A road that sings Jai Ho! India gets first 'musical road' on Mumbai Coastal Road corridor
Mumbai (PTI): Motorists travelling on the Mumbai Coastal Road corridor will now hear the iconic Bollywood song "Jai Ho" when driving over specially installed grooves at a designated speed, making it India's first 'musical' or 'melody' road.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the musical road stretch on Wednesday.
Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, who conceptualised the idea, Hungary's Consul General Faren Jari, BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner (Eastern Suburbs) Dr Avinash Dhakne, and other dignitaries were present at the event.
Fadnavis said the concept of a musical road developed along the Coastal Road is set to provide a delightful experience for motorists.
He added that the innovative concept, based on Hungarian technology, would be implemented further in the future.
"In the first phase, the concept has been implemented on a 500-metre stretch of the Coastal Road, and there are plans to expand the musical road concept further," Fadnavis said.
Shinde appealed to Mumbaikars to experience and enjoy the musical road.
He said the government will consider replicating this experiment on the Samruddhi Expressway on a pilot basis.
"The musical road on the Mumbai Coastal Road will evoke a sense of patriotism among Mumbaikars," Shinde said, reiterating that this is India's first musical road.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has developed the innovative stretch on the northbound carriageway from Nariman Point towards Worli on the iconic Coastal Road, which has been named after Dharmaveer Swarajyarakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
This is the fifth such road in the world and the first of its kind in India, the BMC stated.
According to civic officials, the musical strips have been installed around 500 metres ahead on the first lane adjoining the divider after vehicles exit the Worli-bound underground tunnel.
When vehicles travel over the grooves at 70 to 80 kmph, the friction-generated sound waves produce the melody of 'Jai Ho' from the film Slumdog Millionaire, which can be clearly heard inside the vehicle.
The chartbuster song was composed by A.R. Rahman, with lyrics written by the renowned poet Gulzar. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award.
Officials said signboards have been placed inside the tunnel at 500 metres, 100 metres, and 60 metres before the stretch to alert motorists about the upcoming musical road and the required speed for the experience.
In a release issued a day earlier, the BMC said grooves or rumble strips of specific dimensions and spacing have been embedded in the road surface.
When vehicles pass over them at a constant speed, the vibrations caused by tyres create musical notes, forming a recognisable tune. Such stretches are popularly known as 'melody roads' or 'musical roads'.
Hailing the project as a blend of engineering innovation and cultural expression, the BMC stated that the Coastal Road, a key infrastructure project aimed at easing traffic congestion and enabling faster travel, now also offers a unique driving experience.
The concept of musical roads was first developed in Japan in 2007 by engineer Shizuo Shinoda. Similar experiments have since been implemented in countries such as Hungary, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
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PM Modi pressured to hand over Indian data to foreign power: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Asserting that data is the petrol which fuels the AI engine, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that with the Indo-US interim trade deal, India will struggle to safely store the data of 1.5 billion Indians, and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressured to hand over the country's prime resource to a foreign power.
In a post on X, Gandhi said the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution is here – bringing both threats and opportunities.
"Our IT and services sector, a shining star of our economy, is at risk, and thousands of software engineers and professionals will lose their livelihoods if we do not prepare for the storm that is coming," he claimed, adding that there are opportunities too.
"Data is the petrol which fuels the AI engine. As I said in Parliament, India's greatest asset is our brilliant people - and the enormous data we create," he said.
Noting that in a few days, the government is hosting a grand AI Summit, Gandhi said it should have been an opportunity for India to assert leadership - to demonstrate how a country of 1.4 billion people can use its data to shape the global AI future on our own terms.
"Instead, a helpless PM Modi has surrendered to the US 'chokehold' in the trade deal. Under the pretext of 'clearing barriers to digital trade', every move to use our data for our own benefit will be opposed," he said.
Already, large foreign companies enjoy a near monopoly on our data through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Youtube, Amazon, Android, etc., and with this deal, India will struggle to safely store the data of 1.5 billion Indians in India, get transparency in their source codes and algorithms and tax the profits they make using our data, the Congress leader claimed.
"It's a shame that our prime minister has been pressured to hand over India's prime resource to a foreign power," he alleged.
Earlier, participating in the debate on the Union Budget in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said that at the centre of this fight is the concept of AI.
"Everybody says that we are moving into the era of AI. I would like to warn the government that AI is going to have many, many consequences. One consequence of AI is going to be that something that we relied on, the Congress party and the UPA built the entire Indian IT industry, companies like Infosys, companies that are at the forefront of information technology are going to struggle, they are going to be challenged," he said.
The idea of becoming a software engineer, which is a very popular idea in India, is going to be challenged, he said.
"Lots of our software engineers are going to be replaced by AI. So, why I am saying this is, we are moving into a turbulent world, a dangerous world," he said.
"Now, when you move into a dangerous world, what is the first thing that you have to understand? What are your strengths, as a person and as a nation. So, I would like to say to the House, what I think are the strengths of our great country and I would say the central strength is our people - 1.4 billion people, brilliant, energetic, dynamic, who can challenge anybody in the world, they are our biggest strength.
"But, it's not only the people, because in the 21st century, a very interesting thing has happened – people create data. So, we have the biggest data pool on the planet – 1.4 billion people means a massive amount of data is being generated in India, and data is wealth," Gandhi said.
He added that everybody talks about AI, but talking about AI is like talking about the internal combustion engine without talking about petrol.
"The petrol for AI is data – meaning, if you have AI and you don't have data, you have nothing. Now, which are the two biggest pools of data on the planet - the Indian pool and the Chinese pool. They (China) also have 1.4 billion people; we have a bigger population than them. We allow more freedom, we allow our people to do more dynamic things, so we have, in fact, more interesting data," he said.
If the Americans want to remain a superpower and if they want to protect their dollar, the key to that is Indian data, he said.
"Why? Because the Chinese have a data pool of 1.4 billion people and you take European data, you can take African data, you can take American data – add it all up – still it does not compete with Chinese data," Gandhi said.
"So, the real fight that is taking place. I am saying – what are our strengths? I am saying – if India goes to the table, what do we put on the table, what do we say? Listen, this is what we put on the table and it's beautiful.
“What we put on the table is our people, their wisdom, what they do, their likes, dislikes, their imagination, their fear... This suddenly has got value in the 21st century, which it didn’t in the 20th century," he said.
“I remember so many people saying that population is a weight, population is a disaster. No! Population is the biggest asset you can have. It's a strength, but it's only a strength, if you recognise that data is important," he said.
The Congress leader also claimed that as part of the deal with the US, India gives up control over its digital trade rules, there is no need for data localisation, there would be free data flow to the United States, a limit on digital tax and there would be no need to disclose any source code.
