Where tomorrow never comes

Let me begin with a disclaimer. It is my considered opinion that Praful Patel is the best minister of civil aviation we have ever had.

Let me begin with a disclaimer. It is my considered opinion that Praful Patel is the best minister of civil aviation we have ever had. In a government that has found it impossible to move forward on economic reform because of Commissar Karat and his comrades, this is one minister who has managed to carry on reforming. Despite grim problems of congestion at some of our airports, private airlines proliferate daily and no longer do Indian businessmen hesitate to flaunt their private planes. Things have improved for ordinary Indians as well. They now use the services of private airlines to go on holidays and pilgrimages with an ease they could not have dreamed of till competition made air travel affordable. Most of these changes have occurred on Praful Patel8217;s watch.

Having said this, may I say that Delhi airport is a national disgrace. From the minute I got there last week to catch my Swissair flight to Davos, I thought I was not going to make it. Not only was I not going to make it to the Swissair desk or immigration or to Davos but I was not even going to make it through the milling crowds of irate, weary passengers.

There was so much chaos, disorder and disruption that other travellers seemed to feel as insecure and frightened as I did. When they made it to their departure gate, many foreigners refused to move away even if their flight was not boarding. It was as if they could not get out of India fast enough.

Delhi airport, believe it or not, is being improved. It is being expanded and renovated by a private company called GMR. But so far, GMR8217;s only visible contribution at the airport is an orgy of self-promotion. On every broken wall and rickety partition and even on the aluminium barriers that divide one set of travellers from another are plastered the initials GMR and the promise, 8220;a world class airport tomorrow8221;.

GMR seems not to have understood that what travellers want, while the 8216;world class airport8217; remains a distant dream, are just the bare necessities. Trolleys that are visibly available, easy movement to the check-in desks, easy access to departure gates, and a minimum sense of order. None of these things exist and 8216;tomorrow8217; could be a long time coming. As things are today, Delhi airport resembles the most chaotic Indian railway station you can think of. Think of Allahabad railway station on the last day of a Kumbh Mela. How can India expect to be taken seriously as the world8217;s next economic super power if its most important airport looks like this?

We have sent to Davos this time some of our best ministers. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is here, as is Kamal Nath and Praful Patel. They are good representatives of the modern, new country we seek to become, but what is the point of them coming here to woo foreign investors if, by way of infrastructure, all we can offer are the horrendous conditions of Delhi airport. Mumbai is marginally better as an airport but much worse as a first impression of brand India. Once our foreign investor emerges onto the road that leads him into our commercial capital, he finds himself in a landscape of hideous slums, filthy bazaars, fetid air and a general sense of being in a broken down sort of city.

As I watched Kamal Nath and Praful Patel and Chidambaram dazzle Davos audiences with their facts and figures last week, I marvelled at their audacity. It takes courage to weave a modern, progressive image of India to unsuspecting foreigners when you know that they only have to land at Delhi airport for the fairytale to fall apart.

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In the 15 years that I have been coming to Davos for the World Economic Forum8217;s annual meeting, I have never seen as large an Indian participation as there is this time. If the politicians we now send are better than they used to be, our businessmen are even more impressive. They understand international economic and political issues and are comfortable discussing them with the finest academics, economists and business leaders in the world. What use is this if India continues to lack the basic requirements for it to take off economically?

Why are we finding it so hard to build the infrastructure we can no longer do without? Why does it take forever to build a vital road or a desperately needed runway? Why do our railway stations continue to resemble open-air lavatories? Why do our cities look like slums? Why do our policy makers not understand that Bharat Mata looks really, really bad? Sorry for such a gloomy piece, but when you look at India from abroad what you see is a country that is still very far from getting its act together.