National Missions
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in June, 2015 with the aim and hope of transforming the urban infrastructure burdened with ever-growing population. It intends to provide basic services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and building amenities in cities which will improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged. The focus of the Mission is on infrastructure creation that has a direct link to provision of better services to the citizens.
The objectives of AMRUT include
(i) Ensuring that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection;
(ii) Increasing the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks); and
(iii) Reducing pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling). All these outcomes are highly valued by citizens and indicators and standards have been prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in the form of Service Level Benchmarks (SLBs).
The major project components are Water Supply system, Sewerage, Septage, Storm Water Drainage, Urban Transport, Green Space and Parks, Reforms management and support, Capacity building etc. in given order of priority. For e.g., there is maximum allocation of 2.5% of project cost for development of parks with children and elderly friendly features. The construction and maintenance of storm water drains is expected to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, flooding in cities, thereby making cities resilient. During the process of planning, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will strive to include some smart features in the physical infrastructure components. However, the pursuit of better outcomes will not stop with the provision of taps and sewerage connections to all (universal coverage). Other benchmarks will be targeted stepwise after achieving the benchmark of universal coverage. A gradual process of achieving benchmarks i.e. ‘incrementalism’ shall be followed.
Capacity Building and a set of Reforms have been included for creating sound institutional structure. Reforms will lead to improvement in service delivery, mobilization of resources and make municipal functioning more transparent and functionaries more accountable. Capacity Building will empower municipal functionaries, leading to timely completion of projects. AMRUT makes States equal partners in planning and implementation of projects, thus actualizing the spirit of cooperative federalism. The Mission covers 500 cities that includes all cities and towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities. The total outlay for AMRUT is Rs. 50,000 crores for 5 years. The project fund is divided among States/UTs in an equitable formula in which 50:50 weightage is given to the urban population of each State/UT and number of statutory towns. The Ministry would also support the States in endeavours like conducting credit rating of the Mission cities that will help raise resources from the markets, conducting energy audit of the pumping systems in the cities for improving the energy efficiency etc.