Where are India's smart cities? The fate of the mission hangs in balance

An analysis reveals that just about a fourth of the funds allocated for smart cities have been spent, even though nearly half of the projects have been completed

To give an impetus to ‘Digital India’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in 2015 announced the smart city mission. The primary objective of the government was to develop 100 smart cities within five years. While the first crop of smart cities was to have been ready by later this year, others were to be developed by 2022-23. But India seems to be falling behind on the timeline.
 
The government had in January 2016 shortlisted 20 cities for development as smart ones in the first round. These were followed by 13 in May 2016 and 27 in September 2016. In