Putin's popularity still high

G Krishna Kumar Oct 13, 2015,

It is an achievement for any head of a state to enjoy such popularity even after 15 years at the helm.

Being an Indian, there is always nostalgia about Russia as the two countries have been friends for long. Who can forget President Gorbachev’s visit to India in 1986 and the splendid performances from Russian dancers as part of the cultural exchange programme? 

During my recent visit to Russia, I interacted with a few locals to get a perspective about their country. Before jumping into the findings, here are some facts. Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of surface area with over 17 million sq km. This means, Russia is six times bigger than India, with just 1/8th the population. 

Russia is among the largest oil exporters in the world and hence, the current fall in oil prices has severely impacted the economy. Over the past few quarters, Russia’s currency has been heavily devalued from Rub 25-30 per US dollar to about 70 per dollar.  

In terms of basic infrastructure, some roads are very well maintained, despite the tough weather conditions. In general, the road infrastructure is better than India, but not as good as advanced countries. Public transport system is very affordable. Petrol prices are 50 per cent cheaper compared to India. The super-fast trains speeding at 200 kmph are efficient and popular for inter-city travel.  Russia is the fourth largest producer of electricity globally and hence there are no power cuts. 

Most Russians are not English speaking but have no reservations about this. There is high public awareness in terms of current affairs, politics or history. This could be attributed to high adult literacy in the country. People seem very patriotic and knowledgeable about the October revolution that led to the formation of Soviet Russia. As they commemorate 70 years of World War II, most people remember their ancestors who lost their lives in the war.   

Many still feel that USSR should not have disintegrated and consider Gorbachev a great leader with the right intention, but his policies around Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) eventually led to the split in 1991. In terms of economy, most people track currency fluctuation and have an understanding that imported items become costlier. People keep a close watch on crude oil prices. Corruption is seen as a big problem in the country.

While people think accession of Crimea last year was correct, there were mixed reaction about Russia’s involvement in Ukraine and who was responsible for the Malaysian Airline MH17 crash. Reports suggest that Russia is in recession primarily due to western sanctions (due to Russia’s military action in Ukraine) and falling oil prices. Despite the rise in food prices, attributed to Russia’s tit-for-tat embargo on import of western food products, most people seemed supportive, perhaps nationalism at play.

Adorable man
While there were mixed opinions on many topics, it is unprecedented that everyone adores their current President Vladimir Putin. He is seen as a charismatic leader, saviour, cult figure and nothing short of a rock star. People love him because he brings a personal touch while communicating with fellow Russians. 

Merchandise using Putin’s name is a testimony for his popularity. T-shirts with the picture of the president and writings like “Putin is the kindest person in the world”, “Putin is the best”, “Russia is Putin” are common.  

Putin has been in power since 1999, after President Boris Yeltsin resigned. It is an achievement for any head of a state to enjoy such popularity even after 15 years at the helm. Is it because of the TINA (There is No other alternative) factor? A recent news report states 
that Putin’s popularity within the country is at an all-time high in 2015.

Putin has been rated the most powerful global leader by Forbes for the past two years. In fact, he figures among the top five ever since Forbes began publishing the annual list of global leaders. Under his regime, the Russian economy improved after some tumultuous period after the disintegration of USSR and until 2000.  

A report says that economic output per person has almost doubled during Putin’s regime. The middle class population has prospered under Putin and poverty has reduced from 30 per cent to about 11 per cent over the past 15 years. While foreign media has tried to question Putin’s popularity by arguing that he controls the media, the fact remains that Russians, at least now, are firmly behind the President.

The trust in the president is so high that people are confident that he can get the country out of recession. Notwithstanding the controversy around World Cup 2018 to be hosted by Russia, Putin has started the 1,000-day countdown. 

The people hope this event to bring in huge infrastructure development and help revive the economy. They expect their country to scale greater heights under Putin’s leadership. Can he deliver all over again?

(The writer is adviser, Centre for Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru)

Cybersecurity Conundrum and the Right to Privacy

By G Krishna Kumar

Published: 03rd October 2015 06:00 AM

 

Not long ago, IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was the happiest person after getting the spectrum auction right, which resulted in the government earning over ` one lakh crore. Ever since, the government had to go through a lot of embarrassment over the net-neutrality debate, call drop issue and now, the encryption conundrum. While we are seeing some action from the government, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the telcos on the call drop issue, the draft net-neutrality policy is still being re-worked. Why is there a hullabaloo over the encryption draft policy? Is encryption problem specific to India alone? Before we go into how other countries are handling this, let us get a basic understanding of encryption.
Encryption is a mechanism used to ensure that any content (e-mail or any message sent over the internet) is securely transmitted from the sender to the receiver. Essentially, the content is scrambled using some encryption key or some random number), so that only the intended receiver can read it through a process called decryption (opposite of encryption). It is safe to assume that all the content exchanged on the internet is encrypted and there are any many different ways of encryption used by different companies. WhatsApp or Facebook or any other service provider would use different encryption mechanisms. In fact, all the internet banking and e-commerce sites too use encryption for secure communication.
Why is this an issue? Countries, including India, see a threat to national security as there can be communication between possible criminals. Hence, governments want to define encryption methods to be used. This means, the government can read (sniff) the data being exchanged and assess any security threat. The draft National Encryption Policy wants the government to access all forms of online communication between government, citizens and corporates. So, does the government want to control everything?
There is no doubt that cyber surveillance is needed and even if we assume that the intention behind the encryption policy is only to ensure safety and prevent any compromise on national security, it is important that privacy is not breached. That’s the tricky part. It is not surprising to see such an uproar over the encryption draft policy that was released recently. The bizarre provision asking people to store all messages, like WhatsApp messages and call logs on their mobile phones for 90 days, created a lot of  confusion. The telecom minister clarified that  individuals need not store and that the policy was not applicable to the social media. But again, it is not entirely clear why would the government allow social media, especially services like WhatsApp or Viber, to be removed from the purview as these are easy communication applications and could be misused. In any case, the government has salvaged the situation revoking the draft policy, which is expected be re-drafted.
As with the net neutrality issue, the encryption issue is also a hotly debated subject across the globe, including in countries like the UK and USA, and rest of Europe. In the US, government security agencies have been fighting for access to encrypted data arguing that if access is denied, it could result in their inability to get some potentially life-saving information. The government wants the communication systems to be designed in such a way that full access is provided to the law enforcement agencies. In fact, a recent news report suggests that the Information Technology Industry Association, representing technology companies like Google,Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM have asked the Obama administration not to push for access to data from smartphones and other digital devices.
Another report states that a group of influential computer scientists in the US have dismissed the move by the government to access data as unprincipled and unworkable. The report argues that if the law enforcement agencies are provided guaranteed access to everything, an attacker or hacker who gains access to the very agencies can create unprecedented havoc. The UK government faced a huge embarrassment after there was a proposal to completely ban all types of encryption. As expected, there was a huge uproar and Prime Minister David Cameron had to clarify that the government would look for alternate solutions for handling the encryption issue. The government’s U-turn was seen as a victory by UK’s internet users. Security experts, governments and regulators across the globe are still debating if governments could have avoided 9/11 in the US or the attack in France earlier in January this year. Also, questions are being raised about how many more such attacks are required for some stringent action to be taken. It may be recalled that post the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Indian government had a long dispute with Blackberry for over access to mails, chats and internet browsing history. Eventually, Blackberry agreed to provide lawful access to the government. Hopefully, the government and the telecom department have learnt something from that experience.
But then, the moot question remains: how much of access must the government get? Can the government work with application service providers like WhatsApp to provide back-end access to data on need-basis? Can the government get the telcos to provide access to the data? Will the technology companies, most of them based outside India agree to provide access? Will Indian telcos agree? The legal aspects must be thoroughly examined before proceeding with the proposal.
Also, it is important to note that the recommendations in the US or Europe may not be directly relevant in India as our internet market is not as mature. This means, we will need an India-specific solution and a huge opportunity for India’s premier technology institutions like IITs and IISC to make a mark.
Looking at the complexity of the issue and larger implications due to multiple stakeholders, it is better to have some in-depth deliberation by creating a “select group” with an extensive representation from across the board before making the policy available for public comments. It is also imperative that the new draft considers a phased approach for implementation. The government could have avoided the embarrassment without having to rush, considering that the draft National Encryption Policy was in the works for six years or so.
In order to avoid future fiascos, Ravi Shankar Prasad has now asked for better coordination amongst the different departments in his ministry and has asked for a clear process/procedure to be created. In fact, such a process would be relevant for other ministries as well. The government has all the rights to implement policies since national security is paramount, without compromising on citizens’ privacy. Can the government get the balancing act right?
 (Views expressed are personal)


The author is an ICT professional and columnist. E-mail: krishnak1@outlook.com

 

India’s dropped calls conundrum

(This article was published on September 24, 2015)

G KRISHNA KUMAR

Thanks to the sustained effort from the various television news channels and the print media, highlighting the issue of phone call drops plaguing the country, and there by get the stakeholders to act.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had instructed the telcos to provide a solution for the call drops within 15 days. The time frame is quite ambitious, but subscribers seem happy about the sudden seriousness the issue has found.

In fact, the situation is quite intriguing as the government and telcos are blaming each other for the crisis.

Earlier this week, India’s largest telecom service provider by revenues, Airtel, has announced that all the pre-paid subscribers will be moved from per-minute billing to a per-second billing. This means subscribers just pay for the seconds they have actually consumed.

For example, in the case of per-minute billing, if a person talks for 35 seconds and then the call drops, he/she will be charged for the entire minute, while the person will only be charged for 35 seconds in the per-second billing.

Good move, but why not include post-paid subscribers as well, who give over four times the average revenue per user (ARPU) compared to pre-paid subscribers?

In any case, Airtel’s move is aimed at silencing the critics who argue that the telcos create call drops and earn 10-40 per cent additional revenues thanks to the per-minute billing.

Acquiring and retaining customers is a huge challenge in any business and, in this backdrop, it is hard to believe any telco would purposely ‘engineer’ call-drops, annoy its subscribers and try to increase revenues.

Subscribers can easily switch to any other telecom service provider through the simple and inexpensive network portability process. However, as the quality of service with most telcos being similar, and with lack of differentiation, customers stay with the incumbent service provider.

Focus on quality

The dropped call rate (DCR) is an important measure for voice calls and anyone who has travelled abroad would know that the calls drop even there, but rarely.

For example, in the US and Europe dropped call rate is less than 1 per cent of total calls. In fact, some of the telcos in Europe are aiming at getting the DCR close to zero.

Although the benchmark set by TRAI is <2 per cent, recent audit reports reveal that the call drop rate was an average of 12 per cent to 17 per cent in the country.

The call drop issue may have suddenly gained prominence, but subscribers have been experiencing the problem for many years and it has been taken for granted by most of them.

Why did this happen? One of the reasons is that TRAI’s reporting on call drops have been irregular and incorrect. It is difficult to believe that the DCR was much better than benchmark, say, one or two years ago.

Thankfully, TRAI has realised the magnitude of the issue and one hopes the regulator would publish DCR every fortnight till we see some improvement.

We also need more granular data about call drops or other quality-of-service parameters per operator and per location. For example, it will be interesting to see who is the best telco in Mysore or Nagpur, rather than data at circle level.

In-building solutions

Can we expect the call drops issue to be completely fixed in a couple weeks? That’s quite unlikely, but some action from telcos in fine tuning the infrastructure would help. More importantly, if the towers that were shut down are restarted, they can provide some relief.

Adding towers will certainly help and may be the government should audit and assure the residents that the radiation effects are well under limits and publish quarterly results.

Lack of signal coverage resulting in call drops inside large concrete buildings such as apartments or office parks can be addressed by in-building solutions. Basically, there are efficient plug-and-play signal enhancers that the telcos could deploy for reducing dropped call rates.

More spectrum and M&A

Lack of spectrum is a constant complaint from the telcos. Indian telcos own roughly 1/5th of the spectrum compared to their peers in other countries. Also, a recent report states that in India, there is only 0.1 MHz of spectrum available for one million subscribers, compared to 3-6 MHz in Europe.

Indian telcos are stretching their infrastructure, shows another report. In metros, Indian telcos handle 8 times more voice calls per MHz per tower and 15 times more data per MHz per tower.

The mobile data consumption per month in India is just 1/10th that of the US and other advanced countries. We will soon see hyper growth in data consumption, and lack of spectrum will become a challenge then.

Specifics on spectrum sharing and trading are expected to be announced shortly. This can certainly help in bringing the call drops down.

India’s mobile telecom market is highly fragmented with 10-12 telcos operating in each circle, compared to the global average of 3-5 telcos. Consolidation in the industry could be the next big wave for improving efficiencies and it is imperative that the government announces a mergers and acquisition policy soon.

Another tricky topic is on the regulatory fees. The fees in India is nearly 20 per cent of the revenues earned by the telcos, compared to 3-4 per cent in China and other countries.

Shouldn’t there be a revisit on this and at the same time push the telcos hard to meet the prescribed quality of service.

We may not see close to zero dropped call rate in India, but some sustained actions from the telcos, TRAI and the government can certainly help in improving the situation.

The writer is a Bengaluru-based ICT professional. The views are personal

Will Digital India be a Dividend or Dilemma?

By G Krishna Kumar  Published: 13th August 2015 06:00 AM

New Indian Express , Editorial Page.

 

Recently, India celebrated 20 years of mobile telephony in the country. Back in 1995, the first mobile telephone call was made between the then chief minister of West Bengal and the union minister of Telecommunications in New Delhi. Over the past two decades, we have managed to successfully get away from the highly restricted landline system imposed by the government-owned companies into the dynamic world of mobile communication. Remember the OYT (Own Your Telephone) and N-OYT schemes by the telephone department and the wait for seven to 10 years to get a landline connection? While we must laud the dramatic transformation of telecommunication set-up in the country, India is still ranked lowest among the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Development Index or the IDI published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).  IDI is the globally accepted indicator for a country’s ICT penetration.

Sample this: India’s IDI ranking is 129, while Russia, Brazil, China and South Africa are ranked 42, 65, 86 and 90 respectively. As a comparison, India’s absolute score is 2.83, while the top 5 countries have a score of over 8.5. Interestingly, eight out of the top 10 countries with best IDI score are in the Europe. Among Asian countries, South Korea is ranked second, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore at ninth, eleventh and sixteenth positions respectively.

India’s digital journey started picking pace over the past 10-12 years. With the current government’s Digital India initiative, let us hope that India catapults into top ranking over the next decade.
But what needs to be done? The government should take a holistic view and tackle some of the immediate issues plaguing the telecom sector, both in wireless and wireline broadband segments. The call drop issue has been making headlines for the past few months. Surprisingly, India’s telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report shows that call drop rates are much better than the benchmark in most of the states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh for both 2G and 3G services. Looking at the inconsistency between what subscribers experience and what is reported by the network operators/auditors, the TRAI should definitely consider collecting customer perception or “quality of experience”.

Realising the magnitude of the issue, Telecom Minster Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked for a special audit. We hope to see the results soon, however, it depends on how well the operators respond to the results and take corrective actions. The telecos claim that there are not enough mobile towers in the country. India has over 4,00,000 mobile towers and it is estimated that another 5,00,000 towers will be required to solve the call drops problem. The issue with adding towers is tricky, as there is a growing fear of health hazard due to mobile towers.

A recent report suggests that a parliamentary panel has observed that Indians are more “vulnerable and prone” to electromagnetic radiation and hence there is a need for a detailed study of health risk. Indian telecom operators are starved for spectrum.  The Indian telcos receive only 15 per cent of the spectrum compared to their peers in other countries.
It is important that the government provides more spectrum to the operators. This will also mean that the government earns more money through auction of spectrum and will keep the subscribers happy with fewer call drops.
Most importantly, considering the huge uptake in data usage (people using mobile phone for accessing internet), we need strict parameters for measuring the Quality of service or QOS for data. Are the Indian subscribers really getting 3G and 4G data rates? The TRAI should proactively drive this issue as well as seek corrective actions from the telcos. Otherwise, we could witness an uproar similar to the call drops issue.
The other issue on net neutrality has been overplayed. The Internet ecosystem is quite complex with so many stakeholders like platform providers, search engine providers, content providers, mobile phone makers and platform providers, all competing for their share. Considering that India’s internet usage has just started growing, we need a mature and a balanced approach in this regard. In fact, the world over, net neutrality is still hotly debated and it will take a while for any sort of direction to emerge.
For creating a digitally literate society in India, we need content to be made available in local languages and more importantly, we need applications and content to address the semi-literate and illiterate population. Most of our cities have some form of e-governance system already working. It may be a good idea to strengthen the existing system and create transparency. Can we get India’s Information and Technology industry to own some of these initiatives as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

The other big issue is related to cashless transactions that can bring in transparency and accountability. Why can’t we encourage cashless transactions?  Today, despite the ruling by the RBI, credit card payments and online payment often attract additional charges.
Most of the shops, clinics/ hospitals among other institutions discourage customers from using credit cards citing a two per cent additional charge. It is actually the same when making any payment using the internet.  Shouldn’t the merchants be held responsible for misguiding and for not following the rules?

The incessantly delayed plan of connecting 2,50,000 village panchayats through the National optical fibre network (NOFN) is a cause of worry. A report states that 67 per cent of the NOFN points are not functional. Although the government has rechristened the NOFN as Bharatnet and the budget for this is expected to be increased threefold to over `70,000 crore, the e-governance programmes cannot be realised until the fibre optic backbone is functional.
Maybe the government should prioritise and get 10 per cent of the village panchayats fully working first. On the line of the Smart City challenge, the government should encourage states to compete for faster completion.
Clearly, all the hype around Digital India will vanish if we do not get the priorities right. Unless we have bi-yearly measurable targets published, closely monitor the progress, punish delays and reward on-time completion, the much-anticipated Digital India dividend could turn into dilemma.

The writer is adviser, Centre for Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru.
 Email: krishnak1@outlook.com

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Cases in Business Marketing

Just found - I am quoted in this book titled "Cases in Business Marketing", Published by Tata McGraw Hill 2013 Chapter 6 page 103 . "Indian OPD Industry orbiting its way to the core"

This has been taken from my column "Can we get an Indian Huawei?" published in FE 2011

Quoting G Krishna Kumar, Financial Express 2011 -
Eight of the world’s top 10 most innovative companies of 2011 are in the ICT domain, reports a US based magazine Fast Company. Not surprisingly, all of these are product companies. While India is the largest exporter of ICT services, generating revenue of $76 billion from the IT sector, but products contribute to less than 2%. India’s contribution to technology innovation is negligible.
The product companies witness non-linear growth (not proportionate to the head count)—the revenue per employee or profit per employee of Google or Microsoft is over 20 times that of India’s top services companies. Also, these technology giants serve as a beacon and are the undisputed trendsetters on the world technology road map.

Nasscom indicates that delivery model innovations such as SaaS and innovative revenue models could fuel IT product adoption in future.
BERD (business expenditure on R&D) and patents/IP management are key indicators of a country’s technology innovation capability. An EU commission report on ICT 2011 indicates that India lags behind China and other emerging economies in terms of BERD/GDP. While China has seen a 10-fold increase in the number of patent applications over the past decade, India’s contribution is insignificant. Generating IPs and protecting them is just one part of the story. Realising value from the IP is a different ball game. Appropriateness of the solution is the key. 

Getting set for the app economy

By: G Krishna Kumar and V Sridhar| Financial Express | FE-Reflect | July 23, 2015 11:49 pm

With increased adoption of smartphones and deployment of 3G/4G networks, the country is poised for the take-off of an app economy, a new term coined to describe the economic aspects of mobile applications and content.
With 3-5 million signing up for mobile broadband and 25 million smartphone shipments every quarter, the app economy is here to stay.
Alibaba, the Chinese top e-tailer made headlines for clocking about $9 Billion in just a day during the Singles’ day in November 2014. Not surprisingly a significant chunk was from mobile devices.  A latest KPMG report says that e-commerce (through traditional websites on PCs/laptops) will be overtaken by mobile based m-commerce very soon.
It is a trend that is gaining traction with all  e-tailers providing great user experience on mobile devices. Most recently, India’s leading e-tailer, Flipkart, offered special discounts for purchases made using mobile apps instead of their website. In fact, some of the e-tailers are gearing-up to do away with websites and take a “mobile app” alone route.
In general, the mobile app market has grown significantly over the past five years.  Google’s Play Store  and  Apple’s iStore, both boast of over 1.4 million apps. Is there a real market for app developers in India? How does the app economy work?
The apps market in India is likely to grow by more than four times to $626.23 million (around Rs 3,800 crore) by 2016, with paid apps contributing over 50%. Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) estimates the total worth of Indian app economy at $150 million currently (about Rs 900 crore), with immense potential to grow further.
An average of 17 apps were downloaded in a year in India per user, out of which 4 were paid apps, compared to a global average of 26 apps, of which 5 were paid apps. India is among the top three countries by the number of app downloads
Interestingly, 80% of apps being downloaded in India are global apps. This may be due to the lack of India-specific apps. Unlike countries like China, Korea, or even Japan, where country-specific Apps are a smash hit like Weibo or KaKaoTalk, India cannot boast of many India specific app with millions of users. Bharti Softbank’s Hike messenger has about 25 million users.
A recent report states that there are over 3 lakh mobile app developers in the country. Over the past few years, quite a few Indian companies specialising in app development have emerged and are successful in developing apps for both B2B and B2C markets. InMobi has just released an engaging mobile advertisement delivery platform competing with Facebook and Google. Some companies have created a niche for themselves by focusing on iOS apps.
UK-based mobile app research company Vision Mobile has some interesting statistics about the Indian market from a developer stand point.  Android has emerged as the primary app development platform with over 56% developers using Android, while 20%  of the developers use iOS.  In terms of revenue model, advertising contributes to about 40% , followed by the ‘pay per download’ of 21% and contract work  and commissioned apps coming in with 20%.
What could be the niche areas for Indian apps? Diversity of languages is a unique trait for India. Firms such as Reverie Technologies have developed platforms for Indian language processing; mobile app developers, especially those related to media could look at creating apps that meet the needs of language diverse demographies of India.
Newshunt, the multilingual news feed platform for example has seen good traction amongst non-English speaking users.
Another area is the development of apps for improving day-to-day life of Indians. Congestion in roads, call drops on telecom networks, overflowing sewage, water shortages are some of the common infrastructural and public utility bottlenecks that we face day in and day out. How about a simple India specific weather forecasting application in local language? This could also be used for emergency alerts regarding floods/earthquakes,etc.
The Singapore government has made significant progress in enabling mobile  app based service delivery.
Singapore’s OneService provides a platform for residents to give feedback to the authorities on all the municipal issues. The ActiveSG app lets the public book sporting facilities and sign up for sports programmes. myENV allows the user to check  weather and related information.
India could adopt mobile app based governance systems. For example, the government had recently shortlisted 20 app ideas from over 9,000 entries with over 50,000 ideas in the PMO app contest—certainly a great initiative to spur innovation among the youth. Let us hope to see millions of downloads and active usage enabling a digital society.
The e-commerce companies are basically trying to provide some smoothness to the unorganised sector through digital intervention.  Similarly, apps can bridge the gap between citizens and the governments at various levels to improve public services.

Kumar is vice-president, Symphony Teleca and Sridhar is professor, IIIT Bangalore. Views are personal
First Published on July 24, 2015 12:25 am
 

Improve, innovate, implement: Smart cities' mantra

G Krishna Kumar, July 20, 2015, Deccan Herald/OpEd/Panorama

Rains in Gurgaon and Delhi have embarrassingly exposed the fragile infrastructure in these cities. This just proves that a downpour would leave our cities, old and new alike, in absolute disarray.   The civic administration, urban planners and politicians have miserably failed in planning and implementing basic infrastructure, be it drainage or pothole free roads in our cities.
Despite the current infrastructure woes in cities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the laudable initiative of “100 smart cities” mission. Indeed, the right strategy considering India’s urban population is expected to grow to over 50 per cent in the next 15 years, contributing to over 75 per cent of the GDP.

Smart cities are expected to make the life of the general public better by using Information and communication technology (ICT), and bringing in efficiency and accountability. ICT can assist in efficient delivery of physical services to the public. The recently launched Digital India project would help in building-in transparency and creating an “ICT aware” society. 

It is estimated that an astounding Rs 40 lakh crore is required to build 100 smart cities. Will the existing cities be able to self-finance and manage the scale? May be the government should look at a complete overhaul of the archaic administrative set-up. 

The government plans to spend Rs 1 lakh crore over five years for the 100 smart cities project and 500 cities under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation). The AMRUT is aimed at improving the infrastructure of cities with over one lakh population.

It is an excellent idea as it aims at improving the quality of life and providing a clean and sustainable environment to the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns including the much needed tourist spots. This will also help decongest metropolitan cities.

The government is planning for a two-stage ‘City Challenge’ competition that would allow states to compete with each other for funding. Among other parameters, past track record in implementing sanctioned projects, self-financing, city’s vision and strategy, innovation, scalability and cost effectiveness of the smart city plan will be part of the evaluation criteria.

Planning for the smart cities mission is strategic and long term in nature. Hence, there must be a “short term” focussed effort in handling initiatives that can provide immediate respite to the citizens. As a first step, we need better coordination between the government organisations within the city and thereby reduce costs. Why can’t the departments handling a city’s road repairs/ asphalting, sewerage/ water, work coherently?

Each city will have different priorities and civic groups must be involved in identifying key issues that can be implemented using the existing ICT system.  For example, a simple and effective parking solution during weekends and holidays could be created by using all the vacant parking slots available in government and private offices in the central part of any city.

Similarly, installing skywalks/escalators on roads with dense vehicle movement, providing bus arrival information system in all the bus stops can be some of the simple yet high-impact measures that the citizens would appreciate. Most cities have established e-governance systems that people use for paying utility bills, taxes etc. 

Can we improve the grievance redressal systems, provide time-bound response and establish a clear work-flow automation? This will greatly help in providing the exact status to the citizens availing any service. This can also reduce corruption to a great extent.

Sensing an immense opportunity, many countries and global companies are offering funding and technology solutions towards India’s smart cities mission.  We need “India-specific” and affordable solutions and hence copying from other countries may only result in significant cost with no meaningful impact to the citizens.  

For example, some European cities have implemented an underground pneumatic garbage disposal system. Basically, the moment garbage is dumped into the bin on the street, it gets immediately sucked into the underground system. Sounds impressive, isn’t it? But, do we need such expensive systems in India?

In fact, a research report suggests that an efficient traditional garbage collection system would just cost only 10-15 per cent of such sophisticated underground systems.

Innovate and implement
The smart cities initiative is a great platform to spur innovation. Using the ‘Mera Shahar Mera Sapna’ contest, Modi has made the right move by asking people for innovative ideas. Ideas should be bottom-up, while the planning would require a top-down approach. The government must create a platform to appreciate “engaged citizens” contributing ideas.

While large multinational technology companies are eager to participate in the smart cities’ journey, the government should create the right checks and balances to avoid monopoly. For sustained innovation, the start-up ecosystem must be encouraged along with a strong push for participation from smaller companies.

Synergies between the smart cities and the Digital India initiative can spur inno-vation and help in creating ICT jobs. The recently launched Skill India mission can act as a stimulus for encouraging entrepreneurship around smart cities. The government should consider creating specific

skill development programmes around ICT/smart cities by involving other stake holders.
As with any infrastructure project, implementation is the key. The government should publish measurable targets, accountability and a quarterly progress report. An Independent Evaluation Office to monitor the progress would greatly benefit.

Finally, only government’s willingness and a “make it happen” attitude will decide if the dream of smart cities can become a reality.  In the short term, will the urban bodies take a cue from the PM’s message and implement simple, yet high impact initiatives, create visible positive changes in our cities and gain the citizens’ trust?

(The writer is Adviser, Centre for Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru)