Smart Cities in India

In January 2016, the Indian government announced a list of 20 cities to be developed into smart cities in India. Today’s era comprises of everything that is smart – be it smartphones, smart people or the concept of smart city. Basically a smart city is an advanced urban city/ town that has well connected infrastructure and communications through data centres and automated networks. India is expecting to develop 98 such cities in all. These cities will become a model township for a sustainable and ultra-modern lifestyle.

Image Source: Smart Cities Challenge

Importance of Solar Energy in Smart Cities in India

Hence these cities can become the developing centers to promote the application of solar energy on a large and sustainable scale in India. Solar applications such as solar street lights, solar water heaters, rooftop solar etc can go a long way in imparting a clean and green living style to these smart cities. Not only will these smart cities improve the conditions in India in terms of employment generation and an urban living style, it will also go a long way in promoting the usage of renewable forms of energy and thus help the country fight the growing concerns of global warming and pollution.

It has already been mandated that 10% of the smart cities’ energy requirement will come from solar energy and at least 80% buildings should be energy efficient and green buildings. With a plan to develop approximately 100 such cities, the rate of renewable energy usage will go up in the country.

Source: Ministry of Urban development of India

Here is a full list of the 98 smart cities in India:

Port Blair, Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kakinada, Pasighat, Guwahati, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Biharsharif, Chandigarh, Raipur, Bilaspur, Diu, Silvassa, NDMC, Panaji, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Dahod, Karnal, Faridabad, Dharamsala, Ranchi, Mangaluru, Belagavi, Shivamogga, Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumakuru, Davanegere, Kochi, Kavaratti, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain, Navi Mumbai, Nasik, Thane, Greater Mumbai, Amaravati, Solapur, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivalli, Aurangabad, Pune, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, Kohima, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Oulgaret, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Namchi, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Thanjavur, Tiruppur, Salem, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai, Erode, Thoothukudi, Chennai, Greater Hyderabad, Greater warangal, Agartala, Moradabad, Aligarh, Shaharanpur, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra, Rampur, Dehradun, New Town Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Durgapur, Haldia.

Source: TOI

Conclusion

These smart cities will definitely concretize the dream of every Indian to live in an urban city. Not only will there be cleaner streets, but also advanced public transport and other well manged infrastructural facilities like electricity, water, safety, health and education. This can further boost the Indian economy, as urbanization is a prime medium of growth and development of economy. The Indian government has also created a website called MyGov, where 2.5 million Indians have submitted their suggestions and ideas for developing and promoting this smart city concept. This shows the readiness of the people to support this mass drive. The government is also extending its full support by helping  in financing, wherein the Central Government has proposed to give INR 48,000 crores over a period of five years. Solar and other forms of renewable energy will thus have a major role to play in changing the face of modern India in the coming years.