Mr Ram Kripal Yadav, Hon’ble Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India, said during the Smart Village Conclave, “India is a huge nation and has shown accelerated growth in the past years. Unfortunately, the growth has not happened at all levels. Where cities have shown immense leaps of growth, the villages have not been the same story. 70% of India’s population resides in villages. However, rural dwellers in the country have not witnessed a significant increase in earning opportunities and quality of life. We witnessed unsurpassed migration to urban areas. This is leading to cities being overcrowded and burdened. To combat this issue, we need to focus on making villages smarter along with our cities. To this end, the central government has increased the spends from INR 54,000 crores to INR 1,12,000 crores. In the Housing for All scheme, 44.54 lacs houses have been built to date and by end of 2019, one crore houses are expected to be built.

Mr Yadav added, “To enhance connectivity between cities and villages, road building projects have been given sincere focus and today, around 134 kms of roads are being built every day. We aim to accelerate it to 166 kms of road construction per day. It is also worth noting that we are using green technology keeping conservation of the environment.”

The 4th Smart Cities India 2018 expo offered a platform for key decision makers, industry experts, and thought leaders from around the world to connect and engage in constructive dialogue to lead sustainable development. The expo also helped attendees access funding, business, and partnership opportunities, with participants from over 40 countries and the biggest brands in the space attending the event, spread over 20,000 square metres in the heart of New Delhi. The expo initiate conversations around new-age technologies such as Internet-of-Things (IoT), renewable energy, artificial intelligence, Big Data, and VR/AR, which are expected to be instrumental in creating the Smart Cities of the future.