IASBABA’S INTEGRATED LEARNING PROGRAMME (ILP)

Smart Cities & Managing COVID-19

Archives

TOPIC: General Studies 2

India’s Smart cities have used various technological solutions to tackle Covid-19 and manage the situation on the ground. Slowing down the spread of Covid-19 is going to require, among other things, a heavy reliance on India’s data infrastructures – providing real-time data readings for critical decision making – and its Smart Cities Mission.

India launched the Smart Cities Mission in 2015 to deliver liveability, economic-ability and sustainability to its urban residents through adoption of context-specific solutions supported by robust IT connectivity, digitalization, and improved e-governance in 100 cities. India’s response to Covid-19 now depends on the successful use of its smart cities investment.

Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs)

As of today, 45 cities have operational Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) set up under the smart cities mission, a further 31 cities are in the process of constructing theirs, and 18 more are issuing tenders. 

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh are among the states that are using the command centres for closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance of public places, geographic information system (GIS) mapping of Covid-19 positive cases and global positioning system (GPS) of healthcare workers.

India’s response to Covid-19 spearheaded by few of its smart cities

Tracing and treating the affected: 

Managing lockdown: 

Some examples…

Vadodara – Smart surveillance

Installation of a helium balloon attached with two cameras for surveillance on lockdown violators. The balloon also has a public address system attached to it.

Bengaluru – Real time dashboard

Model COVID-19 War Room at Bengaluru – COVID-19 data dashboard of Karnataka inaugurated. This dashboard will be the single source of all COVID-related data which includes people under quarantine, their contacts, medical personnel on the ground, hospitals, taluk-wise & City-wise data & beyond. This real-time data is being put together with a host of software and applications

Kalyan Dombivali – Social Media usage

Agra – Tele-medicine

The Way Forward

Spatial analytics, likely aided by drones and high-res satellite imagery, is critical to aid isolation strategies. 

E-Governance and e-Banking will be essential in dealing with the aftermath of the lockdown. 

Categories of technology-based Covid-19 proposals and ideas are emerging

  1. Contact tracing; testing and responder capacity
  2. Early warning and surveillance
  3. Quarantine and social control
  4. Research
  5. Cure

Smart cities need to invest in safeguarding citizen rights and in trust building so that we emerge sager and more resilient, and avoid draconian surveillance. ICCCs can become the centres of coordination and consensus building that they were originally conceived to be.

Challenges vary from one city to another and so do solutions

It is expected that the experience gained in responding to this pandemic situation will help cities further develop the capabilities of their ICCC to become responsive and resilient in any challenging situations that may be faced in future.

Connecting the Dots:

  1. The Smart Cities Mission of India seeks to experiment with a new grammar in our urban governance narrative. Discuss.
  2. How was the technology infrastructure of Smart cities repurposed for containing COVID-19?
  3. The new War Room: Smart Cities
  4. Essay: Responsible residents are not asking what their city can do for them but asking what they can do for their city.

Search now.....

Sign Up To Receive Regular Updates