How to make Indian cities ‘AatmaNirbhar’

The actions and initiatives of nations and their cities are closely connected. The fate of cities will depend on how they align their activities with national programmes to generate employment for their population, provide them opportunities to prosper, become resourceful, self-dependent for their requirement of energy, food and water, and tap the opportunities on offer in the circular economy activities. Indian cities, in particular, can look at the programs under AatmaNirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant) to make themselves AatmaNirbhar.

Our cities are more connected than ever. It has numerous advantages for cities. They can join hands with other cities to tackle similar challenges, share their experiences, learn from each other’s experiments and improve the quality of life for their citizens. The connected world has also resulted in a change in consumption patterns that have indeed provided people with several options to choose from but it has also increased carbon emissions considerably.
Today, people can order any product from anywhere. People’s food choices have implications for the environment.Cities need to take responsibility to make people aware of their choices and consequences. If cities can achieve the goal of becoming self-sufficient in terms of their requirement for energy, food and resources, cities will be able to contribute positively to global goals. Although it may sound unreasonable because cities cannot have everything they need, they can surely reduce their dependence on other regions and countries for a majority of things their citizens require.
The Indian government has been promoting the use of local products as part of the Make In India and AatmaNirbhar Mission. Cities can take this movement further by becoming self-sufficient. The mission is simple but not easy. The engagement and collaboration among government, private corporations and the public is essential to achieve the goal of self-reliant cities.

Reduce food miles

Eating locally produced food is a win-win for everyone—consumers, growers/producers, cities and also the environment. If citizens choose to eat local, the food has covered less than 150 km from the farm or processing unit to the consumers’ plates.
Cities can promote the concept like that of the farmers’ market in which local food growers and producers get an opportunity to tap the local market. By doing this, cities can reduce their carbon footprints considerably. For example, someone in Delhi wants to eat peanut butter, it is not necessary that the product has to come from a multinational FMCG company that is producing peanut butter thousands of miles away. There are many local food processing companies which are producing the same quality closer to the consumer. The role of local government comes into play. The city governments can assess the needs of their citizens and build an ecosystem for related food processing industries that can also be linked with other activities to close the loop of circular economy and support resource efficiency of local industries and reduce waste.
If people begin to choose locally grown or processed food items, the people will contribute to reducing carbon footprinting by reducing food miles. If the food is travelling less, the carbon emission involved in the entire supply chain will be considerably reduced or can also be made zero. However, the amount of emission varies on many factors. For example, one ton of food shipped by air emits approximately 70 times more than a similar quantity shipped by cargo ships. It means an item shipped by air from Mumbai to Delhi will have a bigger footprint than an item shipped from Mexico to Delhi by a cargo ship.
There are several reasons why people choose to shop in the supermarket or online stores. These stores provide all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and eatables all year-round that people may not get in the local markets in the off-season. People buy watermelons in the winter without giving a thought about where it came from. Indian traditional wisdom also suggests eating local and seasonal food to remain healthy. Local governments can encourage local growers by making available the land for organizing local farmers’ markets, spreading awareness about reducing food miles, and talking to the people about their choices. Apart from municipal governments, other government departments have to pitch in to assure people about the quality of the local food items. Building the trust of people will be the key. This will surely aid the efforts of the Government of India to achieve the objectives under the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Mission.

Satellite cities can help

The increasing population and its uneven concentration in metropolitan cities are becoming a problem for these cities. State governments in India will have to work out a model under which the burden on their most thriving urban agglomeration is reduced to make them more efficient. The concept of satellite towns, which was tossed around in 2007, tries to address the issue.
Indian cities, taking a cue from Delhi, can think of developing the ‘Hub and Spoke Model’ wherein independent satellite towns like Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, and Meerut are well connected with the main city. These cities on one hand support the main city by lessening the population burden by providing job opportunities and also building supporting industries to help them in their circular economic activities and promoting resources efficiency at the industrial and municipal levels. The main city can complement the facilities and services available in the satellite cities.
According to a report published in a European publication, one such example of the hub and spoke model is the city of Paris, which has to a large extent been able to control the urban migration by creating self-sustainable towns at the periphery, which are well-connected to the main city with a high-speed train network.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us that the cities should have the capacity to sustain themselves in case of sudden supply-chain disruption or any other emergency. Since cities are the hubs of economic activities, they can transform themselves into self-reliant cities. No city can become 100 per cent self-reliant but they can find ways to meet their energy, water and food demands to begin with. The satellite towns can surely assist them in achieving their goals. Cities have to take their citizens along on the journey of becoming self-reliant.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us that the cities should have the capacity to sustain themselves in case of sudden supply-chain disruption or any other emergency. Since cities are the hubs of economic activities, they can transform themselves into self-reliant cities. No city can become 100 per cent self-reliant but they can find ways to meet their energy, water and food demands to begin with. The satellite towns can surely assist them in achieving their goals. Cities have to take their citizens along on the journey of becoming self-reliant