Environment Degradation Acceptable Price For Economic Growth?

Three years ago this week, the Modi government launched its smart cities campaign, an ambitious plan to build 100 futuristic "smart" cities in India, but as this week's devastating flooding after the monsoon in Mumbai and Srinagar shows, perhaps fixing accident-prone cities is the greater task at hand. In Delhi, the plan to cut over 16,000 fully-grown trees in a city that has the worst air quality in the world exposes how much our cities are screaming for urban planning in India. Where does the Smart Cities Mission stand today three years into its launch? Are we a long way from setting up citizen-friendly and sustainable cities across India? Is environmental degradation an acceptable price to pay for economic growth?