It is high time that the smoke screen of Modi’s development in Gujarat is cleared once and for all in as loud a voice as has been intentionally trumpeted to make him the messiah of development. As was uncovered during Arvind’s recent Gujarat visit, there is hardly any development in the life of the common man. Specially in the rural areas, development has not happened to the extent BJP has been touting. If at all, the development model of Gujarat has largely benefited the already rich industrialists. The pertinent question here is: Should ‘development’ be limited only to a few powerful Business houses?? Shouldn’t it be inclusive?? Are large industrial projects that uproot the common man from their farmlands, forest and natural environs, the only way to take the nation forward? The answer is a stern NO!! The kind of development India needs is the one that includes the remotest person in the remotest area – the true dream of Mahatma Gandhi. This will happen when we make that remotest person a partner in this journey of development and not just a recipient of some paltry resettlement / pension amount. Indian development must be done in consonance with the laws of nature. We must have long-term sustainability as the pivot for any economic development activity. Anything that goes against the laws of nature will have a negative repercussion and will not be sustained in the long run. An example is the Uttarakhand tragedy of last year – all new structures that were built ignoring their ill effect of nature were washed away, while the old temple build in harmony with nature survived. Large corporate are not bothered about these issues because they want to make fast bucks, so does the majority of the political class, hence this development nexus and the cacophony!! All across the nation businesses are robbing the country of its natural wealth. There is lack of transparency and massive corruption in allocation of natural resources as unearthed by media and constitutional bodies like the CAG. Merely changing of the ruling dispensation from Congress to the BJP will not change things as Arvind Kejriwal has been explaining. It requires a paradigm shift in governance. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is geared up to present that clean alternative to the Indian populace. It is important that we all stand up and be counted in support of this remarkable people’s movement. Even if we fail to win a large umber of seats in these Lok Sabha Elections, it does not matter. What matters is the fight for the right cause. Unless checked, the politician-corporate nexus will eat up this entire country as it has been doing for decades. Take the KG Gas for example. It is said that there is a lobby that wants India to continue the costly import of foreign gas and that lobby is promoting the attacks over KG gas pricing. It is said that Reliance is doing a great patriotic work by reducing that import burden of the country. So does that mean that Reliance has a right to extort money for this ‘favour’? If the gas extraction costs are around a dollar or two, the company was getting $4 per mmbtu, which was more than enough to sustain. Thanks to Congress, now it will be getting $8. But the story does not end there. As per the latest media report, the oil ministry wants the powers of empowered group of secretaries to be reduced in matters of oil and gas and the ministry wants to usurp more decision making powers. Though Planning Commission has objected to this move, the babus are well-oiled to push this move. Is this to pave the foundation for further increase of prices to $16 per mmbtu. India must not allow this sort of plundering any more. When corporate make thousands of crores and build billion dollar skyscrapers to live, while the common man struggles to get drinking water, health care, toilets, schools, shelter – it does not bode well for the country. It is important to ensure that this disparity is reduced through proper governance that ensures that basic rights of all citizens are protected. AAP is a movement aimed at achieving that!!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:26:36 +0000