The Consecration Honours of The New Ram Mandir at Ayodhya is over and I thought I’ll take a look at the 85,000 crore Ayodhya Development project, a major future driver (so planned, I suppose), and its challenges and impacts: a) on our Economy as a whole; b) on Tourism in General and specifically on Goa; c) on the Politics around; d) on the Indian Social Ethos; e) on the pleasant and moderate “Face of India” – before the World Community and f) on Reining-in Over-enthusiasts in overall plans for 2027 and 2047!
Importantly, viewed from angle of our debts forecast for 2024 around 250 trillion rupees (including States) and the Debts to GDP ratio (including States’ Debts) already on an upward path at 90%, up from 87% pre-covid.
At the same time, the project has also shown to the World our capabilities in speedy deliveries with pre-set date-lines.
My Take:
a) Economy: I think we have to make a distinction between spending for basic necessities, like Drinking Water, Education and Health Care where we’re slow, handled mostly by States for last-mile delivery, and spending for overall development and employment generation. We need to attract Private Capital in expensive Infrastructure Projects and simultaneously speed up on disinvestments. Contrarily, our subsidy bills continue to rise and borrowings are expensive and at the edge (the Rupee-slide continues). The good news is Tax buoyancy. Just for a mention, our Budget allocations both at the Centre and at States, for the essentials like Education and Healthcare are amongst the lowest in BRICS. The expenditure we make, must therefore satisfy the tests of creation of assets of necessity first. The Ayodhya Master Plan is good ONLY if it does not go into hands of land-sharks and ends up as NPAs from Builders and Developers. We have seen full page presentations in leading dailies how real estate prices have sky-rocketed there in just five days. You achieve little after all, by semantics, if you are short of delivery of basics in the first place! In the end, it’s the common man on streets of Ayodhya that should be convincingly benefitted!
b)Tourism: I think, the project has great opportunities for the Tourism Industry in Uttar Pradesh. It can draw Private Investments, boost Private Expenditure as also develop and upkeep Urban Infrastructure. It’s good that a reputed professional organisation has been tasked for upkeep of the starting infrastructure already. For Ayodhya to emerge successful, rather than a leisure destination, its core attention should be targeted at Spiritual Tourism or high-end Pilgrimage and Health Tourism, specifically in Ayush Healthcare which will have a great synergy with its core competence. In this, Ayodhya will have to compete with Varanasi, Badrinath, Prayagraj, Ujjain, Mathura, Dwarkadheesh, Haridwar, Ajmer Shariff, Bodhgaya and Gaya which are old and pre-eminent and most of them at a proximity with a holy river say like the Ganga or the Jamuna. Ayodhya has the Sarayu which has to be built up in terms of top-of-the-mind recall first. Also Ayodhya’s extreme summer could be difficult for tourism and therefore as a winter-only destination it could non-commensurately tend to be pricey. It’s tough, as the initial euphoria will wither away sooner than later. Locals will play a great role in this, the Government can be the active enabler at best! It’s good that eight new hotels are being set up and 25 are in the pipe-line and a first pure-veg 7-star hotel are on way, as per the State Governments’ PR Department.
Slightly away from this Geography, I think Goa also has tremendous opportunity for Spiritual Tourism and Ayush, both NRIs and Foreigners both Catholic as well as Hindu. The shrines and the sea, the rich and old traditions, the folklores and the landscape should provide excellent synergy to this segment of Tourism. (Not only on “Heritage” as described in our Long-Term Tourism Plan). Remember, spiritual tours are non-fungible and therefore are unique to the destination! I’ve never seen a concerted focus on Spiritual Tourism here, honestly.
c)Politics and Votes: I think the last thing that should be allowed is continuation of Electoral Arithmetic and Politics, centred on the project. It would be best if the UP Government is demonstrably serious in controlling Politics of any kind in anything connected with this project in Ayodhya.
d)Social Ethos: We’ve been to Ayodhya some years back. Contrary to the “pride” and politics in display by some there, mostly travelled from other places, the locals there have been predominantly peaceful, both communities working together in perfect harmony, some selling puja offerings, some making floral-decorations for temples but tremendous fellowship could be seen. I want now that the Temple is finally there for all, let the camaraderie, the peaceful Ayodhya and its social ethos be once again felt all the way!
e) The Face of India: Let’s also not indulge in utterances and policies which could cause even remotely a wrong bearing on the image we’ve built up Internationally, a peace-loving, powerful nation, tolerant and liberal in its bearings. That’s most important to me. An investor would think twice before he puts up a project in an Iran or in an Israel.
f) In this, it’s important that over-enthusiastic elements be kept at bay. Let the Laws of the Land and the Constitution of India prevail going forward, as the Supreme Court directs in its Order in the Ramjanmabhumi Titlesuit case..” The Places of Worship Act is … a legislative intervention which preserves non-retrogression as an essential feature of our secular values.”
And before I part, 75 years ago, in his thanksgiving in The Constituent Assembly adopting The Constitution, Dr Ambedkar had quoted Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of America and he had read.. “We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of the majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country”.
(Binayak Datta is a finance professional)
