PM Narendra Modi had announced his vision to set up 100 smart cities across the country soon after his government was sworn into power mid last year. Since then a race has been on among cities to land on the list that the ministry of urban development is compiling. The 100 smart cities mission intends to promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets, resources and infrastructure. Dipak Dash explains what these smart cities are and how they will work.1.What is a 'smart city'?

A city equipped with basic infrastructure to give a decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment through application of some smart solutions.2.Basic infrastructure

Assured water and electricity supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation, safety and security of citizens.3.Smart solutions

Public information, grievance redressal, electronic service delivery, citizens engagement, waste to energy & fuel, waste to compost, 100% treatment of waste water, smart meters & management, monitoring water quality, renewable source of energy, efficient energy and green building, smart parking, intelligent traffic management system.4.What's the next step?The next step is identification of the 100 cities and for this a city challenge competition to be conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies is envisaged. The current plan looks to select 20 cities this year followed by 40 each in the next two years.5.Smart Cities Council India has been formed

It is part of the US-based Smart Cities Council, which is a consortium of smart city practitioners and experts, with a 100-plus member and advisor organizations operating in over 140 countries.6.All states will get at least one smart city

A Special Purpose Vehicle will be created for each city to implement Smart City action plan. The SPV will be signed with the urban local body, state government and the Centre for implementation of the project.7.How it will work

After government announces the guidelines, states will be asked to nominate names of cities for a City Challenge Competition and the chosen ones will get Central fund of Rs 100 crore each year for 5 years.8.The basic criteria for selection of a city/municipal area

9.Area-based development1.Retrofitting 500 acres:Planning in an existing built-up area in a municipal ward, preparing plan with citizen participation (example: Connaught Place in Delhi, Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai).

2.Greenfield 250 acres:Introduce smart solutions in a vacant area using innovative planning (example: land pooling/land reconstitution in Outer Delhi, GIFT city in Gujarat).

3.Redevelopement 50 acres:Replacement of existing built-up area and preparing a new layout plan with enhanced infrastructure by way of mixed land use (example: Kidwai Nagar in Delhi).

List of 100 Smart Cities of India Proposed by Arun Jaitley in Budget 2014-15In the 2014-15 Budget Session, the Finance Minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitely is allotted the 7,060 Crores of Rupees for the 100 Smart Cities. The Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is going to develop the 100 Smart Cities as Satellite City's of Larger Cities by modernizing the present Cities.

Maharashtra1.Pune 2.Mumbai 3.Nagpur 4.Nashik 5.Aurangabad 6.Bhivandi

West Bengal 7.Calcutta 8.Durgapur 9.Haldia 10.Habra 11.Jangipur

Gujarat12.Ahmedabad 13.Surat 14.Vadodara 15.Rajkot 16.Bhavnagar 17.Junagadh 18.Gandhi Nagar

Madhya Pradesh 19.Bhopal 20.Indore 21.Gwalior 22.Burhanpur 23.Jabalpur

Tamil Nadu 24.Chennai 25.Coimbatore 26.Madurai 27.Tiruchirappalli 28.Salem 29.Tirunelveli

Karnataka30.Bangalore 31.Gulbarga 32.Bidar 33.Bijapur 34.Badami 35.Pattadakal 36.Mahakuta

Kerala37.Thiruvananthapuram 38.Kollam 39.Kottayam 40.Tiruvalla 41.Ernakulam 42.Cochin 43.Thrissur

Telangana44.Hyderabad 45.Warangal 46.Karimnagar 47.Nizamabad 48.Nalgonda

Andhra Pradesh 49.Guntur 50.Vijayawada 51.Kurnool 52.Chittoor

Uttar Pradesh 53.Kanpur 54.Allahabad 55.Lucknow 56.Jhansi 57.Faizabad 58.Varanasi

Rajasthan59.Jaipur 60.Ajmer 61.Bharatpur 62.Bikaner 63.Jodhapur 64.Kota 65.Udipur

Punjab66.Ludhiana 67.Amritsir 68.Jalandhar 69.Patiala

Bihar70.Muzaffarapur 71.Patna 72.Gaya 73.Bhagalpur 74.Bihar Sharif

Haryana75.Faridabad 76.Gurgaon 77.Panipat 78.Ambala

Assam79.Guwahati 80.Tinsukia 81.Obalguri 82.Tangla 83.Goalpara

Odisha84.Bhubaneswar 85.Cuttack 86.Rourkela 87.Sambalpur 88.Balasore

Himachal Pradesh 89.Shimla 90.Dehradoon

Uttarakhand91.Haridwar 92.Roorkee

Jharkhand93.Jamshedpur 94.Dhanbad 95.Ranchi

Sikkim96.Gangtok 97.Pelling 98.Yuksam

Manipur99.Bishnupur 100.Chandel