A booming economy, job opportunities and rising salaries may act as magnets for the migrant, but can Indian cities also act as vehicles of creativity and innovation? MINT on Friday presented a stimulating debate on rejuvenating the Garden City's infrastructure and understanding the challenges to its resources and ecology.  This is the second such thought provoking debate that MINT has organized, continuing its endeavor to bring clarity to business through debate.  Debating the subject "Cities as Vehicles for Innovation and Creativity" in a stimulating discussion moderated by Janaagraha founder Ramesh Ramanathan, were four formidable Bangaloreans: retired senior bureaucrat and former Karnataka planning board deputy chairman A. Ravindra; Infosys Technologies Ltd co-chairman Nandan Nilekani; Britannia Industries Ltd chief executive officer Vinita Bali and Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

As per Infosys's Nilekani, there is a big disconnect between the city's growth and its political power. He explains that there is huge economic growth happening in the city due to liberalization, globalization and outsourcing. However, the structure of power is still antiquated and rooted in our old political system. Chandrashekhar added that there are new arrivals every day in every industry in the city.  The revenue has doubled in the last four years.  Bangalore is one of the cities, which are being talked about globally. All that the city needs is out-of-the-box thinking on governance solutions. He insists that there is need to get the right people elected.

Britannia's Bali argued that the citizens of Bangalore need not wait endlessly for the right politicians elected. In Atlanta, where she lived while working for Coca Cola, for instance, the government, the private sector and citizens came together to lend the city a makeover before the Olympics. According to Ravindra, Bangalore manages to attract the best talent despite the challenges it is facing. It is because the city offers the best job opportunities, climate and prosperity.  There is no doubt about the Government promoting IT companies in Bangalore, but it has failed to deal with the rapid growth.  Corporate houses should also come forward to sort out the city's issues. Finally, Accenture's Harsh Manglik told that there is need to create intersection points for exchange of ideas across the city, to keep it alive.

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