Giving up cars

US may be giving up their cars…well up to a point.  There are people who commute to their offices on a bicycle. The mayor of Seattle, a city in Washington state goes about his business on cycle (can you see the mayor of Delhi or the Chief Minister of Delhi doing so?). Giving up a mode of transport that adds to the prestige of a person travelling by it is difficult. It is especially so for people who hold certain position in the government; they don’t want to swap their means of transport. Politicians in India, UK, USA would find it hard to give up the expensive cars that were especially modified for their protection. These cars consume enormous amounts of fossil fuel. The leaders in India and USA travel in a convoy that requires many cars.

Automobile (Photo credit: A*A*R*O*N)

Giving up those amenities would not immediately effect a change on the environment, but the message it would send down the line would affect the change necessary for the future of mankind. The government should bring in austerity measure that calls for every vehicle owned by it to  effect enormous savings in terms of fuel consumption. That means all luxury vehicles would need to be removed. The PM should set an example by travelling by a hybrid vehicle. Sounds preposterous? Well then face the consequences. Why is it always the people who have to bear the brunt of austerity.

Well I should come clean on this. I would be saddened by the demise of the internal combustion engine…although I don’t own a car, I am still fascinated by the cars that use them. However, when one is stuck in traffic one feels an urge to dump all those vehicles somewhere and find an alternative means of travel. There is a need to seriously think of ways that would ease the pressure on the only habitable planet and its resources.

Looking south above Interstate 80, the Eastshore Freeway, near Berkeley, California on a Saturday afternoon. Picture taken by Minesweeper on May 14, 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We should not have to leave Planet Earth because we were compelled to.

Voices and People

Every national newspaper has carried the story of the rape of the medical student. The columnists have waxed eloquent about first causes, the foreign TV too carried the story and they gave it top billing. The response was awesome. But the most important outcome was the spontaneous protest in New Delhi. Young and old all came together to express their anger. We became a nation that was united for a cause – they were angered by the violence perpetrated on an innocent victim whose name no one knows. They don’t care who it happened to but why should it have…she after all had done something that millions do take a bus to where-ever they want to go.

However, this post is not about the first causes. The columnists and editors have spent a considerable amount of ink in carrying out a postmortem of the first causes. What this post delineates is the need to turn the spot light on what needs to be done in future to prevent such atrocities. One tends to forget the Bhawari Devi incident. This too was a brutal incident and attracted considerable media attention. She worked for the Rajasthan government on a project that impacted social religious practices that were repugnant, like child marriage. This angered the influential few in the village that led to the gang rape. Many more cases have come to light from different parts of the country. Politicians have used such incidents to garner support for themselves. This is what always happens and the recent incidence is also being used by the politicians; there is however a difference:  people’s angst.

The intelligentsia has time and again voiced the need to make the police sensitive. There have been attempts in this direction, however, sexual assault still remains a problem and no city in India is safe. The point is that the police can only do so much. The best police in the world can only reduce the number of such attacks. The symptoms are not what need to be dealt with in the long-term, it is the root cause. Perpetrators have often taken refuge in the political patronage; they therefore developed impunity. There is a class of people in India who believe that they cannot be touched by the penal system. Unfortunately, the system takes cognizance of these incidents when there is a public outcry. So isn’t it the political machinery that needs to be overhauled?

Rape is often used by the conquering army to annihilate the people they conquer. The same mental framework perhaps works in gang rapes. However, there is something wrong in a society where systems don’t work. Why should anybody feel insecure in their own environment? The very fact that someone should feel afraid of being out late points to something very wrong in our society.

 

Seasons Greetings

merry christmas (Photo credit: Gerard Stolk (vers le Noël))

I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. It’s quite cold in Delhi, and the morning brought fog with it, but everything seems so cheerful that we don’t mind.

However, our thoughts go out to the girl who is lying in a critical condition in the hospital, victim of a barbarous act of violence. We join her family in their hour of anxious wait for their loved one.

We  join in the bereavement of the families who lost their loved ones in the senseless violence perpetrated  by a mad man in the US.

May He forgive those who bring grief to others, we value human life and do not wish ill upon even those who bring sadness to our lives.

Tahrir Square would soon have a new name. On first January, it will be Graffiti. I hope you like the change. The extraordinary events that brought back dark days of Mubarak era despite the struggles and loss of life of millions of Egyptians, has forced me to rethink the masthead of my blog.

I hope my readers would like the new name.

A New Gallery

The gallery focusses on the exclusive shopping centers of Delhi. The Mall situated in the heart of Saket, brings visitors from all parts of Delhi, it also provides a relief from…well Delhi! Hope you like my pictures…and oh before I forget there is a new Tahrir Square comments page and an opinion poll. Please give your valuable comments and do participate in the poll.

The Internet

The world wide web is a place where I can find anything. I generally use the web to find write ups on things that were part of my life when I was growing up. These could be the cameras owned by my parents (like the reflex camera my father had, or the compact camera that required a button cell).

Delhi used to have quite a good collection of American cars from the 50s and 60s. I remembered those and started the Google search engine. I could get all the details I could have ever wished for and more. Wikipedia is always able to whet my appetite for information on cars, people and events. Like the events leading up to and after the war of 1857. The Delhi Durbar, creation of a new Capital for India. Most of all old railway routes that do not exist now.

I have vast interests; I have always been interested  in things that had nothing to do with school, elders used to despair. But I believe that my education can be attributed more to my “extra curricular” reading than the text books recommended by sage counsels. The world wide web is  a repository of all my interests. The amazing thing is that you can enter words that you think are closest to what you are searching for and still get accurate results. Back in the late 1990s, when yahoo was the ruling search engine, one needed certain amount of expertise to find things through a search engine. One needed to know the correct string of expressions to enter to get the best results. I lacked this expertise and always despaired. However, with growth in search engines and subsequent consolidation, they have become user friendly to the point that one needs to enter a natural language query and arrive at precise results.

The web has come to represent human potential and has provided space for articulation to millions with minimum barriers. The people today are giving vent to many pent up emotions; showing light of freedom to many voices and are breaking barriers of totalitarianism. There is a space now which millions can use to set free their emotions and their long strangled voices can now be heard across the world.

Tahrir Square, salutes those who have been emboldened by the new media, it also warns governments against restricting this self expression by censorship of the Internet. The traditional media in a large number of countries was censored. Dictatorships prospered, people became “poorer” as they could not articulate the truth about their countries. The new media, the Internet should remain free.  Having said that, I also believe that those advocating violence and hatred against people should be censored.

The Everyday World

There was a time when war and crisis were a distant thunder that ruffled lives elsewhere. That was because the media did not play such big role in disseminating bad news. People went about their business. Occasionally there would be riots in the central Delhi areas, the politicians appealed for calm and talked about “communal harmony” .

The people knew who the perpetrators were, they kept mum. The media knew, they too kept silent. There was an unspoken code of silence. The one lesson that the government learned from the emergency was that if they wanted to be in power they would need to take the people in their confidence. The government that was formed after the emergency was booted out after two years because they were bickering more than they were delivering. The Congress government came to power and stayed in power to complete their term. The governments of today cannot be as overweening as before. Coalition politics is here to stay.

However, issues such as unemployment and regeneration in the agricultural sector are academic topics that grace seminars. The issues of poverty and hunger do not appeal very much to the media. Although publications like the Economic and Political Weekly, The Hindu still bring up and discuss issues related to poverty and agricultural sector, these do not have the mass appeal of mainstream newspapers. The result is, anything related to these subjects is regarded as something for ivory tower discussion.

What can be a better platform than the parliament to discuss these issues. But the two houses have not seen proper debate for, I think, a decade. Coalition partners show tantrums, like badly brought up kids. The opposition crowds the well of the House and resorts to sloganeering, totally against the rules of the House. Or else walk out of the House in protest (much like the fashion models at the end of their parade). They play to the media, they want to show to their constituents that they are capable of “acting” on issues. But who would lose in all this? The nation. Education suffers, agriculture suffers and industry too is affected by a deadlocked parliament.

I have a recurring feeling that people are fed of the status-quot. They want our politicians to behave themselves and do what they were sent to office for. They have seen through the diaphanous populist sentiments, the charade that the politician perpetrate. Moreover, their resilience should not be taken for granted. The nations far off have shown that people can tell the state where to get off.

Our Times

Gon. I haue great comfort from this fellow: methinks
he hath no drowning marke vpon him, his complexion
is perfect Gallowes: stand fast good Fate to his hanging,
make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our
owne doth little aduantage: If he be not borne to bee
hang’d, our case is miserable.

An excerpt from Shakespeare, wondering this aptly describes the sensibilities of our times! My readers may kindly help me here.

Drawfed by Energy

I  wanted to take a break from writing blogs. However, looking back I feel that I have not done justice to India’s energy conundrum. Before the politicians and energy experts lie Hobson’s choices. The whole question of energy has only been seen from a systemic point of view.

There lie some important questions unanswered, if we see things from a purely systems perspective. We tend to become Scrooges when we are confronted with blackouts and swelter in summers. From this perspective we see people stealing electricity and causing the grid to collapse. It isn’t that simple. I know, with a degree of certainty that those who steal electricity do so out of compulsion. The need arises since there are no straight forward ways to get an electricity connection. Although farmers are promised free electricity not everyone really gets it and even if they do it extends to about the time the politician either gets elected or defeated. The farmer spends a lot of time trying to approach the concerned official. In the end, he, out of frustration takes things in his hands and gets a dodgy connection. The same may be said of the urban areas.

In the case of the farmer, if he does not get electricity his crops will suffer and he will not be able to pay his debts. In case of an urban resident in a disadvantaged neighborhood, his children’s education is at stake. The amount of time the electricity pole is tapped is limited. It starts at a certain time and ends at a certain time, it is not as is portrayed in the media, a long-term proposition.

In case BSES construes my post as encouraging electricity theft, I may add that I am merely pointing out that it is another way in which the authorities are deflecting the blame for their own inefficiencies and inability to reform power distribution and transmission. In case this post seems one-sided and unbalanced, that’s the idea. When the recent major power break down occurred the power companies tried to deflect the blame and the media lapped up the story. It was one-sided. The western media although very objective on most occasions just becomes a lot careless when it comes to India’s infrastructure problems. Everybody then remembers the bull on the road obstructing traffic. That bull is the energy sector’s inability to rise above the politics of patronage.

It is not the farmer who steals electricity to water his crops or the poor urban resident who steals electricity to educate his children who is to blame, but the whole policy paraphernalia that creates the patronage Raj and does not deliver to the poor who need the help of the State more than anyone else. Ask anyone in Delhi, and they would unleash a litany of woes with electricity company. Only a few residential areas in Delhi get proper electricity. Because these are the areas where the Bhadralog live, the minority of influential Delhi-ites.

The right to electricity should be universal. It should be made available to all residents with a dwelling. Bit too much to ask, isn’t it. But consider this, those living in slums were displaced by government or other pressing circumstance (see my blog “A Roof Over My Head”) for one reason or the other and are merely trying to restart their lives and providing a new life to their families. People universally aspire for a better life and get disillusioned when it is not forthcoming. For a long time our establishment, media included, have short-changed the 99%. Let things come a full circle…we may have the makings of Tahrir Square.

City Life

The big cities in India are expanding in response to the rapid expansion of population. There is immense pressure on resources. But most of all it is the plight of the average worker that needs to be examined. While the cities have expanded, the workers have to travel ever greater distances every day to reach their places of work. In addition to the time taken in commuting, the added expenditure puts additional burden on their meagre resources.

Delhi is expanding towards all four points on the compass. Increasingly, commuting long distances has become the pattern. Suppose a worker earns Rs. 150 per day in wages, a sizeable amount would be expended on traveling the distance. Not all places are covered by the metro,some of the distance would have to be covered by bus.

The cities in India largely follow this pattern. In Bombay, the commuters risk their lives travelling by over crowded suburbun trains. These are jam packed at any time of the day. Still without them Bombay would grind to halt and cost the exchequre crores of rupees every day. It is said that traffic jams on the street cause enormous losses in monetary terms.

It is high time that planners re-thought the Indian cities with people in mind.

Delhi’s Constant Transport Mess

The Capital of this great nation, has only partly fulfilled its transportation obligations. The metro has gone a long way in mitigating a situation that was at best a nightmare. This said there are still areas that have to be covered, the work is in full swing and Delhi Metro has a record of completing its projects on time or before time. The problem is that the city spreads out so much in all directions that to meet the commuting needs of its citizens is a big problem.

The Delhi Government through Delhi Transport Corporation has introduced a new scheme of involving corporate houses in the running of buses under the control of the latter. This has put more buses on road. However, more has to be done, this has to be accomplished in creative ways and should be tailor-made for the city.

There is need to have an alternate arrangement to replace the old fleet of Delhi Transport and remove the three wheelers from the road. The latter should be replaced with something much safer and more comfortable.

Attack on Israeli Diplomat

The timing could not have been worse. It was peak hour. The vehicle that was attacked was on a main street of an important locality in Delhi. Tughlaq Road is always busy. It is the shortest route from Connaught Place to the South Delhi areas. Besides this quite close to the PM’s residence. The forensic report is yet to come. The police say  that  there was no intelligence warning about an attack.

Time and again it has been proved that Israelis are not safe in India, especially if they hold official position. They can be attacked on airports or any place. The perpetrators of this attack appear to have been, according to Israel, Iranians. That remains to be seen. Israeli security services have said that they would be part of the investigations.

Can’t Israel ever live in peace?

A Shift from Khakee

The government is planning to change the uniform of the Delhi Police from Khakee to something more modern. They plan to use the New York model. That is laudable, since the khakee represents the brutal colonial police. The mindset, though, has not changed.

This is my point and the focus of this blog. Unless one changes the person who wears the uniform one cannot change the way the police approach their work. Consider this, the present day police is only slightly different in India from their colonial brethren. The rules that govern police functioning are more or less the same. The laws, the Criminal Procedure Code,  is based, almost entirely, on the colonial model.

All this, plus the lack of proper education makes the constable and junior officers unable to change.

A more evolutionary approach to the transition would be apt, much water has flowed through the Yamuna, many lives lost, much bad blood created between the public and the police. The uniform should be the tail end of the transition. This would be the better way to improving policing in Delhi.