HOUSE OF THOUGHTS (HOT)

I was reading a work written on Dhirubhai Ambani by Gita Piramaal. In that, I came across an excellent line - “We cannot chage our rulers, but we can at least help them learn how to rule us better” - D.A. What a thoughtful statement!

Just a thought in H.O.T!

Damn! My house is not clean!

I was screaming on the other day. My house is not clean! My house is not clean!

I was shouting on the street! No one cared!

Frustrated that no one was helping, I came into the house and continued to tell that my house is not clean! As though a miracle would happen and someone would clean my house for me, to my satisfaction!

No one was coming! Finally, I had to take the broom and mop to clean it up - it will take a while to finish the work because….my house is not small!

 It is the 7th largest in the world. It has more than 1 billion people living in it. India!

This may not just be a thought in H.O.T.  but would become ……

hi srivats….. the following article elaborate the feasibility of the project. - From Muthukumar

i too oppose the canal,not for religious reason but on economic and environmental grounds. Its rationale is more political than economic. It will become one more public sector white elephant.
The Palk Straits, between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, are so shallow that only small boats can pass through. So, east-west coastal ships have to go around Sri Lanka. So do ships from Europe and Africa to the east coast.
Sethusamundaram will be a furrow dredged in the sea-bed of the Straits, deep enough to accommodate ships of 20,000 DWT. The canal will save ships both distance (saving fuel) and time (saving daily charges for chartering ships). So, it should be able to charge ships for passage, like the Suez and Panama Canals. This revenue is supposed to make the project economic.
The project is a political gift for Tamil Nadu. It will hugely help Tuticorin port, which today can receive ships only from the west, and not the east. It will improve the viability of existing and planned minor ports in the state. Hence, Tamils call the canal a 150-year dream about to come true (it was first proposed around 1850).
Dreams are costless, but canals are not. Project documents claim that the canal will save ships 36 hours of time and 570 nautical miles of distance. But a recent study by Jacob John in Economic and Political Weekly exposes these claims as highly exaggerated. Up to 70% of the traffic through the canal is projected to come from Europe and Africa. And John estimates that the time saving from Europe to Kolkata will be only eight hours, and the distance saving 215 nautical miles. From Africa to Kolkata, the time taken will actually increase by 3.5 hours (being piloted through the canal is a slow process), and distance reduced will be only 70 nautical miles.
John calculates that ships could lose up to $4,992 per passage if they are charged the tariff laid down in project documents. In which case ships will find it cheaper to go round Sri Lanka. If the government cuts the proposed tariff to attract traffic, John estimates that the project’s rate of return could fall to an uneconomic 2.5%. I expect that the project will also suffer cost overruns in capital and maintenance dredging, and hence be in the red.
The canal is supposed to be ready
by November 2008, not far off. So why has the project not been able to sign up potential users? The finance minister has appealed to private shipping companies to participate in a project that will benefit them, yet no shipping company has come forward. The economics of the canal look much too dicey.
The Suez and Panama Canals save ships thousands of miles, and that makes them profitable. Sethusamundaram is not remotely comparable. It is designed for small ships (the project documents talk of 20,000 DWT), whereas the Panama Canal takes ships of up to 65,000 DWT and Suez takes ships up to 150,000 DWT.
The Suez and Panama canals were dug through land corridors, and once dug stayed dug — they did not face sand inundation from the sea. However, Sethusamundaram will be a furrow in the sea-bed, at the constant mercy of currents bearing sand.
The government’s environmental assessment has cleared the project on ecological grounds. Yet, much of that assessment was not about sand incursion, but about fears of possible damage to coral reefs, coastal erosion, oil spills, and changes in ocean salinity and temperature. Besides, the ecological studies were done from the Indian side of the Palk Straits, and not the Sri Lankan side, and so are technically incomplete.
My own major fear is not so much that the project will ruin the environment, but that the environment will ruin the project. I fear that ocean currents will keep dumping fresh sand in the furrow of the canal. The Palk Straits are shallow not by accident but because sand-bearing currents have made them so. Combating the full force of nature is perilous, expensive and sometimes impossible.
The project envisages maintenance dredging of two million cubic metres per year, infinitely more than required by the Suez and Panama canals. Jacob suspects (and so do i) that actual maintenance dredging will far exceed project projections, rendering the canal uneconomic. An extreme event (like the 2005 tsunami) could dump enough sand to close down the canal.
Finally, global shipping is shifting to ever-larger vessels. Bulk carriers and tankers often exceed 200,000 DWT, and those under 60,000 DWT are being phased out as uneconomic. Old general cargo vessels have been replaced by container ships, which started small but now exceed 35,000 DWT, and may soon touch 75,000 DWT. Such vessels cannot use the canal.
So, Sethusamundaram will be unsuitable for the large vessels of the 21st century. It is a 150-year old idea for 150-year old ships. That may be its epitaph.

Comment by R.Muthukumar — September 25, 2007 @ 7:08 am | Edit

I appreciate that every Government wants to be secular. However in the name of secularism or technology or science or logical reasoning, questioning the fundamental belief of one religious sect is not acceptable [existence of bridge built by Ram]. I am not asking them to worship the Gods but a mere courtesy to respect others belief! 

In the name of technology progress why to shatter people’s belief. Can’t they listen and act properly? There are studies which show this Sethu project may not be feasible; why can’t they act on that? What are the alternate routes they have looked into? 

 My humble request to the concerned, respect others feelings and beliefs.  This is an earnest request because ‘Veterans’ are ruling the state and they have accomplished lot of things. They have brought lot of improvements into the system. TN is growing and they take care of common man. I don’t want this project to be a black mark for them by spoiling and destroying the beliefs of the people. 

 Will they listen?

Some interesting facts & figures in AUTO (TUK TUK) business in Chennai!

(The absolute figures might be approximate but the % is more or less fine)

Number of autos with permit : 40,000

Actual number of autos in chennai : > 1,00,000

Then how’s the difference : Autos from other places like chengalpattu, kancheepuram, NO PERMIT (app 60,000)

 Hmm…bribes help man!

Available permits: NONE - ZERO.

What is the approximate cost of permit in BLACK: Rs 80,000 + Rs 3,250 for name transfer [app]

[Thank God service tax, sales tax, edu cess & other taxes are not applicable - some relief!]

 Ownership of Autos:

 90% not owned by drivers of auto! So, plenty of room for money lenders to play!

Financing:

Hmm…you may think that the trusted govt owned banks would come to the rescue & provide loans! Ok here is the story

Only 65% of cost of auto would be given by bank. [App cost of Auto Rs 2,00,000 and increasing]

So, because of higher initial payment, the buyers go to money lenders! Hmm…you know what is the rate of interest

Fitness Test:

Govt rate or cost for FC is app Rs 500 but the cost acually is Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,700 depending on how many hands to be greased!

Hmm…money money…!!!

So coming to share auto: App Rs 600 is the rent per day and above rules of bribe and loans apply!

Disconnect in rule for share auto:

“6 people are allowed in a share Auto” - City Commissioner

“4 people are allowed in a share Auot” - RTO

“Sorry too less to manage our business - so we take 12″ - Auto driver!

“Ha ha ha…we love these disconnects…time to make money”.. - Mamus!

How business friendly!

Just a thought in H.O.T!

007 series would continue!

People were taken aback a couple of days back when NDTV revealed what’s happening behind the scene in the BMW Hit & Run Case! People involved were Mr I U Khan (the PP), Mr R K Anand (the defense & sitting MP of Upper house), Mr Sanjeev Nanda (the main accused) and Mr Kulkarni (witness).

It was very shocking that the Public Prosecutor & the Defense lawyer were colluding against the victims! Of course they are denying their wrong doing and as per the law of the land, THEY ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!

What could be the reason (the main thing)? Unreasonable delay is the main one. For nearly 8 years this case has been under hearing in the court. This is in spite of the fact that sufficient SCIENTIFIC evidence was presented by the prosecution side. Why the accused cannot be prosecuted based on this evidence? May be the court doesn’t want to! A million dollar question!

When there is enough forensic evidence, the court asks for witnesses. When there are enough witnesses they ask for forensic evidence.

Mr Kapil Sibhal, in his response to the telecast says that “This is not surprising for me. Everybody in this field knows what is happening” (Para phrased). If people in power, know about this, why appropriate action is not being taken? Are we sending you to the parliament to chit-chat and do walk outs. Instead of talking over the television that JUSTICE IS CRUMBLED, why cannot people in power take action? May be there is no incentive for them to spend their time here – yeah, what return do they get on the invested time!

Just to through some numbers on the pending cases in India (source:Hindustan times)

Over three million cases are pending in India’s 21 high courts, and an astounding 26.3 million cases are pending in subordinate courts across the country.At the same time, there are almost a quarter million under-trials languishing in jails across the country. Of these, some 2,069 have been in jail for more than five years, even as their guilt or innocence is yet to be ascertained.This has been revealed by official figures emerging from the home ministry’s department of justice, under a Right to Information Act application placed by a citizen.

I hope the readers gather what is the gravity of the situation. A citizen (rather a poor citizen) cannot approach his constituency’s MP or MLA (‘coz of the attitude they have), cannot take legal course (‘coz of the time it takes to get justice!) and cannot approach civic bodies because they are equally corrupt or inefficient to handle the person’s grievance. What to do in this situation? Who will come to the citizen’s rescue? What happened to RIGHT TO RECALL the candidate? Should the citizen be empowered to SACK a corrupt employee of government?

[I am being cheesed off by these elected representatives attitude. Example Mr RK Anand, he is an MP and the lawyer representing the accused! It is not wrong in representing the accused but colluding to get him acquitted is the appalling thing.]

My last thought on this: What do school teachers do when the students don’t behave properly? …………. you know the answer!

“In a country where the majority of the people cannot get two square meals a day, a single officer cannot be permitted to have the luxury of three air-conditioned cars at his disposal. We are not ‘Mughals’ .We have to serve the society.”

– Interim order passed by the
Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 17, directing the governments of the two states to enforce the ‘one officer, one car’ rule.

It was an innocuous petition filed by two lowly employees……..

…..an embarrassed Punjab Government is finding it hard to come up with credible explanations to justify the splurge at the expense of the tax payer — expenses incurred on police vehicles alone are said to account for Rs 25 crore annually.

…….Arguably among the most protected chief ministers in the country, with his security rated Z plus, Badal faces grave threat of terrorist attacks. He thus has nine AC cars allotted to him, seven of which are bullet-proof while another is fitted with a frequency jammer that counters remote-controlled detonations. Similarly, Bitta, who is said to have survived at least half a dozen terrorist attacks, has four bullet-proof cars provided by the state Government for his and his family’s use. And even after his retirement, former Punjab Police chief K.P.S. Gill has eight bullet-proof cars at his disposal. “The recent terrorist strikes have increased the threat perception,” says Punjab Police chief P.C. Dogra.

….by the Government’s own admission, it has 435 official cars fitted with ACs and 271 are used by state government officers — only 85 of whom are eligible for AC cars — and departments. The rest are owned by the 45 state sector corporations and boards, more than two-thirds of which are in the red. As far back as 1979, the government had set up a Motor Vehicles Board with an eye to cutting down the misuse of official vehicles and expenses on petrol and maintenance. The board has been defunct for long.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

You may read the full story from the given link. Guys, this would be happening in other states too and the body which is to oversee this would be sleeping somewhere.

A million dollar question – WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDS?

Reference: http://www.india-today.com/itoday/06101997/punjab.html

In one of the editorials of Hindu, there was a line (paraphrased) “
India’s y-o-y growth should be more than 8% for the next 25 years to eradicate poverty” – by whom of course by Governments!  

Any planning commission or poverty eradication team or any team concerned, argues that they can accomplish their stated objective of ‘ERADICATION OF POVERTY’ only if there is economic boom – they don’t state this blatantly; they phrase it as in the first para. 

First this mentality of able to achieve a result only if the picture is rosy should be deleted – especially with government bodies. If only funds were allocated on time; if only the World Bank had given more; if only it had rained in Bangladesh; blah, blah, blah…. 

Competitiveness & Effectiveness (I am not talking about efficiency) will come only if the concerned bodies are mandated to work on ZERO BUDGET. (I would be very much interested to know their side of story in detail) 

(If at all a study is done to understand the correlation between budget allocated & effectiveness of the team, we would understand the impact. Until then notional budgets would be allocated & notionally the team would work!)

Today in papers we would have come across the Government wants more CSR and also asked the corporates to check the amount of profits they are generating (I have paraphrased and this is my understanding). Corporates are established to do business and generate profits – they do so by being competitive (I addressing only Private corporations). Their main focus is to please customers & investors through quality products / service and good returns, respectively. A corporation’s core competence is to run their business profitably and they should concentrate only on that. Taking care of society at any given point of time is the Government’s job. Just because the other party is doing well in their field we cannot expect or thrust them to share the responsibility to care for the society.  

What is wrong if Top executives get exorbitant amount of salary or benefits? Is there anything wrong in getting benefits for doing a good job? Won’t the Government or party expect itself to be re-elected for the next term if it does a good job in the present term? If this is not wrong, then giving exorbitant amount of salary to top executives is not wrong. 

It seems someone has to be clear about the collective job description!

Just a thought in H.O.T!

P.S:- Be careful my dear said a policy maker to his understudy “Ambiguous words have a nature of becoming policies”

People, quiz time!

What is the role of an  MP when the Parliament session is ON?

a)      To sleep as soon as the Hon.Speaker starts to speak

b)      To get upset over the opposition MP (reason could be anything..)

c)      Yelling, shouting, screaming &frequent walk-outs

d)      Be part of the disruption team whenever an important issue is being disussed.

e)      Listening to ipod and mixing up between various issues

f)        Promising members of his/her constituency that he/she is representing them in an EFFECTIVE way (activities from a to e)

Ans choice : 1) All the above 2 ) Choice ‘f’ alone

What is the role of a speaker when the Parliament session is ON?

a)      To postpone the session for the day whenever an MP is upset or as normally a group of MPs are upset

b)      Consistently asking/requesting/pleading the MPs to allow the session to proceed

c) Getting frustrated & closing the session

Ans choice: 1) a,b,c 2) b,c,a 3) All the combinations on different days! 

On a rough estimate (Midday 2004) it costs us more than Rs 1 crore to run the Parliament EVERY DAY! For me it is a whopping very huge amount, but for our MPs it is yet another expense. I don’t know if the above figure includes all the benefits, frills given to an MP!  

We are being asked by Government to conserve on this, that, and everything, however they cannot make out an effective outcome out-off each and every session of the both the houses. 

Oh, yeah! I forgot that we have two houses! What’s the purpose? Is it really essential to hold two houses if it is not effective and not bringing results to the people? If you have been following the Parliament session you would have come across nothing special, because NOTHING happened; apart from WALK OUT PARADES done by our beloved MPs. 

We are being levied penalties, taxes, fines and other punishing measures if we don’t comply with any particular law (TDS IT filing, Service Tax etc). However Are they ensuring that within the promised time any particular project is completed? Or atleast do they PROMISE that such and such things would be done to the respective regions? I see lot of ‘chaltha-hai’ attitude among our MPs like ”I will be seeing the constituency people only after few years…so I can take my own sweet time to do any good”! 

DON’T THEY HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY TO SPEND THEIR TIME PROPERLY? If they want to get upset and do walk-outs like this, then they may do so at their hometown and at THEIR OWN COST! Ask them to shell out few paisas they would thing twice….damn….it is our money that’s being wasted!

If only more educated & sane people take up politics, we could see light!

Just a thougt in H.O.T!