Saturday, August 09, 2014

Money Trumps everything

The first new town built in India after its so-called independence in 1947, Chandigarh, was designed by the famous Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier. There was just one small problem, his plans did not include housing for labourers who were forced to live in shanty towns outside of town. In 2006, the city government introduced a scheme to construct 25,000 new apartments with water and electricity for the poor folk. The fact that the shanty- towns are being leveled so that the developers can build luxury homes for the rich is merely coincidental. Oh, and just one other small detail – some of the shanty towns are being leveled before the workers apartments have been built. In capitalism, money trumps everything! John Ayers.

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