IT WAS IN the second week of October that we met Ratilal Patel, a 63-year-old farmer of Mandvi taluk in southern Kutch. He was waiting for us on a motorbike at Koday village. Motioning us to follow him, he took us to a spot in the village where people had danced in joy when Prime Minister Narendra Modi released Narmada water into the Kutch branch canal on August 28.
Patel did not dance. He did not even visit the site on inauguration day. He dismissed it as an election stunt, and regretted that he had showered colourful petals in the canal during a trial run in July.
The canal looked clean and fine, but there was no sign of water, except a few wet patches at the bottom.
Patel slid down the canal slopes and stood on the canal bed. “Water flowed here for television cameras for a day,” he said. “I haven’t seen the water after that.” Above the canal gate, a long hoarding with Modi’s image still looked fresh.
The Kutch branch canal stretches 357km from the main canal of the Sardar Sarovar Dam to Modh Kuba, which is 45km from Koday. It was built at a cost of around ₹6,500 crore over 15 years, raising huge expectations, and runs through the Rann of Kutch. While 200km of it was completed four years ago, the remaining part got over only recently.
Denne historien er fra December 04, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 04, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI