All over India, you can see the magnificent forts and palaces the Emperors, Kings, Nawabs, Sultans and other have built  for their use. Many of them are tourist centres and some of them are converted to Five Star Hotels. Those forts and palaces, on one side show the architectural and cultural tradition of the land, but on the other side is story of the exploitation of labour of the thousands of slaves and the ordinary work force who were compelled to work  without payment for their labour.

Now, new palaces and forts are being built, not by kings and emperors but by the rich and crorepatis. They include businessmen, super stars, cricket players etc.  The media has reported today that for much cover they have insured these palaces. It will show how much costly the buildings are.

Mukesh Ambani – ‘Antilla’ in Mumbai – Insured for Rs. 150 crore

Sha Rukh Khan –  ‘Mannat’ in Mumbai – Insured for Rs. 110 crore.

Amitabh Bhachan –                Mumbai-   Insured for Rs. 100 crore

Sachin Tendulkar-                 Mumbai-   Insured for Rs. 100 crore

There may be hundreds of such new palaces unknown. Crore and crore are spent for such places and luxuries of life. But what about the many crore of poor people in the country who don’t even have a shed to live in. What about the lakhs of poor in Delhi who are shivering in the extreme cold in the unsatisfactory  shelters provided for them? Is this discrimination and inequality going down or will increase? The Government is certainly bound to answer these inconvenient questions!