Pandemic management, citizens and the Indian Smart cities: Reflections from the right to the smart city and the digital divide

The technologically endowed Smart Cities take credit for managing the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively than other urban centers. However, Indian smart cities seemed unprepared for the outbreak, with reported highest cases of death and positivity rates. Thus, it becomes essential to understand why these smart cities could not handle the pandemic despite their technologically advanced infrastructures and the citizen’s role in managing it. This paper analyzes the impact of the Smart City Mission (SCM) interventions from a citizen-centric perspective and its influence on pandemic management and citizen inclusivity. The study draws from the right to the smart city framework along with stages of the digital divide. The study conducted a content analysis using secondary sources like published and unpublished papers, policy reports, and news analyses spanning the timeline of 2015-2022. The analysis infers that the lack of initiatives to link marginalized citizens with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through the SCM policy led to the underutilization of the various initiatives launched during the pandemic, deepening the digital divide. The deduction from the analysis highlights that the ‘chatur citizens’ act as a solution by transitioning their formal access to ICTs into effective access enabling the marginalized communities to bridge the divide.