India's small and medium towns should become drivers of change

By Arup Mitra, Ayush Singh*
The million plus cities and other large cities comprise the bulk of the urban investment and undertake a wide range of economic activities. Migrants from all economic spheres are therefore, attracted to these cities for earning their livelihood and experiencing upward mobility. Even an informal sector worker gets better off by moving to a large city compared to a small town. Though the level of congestion and other diseconomies are enormously large in large cities, fresh rounds of investments keep pouring in, which in turn shift the curves representing the economies and diseconomies of scale. As a result, the optimal city size keeps increasing with every round of fresh investment flowing into the city.
What happens to the thousands of small and medium sized towns? To begin with, very few of them have strong drivers of growth. Except the satellite towns, which are close to the large cities and receive parts of the economic activities spilling over from the large cities, there is a dearth of economic dynamism in these towns. The youth population in these towns hold a great potentiality but due to the lack of opportunities they are not able to realise their aspirations and dreams. Some of them migrate to the large cities and those who cannot, settle down with compromised earning opportunities.
It is high time that the urban policy in India must try to address the youth issues in small and medium sized towns. We understand that out-migration is after all a loss to the growth potential of the place of origin. Besides, those who cannot migrate may have to simply lose the potential and may not be able to contribute to the so-called demographic dividend that we have been boasting off for a very long time.
If each city/town emerges as a production centre of a specialised activity, it becomes easier to pursue the rationale of inclusive growth. Else, the lopsided growth with rising spatial inequality would be an obvious outcome. In the long run many of these urban centres will not be in a position to sustain themselves. Regional inequality aggravating the economic inequality will threaten the growth and prosperity of a nation.
The political representatives from such small and medium sized towns owe a huge responsibility in making such urban spaces productive. Instead of using the youth power simply as vote banks, they need to be in a constant dialogue with the youth for creating opportunities and brining in investible resources. The youth will have to be trained in terms of entrepreneurial skill so that product innovation can be pursued in cost efficient ways. Accessibility to new technology and credit and marketing assistance are indeed important, but more pertinent is the dissemination of information which can motivate the youth to innovate newer products from time to time.
The other endeavour which must be pursued relates to the employability of the youth. Vocational and other job-oriented training centres must emerge on a large scale to enhance the skill levels from time to time. The lack of quality institutions does not motivate firms to recruit the youth from small urban centres directly. Most of the placement centres and the platforms offering direct confluence between the employers and the job seekers are concentrated in relatively large cities. Without being compelled to migrate to the large cities how the youth can be brought to the mainstream of the growth process, holds the key to the success of inclusive growth. After all, India will never be able to experience modernisation and urban transformation unless the mainstreaming of medium sized and small towns happens prevalently. And for this, a political will is a must.
The pandemic has brought misery but at the same time it offers opportunities to think beyond the stereotypes. If online services can be hired by the companies, why cannot the youth from small towns be at the forefront? Obviously, employability and good infrastructural support to deliver the online services are the key challenges. In this regard what initiatives the political representatives are contemplating upon? At least, what efforts have been initiated in engaging the youth with dialogues and offering new motivations to them?
—
*Respectively: Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; Student and Freelancer, Mau, Uttar Pradesh

Comments

Eight years of empowering tribal communities through water initiatives in Chhattisgarh

By Gazala Paul* In the heart of Chhattisgarh, amidst the echoes of tribal life, a transformative journey has unfolded over the past eight years. The Samerth organization has diligently worked to elevate the lives of indigenous communities in the Kawardha district through the project, "Enabling Baiga Community to access safe drinking water."

Martin Crowe played instrumental role in making New Zealand a force in world cricket

By Harsh Thakor* Late Martin Crowe was the perfect manifestation of how mere figures could not convey or do justice to the true merit of a batsman. Crowe was arguably the most complete or majestic batsmen of his era or the ultimate embodiment of batting perfection, or the classical batsmen. He perished 7 years ago, due to a rare and aggressive form of cancer, follicular lymphoma, which originated in 2012. In September, we celebrated his 60th birthday but sadly he left for his heavenly abode.

Regretful: Kapil Dev retired not leaving Indian cricket with integrity he upheld

By Harsh Thakor Kapil Dev scaled heights as an entertainer and a player upholding the spirit of the game almost unparalleled in his era. In his time he was cricket’s ultimate mascot of sportsmanship On his day Kapil could dazzle in all departments to turn the tempo of game in the manner of a Tsunami breaking in. He radiated r energy, at a level rarely scaled in his era on a cricket field. Few ever blended aggression with artistry so comprehenisively. Although fast medium, he could be as daunting with the ball as the very best, with his crafty outswinger, offcutter, slower ball and ball that kicked from a good length. Inspite of bowling on docile tracks on the subcontinent, Kapil had 434 scalps, with virtually no assistance. I can never forget how he obtained pace and movement on flat pancakes, trapping the great Vivian Richards in Front or getting Geoff Boycott or Zaheer Abbas caught behind. No paceman carried the workload of his team’s bowling attack on his shoulders in his eras muc

How the slogan Jai Bhim gained momentum as movement of popularity and revolution

By Dr Kapilendra Das* India is an incomprehensible plural country loaded with diversities of religions, castes, cultures, languages, dialects, tribes, societies, costumes, etc. The Indians have good manners/etiquette (decent social conduct, gesture, courtesy, politeness) that build healthy relationships and take them ahead to life. In many parts of India, in many situations, and on formal occasions, it is common for people of India to express and exchange respect, greetings, and salutation for which we people usually use words and phrases like- Namaskar, Namaste, Pranam, Ram Ram, Jai Ram ji, Jai Sriram, Good morning, shubha sakal, Radhe Radhe, Jai Bajarangabali, Jai Gopal, Jai Jai, Supravat, Good night, Shuvaratri, Jai Bhole, Salaam walekam, Walekam salaam, Radhaswami, Namo Buddhaya, Jai Bhim, Hello, and so on.

Towards 2024: Time for ‘We the People of India’ to wake up before it is too late

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* It is Constitution Day once again! We, the people of India, gratefully remember 26 November 1949 when the Constitution of India was passed and adopted by the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly comprised women and men of distinction, who were able to represent the heart and soul of the people of India without fear or favour. They gave of their best, so that we may a visionary Constitution, which would be the mainstay for and of democracy in India!

Ceasefire a tactical victory for Palestinian resistance, protests intensify across globe

By Harsh Thakor* The Zionist leadership and Netanyahu’s government were compelled to concede the defeat of their first attempt after almost 50 days of daily fighting in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu was forced to concede that he was unsuccessful in suppressing the Palestinian Resistance; and that the release of the prisoners was only plausible because they accepted Hamas’ terms.

Odisha leadership crisis deepens: CM engages retired babus to oversee depts' work

By Sudhansu R Das Over decades, Odisha has lost much of its crop diversity, fertile agriculture land, water bodies, employment potential, handicraft and handloom skills etc. The state has failed to strike a balance between the urban and rural sector growth; this leads to the migration of villagers to the urban areas leading to collapse of the urban infrastructures and an acute labor shortage in rural areas. A large number of educated, skilled and unskilled Odia people have migrated to other states for higher education, quality jobs and for earning livelihood which plummet the efficiency level of government departments. Utmost transparency in the recruitment and promotion in the state government departments will improve governance mechanisms in the state. "No near and dear one approach" in governance mechanisms can only achieve inclusive growth for the state on payment basis. This is a moral hazard. When so many educated young people seek employment outside the

1982-83 Bombay textile strike played major role in shaping working class movement

By Harsh Thakor On January 18th, 1982 the working class movement commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Textile Workers Strike that lasted for 18 months, till July 1983. It was landmark event that played a major role in shaping the working class movement. With more than 2.5 lakh workers from 65 textile mills joining in this strike for almost two years, this strike became one of the most significant strikes in terms of scale and duration All democrats should applaud the mill workers’ united battle, and their unflinching resilience an death defying courage continues to serve as a model for contemporary working-class movements. Many middle class persons harboured opinions that the Textile workers were pampered or were a labour aristocracy, ignorant of how they were denied wages to provide for basic necessities. The Great Bombay Textile Strike is notably one of the most defining movements in the working class struggles in Post-independent India. Bombay’s textile industry flourished in

Massive tropical deforestation: Big finance's $307 billion go to forest-risk commodities

A note on report by Forests & Finance coalition -- Rainforest Action Network, TuK Indonesia, Profundo, Amazon Watch, Repórter Brasil, BankTrack, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Friends of the Earth US: *** A new report released on ‘Finance Day’ at COP28 by the Forests & Finance Coalition , provides a comprehensive look into the role big finance plays in driving deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change and human rights abuses in tropical forest regions. The report reveals that since the Paris Agreement, banks have pumped over $307 billion into high risk forestry and agriculture companies linked to tropical deforestation, proving that the policies of major global banks and investors are failing to prevent continued widespread forest and biodiversity loss.

20% of Indian businesses have no emission plan in place despite climate emergency: Report

By Jag Jivan New research underlines urgent need for strategies and transition plans to combat climate change, remain successful and meet stakeholder expectations.

Search This Blog