Recently we have seen that government is spending Rs. 3600 Cores in making a monument for the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Like many others, I truly believe there are better ways to honor and remember the warrior king!
What can we do 3600 Crore? (This is about 0.53 billion USD)
1. Our mid day meal program costs about 2 billion USD per year (2013-14). So, we can feed all those children for 3 months with this money. (There might be considerable difference as today as food grain price is changed from BPL to NFSA price. NFSA prices are much lower compared to BPL prices)
2. Make 1200+ LHB coaches for Indian railways which is presently reeling under acute financial troubles. (LHB coaches can carry 80 people instead of 72 of traditional coaches and they are much safer and can move faster. Cost of LHB coaches is about 2-3 Cr. Current production capacity of these coaches is about 400 per year)
3. Build 250+ KM paved 4 line highway (Approximately 14 Cr is needed per KM - 2014-15). India has the one of the largest ratio of population to road network. We have about 0.07 KM per 1000 people where as the numbers for USA and France are 21 and 15 respectively. It is estimated that India loses 1-2% of its GDP (equal to 10 million jobs per year) due to lack of good road connectivity.
4. Provide Bullet Proof Jackets for 12+ Lakh soldiers. This will cover a major part of the soldiers who actively guard our nation. Our Army had been asking for bullet proof vests for a decade and few months ago they got 50,000 (50K) jackets at a cost of 140 crores. We invoke them every now and then to talk about patriotism. We play national anthem before we see any movie. But, we seldom remember that this 140 crores that will save the life of our saviors is much less than the box office collection of many movies that we watch!
I can write a lot more. But, the key message that I want to convey is in our nation of poor, where the government talks about being pro-poor, being patriotic, being innovative, we should have found better use for that 3600 crores and immortalizing a great warrior king through more acceptable means!
Note: Most of the data for this is collected from wikipedia, quora and national news sites. Bullet proof vest price seems to be on a lower side (Rs. 28K). It was expected that army will get 1L vest
What can we do 3600 Crore? (This is about 0.53 billion USD)
1. Our mid day meal program costs about 2 billion USD per year (2013-14). So, we can feed all those children for 3 months with this money. (There might be considerable difference as today as food grain price is changed from BPL to NFSA price. NFSA prices are much lower compared to BPL prices)
2. Make 1200+ LHB coaches for Indian railways which is presently reeling under acute financial troubles. (LHB coaches can carry 80 people instead of 72 of traditional coaches and they are much safer and can move faster. Cost of LHB coaches is about 2-3 Cr. Current production capacity of these coaches is about 400 per year)
3. Build 250+ KM paved 4 line highway (Approximately 14 Cr is needed per KM - 2014-15). India has the one of the largest ratio of population to road network. We have about 0.07 KM per 1000 people where as the numbers for USA and France are 21 and 15 respectively. It is estimated that India loses 1-2% of its GDP (equal to 10 million jobs per year) due to lack of good road connectivity.
4. Provide Bullet Proof Jackets for 12+ Lakh soldiers. This will cover a major part of the soldiers who actively guard our nation. Our Army had been asking for bullet proof vests for a decade and few months ago they got 50,000 (50K) jackets at a cost of 140 crores. We invoke them every now and then to talk about patriotism. We play national anthem before we see any movie. But, we seldom remember that this 140 crores that will save the life of our saviors is much less than the box office collection of many movies that we watch!
I can write a lot more. But, the key message that I want to convey is in our nation of poor, where the government talks about being pro-poor, being patriotic, being innovative, we should have found better use for that 3600 crores and immortalizing a great warrior king through more acceptable means!
Note: Most of the data for this is collected from wikipedia, quora and national news sites. Bullet proof vest price seems to be on a lower side (Rs. 28K). It was expected that army will get 1L vest
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