HRIDAY Scheme- Statement, Aim, Reflective Factors, Implementation

It stands for National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), a Government of India project. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the HRIDAY initiative in 2015. HRIDAY was created to make the most of the country’s natural living, historic, and cultural treasures. Though the Ministry of Urban Development launched various programmes in 2006 to improve India’s heritage cities, officials implemented most of them without sufficient connection planning. The majority of the historic cities lacked basic utilities. The Indian government designed the HRIDAY plan to achieve integrated, comprehensive, and sustainable development in historic cities to tap into the limitless potential of the tourism and heritage industries. This article discusses the HRIDAY plan’s goals, components, implementation, and repercussions. This would be incredibly helpful to UPSC candidates as they prepare for the upcoming UPSC Prelims and Mains exams.

HRIDAY Scheme

Because the HRIDAY project was a public-sector initiative, the federal government provided the whole money for it. On January 21, 2015, it was officially introduced. From December 2014 until March 2019, the project took four years to complete. Ministry of Urban Development took charge of the project. An estimated cost of Rs 500 Crores is expected to initiate the Project.

The Government created the HRIDAY concept to preserve the historic city’s uniqueness while exploring numerous heritage-related urban development options. In partnership with state governments, steps like planning, development, implementation, and administration of the twelve selected legacy cities were strategized under the idea. The programme was designed to focus not just on cultural site protection and comprehensive development but also on inclusive urban planning and economic growth.

Statement Of HRIDAY Scheme

The scheme statement included in the HRIDAY plan draught was “Encourage an aesthetically beautiful, accessible, informative, and secure environment to preserve and revitalise the historic city’s essence to represent the city’s distinctive identity. To carry out strategic and planned development of historic cities to improve the overall quality of life, with an emphasis on sanitation, security, tourism, heritage revival, and livelihoods while preserving the city’s cultural character “.

Aim Of HRIDAY Scheme

The HRIDAY scheme’s goals are as follows:

• The program’s goal was to design, develop, and implement several heritage-sensitive infrastructure projects.
• The HRIDAY concept intended to protect and revive heritage places so that tourists could engage directly with the city’s unique character.
• To increase tourism facilities by implementing and improving fundamental amenities and services such as public restrooms, toilets, street lights, water taps, and the use of current technology. To build local capacity to create a heritage-based sector that is inclusive. To provide service delivery and infrastructure in the ancient city’s main districts.
• To establish strong relationships between tourist and cultural amenities and the preservation of natural and built heritage.
• To carry out adaptive rehabilitation and upkeep of the city’s legacy and to instil relevant technology for historic building retrofitting.

Cities Under HRIDAY Scheme

Following are the 12 heritage cities that were listed under the HRIDAY scheme for development,

• Ajmer
• Amravati
• Amritsar
• Badami
• Dwarka
• Gaya
•  Kanchipuram
• Mathura
• Puri
• Varanasi
• Velankanni
• Warangal

HRIDAY Scheme Reflective Factors

The HRIDAY initiative concentrated on four primary areas to rejuvenate and reinvigorate the essence of the designated heritage cities.

Infrastructure is divided into four categories: physical infrastructure, economic infrastructure, social infrastructure, and institutional infrastructure. The HRIDAY scheme’s indicative components are as follows:

1. Heritage documentation and mapping, culminating in a heritage management plan. This was accomplished by compiling a list of a city’s tangible and intangible heritage assets and mapping them using a Geographical Information System. Heritage revitalization is tied to the provision of services. This includes the creation of cultural events, fairs, festivals, and museums and the integration of heritage sites with a variety of community and municipal services.
2. Knowledge management and skill development were the third indicator component. This project developed websites, city maps, catalogues, brochures, digital display boards, direction pillars, and other materials. It also included training for local tour guides, artists, and tour operators.

Implementation Of HRIDAY Scheme

The Ministry of Urban Development was in charge of planning, developing, and implementing the HRIDAY programme. The National Project Management Unit was the National Institute of Urban Affairs. For the HRIDAY plan to be implemented, various institutional frameworks were built at the national and city/Urban Local Body levels. The following are their names:

• HRIDAY – National Empowered Committee, abbreviated as HNEC, was created at the national level to give general sanctions, direction, and advice to the scheme. The Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development and the Chief Secretary of the relevant state co-chaired the meeting. The Mission Directorate was given the authority to carry out tasks such as heritage management plans, investment plans, and scheme execution through various NGOs and public works organisations. The National Institute of Urban Affairs, which was supposed to operate as the National Level Project Management Unit, aided him technically.
• At the city/urban local government level:

Advisory and Monitoring Committees at the city level was formed to oversee, assess, and monitor the HRIDAY scheme’s performance at the municipal level. It also suggested making mid-course adjustments to the implementation tools as needed. The Mission Directorate was established even at the local level, and it functioned as a full-fledged project implementation body, acting as an extension of the National Level Mission Directorate.

Impacts Of HRIDAY Scheme

The HRIDAY scheme’s mission term ended on March 31st, 2019. Some of the effects of the HRIDAY plan are listed below.

The plan aided in the creation of connections between key cultural sites and urban infrastructure projects. It also had a significant role in restoring urban infrastructure in regions surrounding the cities’ heritage, religious, cultural, and tourism assets.

In Varanasi, Amaravati, Ajmer, and Amritsar, around 59 roadways leading to heritage sites have been finished. Amritsar, Puri, and Ajmer all have revitalised public parks and gardens.

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