Under Smart City Mission, projects worth over Rs 2.05 lakh crore (~26 bn Euro) are proposed in 100 cities and a significant progress has been made in terms of implementation of these projects, the Economic Survey 2018-19 said.

The strategic components of this mission are area-based development involving city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment), city extension (greenfield development) and a Pan-city development in which smart solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city.

• The 100 cities under the mission have proposed to execute 5,151 projects worth 2,05,018 crore (~26 bn Euro) in five years from their respective dates of selection.
• Financial innovation is in-built in the design of the programme. The distribution of funding from the central and state government is Rs 93,552 crore (~12 bn Euro) (45%) and funds from PPP is Rs 41,022 crore (~5 bn Euro) (21%).

A new initiative was launched on 23rd September at the UN Climate Action Summit to help guide the world’s heaviest greenhouse gas emitting industries toward the low-carbon economy.

India and Sweden together with Argentina, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK, as well as a group of companies including Dalmia Cement, DSM, Heathrow Airport, LKAB, Mahindra Group, Royal Schiphol Group, Scania, SpiceJet, SSAB, ThyssenKrupp and Vattenfall, announced a new Leadership Group for Industry Transition that will drive transformation in hard-to-decarbonize and energy-intensive sectors. 

This global initiative will be supported by the World Economic Forum, the Energy Transitions Commission, Mission Innovation, Stockholm Environment Institute, and the European Climate Foundation among many others in an ambitious, public-private effort, to ensure heavy industries and mobility companies can find a workable pathway to deliver on the Paris Agreement.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, launched the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 in New Delhi. India jumped five places to improve its position from 57th last year to 52nd in 2019.

The GII rankings are published every year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners. This is the 12th edition of the GII rankings of 129 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications.

Switzerland remains number one is the GII index followed by Sweden, the United States of America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Germany and Israel.