Students cling to laptop hopes in UP. Time for SP to deliver pre-poll promises.

It’s been an unprecedented victory for the father-son duo from Uttar Pradesh; Samajwadi Party has rallied from being a hooligan of sorts to be the chief administrative whip. The buffer state of Indian Politics has witnessed all the action, all the mud-slinging and all the talk of about enshrined ideals in the party manifestos.

Lets rather come to the point that may have set tongues wagging all around the political circles. Development think-tanks would have questioned the authenticity of this pre-poll promise. All eyes were glued to the outcome of the Assembly election results, but some of them were more passionately gazing, with a gleam in their eyes.

              Samajwadi Party promised all students graduating from intermediate a free laptop and all students graduating from high school, a tablet PC. Now, political extremists might question SP’s claim with an air of vehemence and the general public would associate it with the party’s new punch line, “Ummeed ki Cycle”. However might the case be, it’s the student who’ll have the last laugh and indeed that is what the 38 year old, youngest Chief Minster to be of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav might have on his mind.

              An educationist himself, Akhilesh Yadav, son of SP baron Mulayam Singh Yadav, is a qualified environmental engineer from the Sydney University, Australia.  He would be technologically more competent than any of his predecessors at the helm of affairs in Uttar Pradesh.

Brandishing his BlackBerry Smartphone, an iPAD , stereophonic ear plugs, Akhilesh Yadav is not the quintessential UP politician that you would associate with and a promise of technological assistance from the SP scion should rather be taken seriously.

              Having promised the state a development and growth pattern somewhat similar to that of Gujarat and strengthening UP’s position from being excess baggage over the centre, Akhilesh Yadav’s vision is to transform his mother state as India’s leading face for the world.

              How realistic this claim is, only time would tell but one thing is for certain that no student from a Government run college/school would help being joyous at the prospect of receiving a techo-gadget.

However, with all good things said, it’s evident that the opposition would try and pull the smooth carpet under the Samajwadi Party’s chair. They were the same father-son duo who had sought in their previous election manifesto’s a complete flipside to what is being said about technological advancements and the need for Information Technology now in the state.

               In fact, Mulayam Singh Yadav at the time of the unveiling of the SP’s manifesto for the 2012 UP assembly elections, had to re-assert Samajwadi Party’s stand that it was never against English as a language and use of computers, more so because of the political leeches waiting to overturn tables and bring SP’s noose under the saw.

               Implementation of this pre-poll promise is what would be the next big task for Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. With an estimated 1, 37,993 students set to appear for the UP Board Examinations in 2012; Samajwadi Party has indeed set itself a daunting task. It would have to be prepared to dole out a whopping 65,314 laptops for students graduating from standard XII and 72,679 tablets for students graduating from standard X.

               Perhaps the most critical of all concerns are the usage of the free laptops and the tablets being given to the students. One absolutely cannot guarantee that how efficiently and for what purpose they might be used.

              Since UP is a volatile state and tensions brew faster here than most other states and majority of UP Board students come from impoverished backgrounds with a dream to make quick money, god forbidding if these tech gadgets are used for ulterior motives, the results could be disastrous. Thus proper screening of the laptops and the tablets are required to be done either by hiring a private agency or UPDESCO
(Uttar Pradesh Development Softwares Corporation) prior to handing them out. A routine check of the devices is also recommended to filter out what are they being used for.

             The opposition should get a trail here by conducting a survey in some time from now and assessing the success of the much dramatized poll sop of Samajwadi Party. Who knows what might be the intended result?

             The Samajwadi Party or any political party in UP has banked immensely on wooing caste based politics. In fact all of them have struck the sentimental chord which is the closest to the human heart. SP is no exception. This pre-poll promise too is based largely on that, as for an impoverished student, it just remains a dream to have a laptop or a tablet in his/her hands.

             The unparalleled joy that would come out on the facial expressions of the students would be heart rendering but this is what would prove to be unflinching evidence for the ruling party, that they took care of their masses, that they hung on to the promises even if the ordinary taxpayer is left reeling under the huge economic burden that the state exchequer might accrue due to the poll sop.

It is good to technologically advantage your state in one place but it is equally heart wrenching to see the public exchequer going bankrupt in another.

Draft National Water Policy 2012 . Mere paperwork or realistic?

Draft National Water Policy 2012 . Mere paperwork or realistic?

Devang Chaturvedi

The all encompassing Draft National Water Policy has been shown the light of the day by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.

The report categorised into 16 sections talks on a plethora of issues relating to water, within the country. It also however gives basis points which can lead to the refurbishment of the scanty natural resource. In simpler words, the policy follows a holistic approach more synonymous with the inverted style of Journalism, where in the problems and the concerns are highlighted in the beginning and the steps and measures follow suit.

The vehemence with which the concerns on water usage within the country have been cited, gives clues about the aloofness of the common man, someone who doesn’t want to be privy to the consequences that might come up if water is used and wasted, the way it is being used and wasted. 

It is obvious for a water related document to bring the reader’s glare to the rampant and unabated usage of the resource primarily due to changing needs which are an offshoot of the increased dependence on lifestyle living and how large parts of India have become water stressed. It also indicates that how because of climate change, the ground water is becoming more saline and also there is an increased risk of coastal inundation. 

Taking rather a socialistic outlook of the situation, the policy document sees red with uneven water availability causing unrest within societies, the consequence of which is the exploitation of the groundwater without much consideration about its sustainability.

Putting blame on the fragmented manner in which water resource projects are being implemented, the policy document also highlights the inefficacy in the maintenance of the existing water resources infrastructure within the country.

The policy document doubts the veracity of the interstate and inters region water disputes which mostly do not have any inkling towards scientific planning on basin/ sub-basin basis. As also it grimaces over widespread water pollution affecting the availability of safe water and other environmental and health hazards.

The call for the Centre, the States and the local governance bodies to look into the per capita requirement of potable water is much more pronounced and only prior to this should water be made available for economic purposes, specifically for ensuring national food security.

It calls for a specialized concern for strengthening the weak water infrastructure in the north eastern and the eastern parts of India and also maintains the need for Community based water management on the simple pretext of, ‘seeing  is believing’.

Dependence on demand management of water is the means to effective water efficiency and which can be brought about by evolving an agricultural system that economizes water use and maximises the value of it, as also bringing in maximum efficiency in general use of water and avoiding wastages, says the document.

Incentivizing efficient use of water through various standards like water footprints and water auditing is also another method proposed by the document to holistically counter inefficient usage of water.

Considering water to be the elixir of life and the near unavailability of it, the document exhorts recycling and reuse of water to the maximum extent.

Water saving in irrigation is of paramount importance and newer practices of micro-irrigation (drip, sprinkler etc), automated irrigation operation should just not be promoted but should be imbibed in the working culture of the farmer.  The farmer should be mentally conditioned in a manner that is explanatory as to how in certain places saved irrigation water has lead to recharge of the underground water and how the same can be used in naturally low-flow season

An annual precipitation of about 4000 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) of rainfall looks impressive until and unless the actual utilizable figure is realized which is only 1123 BCM.  2877 BCM of rainwater is clearly lost. With an ever augmented water demand pattern, the only ways possible are direct use of rainfall and avoidance of inadvertent evapo-transpiration, cites the document.

 Assessment of the quality and quantity of ground water resources (replenish able or non- replenish able) should be done by mapping aquifers around the country as suggested by the policy document.

The policy document highlights the need for Artificial recharge projects to lessen the extraction and to maintain a healthy rate of groundwater recharge as also increased emphasis on Inter-basin water transfers for meeting basic human need and to achieve equity and social justice in water sharing.

Watershed development activities should be focussed on increasing soil moisture, overall land and water productivity and also reduction of sediment yield.  The policy document proposes that these activities be clubbed with the existing MGNREGA as then implementation of the same would be well kneaded.

Fixing the accountability on the user for any inefficient usage of water, it proposes a mechanism in every state to establish a water tariff system and fix the criteria for water charges preferably on volumetric basis i.e. the number of volumes consumed by a person as against the number of volumes mandated.

While water tariff systems do exist, the water tariff collected is so meagre that the accountability usually cannot be fixed and the pertinence of a water tariff system on a volumetric basis without protests cannot be foreseen.  The general notion is pegged at water being treated as everybody’s right and nobody’s accountability if it runs out.

For this, the document proposes a Water Regulatory Authority to be set up in each state to fix and regulate water system tariffs and charges. The authority may also have more administrative functions like regulating allocations, monitoring operations, reviewing performance and suggesting policy changes. It may also assist the state in resolving intra-state water related disputes. 

The document also proposes that Water Users Associations, if they exist any should be given statutory powers to collect and retain a portion of water charges, manage the volumetric quantum of water allotted to them and maintain the distribution system in their jurisdiction.

This too is likely to be a debatable issue as questions would then arise on the monopoly being exerted by the water mafia in releasing, quantifying and pricing, which may go the upward spiral.

Also the proposal to de-subsidise hydro- electricity would meet a toughened stance by the customers who would have to bear the brunt and shell out much more than he actually does.

States have been given the right to frame laws and policies on water, but still according to the water framework law, there is a need to evolve a broad and holistic national legal framework that essentially makes way for legislation in every state of the union.

Also the Indian Easements Act, 1882 would have to be modified as it appears to give proprietary rights to a land owner on groundwater under his/her land.

A forum as also a permanent Water Disputes Tribunal needs to be setup at the national level to deliberate matters related to inter-state water sharing as also intra-state water sharing.

The service provider role of the state has to be gradually changed to that of a service regulator and facilitator and water related services, as recommended by the policy document, should be transferred into the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) taking river basin / sub-basin as a unit, should be the main principle for planning, development and management of water resources. The departments / organizations at Centre /State Governments levels should be restructured and made multi-disciplinary accordingly.

Disparity, seen in water supply in rural areas as compared to the urban areas needs to removed and erratic water supply to rural areas should be fixed with proper sewage systems.

Rural areas with groundwater problems like fluoride and arsenic content in groundwater may be supplied piped surface water. Another option is that of dilution of groundwater with good quality surface water.

Urban domestic water supplies should preferably from surface water and urban domestic water systems need to collect and publish water accounts and water audit reports indicating leakages and pilferages.

In urban and industrial areas, desalinization should be promoted to increase availability of utilizable water as advocated by the document.

Calls for preservation of river corridors, water bodies and infrastructure are to be assisted by removal of encroachments and diversion of water bodies as also the drainage systems.

The policy document is humongous and self explanatory. It now has to be seen how well the governments at the state and centre catch the lucidity of it and how well implemented this National Water Policy 2012 is. The expected plan of action is, as suggested by the document however all are well versed with the reality and the sluggishness of the government action. Hope the natural resource this entire talk is about, stays to see that day as well.

Give them their Blissful Vacation!

Give them their Blissful Vacation!

Devang Chaturvedi

French student Regis Alexandre has had the most harrowing times coping with the public transportation system in New Delhi. Although he prefers the new DTC Low floor AC/ non AC city buses and the Delhi Metro, any talk about the auto rickshaws, the velo- rickshaws and the Bluelines is what he dreads the most.

For someone who uses the public transportation every day in the national capital, developing an affinity for the new DTC buses and the Delhi Metro is routine. The reason: much respite from the sweltering heat outside, fixed fares, less time and apt destinations.

Regis’s example is just like any scores of examples you’d find across the length and breadth of the city. The city, no doubt stands equipped with all means of public transportation but that stands limited for the Indian masses. If you are a foreigner and if you have taken to use the Auto rickshaws and the Bluelines, be prepared for some awe inspiring melodrama coming your way.

The auto rickshaw driver would haggle, certainly never go the distance by the electronic meter attached and once you’ve reached might just have the audacity to ask you for a slightly hiked fare. He would be so theatrical that for an instance you might just think of casting him in your next movie considering his levels of conviction.

In spite of the Delhi Government’s announcement of increase in auto base fare in June last year by 35 pc from the earlier, Rs. 10 to the revised Rs. 19, there just seems a moderated response from the auto rickshaw drivers.  For any short distance commute, majority of them still insist that the meter should not be put to use. The explanation, “it costs exactly the same. We aren’t charging you more.”

The authorities too seem lackadaisical and superficial with the implementation.  On an average a hundred auto rickshaws may be penalized out of the existing 55,000 for running without the meter functioning. The rest have all the whims and fancies to sneak out. Even the ones who aren’t able to sneak out, bribe the traffic authorities if not in public certainly in hushed manner.

The foreigners are an aggravated lot.  Howsoever they may persist for the meter be used, the auto drivers mostly remain a resolute lot. Frustration sets in and perhaps they give in to the unyielding auto drivers as even most of the Indian nationals do. Nobody usually is left with a choice as there is a paucity of time and an urgency to reach.

‘Bluelines’, a mention of this damning word and as a grad student my own memories of Delhi’s most dreaded means of public transportation return. Swarming with people, these buses are some sight to watch. The sight itself might amuse some, might get the look of extreme dilemma back on to some faces and might also get back the twitches on the face, grunts and snorts and an animal out of

Savage and ruthless, they still ply! And ply in Delhi’s up-market, high ended South district. These buses have done Delhi more harm than any good. The animal like reactions that you meet with is because people have lost and have been dealt with an even tersely worded reaction from the cops when you visit them to file a report. 

Such is the level of apathy, that somebody else’s sweat and grime becomes your own, that you are sure to have your wallet, wrist watch and mobile phones stolen, and that you may become a victim of molestation too with continued persistence. The cops react to such situations in the most curt and incredulous manner, making you doubt your own credentials.

Reactions like, “Delhi Metro is the safest means of transport. We already have a sizeable Delhi population to look after and over and above this imposed responsibility of these foreigners? We recommend they travel only by the Delhi Metro to avoid getting harassed”.  Also, “These foreigners are too exhibitory. To avoid getting harassed they should try and become normal people like any other Indian”.

As if the accumulating problems aren’t enough, the foreigners not used to inhumane stares also find ways to protect their guise when they move out. Lecherous eyes sizing the body of a girl remain intact. Howsoever it may be impertinency is definitely not appreciated by anyone. Somehow we fail to realize the intricacies of intruding upon the privacy of any being even if that might only be travelling alone in a dual side open auto rickshaw. The sex starved population of this country would just never let an opportunity to go and freely size up the expanse of the hips of any ‘firangi’ they see.

The worried few are left with no other options than to subtly give them travel advisories and what are they left with? They follow them. Not following has implications too dastardly and who wants problems for themselves in an alien country?

The problems are many but the solutions are none. The auto drivers would continue plying without the meters being used; Bluelines mercifully have been marginally reduced; Delhi Metro is too crowded during the rush hour they complain, molestation cases are though registered by the Delhi Police but their reluctance is definitely there.

Issuing travel advisories can never be the solution to these problems which just hound them in every manner possible.  Filing police complaints seems redundant anyway.

What would help them is how the perception about the foreigners can be changed in the minds of the local people. How can we best sensitize people, even if that may require some stricter repercussions coming their way? Penalize for every act of molestation with a foreigner; make them understand how badly the image of the nation is tarnished for each of these mindless acts. 

Foreigners who come in droves to India bring so much of business for the Department of Tourism in particular. The ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ campaign has been creatively put together but more needs to be done. The Aamir Khan commercial of Atithi Devo Bhava was a subtle gesture to implicate upon the masses the dreadfulnesses of the mindless ways of seeking fun by harassing the foreigners are out moded.

Finally we need to comprehend the fact that most of the tourist come here to witness the greatness of this nation. That most of them come here to witness the cultural heritage in abundance which they yearn for in their parent country.  And that we need to deem it important that this remains a blissful vacation for them.

Has BaLA been dumped?

Has BaLA been dumped?

India has no shortage of great ideas. One of them was of how education can be made exciting and interesting. Two young architects, Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi, dreamt of a unique idea to be implemented in government schools in Delhi. But is the idea dying?

Devang Chaturvedi

The New Delhi Muncipal Corporation’s Middle School at Sangli Mess at Copernicus Marg in New Delhi looks just like any other neglected government school. Urban dwellers connect to fancy schools and this has a look that they do not relate to. But, hold on, this school is just not any other government school that we would imagine.

The revolutionary government initiative called Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) debuted at this school way back in 2007. The basic idea was to make learning fun. It was also to make complicated ideas easy to understand. If you stray into this unkempt school, you will see how an innovative idea has been slowly allowed to die.

Every nook and corner of the school has a concept for a student. For example, there is one painting that depicts how a marketplace works. Another helps to identify shapes and angles. There is one that explains elementary geometry and another that has mathematical grids where students could play games and learn. Then there is one where you could use alphabets to form words. At the entrance, there is a figure that helps you identify yourself, your neighbourhood, city, country and then the rest of the world.

The BaLA initiative is a brainchild of architects Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi. The couple got interesting visuals painted on classroom walls and corridors. The motive: Learn while you have fun. But it was painted four years ago and has now faded away or has been covered with dirt. Ashok Kumar, Assistant teacher at the school points out that the BaLA initiative caught the imagination of students when it was first implemented that the response was stunning. The teachers also loved the new way

to explain concepts and fundamentals. Something as easy as the ‘various sets of lines’ or ‘how a clock works’ could be explained in just a second.

Students could be seen taking interest in identifying whatever had been painted on the walls but the interest has weaned away now.” He lamented that the NDMC has not re-painted the walls since it was implemented.

It is not just the paintings that have suffered. Stinking toilets, dying potted plants, unclean premises and messy classrooms with poor furniture tells its own tale.

Vajpeyi had earlier pointed out that funding for BaLa could be inter-disciplinary. The government, he felt, could collaborate with other agencies for the funding but it required political will.

The reality is that there is a callous approach today for what could have been a great initiative that could have made education so interesting. For instance, the entrance doors of the classrooms resembled the protractor and every swing of the door could make the students learn the various angles, helping them with practical examples in geometry. The bottoms of the doors eroded with the constant swing as also the surface where the angles had been painted. There has been a lack of maintenance everywhere. Ashok Kumar says that it was not repainted as the NDMC never told them to. “The school was owned by them we have no right to fiddle with it,” he said.

Even top schools in the capital do not play around with innovative ideas like this. It is a pity that the

idea of Kabir and Preeti has gone to seed.

dev231089@gmail.com

Doctors slam Medical Council of India advice on generic drugs

The Sensitized Trucker

And the Judiciary thought its verdict was pragmatic enough..

And the Judiciary thought its verdict was pragmatic enough..

A seething minority, a buoyant majority and the damage that has been inflicted.

 Welcome to the class of Political Insanity, to the class of Theological Disparity and to the class of the Judiciary in an imbroglio.

The last vestiges of the much embattled idiosyncrasy of the existence of the Ram Janmabhoomi and the Babri Masjid has been resolved (sic) as per the verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court or so.

Applause from the Hindutva ideology tottering Bharatiya Janta Party, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtra Swyamsevak Sangh while gloom descending on the faces of the leaders of the Sunni Waqf Board and the common minority in and around the nation.

Pragmatism evaded the verdict on one of the most unflinching issues ever in the dateline of India as a nation. Something which completely transformed the political ideologies and the game of politics, verdict on it came just as a blinding shocker for the minority community.

Righteously what had the Muslims envisaged never ever came to the forefront but yes the litigant fighting over a ridiculous belief well over 5000 years had the audacity to come out and flash unperturbedly a victory sign.  

Who does really care about the facts and evidences put across by the Sunni Waqf Board when we all so unabatedly know about the character of these political stooges; I hope you understood whom am I referring to?

Perhaps it was the duty of the Judiciary to put the biased predicaments at peace, or perhaps in a ridiculement of its own sense of belief the judiciary came out with a verdict to masquerade the nexus between itself and the executive.

Whatever might have been the circumstances, the Muslim community would have had haplessness writ on their faces. Even if the verdict would have been in their favour, the majority would have been left seething. Why?

Echoing the much dramatized sentiments (sic) of the Hindutva leaders, “how can we have a mosque been built at the place which is surrounded by Ram Lala and his kith and kin?”  “The Muslim community is inflicting nails into its own coffin... we would strive ahead with all vigour to prevent a mosque to ever come up at the revered birth place of Ram Lala.”

In the scenario of the verdict tilting in the favour of the majority, which in some sense has happened the Muslims would have been poked fun at unmistakably. All previous statements of the BJP leaders have made the grass rougher and rougher.

The Muslim community has been made to bleed a silent death ever since the 22^nd of December 1949 when the infamous Lord Ram idol was found within the vicinity of the Babri Masjid. However, what really has put me in an amusing dilemma is the fact that the Babri Masjid stood tall from 1527 till December 6^th 1992.

India kept evolving as a nation more or less be it under the Mughals or the British Empire, had literary Hindu scholars like Swami Dayanand Saraswati whose sole aim was to synchronise the chords of the nation again onto the path of Vedic rituals but still Ayodhya existed, still the Ram Lala shared a perfect bonhomie with Babri Masjid. Nobody thought of committing a crime so heinous of destroying a place of worship!

But, sadly as is not the case and on one fine morning of December 1992 the Babri Masjid came crashing down.  What would you’ve expected from the Muslim brethren? Destroy any god damn temple and one would get the answer best suited for this question.

 Even after having survived this blot on their shirt to have not been able to save this revered mosque the Muslim never reverberated with the stinking apathy of the Hindu. Right Wingers might debate till the very end that the minority can never even think of something a la Babri Masjid but, the fact of the matter is that this community was never in the reins of an ailing intelligentsia or that is how i feel.

They could have reacted with the same brick batting, with the same mudslinging at each other and sticking to the ages old idiom of ‘an eye for an eye’.  There ain’t any less number of temples in this nation and amusingly with the number of them present in Ayodhya, if the common Muslim from the adjoining areas considering Ayodhya’s proximity to Muslim dominated districts of Lucknow, Barabanki or the notoriously prominent Azamgarh would have gone on the rampage then, a Mini Palestine would have been created in the heart of the nation.  Also, then Ram would have been confined to the museums or the excavations in Chitrakoot or further down under.

If Lucknow burned in 1992 and Bombay in 1993, it primarily was the outcome of a community venting its fury on repeatedly being termed as an outcast or perhaps an answer to the ostracism of its beliefs. I applaud the Muslims for what they did in 1992 and more so for Godhra 2002, an eye opener for the hooligans of Ayodhya, be it the beleaguered rustic impertinent politicians or the mindless karsewaks who acted as per the whims and fancies of their masters. Godhra is an eyesore for the right wingers, why? The Muslims just did what they felt pragmatic enough.

A three way division of the 66.5 acres of land and the outright quashing of the title owner petition of the Sunni Waqf Board by the justices of the bench of the Allahabad High Court quite sums up the intention of the judiciary. What they claim as a fair and balanced judgement is merely nothing than keeping all litigants at tenterhooks to maintain a so what calm. I personally would give my approval to the judgement which shall rule that the Babri Masjid land should be rightfully returned back to the Muslims. A belief, five thousand years old cannot decide the location of the Sanctum Sanctorum or the Garbha Griha: birth place of Ram.

Concluding on a note which not many would agree to, i’d like the Sunni Waqf Board to step up the pressure to rightfully acquire the land that has been taken away from them. As commoners they’d still have to suffice with the embattled and lame judiciary and their silence is sure to have been mistaken for some toothless wisdom. Sadly it is not the case as the fury seething within.

                            
Devang Chaturvedi