(Image source from: ‘Smart Cities Mission')

Government has released the list of 20 smart cities out of the 98 cities listed in the 'Smart Cities Mission'. The funds will be sent to these 20 first to kick start the development process of ‘smart cities’. In the coming two years, 40 and 38 cities will be included.

What is a 'smart city'

A 'smart city' is an urban region with highly advanced infrastructure, communications, sustainable real estate and market viability. Information technology in the city would be the principal infrastructure besides the base for providing essential services to residents. Few of the many involved technological platforms include automated sensor networks and data centers.

The 98 cities and towns would graduate into smart cities within five years. Out of these, 24 are capital cities and other 24 are business and industrial centers. A total of 18 included in the list are culture and tourism influenced areas, while five are port cities. Three of them included in the list are education and health care hubs.

List of first 20 smart cities in India:

Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Pune, Maharashtra

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Surat, Gujarat

Kochi, Kerala

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Solapur, Maharashtra

Davangere, Karnataka

Indore, Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi Municipal Corporation

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu,

Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

Belagavi, Karnataka

Udaipur, Rajasthan

Guwahati, Assam

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Ludiana, Punjab

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

-Sumana