Chairperson: Prime Minister

Vice Chairperson: Appointed (if needed) with rank of Cabinet Minister

Members: Up to 9 members, including experts from various disaster-related fields.

Prefabrication offers speed, cost-effectiveness, and better quality for mass housing due to its efficiency in factory settings, reduced on-site labour, and standardized construction. This method involves manufacturing building components in a factory and assembling them on-site. This allows for streamlined production, reduced waste, and consistent quality control.

The theory of urban planning where planners represent the interests of various groups in society, often overlooked like low-income and minority groups, is called Advocacy Planning Model. Advocacy planning emphasizes actively advocating for the needs of these underrepresented communities by actively engaging with them and ensuring their voices are heard in the planning process, leading to a more equitable distribution of power and benefits within development projects.

PMAY-U is a flagship mission of the Indian government, implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, launched on June 25, 2015, to address the urban housing shortage by providing pucca houses to eligible urban households. It specifically targets the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG), and Middle Income Group (MIG) categories, including slum dwellers.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, later amended in 1961, was the primary legal framework in India used by the government to acquire land for public purposes, such as:

• Infrastructure development (roads, railways, schools, hospitals)
• Urban expansion and development projects
• Planned growth of cities and towns

This law provided the legal mechanism for compulsory acquisition of land from private owners with compensation.

The Bombay Town Planning Act of 1915 was indeed the first town planning legislation enacted in India. This act empowered the Bombay Municipal Corporation to create town-planning schemes for urban development and redevelopment.

The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is a key segment of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the following mandates:

• Providing Earth Observation (EO) data from satellites and aerial platforms.
• Developing technologies for natural resource management, agriculture, forestry, water, environment, etc.
• Supporting disaster monitoring and management using satellite imagery.

Conducting capacity building and training for effective utilization of EO data.

A Brownfield site refers to land that has been previously used, often for industrial or commercial purposes, and is now abandoned or underutilized, potentially contaminated or damaged, and requires remediation before redevelopment.

Composting is a biological process that decomposes organic materials, like food scraps and yard waste, into a nutrient-rich soil amendment called compost. It's a key component of solid waste management, helping to reduce landfill waste, recycle valuable resources, and improve soil health.

Biomethanation, also known as anaerobic digestion, is a process that converts organic waste into biogas, a renewable energy source, through the action of microorganisms in the absence of oxygen. In the context of Solid Waste Management (SWM), biomethanation offers a sustainable solution for treating biodegradable waste, reducing landfill burden, and generating energy.

Incineration in Solid Waste Management (SWM) is the process of burning solid waste to reduce its volume and potentially recover energy. It's a thermal treatment method used to dispose of various types of waste, including municipal solid waste (MSW), hazardous waste, and medical waste. While it offers benefits like volume reduction and potential energy recovery, it also presents challenges like ash disposal and potential air emissions.

Sustainable urban transport prioritizes the efficient movement of people and goods while minimizing negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Key attributes include promoting accessibility, affordability, and safety, while reducing pollution, congestion, and resource consumption. It also emphasizes a shift towards public transport, active mobility (walking and cycling), and the use of cleaner fuels.

Strengthening of Public Transport System – Reduces private vehicle dependency and emissions.

Non-Conventional Sources of Energy – Promotes electric, hydrogen, or solar-powered transport.

Intelligent Transport System (ITS) – Enhances efficiency through smart traffic management.

NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, established in 2015 to replace the Planning Commission. Its key roles include:

Formulating national development strategies

Advising on economic policy, infrastructure, and innovation

Promoting cooperative federalism

Monitoring and evaluating key government programs.

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) – Focuses only on urban planning (under Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs).

National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) – Deals with geospatial data for resource management (under ISRO).

National Urban Information System (NUIS) – A GIS-based urban database project, not a policy body

HRIDAY stands for Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana, launched by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs on 21 January 2015. It is a central sector scheme funded 100% by the Government of India, with an allocated outlay of approximately ₹500 crore. HRIDAY focused on 12 heritage cities across India: Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Velankanni, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, and Warangal.

White House, the residence of President of USA, was designed by Irish-born architect
James Hoban in the Neoclassical style. Hoban modeled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a
building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Constructed between 1792 and
1800, its exterior walls are Aquia Creek sandstone painted white.

The transmission coefficient (or factor) τ is the ratio of the transmitted sound power
Wt to the incident sound power Wi, and ranges from 0 to 1.

Reverberation time T60 is defined as the time, in seconds, needed by the sound
pressure level to decrease by 60 dB from its original level.

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture is a book authored by Robert Venturi.

LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser
sensor is an electric device that uses a focused light beam to detect the presence, absence, or
distance of an object. It is an important type of sensor used in building automation system.

Victor Gruen was an Austrian-born architect who was a pioneer in the design
of shopping malls in the United States.

The Durga Temple is the principal attraction for Aihole visitors and iconic in
its apsidal layout. This shape is similar to 2nd or 1st century BCE Buddhist chaitya halls found
in Ajanta Caves. The Durga temple stands on a high moulded adisthana and a damaged
tower that had a curvilinear shikhara. The damaged tower's amalaka crown lies on the
ground.

As per NBC 2016 Volume 1 Part 3: Development Control Rules and General Building
Requirements – ‘Special Requirements for Development Planning in Hilly Areas’ “Street orientation

shall preferably be east-west to allow for maximum south sun to enter the buildings. The street shall
be wide enough to ensure that the buildings on one side do not shade those on the other side.

As per NBC 2016 Volume 1 Part 3: Development Control Rules and General
Building Requirements – ‘Special Requirements for low income housing in urban areas’
below are the details for size of a habitable room:

Core housing is an attempt at providing low-cost partial-provision habitable housing
that serves as an alternative to the conventional full-provision type. The core house is expected to
be expanded by families through process of construction support sharing or a subsidized approach.

De architectura (On architecture, published as Ten Books on Architecture) is a
treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius
Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects. As
the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the
Renaissance as the first known book on architectural theory, as well as a major source on the canon
of classical architecture.

Famous slogan “conserve, do not restore” was given by Georg Dehio, who was one of
the founders of “classic” monument conservation around 1900s.

The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural
Property (ICCROM) is an intergovernmental organization created to promote the conservation of all
forms of cultural heritage, in every region of the world.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites, a non-governmental organization, was
founded in 1965 after the adoption of the Charter of Venice, in order to promote the
doctrine and the techniques of conservation.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was born on 16
November 1945. UNESCO has 195 Members and 8 Associate Members and is governed by the
General Conference and the Executive Board.

As architect and Columbia professor Kenneth Frampton described in a 2008
interview, “Low-rise, high-density housing was really a compromise” between suburban-scale and
multi-story housing, “but it was also a solution that would be much more economical in terms of

land-use and which would have many social advantages in terms of services, and at the same time
provide for very close contact with the ground and with nature.”

CPCB was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of
pollution) Act, 1974. The CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

William LeBaron Jenney's Home Insurance Building stood at the northeast corner of
LaSalle and Adams streets in Chicago. As the world's first iron-and-steel-framed building, it heralded
and made possible a new era in tall buildings. Despite being demolished in 1931, the Home
Insurance Building evokes the endless possibilities of architectural innovation.

Buildings of compact planning with less openings helps reduce heat gain in
hot-dry climate.

The conversion of ammonia into nitrates and nitrites by the process of oxidation is called
nitrification. This is a biochemical process. The conversion of nitrates and nitrites into
atmospheric nitrogen or gaseous form of nitrogen like nitrous oxide is called denitrification.

Ecological services include the products/raw materials or energy outputs like
food, water, medicines and other resources from ecosystems. Ecosystems are a source of
food, water, medicines, wood, biofuels, etc. Also, they provide conditions for these
resources to grow.

Spatial resolution refers to the ability to distinguish between two separate
objects or discern fine details in an image. It essentially measures how small an object can
be and still be distinguishable in an image. Higher spatial resolution means smaller objects
and finer details can be seen

Tiles or stone plates are not recommended as they are heavy and usually fall
during earthquake shaking.

Grafting and budding are horticultural techniques used to join parts from
two or more plants so that they appear to grow as a single plant. In grafting, the upper part
(scion) of one plant grows on the root system (rootstock) of another plant. In the budding
process, a bud is taken from one plant and grown on another.

The main purpose of a nosing is to improve the safety of the staircase. As it
protrudes a little over the edge of the tread, it provides some extra space for users to place
their feet.

Spatial resolution refers to the ability to distinguish between two separate
objects or discern fine details in an image. It essentially measures how small an object can
be and still be distinguishable in an image. Higher spatial resolution means smaller objects
and finer details can be seen