JNNURM refers to Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission which was established in lieu of the increasing urban population and the need for infrastructure required by them including the basic services to the urban poor .
The Mission statement is "The aim is to encourage reforms and fast track planned development of identified cities. Focus is to be on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and accountability of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) / Parastatal agencies towards citizens".The duration of the Mission would be seven years beginning from the year 2005-06. Evaluation of implementation of the Mission would be undertaken before the commencement of Eleventh Five Year Plan and if necessary, the program can be calibrated suitably.
Financial Assistance: Under JNNURM financial assistance will be available to the ULBs and parastatal agencies which could deploy these funds for implementing the projects themselves or through the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that may be expected to be set up.
Areas of Assistance: Assistance for Capacity Building, City Development Plan (CDP), Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), Community Participation, Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Investment Support on a project-specific basis for eligible sectors and projects, Ensuring Bankability of Projects etc. The Details are in the toolkit.
Eligible Cities: At present 63 cities have been identified under the Mission. The cities have been selected under following criteria:
A Cities/ UAs with 4 million plus population as per 2001 census (7 Cities)
B Cities/ UAs with 1 million plus but less than 4 million population as per 2001 census (28 Cities)
C Selected Cities/ UAs (State Capitals and other cities/ UA of religious/ historic and tourist importance) (28 Cities)
JNNURM is the single largest urban initiative taken by Govt. of India and it is believed that by the end of 7th year there will be a big boost in the urban renewal and it was the endeavor of the Govt. of India to give “big push” in terms of both financial and physical achievements. Last but not the least these 63 cities selected under JNNURM is on the basis of Census 2001 figures and comprise 70% of the urban population of the country.
