happy reading................
TOPIC 1 Giving cities the smart edge.
The
Central government’s framework for 20 cities to become ‘smart’ over a five-year
period can cover new ground if it makes intelligent use of information
technology to deliver better civic services. Rapid and poorly regulated
urbanisation has overwhelmed urban governments, rendering
them incapable of providing even basic services such as clean water, sewerage,
pedestrian-friendly roads, public transport, uninterrupted power, street
lighting, parks and recreational spaces. So weak and uncoordinated is
governance that commercial entities have wilfully violated building regulations
and put up unauthorised structures — with severe impact on congestion, air quality and flood management — and
governments have gladly regularised the violations later. The smart city plan
now proposes to intervene and bring some order by upgrading the physical
infrastructure in select enclaves, and incentivising the use of information and
communication technologies. Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has
come up with a generalised definition of a smart Indian city as one that
“enables a decent life to the citizens, and green and sustainable environment,
besides enabling adoption of smart solutions”, but the exercise should lead to
measurable outcomes.
Also read: What are Smart cities?
The
first batch of smart cities would create virtually new business districts in
several cities, marking a departure from the disaggregated urban development
witnessed over the past few decades. This area-based development approach makes
it imperative that the resulting demand for mobility to and from the ‘smart’
area be made an integral part of the plan, with an emphasis on walkability, use
of non-motorised transport and access to public transport. Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar Indore
VOCABULARY:
1.rendering : a performance of a piece of music or drama.
2.congestion : an excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood
or other fluid in a body part or blood vessel.
3.enclaves : a place or group that is different in character
from those surrounding it.
4.incentivising : motivate or encourage (someone) to do something;
provide with an incentive.
TOPIC2
The trouble with spectrum pricing
The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s latest recommendation on the reserve
price for the auction of the 700 MHz wireless spectrum could be a case where
the pricing of a public asset may end up having the exact opposite effect:
making a scarce resource so expensive that its meaningful utilisation is
compromised, and thus rendered unavailable to serve the larger public
good. That the telecom regulator, which has been in the vanguard of
trying to spur both government and industry to become more responsive to the
larger public interest, should have opted to set such a high valuation
benchmark is a touch ironic. About 14 months ago, TRAI had, in a missive to the
Department of Telecommunications, spelt out the rationale behind its
recommendations on valuation and reserve price of spectrum. While the specific
backdrop of that particular communication was the likelihood of the government
opting to hold a supply-constrained auction, the broader arguments it made then
remain as germane. The regulator had
pointed out that a very high per unit price realisation, while possibly helping
meet immediate fiscal needs, would only bleed the industry of resources. The
high price of spectrum would also affect private investment in network
expansion and infrastructure. The financial viability of the industry, TRAI
posited, was crucial both for its own health and for the government to earn
recurring revenues. All these issues are still relevant, as underscored partly
by Bharti Airtel’s recent results. The company has reported its first quarterly
profit decline in two years, largely on account of higher spectrum amortisation expenses.
It
is no one’s contention that the telecom
regulator had not approached the task at hand with full transparency and
openness in its quest to arrive at meaningful valuations for seven frequency
bands. A consultation paper that sought comments from all stakeholders was
followed by an open house discussion. TRAI spelt out the points made by varied
participants, including many from the industry who argued against an auction of
the 700 MHz airwaves at a time when the network and device ecosystem is not
sufficiently developed. Still, considering the performance efficiency of the
particular spectrum band and its utility in improving and expanding high-speed
wireless broadband services across rural areas, the regulator recommended that
the government put on the block the available frequencies in this spectrum at
the next auction. It is in plumping for
its own April 2012 formulation of four times the reserve price of the 1800 MHz
spectrum that TRAI appears to have made a less-than-appropriate choice. This is
particularly so as spectrum sharing and trading have been operationalised in
the intervening period, boosting overall supply. The regulator’s
recommendation, for almost Rs.11,500 crore per MHz, if accepted, holds risks
for an industry that serves a crucial socio-economic objective.
VOCABULARY:
1.scarce : (especially of food, money, or some other
resource) insufficient for the demand.
2.rendered : provide or give (a service, help, etc.)
3.vanguard : a position at the forefront of new developments
or ideas.
4.germane : relevant to a subject under consideration.
5.amortisation : it is similar to depreciation, which is used for
tangible assets, and to depletion, which is used with natural resources.
6.contention : an assertion, especially one maintained in
argument.
7.plumping : shake or pat (a cushion or pillow) to
adjust its stuffing and make it rounded and soft.
