Tag: Ahmedabad

‘Mati Kala Mahotsav’ in Ahmedabad, Gujarat

 Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah addressed the Mati Kala Mahotsav in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, today. Many dignitaries including Union Minister Shri Narayan Rane and Shri Bhanupratap Singh Verma were present on this occasion.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that Khadi Mati Kala Mahotsav is a multidimensional idea which has been taken forward by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He said that the idea of Khadi was first put forward by Mahatma Gandhi in front of everyone by linking it with the freedom movement and through this, Bapu worked to connect all the people living in poverty with employment. Along with this, Gandhi Ji worked towards reducing the demand for foreign clothes and spread the spirit of Swadeshi and Swaraj to every village. Shri Shah said that even today the idea of Khadi is multi-dimensional and multi-purpose. He said that Prime Minister Modi has not only revived the idea of Khadi but also worked to popularize Khadi by taking it forward and to the common people.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has done the work of linking Swadeshi and employment in the call of “Vocal for Local”. He said that it is because of the vision of Shri Modi that the dying Khadi movement is touching new dimensions today. Under the leadership of Shri Modi, India has become the fastest growing economy in the world. Shri Shah added that under the leadership of Shri Modi the economic development of the country is taking place and along with this, Prime Minister Modi has also taken many steps to make the economy all-inclusive. He said that increasing the turnover of Khadi to three times means providing employment to crores of people and when these people become self-reliant then the increasing GDP figure becomes humane. This also brings confidence, self-reliance and happiness in the lives of crores of people. He said that today in this Khadi Mati Kala Mahotsav, 300 electric potter wheels, 40 agro-based food processing industry tool kits, 40 incense stick making machines to women, 20 plumbing kits and more than 200 traditional charkhas have been given.

Shri Amit Shah said that today a Central Silver Plant (CSP) has been inaugurated which is very important for the production of Khadi. He said that this CSP which was built 30 years ago, has been modernized at a cost of Rs 10 crore, due to which production will increase, quality will improve and all the material of the people spinning Khadi will be utilized. Shri Shah said that today 8 newly constructed post offices have also been inaugurated virtually where many facilities like mail, parcel booking, Aadhaar services, banking postal services, life insurance, rural postal life insurance and digital certificates for pensioners will be available. He said that now all the people of Gandhinagar area do not need to go anywhere to get a passport, now they can get the application processed from their nearest post office. He added that these same post offices had sent 53,000 national flags under the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan in Gandhinagar area. Shri Shah said that when Prime Minister Modi had conceived this campaign, no one had anticipated that this campaign would become such a huge success for awakening the spirit of patriotism. He said that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Dwarka to Kamakhya, there was no building left without our Tricolour being hoisted and this campaign revived the spirit of patriotism.

 

The Union Home Minister said that today, under PMEGP, online payment of margin money of about Rs 200 crore has been made to 5000 beneficiaries across India including Gujarat, which will enable them to get a loan of Rs 600 crore. He said that Khadi Village Industries has made a lot of progress in the last 9 years. Shri Shah said that Shri Modi gave priority to Khadi and as a result the total turnover of Khadi has crossed Rs 1,35,000 crore in 2022-23. At least 1 lakh people have contributed to this turnover of Rs 1,35,000 crore. Today lakhs of people have achieved their livelihood through this turnover of Rs 1,35,000 crore and they are living with dignity.

The Union Home Minister requested the people of Gujarat and the country that every family should promote Khadi by purchasing Rs 5,000 worth Khadi or products of Khadi Village Industries in a year. He said that if every family in the country buys Khadi worth Rs 5000, the number of unemployed people in the country will decrease by more than half.

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Metro Region Concept

 A metropolitan area (metropolis) is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure and housing. A metro area usually comprises multiple jurisdictions and municipalities, neighborhoods, townships, boroughs, cities, towns, exurbs, suburbs, counties, districts, states and even nations. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. Metropolitan areas include satellite cities, towns and intervening rural areas that are socioeconomically tied to the urban core, typically measured by commuting patterns. 

At first, the ‘metropolitan district’ was used in 1910 in the Census of Population carrying a central city of 50,000 or more population and all adjacent minor civil divisions having a population density of 150 or more persons per square mile. By 1940, the concept of the metropolitan district had lost favour because the possibilities of correlating local data with district data were limited. 

Besides this, the metropolitan district did not truly represent social and economic integration with the central city. Therefore, a new areal unit, the standard metropolitan area, came into vogue in 1949. It was defined as made up of counties instead of minor civil divisions. It was succeeded by the ‘Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area’ (SMSA).It is defined below as it existed in 1970. 

A contiguous county will be included in an SMSA if: 

(a) At least 75% of the resident labour force in the county is in non-agricultural labour sector 

(b) At least 30% of the employed workers living in the county work in the central county or counties of the area. 

A contiguous county which does not meet the foregoing requirements will be included in an SMSA if at least 75% of the resident labour force is non-agricultural and meets two of the following additional criteria of metropolitan character and one of the following criteria of integration. 

(i) Criteria of Metropolitan Character 

(a) At least 25% of the population is urban. 

(b) The county had an increase of at least 15% in total population during the period covered by the most recent two censuses. 

(c) The county has a population density of at least 50 persons per square mile. 

(ii) Criteria of Integration 

(a) A least 15% of the employed workers living in the county work in the central county or counties of the area, or 

(b) The number of people working in the county who live in the central county or counties of the area is equal to at least 15 per cent of the employed workers living in the county, or 

(c) The sum of the number of workers commuting to and from the central county or counties is equal to at least 20% of the employed workers living in the county.

As stated above it seems that metropolis is primarily a demographic concept. But this may be emphasized once again that metropolis is much more than an agglomeration. It possesses distinct character and functions which are not likely to be found either in agglomeration or in conurbation. In metropolitan cities each function has benefited from the conditions which brought about the other functions and has found reasons for developing there itself. 

There the powers of attraction make them bigger and bigger, and consequently enormity of their size increases their power of attraction. This is happening in Mumbai which has grown tremendously during 1901-1991 by 1000 times. Mumbai has simultaneously an international port, one of the biggest commercial marts, an important industrial node of the country and a cosmopolitan centre. After analyzing the conditions of this development, it may be observed that out of 300 cities with population over one million in the world (1991), more than 50% are sea ports. In reality, ports possess immense potentials to concentrate functions, because, on the one hand, they are by definition commercial places, and on the other, they attract manufacturing industries by the materials of all sorts which they receive from various parts of the country. 

Even in the days of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations, and also, during the colonial times, the great commercial connections were then maritime links with the metropolis. The eastern and western sides of the Atlantic in Europe and America therefore, have great ports. Metropolitan cities acquire a sort of permanence and remain evergreen over time.

Metropolitan Cities in India 

The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 defines a metropolitan area in India as, an area having a population of ten lakhs or more, comprised in one or more districts and consisting of two or more municipalities or panchayats or other contiguous areas, specified by the Governor by public notification to be a Metropolitan area. 

In India, the Census Commission defines a metropolitan city as one having a population of over four million. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat and Nashik are those Indian cities that have over 4 million people. For these million plus cities the Census definition of an urban agglomeration requires that it should be a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining urban growths or two or more physically contiguous towns together with adjoining outgrowths. 

There are 53 urban agglomerations in India with a population of 1 million or more as of 2011 against 35 in 2001. As per the preliminary results of the Census 2011, released by the Registrar General of India, Greater Mumbai with a population of 18,414,288 continues to be India’s biggest city, followed by Delhi – 16,314,838 and Kolkata- 14,112,536. These three cities are India’s mega-cities with 10 million plus population. But, when we consider Urban Agglomeration as an extended city comprising built up area of central core and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area, we have a change at the top. Delhi NCR, with the inclusion of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad becomes the No.1 urban agglomeration with a population of 21,753,486, ahead of 20,748,395. 

As of 2011 census of India, there are 46 metropolitan cities in India and the top ten are, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat and Visakhapatnam.

TOD in India

 Indian cities face a multitude of issues such as severe congestion; deteriorating air quality; increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector; increasing road accidents; and an exploding growth in the number of private vehicles (largely motorcycles). With the urban population projected to more than double in the next generation, the situation could easily get out of control and thwart India’s economic development efforts unless remedial measures are soon taken. 

The state of public transport in the majority of Indian cities has degraded over the years. Rising population and underdeveloped mass transport has led to a rapid rise of personal vehicles, traffic congestion and an increase in pollution levels. Moreover, the majority of people do not use public transport simply because of the lack of it and inaccessibility to the transit. Therefore, while augmenting public transport, planning for accessibility is the need of the hour. Increased density and improved connectivity through TOD can help achieve that. But one of the most important reasons for thinking about TOD for Indian cities is the recent emphasis on public transport at all levels of government. Scholars have argued that transport sector in India is extremely energy intensive and needs massive investments in mass transit to quell the rise of private motorized mobility. 

Post the announcement of mission based programs like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation, and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities in 2015, there has been huge emphasis on investments in public transport. Transit systems like metro rail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) have found their way into many cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Hubli Dharwad, Lucknow, Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal and Indore among many others. 

Some of these cities have gone on to leverage the huge potential accorded by the massive investments in public transit and prepared TOD plans for their cities. In western countries, TOD was used for densifying certain areas but in India the cities already have higher densities. Hence TOD in Indian cities should be looked at as a tool for improving quality of life and financial means to provide infrastructure facilities. India is taking steps towards achieving the TOD guidelines and designing a well-planned city for its people, making itself sustained and pedestrian friendly.