With a brief background of quality of urban life in India, introduce the objectives and strategy of the ‘Smart City Programme’.
Approach · directive: “introduce”
What it asks · Give a short picture of urban living conditions, then state the aims of the Smart Cities Mission and how it plans to reach them.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Give a brief background of the quality of urban life in India
- Introduce the objectives of the Smart Cities Mission
- Introduce its strategy: how the Mission plans to achieve those objectives
Open with · India's towns hold roughly a third of the population but face strained water, mobility, sanitation and housing, which the Smart Cities Mission (2015) set out to address.
Cover
- Background: about 31 per cent of Indians lived in urban areas in 2011, and cities face water shortage, congestion, waste, slums and weak civic finances.
- Quality gaps: unplanned growth, poor public transport, pollution and thin capacity in urban local bodies keep liveability low.
- Objective: promote cities with core infrastructure, decent quality of life and a clean, sustainable environment through 'smart solutions'; launched June 2015 for 100 cities.
- Core elements: assured water and power, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient mobility, affordable housing, IT connectivity, e-governance with citizen participation, safety, health and education.
- Strategy: area-based development through retrofitting, redevelopment or greenfield projects, plus pan-city smart solutions that use technology across the city.
- Delivery: cities are chosen by competition on Smart City Proposals and implement them through a Special Purpose Vehicle, converging other schemes and private funds.
Close with · The Mission aims at replicable, inclusive urban models; its success depends on stronger municipal capacity, finances and citizen participation beyond the chosen areas.
Add value (verified)
- The Mission's official strategy combines area-based development with technology-led solutions across the whole city. Smart City: Enhancing Urban Life — PIB backgrounder (June 2024) ↗“The strategy includes transforming existing areas (through retrofitting and redevelopment), developing new areas (greenfield development), and applying smart solutions city-wide (Pan-city initiatives).”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2016, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 278 words (UPSC limit 200) · Minimalist IAS
About 31 per cent of Indians lived in urban areas in 2011, yet the cities that drive growth offer a poor quality of life; the Smart Cities Mission, launched in June 2015, set out to change this.
Quality of urban life
- Basic services lag: intermittent water supply, untreated sewage, unmanaged solid waste, and slums that house a large share of the urban poor.
- Unplanned sprawl, weak public transport, congestion and air pollution raise the cost of daily life, while urban local bodies lack the money and staff to plan or maintain services.
Objectives of the Mission
- Promote cities that give citizens core infrastructure, a decent quality of life and a clean, sustainable environment through 'smart' solutions to civic problems.
- Core elements: assured water and electricity, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient mobility, affordable housing, IT connectivity, e-governance with citizen participation, safety, health and education.
- Build replicable models in 100 cities that act as lighthouses for other aspiring cities.
Strategy
- Area-based development: retrofitting an existing built area, redeveloping a dilapidated one, or greenfield development on vacant land, to create compact model areas.
- Pan-city solutions: technology applied across the whole city, such as intelligent traffic management or smart water metering, so that benefits reach every resident.
- Competitive selection: cities enter a Smart City Challenge and are judged on their Smart City Proposals, prepared after consulting citizens.
- Delivery: a Special Purpose Vehicle in each city implements the plan, converging funds from AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission and other schemes with private and PPP investment.
The Mission's promise lies in replicable, inclusive models; keeping it needs stronger municipal capacity and finances so that gains spread beyond the chosen areas to the whole city.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.