The 13th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference is being organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 9th November 2020. The main theme of this year’s event is “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility” with focus on innovative measures taken at national and international level to address the challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic to provide accessible and convenient transport to the people.

About UMI Conference

The annual Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo is a flagship event held under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. The event is inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs. The genesis of UMI is from the National Urban Transport Policy of the Government of India, 2006 (NUTP), which lays a very strong emphasis on building capabilities at the State and city level to address the problems associated with urban transport and undertake the task of developing sustainable urban transport systems. The event essentially has four components as below:

    1. Conference

    2. Exhibition

    3. Research Symposium

    4. Awards for Excellence in Urban Transport

Objective

The primary objective of the conference is

    • To disseminate information to the cities, whose officials attend the conference, and to help them keep up-to-date with best urban transport practices.

    • The conference provides an opportunity for key decision makers and delegates to interact with other professionals, experts, academia, industry, civil society, technology, services providers and other stake holders in Urban Transport both domestic and international so that the delegates can carry home ideas to develop their urban transport along a sustainable path.

    • It is also a forum to discuss key issues relevant to the sector and suggest measures to address them.

Background

Urbanization in India is a reality of the 21st century, which has culminated in the development of India as one of the fastest growing major economy in the world. The transport sector is an important component of the urban economy. However, with rapidly increasing mobility, needs and availability of technology, there is expected shift from vehicle ownership to vehicle sharing and public transport, with higher emphasis on multimodal seamless connectivity and clean mobility. These emerging trends are likely to bring a paradigm shift in the expectations of the commuters and our cities need to adapt to the rapidly changing mobility needs.

To address these issues, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India issued the National Urban Transport Policy, 2006 (NUTP). The objective of the policy is to ensure safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable access for the growing number of city residents to jobs, education, recreation and such other needs within our cities. As part of the NUTP enunciations, the Ministry has taken the initiative to organize an annual international Conference-cum-Exhibition on Urban Mobility India popularly known as UMI.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)