Quarterly Meet July, 2023

Is there enough butter to spread on the infrastructure toast?
We began the first quarterly meeting of The Infravision Foundation on July 2, 2023, with this provocative question. Founder and Managing Trustee Vinayak Chatterjee asked a panel of experts whether investment in social infrastructure has been neglected at the altar of core infrastructure. The answers were surprisingly varied. PK Sinha, Trustee, member of our Council of Advisors and former Cabinet Secretary, said the Budget allocations of Rs 2 lakh crore in health and education compared to Rs 10 lakh crore in core infrastructure were proof enough of the Government’s priorities while Rajnish Kumar, member of our Council of Advisors and former chairman of the State Bank of India, said a developing economy like India had no choice but to focus on core infrastructure first and then follow up with social. Ashish Dhawan, philanthropist, said the investment in core infrastructure needs to be higher than in health and education because a higher GDP leads to a better Human Development Index. Urbanist Jagan Shah spoke of the needs of cash-strapped urban infrastructure. The interventions from the floor contributed to the rich debate. Amarjeet Sinha, member, Public Enterprises Selection Board, talked of the multiplier effect of educating the girl child, giving the example of East Asia where investment in human capital was supported by a proactive state. Former NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik posed the question: do we need more highways or i-ways? We have made great progress on highways but not on high-speed connectivity and information transfer. This needs to change, he said. The focus needs to shift urgently to educating the users of infrastructure.