Dear Friends, Since past few weeks i have been exploring europe every weekend and in process have travelled to five major world cities and travelled across 7 countries. Now am enroute to Krakow (Poland) and by the end of the trip i would have completed almost 9000 kms in 6 weekends. What is unique about my trips is that without exception i have utilised the night to travel and all the journeys till now have happened via roads using buses. Yes you read right all 9000 Kms covered in bus.
In India too, i prefer buses and have travelled countless times from Aligarh to reach Rishikesh early morning. While in a full night journey i covered around 300 kms in India, i am covering 700 kms in Europe. While a robust road network here is helping me travel far it is also helping european economy by facilitating trade. Robust road network is both a sign of economic growth and prosperity , it also gradually helps reduce economic inequality. All members of European union are connected together with a system of robust roads.
A robust road network in India will promote economic growth , promote national integration , reduce pollution and also reduce regional economic inequality by bringing regional economies near. A robust rural network which connects rural areas to nearby cities will not only connect villages to cities, it will also lead to economic growth of villages and facilitate cheaper goods to cities.
After the 2nd WW almost the entire europe and specially germany was back to stone age with rubbles all around. While Europe spent past 6 decades in building efficient roads our priority lied elsewhere. Not only is our average speed much lower in India, by end of a long journey one suffers a body ache.. (you know why )
It is possible for India to have good road networks because
1. We have made a good beginning by building golden quadrilateral project , Mumbai pune highway and Agra to Delhi expressway etc.
2. We just have to reciprocate the model in India.
Since past 60 years our nation has been held hostage to petty politics. Even our railway budget has historically been tailored to suit the needs of upcoming state elections. Dharnas , Agitation has laziness of our political masters has held us back. Is it a surprise that even inspite of abundant and cheap manpower we dont even have access to good infrastructure. Organising protests is not a difficult thing in India and warring groups have always gave in to this temptation even if it means derailing Indias growth. While this won political point to them, it held us back as a nation and our rank gradually slipped in world economy inspite of our potential.
The new government which has majority in lok sabha and is one of the most powerful government of 3 decades (atleast by numbers) has a task set out in front of it. It should weed out illogical opposition to the bill. It needs to communicate its intentions to the stakeholders and perform its job of providing good roads to country. Landowners will be given 4 times the market price of the land and hence in national interest they should be willing to relocate. For those who know how local politics work, Social impact assessment is an impossible thing to do in India and moreover it delays us.
I hope atleast the educated ones will realise that Indian government after long time of 65 years has finally taken a right step to develop infrastructure of India. Its a pity that even after more than 65 years of Independence we have not been able to provide electricity, rural connectivity to whole of India. Land acquistion bill is a good step in this regard. However this bill is a two sided sword and government should be guarded against the misuse of the bill. With the ordinance now passed i hope we begin our infrastructure development soon, not only it will provide jobs to our youths, it will also serve as a catalyst to our national growth. With cheaper labour we can either organise protests or develop infrastructure , i hope atleast now we choose the latter. All the best India.
