First thing first, hi everyone. It's been a long time since i had posted my last article. Well i was on a vacation. You know we writers need a break time and again. :).
India is the second fastest growing nation in the world. A developing nation with the potential of being a global influence. Last year in the midst of the worst recession seen by the living generations, India posted a GDP growth rate of 6.7%. Analyst claim that the situation to be such that even if the world economy shrunk by 20%, India would remain buoyant. this certainly is the moment of being a proud Indian.
There still lies few major obstacles in our country's dream of achieving DEVELOPED status. We say that next ten years is what it would take but do we really believe it. We have low literacy percent, our human development index is lower Cuba (which by the way has 99% literacy) and our infrastructure is not worth being proud of. Where we lack the most is urban development programs and the will to pursue them.
Urban developements have historically been not the safest political bets and hence never received the attention they require. Indian cities historically were never developed for the people but for the requirement of the rulers. First the mughals and then British developed cities according to their needs. Britishers brought education to create a cheap working class for the East India Company and railways for faster transport of goods when lobbied by the english traders.
During British rules the cities were divided between India and its imperial heart- Civil Lines of the cities were reserved for British officers and affluent businessmen. British urban planning had little role in the cities beyond distancing the rulers from their festering country. This marginalization of Indians in the city, which included prominent Indian leaders like Vallabhbhai Patel, Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose, etc that made them doubt the nature of urban development in the future.
By settling in and loosening their ties in a city setting, the British led Indians to associate India's urban identity with the colonial one. Gandhi went as far to say, 'I regard the growth of cities as an evil thing.....certainly unfortunate for India.'Cities hence became inextricably linked with a past our leaders longed to forget.
So it was that immediately after independence, the government marginalized cities and they became constitutional orphans. Taxes were split among the state and the centre while the city government were cut off. The urban bodies went under state list and were stripped of their independence. So much so that the Indian city mayors went into obscurity. If we were to name our city mayor and money were running on the correct answer, most of India's urban residents (including me) would loose money every time.
The winds are changing now. Our cities have gained new political relevance with our economic growth. Many of this is coming together in a shift towards a more clear-eyed policy approach for urban renewal- the JNNURM. We have interested politicians from left to right, who think of urban renewal. But how are these policies helping.
Government keeps increasing the money allocated to such policies. the local city bodies are flushed with money from JNNURM but it is like pushing water through a very leaky pipe, by the time it reaches the tap it is already drained off. What we need, and no one can argue wit it, is a efficient distribution system. Local bodies should be empowered with reponsibilites and rights.
Right now though, as state governments remain one of the big bottlenecks to urban development, we are tackling our urban problems through center funded schemes, and a combination of NGO and civil activism. But while the emerging ecosystems of NGOs and voluntary organizations are filling in some gaps, it is difficult to imagine a coordinated, large-scale and well-funded effort akin to a working city government.
Behind this article their lies an appeal from me as well as the urban India for a real, tangible shift in city's place within Indian landscape. The day needs turning and the sun should rise on the city-the place where, many of us are beginning to realize, our biggest success will take shape.
Let India, still not live in its villages
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
LONELY NIGHTS
All alone, I sit;
Wondering my day;
Past seems bright,
Its the futute that fades away.
No one has made me think but She;
She whom I can only see.
August rush is what it feels,
When she looks and smiles at me.
Sometimes I wonder,
it must be a dream;
How can it bring me pleasure,
Still make me wish I could scream;
A little courage is what I ask,
For I must say someday.
Another Lonely Night is what I get,
Wondering my all day.
composed by: Kaaran Dhar
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Game is On
PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh personally visited the Regional Transport Organisation (RTO) last weekend to renew his driving licence. It is time also for him to renew his "licence" to govern India for the next five years.
He also needs to get well after heart bypass surgery.With barely three months to go before the 15th general election, speculation has begun in earnest on who would be "king".Interestingly, a dry run has been initiated by India Inc, which is worried about who will provide political stability at a time when the economy is bracing to face the global slowdown.Industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal heap praise on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has the qualities to be prime minister.
They came out in the open on what has been talked about for some time. There is no denying Modi's role in providing industrial peace in his state and attracting investment, both domestic and foreign. In the Investors' Fair this year, he had received commitments worth Rs320 trillion. This is music to the ears of the businessmen.
His persona, too, has undergone a change. He flaunts designer jackets and spectacles. Of course, he remains rooted to his soil and the Sangh Parivar, the Hindu umbrella body, and wears no tie to complete the corporate couture.
All this is despite his presiding over a thousand deaths in 2002. If it is winning votes, he has erased that taint twice over, enough to ignore those who still hold him guilty. But then, the life of a people is not all votes and victories.
Despite the declarations by Ambani and Mittal, Modi is not India Inc's chosen one for the top job. He comes fourth in the list of preferences, going by a poll of senior business executives conducted by Hindustan Times-Cfore. Modi loses out even to Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary and party chief Sonia Gandhi's son.
It seems India Inc so far reposes faith in Manmohan Singh, 76, who pioneered economic reforms and shepherded them in the mid-1990s through market scams and the political instability of a minority government. Pitch-forked to the prime minister's post in 2004, he has won some points but lost many. Just a year ago, the economy under him was rated one of the world's fastest-growing, till it was hit by the current global economic slowdown. He is derided as an outsider and even usurper, with no political base to speak of. His political career began only in 1991, He is dubbed "useless" and "most unsuccessful prime minister" by the main opposition.There are no sweeps and surges when it comes to his political acceptability. He got 25 per cent, decidedly a minority vote, just two notches above opposition leader and the opposition alliance's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani.
Modi, 58, got 12 per cent, while Rahul, who is 20 years his junior at 38, was the choice of 14 per cent of the business executives surveyed.
The poll covered 226 senior executives across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, and concludes that a majority of business leaders prefer to trade enthusiasm for experience, especially in times of crisis.
There is an additional aspect which must worry Advani. Modi is 23 years younger, which brings the spotlight back on the age of the BJP's octogenarian prime ministerial candidate.Aware of this disadvantage -- India has 100 million first-time voters -- there has been an attempt to brush up Advani's image, but it is difficult to believe that the makeover will be very convincing. Modi put all speculation to rest, saying that he wasn't in the running. But there is no last word. Advani faces tough competition from India's former vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who says that at 86, he is the "senior-most" in the party while Advani is a "junior". It is obvious that Shekhawat will not be content to be an ordinary MP if he wins, which is a near-certainty given his well-established base in Rajasthan state and his contacts across the country. If he becomes an MP, it is unlikely that he will not take a shot at the prime minister's post.
In the Congress, too, there is confusion, what with party seniors falling over each other to hail Rahul as the "star" who shall be king. But they are guarded in their haste, since mother Sonia proclaimed Manmohan as the prime ministerial nominee, indicating, perhaps, that Rahul must wait.Officially, none in the Congress or the BJP want to precipitate any speculation about Gandhi or Modi. But you cannot stop the political tongues from wagging about the vote-drawing qualities of candidates and their ability to lead their parties and alliances to victory in what by all accounts should be a pretty close contest.
Clearly, Advani has competition brewing within his party. And Manmohan is being pressured in the name of Rahul by detractors. The latest entrant in the race, officially and firmly, is ambitious Sharad Pawar. The man in his mid-60s had forced a vote recount way back in 1991 and lost. But he remains one of the wiliest politicians around, with intra-party goodwill and the acceptance of the corporate sector.
All this is good democratic discourse. But it remains idle talk, since none can claim to know the mind of 1 billion people. Their diverse yet collective wisdom will determine the rise or fall of individuals and political parties. The alliance that rustles up the magic number of 273 seats will be the winner.
As the expression goes: Lets wait and see.
He also needs to get well after heart bypass surgery.With barely three months to go before the 15th general election, speculation has begun in earnest on who would be "king".Interestingly, a dry run has been initiated by India Inc, which is worried about who will provide political stability at a time when the economy is bracing to face the global slowdown.Industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal heap praise on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has the qualities to be prime minister.
They came out in the open on what has been talked about for some time. There is no denying Modi's role in providing industrial peace in his state and attracting investment, both domestic and foreign. In the Investors' Fair this year, he had received commitments worth Rs320 trillion. This is music to the ears of the businessmen.
His persona, too, has undergone a change. He flaunts designer jackets and spectacles. Of course, he remains rooted to his soil and the Sangh Parivar, the Hindu umbrella body, and wears no tie to complete the corporate couture.
All this is despite his presiding over a thousand deaths in 2002. If it is winning votes, he has erased that taint twice over, enough to ignore those who still hold him guilty. But then, the life of a people is not all votes and victories.
Despite the declarations by Ambani and Mittal, Modi is not India Inc's chosen one for the top job. He comes fourth in the list of preferences, going by a poll of senior business executives conducted by Hindustan Times-Cfore. Modi loses out even to Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary and party chief Sonia Gandhi's son.
It seems India Inc so far reposes faith in Manmohan Singh, 76, who pioneered economic reforms and shepherded them in the mid-1990s through market scams and the political instability of a minority government. Pitch-forked to the prime minister's post in 2004, he has won some points but lost many. Just a year ago, the economy under him was rated one of the world's fastest-growing, till it was hit by the current global economic slowdown. He is derided as an outsider and even usurper, with no political base to speak of. His political career began only in 1991, He is dubbed "useless" and "most unsuccessful prime minister" by the main opposition.There are no sweeps and surges when it comes to his political acceptability. He got 25 per cent, decidedly a minority vote, just two notches above opposition leader and the opposition alliance's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani.
Modi, 58, got 12 per cent, while Rahul, who is 20 years his junior at 38, was the choice of 14 per cent of the business executives surveyed.
The poll covered 226 senior executives across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, and concludes that a majority of business leaders prefer to trade enthusiasm for experience, especially in times of crisis.
There is an additional aspect which must worry Advani. Modi is 23 years younger, which brings the spotlight back on the age of the BJP's octogenarian prime ministerial candidate.Aware of this disadvantage -- India has 100 million first-time voters -- there has been an attempt to brush up Advani's image, but it is difficult to believe that the makeover will be very convincing. Modi put all speculation to rest, saying that he wasn't in the running. But there is no last word. Advani faces tough competition from India's former vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who says that at 86, he is the "senior-most" in the party while Advani is a "junior". It is obvious that Shekhawat will not be content to be an ordinary MP if he wins, which is a near-certainty given his well-established base in Rajasthan state and his contacts across the country. If he becomes an MP, it is unlikely that he will not take a shot at the prime minister's post.
In the Congress, too, there is confusion, what with party seniors falling over each other to hail Rahul as the "star" who shall be king. But they are guarded in their haste, since mother Sonia proclaimed Manmohan as the prime ministerial nominee, indicating, perhaps, that Rahul must wait.Officially, none in the Congress or the BJP want to precipitate any speculation about Gandhi or Modi. But you cannot stop the political tongues from wagging about the vote-drawing qualities of candidates and their ability to lead their parties and alliances to victory in what by all accounts should be a pretty close contest.
Clearly, Advani has competition brewing within his party. And Manmohan is being pressured in the name of Rahul by detractors. The latest entrant in the race, officially and firmly, is ambitious Sharad Pawar. The man in his mid-60s had forced a vote recount way back in 1991 and lost. But he remains one of the wiliest politicians around, with intra-party goodwill and the acceptance of the corporate sector.
All this is good democratic discourse. But it remains idle talk, since none can claim to know the mind of 1 billion people. Their diverse yet collective wisdom will determine the rise or fall of individuals and political parties. The alliance that rustles up the magic number of 273 seats will be the winner.
As the expression goes: Lets wait and see.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
lost january
heya readers.......ur favourite writer is back। i couldnt write for a whole month not that i had anything else important to do. like my good friend puts it, "it's all a Deja-Vu", repeating daily the same thing all over again and again but rather i had nothing to write about. Though that is not the case now, i hav plenty to write and tell you what being me means.
This post of mine is for all the God fearing people out there, not fnatic ones but people like me। People who dont go around plundering other Gods niether those who start preaching ever rahul, sameer and karan (indianized version of ' tom, dick & harry')। it is for those who need god in their everday life, who talk to Him and wait for a reply, who sometime wonder wether he is listening yet believe he is watching over always ready to hold u when u slip, ready guide you when you are lost. It is for people like me.
well coming to the point, i have been studing a course about different religons and their psychologies. Not that i am a expert as yet but i have come across some interesting theories that i wish to share. one of friend wrote a blog post about evolution of God from a supreme being feared and loved by all to a weapon used by some people to exploit others. well that might be true but where did it all started. Sigmund Freud concieved that man found a father in God. he said that man's parental issues got projected in God and as he wished for a compasionate and merciful father he created a father like God and named Him. later the acts of patricide was replaced by religious sacrifices. he even goes on to say that these illusional idea of religion was only an act of ignorance. but then what about the pagan religions, the non prophetic religons, where there is no father figure, what about hinduism where there is a god for every 3-4 hindu. well here comes another philosopher, Carl Gustav Jung. He remarked that we as humans follow religon b'coz we cannot help it, that it is are unconcious that makes us believe in a supreme being and we are victims of it.
now all these might be true and not that i'm challenging any of these great thinkers, but i just dont feel that these definations go for any of the indian religons( by indians i mean the ones originated from india) especially hinduism. If you study hindu scriptures as an outsider and not hav any preconcieved notions you will either see a great work of fiction with great characters or you shall find a rule book or a guideline for man to live in a civilised world. we know that civilisation started from india and that hinduism is the oldest living religion. When it all started, i believe what man needed was to undestand his world and to know how to live in it. The meaning of being a Human, a son, a husband and a brother. the vedas taugth him about the nature, the world. the itihaas ( sanskrit for it-so-happened) which include the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharta taugth us the meaing of living in a society when there was chaos and when people were still savages in other parts of the world we were learning to live in harmony. These epics were writen by valmiki and krishna dwaipanya vyasa( veda vyasa) and both of them while writting these books claimed that everything required for living are in these books and there is nothing else important. this was the reason that our religion still survives even though our conterparts in egypt and greece and rome failed. it is because we learnt to be humans at a very early age and still live. Not only that in one of the hindu scriptures called 'brahma sutra' there is chapter dedicated to understanding to live in harmony with other concepts of living or self knowing and to come up with a universal doctrine which can accepted by all. then why today some people we go about sacriliging other's concept of living. some outfits claiming to be workers of God use means that they justify to be Godly and correct. Quoting geeta they claim to perform for the God himself but nowhere geeta says that someonewho does not believe its teachins is a adharmi, no where it says that other dharms are adharms. so using a knowledge like this to do somethimg totally opposite is surely an act of adharm and if there is a supreme being watching this then i am sure he is not liking it.
This post of mine is for all the God fearing people out there, not fnatic ones but people like me। People who dont go around plundering other Gods niether those who start preaching ever rahul, sameer and karan (indianized version of ' tom, dick & harry')। it is for those who need god in their everday life, who talk to Him and wait for a reply, who sometime wonder wether he is listening yet believe he is watching over always ready to hold u when u slip, ready guide you when you are lost. It is for people like me.
well coming to the point, i have been studing a course about different religons and their psychologies. Not that i am a expert as yet but i have come across some interesting theories that i wish to share. one of friend wrote a blog post about evolution of God from a supreme being feared and loved by all to a weapon used by some people to exploit others. well that might be true but where did it all started. Sigmund Freud concieved that man found a father in God. he said that man's parental issues got projected in God and as he wished for a compasionate and merciful father he created a father like God and named Him. later the acts of patricide was replaced by religious sacrifices. he even goes on to say that these illusional idea of religion was only an act of ignorance. but then what about the pagan religions, the non prophetic religons, where there is no father figure, what about hinduism where there is a god for every 3-4 hindu. well here comes another philosopher, Carl Gustav Jung. He remarked that we as humans follow religon b'coz we cannot help it, that it is are unconcious that makes us believe in a supreme being and we are victims of it.
now all these might be true and not that i'm challenging any of these great thinkers, but i just dont feel that these definations go for any of the indian religons( by indians i mean the ones originated from india) especially hinduism. If you study hindu scriptures as an outsider and not hav any preconcieved notions you will either see a great work of fiction with great characters or you shall find a rule book or a guideline for man to live in a civilised world. we know that civilisation started from india and that hinduism is the oldest living religion. When it all started, i believe what man needed was to undestand his world and to know how to live in it. The meaning of being a Human, a son, a husband and a brother. the vedas taugth him about the nature, the world. the itihaas ( sanskrit for it-so-happened) which include the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharta taugth us the meaing of living in a society when there was chaos and when people were still savages in other parts of the world we were learning to live in harmony. These epics were writen by valmiki and krishna dwaipanya vyasa( veda vyasa) and both of them while writting these books claimed that everything required for living are in these books and there is nothing else important. this was the reason that our religion still survives even though our conterparts in egypt and greece and rome failed. it is because we learnt to be humans at a very early age and still live. Not only that in one of the hindu scriptures called 'brahma sutra' there is chapter dedicated to understanding to live in harmony with other concepts of living or self knowing and to come up with a universal doctrine which can accepted by all. then why today some people we go about sacriliging other's concept of living. some outfits claiming to be workers of God use means that they justify to be Godly and correct. Quoting geeta they claim to perform for the God himself but nowhere geeta says that someonewho does not believe its teachins is a adharmi, no where it says that other dharms are adharms. so using a knowledge like this to do somethimg totally opposite is surely an act of adharm and if there is a supreme being watching this then i am sure he is not liking it.
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