India is great indeed. Recently you might have heard about the resignation of Maharashtra Chief minister Ashok Chavan amidst the controversies of his involvement in multi-crore Adarsh society housing scandals. Apparently the Maharashtra government allotted the land to the builders without proper approval from environmental ministry and beyond that, the flats which were meant for the family members of Kargil war heroes, the politicians and few corrupted defense top people shared among themselves. This became such a huge issue that the ruling party had to sack the chief minister and replace him with his successor Prithviraj Chavan. This is one story which is quite acceptable. But the same Congress government which sacked Maharashtra Chief minister is now defending another minister who is involved in so called 2G spectrum scam. The Adarsh society scam might have involved maximum of thousand crores, but this 2G scam involves an unbelievably huge 1.7 Lac Crores. Yes, I am talking about telecom minister A Raja. In terms of the public money involved in this scam, if Ashok Chavan deserved resignation, this guy should deserve public execution. I don't know where are those people now, who were shouting against the Commonwealth Games (CWG) saying the money (around 78 thousand crores if I am not mistaken) spent on the games could have been used for the cause of poor people. Although CWG was also hit by multi crore corruption, it was not as bad as this 2G scam. At least success of CWG could build a better image of India in the global stage. There should be huge public rage against such corrupted politicians like A Raja, and they should not just be sacked down from the current post, but should be given severe punishment.
The second part of Jai Ho is regarding construction of dams. India is very well known for throwing poor people out of their lands without giving enough compensation to construct dams. Narmada Bachao Andolan led by social activists Medha Patkar is one of the best example. Constructing dams, highways is no offense, provided the poor people who sacrifice their lands are given good enough compensation. In a country where one politician can lead a scam of 1 lac crores is it a big deal? Certainly not. India is currently building around 100 dams in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The river Brahmaputra as well as most of its tributaries which flow across Arunachal come down to Assam, the neighboring state. And, you can imagine how these dams are going to change the eco-system in the entire state of Assam. The Government is saying dams are needed to control floods whereas people who have done study on it are saying the height of the dams are above the danger limit and if these dams start operating, it will bring terrible danger to the state of Assam. There is a huge public agitation going on across the state of Assam nowadays but it seems the state as well as the central government are completely indifferent to the concerns of the people of Assam. There was a committee composed of Professors from IIT Guwahati and Gauhati University to study the impact of dams in Arunachal on neighboring states like Assam. They gave a green signal to the dams based on their incomplete study, but according to Prof Shivaji Rao, the heights of the dams are still questionable http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1978 . There was also a news that the government gave a bribe of around 30 lacs to the professors in the report committee to give a green signal to the dams. Today I have seen another terrible news that now the central government is proposing 10 huge dams in the neighboring country Bhutan completely ignoring the outcomes of such dams in hill states on the plain regions of neighboring state Assam. This same government which is designing blue-print to destroy one state by constructing dams in another state, makes too much hue and cry when China attempts to build dams in Tibet on the river Brahmaputra as well as other small rivers which flow down to North East India. This does not make any sense at all to me. No matter who builds the dams, equal number of Indians will be affected by them. Anyway the way things happen in this country is beyond my imagination all the time. Jai Ho once again!
The second part of Jai Ho is regarding construction of dams. India is very well known for throwing poor people out of their lands without giving enough compensation to construct dams. Narmada Bachao Andolan led by social activists Medha Patkar is one of the best example. Constructing dams, highways is no offense, provided the poor people who sacrifice their lands are given good enough compensation. In a country where one politician can lead a scam of 1 lac crores is it a big deal? Certainly not. India is currently building around 100 dams in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The river Brahmaputra as well as most of its tributaries which flow across Arunachal come down to Assam, the neighboring state. And, you can imagine how these dams are going to change the eco-system in the entire state of Assam. The Government is saying dams are needed to control floods whereas people who have done study on it are saying the height of the dams are above the danger limit and if these dams start operating, it will bring terrible danger to the state of Assam. There is a huge public agitation going on across the state of Assam nowadays but it seems the state as well as the central government are completely indifferent to the concerns of the people of Assam. There was a committee composed of Professors from IIT Guwahati and Gauhati University to study the impact of dams in Arunachal on neighboring states like Assam. They gave a green signal to the dams based on their incomplete study, but according to Prof Shivaji Rao, the heights of the dams are still questionable http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1978 . There was also a news that the government gave a bribe of around 30 lacs to the professors in the report committee to give a green signal to the dams. Today I have seen another terrible news that now the central government is proposing 10 huge dams in the neighboring country Bhutan completely ignoring the outcomes of such dams in hill states on the plain regions of neighboring state Assam. This same government which is designing blue-print to destroy one state by constructing dams in another state, makes too much hue and cry when China attempts to build dams in Tibet on the river Brahmaputra as well as other small rivers which flow down to North East India. This does not make any sense at all to me. No matter who builds the dams, equal number of Indians will be affected by them. Anyway the way things happen in this country is beyond my imagination all the time. Jai Ho once again!
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