UPSC Issue at a Glance | From Smart Cities to Smart Villages: What UPSC aspirants must-know for Prelims and Mains

What is the issue?

Recently, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) released the Smart City Index 2025, in which Swiss cities continue to dominate. Indian cities continue to be part of the global smart city movement, but they remain outside the top 20. In this context, it becomes important to not only know the key highlights but also learn about India’s Smart City Mission and go beyond it to understand how smart and intelligent villages can contribute to rural development.

(Relevance: UPSC Mains Syllabus: General Studies-I, II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Previously, UPSC has asked questions on how smart cities in India address the issues of urban poverty and distributive justice. This year also in the Mains general studies paper II, a question appeared on ‘Smart City Programme’.)

Question 1: What are the key highlights of Smart City Index 2025?

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) recently released the Smart City Index 2025. IMD defines a smart city as “an urban setting that applies technology to enhance the benefits and mitigate the drawbacks of urbanisation for its citizens.” 

The ranking evaluates cities on five parameters: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance. This year Zurich retains its No. 1 spot in the ranking, while Geneva climbs to third and Lausanne ranks 10th, reflecting Switzerland’s strong urban planning and citizen-centric infrastructure.

Source: IMD Smart City Index 2025

Six new entrants joined the global rankings this year: AlUla (Saudi Arabia), Astana (Kazakhstan), Caracas (Venezuela), Kuwait City (Kuwait), Manama (Bahrain), and San Juan (Puerto Rico).

Where do Indian cities rank in the Smart City Index 2025?

Indian cities continue to be part of the global smart city movement, but they remain outside the top 20. While progress has been made in infrastructure, digital adoption, and citizen services, challenges in governance, mobility, and human development still place them lower in the global hierarchy.

Source: IMD Smart City Index 2025

After knowing the highlights of the smart cities ranking and the Indian cities’ rank in it, let’s learn about one of the most important government programmes for the development of smart cities—the Smart Cities Mission.

Question 2: What is the Smart Cities Mission and its objectives?

The Smart Cities Mission is an initiative of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015. The main objective of the Mission is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and a clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.

The aim of the mission is to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through sustainable and inclusive development by the creation of replicable models which act as lighthouses to other aspiring cities. 

When the mission was launched, cities across the country were asked to submit proposals for projects to improve municipal services and to make their jurisdictions more liveable. Between January 2016 and June 2018, the Ministry selected 100 cities for the Mission over five rounds. 

Notably, the Mission is operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. According to the Smart Cities official website, “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:

• Communities at the core of planning and implementation

• Ability to generate greater outcomes with the use of fewer resources

• Corporative & Competitive Federalism – Cities selected through competition; flexibility to implement projects

• Innovating methods; integrated and sustainable solutions

• Technology as a means, not the goal – Careful selection of technology, relevant to the context of cities

• Convergence – Sectorial and Financial Convergence

Among strategic components of the mission 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.

In 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs decided to push the deadline for all 100 cities to June 2023. The deadline was further pushed to June 30, 2024, and then to March 31, 2025. 

The SCM has completed a decade, achieving significant infrastructure and technological advancements. As per the Smart Cities Mission dashboard, the cities have completed 7,626 projects, 95 per cent of the total 8,063 projects, with 437 projects (5% of total projects) worth Rs 10,795 crore still ongoing (as of June 27, 2025).

After understanding the Smart Cities Mission and its present status, a natural question arises — what about our villages? Can they also transform into ‘Smart and Intelligent Villages’? Let’s understand. 

Question 3: What is the idea of a “Smart and Intelligent Village”? 

Recently, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the setting up of India’s first “Smart and Intelligent Village” in Nagpur district. Satnavari, located 31 km from Nagpur city. 

A “Smart Intelligent Village” is envisaged as representing a model of rural development that uses digital technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and seamless connectivity to improve everyday living in India’s villages.

Notably, the “smart and intelligent village” project was proposed by the Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE), a consortium of major Indian players in the telecom sector, whose representatives met the Chief Minister on June 19 this year. The pilot project was completed by Independence Day, and formally launched on Sunday (August 24).

According to Rakesh Kumar Bhatnagar, director general of VoICE, a Smart Intelligent Village is one where technology brings ease to rural life, with villagers using digital and AI solutions for farming, cultivation, and other daily activities.

Having understood the concept of a ‘smart and intelligent village’, it becomes important to examine its practical application. Let’s understand it through the case study of Satnavari.

Question 4: How can the case of Satnavari illustrate the potential of smart villages in rural development in India?

Satnavari has been set up as India’s first “Smart and Intelligent Village” in the Nagpur district. It is equipped with technologies ranging from smart farming and telemedicine to AI-powered water monitoring and digital classrooms. 

Maharashtra CM Fadnavis at the inauguration and stone plaque unveiling of ‘India’s first Smart and Intelligent Village’ in Satnavari, Nagpur. (Photo: X/CMOMaharashtra)

Ankita Deshkar of The Indian Express explains some of the smart interventions at Satnavari that can present the model for other villages and rural development are:

📍AGRICULTURE: Smart agriculture uses IoT sensors to monitor soil and crop conditions in real time, helping farmers save 25%-40% water, cut the costs of fertilisers by 30%, detect pests early, and increase yields by up to 25%. The use of automated irrigation and AI tools reduces waste and guides crop planning.

A mobile phone application helps in climate-smart agriculture, using natural farming practices and the use of digital, verifiable data.

📍FISHERIES: Sensors track the water quality in ponds, measuring oxygen, pH, temperature, etc., and alerts are sent to farmers in real time. These interventions reduce fish mortality, cut operational costs, and boost yields by 20%-30%.

📍USE OF DRONES IN FARMING: Drones equipped with GPS and sensors spray fertilisers based on soil mapping, ensuring precise application and reducing the use of chemicals by 20%-30%, and lowering the environmental impact.

Drones equipped with cameras and sprayers also detect pests using imaging and AI and then apply pesticides precisely. This reduces overuse of pesticides by up to 50%, lowers health risks for farmers, and improves overall crop health.

Drones have the potential to revolutionise pesticide and fertiliser application. (Wikimedia Commons)

📍SAFETY & CONVENIENCE: Smart streetlights in the village use IoT-enabled LEDs that adjust brightness based on motion, time, or ambient light, which can be controlled remotely through a mobile app. They cut energy use by 50%-70%, improve safety in public spaces, and bring down maintenance costs.

IoT-linked CCTV cameras and drones monitor farms, assets, and public spaces in real time, and AI is used to detect intrusions or crop damage.

📍DRINKING WATER: An AI-powered system monitors drinking water supply and quality in real time, ensuring the supply of the mandated volume of 55 litres of water per capita per day.

📍HEALTHCARE: Comprehensive rural healthcare in the village offers on-the-spot testing for more than 120 health parameters, from blood and cardiac checks to cancer and TB screening, with results available within minutes in certain cases.

With the use of teleconsultations, telemedicine, and digital records, this enables early detection of disease, reduces treatment costs, and brings urban-grade care to remote communities. ASHA workers are supported with instant results and guided follow-ups.

📍EDUCATION: Online education in the village uses e-learning platforms over a dedicated Wi-Fi network, with smart classrooms and the use of apps like Zoom for interactive sessions. Wi-Fi hotspots at the Gram Panchayat offer BharatNet connectivity with speeds up to 100 Mbps for free.

📍SECURITY: The village has a public protection and emergency system in which security staff can use handheld devices with push-to-talk communication. A central control centre tracks their location in real time for quick coordination.

Villagers can request help through a mobile app or a physical help phone at the Panchayat office. Alerts and announcements can be broadcast on loudspeakers, and the system is integrated with communication channels of the police, NDRF, and SDRF to ensure faster emergency responses.

📍WASTE MANAGEMENT: A smart waste management system uses IoT-enabled bins and tracking tools to ensure the safe collection and disposal of garbage and prevent harmful chemicals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium from polluting soil and water. The waste management system uses data analytics to plan better long-term waste strategies.

📍FIRE CONTROL: Automatic fire extinguishers have been installed in schools and public areas. These are shaped like balls and are filled with UL-approved monoammonium phosphate. (UL is a more-than-a-century-old certification company, and monoammonium phosphate is a popular fire retardant.)

The extinguishers are activated within 10-15 seconds of contact with flames. In fields or remote areas, drones can carry and drop these extinguishers directly onto the fire.

A Central Network Management Control System (C-NOC) monitors all devices in the Smart Intelligent Village, tracks their uptime and availability, and instantly flags problems to the right vendors for quick fixes. This ensures smooth functioning of services and maximises their uptime.

The planned and strategic use of technology can not only make villages ‘smart’ but also aim for meaningful improvements in various aspects of life, striving toward the goal of inclusive development in India. The above case study of Satnavari is an example of this. As Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Hind Swaraj, “India is not Calcutta and Bombay; India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages.”

Post Read Questions

Prelims

(1) Consider the following statements:

1. The Smart Cities Mission was launched on June 25, 2015.

2. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.

3. Area-based development is the strategic component of the mission.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only One

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

(2) India’s first “Smart and Intelligent Village” has been set up in:

(a) Satara

(b) Satnavari 

(c) Nashik

(d) Gadchiroli

(3) Consider the following statements with respect to Smart City Index 2025:

(a) It is released by the World Economic Forum.

(b) This year Zurich retains the No. 1 spot in the ranking.

(c) No Indian city features among the top 20 in the rankings.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only One

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

Mains

1. How does smart city in India, address the issues of urban poverty and distributive justice? (UPSC CSE 2025)

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

(Sources: smartcities.gov.in, What is the Smart Intelligent Village Project in Maharashtra?,  Top 10 ‘smart’ cities in the world 2025: Where do Indian cities rank?, The Smart Cities Mission: With deadline looming, a status check)

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