What happened to India's Smart Cities Mission?

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched on 25 June 2015, is a joint effort of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), and all state and union territory (UT) governments. It initially aimed to be completed by 2019-20, but has since been extended. One hundred cities and towns in different states and UTs of India have been selected under the SCM—they are home to more than one-third of the country’s population . The Mission aims “to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes,” and ensure that these cities are “liveable, inclusive, sustainable, (and) have thriving economies that offer multiple opportunities to people to pursue their diverse interests.” In other words, according to MoHUA, “smart cities are cities that work for the people.”

Report by ORF makes few pertinent observations:

The progress of the Mission has been best in the states of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, and Surat and Rajkot in Gujarat, figure repeatedly among the best performers on different criteria.

An India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) has been organised every year since 2018 to recognise the best performing cities. A special award was also instituted at the third edition of the contest in 2020 to recognise the most innovative responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The winners of this prize, announced at the fourth edition on 25 June 2021 were Chennai (Round 1), Kalyan-Dombivali and Varanasi (Round 2), Bengaluru (Round 3) and Saharanpur (Round 4).

During the current monsoon season in 2021, it has been seen that drainage systems in many of the selected smart cities have still not ensured proper management of rainwater.

Technology Tipping Points 2015

World Economic Forum report concludes several technologies are nearing tipping point. In March 2015, the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software & Society launched the Technological Tipping Points survey. Based on the council’s discussions over previous months, the survey asked respondents for their views on 21 “tipping points” – moments when specific technological shifts hit mainstream society. Aiming to provide a snapshot of expectations from a community of over 800 executives and experts from the information and communications technology sector, the survey asked respondents for their perception of when these tipping points would occur, offering date ranges from “it has already happened” to “20+ years”. The option of “never” was also available. A total of 816 responses were received. Predictions:

2018-Storage for All 
2021-Robot and Services
2022-The Internet of and for Things,  Wearable Internet,  3D Printing and manufacturing.
2023 -Implantable Technologies, Big Data for Decisions, Vision as the New Interface,  Our Digital Presence
2024 -Ubiquitous Computing, 3D Printing and Human Health, The Connected Home 
2025 -3D Printing and Consumer Products, AI and White-Collar Jobs, The Sharing Economy
2026 -Driverless Cars,  AI and Decision- Making ,  Smart Cities
2027-Bitcoin and the Blockchain Manufacturing,

From Indian perspective hype on Smart Cities is interesting. The tipping point defined as the first city with more than 50,000 inhabitants and no traffic lights is expected by 2026. These smart cities will manage their energy, material flows, logistics and traffic. Progressive cities, such as Singapore and Barcelona, are already implementing many new data-driven services, including intelligent parking solutions, smart trash collection and intelligent lighting. Smart cities are continuously extending their network of sensor technology and working on their data platforms, which will be the core for connecting the different technology projects and adding future services based on data analytics and predictive modelling.  The city of Santander in northern Spain has 20,000 sensors connecting buildings, infrastructure, transport, networks and utilities. The city offers a physical space for experimentation and validation of functions, such as interaction and management protocols, device technologies, and support services such as discovery, identity management and security.