India – as smart Country

India is a beautiful country and famous all over the world for its unique cultures and traditions. It

is famous for its historical heritages and monuments. A smart city outfitted with high-tech

communication capabilities. It uses digital technology to enhance performance and well being, to

reduce costs and resource consumption, and to engage more effectively and actively with its

citizens.The idea of smart city came into formulation owing to the need to accommodate rapid

urbanization of the age. Interest in smart cities continues to grow, driven by a range of

socioeconomic and technological developments across the globe. It is due to the increasing

number of smart cities that established suppliers from energy, transport, buildings, and

government sectors are moving into the smart city market, while startups are addressing a range

of emerging opportunities in the same field.

Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi has vision to make smart cities in India to enhance the living of

populace. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to build 100 smart cities in India

therefore .government has made "comprehensive plan" for the management of urban green

spaces. The standards for being recognised as a smart city must have three of the five

infrastructure requirements such as energy management, water management, transport and travel,

safety and security and solid waste management.

The concept behind developing the smart cities is to create highly advanced urban regions in

terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability.

Prime Minister Mr. Modi has realized that making cities smarter and safer is a necessity to defeat

the saturation threshold due to urban population development. The unparalleled rate of this urban

growth creates a need to manage and recognize such challenges. Information and communication

technology is an enabler in Smart City projects; the execution of the necessary layers related to

ICT services is usually determined by drivers behind the project and those who begin it.

India is drawing on the development of smart cities at the global level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision ‘Digital India’, has a plan to build 100 smart cities across the country. Modi in his speech said, “Cities in the past were built on riverbanks. They are now built along highways. But in the future, they will be built based on availability of optical fiber networks and next-generation infrastructure.”

Digital India envisages making India a leader in digitally delivering services in the health, education, banking sectors. Modi announced an investment of $1.2 billion in smart cities with more funding coming from private sectors and abroad.

Principles of smart cities: News reports have revealed that there are five principles that can serve as an agenda for a U.S.-India partnership on smart cities which are mentioned below:

1. A smart city should be economically-driven, not technology-driven.2. Each smart city should have a chief innovation officer to guide and coordinate

investments.3. Smart city development should facilitate India's own technology and innovation

capabilities.4. He smart city partnership should result in new state or national enabling frameworks to

scale innovation and foreign investment.5. India should ensure that its smart city partnership is a model of transparency and citizen

engagement.

At last, it can be said that new strategy of Modi has created enthusiasm amongst industry directors and urban leaders to enhance the status of cities in coming years. But it depends on the honest approach of leaders and business players who can develop good city policy that can bring desired outcomes such as more sustainable, more prolific and better-governed cities. Both smart and conventional cities require strong and efficient local institutions to do well.