Digital India Awards 2022- India's Smart Cities Mission wins for its Data Smart Cities Initiatives

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Digital India Awards 2022 UPSC Relevance

India’s Smart Cities Mission is an initiative of the government that aims to sustainable and smart infrastructure development of cities while keeping in mind the interests of all the people living in the cities.

Digital India Awards 2022 for Smart Cities Mission is also important for UPSC Prelims 2023 Exam and UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 2- Governance Initiatives for Various Sector including Digitization of Cities).

Digital India Awards 2022 in News

The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs won the Platinum Icon in the Digital India Awards 2022
India’s Smart Cities Mission won the award for their initiative “DataSmart Cities: Empowering Cities through Data” under the ‘Data Sharing and Use for Socio Economic Development’ category.

Digital India Awards 2022

Background: The Awards instituted in 2009 are one of a kind in India for honouring the efforts of different Government entities in the digital realm.
About: The Digital India Awards (DIA) is a prestigious National competition that seeks to encourage and honour innovative digital solutions by government entities in realising the Digital India vision.
The category ‘Data Sharing and Use for Socio Economic Development’ emphasizes on sharing of Government Data by Ministries/Departments/Organizations, States, Cities and ULBs to create a vibrant data ecosystem in the country for-
- Analysis,
- Decision-making,
- Innovation,
- Services,
- Economic development and
- Public good.
Parent Ministry: These are conducted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).
- The seventh edition of Digital India Awards (DIA) is being held in 2022.

Significance of Digital India Awards (DIA)

Digital India Awards (DIA) presents an opportunity to bring to the fore digital initiatives being adopted to transform India into a digitally empowered society & knowledge economy.
DIA 2022 aims to inspire and motivate not only government entities but also start-ups in fulfilling the Digital India vision.
Digital India Awards (DIA) are instituted under the aegis of National Portal of India to encourage and honour innovative digital solutions by government entities at all levels.

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Data Smart Cities Initiative – Smart Cities Mission

Data Smart Cities initiative aims to harnesses the power of data for better governance in India’s 100 Smart Cities.
Based on a ‘People, Platform, Process’ strategy, this initiative is leading to convergence of Ministry’s efforts for performance management, empowerment of communities, and research, co-creation & open innovation.
To leverage and utilize valuable data being generated in cities via network of intelligent devices and systems, the Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA launched the Data Smart Cities (DSC) Initiative across 100 Smart Cities.
The DSC uses a three-pronged approach – People, Process, Platforms – to imbibe a culture of data awareness and data usage in city functioning.
Various digital platforms have been developed to enable cities better manage, share, and leverage available data. These include-
- Smart Cities Open Data Portal (SCODP),
- India Urban Observatory (IUO),
- India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX),
- Assessment & Monitoring Platform for Liveable, Inclusive & Future-ready urban India (AMPLIFI) and
- Geo-spatial Management Information System (GMIS)
These platforms together host 55,000+ datasets and 1,400+ APIs engaging 15 Lakh+ users for evidence-based planning, cross-city assessments, multi-disciplinary research and improving socio-economic outcomes.
The program has institutionalised a Data Ecosystem in cities through 100 City Data Offices and more than 50 Data Policies.
The Smart Cities Open Data Portal has transformed from zero to all 100 Smart Cities now publishing open datasets and contributing to data blogs and visualizations, leading to 1.2+ lakh downloads and ~6 lakh views.
This initiative has led to generation of more than 180 innovative, scalable, and replicable use cases in collaboration with various stakeholders that are being utilized by cities for better functioning and citizen engagement vis.
Vadodara Medical Green Corridor, Surat Real-time Bus Seat Occupancy, Agartala Smart Traffic Control, among others.
The success of this initiative in 100 Smart Cities has a potential to create a virtuous cycle of improvement, with transformational impact of data on all cities in India.

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Smart Cities Mission (SCM)

About: Smart Cities Mission (SCM) is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country.
- Smart Cities Mission (SCM) was launched on 25^thJune, 2015 by the Prime Minister of India.
- Projects developed under the Smart Cities Mission are multi-sectoral and mirror the aspirations of the local population.
Project Completion: Of the total proposed projects under SCM-
- 7,905 projects worth ₹1,93,143 crore (94% by value) have been tendered so far,
- work orders have been issued for 7,692 projects worth around ₹1,80,508 crore (88% by value).
- 3,830 projects worth ₹60,919 crore (33% by value) have also been fully completed and are operational (10 April 2022).
Fund Allocation and Usage: Of the total investment of ₹2,05,018 crore under the Smart Cities Mission, projects worth ₹93,552 crore was proposed to be developed by Center and State funds.
- As on date, almost 100% of these projects eprojects worth ₹92,300 crore have been work ordered.
- From 2018 when the total expenditure in mission was ₹1,000 crore, it has increased to ₹45,000 crore.
- The utilization percentage of the total GoI funds released to cities is at 91%.
Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs): As on date, 80 Smart cities have developed and operationalized their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) in the country.
- These operational ICCCs functioned as war rooms for COVID management.
- Along with other smart infrastructure developed under the mission, ICCCs helped cities in fighting the pandemic through information dissemination, improving communication, predictive analysis and supporting effective management.

Digital India Awards 2022 FAQs

Who won the Digital India Awards 2022?

Ans. The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs won the Platinum Icon in the Digital India Awards 2022.

What is the Digital India Awards (DIA)?

Ans. Digital India Awards (DIA) is a prestigious National competition that seeks to encourage and honour innovative digital solutions by government entities in realising the Digital India vision.

What is the objective of Data Smart Cities Initiative?

Ans. Data Smart Cities Initiative (DSC) uses a three-pronged approach – People, Process, Platforms – to imbibe a culture of data awareness and data usage in city functioning.

Smart Cities Mission Extended