What India needs now are Smart States, not Cities!

The current NDA government in India has been making quite a lot of noise about the hundred smart cities that it wants to build. All this noise is uncalled for in a federal democracy. In fact it appears to be signaling the formation of an ecosystem of governance where the States are conveniently expelled from their place between the Centre and the people!

(Courtesy: districtoffuture.eu)

Smart Cities Council, a portal where global companies and city stakeholders discuss smart city ideas, hosts this infographic that explains the nitty-gritties of smart cities. According to it, a smart city is that which is nearly self-sustenant and whose public policy and data are transparently available to people for scrutiny and other uses.

The idea of smart city strives to make legislation and policing minimal by letting advanced technology assist, if not replace them. More importantly, at the heart of these smart cities, is the idea of governance by least hops and the idea of self-rule. For cities in India, the closest tier of an elected government is either a municipality, corporation or the panchayat. The central government is far-fetched and impractical on this count. Attempts like these being made by the Urban Development ministry in GoI, therefore, are desi to fail.

If self-sustenance and local governance are the mantras for smart and efficient living in the modern world, then Smart States, not cities are what India needs primarily and urgently. These smart States would have to be more self-sustenant, self-reliant and self-driven than they are allowed to be in India today.

Having some cities under the direct regulation of the central government burdens it with additional fiscal responsibility but brings in revenues that the States need and deserve more, thus denying those cities and States the attention and resources they need and deserve. Given the nature of horizontal fiscal devolution prevalent in India, such centrist ideas of building cities could siphon funds away from well performing cities into the non-performing, yet enumerated cities. This corrupts fiscal performance equation of States and also creates an unfair and uncompetitive environment in the nation.

Amidst all the diversity in India a State is the real unit of governance that needs to turn smarter, not the city. It is a smart decision to respect the diversity and embrace the challenges it offers, for a solution agnostic of diversity is not smartness, it is brutal rudeness. That is the real federal way of imbibing smartness, for smartness of a democratic and diverse nation like India really lay in its Federalism.

(This post was originally published on Karnatique, run by my friends at Banavasi Balaga)

Will a Divided BBMP Make the Difference?

Growing! (pic:ces.iisc.ernet.in)

In what can be considered a brave effort at saving Bengaluru - a city plagued by the growth paradigm - Karnataka law minister Mr Suresh Kumar and his Chief Minister Mr Jagadish Shettar have hinted at the need to divide the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in order to make civic administraion more responsive and effective.

This move is laudable indeed because this points at various lessons public administration in India needs to learn in general. Talking about decentralization as the answer to current administrative challenges BBMP has been facing, the Chief Minister's adviser on urban affairs suggests how three smaller corporations could be better than one massive corporation addressing every city matter, centrally.

Scaling this to the national level, the Center still holds close to its chest a rather huge list of items of governance, and the state of administrative affairs in the vast country is no different from how it is in Bengaluru. For instance, if Arunachal Pradesh needs GoI's permission to get two roads laid in the State, or if Karnataka needed GoI's permission to double the railway tracks between two cities within the State, it is this pitiable state of affairs that is begging for increased decentralization in India.

Coming back to Bengaluru - while the idea of decentralizing BBMP and forming multiple corporations could increase efficiency and help control spiraling prices of various local commodities and services, what it cannot ensure by itself is a renewed need to further divide the BBMP, say in another decade, in order to cater to the then size of the city's demands. Apart from the proposed decentralization, the existing BBMP needs to take another brave step and frame legislation to monitor, regulate and wherever necessary restrict migration of people into the city. It will also need to ensure these new corporations inherit this new piece of legislation that is quintessential to making decentralization a success, and thereby a model for the nation to be inspired by. This will be the difference Bengalurians will look forward to from this division, after all.

If cities like Bengaluru can be subject to the adverse effects of poor governance and legislation at the Center and helplessness at the State levels, let us hope that if not negating those effects, this move by BBMP sends strong messages to the Center about decentralization in general, and its skewed nature of policies that fuel people's migration into localized spots across the nation. Over a period of time such migrant patterns are unsustainable and will only make such local hot-spots unmanageable, yet leave local governing bodies helpless to reform. Shall we say, way to go BBMP?