It is just for the pleasure of seeing their work in media, the authors have taken too much of pains to see ghosts where there exists none. Nobody can deny the fact that the country has made stunning progress in almost all the fronts. It just needs only simple comparison of our efforts since the 90's (post liberalisation) with post independence. Can the authors deny that? You will always have to consider our country's size, its diverse culture, etc. As Henry Kissenger once remarked that it is a wonder that this country is being governed at all, when some scribe confronted him with the poor governence of India. We the middle aged are the witness to the remarkable progress, be it in IT or any other sector. If this momentum is kept up the day is not too far away when India can rightly stake its claim to the super powerdom, despite our political system, politicians, bueracrats,and the biased media, haven't we in the past 60 odd years. We will.
RE:Trouble with India
by V.V.S.M.Sivaram on Mar 15, 2007 04:31 PM
Of course there is progress...No body is denying this fact.....But the fact of the matter is, is it being done on a fast basis....Or do we haveto wait another 60 years to lay another 60 kms stretch of land....We have been laying roads all thru the last 60 years and yet we dont have a comprehensive policy for road laying...the policy seems to be only 'evolving' in the last 60 years....
1) One, there should be a policy for the rehabilated policy by making them stake holders 2) Two, there should be less friction between babu dom once the project starts under way....One officer is trying to pull the lef off another officer all the time. One has to understand that at the end of the day we are all Indians and these project would help another Indians 3) Politicians, Public Servants, their kith and kin shouldnt be allowed to set up private industries and they should nt be given the contracts... Corruption should nt be tolerated at any level...People should be hanged if there are any corruptions charges are found and proved against people...
BUT and this is a BIG BUT FOR Mr. Balasubramanian, knopwing the India of the last 60 years...Can we think that this will change in the next 30 or 60 years.....I DONT KNOW
I think the government of every state should start implementing a totally new type of road infrastructure keeping next 50 years in mind. one of the solution is: 1) Every main road should be a four level. 2) At ground level (level %u20130) is a %u201CNo vehicle zone%u201D, and vehicles are allowed only in night after 9.30 PM. Parking in day time not allowed since its a no vehicle zone. 3) At first level all types of vehicles are allowed. Parking is done via, a centralised system where you have to purchase a swipe card of min. 50 to 5000 Rs. At first level, the road has a footpath (5 ft wide), a parking area, and then the main road. This is applicable from both sides. Every one km has a lift to get down, with a stair case option. Level one joins all main area for entry and exit. 4) Level 2 will have entry and exit at every Min 7 KM, charged 5 Rs per entry. No motorbikes, three wheelers are allowed on this road. Level 2 has parking, lift, and staircase infrastructure as for level 1. Entry fee is deducted automatically through sensors when the car gets on the level 2, money is automatically deducted from the swipe card purchased by the car owner. Car owner has to fit a remote sensing machine in his car, which should be set with the swipe card details. 5) Level 3 has entry and exit at every 15 Km, and entry and exit for this is Rs. 7 per vehicle. Minimum speed on this road is 40 Km/hr. rest all is same as level 2. 6) Trucks entry is allowed only from some specific entry and exit points. Trucks or commercial load carrying vehicles are not allowed on level 1. They can go on level 2,3. and on level 0 in night time without paying any entry toll. Once they pay entry toll, they get a small machine, which they have to keep in front of steering, and while exiting return back the machine.
This is a concept and needs brainstorming. But this can address our needs for next 50 or more years.
RE:Infrastructure problem
by mahesh bhageria on Mar 15, 2007 03:54 PM
this suggestion is really good and would do wonders for the Indians but point is, that our politicians are not ready to do anything for the countries benefit but are willing to fill their own pockets
An interesting but a very one-sided article. I request the authors to think how, inspite of all the corruption, bureaucratic delays, etc, we have been achieving growth at over 8& p.a. for the past several years.
Yes, all the ills they pointed out are there. But also these are being definitely addressed these days, irrespective of who is ruling. Introduction of the RTI Act itself is a pointer that in public life, need to fight corruption and to ensure transparency are being seriuosly realized and something is being done about it. In a large country like India (particularly being a democracy), it is not possible to bring about changes as rapidly as one would like. I would like to conclude by saying that there are several evils in India but at long last these are being seriously tackled and I have no doubt that the country would march ahead in the years ahead. I have equally no doubt that the task is huge and will take perhaps another 25 years to achieve.
In the meanwhile, scholarly (sic!) people like the authors should say something constructive or nothing at all.
RE:only if it was ..........
by Abhijit Bhowmick on Mar 15, 2007 03:34 PM
Buddy my dad is in construction industry and the main problem comes from the government and the contractors....government often doesnt release payments of work compleetd...these payments not done in time...and contractors are not punished by gov. for delaying in supply of materials...there is no proper logistics that takes place.....basically we bunch of Idians are lazy....except few on whose shoulder runs the wheels of development of India.
the problem with the government administration is that its officials think that once they are in the job nobody can throw them out . there is need of the hour for the government to have hire and fire policy just like any company. it also should monitor the development of its project by just not looking at the amount spend but should set up a different department which just look at the progress of the work monthly,weekly or whatever is feasible.
Mumbais western express highway shouldnt be called highway, with amounts of bottlenecks, right turns. it is said that golden quadrangle is about to be completed. Has anybody seen traffic at Dahisar Check naka to Kashmira. They have given a signal of 90 seconds to a village road on this highway after kashmira and 60 secs for highway traffic!!!! They built ghodbunder road, which was always potholed. now in maharashtra they are trying to build max conc roads. i believe this itself should be a big scam (by harassing traffice by poorly built bitumen roads). Rails- they can double local trains, they can have still same crowd, double mumbai-pune,ahmedabad,delhi,banglore and goa trains and still have full trains. but it will never happen. The question is what all we can do to galvanise action. can some body write point by point
The Congress netas basicaly want India to be a country of mediocrity and a country of chamcha , chela and non performers.
When you promote incompetency at every level you end up with potholed roads , rotting buildings , corrupt officials and all overheads that come with it.
Because we are inherntly selfish and have a "me first" attitude , we basically deserve what we get.
So many messages here asks 'what have you done' repeatedly. This probably is the mentality of us to ask questions to ourselves instead of those ruling us. What should be done by anyone to improve roads in Blr. The city is in such a high trajectory of growth, the government with a surplus budget, people with good earning jobs, contributing to the government's tax chest. What else one need to do...let the government do its job, it is suppose to do. If this is the kind of treatment a city gets even after visibly seeing the growth and prosperity in front of their eyes, they simply don't deserve to rule or govern. This include right from the municipality clerk to the top political job.
RE:what have you done....A stupid question
by Kartikey Soni on Mar 15, 2007 03:01 PM
well said indeed but what amuse me is if all IT co's can built such a great campus (highest voise is chirping of bird) why they look at govt to built as amal as 8 KM streach of roads. isnt its also an attitute of "keeping the home clean by thowing the trash on road"
RE:RE:what have you done....A stupid question
by Contrarian Tip on Mar 15, 2007 03:56 PM
You need permissions boss...you just cannot randomly go building roads whereever u see the need...and guess who you need the permissions from? oh yeah! The Government!!!! Amazing na?
RE:what have you done....A stupid question
by V S on Mar 15, 2007 01:59 PM
yes people pay taxes but corrupt officials build their kothis with it instead of roads that would benefit everyone.
eventually everyone is worse off and has to tolerate mediocre standards.
RE:what have you done....A stupid question
by raja ram on Mar 15, 2007 02:24 PM
yes, you are right. i think the maximum thing that we common people can do is to pay our tax sincerely and make sure there is no breakage of law from our side. i think the government authorities are the ones to be pointed out for the malfuncioning of the infrastructure specially in bangalore.
im having to travel for atleast 1.5 hours for covering a distance of 20 kms odd everyday. purely becoz of the lack of widened roads and ofcourse lack of civic sense in the people's mind.
There are many reasons for this. The root cause is our greed, selfishness and group-ism. These are the main reasons why we are not moving ahead. Neither we move ahead nor we let others (meaning the people belonging to other castes, religions, regions, states, so on) move ahead. For us, people belonging to the "other" group are evil people and they should be stopped from becoming rich and should not be allowed to progress. This mentality is so deep rooted in our society that nobody is exempt from it. This mentality has to change.
