Silent Poison Killing India

Mount Abu in Rajasthan gets an annual tourism of around 30 lakhs from India and abroad. Daman gets an annual tourism/business visitors of 15 lakhs, mostly from India. Still, Abu Road (the ground station) does not have an operational commercial airport. Mt Abu is 200 kms from Ahmedabad, about 725 kms from Delhi and Mumbai, about 500 kms from Jaipur. It’s an oddity.

There is a “Silent Poison” that is slowly killing India. There are those who will claim Narendra Modi is doing some grand things for India. But other than some infra projects and airport constructions (much of which is sub-standard and often unwanted) not much has really happened in the last 12 years. There is a difference between a leader who cares for his country and one who is a poorly educated one who pretends he is a great Gyaani but cares only about his own survival and image. This is exactly what Modi has done all his lipstick life. Live in luxury on others’ money and spend extravagantly for self-glorification and lipstick image.  

The distance between Mumbai and Daman is about 180 kms. The distance between Surat and Daman is about 120 kms. And although Daman is a UT, it is practically an extension of the industrial hub of Vapi, the border town of Gujarat with Mumbai. An auto from Vapi station to Daman border will take about 5 minutes of commute. Daman is also promoted as an industrial paradise that has far lesser taxes than Gujarat and elsewhere. It also has decent tourism from nearby states but the beaches are not very attractive as they have black sand. So, why in hell does such a town need an airport with proximity to many major cities with airports? No reason other than Modi’s CORRUPTION. Infra-corruption is the silent poison killing India. That too, the airport is called “Namo Airport” after the lipstick scoundrel after he inaugurated a “Namo Hospital” in Daman:

By all estimates, Daman airport will also go the same way as many other new and other refurbished airports under the “Udaan” scheme. Most of them are lying around as useless monuments to Modi’s “Covert corruption” when the funds could have been used for other pressing needs. Of course, building a hospital or new school in some village will not get the same media attention or prominence as some cities and tourist sites. Here’s some commentary on all the airports created and shut down for lack of commercial viability. Some are old ones refurbished and some are new:

Same is the case with many of the Metros. Some cities do not need a Metro service urgently and may not need it for another decade or so. In some cities, the Metros are built in such a way that it has clogged some existing arterial roads (as in Mumbai or Chennai) and created more congestion in road traffic than alleviating it. A Twitter user posted a tweet and video of the Bhopal Metro which hardly gets any passengers at all and runs empty. This is precisely what I call LIPSTICK INFRA just for the sake of it to benefit some contractors, some coach makers and for the BJP to “profit” from its covert corruption. No contract in India comes without corruption. On a working day in Bhopal, this train barely had some 3 passengers in all (Video 2.12 mins):

The stories of roads and bridges crumbling within 24 hours of inauguration or within a week or few months is now chronic and can be read in the news reports almost every day. In their quest to show numbers and speedy work, quality and safety is being compromised along with the corruption in all the contracts. That ugly clock-tower of Bihar Sharif is now famous. It was neither required nor merited the expense on it and then the refurbishing because of the negative comments it attracted. This is how govts frivolously spend taxpayer money. Here’s another case from Buxar with another road that developed cracks within 96 hours of opening. How can one fail so miserably unless there is severe corruption? 

I guess the same level of corruption permeates into every aspect of govt operations, including contracts for CBSE or NEET papers and evaluation systems. Another stupid obsession of Modi and his BJP idiots is that of building statues everywhere. Some of these statues cost hundreds of crores and some of them are built in a clumsy fashion. In any case, Modi has spawned a nonsensical culture of Ambedkar statues everywhere, so every state is in a race. The new Bihar CM, Samrat Chaudhary, grandly announced he will build an airport in all the 38 districts as if he is flush with funds and that is the most pressing need of Biharis. And the worst part of this corruption is that these BJP idiots want to build the tallest statues of Hanuman or Shivling or some Hindu icon. FOR WHAT? Hindus are not short of temples or places of worship. If the govt just maintains them well and doesn’t destroy them that itself would be good enough. No need for more unwanted statues like these which are sources for corruption:

Many of the ministers and their family are involved in activities that make huge profits only through the corruption of the minister who makes policies convenient to the racketeers and profiteers. India is often compared to China and the progress they have made. Indians wonder what makes the big difference. Sure, there are differences in education, discipline and other factors that can be identified but here’s a key difference that will simply alarm you. To eliminate poverty China deployed over 3 million party workers in rural areas. In sharp contrast, the corrupt BJP hired the same number as paid campaigners for their elections and to apply lipstick on Modi. In other words, a lot of effort is spent on covering up failures, offering fake defences for all failures and crimes and glorifying an uneducated, blabbering man as the greatest “Gyaani” the world has produced:

All the development claims, Nari Shakti etc of Modi and his gang are all hollow and often portrayed with fudged figures that are not easily verifiable. Till date, Modi brags about free foodgrains to 81cr beggars but there is no verifiable record to prove it. What Modi is doing is spending extraordinary money on dubious projects, thousands of crores on his own lipstick and self-glorification and this is the silent poison that is pushing India deeper into debt without any real depth in the works being executed. There is a report on 28% leakage and loss of 69000 crores due to black-marketing of these grains. In short, Modi’s deceptive India is like a woman dressed up in excellent, fashionable shiny clothes, decked up with glittering jewelry that dazzles with all the lipstick and makeup in the world but she gives off bad odour because she hasn’t bathed in seven weeks – she stinks. 

Follow on Twitter.

Subscribe to SkillsOnward.Com / DONATE

Repairing Mumbai - 2

Some cities of the world like London and Paris are known to be over 1800 years old. New York is known to be at least 400 years old. Mumbai too is an ancient region but the city we now know came to be organised first by the Portuguese in 1534 and then by the British in 1784. The British made the most land reclamations to unify the 7 islands that make up Mumbai. Strangely, London, Paris and New York all built underground rail-systems during the 19^th century. They are now over 100 years old and London being the oldest has the most complex system:

Even compared to 1980, the London underground has expanded dramatically and covers more areas to reduce congestion on the roads. The same goes for Paris and New York City too. In addition, NYC has underground connections to neighbouring New Jersey across the Hudson river. This is how these cities managed road-congestion although certain central areas do face congestion. India was obviously a poor country and for much of the comparable period ruled by foreigners when the introduction of railways in Mumbai itself was quite a great accomplishment. Also, given the extensive land-reclamation activity in Mumbai, the authorities gave little thought to underground connectivity and felt over-ground rail, bus and other vehicles would be enough to last a long time. That proved to be wrong. An illustration of the NYC tubes across Hudson and its operations are indicated in the image below:

The new metro systems in Mumbai hardly have any underground systems. Most of the metro lines are made on bridges across the same arterial roads and that ends up adding to the congestion rather than easing it. Currently Mumbai has 33kms of underground metro which is only half operational. If you look at the total car and vehicle population in some of the major cities of the world, they are less than Mumbai except in some cases. Mumbai currently has nearly 5 million vehicles:

I can keep on narrating the problems of Mumbai and other major old and metro cities in India and what is causing those problems. But then most of it has already been narrated. Unlike these foreign cities, the fate of our metro cities are decided by the whims of the PM with Reservation-class engineers, least-educated town planners and the construction mafia. Narendra Modi obviously likes lipstick and has taken a fancy to metros and flyovers which he likes to inaugurate without any real brains being applied to real solutions of the problems. And some of those solutions require TOUGH decisions which cowards of our govts can never take due to caste, religion, mafia and vote-bank considerations.

The foreign cities have state and local administrations doing the town-planning while in India, it is the GOI or, specifically, a vagrant Modi and his lipstick-chasing moronery that decides things for cities under their party rule. As a consequence, you have this nonsense in Mumbai where even poorly constructed flyovers or metros are not solving the problem:

In all the GOI constructions it is not the concern for the well-being of citizens or the cities that are the main concern for Modi. He keeps on building flyovers, airports, rail terminals and other infra projects mainly to put his name on the foundation stone or a plaque which is dedicated to his memory rather than a real need or a problem-solver. The only thing that multiplies is congestion, more garbage, poor living standards and excessive waste of money. Take a look at the sanitation strengths of Mumbai and New York:

India simply does not have the most modern drainage and sanitation technology. Then, poor garbage disposal systems contribute to the mess. The highest spend of the GOI from all its collections is on DOLES. Because, the main concern of the party in power, whether at the Centre or the State, is to grab and retain power, further their corruption for party-funding and individual enrichment and the citizens and cities come last in their priority. Everybody knows this. So, what tough decisions can be taken to reduce these problems? Firstly, let us divert a bit.

Indore won the Swachh Bharat award for cleanest city in 2023. Ahmedabad won the award for 2024. There is one thing common between the two cities; neither of them is the State Capital. None of the major Metros that are State Capitals have won this award. Although the award by itself may not mean much, it is a reflection of why the Metro-Capital cities don’t make the list. The answer is simple: They are filled with POLITICAL FILTH. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata are all political filth with constant disruptions, excessive govt operations and offices and, therefore, lesser freedom for local administrators to manage the city coupled with double the corruption in everything, real estate mafias, encroachments and uncontrolled population growth. Delhi has double the problem because it has two govts operating from the city.

The US Capital is a separate district called Washington (moving away from New York City and Philadelphia which were earlier capitals). Most people may not have heard of the Australian capital: Canberra. California’s capital is not Los Angeles or San Francisco but Sacramento. New York’s capital is not NYC but Albany. Capital of Illinois is not Chicago but Springfield. The capital of Florida is not Miami, it is Tallahassee. Wherever the new worlds were established, people understand that political activities are best separated from all other activities. Like Europe, India continues to lay a lot of stress on its ancient major cities as capitals but without the infrastructure and hygiene standards of Europe. Secondly, all the countries of Europe put together will not match the population of India.

Therefore, shifting of the political capital to a new complex where all politicians are dumped together will definitely ease the problems of these old, rickety, dilapidated cities. For instance, the recent Maratha agitation for Reservation brought the entire city to a grinding mess and even the HC had to step in to clear this nuisance because politicians will not act against their vote-bank scum. Ahmedabad doesn’t see such nuisance. I guess Indore or Surat too don’t see such political nuisance or agitations. Additionally, the following tough decisions need to be taken and enforced with severe consequences for offenders.

# As stated above, shift political capitals from the old, historic cities to lesser populated towns or build new towns.

# Completely remove all encroachments from roads and footpaths across the city. There should be no exception to this. Almost all suburban roads in Mumbai have shops extended on the footpath to the edge of the road. You have just have to walk down the lanes next to Andheri or Malad stations.

# Ban all SUVs within these metro cities and impose a daily toll on car-users in all the congested areas. London and NYC have such tolls. The toll should be heavy enough to discourage using SUVs. There is no alternative to this. Big trucks and heavy vehicles are already banned in some metros for most of the day.

# It is important NOT to make political Capital cities a nerve-centre of business, manufacturing and financial activities. Small exceptions can be giving smooth access to sea-ports. Offer large incentives to new businesses to start around satellite cities close to the capitals.

# Offer incentives to businesses and factories to shift out of Mumbai (and other capitals too). Many manufacturers in small “Galas” in Mumbai would be happy to shift to Vapi or Daman or Silvassa with lucrative incentives.

# As an extreme step, shift the Bombay Stock Exchange to a nearby smaller town. Dalal Street accounts for a heavy amount of traffic and congestion that Mumbai can no longer afford.

# Round up all residents of new slums created over the last 20 years and send them back to their home-towns if they don’t have a proper, legal residence in the city. Demolish all illegal shops and establishments without any relation to any other crime being committed.

# Stop all new commercial construction projects for a period of 5 years in the first stage. The only exception can be a new commercial building replacing the old one without occupying more space and with all modern features.

The above are some of the ways to reduce population and congestion not only in Mumbai but also other State Capitals that are old, historic cities. There is an EMERGENCY that is hanging over these cities that are facing DEATH. If no dramatic and serious action is taken from now on, these cities will continue to be a LIVING HELL.

Concluded.

Follow on Twitter.

EF Invites Funding For A Major Project

Remit From India      Remit From Outside India