SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 13 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

In which year was Smart Cities Mission launched?

(a)2015
(b)2013
(c)2019
(d)2018

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The Smart Cities Mission was launched on 25 June 2015 by the Ministry of Urban Development, now the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

It set out to develop 100 cities, chosen by competition rather than allotment: states nominated cities, and those cities submitted proposals ranked in rounds of the Smart City Challenge.

Central assistance worked out at about ₹100 crore per city per year for five years, matched by the state and the urban local body.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
2013 — 2013 is too early — the urban missions of this generation were announced after the government that launched them took office in 2014.
(c)
2019 — 2019 is four years late — by then the Smart City Challenge rounds had already filled the full list of 100 cities.
(d)
2018 — 2018 is when the hundredth city was added and the list completed, which is a milestone of the Mission and not its start.

Concept

Three urban missions were launched together on 25 June 2015: the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT and PMAY (Urban).

They divide the work — Smart Cities funds area-based redevelopment and technology in selected cities, AMRUT funds water supply and sewerage across many more towns, and PMAY (Urban) funds housing.

Smart Cities is unusual in how it delivers. Each selected city sets up a Special Purpose Vehicle, a company formed under the Companies Act, to execute and hold the projects.

2015 carries a cluster of launches, which is why the year alone is often the whole question. Anchor 25 June 2015 and three urban missions come with it.

Key facts

The Smart Cities Mission was launched on 25 June 2015.
It covers 100 cities, selected through rounds of the Smart City Challenge.
AMRUT and PMAY (Urban) were launched on the same day as the Smart Cities Mission.
Each selected city implements the Mission through a Special Purpose Vehicle set up as a company.

Study next

AMRUT and PMAY (Urban) — coverage, funding pattern and objectivesThe Special Purpose Vehicle model and why the urban missions use itUrban local bodies and the 74th Constitutional Amendment

Common traps

Confusing the launch year with the year the list of 100 cities was completed
Filing the Mission under the Ministry of Rural Development instead of Housing and Urban Affairs
Mixing the Smart Cities Mission with the earlier Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission of 2005

Launch years are asked scheme by scheme across this bank — Digital India at 2015 in 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q3, the Atal Innovation Mission at 2016 in 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q7, and the PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission at 2021 in 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q11.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.