Monday, August 20, 2007

Setu Samundaram...why so much noise...

The other day I had a big argument with Rashmy (my wife) on sethu samundaram. For god's sake they are just dredging the water way, so that bigger ships can cross the Gulf of Mannar and India can save money ,fuel and time etc which is being wasted by either traveling around Srilanka or by unloading in Colombo and then loading to smaller ships for passage to India. This project can be compared to the Panama Canal for south India. The economic benefit coming from this project would benefit Tamil Nadu and so Tamilians should be in the forefront of this project. Tamilians are generally for progress, but this is not the case here.

Local and national politicians with nothing better to do have raised many objections (objections which will mysteriously disappear when they will be in the ruling coalition) and are stirring up local opposition saying that this was a bridge built by Ram, others are saying this was built by Adam. I don't think Sri Ram would be very worried if the dredging happens, for the project will help his subjects in south India. Same for Adam, why would the first man hinder progress of his sons and daughters?

Lets change this attitude of NIMB( Not in my backyard) else no progress will happen in India. As India is a very old civilization, everything is sacred and removing dirt (in this case) or building (power plants, factories etc) will not happen as the cost becomes prohibitive due to this kind of artificial strife.

Nehru was correct when he said,
"Religion has not only broken our backs but stifled and almost killed all originality of thought or mind".


3 comments:

Rachu said...

You mean to say that this is only method by which India can save money, fuel and time?

India still cries for the loss of Babri masjid, which was again related to religion and a historic monument. Why do government aim on historic monuments which always comes with a guarantee of political disputes?

We have better things to do like conquering its main problem of population control and the poverty that it creates, corrupted democracy, peace between Indian and Pak, terrorism, cleanliness in villages, education, brain drain etc.

Srilanka has already started protesting. Does India mean to include Srilanka also into the enemy list along with Pakistan? India has already invested Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) which is estimated to go above Rs.5, 000 crores and has already paved way to yet another political massacre.

Dredging the seabed may affect water currents, marine life, corals and the livelihoods of fishermen.The fishing grounds will be destroyed making fishermen who use these areas for their living without a livelihood. This will kill the trade in shells that has a turnover of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) per annum. Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected.

Does development mean rendering millions homeless, so that a few hundreds have high flying life?

Let us do something (in OUR APARTMENT rather than taking it to BACKYARD) to sort basic problems first and then move on to complex bridges so that all sections of our society benefit from it.

Government should not allow it to become another issue affecting public sensitivities.
This present project only destroys Ram Setu. Governement can think of other routes to solve the problem.

"True righteousness is heavenly in source and direction, but wickedness always
tends downward to destruction.....""- RASHMY ( Your wife)

Unknown said...

At this very moment, we should think logically what is more imp for us, our economy or our religious monument?

If you are going to save your money, your time and especially your natural resources like fuel....then it's so obvious that your should go and make that canal asap.

And as far as savings are concerned, at any point, you can start saving your single penny, drop of fuel, moment of time ...and remember not only you are going to benefited by this, but your children (their future) too.

We should always keep in mind that it's our moral responsibility to aware our next generations about our history and religion. I really don't think preserving these monuments going to help us in future.

One should look forward; what exactly our FUTURE needs form our PRESENT by keeping our PAST in our mind.

Anonymous said...

Roshan, Good whatever you have written, its all correct. But, whatever Nehru has written about religion is not at all right and neither your reference in this context is proper. I am sorry to say, it needs a different quotient to understand religion, the Indian one in particular. Please don't mind but, this is incomplete knowledge speaking out. And Please don't mind my straightforwardness. We can discuss.