New Delhi: Government is planning to set up 100 smart cities across the country that will provide all modern amenities, education and employment opportunities. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the project of 100 smart cities is in conceptualising stage and details are being worked out through discussions with all stakeholders, including state governments.
"The cities are yet to be identified," he said. The Minister said education, employment and entertainment are considered to be the key factors, which forced people to migrate from rural areas to urban centres.
"Opportunities of education, employment and entertainment are concentrated mostly in urban and semi-urban centres and these three factors are forcing more and more people to leave rural areas and migrate to towns and cities," he said.
Naidu said Census of India has projected the urban population till 2026 and by that year, the country's urban population that was 27.8 per cent in 2001 is expected to increase to 38.2 per cent. The Minister said in terms of the total urban population, it is at 31.6 per cent as per 2011 Census, while the World Urbanization Prospectus shows the level of urbanisation in 2011 in China 50.6 per cent, in Indonesia 50.7 per cent, in South Africa 62 per cent and in Brazil 84.6 per cent.
