Impacting lives of people to a significant way

Impacting lives of people to a significant way

.             The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is entrusted primarily with formulation of urban housing policy and programmes, implementation of specific programmes of urban employment and urban poverty alleviation and policy as well as planning and monitoring of matters related to human settlements including slums in urban area. The significant initiatives of the Ministry, which would positively impact the lives of people, are as follows:             The Housing for All (HfA) (Urban) Mission launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 25th June, 2015 envisages to effectively address the housing requirements of urban poor including slum dwellers in the country. Inter-alia, the Mission has set the goal of construction of 2 crore houses by 2022 and it provides for an average grant of Rs. 1 lakh per house for rehabilitation of eligible slum dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource, credit linked interest subsidy at 6.5% for weaker sections of society and central assistance of Rs. 1.5 lakh per house in EWS segment for beneficiary led individual house construction or enhancement. According to a NCAER study ‘Impact of Investments in the Housing Sector on GDP and Employment in the Indian Economy’ (April 2014), the share of informal employment to total employment in residential construction is second highest among all sectors next only to agriculture. Also, for every Rs. 1 lakh investment in residential construction sector, 4.06 new jobs are created and for every additional rupee invested in residential construction, Rs. 2.84 is added to GDP and Rs. 0.12 gets collected as indirect tax respectively. The economic activity generated by the HfA (Urban) Mission would hence have multiplier income and employment effects. Guidelines of HfA (Urban) Mission also contain suitable provisions to cater to vulnerable sections of the society including persons with disability, minorities, single women, senior citizens, manual scavengers and transgenders. Accordingly, HfA (Urban) Mission would touch the lives of millions of people and contribute to a more egalitarian, economically productive and inclusive society. The need for greater involvement of private sector and public-private-partnership in promoting economic development and alleviating poverty is now widely appreciated. The Government is committed to providing a regulatory framework which would facilitate efficient investment, sustainable growth and protect consumer interest in the real estate sector. Accordingly, it has piloted the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) legislation to provide for a uniform regulatory environment, which would protect consumer interests, help speedy adjudication of disputes and ensure an orderly growth of the real estate sector. Various approvals, which are required prior to taking up project construction including housing projects, tend to delay project completion and also add to cost. A single-window clearance or facilitative window for the purpose is suggested as the solution to this problem commonly encountered by people. A model building bye-law has been prepared by the Ministry of Urban Development for the benefit of States and Urban Local Bodies.  To ease administrative and regulatory bottlenecks, guidelines for HfA (urban) Mission lay down mandatory conditions, which include (a) a system to ensure single-window, time-bound clearance for layout approval and building permissions at ULB level and (b) adoption of approach of deemed building permission and layout approval on the basis of pre-approved lay outs and building plans for EWS/LIG housing or exempt approval for houses below certain built up area or plot area.             National Urban Housing & Habitat Policy (NUHHP), 2007 is in the process of being revised to reflect the emerging changes. Formulation of Model State Affordable Housing Policy, Rental Housing Policy and draft Model Tenancy Act would have far reaching consequences.             National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) represents a paradigm shift from the concept of providing ‘employment’ to empowering people to earn their ‘livelihood’. The primary target of NULM is the urban poor, including the urban homeless and particular emphasis is laid on mobilisation of vulnerable sections of the urban population such as SCs, STs, minorities, female-headed households, persons with disabilities, destitute, migrant labourers, and especially vulnerable occupational groups such as street vendors, rag pickers, domestic workers, beggars, construction workers, etc. Activities under NULM are directed at providing shelters equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner. The mission also addresses livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills for accessing emerging market opportunities.             Street vending generates livelihood for millions of people. To protect the rights of urban street vendors and to regulate street vending activities, provisions of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, are aimed at creating a conducive atmosphere where street vendors are able to carry out their business in a fair and transparent manner, without fear of harassment and eviction.             India in association with UN-HABITAT had organized the first Asia Pacific Ministers Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) in 2006. The primary purpose of this inter-governmental body is to promote sustainable housing and urban development in the Asia pacific region. The 5th APMCHUD was held in 2014 at Seoul, Republic of Korea. As per the “Seoul Declaration”, India would host the 6th APMCHUD Conference in 2016 at New Delhi.             HfA (Urban) Mission envisages that for effective monitoring, progress of construction of houses would be tracked through geo-tagged photographs for which the road map is being worked out with National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad. The Integrated Urban Poverty Management System portal facilitates tracking of progress regarding approval of projects at different stages.  An online web based Management Information System for NULM would enable real time monitoring of progress of various components and provide details of beneficiaries, biometric attendance, training and placement and certificates would be awarded to successful candidates online.

List includes 24 business and industrial centres; 24 capitals; 18 cultural and tourism cities; 5 port cities 64 small and medium category cities make to the list; 9 capitals fail to be selected Smart City Mission practical and realistic

Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu announces 98 selected smart city nominees

List includes 24 business and industrial centres; 24 capitals; 18 cultural and tourism cities; 5 port cities 64 small and medium category cities make to the list; 9 capitals fail to be selected

Smart City Mission practical and realistic, asserts Shri Naidu

Shri Naidu urges States/Urban Local Bodies to rise to the smart challenge; says it is like ‘perform or perish’

            Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu today announced a list of 98 cities and towns selected for development as smart cities. These cities and towns were nominated by respective States and Union Territories at the end of first stage of ‘City Challenge’ competition in which all the urban local bodies in each State and UT were evaluated based on their financial and institutional capacities and past track record. After releasing the list of selected cities at a media conference, Shri Naidu complimented States/UTs for conducting objective evaluation in the first stage of competition.

            Shri Naidu gave details of profiles of all the selected cities and towns in terms of population and characters of each city/town. He informed that:

-24 cities are capital cities;

-24 are business and industrial centres;

-18 are of cultural and tourism importance;

-5 are port cities and three are educational and healthcare hubs.

            In terms of population ;

-8 have population up to one lakh. These being: Panaji, Diu,Silvassa, Kavaratti, Dharmashala, New Town

                                                                                 Kolkata, Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and Namchi(Sikkim) 

-35 have population between one and five lakhs;

-21 cities are in the population range of five to ten lakhs;

-25 have population of above 10 lakhs and below 25 lakhs;

-5 in the range of 25 to 50 lakhs and

-Four viz., Chennai, Greater Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Greater Mumbai have population above 50 lakh.

            Shri Naidu observed that 65 small and medium towns and cities making to the list of smart city aspirants is a welcome feature since making them smart would lay good foundation for better urban management when they further expand.

            The Minister informed that nine capital cities viz., Itanagar, Patna, Shimla, Bengaluru, Daman, Thiruvananthapuram, Puducherry, Gangtok and Kolkata failed to be selected and this goes to prove that the smart city selection was not influenced by the stature or importance of the cities.

           

            Shri Venkaiah Naidu informed that two more cities would be announced in due course since the Government of Jammu & Kashmir sought more time to make up its choice while additional information was sought from the Government of Uttar Pradesh regarding the 13^th smart city slot allotted to that State.

            The Minister said that the 98 cities selected under Smart City Mission have a population of about 13 crore accounting for over 35% of the country’s urban population. He further said that under Smart City Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 80% of total urban population would benefit from enhanced quality of living.

            Shri Naidu said that with the selection of almost all the cities under the Smart Cities Mission, all the selected cities will have to prepare city level Smart City Plans and these will be evaluated in the second stage of competition based on a broad set of criteria to pick up the top scoring 20 cities for financing during this financial year. Funds may be released to these 20 cities by the end of this year, he said. Others will be asked to improve upon the identified deficiencies before participating in the next two rounds of competition.

            Those cities to be selected in the second stage of competition would be provided with central assistance of Rs.200 cr in the first year followed by Rs.100 cr each year during the next three years, the Minister informed.

            Elaborating on the concept of Smart City, Shri Naidu said : “ A smart city would ensue core infrastructure needed for decent living in urban areas. We are not aiming at making our urban landscape look fanciful and flashy. The prime objective is to enhance the quality of urban life by addressing deficiencies in core infrastructure. Expectations in various quarters may be high but the Mission is very practical and realistic in its intentions and objectives.”

            Shri Naidu said that making smart cities is a challenging task and States and urban local bodies have to rise to the challenge. He said that the Central Government has undertaken measures to empower them to meet the challenge through substantially enhanced central assistance and decentralizing decision making besides assisting in capacity building of urban local bodies. He informed that as against the central assistance of only Rs.36,000 cr during the 10 years of JNNURM, centre would provide about Rs.3.00 lakh crored under various new urban initiatives.

           

            Shri Naidu observed that the country can not afford to miss this opportunity of recasting country’s urban landscape and the situation is ‘perform or perish’ for the States and urban local bodies.

            The Minister said that formulation of new urban sector initiatives is based on ‘bottom up’ planning based on citizen consultations as desired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He thanked the Prime Minister for his sustained interest in the new urban initiatives and support.

Draft Model Indian Bilateral Investment Treaty

Law Commission of India also Submits its Third Report i.e. Report No. 260 This Report is on 2015 Draft Model Indian Bilateral Investment Treaty

Analyses and Suggests Changes to the Draft Model Treaty

The Law Commission of India has, on 27th August 2015, i.e. today also submitted its Report No. 260 on the “Analysis of the 2015 Draft Model Indian Bilateral Investment Treaty” to the Union Minister of Law and Justice. The report is presented with a view to assist the Government of India in achieving a balanced negotiating text that takes into consideration the protection of Indian investors investing abroad, as well as safeguarding the regulatory powers of the State.

India’s bilateral investment treaty (BIT) programme is part of a larger trade and investment agenda of the Indian government to boost investor confidence and increase investment flows into and out of the country. India signed its first BIT with the United Kingdom in 1994, and has signed 83 BITs till date, of which 74 are in force. India has also entered into eleven Free Trade Agreements which have a dedicated chapter on investment, that are substantially similar to the standalone BITs.

India had a Model BIT (referred to as the ‘2003 Model’ in the report), which formed the basis for conducting subsequent BIT negotiations between India and other countries for many years. For about two decades, BITs in India did not attract much attention. India also had limited involvement with Investment Treaty Arbitration (ITA), which refers to the dispute resolution mechanism available under BITs. The period after 2010, however, saw a surge in India’s involvement with ITA. Towards the end of 2011, India received its first adverse award in relation to a BIT in the White Industries Australia Limited V. Republic of India case. India has also received numerous ITA notices from various investors and under various BITs. As on date, there are fourteen known pending proceedings of claims brought against India.

During this period, the Government undertook a review of the text of its earlier 2003 Model BIT, and in March 2015, made public a new Draft Model Indian Bilateral Investment Treaty (the ‘2015 Model’). The objective of the 2015 Model, as stated on the Government’s website, was “to provide appropriate protection to foreign investors in India and Indian investors in the foreign country, in the light of the relevant international precedents and practices, while maintaining a balance between the investor’s rights and the Government obligations.” The Government added that the 2015 Model would form the basis for negotiations with other countries.

The Law Commission undertook a study of the 2015 Model, and found that the text has some concerns that could be addressed before it is finalised. Accordingly, the Law Commission has made certain suggestions on specific clauses of the 2015 Model. The suggestions in the report are presented with a view to assist the Government to achieve a balanced negotiating text, and are not to be regarded as recommendations. 

DRDO collaborates with Patanjali Ayurved for marketing Seabuckthorn based products

DRDO collaborates with Patanjali Ayurved for marketing Seabuckthorn based products

One of the Life Science laboratories of DRDO, Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) has successfully developed technologies based on Seabuckthorn that has found to be having high nutritional values. It can be used as quality food supplements as they have very high anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals. M/s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. has taken Transfer of Technologies (ToT) through a “Non Exclusive” license from DRDO for five of the Seabuckthorn based products namely: Seabuckthorn Beverage, Seapricot Beverage, herbal Tea, Seabuckthorn Oil Soft Gel Capsules and Seabuckthorn Jam.

M/s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, being a major well recognised Indian brand in Ayurved and natural health products and with its extensive network of distributors throughout India, can take these products to the market more effectively. Being one of the biggest manufacturers of Ayurveda products in the country with WHO-GMP certified, M/s Patanjali can further innovate and find more benefits for these products. These technologies were earlier given to 2 more companies on “Non Exclusive” basis namely: M/s Pravek kalp Pvt. Ltd & M/s Ambe Phytoextracts Ltd. As these Licenses are Non Exclusive in nature, DRDO can provide additional licenses, if required.

To ensure diffusion of DRDO developed spin off technologies to the civil society, DRDO has entered into an agreement with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry(FICCI) the premier Industry Chamber of the Country under a joint initiative DRDO-FICCI-ATAC (Accelerated Technology Assessment & Commercialisation) Program, the platform created to commercialise spin off technologies with special focus on social benefit technologies. Under this program FICCI facilitates bringing potential industries that can absorb the technologies from DRDO and helps it in licensing to industries to manufacture and market.

It is expected that such ToT to the industries will help the local population living in difficult terrains to derive the economic benefits through organised farming of local produce required for these products and the health products coming out from these industries will benefit the society at large.

The Leh based DIHAR has pioneered cold arid –agro animal technologies for augmenting local availability of fresh food in the region. The laboratory through its translational laboratory to land approach, develops technologies for fresh food cultivation, processed food, nutraceuticals, poultry, goat and dairy farming and green house cultivation in high altitudes where these are major challenges both for the local populations and for the Armed Forces. DIHAR through its pioneering R&D efforts over the years has brought about perceptible qualitative and quantitative changes in agriculture, animal husbandry and cold desert flora of Ladakh Region. 

GSLV Successfully Launches India’s Latest Communication Satellite GSAT-6

GSLV Successfully Launches India’s Latest Communication Satellite GSAT-6

In its ninth flight (GSLV-D6) conducted today, (August 27, 2015), India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, equipped with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched GSAT-6, the country's latest communication satellite, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The achieved orbit is very close to the intended one. The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. This was the fifth developmental flight of GSLV and the third to carry the indigenous CUS. GSLV-D6 was intended to further test and qualify the CUS developed by ISRO.

In its oval shaped GTO, the GSAT-6 satellite is now orbiting the Earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 168 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,939 km with an orbital inclination of 20.01 deg with respect to the equator.

After a smooth 29 hour countdown, the 416 tonne, 49 m tall GSLV-D6 carrying the 2117 kg GSAT-6, lifted off at 16:52 Hrs IST. About seventeen minutes after lift-off, GSAT-6 was successfully placed in GTO.

At 4.8 seconds before the countdown reached zero, the four liquid propellant strap-on stages of GSLV-D6, each carrying 42 tonne of liquid propellants, were ignited. At count zero and after confirming the normal performance of all the four strap-on motors, the mammoth 139 tonne solid propellant first stage core motor was ignited and GSLV lifted off. The major phases of the flight included the core motor burn-out, strap on burn-out, ignition of the second stage, separation of the core motor together with strap-ons, payload fairing separation, second stage separation, CUS ignition and its timely shut down after satisfactory performance. Following this, GSAT-6 separated from CUS about 17 minutes after launch.

Soon after its injection into GTO, the two solar arrays of GSAT-6 were automatically deployed and the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took control of GSAT-6.

In the coming days, GSAT-6's orbit will be raised from its present GTO to the final circular Geostationary Orbit (GSO) by firing the satellite's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages. The satellite will be commissioned into service after the completion of orbit raising operations, deployment of its 6 m wide sieve shaped unfurlable antenna, the satellite’s positioning in its designated orbital slot of 83 degree East longitude in the GSO and in-orbit testing of its communication payloads.

Today’s flight of GSLV underscores the success of ISRO in mastering the highly complex cryogenic rocket propulsion technology. 

Text of PM’s address at the Global ‘Call to Action’ Summit 2015

Text of PM’s address at the Global ‘Call to Action’ Summit 2015

My colleague Shri J. P. Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, Shri. Kesetebirhan Admasu, Minister of Health, Govt. of Ethiopia, Hon’ble Ministers from participating countries, representatives of Development Partners, friends from the civil society, the private sector, media, academia, national and international speakers and esteemed delegates. On behalf of my Government and all the co-hosts for this international summit, I warmly welcome you to the Global Call to Action Summit 2015.

This is a landmark occasion, as for the first time, the Global Call to Action Summit is being held outside USA. My Government is honoured to host this Summit. All those delegates who have travelled a long distance to attend this Summit – I heartily welcome you to India and to New Delhi. I am delighted to be with you this morning.

This two-day Summit, celebrating the achievements of the participating countries in the area of Maternal and Child Health, was conceptualized to accelerate joint leadership for ending preventable deaths among mothers and children. It will showcase the power of new partnerships, innovations and systems to bring about improvements in life-saving interventions. I firmly believe that this Summit will provide a highly effective platform to address common challenges that will help us achieve the desired goals.

How we shape the world in the next 15 years will make the difference between prosperous, optimistic nations, and insecurity and unrest. I am glad to see 24 nations present here to join together in their commitment to end preventable maternal and child death. This is a “Call to Action” to all of us to seize this opportunity and think big.

Today, as we gather here to discuss strategies and as we transit from the Millennium Development Goals toSustainable Development Goals, let us acknowledge the sad reality that the world continues to lose about 289 thousand mothers and 6.3 million under-5 children every year. The 24 priority countries participating in the Summit contribute nearly 70% of the preventable maternal and child deaths. For India, with its birth cohort of 26 million, the challenges are formidable but the commitment to succeed is also as strong. What, however, does offer hope is that most of these deaths can be prevented through simple yet effective and proven interventions. This forms the key peg for this Summit. This also formed a crucial part of the joint statement issued subsequent to the visit of the US President in January this year, where we agreed to further accelerate the joint leadership to end all preventable maternal and child deaths.

Keeping aside the work that still needs to be done, there have been significant achievements on the global front in the area of maternal and child health. Looking at the big picture, we find that in 1990, India’s under-five mortality rate stood at 126 while the global average was 90. In 2013, this figure dropped to 49 against a global average of 46. Therefore, the gap to the global average reduced from 36 points in 1990, to just 3 points in 2013 reflecting that India has achieved under-five mortality rate decline at an accelerated pace compared to global rate of decline. What this translates into is this: India is likely to reach close to achieving the MDG target if the current trend of annual decline is sustained.

In addition to this remarkable achievement, another truly historic accomplishment has been the victory over Polio. India was declared as “Polio-Free” on 27 March 2014. From being a country which accounted for more than half of the global polio cases in 2009, to being declared free of the wild polio virus: the journey reflects India’s deep commitment to child health.

I am also happy to share with you today another major milestone achieved by India. India has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus. The validation for this has happened much before the global target date of December 2015. This gives us the confidence to achieve other targets well before the target date.

To sustain the efforts of being a Polio-free and maternal and neonatal tetanus free nation, and to accelerate the full immunization coverage in the country, my Government has added to the world’s largest immunization drive another mission known as “Mission Indradhanush”. It focusses on vaccinating the left-outs. It also targets to accelerate the current increase in annual rate of immunization from existing 1% to more than 5% per year. This will help us achieve more than 90% coverage by 2020, which otherwise would take more than 25 years at the current pace. The first phase has been successfully implemented. We want to ensure that no child in India dies of a vaccine-preventable disease.

India has always partnered with the global efforts on issues of child and maternal health. India is the first country to respond to the global commitment to reduce newborn mortality, subsequent to the launch of Global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) at the World Health Assembly in June 2014. India launched the India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) in September 2014, targeting reduction in Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) and still births to single digit by 2030. India also responded by acting on the first “Call to Action” through its commitment and launch of RMNCH+A.

These remarkable successes in the field of maternal and child health have been possible through our National Health Mission (NHM). The Mission, with its urban and rural health components – perhaps one of the largest public health programmes in the world – has resulted in improved health outcomes. 52% of India’s under-5 mortality is contributed to by deaths of newborns in the first month of life. Under the NHM, our approach emphasises a continuum of newborn care both at the community and facility level.

Our focus has been to get pregnant women to have safe delivery in our institutions. We launched an ambitious program – Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) – wherein incentives were given for delivering in public institutions to the beneficiaries directly. As a result, today, more than 75% of the deliveries take place in our institutions. This has directly contributed to reduction in maternal mortality. We are fully aware that out-of-pocket expenses remain a key barrier for women to access timely health care and services. To overcome this, we have launched a programme called Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) under which every woman delivering in a public health institution as well as the newborn is entitled to free and cashless health services, with an assured provision of free drugs, diagnostics and diet besides free to and fro transport. This has helped to further improve our institutional deliveries.

Not only are the mothers provided focused health services, but individual beneficiary tracking is being done through the countrywide Maternal and Child Health Tracking System, which ensures close tracking of inputs and outputs at the level of service provision. More than 92 million mothers and 78 million children have already been registered so far in the system.

One of our major concerns is equity. As a step towards ensuring equitable health services across regions that suffer from intra-state disparities, and to bring about sharper improvements in health outcomes, a total of 184 poorest performing districts all over the country have been identified. Special efforts are being made to put in more resources and focussed programmes in these areas.

One of the flagship programmes of my Government is the ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan’ (The Clean India Campaign) . As a part of this large campaign, the Health Ministry has launched the Kayakalp scheme to encourage public health facilities to maintain high standards of hygiene and sanitation, as I firmly believe that clean and hygienic environment is the stepping stone to a healthy nation. To save and educate the girl child we have launched an ambitious program – Beti bachao Beti padhao. We need to ensure that the girl child survives, thrives and plays a very crucial role in society.

I have witnessed people getting poorer because of unfortunate health episodes. We need to institutionalise a system where marginalised communities receive universal health care and financial protection. We must experiment and learn from each other. India stands ready to boost its commitment and partner with other countries and move forward on our promise to end maternal and child deaths and provide a better life to the adolescent. I invite you, to commit to bold measures and hold each other accountable to these promises.

As we assemble here, we need to send a very very strong message not only to ourselves, not only to the 24 countries present here, but to the entire world. The message is of our commitment, that we will ensure that every woman, every child who can be saved will be saved. We also need to make a clarion call to the world to join hands in taking such steps that would ensure this. India stands committed to not only allocate resources towards this in our country, but also to help the world and all those countries which needed any support. It is my personal vision and my Government’s firm commitment.

While every country present here has something to offer, India also has a wealth of experience. India has done well in many ways and would be extremely happy to share its experience with other countries. Last year, I had made a commitment of assisting the SAARC countries in keeping it Polio free. We have also made a commitment to provide Pentavalent vaccines to such SAARC countries as would need it. We will offer whatever experience we have to the world community.

India would be happy to assist any country with technology, system strengthening and programme implementation capsules. We could train personnel and skill them for better management of child sickness in our Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) as well as share our experience at home based new born care. India’s rich experience in Universal immunization and particularly its experience this year with the Mission Indradhanush could be shared with all the countries. We had offered this to SAARC countries earlier. Today I repeat this offer to all countries present here. This will be apart from our offer of support for Polio eradication.

I again warmly welcome you all to this important international Summit. I hope the next two days would provide a new direction to the global community in its journey towards ending maternal and child deaths. 

NITI Aayog launches India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 - An Interactive Energy Platform

NITI Aayog launches India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 - An Interactive Energy Platform

NITI Aayog launched the second version of the India Energy Security Scenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047), an open source web based tool. The tool aims to explore a range of potential future energy scenarios for India, for diverse energy demand and supply sectors leading up to 2047. It explores India’s possible energy scenarios across energy supply sectors such as solar, wind, bio fuels, oil, gas, coal and nuclear and energy demand sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, cooking and lighting appliances. The model allows users to interactively make energy choices, and explore a range of outcomes for the country-from carbon dioxide emissions and import dependence to land use.

The tool was launched by the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya in presence of a select gathering at a function at the Federation House in New Delhi yesterday. In his remarks, the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, Shri Aravind Panagariya said The IESS 2047 calculator has already been playing an instrumental role in shaping India’s energy policy. With the launch of the second version, one can look forward to a more comprehensive policy discourse on India’s future energy planning by policy makers, academicians, private sector and other stakeholders. The Member, NITI Aayog, Dr. Bibek Debroy, lauded the efforts in operationalization of IESS 2047 calculator. He said the interactive tool will offer policy makers to create an energy pathway which is secure and addresses the need of the people and climate. The other Member of NITI Aayog, Dr. VKSaraswat expressed hope that the IESS 2047 calculator will support India’s future energy planning to help the country become self-sufficient in energy. It will support the Government’s vision of achieving power for all and 175 GW of renewables by 2022, rural electrification and reducing import dependency.

The purpose of the IESS tool is to engage various stakeholders in the country’s energy planning and facilitate informed debates at different levels. This tool will enable policy makers and parliamentarians make a more secure and sustainable energy future for India. The tool allows the user develop a secure future pathway and suggest current policy interventions for the same. The tool has been developed in consultation with multiple stakeholders, such as think tanks, industry bodies and research organizations. The UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is the initiative partner with NITI Aayog in this project. More than 20 countries have now developed their own energy/climate calculators, such as China, Bangladesh and South Africa.