Thursday, September 29, 2005

School Admission

Whenever i hear stories from my friends of their struggle to get their kids into a good school, i just find myself dumbfounded. Why is it so tough? Why are there so less schools? In Delhi we have so many educated people wanting to work as teachers but not finding a place. We have parents who are willing to dish out money. We have government which offers subsidized Land for schools.

The interview of parents sound like saying that if parents are not smart enough, the children does not have the right to a good school; he may or may not be bright. I may agree to the parents interview, but what about the interview of the small children.. They get so much tensed. I read a story in TOI about kids who run low fever and stop talking because of all these pressures. I see parents trying to Cramp the ABCD and 1,2,3,4 in the heads of a 2 yr old, so that by the time he/she is 3, he clears the interview in some school.

Why should getting the children to a good school be a Herculean task???

Monday, September 19, 2005

Beggars

When i drive i am forced to close my car windows else the beggars at the red light wont let you talk and would almost intrude inside your car. Long time back saw the traffic commissioner of police saying that we all public is responsible for the beggar menace. We give money that is the reason they are there. Sadly he was right, people give a few rupees to the beggars and feel great about it. Feel like they have done a great deal.

Today morning a small child 6-8 yr old started to beg at my car window. Generally i ignore, but today i just rolled down and asked,,"Where is ur dad?" "Why don't u go to school? Do u plan to beg all ur life at this red light?" He did not have answer to any of it, i don't think he understood, or the questions mattered to him.

Two things should be done to reduce this menace-
  1. people giving money to beggars should be fined 500 Rs and that money should be given to a reputable NGO.
  2. The parents who make there children beg at road junctions should be jailed and children should be sent to school, through juvenile homes.

Children are the future of India, and it is being ruined. These children today will become the criminals and thief of tomorrow.

Rains and traffic mayhem

It rained non-stop on the entire Friday i.e. 16 Sept 2005 in Delhi and NCR. There were heavy winds and shower. The traffic situation turned chaotic in Delhi because of bad roads and traffic lights that just did not work. The problems get compounded by low visibility and drivers who cant wait for a moment at a crossing, but are OK with a Jam.

This is the condition after every rains. The roads get potholes and lights go out. The capital gets crippled after every rains. Cant we make cemented roads so that they last better during the rains. At least the main arterial roads which have heavy traffic should have better quality roads. Cant the lights have a small inverter, so that in case of power failure they continue to work?

But then if the roads tenders for maintenance are not given out every year then how will the government and MCD/NDMC officials get their cut???

Monday, September 12, 2005

Electricity Problem

Madan lal khurana makes me remember of one of his interviews on TV when he was CM, saying "DESU (DVB) mein to corruption hai hee,,,,he he he he" He, like his usual self; ended with the dumb laugh. I was thinking that when your leaders/ CM in power has accepted the defeat and fatality of the situation, then can it change??? People wanted the electricity to be privatized but he did not allow it.

Electricity situation has improved after privatization, but not as much as we had hoped. The reasons behind it are again politics, according to me, The illegal connections to slum clusters, cant be disconnected because the votes these clusters generate. During my electrical engineering we were taught that the transformers just cant burn out/get damaged just like that. They have life of many yrs, Even then in Delhi we see so many Transformer failures. The transformers have 2-3 alarms or flags that indicate the impending disaster and reflect on its health. But is their any periodic checking of the transformers done??? is any maintenance activity done? Electricity they say should be like any other commodity that's man made. You use more you pay less. But the situation is exactly opposite. To top it up the willing and dutifully paying public also does not get the electricity 24*7.

Private parties are ready to setup generation units, but the state electricity boards cant assure them the money for the electricity they use. The whole electricity problem is easily solvable, just needs concerted effort for a few years and less political interference. The engineers and the private companies can bring a revolution, only if the government let them do it.

Friday, September 09, 2005

The Plight of Ganesha

These days I, with mom and dad are looking out, in and around of Delhi, for a piece of land with or without a structure on it, which we can call our own, which is where my retired dad hopes to spend the remaining of his life. Before our search commenced we were warned by our friends and well wishers that its getting more and more difficult to get any space in Dwarka, which happens to be our preference (don’t ask me why). Seems like DDA’s Dwarka is hotter than Krishna's Dwarka. The prices are rising at the same rate at which delhi’s mosquito breed.

So, anyway while our search was on and we were
passing by one of those well-maintained service lanes in Sector III pocket 16 in dwarka I saw something…something, which washed away all my sorrows that had cropped out of non availability of a space which we could afford.

I saw plight of Ganesha…
if this could happen to him…we are but mortals…

And that's him, sitting, watching, waiting, thinking..."me and my this plight"

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Rising Oil Prices

The oil prices have been raised in India by Rs 3 on petrol and By Rs 2 on diesel. The world prices are falling down after the initial hike.

I don’t understand that when the petrol price is America is 3$ a gallon (4 liters), why the petrol is so expensive in India? The American price comes out to be around 30 Rs per liter. First the government can’t provide decent public transportation, roads and parking and then it charges a high tax on the petrol.

Petrol prices can’t rise very high, as in the American elections the price of gas (petrol) is an important issue. Government can loose the power if the prices go high. Also if the petrol prices rise very high the development for Hybrid cars and alternative fuels will become even faster, this might bring an end to the era of dependency on petrol (oil) for transportation.

Auto LPG is a fuel that is good for the engine and also cheaper than petrol/diesel. It seems only some supreme court decision will make the government think about it.

Another thing is why don’t we add more busses to the routes that run on full capacity almost all day? And why can’t we improve the quality of the buses that run. For e.g. running an AC in the bus won’t raise the cost of transportation by more than 20%. So why not Raise the ticket cost by more 20% and introduce better buses??? Better buses will make those people shift to buses that go in their cars.

More courts in india


It has been always said that justice late is justice denied. India has a large number of pending cases at all levels in the courts. People dont want to approach the courts for fear of the cases going on for years together.
Why cant we have more courts to settle out the cases. I dont think there is any dearth of talented and experienced lawyers in india.

Indian progress focussed only in metros

Deepan saw the Prime ministers address to the US congress joint session and writes his analyses and thoughts on it.
Quote: Hello Uncle Sam

One important thing that has been raised is that much development is focused in the metros and has not spread to the entire country. I see the metros as the Nodes from where the development will spread to the entire country. But the metros are not growing fast and healthy; they are instead growing like weeds. The slums are increasing; the transportation, parking, transportation etc become a bigger problem with every passing day. Why the metros lack the vision for 50-100 yrs is sad.

Deepan also raised the issues about media sensationalizing and distorting facts. I also find that media to be more entertainment that anything else. Increasingly the fight is to increase the TRP and to get more advertisements. Media allows politicians to say different things at different times and get away with that.
Media is increasingly exposing corrupt politicians and officials but the things are seldom taken to conclusion. No retrospection is done after 6-12 months. Media and judiciary has a big role to play in the indian growth.
Mansi has done some NDTV bashing and written about credibility of media.

Samajvaad not found

This space was born out of discussion on yahoo grp of delhi bloggers that what impact does blogging have on politics? can it have an impact?

The discussion started when Ankur posted to the group about the supposed blog of Samaajvaadi leader Amar Singh. This blog has now been pulled down. We also thought that whether it was the man himself or some imposter. This blog was written in hindi and to me it appeared genuine.

Also came across the UP govenment website and their IT Policy. We have our office in Noida (U.P) and getting electricity in the office has been a pain. Office has to run literaly on generators only. I wonder how the IT will progress without electricity!!!!.

Local transportation is also a big problem here in Noida with a limited number of buses. What Noida has are good roads. I just wonder how much development is possible when there is a struggle for even the basics i.e. Water, Electricity and transportation.

More later.....