Jaipur to become ‘smart city’ with Cisco

By Himal Kotelawala in Jaipur, India

The historic city of Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, is a bustling metropolis of culture, antiquity and national pride.

While it’s not exactly the country’s biggest or most developed city at present, Jaipur, or the Pink City as it is affectionately known by locals and tourists, is slowly but surely becoming a 21st century cultural and socioeconomic hub equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and modern conveniences that might not be immediately apparent when you get lost in its busy flea markets, massive forts and magnificent palaces of yore. Modern whilst retaining its rich heritage: the quintessential Indian city, in other words.

Commemorating its 20th anniversary, Cisco India, in collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan, recently showcased its combined digital vision for a smart Jaipur (and the state of Rajasthan, by extension) at a two-day summit held in and around the city centre.

Cisco India and SAARC President Dinesh Malkani welcoming Chief Minister of Rajasthan Shrimati Vasundhara Raje to the event

The Daily FT attended the event on the invitation of Cisco India & SAARC and Adfactors PR, where participants were given a working demonstration of a ‘smart city’ whose day-to-day functions had been uplifted with the aid of the latest in information and communication technology (ICT) and the much hyped ‘internet of things.’ And the results spoke for themselves.

The live demonstration, held at the 500-year-old Amer Fort, provided an insightful look at how digital solutions can help the average citizen in day-to-day life. Such deceptively mundane amenities as connected parking, connected lighting, city-wide WiFi, interactive intelligent kiosks with environmental sensors, city surveillance for safety and security and Remote Expert for Government Services (REGS) were among the tech demo’d at the event that Rajasthan hopes will put it on the digital map.

This writer couldn’t help but wonder about the possibility of applying the concept of a smart city in our own bustling metropolis of Colombo. Of course, we’re already a few steps ahead of the curve. For example, most parts of India are only just getting 4G, while Sri Lankans have been enjoying it for several years now. However, we have yet to have a serious discussion on actually making our cities smart, the country’s commendable strides in ICT notwithstanding.

Cisco India and SAARC President Dinesh Malkani sharing his thoughts on digital disruption

Chief Minister of Rajasthan Shrimati Vasundhara Raje, who spoke at the event, outlined her vision of a digital future for Rajasthan by leveraging ICT to enable good governance, a better quality of life and increased employment opportunities in India’s largest state by area.

As part of a proposed digital blueprint of Rajasthan, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA), with the assistance of Cisco Systems Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of networking hardware, is focused on developing smart city infrastructure in Jaipur in order to transform itself into a “digital city of the future.”

According to a statement issued by the state, in its first phase, the Pink City has layed digital infrastructure to offer citizens amenities including intelligent kiosks, wireless broadband, safety and security services, traffic management and environmental updates.

The JDA has set up a City Infrastructure Management Centre as well as a Response Control Room to manage the city with greater efficiency and effectiveness. At the City Infrastructure Management Centre, nearly all the solutions are integrated into a digital platform that can aggregate data from various sensors and solutions, conduct data analytics and support a number of urban services.

In this phase, these solutions have already been implemented in important centres of the city such as Jantarmantar, Amer, Albert Hall, Jal Mahal, Ram Niwas Bagh, Hawa Mahal, Central Park and Jawahar Circle. The next phase of the project that will see the same solutions implemented in another 25 sites by the end of February, this year.

Apart from digital connectivity, Rajasthan has also announced a ‘smart grid’ initiative as part of its digitisation program.

“Efficient and reliable transmission of electricity is a fundamental requirement for providing societies and economies with essential energy resources. The Energy Department of Rajasthan has now embarked upon creating three classes of transformations: upgradation and modernisation of electrical transmission infrastructure, addition of the digital layer to leverage benefits of ICTs and deployment of smart solutions and tools for intelligent operations, which are the essence of the smart grid and are, needed to provide stable, secure and smart transmission grids. Today, the Rajasthan transmission system handles around 71,000 MU per annum of energy with transmission loss of 4.2%. The smart grid initiative will be leveraged to handle energy of around 100 BU per annum in the next 4-5 years, reduce transmission losses and ensure stable and reliable operation of the transmission grids capable of carrying large-scale renewable energy.”

Cisco notes that its vision of the digitisation of cities is an “integrated process of planning and ultimately building a sophisticated and forward-thinking IT network ecosystem that will allow for greater connectivity, productivity, and security.” The company hopes to collaborate with the Government of Rajasthan in the technology initiatives of the state and help drive its digital transformation into a modern, tech-savvy state.

Explaining the smart city framework adopted by the city of Jaipur

This is perfectly in line with the vision of Chief Minister Raj.

“My vision for the state is to digitally empower every citizen to enhance the quality of life, enable ease of doing business in the state and become an innovation and knowledge hub of the country. ‘Digital Rajasthan’ is a powerful platform to realise that vision. We envision Rajasthan as a role model for digital transformation for other states to follow. The state of Rajasthan recognises the effort of Cisco to help us lead in this transformation,” she said.

President, Cisco India & SAARC Dinesh Malkani concurred.

“Digitisation will be key to how cities, communities and countries maintain global competitiveness, increase GDP growth, foster innovation and create new jobs. The foundation for ‘Digital Rajasthan’ will be intelligent networks which will transform the delivery of citizen services. The future of competition will be between cities and thanks to the government’s visionary leadership, we believe Rajasthan can be a digital hub for the country. At Cisco, we are committed to partner with the Rajasthan government to lead in this digital transformation,” he said.