Grand Projects
Modi Has Made a 'Kashi Vishvanath Mall', Not Mandir, Says the Temple's Mahant | UP Elections 2022 Mar 1, 2022
In an interview to The Wire's Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Rajendra Prasad Tiwari, mahant of the Kashi Vishvanath temple in Varanasi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of making a business out of religion. Kashi is a place of devotion (saadhana), not money-making (saadhan), he says
Some questions, but no contest in Narendra Modi’s Varanasi https://www.livemint.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections/some-questions-but-no-contest-in-narendra-modi-s-varanasi-1558033740946.html 17 May 2019
Several citizens of Varanasi are apprehensive about the Kashi-Vishwanath Corridor project. (Pradeep Gaur/Mint) https://www.livemint.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections/some-questions-but-no-contest-in-narendra-modi-s-varanasi-1558033740946.html
Being undertaken at a cost of ₹600 crore, the project is clearing an estimated 4.6 hectares around the city’s most important temple to create dedicated pathways to ease congestion and improve facilities for pilgrims.
The project has also antagonized a section of Modi’s core constituency, the Brahmins. Rajendra Tiwari, the former mahant of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, for one, is upset. “This corridor has been an attack on our cultural heritage just so that some people could bring their cars right up to the temple," he says.
Tiwari’s long-drawn campaign against the corridor, however, fizzled out when the courts did not entertain his public interest litigation. “This project is killing the identity of Kashi," he says, adding that not all of the 300,000 Brahmin votes in Varanasi will go to Modi this time.
Tiwari is not the only priest vocal about his displeasure with Modi. The mahant of Sankat Mochan temple, Vishambhar Nath Mishra, says there have only been cosmetic changes in the city in the last five years.
A flashy theme park’: outcry over Modi’s plans for the Gandhi ashram https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/a-flashy-theme-park-outcry-over-modis-plans-for-the-gandhi-ashram Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Ahmedabad 25 Feb 2022
The site Mahatma Gandhi lived at during 1917-30 is getting a very costly makeover many think is meant to distort his legacy
a grandiose plan by the government to redevelop the site into a “world class tourist destination” at a staggering cost of 12bn rupees (£117m). Descendants of Gandhi, historians, scholars, Gandhian institutions and lifelong ashram residents have accused the government, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, of attempting to co-opt and politicise Gandhi’s legacy to suit their own Hindu nationalist agenda and turning the Sabarmati ashram into a flashy Gandhi “theme park”.
over the decades the ashram has fallen victim to the pressures of urbanisation. Its once sprawling 48-hectare (120 acre) grounds have been eroded to around two hectares and busy four-lane road was built through it. The surrounding area became filled with ramshackle housing, concrete hotels, roadside restaurants and garish shops selling cheap tourist wares. Squatters moved into the residential areas and businesses incompatible with Gandhi’s teaching – a cow artificial insemination centre being one – were set up in the ashram grounds.
Under their new development plan – which unusually is being run directly from the prime minister’s office – the ashram site will be expanded to 20 hectares, given a sleek makeover with new Gandhi museums and monuments erected and other structures knocked down.
Yet the government has faced considerable criticism over a lack of transparency for the redevelopment, including the unilateral appointment of Modi’s favoured architect for all his flagship projects, and lack of consultation with Gandhi scholars and institutions.
The redevelopment has also faced criticism over the decision to evict the 400 or so families living in the ashram grounds, some whom are descendants of the Dalit families brought there by Gandhi himself. Gandhi left explicit instructions that these families should be allowed to stay in perpetuity and that the ashram should for ever work for the uplift of Dalits, the lowest in India’s caste system who were referred to as “untouchables” in Gandhi’s time.
For almost two years, the residents protested against their eviction but now over half have accepted what the government described as a “generous” package: either 6 million rupees compensation, or a new four-bedroom high-rise apartment.
K-Rail | 'Citizens have a Right to Know before a Right to Go': Professionals write to CM https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/k-rail-citizens-have-a-right-to-know-before-a-right-to-go-professionals-write-to-cm-1.6362230 Jan 15, 2022, ......
The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has attracted flak for its first major infrastructure project after resuming power in Kerala. the project would require acquiring 1,383 hectares of land, including wetlands, forest areas, backwater regions, residential areas with a high density of population, rice fields and existing building spaces.
According to environmentalist RVG Menon:“The line will not benefit those who live in the state’s eastern hilly areas, but would impact the Western Ghats heavily because the project requires huge amounts of granite and loose soil. As the lines have to cross wetlands, rivers, rice fields, and lakes, there must be large-scale land reclamations and bridges using granite and soil.”
Prime Time With Ravish Kumar: Jewar Airport - Project के सरकारी दावों की खुलती पोल Nov 23, 2021
Prime Time With Ravish Kumar - November 23, 2021: प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) 25 नवंबर को नोएडा इंटरनेशनल एयरपोर्ट (Noida International Airport) की आधारशिला रखने वाले हैं. इस प्रोजेक्ट को लेकर एक तरफ बड़े-बड़े सपने दिखाए जा रहे हैं तो दूसरी तरफ इसके लिए जिनके घर उजड़े हैं वो फिलहाल ऐसे हर सपने से खुद को दूर पा रहे हैं.
Farmers who have been displaced speak..
