I have been living in Singapore since last one year and am still amazed by how they manage things here. How do they maintain discipline, cleanliness, good infrastructure, decency,etc etc etc.
How are they able to do everything better than any other country in the world.
From the day I started living in Singapore, I have been thinking how we can make our Indian cities like Singapore. What do we need to change? Whom do we need to influence? How much time will it take etc.
India being a large country, we will have to look into it as city wise, we cannot think at the country level or state level. It will never work that way.
I would want to share what I found about my analysis. I ofcourse dont have the skills and ability to make the change in my city. But I would hope one of you who is reading this would have the ability , the charisma, the influence to make the change happen.
To start with, look at the below stats.
Area
Singapore : 712.4 Sq Km
Bangalore : 709.5 Sq Km
Mangalore : 132.45 Sq km
Population Density
Singapore : 7,126 / Sq Km
Bangalore : 7,665 / Sq Km
Mangalore : 3,586 / Sq Km
I have selected 2 cities in India to comapre with Singapore. One is a metro (Bangalore) which is very similar to Singapore in size and population. Another is a B class city which is similar to Singapore in weather and is much smaller in size and population.
And yes, culturally, Singapore is more diverse than any Indian City.
Many of our ministers from Bangalore have traveled to Singapore to learn about the infrastructure, rules and techniques that are followed in Singapore. So that they can apply the same in Bangalore. Some of them are trying, I would not say no. But 95% are not even bothered. They go to Singapore and other cities as a vacation. They even take their families and friends. They enjoy there and come back with smiling faces without learning anything about those developed cities. They just take advantage of the benefits and never do their duties.
I think I would not stop them from making use of those benefits. Even I would use a benefit given by my company. Why shouldn't I? If the company says, it will provide me free dinner and a free ride back home whenever I stay till 7PM, I would stay till 7PM everyday. But I do not skip my duties. I am aware of them and I make sure I have done what I am suppose to do.
But unfortunately, our ministers don't understand that. They want benefits, but don't want to do their duties. I surely would accept a minister who takes bribe and make money for himself, but also improves the infrastructure of the state and gets rid of poverty. But I cannot accept a minister who only takes bribe and never does his duties.
Well, wrote too much about the dirty politicians. Lets concentrate on improving our cities and hopefully making them like Singapore. One thing is sure that we cannot depend on our politicians to do this. But it should be a collective afford from the people of the City. May it be the business man or any salaried employee.
Let me write some points about how it is done in Singapore. May be after reading this, you may get some ideas on how the same can be applied to our cities. Ofcourse, it cannot be exactly the same method or process as Indian cities have different rules and different cultures. But I only hope that this may trigger some idea. And if you say its not possible, then it means that you are not bothered. It is surely possible, we only need to be determined and use our brain to do it.
Will be updated...
