Going down the memory lane of yesteryears and reminiscing Manoj Kumar’s ‘Roti, Kapda aur Makan’ along with the movie ‘ Samaj ko basal dhalo’ they do seem to have relevance at the present prevailing situation in our country. The basic needs of human beings is to have a roof under which he can lie and take shelter, clothes to cover his nakedness and food for satisfy his hunger and keep him fit to do his daily chores.
In our thickly populated India of more than 1.2 billion inhabitants, the majority 75-80 per cent are rustic dwellers and the remaining are semi-urban and urbanites. With rapid industrialization and technological advancements there is a propensity to shift from rural to urban areas for better educational prospects and better standard of living! Now our PM after his foreign sojourn brought yet another slogan called Digital India and smart cities. He is intending to create 100 model smart cities with all the possible modern amenities in and around the periphery. Smart city is a luxury for smart people and those who are millionaires and above. Considering the majority of the people below poverty level, those who can’t afford one square meal a day, smart cities are like building castles in the air and injustice to the economically backward people.
Our states capital Panjim (better known as Panaji now) is chosen amongst the 100 to be a privileged smart city. It is highly impossible to make the city of Panjim into a smart one as it is already super saturated hence no scope for further growth horizontally except vertically. A smart city has to be created or carved out from a vast expanse of available land, like how Andhra Pradesh wants to make Amravati its capital. For Andhra Pradesh and Chandrababu Naidu it is feasible as it has all the necessary resources and infrastructure and maybe crores of rupees from Tirupati and Tirumala temples. It has sixteen thousand villages which are willing to contribute their mite for the same cause.
But in Goa I can only think of Mopa (in a lighter vein) which instead of an airport could be turned into a model smart city. Other option would be in Quepem where our Raksha Mantri has identified land to hold their yearly Air Force display to showcase their might and agility. Other large chunks of land have been devoured by the landsharks in connivance with our politicians and avarice of the people for a fast buck. Samaj ko badal dhalo movie is very relevant in the present context. If we see the state and national scenario things have gone from bad to worse, not pleasing to the eyes and ears and nauseating to the gut. Our individual mutual disposition should change and that will happen if and only if we inculcate good human values in our children at a very young age and introduce compulsory moral science classes in all schools as was prevalent in the past.
