10-25-2005, 11:46 PM
Pioneer.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Poverty Zindabad </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
When cities like Mumbai and Bangalore get inundated after a sharp shower, health authorities are unable to combat communicable diseases, the airport at Vishakhapatnam remains flooded for three weeks, aircraft have to wait on the tarmac or hover in the sky because runways are clogged, reliable access to electricity remains a distant dream, water has to be rationed and commuting becomes a nightmare, then it is as good as accepting that India's urban infrastructure is in a right royal mess.
No matter how hard the Union Government and the State Governments may try to gloss over the reality, the fact of the matter is that our cities are fast turning into sprawling urban slums with their attendant problems. The UPA Government, while presenting the Economic Survey for 2004-2005, had made bold to acknowledge - and thus accept the NDA Government's emphasis on infrastructure development was not without merit - that "quality infrastructure is most important for high and sustainable growth and alleviating poverty" and that urban development remains "the most important frontier of Indian infrastructure".
<b>That was earlier this year; since then, the Government has done precious little to generate faith in its commitment to building infrastructure, whether in cities or in villages.</b> On the contrary, the bulk of policy initiative is aimed at burdening Government with the agenda of NGOs patronised by the National Advisory Council and the baggage of the Left. With the commitment of the Union Government faltering, State Governments, barring some exceptions, have been busy undoing admirable initiatives for urban renewal through infrastructure upgradation.
The amazing manner in which Mr HD Deve Gowda has stymied all plans for Bangalore's development by denouncing them as pro-rich and, therefore, anti-poor is a manifestation of the mindset of the current regime in New Delhi. Notwithstanding the occasional murmur of dissent that one hears from<b> Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Planning Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia or Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the overwhelming view at the top is that focusing on infrastructure is pandering to India's elite and, hence, must be substituted with cockamamie schemes to help the poor.</b>
This has already resulted in bringing the NDA regime's grand infrastructure development programmes to a near-halt. The National Highway Development Project is floundering and nobody in Government is genuinely worried although the country desperately needs new roads. Expressways, that link cities and suburban areas, are not even on the drawing board; the one that was coming up in Bangalore has been condemned to an untimely death.
To keep pace with the projected growth of the civil aviation sector, building of new airports and modernisation of existing facilities cannot be put off any longer, but the Government is least bothered by the urgency of the situation. In most urban areas, there is a crippling shortage of electricity for domestic and industrial consumption; in the nation's capital, residents are advised to bathe with measured mugs of water.
The mess has not necessarily resulted from lack of funds; in any event, there are more than enough entrepreneurs willing to invest in infrastructure. Unfortunately, rather than build infrastructure and allow the benefits to percolate down to the masses, the Government has adopted a line of action that has been the hallmark of <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>all Congress regimes - indulge in vacuous pro-poor rhetoric, squander huge sums of money on wasteful social welfare schemes and allow venal politicians and corrupt bureaucrats to flourish. In brief, celebrate poverty. </span>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Poverty Zindabad </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
When cities like Mumbai and Bangalore get inundated after a sharp shower, health authorities are unable to combat communicable diseases, the airport at Vishakhapatnam remains flooded for three weeks, aircraft have to wait on the tarmac or hover in the sky because runways are clogged, reliable access to electricity remains a distant dream, water has to be rationed and commuting becomes a nightmare, then it is as good as accepting that India's urban infrastructure is in a right royal mess.
No matter how hard the Union Government and the State Governments may try to gloss over the reality, the fact of the matter is that our cities are fast turning into sprawling urban slums with their attendant problems. The UPA Government, while presenting the Economic Survey for 2004-2005, had made bold to acknowledge - and thus accept the NDA Government's emphasis on infrastructure development was not without merit - that "quality infrastructure is most important for high and sustainable growth and alleviating poverty" and that urban development remains "the most important frontier of Indian infrastructure".
<b>That was earlier this year; since then, the Government has done precious little to generate faith in its commitment to building infrastructure, whether in cities or in villages.</b> On the contrary, the bulk of policy initiative is aimed at burdening Government with the agenda of NGOs patronised by the National Advisory Council and the baggage of the Left. With the commitment of the Union Government faltering, State Governments, barring some exceptions, have been busy undoing admirable initiatives for urban renewal through infrastructure upgradation.
The amazing manner in which Mr HD Deve Gowda has stymied all plans for Bangalore's development by denouncing them as pro-rich and, therefore, anti-poor is a manifestation of the mindset of the current regime in New Delhi. Notwithstanding the occasional murmur of dissent that one hears from<b> Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Planning Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia or Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the overwhelming view at the top is that focusing on infrastructure is pandering to India's elite and, hence, must be substituted with cockamamie schemes to help the poor.</b>
This has already resulted in bringing the NDA regime's grand infrastructure development programmes to a near-halt. The National Highway Development Project is floundering and nobody in Government is genuinely worried although the country desperately needs new roads. Expressways, that link cities and suburban areas, are not even on the drawing board; the one that was coming up in Bangalore has been condemned to an untimely death.
To keep pace with the projected growth of the civil aviation sector, building of new airports and modernisation of existing facilities cannot be put off any longer, but the Government is least bothered by the urgency of the situation. In most urban areas, there is a crippling shortage of electricity for domestic and industrial consumption; in the nation's capital, residents are advised to bathe with measured mugs of water.
The mess has not necessarily resulted from lack of funds; in any event, there are more than enough entrepreneurs willing to invest in infrastructure. Unfortunately, rather than build infrastructure and allow the benefits to percolate down to the masses, the Government has adopted a line of action that has been the hallmark of <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>all Congress regimes - indulge in vacuous pro-poor rhetoric, squander huge sums of money on wasteful social welfare schemes and allow venal politicians and corrupt bureaucrats to flourish. In brief, celebrate poverty. </span>
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