Council for Active Mobility · India

Streets for people.
Built into law.

1.7 lakh road deaths a year. 23% are pedestrians and cyclists.

Photo: Sonal Kulkarni

Table the Karnataka Active Mobility Bill in the Monsoon Session of the Karnataka Assembly 2026! — Sign the Petition

Walking and cycling sit at the intersection of five crises.

01 Safety

1.7 lakh road deaths a year. 23% pedestrians and cyclists.

MoRTH, Road Accidents in India 2023

02 Health

Air pollution kills 1.7 million Indians a year. 101 million adults are diabetic.

Lancet Planetary Health · ICMR-INDIAB-17

03 Climate

Transport drives ~12% of India's CO2. The fastest-growing source.

India's Third Biennial Update Report, UNFCCC

04 Livability

Children can't walk to school. Elders trapped indoors. Streets you can't enjoy.

The everyday cost of car-dependent cities

05 Economy

Road crashes cost India 3–5% of GDP a year. Congestion adds more.

World Bank, Delivering Road Safety in India

Walking and cycling solve all five. Simultaneously.

A promise to be kept

We are not asking for something new.

India already wrote the policy intent. Twelve years ago. The Act it promised does not exist.

There is no legislation at present that covers the requirements of Urban Transport comprehensively.

A comprehensive Urban Transport Act to cover all aspects of Urban Transport is essential. The Government of India will enact such legislation.

National Urban Transport Policy 2014 · §§14.3.1–14.3.2
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs

In the years since, three instruments arrived. Each carries a piece of the comprehensive law NUTP promised.

  1. i

    Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016

    Section 41(1)(c) obliges every government to provide "accessible roads to address mobility necessary for persons with disabilities."

  2. ii

    Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019

    Sections 138(1A) and 210D empower every state to make binding rules on pedestrian access and road design.

  3. iii

    Supreme Court orders 2024 · 2025

    S. Rajaseekaran (2025 INSC 1189) directing every state to notify pedestrian and road-design rules under MV Act §138(1A) and §210D. Rajive Raturi (2024 INSC 858) directing the Union to issue mandatory accessibility rules under RPwD §40 — with states bound to enforce them via §§44, 45, 46 and 89.

The National Active Mobility Framework knits these instruments together into the comprehensive Urban Transport Act NUTP itself called for.

VII

The Seventh Schedule problem. Four answers.

Streets and footpaths sit on the State List. Parliament cannot legislate them directly. Four constitutional routes let central action happen anyway. Our four streams are those four routes.

The constitutional logic

The Framework, in four streams.

Each stream uses a distinct constitutional power. Together they bypass the State List barrier without amending the Constitution.

  1. 01

    Motor Vehicles Act Rules

    Concurrent List Entry 35 · MV Act §138(1A), §210D

    State rules on pedestrian and cycle infrastructure. Already judicially mandated by the Supreme Court's October 2025 order. Karnataka has notified. Thirty-five states have not.

  2. 02

    National Active Mobility Mission

    Concurrent List Entry 20 · Article 282

    A Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Funding to states only if they appoint coordinators, audit kilometres, and reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths against measurable targets.

  3. 03

    Model State Act

    State legislatures · Article 252 standby

    A model statute drafted off the Karnataka Active Mobility Bill. Circulated to every state for adoption or adaptation under their own legislative power.

  4. 04

    Universal Accessibility

    Article 253 · RPwD Act 2016 §41(1)(c)

    Operationalises India's UN treaty obligation. Every footpath, kerb ramp, and crossing meets the accessibility standards Parliament has already committed to.

Explore the Framework

The Framework produces a Bill suite.

One legislative instrument per stream. Not an alternative to legislation — the way the Constitution as it stands allows us to legislate.

Stream Legislative instrument Who enacts
01 · MV Rules Motor Vehicles (Vulnerable Road User Protection) Amendment Bill  +  state MV Rule notifications under §138(1A) and §210D Parliament + every state government
02 · Mission National Active Mobility Mission Act (or Cabinet decision + appropriations bill). Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Parliament
03 · Model Act State Active Mobility Acts. The Karnataka Bill is the flagship state-level instrument the Framework asks for in every state. State legislatures
04 · Access Mandatory Union rules under Section 40 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (already required by the Supreme Court's Rajive Raturi mandamus). State-side: §62 state rule-making for state-specific accessibility, plus §§44–46/89 enforcement of the central §40 rules. Potentially a strengthening amendment to §41. Union (§40 rules), state legislatures (§62 rules + enforcement), Parliament (amendment)

A unitary national bill on streets is not viable without amending the Seventh Schedule. A Bill suite, routed through four constitutional levers, is what the Constitution as it stands allows — and it is a much bigger legislative ask, not a smaller one.

12 May
2026

Karnataka has just shown what works.

The first state to notify comprehensive Vulnerable Road User rules under the Supreme Court's October 2025 order. The most comprehensive complete-streets statute anywhere in India.

The Karnataka Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules 2026 introduce a four-tier road hierarchy, mandatory footpath minimum widths, statutory accessibility, dedicated cycle tracks, a 1.5 m overtaking distance for cyclists, BMLTA as the Bengaluru monitoring authority, and citizen-standing grievance redressal with 30-day resolution.

Karnataka is alone. Thirty-five states and Union Territories have notified nothing.

See what's in the Karnataka Rules
1 State notified
35 Yet to act
2.5m Min footpath, school zones
1.5m Cyclist overtaking distance

Who is working on this.

An ecosystem of organisations, across seven tracks of work, building active mobility in India together.

Policy & Research Legal & Litigation Technical & Standards Communications & Campaigns Citizen Engagement Disability & Equity Government

ITDP India · WRI India · TERI · Vidhi Legal · PRS Legislative · SaveLIFE Foundation · CLPR · Parisar Pune · Raahgiri Foundation · CEE · CSE · ORF · Walking Project · Nagariyal · Yulu · Association for People with Disabilities · NCPEDP · Urban Morph · IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab · DULT · BMLTA · MoRTH · MoHUA · DEPwD · IRC + many more

Three things you can do today.

A.

Sign the petition.

Table the Karnataka Active Mobility Bill in the 2026 Monsoon Session of the Karnataka Assembly. It anchors Stream 3 of the Framework.

Sign now
B.

Join the channel.

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C.

Share the Framework.