Security in Indian cities is bleak. And the future is even bleaker as the situation will only deteriorate in years to come, said G.K. PIllai, former Union Home Secretary at the FICCI conference on “Homeland Security 2011: Building Safe and Secure Cities.”

Pillai said that with the country experiencing a high growth rate of eight per cent, aspirations of the people are rising and millions of them are teeming into cities, giving rise to increasing crime rate because of the absence of employment opportunities. In Delhi, for instance, 82 per cent of crime is perpetrated by first timers, that too by 16 to 26 years old. New types of criminal activities are spawning such as cyber crimes, hacking, thefts, snatchings, while rape, murder and vehicle thefts are the order of the day.

He said that new technologies being inducted to make safe and secure cities would have to have to be employment-intensive as job creation was the key to make the youth shun crime and violence. It is essential for India to grow at 9-10 per cent for the next two to three decades, else social tensions and the attendant problems will be difficult to manage.

The Home Ministry, on its part, is identifying 14 cities in the country to make them safe and secure, in the first phase of the programme to beef up homeland security. States, he said, had a major role to play in this programme, for which, the Central Government will provide 50 per cent of the funding requirements.

Earlier, he released the FICCI-Ernst & Young knowledge paper on “Building Safe and Secure Indian Cities –A Perspective”.