“Don’t exult yet. Things can go wrong: the computer or the printer may not work, or the cussed clerk at the counter may just not let them work.”
This is more or less a truism of a sort, for later I discovered that a senior secretary to the Maharashtra government would just not get to read my emails. His PA with the password would be on leave, or in those days of limited sizes of the mailboxes, wouldn’t have cleaned it up. My mails would bounce back. It was exasperating to have access to technology and not use it.
My Hyderabad friend had a word for that malaise, “manware” - as similar to malware, or even hardware or software. Until “manware” worked, he wisely pointed out, that technology was just a waste of resources.
He was mostly right. The malfunctioning CCTV cameras installed at public places by government agencies and the metal detectors that don't work are proof of the same.
The truth is, men can undo technology.
That meant that despite all the technology available at that point of time, it was only as good as how it was put to use by the men they were gifted to.
In this context, what do the 100 smart cities that the Narendra Modi government wants to build, would be like? What exactly does the word ‘smart’ mean? Mere deployment of technology or effective use of the same?
Subir Roy had provided a laundry list in the Business Standard yesterday, on the basis of a preview offered by the Urban Development Secretary: “A smart city will have smart infrastructure - roads, water and sewer networks, solid-waste management systems, drainage network, street lighting, pedestrian walkways, signal system, public toilets, gas supply, and safety and security systems.”
Apparently, it means letting cities have what they should anyhow have - and which in these days are so badly managed - qualifies them to be specifically and specially termed as 'smart'.
Seemingly, technology will make these cities work and hence make them 'smart' too. But one can only hope that the people working the said technology are equipped to use them and make them work too!
It is no secret that despite the availability of technology, the custodians of of our towns and cities have failed to manage and utilise them properly.
Infrastructures of city after city have disintegrated due to poor management. Our civic administrations struggle to maintain the most basic entities of a city like roads and buildings. Roads are dotted with potholes, buildings are crumbling.
In a media interaction, current Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu stressed the need for quality public transport and safe environment. He also suggested that twin cities be created by linking two existing ones, satellite towns be created for better management instead of a big city growing in a way it become unmanageable.
Naidu admitted that in India there are townships that don't even have proper drainage. Thankfully, he was talking about a realistic plan to upgrade for our cities instead of a alluring one where people would be using wi-fi to find parking space.
We still do not know what these new beasts would be. Nor by when they would become breathing entities. Also, there is great confusion over the manner in which these 'smart' cities would get built.
Arun Jaitley’s Budget speech spoke of providing “habitation to the neo-middle class”, cope with the “pace of migration from rural areas”. Without which, he cautioned that “the existing cities would soon become unlivable”.
When he said this, he must have assumed that the cities at present are livable. Actually, cities like Mumbai are habitations in the making with neighbouring cities like Navi Mumbai are still in the process of experimenting with even the building codes.
There are two meanings to the word ‘smart’. One is “clean, tidy, and well dressed”, and the other is “feeling a sharp stinging pain”. Our cities are, at best, the second. When we demand that things mandated by the municipal charters be delivered, excuses are given, thereby avoiding the responsibility to honouring promises.
These cities, and you can choose any city, even your city to measure, have not evolved into a refined habitats but just grown in two ways – by size of the population and the geographies they cover. They are also victims of poor planning where future demands for services are not sought to be estimated. Even the supply falls short of the need for the present times.
Therefore, instead of shifting to the sexy idea of smart greenfield cities, the focus necessarily should be on brownfield projects to make existing cities work which would perhaps be a cheaper and even a quicker options.
Because, any number of smart cities which could be a nice window dressing for the country would not take away the travails of living in the existing towns and cities for its citizens.
No comments:
Post a Comment