SMART CITIES MISSION IN INDIA

Gunin Borah

(The writer is a faculty of Geography in Biswanath College, Chariali. He can be reached at borah.gunin@gmail.com)

The 'Smart City Mission' is a revolutionary project ini-tiated by the Government of India in 2015, to transform the country's urban landscape. The primary goal of the Government is to transfer all Indian cities into 'Smart Cities' by technologies and providing local area development. The Government plans to redevelop the existing areas, create livelihood for locals and develop new areas to accommodate the expanding urban population. The implementation of smart solutions in cities would entail deployment of technologies, information, and data to enhance infrastructure and improve services. Such a comprehensive development would improve the quality of life, generate employment, and boost income for local people.

The 'Smart Cities' are aimed to efficiently manage growing urbanization, energy consumption, maintain a green environment, improve the economic and living standards of their citizens, raise the people's capabilities to efficiently use and adopt the modern information and communication technology (ICT). In the 'Smart Cities' concept, ICT is playing a vital role in policy design, decision, implementation, and ultimate productive service. The primary objective of this review is to explore the role of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) in the evolution of smart cities.

A 'Smart City' uses information and communication technology (ICT) to improve operational efficiency, share information with the public and provide a better quality of government service and citizen welfare.

The main goal of the 'Smart City' is to optimise city functions and promote economic growth while also improving the quality of life for citizens by using smart technologies and data analysis. The value lies in how this technology is used rather than simply how much technology is available.

A city's smartness is determined by using a sets of characteristics, using: (1) An infrastructure based around technology, (2) Environmental initiatives, (3) Effective and highly functional public transportation, (4) Confident and progressive city plans, and (5) People able to live and work with in city, using its resources.

The 'Smart City Mission' in India launched in 2015, is a joint effort of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) and all State and Union Territory Governments. It was initially aimed to complete by 2019-20, but has since been extended. All together one hundred cities and towns in different states and Union Territories of India have been selected under the 'Smart City Mission' (SCM) and they are home to more than one third of the country's population.

The mission aims ''to derive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local areas to develop and harness technology, especially technology, that leads to smart outcomes and ensures that these cities are 'livable, inclusive, sustainable and have thriving economies that offer multiple opportunities to people to pursue their diverse interests. In other words, according to MOHUA, 'Smart Cities are the cities that work for the people'.

The 'Smart City Mission' is a transformational mission aimed at paradigm shift in the practice of urban development. The Central Government launched (June,2015) it for the development of 100 cities in India. Selection of cities was done through four rounds of screening from 2016 to 2018. According to the Mission document, the purpose of the 'Smart Cities Mission' is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes.

The 'Smart City' proposal included core infrastructural elements, such as assured water supply, electricity supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient mobility and public transport, affordable housing, safety and security, health care facility and development of education, etc. To achieve these objectives, several projects for the selected cities were envisaged, which would enable them to achieve the tag of 'Smart Cities' at the end of the mission.

However, more than five years after its launch hundreds of projects under the 'Smart City Mission' have not been completed. Only 1119 of the 1794 projects (63%) in the first phase of the mission are completed. Moreover, only 18,484 crore have been spent of the total estimated budget of Rs. 57,124 crore. The smart cities are expected to complete their projects within 5 years from the date of selection. Initially the Government had selected 20 cities to be developed into Smart Cities in January, 2016. These cities are: Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Sholapur, Devangere (Karnataka), Indore, New Delhi, Combaitore, Kakinada (Andhra), Belagavi (Karnataka) Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhina, and Bhupal.

As per the Government data (till June, 2021) 548 projects worth Rs. 26,966 crore spread in these 20 cities are in 'work under' stage and 127 projects worth Rs. 11,750 crore are in 'tender' stage.

A look into citywise data discloses, Chennai Smart City has completed 37 projects of Rs 600 crore, while 44 projects of Rs 198 crores are in the 'work order' stage. Tenders have been issued for 45 projects of Rs.960 crore.

An official release said that Covid-19, lockdown and other unprecedented situations have led to temporary interruptions in the execution of the Smart City works across the country. However, most of them have resumed work and are trying to make up for the time lost.

The largest city in North East India -- Guwahati has a well developed connectivity with the rest of the country and acts as the gateway to the entire Northeastern India. Hence, the development of the city is not only critical to the state of Assam but also to the entire North East India. There are several issues and challenges related with environmental and also socio-economic aspects recognised by Government, Non-Governmental agencies, and local people, those standing barriers in the development of Guwahati city as a Smart City identified on the basis of study and observation.

On analysis of data it is found that the city population is increasing, rapidly putting pressure on urban basic infrastructure, such as urban water supply, solid waste management, sewage and drainage. These services also reflected urban land use patterns, where we find considerable changes in residential, commercial, public and semi-public spaces. The Guwahati City (GMDA) has already taken some initiatives to improve the basic services through investment infrastructure, implementing information and communication technology for transparency in financial management.

The urban areas are expected to have 40 per cent of India's population and contribute 75 per cent to India's GDP by the year 2030. In India the Smart City Mission is an initiative for urban planning. The Central Government as well as State Government, through its various programmes is testing new products and initiatives to effectively implement 'Smart Cities'.