Notes de l’Ifri

Asie.Visions 87

Challenge of Making Smart

Cities in India

Rumi AIJAZ
October 2016

Center for
Asian Studies
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Rumi Aijaz, “Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India”, Asie.Visions,
No.87, Ifri, October 2016.

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Author

Rumi Aijaz is senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, where

he is responsible for the conduct of the Urban Policy Research Programme.
Some of his current and previous professional engagements include
associate membership of the Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI),
visiting faculty at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), research
staff at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), and post-doctoral
visiting fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Science
(LSE).
Abstract

The Indian government has launched the Smart Cities Mission in June
2015 with the aim of providing a better quality of life to the citizens in 100
cities of the country. This paper describes the main features of the Mission
and attempts to explain the challenges in the way forward. The information
provided in the paper is presented in six sections. Section one highlights
the unique characteristics of India’s cities and establishes the need for
better urban management. The second section describes five negative
effects of urbanization to which sufficient attention has not been paid.
These include informal growth in peri-urban areas, escalating water crisis,
social exclusion, extension of slums, and mismanagement of solid waste. In
the next section, the impact of past urban reform initiatives is discussed
and attention is drawn to the difficulties being faced in overcoming some
enduring challenges. Section four provides detailed information about
India’s Smart Cities Mission including the process followed in the selection
of cities, the plan preparation and implementation strategy. Then, an
assessment of the relevance and soundness of the Mission is proposed in
the fifth section. In the concluding section, a list of propositions is put
forward for the successful achievement of the Mission goals. It is
emphasized that civic institutions should correctly understand a city’s
social, economic and physical requirements and its diversity, and respond
accordingly. At the same time, citizens should show a greater sense of civic
responsibility.
Table of contents

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 5

URBANIZATION CONCERNS IN INDIA................................................. 8

Informal growth in peri-urban areas ...................................................... 9

Social exclusion ...................................................................................... 10

Extension of slums ................................................................................. 10

Escalating water crisis ........................................................................... 11

Mismanagement of solid waste ............................................................. 12

MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE CONSTRAINTS AFFECTING

INDIA’S URBAN SECTOR .................................................................... 14

A series of urban sector reforms ........................................................... 14

Enduring challenges ............................................................................... 16

THE SMART CITIES MISSION ............................................................. 18

A five-year programme (2015-16 to 2019-20) .................................... 18

A multi-tiered selection process ............................................................ 18

Specific guidelines and requirements for smart city plans ................. 23

RELEVANCE AND SOUNDNESS OF THE MISSION .............................. 25

The strong points of the Mission ........................................................... 25

Some areas of concerns ......................................................................... 26

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 28
Introduction

A noticeable global phenomenon is the concentration of people in cities

and urban agglomerations (UAs). It is common knowledge that people tend
to live and work in an urban setting because the available opportunities
help them progress in their lives. Cities of developing countries such as
India prominently display these trends. At the same time however, urban
conditions in India are exceptionally different and complex. For instance,
although India’s urban population proportions are comparatively less than
the global average (31.15 per cent as per the 2011 Census of India), the size
of the population is huge (377.11 million) and is growing by the day.
City/urban agglomeration (UA) level data show as many as 53 recording a
population of over a million, including three – namely Delhi, Mumbai and
Kolkata – that are over 10 million (Census of India, 2011a).
Besides demographic patterns, the social and economic characteristics
of the urban population also help to understand the notion of Indian cities.
Income differences, for example, are enormous. An insignificant
proportion of India’s urban population is extremely wealthy and displays
very high consumption levels. At the other extreme are a large number of
deprived people who struggle daily to make a living. Avenues of organized
employment are inadequate and thus many job aspirants explore livelihood
opportunities in the informal sector where workers rights and safety are
major concerns. Moreover, the urban society is represented by an
interesting mix of religious and caste groups that pursue a variety of social
and cultural practices, as well as festivities. Religious ceremonies along
river courses passing through cities and on public roads are a common
sight.
In many ways, the conditions witnessed in Indian cities may look
similar to those in many parts of the world. The concern, however, is with
regard to the methods followed in managing the urban dynamics. While
the governments of some developing countries such as Chile, Mexico,
Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and China to name a few, have responded
professionally and responsibly to the challenges posed by urbanization,
India struggles to address the issue. Santiago de Chile, for example, shows
progress on the journey to being smarter. It is emerging as a popular centre
for doing business, and the country’s largest electricity company, Chilectra,
has taken steps to meet the energy requirements of a business park and
electric vehicles (Fast Company, 2013). Another example is the Chinese city
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

of Karamay (Xinjiang), which is pursuing a joint programme with IBM,

involving the use of cutting-edge technology to improve transportation,
healthcare and public security (China Daily, 2012).
The citizens’ quality of life index is one method, which can help in
understanding and attending to the problem areas. The index is computed
on the basis of data and public-opinion polls on different parameters of
well-being, including income and wealth, jobs and earnings, work-life
balance, housing, environmental quality, health status, education and
skills, social connections, civic engagement and personal security (OECD,
2015). Country-level comparisons show Denmark, Switzerland, Australia,
New Zealand and Germany doing well on these indicators, whereas many
South and Southeast Asian countries including India are at the other end of
the index (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Quality of Life Index, 2016

Source: Numbeo, 2016.

Notes: (i) Countries in green colour offer the best quality of life; (ii) Quality of life
index has not been computed for countries in grey colour.

Attempts have also been made to assess the quality of life in 440 cities
of the world based on similar parameters. The rankings by Mercer, a global
human resources consulting firm, show Vienna and Zurich earning the top
spots among European cities, with Singapore doing well in Asia. However,
as far as India is concerned, the cities of Hyderabad (Andhra
Pradesh/Telangana), Pune (Maharashtra) and Bangalore (Karnataka) rank
139th, 144th and 145th respectively (The Indian Express, 2016a).

6
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Though there are many genuine reasons for the difficulties

experienced in Indian cities, one could also say that to a great extent the
problem lies in the disconnect between what is needed to be done for the
urban society and what is being done by the stakeholders in governance. A
continuation of this pattern of growth and governance is quite likely
because the intensity and commitment with which the matter needs to be
dealt with is simply lacking. For example, sufficient efforts and
interventions are not being made to improve the situation in rural areas
and in small and medium towns. Many are in a state of utter neglect, as
evident from the abysmally poor living and livelihood conditions of their
residents. One implication of this negligence is out migration of a large
number of people to prosperous cities, which offer some kind of respite.
But, if urbanisation is to benefit the nation and the society, then the
phenomenon has to be managed correctly (Aijaz, 2015a). The current
pattern in India is that city densities are increasing by the day and the
obvious consequence of a governance deficit is deterioration in the urban
quality of life.

7
Urbanization concerns
in India

A visit to any Indian city reveals the general state of affairs. The entire
urban landscape looks rather like an unplanned sprawl with built up
residential and commercial structures mushrooming haphazardly.
Maintenance and upkeep of public places is generally lacking. A closer
assessment shows noticeable imbalances in physical development and in
the level of basic infrastructure and services within and between cities.
While the rich live in planned and well-serviced gated complexes,
households belonging to the low income group reside in informal
settlements and slums with insufficient or no access to civic services.
Mobility is severely impaired due to insufficient public facilities, and
irregularities in traffic management often result in road accidents. When it
rains, water logging happens at many places, which further restricts
mobility.
As urbanization has brought together people from diverse social,
cultural, economic and religious backgrounds, the problem of stress,
violence and crime is rising. Assault on women has emerged as a major
problem. In this respect, data released by the National Crime Records
Bureau show Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Delhi and Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)
as the top three Indian cities, which are most unsafe for women (The
Indian Express, 2016b). Another problem is the frequent occurrence of
violence between religious communities. Ahmedabad (Gujarat) is a notable
example where religious violence between the Hindus and Muslims has
erupted on numerous occasions. Such incidents have created an
environment of fear among the masses, and led to social polarization
(PRIO and ORF, 2016; Rediff.com, 2014). Thus, Indian cities do not
represent examples of planned, equitable, safe and sustainable
development. This current state of affairs can be attributed to the fact that
many parts of the urban setting remain completely ungoverned and
unregulated, and thus a large number of citizens/informal sector
workers/commercial establishments utilize public spaces and drive their
motor vehicles in a disorganized manner. It is pertinent to gain a deeper
and wider understanding of the difficulties that beset India’s urban sectors.
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Informal growth in peri-urban areas

One of the ill effects of urbanization is uncontrolled population and
physical growth in peri-urban areas. Those people who are unable to live in
prime areas of a city due to the affordability factor find peri-urban areas as
ideal places to reside and operate from. Haphazard growth occurs because
peri-urban areas are weakly governed. Two factors are responsible for this
problem. First, there is lack of clarity among the government agencies on
the physical boundaries of the peri-urban areas. Neglect in monitoring
physical development in such areas over a period of time allows migrant
settlers to carry out contiguous physical changes. In this process, the new
constructions many-a-times extend into the adjoining rural area. Due to
this reason, neither the urban nor the rural agencies come forward to take
ownership of peri-urban areas, and their administration gets neglected.
Secondly, rural–urban jurisdiction ambiguity also prevents the agencies
from formulating and applying appropriate land and building regulations.
The pressure created by urbanization has thus a severe impact on the
peri-urban areas, which suffer from a host of social, economic,
development and environment problems. For example, there is a sharp
increase in population densities and in the number of unauthorized
residential, commercial and industrial structures. Physical changes are
carried out unlawfully without any reference to local development plans,
development controls and building bye-laws, while necessary approvals
from concerned development agencies are usually not sought (Narain et
al., 2013).
Furthermore, agricultural land is indiscriminately converted to urban
use, resulting in reduced food grain and vegetable production. This has
affected the supply of food to several cities, which are solely dependent on
the rural food-producing hinterland. At a few places, the problem has been
overcome to some extent with the creation of national food markets and
better distribution networks. For example, under a popular business
initiative (namely Safal), fresh fruits and vegetables are procured,
processed and marketed in Delhi and the adjoining region, as well as in
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. But, generally, such land use changes
negatively impact the livelihood of the farming community and the poor
people who depend on these lands for cattle grazing and collection of fuel
wood (Lintelo et al., 2001). Changes are also witnessed in livelihood
patterns from predominantly agricultural occupations to trade and
commerce, and service-oriented occupations (Karmakar, 2015). Persons
who are unable to cope with the change suffer. In view of the unfair
practices followed in land acquisition and the wide range of activities

9
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

pursued by the settlers, peri-urban areas often become a contested space.

The dynamism in peri-urban areas also creates a pressure on surface and
ground water resources, on which the native population is dependent.

Social exclusion
The Indian government has a clear legislation and policy for protecting the
rights and welfare of poor communities living in cities. For this purpose, a
wide range of pro-poor schemes have been implemented from time to time.
Empirical studies, however, reveal that the benefits of various development
schemes are partly reaching the intended beneficiaries (Aijaz, 2015b). This
is noted in the city of Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), which is the parliamentary
constituency of the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. In this city,
the plight of handloom weavers is deplorable. Their silk weaving activity
and income are adversely affected by numerous problems, including
growth of power (electric) looms, exploitation by middle men, rising prices
of computer-generated design cards used by them to print creative designs
on the silk fabric, as well as poor working conditions within their houses
(NDTV, 2014). In the opinion of handloom workers, sufficient measures
are not being taken by the concerned government agencies to address their
concerns.
The rapidly transforming and rich city of Pune (Maharashtra) presents
a case of food insecurity. This is the impression among the slum dwellers
who face difficulties in availing food grains and kerosene from fair price
shops as per their entitlements. Such problems occur not because of food
shortages in the city but due to misappropriation of food grains, which are
solely meant for public distribution (Infochange Agenda, 2014). Another
area of exclusion is housing. This is noted in Ahmedabad city (Gujarat),
where poor communities have been relocated to the city periphery because
land was needed for a river front development project (Mathur, 2012; The
Wire, 2015). With respect to one case of relocation, proper housing and
basic facilities of sanitation, as well as transport, health and streetlights
have not been provided nor any employment opportunities created due to
which the relocated families are facing great hardship.

Extension of slums
In India, as in many developing countries, urbanization has led to the
formation of slums. These are areas where the poorest of the poor live.
Their houses are worn down, basic civic amenities are usually not available,
and the environmental conditions in the area are unfit for human
habitation. Slums have come up because of migration and the city

10
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

governments’ inability to create an affordable housing stock for the poor

migrant population. Due to negligence in monitoring vacant lands, poor
migrants build temporary structures for living. Even when legal provisions
are introduced for reserving houses for the poor in the housing stock
created by the private builders, these are not adhered to.
Adults and children who live in slums are engaged in a variety of
activities. Many work as labourers in the construction industry. Others
provide a range of services, which are not sufficiently provided by the
government in all parts of the city, but are much needed by the city
residents living in planned and authorised areas. Examples of services
offered are sale of flowers and earthen pots, fruits and vegetables, laundry
and ironing, distribution of newspapers, sale of cooked food near office and
commercial areas. Some people also work as servants, gardeners, security
guards, cycle rickshaws and handcart operators. Thus, in many ways, slum
dwellers are playing an important role in building and running cities (The
Financial Express, 2012). As mentioned above, their grievances are
manifold.
In terms of numbers, about 5 per cent of India’s totales population and
17 per cent of its totales urban populations lives in slums. Between 2001
and 2011, the slum population of India grew by 25 per cent (Census of
India, 2011b). A worrying trend is the emergence of slums in some
Northern and Northeastern States, which previously did not report their
existence. Five cities - namely Vijayawada and Greater Visakhapatnam
(Andhra Pradesh), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Greater Mumbai
(Maharashtra), and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) - have recorded over 40 per
cent slum households. With regard to the status of amenities available to
the slum dwellers, the all-India data show that many slum households do
not have drinking water source (43 per cent) and toilets (34 per cent)
within their premises (Census of India, 2011c).

Escalating water crisis

Human settlements require a sufficient and equitable supply of water. But
the reality in most Indian cities is that this goal is far from achieved. In
planned residential colonies, for example, piped municipal water is
received for about 2 hours each in the morning and evening, and the water
supply and pressure have gone down significantly over the years. The
quality of water is another issue. In view of the current situation, residents
make their own arrangements for obtaining, storing and treating water.
They install powerful electric motors to forcefully pull water directly from
the pipeline during supply hours, install underground/overhead water

11
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

storage tanks, and buy water purification systems to protect their health.
These measures have had a direct impact on their income, as observed
from the increasing private (individual) costs of inadequately provided
public services and infrastructure. As for unplanned colonies and slums,
they present a contrasting picture of major water inadequacies. Formal
systems (piped supply) have generally not been put in place and hence
illegal ground water extraction is rampant. These practices have led to
declining ground water levels.
An overall assessment of the city water situation (Aijaz, 2010) reveals
the following major deficiencies:
a huge demand and supply gap,
poor operation and maintenance of water supply systems, as well as
water losses caused by leakages in transmission and distribution lines,
excessive use/wastage by consumers resulting in part from non-
functional and defective meters,
contamination of surface water bodies and ground water, and
noteworthy intra-urban disparities.
Besides access, water poses another threat. Some Indian cities -
namely Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Srinagar (Jammu
and Kashmir) - have experienced massive flooding as a result of either
heavy downpour and/or poor management of river dam water. The
situation worsens due to inadequate drainage and waste management
systems and illegal construction of built structures that prevent the natural
flow of water (Dolman, 2015). Lack of preparedness in dealing with water
related disasters causes loss to life, livelihood and property, with low-
income communities being the worst affected.

Mismanagement of solid waste

Cities generate enormous quantities of solid waste and therefore
mechanisms have been created for its collection and disposal. The sanitary
condition of Indian cities is, however, unsatisfactory, as waste is often
dumped by the generators at inappropriate places such as roadsides,
vacant lands, open drains and surface water bodies. The situation is better
at places where door-to-door collection services are available. But service
providing agencies sometimes commit irregularities in handling waste.
Sufficient efforts are not being made to segregate waste at source and
hence the quantities generated are huge (CPCB, 2012). Such practices also
rule out the possibility of recycling, as all types of waste gets mixed up.
There are delays in the removal of waste from intermediate collection

12
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

points, and at the final disposal sites, sufficient space for storing waste is
not available. The heaps of waste lying at disposal sites is also a threat to
human health because during the rainy season, water dissolves toxic waste
materials and contaminates surface and ground water. As the capacity of
dumping sites in some cities (such as Delhi and Ahmedabad) is exhausted,
there are instances of waste being dumped by city governments on vacant
lands in peri-urban areas lying outside city limits.

13
Management and governance
constraints affecting India’s
urban sector

Efforts to improve the deteriorating conditions caused by urbanization in

Indian cities have been made from time to time. These include a variety of
measures such as the introduction of urban development programmes, the
strengthening of State and local level institutions, and the adoption of
innovative urban governance practices, including institutional partnerships
with non-State actors (Figure 2). Reference may be made here to two
significant urban reform measures. The first pertains to the empowerment
of urban local governments (or municipalities) in all the States of India.
The second is the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM).

A series of urban sector reforms

Municipal institutions have been in existence in the country since 1882,
however, these remained entirely under the control of the State legislatures
for a very long time. It was gradually realized that people’s expectations can
be met in a much better way by strengthening local government
institutions. Accordingly in 1992, the Constitution (Seventy-fourth
Amendment) Act was passed. As per the Act, exclusive provisions for the
empowerment of municipalities were inserted for the first time in the
Indian Constitution. This legislative intervention paved the way for the
constitution of a uniform typology of municipalities across the country as
well as the reservation of seats in municipalities for women, scheduled
castes, scheduled tribes and backward class of citizens. The Act also
provided for the devolution of powers, functions and responsibilities to
municipalities; the timely conduct of municipal elections; as well as the
constitution of wards committees, state finance commissions, committees
for district and metropolitan planning (Constitutional Provisions, 1999).
With the implementation of the Act, notable change in urban governance
was observed, however, efforts to decentralize administration at the level of
the ward and to devolve powers, functions and responsibilities from the
State to local governments met with little success mainly due to reluctance
by State functionaries (Aijaz, 2012:39).
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

was launched in 2005 by the Congress-led government of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. It was felt that instead of having a large number of
separate programmes for the development of various urban sectors, there
should be a comprehensive and integrated urban development programme
(MoUD, 2005). During the ten-year duration of JNNURM from 2005 to
2015, financial assistance was provided to State and local governments for
development of infrastructure facilities. More importantly, a series of
mandatory and optional reforms1 were implemented to strengthen work
practices in municipalities, para-statal agencies and State governments.
Due to these efforts, many positive developments have occurred, the
benefits of which have reached the citizens. For example, with the creation
of municipal websites (by utilising the expertise of top private IT
companies), a large number of residents can easily fulfill numerous
requirements such as online payment of taxes, obtaining birth and death
certificates and trade licenses, submission of tenders by contractors, etc.
This initiative has helped in improving the accountability of government
institutions and greatly addressed the problem of corruption. Sector-
specific improvements are visible as reflected by the growing number of
2
cities offering environment friendly high-speed passenger rail services.
This facility has been put in place with financial and technical assistance
received from global technological firms. With respect to drinking water
supply, innovative practices (such as water harvesting, energy efficiency,
awareness generation, partnerships between government departments,
urban local governments, foreign companies and citizens) have led to
improved water access and quality, as well as better revenue recovery from
water charges and taxes (MoUD, 2010).

1. Adoption of double entry system of accounting, use of IT applications in providing civic

services, enactment of public disclosure law, revision of building bye-laws, etc.
2. Metro rail services are now available and the network is expanding in the cities of Bangalore,
Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai.

15
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Figure 2: Urban Sector Reforms in India

Representative
Greater Financial Decision-making Decentralised
Allocations to States & (participation of Administration,
Civic Agencies women & minority Use of ICT
groups)

Service Level
Managing Benchmarks,
Financial
urbanization Indicators
Management,
Auditing of
Accounts
Capacity Building
Devolution of Public-Private-
(plan, project
Powers to Civic Community
formulation &
Agencies Partnership
implementation,
revenue mobilisation)

Source: Figure prepared by the author.

In the past two years, the BJP-led government has launched several
3
new programmes to improve the condition of urban areas in the country.
The impact of some programmes is now being seen (MoUD, 2016). For
instance, to attend to the problem of open defecation, 1.5 million individual
household toilets and 76,000 community and public toilets have reportedly
been constructed. Efforts are also being made to improve door-to-door
collection of solid waste and data in this respect show that 34,590 wards
across the country are now covered by this service. Furthermore, for the
protection of heritage, plans have been prepared for 12 identified cities.4

Enduring challenges
Notwithstanding these recent initiatives, the fundamental question
remains as to why Indian cities are unsustainable and inequitable. Indeed,
when compared with global cities, Indian cities continue to lag behind on
numerous development parameters despite the existence of an urban
governance machinery at the national, state and local level, as well as
democratic institutions, high GDP, availability of financial and manpower

3. Major urban initiatives include: Clean India Mission, Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and and Urban Transformation, Housing for All, National Heritage City
Development and Augmentation Plan, Ease of Doing Business, etc.
4. The names of the 12 cities are: Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya,
Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal.

16
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

resources and implementation of a series of reform measures. There are

several answers to this question, including the following:
While most of the ingredients needed for the urban transformation
exist, their full potential remains underutilised.
There is negligence in monitoring the progress of development schemes
and in the upkeep of public places.
Sufficient efforts are not being made to understand the working
conditions of functionaries (i.e., local government officials and elected
representatives) and their grievances.
Governance practices are influenced by numerous internal and external
forces. In other words, due to vested interests, civic officials and elected
representatives do not perform their duties efficiently and at times
indulge in corrupt practices.
When citizens see a management and governance deficit, many of them
operate in an irresponsible manner.
But if Indian cities continue to be governed in this dysfunctional
manner, apart from losing out on foreign investments and the employment
opportunities these would generate, many sections of the Indian society
will lead an inferior quality of life and urban conditions will keep
worsening in the future. Today, the major social challenges before the
Union as well as the State and city governments are to provide for women’s
safety, to create facilities for the disadvantaged groups as well as the
migrant population, and to generate jobs for the growing youth population
(The Hindu, 2013). Indian governing bodies also have to ensure greater
access to sufficient and safe drinking water and sanitation facilities,
improve conditions in slums, provide better mobility (including last mile
connectivity) and parking, as well as minimize environmental pollution
(Business Today, 2014). They also need to meet huge energy requirements
and to regulate both the informal activities and the private sector.

17
The Smart Cities Mission

Whenever there is a change in government, fresh ideas are put forward to

build an identity and generate interest among the citizens. Drawing upon
the lessons learned from the developed world, the current national
leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the idea of
‘making 100 smart cities’ to the people of the country when they were
elected to power in May 2014.

A five-year programme
(2015-2016 to 2019-2020)
After about one year of preparatory work, the Smart Cities Mission was
launched on 25 June 2015, and its duration is for a five-year period from
2015-16 to 2019-20. Being a centrally sponsored scheme, Government of
India has committed financial support of INR 5 billion (USD 74.8 million)
per city over five years. An equal matching amount is to be contributed
jointly by the State and urban local governments. As the financial condition
of many State and local governments is weak, they have been asked to
explore other funding sources, including in partnering with the private
sector and in promoting land monetization. The Mission essentially calls
for formulating and applying smart solutions to overcome the challenges
confronting various urban sectors, such as water supply, sanitation,
electricity, mobility, housing, energy and environment (MoUD, 2015). It is
expected that in this manner, existing cities will function more efficiently,
and thus offer an improved quality of life to their citizens, attract greater
investments and generate higher GDP.

A multi-tiered selection process

To move forward in this direction, the first task before the national Urban
Development Ministry was to identify potential cities from each of the
Indian States and Union Territories (UTs), out of a total of 4,041 statutory
cities/towns5 in the country. Using data on (i) the urban population of the

5. Settlements declared as urban by the political executive of a State based on a set of parameters,
such as population size and density, revenue generated for local administration, percentage of
employment in non-agricultural activities, and economic importance of the area, are termed as
“statutory”, and these urban centres are governed according to the provisions of a legislative Act.
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

State/UT, and (ii) the number of statutory towns in the State/UT, and by
giving equal weightage (50:50) to these two criteria, the potential cities
have been identified, the number of which varies in each State/UT (Figure
3). The population size of these cities ranges between 11,201 and 12.4
million. Altogether, they have a total population of about 130 million,
which is about 35 per cent of India’s total urban population.
Figure 3: Potential Cities to be considered under India’s
Smart Cities Mission

Notes: (i) Map shows location of 98 cities. Names of one city each in the States of
Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are yet to be announced; Underlined cities in
the figure have been selected for transformation in the first round/phase.

19
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Thereafter, a two-stage competition between potential cities within the

State/Union Territory has been organized (Figure 4). In the first stage,
each city within a State/UT has competed against each other for being
considered for financing under phase one of the Smart Cities Mission. For
this purpose, the governments of all the Indian States/UTs were asked to
score all the cities lying in their jurisdiction on the basis of a city
government’s performance, which include criteria such as the existing
service levels, institutional systems/capacities, financial strength, and
implementation of previous reform measures.

20
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Figure 4: Smart Cities Mission Process

Identify potential cities from each State/Union Territory (UT) for being
considered under India’s Smart Cities Mission (based on State/UT urban
population & number of statutory towns in the State/UT)

Organize a competition between potential cities within each

State/UT for being considered for financing under phase one of the
Mission (based on a set of criteria pertaining to a city government’s
performance in the conduct of its duties)

Cities receiving a high score in the first stage of competition to prepare

smart city plans (with the assistance of Indian & foreign consulting firms &
citizens’ inputs). Cities not chosen in the first phase to revise their
proposals & participate in the next round of stage one competition

Smart city plans to be evaluated by a panel of national & international

experts in stage two of the competition (based on smartness, cost-
effectiveness and soundness of plan proposals)

Declare names of winning cities (to be considered for financing in the

first phase of the Mission)

Shortlisted cities to set up and operationalize Special Purpose

Vehicles, Prepare Project Reports, Mobilise Funds

Selected cities to implement smart city projects

National, State, City level mechanism to be created to monitor physical

& financial progress

21
 Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Subsequently, governments of States/UTs/cities that received a high score

were asked to prepare ‘smart city proposals/plans’. In this endeavour, the
expertise of leading Indian and foreign consulting firms has been sought.
Furthermore, suggestions from over 15 million citizens have been invited
through a national online portal (MyGov.in), State government portals,
and other forums, such as Facebook, Twitter, SMSs, e-mails, surveys,
workshops, seminars, town hall and neighbourhood meetings. Based on
their inputs, the plans have been finalized and some State governments
have submitted their plans (including details about the total investment to
be made) to the national Urban Ministry (Table 1). The submitted plans
have been evaluated by a panel of experts in stage two of the competition
based on criteria such as performance of city agencies in efficient discharge
of their duties, a city’s vision and strategy, expected impact and cost
effectiveness of the formulated smart city plan, proposals on smart
solutions and best practices, and extent of inclusivity (citizen consultation
including vulnerable sections of the society) in the preparation of the plan.
The results of the competition have been declared, and 33 cities have been
nominated by the governments of States/UTs and chosen for financing in
the first phase of the Mission (Figure 3). A second round of competition
will be held for those cities, which did not qualify in the first round after
they submit revised proposals.
Table 1: Salient Features of the Proposed Smart City Plan of Delhi

Component Description

Name of city Delhi

Area chosen for

Area under the jurisdiction of the New Delhi Municipal Council
improvement/retrofitting within Delhi

Area 42.74 sq. km.

Population size 249,998 (and a floating population of 1.6 million)

Project cost INR 27.62 billion (USD 413.22 million)

Number of smart city projects to be

42
implemented

Pedestrian walkways and subways, cycle tracks, electric poles with

incident-driven controllers, public electric vehicles and charging
facility, Wi-Fi access points, digital screens showing traffic choke
Project details
points, air and noise pollution sensors, rooftop solar panels, smart bus
stops and toilets, rainwater harvesting, sewage treatment plants,
CCTV surveillance, recreational areas

Source: Ministry of Urban Development.

22
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Specific guidelines and requirements

for smart city plans
Considering the fact that the concept of smart cities is still in an
evolutionary stage, the national Urban Ministry has not provided a set
model of smart city plan. The governments of States and UTs have,
however, been suggested to consider four aspects in the preparation of
their smart city plans. These include:
retrofitting, which requires identifying and making existing built-up
areas of over 500 acres efficient and liveable;
redevelopment, for replacement of existing built-up areas of more than
50 acres by preparing a new layout plan;
greenfield development around cities, for carrying out new
development in vacant areas of more than 250 acres; and
pan-city development, which implies application of smart solutions to
various urban infrastructure sectors, such as transport, water and
sanitation, etc.
In sum, instead of a whole-city approach, an area-based as well as a
pan-city development approach is proposed, as per which smart solutions
for various urban infrastructure and services will be designed and applied
in an integrated manner by using appropriate technology.
Since the launch of the Mission, a number of regional workshops and
camps have been organized by the Urban Ministry to familiarize the
stakeholders (including city mayors, municipal chairpersons and
commissioners, government officials, domestic and global technical
agencies and consultants, etc.) at the State and local level with the idea of
smart cities and on how the Mission is to be taken forward. Moreover, for
the implementation of the smart city plans, a Special Purpose Vehicle
(SPV), headed by a full time CEO and comprising nominees of central,
state and local governments, has been constituted in some cities (situated
in the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) selected in the first phase
of the Mission. The constitution of SPVs for each city is a mandatory
requirement, and the SPVs will have the power to approve, sanction and
execute smart city projects, which may be done through joint ventures,
subsidiaries, public-private partnerships, turnkey contracts, etc.
Furthermore, a mechanism at the national, state and city level is proposed
for monitoring the Mission progress. This provides for the constitution of
representative entities that would perform a variety of tasks including a
quarterly review of activities and the creation of a platform for an exchange
of ideas (Table 2).

23
 Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

Table 2: Proposed Mechanism for Monitoring Smart Cities Mission

Entity Composition Role

Review and approve proposals,

Representatives of
approve release of funds,
National level Apex urban ministry, related
recommend mid-course correction,
Committee ministries and
undertake quarterly review of
organisations
activities

Representatives of State
State level High Powered Provide platform for exchange of
and local government
Steering Committee ideas, review smart city plans
departments

Representatives of
district and local
City level Smart City Advisory government Advise and enable collaboration
Forum departments, technical among stakeholders
experts, local NGOs and
youths

Source: MoUD, 2015.

24
Relevance and soundness
of the Mission

Indian cities are in dire need of better urban planning and administration,
and fresh ideas are urgently required. Previous efforts in this regard have
met with little success due to a number of reasons. Moreover, many ideas
have remained only on paper. Therefore, the Smart Cities Mission may be
seen as an opportunity given to State and local governments to design and
take forward smart ideas by overcoming the barriers faced in the past.

The strong points of the Mission

The smart cities proposal floated by the Urban Development Ministry is
sound in many ways:
At least one city from every Indian State and UT has been selected
under the Mission, and an objective and transparent process has been
followed in the selection of cities.
Apart from some pointers by the Union Ministry on the basic features
that smart cities should have (such as mixed land use, housing for all,
pedestrian areas, open spaces, transport options, citizen-friendly and
cost effective governance, creating city identity), it has been left to the
State/UT/local agencies and the citizens to evolve their own
understanding about how they want their cities to function smartly.
Consulting firms, foreign governments, bilateral and multilateral
institutions, and domestic organisations having experience in smart
city development can be involved by the States/UTs in the preparation
of smart city plans.
While one portion of the city maybe improved (i.e., area-based
development), there is also scope for applying smart solutions to
existing city-wide infrastructure.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be constituted in each city for
implementing smart projects under the Mission, as against the
traditional parastatal/municipality-led model of urban development.
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

The national government will offer one-half of the financial support

(US$ 7.5 billion) to State/UT/local governments for meeting the project
cost.
The Mission will converge with other urban development schemes of
the Modi government, such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and
Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Clean India Mission, Housing for All,
National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Plan, Digital India,
Skill Development, Financial Inclusion.

Some areas of concerns

It is, however, doubtful whether the Mission will achieve its goal of making
smart cities. Some areas of concern may be described here (see also Aijaz
and Hoelscher, 2015).
Instead of the entire city, one part will be selected for carrying out the
improvement work. Accordingly, during the five year duration of the
Mission, only one part of the city will undergo a transformation,
whereas during the same time period, the remaining parts of the city
will be developed and governed in the usual manner, which is currently
marked by numerous inefficiencies. This approach could thus widen
development inequalities further.
Improvement of one part of the city will have to be done wisely. For
example, in an effort to provide 24 X 7 drinking water supply or
electricity, the services of other parts of the city should not be affected.
Currently, there is evidence that due to a continuous requirement of
such services by the commercial establishments (such as Malls),
government departments often resort to the practice of load shedding.
This disturbs the supply in many residential areas.
Poor and vulnerable groups may be found living within the specific
areas selected from the city for the purpose of transformation. For
example, the area under the jurisdiction of the New Delhi Municipal
Council (NDMC) has been selected in the city of Delhi. Census data for
2011 show the existence of 4,412 slum households in this area. About
20,000 people, or 8 per cent of the total population of NDMC, live in
slums. However, the smart city plan of NDMC does not provide
sufficient information on how the living and livelihood condition of
slum dwellers, beggars, and poor people with disabilities would be
improved. Another aspect that has been neglected pertains to the
regulation of informal sector workers who are currently found selling
goods on roadsides and pavements that are meant for walking.

26
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

The rapid informal growth in peri-urban areas is a negative

consequence of urbanization. As described in an earlier section of the
paper, peri-urban areas suffer from numerous social, economic,
development and environment problems. While these problems should
have been dealt with, the Mission only provides for greenfield (new)
development on vacant land around cities in order to cater to the
requirements of the expanding urban population. With passing time,
conditions in peri-urban areas will further deteriorate, making it
increasingly difficult to address this issue.
Traditional development and governance mechanisms (i.e., parastatal
agencies and municipalities) have been bypassed, and the entire work
of urban transformation under the Mission will be handled by the
proposed city-level special purpose vehicle (SPV). Though the SPV will
be represented by State and non-State actors, it will have to
demonstrate improved levels of efficiency in raising project funds, and
in project implementation and rules’ enforcement. These matters have
seriously hindered the progress of urban development in the past.
Furthermore, efforts to strengthen the functioning of traditional
institutions must continue, because on the one hand, the SPVs will be
dependent on these for meeting their resource needs, and on the other,
parts of the city not covered under the Mission will need to be
efficiently looked after by traditional institutions.

27
Conclusion

The present leadership of India has launched the Smart Cities Mission in
June 2015 with the aim of giving a better quality of life to the citizens in
100 existing cities covering all States and Union Territories in the country.
A five-year timeline has been kept for completing the development projects
proposed for each city. During the past one year, preparatory work has
been done at the national, state and local level to take the Mission agenda
forward. As per the current status of the Mission, some cities have
prepared their smart city plans and constituted Special Purpose Vehicles
for implementing the projects. The Union Urban Ministry is urging
governments at the State/UT/local level to take pro-active steps in
mobilising matching amount of funds, as well as in preparing and
implementing the projects on time, so that the completion deadlines are
met. The ADB and World Bank have also agreed to extend a loan for the
implementation of bankable projects.
An appraisal of India’s Smart Cities Mission attempted in this paper
reveals that after nearly one year since the launch of the Mission, the
process of physical transformation of cities is yet to begin. Hence, it may be
concluded that only when the projects begin to be implemented, it will be
clear how much and by when success is achieved. For the success of the
Mission, this study lists down the following propositions:
Government departments and residents in India will have to respond in
a proper and responsible manner if the vision is to be achieved.
Centre, State and local leadership must work together to find ways to
deal with the complicated political environment that currently hampers
urban development in a big way.
Opportunities should be created for a continuous exchange of ideas and
experiences, and the knowledge thus generated should be utilised in
refining the smart city strategy.
Smart city plans should also contain recommendations on managing
neglected problems, such as public safety and security; living and
livelihood of poor and vulnerable persons, and migrants;
unemployment; water, drainage and sanitation deficiencies; traffic
congestion and vehicular emissions; environmental degradation;
encroachments and unauthorised constructions; haphazard growth in
Challenge of Making Smart Cities in India Rumi Aijaz

peri-urban areas; poor management of religious and cultural festivities

at public places.
Manpower, financial and technical capabilities of traditional urban
local institutions should be strengthened by organising useful training
programmes, and the higher tiers of the government should offer the
necessary support to ensure that the lessons learned during training are
successfully implemented.
Civic agencies should be adequately empowered for project
implementation and enforcement of laws.
State and local governments should be assisted in increasing their tax
and non-tax revenues for day-to-day city management, as well as for
meeting the costs involved in implementing new development projects.
Efficiently managed services (both online and offline) should be made
available to citizens for reporting complaints, such as water logging,
broken road, power failure, etc, and such problems should be resolved
in a time-bound manner by the concerned agencies.
Committed non-state actors, such as NGOs and the private sector,
working for the welfare of the city and its residents, should be engaged
in the urban reform process.
Sufficient awareness should be generated among the unemployed
persons about various career options, and they should be assisted in
starting various kinds of income-generating activities.
Greater funds should be allocated for improving the capacity of existing
urban planning education institutions, and new institutions should be
build for increasing the number of urban planners and managers in
Indian cities.

29
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