Capacity Building
EVENTSTraining 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.
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.
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 stake-holders 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