Training workshop “Preparing Urban River Management Plan”
NIUA and NMCG organized a two-day state-level workshop on “Preparing Urban River Management Plan” in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The workshop focused on introducing the Urban River Management Plan Framework, which serves as a comprehensive guideline for cities to enhance the management of their rivers. Officials from 18 cities across Uttar Pradesh actively participated in this workshop. Sh. Vishal Singh, the Municipal
Commissioner of Ayodhya Nagar Nigam, addressed the gathering, highlighting the importance of effective river management in our cities.
Two more cities, Pilibhit and Badaun, were also officially onboarded into the River Cities
Alliance.
Webinar on ‘Recycling flower waste into useful products’
NIUA and NMCG organized a special webinar centered around the remarkable story of a
start-up that is revolutionizing the recycling of flower waste into useful products.
Mr. Apurv Misal, Co-founder of PHOOL was the keynote speaker for the webinar. PHOOL is the world’s first profitable and lean solution to the monumental ‘flower-waste’ problem in cities like Kanpur, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj. Mr Misal shed light on the extraordinary possibilities that arise from recycling flower waste, and how it can bring about positive changes for both the environment and society.
Training workshop on “Managing Urban Rivers – From Planning to Practice”
NIUA and NMCG organized a two-day training workshop on “Managing Urban Rivers – From Planning to Practice” in Nainital, Uttarakhand. The workshop brought together officials from 11-member cities of the #RiverCitiesAlliance (RCA) in the state.
Over the course of two days, participants delved into the intricacies of urban river management, focusing on the implementation of the innovative Urban River Management Plan (URMP) framework.
The training program witnessed the active participation of 19 dedicated officials who represented cities such as Nainital, Kashipur, Srinagar, Haridwar, Muni Ki Reti, Vikasnagar, Rishikesh, Haldwani-Kathgodam, Dehradun, Rudrapur, Ramnagar, and Bhawali.
Training Workshop on Making River-Sensitive Master Plans
To expand our knowledge-sharing and capacity-building in Northeast India, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of Assam, organised a two-day workshop in Guwahati on ‘Making River-Sensitive Master Plans’. 50+ planners from across the state attended the workshop.
The key takeaways of the workshop included getting river-sensitive components prioritized for more than 50 draft master plans of towns in Assam, enhancing the river connection with the people of Assam through regional festivals like ‘Basant Panchami Mela’ and activating river edges for public access and strengthening the livelihood potential of the Brahmaputra River through master plan instruments and decisions.
RCA Global Seminar
To expand the scope of the River Cities Alliance (RCA) outside India, the National Mission for. Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized the ‘River-Cities Alliance Global Seminar: Partnership for Building International River-Sensitive Cities’ on May 4, 2023, in New Delhi. The seminar witnessed participation from Embassies/High Commissions of select countries and their respective river cities in order to highlight objectives, achievements, and potential collaborative outcomes of RCA. State Missions for Clean Ganga (SMCGs) and funding agencies like World Bank, ADB, JICA & KfW also were part of the discussions.
RCA Global Seminar has strong synergies with the Urban20 (U20) initiative under the ambit of India’s G20 Presidency. Healthy rivers play a critical role in enhancing the overall water security of cities; which echoes one of the thrust areas, i.e., promulgation of urban water security, of the U20 agenda.
DHARA 2023
Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers (hereafter abbreviated as DHARA 2023) marks the first anniversary of RCA via an annual summit of the RCA member city representatives (Municipal Commissioners / Executive Officers) as an opportunity to spend dedicated time brainstorming and imbibing solutions for urban river management. DHARA 2023 has strong synergies with the Urban20 (U20) initiative under the ambit of India’s G20 Presidency. One of the thrust areas of U20 is to promulgate urban water security and healthy rivers have a vital role to play in enhancing the overall water security of the city.
Webinar on “Catch the Rain – where it falls, when it falls”
National Water Mission’s (NWM) campaign “Catch the Rain” with the tagline “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” is to nudge the states and stakeholders to create appropriate Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata before monsoon.
On February 23, 2023, Sh. G. Asok Kumar, the Director General of NMCG, who conceptualized ‘Catch the Rain’ initiative, discussed the campaign with the members of the River Cities Alliance during a webinar. He spoke about how cities and citizens can facilitate this movement to capture maximum rainwater this monsoon.
Student Thesis Competition Write-shop, 2023
NIUA in association with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), hosted a sponsored thesis competition on ‘Re-imagining Urban Rivers’ to achieve the sensitization & capacity-building of students for river-sensitive planning and development.
In the third season of the competition, 20 students from across India are being supported through mentorship and financial assistance.
The students took part in a panel discussion in DHARA 2023 where they presented their ideas for the management of urban rivers.
A write-shop was also organised for these students from February 15 to 16, 2023 at YASHADA in Pune where they discussed their work with mentors from NIUA and fellow students. Through interactive activities, the students were encouraged to use their creativity and imaginative skills to strengthen their thesis projects on urban river management.
Webinar on “Gwalior’s story of restoring its shallow aquifers”
Shishir Shrivastava, Deputy Commissioner, of Gwalior Municipal Corporation, spoke at the webinar on “Gwalior’s story of restoring its shallow aquifers” on December 12, 2022.
He discussed the best course of action for restoring and revitalising the city’s tanks and well systems. The webinar also covered the difficulties in maintaining shallow aquifers as well as solutions to these difficulties.
Webinar on “Restoring and Rejuvenating Urban Water Bodies”
On December 20, 2022, lake conservationist Anand Malligavad, spoke at a webinar on “Restoring and Rejuvenating Urban Water Bodies”. Malligavad, a former mechanical engineer, has been collaborating with state governments to plan for and revitalise urban water bodies in the urban environment.
He spoke about the difficulties in managing urban water bodies, as well as how using natural remedies can aid the ecosystem of urban water bodies as a whole. He also emphasised the contribution of the private sector to attempts at rejuvenation.
Launch of River Cities Alliance
The River Cities Alliance was formally launched on 25 November 2021, in the presence of Sh. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Minister for Jal Shakti; Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Hon’ble Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Shri Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
Currently, the Alliance comprises of 111 river cities across India and one international member city from Denmark.
Managing Urban Rivers: From Planning to Practice
The first training program conducted under the aegis of River Cities Alliance from 5-7 May in Lucknow on Managing Urban Rivers: from planning to practice. Sh. Durga Shankar Mishra, Chief Secretary, Govt. of UP gave the special address to the participants followed by a motivational speech from Sh. G. Asok, Director General, NMCG. The training included a good mix of senior decision-makers such as the Assistant Municipal Commissioner, General Managers, and Additional Municipal Commissioners and technical officials such as engineers, environment officers, project managers, sector experts.
Participating Cities: Ayodhya, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Farrukhabad, Haridwar, Hooghly-Chinsurah, Howrah, Jangipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura-Vrindavan, Pune, Rajmahal, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Varanasi, Vijaywada
Integrating river thinking into Master Plans
Training programs and brainstorming sessions on ‘Making River-Sensitive Master Plans’, conducted with planning consultants and practitioners in Delhi and Uttarakhand. The purpose of these programmes was to collectively deliberate on the guidance document and to explore its application in Indian cities.
Managing Urban Rivers: From Planning to Practice
Managing urban rivers in a holistic manner is a relatively new and evolving field in India. Until now, the emphasis has solely been on controlling pollution. While this is undoubtedly important, there are several other environmental, economic and social aspects that need to be considered as well. To address this gap, in November 2020, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) developed a unique framework for managing urban river stretches called the Urban River Management Plan (URMP) framework. This training program is to build the capacities of urban local bodies, practitioners, academicians, researchers and any other interested stakeholders in the knowledge and application of this framework. It is a step-by-step guide to understand the complete process of preparation of a URMP. This module contains 230 minutes video content. It is meant for representatives of urban local bodies, planners & practitioners involved with river management, training institutes, academicians and researchers. Some of the key features of this module are self-paced courses, accessible free of charge, evaluation in the form of multiple-choice assessment, complemented with supplementary reading material, assessment based NMCG and NIUA certification.
Making River Sensitive Master Plans
Healthy rivers are an absolute necessity for productive and liveable cities. In fact, a river is perhaps the greatest natural asset of a city. The range of ecosystem services it provides a city, and the livelihoods it supports, are truly substantial. It, therefore, makes good sense for river cities to plan their development activities with due consideration for the river. The theme of this training module is centred precisely on this notion. It emphasizes on the role of a Master Plan to facilitate this harmony between a city and its river. The course will introduce its participants to the typical river-related challenges faced in urban areas and explain how a city’s Master Plan can help address those challenges through seven planning instruments. The module is based on an advisory ‘Strategic Guidelines for Making River-Sensitive Master Plans’, prepared by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). This training program is to build the capacities of planning and development specialists, planning consultants, practitioners, academicians, researchers and any other interested stakeholders on integrating river-sensitive thinking into the Master Plans for river cities. This module contains 180 minutes of video content. This training program is to build the capacities of representatives of state planning departments, city planning and development authorities, chief town planners, planning consultants; training institutes, academicians and researchers. Some of the key features of this module are self-paced courses, accessible free of charge, evaluation in the form of multiple-choice assessment, complemented with supplementary reading material, assessment based NMCG and NIUA certification.
