I am fortunate to have experienced the wonders of growing up in one of India's pioneering Smart Cities. Back in the 1950s and 60s, public sector undertakings like BHEL, SAIL, HMT, and Indian Telephone Industries weren't just industrial hubs; they were vibrant self-sufficient communities designed to cater to the holistic needs of their employees and families.

 Spanning vast acres, these townships weren't merely places of work; they were carefully planned havens offering top-notch amenities. Their establishment wasn't just about industrial development; it was a bold endeavor aimed at comprehensive area development and ensuring exemplary living standards for the populace.

Remarkably, these PSUs didn't just provide employment opportunities; they nurtured talent, fostering the rise of individuals from diverse educational backgrounds. In an era where formal qualifications were scarce, these organizations offered avenues for growth to even those with basic technical or academic qualifications, paving the way for remarkable success stories and their off springs are now occupying top positions in various fields.

The layout of these townships was meticulously organized, with sectors and zones facilitating efficient maintenance. Schools, conveniently situated within walking or biking distance, made education a joyful journey. Each sector boasted expansive playgrounds, sports clubs and lush gardens, nurturing the physical and mental well-being of residents, many of whom went on to represent their states and country in various sports.

Community centres and auditoriums buzzed with activity, hosting entertaining programs that brought everyone together. Shopping centres, though modest in comparison to today's malls, but were well laid out and catered to the needs of residents, fostering a sense of community.

BHEL was truly a COSMOPOLITAN Township

Religious diversity thrived, with places of worship for every faith, symbolizing unity in diversity. Festivals were celebrated with exuberance, reinforcing the ethos of harmony and togetherness. I realised its importance after I joined NDA when I was surprised to meet cadets who never in their lives had interacted with a Gujju or a Tant/ Kadi chat or a Tambhi.

Another, most invaluable aspect was the healthcare infrastructure. Dispensaries equipped with medical professionals and lab facilities ensured easy access to healthcare, with a seamless link to main hospitals for more serious ailments.

BHEL Bhopal, BHEL Hardwar,  steel plants in Bhilai,  Bokaro etc stand as shining examples of these Smart Cities' success. Despite the challenges of the time, these townships flourished, embodying visionary planning and execution.

But most important outcome of that grand vision was that the cities grew around these townships.

As a child I do not remember of power outages in the township. We must not forget that these facilities that many of us, fortunate ones, have enjoyed in our childhood were not available to rest of the country men. To me personally, as far as quality of life was concerned cantonment was not very different from my BHEL township.

Regrettably, the vision that shaped these Smart Cities seems to have been lost in the maze of contemporary urban planning. Despite thousands of crores of investments, modern smart cities as envisaged by the current Govt pale in comparison to their predecessors; BHEL Bhopal, BHEL Hardwar, Steel Plant Bhilai, etc.

As I revisit the SMART CITY of my childhood, nostalgia mingles with sorrow at the sight of dilapidated houses and playgrounds. It prompts introspection—

Have we, as beneficiaries of this grand vision, truly appreciated its legacy?

Have we failed to uphold the essence of the idea of India that thrived in those times, in those townships?

Have I not exploited all the Good that was bestowed to me ( rest of India was not enjoying those perks) and I am not doing enough to spread that grand vision.

Am I Ungrateful ?

Chandigarh, masterfully designed by a French architect, stands as another testament to what can be achieved when vision meets execution. Its high quality of life mirrors the aspirations that once drove the creation of Smart Cities.

Expectedly, once again the Govt failed to do proper homework .

In retrospect, it's not merely the infrastructure but also the spirit of community, inclusivity, and foresight that we must strive to preserve. Only then can we honor the legacy of those pioneering townships and steer our cities towards a brighter future.

It was exactly 129 years ago on 07 Jun 1893 that a black man named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown out of the train on a deserted railway station in South Africa because he was a black and blacks were not supposed to be travelling in First class.

He was new to the country and when he approached his friends in South Africa they said, oft repeated dialogue ;

“ It’s a system, which is like a wall , if you bang your head against a wall you will only end up breaking your head “.

We even now get to hear this dialogue from our friends whenever we decide to take on the corrupt and the dishonest. Indians have not changed, yet.

But this man, modestly built took up the challenge and decided to test the strength of the wall and shook that wall gently and forced the British to leave the building, that the British had built painstakingly.

It was a tedious and a long journey from 1893 to 1947, more than 50 years, it took to finally force the British to leave.

What do we learn from this ?

One. Whenever injustice is done , you do get angry , rather you should get angry and learn to NURTURE the ANGER… KRODH KO PALNA SEEKHO. Never accept injustice, it is a crime, Bapu said it many a times..

Two. Plan systematically by analyzing the weaknesses of the Opponent.

Three. Adapt the principles to the circumstances. But never compromise on the principles.

Four. Build a Team to achieve the Objectives, Execute your plan relentlessly - But never be in a hurry and take it to a Logical conclusion.

During this long journey many things had happened , he was criticized, he was mocked, he was doubted, his detractors tried tarnishing his character but all of them failed and All his detractors perished by the time he and his team members saw off the Britishers in 1947.

The entire episode can be aptly described by a popular saying of Armies world over.

“ After the Victory the tankman ( armoured corps) boasts about his mobility and firepower, the Gunner(Artillery) talks of the caliber of his long range guns , the Signaller( Corps of Signals) boasts about the effectiveness of his communication But the Infantryman smiles with Victory under his feet.

Like it or Not Gandhiji and his team just did that like an Infantryman does.

We all are a people of the same Nation and some times part of the same family but our views fall at different points on the political spectrum. Some like RSS, some dislike them, some like PM Modi and some look at him with disdain, some like Gandhiji, some detest him and so on.

The Likes and Dislikes are not only about the personalities involved or the work they did or did not do but I noticed, that the differences are more to do with our beliefs and due to our differing world view. For instance some look at the world through the prism of Religion ; Islam, Christian , Hindu and so on. I am sure on whats app many would have seen this message ; “ Socho zara Isaayion( Christians) key 140 desh hain, musalmanon key 50 aur hindyuon key sirf ek, agar hinduyon ka nuksaan huya to weh kahan jaayengey...Jago Hinduon". Little knowing that Russia and Ukraine fighting for almost last one year are both Christian nations and both Iran and Iraq who fought almost a decade were Muslim nations.

Any ways while going deeper into this subject of Likes / Dislikes, world view and various aspects of our political life, we come across these terms; LEFT – RIGHT and Centre.

It intrigued me Why are RSS and BJP called Rightists and Communists as Leftists and Congress – Centrists. Is there similar typification of Political parties in USA, UK, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other Nations.

Its natural for someone who has not done MA in ENTIRE POLITCAL SCIENCE to ask why do left and right signal different ends of a political spectrum?

The disagreements are easily noticeable ; what the leftists like – the rightists hate and vice versa.

How it started.

The beginning of this typification ; Left and Right is very interesting.

Patrice Higonnet, a professor emeritus of French history at Harvard University explained that this TYPIFICATION began from France. In 1789 when French Revolution was picking up steam and angry mobs facing economic hardships wanted reforms and had just stormed the Bastile fort, the tensions rose in France between reformists and conservatives. The National assembly was debating to write a new Constitution, but it found itself divided on One major issue - how much power the king should have. Obviously, the Reformists did not want King to have absolute power of Veto whereas the Conservative members wanted King to enjoy absolute veto power.

As the debate continued, those who thought the king should have an absolute veto sat on the Right of the president of the assembly, and those who thought King should not have Veto power— sat on the left of the president of the assembly.

In other words, those who were Conservatives and wanted to remain closer to tradition were on the Right, and those who wanted change i.e. The Reformists were on the Left.

So these groupings became known as the left and the right, and It became popular quickly as these terms were used in the newspapers reporting on the national assembly. Moreover as French revolution was an inspiration for many such revolutions in other countries , these categroisations spread all over.

Thus, when the Bolsheviks drawing inspiration from French revolution stood against the Czar in Russia and brought about a Revolution in Russia in 1917, they were called as Leftists and so Communists got the name ; Leftists.

Hence, one can state that Rightists are Orthodox, Conservatives and Leftists are Reformers. However, over a period of time Leftists also became as Rigid as Rightists.

So, ostensibly, when there is Left and Right, there ought to be CENTRIST

The term CENTRIST also originated from France and it basically implies - a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of Social Equality and a degree of Social hierarchy so as to oppose RADICAL political changes that can cause a significant shift of society strongly towards Left or Right.

Thus one can safely state that a CENTRIST does a Balancing act saving a society to drift towards Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Obscurantism so that a common man does not become a tool in the hands of Church, Maulana or a Brahmin Priest and at the same time also ensures that the Society is saved from Class conflicts.

Now obviously one can have further categorisations/ typifications like ; Left of center or Right of center and so on.

Besides the LEFT- RIGHT AND CENTER There is also one more term often used ; The Liberals.

The Rightists often hold them with disdain. Who are they ? and what do they stand for ? and how this term has originated ?.

Liberalism is a philosophy a belief which stands for rights of individual, equality; political, social and equality before the law. The Liberal supports market economy, individual rights, liberal democracy , rule of the law and so the natural fall out of this will be that he will support Freedom of Speech,   Freedom of Press, Freedom of Religion.

Liberalists have worked to replace the hereditary privileges of Monarchs/Elites, worked against Absolute Monarchy, state religion, divine rights of kings and traditional conservatism. In yester years it was common in all countries that the Kings were assigned by Priests ; Church, Brahmin pundits and monks to have Divine powers to rule. In Japan the King was called as Emepror of Heaven and hold him to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess whereas in India we had Chandravanshi and Suryavanshis.

The Leaders who threw the Kings and Monarchy and brought freedom to their people in British Glorious Revolution in 1688, American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 used the Liberal Philosophy to justify the overthrow of Monarchy.

Undoubtedly, the Rightists i.e the Conservatives all over the world, particularly in Islamic countries fear the Liberals because the Liberals stand for individual freedom, rule of law, equality and democracy. All over the world it were the Liberals who opposed racial discrimination, stood for women rights, civil rights and advocated universal suffrage and universal access to education. Whereas, the Rightists all over the world speak the same language ; Our traditions, our ancient culture, our Rishi-Munis and so on.

History.

Now when we look at the History of human civilisation holistically, we would notice there were always such elements in the society who tried their best to uphold the rights of Tribal chief, Kings and Queens, Priests, encouraged Hereditary rights and preached importance of traditions and rituals. In short, they would not allow any reforms in the society.

Socrates was poisoned, Galileo was imprisoned by church, and we still have numerous in India who upheld/uphold teachings of Manu. As late as 1950s we had Rightists who did not wish to grant women property inheritance rights and quoted Manu’s laws. So, the Indian women who are now enjoying property inheritance rights and have got rid of evils like sati etc must thank the Liberals like Nehru, Dr Ambedkar, Raja Ram Mohun Roy etc.

Thus, those who poisoned Socrates were Conformists/ Conservatives, those who insisted that Sun moves around Earth were conservatives, those Maulanas and Brahmins and Priests who stick to religious dogmas are conservatives and those who upheld casteism, sati system were Conformists/ Conservatists and so they were the …..Rightists. Those who pushed the world into a Global war were Rightists; Hitler and Mussolini.

On the other hand, those who forced the Kings to give up power were the Liberals, those who opposed Apartheid and Racial discrimination and casteism were Liberals, those who brought democracy and universal suffrage (right of all adults to vote in political elections) and those who ended the monopoly of Brahmins over education were Liberals.

Conclusion.

Now I am sure, we all can easily decide - What the Leftists and Liberals gave to the mankind and what have the Rightists given and take a call Where We stand ; A Conservative, Orthodox Rightist who kept saying ; MAHARAJ KI JAI HO and kept doing acts in accordance to what is written in the religious texts hundreds of years ago without questioning their efficacy or are a Proud Liberal who brought about Reforms and made Human civilisation progressive or a Centerist who does a Balancing act.

Once we understand this Spectrum many such historical disputes ; Gandhi vs Godse or Gandhi vs Savarkar or Nehru vs Hindumahasabha would become clear. 

Travelling through the time machine is real fun. Having travelled almost 200 years back , it seems that the Nation that was born on 15 August 1947 was a Nation that came out of immense struggle, not only against external enemies but also against many inimical and divisive forces within.

As Manmohan Singh had once remarked, ‘the crown of British empire was one of the poorest nations of the world’, It was truly a weak, poor and deprived Nation which was at war from within, where millions were displaced and faced unprecedented violence.

Thence, in 1947 the Government inherited a poor, deprived, and a largely illiterate India (almost 88% were illiterate). It hardly had any industry, a scarce road network and public transport system, inadequate medical infrastructure, millions of refugees and a society which had just witnessed genocide.

Comparison 

It is interesting to compare the two Indias; one that was born in 1947 and the one that we now live in to comprehend what our parents and grand parents inherited:

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