The United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report, 2018 cautioned about a rising trend of urbanisation in India in recent decades. It has mentioned that approximately 34% of India’s total population lives in urban areas which is an increase of about three percentage points since the 2011 Census. The solution for this inevitable phenomenon of urbanisation in India lies in the development of Smart Cities in India. The Union Government of India has initiated the ‘Seven Mission Programme’ for overall development of urban India, with special emphasis on ‘100 Smart Cities Mission’. The success of ‘Smart Cities Mission’ is based upon the synergy between ‘4S’ and ‘4P’ formula for development of smart cities.

 4S formula for Smart Cities – 

The urbanisation problems require timely and effective solutions to keep the growth trajectory of the nation on right path. The ‘4S’ formula consisting of – Smart Leadership, Smart Governance, Smart Technologies and Smart people participation – is the winning formula for efficient and effective delivery of civic amenities in the urban areas.  ‘Smart Leadership’ should be guided by a proper vision and mission for the development of cities.  It requires the courage to take quick and bold decisions and adaptation of best practices and attract investments. The decision making authorities including the political executives as well as the bureaucracy should provide the exemplary leadership in terms of futuristic vision for the urban India. There are very few political parties and political leaders in India who have the vision for future of urban India. ‘Smart Governance’ is needed to ensure transparency and accountability through adoption of technology platforms to reduce human to human interface and ensure online delivery of services and real time information, besides promoting participation of citizens in decision making and execution. The principles of SMART Governance in terms of Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent Governance would fasten the pace of Good Governance in urban India. The twenty-first century expects the smart use of innovative technologies for stumbling blocks in the developmental processes. ‘Smart technologies’ will enable efficient energy, traffic, solid waste and waste to wealth management, real time information and service delivery in urban areas. The last but most important requirement for developing Smart Cities in India is the involvement of ‘Smart people’ in the process of development. The people should be smart enough to partner in the development of the cities by willing to pay for the value addition to the services, able to question the authorities and enforce accountability. The smart cities shall be liveable, workable, inclusive and sustainable.

3P formula for Smart Cities –

The state Governments and the urban local bodies have to play the key role in building smart cities while the central government could do the handholding as an enabler besides providing some financial assistance. Gone are the days when the responsibility for development of the society can be conveniently handed over to the Government only. The LPG era (Liberalisation Privatisation Globalisation) in India has opened the gates for involving the private sectors as well as for introducing the best international technologies and practices into day to day living of ordinary citizens of India. The success of Smart Cities Mission is possible only if the participants in the process of development of urban India involves 3 P’s i.e. Public sector (Government), Private sector and the common People participation. The smart vision and the latest technologies for transforming the cities in India would be a distant dream unless and otherwise there is coordinated efforts and the synergy between all these ‘3 P’s in the society.

The ‘Smart Cities Mission’ is a visionary step in the development of cities in India, but needs proper coordination amongst all the stakeholders and its effective implementation. It’s unfortunate that despite of grand announcement related to ‘Smart Cities Mission’, the implementation part and the ground level realities are far from the expectations. The residents of cities are still struggling to get the basic civic amenities in terms of drinking water, solid waste disposal, etc. from the urban local governing bodies. It’s never too late for any good work and the same applies to convert our cities into smart cities. If we convert ourselves into responsible citizens of our cities in our civic duties then only we have the moral right to force the political executives to do the needful.

(The author of this article ,Lt Col (Dr) Satish Dhage, is an ex Army officer and has been qualified for IPS (Indian Police Services) through IPS LCE 2012. Presently, he is Director, MGM Institute of Competitive Exams Aurangabad.                                    

For any queries or feedback, he can be contacted on email id : drsatishdhage@gmail.com)