9 ms·

> As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years I agree the previous Governments never did act on their plans. I find a lot of difference

> As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years I agree the previous Governments never did act on their plans. I find a lot of difference between them and the current Government when it comes to desire, commitment and execution. Take Highways for instance. Rapid construction across the country. In 2014, when Modi came to power, it was 4260 km per year. In 2018, 10800 kms of highways were built. Almost 2.5x. In 2020 the Government has set a target of 60 km per day which is 21900 km which it is already on the path of achieving. One thing cannot be denied is that this Government is pushing all boundaries possible to get India on track. Yes it fails in some (demonetization) and wins in most but at least there is no policy paralysis like in the UPA era.

denzil_correa 6y ago
> Yes it fails in some (demonetization) and wins in most but at least there is no policy paralysis like in the UPA era. This is OP's personal perception and opinion of the current and the former government.
- kumarharsh 6y ago
  Aren't all of us here just writing our opinions unless backed by research articles?
- wobbly_bush 6y ago
  Not OP, but those are well known facts. Quick Google search would show dozens of articles from multiple sources of media.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
actuator 6y ago
I have backpacked through one of the regions where some of the construction you are talking about is going on. In one of the Himalayan states, one of their ambitious highway projects has caused destruction with little benefit to the local populace and far negative consequences to the terrain and environment. Pursuing development is good but it shouldn't come at the cost of destroying your ecology and environment, specially the fragile ones. So I would hold my judgement on the effectiveness and vision of the current establishment. I tried searching for the issues once I came back but I was surprised how less effort was given in the country's English media to cover this. With the amount of publications that seemingly are there, I would have assumed this to be covered extensively and researched. I would add that I am not against the improvement in connectivity, the Himalayas are beautiful. There are far better ways to improve connectivity which keeps the beauty of the areas preserved. It would have taken more time and money but the dividends would have been more. I will leave some blog posts I found on the issue for reference; hopefully someone acts on this horrific "development" going on. [1] https://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2018/09/24/highway-project-poses-grave-danger-to-garhwal-himalayas/ https://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2018/09/24/highway-project-... [2]https://sandrp.in/2020/02/24/uttarakhand-road-widening-work-in-almora-damages-traditional-water-sources/ https://sandrp.in/2020/02/24/uttarakhand-road-widening-work-... [3] https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/scorched-earth-uttarakhand-s-road-to-wildlife-destruction-117041800034_1.html https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/sc...
- Retric 6y ago
  If you happen to be standing near a highway sure it’s ugly, but they have minimal impact on low population density areas.
  - actuator 6y ago
    I am not sure about that, few of the issues I saw was - inconsiderate cutting/blasting in landslide prone areas. - destruction of vegetation by throwing away the waste/debris from the cutting/blasting downhill which covers the slope. [1] - non disposal of the same waste impacting river flow paths and debris narrowing the river bed There are far more issues relating to local population and ecology which have been documented. [1] I have photos of my own but this also represents the conditions there quite well. https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/naalupani.jpeg https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/naal...
    - Retric 6y ago
      Again that’s from standing next to a highway, try and work out the percentage of land being covered by highways in that region. They are highlighted on maps and travelers tend to spend a lot of time on them, but they don’t actually cover that much surface area compared to local roads, houses, etc.
      - actuator 6y ago
        Sure, the area of highways is less but the impact is not localised. If you see the articles that I had quoted in my original comment, two of them mention impacts which bubble up to other areas as well. Also, it is not necessary that even area around highways has to be an eyesore/badly degraded. Mountainous roads are some of the most beautiful paths to travel on and there are plenty of examples where construction has happened keeping that in perspective.
- shripadk 6y ago
  I am not disputing that there might be some bad ecological impact of road construction projects. I bet such issues exist in every part of the World where development is taking place. Here is a list of all the Highway revolts that took place in United States alone for various environmental violations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_... The numbers are staggering in comparison to what violations happen in India. But still I am not justifying it by saying that it should continue to happen. I am just saying that these issues exist everywhere and there is no point singling out India for this. And those 20,000+ kms highways are not built in Himalayas alone but in the entire Country. But yes, I understand and share your concern that ecology must not be affected for any project whatsoever and will 100% support you on that point. I just wish that people take things holistically when it comes to any project that happens in India in the same way you would take projects that happen in your own countries. After all, India has to develop and for that to happen you have to clear out land, build roads, construct buildings, dams etc. It can't happen on virgin soil. Something has to be removed for the development to happen. Isn't it? If you have an alternate way of going about it please suggest.
sa1 6y ago
In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] In 2019, the govt stopped building highways at the first sign of economic distress.[2] 1: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to-measure-length-of-highways-from-april-1/story-Q44qGgFzl4DsAPv5OIG0YI.html https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to... 2: https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-suggestion-to-nhai-stop-building-roads-sell-assets-through-an-invit-1566619682822.html https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-sugge...
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago
  While that juices the numbers conveniently, aren't the vast majority of India's roads still two-lane? And as the article notes, building 4 lanes costs more than twice the price building two lanes.
  - sa1 6y ago
    Yeah, I've no problem with the measure itself, but so far I haven't seen accurate comparisons across governments that normalise these figures. Neither from the government nor the pliant media. The vast majority of Indians live in a media bubble.
  - guiltygods 6y ago
    Unless you are talking about legacy roads where coverage was more important. All current highways and expressways are multilane and built according to international standards.
- shripadk 6y ago
  > In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] Did you actually read the article? It was changed to meet International Standards on how lanes are measured. What is wrong with it? The old numbers were revised to the new definition too. It doesn't change the facts. Just because the old Governments weren't following International Standards doesn't mean the new Government continues to do the same. This is actually more transparent as we know exactly what is the cost needed to build 1 lane of a highway as opposed to masking the actual costs by saying 1 lane actually equals 2 or 4 lanes.
puranjay 6y ago
As another commenter mentioned, they changed the definition of how highway lengths are calculated. Stunts like these is what makes me sceptical of government claims (being sceptical of governments, imo, is necessary for democracy). You have to read the fine print of every statistic. I agree that there is no more policy paralysis. But I will also say that there is a lack of follow through of initial plans. This government is a lot like a new entrepreneur - you have tons of great new ideas and lots of energy. But you keep trying out new ideas instead of focusing on one single thing. The government needs to pick one agenda and go all out on it. I hopeful that they'll see the pandemic as an opportunity to push local manufacturing and will go all out on it.
yemkay 6y ago
Only thing great about the current Indian government is their PR. BharatNet was launched on 25 October 2011 (previous government), to connect all the villages in India through Optical Fibre network. The deadline for the completion has extended several times and the last deadline was March 2020. By today's announcement, the deadline is extended by 3 more years!

denzil_correa 6y ago

> Yes it fails in some (demonetization) and wins in most but at least there is no policy paralysis like in the UPA era. This is OP's personal perception and opinion of the current and the former government.

kumarharsh 6y ago
Aren't all of us here just writing our opinions unless backed by research articles?
wobbly_bush 6y ago
Not OP, but those are well known facts. Quick Google search would show dozens of articles from multiple sources of media.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

actuator 6y ago

I have backpacked through one of the regions where some of the construction you are talking about is going on. In one of the Himalayan states, one of their ambitious highway projects has caused destruction with little benefit to the local populace and far negative consequences to the terrain and environment. Pursuing development is good but it shouldn't come at the cost of destroying your ecology and environment, specially the fragile ones. So I would hold my judgement on the effectiveness and vision of the current establishment. I tried searching for the issues once I came back but I was surprised how less effort was given in the country's English media to cover this. With the amount of publications that seemingly are there, I would have assumed this to be covered extensively and researched. I would add that I am not against the improvement in connectivity, the Himalayas are beautiful. There are far better ways to improve connectivity which keeps the beauty of the areas preserved. It would have taken more time and money but the dividends would have been more. I will leave some blog posts I found on the issue for reference; hopefully someone acts on this horrific "development" going on. [1] https://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2018/09/24/highway-project-poses-grave-danger-to-garhwal-himalayas/ https://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2018/09/24/highway-project-... [2]https://sandrp.in/2020/02/24/uttarakhand-road-widening-work-in-almora-damages-traditional-water-sources/ https://sandrp.in/2020/02/24/uttarakhand-road-widening-work-... [3] https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/scorched-earth-uttarakhand-s-road-to-wildlife-destruction-117041800034_1.html https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/sc...

Retric 6y ago
If you happen to be standing near a highway sure it’s ugly, but they have minimal impact on low population density areas.
- actuator 6y ago
  I am not sure about that, few of the issues I saw was - inconsiderate cutting/blasting in landslide prone areas. - destruction of vegetation by throwing away the waste/debris from the cutting/blasting downhill which covers the slope. [1] - non disposal of the same waste impacting river flow paths and debris narrowing the river bed There are far more issues relating to local population and ecology which have been documented. [1] I have photos of my own but this also represents the conditions there quite well. https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/naalupani.jpeg https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/naal...
  - Retric 6y ago
    Again that’s from standing next to a highway, try and work out the percentage of land being covered by highways in that region. They are highlighted on maps and travelers tend to spend a lot of time on them, but they don’t actually cover that much surface area compared to local roads, houses, etc.
    - actuator 6y ago
      Sure, the area of highways is less but the impact is not localised. If you see the articles that I had quoted in my original comment, two of them mention impacts which bubble up to other areas as well. Also, it is not necessary that even area around highways has to be an eyesore/badly degraded. Mountainous roads are some of the most beautiful paths to travel on and there are plenty of examples where construction has happened keeping that in perspective.
shripadk 6y ago
I am not disputing that there might be some bad ecological impact of road construction projects. I bet such issues exist in every part of the World where development is taking place. Here is a list of all the Highway revolts that took place in United States alone for various environmental violations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_... The numbers are staggering in comparison to what violations happen in India. But still I am not justifying it by saying that it should continue to happen. I am just saying that these issues exist everywhere and there is no point singling out India for this. And those 20,000+ kms highways are not built in Himalayas alone but in the entire Country. But yes, I understand and share your concern that ecology must not be affected for any project whatsoever and will 100% support you on that point. I just wish that people take things holistically when it comes to any project that happens in India in the same way you would take projects that happen in your own countries. After all, India has to develop and for that to happen you have to clear out land, build roads, construct buildings, dams etc. It can't happen on virgin soil. Something has to be removed for the development to happen. Isn't it? If you have an alternate way of going about it please suggest.

sa1 6y ago

In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] In 2019, the govt stopped building highways at the first sign of economic distress.[2] 1: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to-measure-length-of-highways-from-april-1/story-Q44qGgFzl4DsAPv5OIG0YI.html https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to... 2: https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-suggestion-to-nhai-stop-building-roads-sell-assets-through-an-invit-1566619682822.html https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-sugge...

9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago
While that juices the numbers conveniently, aren't the vast majority of India's roads still two-lane? And as the article notes, building 4 lanes costs more than twice the price building two lanes.
- sa1 6y ago
  Yeah, I've no problem with the measure itself, but so far I haven't seen accurate comparisons across governments that normalise these figures. Neither from the government nor the pliant media. The vast majority of Indians live in a media bubble.
- guiltygods 6y ago
  Unless you are talking about legacy roads where coverage was more important. All current highways and expressways are multilane and built according to international standards.
shripadk 6y ago
> In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] Did you actually read the article? It was changed to meet International Standards on how lanes are measured. What is wrong with it? The old numbers were revised to the new definition too. It doesn't change the facts. Just because the old Governments weren't following International Standards doesn't mean the new Government continues to do the same. This is actually more transparent as we know exactly what is the cost needed to build 1 lane of a highway as opposed to masking the actual costs by saying 1 lane actually equals 2 or 4 lanes.

puranjay 6y ago

As another commenter mentioned, they changed the definition of how highway lengths are calculated. Stunts like these is what makes me sceptical of government claims (being sceptical of governments, imo, is necessary for democracy). You have to read the fine print of every statistic. I agree that there is no more policy paralysis. But I will also say that there is a lack of follow through of initial plans. This government is a lot like a new entrepreneur - you have tons of great new ideas and lots of energy. But you keep trying out new ideas instead of focusing on one single thing. The government needs to pick one agenda and go all out on it. I hopeful that they'll see the pandemic as an opportunity to push local manufacturing and will go all out on it.

yemkay 6y ago

Only thing great about the current Indian government is their PR. BharatNet was launched on 25 October 2011 (previous government), to connect all the villages in India through Optical Fibre network. The deadline for the completion has extended several times and the last deadline was March 2020. By today's announcement, the deadline is extended by 3 more years!