By BISWARAJ PATTNAIK, August 6, 2015 :

The residents of Cuttack took great pride three days ago for having struck public activities and work during one half of 3 July last Monday to get the city declared a smart city. The Modi administration has turned half the literate India mad about the smart city dream.

It was amusing to know that most so called intellectuals including those in the elitist categories have
weird ideas about the ‘Smart City’ Modi imagines he can create across the country. Narendra Modi is a street-smart politician who has mastered the art and craft of swaying the mood of the masses with dreamy designs that appear very practicable. They talk of the ‘smart city’ as a supreme status which can transport residents into paradise.

Big and seemingly knowledgeable politicians have become super active to demand their cities to be declared ‘smart’ as they believe wagon and truck loads of funds will be poured into the location for making it supremely livable. Not a single tall-walking soul could explain in layman’s language what a smart city is all about.

The Modi government has come up with a blueprint defining the key elements of the 100 smart cities it plans to establish across the nation as per a main promise made by the incumbent Prime Minister during the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

One thousand crore rupees will be spent on each city. Eight cities with more than four million people have been identified already, each of which will have a satellite smart city as well.

A potential Smart City should have assured water and electricity supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing, robust IT connectivity, e-governance in place, guaranteed safety and security of citizens and above all vibrant health, education and economic activities. Fort five cities with ‘one to four million’ people will be upgraded to a smart city. Seventeen select capital cities will also qualify irrespective of their population. Further, ten other cities with tourist and religious significance will be made smart.

The Centre worked out the details of the ambitious plan by organising workshops with the senior state secretaries. A national workshop with state CMs is planned in October followed by the approval from the Union Cabinet in November.

For Odisha, the selection panel ranked Bhubaneswar at the top with 70 points followed by Rourkela with 61.5 points. Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur scored 60 points each.

Ranking was done on the basis of the existing service levels (25 points), institutional systems and capacities (15 points), self-financing (30 points) and track records (30 points). The programme is likely to be launched on December 25, the birthday of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The residents of Cuttack felt let down for having been beaten by a nascent little industrial town in spite of their city having celebrated the ‘Millennium’ glory quite some time ago. Probably, the simple people do not have the time to know what the Modi-promoted smart city means.

The five most important requirements for being considered potential :

* 24×7 availability of high quality utility services like water and power.

* Robust public transport system.

* Adequate opportunities for jobs and livelihoods for its inhabitants.

* Proper and affordable recreation and amusement centres; safety and security arrangements for all; and state-of-the-art health and education facilities.

* Safe systems for minimizing waste by increasing energy efficiency and reducing water conservation and productive recycling of waste materials.

* High tech communication capabilities with latest digital technology to enhance performance and to reduce costs and resource consumption thereby facilitating effective engagement of maximum possible citizens.

The idea of smart city came into formulation owing to the need to accommodate rapid urbanization of the age. Interest in smart cities continues to grow, driven by a range of socioeconomic and technological developments across the globe.

According to a recent report from Navigant Research, the global smart city technology market is expected to grow from $8.8 billion annually in 2014 to more than $27.5 billion by 2023.

Eric Woods, research director of Navigant Research said, “Cities are seeking partners and suppliers to collaborate on ambitious programs for sustainability, innovation in public services, and economic development that depends on significant technology investments. The leading players in this market not only have the capacity to provide leadership on large-scale projects spanning multiple city requirements, but also delivering smart infrastructure, IT, and communications solutions to cities, supporting cities across multiple operational and infrastructure issues, and have established a global presence.”

Private players are too willing to bring up smart cities on a partnership mode. Among the sixteen smart city suppliers IBM and Cisco are most reputed today. Suppliers are rated on 10 criteria: vision, go-to-market strategy, partners, product strategy, geographic reach, market share, sales and marketing, product performance and features, product integration, and staying power. They are exclusively ranked in terms of strategy and execution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Digital India’ has a plan to build 100 smart cities across the country. He keeps harping “Cities in the past were built on riverbanks. Now we build them along highways. In the future, they will be built on the basis of optical fiber networks and next-generation infrastructure.”

Digital India envisages making India a leader in digital delivery of services particularly in health, education and banking sectors. Modi has announced an investment of $1.2 billion in smart cities with more funding to come from private sectors both native and foreign.

The CNN reported that a number of new cities are already under construction, especially in the Delhi- Mumbai corridor. Many of the planned cities include Special Investment Regions or Special Economic Zones, which relax regulations, reduce taxes, and generally make it easier for foreign companies to invest. The $100 billion Delhi-Mumbai corridor effort has a 26 percent investment from Japan.

Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam on his visit to India offered to build one smart city. Also, British Chancellor George Osborne extended a 1 billion pound credit line to help U.K. companies invest in Indian infrastructure.

A recent development observed in the smart city project was, the meeting held on 16th February 2015, confirming partnership between the Narendra Modi and former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg’s Philanthropies with regard to the advancement of the initiative.

As reported by Domain, Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide assistance to the urban development ministry to select cities for smart city mission, funding the latter on a continuous basis.

Although as of now, there are enough foreign funds for the government’s smart city project, there still remains a concern associated with the dream. However hard the government might be trying to execute its ambitious plan, this project seems to be turning into an elitist concept, leaving out or marginalizing the underprivileged sections of society.

India is still 68 per cent rural despite rapid urbanisation due to depleting livelihood opportunities in the agrarian countryside. Smart villages would be truly a smart proposition for India so as to ensure our children will never have to sell industrial products to buy survival food. Smart villages with smart agro implements would serve the nation better. Big global players are willing to invest there too.

Apart from agriculture, there are many other sectors in which India needs to catch up before planning for smart cities in this mad hurry. Basic requirements including healthcare, food, electricity, education and ordinary transport are still abysmally low in supply and quality across the rural India and thousands of suburban centres.

Eighty eight per cent of class eight students in rural India are unable to read class 1 text, and 500 million have no access to secondary education or skills training. 300 million people live without electricity, and around 20 million tons of grain are lost every year due to extremely bad warehouse facilities. We have thirty percent doctors per capita compared with China and fifty per cent against Brazil.

Unless India fulfills these basic necessities of its masses, the ground for development will never be strong. Smart cities will drive the young madder. They have already lost touch with human nature and getting physically and mentally weaker. The only friend they recognise is the smart phone which takes them on the perpetual stroll across the virtual world. They hate books, trees and flowers and of course all that’s directly from nature. Internet, satellite television and smart phones have spoilt them bad enough. Smart cities may cause havoc! The rural youth shall rush out tp cities in exodus. Grain fields and vegetation will vanish, God forbid !

India with 190 million users has the third largest internet population after China with 620 million, and the US with 275 million. The Internet population has grown from 60 million in 2009 to 190 million now. The number of Internet users in rural areas will unstoppably touch 210 million by 2018.

Orienting and inspiring the rural youth to high tech agro activities for dignified livelihood through the use of the Internet would most certainly cause a reverse exodus from the cities to the countryside. Then only can we have a healthy productive young India producing enough food and related implements to export. The environment will never take a beating like it’s taking today.

Glaciers all over the world are melting at an alarming rate, with the first decade of the current century seeing up to thrice the rates of the 20th century, a new global study has warned.

Therefore, the smart city project masters have to be careful enough to avoid widening the already present gulf between the rural and the urban communities. A nation can only progress when all its citizens, irrespective of class differences, are treated and provided alike.

So smart cities are not WiFi and super class digital systems only as most of us would believe. It’s just about happy beneficial sustainable, technology-backed systems to keep the living world going stronger than ever before.