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The government is planning to introduce the 'Golden City Club' initiative aimed at recognising cities that consistently excel in various development indicators, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on Friday. Khattar explained that this initiative will create a special category for cities which hold top ranks in government assessments across the country. "This year, we have devised a plan where those cities that come first every time will be grouped into a separate category called the 'Golden City Club,'" the union minister said. He further elaborated that only cities securing top positions in their respective categories would be included in the club. Each year, a new city that bags the top ranks in its vertical will be added to this prestigious club. "Every year, the top-ranking city will join the Golden City Club, and there will be separate competitions for this club," Khattar explained. However, the club will not be permanent for its members. Cities that fail to mainta
Urbanization has led to nearly 60 per cent more night-time warming in over 140 prominent Indian cities compared to non-urban areas surrounding them, a new research from the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar has found. According to the research, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Rajkot had the highest urban effect, while Delhi-NCR and Pune were found to be at the fourth and fifth position, respectively. Urbanisation is known to be responsible for the urban heat island (UHI) effect, in which the concrete and asphalt (used in constructing roads and pavements) surfaces store heat during the day and release it in the evening, thereby raising night-time temperatures. Over time, this heat further affects other aspects of climate, including rainfall and pollution, researchers said in the study published in the journal Nature Cities. The study sought to determine how much urbanisation and local climate change each contributed to raising night-time temperatures over the past two decades ...
Housing sales rose 36 per cent year-on-year to a record 1,20,280 units across seven major cities during the July-September period on robust demand amid stable mortgage rate, according to Anarock. Housing sales stood at 88,230 units in the year-ago period across the seven major cities. Releasing the data, real estate consultant Anarock said average housing prices across the seven cities grew 11 per cent annually in the July-September period this year. Hyderabad saw the highest rise of 18 per cent. Anarock highlighted that quarterly sales in July-September touched an all-time high. In housing data, sales of apartments, villas and independent floors are included while plots are excluded. Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri highlighted that Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune contributed 51 per cent of the total sales. Puri noted that the continued healthy sales momentum is at least partially attributable to the repo rate pause maintained by the Reserve Bank of India in the two recent .
Only 12 per cent of India's 4,041 census cities have air quality monitoring stations with just 200 of them monitoring all six key pollutants, severely limiting the ability to assess and address the extent of pollution across the country, according to a new analysis. Environmental think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which conducted the analysis, said nearly 47 per cent of the country's population remains outside the maximum radius of the air quality monitoring grid. The study showed 62 per cent of the population is outside the coverage radius of the real-time monitoring network. This lack of comprehensive monitoring is concerning as compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and the goals of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) rely on accurate and robust monitoring systems. The NCAP aims for a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024 with on 2017 as the baseline year. Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director of .
Online travel services provider, MakeMyTrip on Wednesday said it plans to grow its franchise base by over 50 per cent this year to expand its reach in smaller cities and towns across India. The company is seeking to tap into the opportunities provided by the government's initiative to increase the number of airports in India by adding 80 airports over the next three years, taking the number to 220 by 2025, MakeMyTrip (MMT) said in a statement. MMT said it started 2023 with 146 active franchisees and the aim is to grow by more than 50 per cent to reach 220 by the end of the calendar year. "The franchise network expansion is part of our broader strategy to serve customers in the top 100 plus cities of India. The franchise network will help serve those customers who may be more comfortable talking to someone they trust," MakeMyTrip Co-Founder and Group CEO Rajesh Magow said. On the opportunities in the country, he said India has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing aviation .
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri released on Wednesday draft guidelines for a new ranking system of cities based on financial performance and beautification. "India has embarked on the most ambitious plan for urban rejuvenation undertaken anywhere in the world. A healthy sense of competition gives the best performing cities a sense of pride," he said at the launch event. City Finance Rankings 2022 aim to evaluate, recognise and reward urban local bodies (ULBs) on the basis of their strength across three financial parameters -- resource mobilisation, expenditure performance and fiscal governance systems. According to Manoj Joshi, Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, it is also an effort to analyse and help the ULBs in identifying areas in their financial performance where they can make further improvements, to be able to deliver quality infrastructure and services, and hence a good quality of life to its citizens. "The city finance ..
Singapore-based Princeton Digital Group (PDG), which recently opened a data centre in Navi Mumbai with an investment of USD 300 million, is exploring opportunities to expand its footprints to other Indian cities. Last week, PDG unveiled a data centre in Navi Mumbai with 48 MW capacity in two buildings spread over a 6-acre. India's current operating capacity of data centres is over 650 megawatt. "India is a key market for us, and with our Navi Mumbai data centre becoming operational, we are exploring to expand to (other) cities, including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. Each of these data centres will be of 48 MW capacity with over USD 300 million investment," PDG Managing Director, India, Vipin Shirsat told PTI, without disclosing the timeline. The company is investing in a renewable energy plant in Maharashtra, which will fulfil 40 per cent power requirements of the data centre with minimal water consumption. "An additional 200 KW of the solar power plant will be .