India’s urban population is currently around 31% of its total population and contributes about 63% of India’s GDP (Census 2011). It is estimated that it will be over 50% by 2030 as per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Despite having the enormous importance of Urban India, it faces a plethora of problems such as urban sprawl, slums, and squatter settlements, inadequate water supply, insufficient sewage facilities, traffic congestion, and urban pollution. To mitigate some of these challenges and problems Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 500 cities (having populations above 1 lakh), and its covered 60% of the total urban population of India.
The AMRUT scheme is an initiative to provide basic civic amenities to the urban people to enhance the standard of their life with a major focus on the poor and the disadvantaged section of society. The objective of AMRUT is that everyone has access to tap water and clean sewerage facilities, greenery like parks and open spaces are well maintained throughout the city region, digital and smart facilities like weather prediction, internet, and Wi-Fi facilities across the city, pollution reduction by encouraging the public for using cheaper yet secure public transport, etc.
AMRUT is considered as the first focused national water Mission and the priority zone of the Mission is water supply followed by sewerage. This scheme has replaced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, as it gives the States and the Union Territories more liberty, flexibility, and democratization in formulation, approval, and implementation of projects.
Basic Features of AMRUT Mission:
- AMRUT scheme adopts a practical approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage and water drainage, transport, communication, and development of green spaces with special provisions for meeting the needs of children and elders.
- Implementation of the mission is linked to the promotion of urban reforms such as e-governance, the constitution of efficient municipal cadre, devolving funds and functions to urban local bodies, review of bye-laws, improvement in assessment and collection of the municipal tax system, the regular water audit, and citizen-oriented urban planning.
- Under the project, 10% of the budget allocation is given to states/union territories as an incentive which is based on the achievement of action taken in the previous year.
The Purpose of AMRUT:
- Universal Tap Water: Ensure that every household has access to tap water with the assured supply and a sewerage connection.
- Greenery: Increase the aesthetic value of cities by developing greenery within and outside along with well maintained open spaces like the park
- Least Polluted Cities: Reduce pollution by improving public transport and establishing the facilities for non-motorized transport like walking and cycling.
The AMRUT Scheme focuses on establishing an infrastructure for ensuring adequate sewage networks and drains along with water supply in the urban areas through the implementation of the urban revival projects. Various other schemes like Atma-Nirbhar Bharat, Smart city, Swachh Bharat Mission, Housing for All 2022, HRIDAY, etc can also be linked to the AMRUT scheme.
Components:
The components of the scheme are capacity building of urban areas, tap water supply to all, sewerage management and water drainage, urban transport focusing on pedestrian, non-motorized, and public transport facilities, and development of green spaces and parks. During the planning phase, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will add some smart features related to infrastructural components. All these outcomes are valued by all urban citizens, especially women and elders. The indicators and standards are prescribed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA ) in the form of Service Level Benchmarks (SLBs) so each urban local bodywork on that and assesses itself from time to time.
Coverage:
Total 500 cities have been selected under AMRUT and categorized as given below:
- All Cities and Towns over one lakh population with notified Municipalities, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas),
- All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, which are not covered above,
- All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoHUA with the consultation of state government under the HRIDAY Scheme,
- Thirteen cities and Towns which are on the bank of the main rivers with a population above 75,000 but less than 1 lakh, and
- Ten Cities from hill states, islands, and tourist destinations (one from each State).
Eligibility:
State Annual Action Plan(SAAP) is a comprehensive plan of state and all cities have Service Level Improvement Plan(SLIPs). The formulation of City level SLIP is based on persistent estimation of the ambiguities which are available in infrastructure setup like water supply system, sewerage network, draining system, transportation and communication facilities, digital and internet facilities, industrial facilities, etc.
Two phases of the AMRUT scheme are:
Phase-I: AMRUT 1.0 (2015-20)
Progress made during AMRUT 1.0
- Tap water connectivity: Around 1.1 crore household tap connections and almost 85 lakh sewerage connections have been provided by the government.
- Sewage capacity: 6,000 MLD sewage treatment capacity is being developed.
- Green Space: 1,820 parks are developed, while another 1,800 acres of the land region is under the greening process. Also, so far, 1,700 flooding points have been eliminated.
Phase-II: AMRUT 2.0 (2021-26)
The AMRUT 2.0 from 2021 to 2025-26 was approved by the Govt of India in 2021; as a step towards making the cities ‘water secure’ and ‘self-sustainable’ by providing tap water to all. Under this, universal coverage of tap water supply is provided to all statutory towns and 100% coverage of sewerage/ septage connection.
Other key components of AMRUT 2.0 include:
- Pay Jal Survekshan, which will foster competition among cities for urban water services.
- The mission will be monitored on a digital technology-based portal and projects will be geo-tagged from time to time.
- Mission will encourage the mobilization of market finance by mandating 10% worth of projects in cities with populations above ten lakh through Public Private Participation(PPP).
- Water conservation awareness will be disseminated by using Information Education and Communication (IEC) campaign.
- The financial health and water security of Urban Bodies will be improved by using technology.
- Reforms on property tax, user charges, and improved creditworthiness of ULBs are other important reforms inculcated in AMRUT 2.0.