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Smart Cities not a smart idea, at all
With reference to migration from rural areas to urban towns and cities, we must recognise the fact that in no developed country is the rural population more than about 5%.
With reference to migration from rural areas to urban towns and cities, we must recognise the fact that in no developed country is the rural population more than about 5%. We aspire to be a developed country and, may be, in the next 20 to 25 years we could be one. By that time, India’s population would be about 1,500 million and 90% of that, i.e, 1,350 million, could be in the urban areas.
- In next two, three decades, over 800 mn will migrate to urban areas
- It will impose enormous burden on already creaking infrastructure
Today, this urban population is about 500 million. That means, over 800 million people will be migrating to cites. None of our existing 600 and odd urban areas would be able to take up this population, what with the already frightening shortage of housing, roads, transport, power water, education and health facilities.
It is, therefore, wiser to build new cities each one of which may take 20 to 25 years to attain full stature. Instead of wasting our money in making the existing ones smart, we should build new cities with the utmost facilities to be smart from the beginning.
Such construction will engage millions of our growing unemployed population for which we are unable to create wealth-producing and asset-creating jobs. Currently, we are only feeding them to live in painless poverty through various welfare schemes. Our welfare spending has increased from about Rs 40,000 crore in 2004 to about Rs 3,50,000 crore currently.
Feeding and breeding cannot conduce to the emergence of a prosperous and powerful and intellectual country excepting that we may have millions of voters living in painless poverty by consuming the welfare dished out by the government fund by competing political parties promising garibhi hatao.
It is unfortunate that the visionary Narendra Modi and his government instead of starting to build 100 new cities are settling down to pour money into the rat wholes of existing cities under the rubrics, “Smart Cities.” The Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission has consumed a lot of money.
The only visible sign of “renewal” is some more buses with that descript providing public transport in our cities but not able to relieve the transport shortage. Road widening in existing cities and addition to the infrastructure like water, sewage, power, schools and hospitals is a Sisyphean task. The correct answer to urbanisation and the inevitable rural migration is the bundling of new cities.
By Dr T H Chowdary
