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. [a] 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 (see Figure 1). 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,” [1] and ensure that these cities are “liveable, inclusive, sustainable, (and) have thriving economies that offer multiple opportunities to people to pursue their diverse interests.” [2] In other words, according to MoHUA, “smart cities are cities that work for the people.”
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