All that needs to be Known about India’s Smart Cities Mission (2015-2021)

Adesh Chaurasia Updates - Smart City

Adesh Chaurasia– Smart City

In today’s era when everything is marked by getting transformed into being digital and smart, cities, where we live are no exception. A city is usually tagged as being smart based on the technological, scientific, and economic resources available and also its use. Countries as a whole are under complete benefit when it comes to giving cities a smart makeover. Smart cities provide great opportunities, employment, etc. to the citizens.

India’s Smart Cities Mission, launched on 25 June 2015, is a joint initiative started by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs along with all state and union territory governments. It was initially aimed to be completed by the year 2019-2020, however, the target year has been extended to be 2021 now.

The overall theme of the mission

The mission aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes and ensures that these cities are ‘ livable, inclusive and sustainable,(and) have thriving economies that offer multiple opportunities to people in order to pursue their diverse interests. In other words, smart cities are cities that work for the people.

The selection process began by identifying a large number of cities on the basis of the urban population of the state/UT, as well as the number of statutory towns in them. A two-stage competition was organized among states to select cities based on the resources in the field of science, technology, economy, etc.

Also Read:-Cyber security-The growing concern in the virtual era

After the selection process was completed, 100 cities were picked to get transformed into smart cities. Cities like Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Jaipur, Jhansi, etc. made it to the list of carefully picked 100 cities that deserved to see a complete transformation throughout the development years as planned.

Well, as much as I have interacted with people about this topic, many of them didn’t know exactly what this mission is all about. Maybe because this initiative didn’t go all over the country through almost every newspaper headline, social media post, television reporting, etc. as the other missions like Clean India and Build in India did. But, the government works on this project with full zeal and zest.

A closer look at the development strategy

The mission is divided into categories and follows a systematic approach to work. This has been discussed below-:

Planning

Cities and states were asked to submit ‘ smart city’ proposals. After these proposals were received, separate committees were formed to look into the development plans of different cities which devised a proper plan as per the requirements, thinking, ideologies, possibilities of change, etc. from the managers and leaders on the projects. Technical advice from international governments like that of France, Germany, and Japan was also taken into consideration.

Implementation

The resources were diversified based on the needs, demands, and requirements of the hour. Implementation procedures are headed by a full-time chief executive officer and have nominees of the central, state, and local governments on its board.

Also Read:- GMV vs NMV: What’s a better option for Young Startups?

Monitoring

The procedures are kept under firm surveillance at the national, state, and local level. Separate committees are formed that follow strict measures and a system of checks and balances.

To sum up

This mission will rightly help the cities stacked with resources to use them wisely and move on the path of development in the future.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Author-Adesh Chaurasia

He is an active learner, author and speaker when it comes to the subject of national development through scientific and relational ways. He presents his knowledge about his line of work in such a simple yet engrossing manner that it reaches out to the people so as to enhance their knowledge and put it to good use.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.