The Additional Commission of Police (Traffic), K. Kaumudi, announced that the Traffic Police Deparment intends to conduct open house discussions on Traffic Management in the city on June 22, Sunday. The following are the time and venue in various zones:
Traffic Division #1: Mahankali Market, Gopalapuram, Chilakalaguda, Lalaguda, Tukaram Gate, Marredpally, Karkhana, Bowenpally, Trimulgherry, Bollaram police station jurisdrictions
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Venue: St. Patrick's School, Secunderabad (Near Manohar Talkies)
Concerned ACP: Jaya Rao (94906-16007)
Traffic Division #2: Panjagutta, S.R. Nagar, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begampet, Ramgopalpet police station jurisdrictions
Time: 9 a.m.
Venue: Jaya Garden Function Hall, Somajiguda
Concerned ACP: T. Ram Sudhakar (94906-16022)
Traffic Division #3: Abids, Saifabad, Chikkadpally, Narayanaguda, Musheerabad, Gandhi Nagar police station jurisdrictions
Time: 9 a.m.
Venue: Ruby Garden Function Hall, King Kothi
Concerned ACP: A.K. Dubey (94906-16041)
Traffic Division #4: Begum Bazar, Nampally, Habeeb Nagar, Mangalhat, Shah-inayat Gunj, Kulsumpura, Tappachabutra, Asif Nagar, Langar House, Golconda, Humayun Nagar police station jurisdrictions
Time: 10 a.m.
Venue: Sabha Function Hall, Nampally (Right beside Nampally Police Station)
Concerned ACP: B.R. Baig (94906-16056)
Traffic Division #5: Old City, Sultan Bazar, Afzal Gunj, Amberpet, Kacheguda, Osmania University, Nallakunta, Malakpet, Chaderghat, Saidabad police station jurisdrictions
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Venue: S.S. Gardens, Nalgonda X Roads
Concerned ACP: T. Ramesh (94906-16083)
Agenda: (Estimated time of discussions: ~2 hours)
* Traffic jams - frequently occuring areas and solutions
* Parking - issues and solutions
* Suggestions for new one way routes in residential colonies
* Invitations to Volunteers and Traffic Wardens from among citizens
* Any other issues pertaining to Traffic
Attendees:
Representatives from
* Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
* Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) & SETWIN
* Cantonment Board Members (in Secunderabad Zone only)
Please circulate this information to all individuals and organizations you know.
(Courtesy: Eenadu, Hyderabad Edition, June 20, 2008)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Saturday, January 05, 2008
11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) to focus on Education
It looks like the Prime Minister (who's also the Chairman of the Planning Commission, according to the Constitution of India) Manmohan Singh is planning a very ambitious Five-Year Plan! More details are awaited, of course, as to how much funds could be alloted, how the funding requirement is met, how this affects the pay scales and fees of educational institutions, what is being done towards non-technical/medical education, etc. are not yet known.
So, what will this focus on education bring to the country as a part of the 11th Five-Year Plan 2007-2012)?
- 19 % allocation to education (as opposed to 7.7 % in the 10th Five-Year Plan).
- 30 Central Universities
- 7 IIMs (Indian Institues of Management)
- 8 IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology)
- 20 IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology)
- 5 IISERs (Indian Institutes of Science, Education, and Research)
- 1600 ITIs (Industrial Technical Institutes)
- 10,000 Vocational schools
- 50,000 ICT-based Skill Development Centers
The 10th Five-Year Plan ended in March 2007, and the Prime Minister has apparently revealed all this information in his message for India's 60th Independence Day in the year 2007 (http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=570) but this time, he spoke on the eve of 95th National Science Congress.
Source: A news story in Telugu daily newspaper Eenadu, dated January 04, 2008:
India had been independent for 60 years, but the country never had an opportunity to focus any of its Five-Year Plans on Education, since there were other issues that were more important at every juncture. Thus, we should welcome this emphasis on education warmly. However, it's disappointing that all these numbers only talk about engineering, science, and technology but nothing is spoken about education in the field of medicine or in other fields such as law or liberal arts or other fields of the academia. Let's hope the final plans have something towards this end too.
Policing gets better... or so I think
Check out http://www.saferindia.com/
Kiran Bedi, the famous woman police officer of India that now resigned due to apparently distasteful decisions (?) by the government, has now started this Mission "to strengthen Police services to provide Safer India and NOT an alternative to Police responsibilities" by acting as "a bridge between the Police and the complainant". (There are other ex-IPS officers and other bigwigs with her in this Mission.)
The ex-police officer gives the due regard to the Police system in India, by emphasizing that one should contact Safer India only after lodging a complaint with the local police and visiting them a few times and if inaction still persists. It's interesting to see that the Mission operates electronically in all its correspondence between the complainant and the police. Given the reasons for Ms. Bedi's resignation, and her track record, I see this attempted mission as a good start towards better policing in India. Now, it's up to the citizens to approach the police without giving the common yet lame excuse that the police wouldn't care.
Source: A news item in the Telugu daily newspaper Eenadu:
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Why on earth is this blog up but not "running"?
I had been away from blogging for a long while, particularly here. It's not the standard reason such as that "I've grown busy of late..." - I believe one can surely make out time for important things in life. That said, I was away from writing because I was unclear about the society yet again... it seems like I need forever to learn about the system before I can even ...attempt to think considering to propose a suggestion to change ...it. Well, I need to learn more. I am not delaying to do the thinking - I am in fact doing that constantly. I need some more time before I can streamline my thoughts and document them.
...Why did I write this? Well, this is sort of a note to myself.
...Why did I write this? Well, this is sort of a note to myself.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Danger or not?
Karimnagar: One of the twenty-plus districts of one of the twenty-plus states of India, one of the ninety-and-five-hundred-plus constituencies of one of the two Houses of Indian Parliament.
Beedi: One of the several tobacco products consumed by people of India.
Issue: Imprinting skull-and-bones danger symbol, and a corpse, on the paper-wrap around the pack of beedi-s (and other tobacco products), to discourage smoking. (The relevant G.O. 297/2003 is the result of Supreme Court's directive in 2001.)
Importance: By-election for the Member of Parliament in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency.
What's happening? A blame-game of four major political parties contesting in the elections, everyone resorting to mudslinging on the opponent than talking sensibly!
Player 1: The Congress (I) says that it was the NDA government (involving BJP and TDP) that made the G.O. and the Union Government (with their party in the lead) is merely implementing it. It also says that the G.O. was signed by the TRS leader and election candidate. (Now, don't ask me how he signed it if the G.O. was made in 2003, before he was a Union Minister in the current government.)
Player 2: The TDP obviously points that the Congress (I) party implemented the G.O. without caring for millions of people whose lives depend on beedi-s. It, of course, uses the same objection as Congress (I) against TRS. (Now, don't ask me why TDP doesn't say anything about BJP which led the NDA government.)
Player 3: The BJP borrows one point from TDP, against Congress (I), and one point from Congress (I), against TRS. (And, you guessed it: They don't say anything about TDP that extended support to the NDA government of the past.)
Player 4: The ex-Union Minister for Labour and Employment and the current by-election candidate says that it was the Congress (I) Minister that implemented the G.O. and that he didn't play a part in the "evil game". And, they use Congress (I)'s point against BJP and TDP. (Now, don't ask me if the G.O. should have come to his perusal, he being the Labour Minister, before it is approved.)
Player 5: The several beedi company owners who threaten their workers that they'd close the companies and oust all their labourers if the G.O. is implemented! (And, do what then? ...And, by the way, they don't seem to approach the government directly for a plea or appeal! Why is that now?)
Player 6: Lok Satta convener blames all parties, and points to obvious selfish motives of each political party. (And, no solution is proposed right away.)
Player 7: Union Minister for Health says that no change shall be made to the G.O. since it's about people's health. (And, everyone blames him for "inhuman" statement that doesn't care about the workers whose lives depend on beedi-s!)
Player 8: The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare wonders how they can go back on the imprint now, after having received WHO's prestigious award for the idea *and* the size of the images. (And, she doesn't talk after her party leaders say that the logo would be removed or resized!)
Player 9: Those illiterate labourers, to who no one imparts the intelligence that one should take steps to reduce smoking sooner than later and thus they should start looking for alternate means of earning. (And, of course, no guidance is given towards training them for another, "unobjectionable" occupation.)
Player 10: All those NGOs and social welfare groups, which sincerely do a lot of campaign and slogan-shouting, stay mum at this point of time, only to react when things go incorrigibly wrong! (And, where are they all when their voice is much awaited so that someone can hear some sense?)
Player 11: The ignorant, immature, innocent, irrational, inconsistent, unpredictable, unstable, responsible citizen/voter, smoker or not, that chooses the winner by sheer personal choice on that particular instant of standing at the ballot paper/electronic voting machine. (And, oh yeah, he's the Captain of the team, one who doesn't get any respect from most other players despite his essentially key role in the gameplay! And, anyway, he's only the Captain and not one of the Selectors!)
Who does this team pitch against? The all-powerful panel of judges and lawyers at the Supreme Court who know the theory of the game perfectly well! And, of course, this team of law-men does know the theory but all the net practice was always done by the team of law-makers; the lawmen don't get any net practice! ...All I wish is that they do not need net practice! They're expected to play well still, when it's their time to bat! Oh, please win, Lawmen of the Nation, please!
And, oh yeah, the Communist parties resort to silence. Some umpiring!
“JAI – Just An Indian”
Beedi: One of the several tobacco products consumed by people of India.
Issue: Imprinting skull-and-bones danger symbol, and a corpse, on the paper-wrap around the pack of beedi-s (and other tobacco products), to discourage smoking. (The relevant G.O. 297/2003 is the result of Supreme Court's directive in 2001.)
Importance: By-election for the Member of Parliament in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency.
What's happening? A blame-game of four major political parties contesting in the elections, everyone resorting to mudslinging on the opponent than talking sensibly!
Player 1: The Congress (I) says that it was the NDA government (involving BJP and TDP) that made the G.O. and the Union Government (with their party in the lead) is merely implementing it. It also says that the G.O. was signed by the TRS leader and election candidate. (Now, don't ask me how he signed it if the G.O. was made in 2003, before he was a Union Minister in the current government.)
Player 2: The TDP obviously points that the Congress (I) party implemented the G.O. without caring for millions of people whose lives depend on beedi-s. It, of course, uses the same objection as Congress (I) against TRS. (Now, don't ask me why TDP doesn't say anything about BJP which led the NDA government.)
Player 3: The BJP borrows one point from TDP, against Congress (I), and one point from Congress (I), against TRS. (And, you guessed it: They don't say anything about TDP that extended support to the NDA government of the past.)
Player 4: The ex-Union Minister for Labour and Employment and the current by-election candidate says that it was the Congress (I) Minister that implemented the G.O. and that he didn't play a part in the "evil game". And, they use Congress (I)'s point against BJP and TDP. (Now, don't ask me if the G.O. should have come to his perusal, he being the Labour Minister, before it is approved.)
Player 5: The several beedi company owners who threaten their workers that they'd close the companies and oust all their labourers if the G.O. is implemented! (And, do what then? ...And, by the way, they don't seem to approach the government directly for a plea or appeal! Why is that now?)
Player 6: Lok Satta convener blames all parties, and points to obvious selfish motives of each political party. (And, no solution is proposed right away.)
Player 7: Union Minister for Health says that no change shall be made to the G.O. since it's about people's health. (And, everyone blames him for "inhuman" statement that doesn't care about the workers whose lives depend on beedi-s!)
Player 8: The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare wonders how they can go back on the imprint now, after having received WHO's prestigious award for the idea *and* the size of the images. (And, she doesn't talk after her party leaders say that the logo would be removed or resized!)
Player 9: Those illiterate labourers, to who no one imparts the intelligence that one should take steps to reduce smoking sooner than later and thus they should start looking for alternate means of earning. (And, of course, no guidance is given towards training them for another, "unobjectionable" occupation.)
Player 10: All those NGOs and social welfare groups, which sincerely do a lot of campaign and slogan-shouting, stay mum at this point of time, only to react when things go incorrigibly wrong! (And, where are they all when their voice is much awaited so that someone can hear some sense?)
Player 11: The ignorant, immature, innocent, irrational, inconsistent, unpredictable, unstable, responsible citizen/voter, smoker or not, that chooses the winner by sheer personal choice on that particular instant of standing at the ballot paper/electronic voting machine. (And, oh yeah, he's the Captain of the team, one who doesn't get any respect from most other players despite his essentially key role in the gameplay! And, anyway, he's only the Captain and not one of the Selectors!)
Who does this team pitch against? The all-powerful panel of judges and lawyers at the Supreme Court who know the theory of the game perfectly well! And, of course, this team of law-men does know the theory but all the net practice was always done by the team of law-makers; the lawmen don't get any net practice! ...All I wish is that they do not need net practice! They're expected to play well still, when it's their time to bat! Oh, please win, Lawmen of the Nation, please!
And, oh yeah, the Communist parties resort to silence. Some umpiring!
“JAI – Just An Indian”
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Practical Idealism versus Ideal Practice
I always hear: idealism and practicality are opposites! Well, I surely don't ever see it as a black-or-white question. Why, you may ask? Simply because they're but just two adjectives that can take other nouns, including each other! That's exactly why this piece is titled as it is.
What's it to be practical? To put something in practice. And, now, what renders idealism an unsuitable candidate? Nothing but unnecessary apprehensions that ...well, idealism cannot be put in practice! I simply ask, to inform myself, as to why idealism cannot be put in practice, and I still am yet to find a person who can give me a logical, straightforward answer. Now, what's it to be ideal? To follow certain ideals, of course! What ideals, due course of action decides.
Some ideals of old times might seem "impractical" as is, and what do you do then? Make them practical, of course, or how can you put them into practice! That's what I term Practical Idealism. In cases where there're no prescribed ideals, the practice, in a win-win situation, could be called Ideal Practice, by bringing practicality as close as possible to an “assumed ideal”. There is a subtle difference between the two, I dare to point, in that Ideal Practice is to be only sought after as the modus operandi when Practical Idealism is, presumably, not all feasible. (By "not all feasible", I refer to circumstantial constraints on its applicability but not on its practicability.) In other words, when ideal comes to meet practice, it's Practical Idealism, and when practice comes to meet the ideal, it's Ideal Practice.
How does this wordplay matter? Well, the wordplay doesn't matter, surely, but what matters is people's perception of both idealism and practicality. When one talks about practicality, one treats it as an antonym of idealism, like I wrote when I started. So, how does this antonymy matter? By looking at these terms as antonyms, practicality is put afar off idealism and not as nearer as it could be! In this light, idealism is cast off outright. If only one tries to bring practicality as much nearer to idealism as possible, one attains Ideal Practice, and in most cases, a bit of furthering shall bring oneself to Practical Idealism.
The bottom line? Practice Idealism, and you'd then learn that it's practicable. Look at them as opposites, and your practicality is never ideal!
“JAI – Just An Indian”
Thursday, October 05, 2006
How to cleanse or better a system? (Part #0)
This is going to be the start of a series of blogs. I shall try to be as concise and as detailed as I should be. And, of course, comments are welcome, please! I am not a society-specialist of any kind, by the way, and so what I write here is all what I believe and what I think I learnt by observation and practice; there’s probably not a single written treatise about any of the content in this series! Oh, well, the ‘system’ here, by large, refers to the Indian Society, but the content can possibly be extended to any other system in the universe – experiment at your own risk, but do experiment and experience, and I repeat, at your own risk!
If you have suggestions on what needs to go into this series, let me know, please. Write a comment, or send an e-mail, reply in your blog and let me know... do whatever, but please communicate! Oh, by the way, let us not stop at discussing problems – we shall seriously and sincerely look for real implementable solutions, yes, we will!
Rule of Thumb: The foremost rule in dealing with a system, I believe, is that you do exactly that: deal with it! In other words, one needs to interact with the system. In further refined terms, one needs to be a part of the system that you want to change! There is definitely no other way of doing it, at least if success is what one wants to achieve!
When I write “be a part”, I mean that one should be a part of the system so much that one actually runs a part of the system oneself – be an active participant and not a silent spectator! Observe how the system works: (i) notice what is considered normal, and make an unbiased judgement of what is supposed to be normal, (ii) see what could go wrong, and what actually did go wrong in the past, (iii) make a note of what logic, rationale, and justification run the system, and identify any ‘defaulters’ or detrimental factors among these factors or anything related to the system as such.
Rule of Thumb: (Now, really, how many ‘rules of thumb’ can be there? As many as necessary! ...Oh, yeah, this seems like another ‘rule of thumb’ already!) When one is a part of the system, one can change the whole system, yes! There is only one catch here – one ought to believe that one can indeed change the system – that’s the only way one can perform this feat! Also believe, equally importantly, that no one else might change the system, not even any body like the government! You are the only one that could bring about a change, you should believe!
That’s for now, folks!
“JAI – Just An Indian”
P.S: I shall not be as organized as you may expect, but we’ll discuss everything that needs to be discussed. Thus, I don’t know what might come next...
If you have suggestions on what needs to go into this series, let me know, please. Write a comment, or send an e-mail, reply in your blog and let me know... do whatever, but please communicate! Oh, by the way, let us not stop at discussing problems – we shall seriously and sincerely look for real implementable solutions, yes, we will!
Rule of Thumb: The foremost rule in dealing with a system, I believe, is that you do exactly that: deal with it! In other words, one needs to interact with the system. In further refined terms, one needs to be a part of the system that you want to change! There is definitely no other way of doing it, at least if success is what one wants to achieve!
When I write “be a part”, I mean that one should be a part of the system so much that one actually runs a part of the system oneself – be an active participant and not a silent spectator! Observe how the system works: (i) notice what is considered normal, and make an unbiased judgement of what is supposed to be normal, (ii) see what could go wrong, and what actually did go wrong in the past, (iii) make a note of what logic, rationale, and justification run the system, and identify any ‘defaulters’ or detrimental factors among these factors or anything related to the system as such.
Rule of Thumb: (Now, really, how many ‘rules of thumb’ can be there? As many as necessary! ...Oh, yeah, this seems like another ‘rule of thumb’ already!) When one is a part of the system, one can change the whole system, yes! There is only one catch here – one ought to believe that one can indeed change the system – that’s the only way one can perform this feat! Also believe, equally importantly, that no one else might change the system, not even any body like the government! You are the only one that could bring about a change, you should believe!
That’s for now, folks!
“JAI – Just An Indian”
P.S: I shall not be as organized as you may expect, but we’ll discuss everything that needs to be discussed. Thus, I don’t know what might come next...
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