City of Jaipur Embraces Digital Transformation in Collaboration with Cisco
The Government of Rajasthan shared the digital vision for the state at an event hosted by Cisco in the capital city of Jaipur. At the event, Honorable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shrimati Vasundhara Raje outlined her vision of a digital future for Rajasthan by leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enable good governance, a better quality of life and increased employment opportunities in the presence of Mr. Shikhar Agrawal, Commissioner, Jaipur Development Authority; Mr. Sanjay Malhotra, Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Rajasthan; and Mr. Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India and SAARC.
As part of the digital blueprint of the state of Rajasthan, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) is focused on developing smart city infrastructure in Jaipur to transform itself into a digital city of the future. In its first phase, the pink city of Jaipur has created digital infrastructure to offer citizens amenities including intelligent kiosks, wireless broadband, safety and security services, traffic management and environmental updates. 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. In Jaipur’s City Infrastructure Management Centre, nearly all the solutions are integrated into a digital platform. The digital platform built by JDA can aggregate data from various sensors and solutions conduct data analytics and support a number of urban services. In this phase, JDA has implemented the solutions in Jantarmantar, Amer, Albert Hall, Jal Mahal, Ram Niwas Bagh, Hawa Mahal, Central Park and Jawahar Circle; the next phase of implementation in another 25 sites will be completed by the end of February 2016.
Through a smart city experience tour for media attendees at Amer Fort, JDA and Cisco will demonstrate how digital technology solutions will help citizens. The deployments featured at Amer Fort include connected parking, connected lighting, WiFi, interactive intelligent kiosks with environmental sensors, city surveillance for safety and security and Remote Expert for Government Services (REGS). More importantly, attendees would have the opportunity to visualize these solutions as not only connected, but interconnected, and be able to share data.
Efficient and reliable transmission of electricity is a fundamental requirement for providing societies and economies with essential energy resources. As part of the digitization program, the state of Rajasthan has announced the smart grid initiative. The Energy Department of Rajasthan has now embarked upon creating three classes of transformations: upgradation and modernization 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’s 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. Cisco will collaborate with the government of Rajasthan to realise the vision of Digital Rajasthan and will collaborate in the technology initiatives of the state to help Rajasthan drive its digital transformation.
Speaking at the event, Vasundhara Raje, Honorable Chief Minister of Rajasthan said,
“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.”
Shikhar Agarwal, Commissioner of Jaipur Development Authority, said, “The initiative to transform Jaipur into a smart city has gathered tremendous momentum since its launch in May 2014. Today, citizens of Jaipur are digitally empowered and this is just the beginning. The vision outlined by our Honorable Chief Minister will help catapult the state to the forefront of the digital revolution. We are happy to have Cisco on board for this transformative project and are certain that we will benefit from the experience and expertise Cisco brings through numerous smart city projects the company has undertaken globally.”
Sanjay Malhotra, Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Rajasthan said, “We are happy to inform you that we have embarked upon a comprehensive and scalable smart grid initiative in the state of Rajasthan with the objective of providing a reliable, stable and efficient grid. We have taken a thoughtful and innovative approach by identifying the business processes and functions to be targeted for efficiency improvements in the power sector. Towards this, we have initiated various projects under the smart grid platform such as laying of fiber optic backbone, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and substation automation. This transformative project is an important step towards making the vision of ‘Digital Rajasthan’ a reality.
Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India & SAARC said, “Digitization 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.
