Bangalore might have earned the distinction of being India’s Silicon Valley but Karnataka has a long way to go as far as urbanisation is concerned, a UN report said.

Karnataka is way behind Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and even Gujarat in terms of urbanisation, according to a UNFPA (UN Population Fund) report, which was released here on Wednesday.

Citing 2001 Census data, the UNFPA State of World Population Report, 2007 said that while 43.9 per cent of people in Tamil Nadu lived in urban areas, the figure for Karnataka is only 34 per cent. The figures for Maharashtra and Gujarat are 42.4 and 37.4 per cent respectively.

Maintaining that China and India together contained 37 per cent of the world’s total population, the report said India’s urban areas hold less than 30 per cent of total population, which would rise to 40.7 per cent by 2030.
Releasing the report, Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy said the process of urbanisation should be considered irreversible, but ample care should also be taken of the poor, who migrated from the villages in search of better options.

He also drew attention to the transport problem in urban areas and asked the town planners to take note of it.
Addressing the function UNFPA representative in India, Nesim Tumkaya, said by 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world population, 3.3 billion people, would be living in urban areas.

Vision 2030
“By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. The population of towns and cities in developing countries is set to double in the space of a generation,” he said adding that many of these urbanites would be poor.
Looking beyond current problems, the report examined the implications of impending urban growth and discussed what should be done with specific attention to poverty reduction and sustainability. Although attention has been focused on mega cities, most urban growth would be in smaller towns and cities. Their capacities would need considerable strengthening to meet the future challenge, the report said.

It also suggested initiatives like accepting the right of poor people to the City and abandoning attempts to discourage migration and prevent urban growth. It also recommended adopting a broad and long-term vision of the use of urban space and providing minimally serviced land for housing and planning in advance to promote sustainable land use.