BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries occupy about 29 per cent of the land mass on the globe and contribute about 25 per cent of the GDP.
Urbanisation had begun decades ago in other countries. India had a long way to go to catch up with them, said B. Anand, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development, on the second day of the three-day BRICS Urbanisation Forum here on Thursday.
He said that urbanisation in Brazil was over 80 per cent. In Russia, it was 73 per cent and in China 56 per cent.
Compared to these countries, it was just 31 per cent in India, he added.
The idea of the forum was to understand how these countries handled the challenge of urbanisation and what were the best practices that India needed to adopt.
Transition phase
“We are in a transition phase and looking for a solution that would be inclusive and collective,” said Jagan Shah, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs.
Summing up the day-two proceedings, Mr. Anand said that the focus was on Smart Cities. In India, there were 98 smart cities in the making. They include Amaravati, Kakinada, Tirupati, and Visakhapatnam.
“We need to leverage on technology, including IT, to develop the Smart Cities,” he said.
In the second half of the session, the focus was on inclusive housing and informal economies and climate change, sustainable development goals, and environment.
According to Karikal Valaven, Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Andhra Pradesh, the inputs from the forum would be passed on to the main BRICS summit that would be held in Goa in October and a declaration passed on further cooperation.
Aim is to understand how these countries handled urbanisation and the best practices we need to adopt
B. Anand
Joint Secretary
