Wheels Of Doom

TATA is all set to create history (and a whole new market) by introducing Mint (that is what it was originally called), the 1 lakh car in the upcoming edition oh the Delhi Auto Expo in January 2008. Must I admit, the prospect of owning a car, and that too at such a low cost, is too enticing. While the features and standards adopted for this car are doggedly kept under wraps, it stands a very good chance to forever alter the dynamics of the Indian auto industry.

And that is what terrifies me…

I’m scared to think of the prospects when the Mint, as cool as ever, is lapped up in thousands, or maybe even lakhs, by urban and semi urban (and a lot of rural) India alike. It is natural to expect that several of these new age car owners will chuck hanging out of local trains and buses to opt for a comfortable drive to work on our already log-jammed roads.

What this will do to the environment could well be what nightmares are made of…

Imagine having thousands and thousands of more cars on the already choked roads of Indian cities. Imagine what it would do to the ambient air quality… Imagine what it will do to Carbon Dioxide emissions…People might one day need oxygen masks to step outside their homes.

The prospects look bleak, and they are not entirely impossible.

We need to prevent that. How will we? Or more importantly, will we? Time is running out…

The wheels of doom are going to begin rolling very soon…

P.S: Neeraj – it’s nothing but your status based snobbery that TATA is going to cater to. Guys, check out ‘Batti Bandh’ his amazing post on the social aspects of global warming @ Mind Chow.

Realty Bites

The real estate is doing very good with the property prices going over the roof. Innumerable infrastructure projects and big ticket efforts like the New Bombay Airport, SEZs, Trans Harbour Sea Link, The Metro, and all such other projects promise to change the face of the city.

Take pride in the fact that soon you will be in a city with global aspirations that will boast of infrastructure par excellence and a very international experience.

I now enjoy higher incomes, better lifestyles and all the other things the middle class now considers a routine and mundane part of their life.

I am happy. But can I rejoice? NO.

Around ten years ago, I could have afforded a house in Bombay City.
Now no longer.
Around two years ago, I could have afforded a house in New Bombay.
Now no longer.
I am progressively being edged out of the city that I call my home.

New Bombay was conceptualized as a means of providing affordable mass housing to people. Somewehre down the lane, that objective seems to have been (conveniently) forgotten. CIDCO, is now on a money making spree and is amongst the main entities responsible for the property prices sky rocketing there.

Every square inch of land is being auctioned off. If CIDCO has 500 plots to sell, it creates some sort of an artificial scarcity by only releasing say 5 plots at a time. We have innumerable builders who fight amongst themselves to grab the prized plots. The direct result of this bidding is that the plot under question gets grossly overvalued at the bidding stage itself. CIDCO is now doing to New Bombay realty exactly the opposite of what it was meant to do.

And now the builders pitch in to earn their profit over and above the over valued realty rates. The buyer is made to pay for ‘super built up area’ - area that is not even owned by her (mind you, this is everywhere now). [Since my emphasis in this post is about affordability of housing, I had better not deviate – the builder angle of the realty industry needs due attention – maybe in the next post!]

Is the government doing anything at all to control the situation?

The Housing Policy of the GoM drafted last year is yet to take shape. It does heavily emphasize on integrated townships to provide affordable housing to mainly the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and the Lower Income Group (LIG). Building affordable housing is to be incentivised by providing the developers with additional FSI and other incentives.

The in the pipeline ‘Aam Aadmi Awas’ of the GoI envisages to provide 45 million housing units to the LIG/EWS - all at just a lakh each. 270 sq feet dwellings with in house sanitation facilities and other recreational facilities to complement the settlements will surely provide at least a reasonably better standard of living. Interest subsidies are planned to try and take care of the funding aspect as well. Which means the LIG does have some concrete proposals to look up in anticipation to.

Now what about a normal middle class or a MIG (Middle Income Group) family which is too rich to fall into the LIG and too poor to fall in the UIG (Upper Income Group) to be able to afford a house in Bombay (well I specify Bombay because I reside here – the sorry state of affairs hold true for all major Indian cities)? It is the middle class which is the worst hit and is being marginalised with every passing day. The LIG, being the vote bank, (and honestly deserving the governments due attention too, at least in this case) is always considered by the Government in its policy making. The UIG does not need any pampering anyways.

Gets stuck, the middle class.
Do they need affordable housing? Yes.
Do they have affordable options? No.
Are they affluent enough in the government’s eyes? Yes.
Are they affluent enough to get themselves a place to call home? No.

I feel it is high time that the state played its role in making life a little easier for the MIG. The MIG wouldn’t need much – coz they are halfway there already. Instead of having a rigid cut off for interest subsidies, the government can have some sort of an inverse proportionality between the net income of the family and the interest subsidy they are eligible for. They can incentivise banks that hand out step up loans and thus help the MIG in buying better houses. Softening prepayment laws just in case they are able to cough up the finances required to pay off their dues to the bank, so that net outflow is restricted.

A few thoughts that require the governments’ action for me to find my dream home. Till then, it might just remain as my dream of a home…

CULLinary delights

Rumours of suspected bird flu attacks have resurfaced, and with that organized efforts to wipe out the virus. Only that it is synonymous with with wiping out millions of chicken.

Have we really begun considering ourselves to be God? What gives us the right to wipe out entire populations of these defenceless chickens? I have been a part of bloody and gory instances, and managed to stay pretty much composed right through. But i could watch the video of the culling for no more than a few seconds. I felt disconcerted and and downright sad at the ruthless efficiency with which the people were breaking the necks of the chicks and dumping them as garbage into bins/pits. I am certain that the chicks have the emotional intelligence to comprehend what was happening in front of them, and the certainty that the same fate is going to befall them as well. All this, because they are suspected of having avian flu.

Drawing a parallel, if humans were to be culled every time they got flu then population and environmental concerns wouldnt exist at all today. In fact it might be a worthwhile thing to do - every form of cold or flu in the world is incurable. See a human with cold? Wring his/her neck and dump the body into a pit at least 12 feet deep, else you might contract it too.

Without having to elaborate, the analogy is obvious for that human disease that scientists today all over are trying to battle and control. But would we do to them what we do to the chickens? No. Unthinkable. We try to bring them into the mainstream, and make consistent efforts to help them lead a normal life.

Which leads me to think: Probably the only mistake the chicks committed was in being born as chicks. Why would anybody spend millions in developing vaccines for chicken which are going to land up eventually on our plates anyways? Go ahead, cull them. But mind you, there may come a time when it might be man's turn to lie dead in that pit - only that this time it would be fellow humans themselves who have decided that funding for medical research to develop vaccines is simply not worth the (money) effort.

Reflections - 7/11

Exactly an year ago, serial bomb blasts on the suburban trains in Bombay ripped apart the lives of several innocent and unsuspecting people and devastated the livelihoods of several thousand others.

Back home, I sat glued to the TV looking at the gruesome images of destruction and death. And sat with bated breath when Western Railway declared that it is not going to bow down to the whims and fancies of the terrorists: "We will have WR up and running normally by the peak hours tomorrow. No matter what."

And they did it - at around 1:15AM on 12/07/2006 the services were resumed. And I silently rejoiced - a fitting reply to terrorism.

Word was beginning to spread about a Bombay bandh being called on 12/07/2007 by the political parties to protest the blasts. But they declared in one voice, in a rare display unity that there shall be no bandh. A fitting reply to their dastardly act would be to show them that nothing can stop us and that we would still go ahead and lead a normal day.

And that moment I was actually proud of all our political parties for displaying the grit and determinationt that they did. Balls to you terrorism!

Then, a week on, the entire city came to a complete standstill for 2 minutes to pay homage to the victims of the blasts. In silence, we made our message loud and clear to the world.

WR has repaired the one of the bogies that was impacted by the blasts and it will make its inaugural run today evening to correspond with the first blast.
And today, millions of us, travelling in the very same bogie would again give terrorism a fitting reply: "Do what you want - Nothings gonna stop us now".

The Nth Battle Of Independence

Pakistan is fighting a battle for its independence. Yet again...

And the person who started it all – The ‘non-functional’ Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhury.

Summoned by President Musharraf for alleged malpractices and misuse of his position. Sacked for challenging the government for its wrong doings and the innumerable human rights violations. He was beginning to become a pain for the Prez. Sack him. End of story.

But how wrong he was. Since things happened a little differently than what he had fathomed.

Chaudhury was asked to renege his post as Chief Justice but refused to do so. He was kept under captivity for several hours at the Army House where he was summoned, before being allowed to leave. Thence he was kept under virtual house arrest with him and his family being confined to a single room. Phone lines were cut. No one was allowed to meet him.

Dictators consider themselves to be smart asses, probably because the power they command blinds them of all sense and sensibility, and they live in the fantasy world that the position that they enjoy will remain unchanged - no matter what.

Article 209 of the Pakistani Constitution mandates that the President has no powers to remove from office a Chief Justice, or any Judge for that matter. The matter needs to be referred to a Supreme Judicial Council via a referendum.

In Chaudhury’s support, lawyers across the country stayed away from courts. It was a landmark first where lawyers and law enforcers clashed - lawyers took to the streets in a showdown with baton wielding riot police. Police beat Geo TV journalists inside the station’s studios in Islamabad because they had been airing footage of lawyers covered in blood from injuries they had received during a demonstration in support of Chaudhury. The studio was ransacked and the TV journalists were tear gassed. Several lawyers and judges began mass resignations. The Pakistani Judiciary was on tenterhooks.

Media, both local and international erupted with criticism. And after a long time, or probably the first time Musharraf was forced to offer an unconditional apology.

And then May 12^th happened in Karachi. Chaudhury was to be in Karachi to address the Sindh High Court. Government tankers were used to block off routes to the airport, police and rangers were conspicuous by their absence or standing idle as armed men ran amok on the streets of Karachi, corpses and wounded bodies lying by the wayside in pools of blood. Supporters of Chaudhury flocking the route were fired at by these armed men in civilian clothes. It looked like the beginning of army rule in Karachi. 46 lives were lost in the carnage. But Musharraf justified the carnage by terming it the ‘political activity’ of a party attempting to show its strength to its constituency.

[Information has been sourced from http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/05/30/eyewitness-karachi-may-12-2007/
Check it out, it’s a shocking read!]

Chaudhury was again the centre of another massive anti-government extravaganza on May 26^th in Islamabad that held the entire nation in thrall. Chants of ‘Go Musharraf Go’ that began in the rally have now become a rage all over the country. And for the first time Musharraf is on the defensive, and telling the world as to why he should not quit.

Musharraf has failed to see that the movement has gone way beyond the lawyers. From a fight for an independent judiciary, it has now turned into a fight for democracy, a fight for independence. From him.

He better count his days in office. As far his reign goes, if this is not the end, this is certainly the beginning of the end.

SIES Guys Seriously rock Together

Yesterday night a few of our college mates met up for dinner at Satguru's in Chembur. And boy, what a time we had!

It was a tradition that began in the 4th semester, and two such outings per semester eventually became mandatory, the first before the vivas, the excuse being that a long stint of studies was coming up. And the second, after the mains, the excuse being that a long stint of studies was just done with!

It all began with a discussion during the PCOM practicals about the quality of the Pav Bhaji that Satguru doles out. It was one of the most intellectually stimulating discussions that we had in the whole of our PCOM practicals, since we never ever had anything better to do. And anyways, getting the output was obviously out of question.

And thats how it all started. With a modest beginning of five people which eventually swelled to 24 once. By now all the waiters and the owners of Satguru know what is in store for them when they see even a couple of these so called clowns from SIES walk in. Coz they know that the rest of the pack cant be far behind, and watch with sinking hearts as we begin setting up our bunker to launch a vicious onslaught of the most pathetically amazing (or is it amazingly pathetic?) PJ's on the unsuspecting mortals around.

But yesterday's was special for many reasons.
For one, it was the first time that the get together was not about any particular class (wonder why we didnt do this before.....). The clan was equally represented by all the three streams, COMPS, IT and EXTC.
And it was a reason for celebration, twice over - of Sunil getting a well deserved break with his admit from IIM C. And of Ragha's birthday gone by. And for Vikas being under the illusion that the Nalanda Law College is managed by Shishu Shikshan Samiti!

And as I and Neeraj were discussing on our way back home, for the sheer joy of being with your college mates once again. Many of us are working now. We would have made quite a few new friends as well. Work might be great, and fun too. But being with your people at the home turf is really something priceless. Rolling with laughter over atrocious PJ's that seem funny only to us. Making plans to go for the first day first show of the greatest ever moviiee to be made. All is so unique to our batch.

Borrowing the tag line from Sony, its

SIES GST
Like No Other...

Mohammad Afzal - Verdicts and Beyond

The Verdict

The SC bench comprising justices P.V. Reddi and P.P. Naolekar said: “Collective conscience [of the nation] will only be satisfied if he is awarded death penalty.”

Or in other words: We can’t help it! People want him dead…..

Afzal was not even given the right of appropriate representation during the court proceedings – there have been several sessions wherein Afzal has had to defend himself in court. And we are talking about a police force that is amazingly adept at fabricating evidence….

The biggies of the Parliament attack are having a blast living it up in safety and luxury. Maybe because a nation that’s baying for Afzal’s blood has blissfully forgotten about them.

Or maybe the Indian Government always knew that they wouldn’t be able to touch them anyways – and when we are talking of such a high profile case – they had better have convictions. Who better than Mohammad Afzal to have as prime accused?

Isnt it obvious that there is something horribly wrong somewhere?
I am not claiming that Afzal is innocent - all I am saying is prove his guilt for gods sake!

What it means for us

Afzal might hang. Or maybe he might not.
But if he does, it would be a sad day for the state in general and the judiciary in particular.

Afzal is nobody special. He is just another Indian – like you, like me, like most of us. His execution will prove beyond doubt that justice is not for the common powerless Indian.

I do not intend, and hate to make this appear communal – but Indians of the minority community would just become a lot more vulnerable due to this. The police would be cracking cases at break neck speeds – and would be hurled praises by a media that sees all, knows all, but plays blind.

The victims – persons who end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time – it may be me tomorrow, it may as well be you too.

Now the entire nation will bay for our blood. And then the SC will again cater to the collective conscience of the people

Denying justice to the common Indian. Delivering judgments that are based on the perception of justice than justice itself.

Is this a sign of things to come?.......