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The government on Tuesday proposed a <keyword id="20789519" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="transit-oriented-development" source="keywords">transit-oriented development</keyword> plan for 14 large cities with a population of over 30 lakh in its budget for 2024-25 and said it will formulate a framework for the creative redevelopment of cities. Presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister <keyword id="19916618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nirmala-sitharaman" source="keywords">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> underscored that the Union government will work with states to facilitate the development of cities as "growth hubs". "This will be achieved through economic and transit planning, and orderly development of peri-urban areas utilising <keyword id="22517779" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="town-planning-schemes" source="keywords">town planning schemes</keyword>", the minister said. "Transit-oriented development plans for 14 large cities with a population above 30 lakh will be formulated, along with an implementation and financing strategy," Sitharaman said in her budget speech. The minister also announced Central assistance of Rs 2.2 lakh crore for <keyword id="20957520" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="urban-housing" source="keywords">urban housing</keyword> over the next five years as well as an <keyword id="22517780" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="interest-subsidy-scheme" source="keywords">interest subsidy scheme</keyword> to facilitate loans at affordable rates for urban housing works. She said the Central government will put in place measures for an efficient and transparent <keyword id="20071228" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rental-housing" source="keywords">rental housing</keyword> market with enhanced availability. The minister proposed a scheme to support the development of 100 weekly haats or street food hubs in select cities. Sitharaman added that rental housing with dormitory type accommodation for industrial workers will be facilitated in PPP (public-private partnership) mode with VGF (viability gap funding) support and commitment from anchor industries." Enabling policies and regulations for efficient and transparent rental housing markets with enhanced availability will also be put in place, she said. About <keyword id="19939560" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="water-supply" source="keywords">water supply</keyword> and <keyword id="20082835" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sanitation" source="keywords">sanitation</keyword>, the minister announced that the Centre in partnership with state governments and multilateral development banks will promote water supply, sewage treatment and <keyword id="19973309" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="solid-waste-management" source="keywords">solid waste management</keyword> projects and services for 100 large cities through bankable projects. According to her, these projects will also envisage use of treated water for irrigation and filling up of tanks in nearby areas. The minister stressed that the Central government will encourage states, which continue to charge high stamp duty, to moderate the rates for all, and also consider further lowering duties for properties purchased by women. This reform will be made an essential component of urban development schemes, she added.

Budget 2024-25: Govt announces transit-oriented development plan for large cities

As Mumbai, India's financial capital, witnessed vertical growth over the years with highrises dotting its skyline, some 'gaothans' (villages) have held onto their heritage and legacy. Ranwar, in the heart of Bandra, is one such village that has resisted the urge to make way for towering structures. Dwarfed by highrises, the East Indian-majority village has narrow streets lined with old quaint bungalows and crosses outside homes. With jazz music streaming in the air, walking around the area can transport you to a simpler time. While Bandra developed rapidly and became home to Bollywood's elite and a burgeoning street shopping hub, residents of Ranwar maintained their old bungalows. The coexistence, however, has come at a price, causing traffic issues and crowding. And now, plans are afoot to give the 300-year-old village a facelift while preserving the past. Talking to PTI, <keyword id="23283968" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Johan-Dharmai" source="Orion">Johan Dharmai</keyword>, BJP secretary and a member of the East Indian community, said, "Locals want to preserve the heritage. One of the steps in the facelift plan is to close vehicle movement and build a walkway so that tourists can take a stroll and enjoy the architecture." Though many houses in Ranwar are now being redeveloped, Veronica Street has maintained its old-world charm. It has a square erected in 1866. However, honking rents the air on this street, as motorists see it as a shortcut to Bandra Reclamation and other areas. Mehboob Studio is just a stone's throw away, and senior citizens living on Veronica Street recall seeing actors Helen and Zeenat Aman around Ranwar. A beautification, restoration and conservation project is being initiated to improve safety, regulate traffic and create awareness about the centuries-old village. Mumbai BJP president and <keyword id="20238930" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bandra-West" source="keywords">Bandra West</keyword> MLA Ashish Shelar recently met locals to discuss ways to move the project forward. "The beauty of Bandra West is its 'gaothans'. The heritage needs to be protected and showcased. I have asked the government to allocate funds from the District Planning Development Committee (DPDC). <keyword id="23283965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ranwar-Village" source="keywords">Ranwar village</keyword> will get a facelift. The work has begun on roads, CCTV cameras, street light illumination, parking and traffic plan will be in place with the help of locals and architects," Shelar told PTI. <keyword id="23283967" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Architect-Samir-DMonte" source="keywords">Architect Samir D'Monte</keyword> has been working with the Ranwar Veronica Street Residents' Association since 2009, and they identified a range of problems that the area faced. D'Monte said improvements were made to open spaces and common areas, roads, sewage and drainage systems, street signage, street lighting and traffic and parking management. Apart from this, individual houses were restored, and an innovative fire system was also introduced. Locals say most residents are senior citizens and want to live peacefully without disturbances by motorists. Kaevan Umrigar of Khaki Tours, who works to create awareness about Mumbai's heritage, said Bandra comprised 23 gaothans that housed fisher folk, Kunbis (a farming community) and the agris community who had salt pans. "Ranwar was a farming village, and the area had paddy fields. Later, these paddy fields made way for urban settlements. These little villages are now trapped in the city. Now, only 10 to 15 gaothans in Bandra have survived," he said. But preserving heritage comes at a cost, and if a 'gaothan' comes under heritage guidelines, it becomes difficult to upgrade a home in the area or live a modern life, Umigar said, adding that heritage should be made attractive by tapping the tourism potential of these areas. 'Gaothans' in Mumbai and the larger Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) are urban villages that house the city's original inhabitants. The Mumbai suburban district collector and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been roped in for Ranwar's facelift plan. Umigar calls land scarcity a threat to 'gaothans', with only 100 left in the city. "When someone wants to develop gaothans, they want to do it vertically. There is a constant battle between heritage and development. They (villages) survive because the houses are tightly packed and on narrow lanes. So individual houses are not attractive for redevelopment, and parking becomes an issue," he said.

300-year-old Bandra village to get facelift to conserve its glorious past

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Many NATO armies may not be prepared for large-scale urban warfare.</li><li>Israel's operation in Gaza is a test-case for what they may need.</li></ul>Urban warfare in Gaza has revealed a painful truth for NATO: Many of its armies are ill-prepared for fighting in crowded cities.The Israel Defense Forces has achieved some success in adapting new weapons and tactics, such as arming tactical units with missiles and drones rather than relying support from aircraft and artillery, according to a new British study. The problem is that the British Army lacks the equipment to replicate Israeli tactics."While British troops may be trained to fight like the IDF, they find themselves equipped to die like Hamas," warned the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/occasional-papers/tactical-lessons-israel-defense-forces-operations-gaza-2023">report</a> by the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-army-size-smallest-since-napoleonic-wars-2024-7">British Army</a> is understrength, underequipped and underfunded. But so are many European armies that dwindled after the end of the Cold War. Even some American experts worry about the city-fighting capabilities of the <a target="_blank" href="https://warontherocks.com/2023/12/learning-from-real-wars-gaza-and-ukraine/">US Army</a>, which is far more lavishly equipped and supplied than its NATO counterparts. There is good reason for concern: urban warfare has become a fixture of warfare on a rapidly urbanizing planet, from <a target="_blank" href="https://mwi.westpoint.edu/urban-warfare-case-study-6-first-battle-of-fallujah/">Fallujah</a> in 2003 to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bakhmut-how-ukraine-lost-city-russia-won-hollow-victory-2023-12">Bakhmut</a> in 2023.So it's natural for NATO armies to study how the IDF — a NATO-style mechanized force with a reputation for innovative tactics and high-tech equipment — is battling Hamas among the labyrinthine streets and high-rises of Gaza. Like Western militaries, the last place the IDF wants to fight is in a city, where buildings and rubble shelter the defender, impede armored vehicles and hamper airpower and artillery. Gaza poses an added challenge: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-invasion-gaza-hamas-hardest-fighting-underground-tunnels-warfare-2023-10">a vast tunnel network</a> that Hamas uses for storing weapons and springing hit-and-run attacks.Indeed, Israel even coined a term for this form of combat: "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-troops-struggled-to-fight-through-gaza-sections-reduced-rubble-2024-7">Devastated terrain warfare</a>." Israel's aerial barrage reduced many neighborhoods to rubble before ground forces moved in and is the leading cause of the 39,000 reported Palestinian fatalities. It is a challenging environment for Israel in particular, a small nation of 10 million people that is sensitive to casualties among its soldiers, the majority of whom are reservists.<div type="image" title="Israeli troops and their vehicles have faced challenges operating in sections of Gaza that the Israeli Air Force shattered." height="1342" width="2000" msid="112424687" hostid="261" sizebytes="269204"></div>One tactic that proved effective was to give the lower echelon units — such as platoons — small attack <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/armies-need-their-own-drone-air-force-flown-by-specialists-study-says-2024-5">drones</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-tank-missiles-armor-ukraine-tank-still-has-battlefield-role-2023-10">anti-tank missiles</a>. "It was discovered that units that had these systems as well as ATGMs [anti-tank guided missiles] could monitor more urban terrain and conduct precision strikes at tempo in support of tactical actions," RUSI said. "The small size of the munitions used meant that they could be used with an expectation of precision."With Hamas hiding in and raiding from an estimated 450 miles of concrete tunnels, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-uses-yahalom-unit-when-it-needs-to-fight-underground-2023-11">the IDF</a> also found that it couldn't clear buildings first and then destroy the tunnels underneath. "As the operation developed, it became evident that this allowed Hamas to persist in conducting ambushes for a protracted period and to then transition to a layered defense of underground facilities," noted RUSI analysts Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds, who co-authored the report. "Nor could underground infrastructure be safely bypassed." This meant that Israeli troops had to clear the surface and tunnels simultaneously.Surprisingly, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-pounding-gaza-massive-spice-kit-bombs-2023-12">the high-rise buildings</a> of Gaza proved less beneficial to Hamas than anticipated. Fighters stationed in the upper stories had limited visibility and fields of fire, so the tendency was to stick to the first few levels. But tall buildings did help the defender in another way: destroying them with air strikes led to extensive rubble that hampered the attacker's tanks and infantry.The biggest lesson of Gaza is the importance of firepower in urban warfare, according to RUSI. This makes arming tactical units, such as infantry platoons, with as much firepower as possible. Unlike mechanized operations, where low-level infantry and armored units might get air and artillery support from higher headquarters, city fighting tends to be waged by small units.Firepower played a decisive role "in determining initiative during the fighting in Gaza," RUSI said. "Ultimately, the superiority in responsiveness and organic lethality of IDF units made it costly for Hamas to mount attacks, and the larger the force it endeavored to bring to bear, the higher the cost of any given action. Furthermore, while indirect fire prevented Hamas from concentrating its forces, the limited organic lethality of its teams meant that once they engaged IDF troops, they were quickly suppressed and thereafter destroyed."Another lesson is the importance of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-israel-defense-systems-weapons-in-action-2024-4">air defense</a>. "Buildings do not offer significant protection against air-delivered munitions because of the weight of ordnance that can be dropped with precision," the report pointed out.Airpower also hampers maneuver, a major handicap for armies that usually lack the strength to occupy an entire city, and thus have to redeploy troops to key sectors. "Hamas's lack of ability to threaten Israeli aircraft and ISR [aerial reconnaissance] meant that it was unable to concentrate and lacked freedom of maneuver," said RUSI. "Once its defensive strong points were identified, they could be reduced. The weight of munitions deliverable from the air outweighs anything deliverable from artillery systems, such that many of the defensive advantages of urban terrain can be bypassed if it is possible to conduct precision bombing from medium altitude."In other words, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-israel-trying-to-achieve-in-gaza-bombing-2023-12">aerial bombing</a> from this altitude is accurate and high volume enough to destroy most urban strongholds or render them useless.This phenomenon has been seen in Ukraine, said Watling and Reynolds, who have extensively studied that conflict. "Whenever the Russian air force has established access at medium altitude near an urban settlement, it has rapidly destroyed it, enabling subsequent capture."However, the lessons of Israeli operations are not always applicable to other conflicts. For example, unlike Russia, Hamas has no artillery, nor electronic warfare to jam Israeli drones and communications, RUSI said. Hamas also only had 40,000 fighters at the war's start, many of whom are now casualties.Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.twitter.com/@mipeck1">Twitter</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mipeck/">LinkedIn</a>.

Israel's urban warfare tactics in Gaza offer lessons for NATO armies

The <keyword id="50190" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="asian-development-bank" source="Orion">Asian Development Bank</keyword> (ADB) has approved a USD 400 million loan to support the Indian government's <keyword id="706405" type="General" weightage="40" keywordseo="urban-reform" source="Orion">urban reform</keyword> agenda for creating high-quality <keyword id="557969" type="General" weightage="70" keywordseo="urban-infrastructure" source="Orion">urban infrastructure</keyword> and efficient governance systems. The programme also envisages integrated urban planning reforms to control urban sprawls and foster systemic and planned urbanisation through enhancing the entire ecosystem of legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms along with capacity building of ULBs and community awareness, ADB said. "The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 400 million policy-based loan to India for Sub-programme 2 of the <keyword id="8174895" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sustainable-Urban-Development" source="Orion">Sustainable Urban Development</keyword> and Service Delivery Programme. "The programme aims to support the government's urban reform agenda for improving the quality of urban life through the creation of high-quality urban infrastructure, assured public services, and efficient governance systems," ADB said. While Subprogramme 1, approved in 2021, established national-level policies and guidelines to improve urban services, Subprogramme 2 is supporting investment planning and reform actions at the state and urban local body (ULB) levels. "India has recognised the potential for cities to be centres of economic growth and has emphasised the need to make cities livable through inclusive, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure, which is also in line with ADB Strategy 2030," ADB Principal Urban Development Specialist <keyword id="86074" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Joshi" source="Orion">Sanjay Joshi</keyword> said.

ADB approves $400 mn loan to support govt's urban reform agenda

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NYC is far behind on requirements to build bike and bus lanes, among other non-car infrastructure.</li><li>This comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul suspended a new toll on vehicles in Manhattan below 60th Street.</li></ul>As urban dwellers around the world turn to two wheels to get around their cities, some governments are handling the shift better than others. The number of <keyword id="22853778" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bicycle-trips" source="keywords">bicycle trips</keyword> in Paris <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2023/11/11/a-paris-la-frequentation-des-pistes-cyclables-a-double-en-un-an_6199510_4355770.html">doubled</a> between 2022 and 2023, thanks to a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-22/how-paris-will-become-100-cyclable">massive expansion</a> of the French capital's bike lane network. Tourists in town for the Olympics <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://slate.com/culture/2024/08/olympics-paris-games-bike-infrastructure-cycling-streets-safety-transportation.html?via=rss">are encouraged to cycle</a> to the Games. <keyword id="19901403" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="New-York-City" source="keywords">New York City</keyword> has also seen <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://momentummag.com/new-york-city-leads-the-way-as-new-report-shows-surge-in-cycling-across-the-u-s/">a surge in bicycling</a> since the pandemic caused many to avoid mass transit and ride shares. The success of the Citibike bike share program is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.curbed.com/2023/05/citi-bike-nyc-ridership-10-years.html">a huge part of that change</a>. But anyone who hops on two wheels in New York is facing more dangerous and congested roads than in other leading global cities. The city Department of Transportation — which controls the streets, but not trains and buses — is behind on its longer-term plan to boost pedestrian and bike infrastructure. The city's five-year NYC Streets Plan, which became law in 2019, requires the city to build 250 miles of <keyword id="22853779" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="protected-bike-lanes" source="keywords">protected bike lanes</keyword> by 2026, among other safe streets priorities. So far this year, the city has completed just 2.3 miles of protected lanes, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://projects.transalt.org/bikelanes">according to the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives</a>. Last year, it built 38.6 miles of 50 required miles of protected <keyword id="22853777" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bike-lanes" source="keywords">bike lanes</keyword> and in 2022 it built 19.9 miles of the 30 miles it was required to build. At this time last year, it had built <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CvH-_LFOkMP/?igsh=MWc3b244NDJxejk5MA%3D%3D">9.7 miles of lanes</a>. The city DOT told Business Insider that most bike lane construction happens in the second half of the year because of weather issues, and it disputed the 2.3-mile figure. But the department didn't provide an estimated number of bike lane miles it expects to complete this year. DOT noted that it built more protected lanes last year "than every major American city combined." Adams isn't just required by law to build bike lanes. He <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.amny.com/news/eric-adams-seeks-the-cycling-vote-with-a-promise-for-300-miles-of-bike-lanes/">campaigned for mayor on a promise</a> to build 300 miles of protected lanes in his first four-year term. And the funding for the Streets Plan — more than $900 million — has already been allocated to DOT. The Adams administration has also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc-streets-plan-update-2024.pdf">fallen behind</a> on other priorities in the Streets Plan, including building dedicated bus lanes and upgrading bus stops. Advocates say the slow pace of progress comes down to politics. "The money is there, the law is there, but the mayor doesn't seem to be there," said Elizabeth Adams, interim director of Transportation Alternatives. "And that's really what's holding this up." The city has made progress in some areas. A DOT spokesperson noted to Business Insider that the city has built "over a million square feet of pedestrian space over two years, exceeding the target in the Streets Plan." New York's plan to impose a new toll — known as congestion pricing — on vehicles that drive in Manhattan's central business district would have been a boon for more sustainable modes of transport. Fewer cars and trucks on the street means more space for bikers and pedestrians. Since London implemented congestion pricing 20 years ago, daily car trips have fallen while <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-23/london-bike-boom-risks-becoming-a-victim-of-its-own-success">bicycling trips have quadrupled</a>. But since New York Gov. Kathy Hochul abruptly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/nyregion/congestion-pricing-pause-hochul.html">suspended</a> the congestion pricing plan she had <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYQSH5E5p5Y">long celebrated</a>, a less congested future — not to mention at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/nyregion/subway-mta-finances-congestion-pricing.html">$15 billion</a> for the city's subways and buses — is on hold. In May, weeks before the city was set to implement congestion pricing, the DOT unveiled <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2024/connect-core-access-business-district.shtml#:~:text=A%20report%20detailing%20this%20work,%2C%20safer%2C%20and%20more%20convenient.">a plan</a> to improve pedestrian and bike infrastructure to give New Yorkers better access to Manhattan below 60th street. The city insists it's moving forward with its plans despite the governor's about-face, and Adams said <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/06/11/mayor-adams-congestion-pricing-hochul">he supported</a> Hochul's reversal on congestion pricing. "We are continuing to develop these projects regardless of the pause. Many are either in construction, or will start construction soon," a spokesperson for DOT told Business Insider in a statement. Advocates for mass transit and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure say the safety and environmental impact of traffic is a crisis. New York was the most congested city in the world for the second year in a row, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://inrix.com/scorecard/">one major study</a>. Congestion and crowding in the city "is very much at a breaking point," said Adams, of Transportation Alternatives. "We should be doing everything we can to make it easier to get around outside of a car," she added. <h2>Traffic deaths overtake gun deaths in NYC</h2>These days, biking doesn't feel like a viable option for many New Yorkers worried about safety. The city streets were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/cars-and-robert-moses-transform-nyc-video/new-york-documentary-film/">designed to maximize vehicle speed</a> rather than to get as many New Yorkers around as efficiently and safely as possible. Bikers have to contend with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://transalt.org/press-releases/new-data-shines-light-on-the-growing-dangers-and-growing-ownership-of-suvs-in-new-york-city#:~:text=In%202016%2C%20SUVs%20were%20slightly,consequences%20for%20vulnerable%20road%20users.">larger cars</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-06/welcome-to-the-age-of-extreme-acceleration?srnd=citylab">more speeding</a>, a surge in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/04/25/dot-will-spend-11m-to-boost-off-hour-deliveries">delivery trucks</a>, and a rash of speeding <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/nyregion/street-wars-e-bikes.html">mopeds and e-bikes</a>. While New York City streets have generally gotten safer since the city adopted its 'Vision Zero' plan in 2014 to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in 2014, progress hasn't been consistent. Pedestrian deaths are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/nyregion/traffic-deaths-vision-zero.html" target="_blank">way up so far in 2024</a>. This year, New Yorkers were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://gothamist.com/news/cars-prove-far-deadlier-than-guns-in-nyc-so-far-this-year">more likely to be killed in a traffic crash</a> than by gun violence. While pedestrian deaths fell <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-03-11/new-york-city-s-decade-long-battle-for-pedestrian-safety">last year</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/nyregion/nyc-cyclist-deaths-ebike.html">more bicyclists died</a> on New York City's streets in 2023 than in any year since 1999, although a DOT spokesperson noted that cyclist deaths are "down nearly 37% so far this year." Cities like Paris, London, Tokyo, and Bogotá have proven how essential — and beneficial — pedestrian and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wired.com/story/most-bike-friendly-cities-2019-copenhagenize-design-index/">multi-modal infrastructure</a> is to a healthy city. Better bike and pedestrian infrastructure doesn't just mean safer streets and cleaner air — they're also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bike-lanes-good-for-business-studies-better-streets-2024-3">good for business</a>. Advocates say New Yorkers should follow their lead. "What New York City can learn is that when you commit to comprehensive bike infrastructure, it works," Elizabeth Adams said. "People are happier and it boosts the economy, and the streets are safer, and the air is cleaner, and people shift modes very quickly." Note: Correction: August 14, 2024 — This article has been updated to clarify that pedestrian deaths are higher this year, rather than traffic deaths, and added additional context around the city's building of pedestrian infrastructure and recent cyclist death counts.

Urban biking is booming around the world, but New York City is falling behind

Finance Minister <keyword id="19916618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman" source="keywords">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> on Tuesday announced <keyword id="20404375" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="income-tax-relief" source="keywords">income tax relief</keyword> for the <keyword id="20071167" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="middle-class" source="keywords">middle class</keyword>, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for <keyword id="22517841" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="job-creation-schemes" source="keywords">job creation schemes</keyword> over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled <keyword id="20509939" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi-3-0" source="keywords">Modi 3.0</keyword> government's first budget after the general elections. With rural distress and unemployment being blamed for BJP losing its majority, Sitharaman in her seventh straight budget provided Rs 2.66 lakh crore for <keyword id="20027688" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rural-development" source="keywords">rural development</keyword> and maintained spending on long-term infrastructure projects at Rs 11.11 lakh crore to boost <keyword id="19900794" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="economic-growth" source="keywords">economic growth</keyword>. She abolished 'angel tax' for all classes of investors in startups, cut customs duty on mobile phones and gold and simplified capital gains tax. She, however, raised the securities transaction tax (STT) on futures and options of securities, which led to tanking of stock markets. "India's economic growth continues to be the shining exception (in a world that is gripped by policy uncertainties) and will remain so in the years ahead," she said. "In this budget, we particularly focus on <keyword id="19898684" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="employment" source="keywords">employment</keyword>, <keyword id="20374219" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="skilling" source="keywords">skilling</keyword>, MSMEs, and the middle class." Besides Rs 2 lakh crore provided over a five year period for schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth, "I have made a provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education, employment and skilling," she said. For Bihar, where assembly elections are due next year, the finance minister announced spending of Rs 60,000 crore on infrastructure projects like expressways, power plant, heritage corridors and new airports. The support to Bihar, whose ruling party and BJP's partner JD-U has been demanding an economic package and special category status for the state, is in the form of capital projects but not subsidy or cash dole. Similarly, for Andhra Pradesh, whose ruling TDP recently joined BJP-led NDA, she allocated Rs 15,000 crore in financial aid through multilateral agencies. A similar request for support to Bihar will be expedited, she said. For the middle class, she raised standard deduction -- a flat deduction from total salary earned by an employee in a year before calculating applicable income tax rate -- by 50 per cent to Rs 75,000 and tweaked tax slabs for taxpayers opting for the new income tax regime. This will lead to taxpayers under the new tax regime -- which offers lower rates of taxes but permits limited deductions and exemptions -- saving up to Rs 17,500 in tax annually, she said. To spur employment, the Budget provided for incentives for companies, including paying for one-month salary for first-time employees, incentive at specified sale to both employee and empower with respect to their retirement fund contribution in the first four years of employment and reimbursing employers up to Rs 3,000 per month for 2 years towards EPFO contribution of each additional employee. Also, a programme to improve skills as well internship for students and subsidised loans for higher education will be provided, she said. India's official unemployment rate in urban areas is pegged at 6.7 per cent but private agencies put it at much higher levels. Buoyed by robust tax collections and a higher-than-expected dividend receipt from the Reserve Bank, Sitharaman said the government's fiscal deficit -- the difference between the total revenue earned and total expenditure -- will be trimmed to 4.9 per cent of the GDP in 2024-25, below the 5.1 per cent figure estimated in the interim budget she presented in February. She reduced gross market borrowing marginally to Rs 14.01 lakh crore. The Budget for 2024-25 fiscal (April 2024 to March 2025) allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors, aid for building 3 crore affordable housing units in urban and rural areas, provided credit support to small and medium businesses, raised small loans to Rs 20 lakh for small business, proposed setting up 12 industrial parks, and provided for setting up a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for space sector.

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