Citizen participation in governance

idontspam - 7-JUL-2010

Can non IAS/Politico citizens add value to governance?

Dozens of dapperly dressed young people gathered to attend a conference entitled, "Exploring Spaces for Young Indians in Government."

Suri, who is spending the summer assisting the office of Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and Technology, is among the growing ranks of young Indians who are showing an increasing interest in exploring careers in public policy and government - areas in which Indian civil servants have had a historical monopoly.

Counter-intuitively, the majority of the attendees were young people comfortably ensconced in private sector jobs. If these two things are anything to go by, then it strongly signals a slow but steady shift in the years and decades to come, towards a younger, more inclusive and level playing field in India's governing fabric, which will ultimately bode well for its nation-building project.

PUPs: Alternative Approach to Governance Reforms

pdk - 18-JUN-2010

Interesting story of an alternative vision of reform in government departments, from Tamil Nadu:

Future of Capitalism

murali772 - 7-MAY-2010

''The public trust in business and its leaders has never been lower. To restore trust, it is time for business leaders to embrace their own version of the doctor’s Hippocratic Oath, which shapes a common understanding of the role of business in society and the conduct expected of business leaders,'' wrote Nitin Nohria ( who has been named to take over as the Dean of the prestigious Harvard Business School) recently after critiquing the failure of leadership in the recent economic and corporate turmoil.

''Developing, adopting, and institutionalizing such an oath is not going to be easy. But there is no better or more important moment to try—because at stake is the very legitimacy of business leaders and the future of capitalism,'' he warned. His passion for the idea led to HBS students adopting a voluntary MBA oath.

For the full report in the TOI, click here

Minutes of a SCEP Meeting on “Global warming”

psaram42 - 28-APR-2010

 We have a weekly SCEP (Senior Citizen Enrichment Program) meeting on every Wednesday at 4:30 PM at Mother Tree a beautiful place provided by one of our SCEP members We were about 20 senior citizens at this meeting to day. It was a very hot evening and the welcome rain was the saving grace. 

The speaker of the day was Ms Arun Shivasaran a young and upcoming Architect of repute. 

The speaker started the talk on a poignant note of alluding to the commonly used greeting when we meet viz “how are you” meaning how is your health. Now it is high time we talk about global warming instead. For Architects it is now common to grade Silver gold and platinum standards based on Global warming compliance. 

"Water and a City" - discussions following the screening

murali772 - 26-APR-2010

The movie brought out the scenario fairly well, but which most on Praja are quite aware of.

During the discussions that followed, I brought up the matter of the reported 40% odd losses, largely on account of the inefficiencies/ mismanagement in distribution (compared to less than 10% in an efficient system), and followed it up with a suggestion "if the kind of contract entered into between Mysore City Corporation and JUSCO, was not the way to address the issue?".

Prof Mohan Kumar (Civil Engg Dept, IISc) responded saying a study/ survey had been conducted by L&T and Anglian Waters (or, one of the other foreign players - I am not quite sure which) a few years back covering some parts of Bangalore (I thought I heard the name Fraser Town mentioned) at a cost of Rs 32 crores - did he mention World Bank funded?. He did not mention if any work was actually undertaken. But, went on to add that it raised all kinds of technical issues, like "how do you replace the pipes in an area like Avenue road, etc?"

Raison d'être for continuance of the Public Sector

murali772 - 24-APR-2010

Is this why they won’t disinvest Air India, kept afloat at massive expense to the taxpayer? In a violation of DGCA rules, an AI aircraft was pulled out of a scheduled flight from Delhi to Coimbatore in order to ferry IPL players, apparently at the behest of aviation minister Praful Patel’s daughter Poorna. It appears the public sector airline fulfils the private and nepotistic purposes of public servants.

For the full report in the TOI, click here.

Isn't this also why the government persists with BMTC/ KSRTC (check this), BESCOM, etc, so that they can further the interests of the Poorna Patels of this world? - all in the name of Socialism; the tax payer be damned.

Muralidhar Rao

The Lok Satta Party public interactions meet with JP

psaram42 - 7-APR-2010

 After the recent BBMP election JP is visiting Bangalore in carrying forward the new party’s agenda. This interaction reminded us the probable scenario which might have prevailed at the time of freedom struggle.  The fight now is against the middle class apathy ignorance and above all their pretence to know best according to JP.

JP stressed on the importance of local government. An increase in per capita income alone may make the country rich but still a banana republic. He felt that with proper management the malaise like power cuts etc can be avoided altogether.

To days scenario highlights the viciously guarded statues quo by our politicians. The confused nonchalance and apathy of the voters is a boon to them. Many levels of changes are needed. JP alluded to the two major types of corruption, the extortional and collusive type of corruption. Both kind of corruption are to be tackled.

Adaptation to Climate Change: Policy, Economics and Governance

Ravi_D - 26-MAR-2010

Received this via another email subscription. Venue: IISc.

IISC-RCUK Lecture Series

The British Deputy High Commission and the Indian Institute of Science,
           Bangalore Invites you to the Centenary Lecture

                                 On
     Adaptation to Climate Change: Policy, Economics and Governance

By

                            Prof. Judith Rees
                        London School of Economics

                           Prof.P.P.Mujumdar
                           Will be the Chair

Time : 4.00pm
Date : 26th March, 2010
Venue: Faculty Hall, Main Building
Tea  : 5.00pm, Reception Hall

ALL ARE CORDIALLY INVITED

 http://www.serc.iisc.ernet.in/broadcast_messages/msg16102.html

Town Planning - Introduction

psaram42 - 24-MAR-2010

General:

The planet earth appears blue from outer space due to the huge amount of water covering the globe. The exposed land above this ocean water is only 30% the ocean water portion being the remaining 70%. India stands 7^th nation after Russia and china in its extant of land which is about 32,263 Sq km. This land asset available to the earthlings, which is the fundamental asset, is limited in its extent. This asset belongs to the entire life system that exists at any point of time on this planet. It can only be borrowed for temporary convenience by any life that exists on the planet at any time period.

Private Universities

murali772 - 13-MAR-2010

Amid protests and dharna from the opposition Congress and the JD(S), the Legislative Assembly on Friday adopted the Azim Premji University Bill, 2010, thus paving the way for the state’s first private university aimed at improving the quality of primary and higher education by providing training to teachers. The Alliance University Bill, 2010, another private university Bill, was also passed in the Assembly.

Both the Bills were adopted through the voice vote as the opposition parties staged a dharna in the well of the House, insisting on a joint select committee (JSC) of the house for a thorough deliberation on the Bill before getting it passed by the legislature. Opposition leader in the Assembly expressed fears that the passage of the Bill would open the floodgate for private universities in the absence of any set of regulations to govern them. Instead of placing a Bill for an individual university, the government should bring in a comprehensive private university Bill while listing out elaborate guidelines, they demanded.