Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu says that as part of new urban renaissance’ initiative, the Centre wants improve the ‘liveability Index’ of the various Indian cities.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave 2017 in Mumbai, Naidu, known for coining new acronyms, said: “CITY stands for ‘Civic Infrastructure To You’...The Smart Cities Mission launched by the Government is an ambitious game changer that seeks to transform the cities and towns into sustainable centres of economic activity, providing an improved quality of life to the citizens in all respects. As part of our Rs new urban renaissance’ initiative, we intend to improve the ‘liveability Index’ of the Indian cities”.
“We hit upon the idea of infusing a certain degree of competition among the cities because contest brings the best out of us. That is how the novel idea of Smart Cities Competition has taken birth and it made a huge difference to the way our cities looked at themselves” the Minister said.
He said the Smart Cities Mission also mandated inclusive development stipulating affordable housing, ensuring availability of quality water, power, social infrastructure, promotion of walking and cycling, sanitation, push to employment generation etc. benefits of which accrue to the poor and the common man. “The ‘Housing for All’ will become a reality by 2022,” he said.
Dwelling the Narendra Modi Government’s Digital India initiatives, Union Minister for Communication & IT Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that India, which missed out on the industrial revolution and the post war technological development did not want to miss the digital revolution.
laying emphasis on empowerment of people through education, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the new education policy, which would soon be announced, would stress upon making education student friendly. He said that the proposed education policy would be guided by the motto‘sabko shiksha, achchi shiksha’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a special address via video-link on Saturday evening on “Setting India’s New Agenda”.