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Published by THOMSON REUTER'S FOUNDATION NEWS and  WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM [Author: Shivani Chaudhry | Date Published: 9 June 2015] During its first year in power, the two most popular buzz terms of the current Indian government have been ‘Make in India’ and ‘Smart Cities.’ Despite the hype, both terms remain fairly ambiguous. The Union Cabinet recently approved Rs 48,000 crore (USD 7.5 billion) for India's Smart Cities Mission. This may sound like an attractive proposition, but when Census 2011 data reveals that one in four urban Indians is ‘poor’ and one in five urban households lives in a ‘slum,’ (urban settlement) should building 100 ‘smart cities’ be the priority for India’s urbanization quagmire? As the vast majority of urban India grapples with the perils of poverty, discrimination, precarious housing, water scarcity, unemployment, malnourishment, poor health, and gender-based violence, is the government’s resounding focus on ‘smart cities’ justified? By 2030, over 40 per...