since the Amendment was passed. Some states have done well, some have not. I definitely think that cities need to be empowered, and they need to be given more functions. But I also simultaneously feel that if it has not worked yet, there must be some challenge within the Amendment too. The urban issues that were prevalent in 1992 have changed totally. The financial requirements have changed. The role of Mayors and Commissioners have changed. I think it is high time that we need to revisit the 74th Amendment. Again, institutions like NIUA and AIILSG might need to go back to the drawing board and see what worked and what did not work, why it did not work, and then come up with a new framework, which might entail what cities need to take up.
NIUA has been working on urban development for the last 45 years and the 74th Amendment is just 25 years old. is there any study on the impact of the 74th Constitutional Amendment on local governance, on the mindset of the local representatives?
There has been. Not directly by NIUA but by other organisations like Janaagraha, Praja Foundation, maybe AIILSG. The only thing is that these studies have not seen the impact which we really need. And that is why I think it is time to go back to the drawing board and a pool of parallel organisations need to sit together and figure out what the lessons learnt are.
I’m asking this question because in cities like Chandigarh, the Mayoral term is only one year. When you ask the mayor what his/her plans are, they say that the first three months of their term goes up in welcome ceremonies, etc. So there’s essentially no time left to work.
In India, some states have a five-year mayoral term, and others have it for 2.5 years. The distributions are very complex. And that is why I say that some things have worked, some have not. We need to really revisit the 74th Amendment, the role of elected representatives, and we need to empower the municipal cadre. There has been a huge amount of discussion on establishing a municipal cadre and whether it works or not. Those are the points of discussion and I think it is high time that we revisit them because issues like climate, air quality, inclusivity, urban regional planning are new and have new meanings.
Thus, I think this is a fortunate time to rethink the whole governance and institutional framework and see how we can relook at it. Maybe one of the new areas we can explore is a tripartite agreement between the city, the state and the Centre. I think it requires deeper deliberation now to look at what needs to be done. I agree with you that cities are the engines of growth but this engine requires the wheels of governance. We have to revisit the 74th Amendment to ensure that the wheels do not get stuck there and keep moving.
The pandemic has taught many lessons to cities – how to conduct themselves, how to plan their transport systems, how to plan solid waste management, etc. During the lockdowns, the main challenge for ULBs was how to move people safely. Many people started talking about cycling when Paris presented the ‘15-minute city’ plan. Do you think that cycling and walking is a feasible idea for Indian cities, considering the climatic conditions, the condition of roads, and the facilities required for their safety?
I think you have to see why cycling really came up. It has been there in the Indian discourse for a long time. Why did it suddenly gain momentum during the pandemic was for two reasons. One was that during the pandemic, mass transit got affected. People could not use it because of fear of COVID transmission. That was a big challenge. Thus, mobility shifted to private vehicles and the roads began getting cramped. But, since everyone does not have their own private vehicle, cycle was seen as an alternative, as an inclusive, green mode of mobility. And that is the reason the discourse began in Indian cities. I agree that there are a lot of challenges in moving to cycling as a mode of transport in Indian cities, but there are no alternatives.
Here, cycling may even be battery-operated cycles. But cycle provided two benefits – better health and an inclusive mode of transport. And both were required during the pandemic. The major thing is that cycles should not be looked at a mode of adventure. It should be looked at as a mode of last mile connectivity. Some cities like Ahmedabad have already begun doing. But it requires three things – change of mindset, because we think that if we are using a cycle, we may be perceived as not being economically sound; change in behavior; and change in technology and processes.
I believe that we need to invest more in the cycling infrastructure rather than the cycle itself. Cycling has to be made as a mode of last-mile connectivity. At the same time, we also have to improve our mass-transit system because there is no alternative to that in the
Indian society.
And while we are doing that, we have to motivate people to use mass transit by ensuring that COVID protocols are followed. However, once you get off the mass transit mode, you should have the possibility of taking a cycle to reach your destination. For example, the distance between my house and my office is 26 kilometres. You cannot expect me to cycle all the way every day. What would be feasible is if I could reach a place which is 10-15 minutes away from my house or my office via mass transit and from there I can take up cycling. Those models are available and should be encouraged.
We have talked about lot of issues. Now we must talk about how Prime Minister Modi aims to make India a $5 trillion economy. What would be the role of cities IN PM Modi’s aim and are our cities ready to support it?
If India becomes a $5 trillion economy, it will only be because of the cities because 60 per cent of our GDP is coming from cities. Right now, we need to focus on urbanisation and its linkages with economic development, which is where we need to think how cities become that engine of growth, how do they create those innovative ways of making India move towards that goal of $5 trillion economy.
If you ask me, the success or failure of India in becoming a $5 trillion economy depends on Prime Minister Modi’s other vision – of making India ‘aatmanirbhar’ (self-sufficient). To become aatmanirbhar, we have to focus on three things – increase the credit-worthiness of cities, find out ways how cities can improve their own sources of income, and link the urban-rural economy by looking at urban and rural areas as a region because the skilled labour will come from rural areas and the urban areas will provide
the services.
Fourthly, we need to ensure that the vision of $5 trillion economy needs to be linked with the performance indicators of the ULBs and lastly, data and technology need to be given the importance they deserve in all this. So each city has to see how it is contributing towards that vision. In the case of global goals too, like the SDGs, their aims and objectives need to be reflected in the day-to-day working of the ULBs and they need to understand that it is not the job of the Prime Minister or the United Nations to implement them, it is the job of the ULBs. They need to realize that whatever they do contributes to the overall goal.
Till today, we say ‘the UN goals’. We need to say that they are the ‘city’s goals’ to ensure that the knowledge and vision trickles down to the local level and the action taken is localised.
10-12 cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, contribute majorly to the national GDP. How can we trickle down to the tier-2 and 3 cities if we want to ensure that development is inclusive and population distribution is even? In this direction, what is NIUA envisioning as the role of Indian cities and is it contributing to that?
Cities will do the work which they are already doing. The role of NIUA is to create those enabling frameworks so that they start coming up with solutions which contribute to the global dialogue. For that, at NIUA, we are discussing how we can facilitate this through tools, technology, training, templates, frameworks and standards. For example, we have come up with the National Urban Digital Mission, where we are looking at nine functions which are citizen-engagement services which cities are providing. How we can create a centralized standard for these services so that cities become empowered and start building on that is the question we are addressing with this Mission.
At NIUA, we are also looking at internal changes, where we are ensuring that all our actions are result-oriented, impact-oriented, have to have a scale, have to promote entrepreneurship and inclusion of the private sector, and have to be inclusive. Whatever action we take, it meets the key asks of the cities and that is what our main goal is. So we become a value-adding organisation rather than an organisation that just does
business-as-usual.
We need to go back to the drawing board and really think what should be our model of delivering services, our model of engagement, our model of providing support, our model of addressing capacity issues, and what are the challenges that cities are facing. I think if we are able to deliver on these 5 points, we will be able to get ahead of the thinking curve and
outperform ourselves.
We are tying up with training institutes, who are being made responsible to ensure that need-based capacity can be created. The major focus of NIUA is not only on assessment but on taking it forward with an action-oriented approach