"Smart Cities Mission Ends, Its Urban Governance Record Scrutinised"
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
a limited company set up under the Smart Cities Mission to plan and implement projects independent of municipal councils.
Area-Based Development (ABD)
SCM's model of concentrating investment in one demarcated city precinct rather than the whole municipality.
Urban local governance in India was meant to be reorganised by the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which created Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) as a constitutionally recognised third tier of government. The amendment envisaged ULBs handling town planning, land use regulation, and civic service delivery. In practice, most ULBs remained fiscally dependent on state governments and politically weak compared to state and central agencies. This mismatch between constitutional design and functional reality has persisted for decades and forms the backdrop against which the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) was launched.
Announced alongside AMRUT, the SCM promised to convert selected urban areas into models of technology-driven, citizen-friendly development. Unlike a universal urban scheme, it did not cover every Indian city. Instead, 100 cities were chosen through a competitive process called the Smart City Challenge, where states nominated cities that then prepared proposals judged on defined criteria. This distinction matters conceptually. The SCM was a selective, competitive intervention layered over an already fragmented governance structure, not a comprehensive urban policy applied uniformly across the country.
To execute projects quickly, every selected city had to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a limited company registered under the Companies Act, 2013, with the municipal commissioner and state or central nominees on its board. SPVs could plan, approve, and implement projects with considerable autonomy from the elected municipal council. This arrangement was justified on the ground that municipalities lacked the technical and financial capacity to deliver complex, time-bound projects.
The SCM combined two components. Area-Based Development (ABD) concentrated investment in a demarcated precinct through retrofitting, redevelopment, or greenfield construction. Pan-city solutions applied one technology fix, such as traffic management or smart metering, across the whole city. In practice, ABD absorbed most of the attention and funds, because a visibly transformed precinct could be showcased far more easily than a diffuse, city-wide improvement in drainage or sanitation.
This design produced a structural weakness. Because SPVs operated as companies rather than as extensions of elected municipal bodies, project selection and execution bypassed ward-level representatives and local councils. This runs against the constitutional principle of democratic decentralisation, under which local self-government is meant to function. Local bodies are supposed to hold decisive authority over matters closest to residents, not merely implement decisions made elsewhere. …
The fundamental object of Panchayati Raj system is to ensure which among the following?
1.People's participation in development
2.Political accountability
3.Democratic decentralization
4.Financial mobilization
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Smart India Hackathon 2017?
1.It is a centrally sponsored scheme for developing every city of our country into Smart Cities in a decade.
2.It is an initiative to identify new digital technology innovations for solving the many problems faced by our country.
3.It is a programme aimed at making all the financial transactions in our country completely digital in a decade.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Local self-government can be best explained as an exercise in
Consider the following statements regarding the Smart Cities Mission (SCM):
1.The SCM aimed to develop every urban local body in the country into a smart city within a decade.
2.Cities were selected for the SCM through a competitive process called the Smart City Challenge.
3.Smart City Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) were registered as companies under the Companies Act, 2013.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, which created Urban Local Bodies as a constitutional third tier of government, was enacted in which year?
How many of the following pairs are correctly matched?
Body — Governing Legal Instrument
1.Smart City SPV — Companies Act, 2013
2.Gram Sabha — Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996
3.Urban Local Body — 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
4.Panchayat — 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992
Under the Smart Cities Mission, the 'Area-Based Development' (ABD) model refers to which of the following?
Consider the following statements regarding Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) under the Smart Cities Mission:
1.SPVs were created because municipalities were assessed to lack sufficient technical and financial capacity for time-bound project execution.
2.SPVs functioned as limited companies empowered to plan, appraise, and implement projects with considerable autonomy from the elected municipal council.
3.The creation of SPVs required amending the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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