Global experiences suggest that as countries develop, the pace of rural to urban migration increases with deceleration occurring only when high levels of urbanisation are reached. India presents a different picture. Here, migration began to decelerate when less than 25 percent of the country’s population lived in urban areas, and continued to do so over decades. Notwithstanding suggestions that India’s stringent definition of the ‘urban’ might mask the real levels of urbanisation, there is a need to explain this unique development experience especially as poverty and deprivation persist despite rising per capita incomes. This workshop is less about answers and intended more as a provocation to raise queries about the quality of the urban experience and its impact on migration decisions.
Dr Pronab Sen is currently the Country Director for the International Growth Centre’s India Central Programme. He is also a member of the High-level Expert Group on Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (OECD) and the Technical Advisory Group of the International Comparison Project (World Bank).
Dr Sen has been Chairman of the National Statistical Commission. Prior to superannuation from the Government in 2012, he was the first Principal Economic Adviser at the Government of India’s Planning Commission. He has also held positions as the first Chief Statistician of India, as well as Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Government of India (2007-2010). He has also chaired a number of government Committees, most notably on Ecological Fragility, Control of Prices of Essential Drugs, and Slums.
Dr Sen has an M.B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University.
This workshop is free and there is no registration. Find all the videos of our previous workshops here.