Why India should build more temples?

JAI DUGGAR

 Hello! Toh kaise hain aap sab? Chaliye shuru kartey hain......

I will talk about... the thing that is talk of the town ! That is- Construction. I will talk about how the foundations of new India should be Our foundations are already very strong. Let us talk about the foundation of India and the topic of construction. 

The IITs are the first to cross our minds because the graduates of IITs are working in companies from across the world. They're running the world. Some of them are either the CEOs of the company or the owners of the companies. Next, let us talk about AIIMS- It is said to be the premier medical institution in South Asia Furthermore, there is Bhabha Atomic research Centre, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, DRDO, ISRO- What do I say about ISRO. It keeps even the NASA amazed with its cost efficiency And now even the success rate of ISRO has improved drastically. On top of that, there are dams, power projects etc etc- which Nehru had referred to as the "New Temples of India" at one point of time. And it is not like there are only old, established projects. Even if you consider the new projects, there are several such projects which prove to be a boon for the citizens. Consider it yourself- the gradually burgeoning metros in every city, India becoming a world power in solar power, highest, longest rail bridges and tunnels which require immense technical expertise Along with that, every day some new highway or project or airport is getting inaugurated somewhere or the other. All these things are definitely evident by their foundations that are being placed all around us. But it rarely happens that one single project unites the entire country and makes the citizens feel a sense of pride. In this blog, I will talk about a few such projects.Some new projects from across the world that made the citizens in their respective countries proud and alongside that, took the country on the path of progress. How and what are these projects- Come, let us find out. 

 Let us begin with Finland Oodi- not the Bengali version of Oodi Baba- the Finnish version, meaning ode Looks like the people in Finland still have not caught on the Whatsapp fever. They still read books! In Finland, 68 million books were borrowed in the last year alone! Since they read so much- On the anniversary of the 100th birthday of Finland. The Finnish people deliberated about what special thing they could do for their birthday. So, they gave approval to the Oodi library in Helsinki- which took 100 million Euros to build. It is not just a home for books. The building also houses a cinema and a recording studio. It can be considered as a community centre where people can come read, relax and indulge in conversations. Generally, when a monument is built, its tourist value remains limited. It is always claimed that so many people would come see it, but there's very little positive addition. But in the case of Oodi library, more than 4.5 lakh people came to see the library in the first year itself. The population of Helsinki is around 6-6.5 lakhs. In a way, it could be said that the entire city came to see the library. Three million visitors from across the world came to see this library. So, first of all, it served as a community centre. It benefited the country economically as well. And the progressive sense of the people also got enhanced This is an example of a positive architecture and a positive symbol. The talk does not end here.

 Let us move to point number 2 - and talk about "Palm Jumeirah" in Dubai These Dubai people are bonkers. They insisted on making their homes right in the middle of the ocean In terms of civil engineering, it is nothing short than the 8th Wonder of the World. They have intruded 5 kilometres into the Arabian gulf and made an artificial, man made island that looks like a date palm tree and that was filled with 7 million tons of rock blasted from the nearby Hajar Mountains. So, first of all, a rock bed was made. Then, it was given a shape upon which real estate was built Satellite imagery was used to give a shape to the plot/island. It took 6 years to complete this project at a cost of 12 billion dollars. So, what did that lead to? What did investing in such a mega project  result in? It became a symbol of Dubai with the help of which they began attracting tourists and advertising themselves. Today, there are top hotels, posh apartments, up market, global restaurants and beach clubs there. The DJs play music at nights here too. So, overall, Palm Jumeirah had a huge role to play in making Dubai a global tourist destination Enough of partying, lets now talk about more serious stuff Talking about ITER- International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor which is being built at a cost of 20 billion dollars in France. And no, France is not the only one making it. It is being built with international collaboration between China, European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US. So, what is being done with these 20 billion dollars? They are basically trying to recreate what happens in the sun and what produces sunlight and energy in the sun. When we talk about nuclear energy right now, it relies on "Fission" wherein a heavy chemical element is split to produce lighter ones. Nuclear fusion is its opposite, where lighter elements are combined to make a heavier element. This produces a lot of energy and that too, without much radiation! So, it is also considered safer. But it is a very complicated process because it would require a recreation of the sun's gravitational forces for this This is why, it is a long standing project and is an international collaboration but such mega projects are being carried out in the world People are investing money in it and India is a party to this too. What will this lead to tomorrow? Your petrol bills might come down because when it does become possible- Imagine deriving power from Hydrogen and then we would have access to limitless energy Speaking of limitless energy, there is a country that seeks limitless political power and that country is China.

 The Galwan Valley was just a glimpse into what China is planning on a global scale India is not its only enemy. And along with  Galwan, China wants to occupy the globe as well. The Belt and Road initiative of China, which will take around 50 years to conclude, has a massive role to play in this occupation. In short, Belt and Road initiative is being undertaken by China to recreate its historical  Silk Road and not only by land, but also by the sea this time. There are talks of ultimately 65 countries becoming a part of it- which make 60% of the world's population and 40% of the global GDP. There are 130 countries that have signed an understanding which will help China in spreading its investments all over the world The Belt and road corridor will cost around 1 trillion dollars to make and its estimated end date is around 2050 China is working on such long term plans. We're banning Chinese apps here and China meanwhile, is trying to take over the world. This, very clearly, shows that the "construction philosophy" of China is far too long term for us to see and make sense of right now. And finally, the point number 5 which I would like to mention is not a construction project in a technical term. But there is one man and one company that has out shined the decades long work of both ISRO and NASA- by working at a faster pace than them. That company, of course is SpaceX and the man is Elon Musk. This company is less than 20 years old. But they started manufacturing reusable rockets. The rocket that goes uptil the upper atmosphere, launches the satellite and lands back on earth, so that the rocket can be used again. This concept and visualization is somewhat like a science fiction.. And after that, Elon Musk got support from the government as well Elon Musk recently sent the NASA astronauts to International Space Station in his own rocket and then they were retrieved, absolutely safe and sound. This shows that when the government recognizes a private individual and a private company, and wants to work in collaboration with them. Then it becomes a matter of pride for the country and the country progresses as well. It is extremely interesting that ISRO has now allowed private companies and private participants to now go into space and has allowed them to work in the space field. So, it might be that the next Elon Musk is from India! 

So, let us come back to earth from space and look at how the situations in India at present are I'm talking about pre COVID scenario. After COVID, the entire world is a difficult place. Talking about the pre COVID times, 400-500 of our mega infrastructure projects are running delayed and there are cost over runs Considering this 400-500 statistic, somewhere around 10 lakh crores have been invested in them and their cost over run is around 40-50%, that is 5 lakh crores extra would be used up. Our money- The tax payers' money is being invested in these projects. The problem is that in India, we launch the projects very nicely but are unable to fulfill them. Take for instance- The Dholera project, the Bullet train project, the Navi Mumbai Airport. These are mega projects that have been launched but their completion is nowhere in sight Plus, their cost runs, in most of the cases, goes to them from our pockets. In the end, if I talk about "construction", then a lot of the middle class people that are trying to pay EMIs in the midst of this COVID crisis. There are 1.75 lakh houses in major towns that are yet not completed. No one knows how many such under construction houses there are if the smaller towns are taken into consideration as well. Talking about "construction", the country is in dire need of it. 

The country needs to lay down a new foundation  which takes up these infrastructure projects on a priority basis so that our homes are built on a priority basis and after that, we may even send rockets into space like Elon Musk.What is the world building and what are the things that we should focus upon. There is a  need to lay down a new foundation and take up a new construction wherein infrastructure projects and the housing projects are given priority. Only then, we would be able to say that India is treading on the path to become a superpower nation Irrespective of whether there is public participation or private participation, we need to make this new start. And Ayodhya Ram Mandir, A great win. 

JAI SHREE RAM.

THANK YOU.