E-Governance for Smart Cities

E-Governance or Smart Government is buzzword across Europe to improve interaction between government and stakeholders. Governments both at national and local level are making efforts to transform themselves into a well-connected entity that responds efficiently to the needs of its citizens by developing an integrated back-office infrastructure. Cities are implementing smart and innovative means to improve quality of life and enhance competitiveness. Various measures are being taken to provide transparent, efficient, innovative and responsive government through adoption of various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. Stuttgart, located in south-west of Germany is no exception which started its E-Government initiative a decade ago, has today crossed significant milestones. Various e-services platforms are created to inform and assist citizens and e-transaction platforms are created to reduce the burden on existing staff in various departments. These services have shown remarkable results in management of some areas such as waste, mobility, human resource, etc. These platforms are still evolving and being created and developed after a thorough research, planning and consultative process with various stakeholders. Stuttgart has been successful in extending the reach of services digitally to its citizens and promoting a sense of sustainability. This city takes care of wide spectrum of administrative, political and social services through diverse ICT and Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms. Stuttgart is hub of high-tech auto industry and also known for its advanced ICT industry and highly innovative green technologies. This sense of sustainability is also reflected in adoption of environmental friendly practices which are being supported by befitting e-democracy and E-Governance measures. The objective of this paper is to review process of formation of E-Government services in Germany and the key milestone related to development of E-governance in Stuttgart. An case of best practices in mobility is presented to ascertain if Stuttgart leads its way to be a smart city.

Smart cities are smart not only in terms of higher level of services but also having an efficient and effective system. Its locationality brings balanced regional development. Better governed institutions are the one where procedures are transparent. E-Governance has increased the interlinkages between different departments. Through E-Governance, services provided are varying from birth/death certificate, booking of community facilities and town planning. The usage of mobile for M-Governance also provides last mile connectivity and its applicability streamlines not only the data collection but also analysis. The chapter attempts to understand the definitions of E-Governance and its parameters. Through two case studies of Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, it tries to find answers of: whether E-Governance or M-Governance’s implementation led to transformative governance including increased participation or transparent administration or not? and where both the cities stand in the 5 stages of E-Governance evolution from basic web presence to well-connected smart governance and 4 model of non-transformation of government structure to creation of smart administration to rearranging the position of government within the urban system.

As per World Bank (www.​worldbank.​org) definition (AOEMA report): ‘E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet and mobile computing that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of government’. These technologies are meant to serve a variety of different ends that includes: (1) Better delivery of government services to citizens. (2) Improved interactions with business and industry. (3) Citizen empowerment through access to information. (4) More efficient government management etc. Many countries are adapting to the E-Governance and its applications in the field of infrastructure to improve the governmental services and providing empowerment to the citizens. Dubai is an example of one such city in the UAE which has been at the forefront of adopting the advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of governance and including itself in the list of smart cities. This chapter is effort to represent Dubai as the city which has transformed itself to form smart city and adopted the technologies for E-Governance in the field of infrastructure. With the effort of visionary leadership of UAE has initiated numerous E-Government programmes that aimed at effective policy making, and service delivery. The city is constantly growing with substantial influx of expat population every year to contribute to the city’s trade and commerce. To achieve the target, the city is making efforts to reach to every individual through information and network especially in the field of infrastructure facility provision creating a strong bond with the government. The smart technology in E-Governance becomes active from the time when a person enters the city as well as in day to day services. Today the UAE is considered to have one of the most advanced and world-class information and communication technology infrastructures. This chapter has listed few smart services that are used in Dubai as a part of E-Governance. With the Information technology picking up, the e-services are becoming mere necessity in the human life. Use of the smart facilities to interact with the Dubai residents is offering convenience in better service delivery, people empowerment, easy access to information, improved productivity and cost savings in business and participation in public policy decision-making in the governmental activities. Although there are some grey areas and gaps for which the city is making best efforts to come up with an efficient solution and set up an example of E-Governance in front of the developed world. With the success of its E-Government initiatives and its overall popularity for its strong infrastructure and standards of living, it will achieve its goal in public sector integration, and successfully deliver its services to all residents.

Public Realm of city of Calicut in Kerala has a great role in enriching the quality of life of people. A well designed and maintained public realm with the full participation of citizen, business and various governmental agencies can have a great role in making Calicut more liveable. Most public realms of Calicut are totally neglected, characterized by encroachment, not designed properly and are faced with the danger of total disappearance by unauthorized uses. Having a Master plan or Zonal plan alone cannot create dynamic public realm. End of Plan period review of past Master Plans of Calicut shows disappearance of open spaces in the previous Master plan provision. Yet, no action is taken. The answer is E-Government for public realm which is a website design where all aspects of Governance are executed 24 h and 7 days a week. This is illustrated by an exploratory study of one public realm identified near a monorail station in Calicut, Kerala. Kerala state level policy of Spatial Governance is presented in Kerala State Urbanisation Report and Vision Kerala 2030 document Chap. 13 and is used to guide the Governance of public realm in Calicut. This website allows all stakeholders to participate in all aspect of planning, design and development, and management of public realm and administration connected with that. This web design is analogous to e-commerce, which allows businesses to transact with each other more efficiently (B2B) and brings customers closer to businesses (B2C). E-government aims to make the interaction between government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and inter-agency relationships (G2G) more friendly, convenient, transparent, and inexpensive in designing, managing and administering public realm in Calicut. One of the goals of 74th Constitutional Amendment of India is participatory governance and above models effectively provide for it. First, public realms are identified and potential and constraints are analysed and comments are asked from general public through website. Then, zonal plans of nodes near monorail station in Calicut are prepared, comments elicited from the web, followed by designing of hybrid Form-Based Codes. New Urbanism principles and transect analysis were conducted, followed by formulation of regulation plan, built form standards, public space standards, architectural standards, landscape standards, environmental resource standards and administration for the study area and are presented in the web for responses from public and to seek alternative design from citizen or friends of the city living world over. Interactive website allows active discussion on potentials and problems of public realm, SWOT analysis, participation of interested citizen, and also issue of building permits around public realm.

Despite several reform measures, the electricity sector in India is grappling with multiple challenges including significant system losses, supply shortages, demand management and integrating renewable energy into the system network. At the same time institutional arrangements and relations have also transformed and consumers are asserting their demand for improved quality and services through the regulatory process. Both utilities and policy makers see Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an important tool in meeting growing aspirations in the electricity sector. Many state utilities have improved their interaction with consumers through IT enabled web-based systems. Some are providing billing, payment and grievance redressal facilities online. Utilities also see significant use of ICT in improving operational efficiencies, theft detection, mapping of assets, managing load, outage management, etc. Integration of all urban basic services as envisaged under a smart cities, requires collection and analysis of electricity consumption data on real-time basis. Most utilities have deployed, automated meter reading (AMR) systems, prepaid meters and time of day meters for large revenue industrial consumers. In future, advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) compatible smart meters are expected to facilitate two-way communication between utilities and consumers. A Smart Grid Vision for India has been drafted to ‘transform the Indian power sector into a secure, adaptive, sustainable and digitally enabled eco-system that provides reliable and quality energy for all with active participation of stakeholders’. With part funding from the central government, state utilities are experimenting with smart pilot projects and if successful and effective, these pilots would be rolled out in a bigger way. The Energy and Resources Institutes (TERI’s) recent initiative on making a renewable-based mini-grid smart showcases the possibility and utility of smart technologies in load management and reduced need for human intervention. The drive for smart grids and smart cities would certainly improve quality of civic life. However, it would require huge investments, resources and greater co-ordination between state level electricity providers and city governments. The investments envisaged will result in greater stress on state and city governments and ultimately on consumers. Hence, policy makers and regulators will have tread cautiously and weigh the costs and benefits of the smart initiatives in light of the equity objectives of the country.

Energy generation, distribution and consumption include different personnel at various hierarchical levels such as Production, Transmission and Distribution, Billing, Corporate, including the End User or Consumer. Enabling simple, user-friendly, reliable, efficient, timely and seamless connectivity to critical information to all such personnel remains the most desirable feature and benchmark for Smart City. Reliable availability of critical data on timely basis in desired formats for different decision-making authorities plays key role for successful e-Governance of energy distribution systems. Emerging approaches based on hybrid communication technologies possess capability to transform the present ones into smart, intelligent and adaptive sites and could become basis of exploring more options including anytime–anywhere monitoring in future. Welcome to be the part of transition of epoch and total paradigm shift in the domain of electricity utility services! E-Governance system for Smart City could be well defined as System of Systems, wherein E-Governance of Energy Generation and Distribution functions as vital source of power. Solar photovoltaic (SPV) is the proven method of electricity generation with significant sustainable future potential. Grid-tied PV rooftop system is gaining worldwide acceptance as one of the most widely accepted models for wide-scale deployment due to their simplicity, ease of installation, operation, maintenance, scalability, etc. E-Governance of powergrid implies the responsible and accountable delivery of electrical power assisted or supported by communication devices providing efficient and effective communication between Government to Government (G2G), Business to Employee (B2E), Business to Government (B2G), Business to Citizen (B2C) and finally, Government to Citizen (G2C). Globally, today many cities are adapting e-Governance for enhancement of utility services and improved citizen convenience. Gandhinagar has emerged as the city in India taking leadership in application of advanced hybrid communication technologies and thereby transforming itself into Smart City. Earlier Gandhinagar has been facing frequent power shortages as well as demand–supply fluctuations causing not only inconvenience, but also resulting in large work losses and production losses as well as chaotic situations. With the untiring efforts of visionary and inspirational leadership of Gujarat-India on political-diplomatic-administrative fronts and initiatives such as Gandhinagar Rooftop Photovoltaic Programme, Solar City—Smart Grid Project, etc., have been implemented with efficient, effective and citizen-friendly objectives, wherein Solar Policy of Gujarat state has been of immense support. For sustainable growth and enhanced lifestyle of citizens, reliable and affordable power is a mandatory requirement and Gandhinagar city administration has been doing its best to approach every citizen through hybrid communication network, especially for power distribution and thereby resulting in strong trustworthy relationship of citizens with the government. Today, Gandhinagar is considered to be one of the most advanced and world-class self-reliant city having most resilient power infrastructure in India. Well-planned, systematically designed, and customer-oriented power distribution network encouraging participation of citizens has played key role in making Gandhinagar more liveable and a place to stay today. Complete Gandhinagar has been geographically distributed into separate zones, interested citizens are invited to express their willingness to participate in the programmes and after completion of formalities including registration, document verification, etc., scope and size of SPV installations are fixed up. Commercial aspects such as subsidy, revenue sharing and billing details are worked out on actual basis. Using seamless data connectivity using GUIs based on GPS, GIS and Virtual Instrumentation, real-time data of generation and consumption have been availed to the end user for determination and implementation of his real-time choice to run important equipments, if any. This chapter also includes descriptions on hybrid communication technologies deployed to timely serve need-based information. Remote Energy Parameter Monitoring System using Hybrid Communication Technologies for Solar Photovoltaic Energy Generation System for Gandhinagar Solar City has also been presented. The chapter ends with discussion over transformation of Solar City into Smart City.

Smart City is often considered as an all inclusive city integrating various aspects of Quality of Life of the people. However, unless it is planned and managed through Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) some of its socio-economic and spatial issues can be left behind in the development process. Through a case study of Hubli-Dharwad City in Karnataka, this paper shows how the poverty hot spots are left behind though many innovative programmes are carried out in the city. It points out the need to introduce SDI in Indian Cities as an essential part of Smart City building process.

Providing easy and convenient access to government services when and where required is the hallmark of a Smart City. In an age of smartphones and User Experience, this is where the rubber meets the road. Using the right tools, technology and deployment channels to deliver government services and foster civic engagement through mobile devices is becoming a criterion to evaluate the degree of smartness and getting star rated. This is the virtual equivalent of a visitor chair, service desk, counter, suggestion box, officer’s face, voice and the warmth of service delivery. Welcome to the era of 24x7 government services anytime, anywhere at your convenience! M-Governance signifies the delivery of services via mobile communication devices, i.e. a tool and method that facilitates communication and transaction between Government to Government (G2G), Government to Employee (G2E), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizen (G2C) with agility and ubiquity. With one in five people having smartphones in the world today and this figure doubling every year, the delivery of services on smartphones is fast becoming a norm. For those smartphone have-nots, M-Governance services have to be extended by engaging middle tire enablers, as has been the case with egovernance services. This chapter aims to describe GPS (Global Positioning System) and NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies that are built-in smartphones and to explore their potential applications in M-Governance. Embedding GPS technology on smartphones has made ‘Location’ easy to know and measure, just how wrist watch has made knowing and measuring ‘time’ easy. Today, GPS technology is used by a common man without even knowing its definition and thanks to web mapping technologies that gives context to a GPS location. The GPS technology section will explore Location centric M-Governance applications that are currently used and explore new applications. NFC Technology is a close sibling of GPS where by ‘Proof of Presence’ Is used to manage mobile work forces of government in offering government services and to monitor contractors adhering to service provisions. The NFC technology section will focus on various NFC applications on Government to Employees and contractors.

The 73^rd and 74^th Amendment of the Indian Constitution has brought the power to prepare development plans to the grass root level – to the Grama Panchayat on the rural side and to the Municipalities on the urban side. Annual budgeting in these institutions is of utmost importance as the implementation of development schemes is possible only through a logical and balanced allocation of available funds. At the municipal level the budget provides a balanced and coordinated approach to municipal activities so that requirements and responsibilities of all sections are analyzed while preparing a budget. One important innovation, Smart City embarks on is a web-based participatory e-Budgeting which empowers citizen. E- Budgeting will use an interactive and dedicated annual Municipal budgeting web site and will also use web-based Geographic Information System (GIS). A hundred percent E-Literate Smart City with smart people would like to be part of E-Budgeting. Participatory budgeting allows local citizens in a municipal ward to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending projects, to make decisions about how money is spent every year. Kozhikode was practicing Participatory annual planning and budgeting since the mid-1990s. This chapter explores how the existing participatory budgeting can be converted to e-budgeting befitting a Smart city. It also demonstrates how Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that uses Geographic Information System (GIS) can be deployed in Kozhikode using most up-to-date data for budgetary decision making to help the community to arrive at the most rational budget allocation.

Issues for developing Smart City E-Governance in India are unique. Two basic issues are the levels of E-Governance Infrastructure in position, namely information and communication technology (ICT) and relative ability of population subgroups to access the E-Governance infrastructure. There has not been uniform social development of urban and rural population and also population subgroups such as male and female, scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), Muslims and non-Muslims in India. Therefore uniform environment of developing Smart City E-Governance does not exist. These target groups require differing policy set to make their access to Smart E-Governance possible. This partitioning of subgroups into different levels of accessibility to Smart E-Governance is the major issues of Smart E-Governance in India. There has been rapid development in ICT such as telephones, mobiles and Internet in India in absolute terms but when it is converted to percentage figures it gives very negative impression doubting the possibility of Smart City E-Governance in India. Also, E-Government survey conducted by United Nations in 2012 places India in the lowest quartile. However recent development of E-Commerce in India gives considerable hopes for E-Governance. E-Commerce and E-Governance shares the same ecosystem but E-Commerce has shown very rapid development and GDP generated can even surpass health and education sector in India. These developments are mainly generated by potential smart cities in India. This gives positive assurance that carefully selected about 31 mega cities, million pilus cities in India and can be developed for Smart City E-Governance. Other towns from about 8,000 census towns have to wait to overcome their population-related access to Smart City E-Governance. This concluding chapter in the last part highlights the further reaches of E-Governance discussed in all chapters of the book as part of its future.