The mission of ‘Developing 100 <keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="smart-cities">smart cities</keyword>’ has come a long way from being just a manifesto promise to the final selection of potential smart cities in India. The ‘Smart Cities Mission’ was officially launched in June 2015 and is about to complete a year, which mostly includes planning. Even though the first batch of 20 cities was announced at the beginning of this year based on a city level competition, no progress has been made on the ground. Now with the addition of 13 more cities in the mission list, the future roadmap of the mission is repeatedly questioned. The high expectations set on the mission earlier now seems to be waning because of no visible development and lack of focus from the concerned authorities. 
 As per the laid down blueprint, 20 smart cities should have been identified by 2015, 40 to be selected in 2016 and the remaining set of 40 in 2017. However, till date the mission is stuck at the planning stage and struggling to take the next round of steps. One of the possible reasons could be the lack of explicitly defining the timelines of the mission completion at the first stage. The mission seems to be moving forward with no set deadlines and the <keyword id="6696781" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Urban-development-ministry">Urban Development Ministry</keyword> has also raised their concerns on the matter. They have urged the CEOs of SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicle) of the first 20 smart cities to launch their projects latest by June 25 because time-bound actions are prerequisite for the successful implementation of any project. The timeline is a vital component of the entire mission and cannot be ignored because the progress can only be measured by using it. So no sign of implementation at the ground level has been created some bits of anxiety among the key stakeholders in the project including the citizens. 
 It has also been noted that urban schemes that require state participation, generally progress at a slow rate, which can be a possible case with smart cities in India. The state government has a considerable say in the city level matters because of the hierarchical administrative structure. Thus offering little power to the urban local body (ULB) and raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the <keyword id="513113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="smart-city">smart city</keyword>. Even the formation of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to resolve the issue is suspect due to problem of coordination among stakeholders. Another problem is tentative political hand in appointments. These factors can increase the probability of creating inconsistency in city’s management operations like infrastructure approvals. 
 
At this juncture, when most of the hurdles to achieve the goal of smart cities have been successfully passed, it is time to execute the action plan. It is important to realise that the mission is already running behind time and not paying attention to the inherent problems in the system can delay the project further. It can lead to a scenario similar to Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) where out of 1345 sanctioned projects in Phase 1 (March 2005 – March 2012), 715 projects were not completed by the stipulated date. As a result, the cost of implementation kept increasing with time and this acted as a roadblock in the development process of India. 
 
Even Kevin Stolarick, Canadian expert on Urban Affairs pointed to the severity of the challenge of creating <a href="http://competitiveness.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Cover-Story-Smartcity.pdf">smart cities</a> based on his experience after visiting 35 Indian cities. According to him, when the fundamental infrastructure isn’t in place in India then how will the smart cities initiative take off and cater to the masses. As Maslow defined the hierarchy of needs for individuals, cities too have their own hierarchy needs. And just as it's hard to be ‘self-actualizing’ if you are hungry or unsafe – how can a city become a ‘smart city’ if it does not have the basic infrastructure in place? 
 
The concept is also focusing on transforming just a section of the selected city, which will serve only a fraction of the city and might create inconsistency in the city’s operation. Jaipur has a land area of 27,630 acres but as per its smart city plan, only 706 acres will be considered for the area-based development. The step raises a question that why is the bigger picture not looked at. If the smart cities are not meant for all the citizenry of a city then why it is being promoted as an inclusive approach. 
 Today, <keyword id="3424419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="developing-cities">developing cities</keyword> are more of a necessity than an ambition for India so it is critical to engage the right set of professionals from ideation to execution of the mission. The involvement has to be of professionals with domain expertise from the government or private institutions because a lot of innovative thinking and experience is required to lead the mission. Experts with leadership skills can help the mission to get back on track and manage the performance gap, which the mission seems to be facing at the moment. 
 
The need of the hour is, therefore, to start rolling the mobilised resources and convert plans into actions because the earlier it is done, the better it will be to support the fast-paced urbanisation in India. 
 
About the authors: Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness and Editor of Thinkers. Ankita Garg is a senior researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. 
 
<a href="http://egov.eletsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/smart-city-F.jpg">Image source</a>

Is 'Smart City' just a concept?

Maharashtra identified 14 districts as red zones— here’s the complete list of containment zones in Mumbai and Pune

The recent phenomenon of <keyword id="6355333" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Brexit">Brexit</keyword> where Britain decided through a referendum to leave <keyword id="6355110" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="European-Union">European Union</keyword> has brought the debate on perils of a <keyword id="6354914" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Democracy">democracy</keyword> back to the fore. Back home the episode of the release of Udta Punjab and the tale of ‘death’ of the writer Perumal Murugan are some of the instances which have put a question mark over the idea of democracy. Although the judiciary came out with landmark judgments on both the issues, but it certainly has initiated the debate that “too much of democracy” can lead to its own undoing. This takes me back to one of the discussions, which I happened to be a part of, on advantages of a benevolent dictator in a country like India against a struggling democracy. While this can be a good exercise to understand the perspective of people in favour of democracy or those opposing it, it is important to clearly identify the issues hurting the idea of Indian democracy today. 
 
There exists no single model or concept which can clearly define a democracy and provide us with a benchmark to analyse India’s democratic performance so far. Instead it has been an amalgamation of theories and ideas which have evolved into our current understanding of a democracy. This underscores the complication associated with the process and makes it difficult to compare Indian way of democracy with other countries. There have been efforts to quantify the performance at a global level. One example is the recent initiative (2006) of Economic Intelligence Unit to compile a Democracy Index. The Democracy Index measures the state of democracy in 167 participating countries based on five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of the government, political participation and political culture. The 2015 ranking is headed by Norway with an aggregate score of 9.93 on a scale of 10. The US is placed at 20th position and India, the largest democracy in the world, is ranked 35th. While the parameters of assessment can be debated on the fact that it does not take into account India’s long struggle for independence and quick democratic turnaround, but more importantly another critical non-political dimension missing in the index is the people and the society which is an essential constituent of a healthy democracy. And this is where the Indian democracy struggles the most. There is a Global Democracy Ranking published by the Democracy Ranking Association in Austria which factors in the dimension of ‘Quality of Society’ and India is ranked 68th in it, well below the likes of Tunisia, Namibia and Senegal. A closer look at the dimension of ‘Quality of Society’, which comprises parameters like socio-economic and gender inequality, knowledge based information society, research and education, health status, environment etc., clearly demonstrates shortcomings of Indian democracy. 
 
One very important factor which has had significant impact on the democratic functioning of our country is knowledge-based critical thinking. India has struggled to establish a society based on scientific temper and rational thinking. Section V of our Constitution, Article 51A on ‘Fundamental Duties’ states that “it shall be the duty of every citizen of India.. To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. Even our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had evoked scientific temper and critical thinking as “a way of life, a process of thinking, a method of acting and associating with our fellowmen”. Unfortunately, the current education system has not been conducive to promoting reasoning, original ideas, opinions and innovations. The incentives are misaligned right from the students, teachers and administration to all the way to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, in charge of the education policies of the country. The obsession with the quantification of performance in form of marks, revenue or the number of premiere institutes in the country have completely ruined the ecosystem of rational thinking and this is what is hurting the democracy the most. The episode of Bihar Board toppers is a case in point. The ability to logically think through any reasoning and then make an informed choice is what lies at the core of a successful democracy and currently it is not happening in our country. A society driven by rational thinkers has the potential to convert all the violent clashes and conflicts to a healthy debate of ideas and ideologies within a democratic framework. Imagine the impact it can have on all the issues of the country ranging from militant insurgencies to ideological extremism. This will also have a direct impact the performance of political community and the general ‘political culture’ of India. There will be less of rhetoric and more of quality discussion on public policies. The onus of changing demo-crack-tic India to a functional democratic India is both on the policy makers as well as on us. 
 
The criticism of Indian democracy should not be directed towards the inherent nature of its processes and institutions rather more towards the lack of support from its constituents in form of critical thinking and scientific temper. Note that India today stands at a very precarious position with its demography and any form of conformism without reasoning can result in a system which would be superficially democratic but inherently a dictatorship.. benevolent or not !! 
 
(The article has been authored by an IIM Bangalore student - <keyword id="3504238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rishabh-Raj">Rishabh Raj</keyword>, and all the views expressed above are that of the author.)

An IIM-B student tells us why India is not a democracy, it's inherently a dictatorship

His is a perfect rags-to-riches story. Only, the riches here mean the highest seat of political power corridors – the seat that seals the fate of billions of Indians. When <keyword id="2257489" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PM-Narendra-Modi">PM Narendra Modi</keyword> started on his brand-building exercise, there was hardly any state in the country – apart from Gujarat – that was a huge fan of this bearded-bespectacled man. The change didn’t come overnight either. It happened over years through hard work, strategic planning and positioning along with consistent PR efforts that beamed the image of the man. 
 Today, there is hardly any youth who does not admire or adore him, or even vehemently criticise Narenda Modi for his persona and works. But, what is more important is whether someone likes him or not, they just can’t ignore him. Even to oppose his decisions and stances, one has to be well-informed about his persona and preferences. So, <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> in more ways than one, keeps his opponents also fully occupied with information regarding himself or his style of administration. 
 
What makes ‘brand Modi’ much more endearing and successful when compared to others? In more ways than one, Modi has brought the same fresh wave into Indian politics that Jawahar Lal Nehru, or Indira Gandhi or her son Rajiv brought during their respective elections. 
A few takeaways from brand Modi to understand the ‘business and management’ side of his personality, may well be worth. Remember, this is in a nutshell and it is difficult to hold something like this in a nutshell. We might need a few hundreds of them to explain in proper terms. 
 
'No’ is the word 
To say no, when you are in public life, is the most difficult task but not for Narendra Modi. He says a firm ‘no’ when he’s asked to spend time on things that either don’t require his attention or don’t deserve his time. Without further negotiation, his party workers continue to do their jobs!Saying no is not rude. It’s a time saver. And when you save time, you also save money, energy and creativity that can be invested in something that promises better potential. 
 
Be dynamic, but stay firmly rooted 
Every living being changes with time is. Whether it is animals adjusting according to weather, or humans according to their conditions; change is the only constant and thus, is inevitable. Modi accepts change without resisting, especially when it promises the treasure of better times ahead. That does not mean he is not rooted. He is still as loyal to his morals, values and upbringing as he was earlier. And that’s what guides his spirit. 
 
Stay open to the path ahead 
Closed to change would necessarily mean missing all that lies in the future. Modi is a big dreamer who looks at the future with a lot of optimism. Hence, staying open about the future is essential. Old has its value too, but the new holds promise. We owe it to ourselves, if none else! 
 
Time and perseverance 
Dreaming isn’t a crime. But, not working towards realising your dream is indeed a crime. With his humble background and basic existence for a long time, Modi did show the country that a tea seller can surely keep the senses of the country stimulated in anticipation of better times. A small company without dreams will stay just that. A miniscule idea with enough support and hard work put in by members to grow, has sky for its limit. 
 
Counter the situation; don’t quell it 
Staying a mute spectator when someone has the chance to walk all over you is only a step towards finishing yourself. Don’t allow situations to get out of hand that can seriously damage your future. Speak up, even if you feel weak. You never know who’s listening! 
 
Know your customer 
Empathising with your customer/voter beyond the call of duty only ensures the bond is there to stay. Else, a touch-and-go approach will remain just that. If you need to have a customer who is going to speak ‘for you’, your reputation in the market is just getting rock solid. 
 
Time is premium 
Whether it is being open to change, or being open to ideas that would usher change, time assumes a lot of importance. Sometimes, tough decisions like sending out underperformers may be inhuman, but inevitable. When faced with such challenge, a man turns spiritual. Don’t be. Just focus on getting the job done within time, and leave the rest to fate. Sometimes, hard times have also brought some great moments to people. 
 
Reduce the clutter 
Dead wood can’t stay. Period. Reason, time is what carries the premium value and deadwoods can only consume time without contributing much. If you have the power to do away with the clutter, do it. Else, just have all the creative minds focus on the result, and you can then negotiate on your terms once you have reached the goal. 
 
Stay undeterred 
Single-minded focus is the need of the hour. Bracing self to face bitter criticisms for larger good is always better than hearing sugar-coating words that won’t help you introspect.

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Is 'Smart City' just a concept?

Amit Kapoor

Maharashtra identified 14 districts as red zones— here’s the complete list of containment zones in Mumbai and Pune

Navdeep Yadav

An IIM-B student tells us why India is not a democracy, it's inherently a dictatorship

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Brand Narendra Modi: Here Are 10 Business Lessons For All

Preetam Kaushik