Urban Update February 2016

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume III, Issue II

IoT

Rs 100

February 2016

to revolutionise city management Internet of Things supported technological solutions are leveraging ubiquitous connectivity among complex sets of distinct sensors, citizens, and apps to smoothen functioning of city systems

AIILSG, EU launch ‘Equi-City’ Project The project aims at ensuring equitable delivery of municipal services in Nagpur

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Union Ministry of Urban Development has empanelled AIILSG on the list of consultants qualified to work for Smart City Mission.

AIILSG has been selected to work for Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

Community Based Interventions

Professional Empowerment Project Management

Advisory Services Customised Training

Knowledge Management Capacity Building Information, Education and Communication (IEC)

Policy Research

All India Institute of Local Self-Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East, Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 26571715, Fax: +91-22-26572286, Email: contact@aiilsg.org

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG — a project funded by European Union’s ‘Equi City’ programme for India.

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Capt. Anant Modi Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG, dg@aiilsg.org Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor

Mail Box Readers’ comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome. Letters to the Editor can be sent by e-mail, or regular mail. They should include name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address, if available. The subject of the communication should be clearly mentioned, and we reserve the right to edit for sense, style, and space.

Address Urban Update (All India Institute of Local Self-Government) Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 or E-mail at urbanupdate@outlook.com FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISING RELATED ASSISTANCE, CONTACT Phone: 011 - 2852 1783/ 5473 (Extn. 37) E-mail: contacturbanupdate@gmail.com

Lojy Thomas Associate Editor Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer Nitin Rajput Circulation Executive Volume III - Issue II Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

Printed at Utkarsh Enterprises, 1893, 1st Floor, Uday Chand Marg Kotla Mubarak Pur, New Delhi-110003 Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area D-Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy of the contents. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. The views expressed in the articles are the personal opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the All India Institute of Local Self-Government. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Join Urban Update Community Online to read our previous issues, regular posts and news updates.

WWW

urbanupdate.in urbanupdatemag urbanupdatemag urbanupdatemag

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

4

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

Wiring cities for future

S

ongdo International Business District in South Korea is set to become the most wired smart city in the world. In fact, as of 2015, South Korea led the world in terms of per capita number of online IOT devices. At 37.9 devices per 100 inhabitants, this Asian country was ahead of other developed nations including the USA, Germany and Japan by some distance.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the current wave of technology that is likely to impact human lives in far-reaching ways. In an age when ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart Cities’ are engaging the attention of city planners and citizens alike, the IoT discourse is adding momentum and seeks to scale up the possibilities in an urban setting. Simply put, IoT refers to a vast network of physical objects or things, i.e., buildings, vehicles, home appliances and so on, which are embedded with sensors and software enabling them to ‘speak’ to each other and to respond to commands of an operator. Among the simpler things that are possible, you can switch off your home air-conditioner (something you forgot before leaving home) from your office many miles away. In other community wide applications, computers at electric utility companies, for example, will be able to detect power usage patterns across homes, offices and factories to efficiently manage distribution, akin to ‘smart grids’.

All this has profound implications for our cities. The same survey which ranked South Korea on top at 37.9 devices per 100 inhabitants, ranked India way down at 0.6 devices per 100 inhabitants. Not very surprising since the technology is yet nascent and adoption in Japan (8.2) and China (6.2) too is yet to catch up. However, now that planners and citizens are becoming aware of the power of ICT in shaping the urban landscape, we can

expect to leapfrog into higher orbits.

On the flip side, concerns are being expressed in some quarters. What happens to the privacy, security and control of our own lives? Governments and large corporations would have access to very private, often intimate details about our lives including eating habits and health matters. Then there is the fear of hackers. If computers have access to our automobiles and heart pacemakers, what if the controls were to fall into the wrong hands? There is also concern from the environmental angle. The phenomenal increase in the use of semiconductors and e-waste, for example. Light switches and many devices in our homes will need to be replaced more often, not because they do not function anymore, but to make them compatible with newer technologies that will emerge. That will create mountains of e-waste.

While ICT can add ‘smartness’ to cities in a wide array of applications, city planners would need to prioritize and sequence the areas for applying the technologies in order that the benefits reach larger sections of the population, especially the underprivileged and vulnerable.

Public safety and security, sanitation and hygiene, healthcare, power and water supply management, waste handling, environment monitoring, transportation and traffic management all need to be addressed on priority.

Simultaneously, there is need for capacity building of ULB employees and citizens, to cope with the technology onslaught and harness its energy for greater efficiency, and transparency in local governance.

In this issue, we bring you some articles and viewpoints which will likely stimulate further debate and discussion on different aspects of such technologies, their possible impact on urban lives and the way forward.

Capt. Anant Modi Editor-In-Chief

While ICT can add ‘smartness’ to cities in a wide array of applications, city planners would need to prioritize and sequence the areas for applying the technologies in order that the benefits reach larger sections of the population, especially the underprivileged and vulnerable

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

5

Quotes

PIN POINT

Rurban is when the city meets the village. Development should be such which has the soul of the village, but the facilities of an urban city Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India

BUZZ

Inclusivity should be ensured while taking decisions regarding urban governance, citizen participation, public transport and infrastructure etc. and the Government is endeavouring in this direction M Venkaiah Naidu Union Minister of Urban Development

Oommen Chandy @Oommen_Chandy Chief Minister, Kerala

Keralabudget: Rs694 crore for urban development, Rs18.09 crore for waste management in urban areas

Sanjeev Sanyal @sanjeevsanyal Economist

Our history books are being re-written as ancient cities being discovered in places like Mizoram and Odisha

SPV system is not new at all. Bodies like PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited), JnNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) were all SPVs which were created for implementation of various schemes. The system is accepted all over the world. No one should fear that the SPV will lead to curtailment of the rights of the local civic bodies Devendra Fadnavis Chief Minister, Maharashtra

6

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Many cities today are struggling to find their identity or niche in a world that is changing rapidly because of factors like urbanisation, technology, demographics and climate change. These are all major challenges but are also opportunities for those who are better positioned to adapt and adjust John Fitzgerald Chief Executive (Asia Pacific), Urban Land Institute

Neelesh Misra @neeleshmisra Writer and Storyteller

While steps against urination in public places are welcome, does India have enough clean public toilets even in cities, free or paid?

Kathryn Willson @MSFTcitynext Microsoft Director, Cities Solutions

Citizens can trust new #smartcity services and cities can make better decisions with #privacy regulations and transparency.

Inside

Volume 3, Issue 2

Inside February 2016

LeaderSpeak

28

Evolution of Intelligent Cities City corporations around the world together with technology majors have begun using IoT and Big Data to run cities efficiently. Indian cities can learn and adopt fitting solutions for improving operational competence of their cities

Articles

33

36

Patrick Geddes: A forgotten hero A man of many talents, Sir Patrick Geddes, was invited by Maharaja Tukojirao-III to Indore to suggest the urban design for the evolving capital city of Holkars in the early 20th century. With his innovative socialistic urban design, Geddes firmly ingrained his name in the town planning history of India

Cover story

24

Internet of Things supported technological solutions are leveraging ubiquitous connectivity among complex sets of distinct sensors, machines, citizens, mobile applications and software to smoothen functioning of city systems and provide innovative solutions to emerging urban problems

Special Purpose Vehicles to Steer the Mission on Smart Cities The Mission on Smart Cities requires the actual programme for each such City to be driven by the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that would be created in the months to come. There are anxieties as well as hopes about this model of urban development, which is quite unique in many ways, at least for India

European Union

8

RegularS

6 12 19 46

Iot to revolutionise city management

Pin Point Newscan City Images Urban Agenda

AIILSG, EU launch Equi-City project in Nagpur

The project aims at pro-

moting equity in delivery

of municipal services in

Nagpur city through collab-

orative multi-stakehold-

er approach using par-

ticipatory governance be-

tween local authorities and stakeholders

SMART CITY Feature

40

Bhubaneswar tops ‘Smart City Test’

Ministry of Urban Devel- opment announces first batch of 20 smart cities from 11 States and Delhi

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

7

AIILSG, EU launch Equi-City project in Nagpur

The project aims at promoting equity in delivery of municipal services in Nagpur city through collaborative multi-stakeholder approach using participatory governance between local authorities and stakeholders Team Urban Update

G

overning cities is becoming complex in the context of inadequate finances, gap in services, week institutional framework, lack of capacity, etc. There is a need to strengthen governance

8

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

if cities and towns have to emerge as living organisms with better quality of life.

The Equi-City project has been conceived to promote inclusive and sustainable growth of Indian cities through collaborative multi-stakeholder

approach using participatory governance between local authorities and stakeholders to ensure equitable provision of municipal services and to promote diversity within and capacity development of local government organisations. The equitable municipal

We are working on inclusive growth of the city and the project will help in achieving the target. It will help the NMC frame longterm policies for providing equal civic services to all citizens of the city. NMC is making provisions of special funds for welfare and development of women, children, backward class and differently-abled people Shravan Hardikar Municipal Commissioner Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)

services to every section of the society of Nagpur and raise awareness through this project across India about better municipal governance and equitable service delivery models.

The launch of Equi-City project was held on 18th February 2016 at Chitnavis Center in the presence of various stakeholders of the state and officers from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The project was inaugurated

by Nagpur Mayor Pravin Datke, who believes that success of the project will improve the quality of life of urban poor and other communities and groups

like women, children and differentlyabled persons. Other dignitaries present on the occasion included Municipal Commissioner of NMC, Shravan Hardikar, Director General of AIILSG, Capt. Anant Modi, Senior Executive Director (AIILSG) Ravi Ranjan Guru, Additional Municipal Commissioner (NMC) Nayana Gunde, Deputy Commissioner (NMC) Jayant Dandegaokar, Chief Engineer Ulhas Debadwar among others.

“The Equi-City Project will facilitate reaching all the welfare schemes of Nagpur Municipal Corporation at the door of citizens particularly the poor people in slums and other areas,” said Pravin Datke, Mayor NMC. A technical presentation was given by the technical director of the project,

Pashim Tiwari. He described the goals and objectives of the project.

The Commissioner of NMC, Shravan Hardikar took this opportunity to sensitize the officials of the NMC on the concept of equity and inspired them for working towards sustainable Nagpur and also asked them to work in collaboration with the team of AIILSG for implementing the project.

Hardikar said, “We are working on inclusive growth of the city and the project will help in achieving the target. It will help the NMC frame long-term policies for providing equal civic services to all citizens of the city.

NMC is making provisions of special funds for welfare and development of women, children, backward class and differently-abled people.

He added that no system existed to assess impact of funds. There is no mechanism available to check if each and every person of the city is getting all civic services that too in equal manner.

All these issues will be assessed and new policies will be framed accordingly under the project.

Background

All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG) in association with the European Union is implementing the Equi-City project in Nagpur (Maharashtra) to promote

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

9

Nagpur to lead for promoting equity in Indian cities ♦♦ Nagpur city, also known as the the city Orange City, is situated along ♦♦ Nagpur Municipal Corporation the river Nag and located at (NMC) and Nagpur Improvement geographical center of India.

Trust (NIT), established in 1936, Founded by the Gond king of are the two main authorities Deogarh, in the year 170, the responsible for provision of city finds mention in the Vedic services. NMC is responsible for and Mauryan Scriptures. The carrying out all the obligatory city annexed by the British in functions as per the Maharashtra 1817, remained the capital of the Municipal Corporation Act, 2012.

Central Province till 1956.

NIT, a planning authority till 2000, ♦♦ Nagpur is an important urban is a special planning authority for center in Vidarbha region, being Nagpur Metropolitan Region and the largest urban agglomeration is also responsible for provision in the region. Major economy of infrastructure and delivery of of the city is from Agriculture certain services in the peripheral and related activities. Mineral areas. The jurisdictional area of reserves, mining & stone NMC is 225.08 Sq. Kms. with a quarrying also support the population 24.48 Lakh (Census industrial activity in and around 2011).

10

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

The project strives to establish a multistakeholder collaborative model that can be replicated in other Indian cities for equitable provision of municipal services and to promote diversity within local governments equitable municipal service delivery mechanism and encourage diversity in local authorities by augmenting participation by different communities or groups in the formulation of social and economy policies in local governance system. The project is for promoting inclusive and sustainable growth of Indian cities by engaging all stakeholders in decision making process. Other organizations which would be part of the two-year program include United Nations and Local Governments (UCLG), Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group, The Sustainable Environment Resource Institute (SERI) and Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements.

The projected is supported by Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

Concept

The project strives to establish a multistakeholder collaborative model that can be replicated in other Indian cities for equitable provision of municipal services and to promote diversity within local governments. It will also focus on capacity development of local government organisations. It would empower local authorities and elected representatives to take leadership roles in handling city governance and service delivery related issues.

The main objective of the project is to improve quality of life for urban poor and other marginal communities like women, children, differently-abled

in the coming years by ensuring all the basic amenities provided to other citizens are accessible to everyone without any discrimination. The project is expected to increase the access of essential civic amenities such as water, electricity, sanitation, sewerage, etc. for urban poor.

Equi-City Cell

An Equi-City cell will be set up in Nagpur to take care of issues related to delivery of civic services to citizens, especially to the urban poor and marginalized communities. It will also ensure adherence to accountability and transparency in local participatory governance system while coordinating diversity matters.

City Forums

It also proposed to create City Development Forum (CDF) comprising key stakeholders including the representatives from the marginalized communities. Inter City Forum (ITF) is also proposed to be setup under the project for city leaders to share their experiences in implementing an array of municipal projects and help in replicating the successful models elsewhere.

The project would develop monitoring and accountability tools to enable locals to demand for better services for the local authority. This would make poor urban dwellers informed and empowered leading the way towards transparency and accountability in municipal operations.

A municipal rating system will also be designed for healthy competitions between local authorities. The detail of the activities being undertaken under the program will be updated regularly through newsletters and detailed reports will be published and circulated for achieving sustainable urban development with equity and diversity in the functioning of local bodies.

Nagpur city has been chosen to be developed as an Equi-City.

The total duration of the project is 48 months. The target sector are Local Government Officials, State Government, Citizens, Urban Poor,

Elected Representatives, Civil Society (CSOs) and final beneficiaries are Citizens and officials working in Local Authority organisations.

The five key issues to be addressed and results achieved are: ♦♦ To establish participatory forums where stakeholders and LAs can engage in collaborative solutions and coordinated action for equitable delivery of municipal services. This will assure Local authorities, elected representatives and citizens, especially poor urban dwellers, engage collaboratively to find solutions in their respective localities, ♦♦ To collaboratively build up technical capacity of LA officials so as to equip them to be leaders and be responsive to urgent priorities especially of urban poor. This will assure capacitated local authorities and elected representatives take leadership roles in resolving equitably municipal issues, ♦♦ To sensitise LA officials and to advocate and implement diversity and equality frameworks in the organisations managed by LAs. This will assure Municipal diversity and equality policies make local authorities sensitised and responsive to various sections within the organisation and city, ♦♦ To develop and implement tools that will enable citizens and LAs to collaboratively monitor and evaluate municipal services delivery. This will create a rating system achieving greater transparency and accountability in operations, delivery of municipal services, ♦♦ To communicate and sensitise officials, citizens and poor urban dwellers on the various initiatives and issues in the LA so to promote accountability and transparency in operations while providing incentives for action.

This will ensure informed and empowered poor urban dwellers create a demand for efficient municipal services.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

11

NEWSCAN

Mysuru remains the cleanest city Dhanbad at the bottom of 73 major cities

Delhi: Mysuru in Karnataka remained the cleanest city in the country while Dhanbad in Jharkhand came at the bottom of 73 major cities surveyed for sanitation scenario last month.

Results of ‘Swachh Sarvekshan-2016’ were released by the Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu recently. 53 cities with a population of

12

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

above ten lakhs each and 22 capitals that do not have that large population were selected for the survey. NOIDA and Kolkata desired to participate in the next round of the survey.

The top 10 cities in terms of sanitation and hygiene in order of rank are: Mysuru, Chandigarh, Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu), New Delhi Municipal

Council, Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Surat, Rajkot, both in Gujarat, Gangtok (Sikkim), PimpriChinchwad and Greater Mumbai, both from Maharashtra.

Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot, and Gangtok improved their ranks to break into top 10 clean cities in this year’s survey.

NEWSCAN

“Swachh Bharat Mission made a positive impact in urban areas in terms of enhanced efforts to improve sanitation, reorientation of attitudes of urban local bodies and citizens and improvement on ground. Cities are at different levels in terms of progress towards sanitation and there is a churning going on to do better on ground in absolute terms and also in relation to others cities with new Shakers and Movers emerging” M Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development Minister

Leading Cities in Cleanliness ♦♦ Mysuru ♦♦ Chandigarh ♦♦ Tiruchirappalli ♦♦ New Delhi Municipal Council ♦♦ Visakhapatnam ♦♦ Surat ♦♦ Rajkot ♦♦ Gangtok ♦♦ Pimpri-Chinchwad ♦♦ Greater Mumbai ♦♦ Pune ♦♦ Navi Mumbai ♦♦ Vadodara ♦♦ Ahmedabad ♦♦ Imphal

♦♦

♦♦

♦♦ ♦♦

Swachh Sarvekshan results show Northern cities improving on sanitation; 17 of 28 Northern cities surveyed improve ranks Surat, Rajkot, Gangtok, Vizag break into top 10 clean cities; Allahabad improves the most NDMC, North and South MCD improve ranks while East MCD slips 15 well performing cities felicitated by UD Minister M Venkaiah Naidu

The bottom 10 cities are: Kalyan Dombivili (Maharashtra-ranked 64), Varanasi (UP), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Ghaziabad (UP), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Meerut (UP), Patna (Bihar), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Asansol (West Bengal) and Dhanbad (Jharkhand-ranked 73).

The last cleanliness survey was conducted in 2014 among 476 cities with a population of one lakh and above each and results were announced last year.

This survey was done before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year. From the results of the 2014 survey which was based on a large number of parameters, 476 cities were ranked based on their performance with regard to the components of Swachh Bharat Mission like construction of toilets, solid waste management and independent observation. This enabled comparison of results of both the surveys for assessing the impact of Swachh Bharat Mission.

The 73 cities surveyed this year were also ranked based on the marks they scored in 2014 for arriving at their ranks then, for further comparison with the results of this year’s survey.

Naidu stated that of the 73 cities surveyed, 32 have improved ranks since the last survey including 17 from the North, 6 from the West, 5 from the South and 2 each from the East and North-East. He said this is a clear evidence of enhanced efforts being made by the northern cities towards sanitation and new cities challenging the domination of cities from the South and the West among top clean cities.

Of these 32, top 10 movers who have substantially improved their ranks in 2016 survey are: Allahabad (improved by 45 ranks), Nagpur (40), Visakhapatnam (39), Gwalior (34), Bhubaneswar (32), Hyderabad (31), Gurgaon (29), Vijayawada (23) and Lucknow (23).

Among the municipal bodies in the NCT of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council improved its rank from 7 in 2014 to 4 in 2016, South MCD from

47 to 39 and North MCD from 47 to 43 while East MCD slipped from 47 rank in 2014 to 52 in 2016.

The 10 cities which moved down most in ranks in 2016 i.e. top 10 losers are: Jamshedpur, Kochi, Shillong, Chennai, Guwahati, Asansol, Bengaluru, Ranchi, Kalyan-Dombivli and Nashik. While Jamshedpur moved down this year by 53 ranks, Nashik slipped by 23 ranks.

While the top gainers have 4 cities from the North, there is no city from the North among the top 10 losers.

While making an improvement in the efforts and ground situation towards sanitation, a total of 33 cities have slipped in terms of ranks in 2016 from that of previous survey. These include 11 of the 28 cities included in the survey from the North, 8 of 15 cities from the South, 7 of 15 from the West, 5 of 7 from the East and 2 of 8 from the North-East.

Regarding methodology used for Swachh Sarvekshan-2016, Naidu informed that out of the total marks of 2,000 for assessing the performance of efforts of 73 cities, 60% were assigned for solid waste management related parameters, 30% for construction of toilets and 5% each for city level sanitation strategy and behavior change communication.

Quality Council of India which conducted the survey deployed 25 teams of 3 trained surveyors each to visit 42 locations in each city covering major zones like railway stations, bus stations, religious places, major market places, planned and unplanned residential areas including slums and toilet complexes.

The survey teams took a total of 3,066 geo-tagged photographs of places visited as evidence and they were uploaded on website.

Naidu said that all the 73 cities were informed sufficiently in advance so as to make available documentary evidence of their efforts towards improving sanitation and for verification by survey teams. Over one lakh citizens responded with their feedback on cleanliness in respective cities making the survey of 2016 evidence based and participatory.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

13

NEWSCAN

Centre calls for practical fiscal decentralization to strengthen local bodies New Delhi: The Centre called for practical fiscal decentralization by State Finance Commissions while distributing resources between the state governments and local bodies.

The Commission has recommended grants in two parts; a basic grant, and a performance grant, for duly constituted Gram Panchayats and Municipalities.

The ratio of basic to performance grant is 90:10 with respect to Panchayats and 80:20 with respect to Municipalities.

In the Workshop, Chairpersons and Members of all the functional State Finance Commissions, Secretaries of Panchayati Raj and Finance Departments from states and eminent national and international experts on fiscal decentralization and devolution to local governments exchanged ideas and also highlighted the concerns regarding the effective implementation of the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission.

The Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Nihal Chand said that in the 14th Finance Commission more than 2 lakh crore rupees have been earmarked for Gram Panchayats during 2015-20. He was speaking here after inaugurating a workshop on fiscal decentralisation.

Nihal Chand said that the primary emphasis will be on provision of basic

services like rural infrastructure, sewage, sanitation and water supply.

He said the Finance Commission has recommended distribution of grants to states for local bodies using 2011 population data with weight of 90% and area with weight of 10%. He said there are over 2.6 lakh panchayats in India. The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution have provided constitutional status to Panchayats and Municipalities to function as local self-government institutions. The Constitution also provides for states to

devolve, through legislation, functions to these institutions as illustrated in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules of the Constitution for rural and urban local bodies, respectively. While the states have generally assigned most of these functions to PRIs, the corresponding devolution of funds and functionaries remains a critical issue. The own source revenues of the local bodies being very small, they largely depend on the devolution of funds from the Central and the State Governments and Finance Commissions.

Government decides to directly shift from BS-IV to BS-VI Emission norms Delhi: Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has decided to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms directly by 2020. A unanimous decision was taken today in a meeting chaired

by Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and attended by Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Anant Geete, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan along with

14

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

senior officials of the ministries to directly switch over to BS-VI emission norms from the present BS-IV emission norms. Therefore, the Government has taken a bold decision to skip BS-V emission norms altogether.

The Ministry will soon issue a notification in this regard. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has assured supply of BS-VI fuel across the country by April, 2020. The Ministry has withdrawn an earlier draft which had suggested shifting to BS-VI

after switch to BS-V. The Ministry is also sure that the Indian Automobile industry with its technical competence and commitment to environment will rise to the occasion and support the decision.

It may be mentioned that the Auto Fuel Policy had recommended implementation of BS-VI norms by 2024. Earlier in the draft notification by the Ministry the date was advanced to April 2021 and now it has been further advanced to April 2020.

NEWSCAN

Smart cities will tackle rapid urbanisation: Modi Mysore: Terming rapid urbanization as a challenge and critical for sustainability, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said smart cities would make the cities networked to become efficient, safe and better in delivery of services.

“For the first time in human history, we are in an urban century. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities and three billion people will join 3.5 billion dwellers, with 90 percent of the increase from developing countries,” Modi said at the 103rd Indian Science Congress held in the University of Mysore.

Modi said the country would have over 10 percent of the global urban population by 2025 and 50 percent of its people in urban habitats by 2050.

“About 40 percent of the global urban population lives in informal settlements or slums, facing a range of health and nutritional challenges,” he said after inaugurating the five-day annual science jamboree the 700-acre sprawling Manasagangotri campus in the heritage city.

Observing that many urban clusters in Asia would exceed the population of mid-sized countries in the world over, Modi noted that cities account for more than two-thirds of global energy demand and result in up to 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emission.

“As cities are major engines of economic growth, employment opportunities and prosperity, they have to be sustained to become locomotives of our economies and havens of healthy living,” he said.

Admitting that much of the urban infrastructure was yet to be built, he told the galaxy of scientists, Nobel laureates and hundreds of students that affordable and practical solutions

First Railway University to come up in Gujarat VADODARA: Vadodara will be home to the country’s first railway university, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha has said. He said that the state government was helping Indian Railways identify land to set up a fullfledged railway university. “The present campus for National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR), Vadodara, (at Pratap Vilas Palace) will be initially used to start the railway university.

After land acquisition, a full-fledged university will be started here,” he said.

He added that the proposal to set up the railway university had been declared by the railway ministry in December 2015.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has worked out detailed modalities for this and it will be soon placed in Parliament for approval. “In the first phase, the university will start offering MBA and M Tech degrees, after which it will offer Diploma and B Tech in railway operations,” he said. NAIR, formerly known as the Railway Staff College (RSC), presently acts as the apex level training and management development institute for the officers of Indian Railways.

had to be found for solid waste management, converting waste into building material and energy and recycling waste water.

“Though we need sound policies to achieve our goals, we will rely on science and technology to provide creative solutions. We have to also develop better scientific tools to improve city planning with sensitivity to local ecology and heritage and reduce demand for transportation, improve mobility and reduce congestion. We need your inputs to make our cities immune to consequences of natural disasters and homes resilient. This will also mean making retrofit of buildings affordable,” Modi added.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

15

NEWSCAN

16

Centre approves Rs 780 cr for major bridges, roads in J&K

Over $150 bn needed in investments for smart cities, says study

JAMMU: Union Ministry for Roads and Surface Transport has released Rs 780 crores for Jammu and Kashmir Government for construction of bridges and roads in all three regions of the State including another bridge worth Rs 206 crores over river Chenab in Akhnoor tehsil. The Union Ministry, headed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, has exclusively earmarked Rs 100 crores for Ladakh region including Rs 50 crores each for major roads of Leh and Kargil districts.

Official sources told the Excelsior that the Central Ministry has approved a total of 25 bridges and road projects for Jammu and Kashmir at the cost of Rs 780 crores. The amount has been released from the grants marked for current financial year of 2015-16 under the Central Road Fund (CRF) and more grants would pour in during the next financial year of 2016-17.

The Union Roads and Surface Transport Ministry has conveyed its clearance to the State Government for going ahead with a total of 25 projects under the CRF this year. Among the major projects approved by the Central Government was another bridge over river Chenab at Indri Pattan in Akhnoor tehsil at the cost of Rs 206 crores.

The bridge will have a length of 2000 meters (two kilometers).

This will be third bridge over river Chenab in Akhnoor, which is strategically very significant for the people of entire Akhnoor tehsil as well as the troops in view of International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. The bridge, according to sources, will reduce distance between Pargwal and Jammu by at least 25 kilometers.

Delhi: The Modi government‘s vision of creating 100 smart cities will require an investment of over USD 150 billion over the next few years with private sector being a significant contributor, says a report by Deloitte, adding that nearly USD 120 billion will come from the private sector.

The government has already initiated two programmes with an initial outlay of USD 7.513 billion for its ‘Smart Cities Mission’ and the ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT)’ to upgrade 500 existing cities. PN Sudarshan, senior director, Deloitte India, said, “Even as funding for these smart cities is an area of concern, the major challenges remain with respect to the development of smart cities project management, government decision making and policy and regulatory framework.”

The government recently announced the list of first 20 cities to be developed as ‘smart cities‘ with Bhubaneswar topping the list followed by Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Vishakapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal. While several cities have made incremental investments in smart solutions, the

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

challenge will be to replicate these on a larger scale, he said.

According to the study, in 2016, service providers and over-the-top content providers will invest heavily in city-wide Wi-Fi networks which will be the backbone for smart city services.

Sudarshan said, “As smart solutions are heavily dependent on ICT, service providers will play a significant role in smart cities. In 2016, service providers will participate in (and lead in many cases) consortiums for responding to RFPs for smart/digital solutions for various city and state governments.”

Reliance Jio is likely to roll out WiFi services across over 50 cities in 2016. Similarly, Bharti and Vodafone are deploying Wi-Fi through a joint venture company, Firefly. Facebook is working with BSNL to deploy Wi-Fi in 100 areas in rural India, while Google has announced a partnership with the Railways to provide hotspots in 400 railway stations by 2016. “Over the next 10-15 years, these cities will emerge as key technology, economic, and social hubs for the country. We believe that service providers that expect to be serious players in smart cities will take a centre-forward position in leading consortiums in the development of smart cities,” he added.

NEWSCAN

Subscribe to URBAN UPDATE A magazine dedicated to Urban Infrastructure, Governance & Sustainability

Please fill this form in Capital Letters First Name: .............................................................................................

Last Name: ..............................................................................................

Designation/Profession: ...................................................................

Organisation: .........................................................................................

Address: ...................................................................................................

City: ............................................................................................................

Postal Code: ............................................................................................

State: ..........................................................................................................

1 year(12 issues): Rs 1,000 2 years(24 issues): Rs 1,800

Country: ...................................................................................................

Telephone: ...............................................................................................

Email: ........................................................................................................

Website: ....................................................................................................

I would like to subscribe for

1 Year

2 Years

Cheque/DD/MO No: ..........................................................................

Drawn on: ...................................................................(specify bank) Dated: ........................................................................................................

For Rupees: .............................................................................................

In favour of ‘All India Institute of Local Self Government’ is enclosed.

Contact: Mail this form at info@urbanupdate.in Address: Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-58, Phone No. 011-2852 1783 / 5473 Subscription Terms & Conditions: Payments for mailed subscriptions are accepted only via cheque or demand draft • Cash payments may be made in person• Please add Rs 50 for outstation cheque • Allow two weeks for processing of your subscription.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

17

NEWSCAN

Road Safety Forum 2016

Gadkari calls upon NGOs to participate in the national campaign on Road Safety Gadkari urged the organizations to help the government to identify accident black spots across the country, so that the concerned authorities can be asked to take remedial action to make the sites safe

New Delhi: Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has called upon the citizens and NGOs to participate in the national campaign on Road Safety to create awareness about road safety issues in the country.

Expressing concern over 5 lakh road accidents in the country per year in which about 1.4 lakh people lose their lives, Gadkari said that containing road accidents and saving lives is not possible by the government alone - it needs the support of the citizens, the NGOs and the media in this regard.

Gadkari pointed out several issues related to road safety like identification of accident black spots, training and health check up of drivers and educating the general public including children about road safety issues, where the NGOs can play a vital role.

He called upon the NGOs to give their suggestions on issues related to road safety, and assured them that the

18

February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways will take these up in a suitable manner.

He especially urged the organizations to help the government in its efforts to identify accident black spots across the country, so that the concerned authorities can be asked to take remedial action to make the sites safe. Gadkari further informed that identification of black spots and taking corrective action to make these sites safe is a major priority for the Ministry.

726 black spots have identified across the country and Rs. 11,000 Crore have been earmarked to address this problem.

Throwing light on other efforts of the Government to contain road accidents, Gadkari said that the present system of issuing driving licenses will soon be replaced by a transparent and efficient computerized licensing system. He further informed that driving schools are being opened across

the country to train drivers. Fitness of drivers is another major concern that the Government will be addressing.

Gadkari said that over 3000 centres will be set up in rural areas to train drivers and address fitness related issues. He also said that roadside amenities will be equipped with helipads for quick transfer of accident victims to hospitals and all busy traffic corridors will have trauma centres along the highways.

The Minister announced that the road safety campaign will not be limited to only the Road Safety Week but will continue throughout the year. He said a train will be run across the country with exhibition on road safety to create awareness on the subject.

The Minister also announced that a scheme will be worked out to provide NGOs working in the field of road safety with Rs 3 lakh financial support.

Awards will also be instituted for the best performing NGOs. Gadkari also emphasized that apart from road safety, the Ministry was also committed to reducing pollution in the road and transport sector. He said that the government has decided to implement Euro VI standards for automobiles from 1st April 2020. The use of electric vehicles and of bio-diesel, biogas, and ethanol as fuel is also being promoted.

Gadkari also launched a Facebook page on road safety, termed as Road Safety: Time for Action. The page will be a platform for discussion on various issues related to road safety and the wide array of work being done in this area. The Minister also gave prizes to winners of a contest on films on road safety. Akshat Nangia of New Delhi, Bablu Thomas of Trivandrum, Chirag Acharya of Mumbai and Raja Gopal Singh of Ghaziabad got the first, second, third and fourth prizes respectively.

NEWSCAN City Images

London Dreams Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2016 ranked London as the most important city for the ultra wealthy. The survey ranks cities in terms of where the world’s wealthy live, invest, educate their children, grow their business and spend leisure time. Although New York has the most Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), London’s geographical position means that within a two hour flight time, the city is accessible to more than 16,000 UHNWIs, compared to New York’s 8,300, helping to explain London’s primary importance to the global UHNWI population.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

19

NEWSCAN

Residential unit sales fall 4% in 8 cities in 2015: Study Delhi: Sales in the residential segment declined four per cent to 263,720 units last year, the lowest since 2010, across eight major cities, according to a report by property consultant Knight Frank.

The National Capital Region (NCR) continued to be the worst performing market in India with sales and launches at a six-year low, according to the report.

Launches of new homes in residential space fell by 21 per cent in 2015 at 244,944 units in the primary market of eight major cities — NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Unsold inventories have declined marginally to 691,000 units from nearly 715,000 units in 2014.

Developers would take more than 2.5 years to exhaust this unsold stock.

Shishir Baijal, Knight Frank India chairman and managing director said 2015 for Indian real estate had both good and bad news. While the office market grew from strength to strength, residential did not perform as expected.

Sales in 2015 were lower than 2014 levels. Despite the 125 basis points rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), demand did not see an uptake. Our outlook for 2016 remains muted. To further revive demand, it is important to transmit the benefits of the rate cuts to consumers, Baijal said. In the Delhi-NCR market, housing sales fell marginally to 48,503 units in 2015 from 48,630 units in the previous year. However, launches of new homes fell by 20 per cent to 63,458 units in NCR. The unsold inventory in NCR stands at 206,000 units at the end of 2015. However, office space absorption stood at 40.4 million sqft in six cities – Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune – the highest since 2012. Delhi-NCR witnessed absorption of 7.4 million sqft of office space last year. Rajeev Bairathi, executive

20 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

director (North and Capital Markets) of the consultancy firm, said, supply of quality office space is now a concern with vacancy levels at an eight-year low. Rentals have firmed up as a result.

Among sectors driving growth, IT/ITeS continues to lead with start-ups.

“This year however, we saw e-commerce and start-ups contribute to the office space uptake in a major way.

Going forward, we have to wait to see if this trend continues,” Bairathi said.

Sales in the residential segment stood at 263,720 units in 2015, the lowest since 2010. Launches of new homes fell 21% to 244,944 units in the eight cities. In Delhi-NCR, housing sales fell to 48,503 units from 48,630 in 2014.

Unsold inventories declined to 691,000 units from 715,000 in 2014.

Office space absorption stood at 40.4 million sqft in Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, the highest since 2012.

India signs $80 million loan deal with ADB for infrastructure development in Agartala, Aizawl NEW DELHI: India has inked an $80 million loan agreement with Asian Development Bank to improve infrastructure in two Northeastern state capital cities. The loan is the third tranche of a $200 million financing facility under the North Eastern Region Capital cities Development Investment Programme and will be used for investments in water supply, solid waste management and sanitation in Agartala and Aizawl, a finance ministry statement said on January 28. It will also support urban reforms, benefiting nearly a million people in the two cities. Previous tranches have provided assistance to three other cities in the Northeast— Shillong (Meghalaya), Kohima (Nagaland) and Gangtok (Sikkim).

NEWSCAN

SPVs ensures timely execution of Smart City Plans, says Naidu DELHI: Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu has assured a visiting US Business delegation that Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) being set up for implementation of city level Smart City Plans will be empowered to ensure timely execution of all projects by taking required decisions and ensuring necessary coordination. He also said that urban local bodies of 20 cities selected in the first round of City Challenge Competition have passed resolutions to this effect and SPVs will play a crucial role in successful implementation of smart city plans.

A 20 Member US Business delegation led by Bruce Andrews, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Commerce recently held detailed discussions with Naidu and senior officials of his Ministry on various aspects of implementation of Smart City Plans and investment opportunities therein.

Lee Zak, Director, US Trade Development Agency and senior representatives of 18 US companies participated in the hour long discussions.

The companies represented include EXIM Bank of the US, Alcoa, Convalt Energy, MasterCard, Qualcomm, Turner Project Manufacturing, Ecolab and Smart City Council of the US. Bruce Andrews said that “India offers tremendous opportunity for American companies. The Smart Cities Trade Mission is keen to learn more about the market and new business opportunities.

By creating a forum to explore avenues for collaboration, the mission fosters commercial engagement between the two countries”.

Responding to the queries of the visiting delegation, Naidu said that the American companies can look at Joint Ventures, formation of subsidiaries, delivering turnkey projects and PPP

“India offers tremendous opportunity for American companies.

The Smart Cities Trade Mission is keen to learn more about the market and new business opportunities. By creating a forum to explore avenues for collaboration, the mission fosters commercial engagement between the two countries” Bruce Andrews, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Commerce

model for investing in smart city development. He further elaborated on sustainability features like water conservation and waste water recycling, solar power generation, energy efficiency measures, green construction and recycling of municipal solid waste, which offer immense investment opportunities.

A delegation from the Indo UK Institute of Health also called on Venkaiah Naidu to explore the opportunities for setting up hospitals in smart cities being developed in pursuance of Joint Statement by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron in London in November last year. The two leaders agreed to support opening of 11 Indo UK Institutes of Health in India with an investment of one billion pounds.

Agreeing to extend full cooperation, Naidu informed the delegation that promotion of affordable healthcare services is one of the key objectives of Smart City Mission. He said that Pune proposed to build 3 new super speciality hospitals and all cities are keen to promote digital healthcare services.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

21

NEWSCAN

Tata to promote sustainable housing NEW DELHI: International Finance Corporation (IFC) has collaborated with five top real estate developers in the country to form a consortium to promote sustainable housing in India, with a particular focus on the affordable sector.

Termed Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium, the group comprises some big names such as Godrej Properties, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Tata Housing Development Company, and VBHC Value Homes Private Limited. The members of the consortium have committed to make 100% of their housing portfolio sustainable by 2017 through appropriate green-building certifications and achieve 20% reduction in incremental variable costs.

“Buildings contribute to about 30-40% of energy consumption in many Indian cities and about 22% of the country’s annual greenhouse gas

emissions. We appreciate and support the efforts of these leaders,” said Johann Hesse, Head of Cooperation of the European Union in India.

The effort is part of IFC’s Eco-cities program, supported by the European Union. Anita Arjundas, Managing Director & CEO, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited, said, “The choices that India makes in managing its urban development today will have critical implications for the climate benefits

and costs of our cities for decades to come.”

IFC plans to leverage private sector investments to facilitate greater uptake of certified green buildings, facilitate policy dialogue between the private sector and the government, evaluate technology levers and share best practices, raise public awareness, and identify strategic actions for implementation, said a statement from the company.

Knowledge sharing essential for sustainable water solutions New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) organised IndiaSouth Africa Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Sustainable Water Solutions for Future which focused on mainstreaming faecal waste management and mainstreaming watersensitive urban design and planning.

“New technology and knowledgesharing are essential to ensure that urban communities learn from each other and come up with solutions that are sustainable,” said Suresh Rohilla, CSE’s Water Programme Director.

Noting that with increasing urban population, a sanitation crisis is growing, CSE said that a large amount of water

22 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

UGC to launch national student-engagement campaign

Mangar forest to be no-go zone for realtors

NEW DELHI: Seeking to create cleaner campuses across the country, higher education regulator UGC has asked colleges and universities to set up cleanliness panels as it works to launch a national student-engagement campaign for the purpose. In a letter to all universities, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said the regulatory body is partnering with the urban development ministry to launch the campaign for making students active stakeholders in making India clean. It suggested that the institutions administer a “swachhata” pledge and maintain a record form with signature of students of each class who take this pledge.

In the pledge, students undertake to devote two hours per week to voluntary work for cleanliness while also aiming to add more volunteers for the cause.

GURGAON: The Haryana government has approved the forest department’s exercise outlining nearly 2,000 acres in and around Mangarbani that must be protected. This paves the way for Mangarbani, located in the Faridabad Aravalis, to be declared a forest and its precincts a “no-construction” zone. The government now needs to formalise this through a notification to put fears of Mangarbani’s exploitation to rest once and for all.

The forest department’s exercise was carried out at the behest of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Last June, the CM had himself taken a chopper to survey Mangar and had vowed to protect this ecological treasure.

The forest department has proposed that 670 acres of Mangar be demarcated as the main grove and another 1,300 acres as its buffer area. Soon after coming to power, the BJP government had followed the line taken by the Bhupender Singh Hooda-led Congress government to shrink Mangar’s buffer zone. This had surprised ecologists. But the three-hour aerial survey proved to be the turning point.

Khattar pledged before the board that he would ensure Mangar is protected. On Thursday, Khattar told TOI, “Conservation of forests and other ecologically fragile zones is a priority of our government. Everyone is concerned about climate change.”

is used in flushing human waste even as large numbers do not have access to toilets.

Rohilla said CSE’s programme efforts had been directed towards meeting the twin goals of laying the foundations for a water-prudent society and adapting to climate resilience.

“We believe this experience needs to be leveraged to share solutions with other countries in the developing world from South America, Africa and Asia to meet the needs of urban populations in the current water and wastewater paradigm which are affordable and sustainable,” he said.

The workshop brought together key functionaries from Water Research Commission (WRC) South Africa, RAND Water (the largest bulk water utility in Africa), South Africa Department of Science and Technology and participants from India

including representatives from Urban Development, Environment, Water Resources Ministries and others.

Discussing technology for eliminating waste at the source, Dhesigen Naidoo from WRC said the provision of full waterborne systems may not be realistic or achievable in the short term and even in the long term in many developing countries.Naidoo said there was a need for next-generation toilet technology and moving away from the current ‘flush-and-dispose’ and ‘drop-and-store’ models.

“We cannot continue to flush away valuable and scarce fresh water, creating more downstream challenges in terms of water treatment and water quality,” he said. A presentation given by Rohilla showed that the current method of faecal management was “capitalintensive” and created and maintained a divide between the rich and the poor.

“Inadequate water supply in this area results in exploitation of ground water. Besides, Dwarka also suffers from flooding,” he said. Jayant Bhagwan from WRC highlighted some of the new innovation and tools in the management of faecal sludge by the Ethekweni Metro.

A CSE analysis said that for the past many years, developing countries were struggling to find solutions to the immediate problems of poverty, hunger, water scarcity, pollution and climate change and it was important therefore, to interlink global experience.

Christine Moe from Emory University said rapid urbanization in urban and periurban areas of low-income countries had led to a growing sanitation crisis.Despite the considerable sanitation needs of urban and peri-urban communities, there was little data to inform strategies to mitigate risks of faecal exposure in developing countries.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

23

COVER STORY | Internet of Things

COVER STORY | Internet of Things

24 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

IoT

to revolutionise city management

Internet of Things supported technological solutions are leveraging ubiquitous connectivity among complex sets of distinct sensors, machines, citizens, mobile applications and software to smoothen functioning of city systems and provide innovative solutions to emerging urban problems Abhishek Pandey Editor, ap.urbanupdate@gmail.com

I

nternet of Things and Big Data are rapidly revolutionizing the domain of city management systems around the world. City corporations in India too have begun bracing themselves up to imbibe these technological advancements to better manage their cities. Since most of the corporations lack capacity and resources to fully tap the potential of the advanced technology, several startups and established tech majors in collaboration with government are coming forward to help local bodies in their endeavor to improve civic amenities in cities.

Many technology providers including Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Cisco, IBM and Intel are working to develop solutions for improving the functioning of complex city systems.

Sensor equipment is getting smaller and more intelligent. The numbers of connected objects which can talk to each other and with people are increasing exponentially. These objects embedded with sensors are providing detailed and hyper local data for analytics which is in turn helping in making right decisions for cities.

Smart city technologies (based on wireless communications, sensor networks, data analytics, platforms and applications, cloud computing, technical standards) are being

developed to address a range of issues, including energy management, water management, urban mobility, street lighting, and public safety, for example.

IoT enabled devices have the ability to gauge conditions from the sky to the sewer. The resulting information networks have the ability to create new city management models, improve processes, and reduce costs and risks.

Opportunities Abound

Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) recently launched its draft policy on Internet of Things. According to the DeitY, the number of Internetconnected devices (12.5 billion) surpassed the number of human beings (7 billion) on the planet in 2011, and by 2020, Internet-connected devices are expected to number between 26 billion and 50 billion globally. It further says that the launch of the Digital India and Smart City Mission of the Government, which aims at transforming India into a digital empowered society and knowledge economy, will provide the required impetus for development of the IoT industry in the country.

It’s a mammoth opportunity for the world, as much as it is for India. In five years, the global opportunity is likely to touch 300 billion USD and in comparison, India too would boast of a

IoT is the most happening technological trend surrounding us today, which has the potential to usher in significant transformation in all industries in the coming years Babul Supriyo Minister of State for Urban Development 15 billion USD market in IoT. However, it would require nurturing with utmost care.

In an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on IoT recently, Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Urban Development said, “IoT is the most happening technological trend surrounding us

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

25

COVER STORY | Internet of Things

Internet-connected devices are expected to number between

26 billion and 50

The size of digital universe will be

40ZB by 2020, of which 90% will

billion globally in 2020

be unstructured data

IoT and BIG DATA

India would boast of a

15 billion USD

market in IoT while the size would touch

300 billion mark globally by 2020

26 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

A research by Intel suggests that cities would spend

41 trillion USD in the next

20 years on infrastructure upgrade for IoT

We need to put together an ecosystem which involves stakeholders such as Government, IT hardware & software providers, technology providers, and start-ups to deliver results faster to enable India to lead in this area

Puneet Bhatia Practice Leader, IoT and Emerging Technologies KPMG

today, which has the potential to usher in significant transformation in all industries in the coming years.”

The various initiatives proposed to be taken under the Smart City concept and the Digital India Program to setup digital infrastructure in the country would help boost the IoT industry. And, it will be critical in making the cities smarter. According to the draft policy, some of the key aspects of a smart city will be: Smart parking, Intelligent Transport System, Smart urban lighting, Waste management, Smart city maintenance, Tele-care, Citizen safety, Smart Grid, Smart Energy and Water Management.

Among other things, IoT can help automate solutions to problems faced by various industries like agriculture, health services, energy, security and disaster management through remotely connected devices. As per BSI, a smart city is the one that effectively integrates physical, spatial, digital, and human worlds to deliver a

sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive future to its citizens. The innovation solutions provided by the IoT and Big Data enabled solutions can help in realizing the dream as envisioned by different agencies for our cities. Several countries like the USA, South Korea, Japan, and China have taken the lead to ensure their preparedness for taking advantage of the IoT.

Constraints

Abhik Chaudhuri, a Domain Consultant for cyber security and policy at Tata Consultancy Services, says in a White Paper published on ‘Internet of Things: Address Security and Privacy Concerns’, “The breakthrough potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) conjures up immense possibilities for delivering value through new business models across industries, products, and service offerings. However, making IoT technologies reliable and secure is key to realizing the potential of this breakthrough concept. Ensuring security and privacy of IoT offerings is therefore a major concern for users and businesses, and is also of critical importance in the conceptualization of smart cities – the ultimate goal with regard to IoT application.”

The deployment of IoT technology solutions has all the potential to improve life in future cities. ‘Smart objects’ can now freely interact with each other and generate enormous volumes of data, spread across different communication networks. Given the volume, velocity and variety of this data, the analytics engine can be powered to cull out critical information about consumer behavioural patterns.

Many researchers suggest that cities are generating enormous amount of usable data that can be analysed to uncover opportunities for optimization, which then results in additional cost savings or revenue generation.

But how can we utilize data in better planning is a serious concern because none of Indian cities’ corporations are in the position to utilize the data for analytical study and decision making.

City corporations do not have skilled data scientists who can make use of

City corporations need to link the whole system through which data is collected, sorted, optimized, analyzed and used for planning urban development in a particular sector of the city system. IoT based solutions also pose a severe threat to privacy of citizens’ data and call for immediate steps for safeguarding the private information of users.

enormous amounts of data collected through sensors.

Local bodies need to link the whole system by a mechanism through which data is collected, sorted, optimized, analyzed and used for planning urban development in a particular sector in the city system. These initiatives also pose a severe threat to privacy of citizens’ data and call for immediate steps for safeguarding the private information of users. The security and privacy of citizens’ data is critical for any urban initiative involving Big Data.

It is necessary that the government also invest in securing data by developing strong security processes, and stringent monitoring. It is essential to review and strengthen current IT security, identity, privacy, and management practices to prepare for potential additional risk exposure.

Puneet Bhatia, Practice Leader, IoT and Emerging Technologies, KPMG added that we need to put together an ecosystem which involves stakeholders such as Government, IT hardware & software providers, technology providers, and start-ups to deliver results faster to enable India to lead in this area.

Follow the writer on Twitter @abhishekpandey

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

27

Leaderspeak | Smart Cities

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Evolution of Intelligent Cities City corporations around the world together with technology majors have begun using IoT and Big Data to run cities efficiently. Indian cities can learn and adopt fitting solutions for improving operational competence of their cities

T

he United Nations projects that the number of people living in the Asia Pacific’s urban areas will increase from less than 40 percent in 2000 to 50 percent by 2020, and the number of people aged over 60 in the region to triple to more than 1.26 billion by 2050. Population boom in cities world over is bringing both challenges and opportunities, which is why urban spaces are focusing on using innovative technological solutions and data to improve their liveability and enhance their economic development and sustainability.

With Internet of Things (IoT), cities can embed sensors enabled smart and connected devices in our urban living environments. It will enable us to collect and exchange data that can make citizens’ lives easier, and increase the efficiency of civic amenities provided by municipal corporations to increasing population of urban dwellers.

Innovation and Cities

Urban future looks bright, less polluted and more comfortable. It is expected that people’s lives would be greatly improved if the right technological solutions are put in place.

28 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

People can enjoy less polluted air by IoT enabled devices making cars, buildings and factories energy efficient and environment friendly. Sensors embedded electronic devices such as air conditioners and LED lights can automatically operate to improve comfort and reduce energy usage.

Health monitoring devices in our homes will allow healthcare providers to track the medical conditions of the elderly and provide care in a timely way, without the need for patients to travel frequently to clinics and hospitals.

Connected healthcare may lead to wearable devices that help us become healthier, first with fitness apps and then with monitoring applications for medical supervision for special needs.

A smartphone app might connect to smart traffic and public transport networks and recommend the best route to go to work. And with intelligent traffic light phasing and smart parking technology, commuting from one place to another in cities can become safer, faster, and less stressful.

Intel Technologies on its websites illustrates the usage of IoT solutions in improving quality of life for citizens in urban spaces. Taiwan’s YouBike, the shared public bike system uses

Taiwan’s YouBike, the shared public bike system uses Intel IoT technology to keep track of thousands of bicycles, in real time. Also in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom is trialling Intel IoT technology on light poles, which will not only reduce the energy usage of each light, but will also monitor rainfall, temperature and air pollution—and then analyze this data to help identify new ways of improving citizens’ quality of life Intel IoT technology to keep track of thousands of bicycles, in real time.

Also in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom is trialling Intel IoT technology on light poles, which will not only reduce the energy usage of each light, but will also monitor rainfall, temperature and air pollution—and then analyze this data to help identify new ways of improving citizens’ quality of life.

Saensuk Municipality in Thailand is working with the technology major to pilot a three-year smart city plan that will benefit its 200,000 residents and the 1.7 million tourists who visit annually. Among other initiatives, it will offer a smartphone app that works with Bluetooth units installed in key attractions to provide tourists with interesting facts about those locations. These advancements in technology are enabling municipal and government organizations to capture and analyze data from an increasing range of devices.These systems are also providingcity leaders and managers with insights and trend forecasts

through the data extracted from all sensor embedded devices. The data is widely being used for making precise services and amenities available to the right community.

Solving Urban Challenges

Intelligent cites are not in the toodistant-future. Many of the technologies which are making lives easier are being used in some global cities already. In a country like India, making the whole cities smart or intelligent at once may not be feasible but local bodies in collaboration with Resident Welfare Associations and community groups can build from the bottom up rather than from the top down. We can start with a single street or building and implement the technological solutions to solve the pressing problems of that particular community.

A report on technological intervention in urban spherespublished in the Harvard Business Review says that the city of Nice, France, started by focusing on a single boulevard – and

through adjusting street light intensity based on pedestrian and traffic peak periods, and on real-time weather conditions such as fog and rain, the city expects to save 20 percent to 80 percent on its electricity bills.

These technologies can help in solving the problems associated with aging populations. IoT technology can improve the quality of senior citizens’ lives.UK company MimoCare has developed a system to monitor seniors in their homes. If there’s a significant change in their activity or, say, a cooker has been left on too long, the system will send an alert to relatives. Similarly, there are many companies which are launching apps which can help visually impaired or other differently abled to access civic services, go shopping, book tickets and avail other services required to do everyday tasks.

These technological interventions in urban management can help in tackling growing urban problems by strengthening the running of urban systems.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

29

article | Energy Demands and Development

Innovations to lead

India towards

‘Green Nation’ by 2050 India faces the challenge of striking a balance on “Development vs. Environmental Protection”. The nation has to look at the source of renewable energy to protect its environment while keeping the development wheel spinning

T

Dr Jatin V Modi Former Mayor – Vadodara President Emeritus – AIILSG Member of Jury for World Award for Innovative Techniques in Local Government – China

K S Venkatachalam Independent Columnist and Political Commentator

30 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

he success of the Paris Climate Summit should be seen in the context of how divergent views of both developed and developing countries were brought under a common framework. The sheer magnitude of the complex issues faced by developing countries like India does not offer easy solutions.

The challenge India faces today is the elimination of poverty and the resources to be mobilized for various poverty alleviation programmes.

It is to the credit of the Indian Prime Minister for showing the courage to agree to reduce the emission rates, especially when fossil fuel like coal is the most viable option for providing affordable electricity to millions of people who don’t have access to electricity.

The major shortcoming of the summit, although it does give a common framework for countries to curtail emissions, is that no mechanism has been provided for imposing penalties on countries that fail to reduce carbon emission, as the commitments made in the Paris agreement are voluntary in

nature and not enforceable. Moreover, the developed countries have agreed to pledge to fund $ 100 billion a year to the developing countries only on the condition that adequate steps would be taken by them to reduce carbon emission. It is for this reason that the funds agreed at the Copenhagen summit are yet to be distributed. As of now, there is no clarity whether the developed countries who have agreed to provide US $ 100 billion every year from 2020 onwards would agree to scale it up from the year 2020, as was being demanded by developing countries.

Semantics aside, the Paris accord does give direction to countries for reducing carbon emission. It is now the prerogative of the politicians, entrepreneurs and the civil society to enforce strict measures for reducing the emission. The agreement calls for countries to prepare “long-term, low greenhouse gas development strategies” which would translate into reduction of emission by 2050. A timeline for review and upgrading of commitments every five years has been agreed, and a first stocktaking is proposed for 2018.

The agreement has come up with a compromise by fixing the target to keep global average temperature increase to “well below” 2 degrees while “pursuing efforts” to keep it below 1.5.

This article deals with the implications that the climate accord will have on India, especially the challenge of providing affordable electricity to millions of Indians, especially those living in villages. Further, India faces the challenge of striking a balance on “Development vs. Environmental Protection”. Unlike China, India is still at the nascent stage of development, and coal accounts for nearly 70% of generation of electricity, and another 30% comes from solar, wind, nuclear and hydro units. Any transition from fossil fuel to clean energy would not only enhance the cost of generation of electricity per unit, but will drive the

pricing of electricity beyond the reach of the common man. Three major factors impact the cost of solar energy: 1) The cost of setting up a solar power plant 2) The amount of land required per MW of installed capacity and 3) The electricity generated per MW of installed capacity.

The cost of setting up 1 MW of Solar Power is as high as Rs. 8 crore (CERC benchmarked cost for 2013-14) as against approximately Rs. 6.5 crore for setting up 1 MW Thermal Power plant.

Also, each MW of installed Solar Power capacity requires 4.5 – 5 acres of land.

Given that India has set itself a target of 100 GW of Solar Power capacities, it will require 500,000 acres of land.

In a country where land is already a scarce commodity, setting aside such a humongous amount of land would be indeed very difficult.

And finally on the issue of efficiency factor, as of today, Solar Power Plants operate at only about 17% efficiency; in other words, if you set up 100 GW of Solar Power Capacity, you would only be able to generate 17 GW of Power!

As a result of the 3 factors listed above, for generating 100 GW of Solar Power, India will need to invest approximately USD 725 billion and set aside approximately 30,00,000 acres of land.

Additionally, if India’s GDP grows at 8%, its power requirement will triple to 900 GW by 2030! If all of that power had to be generated from renewables, it would require another 700 GW to be set up over the next 15 years. Assuming a combination of Wind and Solar (hydel power is pretty much ruled out given the huge environmental impact and the Supreme Court’s stand on Hydel Power

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

31

article | Energy Demands and Development

If India’s GDP grows at 8%, its power requirement will triple to 900 GW by 2030! If all of that power had to be generated from renewables, it would require another 700 GW to be set up over the next 15 years. Assuming a combination of Wind and Solar (hydel power is pretty much ruled out given the huge environmental impact and the Supreme Court’s stand on Hydel Power plants), it would mean India will need to invest close to $ 3 trillion in this endeavour!

The national government has set a target of increasing renewable energy generation by 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, up from the current capacity of 15 GW, itself a threefold increase since 2005. Still, renewable sources account for just 3.5% of India’s energy generated at present, so the scale of the challenge is formidable, and the cost of meeting it will be high. A new World Bank study estimates that achieving the Indian government’s renewable energy goals for the next decade will cost $ 10 - $ 64 billion in subsidies

plants), it would mean India will need to invest close to $ 3 trillion in this endeavour!

The approach of the developed countries is puzzling: they want India to industrialize without burning even a fraction of the fossil fuels that developed nations consumed when they industrialized.

As the costs of installing windmills, solar power stations, unlike coal fired power stations are prohibitive; India will not be in a position to switch to renewable energy unless it is able to get financial assistance and technology from the developed countries.

Although the debate between development and the environment is persuasive, the legacy that we will

32 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

leave behind to our children and grandchildren, if we don’t take effective steps in reducing the carbon emission, is unimaginable.

India sought $ 2.5 trillion for achieving its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) by 2030, so a global commitment of $ 100 billion falls short of expectations.

The nations of the world know that they cannot suddenly force each other to stop emitting greenhouse gases, because fossil fuels are fundamental to the way that economies work. But many countries also want to reduce the risks posed by climate change and know that they need to find ways to work together. The Paris agreement offers a range of mechanisms to make this happen. Countries now have a framework to ensure that each is doing what it said it would; they have pledged more money to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries adapt to the effects of climate change; they have a task force for looking at the issues raised by those who cannot adapt and need to find a few places to live; and they have the basis for new carbon pricing deals. They have also agreed that big developing countries, which were largely spared by earlier deals, should consider making a greater contribution.

The national government has set a target of increasing renewable energy generation by 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, up from the current capacity of 15 GW, itself a threefold increase since 2005. Still, renewable sources account for just 3.5% of India’s energy generated at present, so the scale of the challenge is formidable, and the cost of meeting it will be high. A new World Bank study estimates that achieving the Indian government’s renewable energy goals for the next decade will cost $ 10 - $ 64 billion in subsidies.

The new policy of renewable energy setting a goal of 100 GW is not a small undertaking. If the government and the private sector and the financial institutions can address the cost of capital, India can achieve the goal it has set for itself. The commitment of providing 100 billion dollars a year by

2020 is only a fraction of the amount that is actually required for making investments in renewable energy.

The government is likely to set a target of 40% power generation capacity based on renewable energy technologies by 2030. This would translate to around 350 GW by 2030, pushing the country’s expected total capacity to 850 GW power generation capacities. India currently has an installed capacity of around 275 GW, with over 36 GW of renewable energy capacity, contributing around 13% of the installed base.

The huge boost in the country’s renewable energy target will mostly comprise solar (250 GW) and wind power (100 GW). The new target may be announced as part of India’s commitment for this year’s global climate change summit in Paris.

The Indian Government has made it clear that it would not commit to any emissions reduction or even peaking targets.

There are also reports that India may enhance its commitment to reduce emissions intensity. It is safe to assume that any target proposed by India would include conditions for substantial international support. Such a huge installed capacity target would require unprecedented investment in India’s renewable energy market. India is looking to raise funds through green bonds and is also looking to secure low-cost debt finance from global development banks, including the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank.

For the above cited issues, what is required is vision and planning for the financial resources and the huge land requirement to establish solar energy capacity. Government of India and all State Governments should take up the matter in right earnest to enable realize the vision by creating a platform for the generation of solar energy which addresses issues of land reservation, expert services and appropriate financing. Further, a separate Research & Development (R&D) Department should be linked with the association of experts from developed countries.

Patrick Geddes | Tribute

PaTrick Geddes

A forgotten hero A man of many talents, Sir Patrick Geddes, was invited

by Maharaja Tukojirao-III to Indore to suggest the urban design for the evolving capital city of Holkars in the early 20th century. With his innovative socialistic urban design, Geddes firmly ingrained his name in the town planning history of India

W

hen Lutyens was busy creating and shaping the new national capital— Delhi in the early years of 20th century, a lesser known innovator was working in different Indian cities to plan them scientifically.

He used a unique socialistic approach in urban planning. Till 1916, he had started working on designing of a few cities or he had already submitted his plans to the concerned Maharaja or to the municipal body.

Sir Patrick A Geddes (Oct 2, 1854-April 17, 1932) was a globally acclaimed urban planner, sociologist, botanist and educationist. Around 100

Abhilash Khandekar National Political Editor, Dainik Bhaskar kabhilash59@gmail.com

years ago, Indore got lucky to have him as its planner. He created many institutes and designed many cities as diverse as Jerusalem, Colombo, Dhaka, Lahore and many Indian cities including Indore.

A man of many talents, Sir Geddes was invited by Maharaja Tukojirao-III to Indore to suggest urban design for the evolving capital city of Holkars in the early 20th century. Historical records suggest the versatile Scottish urban planner began his work for planning Indore towards at the end of 1914 and submitted his report to ‘Durbar of Indore ‘ in 1918. In 1916, he finalized the urban plan for Indore.

So it’s a 100 years of that event (being celebrated in Indore with the launch of reproduced original master plan).

The year 2016 is quite a significant year from the perspective of urban planning in modern India. While town planning as a science and art had developed many centuries ago, the preindependence phase of 20th century, to me, is quite eventful. Most of the major Indian cities including New Delhi, the national capital, were designed or redesigned during this time. It was in 1911 that King George V, with Queen Mary, laid the foundation of New Delhi.

Edwin Lutyens, the British architect, designed New Delhi during 1912-1930.

“The planning of Naya Indore is thus a matter for far more than its present planner. It concerns the whole city; not simply “capital and labour”, but every capitalist, every labourer too. For only in the measure of their effective cooperation, and not merely towards dividends and wages, but towards general well-being, can any planning meet with real and enduring success. Wise and vigilant municipal governments, and state government also, must do their parts, but the main task will remain for that effective citizenship, which these can but seek to support, to encourage and inspire.” www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

33

It was in the year 1912 that New Delhi was chosen over Calcutta as the capital.

Innovative urban vision

Besides Indore, he helped the Maharajas of Baroda, Kapurthala, Balrampur,Patiala and municipal authorities of Nagpur, Lucknow, Calcutta, and Madras Presidency towns like Bellary, Coimbatore, Salem and Vizagapatam plan their cities. He completed work on Lahore in 1917, on Lucknow in 1916, Dacca (Dhaka) in 1916, Baroda in 1916 and so on.

Between 1914 and 1920 he completed major foundation works of the aforementioned cities which grew in importance in later years due to one reason or another.

He worked fully or partially on nearly 50 cities in the world and close to 30 cities and towns in India. What a hard working and talented man he may have been! Sir Geddes was surely not the runof-the-mill urban planner. He always had a social approach (place, work, folks or family) on the top of his mind, besides environment. He put people in the centre of his planning process taking a family as central biological unit of human society from which all else develops, and then designed the city, including Indore. “His comprehensive philosophy was aimed at coordination of man with environment which he described as the new humanism”. (HV Lanchester/1945) With this aim in view, he became an amateur in the best sense of the word, of all the arts and sciences, and endeavoured to employ his knowledge

34 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Geddes, despite his western education and exposure, understood Indian society and lifestyle of average Indians very well. He is credited with introducing the concept of ‘region ‘ to architecture and always advocated planning for open spaces and plantation of trees in raising the standard of living for all with whom his activities brought him in contact. In this, his psychological instinct put him at a great advantage over those who, having every good intention, were not similarly qualified to identify themselves with the mental outlook of varying social and racial types, and he gained their sympathetic support where those not so equipped had failed to secure it.

I suppose today’s urban planners have a lot to learn from him, though the scope, complexities, political meddling and rising population have together posed tougher challenges before the 21st century city planner.

Geddes, despite his western education and exposure, understood Indian society and lifestyle of average Indians very well. He is credited

A 100-year old picture of Pipalyapala Tank of Indore.

with introducing the concept of ‘region ‘ to architecture and always advocated planning for open spaces and plantation of trees. Imagine when Indore’s population was not even one lakh, this forward looking scholardemographer had thought of public health, drainage and openness of the city. His plan document therefore, must be read by today’s historians, students of architecture, urban planners and environmentalists to know how a city should be designed. His principles of planning still remain relevant.

Just have a look at what Geddes said in his report about the cotton capital of those days, Indore: Here in Indore jute does not threaten us, nor do linen or wool, offer their larger promise. To make the best of cotton; that is here and now, this city’s problem and task.

Patrick Geddes | Tribute

Photo Courtesy: Bhalu Mondhe

How is light to be found on this? What can western example and warnings teach us? And what eastern tradition and insight can we find? What are the ways and the means of doing all this?

He goes on to write: “the planning of Naya Indore is thus a matter for far more than its present planner. It concerns the whole city; not simply “capital and labour”, but every capitalist, every labourer too. For only in the measure of their effective cooperation, and not merely towards dividends and wages, but towards general well-being, can any planning meet with real and enduring success. Wise and vigilant municipal governments, and state government also, must do their parts, but the main task will remain for that effective citizenship, which these can but seek to support, to encourage and inspire.”

“It is of course not in the temperament of the town planner necessarily a hopeful one-to prophecy evil. Yet it is his duty not only to guard against those which careful planning may exclude, but to add warning as regards those which lie beyond his power”, he says in his voluminous two-part report to the Holkar Maharaja.

Health planning

Those were the days when plague was quite prevalent in India, so Geddes sought permission from Maharaja Holkar to first clean up the city and kill rats and burn them on the outskirts of Indore. As an urban planner he laid extra stress on public health and hygiene as is seen in his many reports.

Considering his grave concern about cities’ cleanliness, he was actually made

the ‘Maharajah’ of Indore for one day with all powers of the ruling King of Indore, a rare happening in Indore’s history. He made many trips to Indore between 1914 and 1918 and then laid the basic foundations of urban planning.

What he submitted to Maharaja Holkar was the first scientifically made urban plan of this city.

It has almost completed 100 years and it’s time for us to celebrate the wonderful and solid work he did in times when there were no such terms like ‘Urbanisation’ or ‘Smart City’ in vogue. He did not get the share of publicity or acclaim in India as did Edwin Lutyens of Delhi or Le Corbusier of Chandigarh, but Sir Patrick Geddes has his name firmly ingrained in the town planning history of India, there should be no doubt about it.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

35

Article | SPV and Smart Cities

Special Purpose Vehicles to Steer the Mission on Smart Cities The Mission on Smart Cities requires the actual programme for each such City to be driven by the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that would be created in the months to come. There are anxieties as well as hopes about this model of urban development, which is quite unique in many ways, at least for India

H

Dr Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary, (Urban Development), Government of India

36 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

opes arise because there has been a general dissatisfaction with the governance framework of the cities, more or less in all the States, albeit with some exceptions, such as in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and sporadic cases in several other States. The main reason for the anxiety is the delay that has already occurred and, besides, the very novelty of the concept of SPVs as a de facto replacement of the traditional institutions of local governance.

The Mission on Smart Cities (MSC) was announced as the “Beacon Light” Programme for urban development in May 2014. The announcement was followed by a whole gamut of consultations with various stakeholders within and outside the government and finally the Mission Guidelines were notified in September 2015. The guidelines provided for selection of 100 cities to be taken up for focused development under the MSC, of which in the first round, 20 would be taken up under a competitive process, while the remaining 80 would be taken up in further lots. The first lot of 20 cities was notified in end-January 2016 and the second lot is expected to be announced by mid-April 2016. The area declared as Smart City is generally expected to be around 250 to 500 acres, that is, about

10 per cent (or even less) of the area of the municipality.

The activities taken up so far under the MSC for the 100 short listed cities were driven largely by expert consultants, who assisted the municipalities concerned to garner citizens’ expectations and converted the same into Smart City Plans. Once a city is approved as eligible to secure the MSC funds from the Central Government, the municipality of the City would have to recede in the background, yielding the entire space for governance in relation to the Smart City Plan (SCP) to the SPV. The MSC Guidelines have made many innovative arrangements in relation to the SPVs, of which the more significant ones are discussed below.

Constitution of the SPV

The State Government along with the municipalities is expected to create an SPV separately for each city. The SPV shall be a company registered under the Companies Act 2013, with equity capital contributed equally by the State Government and the Municipality.

The promoters, that is, the State Government and the Municipality, shall determine the paid up capital requirements of the SPV from time to time, as per need. The initial equity share of the Municipality is proposed to

be Rs. 100 crore, which will flow from GOI grants. State Government will have to provide concomitant amount from its own resources. Equity from the private sector or financial institutions in the SPV could also be permitted, provided the shareholding pattern of 50:50 of the State and the Municipality is maintained and the State and the Municipality together have majority shareholding and control of the SPV. The Board of Directors (BOD) of each SPV shall consist of nominees of three categories, namely, the Government of India, State Government, and the City Municipality. In addition, the SPV shall have Independent Directors picked from the panel maintained by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MOCA) of the Government of India. The State Government shall appoint one of its officers such as the District Collector as the Chairperson of the SPV. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of the SPV shall be a full-time officer and appointed after approval of GOI. He can be removed only after approval of the GOI.

It is apparent that the SPV would be a very comprehensive entity, placing together the major stakeholders in the development of the city, ranging from the Central Government to the State and the Local Government. There could be some concern about the feasibility of the Central Government placing its nominees in 100 city SPVs spread over the nook and corner of the country. If these nominees are going to be the serving officers of the Central Government, then they will have to be sourced from numerous ministries as no single ministry can have that number, particularly if the nominees are to be of the level of average seniority, say, Deputy Secretary.

However, if the Central Government were to identify its nominees from outside the Government, say, from universities or retired bureaucrats or corporate entities, then they would become akin to the Independent Directors, leading to two types of Independent Directors (IDs), one from the panel maintained by the MOCA and the other from outside that panel.

In such a situation, the selection of Directors from outside the MOCA panel could be viewed with suspicion, at least in some cases.

Moreover, if the State Governments too choose to place their nominees from a similar lot, for which they would get inspiration from the Central Government, then the SPV would become a non-official body like the Municipality but dominated with persons who do not represent the people through any electoral mandate. The possibility of the State Government loading the SPV with its political nominees could be high in states where the party in power in the State Government is different from that in the City Government.

Powers and functions of the SPV

The MSC requires the Smart City Plan to be an integrated area plan and just for specific projects of say, water supply or procurement of city buses. Therefore, effectively, the SPV will have to function for integrated

Key features of the SPVs as per Mission Guidelines ♦♦ 50:50 Equity of State Government (SG) and Municipality (LB) ♦♦ SG to nominate its officer as Chairperson of SPV ♦♦ All Mission Funds to go to SPV ♦♦ BOD: Nominees of GOI, SG, LB & Independent Directors (IDs) ♦♦ IDs to be from the list of M/o Corporate Affairs, GOI ♦♦ CEO to be appointed and removed only after approval of GOI ♦♦ Powers of SG & LB be delegated to SPV ♦♦ SPV shall sanction & execute all projects ♦♦ SPV to collect taxes & user charges www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

37

Article | SPV and Smart Cities

development, management and governance of the City, at least to the extent of its geographical jurisdiction, which could either be the geographical area covered under the SCP or could be even beyond the SCP area, as decided by the State Government.

The MSC Guidelines empower the SPV to plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects.

In its jurisdictional area, the State Government and the Municipality shall delegate to the SPV their powers as required by the SPV for its smooth functioning. This would include the powers to collect taxes and user charges.

Effectively, thus, the SPV replaces the Municipality and gets even more powerful than the latter because even State Government is required to delegate its powers, which perhaps even municipalities never got. The Mission Guidelines cite operational independence and autonomy in decision-makingand programme implementation as the primary reason for the creation of the SPVs.

The pros and cons of the SPVs

All the features of the composition, powers and functions mooted for the SPVs are unique in the history of urban and rural development of India and can certainly be called a very bold step. States had experimented with SPVs for urban development in a limited and project mode so far. For instance, a riverbank redevelopment project in Gujarat was implemented through an SPV. Many States created SPVs for urban water supply systems, for project implementation as well as maintenance. City bus services were assigned to SPVs in many States.

The model of SPVs for the MSC is significantly different from the project based SPVs that have been created for urban development so far.

This is so because the SPV for MSC would be handling the entire affairs of urban development, from planning, execution, selection of executing

38 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

agencies, collection of taxes and user charges and so on, for which it will take away all the statutory powers of the municipality and, to a good extent, of the State Government too.

While the SPVs in Gujarat generally worked well, in many cases, the urban SPVs, devoid of any organic interwoven structure with the municipality remained construction agencies with only suboptimal results. At the same time, the SPVs made the city governments feebler, by steps.

Another deficiency of the SPV model has been lack of accountability of the SPV to the city residents in a democratically structured way, as is expected from the statecraft of India’s democratic framework.

With the introduction of SPVs at the city level as a replacement of municipalities for planned urban development, we can now imagine an SPV for the State too, w h i c h would replace State

Government in a corporatised mode, to bring about planned development of the State as a whole. Of course, it would be a wild dream and should be so, because we love democracy and want it to flourish at State and National level. But should we not strengthen democratic arrangements at the city levels too, to bring about planned urban development?

It is, however, also true that over the years, cities have not been able to see effective governance and planned development, for which the municipalities have been the first target for putting the blame. Often the root cause for this situation is placed on the imperfect implementation of the seventy-third and seventyfourth amendments. However, we have also seen many examples of excellent work carried out by many municipalities, in several states. Worldover, municipalities are the strongest tier of government for city affairs and one would find equally good reasons for making the municipalities strong in India too.

The way forward

It is apparent that municipalities in many states are at the moment inadequately staffed to handle the task of making their respective cities smart in an accelerated mode.

The SPVs would definitely bring in modern managerial arrangements to usher in planned urban development speedily. However, if the term “development� is considered in its holistic connotation, it should include development of the local governance systems too.

The Smart Cities Mission, as also AMRUT, have already recognized the importance of governance reforms at city levels. The intention is, therefore, very positive.

However, in designing the details of the MSC, the same concept could be placed on sounder pedestal.

One way of achieving that objective could be to place the SPV under the administrative control of the Municipality by giving it majority holdings in the equity shares. At the same time, the arrangements for ensuring that the SPVs achieve their project and programmer development objectives may continue to be guided by the governments at higher levels, with progressively higher autonomy accorded to the local governments.

That should be an excellent framework for making our cities smart not only in letter but in spirit as well.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

39

Feature | Smart Cities Mission

B

hubaneswar, Pune and Jaipur in that order, lead the list of the first 20 smart cities announced by the Minister of Urban Development that will benefit from the Prime Minister’s ambitious election promise of smart cities.

Bhubaneswar tops

‘Smart City Test’

Ministry of Urban Development announces first batch of 20 smart cities from 11 States and Delhi Team Urban Update

40 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ludhiana Punjab Delhi New Delhi Municipal Council

Jaipur

Guwahati

Rajasthan

Assam

Udaipur Ahmedabad

Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision

Gujarat

Surat

Indore

Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur Bhopal Bhubaneswar Odisha

Maharashtra Pune

Solapur Visakhapatnam Kakinada Belagavi Davanagere Andhra Pradesh

M Venkaiah Naidu Minister of Urban Development

Karnataka Kochi la

Kera

Highlights ♦♦ Madhya Pradesh bags three Smart Cities- Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur.

However, MP at 27.63% has a comparatively lower percentage of its total population living in urban areas in the state as compared to other states ♦♦ 20 cities propose an investment of Rs 50,802 cr over five years ; all cities to resort to PPP ♦♦ 26,735 acres area in the selected cities identified for making them smart ♦♦ No city selected from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal ♦♦ Each top ranking city from the left out states can upgrade their smart city proposals and submit them

by April 15 for inclusion in the mission

Chennai

Coimbatore Tamil Nadu

The selected cities account for a total population of 3.54 cr. Five have population below 5 lakhs each, 4 in the range of 5-10 lakhs, 6 in between 10-25 lakes, 4 between 25 and 50 lakhs and only Ahmadabad has above 50 lakhs.

Cities to be upgraded in fast track Sr No

Rank

City

State/UT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

23 24 29 30 32 39 59 60 62 65 70 71 73 74 75 78 83 84 85 90 93 95 97

Warangal Chandigarh Lucknow New Town Kolkata Panaji Pasighat Dharamshala Faridabad Raipur Bhagalpur Shillong Namchi Port Blair Diu Oulgaret Silvassa Imphal Ranchi Agartala Kohima Aizawl Kavaratti Dehradun

Telangana Chandigarh Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Goa Arunachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Haryana Chhattisgarh Bihar Meghalaya Sikkim Andaman & Nicobar Daman and Diu Puducherry Dadra & Nagar Haveli Manipur Jharkhand Tripura Nagaland Mizoram Lakshadweep Uttarakhand

Score (%) 54.8 54.7 53.2 53.1 52.9 52.2 48.1 47.9 47.6 47.4 46.7 46.3 46.2 46.1 46 45.7 44.3 44 43.6 42.5 42.1 41.9 38.1

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

41

Feature | Smart Cities Mission

Bhubaneswar to make city traffic ‘smart’ Bhubaneswar‘s proposal has a cost of Rs 4,537 cr and aims to retrofit and redevelop 985 acres around the main railway station

T

he capital of Odisha and popularly known as the temple city, Bhubaneswar, was designed by the German architect Otto Konigsberger in 1946. Apart from Chandigarh and Jamshedpur, it is one of the first planned cities of India.

The city is fast emerging as an information technology and education hub. A Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), 2010, is in place to create a world-class city. CDP has a proposal for an investment of Rs 29,500 crore, of which Rs 15,000 crore will be public investment and the rest will come from private sources. The state government has already initiated steps to provide Wi-Fi across the city.

Public transport is high on Bhubaneswar‘s wishlist. Odisha‘s capital will focus on making public transport available to all of its 1 million residents in the next 3-4 years, and have a smart traffic management for unclogging its roads. Bhubaneswar Municipal Commissioner Dr Krishan Kumar said the first priority of BMC would be to provide reliable and quick transport. “In all our polls, public transport emerged as the major issue with it securing 32 per cent of the votes. We have now around 100 buses rolling inside the municipal area. We plan to increase it to 400 in next 4 years with provision of night service buses.

The focus will be on making people use public transport more,” he said.

Even on the Bhubaneswar smart city Facebook page, which also topped the

42 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Bhubaneswar Town Centre District is spread over a 3.09 sqkm area from Bapuji Nagar to Saheed Nagar. The speciality of the area is that almost 50 per cent people here live in slums and another 50 per cent are posh localities. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) selected the area on the basis of the people’s verdict through online and offline polls.

Facebook pages of other cities, public transport is high on the wish list. An action plan has also been prepared for better traffic management in which all traffic lights would be interconnected through an intelligent city operation and management centre. Each of the junctions would have five CCTV cameras to keep an eye on traffic law violators, while 40 junctions would sport environmental sensors. As part of the smart city programme, the focus will be on turning roads into streets so that they don‘t belong just to those driving vehicles.

“The roads will be made pedestrian

friendly with facilities for bicycle renting and sharing like cities in foreign countries. There is no point just widening the roads as the Gurgaon Expressway has proved. Changing the travel habits with a smart public transport system will unclog the roads,” Krishan Kumar said.

Currently, Bhubaneswar has a road length of 1064 km but a majority of the roads is narrow with little or no footpath on either side. To make all the 10-12 government departments in the city follow a common guideline on street design, BMC has drafted a street design guideline in which footpath will be an integral part. To start with, the 5 km long Janpath that runs along the city will be turned into a pedestrian friendly roadway. The city railway station will be developed by the municipal corporation by turning it into a multimodal hub in which there will be multilevel parking area, night shelters, street vendor market and place for hosting cultural events. There will be 4.2 lakh sqft of retail space available for hotels and convention centres in the hub.

Officials said in the next five years, Bhubaneswar like other cities will get Rs 1000 crore with the Centre pitching in half of it. However, most of the money needed for turning the city into a smart one will come from private parties. The Bhubaneswar Town centre district, which occupies just about 3 per cent of the municipal area, will need Rs 4,537 crore for its development, half of which needs funding through publicprivate partnership.

The Government announced the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge competition for financing during this financial year. Announcing the cities in an event organised at National Media Centre, Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu said that the winners were from 11 States and the Union Territory of Delhi and the selection was totally objective and transparent based on standardized processes. To qualify, states and local body administrations had to give ‘smart’ answers on a template questionnaire with 43 questions.

Naidu further said that the Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision and smart city plans and the Urban Local Bodies and State Governments piloting the mission with little say for the Ministry of Urban Development.

He also observed that it was for the first time in the country and even in the world that investments in urban sector are being made based on competition based selection of cities.

Informing that 1.52 crore citizens participated in shaping smart city plans of 97 cities and towns in the first round of the competition, Naidu said that this enthusiastic participation of people is a major positive outcome.

Three cities from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from Assam, Delhi, Kerala, Odisha and Punjab made it to the winning list.

The Minister informed that 23 States and UTs who could not make to the list of winners will be given an opportunity to participate in a ‘fast track competition’. Each top ranking city from these left out states can upgrade their smart city proposals and submit them by April 15, this year for inclusion in the mission.

Warangal in Telangana with 54.79% score is the top contender in the fast track competition. Other contenders in top ten are: Chandigarh (54.73); Lucknow (53.24); New

Key features in selected cities ♦♦ T Nagar in Chennai will be converted into a pedestrian-friendly high-street retail hub with provision for cycle tracks. Chennai has proposed Intelligent Traffic Management System to integrate public transport network, video surveillance to monitor encroachments of footpath and water management, including a disaster management system for floods and a tsunami monitoring and warning system. ♦♦ Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had proposed an integrated transit management platform, a mobile application that will help citizens to plan their journeys -right from hiring an auto rickshaw to boarding a BRTS, metro rail or a regional railway train ♦♦ About 550 acres in the New Delhi City Centre, consisting of Connaught Place and surrounding areas, will be retrofitted at a cost of Rs 1,897 crore ♦♦ Surat - Under the area-based development plan, textile market area would be taken up first followed by retrofitting in four neighbouring town planning schemes of Anjana and Parvat Patiya. The corporation is also looking at skywalk-connected markets to reduce congestion ♦♦ Ludhiana- e-rickshaws to be introduced in the entire city to replace auto-rickshaws by 2020. Efforts would be made to provide these eco-friendly vehicles at subsidised rates.

The corporation will also install unique identification number (UID) plates on each property of the city, based on the geographic information system (GIS) ♦♦ Bhopal wants to redevelop 350 acres of government land at a cost of Rs 3,440 crore through pan-city revenue, redevelopment revenue, grants and budget allocation, among others.

Town Kolkata (53.10); Panjim (Goa) with 52.99; Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) with 52.26; Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) with 48.10; Faridabad (Haryana) with 47.86; Raipur (Chhattisgarh) with 47.60 and Bhagalpur (Bihar) with a score of 47.39%. Naidu informed that the 20 winning cities and towns have proposed a total investment of Rs 50,802 cr over five years with all the cities proposing Public-Private-Partnership as a major vehicle of resource mobilization.

Ten of the 20 cities have proposed to mobilize Rs 8,521 cr under PPP model while others have also indicated this option. A total area of 26,735 acres has been identified by these cities for making them smart through necessary interventions.Elaborating on the advantages of Smart City Mission, Venkaiah Naidu said that this leads to integrated urban planning by addressing the issue of infrastructure, land use planning, transport, urban

design and architecture in a holistic manner unlike in the past. Stating that building a smart city is not a destination but a series of small steps in that direction. The Minister said that urban local bodies are taking a quantum jump to improve their capabilities and have resorted to SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of each city for developing the city vision.

Realtors’ body CREDAI also hailed the selection of the first 20 cities for ‘Smart City’ programme, saying the initiative would provide great opportunity for the real estate development, particularly in the affordable homes segment, with improvement in infrastructure of these towns. “It’s a good initiative by the government. Satellite towns around these smart cities will be good opportunity for the real estate development especially affordable housing,” CREDAI President Getamber Anand said.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

43

Article | Inclusivity

Social innovations for inclusion, equity

Prof Dr Mukesh Kanaskar Director, International Centre of Equi T mukesh_kanaskar@yahoo.co.in

T

he International Center of EQUI-T has been established at AIILSG with the vision of ‘Life of Dignity & Equity for the Deprived’. The Center strives to address the issues of poverty, equality & inclusion sustainably. Research, actions, capacity building, policy advocacy, knowledge management & providing customized need-based support to the stakeholders are the main pillars of its work. The unique feature of this center is that it works in all domains of poverty alleviation-Urban, Rural, Tribal and Nomadic Tribes. The Center has to its credit researches, capacity building & IEC knowledge products conducted for Government of India supported National Resource Center for ‘Support for National Policies for Urban Poverty Reduction’.

A key emphasis of this Center is on Social Innovations. This is a fundamental tenet of AIILSG’s International Center of EQUI-T which consistently strives to enable effective social transformation through innovations. The Center starts its response with the resources on hand by mobilizing movements through its network of volunteers. In line with the nation’s priorities for inclusiveness, AIILSG through its International Centre of EQUI-T has sought to design appropriate interventions to address issues of the weaker sections of the population, both rural and urban, with a view to mitigate their vulnerability

44 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

AIILSG’s International Center of EQUI-T consistently strives to enable effective social transformation through innovations. It seeks to design appropriate interventions to address issues of the weaker sections of the population, both rural and urban, with a view to mitigate their vulnerability and build resilience and build resilience.

Various institutions and organisations, both International and Indian, have partnered IC EQUI-T in its efforts. The National Stock Exchange for example, under its CSR programme, is supporting the organization with two projects related to improving quality of education of 1600 underprivileged children from urban, rural, tribal and nomadic tribes background.

In sync with AIILSG International Center of EQUI-T’s movement ‘Right to Education with Right Education’, the two projects are spread over four locations in Maharashtra. They focus on strengthening the demand side as well as the supply side of ‘Right to Education’ to improve access to education of the right quality for the

under-privileged children.

The key innovations nurtured through both these projects are ‘Shikshan Ranjan Kendra’ or Children’s Resource Center, activity based learning through use of therapies, efforts of ‘Shikshan Mitras’, customized inputs and methodology and exposure visits among others.

Another crucial aspect of its work is mobilizing community participation i.e. participation of the primary stakeholders-the vulnerable populations of women, men, children & elderly from slums, remote tribal & rural areas and nomadic tribes. This mobilization is done in very creative ways such as street plays, puppet shows, chitra-katha (story telling) & awareness generation rally.

In another example of its commitments in the rural sphere, International Center of EQUI-T is working with the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) on a very prestigious project-‘Improving Health & Reproductive Health of Women and Girls from the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs)’. This Project addresses the hitherto neglected aspects in an attempt to understand the health and reproductive health needs of women from the De-notified tribes. In a rigid patriarchal society, the status of Denotified and Nomadic Tribal (DNT) women is highly precarious.

The inhuman atrocities faced by these women and lack of access to basic services severely impact their health and reproductive health. Moreover there are hardly any studies focused on health status of DNT populations especially DNT women and girls in particular. This initiative with DNTs is spread over more than 181 settlements in three districts of Maharashtra covering more than 24,000 persons.

The Award Winning Project‘Community Self-Assessment and Planning with Women’s Participation for Disaster Risk Reduction of Vulnerable Communities’ has received wide global and community acclaim.

The ‘RISK’ Award, instituted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Global Risk Forum, Davos and the Munich Re Foundation, Germany was bestowed upon IC EQUI-T whose project was ranked first in the world among 145 projects from 62 countries.

This project is a global innovation as it addresses 3 hitherto neglected aspects vis-à-vis disaster risk reduction: ♦♦ Disaster Risk Identification and Assessment by the Community thereby empowering the vulnerable urban slum communities to assess their own disaster preparedness & plan for disaster risk reduction. ♦♦ Preparedness for effective response with special emphasis on participation of women & children who are among the most vulnerable to disaster impacts.

♦♦ Knowledge Management and Education with special focus on developing child-friendly visual tools/medium. The pioneering grassroots implementation project will reach at least 25,000 slum dwellers from 10 slums in Pune city.

The global innovations being fostered through this Risk Award 2015 Project are: ♦♦ Gender sensitive self-assessment & planning by the vulnerable slum communities to assess their own disaster preparedness and plan for disaster risk reduction ♦♦ Developing participatory & child friendly visual self-assessment and planning tools for the same, ♦♦ Gender sensitive disaster risk reduction planning by centrestaging the participation of slum dweller women who are worst affected by disasters, ♦♦ Innovative IEC through creative communication mediums e.g. street plays, puppet shows, etc, ♦♦ Developing innovative scientific and systematic tools like ‘Slum Disaster Risk Reduction Plan’ ♦♦ Establishing grassroot participatory mechanisms e.g. Slum Level Disaster Risk Reduction Committee, developing a cadre of community volunteers-cumMaster Trainers for enabling the sustainability of the initiative.

An important realisation through the journey of this project was high degree of lack of awareness, ownership and participation of the youth in Disaster Risk Reduction who should be on the forefront of these initiatives. This forms the genesis of the Movement: “Movement of Youth for Disaster Risk Reduction” (abridged as- ‘MY DRR’) launched recently by AIILSG’s International Center of EQUI-T. ‘Men for Women’s Health’ (MWH) is another movement launched by the IC EQUI-T which enables men to be more responsible towards women’s health.

It supports addressing issues of gender inequality, violence against women, women’s safety & security and their health & reproductive health issues. The movement adopts a holistic approach

in appreciation of interconnectivity of women’s health issues with economic participation, self-reliance, decision making in wider societal context and empowerment. This movement has reached more than 10,000 stakeholders till now.

Keeping in mind the priority of “Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment’’ an entity ‘International Center for Women-in-Deprivation’ has been created at the IC EQUI-T of AIILSG. The Center focuses on the issues of inequality of “women-in-deprivation” from the urban, rural, tribal and nomadic tribes contexts. The current priorities and key focus areas of this center are♦♦ Addressing Health and Reproductive Health Issues of Women-in-Deprivation due to lack of access to - health services, education, economic resources and assets, appropriate technologies, etc. ♦♦ Mainstreaming & center staging role of women-in-deprivation in disaster risk reduction planning, environmental upgradation planning, climate change resilience & adaptation planning. ♦♦ Promoting financial literacy & financial management skills among Urban, Rural & Tribal ‘Women-inDeprivation’ ‘Appropriate ♦♦ Promoting Technologies for Women-inDeprivation’, Addressing Gender Gap in Technology, Developing and fostering a cadre of Women Technopreneurs. ♦♦ ‘Grassroots Gender Inequality Report’: Bringing to fore issues of gender inequality, exclusion, lack of health, education & economic opportunities, violence against women, etc. ♦♦ Promoting role of women-indeprivation as ‘Enablers’ at community level for Environmental Education, Financial Literacy, Health & Nutrition, Livelihoods & Skills Development, Education of Children, etc.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2016

45

URBAN AGENDA | Sustainability

Technology for urban sustainability Innovative urban solutions supported by advanced technology are strengthening cities to adapt to negative changes in societal, economic and climate spheres

I

ncreased human activity in cities is adding enormous pressure on urban environment. Many environmental and urban experts have suggested that the battle for sustainability will be won or lost in the world’s cities.

The Global Commission report found that “over the next 15 years, about US $90 trillion will be invested in infrastructure in the world’s cities, agriculture and energy systems.

The world has an unprecedented opportunity to drive investment in low-carbon growth, bringing multiple benefits including jobs, health, business productivity and quality of life.”

When most of the countries are focusing on improving infrastructure and services in cities, it is required that urban planners and decision makers focus on sustainable development that can be achieved by investing in ‘green technology’. Technology has always been there in the infrastructure development, particularly in the development of cities and urban areas.

Many developed countries have begun using technology in order to improve the efficiency of urban systems and also to reduce pollution, and conserve water and energy.

If we look at the financial support required for developing sustainable infrastructure, it could be significantly higher but governments need to find out ways to generate revenue to support sustainable development in cities. For example, construction cost of a green building is almost double in comparison to normal ones but the

46 February 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

cost can be recovered in the long term by cutting down recurring expenses on energy usage. There must be financial support to afford and support the cases of economic insufficiency in the implementation of new technologies.

Currently there are plenty of technological resources to be explored.

Automation systems in buildings (ASB) can help optimize air conditioning and central heating systems, alarms and security systems, artificial lighting systems, energy saving, control of equipment and electromechanical, electrical and electronic installations by means of “intelligent” control devices.

This not only helps in reducing the environmental impact caused by the building but also increases comfort inside it.

Promotion of such technology largely depends on the local and state governments. Like, E-rickshaws are now available in every city but there are only a few cities where they are operating with ease. It is the responsibility of the local governments to promote such initiatives by building essential infrastructure to support such projects. Electronic vehicles that work with electricity by means of rechargeable batteries; these batteries must be charged using clean or renewable energy.

An electric vehicle is 400% to 600% more effective than an internal combustion one; the use of these vehicles would ensure the reduction of greenhouse gases in the transport sector of the cities. None of the cities in

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor bhau@urbanupdate.in

The Global Commission report found that “over the next 15 years, about US $90 trillion will be invested in infrastructure in the world’s cities, agriculture and energy systems. The world has an unprecedented opportunity to drive investment in low-carbon growth, bringing multiple benefits including jobs, health, business productivity and quality of life

India have facility of charging stations for E-rickshaws. The government cannot ban fuel-run vehicles if it does not provide an alternative to drivers running conventional rickshaws and citizens depending on them for daily commuting.

Similarly, advanced system of driving assistance would allow the reduction of commuting time, reduction of fuel consumption, reduction of environmental pollution, control of traffic and traffic jams at low costs of implementation and maintenance of the transport infrastructure. There are many other sectors in which technological innovations can do wonders and improve the livability of our cities.

All India Institute of Local Self-Government AIILSG conducts Online Assessment Testing and Training Programmes. * Online centres are equipped with state-of-the-art AC Labs with requisite support infrastructure facilities to conduct Online Programmes. * Centres are CAT certified Testing Centres and presently conducting many prestigious Online Programmes with reputed clients like Prometric, MeritTrac, TCS, SIFY, IIBF, JNU, Satvat Infosol Pvt Ltd, Manipal University, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and others. * Regional Centres - Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Delhi and Trivandrum are presently having facility for Online Testing Programme.

A I I L SG ON L I N E CE N T RE S

For specific requirement, please contact AIILSG HO Mumbai E-mail: onlinemumbai@aiilsg.org | Phone: 022-26571713/14/15

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG)

United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC)

South Asian Cities Summit-2016 Smart Cities - Aspirations and Challenges UCLG ASPAC Executive Bureau Meeting May 6-7, 2016, The Ashok, New Delhi