Bengaluru:
Former deputy chairman of the planning committee of India and economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday that large states can be distributed so that new cities can be created, stimulating urbanization.
According to him, when India starts growing by 8 percent, the urban population will grow faster than the infrastructure of cities.
“I don't suggest what to do in Karnataka, but it's my general view. We have to seriously consider much of the largest states in two or three to reduce,” said Ahluwalia.
He focused on a session on 'resilient paths: mapping the economic growth of India in the midst of global challenges' at Invest Karnataka 2025, which was held here until 14 February.
“Gandhiji said that India lives in his villages, and many people still consider it a kind of romantic vision. But I don't think he said that India will continue to do this 100 years later,” Ahluwalia added.
He said that picking up a number of Tier-2 cities and developing “near-metermos” is the solution for oversaturated cities such as Bengaluru, for example. He said that, although “should spill in other cities,” this does not happen organically.
“The only known cases in India where this happens is when a new state is carved and a capital needs to be created,” he added.
Ahluwalia remembered that former main minister and BSP leader Mayawati had suggested splitting her state in three.
“If this had been done, there would have been a political willingness to create three new good cities,” he added.
He also pointed out that people said that this could be done in many other states.
“In Maharashtra, for example, there are people who said that the Vidarbha region should be made a separate state with Nagpur as the capital,” he added.
Although the statement that difficult decisions such as these are not politically simple, he said that change is only happening with interesting reforms.
“Don't go back to 1991 for inspiration, because those were not Brainer reforms, actually. The world then spoke one language,” he added.
“We started the reforms after Eastern Europe had abolished communism. There was only one thing to do with the world market,” he explained further.
According to him, this has now become much more complex, because India is confronted with a world that is now fragmented.
“Geopolitical tensions are rising now, the US has its own problems, not only with its close allies, such as Canada and Mexico, but also with China. China is pleasant to Russia. Russia is becoming more dependent on China. Europeans are very afraid of Russia. She Don't be so concerned about China, “he said.
Although he agreed that Bengaluru enjoys many benefits, Ahluwalia added that a city life is not only the result of getting many companies to invest.
“There is a lot of urban management that must be done, and that applies to all states,” Ahluwalia apparently said about city organs.
In response to a question from the moderator of the session, Salman Anes Soz, whether he wanted something else, Ahluwalia said when someone does a reform, it is not like planning the process of a rocket.
“When they shoot a rocket, a nice process has been done. The least deviation from that process is a problem. That is not what you do with economic reforms,” he said.
According to him, when it comes to economic reforms, people have a broad idea, but one cannot do everything and you ultimately do what comes first.
“I think it is very important to realize that afterwards it is always disputable what you should have done first,” he added.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
