The Idea of Development - Western Perspective v/s Indian Perspective

On Sunday 8 June 2014, Narendra Modi said something to the effect - so far the development work done in the country was with a western perspective, and now he would like to work with an Indian perspective.

He was speaking on the occasion of the launch of the book - Getting India Back on track – An Action Agenda for Reform, and as always, he spoke with great conviction and displayed a very clear vision about the ideas are churning in his mind.

Amongst many of the thinks he said, this one particular line that caught my attention.

And I strongly believe this is the crux of the problem with the Indian development model. 

Most of the development policies of this country, especially, those formed during the last Congress-led regimes have been made by people who had studied the economics related topics from institutes in foreign countries.

It would be safe to assume that during the overseas education, these leaders learnt the benchmarks and scales that have been refined to measure the economic progress of those countries. When referring to  India, these very benchmarks and scales where applied to the Indian scenario without giving adequate consideration to the local variables or conditions.

So naturally when the issues raised were based on alien parameters the solutions were also bound to be based on those very perspectives and hence were not designed to suit or solve our problems as we see them. Though the country may appear to have progressed in financial numbers one notices that the masses are generally not happy with the so-called progress.

Narendra Modi spoke of this in one statement during his speech, I feel he must have thought about this a lot more.



Narendra Modi is a good orator with a great vision for where he would like to take this country in the next decade. I only hope and wish him the best so that his ideas and words are converted into actions and results.

What action was taken against the the Wrong-Doers of Campa Cola Housing Society?

Time and again, there crops up news about builders and developers keep violating regulations and approvals in the structures that erect. All this happens right under the noses of the civic authorities, sometimes even in connivance.

These builders then manage to sell their illegal structures for a huge profit, leaving their innocent consumers to face the music with the civic bodies.

The Campa Cola Housing Society is also an example of one such project. The matter has even been heard by the Supreme Court of India. In the latest development, the people are being made to vacate so that demolishing may be done.

Another project - The Adarsh Building - is also in the limelight for some similar wrong reasons.

Way back in the 90s, several top, illegal floors of Pratibha, another high rise in Mumbai's Peddar Road area, had been demolished for similar reasons.

One common feature in each of these cases is that the builders managed to sell the illegal projects and very little action was taken against the wrong-doers. The major part of the burden of the penalty (the consequences of demolitions and other actions) had to be borne by the residents at these projects.

Very little, almost negligible, action was taken against the builders and promoters - Why?

I wonder, what action has been taken this time against the erring builders and promoters of the Campa Cola Housing Society????????

Some win Some lose

On one side, the Congress party has suspended Bhawarlal Sharma, a MLA from Rajasthan, for expressing his opinion over the causes of his party's miserable performance in the recently concluded General Elections 2014.

On the other side we have, BJP leadership including Narendra Modi that is encouraging its cadre and even the general public to highlight the failures of the party if it fails to perform. Today, Narendra Modi and his party leaders visited BJP office to interact and thank the party workers for their endless efforts and dedication that led to the party's victory.

What a contrast?

Mein, Narendra Damodardas Modi, ... - Finally we have our 15th Prime Minister

Mein, Narendra Damodardas Modi, ...

These were the words we had waited for and these were finally said by Narendra Modi when he was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy.

President of India Pranab Mukherjee appointed, Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India and as advised by the Prime Minister, the President appointed the following ministers and administered the oath of office and secrecy to all of them.

CABINET MINISTERS

1. Raj Nath Singh
2. Smt. Sushma Swaraj
3. Arun Jaitley
4. M. Venkaiah Naidu
5. Nitin Jairam Gadkari
6. D.V. Sadananda Gowda
7. Sushri Uma Bharati
8. Dr. Najma A. Heptulla
9. Gopinathrao Munde
10. Ramvilas Paswan
11. Kalraj Mishra
12. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
13. Ananthkumar
14. Ravi Shankar Prasad
15. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati
16. Anant Geete
17. Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
18. Narendra Singh Tomar
19. Jual Oram
20. Radha Mohan Singh
21. Thaawar Chand Gehlot
22. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
23. Dr. Harsh Vardhan

MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

1. General V.K. Singh
2. Inderjit Singh Rao
3. Santosh Kumar Gangwar
4. Shripad Yesso Naik
5. Dharmendra Pradhan
6. Sarbananda Sonowal
7. Prakash Javadekar
8. Piyush Goyal
9. Dr. Jitendra Singh
10. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

MINISTERS OF STATE

1. G.M. Siddeshwara
2. Manoj Sinha
3. Nihalchand
4. Upendra Kushwaha
5. Radhakrishnan P
6. Kiren Rijiju
7. Krishan Pal
8. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
9. Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava
10. Raosaheb Dadarao Danve
11. Vishnu Deo Sai
12. Sudarshan Bhagat

Now one last step remains before the new Government can get to work, and that is the announcement of the portfolios of the ministers.