Draft of Smart Cities Standards in India

Smart Cities Mission is one of its kinds and does not follow a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Only a broad framework has been given to cities in which they have to conceptualize their idea of a Smart City and plan their pathway to ‘smartness’.

Ministry of Urban Development has so far selected 60 Smart Cities in various rounds and based on the Smart City Proposals submitted by Cities, this Ministry has started the process to set the standards for the Smart Cities in India. 16 key features have been outlined, which form the guiding framework for the development of Smart Cities in India. Cities have used this framework to determine their pathway towards ‘smartness’ in their SPVs. The framework includes criteria for Smart City features, induction and the benchmarks. Importantly, there are four stages defined in the pathway of Cities towards smartness. Starting with the baseline condition the Smart Cities will progress through the following stages –
• Level 1 – Base case where service levels are less than 50% of the prescribed benchmark
• Level 2 – Service levels are more than 50% of the prescribed benchmark
• Level 3 – Service levels are more than 75% of the prescribed benchmark
• Level 4 – Advanced stage where prescribed benchmark has been achieved

Co-creation of ideas, strategies, innovative and frugal solutions through an extensive consultative process with all stakeholders is mandated in the Smart Cities Mission Guidelines. Therefore, to finalize the standards for Smart Cities, this Ministry has decided to invite suggestions on the draft Standards. Citizen from all walks of life are welcome to be a part of the consultative process and provide valuable inputs. The last date of submission of suggestions was 20th December 2016.
Click here to read the Draft Standards for Smart Cities.

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Indian Tablet Aakash2 to sell at Rs 1900 soon

Tablet lovers, specially the students would soon be able to buy the Aakash 2 tablet at a price of Rs 1900 ($35). The current price of the tablet is $49. This was announced by the telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday at Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) here organised by Telecom Equipment and Service Export Promotion Council. He said that Aakash has all the amenities of any modern tablet. “It performs the same function as a $150 tablet,” Sibal said. He said that next version of the tablet will also have Skype, an application used for making voice calls using Internet connection and does not necessarily require a SIM. The government is in process to get Cabinet approval for manufacturing of 50 lakh units of Aakash tablet in India, Sibal said. “A global tender for its production in the country will be floated then” Earlier this month the much talked about tablet designed, developed and manufactured by DataWind Ltd. for supply to IIT Bombay was launched by the President Pranab Mukherjee. DataWind is to supply 100,000 units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay, which intends to distribute them to Engineering University and College students. Few days back an English daily had reported that DataWind founders and NRI brothers Suneet and Raja Singh Tuli may have procured these devices off-the-shelf from manufacturers in China for $42 ( Rs. 2,263 then), exactly the price at which they sold these to the Indian government. But Tuli refuted this saying that for expediency sake it had the motherboards and kits manufactured in its Chinese subcontractor's facilities, and then the units have been 'kitted' in China at various manufacturers whereas the final assembly and programming has happened in India. Source:Telecom Tiger

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