Latest news with #PlanningCommission
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Buoyed projections?
Listen to article The government's projection of an exalted growth rate of 4.2% for the next fiscal year has made jaws drop. On what premise it is so confident is hard to guess, but the ground realities suggest a dismal picture. The beleaguered dispensation is pinning its hopes on tight monetary control and effective management of the economy – but that is no small task. All the projected targets for the ongoing fiscal year were missed as the economy achieved 2.68% growth as against the projected 3.6%. The agrarian sector merely posted 0.56% growth and the country is now on the verge of importing grains. So are the pathetic statistics with industry and other plum portfolios. The euphoria seems based on the sole achievement that the economy has swelled to $411 billion with a per capita income rise to $1,824. Likewise, the services, transport, storage, construction, information and communication sectors have managed moderate upward trends. All this seems to have encouraged the government to propose new growth targets of 4.4% in commodity-producing sectors; 4.5% in agriculture sector, 3.5% in LSM and 3% in mining. Inflation is being seen at 7.5%. But there is a surprising squeeze too that the government is eyeing: the construction sector which grew by 6.6% this year is targeted at only 3.8%. So is the case with electricity, gas and water supply sectors that are nourished by 29% this year, but are projected to grow by only 3.5% next year. This is untenable and what crosscurrents they will leave behind is another enigma of sorts. On the international front, there is a tight-walking for the government as the IMF is too inquisitive, having almost torpedoed the plans on crypto, and insisting on tax collection to be raised to Rs16 trillion. On the other hand, the Planning Commission says it has only left with Rs880 billion and only high-priority developmental projects will see the light of the day. The rare hope-line is the largesse of the ABD which has doled out $800 million to strengthen fiscal sustainability and improve public financial management programmes.
Axios
5 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Fayetteville OKs 1 student housing project but blocks another
Fayetteville's Planning Commission denied rezoning plans Tuesday for one student-oriented housing project, but approved development plans for another such project, the Fayetteville Flyer reported. The big picture: Enrollment has reached record-high levels at the University of Arkansas, and there aren't enough on-campus beds. About 1,200 students were placed in off-campus housing in the fall through UA contracts with apartment complexes. State of play: The Planning Commission voted 5-2 against rezoning nearly 3 acres between Hill and University avenues, where two apartment complexes and a historic home now sit, the Flyer reported. The properties have about 40 combined units, including the home that is used for short-term rentals. Chicago-based Core Spaces would like to build a student-oriented complex with 313 units and 719 bedrooms on those acres, some of which would be seven stories. Public comment before the meeting included concerns about displacing area residents and a lack of affordable housing, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. "This particular area has been so hit hard by redevelopment. I don't see the rezoning being in the best interest of the city right now," Commissioner Nick Werner said. Yes, but: The commission voted 6-1 in favor of a development plan for a student housing project along Duncan Avenue, just east of the Fayetteville High School football stadium, the Flyer reports. That plan by Austin, Texas-based Endeavor Real Estate Group calls for 294 units and 1,011 bedrooms, with a seven-story parking garage. The City Council approved rezoning for the project in August. Eleven structures with 44 units occupy the property. Commissioner Brad Payne said the plan made sense considering location, design and proximity to public transit, according to the Flyer.
San Francisco Chronicle
27-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
California environmental law nearly killed a childcare facility in our community. Enough is enough
Like many communities, Napa County faces a severe childcare shortage — 1 in 4 childcare facilities closed during the pandemic. That has left parents with only one licensed childcare slot for every four children under age 5 and one licensed infant care slot for every nine infants in our county. For many parents, that's forced some difficult choices. In our role as Napa County supervisors, we recently heard one mother testify that due to unavailable childcare, she routinely had to bring her infant son with her to the vineyard where she works as a manager, though she knew it was unsafe. High-quality, affordable childcare is a top priority for our community. That's why we were encouraged last year when Le Petit Elephant, a locally owned childcare provider, proposed converting an old church into a childcare facility. The expansion would double Le Petit Elephant's capacity to 250 slots — restoring more than half of the slots lost during the pandemic — all while staying within the footprint of an existing building. The Napa City Council and Planning Commission both approved the project, and the county the state provided $2.7 million in combined funds to make it a reality. Then, this hopeful story ran into the harsh reality of California's outdated permitting system. Shortly after the project was approved, a few of its neighbors sued under the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, to stop its construction. Despite broad political support for the project, a few opponents citing traffic concerns derailed it with a yearlong delay and costly litigation. Thankfully, the parties eventually resolved the lawsuit with a settlement. But that delay came with a steep cost. In addition to paying $100,000 in legal fees, Le Petit Elephant's owner, Milli Pintacsi, had to pay $600,000 in fees and interest to replace a pre-approved $6.6 million small business loan, her team told us. She's still trying to replace the loan, and the project can't be built without it. The settlement also requires that the new childcare slots be phased in over three years, meaning dozens of families will have no options for the affordable infant and childcare they need now. This unfortunate outcome leads us to ask: Why does CEQA give a few individuals de facto veto power over a project that a majority of the community wants and needs? It's reasonable to be concerned about traffic and other environmental impacts, and residents should absolutely have a voice — a megaphone, even. But CEQA now goes beyond that: It hands opponents the procedural equivalent of a jackhammer. Is this really the path to better planning? No. And it doesn't have to be this way. Napa's experience underscores why a meaningful update to CEQA is long overdue. And California lawmakers now have a historic opportunity to modernize the law. A new bill authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, SB607, would help prevent costly delays and lawsuits against projects with minimal environmental impacts. Among other benefits, the bill would raise the legal standard for challenging environmental reviews in court, requiring substantial evidence to proceed. To file suit under today's CEQA, opponents of the childcare center expansion didn't need to provide any actual evidence that the project would have a significant environmental impact — it was enough to assert that such impacts could happen. Passing SB607 would require more evidence before a legal challenge can move forward and would make projects like Le Petit Elephant less vulnerable to expensive litigation. This will mean that when projects do face legal challenges, they will be more focused on real environmental impacts, not conjecture. SB607 is the first comprehensive attempt in decades to fix CEQA's structural problems, and it would help communities across the state avoid the problems we've had in Napa. Yes, our region is known for its agricultural protections and environmental stewardship. And we value CEQA's original purpose: to ensure that government understands and mitigates significant environmental impacts of projects. But over the past 50 years, CEQA's scope has been dramatically expanded by the courts. While we fully support scrutiny of serious environmental threats, CEQA is now so broad that anyone can tie up virtually any project in court for years. The law has recently been used to block an expansion of the Alameda Food Bank, a new Planned Parenthood clinic in South San Francisco, and even wind farms and affordable housing. The mere threat of litigation under CEQA is derailing many worthwhile projects — especially those in low-margin sectors like childcare. Fear of an expensive lawsuit plays too big a role in what is and is not possible to build in California. For decades, state lawmakers have tried to fix CEQA through narrow exemptions — for example, to make it easier to build student housing or near bus lanes. While well-intentioned, this piecemeal, Swiss cheese approach is unsustainable. Dozens of narrow exemptions passed over decades have made CEQA so complicated that anyone who wants to build something to make California a better place is practically forced to keep a trial lawyer on retainer. We need comprehensive reform to make the law less subjective and easier to understand and follow. That's the essence of good policymaking. Moreover, CEQA's current application actually undermines the power of local governments to do what's best for residents. Local lawmakers like us are elected to approve good projects and allocate public resources in our community's best interest. When outdated legal processes block well-planned projects that serve real community needs, people rightly lose faith in government's ability to deliver results. SB607 gives state lawmakers the chance to restore that trust by better balancing environmental protection with the practical needs — like housing and childcare — of our communities. We urge them to seize this opportunity.
Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
NITI Aayog's role in fostering spirit of strong states, strong nation
— Akhil Kumar During the 10th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated the goal of Viksit Bharat and urged state governments to focus on sectors like manufacturing and services, tourism, and to find ways to leverage the Free Trade Agreements India is signing with several countries. 'We should focus on one goal — to make Bharat Viksit by 2047. We should have the aim of making each state Viksit, each city Viksit, each Nagar Palika Viksit and each village Viksit. If we work on these lines, we will not have to wait till 2047 to become Viksit Bharat,' the Prime Minister said during the meeting held on May 25 in Delhi. NITI Aayog drives this vision forward by actively supporting states through various initiatives and mechanisms, premised on the belief that strong States make a strong nation. But how does this premier policy think tank of the Government of India advance this vision? In what ways does it foster cooperative and competitive federalism? What are the significant initiatives it has launched since its inception? With the twin mandate of promoting cooperative and competitive federalism, NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) was constituted in January 2015 replacing the 65-year-old Planning Commission as a public policy think tank. Outlining the body's objectives, a press statement issued by the government of India on January 1, 2015, stated, 'An important evolutionary change from the past will be replacing a centre-to-state one-way flow of policy by a genuine and continuing partnership with the states.' The two fundamental pillars of the body are a collaboration between the Central and State governments and promoting healthy competition among States through various sectors such as agriculture, health, education, infrastructure, and irrigation. Unlike the erstwhile Planning Commission, which worked as a centralised body through the five-year plans by pursuing top-down approach in allocating the funds to the States, NITI Aayog was envisaged to adopt a bottom-up model with no financial powers vested upon it. In doing so, it delinked fund allocation from policy planning and redefined the role of the States in the developmental paradigm and policy-making process. In terms of its composition, the Governing Council of NITI Aayog comprises the Prime Minister of India, Chief Ministers of all the States and Union Territories with Legislature, and Lt Governors of other Union Territories. The body also includes a Vice Chairman and other members appointed by the Centre. The Governing Council presents a platform 'to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to accelerate the implementation of the national development agenda'. Building on this structure, NITI Aayog undertakes a wide range of activities. The activities of the think tank can be classified into four broad areas: policy and programme framework, cooperative federalism, monitoring and evaluation, and think tank and knowledge and innovation hub. To promote cooperative federalism, it constitutes various task forces and sub-groups related to various flagship programmes introduced by the Centre. It has adopted a multifaceted governance model by forging partnerships with various stakeholders such as State governments, civil society representatives, the private sector, and technocrats to accelerate India's development journey. The body has introduced several ideas in policy innovation and data. Additionally, NITI Aayog played an important role in tracking India's performance on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by August 2030 as it introduced the SDG index to promote competition among States. The SDG India Index 2023-24 report, released by NITI Aayog, shows India's composite score stood at 71 in 2023-24 compared to 66 in 2020-21. The report underlined significant progress made in eliminating poverty, providing decent work, economic growth, climate action and life on earth. Specifically, India marked improvements in several key SDGs including 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Other significant initiatives by the premier policy think tank included: — Performance in Health Outcomes Index to review health performance. — Composite Water Management Index to address India's growing water crisis. — School Education Quality Index to improve education outcomes. These measures played a key role in getting real time data on various indices, encouraging informed policy-making and fostering competition among various States. In 2018, NITI Aayog also introduced the 'Aspirational Districts Programme' to study the underdevelopment and enhance the performance of human development indicators (such as health, education, agriculture and others) in 112 districts across 26 States and one Union Territory. The basic tenets of this ADP strategy were the three C's which include: collaboration, convergence, and competition. Examples of the success stories from districts include: — Jamui, Bihar: Technological intervention to reduce mortality rate in high risk pregnancies. — Malkangiri, Odisha:-Transformation of the Anganwadi system. — Viziangaram, Andhra Pradesh: Construction of hostels for tribal pregnant women. — Nandurbar, Maharashtra: Centralised kitchens for better nutrition to tackle malnutrition. The best performing districts were also rewarded on the rankings based on incremental progress made across 49 key performance indicators (KPIs) under five socio-economic themes – health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and infrastructure. The best practices pursued in governance in these aspirational districts were emulated in various other districts to alleviate regional disparities and improve the outcomes. Building on the successful implementation of this programme, 'The Aspirational Blocks Programme' was launched in 2023 to develop 500 underdeveloped blocks in India, aiming to improve living standards in remote areas lacking basic amenities. NITI Aayog also seeks to train local officials and create a robust tracking system to ensure centrally sponsored schemes are reached effectively to the intended beneficiaries without any hindrance. Examples of success stories from this programme include: — Mandia, Assam in improving access to clean tap water to households through 'Jal Mitras' — Dumri, Jharkhand for tackling malnutrition in children — Maddikera, Andhra Pradesh for improving education infrastructure In its role as a knowledge and innovation hub, NITI Aayog launched the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in 2016 to nurture the innovation ecosystem across the country. Through this programme, 1.1 crore students were engaged in 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), nearly 32,000 jobs were created through 72 Atal Incubation Centres (AICs), 7,100 ATLs were sanctioned in 110 aspirational districts in India. This programme played a significant role in bringing the best talent among young minds and fostering a culture of creativity, promoting entrepreneurial skills across various educational institutions. Several startups such as Agnikul (space tech) benefitted from the AIM. In November 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the continuation of the AIM programme until March 31, 2028, with an allocated budget of Rs. 2,750 crores. Unlike AIM 1.0, AIM 2.0 will expand the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in 22 recognised languages. The mission also aims to create an innovation ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, North East, Aspirational Districts, and Blocks where 15 per cent of citizens reside. To sum up, as an ideas platform, NITI Aayog fundamentally altered the landscape of planning in India by adopting a facilitating and participatory model, decentralising the development journey, and working closely with the States through new partnerships. The more frequent consultation with the States would help bridge gaps in policy implementation and address future challenges. How does NITI Aayog reflect the principle of 'Strong States, Strong Nation' in its functioning? What are the four broad areas under which NITI Aayog's activities are classified? Name some initiatives or programmes launched by it to improve delivery of centrally sponsored schemes. In what ways does NITI Aayog promote federal cooperation while maintaining competitive development among states? Evaluate the impact of the SDG India Index in encouraging state-level performance on sustainable development. Discuss how NITI Aayog's initiatives like AIM contribute to long-term national innovation capacity. (Dr. Akhil Kumar is a PhD in Political Science from University of Hyderabad.) Share your thoughts and ideas on UPSC Special articles with Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Tasmanian government releases Macquarie Point stadium legislation, as cost rises by $170 million
Draft legislation that would enable a stadium to be built at Macquarie Point in Hobart, has been released for public consultation. The Tasmanian government has also updated the cost estimate for the stadium, saying it was now estimated to be $945 million, up from its previous figure of $775 million. The stadium proposal is being assessed by the Tasmanian Planning Commission as a project of state significance, but the government wants to pull out of that process and instead give the parliament the only say on whether the stadium will be built. A roofed stadium at Macquarie Point is a condition of Tasmania's AFL licence. Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Abetz said the government was confident the legislation "provides the necessary details for the parliament to provide their support". "The government has reviewed and acknowledged the concerns and challenges raised within the draft Integrated Assessment Report by the Tasmanian Planning Commission," Minister Abetz said. "This draft bill and subsequent planning conditions addresses these points and demonstrate the efforts by the government to ensure the legislation is comprehensive. Mr Abetz said the permit included conditions requiring "subject and site-specific expert management plans to be finalised and submitted to the relevant regulator for approval before construction or operations" can start. He said that was standard practice for commercial development approval. The government has also agreed to a request from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) to soundproof the Federation Concert Hall. The TSO asked for $4.45 million. Mr Abetz said the total cost of the stadium was now estimated to be $945 million. He said the figure incorporated "improvements that will enhance the stadium user experience to better cater for a wide range of planned uses, including helping facilitate cricket at the venue".
