Government releases India Smart Cities Awards Contest(ISAC) 2020

What is the News?  

Government of India has released the ranking of the India Smart Cities Awards Contest(ISAC) 2020.  

About India Smart Cities Awards Contest(ISAC) 2020:  

• ISAC 2020 awards were presented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.  
• The awards were announced on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of Smart Cities Mission(SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation(AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).  
• Parameters: The rankings were announced on the basis of several parameters such as social aspects, governance, culture, urban environment, sanitation, economy, built environment, water and urban mobility.   

• For the year of the pandemic, additional parameters of sustainable business model of Integrated Command and Control Centres and innovation in Covid-19 management were also counted.  

Key Takeaways:  

• Cities: Indore and Surat were declared joint winners of the Smart Cities Award 2020.  
• States: Uttar Pradesh secured the first position in the state awards category. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.  

• This is the first time that states have also been awarded for the overall performance of smart cities.  

• Union Territories: Chandigarh has bagged the first award among Union territories.  
• Region wise: The Western Region is the best performing. Its regional average score of 45 is much higher than the national average of 32. There are 26 cities in the western region, of which 10 cities have been certified.  
• Surat has emerged at the top among Indian cities to have successfully implemented governance through institutionalized use of data, especially through big data.  

Source: The Hindu