“real india resides
in its villages.”
The architect of Indian independence mk Gandhi had made this statement a
few decades back.his vision of sarvodya or upliftment of all clearly and subtly
included development of villages where most of the poor hungry and vulnerable
Indians lived.now after 67 years of independence,it needs to be seen that
whether the countrymen have moved towards fulfillment of the dream of gandhiji
for development of real india or is it still a dream?
Smart city and village concept is a unique use of technology in today’s
era.smartness of architecture will come from the concept of integration of
information communication and technology in the construction process itself.for
example street lights getting automatically switched on with the setting of sun
or the gunshot sound receivers installed at various parts of city to look out
for crime or the monitoring of water
flow by installing measurement meters at supply stations itself.but it needs to
be seen that whether it will be quite demeaning of the concept of smart city or
smart village if the smartness is not included in the political system
,societal relations and other way of life of a unit?
The concept of smart cities gained currency from the recent announcement
of union government to build 100 smart cities throughout country and 7000 crore
budget amount allocated for same.many nations like Singapore usa japan etc. are
coming forward in this endeavour.but many voices have emerged in society that
words of mk Gandhi regarding real india still holds relevance and if reshaping
of india has to start ,it should start from villages only because 69% of Indian
population is currently living in its villages.
Overall
situation has to be looked at in a way that why the concept of smart villages
need a priority along with steps taken
by government in this regard?its also pertinent to look towards other side that
is how smart cities can aid the growth of smrt villages and what steps can be
taken in this regard?
In the field of smrt concept it’s the provision of electricity on whose
foundation ,smart cities or smart villages can be built.but its quite
disdainful that Indian villages are suffering from acute problem of electricity
non availability .as per a govt estimate,50000 villages in india are still
without electricity connection and this
is in reference to such a definition which recognizes a village electrified if
nearly 10% of households and a public place of village gets electricity
connection.though measures taken under rajiv Gandhi viduytikarn yojana have
worked wonders in this regard but concept of smartness if integrated in
villages can work wonders in this endeavour.
Smartness in field of electricity generation and provision to villages
can come directly from the recognition of very basic fact that people can also
be producer of electricity.common property land of village can be used for
installation of solar energy,nearby river in village can be used for
construction of 25 mw hydropower plants,coastal villages can install offshore
wind turbines to generate electricity,biogas can be used to run turbines.recent
study by government in the Ludhiana district of Punjab state has come up with
thefact that if the villages just use up their biogas generation for electricity
making then they can be self sufficient and self reliant in field of
electricity.the reliable and sustainable electricity generation will provide
first building brick in the concept of smartness.
Electricity will not only give push to consumer expendables consumption
and small enterprise, it will also minimize digital divide.but there is a
problem as digital divide is fuelled not only by lack of electricity but also
by absent of internet facilities in region. E gov or internet gov is a thrust
area of govt and no such facility can be delivered obviously without the aid of
internet.inidan internet use has gravitated towards cities because of the high
penetration of smart phones in the cities while most of the villages get
neglected in this regard specially of east india .though installation of
universal service obligation fund and formulation of national telecom policy
2012 is a good step in that direction yet concept of smartness can go upto a
great extent if properly pursued.
Internet balloons can be very helpful in bridging digital divide.this
project has gained a global recognition .these balloons will stay in
stratosphere where winds don’t flow and so their stability is ensured and
signals can be transmitted to ground level receivers from these
stations.concept of smartness entails with it an out of box thinking and such
thinking can get its true meaning if the internet balloons get integrated with
day to day lives of people like mobile wallet,video communication etc.except
internet balloons ,digital divide can be bridged also by use of optical
fibres.indian govt’s national optical fibre mission to link 2.5 lakh villages
with this new technology is also a step towards smart villages.
The need of smart villages
though express itself in the need of electricity and internet but its most
visible form is roads and other forms of transport.the condition of rural roads
can be gauged from the simple fact that 10-15% of agriculture produce gets
wasted while transporting from fields to market yards.the condition becomes
much more acute in regard to condition of roads when its pointed out that most
of road infrastructure is in rural areas and still its badly maintained.concept
of smart village can again come to help if positive intention of govt which it
has shown through its bharat nirman programme,got integrated with it.
Proper laning of roads in rural areas with aseparate lane for movement
of heavy vehicles like straw filled trucks etc. can bring a substantial change
in the condition of rural roads.along with it,regular inspections of road
quality by the officials can bring about the responsibility on the part of
contractors.an active citizenry can push for such reforms.empowered rural local
govts can act as catalyst in this regard.
Though roads internet and electricity can link a smart village to
outside world but there is a basic necessity of drinking water and sanitation
without which the concept of smart innovation will only be a moonshine.indian
villages are not only suffering from lack of water availability but also from
contamination of groundwater by fluorine ,arsenic etc.poor sanitation in
villages is responsible for a lot of easily preventable and curable diseases
,taking a toll on life.its not astonishing the fact that out of 59 under 5
deaths ,7 are due to diarrhea.cancer is the newly emerging menace due to
contaminated water in many parts of india.govt has come up with sansad adarsh
yojana with prime focus on sanitation among others but if the technology is
pursued in right way ,a big change can be in offing.
A simple construction of
biotoilets ,along with use of biogas for production of electricity ,for which
a sufficient incentive given to
construction of biotoilet ,can hit two problem sat same time.these toilets are
already in use in some of the inhospitable terrains of army posting like in
Himalayas where there is scarcity of water and these have worked wonders and
can be replicated in all parts of country.smart village technology’s main use
in field of drinking water will be through the efficient water saving
technologies like linking the used water from washing purposes to toilets and
this can saveupto 40% of used water.water purification is another area of
intervention for example using nalgonda technique to purify fluorine
contaminated water or by using water purification by three stage sedimentation
route.
Smart
villages will also find relevance in field
of agriculture.this will be the direct economic intervention of
technology in the field of agriculture.60% of Indian population depends on
agriculture and 69% of Indian population lives in villages which means most of
Indians who live in villages pursue agriculture as their main occupation.but
its uite unfortunate that though Indian agriculture production is high yet we
sorely lags behind in productivity.many farmers have commiteed suicide
unfortunately and that’s shame on Indian democracy .that alone is sufficient to
make the use of technology for improving conditions of farmers not a choice but
a necessity.
Precision farming can work wonders in the economic contours of smart
villages.every Indian farm should be planned as per gris or zones and geographical
information system should be used to measure the yield.this will not only help
in yearly improvements but also in providing compensation to farmers if his
field crop gets destroyed by any natural calamity.an insured farmer is the best
asset a country can have in the modern world of climate change response
pessimism.
Though smart villages are the need of the hour but a few smart cities
can never be replacement of the concept of sarvodya of mahatma Gandhi.the main
opposition to 100 smart city concept generate from the peculiar Indian
situations.india has nearly about 4000 statutory towns and 4000 census towns.most
of these towns are small with population ranging from 5000 to 1 lakh.out of
nearly 8000 towns exclusive focus on 100 cities can effectively counter the
integrated development of Indian urban as well as rural space .the importance
of such paradox gets exaggerated when its pointed out that most of such towns
are erstwhile villages which means villages are expanding into small towns and
focusing on some 100 cities will result in non appreciation of such change.
But there is also an other side
of coin.the emrgence of smart cities will catalyse the development of nearby
towns and after that ,idea of smartness in development of cities will become
dynamic one which means focusing some 100 smart cities in this span of time and
other 100 smart cities in coming future and this chain goes on.large Indian
landscape can get a unique push this way and a beginning has to be made.
Though concept of use of technology in development is a very unique
concept but this whole idea of smart development need some effective
measures.the only precondition of these measures is that they need to be in
line with sarvodya approach so that their benefit reach to the last one
standing in the row.
Most important measure in this regard is of governance.delegation
decentralization and debureaucratisation
along with athrust on principle of subsidiarity or activity mapping is
needed so that an atmosphere can be created where technology can be introduced
to change the lives of people around.replication of measures taken in one area
to in other area is strongly needed.for example city of Chandigarh is known for
effective treatment of solid waste and ralegaon sidhi village is famous for
efficient utilization of water,which means sharing of experience with each
other in conducive local govt can bring unprecedented change.
Governance
gets its meaning from societal attitude and behavior.whether be it the concept of smart villages or smart
city,it should never be limited to the reach of upper sections.this is possible
only through the use of low cost technologies for example hissar agriculture
university has come up with a technique of irrigation in which a water filled
matka is buried in the vicinity of plants to maintain moisture in soil.this is
clear example of a technology useful for every section of agriculture society.
Societal attitude as well as governance can carry on in the long term
only when technology starts affecting economic life of people.smartness in
development so need to focus on economy and in village as well as in towns,its
possible only through thrust on frugal technologies.for example if through the
use of technology,electricity is supplied to a firm on cheap rate then it will
expand its business giving job to many and in future,govt will frame policies
in favour of this sector.
Having
said that it can be concluded that india needs smart villages because our
villages suffer in the availability of electricity,internet,good transport
infrastructure ,drinking water,sanitation and low agriculture productivity.the
need of few smart cities get dwarfed by the concentration of 69% population in
rural areas and emergence of new cities which are erstwhile villages.good
governace and positive societal attitude along with inclusive economic
development can bring a change towards positive direction of smart india.
We are not in need of smart village sor smart cities but of smart
india.smart village sin this regard are not only a need but a necessity and
these villages will emerge as future smart cities ,if effectively pursued.this
whole vision was ptly expressed by mahatma Gandhi when he said
“I shall work for an india where the poorest shall feel that
it is there country in whose making they have an effective voice………this is
india of my dreams.”
Its hopeful that in future,it will be a smart india whose index of
measurement will be a little girl coming out of a school located in hitherto
underdeveloped area,but with a smile on her face and mind sharper than
yesterday.
