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  • Annual Conclave 2023

Transforming quality of life in India’s cities and towns

This event has concluded. You can access the Roadmap for India's City-Systems Reforms here.
This event has concluded. You can access the Roadmap for India's City-Systems Reforms here.

Introduction

There are over 400 million citizens living in India’s cities. This number is estimated to grow to over 800 million by 2050.

The future of India’s cities depends on our ability to balance growth and development with environmental sustainability and equitable access to opportunities and services, all within a framework of democratic engagement. Fixing India’s city-systems, i.e. the governance machinery that delivers services and infrastructure, is critical to helping our cities achieve this balance.

The Annual Conclave on Shaping India’s Urban Agenda seeks to advance thought leadership on city-systems reforms to build salience for a systems approach to governing India’s cities.

The 7th edition of the Conclave will bring together a select group of senior policymakers from union and state governments, researchers, practitioners, and philanthropists.

  • Agenda 20 November 2024 (Wednesday) | India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

9.45

Welcome and registration

10.00

Context presentation

10.15

Keynote address

BVR Subrahmanyam, IAS (Retd.), Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog

10.50

Panel 1 – Governing India’s Cities: Re-imagining Institutional Design

Panellists:
  1. Anshul Mishra, IAS, Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority
  2. Barjor Mehta, President, CEPT University (Co-chair)
  3. SM Vijayanand, IAS (Retd.), Former Chief Secretary and Chairperson, Sixth State Finance Commission, Government of Kerala (Chair)
  4. Dr Shamika Ravi, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Secretary, Government of India
  5. Prof. Vidyadhar Phatak, Former Dean, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University
Discussants:
  1. Mriganka Saxena, Founding Partner, Habitat Tectonics Architecture and Urbanism (HTAU)
  2. Nithya Ramesh, Director, Jana Urban Space Foundation

12.25

Lunch

13.25

Panel 2 – Participatory Governance: Imperative for Local Action on Environment and Equity

Panellists:
  1. Abdul Wajid, President, District Congress Committee (Bengaluru North); Former Councillor and Leader of Opposition, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)
  2. Jasmine Shah, Former Vice-Chairperson, Dialogue and Development Commission, Delhi Government
  3. Dr R Balasubramaniam, Member, Capacity Building Commission, Government of India and Founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (Chair)
  4. Neha Awasthi, Chairperson, Sitapur Nagar Palika Parishad, Uttar Pradesh
  5. Sowmya Reddy, General Secretary, All India Mahila Congress and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and former Member of the Legislative Assembly
Discussants:
  1. Anirban Ghose, Co-lead, Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF)
  2. Mamata Rani Adhikari, President, Sandhapur Slum Dwellers Association (SDA), Jatni Municipality, Odisha
  3. Pallavi Sarma Talukdar, Secretary, Alodan Area Level Federation (ALF), Guwahati
  4. S Vishwanath, Founder, Rainwater Club; Director, Biome Environmental Solutions; and Trustee, Biome Environmental Trust

15.15

Special Address

Suman Bery, Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog

15.30

Panel 3 – Building State Capacities: A Framework at the Intersection of People, Process, and Finance

Panellists:
  1. Dr Joy Elamon, Former Director General, Member, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority; Former Director General, Kerala Institute of Local Administration
  2. Kavitha Padmanabhan, IAS, Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of Assam
  3. Dr Santhosh Mathew, IAS (Retd.), Country Lead – Public Policy and Finance, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Chair)
  4. Usha Padhee, IAS, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha
Discussants:
  1. Dr Ajay Shah, Co-founder and Senior Fellow, XKDR Forum
  2. Gaurav Goel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Samagra
  3. Dr Karan Nagpal, India Regional Director, IDInsight
  4. Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Ashoka University
  5. Dr Vijay Pingale, IAS (Retd.), Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS Foundation)

17.10

High tea

About Janaagraha

Janaagraha is a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit institution working to transform the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. We define quality of life as comprising of quality of infrastructure and services, and quality of citizenship. To achieve its mission, Janaagraha works with councillors and citizens to catalyse active citizenship in city neighbourhoods, and with governments to institute reforms to city-systems.

Janaagraha has worked extensively on urban policy and governance reforms for over two decades including on JnNURM, and with XIII, XIV and XV Finance Commissions, Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, NITI Aayog/ Planning Commission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and state governments of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Assam.


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