Pravasi Bhartiya Sammelan has provided Indore the chance for next phase of economic growth

The 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Sammelan which was held in Indore from 8-10 January 2022 marks an inflection point in the development journey of the state, and particularly Indore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi graced the occasion, and in his landmark address to the Indian diaspora, recalled the contribution of the Indian diaspora in India’s development journey, and also remembered his special attachment with India’s cleanest city Indore. Prime Minister Modi has always looked at the Pravasi community as ‘Rashtradoot’ in ‘Rashtranirman’. No other Prime Minister in recent past has been able to galvanize the effective strength and talent of the Indian diaspora like PM Modi has in the last 8 years. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressed his gratitude by marking them the “Most talented and enterprising diaspora” globally. Holding such an important global event in Indore has brought the city on the global map. As an 

“Indori”, it’s also a moment of pride when the city has undergone this monumental shift. I remember how a decade-and-a-half back, Indore was known for all the wrong reasons—poor road infrastructure, extremely dirty public utilities, apathetic administration, and patchy electricity supply. 

After 2014, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading with visionary Swatch Bharat Abhiyan movement that he announced from the rampant of the Red Fort, the MP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and the local administration started the movement of “Jan Bhagidari”. I remember having participated in the local consultations in the initial part of implementing the Swatch Bharat Abhiyan in Indore, and the focus was on implementing the participative public lead governance model of PM Narendra Modi. Indore did not work in silos, it worked integrating every stakeholder—NGOs, youth, local administration and politicians all worked together. Cleaning of roads late in the night became a habit, dustbins at all public places were installed, door to-door collection of garbage and its disposal happened religiously, and “Naming & Shaming” the rule breakers by the common public prevented any untoward element from stopping this development march. I remember senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya telling me how when he saw a private vehicle littering the road, he chased them for a kilometer and asked them to put it back in the garbage bin. 

This spirit of development followed by the city has made Indore the cleanest city for more than 5 years in a row. This spirit of development that people of Indore have reflected in making their city the cleanest in the country, needs to be reciprocated in all the other avenues of economic growth. For instance, Indore still ranks behind Pune in terms of per capita GDP(one third that of Pune), it is yet to feature in the top 5 cities hosting the maximum number of startups, and it is yet to see inbound migration from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai. It has been successful in becoming a new coaching hub of India after Kota, in Rajasthan, it has seen a fast pace of infrastructure development in the last decade from BRTS to widening of roads, and two new Tech IT parks to name a few. However in the next phase of growth the commercial capital of MP needs to build holistic ecosystem to propel next phase of economic growth where it can compete with growth engine cities like Bangalore, and Hyderabad. This will require building an ecosystem for the big industries to set up prominent manufacturing units, IT offices, and innovation centres in Indore. This means that when the companies come for placement to India’s top management institutes, and engineering institutes Indore should be a favourite placement destination like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, and Chennai. Indore is the only city which hosts both an IIT and IIM, and it needs to capitalise on this opportunity to also project itself as an innovation capital of Central India. Even though upgradation of six industrial belts by Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation is a good start, the challenge lies in attracting aspirational investments. The Pravasi Bhartiya Sammelan in Indore is a golden chance for the city to unleash its real potential as the development hub of Central India. This falls in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of competitive federalism. 

The author is News Director of India News & Founder of Jan Ki Baaat.