India yet to spell out nature of reforms needed to achieve 8% growth to realise Viksit Bharat by 2047: Ahluwalia

Montek Singh Ahluwalia discusses reforms needed for India's 8% growth, urbanization, geopolitical tensions, and state division for development.

The nature of reforms needed for India to achieve 8% annual growth for two decades to realise its vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 have not been clearly spelt out, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Deputy Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission, has said.

Mr. Ahluwalia shared these views at a fireside chat with economist and author Salman Anees Soz on ‘Resilient Pathways: Charting Economic Growth Amid Global Challenges’ at the ‘Global Investors’ Meet: Invest Karnataka 2025’ here on Wednesday.

“For India to grow at 8%, its urban population must grow very rapidly,” he opined.

Gandhiji had said India lived in its villages and many people still regard that as a sort of romantic vision, he said. “I think you have to recognise that India will not be ‘Viksit’ if it does not largely reduce the numbers staying in villages,” he said.

Good Gandhians should recognise that this is not undermining the views of Mahatma Gandhi, who expressed these views 100 years ago but did not mean that it would continue to do so 100 years later, Mr. Ahluwalia said.

He also said geopolitical tensions were on the rise. The U.S. has its own problems not only with its closest allies, such as Canada and Mexico but also with China. China was cosying up to Russia while Russia was becoming more dependent on China. Europeans were very scared of Russia, and they were not that bothered about China, he observed.

Mr. Ahluwalia also advocated carving out two or three States from large States such as Uttar Pradesh to give a new impetus to urbanisation. He suggested picking up some tier-II towns and developing them into “near-metros”. “We should seriously consider cutting down many of the larger States into two or three,” he suggested.