SMART CITIES INITIATIVE

About: 

• ‘Ease of Living Index, 2018’ in August 2018: 
  • The Ministry released ‘Ease of Living Index, 2018’ in August 2018 to help cities assess their liveability vis-à-vis national and global benchmarks. 
    
    
  • The framework developed to measure ‘Ease of Living’ covers all pillars of urban development (Physical, Institutional, Social and Economic) and uses 78 indicators across 15 categories. 
    
    
  
  
  
• India Smart Cities Fellowship (ISCF): 
  • The India Smart Cities Fellowship (ISCF) programme was launched in July 2018. 
    
    
  • It seeks to engage young graduates/post-graduates and PhDs in the fields of urban planning, mobility, finance, social sector and environmental issues for a period of one-year, extendable upto three years. 
    
    
  
  
  
• India Smart Cities Internship (ISCI): 
  • The India Smart Cities Internship (ISCI) programmes was launched in July 2018. 
    
    
  • It seeks to engage students pursuing Undergraduate / Graduate / Post- Graduate Degrees from recognized Universities/Institutions from India or abroad, as "Interns" for a period of six to twelve weeks. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Smart Cities Digital Payments Awards 2018: 
  • It is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. 
    
    
  • The objective of these awards is to guide, motivate, recognize and reward the Smart Cities for promoting digital payments and carrying out innovative payment initiatives in their respective cities through a two-stage Challenge process. 
    
    
  
  
  
• CITIIS (Cities Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain): 
  • An all-India Challenge named CITIIS was launched in July 2018 in partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and European Union. 
    
    
  • A Loan of EUR 100 million will be extended by AFD, which shall be given as a grant to Smart Cities for implementation of 15 innovative projects selected through the All-India Challenge. 
    
    
  • The projects would be in four sectors- sustainable mobility, public open spaces, urban governance & ICT and social and organizational innovation in low-income settlements.