City Liveability Index
23-Jun-2017: Quality of life in 116 major cities to be assessed
In yet another major initiative, the Ministry of Urban Development launched the ‘City Liveability Index’ for measuring the quality of life in 116 major cities including smart cities, capital cities and cities with a population of above one million each.
The Index, a Common Minimum Reference Framework to enable the cities know where they stand in terms of quality of life and the interventions required to improve the same was today launched by the Minister of Urban Development Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at a National Workshop on Urban Transformation.
Stating that cities are now moving on a well thought out course of infrastructure development under new urban missions launched during the last three years, “ Time has now come to measure life quality in cities and rank them accordingly”.
In a first of its kind Index to be introduced in the country, cities will be assessed on a comprehensive set of 79 parameters to capture the extent and quality of infrastructure including availability of roads, education and health care, mobility, employment opportunities, emergency response, grievance redressal, pollution, availability of open and green spaces, cultural and entertainment opportunities etc.
After selecting the agency for undertaking this assessment next month, data collection will be completed in the next about six months.
The Ministry of Urban Development today disbursed Rs.500 cr as incentive to 16 States that performed well in implementing urban reforms during 2016-17. Progress in respect of reforms like e-governance, Audit of accounts, Tax revision policies and extent of tax revenue collection, Energy and Water Audit, Establishing State Level Financial Intermediaries for resource mobilization, Credit Rating etc., was taken into account.
Andhra Pradesh topped the list scoring 96.06% marks. Others who received the incentive fund in order of merit were; Odisha (95.38%), Jharkhand (91.98%), Chhattisgarh (91.37%), Madhya Pradesh (90.20%), Telangana (86.92%), Rajasthan (84.62%), Punjab (77.02%), Kerala (75.73%), Goa (75.38*), Mizoram (75.00%), Gujarat (73.80%), Chandigarh (72.73%), Uttar Pradesh (70.67%) and Maharashtra (70.52). Marks scored by these States was considered for deciding the quantum of incentive with high scorers getting more.
Shri Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (UD) said that reform incentive fund for the next three financial years will be increased from the present allocation of Rs.900 cr to Rs.10,000 cr to promote next generation reforms that would make a substantial difference to urban governance and service delivery and resource mobilization by urban local bodies.
9-May-2017: Measurement of Liveability Index of cities to begin next month
Ministry of Urban Development will launch measuring of Liveability Index of cities next month based on indigenously evolved Index.
Liveability Standards of 140 cities including 53 cities with population of one million and above and Smart Cities will be assessed. The Ministry has already invited bids for selecting the agency for carrying out the assessment based on the parameters evolved by the Ministry. The Ministry of Urban Development has come out with a detailed document on “Methodology for Collection and Computation of Liveability Standards in Cities” for the benefit of States and Cities.
Cities will be assessed on 15 core parameters relating to Governance, social infrastructure pertaining to education, health and safety and security, economic aspects and physical infrastructure like housing, open spaces, land use, energy and water availability, solid waste management, pollution etc. Cities will be ranked based on Liveability Index that would cover a total of 79 aspects.
A sense of healthy competition is being promoted among cities and towns in the country to focus their attention on improving governance and infrastructure availability. More than providing funds to State and City Governments, Ministry of Urban Development is according priority for incentivizing implementation of reforms that have a far reaching impact on governance and service delivery.
Cities can’t be run and managed from state capitals and secretariats. They should be made to stand on their own for improving performance, responsibility and accountability.
Government officials and experts from India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are participating in the workshop for sharing respective experiences on decentralization and empowerment of local bodies.
National Book Trust (NBT)
8-May-2017: Panchayat Pustak Mela
The NBT is set to launch an ambitious scheme called the Panchayat Pustak Mela (Panchayat Book Fair), whose aim would be to organise regular book fairs in rural areas across the country.
National Book Trust (NBT) is an Indian publishing house, founded in 1957 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. NBT now functions under aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India.
6-Jan-2017: New Delhi World Book Fair to Celebrate Women Writings & 60 Years of National Book Trust
New Delhi World Book Fair will have ‘Manushi’ as the Theme of this year, which will focus on writings on and by women; and will exhibit the rich tradition of women writings from ancient times till present. New Delhi World Book Fair will be held from 7th to 15th January 2017 at Pragati maidan in New Delhi. The Fair is being organized in collaboration with India Trade Promotion Organisation.
National Book Trust is celebrating 60 years of its foundation and it will showcase its journey in promoting books and reading at a special exhibit ‘This is no looking back!’ The exhibit will display the varied activities that NBT has undertaken in promoting books including book fairs being organized by the Trust across India, participation of NBT in international book fairs, publishing programme among others. New Delhi World Book Fair is a platform for displaying our rich treasure of knowledge through books. India Trade Promotion Organisation has made special efforts to make book fair more visitor friendly.
Masala Bonds
9-May-2017: NHAI’s Masala Bond expected to list on the LSE shortly
The Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has been invited by the London Stock Exchange to address its guests and the media on the Government of India’s initiatives in infrastructure and opportunities for investors to participate in India’s growth story. The Minister will also open the market for the LSE for trading on the 11th of May 2017.
Shri Gadkari’s trip may also coincide with the culmination of the NHAI’s debut Masala Bond issuance which is expected to list on the LSE shortly.
Masala Bonds are a major initiative being encouraged by our Government . They have been gaining in popularity among foreign investors. Until recently, the ability of Indian companies and other issuers to borrow from the overseas markets was predominantly limited to foreign currencies, but Masala Bonds have finally taken off, giving Indian companies from various sectors the ability to access the international capital markets and raise financing without taking on the attendant exchange rate risk. What Indian companies need to do now, is to access the Masala Bond market to enhance its liquidity and give international investors the opportunity of exposure to the Indian Rupee.
It is with this objective that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) decided to access the Masala Bond Market. Given its strong linkages to the Government of India and its strategically important role for the national economy, the NHAI is uniquely placed to help attract the widest possible investors to the Masala Bond market and help develop it. Towards this objective NHAI has been conducting a global investor engagement exercise targeted at the world’s largest Supra Nationals and Sovereign Wealth Funds, Global Macro Funds and International Asset Managers This exercise is expected to culminate in London.
16-Feb-2017: RBI allows multilateral Financial Institutions to invest in masala bonds.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed multilateral and regional financial institutions to invest in rupee denominated bonds listed abroad popularly known as masala bonds.
These new class of investors will be given a wider choice for Indian issuers abroad. In order to provide more choices of investors to Indian entities issuing rupee denominated bonds abroad, it has been decided to also permit multilateral and regional financial institutions where India is a member country, to invest in these rupee denominated bonds.
As a result, agencies like the Asian Development Bank and the BRICS led New Development Bank can also invest in these bonds. Since September this year from when these bonds were allowed Indian firms have together raised $1.71 billion by selling these so called masala bond which are mostly listed in London.