Dr Rouchi Chaudhary
The State of Jammu and Kashmir which has the distinction of being the only State in the country having two capitals, winter being the city of Jammu with a population of 657,314 also attracts more than a crore people from different parts of the country for tourism and pilgrimage throughout the year; has been growing rapidly. But the nature and extent of the growth is mostly unplanned and the provision of the urban services is not pro-active but re-active.
In 2008, IBM began working on ‘Smarter Cities’ concept as part of its ‘Smarter Planet Initiative’. This concept has captivated the imagination of various nations across the globe. A Smart city is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure and would be equipped with Information Technology (I.T) enabled services, having round the clock power and water supply, with the efficient modern public transportation system (PTS), traffic management, emergency and health services, single window clearance system for trade and commerce, solid waste management and Smart Data Centre, for the city. The state government should start working on developing these parameters for Smart city.
Smart governance is one of the parameters of smart cities. Development of tools and techniques to assist in better urban decision making and governance empowers the decision making process for better urban planning and management. Smart governance and smart city governance need to have interdepartmental cohesiveness for driving technological initiatives. The institutional capacities for Government determine the way in which the effectiveness of the public policies and strategies is attained, especially in service delivery. It must address the institutional and governance bottlenecks to ensure transformative and sustainable development to respond to the core governance demands and to promote a coherent, evidence-based approach to the governance issues. Although urban areas have existed since ancient times, the focus on good governance has been a recent phenomenon. States need to create structures for urban citizens to participate more actively in urban governance.
Smart city needs smart governance and in particular smart policymaking in order to enhance the urban welfare. For developing such a city which can cope with the challenges of urban living, new integrated approaches have to be driven into city operations. The concept of smart cities has its challenges in J&K. Technologies need to be customized to address to the local needs and used effectively taking into account the sensitive nature of the state. In order to develop Jammu as a smart city at par with the global standards, foster ‘Smart Policies’ having the characteristics of sustainability and adaptability. These two characteristics are critical when it comes to addressing the urban challenges and policy integration becomes vital in pursuit of the sustainable development goals.
Smart city is emerging as an important basis for future city expansion. So there is an urgent need to look in to the state of the civic services in the city of Jammu. In order to develop that “smartness” move from the bottom level i.e. municipalities and make them smart. Smart Cities need Smart Municipalities. Smart municipalities are on the frontline of Smart Urban Governance. This Urban Renewal programme of inclusive and sustainable cities seeks to integrate the indigenous requirements with the policy goals and to achieve this, the State Government should craft a policy which not only accommodates the new realities but should also organize its Governmental apparatus to cope with the emerging challenges. In order to frame such policies the state will need to negotiate the urban problems and this would not happen without strengthening the ability of its Institutional infrastructure. It needs to work on the failure of attempts to develop municipalities and creating a policy context for effective municipal action. A well defined integrated city-management framework is needed which improves the public services delivery and also improves the operational excellence leveraging technology. Rapid urbanisation is demanding innovative strategies across the state to provide smart governance to its citizens, by addressing local challenges affecting the citizens in their daily lives. From the practical standpoint, municipalities operate closest to the people, which displays the need to develop comprehensive smart city solution by enforcing parameters for smartness through appropriate governance models. To empower the decision making process for better urban planning and management, significant transformation is required in order to have robust infrastructure mechanisms in place to deliver fundamental services and to articulate the policy accordingly. Smart municipal policies can improve the quality of life. The time has now come for greater partnership between municipalities and private players. A policy framework that will multiply the benefits of municipal action and position Jammu for future needs to be in place.
The differentiating element between a digital city and a smart city is smart people. A smart city consists of not only components but also people. The kingpin of smart governance is smart society. A city is nothing without its residents and visitors. A smart society is a vital aspect of a smart city. A smart city is all about smart living. The key question includes as to how the quality of life is ensured in the region and the city remains liveable in future also. A smart city is focussed on being a desirable place to live. This raises concerns for the quality of life. A joint approach to area development is crucial in a smart city which seeks to integrate the local requirements with their own policy goals and to customize them to the individual needs. Therein lays the central challenge for governance which is of sustainable environment and quality of life. Integral to effective implementation is an informed and empowered citizenry engaged in transparent and accountable governance processes. The identification of options and initiatives that enhance the collaborative capacities of empowered societies to find peaceful, effective and long term solutions to the local development challenges must be encouraged.
For the coordination and integration of policies along the dimensions of smart economy, smart mobility, smart environment, smart people, smart living and smart governance, need is to develop new institutional formats and novel mechanisms for staying abreast with the systemic dynamics of the global society; which are the substantial pre-requisites and backbones for developing models of smart governance that foster smart living. In J&K, the success in charting out potential paths to a comprehensive solution to the myriad of complex and dynamic problems lies in how well the various multi-level challenges can be addressed one at a time as well as conjointly due to their interdependencies and interactions. A smart city needs to have a smart city government which manages and implements policies towards the desired ends by leveraging ICTs and institutions and by actively involving and collaborating with all the stakeholders.
Besides, in tune with the changing urban trends there is a need for greater emphasis and inclination towards adopting more innovative e-governance technologies. This can be managed by active involvement of Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode where ever feasible. A specialized integrated “Smart City Cell” in the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) should be formed and all the stake holders like the private sector, civil society, universities and academia should be involved. The government should develop proper forward Institutional Linkages for the training and research specialised in Urban Affairs to meet the future challenges. It can also take up the initiative to establish a Premier Institution like Jammu and Kashmir State Institute for Urban Studies (J&K SIUS), exclusively to develop competitive economics for Sustainable Urban Management Plans for the state. This will provide the desired push for the urban governance reforms and enabling the environment for the mobilization of resources required for the future mission. Also keeping in view the very sensitive nature and special character of the Jammu and Kashmir state, the top political leadership both at the state and centre should devise a genuinely implementable road map for contentious issues like ‘Introduction of Property Tax’ and ‘Land acquisition policy’ in the state by foreign and private Indian players, which is one of the major criteria behind the Government of India’s Smart Cities Programme. As the funding to the programme is ‘also’ done by countries like U.S. France, Japan and Singapore, the state government should devise a policy mechanism by involving all the political parties in the state which can help in moving forward with suitable policy outcome. The State government should pro-actively take up the issue with utmost urgency, for making Jammu truly a smart city as the Government of India is starting the first phase of Smart Cities Programme in the current financial year 2015-16. To make this a reality requires a forward looking and visionary approach by the state government. The elected representatives and the executive heads of the state should realise that the moving towards making “TEMPLE CITY” a truly Sustainable “SMART CITY” is no longer a choice but a dire need.
(The author is Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Public Administration, Central University of Jammu.)
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