How does smart city in India, address the issues of urban poverty and distributive justice ?

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Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Smart cities address urban poverty indirectly through cheaper services, transparent delivery and convergence with housing schemes, but enclave-focused spending, evictions and bypassed municipal councils limit distributive justice. Integrated Command and Control Centres now run in all 100 Mission cities.

**Introduction**

The Smart Cities Mission (2015-2025) covered 100 cities with smart infrastructure and services. Its test is distributive justice under Articles 38 and 39: whether gains reach slum dwellers, vendors and migrant workers.

**How Smart Cities Address Urban Poverty**

1. **Citizen-led planning**: The Smart City Challenge required public consultation; Bhubaneswar topped the first round in 2016 with a participatory plan.
2. **Cheaper services and convergence**: Water, sanitation, e-buses and footpaths lower daily costs for the poor, and convergence with PMAY-Urban, AMRUT and Odisha's Jaga Mission (2018) adds housing and land rights.
3. **Transparent delivery**: Integrated Command and Control Centres, now running in all 100 cities, and online service and grievance portals cut out the middlemen and petty rent-seeking that tax the poor most.

SKETCH: flow | From Smart City to Fair City
- Citizen consultation
- Smart infrastructure
- Converged welfare schemes
- Cheaper daily living
- Inclusive city

**Where Distributive Justice Falls Short**

1. **Enclave bias and evictions**: Area-Based Development favoured small, better-served pockets, and beautification drives displaced vendors and slum dwellers, as the Housing and Land Rights Network documented.
2. **Democratic deficit**: Special Purpose Vehicles registered under the Companies Act bypassed elected municipal councils, diluting the local accountability promised by the 74th Amendment.
3. **Digital divide**: App-first services exclude residents without smartphones or digital literacy, often the poorest and the elderly.

**Conclusion**

Smart cities reduce urban poverty indirectly, through cheaper services and cleaner governance, but deliver distributive justice only where they converge with housing, livelihoods and tenure. Extending the 'right to the city' to the poorest is the path to SDG 11 and an inclusive Viksit Bharat 2047.

How does smart city in India, address the issues of urban poverty and distributive justice ?

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