A large democracy, second largest in population, leader in art & culture are mere facets, which holds our head high as esteemed Indians in the global outfit. Multiple Indian born Nobel Laureates ignite our pride. Indira Nooyi as Chief of Pepsi or Vikram Pandit as Chief of Citibank define the tremendous success of entrepreneurial and managerial skill reinforcing the worth of Indians at the top most level worldwide. This is justified again by mentioning that Laxmi Mittal is reckoned as the reigning Steel King of the world!

Indians have always been proud of their sheer intelligence and inherited intellect. It is the constructive application of these very qualities that literally rock the world today.

Though India is yet to achieve the status of a developed country, Indians are known to prove time and again to pave a proper direction even for the leaders of the most advanced nations. A little glimpse of supporting data suggest that statistically as many as 12% scientist and 38% doctors in the United States are Indians while NASA has a 36% niche carved out for us which translates to an awesome figure that 4 out of every 10 scientists worldwide are Indian. Incredibly even the software empire at the illusive Silicon Valley in the US is predominated by Indians. The phenomenal success of Indians has been recognized by software giants Microsoft and IBM.

The revealing data shows an amazing 34% of the total employees of Microsoft are Indians while 28% Indians bear the IBM tag. Among other leading brands Intel has preferred to fill its ranks by 17% Indians and Xerox has a clear 13% ratio for us.

Some interesting statistics for the inquisitive minds. In the field of Education, Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) with millions of students has got the crown of being the largest open University in the world. Indians are in the prime slot of ornamental richness with a commendable contribution of 20% revealing their foppish fancy. Diamonds are cut, polished and set into immaculate jewelery and hence 9 out of every 10 diamonds in the world are made in India!
The irony is that these instances of achievements come mostly from the metros or cities of developing India. You can plunge into hi-speed traffic over glittering fly overs in the comfort of air conditioned vehicles only in a very limited number of cities in India. Broadband, Leased Lines have opened up the gateway to the dynamic world to a city inhabitant only. Indian Railways run their Metro services only in Kolkata and Delhi. You can even pamper yourself at a nightclub to rave and rant wildly only within the enclaves of prestigious clubs and drown yourselves in drinks at pubs dotting the metropolitan cities of India.

Brushing aside all such comfort, luxury and even the hard earned achievements of the city dewellers the lifeline of India still owes it’s root to the villages.

The villages of India bear resemblance to the spinal chord of a human body that remains to be the nerve center while the limbs being the metros. Limbs help in keeping the body functional by actually working while each activity is controlled and monitored by the spinal chord.

For example a glittering diamond encrusted wrist watch can be the icon in a mid-night party but it hardly satiates one’s appetite for which one needs to bank on agricultural products that are produced in our villages, remaining the backbone of our country’s economy.

Our key exports are still agricultural products like rice, grains, fruits, flowers, oils, sugar, spices and tea which add significantly to our country’s influx of wealth. The crux is that we hardly pay homage to the people who reasonably contribute to the improvisation of agriculture unfortunately remaining unhonored and unsung. The Indian scientist who have been recognized internationally towards agricultural research hardly get the same acknowledgment and fame among their own brothers in their own community. It is only reinstated by the the myth that a Prophet is not honored in his own country.

The fact of life remains that the highly talked of IT sector is not the only industry in the world. The glamor of high returns, fabulous pay packages and enormous employment opportunities create the illusion of IT orientation that edges out the propagation of a lot of other equally productive sectors that may have proven to be beneficial from the Indian context formulated during Nehru Era which gave rise to making of five-year plans. Most of the problems arising out of pollution, water crisis, global warming and poor traffic conditions in Metros are the result of our continuous metro centric mind set.

The exuberant focus on metros have diluted some basic norms and ethics. The recent past has witnessed farmers selling away their fertile lands even to the builders without proper valuation to realize its true potential.

When the actual metro city is becoming over populated, we are extending the metros into suburbs somehow, even by encroaching upon the golden land repleting the most desired greenery that abounds freely. Even the environmentalist hardly bother to calculate the actual number of trees sacrificed at the alter of sheltering more and more inhabitants every day of the year. The age old plan of improving and developing crucial industries in the country resulting in an incredible socio-economic growth of the surrounding locality in general and the country as a whole. As for example we can talk of the steel plants which could have brought in sizable investment through collaboration and partnership, but they instead focused on the overall growth of the locality by building a solid infrastructure, developing concerned village after village, which simultaneously opened up a scope of enormous employment. We must recall that all these were developed in the places like Bhilai, Rourkela, Tatanagar and Durgapur at a point of time when they used to be considered mostly villages and even today their status falls short when compared to the stature of the glamorous metros.

The short term gain and glitz at times lures us too much absolving us from the basic philosophy that industrialization is one of the key pillars for growth of any country.

We must NOT deny the well accepted truth that if an Industry commences around a rural locality the status of a village spirals to a town through a steady process of development transforming into a city. Hence what follow suit are that the entire environs emit the amenities of an urban locale like networked roads fit for transit, schools for upbringing of children, market places, multiplexes, hospitals, shopping malls and a transportation system to name a few essentials during the course of time. I mean to say that the whole structure of the village will undergo a sea change over a period of time to metamorphosis into a city. One big industry gives rise to number of small industries as ancillary units. Today, the glamor of IT sector focus only on Metros.

A very pertinent question arises as to why new IITs are to be constructed only in Metros or big towns? Can’t we construe about selecting an under-developed village with huge surplus land unfit for agriculture to bring up a new IIT or Medical Institute or even an University?

Just how can the perimeter of distance or location from a true urban locale act as hindrance for the young aspiring to be India’s mind and eyes of the future?

Let me take the opportunity to clear the ambiguity. We don’t have the intention of criticizing or undermining any industry in particular, rather the initiative is to send sum total of culminating opinions to the decision makers. We obviously want to emphasize on the crucial role of the villages in overall growth of the nation.

We must raise the voice against the unnecessary movement of the masses from their roots in village onto metros merely for the dangling carrots of awe offered by metros.

Cities having reached their threshold limit resemble a fully ripe SuperNova ready to explode.
Why can’t we think of an alternative way which will raise public interest among the private sectors to move to the villages instead of opting for the saturated metros? We must be passionate enough to listen to their genuine grievances and try to mitigate them through a systematic approach. As for example the main reason which repels corporates to venture out to villages are infrastructural lacuna like roadways, transportations and energy supplies etc. A proper strategic planning ensured by Planning Commissions can focus at providing such basic amenities even in remote villages thus enabling corporates to consider a village as a true alternative of a metro in the long run.

Right here, we need to appreciate the courage of Laxmi Mittal who initiated an unprecedented process by starting off a refinery in a much lesser known district Bhatinda of Punjab. The Laxmi Mittal Bhatinda act needs to be backed and replicated by other heavy weight Indians and NRIs alike to bring about a watershed so as to attract other ancillaries that will witness investment in thousands of Crores bringing up a radical change in next three years.

I feel like touching upon one very important aspect which is otherwise not related with industrial growth but has got an important relevance towards modernization ie. Transport System in Metros. You may come with any number of BRT, Road Widening, Flyovers, Metro Rail, etc. but still the solution will be there in the form of a mass transport system. Look at Delhi which has already got a proper rail network since last 3 to 4 decades touching the Ring Road, but the same is not connected with buses and there is a significant lack of public awareness. Have you heard of Dhaula Kuan Road Railway Station or Lodhi Road Railway Station, all are in the same way and you can easily cover the entire Delhi by a circular journey.

You do not find passengers in these trains. When your car stop at railway crossing, then only you watch good trains to run with utter annoyance.

Thus history repeats itself and even if we talk of metro railway, it lacks the modern outlook. I think the Ring Road would have been better converted into an elevated Metro Route in a phased manner. Similarly in Bombay you have Marol Pipeline catering the water requirement of the entire city. It flows from one reservoir to another by channels. It is properly guarded, well maintained, covers the entire Bombay and suburbs having proper space. Then why can not we think of a tube rail above it?

The problem is that when we go to Singapore, Switzerland or other places for studying or analyzing the transport system, we certainly forget about the population and the vehicle density over there. We just get carried away by looking at the surprising co-existence of Tram, Local Bus and Metro, running on the same road and that too astonishingly without any traffic jam. Let us appreciate that these countries are just like a city of India, if we go by the population density.

To summarize, lastly, I would like to say that the Industrial growth of our country still needs to be studied in three tiers. We can not forget Gandhian thoughts. The milk was important and will remain important for which cows, buffaloes, goats and camels are required. You can’t deviate. Therefore, villages are necessary as well as villagers. Farmers and other people living in the village need to be given importance. We must not hide that the poverty is still prevalent. Therefore in the first tier, manufacture of handmade articles and small scale industries should be promoted. The earthen pots and crockery made in the villages should be highly encouraged rather than planning their extinction. The government should provide adequate subsidy to promote the handicraft. The second tier of industrialization should touch upon the ancillary units which manufacture smaller machine parts required for the big industries. The use of cycle needs to be increased and encouraged.

I have seen even in a progressive country like Switzerland and Singapore people love to ride a bicycle in the clearly designated cycle lanes . Why can’t we have dedicated cycle lanes even in Metros, which will take 1/5th of the space earmarked for BRT?

The third tier does not require my suggestion or recommendation because we are already doing it. Look at the multistory buildings, BPOs, Factories in the Metros.

We, the Indians need to think again and again as it is our villages that portray India in a microcosm.

Let’s go away from these Metros to create new mini Metros in our villages which ARE still the heartthrob of the majority of Indians and the hard fact is that we are dependent on them not only for food and milk, but we also inherit the true Indian cultural from them only!

Author:

Prof. Dewakar Goel
A Poet, Writer, Singer, Professor and a Senior Executive in Govt. Sector
Email: dewakargoel14@gmail.com
Mobile: 09868887070