September 16, 2024 happens to be a day of celebration for India and Singapore. Thousands of years ago, there existed an architect and engineer of unimaginable skill and focus. He is said to have been the divine architect of the universe and built the capital city of the Devas, Amravati (nothing to do with modern day city coming up in Andhra Pradhesh). I am, of course speaking about Lord Vishwakarma. The greatest architect and engineer to have ever lived.
Today is his Jayanti and is widely celebrated by artisans and shop workers. It is a restricted holiday in parts of India and is a government holiday in Nepal. Outside of Swargalok, Lord Vishwakarma is credited with construction of the cities of Dwaraka for Krishna, Indraprastha for the Pandavas and many fabulous weapons for the Gods including Vishnu’s Sudarshana Chakra and Shiva’s Trishul. He is the patron deity of all craftsmen.
So what does Vishwakarma have to do with Singapore. Well, nothing really. It just so happens that today is also the birth anniversary of the city state’s founding father and architect, Lee Kuan Yew.
Lee ruled Singapore as its Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990 and transformed the city from a small resource deficient fishing colony into the most prosperous country in Southeast Asia. As of 2023, Singapore has the fifth highest GDP per capita and the strongest passport in the world. It has transformed itself into a international financial hub with investment in cutting edge research and technology. Lee Kuan Yew also inspired Deng Xiaoping in his quest to transform China in 1980’s.
The reason I write about Vishwakarma and Lee Kuan Yew in the same post is frankly stupid. When Lee set out to transform Singapore, one of the cities he was inspired by was Kolkata which was richest city in Asia. Since then, Kolkata has fallen off her perch along with most other Indian cities. Urban planning is a mess in India due to rampant corruption and encroachment which leads to poor quality of living. The only city which can even has decent infrastructure is Delhi-NCR but even the capital is plagued with pollution issues.
In a country which has patron deities for all aspects of life, India has failed to actually live upto the ideals displayed by them. This is partly down the highly centralized governance model which see states cutting down municipal councils to size, and the centre doing the same for states. While that has been slowly changing over the last few years with a huge clamor among people to improve quality of life, Indian cities are still decades away from becoming the next Singapore. Something that every politician promises.
If Indian cities wish to become the next Singapore, the first step is to empower the Municipal Councils. People should take local elections seriously. They have the ability to force parties to put better candidates for these elections. The next step is to identify and empower engineers and architects from mechanical, electrical, structural, and civil fields to plan and execute projects to decongest cities. There is no dearth of talent in the country, but somewhere along the line we have taken the concept of Vishwakarma for granted (even that is slowly changing).
Finally, the most important step – The top 20 cities need 20 mayors like Lee Kuan Yew who have the power and autonomy to take the decisions required to make cities more livable and breathable. If these steps are taken, there is no reason why India can’t become a superpower in the next 15 years.
