Reality check

The post 2014 is dominated by the narrative of monumental progress through colossal infrastructure investments has come under sharp focus. Flagship initiatives like Bharatmala and Sagarmala, alongside the expansion of the Vande Bharat rail network and sweeping airport developments, were sold as the dawn of a modernized Bharat. Yet, behind this glittering veneer lies a concerning reality where many of these much-hyped projects are physically and financially crumbling. Across the country, newly inaugurated infrastructure has been plagued by severe quality issues. Waterlogging, soil erosion, and dangerous cave-ins have severely damaged high-profile arteries such as NH-48 in Gurugram, the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Most embarrassingly, the nation’s flagship airports have catastrophically failed to deliver basic functionality. The Ministry of Civil Aviation leased six major airports-Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, and Mangaluru to a corporate under a 50-year public-private partnership (PPP) model.The Rs.19,650-crore Navi Mumbai mega-project faced intense backlash over construction quality and monsoon preparedness. Viral videos showed water streaming down from the terminal ceiling like a waterfall, directly onto baggage conveyor belts. At Lokpriya Gopi Nath Bordoloi airport in Guwahati, a severe storm caused the ceiling to collapse, flooding the indoor terminal with massive streams of rainwater. Though ethanol is supposed to be the future (where 20% is mixed with fossil fuel) yet in practice the going has been difficult- motorists complaining of faster metal and rubber erosion besides giving less mileage. The other problem is overuse of water for distillation of sugarcane, wheat and rice to produce ethanol. It must be noted that India still faces challenges of food shortages and ensuring affordable supplies through the Public Distribution System. Diverting food crops into fuel production creates an uncomfortable policy contradiction. While the UPA regime faced continuous condemnation from a hostile media for controversies with estimated notional losses of Rs.3.57 lakh crore though recent assessments suggest a radically different scale of alleged corruption. Reports indicate that financial irregularities under the current administration could approximate an astounding Rs.29 lakh crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged severe anomalies in major infrastructure projects. Most damning is the Electoral Bonds scheme, which has become a vehicle for opaque corporate donations. The State Bank of India, the authorized bond-issuing bank, initially delayed the disclosure process by requesting an extension until June. When the Supreme Court struck down the extension and ordered immediate disclosure, the SBI submitted only partial data while deliberately withholding the unique alphanumeric bond numbers needed to link corporate buyers to specific political parties. Yet the disparity in donations is staggering; the BJP has reportedly received electoral bonds worth over Rs. 10,000 crore, while the Congress party has received Rs.1421.9 crore. Even state institutions have been compromised, with central agencies like the CBI, ED and ECI systematically weaponized to target political opposition. Simultaneously, the social environment has deteriorated alarmingly. The normalization of communal violence and emboldening of right-wing vigilante groups have strained India’s secular ethos. With an 84% rise in communal riots in 2024 and nearly 950 documented hate crimes against minorities, the administration’s focus on infrastructure seems to come at the expense of human security and social harmony. When much-hyped infrastructure is marred by physical collapse, unprecedented financial irregularities, and erosion of democratic institutions, it ceases to be a symbol of progress. The juxtaposition of colossal investments against cronyism and communal strife presents a dangerous paradox.