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India’s 2025-26 Union Budget boosts urban development funding by 17 percent, prioritising transport and infrastructure while reducing allocations fo

The central and state governments must step up efforts at creating pathways for effective urban self-governance

While national policies provide guidelines for achieving the net-zero targets, these seldom translate into effective strategies at the local level

The Indian government will have to comprehensively rethink its approach and empower ULBs if India is to achieve its promise of becoming an economic po

With policy and budgetary support from the central government, many development projects and governance initiatives have been successful in dealing wi

महानगरपालिकांच्या व्यवस्थापकीय, आर्थिक आणि तांत्रिक क्

Sanitation challenges will continue to persist in urban centres until there is an expansion in the managerial, financial, and technological capacities

India can emulate other global models by including all the stakeholders in the decision-making process to develop resilient urban cities.

A holistic restructuring of federal, systemic, and financial governance is required to empower our city governments

Direct budgetary support for urban sector schemes do not show any appreciable increase.

Improving the fiscal state of cities will need a holistic push from all tiers of the government.

As the world grapples with the new normal, public transport and mass mobility are poised to undergo a transformative change.

In the month of August this year, India has recorded about 60,000 to 70,000 Covid-19 positive cases every day, and the total number of cases has cross

The pandemic has highlighted both the increasing significance of cities in the larger national governance ecosystem as also exposed their vulnerabilit

Unless India takes up urban planning with the seriousness it deserves, the future of some of the mega projects of the incumbent government such as the

In June 2015 the Modi government launched the Smart Cities Mission, a major urban development initiative designed to improve living conditions and achieve higher economic growth in 100 cities across the country. The Mission offers the State and city governments yet another opportunity to think creatively and work towards the betterment of their cities. Will India succeed in this venture, and would the future 'smart cities' be equitable and sustai

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015, seeks to improve the quality of life in 100 cities and towns of India. Overall, its progress has been uneven, with many cities yet to achieve the desired levels of transformation. This report evaluates the first five years of the Mission, and draws lessons from its successes and failures. It discusses the physical and financial status of the projects taken up so far, and identifies the mos

The Smart Cities Mission in India, launched in 2015, is a unique experiment undertaken with the aim of improving people’s quality of life in cities. It bypasses traditional institutional approaches and employs innovative methods to achieve its targets. This brief provides an overview of the work initiated under the mission since its inception and explores the gains so far. It documents sectoral reforms and conducts a critical appraisal of the m

The Indian government launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 to drive economic growth and improve people’s quality of life in 100 cities across the country. Over the past four years, various smart projects have been implemented in the selected cities. This report documents the status, progress and experience of implementing the SCM in Delhi. It presents the findings of an empirical investigation of five of the projects undertaken in th

Child-friendly cities’ is an emerging concept in the urban management sector in many countries across the globe, including India, where it complements government schemes that aim to develop India’s urban spaces as centres of human capital development, knowledge hubs, and drivers of growth and prosperity. These flagship missions include, for example, the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMR

Child-friendly cities’ is an emerging concept in the urban management sector in many countries across the globe, including India, where it complements government schemes that aim to develop India’s urban spaces as centres of human capital development, knowledge hubs, and drivers of growth and prosperity. These flagship missions include, for example, the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT

The Indian government’s “Smart Cities Mission” aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through “smart” solutions for the delivery of infrastructure and services. This is expected to transform living spaces, enhance quality of life, and provide employment opportunities, in turn helping reduce crime rates and promoting law and order. Among the challenges to the “Smart Cities” programme is terrorism—especially in ur

India’s hill cities are unique poles of development. While they have managed to record some degree of economic growth, increasing urban population and unfavourable topography have also made such growth haphazard and unsustainable. In turn, this has threatened the quality of the built environment and of urban life in these cities. This report studies the case of the hill city of Aizawl, the administrative capital of Mizoram, which is part of the

India’s development trajectory is closely tied to urbanisation. This brief critiques the existing urban planning framework in the country, examining the gaps and unique challenges posed by urbanisation and the impacts of climate change in hilly cities. The brief focuses on India’s ecologically sensitive Himalayan ecosystem, which have historically received little attention in urbanisation discourse. The region’s hilly urban areas have uniqu