population, related issues, poverty and urbanisation; Globalisation

Question 1

City Innovation Exchange (CiX)?

Answer 1

1. by MoHUA
2. will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges
3. Built on the concept of ‘open innovation’, the platform will help in the flow of ideas ‘outside in and inside out
4. platform brings together Citizens-Organisations -Academic Businesses-Government to co-create solutions for the future of Urban India

Question 2

Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Act, 2019?

Answer 2

1. The Bill amends the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. The Act provides for the eviction of unauthorised occupants from public premises in certain cases.
2. Notice for eviction: The Bill adds a provision laying down the procedure for eviction from residential accommodation. It requires an estate officer (an officer of the central government) to issue a written notice to a person if he is in unauthorised occupation of a residential accommodation. The notice will require the person to show cause of why an eviction order should not be made against him, within three working days. The written notice must be fixed to a conspicuous part of the accommodation, in a prescribed manner.
3. Order of eviction:After considering the cause shown, and making any other inquiries, the estate officer will make an order for eviction. If the person fails to comply with the order, the estate officer may evict such person from the residential accommodation, and take possession of it. For this purpose, the estate officer may also use such force as necessary.
4. Payment of damages: If the person in unauthorised occupation of the residential accommodation challenges the eviction order passed by the estate officer in court, he will be required to pay damages for every month of such occupation.
5. Benefit: The amendments will facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorised occupants from Government residences, and those vacant residences will be available for allotment to eligible persons on maturity of their turn in the waiting list.

Question 3

Pop and Demography change in Assam?

Answer 3

• 1951: first NRC in Assam
• rate of growth of population in next two decades= 35% as compared to 22-25% national decadal rate of pop growth fr the same periods
• Surge in no. of voters:
  
  • 1951-1971: 51%
  • 1971-1991: 89%
  • 1991-2011: 53%
• SC’s order to conduct NRC in Assam 2013 and work begins in 2015

Question 4

impact of lockdown on migrants research?

Answer 4

Study by ICRiER in collab with ISSRF, researched in 6 states that accounted for 67% of reverse migration during first wave lockdown

• More than a third of the reverse migrants (38.6 per cent) reported having no work after returning to their native place.
• With no proper employment opportunity in their native places, the household incomes of migrants fell by as much as 85 per cent during the first wave
• With the revival of economic activities post-first lockdown, 63.5% of migrants from these six states returned to the destination areas by February 2021, while 36.5 per cent remained at their native places.
• Although the migrant’s HH income increased after remigration to their destination places, there was still a contraction of 7.7% in their income relative to the pre-lockdown level at the end of March 2021
• while some relief and welfare measures announced by the Centre and state governments did reach the migrants, many other measures bypassed them. eg. almost 74 per cent migrants had access to some form of subsidised cereal (rice or wheat) but only 12 per cent got access to subsidised pulses.
• only 7.7 per cent of the migrants reported being engaged under the MGNREGA or any other public work at their native place.

Question 5

Learnings from China for INdia in fight against COVID: importance of Residential committees?

Answer 5

• At the grassroots, the most critical role was played by the residential committees (RCs).
• officially not part of the state and defined as institutions of self-governance, these committees are the instruments of the party for effective governance and political control.
• mandated to perform administrative tasks, implement policy, mediate local disputes, and assist government agencies with maintaining public surveillance, health and sanitation, care for the elderly, etc.
• During the pandemic, after the initial lockdown RCs rook charge
• In Wuhan, for example, all 7,148 communities were closed off. Community workers strictly enforced rules of entry and exit.They also made calls to residents asking about family members’ health and status, knocked on residents’ doors to conduct regular temperature checks, gather information about travel history, etc.
• A large number of youth and college students, often party members, volunteered for the RCs.
• Not everything however well and good, issues of overworked, physical and mental health, hampered response due to lack of formal training
• In India many urban areas have residential associations and local governments that can undertake similar mobilisation as RCs in China.

Question 6

Zoning as a tool for stimulating pvt sector participation in urban regeneration?

Answer 6

1. Zoning is a planning control tool for regulating the built environment and creating functional real estate markets. It does so by dividing land that comprises the statutory area of a local authority into sections, permitting particular land uses on specific sites to shape the layout of towns and cities and enable various types of development
2. It determines the location, size, and use of buildings and decides the density of city blocks
3. In addition to the three main categories (residential, commercial, manufacturing), the zoning toolkit includes complementary rules that address specific types of development, as well as the design and quality of public spaces.
4. In addition, to stimulate private sector interest in development, the government can allow for the transfer and merger of development rights. Alternatively, it can fine-tune other regulations to allow for higher density development in exchange for some form of a public good, such as privately financed public spaces or inclusionary housing.

Question 7

Effectiveness of govt policies in influencing TFR?

Answer 7

1. In the wake of China’s 2020 census data that showed a sharp increase in the proportion of the population above age 60 to 18.7 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in 2010, China has allowed married couples to have upto 3 children.
2. China’s one-child policy led to human rights abuses encouraging sex-selective abortion and abandonment of girls
3. in recent years, the importance of the one-child policy in reducing Chinese population growth has come under surprising contestation. Demographers Wang Feng, Yong Cai, Susan Greenhalgh argue that most of the fertility decline in China’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 5.8 in 1970 to an estimated 1.6 in 2015 came from socioeconomic development rather than population control policies. This seems credible as the relaxation of the one-child policy to two children in 2016 failed to halt fertility decline, and the TFR fell to 1.3 in 2020.
4. pro natal policiesrange from providing cash benefits to parents (France), providing generous maternity and paternity leaves (Sweden, Japan), and improving childcare availability (Norway, Japan). They have had mixed success
5. Family-friendly policies in countries like Sweden seem to have halted the slide, with TFR in Sweden hovering around 1.7. In contrast, despite many policy initiatives, the TFR in Japan has refused to budge from a level of about 1.4. Large cash incentives, called baby bonuses, in countries like Spain, brought about only a tiny increase in fertility and were eventually dropped.
6. Lessons for India: our population policy may want to move beyond the language of the past that restricts maternity leave and election eligibility for a third child and beyond. A wiser course for supporting fertility decline among families and areas where the TFR is high without leading to extremely low fertility would be to help families plan childbearing at times that are most convenient to them.
7. Encouraging male participation in housework, improving their ability to combine work and family, and improving family planning services will generate an environment where our TFR would stabilise around 1.7, a level that would avoid the demographic cliff facing China.

Question 8

Uber report on safety in ‘Uber rides in USA’?

Answer 8

reported >3000 sexual assaults; 9 murders and 58 killed in crashes no. of incidents represent just 0.0002% of Uber’s 1.3 Bn rides in USA last yr.

Question 9

India’s first online waste exchange platform?

Answer 9

1. Launched by the Andhra Pradesh Government.
2. It will help the authorities monitor the movement of hazardous waste real-time using the tools incorporated in the platform.
3. The platform will be handled by the AP Environment Management Corporation (APEMC).
4. The APEMC will streamline collection of the waste from industries, sort and streamline the waste as hazardous or non-hazardous or e-waste according to category, and scientifically dispose it off at various waste disposal centres.

Question 10

Delhi’s Urban development: SG vs CG?

Answer 10

urban planning wrt Delhi has been under union govt.

69th CAA,1991 excluded the subject of Land (along with Police and Law and Order) from the State List

DDA was established through Delhi Development act 1957 and has been a body of UG amd comes under MoHUA.

DDA is chaired by LG and exercises executive powers including the right to regulatory overwrite in the Authority.

The representatives of people of Delhi are merely in advisory role in DDA

Delhi government – elected by the people – however, has the Delhi Jal Board, the Urban Development Department and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board under its powers that it uses to govern the day to day issues of the mega-city, dealing with Housing, Environment, Urban Development and Road Transport using these agencies.

Thus, the vision for the planning of the metropolis is formulated completely under the Union government while the urban development issues of the city at the local levels are attended to by elected representatives.

recent friction betwn LG and DG has cost the people of Delhi, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (Amendment) Act, 2015 passed by Delhi LA sought to extend the deadline for slums eligible for rehabilitation from March 31, 2002, to January 1, 2006, so as to cover the clusters that have come up since 2002 and to implement their rehabilitation to meet the vision of the Delhi Master Plan, 2021. But the bill was returned by CG in 2016

Question 11

Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021 and its impact on Delhi’s Urban development?

Answer 11

1. The Act “clarifies” that for any law passed by the state legislative assembly, the term “government” shall mean the LG. In the context of urban development, this means that the bodies of the SG and local governance that have thus far addressed the issues of urban development of Delhi lose significant powers to do so. These agencies, which already had limited powers in the city and no say in the formulation of the Master Plan, become more impotent as the term “government” itself is redefined.
2. Act also empowers the LG with executive action over the day-to-day matters of the NCT and prohibits the state assembly from making any rules to consider these matters or to inquire into them. This implies that the policies formulated or actions taken by the state-level or local-level bodies with regards to the city stand no chance of consideration.
3. Act makes it mandatory for the LG to reserve bills for the President that “incidentally” cover matters that are outside the purview of SG. Almost all policies of urban development, needless to say, are policies about land and therefore, the subject of land is “incidental” to most urban development policies. Thus, the Act not only grants unchallenged power to the Centre over the city’s urban issues, but it also means that there will be major delays in execution of the visions of the Master Plan owing to the likely scenarios of conflict between the two governments.
4. Some of the most crucial problems facing the city of Delhi today are the issues of urban villages, lack of financial planning, absence of infrastructure for unauthorized colonies, and housing crisis. these issues require a localised and contextual formulation and implementation of plans and not a top-down approach that has already failed.
5. As the GNCTD Act completely centralises the governance in Delhi, the Delhi Master Plan, 2041 becomes the most authoritarian master plan ever proposed for the city since independence.

Question 12

Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021: provisions?

Answer 12

• It amended the Sections 21, 24, 33 and 44 of the 1991 Act.
• States that the “government” in the National Capital Territory of Delhi meant the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi.
• It gives discretionary powers to the L-G even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make laws.
• It seeks to ensure that the L-G is “necessarily granted an opportunity” to give her or his opinion before any decision taken by the Council of Ministers (or the Delhi Cabinet) is implemented.
• It bars the Assembly or its committees from making rules to take up matters concerning day-to-day administration, or to conduct inquiries in relation to administrative decisions.

Question 13

Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021: arguments for?

Answer 13

• It is in keeping with the Supreme Court’s July 2018 ruling on the ambit of powers of the L-G and the Delhi government following several headliner controversies between the two.
• The purported fair objectives of the Act, include enhancing public accountability and easing out technical ambiguities related to everyday administration.
• This will increase administrative efficiency of Delhi and will ensure better relationship between the executive and the legislator.

Question 14

Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021: issues?

Answer 14

• The latest amendment will greatly reduce the efficiency and timeliness of the Delhi government by making it imperative for it to hold consultations with the L-G even when a situation demands urgent action.
• Significantly, the L-G is not obliged to give his opinion to the State government within a time frame. Critics argue that the L-G could politically exploit these unbridled powers to hamper the government’s administrative work and thus turn the political tides against the incumbent if he so desires.
• It is against the spirit of ‘Federalism.”
• Other issues in f/c #11

Question 15

Top down urban planning in India?

Answer 15

It has followed a top-down approach rooted in the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947 of UK. This is despite the fact that several countries including the UK, have abandoned land use as the approach for urban planning.

This approach takes land-use zoning (residential, institutional, commercial etc.) as the fundamental criteria to planning cities and everything else – transport, commercial growth, heritage conservation etc. – follows this land use pattern.

The same has been the basis of Delhi’s Master Plans over the years and continues to be so in the 2041 Master Plan also.

Scholars such as Darshini Mahadevia have observed that the top-down approach has left economically weaker sections and local stakeholders out of the planning process.

Moreover, when economic growth, local context and commercial activity relocate the nodes of development and patterns of movement to areas that are deviant from the Master Plan, the state assumes a strong authoritarian policy of implementing the badly conceived and inherently unpredictable land-use patterns through land acquisition and force.

Other prominent scholars such as Isher Judge Ahluwalia and Alain Bertaud have argued for more flexible ways of planning that acknowledge the forces of the market and local governance, for example, and let financial planning and local context decide the scale and location of various zones with the state playing the role of a facilitator of infrastructure rather than that of a dictator of land-use.

Question 16

legal provisions regarding birth and death registration in India?

Answer 16

1. history of birth, death and marriage registration in India goes back to the Registration Act, which was promulgated in 1886 throughout British India on a voluntary basis.
2. Registration of Birth and Death Act was enacted in 1969 to register and compile the statistics under the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
3. According to the last civil registration annual report 2019 published in 2021, the level of birth registration in India is close to 93 per cent
4. The same report also says that the completeness of death registration has also reached 92 per cent in 2019.
5. Since 1969, the Registrar General has also collected medical certification of cause of death and produced a report on this measure. The latest available report of 2019 says that 20.7 per cent of total registered deaths have this information.

Question 17

World’s fastest-growing cities?

Answer 17

Cities are ranked based on “Total % change, 2015-20 forecast”.

The list is based on data from the United Nations Population Division.

Indian Cities:

• Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kollam were the only three cities to make it to the top 10 of the world’s fastest-growing cities.
• Malappuram was ranked No. 1 in the world rankings with a 44.1 per cent change between 2015 and 2020.
• While Kozhikode was ranked fourth with 34.5 per cent change and Kollam was at number 10 with 31.1 per cent.

Reasons:main reason is the inclusion of new areas in the UA’s limits. eg. no. of Municipal corporations has doubled in Malappuram since 2011.

Question 18

Commissionerate system?

Answer 18

1. In the commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government.
2. The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.
3. The CP is drawn from the Deputy Inspector General rank or above, and is assisted by Special/Joint/Additional/Deputy Commissioners.
4. It is supposed to allow for faster decision-making to solve complex urban-centric issues.

Where?

1. Previously, only four cities had the system: Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
2. However, with rapid urbanisation, states felt an increasing need to replicate the system in more places.
3. The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983, recommended the introduction of a police commissionerate system in cities with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special conditions.
4. Over the years, it has been extended to numerous cities, including Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad and recently in Lucknow. By January 2016, 53 cities had this system.

Question 19

Indigenous languages?

Answer 19

1. 2019 is the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages.
2. Papua New Guinea has the highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages in the world (840).
3. India stands fourth with 453.
4. Ethnologue, a directory of languages, lists 7,111 living languages worldwide.
5. Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic are the most widely spoken languages worldwide when only first-languages are considered.

Concerns:

1. In 2016, the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues pointed out that “40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world were in danger of disappearing“.
2. Several languages are now “endangered” and in the case of languages like Tiniguan (Colombian origin), there is just a single native speaker left.
3. According to UNESCO’s ‘Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger‘, 228 languages have become extinct since 1950.

Question 20

Urban transformation: defn?

Answer 20

Urban transformation expresses entire strategies and actions used to improve the economic, social, physical and environmental conditions of damaged and collapsed urban areas by comprehensive and integrated approaches.

Question 21

Urban transformation: challenges in india?

Answer 21

1. institutional
   
   • 74th amendment act has been implemented half-heartedly by the states which has not fully empowered the ULBs functionally and financially
   • Public monopoly, organizational inefficiency, technical flaws in the form of high leakages, lack of preventive maintenance, poor accounting as well as over staffing and lack of autonomy have led to failure of the public sector to provide adequate service delivery
   • Lack a modern planning framework (decentralised planning) which limits effective land utilisation and cities’ abilities to grow in accordance with changing needs
   • Growing trend of declining ratio of revenue generation with the ULBs
2. infrastructural:
   
   • rapid growth of urban population by natural and migration ways has put heavy pressure on public utilities like housing, sanitation
   • Lack of investment in urban infrastructure and capacity building.
   • Despite high economic growth, India cities are the centres of high income inequality and poor quality of life. In 2019, New Delhi and Mumbai ranked 118th and 119th respectively, on the Global Liveability Index that covered 140 cities.
3. env:
   
   • Urban areas are at higher risk to floods, earthquakes owing to low density and overcrowding.
   • Urban areas are becoming heat islands, rising air and groundwater pollution and persistent water crisis
4. social: lack of resources, overcrowding, unemployment, poverty, and lack of social services and education habitually lead to many social problems and crimes including violence, drug abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, child labour etc.

Question 22

Urban transformation: steps taken by GoI?

Answer 22

1. PMAY-U
2. AMRUT
3. Smart Cities Mission
4. Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF) 2.0: It aims to provide an overarching roadmap to formulate, implement and monitor urban climate actions in India. criterias:
   
   1. urban planning, green cover and biodiversity: 25%
   2. energy and green buildings: 25%
   3. mobility and air qlty: 20%
   4. water mgmt: 15%
   5. waste mgmt: 15%
5. Data Maturity Assessment Framework 2.0: assess the data readiness of 100 smart cities on the systematic pillars across 5 components namely policy, people, process, technology and outcomes.
6. India Smart Cities Fellows Report: It promotes youth leadership and usher vibrancy in the design of India’s urban future
7. TULIP (The Urban Learning Internship Program) Report: It is a platform to connect graduates to ULBs and Smart Cities to co-create new solutions for our cities
8. Handbook of Urban Statistics: It is the first of its kind document with a special focus on Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in Indian cities. It captures the data related to the nature and cause of disability, the socio-economic condition of PwDs and their access to various physical and social infrastructures.
9. ICT initiatives under Smart Cities:
   
   • ICCC Maturity Assessment framework (IMAF): It is a self-assessment tool kit developed to assess the maturity of Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) across key aspects of functionality, technology, governance and citizen/stakeholders engagement.
   • Smart City ICT standards: It facilitates interoperability between products in a multi-vendor, multinetwork and multi-service environment that exists in a smart city

Question 23

Urban transformation: PMAY-U: progress?

Answer 23

• 1.12 crore houses sanctioned and more than 50 lakh houses completed.
• For the first time, interest subsidy on home loans given to MIG having annual income of upto Rs. 18 Lakh under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
• Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) for urban migrants/ poor launched as response to reverse migration induced by COVID-19

Question 24

Urban transformation: AMRUT: key features?

Answer 24

1. It is first focused national water Mission which aims to provide basic services like water supply, sewerage, etc. to households and build amenities in cities
2. 500 cities selected under AMRUT; All cities having population above 1 lakh are covered under Mission.
3. key features:
   
   1. water supply
   2. sewerage facilities and septage mgmt
   3. storm water drains to reduce flooding
   4. creating and upgrading green spaces, parks and recreation centres
   5. pedestrian, non-motorized and public trasport facilities, parking spaces

Question 25

Urban transformation: AMRUT: progress?

Answer 25

• 105 lakh household water tap and 78 lakh sewer connections have been provided.
• 88 lakh streetlights have been replaced with energy efficient LED lights against target of 101 lakh leading to energy savings and reduction in CO2 emission
• As per The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), 84.6 lakh tons carbon footprint reduced under AMRUT.

Question 26

Urban transformation: Smart Cities Mission: about?

Answer 26

It aims to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’ like smart grid, smart water using Internet of Things (IoT) etc.

It is based on 6 fundamental principles:

1. community at the core
2. more from less: generate greater outcomes with use of lesser resources
3. cooperatin and competitive federalism: flexibility to implemet projects
4. integration, innovation and sustainability
5. tech as means, not as goals
6. convergence: sectoral and financial convergence

Smart city is envisaged to have four pillars:

1. Social Infrastructure.
2. Physical Infrastructure.
3. Institutional Infrastructure (including Governance).
4. Economic Infrastructure.

Question 27

Urban transformation: Smart Cities Mission: progress?

Answer 27

70 Smart cities have developed and operationalised their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) which were used as warrooms for COVID management

212 PPP projects have been grounded/ completed stage in the SCM.

Question 28

Model Tenancy act 2021?

Answer 28

1. Applicable prospectively and will not affect the existing tenancies.
2. Written agreement is a must for all new tenancies. The agreement will have to be submitted to the concerned district ‘Rent Authority’.
3. law also speaks about roles and responsibilities of landlord and tenants.
4. No landlord or property manager can withhold any essential supply to the premises occupied by the tenant.
5. If tenancy has not been renewed, the tenancy shall be deemed to be renewed on a month-to-month basis on the same terms and conditions as were in the expired tenancy agreement, for a maximum period of six months.
6. Compensation in case of non-vacancy: On the expiry of extended period of six months of agreed tenancy period or the termination of tenancy by order or notice, the tenant shall be a tenant in default and liable to pay compensation of double of the monthly rent for two months and four times of the monthly rent thereafter.
7. A landowner or property manager may enter a premise in accordance with written notice or notice through electronic medium served to the tenant at least twenty-four hours before the time of entry.
8. No civil court will have jurisdiction over matters pertaining to provisions under Act. Rent Authorities and Rent Courts may be established by the District Collector with the approval of the state government. The state or UT govt t may establish a Rent Tribunal after consulting with the jurisdictional High Court.

Question 29

Model Tenancy Act 2021: challenges?

Answer 29

1. Not Binding: Rental housing is regulated by states as land, land improvement, and control of rents falls under the State List of the Indian Constitution. The Model Act is only a proposed framework that states and union territories may alter when passing their own tenancy laws.
2. Limited Purview: Excluding number of premises like properties owned by Central/State government, Union Territory administration will keep a large inventory of leasable properties away from the regulatory framework
3. May violate Right to privacy: Act requires all landlord and tenants to intimate the Rent Authority about a rental agreement along with details like Aadhaar numbers and attach self-attested copies of the card. This may violate the Puttaswamy judgement (2018).
4. Specifies minute details: For instance, Act states that landlord must carry out structural repairs and tenants must be responsible for drain cleaning, geyser repairs etc. Providing these details may restrict changes that contracting parties may want to make in a contract based on their specific situation
5. No time limit specified for resolution of some disputes: For example, it does not specify a timeline within which the Rent Authority must resolve a dispute on revision of rent.

Question 30

Model Tenancy Act 2021: need?

Answer 30

1. Housing Shortage: In 2012 urban housing shortage was estimated to be at 1.9 crore units which increased further. 2015 draft National Urban Rental Housing Policy noted that significant housing shortage faced by urban areas cannot be addressed by home ownership
2. 11% Indian pop lives in rental housing (5% in rural areas and 31% in urban areas). share of rental housing increases with city size- % of HHs in rental homes is 28% in small towns, 36% in medium cities and 40% in large cities
3. Rapid Urbanisation: India’s urban population share has grown more than threefold in just over a centuryapproximately 10% in 1900s to current levels of more than 34%. By 2050, it is expected to reach over 50% increasing housing demand
4. Migration to Cities: Estimated inter-state migration is about 9-10 million annually which will accelerate with time due to factors like income-pulls.
5. Rising Cost of home ownership: Home cost as a multiple of annual income has shot up beyond the sweet spot of 5 times, to almost 9-12 times in the previous decade. Cost of house ownership across India has shown a CAGR of ~ 5% in the past few years
6. Enabling Formalisation: The 2011 Census noted that between 6.5 crore to 10 crore people (17% to 24% of the urban population) live in unauthorised housing in urban areas. The Economic Survey (2017-18) suggested rental housing as a key to address informality and shortage.
7. Legal loopholes: The 2015 draft Policy observed that rent control laws of State governments skew arrangements towards tenants and lead to more litigation which has eroded the trust of landlords in the regulatory system. Model Act protects interests of all stakeholders- tenants, landlords and investors-to transact and deal in rental housing by overhauling legal framework
8. Unlocking vacant Properties: As per estimates by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, currently some 11 million homes are lying vacant in urban areas as landlords are unwilling to let these properties due to lack of protective measures.

Question 31

Delhi master Plan 2041?

Answer 31

• A master plan of any city is like a vision document by the planners and the land-owning agency of the city, which gives a direction to the future development.
• It includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals keeping in mind the population, economy, housing, transportation, community facilities, and land use.
• The current master plan of Delhi — Master Plan 2021 — expires this year.

1. main obj of Delhi MP 2041: “foster a sustainable, liveable and vibrant Delhi by 2041”
2. main focus areas:
   
   1. housing sector: incentivising rented accommodation by inviting private players and government agencies to invest more, keeping in mind the large migrant population
   2. addresses parking problems- ‘user pays principle’.
   3. env pollution: switch to greener fuels for public transport and adoption of mixed-use of transit-oriented development. The draft lays a clear boundary of the buffer zone near the Yamuna river and explores how to develop it. As per the plan, a green buffer of 300-metre width shall be maintained wherever feasible along the entire edge of the river.
   4. Drinking water: It also addresses improving the quality of water, which is taken from the Yamuna river as well as various lakes, natural drains and baolis.
   5. common spaces: aims to develop common community spaces to provide refuge spots, common kitchens and quarantine space in an emergency.
   6. To improve the nighttime economy, the plan focuses on cultural festivals, bus entertainment, metro, sports facilities, and retail stores included in Delhi Development Authority (DDA)’s Night Life Circuit plan.
   7. It also proposes to reduce vulnerability to airborne epidemics through decentralised workspaces, mandatory creation of open areas, better habitat design and green-rated developments to reduce dependence on mechanical ventilation systems.

Question 32

Delhi master plan 2041 fails the homeless in the city?

Answer 32

Through intervention by the Delhi HC and many people’s groups, Delhi became the first city in India to have many measures taken to protect the homeless, the most visible and tangible being the homeless shelters. CG adopted the shelter framework and later transformed it into the National Urban Livelihood Mission — Shelter for Urban Homeless (NULM-SUH).

city now has a robust network of shelters — over 200, the most in any city in India, supporting upwards of 25,000 people in winter.

Delhi Master Plan of 2001-2021, though not implemented well, did give the standard of one shelter per one lakh population for a city — a standard that has now been adopted in other cities

Failures of DMP2041

1. WIth around 2L homeless in Delhi, at best, Delhi can provide shelters to 10 per cent of the homeless population in winter and that too with the existing 200 shelters. the draft proposes no increase in the number of shelters per lakh population, which is only a minimum guideline in the NULM-SUH.
2. there is a selective omission of the 50 sq ft/5 sq m standard for every homeless person in the shelters as per NULM-SUH. The previous MPD mentioned the shelter area per unit to be a minimum of 1,000 sq m. The document was amended in 2016 with 100 sq m as the minimum plot size.
3. Master plan proposes the shelters to be called ‘rain baseras’ serving as premises for night accomodation, This is in contravention to NULM-SUH’s recommended 365X24X7 functioning. DMP does not have the right to impinge, alter the definitions of a central government programme.
4. draft plan does little by suggesting anything concrete and tangible in reservations of land parcels based on the actual location and need for night shelter. This is assumed to be decided by the Local Authorities/GNCTD based on practical demand/ assessment, presumably at a later date.
5. DMP falls into the trap of viewing shelters as sheds/structures to sleep under and fails to recognise the holistic approach to addressing homelessness.

Question 33

stats against population control legislations ? (also refer mindmap GS-1)

Answer 33

• NFHS 5 (2019-20):
• for 22 states and UTs provides that except for three states — Bihar, Manipur and Meghalaya —the fertility rates have gone below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
• varied factors responsible for fertility control/decline:
  
  • J&K: TFR ~1.4; on account of a modest percentage of women with 10 or more years of schooling (51.3 per cent), fewer women marrying before the age of 18 years (4.5 per cent), declining infant mortality (20 per 1,000 live births) and more current users of family planning methods (59.8 per cent).
  • In WB, the figures for women with 10 or more years of schooling (32.9per cent) and women marrying before age 18 years (41.6 per cent) are almost similar to Bihar and worse than UP. But it seems that WB reached a TFR of 1.6 on account of sharply declining neonatal MR (15.5%), infant MR (22.0%) and high contraceptive prevalence rate (74.4%). In brief, the probable fruit of better health facilities and wider contraceptive choices.
  • as per NFHS-4 (2015-16) data, women with no schooling have an average of 3.1 children, compared with 1.7 children for women with 12 or more years of schooling.
• In all the seven Northeastern states, the fertility rates range from 1.1 in Sikkim to 1.9 in Assam, except Manipur (2.2) and Meghalaya (2.9).
• In nine out of 10 states, fertility rates range from as low as 1.3 in Goa to as high as 1.9 in Gujarat.
• Among populous states, the TFR has gone down to 1.6 children in West Bengal. It is only 1.7 each in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In Telangana and Kerala, the fertility rate is getting stabilised at 1.8 children per woman.
• Even in Bihar, where the TFR is 3, there is a relative decline in fertility from 3.4 in NFHS-4 (2015-16). In Uttar Pradesh, too, there is a declining trend in TFR from 3.8 in NFHS-3 (2005-06) to 2.7 in NFHS-4 (2015-16).
• In NFHS-4 itself, as many as 23 states and Union Territories, including all the states in the south region, showed fertility below the replacement level.

Question 34

T/F: 80% of wastes in Indian cities are being processed.

Answer 34

F

• 70% of wastes in Indian Cities are being processed (from 20% back in 2014): India is processing about one lakh tonne of waste every day.

Question 35

Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban 2.0?

Answer 35

• To make all cities 100% ‘garbage free’ from current 70%
• Ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT
• Make all urban local bodies as ODF+ and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as ODF++
• Focus on source segregation of solid waste by utilizing the principles of 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
• Scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management

Question 36

AMRUT mission 2.0?

Answer 36

Intends to make the cities ‘water secure and self-sustainable’ through circular economy of water.

Till 2025-26

• 100% coverage of water supply to all households in around 4,700 urban local bodies by providing about 68 crore tap connections
• 100% coverage of sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities by providing around 64 crore sewers/ septage connections
• Adopt the principles of Circular Economy (Generating wealth from waste using 3Rs)
• Promote conservation and rejuvenation of surface and groundwater bodies
• Data led governance in water management
• Technology Sub-Mission to leverage latest global technologies and skills
• ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’: To promote competition among cities

Question 37

Swachh BHarat Mission-Rural 2.0?

Answer 37

approved in feb 2020

• The second phase will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
• The second phase will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).
• The ODF Plus programme will converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management, and will complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission.
• The programme will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.
• The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States will be 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K; 60:40 for other States; and 100:0 for other Union Territories, for all the components.

Question 38

Women’s contribution to success of SBM?

Answer 38

• The guidelines released by deptt of DW&S emphasised not only the need for women’s participation in planning and implementation of sanitation interventions but also “their leadership in SBM-G committees and institutions”.
• Planning, procurement, infrastructure creation, and monitoring are the basic tenets of implementation in Swachh Bharat and the guidelines for the first phase of the mission called for strengthening the role of women.
• The states were accordingly expected to ensure adequate representation of women in the village water and sanitation committees (VWSCs), leading to optimal gender outcomes.
• SBM-Grameen guidelines (Phase I) specifically recommended that 50 per cent of the members of VWSCs should be women. In several states, the guidelines were strictly adhered to.
• The government has also very effectively used over 8 lakh swachhagrahis, mainly women, who for small honorariums work to push through behavioural change at the community level.
• In Jharkhand, trained women masons built over 15 lakh toilets in one year, and helped the state achieve its open defecation free (rural) target.
• The India Sanitation Coalition has helped link micro-finance with self-help groups run by women for sanitation needs.

Question 39

Urbanization in India: stats?

Answer 39

• Population:
  
  • Census 2011: urban population 377 mn
  • Acc to MoHFW, during 2011-36, urban growth will be responsible for 73% of rise in total population
  • UN Habitat 2017 estimates that 50% of India’s pop will live in urban areas
• economic contri:
  
  • contri 60% to India’s GDP
• Geographical share: 3.1% of total land in INdia
• classification of urban areas in India
  
  • Statutory Towns: notified under law by the concerned State/UT government and with local bodies such as municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc
  • Census towns: met a set of criteria like at least 75% of the male ‘main workers’ engaged in non-agricultural pursuits etc. These are governed as villages and do not necessarily have urban local bodies
  • Outgrowths: viable units, such as a village, clearly identifiable in terms of their boundaries and locations. Outgrowths possess urban features in terms of infrastructure and amenities, such as pucca roads, electricity, etc., and are physically contiguous with the core town of the urban agglomeration.

Question 40

Urban planning in India: need?

Answer 40

1. Accelerated growth in urban population
2. need for infrastructure:
   
   1. instrumental in attaining India’s growth targets, such as: USD 5 trillion economy by 2024; creation of 11 large industrial corridors as part of the National Industrial Corridor Programme etc.
   2. urban sector has a significant share (17%) in the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for FY 2020–25
3. Fulfilling India’s global commitments: such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030; United Nation Habitat’s New Urban Agenda; and the Paris Climate Agreement.
4. Ensuring Multi-sectoral Convergence: Stronger urban planning ecosystem in the country is needed to converge unlinked sectoral schemes that are executed by different government departments. For instance, Smart Cities Mission of MOHUA and National Mission on Electric Mobility of Ministry of Heavy Industries can gain significantly from coordination
5. Interstate disparities: While certain States such as Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Gujarat have attained over 40% urbanization, other States such as Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh continue to be at a lower level of urbanization than the national average of 31.1%.
6. Multidimensional issues emanating from unplanned development: Issues like slums, traffic congestion, pressure on basic infrastructure, sub-optimal utilization of urban land, extreme air pollution, urban flooding, water scarcity and droughts

Question 41

Urban planning in India: Steps taken in India for urban development and planning?

Answer 41

1. 74th CAA
2. Model Building Bye laws 2016
3. Schemes: Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT; PMAY-U and SBM-U
4. EoLI: by MoHUA
5. 15th Finance Commission has recommended a performance-based challenge fund of ₹ 8,000 crore to States for incubation of new cities. The amount available for each proposed new city is ₹ 1,000 crore and a State can have only one new city under the proposed scheme.

Question 42

Urban planning in India: key challenges?

Answer 42

1. Lack of institutional Clarity: Multiplicity of authorities dealing with planning of land and sectors like water, sewerage, solid waste etc.
2. Absence of effective decentralisation: Most of the ULBs have not been allocated the ‘urban planning’ function.; MPCs and DPCs are not functional in most of the States and in a few States, they are not even constituted yet
3. ABsence of participative decision making: States have created parastatals like metropolitan development authorities, urban development authorities, etc., to serve the functions which should have been accorded to ULBs. These bodies are not directly answerable to the citizens
4. Functional issues in ULBs: In most Indian cities, the mayor is endowed with limited executive responsibilities.
5. Non-Recognition of ‘Urban’ Areas: Of the 8000 towns counted as urban under Census 2011, ~50% are census towns, which are still administratively ‘rural’. Also parameters for classification as urban are outdated
6. Lack of planning: about 52% of the statutory towns and 76% of the census towns do not have any Master Plans to guide their spatial growth and infrastructural investments.
7. other issues:
   
   1. lack of adequately qualified professionals
   2. low participation of pvt sector

Question 43

Urban planning in India: International organised efforts for planned urban development

Answer 43

1. Goal 11 of SDG: aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient nd sustainable
2. UN-Habitat: released the International guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning
3. UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction released guidelines for planned development to mitigate disaster risk
4. Sendai framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: emphasizes on planned urban development to reduce disaster risk

Question 44

Urban planning in India: Recommendations of NITI Aayog report on ‘Reforms in Urban Planning capacity in India’?

Answer 44

1. A central sector scheme, ‘500 Healthy Cities Programme’, for a period of 5 years where in priority cities will be selected jointly by state and local bodies
2. Make the process of master plan development more participatory
3. focus on human resource development and capacity building, Establish a ‘Department of Planning’ in Each Central University.
4. Formation of an apex committee at the state level to undertake a regular review of planning legislations
5. involve pvt sector- procuring technical consultancy services

Question 45

india’s record on fire safety?

Answer 45

death of 17,700 people countrywide in fires in both public and residential buildings during 2015

Question 46

policy and legislations onfire safety?

Answer 46

1) 12th schedule- domain of municipalities 2)in some states GJ, CHHATIS etc, under respective Municip. Corpo. , while in other states, under Home min 3)Standing Fire Advisory Council (SFAC), originally formed in 1956, to suggest reforms 4) Part 4 of National Building Code,2016 covers fire prevention and life safety wrt fires –> specifies occupancy-wise classification, constructional aspects and protection features that are necessary to minimise danger to life and property from fire. –> specifies the demarcations of fire zones and restrictions on constructions in each, classifications of buildings based on occupancy, types construction acc to fire resistance of the structural and non-structural components etc., to minimise danger of life from fire, smoke, fumes or panic before the buildings can be evacuated 5) The Model Building Byelaws, 2003: Point-specific responsibility for all fire-related clearance rests with the Chief Fire Officer. The concerned Development Authority shall refer the building plans to the Chief Fire Officer for obtaining clearance in respect of buildings.

Question 47

Part 4 of National Building Code,2016: covers areas?

Answer 47

1) Fire prevention: This covers aspects of fire prevention pertaining to the design and construction of buildings. It also describes the various types of buildings materials and their fire rating. 2) Life Safety: This covers life safety provisions in the event of fire and similar emergencies, also addressing construction and occupancy features that are necessary to minimise danger to life from fire, smoke, fumes or panic. 3) Fire Protection: Covers significant accessories and their related components and guidelines for selecting the correct type of equipment and installations meant for fire protection of the building, depending upon the classifications and type of building. 4) The guidelines for fire drills and evacuations for high-rise buildings are also specified in NBC Part 4. It mandates the appointment of a qualified fire officer and trained staff for significant land uses.

Question 48

Challenges to fire prevention policies and regulations?

Answer 48

1) Cities are undergoing rapid physical changes, much like a chain reaction 2) Firemaster plan are not being updated or revamped. Moreover, only 30% of the cities in India has any master plan. 3) Many commercial and residential buildings in particular high-rise buildings, have been found flouting fire safety norms. Many occupiers or societies do not bother to conduct regular maintenance of the fire prevention systems installed in their buildings. 4) Fire Safety Audit is found to be an effective tool for assessing fire safety standards of an organization or an occupancy, there are no clear cut provisions in any of the fire safety legislation in India

Question 49

13th Finance commission recommendation on fire safety?

Answer 49

1) All Municipal Corporations with a population of more than one million (2001 census) must put in place a fire hazard response and mitigation plan for their respective jurisdictions 2) A portion of the grant allocated by the commission to the Urban Local Bodies may be spent on the revamping the Fire services in their jurisdiction. The ULBs may extend financial support to State Fire Services Department in this effort

Question 50

Climate change and mumbai?

Answer 50

1) as per a paper by ‘Lu and Flavelle’ published in nature journal, Mumbai of 2050 will look much like Mumbai of 1700, as the seas will reclaim much of her land that was filled to settle the city. 2) Similar sentiments in IPCC’s report: more intense and frequent extreme sea events, together with increasing trend of coastal development will increase expected annual flood damage by 2-3 ‘orders of magnitude’ by 2100.

Question 51

need for new designs and plans and infra to preapre for rising seas?

Answer 51

Award winning landscape architects and planners Dilip da cunha and anuradha Mathur hv shown that sea walls , river embankments and reclamations donot always prevent inundation frm intensified rains and rising seas and may instead magnify the risk of inundation.

Question 52

NPR?

Answer 52

• The NPR is a register of usual residents linked with location particulars down to the village level and is updated periodically “to incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration”.
  
  • A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
• NPR will seek info regarding date and place of Birth of a usual resident’s mother and father as well as his/her identity details like Aadhar, passport, driving license and voter ID.
  
  • NO PAN details will be sought.
• data will be recorded as declared by respondent and no proof or supporting documents will be reqd
• sharing Aadhar, passport, driving licese and voterID will be voluntary
• No biometrics will be collected, though the same can be sourceed frm UIDAI if needed on the basis of Aadhar
• first compiled in 2010 and updated in 2015. The next phase was to be simultaneously updated with the 2021 House Listing and Housing Census but has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• How is NPR different from Census?
  
  • The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country and it is “mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.”
  • While similar data is collected through Census, according to Section 15 of the Census Act, 1948, all individual level information collected in Census is confidential and “only aggregated data are released at various administrative levels.”

Question 53

Census vs SECC?

Answer 53

• The Census provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.
• Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas all the personal information given in the SECC is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.

Question 54

Consider the following statements.

1. India has officially hit a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0
2. Total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility and if replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself
3. In India, the urban TFR is greater than the rural TFR.
   Which of the above statements is/are correct?
   a) 1, 2
   b) 2 only
   c) 2, 3
   d) 1, 2, 3

Answer 54

A

The complete results of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) were made public.
India has also officially hit a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0 that indicates a decrease from the 2.2 in the NFHS-4. According to the United Nations Population Division, a TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility. If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself. The urban TFR is 1.6 and the rural TFR is 2.1

Question 55

‘Baby workers’ at Japanese Nursing Homes?

Answer 55

Context: A nursing home in southern Japan is “hiring” babies for a very important job — to keep its elderly residents’ company and make them smile.

The facility, Ichoan Nursing Home, is in Kitakyushu, a city of 940,000 in Fukuoka Prefecture that is ageing and shrinking like the rest of Japan. As families have become smaller and older people more isolated, the nursing home’s baby worker program has helped people connect across generations.