india's IT led boom is even scaling more peaks. with IT touted to touch nearly 100 billion or so by 2010, the growth of IT has to spread from Tier1 cities (such as chennai, bangalore, pune) onto tier 2 cities such as madurai, coimbatore, thrissur, kozhikode, mysore, vijayawada, etc.
madurai seems to be especially picking up.

but already madura, a place that bought culture, language and tradition to tamilians, is under huge assualt due to unplanned urbanisation

numerous tanks have disappeared by buildings and alarming vaigai is getting more and more polluted. if IT comes into madurai it will bring its own crowd. for madurai to manage this crowd sustainably it has to maintain its natural pillars including the crucial vaigai rivers in a healthy condition.

any development that can be sustained depends hugely on water needs and that water needs can be easily satisified if the local water bodies like vaigai are nourished properly.

what does governments in india do when faced with protests over destructive projects. very simple. buy time. twist facts. talk about the 'need of development' and finally brutalise the people and push the project.

the karnataka govt is at first step. it has suspended (for one week) the nagarjuna thermal project. meanwhile, the legislators of the region will go on a study tour(!!) to simhadri thermal power plant in vizag.

okay. how is the situation in simhadri. not so good as per hindu articles. the local villagers seems to have taken a huge hit by pollution and worst they have not even been compensated for their lands that was acquired. the fly ash ponds are overflowing and the dirt and soot and heated water from the plant in simhadri has killed the fish in the nearby sea region.

when it comes to developedment, one thing is clear: do all tricks of the trade and fool the people.

below is the picture from flickr which shows the majestic yangztee river taking a direct hit from the pollution of the coal fire plant in background. as per the report, you can hardly spot any fish in the river with water quality not even worth mentioning.

looks like we want to give this poisionous development to udupi area very soon.

india's gdp mongers, developedment oriented official circles, vested industrialists, etc tom-tom about china all the time.

china, no doubt, has made an impressive progress against poverty and i am no china expert in terms of the development (or developedment) it is making.

but i am sure china has a hell lot of environmental disasters going on as a result of indiscriminate policies.

please read thomas friedman article on nov 17, 2006 at http://pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_4672304

from the article,
"But China can't do what the West did: Grow now, clean up later. The unprecedented pace and scale of its growth are going to make later too late. The China Daily reported this week that at least 24 million acres of cultivated land in China - one-tenth of the country's total arable land - is now polluted, posing a "grave threat" to China's food safety. More than half its rivers are also polluted, which is why less than 9 percent of "drinkable water" met government standards for bacteria in 243 rural supply stations recently tested. Many wells have excessive nitrates that can cause diabetes or kidney damage. No wonder some high-tech workers are starting to avoid China, because they don't want to live in a dirty cloud. "

that's what environmentalists of india are saying about india too. india cannot grow now and clean up later. india cannot grow now displacing tens of thousands of people from their lands and then try to feed them. india cannot grow thro urban methods in cities because it will cause (and has caused) urban disasters in its cities.

india's growth has to be sustainable and environment friendly and people inclusive. only if that happens we will see true development.

india's crucial sectors such as agriculture, land reforms, tribal welfare schemes, rural health iniativies, education for all, rural handicrafts investments, organic farming, etc should not be neglected in the name of cheap manufacturing to target and walmart and other american (and world companies) companies that compete for cheap products.