Recently, Infosys founder N K Narayana Murthy while speaking at a programme said that in India, reality means corruption, dirty roads, pollution, and many times no power. He urged the young Indians to create a new reality for the country.
Every Indian is aware that corruption in India is there, in the name of roads, power, water, food etc. Corruption exists and no one can deny this fact. There is always a unique way or mode to get involved in corruption. ‘Smart City’ is another programme of the government that is visibly seen, however we are definitely far away from the reality of smart cities.
Let’s only focus firstly to provide good roads, water, electricity, food which are the basic rights of every tax paying citizen and these rights have not been delivered at all.
Every now and then roads are dug up which denies the citizens the right to walk and travel. Without any planning they start work and we have been witnessing what is going on in Panjim city in the name of Smart City project.
Various Governments have named the roads and Institutes after their own leaders. They don’t even spare their leaders and do corruption only to give potholes roads to their citizens. Potholed roads have become death traps for its citizens. Lives do not matter to them. What matters is the hefty commission that they will earn out of the projects.
Recently, athletes were served food kept on the floor of a toilet complex at the Dr Bhimrao Sports Stadium in Saharanpur, UP. This incident itself shows that government officials do not respect anyone.
We celebrate liberation day every year. Every year we hear fantastic speeches from Ministers and MLAs. However, firstly it is the need of the hour that we have to get liberated from these greedy leaders and politicians who are involved in corruption.
It is very clear that these leaders have no vision and intent. They don’t understand and they have no knowledge that by building infrastructure they can create investment opportunities. When investments come, it creates jobs and employment. Good infrastructure attracts investments and talent.
In India, talents are found in the villages. It is the villages which have to be developed and made self-sufficient. The future of India lies in its villages. This is what Mahatma Gandhi had several times insisted. Mahatma Gandhi, had a very clear perception of rural India and made an emphatic assertion that ‘India lives in her seven and half lakh villages’.
He held this conviction by saying that ‘If villages perish, India will perish too’ and that ‘the progress of the country lies in the development of the majority of its rural villages, the rural economy, industry and rural skills’.
It is time to make villages smart and not the cities but today the government has been challenging Mahatma Gandhi’s vision for our country.
The shining of our villages is important, not cities. What India requires is rural economic policy not Smart city program. Strengthening the rural economy is the biggest challenge that India is facing today. And State and Central governments together have to work to make smart villages a reality.
What Smart cities can do, Smart villages can do better!
