From Tuk Tuk in Phnom Penh to rugby in Papua New Guinea

From Tuk Tuk in Phnom Penh to rugby in Papua New Guinea


We relish stories on how rugby as a game is dong it bit to curb violence in Papua New Guinea. Stories on Tuk tuk as a mode of transport in Phonm Penh evince interest so does the battle to maintain heritage in South Korea against new constructions. Tuk Tuk as a mode of transport is economical, environment friendly and no noise emitting.Time has come to run battery operated buses in different cities as it would keep environment in check. THe paper which did a story on govt buses and their reducing number should have checked facts. This story on its local page did not gell well.Another story on page three that surveillance would generate sympathy looked childish. One paper had that during the second stint no new AIRs have been filed. In the first place the first set of AIRs you filed in the first stint only showed your arrogance. A nation where dragging someone to court for no fault has become pastime. Those at fault deserve to be handled this way but not others.

Another story on film festival in south/central america evinced interest. But the show where someone is being tried and how one is taking a drag in a public place in France looked offensive.
Another channel runs hashtag like raga, leads. Look at the point size of hashtag. It looks alarming Look how cluttered the debate looks. First one gentleman used to come. Now two to three from studio and two in the field.Let each do a separate show. Or at the most two in one show. Try to do debate on how minorities can be brought in mainstream, institutions doing the same effort. Try to do debate on posh colonies and how possibly rash some are by their effort to garner huge loads of money and make from car washer to other personnel look similarly arrogant. Do a debate on real estate and how it has hit the simple law and order and other fundamentals of economy.  Do a debate on how they want to raise a skyscraper in East Delhi when Yamuna is yet to get little clean.

Policingh that has gone wayward

Puri and its roundabout

THe town has been known to engineer a positive response fropm those who visit here. But there are some shortcomings
Spitting here and there serves no purpose. Ten shops among 50-odd and each takes his time to spit as you go past them. Then again another set of 10 to 15 among 50-odd repeat the same feat.The small stretch of road from temple towards sea on the left is witness to this sort of proceedings. Things could get a little better if those who are supposed to maintain order don't resort to this window of opportunity.A place known for peaceful existence should let peace prevail rather mayhem through wide array of people take effect. Right from parking attendant to a shop attendant to a score of vendors, the mandate should be to keep things tidy and less turbulent and make visitors catch a right glimpse of the city. Why the national capital experiment of spitting and abuse you want to carry to other parts of the country.  

Puri boasts of a right template of order and let that continue.

Visiting Rajasthan

Visiting Rajasthan

Some months ago had the opportunity to visit Rajasthan. Left  Delhi Kashmiri Gate ISBT at 11.50 am. Before writing about onward journey a word or two on ISBT. Apart from the front exit/entry gate the other gates to get inside is quite a hullabaloo. You have some metro work going, adding to that is the pollution that pervades the area. If you are taking a public transport to reach the ISBT, the bus stand is well after the flyover and the driver driving the bus gives the rationale that he gets a challan if he drops passengers underneath the flyover. How true he is and how truthful were his observations. Inside the bus stand the toilets are fairly clean but the clutter of shops look to be a little disorganuised. Here at different points there should be boards elaborating on eatables/juices and their fixed price.

After not much of a wait, left  Delhi Kashmiri Gate ISBT at 11.50 am.  Reached South Extension at 12.30. At 1.18 Jaipur is shown to be a little over 210 km. The ride is on a public transport bus with window seat much to cheer about. Reach mehsana 1.35, at 2 pm  we are in Dharuhera, at 2.23 we are in Bawal. We go past Meena STD PCO at 2.38, Neerana 2.45 and Behror around 3. We sight Hotel Triputi at 3.40. At 3.45 Jaipur is shown to be 103 km.
Reach Shahpur 4.45, Manoharpur 5.02, and in Jaipur we are in at 6. In between we come across traffic jams which the bus and other modes of transport find hard to negotiate. Though the road from Delhi to Jaipur has settled to a wide extent from excessive digging in we experienced some years/months ago, the ride lasting six hours leaves you tired and out of tune. Take a room near Sindhi camp, probably that is how the bus stand is known to be. The boys tell me it would be a pleasant stay but it turns otherwise. Take breakfast and meals from Hotel Mewar. Here i am told the prices for room are 700 rs and above. It is ok if one seeks little peace and order. To keep the tummy in control, prefer to settle for rice, curd, dal from Mewar. Mewar has a great staff.

Leave next day from Sindhi camp bus stand for Ajmer. The ride is bordering on hopelessness. I can make out the plain clothes man travelling in the bus. The conductor who looked to be sweet begins to show his side of temper later. After a ride of 20 -odd minutes he begins to spit on the stairs of the bus repeatedly. And  no offence meant. Against this ride from Jodhpur to Ajmer had among two set of conductors one spitting from his window everytime you used to get out of bus.How remotely he seem to be connected to order.Here it is important to note that drivers, conductors and helpers who could be a source of trouble if not properly trained.  By the time i reach Ajmer i am in a fix of whether i should have travelled. Stayed in a hotel probably with the name Delux. The hotel was ok and so was the staff. Visited Dargah on more than one occasion. The place is good. But on occasions it is not bereft of spitting and that too if you are just going past them.They would spit before you or as you go past them or just immediately after you.  Thousands of times i have encountered this in this city.  Took a general ticket for ride from Ajmer to Jaipur as i already had sleeper class ticket from Jaipur to Delhi Cantt.  

 The stay in Ajmer was mixed, the stay in hotel ok. In the Ajmer station they don't have enquiry counters working after 2 pm. So to seek an enquiry one has to get into the long queue. Can one understand the rationale behind such a move. The traffic outside the station and the multiple layers of pollution is doing no good to the city. Even Kacheri road has multiple layers of pollution. While waiting for Ashram train i took a seat near the overbridge. There was one gentleman sleeping there and another standing, both from the police department in plain clothes. The man who said sahib aayee showed his true colours later When i took the seat first he requested for my pen. Later having finished his work he released a series of filthy abuse. I was stuck. I kept mum for the next 20 minutes. During this period it was all abuse and solid assurance of the same. The man who was sleeping just nodded whenever he would finish a sentence rich with abuse. Provocation of the same i could not make out. We have to admit. We pass abuse at home when the abuse coming from outside becomes unbearable. Only when we are provoked we pass abuse.  Otherwise we try to stay calm. After these series of abuse i took another seat and waited for the train.
Took the general coach. Changed to sleeper coach in Jaipur. Here as i went to sleep on lower berth with the face towards window seat, after 15 to 20 minutes a  man lifted the window and  spat. How much dignified his approach was. I protested and told him, these acts are engineered by those meant to provide security. Later i came across a gentleman who hailed the train from Alwar. He seem to be a proponent of cleanliness and calm surroundings. Reached Delhi Cantt. And took a bus to ring road and an auto to the place.

Ajmer for all its richness has to evolve as far as cleanliness and calm surroundings are concerned. Pedal rickshaws are good, goodness has to shown by those driving at breakneck speed. SPitting and relieving here and there should be least tried.A clean surrounding serves all.

Circle rate in national capital, blacks in US, house glut in neighbouring country

Circle rate in national capital, house glut in neighbouring country

As i begin to write about circle rates in the national capital of delhi, the search of the same does not yield results. Seventies was the period when the rates would have been fairly low, not lessening the  speed at which the residents could gain fairly accessible options.  It should have been an ideal capital where prices of property to praise should have least required huge outlay of resources/mirroring of moods.

Reckless driving
The  city has grown in size so has grown the demand to raise price of land to deter the "outsider" to ever think of getting a piece of land. They talk about the urgent need to check the amount of unaccounted money that flows in this sector and thus the need to up the circle rate. It was the environment of 80s that set in motion the feast of black money and where does the high circle rate has a ring of justification. Here public transport, considering the number of govt buses/cluster buses that run on roads does not show a pattern, you have more buses than required, more running at reckless speed than ever an attempt being made to check the menace of reckless driving. Here background checks are not carried out before recruitment of those handling public transport. A woman should not be the last one to exit the bus. One would argue during Night shifts more steps are to be taken to see order in some form is maintained. Forces that served in public transport get easily absorbed in real estate and associate sectors and vice versa and here one can imagine the ruckus that could gain ground, years turning to decades.  There were two sets of buses, first red line followed by blue line. These buses plied in the 90s and till 2008-09 and the amount of freedom they secured to run over here and there saw the weak side of law enforcement.


Venezuela buses no spare parts; the scene here between 90s to 2008
Venezuela we come across stories where spare parts are not available for buses. It is better to have such buses than have cases of reckless driving. Before people are recruited in public transport, highlight them the benefits of driving with care, caution and not throwing abuse at womenfolk. They say half of the recruitment in public transport is with personnel having allegiance to police and cluster buses and other buses also have a fair share of them. Well the 90s and till 2008 when red line and blueline buses plied the share of those being owned by them was known.  For a better law and order what is more important is to keep the force productively employed. A force which is productively employed and not sitting idle would bring order to the proceedings.
Starting with a contract system and that too from a district is not a bad idea. Similarly when a dhaba, small eating joint, cineplex opens, care should be taken to see order is maintained, effectively meaning it does not set in a range of problems.  Similarly when a host of real estate projects get launched and realised, a share here and a share there gives ample room for people behind such projects to fiddle with laws and up the price. If law had been strong since 80s, at least real estate should have been a place not known for notoriety and law and order problems.

Red carpet laid in the 80s, newspaper supplements adding to the problems
That was 80s, triggering a push for real estate to readily erect a frontier  where newspaper supplements which were once in a month affair turned to a weekly exercise. Had control been exercised then and there itself, neither the rates would have hit the roof nor it would have kept a large segment out of house cover.  Real estate spawned a rally in other sectors that not only raised the arrogance, abuse with capital A and the feeling of I the owner of roads and colonies began to run unchecked. If a black in the US gets to face the rough side of law enforcers, it is not hard to figure out why this is happening. Scores of protesters, white, blacks and others demand justice and before this episode recedes in the background another episode of another black being meted out same treatment we come across. Speaking to a Nigerian national studying in the national capital the Ferguson episode one hoped would be an isolated one, recurring of the same here and there has hit hard the template of compassion and coexistence the country is known for. Mr Bloom, Mr Ross would agree with that.
The sunshine in Alabama was good and George sharing dias with Ba was a consolation. Though some would have found fault with the speech made but one has to understand the hands are tied and how much Ba can do. Here some would argue another AfricanAmerican, CaribbeanAmerican, CentralAmericanAmerican should get another opportunity. It may be distant but not impossible.


House glut in China
China is facing a housing glut with developers finding it difficult to raise funds. Chinese manufacturers face weak demand from home and abroad. Olympics and the boom that one expected following the big event did not happen and as a result, the house glut, low demand and threats from different forces became more visible. For China, more important is to keep the Army productively employed and instill in them the virtues of discipline and not displacing others. More important is to inculcate in them the feeling of compassion. China faces a daunting task. One among them is Honk Kong where the tirade of the local residents is that those hailing from mainland have left no room for them to get a roof of their own. Some would argue that Mainland China should steer a drive where affordable housing involving local residents should be set in place for a long time. Similarly admissions to schools,colleges and employing the locals to companies stationed there is a way forward to break the impasse.

We had commonwealth games and the amount that went down the drain is known. At least the stadiums built then should be put to effective use as stories abound of such structures lying unused in Brazil (world Cup), China (olympics), London (olympics). In each of theses places, the budget went beyond expectations. As for DEbates in electronic media, it  should be towards measures required to be taken to reduce circle rate, bring transparency in real estate, the clamour to secure high salary/compensation after completing courses from private institutes is it justified?. Are Business graduates that are being churned out by private varsities getting effectively employed. One paper had a story on clutter of gutter mbas. Not meant to offend anyone, this tribe of gaining business outlook with no prospects in hands looks alarming.
High circle rates have kept the commoner out of home reach and any attempt to raise a skyscraper when Yamuna is not relatively clean looks priorities are misplaced. Here newspapers talk about skyscrapers.  A district court here and there, a stadia right in the city and outskirts, some of these places lie unattended. Though economy is not booming, it is not in pause mode either, not by any means engineering prospects for repo rate to be cut on two occasions.

M O Ibrahim Foundation established in 2006 to encourage African leadership is something on which Inside Story had a reasonable debate. One channel covers Africa in its entirety. Perhaps channels in Delhi should take a leaf from that.  

Racism they bank on. Characters with shrewd past

Budget that should give fillip to jobs in rural hinterland

Budget that should give fillip to jobs in rural hinterland


Jobs in rural hinterland is a big issue. Big enough to up the temperature. Those having passed out of schools, colleges are sitting idle. WAiting for an opportunity to secure training here or there. Some having enrolled in ITIs are staring at a bleak future, those having passed out no good either.
The attempt to get in shape SMEs (small medium enterprises) should be in a way that dots the rural landscape. Select 50-odd districts who barely have a sector to support them, distressed by most yardsticks, try to get the smes here in one way or the other.  Rural hinterland with a falling agricultural yield is a source of concern and attempt should be to get a research institute in a district that is not known. Already a district bombarded with different sectors/institutes can't have the sole privilege to have more of them. The effort should be to have them(sectors/institutes) evenly spread.

Disinvestment as part of non tax revenue can't be relied for long, other avenues should be explored. When base year was 05, the GDP grew at 5 per cent, when base year was made 12, the GDP grew by almost 7 per cent. New data series on GDP growth is questionable. Some would argue that was there a need to change the base year.
Public sector ports to be corporatised. A good move indeed. A process not to be rushed through with enough precautions built in. Some public sector ports need not change their nomenclature if proper study is done as research would reveal after clipping little loopholes here and there they can still function as public enterprise .

Some cheered the announcement of setting up of seventh pay commission. To be fair the largesee that is to be doled out should be in a manner that does not bring the finances under alarming stress. A mild rise is better since revenue with higher traction is not always guaranteed. Some may ask was there a need to make an announcement towards setting up of a new pay commission, something done in the previous regime. At lower level get more recruitments on contract to get the financial pressure away. At middle level try to do the same. We hail the deal in Greece and hope it carries through. That should be a reminder for us.


New glide path that puts fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent in 2016-17 and 3 per cent in 2017-18 should not necessarily be adhered to. A little higher fiscal deficit would still be viable. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), more should be brought in its coverage as that at this moment looks to be the option to cut leakages. We say that India stands at 35th position as far as foreign debt which is 120 per cent of GDP. Attempt should be to get somewhere near 70 per cent over a period of time.
More attempt should be made to bring the lower half of policing under contract as that would give dramatic results.

Skill development with something to look forward is better. A blueprint, with enough precautions built, should be tried in the right earnest. Making announcement just for the sake of making announcement does not get us on board. There are a host of states which have organised investors' meet. Big page ads showing the proposals they received may have revived the fortunes of different publications but that was far away from truth. A slew of proposals received does not translate to a slew of investments made and registered. Let the state governments Get the ads posted once investments have been made, married to a possibility of changing the fortunes of some if not all.

The Swatch Bharat Cess may look grand, grand would be its realisation if the money meant for this cause actually goes towards that endeavour rather ending somewhere else. A monitoring, consistent, and carried by capable hands would be ok.  A budget exercise that evoked mixed reactions.

Priority should be to up the agricultural yield, bring jobs to rural hinterland.

Gems that Whitney Houston gave to us

Whitney Houston has been a great enthusiast. The songs that came from her stable truly lifted the meaning of love and how compassion should be part of our lexicon.
The numbers "I Wanna Dance with Somebody", "How will i Know" draws same level of affection towards her as it did in the 80s and 90s. A true human being indeed.