Dr Naseer Ahmad Baba
India has finally woken up to the fact that urban India is now growing faster than rural India in absolute terms. Popular estimates predict that by 2050,sixty four percent of the developing world will reside in urban locales, and in developed nations this number is about eighty six percent. As per 2011 census 31 percent of the population of India lives in urban areas and it contributes about 63 percent of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) which is expected to rise to 75 percent by 2030.This kind of growth requires development of physical, social, economic, and institutional infrastructure. Currently India’s urban areas face numerous problems such as lack of adequate infrastructure and basic services, poverty and slums, inadequate housing, mobility issues, congestion, pollution of different types etc.
With a view to meet the challenge of rapid urbanization in the country The Government of India has launched the smart city programme under the Ministry of Urban development. The programme of Smart city aims to provide better infrastructure, adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, proper sanitation including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing, digital connectivity, sustainable environment, safety and security, health and education and good governance with citizen participation .For this to happen the finances are the key element. The Government of India came out with the budgetary allocation of about Rs. 50000 crores. This works out to be Rs. 100 crores for each city every year, for 5 years, for 100 cities. Now the main point is whether these 100 crores are enough to finance this mission to meet all the requirements. For this more funds needed to be mobilized from other sources as well. Also the allocated funds needed to be utilized efficiently and all the processes should be corruption free. Social media can also be used as a method of crowdsourcing ideas from the public and citizens. Also the important task for the managers of smart city is to foster rural urban economic linkage and provide basic amenities including affordable public transport in seri-urban areas which have hitherto remained neglected but have emerged as zones of intense economic activities. This would result in growth in both rural and urban areas. While we can look at the developed nations for the inspiration, we must find its own solutions to make cities technologically advanced and make them function well. The ultimate goal of developing smart cities should be sustainable development and sustainable solutions. In order to achieve our dream of making India’s cities like the Smart cities of world we need to improve governance and change peoples mindset and behavior. India being a diverse country in terms of geography, culture and development, while planning smart cities this diversity should be taken into account. The desired results will not be produced by providing a single solution to all. we need to give importance to indigenous knowledge and local solutions as well. We need to prepare everyone for the change.
(The author is MVSc Scholar Animal Genetics Division Indian Veterinary Research Institute)
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