(SM)Art(ness) in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms

-Shakalya Nag, Kolkata

Quoting one of the most brilliant and one of the smartest authors ever, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
the brain behind Sherlock Holmes or actually misquoting him to seek salvation for smartness.
Lets take a break, look at the fascinating and ever changing world around you. So, grab a cup of
coffee and try to analyse what smartness really means. Gone are those beautiful Shakespearian
days when a man would keep a pound of flesh as security in order to borrow money. If Shylock
would have lived today and have had continued his lending business, I can bet he would have left
with all flesh but no money. Its 21st century people lets think smartly now.

SMART city concept in India is one of NAMOs own brain child. Though, his
predecessors too have worked on that but he gave it a brand new look. Now,
when we hear about the word SMART city we think about smart ways of
transport, smart utilization of energy, smart living, smartness in our jobs and of
course smart ways to spend our money. Does that means only by branding a
city SMART will it miraculously change the rupee depreciation, will it change the
habits of the consumer, will it make us more aware that we are responsible
citizens after all? Well, thats debatable and so be it. Thats the part I love most,
lets shoot then. Shall we?
Of course yes, when we talk about economy we think about GDPs, PPPs, export
and import revenue, natural resource utilizations, free trade zones, inflation, so
on and so forth. To back my words with some datas, India is closing the gap on
becoming a nuclear super power. Currently, it is fourth-largest source
of electricity in India after thermal, hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity. India drew
up "an ambitious plan to reach a nuclear power capacity of 63,000 MW in 2032 . Considering
the odds if India becomes a nuclear power then SMART; cities can definitely
provide us a green and clean energy. As per the Govt. report, India will be
having 100 smart cities across 21 states in 5 years of time span. That is quite a
dream, if achieved smartly. Im not being a pessimist but we seriously need to
draw a line between dream and reality.
SMART cities will have smart ports and that will lead to a free and fair trade
which will boost the economy eventually. However, the question lies in 5 years
will we still see the tree or we will be able to fore sight the forest? I mean can we
go beyond regional favouritism and vote bank politics in 5 years. Well, you can
counter me by saying At least thats a start. Believe me, I will stand by you and
admire the start if it is indeed. Bitcoins, a new concept in currency which is now
put to use in the western world. If we can build up the necessary infrastructure
of SMART cities we can put these technologies to use in no time. Recently, Ivan
Nogovitsyn and his team in Russia developed a mobile app. Controlled electric
powered meter for a smart house module. These innovations are bound to
increase awareness among us and with an existing infrastructure which we can
implement at will.
In the era of Smart phones, smart cards, smart TVs, smart cities are more than
just a concept or prototype. Along with the physical infrastructure, rules,
regulations and policies are to be made by RBI.