Even though Gandhiji said that future of India lies in its villages, it may not

be applicable in our near future. It is because many people from villages are
aspiring to settle in cities and live a comfortable life which is not possible in
villages due to various reasons. So, urban population is growing rapidly at an
astonishing rate. As a result of Indias prestigious smart city project, small and
medium sized cities are going to experience an unprecedented growth. This
being a good sign of development in quality of life, there is also an impending
danger. At present, Indian cities are facing multi-fold problems to satisfy the
needs of their population. As resources are limited, the demands of additional
population in future can be addressed only by developing sustainable habitats. A
sustainable habitat is an ecosystem that is self-sustained, with no external waste
and without resource depletion. Major challenges in building sustainable cities
are 1.Energy crisis 2.Water supply and 3.Waste treatment 4.Pollution
5.Deforestation or lack of greenery 6.Lack of awareness. We need to come up
with sustainable solutions for our sustainable future.
Catering energy requirements for future millions is the biggest challenge
ahead and needs serious attention by government. Demand and supply
imbalance in energy is evident across all the sectors. As of now, fossil fuels have
largest share in energy production but they are not reliable in far future. Share of
renewable sources of energy should be increased by installing huge capacity
units all over India. Government should consult technological institutions like IITs
to equip all the smart cities with new technologies which use renewable sources
of energy. Public should be encouraged to install solar panels on their roof tops
for domestic needs. All government spaces should be equipped with systems
which use or generate power from renewable energy sources.
Rapid increase in demand for water is imminent due to population growth
and urbanization. Supply of water for drinking and other domestic needs is going
to be toughest challenge ahead. Release of Industrial effluents into water sources
is damaging water quality and is causing serious health problems. Stricter
policies have to be framed to address this issue. Future demands can be met
only by proper management of water resources and by cleaning rivers. Number
of water recycling units has to be increased. This field has lot of scope for
research and development so government should give projects to academic
institutions which are nearer to the water body to work on ways to improve
irrigation and drinking water facilities to the nearby areas. Some topics of
research are improved flushing systems, rain water harvesting for existing
buildings etc.
For a habitat to be sustainable, waste produced from that ecosystem has
to be ideally zero. With rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization, waste
produced is increasing exponentially. Inefficiency in waste collection and
recycling capacity are the major problems in our country. Swatch-Bharat mission
will not be a successful if government does not invest in waste recycling plants.
Money should be invested on developing new technologies of waste collection
and recycle efficiency. Employment opportunities have to be created in recycling
sector. Efforts have to be made to learn new ways about waste management

from existing practices adopted by cities in developed nations. Research has to

be carried out to develop methods on disposal of non-recyclable plastics.
According to statistics, 13 of 20 most polluted cities are from India. This is
the most serious problem of Indian cities and is the reason for various health
problems. We can reduce air pollution by taking strict measures like: phasing out
of commercial vehicles which are older than 10 years. Developing green patches
along high ways, river fronts and in free government spaces. Industrial waste
dumped into rivers is the major cause for water pollution. Stricter laws have to
be framed to deal with this issue. Hills should not be destroyed because in a
given area, hills can hold maximum number of trees. Lack of greenery in urban
concrete jungles result in many harmful effects and can affect health of people.
In all cities, considerable amount of space has to be devoted specifically develop
urban ecosystems. This will help in creating many ecosystem services like:
Natural Park for residents of city, reduce pollution, increase biodiversity, noise
reduction, rainwater drainage etc.
A country cannot evolve without its citizens. Therefore awareness creation
is the most effective way to deal with combined problems of energy, pollution,
water wastage. The issue with our present population is we think that natural
resources will be there forever and therefore we can exploit them. This attitude
of the public has to be changed by campaigns, advertisement and other
innovative ways. Lessons about limitations of natural resources have to be
prepared and taught to students. Authorities should encourage people to plant
trees in free private spaces, vegetation on roof tops etc. As an initiative by
government, all government offices, schools and other buildings should be
converted into green structures. People should be encouraged to reduce
resource wastage by simple lifestyle changes like using bicycles, reducing
electricity usage, rain water harvesting, reducing plastic usage and other
reforms.
Each of our cities is facing specific type of problems, so for a sustainable
growth of our cities, each city should affiliate to a technical institute like IIT or
NIT. The major technological challenges of that city should be handled by the
assigned institute and thus development of that city can be nurtured sustainably.
In this way technological revolution of India is possible through its cities.
Government should exhibit its interest in building sustainable cities by first
implementing the solutions in government spaces. All possible methods have to
be adopted to reduce ecological footprint of cities. Future of India lies in its cities
and so there is a necessity to develop sustainable cities.