National
Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2
⇒ Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2 at an online event on 09 November 2022.
About Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2:
The Transport4All Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, that aims at enhancing the mobility experience of citizens.
- The Challenge focuses on digital innovation and invites cities, citizens, and innovators to join hands to develop contextual digital solutions to improve formal as well as informal public transport to better serve the mobility needs of all citizens.
Organized by:
The Transport4All Challenge is organized in partnership with The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) as co-host and challenge coordinator, the Word Bank as knowledge partner, Startup India and City Innovation Exchange as technology partners, and Association of State Road Transport Undertaking (ASRTU) as city-engagement partner.
Three Stages of the Challenge:
The Transport4All through Digital Innovation Challenge comprises three stages:
- Stage I PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cities, with the support of NGOs, identify key recurring problems that citizens and public transport operators face
- Stage II SOLUTION GENERATION: Startups develop prototypes of solutions to improve public transport with inputs from cities and NGOs
- Stage III PILOT TESTING: Cities engage Startups for large-scale pilots and refine the solutions based on citizen feedback
Solutions developed as part of the Challenge aim to integrate formal and informal modes of public transport wherever possible and desirable. Solutions that demonstrate the ability to meet the needs of citizens—those living in cities with different contexts—would be piloted in selected cities across the country.
Stage 1 of the Challenge:
- More than 130 cities signed up for Stage 1 of the Challenge, launched on 15th April 2021.
- 100 cities formed a Transport4All Task Force (TTF) with key government stakeholders and governments working in the transport sector, along with academic institutes, non-profit organizations, and IPT unions.
Citizen Perception Survey 2022 (part of Ease of Living assessment)
⇒ Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Citizen Perception Survey 2022 at an online event on 09 November 2022.
Coordinated by:
The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) anchored the program, along with its agency Quality Council of India (QCI), who were supporting MoHUA in undertaking the exercise.
- This survey, which was administered both online and offline, was conducted from 9th November to 23rd December, 2022.
- The Citizen Perception Survey 2022 was carried out across 264 cities with an aim to capture and reflect opinions of from more than 21 lakh citizens across the length and breadth of the country.
Key Points:
- MoHUA launched the Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 in April, 2022 as an initiative to undertake a transparent and comprehensive assessment of cities based on cross-city outcomes across major sectors.
- The Framework also includes the third round of Ease of Living Index. The Ease of Living Index, as a 360-degree assessment, aims to evaluate cities across India based on the Quality of Life, Economic Ability, and Sustainability.
- As part of the Ease of Living Index 2022, a Citizen Perception Survey was conducted (which carries 30% of the marks under the Ease of Living Index).
- This was a very important component of the assessment exercise as it helped in directly capturing of citizen feedback with respect to their city liveability.
- These views highlighted how citizens feel about different aspects of their cities including public transport, education facilities, healthcare services, water availability, cost of living, employment opportunities, among others.
- Cities actively promoted citizen perception surveys and adopted innovative strategies to engage maximum citizens to share their city feedback.
- The top performing cities were rewarded under the ‘City Engagement Award’.
- The Citizen Perception Survey was first conducted in 2020 and had a target of 16 lakh responses while we were able to garner response from over 32 lakh citizens residing across the 111 cities participating in the survey.
Highlights of Citizen Perception Survey 2022:
- Total Citizens Surveyed- 85,02,096
- Face-to-Face Surveys- 2,70,525
- Online Surveys- 82,31,571
Top five performing cities of Citizen Perception Survey 2022:
- Thane
- Bengaluru
- Bhopal
- Pimpri Chinchwad
- Mira Bhayandar
Top five performing cities of Bihar in Citizen Perception Survey 2022:
- Patna
- Gaya
- Bhagalpur
- Muzaffarpur
- Madhubani
International
42 International Congress of the Indian National Cartographic Association
⇒ The 42 International Congress of the Indian National Cartographic Association (INCA) was organised by the National Hydrographic Office (NHO), Dehradun from 09 to 11 November, 2022.
Theme:
The focal theme for the 42d INCA Congress was ‘Digital Cartography to Harness Blue Economy’.
Sub-themes:
The deliberation of the Congress was divided into 07 sub-themes including Space Technologies for Mapping, Cartographic Applications for Sustainable Development, Geomatics in Disaster Management, Mapping for Environmental Planning & Management, Hydrography for Resource Management and Land Resource Mapping and Surveying.
- All the subjects were of contemporary interest to the cartographer and scientific community.
» Renowned national and international scholars, scientists, academicians, planners participated in this conference.
Background:
- The personnel of the Naval Hydrographic Department (NHD) working on the cutting edge of cartography have been active in the INCA since its inception in 1979. The NHO had earlier conducted the 37th INCA Congress at Dehradun from 01 to 03 November, 2017.
- The INCA was founded in 1979 and has evolved into one of the largest organisations in the field of cartography with more than 3000 life and institutional members.
- Organisations such as the National Hydrographic Office (NHO), Survey of India, Indian Space Research Organisation, National Thematic Map Organisation and Universities are part of this Association.
- The body has various branches functioning at different centers across the country to harmonise various aspects of cartography.
- The Chief Hydrographer to the Govt of India, Vice Admiral Adhir Arora, is the current President of Indian National Cartographic Association (INCA).