I Lowe India - Part I
God...give us bijli, sadak, and paani...
While we were busy meticulously carving out inch-by-inch of what we call "National Highways" (and the accompanying architectural wonders called speed breakers), as if they were heritage structures for posterity; and showering panegyric on Laloo and his cronies for the ingenuity of introducing chai in train stations and public address system on Shatabdhi trains, China was quietly building, for the last two years, what is now being touted as the world’s fastest conventional train service.
The inaugural service, expected to be flagged off on August 1, 2008 will link Beijing and the port city of Tianjin and ferry passengers, in "aircraft-like cabins with spacious interiors" (which aircraft has spacious interiors?), at speeds touching 350 kilometers per hour. Trains will run on the Tianjin line – which was built at a cost of USD 2.93 billion – every 3 minutes, with each train expected to carry close to 600 passengers.
China, in spite of being way ahead of us in Rail, Road, and Power, is showing no signs of slowing down - obviously, they don't consider us to be the competition! They are currently spending more than USD 50 billion on enhancing their railway infrastructure (apart from the Tianjin line).
Our leaders, if you are following the news lately -- news is, by far, the only thing we manufacture better than China --, are busy fighting in parliament, brandishing wads of currency notes, and bursting fire crackers for winning trivial trust votes. When are we ever going to find the time to build roads that can stand more than a torrential shower and "give" power without "taking" it back for eight hours in a day? When are our leaders and policy-makers ever going to talk beyond roti, kapda, aur makaan?
Really, how smart are we as a people and as a Government? Just a glance at the plight of Rail, Road, and Power will give us the answer. It should every bit be the edifice of living in a "plural democracy" and I see a fundamental contradiction that the people that are the engine for this democracy are emaciated and tired because they are deprived of basic amenities.
It is sickening to drive on the roads of any of our cities - I often don't know what should bother us more; the pathetic state of roads or the callousness of the people driving on them. It is as if one deserves the other.
The second largest Railway network in the world can only be proud of one thing - of being the largest employer in the world. Trains are: poorly maintained, are perpetually full unless you book several weeks in advance, ply at sluggish speeds, and the condition of our stations are horrendous setting poor standards of safety, security, and hygiene.
But Power will win hands-down, if there ever are Raffies for the worst public service in India. While we have been unable to provide 100% power accessibility to all our villages, to those towns and cities where we provide them, we cut it off, 12 hours a day (and have the nerve to associate a technical term to it - "load shedding"). All this, in the background of power theft, power loss, and the most archaic methods of generating and distributing electricity known to mankind, burning conventional sources that we don't have in surplus.
Our Government, however, claims it is preparing for 2050 when they don't have a clue how to control price of onion tomorrow morning. Rahul Gandhi, the latest, and arguably the worst, remnant of dynastic politics from the Gandhi factory, has suddenly become the "Brave New Face" of India and talks about nuclear energy with the reassurance of Homi Jahangir Bhabha.
Manmohanomics, in Dr. Singh's new avatar (as the Nikammah Prime Minister, as the ex-Nikammah Home Minister, LK Advani, called him in Parliament the other day), is defined as the art of writing off loans of farmers who emotionally blackmail the nation with suicide.
I feel for the farmers who our shameless Babus and Ministers have ripped off and never allowed to prosper; but it is not like the rest 35% of the country is living in Altamount Road in a twenty-seven storey, glass-fronted building. The rest of the Nation also tries earnestly to eke out a honest living in order to feed their families and make ends meet. What if taxi drivers, bus conductors, weavers, garbage pickers, railway coolies, software engineers, or jobless actors assemble in droves and threaten to jump into the Arabian sea if their home/automobile/business loans are not waived by the Government?!!
Our Government needs to start reflecting on its "achievements" beyond half-hearted attempts to attain global glory - such as building a "golden" Quadrilateral (when we need several polygons), introducing a couple of micro Yojanas, and putting up solar panels in a few farmers' homes and police booths.
We need to start building (and complete!) a full-fledged, world-class, futuristic, integrated infrastructure - Road, Rail, Power, Water, Security, Disaster Management, homeland security - at a feverish pace. China has proved time and again that some of these can be accomplished in a matter of years; somebody needs to have the vision and political will to carry this through. How long are we going to tolerate some Gora coming to our country and calling his Gori to say "Honey, I just saw a cow and an elephant on the road..."??
While we were busy meticulously carving out inch-by-inch of what we call "National Highways" (and the accompanying architectural wonders called speed breakers), as if they were heritage structures for posterity; and showering panegyric on Laloo and his cronies for the ingenuity of introducing chai in train stations and public address system on Shatabdhi trains, China was quietly building, for the last two years, what is now being touted as the world’s fastest conventional train service.
The inaugural service, expected to be flagged off on August 1, 2008 will link Beijing and the port city of Tianjin and ferry passengers, in "aircraft-like cabins with spacious interiors" (which aircraft has spacious interiors?), at speeds touching 350 kilometers per hour. Trains will run on the Tianjin line – which was built at a cost of USD 2.93 billion – every 3 minutes, with each train expected to carry close to 600 passengers.
China, in spite of being way ahead of us in Rail, Road, and Power, is showing no signs of slowing down - obviously, they don't consider us to be the competition! They are currently spending more than USD 50 billion on enhancing their railway infrastructure (apart from the Tianjin line).
Our leaders, if you are following the news lately -- news is, by far, the only thing we manufacture better than China --, are busy fighting in parliament, brandishing wads of currency notes, and bursting fire crackers for winning trivial trust votes. When are we ever going to find the time to build roads that can stand more than a torrential shower and "give" power without "taking" it back for eight hours in a day? When are our leaders and policy-makers ever going to talk beyond roti, kapda, aur makaan?
Really, how smart are we as a people and as a Government? Just a glance at the plight of Rail, Road, and Power will give us the answer. It should every bit be the edifice of living in a "plural democracy" and I see a fundamental contradiction that the people that are the engine for this democracy are emaciated and tired because they are deprived of basic amenities.
It is sickening to drive on the roads of any of our cities - I often don't know what should bother us more; the pathetic state of roads or the callousness of the people driving on them. It is as if one deserves the other.
The second largest Railway network in the world can only be proud of one thing - of being the largest employer in the world. Trains are: poorly maintained, are perpetually full unless you book several weeks in advance, ply at sluggish speeds, and the condition of our stations are horrendous setting poor standards of safety, security, and hygiene.
But Power will win hands-down, if there ever are Raffies for the worst public service in India. While we have been unable to provide 100% power accessibility to all our villages, to those towns and cities where we provide them, we cut it off, 12 hours a day (and have the nerve to associate a technical term to it - "load shedding"). All this, in the background of power theft, power loss, and the most archaic methods of generating and distributing electricity known to mankind, burning conventional sources that we don't have in surplus.
Our Government, however, claims it is preparing for 2050 when they don't have a clue how to control price of onion tomorrow morning. Rahul Gandhi, the latest, and arguably the worst, remnant of dynastic politics from the Gandhi factory, has suddenly become the "Brave New Face" of India and talks about nuclear energy with the reassurance of Homi Jahangir Bhabha.
Manmohanomics, in Dr. Singh's new avatar (as the Nikammah Prime Minister, as the ex-Nikammah Home Minister, LK Advani, called him in Parliament the other day), is defined as the art of writing off loans of farmers who emotionally blackmail the nation with suicide.
I feel for the farmers who our shameless Babus and Ministers have ripped off and never allowed to prosper; but it is not like the rest 35% of the country is living in Altamount Road in a twenty-seven storey, glass-fronted building. The rest of the Nation also tries earnestly to eke out a honest living in order to feed their families and make ends meet. What if taxi drivers, bus conductors, weavers, garbage pickers, railway coolies, software engineers, or jobless actors assemble in droves and threaten to jump into the Arabian sea if their home/automobile/business loans are not waived by the Government?!!
Our Government needs to start reflecting on its "achievements" beyond half-hearted attempts to attain global glory - such as building a "golden" Quadrilateral (when we need several polygons), introducing a couple of micro Yojanas, and putting up solar panels in a few farmers' homes and police booths.
We need to start building (and complete!) a full-fledged, world-class, futuristic, integrated infrastructure - Road, Rail, Power, Water, Security, Disaster Management, homeland security - at a feverish pace. China has proved time and again that some of these can be accomplished in a matter of years; somebody needs to have the vision and political will to carry this through. How long are we going to tolerate some Gora coming to our country and calling his Gori to say "Honey, I just saw a cow and an elephant on the road..."??
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