Solutions to Change

Another Bumpy ride in Cochin city. I was alarmed at the ratio in whcih the private vehicles increase in the city. The reason I find is: No one believes in the Public Transport. In fact by driving their own vehiclesto city, they are also adding to the problem. There is no space in city to accomodate all the vehicles. In the morning and evening, it takes mimmum half an hour to cross one Kilo meter. The city tries to attract investment and the Government claims also by acknowledging the Dubai internet city's upcoming investment 'SMART CITY'. But the exisitng city cannot be smart without solving the traffic issue. the adminstration has some how resolved to the point that there cannot be any Fly overs, metro rails or sky buses in city. This may be the only city in India having more that one million population, without any traffic improvement systems. No wonder, citizens migrate to the other parts of the world. There is cynisism in everyone's mind. The roads are nightmares

I was wondering the other day reading the JNNURM status report in Cochin. The Coperation has been so murky in their stand in their dealings with JNNURM so far. This is the same Coperation dealt with ADB an Administrative Staff College on various projects including the double entry sytem for accounts. They are supposed to learn and improve their auditing system by now. But under JNNURM, Cochin coperation seems to be in the loggerheads on accounts part. Many times, what wonders me is the attitude and the way the Coperation deals with this situation. I am not sure they know their assests and values in the city. If they do not know, at least the citizens have the right to know it. May be we can ask for their assessment on their properties and send thema message that we are watchful in these areas and let them understand they cannot fool everyone everytime.

I was on the way to Anna Nagar this evening. I was waiting for a bus in T Nagar area. These days I prefer to commute in share autos as it is fast and also convenient to me. It was around 9.30 p.m. There are frequent share autos from T Nagar area to Anna Nagar. The charges are fixed in share autos in Chennai unlike the regular ones. When a share auto came to my side, I boarded it. I was the first passenger to board it. I was sitting near to the driver as he was waiting for more passengers. All of a sudden, a police man appeared in the scene; “where are you going?” he asked the driver. “Anna Nagar”, the driver replied. Then the police man came near to the door where I was sitting and showed his palm to the driver with a meaning to it. I could not understand for a moment what is happening. The driver immediately, gave Rs 10 to the policeman. The police man disappeared in the crowd. It generated much curiosity in me. I asked the driver as he started the drive from T Nagar area. By that tim

I was going to Madras University campus in the morning. The bus was caught up in traffic snarl near Chepauk Stadium. The bus was diverted to another route. Then i came to understand the President in city. Though I read the news in the morning, I never thought about the traffic jam when I set out. I have to get down from the bus since the bus condcutor said the bus would not go to Anna Sqaure, where the university is. I walked down the road in the direction of the University campus. then I approached an auto. when we reached near Kannaki statue, the police again blocked the road. they even blocked the pedestrians. I had to wait for another 30 minutes to move further. Finally i reached the campus more than one hour latre. i completed the work within ten minutes and came out of the campus. then again the police has bloaked the road for the President. i waited there for another 40 minutes so that the convoy of the President passed the street. In the last five years, for the first time, I h

Indian Railways has done reasonably well in the recent times by aunctioning its owned property adjacent to the railway stations all over India. They in fact are succesful in creating a public limited company to over see these transactions and make a business out of it. But look at the Kerala Road Transport Corperation owned properities in Kerala. Though the KSRTC bus fares are more compared to the Private Bus fares, KSRTC is still having an annual loss of Rs 84 Crores. Every nook and corner of the state, KSRTC manages unutilized property to a larger extend. Imagine if they are in the hands of the private entrepreneurs. It should have created business opportunities in Kerala and also created thousands of employment opportunities in Kerala. The tax payers of Kerala shall demad the accountability from the transport ministry on this. Even after the air trafiic has been deregulated, KSRTC is still at the mercy of politicians

Kerala has manifested the private - public partnership in education way back in 1957 itslef. today 70 per cent of the schools are managed by private parties. The reason for the high literacy is highly attributed to the present sytem in Kerala. After this present Government came into the power, there is a turmoil in the education sector. if the higher education is in a mess, so as the case with the school education too. The ministry has taken a stand which is highly obejectionable and much self defeating; they don't allow any more private schools in the state. The reason given is it will affect the functioning of the Government schools. It is a direct challenge to the parents and the students. Moreover, it is a denigrating stand on the successful formula which his predecssors set rolling in 1957. The aversion is existing there in the case of CBSE, ICSE schools too. The matter of the fact that the education sector is under the strong grip of Teachers unions. The union exists mostly i

D.Dhanuraj It is alarming to see that in a democaratic country like India the Courts are immune to any allegations and any proceedings questioning their attitudes. One Billion population of this country has a right to know what is truth and that is why they approach the courts everytime they find the other two pillars of the State are not fulfilling their duties. Now, where can they go? personally I don't know what Mid Day times published on Justice Y K Sabharwal. I did not get the chance to read it. it would be the same case with the majority of the population in this country. what they understand today is that 'The courts are corrupt in this country' not becuase of Mid Day Times report but becuase of the verdict given by the Delhi High Court. They could have intiated an enquiry into the whole episode before coming out with Contempt Procedings against the journalists involved. Unfortunately all the media colleagues found to be taken a safe side by publishing the court orde

Privataisation of the routes in Kerala has been a phenominal at least in the Central Kerala many decades ago. It helped to connect even the remotest of areas and improve the transportation facilities. Though the whole Kerala could not witness that change due to the vested interests in the policy making, Kochi and nearby districts received support from the local mass on this matter. In the recent times, road accidents in Kerala involving Private buses raised the issue of limiting the permits for the prvate buses in Kerala. I totally disagree with this move. Reasons are given below; 1. there is no propotionate improvements in infrastructure with respect to the increase in vehicles. 2. how many of us willing to give road side land for widening of the road? 3. How many of us prefer KSRTC buses to private buses? 4. what are the reasons if we prefer private buses? 5. how many of our concerned about the accidents caused by KSRTC buses too? if the speed is the factor for the accidents to happ

Media in Kerala I was getting back to Kerala after two week's South India tour. The moment I landed in Cochin airport, what i noticed was the news in TV screen there. Another news of corruption in the God's own country. this time it is connected to the helipad construction for PMs visit to trivandrum. next day when i looked at the news columns, i was shocked to read the resignation of Chief Secretary of the state on this scandal. She insisted her resignation to CM saying that she was innocent in the whole issue. Whatever be the truth, news papers and media channels in Kerala has another busy time with ever growing public dissent on the corruption and bribe in this part of the world. stories after stories of different versions are available in different media these days. but they seem to start loosing their path on this issues as the same in the past. How many we have read like this in the past one year? I don't where to start. But I remember the major one's like tantri

More economic freedom is the key Source: Economic Times, August 15 India is experiencing a little bit of triumphalism on the 60th anniversary of Independence. That is understandable when one considers its considerable institutional stability and, more recently economic success, compared to the state of affairs in Pakistan and its offshoot Bangladesh. Indian companies are taking over (struggling) British steel-makers and our offshoring prowess generates the respect that comes from fear. As is usually the case with a rising power, its cultural exports (largely Bollywood) have suddenly become attractive. Even the Indian cricket team delivered a series win right on cue. The India-US nuclear deal represents a tough exercise of sovereignty unlike, for instance, Pakistan whose President reportedly had to discuss his plans to impose emergency with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. In a mirror image of the debate in this country, the Bush administration is accused of capitulating to India

Kerala - Another travelogue D. Dhanuraj I was on a visit to Coimbatore yesterday. i started from Cochin at 7 am in the morning. from Cochin Coimbatore is about 190 Km. Many times, I have covered the distance within five hours (not a bad one in Indian standards). But yesterday it took 6 Hours. I had some work to do there. By the time I reached there it was 1 pm, lunch break time for most of the offices. so I could leisurely enjoy the lunch for an hour. I had to rush through my official business so to leave the city by evening. i started return journey by 5 pm and reached cochin by 11 pm. What i got in Coimbatore to conduct my Business is about 3 hours. I was asking my fellow travellers on this plight. i realised that everyone is cynical in the State these days. They want to protest and make things good but they don't see any ray of hope in the horizon. Ask anyone in the street, they will say they have lost their trust in both coalitions namely LDF and UDF. then came the news; one o

India, China fail to expand benefits to people, says ADB study India and China account for 64 per cent of GDP in 23 Asian countries included in a study but rank quite low when it comes to benefits percolating to their people. While India ranks 18th, China ranks at 10th when it comes to benefits to the people in terms of living conditions according to a new study of the Asian Development Bank, “International Comparison Programme in Asia and the Pacific: Purchasing power Parity Preliminary Report”. This picture was evident when the size of the economies is adjusted by population. Rather than dominating the rankings, China and India drop to 10th and 18th positions, respectively, out of the 23 economies participating in the full GDP comparison. Similarly, China ranks 15th and India ranks 17th when economies are compared based on “actual final consumption of households” (AFCH), a better measure of economic well-being of the population. The AFCH is a measure of what households actually c

Garbage and queen of Arabian Sea As the traffic blockades continue in cochin city, the industrial capital of God's own country is in the newsheadlines for a wrong reason; piling garbage. The city has been growing ever since the state formation and it is the only city in Kerala which has a true cosmopolitian atmosphere. the population in city is more than 2 million and it has been home from Jews to Sikhs. The city contributed much to the state GDP. today, Cochin has been rated potential IT city. Smart cities and IT parks have slowly started descending down to the shores of Arabian sea. but the city admisnistration is neither smart enough to tackle the issues like grabgae disposal. The city corporation has been ruled by people lacking vision and mission on this subject. during the last one decade, the garbage issue grown out of propotions but there has no realisitic approach from the administration. whenver the court smelled foul or bitten by mosquitoes, the corporation received the

Kochi - traffic blocks................. never ending this is a sad commentary on the affairs in the city of cochin. City is notorious for the traffic blocks. there is no proper traffic system in the city. All the traffic signals, which of course is a obsolete in the traffic map, are famous for its 15 seconds green pasture. My personal experience outside taught me a lesson that the green light shall be on for at least 90 seconds to clear one end of the road before the signal switches over to the other ends. here in cochin, each time when the green signal is on, it provides only max 15 to 20 seconds for the vehicles to cross the junction.it eventually ends up with more traffic blocks and more fuel consumption. science text books in school classes teaches us that any engine accelerates consumes more energy to reach the steady state. Cochin is an apt place to demonstrate this phenomenon. is there any standard road in cochin or any road can be called as road built for vehicle movement.

Kerala - leading to a disaster? Recent developments in Kerala lead to many disturbing thoughts in my mind. Each day cannot pass without acknowledging the beaming headlines of corruption and vandalism. To make it worse, in most of these acts the state is involved in one way or another. There seems to be no end to this series of stories appearing everyday. Most of the political party leaders are throwing stones each other on the corrupt practices that they are indulged into and reported by media in order to save their face value. Kerala, having high penetration of media sources, exemplifies how the state is run under the murky dealings of a few individuals. Now onwards, it is accepted in Kerala that even the bribe and corruption are legalised provided that monetary transaction involved in the whole deal is retunred to both parties with market defined interest rates!!!!!!!!!! State sponsors corrupt practices that is rampant in Kerala society. Other major issue is the increaasig motor acc

Today kerala witnessed the closure strike by members of the merchant association opposing the retail entry of the private companies. in this context this article found to be very interesting; Sunil Jain: Making organised retail work RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS Sunil Jain / New Delhi June 25, 2007 While the government has begun work on implementing the CPI(M)’s proposal to restrict the spread of organised retail in the country by strict licensing norms which go back to the old licence-permit-raj days ( June 19 : No idea left behind ), the retail industry itself appears in more than a bit of a mess. French retailer Carrefour, which is among the biggest in the world, and was supposed to be coming into the country within “two to three weeks” (to quote Commerce Minister Kamal Nath) in February, has postponed its India plans indefinitely given the political uncertainties associated with large retail. ITC, similarly, plans to wait it out for the next six months, according to a statement in the Pr

India needs to build 26,300 housing units a day: NHB

Right to info soon to be available online Bringing information closer to the public and extending the scope of e-governance, the Chief Information Commission proposes to accept applications for information online, and put all information that comes under the purview of the RTI Act online The landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, is all set to take its next big step -- it will now be accessible on the Internet. Soon, applications for information under the Act can be made by email, and all government information that comes under the purview of the Act will be put up on the worldwide web. The Central Information Commission, the nodal agency for administering the RTI Act, will ask all government departments to begin accepting applications for information from citizens via email. Applica

Sports – the glamour event of Kerala Dhanuraj Sreeshant is the latest hero of Kerala kids. This is a process continued, only the characters are changed over the years. The list is endless, P T Usha, Shiny Wilson, M D Valsamma, Rosakutty, Yohannan, BinaMol, I M Vijayan, Anju Boby George………….. the prospects and achievements varied at both national and international stages. Thanks to Colonel Godavrama Raja and DGP Joseph, the state generated much interest in sports scene. Now, the state government has come up with sports lottery. The objectives behind the lottery are praiseworthy; the state wants to win more Olympic medals and Asian Games medals, a mission indeed. Government of Kerala plans to raise more than 200 crores by the sports lottery. At this point, I thought of inviting your attention the stature of the Sports and Games in this country……. No one knows how much