An Overview of the UPSC Issue | From Smart Cities to Smart Villages: Essential Knowledge for UPSC Candidates for Prelims and Mains

By concentrating on topics that are generating news, UPSC Essentials' initiative, UPSC Issue at a Glance, aims to simplify your UPSC Current Affairs preparation for the preliminary and mains exams. Discuss a different subject in an understandable manner every Thursday. The goal of Smart Cities and the Smart and Intelligent Village initiative are explained to you this week, and then the case study is presented. Let's begin.

According to the Smart City Index 2025, which was just released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Swiss cities remain at the top. Although they are not among the top 20, Indian cities are nonetheless involved in the global smart city initiative. In light of this, it becomes crucial to grasp not just the salient features but also India's Smart City Mission and how intelligent and smart villages may support rural development.Government policies and interventions for development in many areas, as well as difficulties resulting from their design and implementation, are covered in UPSC Mains Syllabus: General Studies I, II. In the past, UPSC has questioned how distributive justice and urban poverty are addressed in India's smart cities. This year, there was also a question about the "Smart City Program" in the Mains general studies paper II.