2. Current conditions in India
• While the global average electrification rate in
2011 was 81.9 percent, the average
electrification rate for India stood at 75.3
percent, with rural area having only 66.9
percent (IEA, 2013).
• In absolute terms, almost 77 million
households in India were living without
electricity in 2011 (GNESD, 2014).
3. The situation in Jharkhand
• highest sectoral contribution, with mining and
quarrying accounting for 14.3percent of the GSDP, as
compared to 2.3percent for the rest of India (World
Bank 2007).
• World Bank Report on Jharkhand, indicated that close
to half of the GSDP of the state accrued from industry
with mining, quarrying and registered manufacturing
contributing nearly 78 percent of the state’s industrial
output.
• The plentiful availability of coal could be the basis for
low-cost power generation-the state is free from the
legacy of large supply of power to agriculture and low
4.
5. Smart Cities Initiatives
• After the launch of 100 Smart Cities Mission, the Government
of India is now shifting its focus towards building Smart
Villages with its recently launched programme Shyama Prasad
Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM)aimed at making villages
smart and growth centres of the nation. Currently, the
Government is preparing its plan for 2,500 Smart Villages by
2019.
• To ensure a standard of development, 14 components have
been included in a list of parameters: skill development
training linked to economic activities, agro-processing, storage
and warehousing, digital literacy, sanitation, provision of
piped water supply, solid and liquid waste management,
village streets and drains, streetlights, fully equipped mobile
health units, upgrading school infrastructure, village road
connectivity, electronic delivery of citizen centric services,
public transport and LPG gas connections.
6. Smart Cities need Smart Villages
• The concept of Smart Cities based on smart grids and
devices is proposed as a mechanism to generate
economic growth, create wealth and sizeable demand
for rural and agricultural products, thereby enabling
the shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture.
• However, in the rural areas, this shift to commercial
activity requires higher agricultural productivity to
bring about diversification of non-agricultural, income
generating activities (e.g. food processing,
construction, businesses and services).
• For a sustainable transition of the entire economy
there needs to be a linkage of networks, both human
and technical, between rural and urban areas to
sustain growth and to promote the convergence of
living standards for all citizens.
7.
8. The logic
• the provision of energy in rural areas can
facilitate improvements in education, health and
skills in rural populations, particularly among the
youth.
• This improvement in human capital will be an
asset as young people move to cities, attracted by
the service provision in newly designated smart
cities such as Ranchi.
• Jharkhand, Odisha that have the lowest levels of
urbanization, in the country, but has already
tripled in size between 1970 and 2010, and is
likely to become more attractive as it develops all
the characteristics of a smart city.
9. A robust infrastructure system ensures that we are
not only able to move goods and services, but also
people in the most effective ways possible. In order to
attract and retain quality jobs, communities need
functioning infrastructure. Infrastructure can unite or
divide us. Infrastructure properly designed can
reconnect the social fabric of communities. Modern-
day areas of the world are marked by unpaved roads,
no electrical grid, lack of communication and low
levels of technology.
The need for infrastructure development is one of the
great global challenges of our time
(Economic Survey 2015-16).