I don't remember since when I have been listening from various sources , mainly the then All India Radio News Bulletins, Newspapers and so on and so forth that India is a developing nation . In my childhood it was indeed a matter of pride. We are developing .... developing what? When waiting in front of P & T offices to book a trunk call was no longer required , you could call Inter city, Inter state and International sitting at home , we were sure we were developing. When Pokhran happened and we were told nuclear power stations and nuclear missiles to thwart bad people are few steps away , we were happy that we were developing . Later we saw all steam engines replaced by electric and diesel locomotives and saw one more evidence that we are developing . Well , I am sure between us ,dear reader, we can quote hundreds of such instances. Cynics had a shock when Abhinav Bindra won an Olympic Gold and they lost the chance of their favorite quote " 12 billion+ people and and not a single gold since 1896 !" Meanwhile our ministers and politicians continued making some right noises inland and abroad in presence of some significant and sometimes not-so-significant foreign nationals and with cautious optimism we were thinking that we are almost developed now .
Well , the jury is out today. We are still in the also-ran category. My intention is not to be a cry-baby , but just give vent to a a panic-filled question, are we still on track for true development or we have missed the bus?
I will only mention a few incidents and seek your opinions .
That day while driving through a narrow lane , I saw a house construction female laborer relieving herself at an as-much-as-possible obscure corner .If you travel by train and look through the window early morning, you will see many such instances throughout India. In China (my favorite comparison for obvious reasons), the public toilets for men and women are hardly 200-300 meters away from each other on busy thoroughfares. Couldn't we do it years ago and earn a solid " development" point?
Low-floor buses throughout the world are originally devised to assist Senior citizens and differently abled persons to board and travel. Boarding part over, once you are inside , you have to immediately climb up. Couldn't it be visualized and modified after the initial deliveries? In airports , we are using the correct concept buses anyway. If you have to travel in rural India especially in North and East India by bus, the roads as well as the transports ( buses, tempos etc etc) can hardly qualify for even "pass" status .
Traffic jams are there in the most developed countries as well . But in our India, "development" has brought forth so many 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers that we forgot to maintain separate lanes for the two and are silently encouraging wrong-side driving , especially on the highways , as people are no willing to travel the extra mile to take the legitimate turn in order to save fuel .
Well. There's no end to it . Everybody knows issues of Drinking water in villages , railway reservation pains, Child mortality , etc etc.
My point is simple . Let's keep to the basics . Drinking water ,Electricity , Public Toilets , True user-friendly public transports .BPL India luckily is not so much fussy about food, They will make do with anything remotely edible without much ado.
Lastly till such time we achieve these basic minimum, can we not suspend IPL, CWG etc. We can't afford them .
Well , the jury is out today. We are still in the also-ran category. My intention is not to be a cry-baby , but just give vent to a a panic-filled question, are we still on track for true development or we have missed the bus?
I will only mention a few incidents and seek your opinions .
That day while driving through a narrow lane , I saw a house construction female laborer relieving herself at an as-much-as-possible obscure corner .If you travel by train and look through the window early morning, you will see many such instances throughout India. In China (my favorite comparison for obvious reasons), the public toilets for men and women are hardly 200-300 meters away from each other on busy thoroughfares. Couldn't we do it years ago and earn a solid " development" point?
Low-floor buses throughout the world are originally devised to assist Senior citizens and differently abled persons to board and travel. Boarding part over, once you are inside , you have to immediately climb up. Couldn't it be visualized and modified after the initial deliveries? In airports , we are using the correct concept buses anyway. If you have to travel in rural India especially in North and East India by bus, the roads as well as the transports ( buses, tempos etc etc) can hardly qualify for even "pass" status .
Traffic jams are there in the most developed countries as well . But in our India, "development" has brought forth so many 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers that we forgot to maintain separate lanes for the two and are silently encouraging wrong-side driving , especially on the highways , as people are no willing to travel the extra mile to take the legitimate turn in order to save fuel .
Well. There's no end to it . Everybody knows issues of Drinking water in villages , railway reservation pains, Child mortality , etc etc.
My point is simple . Let's keep to the basics . Drinking water ,Electricity , Public Toilets , True user-friendly public transports .BPL India luckily is not so much fussy about food, They will make do with anything remotely edible without much ado.
Lastly till such time we achieve these basic minimum, can we not suspend IPL, CWG etc. We can't afford them .
