'JN NURM'

Wondering what JN NURM is? It is (as usually named after Nehru) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, another flagship mission (Mission Impossible?) of the UPA government. If our urban centres had been properly planned initially, do we need a renewal mission? The name 'renewal' is intimidating by itself! The mission was officially launched today at a project outlay of Rs. 1,00,000 crores (My, I mean taxpayers' money!!) and it claims to provide urban infrastructure and urban services clubbed with corporate governance (ooohh! Great jargons!!)
Today's newspapers carried half-page (Again, My, I mean taxpayers' money!!) ads on the launch of this project and the highlight of those ads were Nehruvian words which go like this "What I should like in regard to every city is a clear plan of what the city will look like; say, twenty or thirty years later"
Another big laughter for me after reading these lines from the father of mockery Nehru (If I were to award a title to Nehru, I shall consciously award him "The man who fcuked Indian Economy"
If he had said these golden lines during his rule, why do we see our cities in such disastrous conditions now? I don't think he created the infrastructure when he was ruling and that it has degraded over the years. It is just that our netas and babus are too good at snob talks but when it comes to delivery they fail utterly.
It is even a big shame to call out cities "Urban" or "Metros". They just lack the critical facilities that ought to be present in a metro city. For example, A metro is supposed to have a well connected transportation system, which links all forms of transports, say Train, Bus, Air etc. Our transport stations are situated in chaotic locations and they offer utter discomfort for the passengers. Another critical factor that affects the "metro" scene is people!! Our people don't deserve any facility to ease their lives. They steal electricity, don't pay taxes properly, amass wealth beyond proportion, even go to the extent of breaking rivers if it may cause danger to the encroachments. Moreover, the recent floods in all our cities should open the ever closed and dead eyes of the men who rule us, and these rains expose how poorly prepared we and the authorities are, to face any natural calamity. With little hope that this mission will succeed (Am not at all a pessimist, but given the handling of such previous projects by our authorities, I am sure that this is another mission impossible (for our netas and babus)). I anyhow, wish this project good luck with great hope attached!