For Karnataka's Urban People

New Delhi: June 3, 2008: 0800hrs
The newly installed chief minister of Karnataka wants to follow the “Gujarat / Modi Model” for developing his far more “advanced” state, what with its capital city, Bangalore, taking a lead in globalization that no other Indian city can match.

Not just software; Bangalore gets all the rock shows; there is a “pub culture”; and the crowd is “cool”.

In Gujarat you get flogged for flogging a beer!

Very backward place.

Later, the chief minister also spoke of the “Atal Behari model”.

Luckily for those who believe in Liberty, we do not have any “model” whatsoever in mind.

In conditions of what Adam Smith called “perfect freedom”, the Individual is supreme; and since all individuals will choose to do different things, no “collective model” is necessary.

My advice to the chief minister is to call for an immediate meeting of the Mayors Council of Karnataka: Yes, they have one, for quite a few years now.

And get cracking on how to run these 6 big cities Karnataka has – which are prized assets.

Mangalore, for example, and Karwar, with their deep ports, could adopt a “Hong Kong Model” and take off into the world of free international trade.

In such an economic environment, coastal Karnataka will outshine land-locked Bangalore; but coastal Karnataka’s potential, even for tourism, is not being tapped today. There isn’t even a decent coastal highway for attracting the tourists who flock to Goa to the beautiful Karnataka coast.

When I first heard of the Mayor’s Council of Karnataka, a few years ago, they were 6 in number, each heading a city. They all saw a clear “urban opportunity” and sought a meaningful role for themselves in the governance of their cities.

Cities, civic institutions of local self-government – let Karnataka take this course.

Enough of panchayati raj, the peasant vote and the sham called “rural development” – whatever the “Model”.

Instead, urbanize aggressively – and well.

Don’t bugger up the cities.

Fix Bangalore.

Give powers to the 6 Mayors.

Fix all your urban areas.

As Morrison screamed, “Save Our Cities”.

Adding, “RIGHT NOW!”