eGov April 2017

Laying Roadmap for Indian APRIL 2017 | VOLUME 13 | ISSUE 04

ECIAL ISSUE SP

Smart & Sustainable City Summit Conference | Expo

7th - 8th April 2017 Hotel Le Meridien

Chief Guest

Devendra Fadnavis

Hon’ble Chief Minister Maharashtra

Guest of Honour

Nitin Gadkari

Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport and Highways Government of India

Realising the Big Smart City Dream

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As Smart Cities are creating a buzz in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave it a rigorous push, there is tremendous amount of curiosity about what kind of results it would yield for the general public.

It prompted us to explore the world of Smart Cities through Nagpur, the city which has left various other cities behind in implementation of Smart City projects in a short span of time. Our cover story –“Nagpur Laying Roadmap for Indian Smart Cities” explores how its civic body has played a vital role and working to improve quality of life.

In the light of Nagpur occupying such an important place on the landscape of Indian Smart Cities, we decided to hold a Smart and Sustainable City Summit in Nagpur from 7th to 8th April, 2017.

The event is happening in collaboration with Nagpur Municipal Corporation, with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Mahrashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis making their distinguished presence felt.

Key officials from various states and leading companies providing smart city tech solutions are part of this premier summit.

The objective is to ensure a brainstorming of the sharpest minds dedicatedly bringing the grand transformation to develop Smart Cities, providing the glimpse of a new India.

Our special story, “Maharashtra – Transforming Urban Landscape of India”, throws light upon how a State, is working on an integrated approach –- providing a holistic infrastructure framework, data and information centre needed for investment-friendly industrial policies.

The latest issue also carries special interviews with the likes of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and officials like Shravan Hardikar, Nagpur Municipal Commissioner and Maharashtra Transport Commissioner Praveen Gedam along with others like Praveen Prakash, Joint Secretary (Swachh Bharat Mission), Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, and Sanjay Jaju, Director, NHIDCL, and Subodh Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, Rajasthan. We are also having the international perspective on Smart Cities from Ulrika Sundberg, Counsul General of Sweden, Mumbai.

While presenting a variety of in-depth stories and special interviews from Maharashtra and across India, we look forward to our esteemed readers’ feedback.

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CONTENTS

15 COVER STORY

Policymaker’s perspEctive

Nitin Gadkari

Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping, Government of India

Special INTERVIEW

Expanding India’s Transport Horizon The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to invest $300 billion in various infrastructural projects across the country. The Ministry has also introduced a bio-fuelled public transport system in Nagpur

Nagpur Laying Roadmap for Indian Smart Cities

18

20

24

Nagpur Sets the Pace for Indian Smart Cities

Nagpur Leading The Smart City Mission

Maharashtra Leading the New Age Transformation

Shravan Hardikar

Ramnath Sonawane

VK Gautam

30

32

UPS Madan

Maharashtra Emerges as Preferred Choice of Business

Maharashtra’s Transport Driven

By Technology

Vijay Singhal

Praveen Gedam

Municipal Commissioner Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)

Development Commissioner Directorate of Industries Government of Maharashtra

Additional Municipal Commissioner and CEO SPV

Commissioner Transport Department, Government of Maharashtra

Principal Secretary Information Technology Government of Maharashtra

Metropolitan Commissioner Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)

E Ravendiran

Commissioner Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC)

48 Thane Moving Towards Smart Development Sunil Chavan

Transforming Urban Landscape of India

12

Devendra Fadnavis

Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra

Special Story With Nagpur evolving as the country’s topmost smart city in barely five months, outmaneuvering all other cities in the best implementation of smart city plan,

36 Aadhaar: Empowering The Common Man Digitally

Additional Municipal Commissioner Thane Municipal Corporation and Chief Executive Officer Thane Smart City Limited

52

INDUSTRY SPEAKS

42 Uber - Taking Public The Last Mile Shweta Rajpal Kohli Public Policy-Head UBER

Security perspEctive

Tech-Driven Swachh Bharat – A Reflection of New India

62

Praveen Prakash

New-Age Technology for Securing Borders

Mission Director Swachh Bharat Mission and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development

Santosh Mehra

54

64

Inspector General Border Security Force

NHIDCL-Laying Roadmap For Future

Decoding The Cyber Security of Maharashtra

Deputy Director General Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Sanjay Jaju

Brijesh Singh

38

56

MCGM: Ceaselessly Revamping Mumbai’s Quality Of Life

GARV App Ensuring Transparency and Accountability

Dr Sanjay Mukherjee

Dr Dinesh Arora

Sanjay Chahande

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)

Director, NHIDCL

Secretary and Director General Directorate General of Information and Public Relations, Government of Maharashtra

INTERNATIONAL perspEctive

26

Executive Director, REC and CEO RECPDCL

Sweden Partnering in India’s Growth Story

44

58

Ulrika Sundberg

Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad Effecting Smart Development

Punjab Getting Smart Through Development

D T Waghmare

J M Balamurugan

46

60

Commissioner Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

CEO Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC)

Leveraging Technology to Strengthen PDS in Rajasthan

UP Assembly Polls: Unprecedented Voter Turnout Recorded

Subodh Agarwal

T Venkatesh

Commissioner Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

Chief Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh

Consul General of Sweden, Mumbai

Special Interview

Expanding India’s Transport Horizon The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to invest $300 billion in various infrastructural projects across the country. The Ministry has also introduced a bio-fuelled public transport system in Nagpur, says Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping, Government of India, in conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of Elets News Network (ENN).

Nitin Gadkari

Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping, Government of India

What have been some of the key achievements since you took over as the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping?

During the past three years, all the key 15 projects, including 12 ports, Cochin Shipyard, and others, have registered a profit of over Rs 4,000 crore. We are improving further with the help of international consultants. Our ports are developing at a very fast pace to ensure creation of state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a great visionary with exemplary administrative abilities. He tries to implement and follow up the progress of each project.”

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Besides, over 283 projects worth Rs 3,80,000 crores were deadlocked due to various reasons, which we have been able to complete.

When I took over, the rate of road construction was 2 kilometre per day, which improved to 14 km in three months and now it has reached 30 km a day. We have set a target of 40 km per day. We are extremely sensitive to environment conservation and that is why we have introduced ethanol, biodiesel and biogas, which are cheaper and environment-friendly fuels. Nagpur has already introduced bio-fuelled buses in its public transport system.

Mumbai - Pune Expressway

Special Interview

Another key aspect which highlights the department’s achievements is launching of seamless road connectivity through Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Normally, it takes 18 hours to complete the journey from Agartala to Kolkata. But due to our efforts, the same journey can now be completed in just eight hours. A waterway project will be launched from Varanasi to Haldia soon. The department is also planning to introduce computerised examinations for issuance of driving licences as about 30 per cent of licences in the country are bogus. We hope to reduce the rate of accidents in the country by this new initiative.

For the first time in the history of our department, we are going to undertake

about 15,000 km of road construction work. We are in the process of completing old projects before the monsoon sets in. We will also sign more contracts this year.

Countries like China have strict laws against deceitful contractors, but why there are no such laws in our country?

We have strict laws but the need of the hour is their effective implementation.

We have ensured that the norms are complied with and defaulters are punished strictly.

In the past, good contractors were not coming forward for projects. But now we have boosted their confidence by easing out the procedures.

There are some larger issues as well.

The entire length of roads in the country is about 48 lakh km, of which the Transport Ministry has authority over 96,000 km. These roads carry around 40 per cent of the traffic load.

We are in the process of expanding our jurisdiction to around 1.5 lakh km. We have also identified accident-prone spots.

Can you give us an estimate of the expenditure which will be spent on the infrastructure this year?

The infrastructure sector is moving at a fast pace and I am sure that with this rapid development happening in the country, more than $900 billion will be spent this financial year alone. We, at Transport Department, have made an estimate of $300 billion.

We will submit proposals of some new projects to the Finance Ministry soon.

We want to make railway stations, bus depots and airports as integrated multimodal hubs. We are also giving priority to ethanol, bio-fuels, etc. We plan to convert state government buses into electric buses. Planning for water ports is also in the pipeline. We want to give first priority to Water Ports, second priority to Railways and third to Ports. I’m positive that in due course of time, the Transport Ministry will be in a position to boost the Indian economy.

We plan to add two to three per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

How are you planning to raise the funds for the infrastructural projects?

During my tenure as a minister in Maharashtra, the government provided us only Rs 5 crore, while Rs 4,000 crores were generated from the market and public. Now, as the country’s Transport Minister, I have already raised Rs 8,000 crores. We have a budget of Rs 55,000 crores. For the next three years, the total budget will be around Rs 3 laks crores. We have also approved tax free

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Special Interview

“With the fast paced development happening in the country, more than $900 billion will be spent this financial year alone.”

What are the major projects for the shipping sector?

bonds worth Rs 70,000 crores. If we scrutnise the 101 projects that will be built on government funds we can generate another Rs one lakh crores. The total fund then will be Rs 4.7 lakh crores.

Besides, we are getting toll income of Rs 12-15 crores. In the next 15 years, we will get another Rs 1.5 lakh crores.

All these funds together will create nearly Rs 6 lakh crores. We will get loans from different countries, funding

organisations and banks at cheaper rates. For example, we are building an eight lane road at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai. We initially talked to the Indian Bank for loan of Rs 3,000 crores at 12 per cent interest rate. But, in Dollar Funds we got the same loan at 2.15 per cent rate. We have projects worth Rs 50,000 crores in shipping. We have earned a profit of Rs 6,000 crores. So, there is no dearth of funds. We are also going on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

We can utilise the vast seafront for both passenger and goods transportation. We are working on introducing hovercraft or amphibian buses, which can travel on both land and water. Besides, we have 20,000 waterways in 111 rivers that flow in the country. We can add more waterways through the canals. We want to build traffic on water roads.

We have opened Road Port Connectivity Corporation. The office is in Mumbai. We are also working on projects of Rs 1 lakh crores.

How would you describe Central Government’s functioning?

Mumbai - Pune Expressway

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a great visionary with exemplary administrative abilities. He tries to implement and follow up the progress of each project. He takes interest in all the development projects -- be it in the industrial domain, agriculture or tribal development sector, Swachh Bharat, education and skill development. The GDP of the nation continues to remain in the range of 7.2-7.5 per cent under his able leadership. But we will surely reach to 11 per cent in five years. My department will contribute at least three per cent to this growth.

Maharashtra

Transforming Urban Landscape of India Maharashtra is emerging among the top states implementing urbanisation projects and embracing the Government of India’s ambitious ‘‘Smart Cities Mission’’ which is aimed at enhancing the quality of urban life in 100 cities across the country. Along with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and “Housing for All” schemes, Smart Cities Mission is radically changing the urban landscape of the country, says Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).

State Government along with the Government of India has emerged as major players driving Maharashtra’s development, and the paradigm shift is more apparent than ever under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Devendra Fadnavis Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra

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‘Mahawallet’ to facilitiate money transfers

MoU with Oracle to gear up digital transformation

Acknowledging the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for improving efficiency and effectiveness of the public delivery system in Smart Cities, the Maharashtra government is working on an integrated approach – providing a holistic infrastructure framework, data and information centre needed to achieve this reform.

Fundamentally, a smart city is the one that holistically unifies data from a wide range of sources – authoritative data sources, embedded sensors, public services, citizen reports, utility companies, and more – to generate actionable intelligence for decisionmaking for improved governance and citizen services.

Soon, people in Maharashtra will be able to use ‘Mahawallet’ — a mobile wallet supported by the state government — to transfer funds to and from other mobile wallets. The government is planning to launch this m-wallet to encourage cashless transactions.

In order to pace up the state’s digital transformation initiatives, the Government of Maharashtra has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oracle to take advantage of Oracle’s Cloud solutions. Oracle and the Government of Maharashtra will develop the state’s Smart City Programme, with the aim of making the state’s urban landscape more livable and inclusive, while driving economic growth. As per the MoU, Oracle and the Maharashtra Government will create a Centre of Excellence (CoE) to help accelerate its Smart City Programme and modernising the government’s technology solutions.

Maharashtra with advantages like good law and order and superior connectivity across various regions of the state has grown into an automobile, manufacturing and IT hub with a large number of investors drawn to the state from both domestic and international markets. The focus is on infrastructure development now, with an aim to transform the urban landscape by developing metro rail, IT hubs, Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and separate cycling tracks across cities in the state.

New project-monitoring platform

Accountability and transparency are the two major fundamental requirements of good governance and both come with e-governance.

Today, Maharashtra has emerged as the top performer in many fields by adopting e-governance as a major tool for delivering time-bound services to its citizens. The state ranked first in terms of internet readiness index, health index, agriculture marketing index, farmer friendly reforms index and also emerged as the best in ease of doing business.

Besides, the government has also started many initiatives to pace up the state’s digital transformation.

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Cyber police stations in all districts The state of Maharashtra will convert 42 cybercrime labs into cyber police stations as part of the state government’s strategy to fight sharply rising incidences of cybercrimes.

Maharashtra will be the first state in the country to have a cyber-police station in every district.

5D BIM, a new project monitoring platform, has been implemented by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. The new system is likely to save cost and at the same time, reduce litigations.

5D BIM stands for 5D Building Information Modelling. It allows different stakeholders including architects and contractors to monitor the growth of any project and associated cost factor. The digital project management platform will be integrated with SAP and by further including live project data; it will allow the owners to understand the project more closely.

Maharashtra Assembly to become paperless The Maharashtra government has decided to procure computer tablets in a bid to introduce paperless functioning in the state legislature.

States like Goa and Haryana are already using tablet computers during sessions of their respective legislative assembly.

Osmanabad to issue Aadhaar cards at birth In the light of the Central Government’s ‘Digital India’ drive, Maharashtra’s Osmanabad district has commenced issuing Aadhaar cards to children aged up to five years using the government health facilities for vaccination.

Free Wi-Fi facility in Maharashtra trains Telecom infrastructure provider RailTel plans to provide free hi-speed internet to passengers in premium long-distance trains of Maharashtra.

Melghat to become Smart Village Maharashtra Government has also selected Harisal in Melghat area for a pilot project of smart village. The areas will be digitally connected to improve health care.

With these initiatives in place and many more in the pipeline, Maharashtra is on the cusp of a new age in urban development to ensure that citizens enjoy a good quality of life comparable to the developed economies in the world. Having set the pace with right policies and determination, the state seems to be heading in the right direction to help India realise her aspirations.

With Nagpur evolving as the country’s topmost smart city in barely five months, outmaneuvering all other cities in the best implementation of smart city plan, Sandeep Datta of Elets News Network (ENN) tries to decipher this tremendous success.

Nagpur--The Smart City in the Making

W

idely known as the Orange City, Nagpur has been identified as one of the best Indian cities in terms of liveability, public transport, green cover, and healthcare as well.

Following a recent stock-taking exercise conducted by the Urban Development Ministry, Nagpur, though chosen as a smart city in September 2016, has managed to achieve the best investment conversion ratio (ICR). The ICR indicates

the extent of conversion of approved Smart City plans into investments through ground-level implementation.

Nagpur, which has overtaken 33 cities, reported an impressive performance with an ICR of 249 per cent having lined up an investment of Rs 2,500 crore, as against the Rs 1,002 crore investment proposed in the approved smart city plan for the city, with additional resource mobilisation from different sources.

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Making a difference – the Nagpur way

Understanding

Smart City

Smart City is a city which is committed to use ICT, and a model of higher quality infrastructures that improve the quality of citizens’ life while reducing public expenditure.

With urbanisation occurring at a fast pace, there’s need for our cities to be developed accordingly as ‘Smart Cities’.

While striving to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s favourite Smart Cities dream, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has evolved and applied various key strategies.

Safe and Smart Nagpur is one such project. In this, representatives of the NMC visited the public in person and ensured actual concerns and requirements could be understood.

It led to the observation that majority of the people desired the city should be developed as a safe, clean, and green city.

It meant Smart Cities must entail quality-based services reaching people’s door steps in a more efficient and IT-enabled way.

Such an understanding has enabled providing facilities much faster, process-oriented way. Besides, the IT-centric services empower citizens to receive all government services, without physically visiting any government offices.

The city authorities, despite all their efforts and strategies, don’t hesitate in taking away the credit the people of Nagpur deserve in realising a big dream with a ready-to-change mindset.

It has been felt that availability of internet and public’s access to technology world from the comfort of their homes can actually facilitate the public getting access to several IT-enabled government and nongovernment services.

Bandwidth in a Smart City Considered vital for the growth and development of a Smart City is bandwidth of infrastructure, the city also began thinking to have its own infrastructural system. It aimed at providing a better experience leading to launching and working on several pan-city initiatives.

For instance, Nagpur is set to introduce a multi-utility kiosk, whose main utility

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is that it will be a ticket vending for the public transport system and top-up mobility smart cards and others.

Some Special NMC initiatives - App for Public Transportation An app has been launched by the civic body which helps in ascertaining the accurate time of arrival of public buses and even knowing the availability of seats along with the route the bus will take.

Smart Solid Management system A smart solid waste management has been put in place, under which vehicles meant to collect garbage from door step are fixed with Global Positioning System (GPS) for online tracking.

Adaptive Traffic Control Under this, it is being planned to give priority to the buses, which can check violations like jumping of signals, illegal parking etc.

Transportation System To improve the public bus-based transportation system, NMC has procured 240 buses, leading to an increase of 3 per cent in the number of passengers travelling by public buses.

Some facts about ongoing Smart City Projects and e governance projects of Nagpur

Nagpur has been also chosen as the first project city under the Equi-City project in India. Realising the growing importance of urban local governance through participatory processes in the country, All India Institute of Local Self Government along with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and other partners are implementing Equi-City project funded by the European Union here.

It makes an interesting study to observe what key factors in Nagpur have contributed or paving for the big change.

Nearly entire infrastructure of housing or office is powered by rooftop solar without power back up which works on the net-metering policy. Efforts are on to transform the power back-ups into energy saving format-- meaning LED lights will replace all lamps and tubelights.

Efforts are also on to focus on setting up rooftop solar packs in all public establishments in the city. It’s hoped about 27 mega watt of energy will be generated in Nagpur from public buildings.

The city’s civic body – Nagpur Municipal Corporation -is also mulling the idea of building a solar power plant. It has plans for establishing lowcarbon mobility plants as well.

Nagpur has also joined a European-Indian initiative -Mobilise Your City supported by the French government via Kodatu, a non-governmental organisation which will facilitate the civic body to introduce in future low carbon electric buses. These buses will be solar-charged.

Nagpur Municipal Corporation at a Glance!

The council for Nagpur was established in 1864. During that time, the area under the jurisdiction of the Nagpur Municipal Council was 15.5 sq. km and the population was 82,000.

The duties entrusted to the Nagpur Municipal Council were to maintain cleanliness and arrange for street lights and water supply with government assistance. In 1922, the Central Provinces & Berar Municipalities Act was framed for the proper functioning of the Municipal Council.

As can be observed from precedence of Smart cities around the globe like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv, Shanghai etc, the common parameter in each of the models is active citizen participation. In fact, the first step towards crafting a smart city is necessarily an intensive Citizen Engagement Program (CEP).

Nagpur, with immense potential to explode as a true Smart City has also began to gear up for this process. It is today one of few cities, identified by Central Government to have a makeover. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) as a Principal city planner has been bestowed upon the responsibility to identify the new development layers and align them with a holistic plan.

As a first step towards this, NMC has decided to involve the citizens in the whole programme right from first day.

It has launched an initiative under the name of “My City - Smart City “, believing that creative ideas can come up from any quarter of the citizens.

“We have a strong water supply system and we are moving towards 24/7 water supply in the city. We have a persistent problem of sewerage in the city which we are trying to address by improving the infrastructure.”

Shravan Hardikar

Commissioner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, told ENN.

Water availability in the city and reduction in water wastage/NRW An inclusive 24/7 water supply pilot project, covering 11,000 connections (1.75 lakh population) demonstrated reduction of non-revenue water (NRW) from 53 per cent in 2007 to 28 per cent in 2015. Today about 4 lakh people, including a huge number of slum dwellers, are supplied water 24/7.

Safety/Security scenario in the city Three dedicated helplines for women, senior citizens and children have been opened. Number of respondents has also risen from 10 to 20 on each helpline. Also, five major traffic junctions have been covered under CCTV surveillance.

GPS-based police vehicle tracking has also been initiated.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Nagpur Sets the Pace for Indian Smart Cities

Shravan Hardikar

Municipal Commissioner Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)

Emerging as a leader in implementing Smart City projects, Nagpur has set the pace for other Smart Cities in India.

Shravan Hardikar, Commissioner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), in conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of Elets News Network (ENN), shares how NMC is using unconventional energy and IT-enabled e-governance services to empower citizens. Excerpts: How Nagpur plans to incorporate environmental sustainability in its Smart City Mission?

Nagpur has many advantages in terms of adopting sustainable measures.

Owing to its geographical location, the city receives immense solar energy which is utilised to the optimum level.

Most of the houses or office buildings in the city are powered by rooftop solar plants without power backup and work on the net metering policy.

“We have also identified a stretch of 5.5 km in West Nagpur, starting from Japanese garden to Khamla Chowk, which will be used to implement ‘smart’ transport initiatives.”

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We are converting all our power backups into energy saving formats, which means all the street lamps and florescent tubes will be replaced by LED lighting soon. We have recently appointed a consultant, who is now focusing on establishing rooftop solar packs at all public establishments in the city. We plan to generate 27 megawatts of energy in the city from these rooftop solar power projects. Our pumping stations will require additional 37 megawatts of energy.

We are also planning to build a solar power plant through Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). In future, we are also planning to introduce low-carbon mobility plans. We have finilesed

Indo-European joint initiative ‘Mobilise Your City’ that will be supported by the French government through an NGO called Kodatu. It will enable us to introduce low-carbon electric buses which will run on solar power.

Tell us about key initiatives launched

by Nagpur Municipal Corporation under the Smart City Mission.

One of our major initiatives is ‘Safe and Smart Nagpur’. At the time of the commencement of the Smart City Mission, Nagpur also started citizen engagement programmes. We went to people to understand their requirements. Many people voiced their concerns over cleanliness, greenery, and safety in the city. The concept of smart city envisages IT-enabled quality services at people’s doorstep. This enabled us to ensure much faster, process oriented and accurate data to offer citizen- centric services. IT-enabled services empower our citizens to receive all government services without physically visiting government offices. We need to realise that besides tech-enabled infrastructure, governance, etc, it is the citizens and their mindset responsible for converting a city into a smart city.

Policymaker’s Perspective

We need to have vibrant and smart space in the city. Access to the internet and other technological advancements is also important for citizens to avail IT-enabled government and nongovernment services from the comfort of their homes.

One of the key aspects related to the growth and development of smart cities is the bandwidth of infrastructure that people will be accessing in the future. Nagpur as a city has started thinking about having its own bandwidth of infrastructure. In fact, Nagpur will be the first city to have its own technology infrastructure to provide better services to the citizens.

This way, we will become the service provider for people with the help of private players. On this basis, we are launching and simultaneously working on several pan-city initiatives which are important components of a smart and safe city. Among the five components, a 1,200 km long optical network. is of prime importance. Although we need only 25 per cent of the proposed components, the rest will be available to people for usage.

We will soon introduce a multi-utility kiosk. It will work as a ticket vending system for public transport and will provide top up service for mobility smart cards. We have already issued a tender for it.

What initiatives has the municipality taken to ensure smart transportation in the city?

To ensure smart transportation in the city, we have already launched an app which tells the accurate time of public buses, expected time for the next bus, seat availability, time to reach destination, etc. We have also started a smart solid waste management programme under which all the vehicles collecting garbage from doorsteps have been equipped with GPS for online tracking.

Once our public transport system implements this, an adaptive traffic control will be implemented. In adaptive traffic control, we will start identifying the buses for traffic violations like jumping of signals, illegal parking, etc. We have also identified a

stretch of 5.5 km in Nagpur – from a Japanese garden to Khamla Chowk – which will be used to implement ‘smart’ transport initiatives.

How has been the response of investors, especially after Nagpur was selected under the smart city mission?

Firstly, I must mention that this is the first integrated smart city project.

No one has been able to replicate the end-to-end integrated model as we have done in our city. As many as four big companies competed for tenders and bagged several projects.

Big corporates like Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Honeywell, Sterlite, Wipro and several others have shown interest to invest in several projects.

What challenges are you facing in the implementation of smart city projects?

In a smart city, one part comprises technology and the other part is about infrastructural development. We have a strong water supply system and we are moving towards 24/7 water supply in the city. We have a persistent problem of sewerage in the city which we are trying to address by improving the infrastructure. We have already started treating the excess sewerage water which is sold as consumable water at the nearest vending point.

In order to treat 200 million litres of additional sewerage water, there is another project which is yet to be implemented. After the project is implemented, Nagpur will be the first city to treat 100 per cent of its water and reuse the same. We are also on the way to make our roads smarter.

Having a good road is not sufficient, it should be smartly decorated. We recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding for complete conversion of city’s light system to energy - efficient LEDs.

A statue of Shivaji Maharaj at Mahal, Nagpur

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Nagpur Leading The Smart City Mission Ramnath Sonawane

Additional Municipal Commissioner and CEO SPV

Nagpur, a Maharashtrian city selected in the third round of Smart City Mission, is implementing its area based development and pan city solutions through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), created for the smart city project.

Ramnath Sonawane, Additional Municipal Commissioner and CEO SPV, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN) tells us more of it.

How do you rate the progress of smart city project in Nagpur as compared to other smart cities of Maharashtra?

“We have welltrained IT savvy staff at NMC. We have strong IT infrastructure. We have so far developed more than 60 modules which have been used significantly.”

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Nagpur was selected in the second round of smart city mission. It is far ahead in terms of implementation of smart city projects. We are trying to complete various projects before the results of second round of Smart City Mission are declared. Maharashtra IT Corporation is actually implementing the Smart and Safe City project in Nagpur under which pan city solutions envisaged by the corporation are being installed.

We are proud to say that as per one of the survey conducted by the Urban

Development Ministry, Nagpur has topped the list of implementation of smart city projects in the smart cities, well ahead of cities which were chosen before it.

Will you throw some light on the various components of smart city?

There are two components of smart city project. First, area wise development and second, pan city solutions – which again have two components- Unified Command and Control Centre, which will be operated by police department in order to control and detect crime across the city. Further, we will also set up a city operation centre, which will be

Policymaker’s Perspective

operated by Municipal Corporation. We plan to use ICT platform to provide various services to the citizens. With the ICT platform, we want to provide all the services to citizens at their doorstep. We are very focused on providing e-governance solutions to our citizens and later, d-governance.

How has demonetisation affected your operations?

The demonetisation move has proved to be good for Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Initially, the move has helped us increase our revenue as we could collect due taxes from citizens easily. We are encouraging people to go cashless and use ICT platform to interact with government. We had actually started implementing e-governance project for our municipal corporation in 2003– 2004. We have well-trained IT savvy staff at NMC. We have strong IT infrastructure. We have so far developed more than 60 modules which have been used significantly.

The corporation is also mulling to link and integrate our system with Aadhaar number and strengthen digital governance.

How are you ensuring the safety of Nagpur citizens?

As we discussed earlier, we are in the process of setting unified command and control centre in Nagpur under the smart city project at the police headquarters. We have identified 700 locations where about 4,000 CCTV cameras will be installed across the city. These cameras will be connected with all the police stations so that all can access the input. This will help us bring the entire city area under CCTV surveillance and control the crimes.

The work includes installation of 3,000 CCTVs at 700 locations, wi-fi service at all major locations, payment gateway kiosks at 136 locations, 500km optical

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fibre cables etc. These works have been conceptualised under different heads like city network backbone, city wi-fi, city kiosk, city surveillance and smart strip.

How effectively has the smart transportation implemented in the city?

We are implanting intelligent transport system across the city. The Municipal Corporation has its own transport undertaking. We have recently upgraded our fleet and now have three types of buses which are operated with diesel, CNG and battery. Further, we are in the process of installing GPS system in buses so that the corporation can monitor them. The commuters will also get message alerts on the location of their buses. They will be able to trace their desired buses. We will also install display boards at bus shelters indicating arrival time of buses and available number of seats. We are also in the process of designing a system which allows parents to locate their children in the buses.

What is your strategy to execute the smart city plan?

We have also established a Special Purpose Vehicle-Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation. This body independently takes decisions to implement various projects. We are also in the process of appointing a project management unit to streamline the entire smart city project. We have almost finalised an agency to prepare town planning schemes. We have chosen three areas including Bardi and Bharat Pada for these schemes.

Agence Francaise de Developement (French Development Agency) has been appointed to give technical and financial assistance to NMC. Also, NMC had established special purpose vehicle — Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited — with 15 directors on its board.

Therefore, the SPV can begin execution of development works worth Rs 3,577.77 crore proposed under the smart city plan.

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Established in 1951 in Japan.

Established in 2007 in India.

Parts of NJS group of companies.

Projects in 78 countries.

37 branch offices in Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Dubai, Manila, USA and Latin America.

Sewage Treatment Plant at Araike, Japan

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Maharashtra Leading the New Age Transformation Be it the Government of India’s Smart City initiative or leveraging information technology to drive e-governance in the state, Maharashtra has been leading the way in transforming the country’s urban landscape and quality of service delivery to the citizens. In conversation with Elets News Network (ENN), policymakers from Maharashtra share their perspective as to how they view this transformation process and the way forward.

VK Gautam

UPS Madan

E Ravendiran

Maharashtra is the first state to release a dedicated e-governance policy. The e-Governance policy was drafted by a 10 member e-governance committee under the chairmanship of Padmashri Dr Vijay P Bhatkar and approved by the cabinet. The policy aims to maintain and strengthen the leadership of the state in the area of e-governance and take it towards mgovernance. The policy would enable citizens to avail various services online, minimum possible cost. At a place near their home without visiting government offices. The policy would enable government to function more efficiently and lead towards a paperless environment.

It is indeed a brilliant initiative by the Government of India to develop about 100 cities as smart and fortunately, in our state, there are 10 cities nominated out of these 100. Out of these 10 cities, four cities happen to be in MMR where MMRDA is the planning authority. A lot of developmental work for infrastructure and building of smart cities going on in this region and incidentally, I have been chosen as the mentor for smart cities in the KalyanDombivli area, to help them succeed in the projects of smart cities and mapping out the roadmap to convert Kalyan into a smart city.

My perception of a smart KalyanDombivli is based on an individual’s attitude towards the city. Smart city is not merely smart infrastructure but smart behaviour too. It means ease of living, ease of doing business, free mobility from home to anywhere in the city, less pollution, more greenery, 24x7 water supply, etc. There should be transformation in the lives of citizens after implementation of smart city projects. In such a city, citizens should get municipal services at their fingertips. The city should also be pedestrian-friendly and pollution-free along with public transport, e-parking, employability and affordable housing as its key attributes.

Principal Secretary Information Technology Government of Maharashtra

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Metropolitan Commissioner Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)

Commissioner Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC)

International Perspective

Sweden Partnering in India’s Growth Story Leaderships of both India and Sweden see great potential for exchange in the area of transport, environment and infrastructure, says Ulrika Sundberg, Consul General of Sweden, in an interview with Souvik Goswami of Elets News Network (ENN).

Ulrika Sundberg

Consul General of Sweden

“Under the Smart Cities Platform, Swedish companies’ delegations have presented solutions to Municipal Corporations of Pune and Nagpur.

Sweden stands ready and is committed to suggest solutions to the complex issues of smart and sustainable development.”

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How Sweden is collaborating in India’s growth story?

Mutual economic interests have emerged as the driver of the relationship between India and Sweden with growth in bilateral trade, which crossed $2 billion in 2009-10 and increased to $2.4 billion in 2014-15, making India a priority trading partner for Sweden.

According to the statistics of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into India from Sweden from 2000 to 2015 was $1.1 billion, making it the 19th largest investor, accounting for 0.43% of total FDI inflow in the country. Sectors that have received the largest share of Swedish investments in India are automobile industry (33%), industrial machinery (15%), miscellaneous mechanical and engineering industries (10%), electrical equipment (7%) and metallurgical industries (5%).

The Government of India has initiated ambitious Digital India, Smart Cities, Make in India programmes. How do you see Sweden participating in these initiatives?

Sweden is one of the pioneering countries when it comes to cuttingedge technology, sustainability, digitalisation, innovation and smart cities. Sweden and India have a long

history of partnerships in various areas and sectors and have an important exchange of students and researchers and collaboration in many fields.

However, there is great potential to take this cooperation forward in the field of infrastructure. Environmental awareness is deeply rooted in the Swedish society. Sweden and Swedish companies are known for their sustainable approach when it comes to urban development.

In India, there are Swedish companies providing solutions within everything from urban mobility, sustainable energy systems, air purification and waste management to road and public safety and security, information and communication systems. During the State visit of the Indian President, Pranav Mukherjee, to Sweden in June 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) within the field of Sustainable Urban Development was signed. The MoU aims to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development, and create a foundation to further develop the cooperation between the two countries in this field. The SwedenIndia Smart Cities Platform specifically promotes Swedish smart urban solutions for the Indian market.

According to a report by the World Bank, a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration in India, can lead to a 1.4% increase in the total

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International Perspective

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country making digitisation an important factor for enhanced productivity and growth. Our aim is to exchange views on current developments in smart manufacturing and smart tech and the opportunities digitalisation offers in different manufacturing sectors. Digitalisation paves the way for sustainable human development like Smart Cities, smart manufacturing, connectivity and communications.

How Sweden is partnering with the Maharashtra Government in the area of Smart Cities?

India is set on the mission of building 100 smart cities, which is pivotal to the promise of a sustainable living challenged by rapid urbanisation.

To achieve this investment, both on a small and large scale, smart urban systems’ technologies are vital.

Sweden with its long history of sustainable research and thinking has established the Sweden-India Smart Cities Platform with different official representatives of team Sweden, like the Consulate General, and Swedish companies in India to make this mission a reality.

Nearly 150,000 jobs are directly created by Swedish companies present in India and 1 to 3 million indirectly, including sub-contractors, farmers and service providers. The recent Sweden Business Climate Survey showed that 80% of Swedish companies in India wanted to invest further in the coming years.

How important is India for the Swedish companies in terms of investments?

Traditionally, Swedish companies in India have been strong on engineering, manufacturing and business-tobusiness products and services. With Ikea and H&M now entering the market, there will be an increased focus on consumer goods. I think we will see a more diversified market, where business-to-business focusing on engineering and manufacturing is still strong and on the rise, while new companies in other areas will also discover India. The Consulate General of Sweden in Mumbai, the Embassy in New Delhi, Swedish Chamber of Commerce in India and Business Sweden today definitely get more and more requests about business opportunities in India.

India is a very important market for Swedish companies. Some 180 Swedish companies create jobs in India!

Where do you want to see IndiaSweden partnerships heading in coming years?

The platform functions as a vehicle for cooperation and development of Smart City solutions suitable for the Indian context.

Under the Smart Cities Platform, Swedish companies’ delegations have presented solutions to Municipal Corporations of Pune and Nagpur.

Sweden stands ready and is committed to suggest solutions to the complex issues of smart and sustainable development.

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Sweden and India have an ongoing bilateral cooperation in many fields, notably education, health and environment and science and technology.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / April 2017

Swedish Prime Minister visited Make in India Mumbai Week in 2016. A joint statement by Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi was released on this occasion, which highlighted SwedenIndia collaboration. Both Prime Ministers supported a stronger business-tobusiness dialogue between the two countries and welcomed the creation of an India-Sweden Business Leaders’ Round Table. Sweden and India have an ongoing bilateral cooperation in many fields, notably education, health and environment and science and technology.

Leaderships of both countries see great potential for exchange in the area of transport, environment and infrastructure. Contribution made by the skill development programmes of Swedish companies in India play an important role in preparing young Indians for the jobs of the 21st Century.

To enhance awareness of each other’s cultures and boosts people-to-people ties, both governments welcomed reciprocal festivals of ‘Namaste Stockholm’ in Sweden and SwedenIndia Nobel Memorial Week in India. In August this year, the Stockholm Cultural Festival will have India as its focus country.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Maharashtra Emerges as Preferred Choice of Business Vijay Singhal

Development Commissioner Directorate of Industries Government of Maharashtra

Maharashtra with advantages like good law and order and superior connectivity across various regions of the state has grown into an automobile, manufacturing and IT hub with a large number of investors drawn to the State from both domestic and international markets, says Vijay Singhal, Development Commissioner, Directorate of Industries, Government of Maharashtra, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

How do you perceive the ease of doing business in Maharashtra?

“The Industries Department of Maharashtra has been one of the pioneers in adopting IT in its ecosystem for the benefit of the state and the industries in the region.

MAITRI is one such example of digitisation initiative taken up by the department.”

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Not only a favourable ecosystem or availability of skilled manpower, the ease of doing business also includes government permissions, solution to problems faced by new industrialists and simplicity in methodology required for obtaining government permits etc.

Maharashtra has set up an example in creating a wonderful ambience to support ease of doing business. For example, earlier there were about 47 permits required to construct a building, which is now reduced to about eight permissions only. Earlier, it took about 140 days to obtain government permits for any business to start, which can now be obtained within 60 days. This indicates the state government’s keenness to support more and more new business set ups.

More importantly, most of the permits and other requirements to be fulfilled for setting up a business in Maharashtra are now done online and one does not need to visit various government offices. This has brought transparency to the ecosystem.

For big industries also, the Maharashtra

Industries Department has opened a separate office named ‘MAITRI’, which stands for Maharashtra Industries Trade Related Investment Centre. It is headed by the development commissioner of the department and there are about 44 officers from various departments including forest, pollution control, environment and several others to review and grant permits for bigger industrial projects. For this, one can apply either through a physical process or online, which in a way saves the applicants from visiting various departments for getting permits and sanctions. Furthermore, with the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) touching Aurangabad and Dighi Port region, we have acquired about 4,000 hectares of land, which is again a preferred destination for investors to set up new business units in the state.

IT has been the key driving force for the functioning and growth of any sector of business. What role has IT played when it comes to its adoption in the ecosystem of the Industries Department of Maharashtra?

The Industries Department of Maharashtra has been one of the

Policymaker’s Perspective

pioneers in adopting IT in its ecosystem for the benefit of the State and the industries in the region. ‘MAITRI’ is one such example of digitisation initiative taken up by the department. ‘MAITRI’ enables businesses to obtain around half of the 44 government permits online instantly. The department is in the process of making this entire permit system online within a span of two months. One has to fill up a single form called CAF (Combined Application Form) for all the 44 government permits which automatically gets delivered to various departments and the common feeds are auto-populated.

Further, one also gets to know the time frame for obtaining each permit, when applied through the online process. If the permits are not obtained on time, the matter automatically gets escalated to senior authorities for scrutiny.

Another key aspect is that World Bank is ranking cities across the world on the basis of ease of doing business and facilitation involved for investors, for which they have taken into consideration Delhi and Mumbai, which we are trying hard to extend at state levels.

Please elaborate on the growth of industries in Mumbai and its suburbs

and also enlighten us on the prospects of growth in the region?

Mumbai being the business capital of the country has its own advantages of being on the coastline, enabling it to establish business relationships with its neighbouring regions easily. Over the years, Mumbai and its suburbs has grown at a fast rate and has evolved as a business centric region – creating more and more new jobs for the residents of the region. For example, Thane, though a district, being located in close proximity to Mumbai has drawn a good number of industries and people to come and work here.

Further, after the planning authority, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) adopted the region, the growth and industrialisation has happened very fast in this region. Besides, a lot of urban development work is happening in the region. Thus Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane have collectively grown into a big industrial hub, creating thousands of jobs. However, the industrialisation is gradually reaching its zenith in this region and now the focus is slowly shifting to other parts of the State like Pune, Nagpur, Satara, Nashik, etc.

During the ‘Make in India’ week held last year, Maharashtra signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 8 lakh crores with different organisations and 45 per cent of these MoUs are currently on track.

Our office is constantly in touch with the MoU signatories irrespective of they being a part of a Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation project, or a Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) project or if they are related to housing and tourism sector. A report published by the Government of India last year said that 50 per cent of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country is in Maharashtra alone. Maharashtra with advantages like good law and order and superior connectivity across various regions of the state has grown into an automobile, manufacturing and IT hub with a large number of investors drawn to the state from both domestic and international markets.

Furthermore, the State has minimum labour dispute and extremely skilled labour available at a minimal cost. With all these factors coming together coupled with the central government’s ambitious projects, Maharashtra has evolved into a pro-industries state.

As a matter of fact, we are soon to introduce a one of its kind Women Industrial Policy.

Skill development is one of the key initiatives adopted by the Government of India. Is the industries department adopting any skill initiative to upscale the standard of services catered?

Maharashtra with a number of advantages like good law and order situation and connectivity has emerged as a major industrial hub.

The Government of Maharashtra has established a separate department for skill development and entrepreneurship, headed by a minister and a secretary.

There are several schemes and initiatives taken up by the department on a regular basis like ‘Pramod Mahajan Kaushal Vikas Yojana’, up-scaling of training institutes as per the requirement of small and medium entrepreneurs, which we adopt in our ecosystem and work closely with.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Maharashtra’s Transport Driven

By Technology Praveen Gedam

Commissioner of Transport Department Government of Maharashtra

The Transport Department of Maharashtra is working round-the-clock to ensure road safety of citizens. For this, the department is undertaking the superior structural engineering of roads, vehicle fitness and ensuring drivers’ skill set, says Praveen Gedam, Commissioner of Transport Department, Government of Maharashtra in conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of Elets News Network. Excerpts: You have recently taken the charge of Maharashtra’s transport department.

What are the challenges you are facing in digitising the department ?

“The central server will incorporate learner licence, driving licence, registration of vehicles, permits, fitness certificates, alteration in motor vehicle, Pollution Under Control certificate, insurance, PWM, e-challan, tolls, border check posts, CCTV, etc.”

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We are currently working on the consolidation of our data. We have been collecting data since 2006. All the data stored in these 10 years is scattered at various places in the state.

Further, we are working on compiling the data of vehicles and their owners and keeping it at a central location so that it can be accessed from anywhere.

This requires robust IT infrastructure.

We have successfully migrated data from 11 out of 50 offices.

What services will the transport department provide online?

We want to keep all our services online including learner’s license, permanent driving license, services on learning license and permanent driving licence, endorsement of driving licence, application for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) badge, issuance of temporary registration, new vehicle registration, etc. Besides, there are several services which are in the process of being made

online such as issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC), application for conductor license, international driving permit, and issue of duplicate registration certificates, approvals for schools buses, e-meter approval, and many more.

Maharashtra accounts for over 65,000 accidents annually and is among the states with the maximum number of road accidents. What measures are being taken to reduce the accidents?

The department is working on three components to ensure road safety for two-wheelers and to reduce road accidents namely, ensuring superior structural engineering of roads, vehicle fitness and ensuring drivers’ skill set.

We have already started issuing learning licences using a computerised system on the basis of the applicant’s knowledge. A permanent licence is issued based on skills.

For the past two years, it is mandatory to declare helmet usage at tha time of vehicle registration or while obtaining a learning license. How far have you succeeded in this drive?

Policymaker’s Perspective

Last year, helmet was made compulsory for the person riding the bike and the pillion rider.

centralised server. The details will then be referred to the regional transport offices and traffic police for action.

We have 61 flying squads to oversee the usage of helmets on the roads. As a matter of fact, our flying squads have collected a fine of Rs 345.50 crore in the last financial year for traffic violations across the state. Besides, our law enforcement agency acts as a supplementary to the traffic police.

The responsibility of booking the offenders is primarily with the traffic police. However, certain cases are reported to us and we take action such as suspension of the driving licence.

Is there any additional strategy that the government is planning to adopt to ensure increased usage of helmets?

Suggestions such as using CCTV cameras, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) number plates, and e-challans to curb traffic violations have still not been implemented. Why? E-challan is already operational in Pune and by May 2017. It will be rolled out in the entire State. Once it is operational, the details of the offence and the offender will be recorded on a

We are planning to conduct a comprehensive campaign on road safety. Besides, our traffic police are vigilant enough and penalises bikers, who are not using helmets, which is also making a significant change. We see lots of people using helmet these days, but its a behavioural change and will come only gradually.

Will you also apprise us of the components that will be included in the proposed central system?

As we talked about it earlier, the central server will incorporate learner license, driving license, registration of vehicles, permits, fitness certificates, alteration in the motor vehicle, Pollution Under Control certificate, insurance, PWM, e-challan, tolls, border check posts, CCTV, etc.

“We have 61 flying squads to oversee the usage of helmets on the roads. As a matter of fact, our flying squads have collected a fine of Rs 345.50 crore in the last financial year for traffic violations across the state.”

What are some of the challenges you are facing in Mumbai?

Mumbai is very populous city – about four to five times denser than New York in the US. So, we have a Herculean task when it comes to streamlining the transportation further.

Transportation department cannot work in isolation. Land Use and transportation must work together. In some European cities, land use and transportation work as one department. This is crucial for designing the transportation in the best possible manner avoiding longer time for the citizens to reach to common transportation junction.

Recently, a survey has revealed that the Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) population in Mumbai has crossed a million, which is 9.3 per cent increase over the previous year. Further, the two-wheeler population has also gone up remarkably – the number has risen by 8.4 per cent.

Maharshtra Transport Department is leveraging technology to make running of traffic smoother across the state

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However, the good thing is that the number of fatalities has not increased with the increasing number of vehicles on Mumbai roads.

Policymaker’s Perspective

Aadhaar: Empowering The Common Man Digitally More than 111 crore people have enrolled in the Aadhaar system. Even a person who doesn’t have smartphone, debit cards, and credit cards can make use of their Aadhaar number as their social identity, says Sanjay Chahande, Deputy Director General of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

Sanjay Chahande

Deputy Director General Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

“Andhra pradesh is implementing Aadhaar with the Electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) machines. Any beneficiary coming to a ration shop is identified through his Aadhaar number.”

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What is the idea behind Aadhaar payment app which was recently launched?

More than 10 crore people are using the Aadhaar app. Aadhaar is a unique identity document which empowers citizens. It is a form of digital identity which gets recorded with the central government. It is being used in many government schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), bank accounts, etc, both in rural and urban areas. It is being actively used for opening new accounts. Aadhaar also helps in linking all the accounts making it as one financial identity or financial address for a citizen.

Aadhaar makes it easy to link internet banking transactions with Financial Payment Corporation of India (FPCI).

With Aadhaar and FPCI integrating, a new dimension has come into the inter-banking system. Everything is primarily linked to fundamental systems where Adhaar is playing a key role.

It’s a payment bridge involved in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. It means government is giving subsidies or benefits by transferring it directly to the beneficiary account instead of passing through a number of stages and channels. LPG subsidiary has been successful only due to the Aadhaar

Aadhar is a unique digital identity that is increasingly being used by the government to directly transfer money to accounts of beneficiaries under government schemes

Policymaker’s Perspective

payment bridge. Aadhaar validates the beneficiaries list. Aadhaar Enabled Payment Systems (AEPS) also have certain dimensions. For this, we have to understand the reach of banks in almost six lakh villages. Sometimes, people are not able to reach their banks due to some physical constraints. For example, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) workers wages are distributed through Aadhaar enabled process. Banking correspondents are using Aadhaar as a bridge to open bank accounts in rural areas.

How has BHIM app been able to differentiate itself over the other existing app which are already there in the market?

A wallet is a two way communication between the private wallet and banks.

But Aadhaar is catering to a segment which nobody is looking at right now. A person who doesn’t have anything in terms of smartphones, debit cards, credit cards, people who don’t know how to open a bank account themselves can make use of their Aadhaar number as a social identity.

This is the kind of reach Aadhaar enjoys. Secondly, a person having Aadhaar number doesn’t have to bear the cost of carrying a smartphone, credit and debit cards.

What is next for Aadhaar in India?

Through Aadhaar we have created an architecture. We would like to facilitate its use and help other to integrate it with their systems. We are there to assist anybody who comes forward to integrate it with their system. Like the

An advertisement pitching for use of digital identity offered by UIDAI

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wanted to use it in the mutual Fund sector. They came to us with all the Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC), paper based documents and we helped them use Aadhaar within their process. With our Aadhaar act, we would like to use it in different schemes and government services. For example, Andhra pradesh (AP) is implementing Aadhaar with the Electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) machines. Any beneficiary coming to a ration shop is identified through his Aadhaar number. One of the districts in AP, came out with the idea that even with the same authentication, a villager doesn’t need to pay to the ration shop. It is cashless in the sense that money will be transferred from beneficiary account to the ration shop owner’s account by making use of Aadhaar. It kills the need of ATMs or credit and debit cards.

Reserve Bank of India has issued an advisory whereby all the ATMs need to be Aadhaar enabled. It will take some time but definitely one day it will

become a reality. Aadhaar enabled ATMs would be a norm soon and then we will be able to reach even the remotest areas of the country. We don’t require any kind of 4G connectivity, our system even works on the 2G network. I think Aadhaar has a great potential to benefit people in every sense.

Do you think there will be more transparency with increasing number of online financial transactions. How else will it benefit the citizens?

First of all, DBT is moving at a great pace. People are using Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) transfer more. Now with Aadhaar payment bridge all of them have become interconnected. More and more departments have started using Aadhaar and more and more bank accounts are using it for seamless transactions. Aadhaar is enabling merchant transactions in a big way.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

MCGM: Ceaselessly Revamping Mumbai’s Quality Of Life

Dr Sanjay Mukherjee

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)

Obtaining all clearances is a major part of project planning.

Ensuring its compliance is another. Time, money and manpower planning are other crucial aspects. Here, the adage ‘Time is Money’ holds true, says Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), in conversation with Harshal Desai of Elets News Network (ENN).

What are your views on Smart Cities and urban development in India, which are among the key focus areas of the Government of India?

The smart city concept is an innovative method initiated by the Government of India to encourage urban local bodies to think smart and improve their quality of services.

“The Mumbai Coastal Road Project is the most ambitious project of MCGM. This envisages creation of a freeway along the Western Coast, with road on reclamation and stilts.”

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Would you apprise us of your department’s portfolio? How are you steering the growth of different projects?

for detailed planning and also procuring all the clearances, finances etc.

Obtaining all clearances is a major part of project planning. Ensuring its compliance is another. Time, money and manpower planning are other crucial aspects. Here, the adage “Time is Money” holds true.

What initiatives or projects have been undertaken by your office?

I am currently functioning as the Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. My responsibilities include managing the corporation’s entire income side like Property Tax and Octroi, Finance, Budgeting and Treasury.

I also look after water supply of Mumbai City, water supply projects, sewerage operation and projects, mechanical and electrical department, etc. My profile also includes planning and implementation of mega projects of the corporation.

Last year, we commissioned the Middle Vaitarna Project, which has made available 460 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) water to Mumbai. This included an RCC Dam (Ninth quickest completion in the world and quickest In India), and its attendant conveyance system of tunnels and pipelines, along with a 900 MLD Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Last year, we completed two recycling plants and systems improvements, which resulted in an additional capacity of 265 MLD. We also completed a 15.2 km water tunnel carrying water to our WTP at Bhandup.

These projects are pretty huge.

Project management is a task of diligence. It requires a good team effort

The Mumbai Water Distribution Improvement Programme aims at

Policymaker’s Perspective

ensuring equitable distribution of water throughout Mumbai, and is a step towards 24/7 supply. It includes Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, hydraulic modelling, equitable distribution solutions etc. This year, we expect to complete the project in two wards and the rest of the city in the next two years.

Which developmental projects you will be focusing on in near future?

The Mumbai Coastal Road Project is the most ambitious project of MCGM. This envisages creation of a freeway along the Western Coast, with road on reclamation and stilts. The road will have provision for a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), walking tracks, cycling tracks and green open spaces. With 11 interchanges, this road will not only decongest the city, but encourage public transport, green modes of travel like cycling and improve Mumbaikars quality of life.

The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project, another first, envisages a tunnel below Sanjay Gandhi National Park to improve east region to west region connectivity.

We are also coming up with a 3,000, 10 Thousand Tonnes Per Day (TPD) waste to energy plant at Deonar, one of the largest in the world. We would also be reclaiming the unscientific dumpsites in Mumbai in a phased manner.

The Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP) and the Mumbai Sewerage Improvement Project (MSIP) aim at 100 per cent sewage treatment and 100 per cent sewage collection of the city respectively. Work has already started with the Colaba Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF). This project can also generate 2,400 MLD of tertiary treated water for non-potable use.

On the potable water side, to fulfill our demand of around 2,000 MLD, we will

take up the Gargai, Pinjal Dam projects, and the Damanganga Pinjal River Link projects.

Several other projects like city beautification, beach beautification, fort beautification, etc are also in the pipeline. We shall also make our entry into the Solar Power Sector our plant at Bhandup is expected to commence in the next eight months.

How do you define sustainable development of a city? Which are the issues that can hamper such development?

As long as development is not detriment to anything, it can be called sustainable. In case of a city, the financial and manpower constraints are also paramount. Development can be sustained only if finances are disciplined. Else, a number of works remain incomplete and everything becomes unsustainable. Needless to say, development must be clean and green to be sustainable.

How does Information Technology play a decisive role in Smart City Projects?

IT is the key. It enables access to information at your fingertips along with better decision making. IT is like the nervous system of any project in today’s world.

What is your opinion on the issue of sewerage and how do you plan to address this issue?

Mumbai is divided into seven sewerage zones (Colaba, Worli, Bandra, Versova, Bhandup, Ghatkopar and Malad) and each of these is serviced by a sewer network and a WWTF. At Worli, Bandra and Colaba, the treated sewage is discharged at over two km into the sea by a marine outfall. Presently, each of these has the consent from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to operate. However, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) would

The biggest single reform that MCGM has undertaken is the Capital Value System. This has not only increased the revenues, but also introduced standardisation and transparency. like all these to be redesigned as per new norms and has given us a time period of five years to do so.

Hence, we are executing the MSDP and MSIP projects, work has started with the Colaba WWTF and the others shall start soon.

These projects would also result in approx 2,400 MLD of tertiary treated water for non potable use.

Revenue generation or handling income from different sources is one of the key elements in your portfolio.

Would you elaborate on this? How have you been able to streamline the property tax processes?

The biggest single reform that MCGM has undertaken is the Capital Value System. This has not only increased the revenues, but also introduced standardisation and transparency. In addition to that GIS Mapping, Geo Tagging, computerised systems, etc have helped in streamlining the process.

We have recently started a 360 degree Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) survey of all properties in the City. This shall be of great aid in detecting evasion and introducing accountability and transparency.

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Industry Perspective

ABM As A Leader In E-Municipality Contribution To Smart Governance In India SMART Governance and SMART Public Services are the two sides of the same coin. This coin is embedded withgreater efficiency, community leadership, continuous improvement through innovation, using technology to facilitate and support better planning and decision making.SMART Governance is about improving democratic processes and transforming the ways in which public services are delivered. This era of developing smart cities in India has brought smart governance as one of its major essentials.

Although e-governance was known but never flown with the pace as is in today’s time. The need of e-governance was recognised by ABM Knowledgeware Ltd. in 1998. Since then, ABM has adopted next gen technologies to meet the need of Indian Government in the process of becoming SMART GOVERNMENT.

incorporates the best practices to create a truly e-governed municipality.

ABM MAINet® has rich citizen interfaces to enable the corporation to deliver services online using Web Portal, through service centers designated as ‘Citizen Facilitation Centers (CFCs)’ or even using Mobile App. In addition to the proven software, what we bring on table is immense experience of implementing state wide software in multiple states and a bundle of Best practices across country. ABM MAINet® has two types of modules – citizen centric and departmental processes, which can be implemented selectively as well as in integrated manner.

ABM has developed many products out of which MAINet and GRPare two major offerings.

A) ABM MAINet 2.0 (Municipal Administration Information Network) MAINet® is an integrated ERP that can manage the complete working of a typical municipality (Corporation or Council) of any size. It encompasses all Citizen facing services and work handled by every department of a municipality. It can be implemented state wide by the Urban Department for all ULB's in the state or individually by a specific Urban Local Body. It is designed & developed by ABM with meticulous study of municipal councils /corporations processes and

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Why MAINet?

Benefits of ABM MAINet 2.0 1) Benefits to the Corporation: • Puts Municipality One step ahead in GOI’ s goal of Digital India • Cross departmental integration of the municipality • Increase in productivity of the manpower due to assistance by the computer system in decision-making.

• Better monitoring and control of revenues and expenses • Seamless flow of information

2) Benefits to the Citizens: • Hassle-free Interactions for Citizens due to single window solution, comprising of front office, back office and work flows • Transparent and Open service to citizens • Multiple channels of delivery • Time bound service delivery • Redressal of civic complaints to the satisfaction of citizens.

• Saves Time and Money of the citizens B) ABM’s GRP – Govt. Resource Planning GRP is an ERP for Government. GRP is an indigenous 'integrated office automation system for government and other government bodies', built with an objective to run a paperless office in all its administrative transactions. This offering is focused on helping both state and central government organizations and other bodies, to transfer to an end-to-end digitized enterprise which will tremendously improve service delivery, increase efficiency by enabling integration between various departments, enhance transparency in the purchase process by automating Administration, Accounts, Finance, Project Management and Stores & purchase and reduce operating costs.

Why GRP?

1. Exclusively designed and developed for Indian Government and PSUs 2. Better Value for money 3. Built on a platform that can adopt to changing needs of the customer 4. Government specific solution from a Govt. focused company

Industry Perspective

Benefits of ABM GRP. • Well Integrated and centralized system • Higher Process Visibility • Reduced Process time • Helps in Process re-engineering • SMS & Email alerts • Wide range of Operational and MIS reports • Workflow (for approvals) is automated and dynamic • Role based dashboards and access to modules • Super user role to Group Heads to override workflow and other business processes • Two factor authentication and digital signatures for enhanced security.

PROJECT JOURNEY BY ABM The emphasis on technology solutions has stemmed from the increasing demand for smarter urban services by citizens. A citizen can be Resident, Visitor, business owner or Patient who all need smart urban services.

A city is known to be smart when it has Transparent & Efficient Municipal Services, Faster Grievance Response, Clean Drinking Water, Clean & Green City, 24*7 Access to Urban Services, Smart Navigation within the city, Accessible & Efficient Public Transport, Subscribe to News &Alerts ,Smart Card based Business Permits, Accessible & Efficient Public Transport, Solid Waste Disposal, Hospital Admission, Epidemic

ABM Offerings

Alerts, Health Camps, etc.

A transparent & efficient Municipal Services covering almost all the services like – waste management, schools, hospitals, etc can only happen when the Government accepts the concept of e-Municipality. Moreover, E-municipality are the footprints of smart governance and Smart city is the foot print of e-Municipality.

A Smart City has smart environment (E-Waste Management, Emission level monitoring, Area based analysis reducing carbon footprint), smart education (E-learning tools, Smart class rooms), smart healthcare (Smart health monitoring & Alerts, self-help healthcare KIOSK, predictive health analysis), smart parking (Information on parking space availability, automatic ticketing and Boom barriers), smart buildings (Smart Building Plan Approvals, Water & Energy consumption monitoring), smart security (Emergency services on the go, Panic buttons in public transportation systems), smart energy(Smart Grid, Automated metering, prediction of energy transmission as per climatic condition), smart transportation (GPS based tracking, Route guidance).

In this context, various Municipalities have adopted information & communication technology (ICT) tools for smart governance and ABM is catering such solutions to them.

ABM Offerings

E-Municipality Solution

Mobil e Apps

Smart City Solution s

Tax Reforms Solutions

Accounting Reforms Solution

Empanelmen t

GRP- Govt.

Resource Planning Utility Billing Solution – Water Services

Touris m Portal

ERP Practices

RTS

ABM’s e-Governance Solutions are currently delivering approximately 2.8 Crores G2C and G2B services per year as on 2015-16! True to our belief of “enabling enduring e-Government”, ABM has successfully demonstrated this in most of its e-Government projects in sectors like Urban Administration, Utilities and Citizen/ Consumer services.ABM, today, has developed a thorough strategy in implementing and rolling out commercially-of-the-shelf (COTS) ERP based e-Governance solutions in ULBs across India. ABM is one of the few companies,thatis selected for large projects in multiple states simultaneously.

• Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai – one of the largest ULB in Asia • E-Municipality in the state of Bihar – 141 ULBs • E-Nagarpalika project in the state of Madhya Pradesh – 377 ULBs • Replication of KDMC’s model in Maharashtra – 231 ULBs ABM is known as a leader in e-Municipality due to its proven successful projects.

Highlights of few e-Municipality project as well as others are: • Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM): ABM implemented SAP for 70% operations of MCGM. ABM developed Web Portal that is integrated with all other software applications. It implemented their Java based applications for Property Tax and Water Distribution dept. and thereby covering almost 80-85 % of MCGM operations. MCGM has over 59 depts., 200+ SAP locations, 1.20 L employees, 4.2 Lac water connections generating Rs 1250 Cr demand per year and 3.7Lac properties generating `6063+ Cr demand per year. These applications are running stably for 7-8 years.

ABM has also implemented an application for Municipal.

Corporators for them to get MIS from computerized systems of MCGM. (The views expressed in thir article of the company.)

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INDUSTRY SPEAKS

Uber: Revolutionising Urban Mobility Shweta Rajpal Kohli Public Policy-Head UBER

“The answer in creating a levelplaying field lies not in imposing regulations but instead deregulating the existing players so as to encourage competition which is always beneficial to consumers.”

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One big mobility solution that we bring to the table is complementing public transport. If your train or subway or bus doesn’t get you all the way home, Uber will take you that last mile, says Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Public Policy-Head, UBER, in conversation with Kartik Sharma of Elets News Network (ENN). Excerpts: Uber appears to have revolutionised urban mobility. Tell us about your journey in India so far.

we are now encouraging people to use products like uberPOOL, reducing pollution and congestion in key cities.

India is the second largest market for us globally and is growing at an incredible pace. Our journey in India started over three years ago with Bengaluru. The growth since then has been phenomenal. We started with three employees in Bengaluru, we are now a 700+ people strong team currently operating in 29 Indian cities with over 400,000 driver partners on our platform. We’ve invested and ramped up Uber’s only engineering centre in Asia out of Bengaluru to tap into the tech talent pool in India. This centre will innovate transportation technology for India, many of these innovations will be rolled out in other markets around the globe.

Additionally, we have also set up our Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad. Our focus remains on creating safe, reliable and affordable transportation. We have introduced a lot of initiatives in India like cash payments and ‘Dial an Uber’ that allows riders to book a ride even if they don’t have the app downloaded on their device. With the aim of getting more people into fewer cars,

How can technology help resolve problems like congestion and pollution at a time when people are buying more and more cars?

It’s easy to demonise the car. However, the problem is not about cars—it is how we use them individually. In reality, individual car ownership is a necessity not a luxury for many city dwellers. It is a form of “mobility insurance”. People own cars to ensure that they can reliably reach where they need to go.

The good news is that technology has the potential to help solve these problems. The ability to press a button and get a ride is proving to a reliable, convenient, and affordable alternative to individual car ownership. We have some of the worst pollution and congestion levels in cities like Delhi and Bengaluru in India. People and policymakers now realise there are real alternatives to the world that looks like a parking lot and moves like a traffic jam.

The answer lies in using technology to get more people into fewer cars. Our

INDUSTRY SPEAKS

innovative solutions like uberPOOL, allows carpooling using technology by matching rides of two or more people going in the same direction is a great starting point. In India, we have uberPOOL services in six citiesBengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi. Since the launch of uberPOOL in India in December 2015, we have saved over 32 million kilometres of travelling, over 1.5 million litres of fuel and cut over 3.558 million kgs CO2 emission. If we aspire for every journey in India to be a shared journey, we need to use private cars for the public good. This will encourage people to drive themselves to use smartphone technology for carpool. There are over 2.7 million cars in Delhi today but less than 100,000 cars are eligible to use ridesharing apps like Uber. Similarly, we have hundreds of thousands of riders in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, who can be encouraged to share their rides with appropriate government support. We are glad the government through its advisory has recognised the need to use private cars for ridesharing.

How is Uber engaging with governments for progressive regulations?

Technology often outpaces regulations. We understand that governments are grappling with the need to regulate new players and at the same time encouraging innovation. We are working closely with governments to come up with regulations which are good for riders, drivers and cities. It’s heartening to see that the central government guidelines reiterate the need for a regulatory framework that encourages new forms of urban mobility. The answer in creating a level-playing field lies not only in imposing regulations but instead deregulating the existing players so as to encourage competition, which is always beneficial to consumers.

“We launched UberSHAAN in 2016.

This is an initiative seeking to create 1 million livelihood opportunities over the next two years in India.”

In the ecosystem of smart cities, a smart transportation is viewed as an integral part, how is Uber helping smart transportation with new digital developments?

The Smart City Mission is redefining urban India - reforming Indian cities and empowering them with technology.

We, at Uber, find ourselves completely invested, engaged and aligned with this mission. We too have reimagined urban spaces and found technology to lead the way in solving urban mobility issues. One big mobility solution that we bring to the table is complementing public transport. If your train or subway or bus doesn’t get you all the way home, Uber will take you that last mile. Despite the improvements in public transit over the years, its reach still has limitations. Many homes and jobs are farther than an easy walk to public transit, creating what’s known as the first/last mile problem. Real and perceived safety, comfort, and reliability concerns can also create bias against public transit usage, making the first/last mile problem look more like an abyss than a simple gap. By complementing existing mass transit systems, we are able to extend their reach at no extra cost to the taxpayer.

In Delhi, Uber has successfully extended the reach of public transport

by over 14.7%. We have also launched new products like uberMOTO –our bike-sharing product that enables riders to tap a button and get a motorbike ride in minutes. uberMOTO gives riders an affordable and convenient motorcycle ride at the push of a button, through the Uber app.

Riders receive driver and bike details just as they do for other Uber rides, as well as all standard safety features before, during and after the ride including GPS tracking, two-way feedback and the ability to share trip details with family and friends.

In the first three months of operation, over 25% of uberMOTO trips in Gurgaon (now Gurugram) began or ended near a metro station. In December last year, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO and Founder, announced the imminent launch of uberMOTO in Hyderabad. Our ultimate hope for the future is to turn every journey into a shared journey using a combination of ridesharing and mass transit.

What steps is Uber taking to drive micro-entrepreneurship in India?

Each of our driver partners are microentrepreneurs. We launched UberSHAAN in 2016. This is an initiative seeking to create 1 million livelihood opportunities over the next two years in India. The vision of the programme is to skill and mobilise people to become micro-entrepreneurs on the Uber platform through partnerships with governments at both Centre and State and as well as through mobilising corporate support for skill training. Through these partnerships, Uber is providing extensive support towards skill development and driver training programmes to create livelihood with dignity for India’s workforce, including women. We will continue to partner with various organisations to mobilise and offer opportunities to women and look forward to getting more women drivers on board in the near future.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad Effecting Smart Development

D T Waghmare

Commissioner Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) dream of being looked upon as a smart city was finally realised last year after it was included in the Smart Cities Mission.

D T Waghmare, Commissioner, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, in conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of Elets News Network (ENN), tells us more about the city’s development plans. Excerpts: Tell us how Pimpri Chinchwad managed to get selected as a Smart City?

Earlier, Pimpri Chinchwad was not included in the list of smart cities of Maharashtra. It was considered to be a part of Pune Metropolitan Chinchwad.

Since Navi Mumbai did not apply for a place in the Smart City Mission, we got the chance to feature in the list of 10 cities selected from Maharashtra. Now we have qualified in the last round of smart city mission. We are in the process of preparing our master plan.

What new initiatives are you planning to launch this year?

“In the next few months, we will make PCMC totally cashless.

We have already started the process.”

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We do have a couple of projects to strengthen our transport system. We already have Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) corridors where we are in the process of installing intelligent signalling systems. We have hired expert consultants for the job. Further, for buses, we have separate corporation and plan to equip the fleet with advanced transportation technology that can help us streamline the transportation and avoid unnecessary traffic within the city.

What digital infrastructure are you developing for the city?

We will always adopt retrofitting approach for the implementation of smart city projects in Pimpri Chinchwad, there is hardly any green field area and developing or modifying brown field areas is quite difficult. We would like to select areas along major transport corridors developed by us.

We also enjoy being a destination where several IT and automobile companies are established. We would like to make the most of this advantage.

Without a strong digital infrastructure, the concept of smart city cannot be completed. Even before we got selected for smart city project, we had started Digital Infrastructure Backbone project. The idea was to provide proper digital infrastructure for all digital networks. Intelligent parking, intelligent signalling system, intelligent water supply system etc, all can be possible with a strong digital infrastructure. In the next few months, we will make PCMC totally cashless. We have already started the process.

How Pimpri Chinchwad is adopting smart transportation?

What is the idea behind the new project of eco housing?

Policymaker’s Perspective

There are two things -- public and private housing. As far as private housing is concerned, we are the first municipal corporation to adopt green developmental regulations. We also have provision to provide incentives to builders who adopt these regulations.

Further, we also try to build the public building as per the advanced mechanism that ensures green concepts.

What are your future plans? On which areas will you focus this year?

We want to concentrate on the water supply sector this year. We want to execute 24/7 water supply schemes.

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), about 40 per cent of the city area has

major area of focus for Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

Solid waste management and waste to energy plant will also be our target. We will try to segregate the waste at the source itself and explore options to transform waste to in energy.

prevent them from polluting the river, thus, preventing human epidemic situations in the society.

We, however, need to work a lot in rural areas that comes under the corporation.

The vision for transport system in Pimpri Chinchwad is to have efficient, economical, intelligent and integrated transportation system for public and freight. PCMC has embarked to achieve this vision by developing a comprehensive mobility plan for implementing BRT system on a stretch of 120 kms. As per the plan, 45 km route is already developed and another 75 km route development is under implementation. Further, to enhance

What challenges do you foresee in turning Pimpri Chinchwad into a smart city?

One of the key challenges among them is integrating the planning process of different authorities like Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation

What is your vision for developing efficient transport system in the city?

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

already been covered and the project will be completed shortly. Rs 450 crore has already been sanctioned for this project.

Further, we are also focusing on installing LED lights which will allow us to make our city greener and reduce the cost to a great extent. We will be executing this plan in a phase wise manner. Intelligent parking and traffic signal are two projects that we will be working on to make our region smarter.

We will also be focusing on projects based on digital infrastructure. Roads and flyover construction will also be a

(MIDC), Pimpri Chinchwad New Town Devlopement Authority (PCNTDA), defense authority and Railways.

Developing channels for active citizen participation is also a time consuming procedure.

Developing accurate and dynamic information system for decision making, too, is a lengthy procedure.

The city is still disconnected with Pune city. Hence, making available the last mile connectivity is a priority.

It’s again a grassroot level procedure to change the mindset of people and

the transportation capacity, 7.15 km metro rail system and 30 km Light Rail System (LRT) is planned.

To improve the efficiency of transport system, PCMC will develop an integrated multi modal route rationalisation plan which will be implemented through Intelligent Transit Management System (ITMS). PCMC has already undertaken study for implementation of non-motorised transportation and public parking along all transit corridors.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Leveraging Technology to Strengthen PDS in Rajasthan

Subodh Agarwal

Principal Secretary Food and Civil Supplies Department, Government of Rajasthan

“We are working towards 100% transparent and interactive PDS system through PoS devices, continuously removing the bogus and ineligible and including the needy and eligible families.”

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More than 25,000 fair price shops have been automated in Rajasthan by installing Point of Sale (PoS) devices to strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS), says Subodh Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, Government of Rajasthan in conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN). Excerpts: Please elaborate on the innovations introduced in the Food and Civil Supplies Department of Rajasthan.

We have introduced various innovations in the department. First is related to revamping of Public Distribution System (PDS) which is designed to provide ration to the poor beneficiaries and has faced allegations of systemic corruption, diversion and leakages on regular intervals. It was a challenge to reform PDS to ensure ration delivery to target groups in a transparent manner and eliminate diversion and delays in allocation and distribution of PDS items.

We were able to revamp PDS through an End to End Computerisation (E2EC) scheme and till date, more than 25,000 fair price shops have been automated in the state by installing Point of Sale (PoS) devices to distribute PDS commodities after biometric verification.

The second innovation is related to the Annapurna Bhandar Yojna, a unique Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. In this model, PDS is being modernised by providing better quality multi-brand consumer goods at competitive prices to the general public through fair price shops. These stores are working as rural malls for the villagers and the state is ensuring that around 150 products under 45

different categories of quality brands are made available to rural empowers residents at these stores. It not only enables people to purchase quality consumer items at reasonable price but also enhances the trust of rural masses on PDS of the state.

Rajasthan government has launched “Annapurna Bhandar Yojna” to modernise its Public Distribution System. Please tell about the schemes and its benefits?

As we know, quality consumable goods are not easily available in the remote areas. Keeping in mind, the interest of consumers in the state, Government of Rajasthan has launched this scheme.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was the key motivator for this scheme. There is an interesting story behind it. In one of the “Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar” programmes in Tamatia village, located in the interior tribal area of Dungarpur district of Rajasthan, Raje came across an Large Aadim Jati Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS) run Fair Price Shops (FPS) which besides selling the subsidised items under the PDS was also selling FMCG products, fertilisers, seeds, cement and other consumer items. This not only helped consumers in interior areas but was also a source of additional income for the

Policymaker’s Perspective

cooperative organisation. Looking at the success of this model, the chief minister conceptualised revamping of dilapidated fair price shops into modern retail Annapurna Bhandars.

First Annapurna Bhandar was launched by the Rajasthan Chief Minister on 31st October, 2015 in Bhambhori village of Jaipur district. Till date, more than 5,000 stores have been opened in various parts of the state. Under this scheme, ration dealers are being trained in retail management and latest management practices by the Future Consumer Enterprise Limited, a Future Group company (private partner selected through open transparent tender process).

This PPP model has created a win-win situation for all the stakeholders – public, fair price shop dealers, government and private partner. This scheme has sorted out the problem of dubious goods available in small town shops and has generated additional income for the fair price shop dealers as well as employment for their family members. The FPS dealers are now being recognised as entrepreneurs.

Also, scheme has rebuild people’s faith in government interventions.

Directives have been issued that without Point of Sale (PoS) machine, no ration will be distributed to the National Food Safety Act (NFSA) beneficiaries. How do you ensure its enforcement?

The Rajasthan Government is committed to providing PDS items to the targetted beneficiaries in a transparent manner. To ensure that the benefits are provided to authorised beneficiaries, bio-metric authentication has been enforced at the last level of disbursement, i.e. fair price shops, in compliance with the Budget declaration no. 189 (2015-16) of the Chief Minister. The basic infrastructure being used to enable such localised and targetted service delivery is PoS device.

Almost all the fair price shops in the state have operational PoS devices except 135 locations which are still not connected with the internet facility.

What challenges have you faced in implementing IT/digital initiatives on such a large scale? How do you combat connectivity issues?

Rajasthan is the largest state in terms of area and a large part of it is covered

by Thar Desert and Aravali Hills. There are more than 25,000 fair price shops in the State. The major challenges before the department were poor internet connectivity, lack of digital literacy, inadequate Aadhaar coverage, resistance of fair price shop dealers, among others.

We were able to overcome all these issues due to strong political will of our Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. To address the issue of inadequate internet connectivity, FPS dealers were provided an option to choose SIM of any service provider (BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, etc.) having better connectivity in that particular area.

Installation of Point of Sale (PoS) machines was done in a phased manner and several camps were organised to train the FPS dealers about functioning of PoS devices. Special camps were organised for Aadhaar enrollment especially in areas having lower Aadhaar coverage.

The Government of India suggested that installation of PoS devices has to be implemented on a model based on outsourcing, wherein FPS owner shall buy, on and operate the PoS device. It was felt that it is not economically feasible for all the FPS dealers to go in the open market and buy the PoS machines.

Do you have any mechanism to keep a vigil on the duplicate or bogus ration cards and monitor the real-time progress of the scheme?

Yes, we have an effective mechanism to keep a watch on the duplicate and bogus ration cards. Digitised ration cards are being prepared through e-Mitra centres across the state since 2015. When an applicant approaches to e-Mitra kiosk for a new ration card and operator enters the family details of the applicant, system displays all the similar probable duplicate ration cards already issued. At this stage if e-Mitra kiosk holder finds that applied ration card have already been issued earlier, he or she may refuse for issuing a new ration card to the applicant. If operator finds that applicant’s details are different from all probable existing duplicate ration cards, only then new ration card application will be forwarded to the authorised officers along with remarks.

Authorised officer may also cross check the ration card de-duplication.

We also monitor real-time progress of deletion of duplicate and bogus ration cards. At any point of time, a list of probable duplicate ration cards may be generated. Till date, approximately 13 lakh duplicate or bogus ration cards have been deleted.

Which new projects are you planning to launch in future.

Under End to End Computerisation Scheme, to track the movement of PDS commodities, we are working on computerisation of supply chain management. It covers godowns, wholesalers, fair price shops and field functionaries like DSOs, EOs, EIs etc.

Allocation order generation, release order generation and inventory management will also made online under ePDS. In near future, Annapurna Bhandars will be converted into model shops comprising of fair price shops, Annapurna bhandar, e-Mitra, business correspondent of banks, pay point micro ATMs, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna etc.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Thane Moving Towards Smart Development Sunil Chavan

Additional Municipal Commissioner Thane Municipal Corporation and Chief Executive Officer Thane Smart City Limited

“Thane Municipal Corporation recognises the role that simple technological innovations can play in leveraging the benefits of existing infrastructure without draining the urban local bodies budget.”

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Citizen engagement plays a crucial role in making a city smart.

While conceptualising projects, it is extremely important to take citizens’ views and suggestions into consideration, says Sunil Chavan, Additional Municipal Commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation and Chief Executive Officer of Thane Smart City Limited, in conversation with Harshal Desai of Elets News Network (ENN).

What key focus areas are to be considered for making Thane a smart city?

where anyone irrespective of their age, ability, gender or income are able to access all that the city has to offer.

A smart city is one which ensures good quality of life for its citizens. Though this definition may sound simple, it entails a bouquet of core infrastructure requirements such as adequate and assured water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation, solid waste management, improved mobility and public transport, affordable housing, robust IT connectivity and digitisation, sustainable environment, e-governance and citizens participation, safety, health and education, which need to be met.

Basically, a smart city is one which is able to leverage its existing civic infrastructure by applying ICT-based solutions to maximise public impact.

How significant is citizen engagement to make a city smarter? What are the major challenges on this front?

The vision for smart Thane is a city where the waterfront and lakes are interwoven into the tapestry of everyday life of citizens providing them with a distinct urban experience that is world apart from others. It shall be a city where the mind is free, comfort and safety are assured, drawing a wave of creative employment opportunities

Citizen engagement plays a crucial role in making a city smart. While conceptualising projects, it is extremely important to take citizens’ views and suggestions into consideration. By carrying out various means of citizen engagement, the city government is able to gauge the pulse of what its citizens need. Further, a major benefit of citizen engagement is that local bodies take its citizens into confidence before executing projects are less likely to encounter public resistance for the same while implementing those projects.

This is precisely what was done while preparing the smart city proposal for Thane where extensive citizen consultation in the form of public surveys (6 lakh survey forms were distributed out of which 4.5 lakh forms were collected and analysed) and intensive theme based focused group

Policymaker’s Perspective

discussions were conducted in order to finalise the area for development and prioritise the pan city solutions. The result of this public engagement was the selection of the station area/city centre area for area based development and, water supply and safety and security emerging as the priority areas for pan city solutions.

That said, the biggest challenge of citizen engagement is recognising the fact that citizens’ groups are extremely diverse and often have divergent and sometimes even conflicting demands.

There are resident welfare associations, women’s groups, builders and developers, academicians, architects and planners, small and medium enterprises, environmental groups, NGOs, etc. Given this reality, the real test is how city governments balance these often conflicting demands.

How do you see technology as an enabler for a successful smart city project?

The Smart City Mission guidelines stress on trying to do more with less. In this light, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) recognises the role that simple technological innovations can play in leveraging the benefits of existing infrastructure without draining the urban local bodies budget. For instance, today in most cities of India, citizens have to come to the corporation in order to apply for various services, or to make utility payments or to lodge service related complaints, etc. With a view to encourage e-governance and reduce the need for the citizen to come to the corporation, TMC has invested in an IT solution commonly known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Through the implementation of this project, various services such as registration of birth and death, marriage registration, property tax payment, water bill payment, application for a new water supply connection, grievance redressal, etc have been made available online.

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Similarly, TMC is nearing completion of its ITMS project i.e. Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS) whereby all TMT buses have been fitted with GPS devices to enable real time tracking of the location of the buses. This information is synced with a mobile application called ‘Where is My Bus?’, which provides commuters with real time information on where the desired bus is located and its estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the bus stop. All bus stops will also be covered with LED information displays that will provide the status and ETA of buses arriving at that stop.

Will you also update us on the challenges that can affect the execution process? How will Thane Smart City Limited (TSCL) address these challenges?

There are several challenges and risks that TSCL may encounter while executing the smart city projects.

Certain projects require a high level of coordination with other government authorities like the central Railways, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Environment and Forests for either clearances, funding assistance or policy decisions.

What steps have been taken to make Thane an environment friendly city and what are your plans in the area of solid waste management?

TMC is undertaking several works to ensure that the city has a sustainable environment. As far as the 32 km creek line is concerned, a city-wide sewerage project is nearing completion that will ensure that no sewerage generated in the city goes untreated into the creek.

Further, TMC has proposed waterfront development along its creek line in a phase wise manner. An integral part of this project will be the installation of bar screens at all the nalla outfalls into the creek to prevent solid waste from polluting the creek. TMC is also blessed with over 36 lakes and is making every

effort to ensure the conservation of these lakes by carrying out water quality improvement measures such as bioremediation.

As far as vehicular pollution is concerned, TMC has undertaken several projects to improve the ambient air quality and promote the use of public transport – right from augmenting its fleet of TMT buses, introducing Integrated Transportation Management System (ITMS) to install dust control machines at Thane station.

TMC has taken several strides to improve the situation of solid waste management in the city. The Corporation has adopted a two pronged approach towards municipal waste management i.e. both centralised and decentralised. TMC has entered into a contract to set up a waste to energy plant of 600 MT capacity on a PPP basis in order to process the entire city’s waste.

Will you share details of the various projects which are under implementation stage or projects which have been planned for Thane city?

TMC prepared a Smart City proposal having a total value equivalent to Rs. 5,404 crores. As part of the area based development, TMC has proposed several projects to be implemented in the city centre – development of a multi-modal hub at Thane Station East, development of a new suburban station between Thane and Mulund in order to decongest the existing Thane station, Teen Haath Naka junction improvement, pedestrian improvements, parking management, 70 acre cluster redevelopment scheme, 1.5 km waterfront development, 3 lake front developments, LED street lighting, 2 MW solar rooftop, water supply network remodelling, sewerage works, drainage works, decentralised SWM processing plants and setting up urban restrooms.

Policymaker’s Perspective

Tech-Driven Swachh Bharat – A Reflection of New India

Praveen Prakash

Mission Director Swachh Bharat Mission and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development

Swachh Bharat Mission is imperative to the transformation of India’s urban landscape. Leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT), this unique initiative is bringing in efficiency, better supervision and building new synergies with citizens to help achieve the targets set under the ambitious initiative, says Praveen Prakash, Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development in conversation with Shivani Tyagi of Elets News Network (ENN).

Can you share how Swachh Bharat and Smart City Mission are being integrated to change the urban landscape of the country?

Cleanliness is the pre-requisite to becoming a smart city. These cities have to set an example for others to follow.

“We have collaborated with Google Maps to provide toilet locating service in Delhi-NCR region through our app. There is a provision for providing feedback as well.”

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On 25th June, we will complete two years of the Smart City Mission and our focus will be on the following areas: First, to implement 100% biometric attendance system for employees of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 20 cities selected in the first round of the Smart

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in a Swachh Bharat Mission drive (File Photo)

Policymaker’s Perspective

City Mission. All the information will be put in the public domain.

Second, by 25th June we will be tracking the performance of every garbage lifting truck online. At least three months’ data will be available digitally. Garbage collector trucks will be monitored every day.

Third, monitoring system will be in place for all the roads of 20 smart cities selected in the first phase where sweeping of the roads will be monitored remotely. Other things

“Our mission is on track and we will be able to deliver good results to our citizens. We are positive that by 2019 all our goals will be met.”

Ministry of Urban Development Joint Secretary Praveen Prakash, along with South African Minister Nomvula Paula Mokonyane and Parmarth Niketan Ashram head Swami Chidanand Saraswati in Chennai at the launch of an initiative to market treated faecal sludge as open compost.

include extensive anti-larva operation against mosquito related diseases, proper water connection for all the toilets constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, processing plants converting garbage to energy will be set up in various smart cities.

How technology is being leveraged to achieve the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission?

We are using a biometric attendance system and GPS tracking system in Swachh Bharat Mission. We have also developed the latest 2.0 web technology and an app where people can take photographs of garbage and send them directly to civic bodies.

Authorities are required to respond to the complaints in a time-bound manner. We have also evolved an online happiness index of citizens where voting is done by citizens themselves. We are tagging all the toilets we have constructed since 2009 for online tracking. We have

collaborated with Google Maps to provide toilet locating service in Delhi-NCR region through our app.

There is a provision for providing feedback as well.

What are the basic challenges the government is facing for implementing the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?

We have done an analysis of various groups of people for this mission. It is easy to change the behaviour of women and children than men in the age group of 35-55 years. Keeping this in mind, we are creating our awareness programmes.

What is the future of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in India?

In just a short span of two-and-a-half year, we have completed 50% of our journey. Our mission is on track and we will be able to deliver good results to our citizens. We are positive that by 2019 all our goals will be met.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

NHIDCLLaying Roadmap For Future Sanjay Jaju

Director, NHIDCL

National Highways And Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) ensures the fast track construction of highways and infrastructure on the country’s borders and strategic areas, says Sanjay Jaju, Director, NHIDCL, in conversation with Gautam Debroy of Elets News Network (ENN). Excerpts: You have recently launched three projects, tell us about your initiatives?

“We are building roads to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. The company is handling more than 9,000 km of highway projects in the country out of which 2,000 km of highways have been grounded.”

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Our first initiative is INAM-Pro (Platform for Infrastructure and Materials Providers). It is a platform created for infrastructure and minerals . The journey began with the cement industry.

The idea was to create a marketplace where we can aggregate the market buyers (state PWDs, contractors, corporations etc) and the agencies which are engaged in the construction of public infrastructure. On the other hand, we have the cement manufacturers. We have done the same with steel and now we are trying for the infrastructure material suppliers and service suppliers on this platform.

The second project is known as Infracon. We prepared a detailed project report for it. Earlier the process was not very transparent, but with the use of information and technology, this platform is easing the whole process.

The third project is called ePace which deals with the monitoring of the infrastructure projects of NHIDCL. For the common citizen, the

information is available at the click of the button. It has all the information about the projects we are handling and the status of the projects.

Bottlenecks and other issues, all get reflected in the monitoring platform we have created.

Tell us about highway and high density projects you have initiated.

I am a part of NHIDCL. The company has been set up to fast-track construction of highways and infrastructure on the country’s borders and strategic areas.

We need to increase our cross-border trade with our neighbours, especially in these two frontiers and that is why most of the projects are focused on the eastern region of the country. We are building roads to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and to Myanmar. This company is handling more than 9,000 km of highway projects in the country out of which 2,000 km of highways have been grounded. Within a short span of two years, we have acquired contracts worth Rs 25,000 crores.

Any special initiatives you are planning for repair of highways in northeastern states?

Policymaker’s Perspective

Under the SARDP-NE, NHIDCL is implementing various projects. Some of these projects deal with four-laned roads.

For the north east region, we have a special programme called Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE).

Under the SARDP-NE, this company is implementing various projects. Some of these projects deal with four laned roads. All these projects are not only improving the internal infrastructure of the north east.

Tell us about the Bharatmala project ?

Bharatmala is another initiative which we intend to launch. It deals with developing border infrastructure and developing economic corridors within the country. It aims to facilitate cross border trade. We have been assigned around 5,000 kms of roads in the north eastern region and we are making detailed project reports for them. After the completion of the reports, we will focus on land acquisition and handling of these projects on the ground.

Is there any provision in the policies of NHIDCL for the speedy

implementation of the highways projects ?

All these projects are conducted under the Engineering Procurement and Construction rules and are publicly funded to avoid the risk. The Engineering part is also left on the part of the contractor. We pay them on a regular basis. The entire financial risk is taken care by the state. This is done because the north eastern roads don’t have tolls. Effectively we need to put public funds to create infrastructure and now we are doing it on fast track basis.

What road safety initiatives have you undertaken ?

Every detailed project report, we make for any road development project includes a lot of features and items to enhance the safety of the commuters be it the crash barriers or the rumble strength. We go for slope stabilisation so that the problem of the landslides can be taken care of. At the same time, we also improve the

curvature of the roads so that blind spots can be eliminated. The vertical and horizontal gradient is improved so that the chances of falling down gets reduced. In every project one to two per cent of the cost is assigned to improve the safety standards of the roads and bring them to the international standards.

What do you want to say about the Nagpur Smart City Summit ?

We have illustrated that it is possible to use information technology, even in the highway sector. There is lot of opportunity in this sector. Similarly, smart devices can be used in a lot of areas in urban development. The concept of smart lighting or solid waste management, urban transportation isopening up a lot of possibilities. I am sure that our cities are going to embrace these amenities and improve the services being given to the citizens. It is to be ensured that these services should be delivered to them in a user-friendly and transparent manner.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

GARV App Ensuring Transparency and Accountability Dr Dinesh Arora

Executive Director, REC and CEO RECPDCL

The Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is the nodal agency for the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY). It has been tasked to build a database of all sanctioned villages, identify progress of electrification in all villages and to prepare a village-wise plan for 100 per cent household electrification, says Dr Dinesh Arora, Executive Director, REC and Chief Executive Officer of REC Power Distribution Company Limited (RECPDCL), in an interview with Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).

How would you describe the overview of RECPDCL?

“I think Digital India should drive on electrification mission in India.

The poles which we are putting for rural electrification can be used for fibre optics.”

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REC Power Distribution Company Limited (RECPDCL) is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). It is an execution wing of Rural Electrification Corporation. RECPDCL implements IDPS projects, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana projects, renewal energy projects, power system management, roof top solar projects etc. We are working with distribution sector across India. We are right now working in almost 29 States and 36 DISCOMS, where we are adding value to the distribution chain.

On the occasion of 69th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced all the remaining (18,452) villages would be electrified within 1,000 days, how big is this challenge?

The rate of annual electrification before this announcement was around 1,000-1,500 villages. This would have taken 9-10 years, had we gone with the same pace. So, we along with the Ministry of Power worked on micro

management. We initiated three main steps. First, we started micro management and divided the village electrification process into 12 steps.

Secondly, we appointed field engineers who could facilitate DISCOMS in giving us information on the wire. Finally, we have GARV app which shows development happening every day. It contains all the information like where and in which state the work is going on, in which state work is going on, who all are the contractors, which all officers are involved, has the village been electrified or not? If yes, what is the proof? Not only this, GARV app is also helping in impact analysis. So, it was a planned move and results are in front of us. As many as 12,789 villages spread over 19 States have been electrified as on March 27, 2017 and remaining 4,828 will be electrified in the next financial year (2017-18).

Why were villages left in the dark for 68 years? And when the electrification of such villages is happening, to whom would you like to give credit?

First, certain villages were in difficult terrain. They were in left wing

Policymaker’s Perspective

Rural Households Electrification

extremists and forests areas, hence, their electrification was difficult. In many states, governance played a very important factor in rural electrification like in southern India, western India, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. But same can not be said for the states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. These States had governance issues. Now all the States are on target, fully cooperating with the central government for rural electrification.

What are the challenges involved in working with different States and DISCOMS? We are getting excellent response from most of the states. They have been responding very well and have clear vision for the mission of 100 per cent electrification. The credit for the progress goes to all. So, I would like to compliment most of the States for doing fantastic work and cooperating with us in this endeavour of village electrification.

What is the difference between the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVJ) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) from an execution point of view?

Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana was for the electrification extension of untouched areas. It had a population policy for 300 households.

However, under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) population criteria was removed, the scheme was made comprehensive and suitable for DISCOMS. For example, system strengthening even in the existing areas, DISCOMS can augment their sub stations, new sub stations not only in untouched areas but also in existing areas.

The important aspect is household metering and feeding separation.

These new components have been added, inspired by Gujarat model.

Feeder separation is helping where a significant proportion of agricultural consumption is there in a village or district. So, 24/7 power can be provided to the households as well as adequate electricity can be supplied for agriculture purpose. In addition to this, off grid has been added as the major component, stand-alone solar is also added for the first time. A new monitoring system under the DISHA has been added in DDUGJY. The erstwhile RGGVJ became a very small component of rural electrification.

After village electrification, the centre proposed to expand its rural electrification drive to household electrification?

When you climb one mountain, you tend to climb the next mountain higher than the previous one. The village electrification is the first challenge, second would be an intensification of

habitation and the third would be households electrification. We are ready for this challenge. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already announced that by 2022, electricity will be provided to every household. We are internally working on the target whereby 2019-20 all habitations would get electrified and simultaneously all households will have access to electricity.

GARV-2 portal was launched on December 20, 2016. How difficult is to capture the huge amount of data from the ground?

It is challenging but promising also. We have started recording data from January 2017 and have around 1.5 lakh household data on GARV app. We have also started to release all subsequent payments only after the data has been filled by the states. All states are working hard on this and we are hopeful for their continued cooperation.

Electrification is the foundation for any innovation. How do you connect electrification drive with Digital India?

I think Digital India should drive on electrification mission in India. The poles which we are putting for rural electrification can be used for fibre optics. The Andhra Pradesh government is doing the same, so why it cannot be done by other States. I think we should not only have electrified but also a Digital village.

As per the GARV-2 portal, REC averages 30,000 new connections per week. What is next?

Rural Electrification Corporation is targeting to scale up the drive to grant 1,00,000 connections every week.

India has never seen electrification at such a large scale earlier, and neither have details been made available on electrification at the household level.

Electrification data was only captured for families below poverty line earlier.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

Punjab Getting ‘Smart’ Through Development J M Balamurugan

CEO Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC)

“Amritsar has a heritage which is popular not only on national but also on international level. We will focus on providing water supply, sewerage and other basic facilities in the city.”

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Punjab is now going to have its urban landscape dotted with Smart Cities as Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar selected under the Smart City Mission. Punjab is taking strides in becoming ‘smart’ for the delivery of civic amenities even as it is evolving to protect its heritage and rich history.

J M Balamurugan, CEO of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC) in conversation with Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN), tells us more about the smart city projects of Punjab. Excerpts: How do you perceive the Smart City Mission in Punjab?

What are the components of turning a city smart?

Smart Cities will have all the essentials, what citizens need and have expressed as their priority. Every city should focus on citizens’ requirement, only then it can meet the expectations of people.

In a Smart City, modern technology is used.

Essential components of a Smart City are not fixed. It is a mix of water supply, basic facilities, sewerage, waste water disposal, lighting and security, and other such facilities. Essentially, if you understand the Maslow’s pyramid of need, the components that need to be

PMIDC is trying to decongest the walled city area in Amritsar.

Policymaker’s Perspective

Smart city framework provides an opportunity to turn unplanned development into a planned one.

upgraded and brought to the expectation of people, are basically these facilities only.

Amritsar is a heritage city, how will heritage and smart city concept go together?

We are trying to reach the potential of each city by analysing the strength and legacy of it. We are developing new infrastructure for smart cities.

Amritsar has a heritage, which is popular not only nationally but also internationally. Developing it as a smart city has an edge over other cities. We will focus on providing water supply, sewerage and other basic facilities in the city. Without providing basic amenities to the citizens, the rich heritage of Amritsar cannot be promoted. Someone coming to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple may also require a washroom. Only by creating basic infrastructure in the city, we can focus on heritage and tourism.

How do you plan to tackle the problem of haphazard development that many cities of Punjab have witnessed in the recent past?

Smart city framework provides an opportunity to turn unplanned development into a planned one. In the next decade, infrastructure would be

developed according to a proper plan and design.

Which area is most challenging for you and how do you plan to solve it?

What plans do you have to ensure development in slum areas?

Transport is perhaps the biggest challenge and for that a solution has to evolve in the process. Maintaining the city mobility is a huge task.

Without providing adequate housing, the concept of smart city will be incomplete. Housing is the top priority for us. Although it falls under different ministry, still a convergence is happening. Housing schemes are being implemented, upgradation of slum houses is happening at the city-level.

Toilets are being made under Swachh Bharat Mission. People require infrastructure. So we, at management level, have to ensure that these facilties reach people. We are trying to converge all schemes at the city-level.

We have funding coming from various sources.

Which project can inspire other States to follow suit?

We are way ahead in providing security to the citizens of Ludhiana. All the important places in the city are being monitored through cameras. Crime detection is happening and people have a sense of safety. Safe city concept is operational in Ludhiana. Amritsar being a heritage city, we are trying to decongest the walled city area. Parking lots are being made outside the walled city for easy flow of traffic.

What is the execution level of various smart city projects in Punjab?

What are your plans for the development of Jalandhar?

We are maintaining a good pace in implementing various smart city projects. Work has started for Ludhiana projects. We are going to announce tender for these projects very soon.

We are trying to develop Jalandhar as a sports hub. Right now, it is just into manufacturing hub of sports goods. We are also looking at facilitating the city to be hub of sports activities and events. We are also trying to develop other smart cities like Patiala and Bathinda. They may not have been declared smart cities by the Centre but we are trying our best to develop them on the terms of smart cities.

In Jalandhar and Amritsar we have been awarded the smart city status. We will be completing the Project Managament Consultant (PMC) selection soon. After that, designing process will start.

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Policymaker’s Perspective

UP Assembly Polls: Unprecedented Voter Turnout Recorded Uttar Pradesh witnessed an unprecedented scale of voter turnout during the latest seven-phase State Assembly Elections which concluded on March 8, Over 60 per cent voter turnout was witnessed in overall UP Assembly Elections 2017 this time, with more than 10 million voters casting their votes, says T Venkatesh, Chief Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh, in an interview with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN). Such a phenomenon has been witnessed for the first time after independence. Excerpts:

What was the voter turnout trend in all seven phases of UP Assembly Elections?

We have 14.12 crore voters and approximately 1.47 lakh polling

“The AMF mobile app has been developed to upload the facilities including toilet, electricity, shade, ramp, telephone, water and furniture of assembly polling stations using a smartphone.”

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stations in Uttar Pradesh. As far as voter turnout was concerned, over all poll percentage is higher than that of 2012 Assembly Election and 2014 Parliamentary Election. In every phase, poll percentage went up. Poll

T Venkatesh, Chief Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh

Policymaker’s Perspective

percentage went up by a couple of per cent in each phase. In UP, couple of per cent means lakhs of voters. In the first four phases, in comparison to 2012 and 2014, 72 lakh more voters turned up. The trends projecting that overall voting percentage was around 60.5 per cent in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. Female voter turnout in this election was higher than male voter turnout. In comparison to in the previous Assembly Elections 2012, more than 10.04 million voters have cast their votes because awareness has increased amongst the voters due to various reasons. Electoral roll revision work has also helped in it.

How does IT initiatives help the Uttar Pradesh’s state elections?

Information Technology has increased our efficiency. It has made us transparent. In the State of Uttar Pradesh, supervision and monitoring became much easier due to implementation of a dual rainbow of the applications (7 online applications and 7 mobile apps), and we could also rectify wherever we could improve. IT is the most important tool, without this we couldn’t have achieved the efficiency. Other important aspect of IT apps and tools which we have seen is hits and number of downloads.

Millions of people have used our Electoral Roll Management System (ERMS) mobile app software and checked their names in the voter list.

Lot of people have installed M-Voter app to search their name with the information of their polling station and voter serial number in voter list. This app has helped the citizens to locate their polling booth on map.

The Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) mobile app has been developed to upload the facilities including Toilet, electricity, shade, ramp, telephone, water and furniture of assembly polling stations using a smartphone.

UP Assembly Elections 2017

Work was done actually in the field and reflected in the app.

Did these initiatives help in reaching the rural masses?

The supervision of the district officers took a new dimension. Earlier booth wise monitoring was very difficult, we could only do Assembly Constituency wise monitoring. But now we could do booth wise analysis. We could not only analyse but also inform the electoral registration officers that these booths need improvement. We won’t have gone into such microscopic details without help of IT. Indepth supervision of booth level operations and reaching out to rural places at the microscopic level is indispensable in a State like UP and it was not feasible without use of IT. It is going to be the way up for us.

Can this model be replicated in other states?

This is a wonderful model and can be replicated anywhere. The best part of the model is that it is inhouse model made by our own IT team, headed by Anil Garg, Additional Chief

Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh.

It could not have been achieved without a passionate and dedicated team. There are two advantages, first-there is no cost involved and second we didn’t need any outsourcing to rectify any mistake.

If there was any problem, our team rectified it. This is constantly going to improve. I am really proud of my team for doing exemplary work in a government department.

What challenges did you face in implementing digital solutions?

When we started implementing IT, due to paucity of time I was thinking whether my team would be able to deliver so many apps in such a short span of time. But to my surprise, the team delivered it much before the deadline. IT apps were developed, tested and put to use much before the scheduled time. Our IT team headed

by Shailesh Srivastava, Principal Systems Analyst, National Informatics Centre (NIC) was always ahead of the challenges. I would praise my team for its outstanding work and dedication shown.

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Security Perspective

New-Age Technology for Securing Borders The Border Security Force (BSF) is adopting several latest technological advances for surveillance and guarding the borders, says Santosh Mehra, Inspector General, Border Security Force, in an exclusive interview with Souvik Goswami of Elets News Network (ENN).

The Border Security Force (BSF) has always been looked upon as a force to reckon with, can you shed some light on its role in safeguarding the nation?

“Borders have no longer remained in territorial realm only.

With digital transformation, cyber space is bypassing territorial borders.

Today, the necessity is not to secure territorial limit only; but to safeguard cyber space as well.

Therefore, the challenges of security agencies have increased manifold and they need to evolve and equip themselves accordingly.”

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The Border Security Force (BSF) is the largest border guarding force in the world. It is India’s first line of defence on her borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It solely protects the entire international borders with these two countries. BSF works shoulder to shoulder with Army on Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The troops man the borders in the remote terrains of the Rann of Kutch, the Thar

Santosh Mehra Inspector General Border Security Force

Desert, snow-clad mountains in the J&K, the deltas of the Sunderbans and the malaria-infested forests of Tripura.

BSF was instrumental in controlling the insurgencies in Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur. It played a major role in controlling terrorism in Punjab and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. The Force is also presently deployed in anti-naxal operations in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The contribution of BSF during Indo-Pak wars was also commendable.

The Force has played a pivotal role

security Perspective

during the liberation war of Bangladesh from March, 1971 (much before the armed forces swung into action in December, 1971) which culminated into a thumping victory over Pakistani Army.

During Kargil War in 1999, Pak intruders could not capture the heights manned

by BSF and the Force personnel have shown gallant actions during the war.

The Force played a major role in containing Delhi Police Strike, 1967, Ahmedabad Riots, 1969, UP Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) Strike, 1973, Railway Strike, 1974, Bhagalpur Riots, 1989, etc.

BSF is also assigned duties during elections. The Force has shown its human face during several disasters such as Gujarat earthquake, 2001, Orissa Super Cyclone, 1999, Tsunami, 2004, Kosi floods, 2008, Cyclone Aila, 2009, Uttarakhand Flood, 2013 and Srinagar Flood, 2014 to name a few.

The Force personnel have participated in several Peace Keeping Missions under the aegis of United Nations (UN), such as Congo, Haiti, Kosovo, Sudan, etc.

Though the BSF is an Armed Force of the Union, it regularly participates in several civic action programmes and provides amenities for border populations and so on. Every year, BSF plays a key role in conduct of Amarnath Yatra.

What are the major challenges in securing borders that our brave BSF personnel have to deal with?

The BSF is manning India’s border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. On the western borders with Pakistan, the major challenge is state sponsored terrorism and trafficking of arms and narcotics. On the eastern borders with Bangladesh, the major challenges are illegal immigration and human trafficking from across the borders, and smuggling of Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) and cattle and several

Border Security Force personnel on patrol duty

other products across the border. The contiguous human settlements on both sides of boundary line pose a major challenge in maintaining the sanctity of eastern borders.

How technology is being leveraged by the BSF for managing various tasks?

The BSF is adopting several latest technological advances for surveillance and guarding the borders. These include unmanned aerial vehicles, aerostat, RADAR, thermal sensors, night vision sevices, underground sensors, helicopters, floating Border Out Posts (BOPs), all terrain vehicles, hovercrafts, speed boats, water crafts, etc. It is in the process of implementing Integrated Border Management System on Indo-Pak borders.

In the era of Digital Transformation, how important it is to secure the cyber space, especially keeping in mind the role of security agencies in the country?

Borders have no longer remained in territorial realm only. With digital transformation, cyber space is bypassing territorial borders. Today, the necessity is not to secure territorial limit only, but to safeguard cyber space as well. Therefore, the challenges of security agencies have increased

manifold and they need to evolve and equip themselves accordingly.

What vision do you have for the BSF? Our vision is • To be a Force of excellence in guarding the borders of India through highly professional, credible and efficient border management.

• To maintain sanctity of the borders of India through eternal vigilance.

• To inculcate a sense of security by harnessing cooperation of the border population.

• To effectively deal with internal security challenges whenever so tasked by the government.

• To achieve an effective combat capability by absorbing leading-edge technology, state-of-the art training and user-friendly equipment.

• To evolve and implement a growthoriented Personnel Management System aimed at instilling core values to satisfy the social, economic and psychological needs of the Force personnel.

• To effectively assist civil administration in disaster management and provide succour to the people.

• To effectively promote core values of human rights, pride and dedication to duty in the Force.

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Security Perspective

Decoding The Cyber Security of Maharashtra The Maharashtra Police is experimenting and deploying several modern tools and technologies to ensure security for citizens, says Brijesh Singh, Secretary and Director General, Directorate General of Information and Public Relations, Government of Maharashtra, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

Since the Central and the State governments are focusing on safe cities, what are the initiatives taken by the Maharashtra Government in this regard?

Any online solution procured by the government of Maharashtra has robust security features. We ensure that every project has a security system in place.

“For creating a friendlier ambience for our citizens, we have created over 500 cyber police stations in different districts, wherein they can lodge their complaint easily.

We also issue advisory whenever there is a cyber tech intelligence with us.”

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Security is never taken as an adjunct which can be added later on, but it is a key aspect of any specific project or programme and cannot be overlooked.

Hence, all the smart city projects undertaken by the Maharashtra government have cyber-security provisions of the top-notch level.

The state government has started many initiatives to ensure the security of its citizens. The CCTV network of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur is almost in the final stage of completion.

Apart from this, there are dedicated cyber police stations in Maharashtra which have state of the art cyber-labs to help investigate local instances of cyber crimes. Earlier, we use to hire external cyber experts. We did not have modern tools and technologies and the requisite knowledge for the investigation of cyber crimes which led

to the wastage of investigation time.

But all this is passé now.

Maharashtra is the only state to have dedicated state of the art cyber-labs with all kind of modern technologies deployed. Earlier, there were cyber cells in Mumbai and Pune only. With the launch of Maharashtra Cyber Security project, all the districts in the state have separate cyber labs with their offices located at district collector and police commissioner’s offices. We are using the existing network of the government to connect all the cyber cells in the state.

Technology has enhanced the comfort of our lives providing everything on our fingertips, how Maharashtra Police has deployed technology to ensure security of the citizens?

Maharashtra is a unique state to come up with almost a thousand of cyber security projects. Apart from the cyber security labs being established in each district, we are in the process of linking each of them through a Central Processing System in Mumbai for a seamless monitoring of these cyberlabs across districts in Maharashtra.

We are also organising training facilitation programme for experts in

security Perspective

cyber security. In addition to this we are also organising awareness programmes for general citizens.

For corporate and our own executives, we are coming up with Computer emergency response team (CERT) Maharashtra, which is still in the designing stage and will be launched through tenders within the next six months. The Maharashtra Police is experimenting and deploying several modern tools and technology to ensure security to the citizens, thus easing their lives.

What is the roadmap of Maharashtra Cyber Security department to raise awareness amongst the citizens?

We are focusing on creating awareness among citizens and teenagers who are primarily affected by cyber crimes. Now with demonetisation creating waves of digital transformation among people, incidents of fraud, hacking and other related cyber crimes are on the rise.

Hence, proper knowledge and awareness is of paramount importance.

Besides, we are in the process of setting up world class cyber-labs with all updated modern tools and technology, which can minimise the efforts needed for any kind of investigation.

We are collaborating with the best corporate that provides us technology

“The Maharashtra Police is experimenting and deploying several modern tools and technology to ensure security to the citizens, thus easing their lives.�

solutions for setting up these cyber labs. C-DAC is our system integrator.

Our projects maintain confidentiality, integrity and at the same time maintains profit of the department.

For creating a friendlier ambience for our citizens, we have created over 500 cyber police stations in different districts, wherein they can lodge their complaint easily. We also issue advisory whenever there is a cyber tech intelligence with us.

In the times to come, we will go in the mode of issuing advisory to people sector wise. For example, senior citizens face different set of threats than teenagers or women and others.

Financial sector too requires a different kind of cyber security and awareness which we will provide to citizens.

Has the cyber-crime rate decreased in the state, especially after systematic implementation of technology in the department?

Brijesh Singh

Secretary and Director General Directorate General of Information and Public Relations Government of Maharashtra

The more digital intervention we will have in our daily operating systems, the more cyber crime will increase. Cyber crime is at the highest where money is involved. Hence the impact is bound to increase as long as we are moving towards digitisation.

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