The Jodhpur Initiative  is a non-profit trust drawing primary support from the competencies of Science & Technology, Health and Legal Organizations (like Indian Institute Technology Jodhpur, Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur) and distinguished citizens of Jodhpur, which will leverage the core-competencies of educational institutes, distinguished citizens and domain experts, for the benefit of the city of Jodhpur. It will

1. Engage with the process of multi-faceted urban transition of Jodhpur by the stakeholders themselves – working to understand how urbanisation is evolved, managed and sustained;
2. Support and enhance the capability and capacity of local government, including by liaisoning with State Government to achieve breakthrough results in their vital work of Re-building Jodhpur;
3. Involve distinguished citizens of Jodhpur and experienced domain leaders worldwide to make substantive contributions in the Re-building of Jodhpur.
4. Undertake advocacy work through leaders and policy makers, by pushing for
   • (a) Propose structural changes to effect progress towards Re-Building Jodhpur;
   • (b) Suggest judicious use of resources (Financial, Land and Human Resources) for sustainability;
   • (c) Cast a finance model for upgrading infrastructure (e.g., Transport, Power, Water, Sewage, and Solid Waste);
   • (d) Plan for building a revenue stream for City’s sustenance by re-designing tax structure at City Level;
   • (e) Articulate how to judiciously use the Water and Energy currently available to the City;
   • (f) Prepare a Master Plan that is sensitive to both the economic growth and the physical growth of the City;
   • (g) Clarify the land reforms needed and the judicious use of available land; and
   • (h) Land-to-the-tiller versus Land-for-economic-growth and prosperity of the City.

The Thought Leaders of Jodhpur invite well-wishers of the City of Jodhpur to join hands with The Jodhpur Initiative to:

• (a) Institutionalize the multi-faceted Re-building of Jodhpur through professionally driven advocacy to Local Government of Jodhpur and Government of Rajasthan; and
• (b) Offer professional services towards mainstreaming the Re-building Jodhpur City.

Jodhpur is the second largest Metropolitan City in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The number of crucial ongoing infrastructure and industrial projects pitches Jodhpur to become the fastest developing city of western Rajasthan. The population of Jodhpur is poised to grow at an alarming rate of ~9% per year from ~13 Lakhs in 2015 to ~36 Lakhs in 2035. This rapid urbanization presents substantive expectations to be met, like providing safe housing, good health, clean energy, hygienic disposal of sewage & solid waste, fast & accessible transportation, in-time development of required urban infrastructure, effective governance, access to education & skills development, and movement towards greener environment. For the expectations to be met and made sustainable, the city of Jodhpur needs to grow in a planned manner!!

Towards ensuring the above, a joint effort is needed by the citizens, knowledgeable, well-wishers, policy makers and governments to converge at a single platform, where they can:

• (a) Plan and guide the expected development with scientific temper and technology tools;
• (b) Strategize structural changes needed to integrate efforts of governmental and non-governmental stakeholder agencies, and
• (c) Advocate sustainable growth of the city of Jodhpur with policy makers and potential growth promoters. In brief, the city of Jodhpur needs a think tank that shows The Way Forward to real development…!

Elements of the Effort–

The core elements of the effort of Re-building Jodhpur includes, but is not limited to:

1. Creating employment opportunities for educated and skilled workforce to make Jodhpur an attractive place to work for immigrants from different states;
2. Offering technology-driven Healthcare Services to all at affordable cost;
3. Using Information and Communication Technologies to digitally drive the City;
4. Arranging efficient urban mobility, especially through public transport;
5. Improving liveability through provision of professionalized utilities and services, e.g., availability, quality and recycling of water & waste water; effective management of sewage & solid waste; and un-interrupted and clean supply of power;
6. Welcoming tourists with attractive sites, organized tours, and safe & hygienic local travel & stay; and
7. Regulating safe and affordable housing.

The Chief Patron of The Jodhpur Initiative is His Highness Maharaj Gaj Singh II, Maharaja of Jodhpur, and the Patrons are:

A meeting was held at IIT Jodhpur on 10thDecember 2016 from 4:30pm to discuss the possibility of establishing an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in the greater Jodhpur-Pali region. The meeting was chaired by the Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Sri P. P. Chaudhary. The meeting was attended by C. V. R. Murty (Director, IIT Jodhpur), Dr. S. R. Vadera (Director, DRDO Defence Laboratory Jodhpur), Sri M. L. Bapna (Advisor – Industry-Academia Interface, IIT Jodhpur), three Faculty Members of IIT Jodhpur (Arun K. Singh (EE), S. P. Tiwari (EE), and B. V. Ramana (CSE)), Sri Dipak Singh (Scientist F, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India), Sri N. K. Gupta (Scientist B, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India) and Sri Mukesh Chaudhary (AdditionalPrivate Secretary to Minister of State, Government of India).

At the outset, Director (IIT Jodhpur) welcomed the Hon’ble Union Minister of State and the participants to the special meeting on an important subject that will have long term impact on the national GDP growth. Sri M. L. Bapna made a proposal (through a presentation) to establish the Rajasthan ITIR in the Jodhpur-Pali region with three tracks of work – Electronics Hardware Manufacturing, IT and ITeS. He gave an overview of the steps to be taken to establish the Rajasthan ITIR which would have focus on Research & Development, Software & Hardware product development and manufacturing.

The Hon’ble Union Minister of State welcomed the proposal. He emphasized that the Rajasthan ITIR should focus on Electronics Hardware Manufacturing, the most critical national need, which would reduce our country’s reliance on imports of electronics products and thus save precious foreign exchange. Further, he felt that the Rajasthan ITIR should also focus on R&D and human resource development, which would create the Intellectual Property for the nation, and thereby make India a nation competent in developing cutting edge technologies as well as world class electronics and software products. Also, he opined that IIT Jodhpur, DRDO Defence Laboratory Jodhpur, and AIIMS Jodhpur should establish a joint multi-disciplinary R&D center that will be an anchor for indigenous sensor technologies in India in time ahead.

As a way forward, the Hon’ble Union Minister of State desired that a formal proposal needs to be forwarded by the State Government to the Government of India seeking to establish an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in Jodhpur-Pali region of Rajasthan. He opined that the Pali district authorities Department of Industries, Government of Rajasthan need to take a lead in this respect and address issues that may be required for setting up the said ITIR. He assured that Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India would provide all possible support for the success of the project.