India Smart Cities Award Contest 2022

• 29 Aug 2023

For Prelims: India Smart Cities Award Contest 2023, Smart Cities Mission, Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), Centrally Sponsored Scheme, Ease of Living Index, Municipal Performance Index.

For Mains: India Smart Cities Award Contest, Smart Cities Mission.

Source: HT

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), that felicitated 66 winners in various categories.

• Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and Chandigarh emerged as top performers in the ISAC 2022 awards, securing recognition for their excellence in different areas of urban development.

What are the Key Highlights of ISAC 2022?

• National Smart City Award:
  • Indore secured the prestigious national smart city award, reflecting its exceptional progress in urban development strategies, followed by Surat and Agra.
    • Indore's commitment to sanitation, water supply, and urban environment earned it recognition as a leader in these vital areas.
• State Award:
  • Madhya Pradesh received the state award for its comprehensive approach to fostering smart city initiatives within its borders.
  • Madhya Pradesh is followed by Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
• Union Territory (UT) Award:
  • Chandigarh was honored with the UT award, acknowledging its efforts to transform itself into a model smart city.
• Other Categories:
  • Coimbatore took the top spot for built environment,
  • Ahmedabad for the culture and Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) category,
  • Jabalpur for economy,
  • Chandigarh for governance and mobility,
  • Indore for sanitation, water and urban environment,
  • Vadodara for social aspects,
  • Hubbali Dharwad for the innovative idea category and Surat for Covid innovation category.

What is ISAC?

• The ISAC recognizes and rewards the cities, projects and innovative ideas that are promoting sustainable development across the 100 smart cities, as well as stimulating inclusive, equitable, safe, healthy and collaborative cities, thus enhancing quality of life for all.
• The ISAC has witnessed three editions in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
• The fourth edition of the ISAC was launched in April 2022 during the ‘Smart Cities-Smart Urbanization’ event in Surat, Gujarat.
  • The ISAC 2022 award had a two-stage submission process consisting of ‘Qualifying Stage’, which involved overall assessment of the city’s performance, and the ‘Proposal Stage’ which required the smart cities to submit their nominations for six award categories.
    • Project Awards: 10 different themes,
    • Innovation Awards: 2 different themes,
    • National/Zonal City Awards,
    • State Awards,
    • UT Award, and
    • Partners Awards, 3 different themes.

What is a Smart Cities Mission?

• About:
  • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, launched in June 2015 to transform 100 cities to provide the necessary core infrastructure and clean and sustainable environment to enable a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of "Smart Solutions".
  • The mission aims to meet the aspirations of India’s population living in cities through various urban development projects.
• Features:
  • Among its strategic components is ‘area-based development’, which includes city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (greenfield development), plus a pan-city initiative in which ‘smart solutions’ are applied covering larger parts of the city.
  • Key focus areas of the scheme include construction of walkways, pedestrian crossings, cycling tracks, efficient waste-management systems, integrated traffic management and assessment.
  • The scheme also assesses various indices to track urban development such as the Ease of Living Index, Municipal Performance Index, City GDP framework, Climate Smart Cities assessment framework, etc.
• Achievements:
  • Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC): One of the pivotal achievements of the Smart Cities Mission is the establishment of ICCC in all 100 smart cities.
    • These centers serve as the operational hubs for urban management, utilizing technology to enhance various aspects of city operations. Notably, ICCCs have contributed to improvements in crime tracking, citizen safety, transport management, waste management, water supply, and disaster preparedness.
  • Sectoral Progress: The Smart Cities Mission encompasses a wide array of projects across sectors, including mobility, energy, water, sanitation, public spaces, social infrastructure, and governance.
    • Smart Mobility: Completion of 1,174 projects.
    • Smart Energy: Successful completion of 573 projects.
    • Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): Over 1,162 projects completed.
    • Public Spaces: Development of more than 1,063 public spaces.

What is a Smart City?

• There is no standard definition or template of a smart city. In the context of our country, the six fundamental principles on which the concept of Smart Cities is based are:

What are the other Initiatives Related to Urban Development?

• Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).
• Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0.
• TULIP-The Urban Learning Internship Program.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. With a brief background of quality of urban life in India, introduce the objectives and strategy of the ‘Smart City Programme.’ (2016)