Rail budget every year is a tamasha of sorts, the intent of the budget seems to be to impress the middle and lower class voters with favorable announcements (I have not included the upper class since they do not care much for Rail travel). The entire budget exercise is more a rhetoric flourish than actual intent to improve the Rail services in the country.
Rail Ministers take the budget exercise as an opportunity to announce more trains since they make good headlines. The already beaten down infrastructure doesn’t matter, some of these new trains are obviously accommodated due to political pressure and do not live to see the day due to economics ( It will be interesting to see the data on how many new trains announced over the past 5 years have been cancelled due to economics)
I need to acknowledge the schedule adherence has improved but the overall experience of travelling on the Indian Railways is nowhere close to what we can call a decent service. 25 million citizens use the service on a daily basis. Leaving china this should be much more volume of Rail travel than any other continent.
For this scale the opportunity to expand and improve all round Infrastructure is tremendous. This will happen when the Railways shift their thinking from running train and good services purely from revenue earning perspective and put the passenger in the scheme of things.
I am not sure if we yet have a role model Railway station in the country, the one which has easy accessibility to all platforms, tracks without fecal discharges, general cleanliness and orderliness. First things first Railways need to get the technology of collecting and safe discharge of human waste in the trains and stations, it is the ugliest site and a sad story about lack of thinking from Indian Railways from a public health view point (there are reports attempts have been made but discarded due to high cost, it means nothing since public health is more important than cost to Railways).
Investments in track infrastructure for high speed trains, signaling and other safety measures and modern stations should be the priority for Indian Railways. They should not forget that the Airports in the country which used to be grazing fields have slowly transformed themselves into world class facilities, the railways need to get private players into the act. While doing this they should not forget the poor porter, can we get the poor guy equipment to take goods around. Railways we are in the 21st century wake up.
Adding more and more trains to the already ageing infrastructure will only add more problems to commuters in terms of slow speeds and later running of trains, safety issues, fuel inefficiency and man-hour losses, handling of trains in outer etc. Our representatives and officials ought to draft their necessities and prioritize the list in the best interests of the citizens and the country.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Municipal decadence
I am writing this since I observed women in the early to late mornings sweeping roads in the Hyderabad city, municipal officers who have devised this employment generation scheme did not think for a moment the risk they are putting the women to. With poor street lights and rash driving they are often subject to accidents. For 3000 rs a month they are subject to dust pollution, high risk working conditions etc. Do we need to clean our roads at all most of them are broken anyways. Mal-administration, lack of innovation and poor execution ails our municipalities.
Municipal administration in the Indian towns and cities is a broken function. An important civil administration function neglected by the state and central governments. Indian towns and cities are a visual load of dirt and broken infrastructure.
I need not detail the deplorable hygienic conditions that exist of Indian towns and cities. The municipality’s in the country work in bits and pieces. It is amazing to see the consistency in municipal mal-administration across the length and breadth of the country (leave aside some towns here and there).
Indian towns and cities are densely populated and unplanned and that adds to the complexity of administering them. Having said that there is no serious attempt by the state and central governments to address the issues that plague city and town administrations in the country. We are not learning from other successful cities in the world.
We often attribute mediocrity in this country to the large population, complexity etc, more of an excuse to continue the status quo. Municipalities’ too claim the same and do not re-invent themselves.
It is time to turn our attention to our cities and towns which are growing bigger due to influx from villages, our cities will be unmanageable in a decade with the current structures. May be we need to have a relook at the governance model, are the elected municipal councils able to deliver or they have become obstructionist, do we need to privatize some or more of the city functions, do we need professionals to run our cities ?
Municipal administration in the Indian towns and cities is a broken function. An important civil administration function neglected by the state and central governments. Indian towns and cities are a visual load of dirt and broken infrastructure.
I need not detail the deplorable hygienic conditions that exist of Indian towns and cities. The municipality’s in the country work in bits and pieces. It is amazing to see the consistency in municipal mal-administration across the length and breadth of the country (leave aside some towns here and there).
Indian towns and cities are densely populated and unplanned and that adds to the complexity of administering them. Having said that there is no serious attempt by the state and central governments to address the issues that plague city and town administrations in the country. We are not learning from other successful cities in the world.
We often attribute mediocrity in this country to the large population, complexity etc, more of an excuse to continue the status quo. Municipalities’ too claim the same and do not re-invent themselves.
It is time to turn our attention to our cities and towns which are growing bigger due to influx from villages, our cities will be unmanageable in a decade with the current structures. May be we need to have a relook at the governance model, are the elected municipal councils able to deliver or they have become obstructionist, do we need to privatize some or more of the city functions, do we need professionals to run our cities ?
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Our own Tahrir Squares
The turmoil in Egypt is a lesson for dictatorships and autocracies in the Arab world, their moments of glory are coming to an end. We should wish the citizens of Egypt good luck in their quest for establishing a democratic polity and a free society.
Is there a lesson for established and vibrant democracies like India whose people are free but their aspirations are yet to be realized. Aspirations which are basic and fundamental to be called a civilized and mature democracy.
The Indian is frustrated with the type of democracy we have created. Frustrated that the powers that be are subverting the democratic institutions for personal gains. All the three branches of governance are compromised with serious issues relating to their integrity. The private enterprise is not to be left out of the equation their role in the current crisis is unmistakable.
There is a former Supreme Court chief justice being accused of
inaction and nepotism. A cabinet minister has made an ass of the entire system selling precious spectrum at whatever price he decided. Another minister and his cohorts ran a national sports body like their personal fiefdom and milked money. There are many bureaucrats being caught with crores of rupees during raids conducted by the CBI. All of us are aware of these instances and I am sure there are hundreds more unearthed cases across the country.
Whilst corruption has been around since long the scale and blatancy of it is worrying. Scam after scam is having a demoralizing effect on the citizens; there is a loss of trust on all three branches of governance. The question is will we ever become a “developed country” with the type of system we have created.
Mechanisms to punish the erring politician, bureaucrat exist but the credibility of the institutions that are required to do that is questionable. How many of us believe that the CBI is truly independent?
It is not easy to change the system but we need to do it, the way we handle the Spectrum, CWG and other high profile corruption cases will determine our intent towards establishing a system that is feared by folks who want to subvert it.
I think India is a cross roads and the government should be seize this opportunity to correct the deviant system, else all of us need to walk to our own “tahrir squares” in our cities, towns and villages to force the issue.
Is there a lesson for established and vibrant democracies like India whose people are free but their aspirations are yet to be realized. Aspirations which are basic and fundamental to be called a civilized and mature democracy.
The Indian is frustrated with the type of democracy we have created. Frustrated that the powers that be are subverting the democratic institutions for personal gains. All the three branches of governance are compromised with serious issues relating to their integrity. The private enterprise is not to be left out of the equation their role in the current crisis is unmistakable.
There is a former Supreme Court chief justice being accused of
inaction and nepotism. A cabinet minister has made an ass of the entire system selling precious spectrum at whatever price he decided. Another minister and his cohorts ran a national sports body like their personal fiefdom and milked money. There are many bureaucrats being caught with crores of rupees during raids conducted by the CBI. All of us are aware of these instances and I am sure there are hundreds more unearthed cases across the country.
Whilst corruption has been around since long the scale and blatancy of it is worrying. Scam after scam is having a demoralizing effect on the citizens; there is a loss of trust on all three branches of governance. The question is will we ever become a “developed country” with the type of system we have created.
Mechanisms to punish the erring politician, bureaucrat exist but the credibility of the institutions that are required to do that is questionable. How many of us believe that the CBI is truly independent?
It is not easy to change the system but we need to do it, the way we handle the Spectrum, CWG and other high profile corruption cases will determine our intent towards establishing a system that is feared by folks who want to subvert it.
I think India is a cross roads and the government should be seize this opportunity to correct the deviant system, else all of us need to walk to our own “tahrir squares” in our cities, towns and villages to force the issue.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Micro Finance - New begining needed
The story of MFIs in India is turning out be case of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Some of the founders of these MFIs have become heroes for their fight to bring in inclusive growth etc. They have been lauded in international media and honored. Their stated objective was to make these organizations community owned. Alas they are turning out be greedy business men in sheep’s clothing. The unraveling of the industry due to farmer’s suicide in Andhra Pradesh seems to spell trouble for at least some of them.
A host of governance related issues are coming out of the cupboards of these organizations. Some of them have used complex structures to rob the poor women shareholders of their wealth. Some of them like SKS started with noble intentions but once the industry picked momentum set aside the beneficiaries’ interests for commercial gains. Overall a weak regulatory regime helped these MFIs to subvert the system. They milked 26% and above interest rates from the poor.
Look at this, the Promoter of Share Micro fin has taken home 7.4 Cr as compensation for Fy10. This is much larger than the compensation of CEO of any commercial bank. This money if from the poor, is it morally right?
There is enough analysis on the failings of the MFIs, having said that it is true that these organizations have reached out to the poor and needy in the hinterlands of the country and provided loans. They filled in the gap that could not be bridged by the public and private sector banks. These organizations were not keen to serve this segment of the population due to the inherent risks of operations. For that they deserve to be acknowledged.
The Malegam committee has come out with some recommendations there is an ongoing debate on the recommendations, one should expect positive outcomes from the debate.
Despite the shortcomings I believe that MFIs under a strict regulatory regime and who operate with the basic intent of community ownership are needed and government should help stabilize the industry.
There is also a need for the MFIs to reinvent themselves and venture out into areas like insurance, loans for health care, crop loans etc. There is enough scope for MFIs to partner with rural India.
I was in my village this week and met a poor lady who came over to my house with a bunch of medical reports, an MRI with medical analysis stating that her boy had seizures and needs to be under medical care for the next 2 years, expense Rs 2500/month. She told me that she has borrowed money for the initial treatment and diagnosis at 40% interest rates from local lenders. This story can be found in many places across the country. Where do these families go for treatment, govt health services are erratic and unreliable. There is an opportunity for MFIs here, they can finance health care, only if they completely understand the needs and abilities of the clientele they are serving. Swanky offices and IPOs mean MFIs in India have lost their way.
A host of governance related issues are coming out of the cupboards of these organizations. Some of them have used complex structures to rob the poor women shareholders of their wealth. Some of them like SKS started with noble intentions but once the industry picked momentum set aside the beneficiaries’ interests for commercial gains. Overall a weak regulatory regime helped these MFIs to subvert the system. They milked 26% and above interest rates from the poor.
Look at this, the Promoter of Share Micro fin has taken home 7.4 Cr as compensation for Fy10. This is much larger than the compensation of CEO of any commercial bank. This money if from the poor, is it morally right?
There is enough analysis on the failings of the MFIs, having said that it is true that these organizations have reached out to the poor and needy in the hinterlands of the country and provided loans. They filled in the gap that could not be bridged by the public and private sector banks. These organizations were not keen to serve this segment of the population due to the inherent risks of operations. For that they deserve to be acknowledged.
The Malegam committee has come out with some recommendations there is an ongoing debate on the recommendations, one should expect positive outcomes from the debate.
Despite the shortcomings I believe that MFIs under a strict regulatory regime and who operate with the basic intent of community ownership are needed and government should help stabilize the industry.
There is also a need for the MFIs to reinvent themselves and venture out into areas like insurance, loans for health care, crop loans etc. There is enough scope for MFIs to partner with rural India.
I was in my village this week and met a poor lady who came over to my house with a bunch of medical reports, an MRI with medical analysis stating that her boy had seizures and needs to be under medical care for the next 2 years, expense Rs 2500/month. She told me that she has borrowed money for the initial treatment and diagnosis at 40% interest rates from local lenders. This story can be found in many places across the country. Where do these families go for treatment, govt health services are erratic and unreliable. There is an opportunity for MFIs here, they can finance health care, only if they completely understand the needs and abilities of the clientele they are serving. Swanky offices and IPOs mean MFIs in India have lost their way.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Service to the Citizen
Couple of days back I was with a Municipal officer to discuss a project, while we were busy discussing he got to know that old age pensions for that particular month were yet to be distributed, he looked upset and inquired the concerned clerk on the reason for delay, the response was modem was not working hence instructions could not be passed to the bank. It was 22nd of the month and the pension is a paltry 300 Rs /month and it is delayed by 3 weeks. The pensioners would have gone to the bank multiple times to collect Rs 300. They would have spent have the money on travel.
This is a typical example of government services reaching the citizens; a hardened and emotionless bureaucracy does not have accountability. There are exceptions like this officer who was genuinely concerned however the general apathy in the bureaucracy is a reason for disaffection among citizens on govt services.
As citizens we need to interface with multiple govt depts/services on a regular basis water, electricity, property tax, Income tax, Public Distribution Shops, Passport etc being a few of them. Citizens experience friction whenever they come in contact with govt services. Rule books are thrown at the hapless individuals by the babus to make a quick buck to help resolve some or other teething issues. The babus have an advantage of better knowledge of the policies and procedures hence they twist and turn the citizens till they oblige with some bakshsish.
The RTI act is a great tool to shake the govt but there are attempts being made to dilute it and more importantly RTI activists are being threatened by mafias with dire consequences. A colleague of mine is an RTI activist and focuses his energies on saving lakes in and around Hyderabad; he says real estate mafias keep bothering them hence they need to tread carefully.
The issue is the formidable collusion between the politician and the bureaucracy, combined they are robbing the hapless citizen day in and day out. How can the govt energize its cadre to serve the citizens efficiently, is there an incentive for the bureaucracy to be efficient?
This is a country where we allow food grains to rot and let millions suffer from malnutrition, no one is accountable, some story is told to the Supreme Court. We should learn from China, they too are corrupt but are learning fast and are improving services to the citizens at an amazing speed. They rank better than India in the Transparency International corruption index.
Take the example of Income tax, they harass the common man but we do not see them going behind the high and mighty. Are we saying all politicians and industrialists have clean income tax records? The raids on this class of people are only for headlines, post the raid it is cold storage and back door settlement. I know one of my colleague had to shell out 30,000 Rs recently for a minor infraction after being harassed on some technical aspects which is difficult for the common man to understand. Govt wants to increase the ambit of income tax coverage but the process is not yet friendly and the dept is not citizen friendly. Their aim is to harass the honest and hard working citizen and let go the powerful.
There is lot of despondency about all this but there is a ray of hope, penetration of IT is helping improvement of services but our babus are finding ways to circumvent the process that needs to be fixed. I find ESeva of AP to be good example. It should be made more popular (this service started of well but seems to be on the decline) and penetrate into the towns. Govt should open more such kiosks across the country and provide most services to the citizens, take away the discretionary powers of the bureaucrats and perhaps the bureaucrat himself.
This is a typical example of government services reaching the citizens; a hardened and emotionless bureaucracy does not have accountability. There are exceptions like this officer who was genuinely concerned however the general apathy in the bureaucracy is a reason for disaffection among citizens on govt services.
As citizens we need to interface with multiple govt depts/services on a regular basis water, electricity, property tax, Income tax, Public Distribution Shops, Passport etc being a few of them. Citizens experience friction whenever they come in contact with govt services. Rule books are thrown at the hapless individuals by the babus to make a quick buck to help resolve some or other teething issues. The babus have an advantage of better knowledge of the policies and procedures hence they twist and turn the citizens till they oblige with some bakshsish.
The RTI act is a great tool to shake the govt but there are attempts being made to dilute it and more importantly RTI activists are being threatened by mafias with dire consequences. A colleague of mine is an RTI activist and focuses his energies on saving lakes in and around Hyderabad; he says real estate mafias keep bothering them hence they need to tread carefully.
The issue is the formidable collusion between the politician and the bureaucracy, combined they are robbing the hapless citizen day in and day out. How can the govt energize its cadre to serve the citizens efficiently, is there an incentive for the bureaucracy to be efficient?
This is a country where we allow food grains to rot and let millions suffer from malnutrition, no one is accountable, some story is told to the Supreme Court. We should learn from China, they too are corrupt but are learning fast and are improving services to the citizens at an amazing speed. They rank better than India in the Transparency International corruption index.
Take the example of Income tax, they harass the common man but we do not see them going behind the high and mighty. Are we saying all politicians and industrialists have clean income tax records? The raids on this class of people are only for headlines, post the raid it is cold storage and back door settlement. I know one of my colleague had to shell out 30,000 Rs recently for a minor infraction after being harassed on some technical aspects which is difficult for the common man to understand. Govt wants to increase the ambit of income tax coverage but the process is not yet friendly and the dept is not citizen friendly. Their aim is to harass the honest and hard working citizen and let go the powerful.
There is lot of despondency about all this but there is a ray of hope, penetration of IT is helping improvement of services but our babus are finding ways to circumvent the process that needs to be fixed. I find ESeva of AP to be good example. It should be made more popular (this service started of well but seems to be on the decline) and penetrate into the towns. Govt should open more such kiosks across the country and provide most services to the citizens, take away the discretionary powers of the bureaucrats and perhaps the bureaucrat himself.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Reflections on the year gone by
After a decade a mixed achievements it is time to look forward for a period of faster growth and more even spread of prosperity in the country. India has done well to hold on to its own during the two significant downturns in the decade (the dotcom burst in the early 2000’s and the more recent 2008/09 recession). It has received all round praise for its Macroeconomic policies and the growth rate it is clocking year on year. We have won a war in Kargil but did not do as well in handling internal strife’s Maoists, Kashmir and Northeast. Poverty is in general declining but we are nowhere in the human development index (119th rank out of 169). India ranks 84/180in the corruption perception index, we have to go back to the drawing board on how to tackle this cancer in the system (In the government as well as the society).
With all the above we can take comfort in the fact we are still the largest democracy in the world and the most stable one in the south East Asian region. Democratic institutions see to work with all the limitations.
However the recent events CWG, 2G, Justice Balakrishnan, and Adarsh etc should be a serious cause of concern and puts a big question mark on our faith in the overall governance and the institutions.
Serial scams are draining the citizens’ belief that the country is in the right hands. The Prime Minister is an honorable man and no doubt the cleanest public figure in the country today, but what is the use if his men are stealing the wealth of the nation.
30,000 crores spent on the CWG games and no one is sure how much was spent usefully. As per UN estimates we could have built 2 crore or more toilets in a country where >70% of the population do not have access to toilets.
The 2G scam is even more scandalous, the related Radia tapes show the depth of collusion between Politicians, Journalists and the Industry. Popular Journalists passing off as defenders of truth in public life where shown to have feet of clay.
I am not confident that anything substantial will happen in either of the above cases since the independence and integrity of the agency probing is itself under serious question. CBI creates big news conducting raids and then goes dead silent for years. As I write this the IT appellate tribunal has spelt that Win Chadha and Ottavio Quattorcchi have indeed been paid bribes by AB Bofors while the same CBI is trying to close the case against Quattrocchi. So we know where the CWG and 2G investigations will go.
It is a bitter end to the year 2010 with a whole lot of scams and a lot of questions in our minds. Let us hope that this decade will see more constructive politics and continued prosperity in the country.
With all the above we can take comfort in the fact we are still the largest democracy in the world and the most stable one in the south East Asian region. Democratic institutions see to work with all the limitations.
However the recent events CWG, 2G, Justice Balakrishnan, and Adarsh etc should be a serious cause of concern and puts a big question mark on our faith in the overall governance and the institutions.
Serial scams are draining the citizens’ belief that the country is in the right hands. The Prime Minister is an honorable man and no doubt the cleanest public figure in the country today, but what is the use if his men are stealing the wealth of the nation.
30,000 crores spent on the CWG games and no one is sure how much was spent usefully. As per UN estimates we could have built 2 crore or more toilets in a country where >70% of the population do not have access to toilets.
The 2G scam is even more scandalous, the related Radia tapes show the depth of collusion between Politicians, Journalists and the Industry. Popular Journalists passing off as defenders of truth in public life where shown to have feet of clay.
I am not confident that anything substantial will happen in either of the above cases since the independence and integrity of the agency probing is itself under serious question. CBI creates big news conducting raids and then goes dead silent for years. As I write this the IT appellate tribunal has spelt that Win Chadha and Ottavio Quattorcchi have indeed been paid bribes by AB Bofors while the same CBI is trying to close the case against Quattrocchi. So we know where the CWG and 2G investigations will go.
It is a bitter end to the year 2010 with a whole lot of scams and a lot of questions in our minds. Let us hope that this decade will see more constructive politics and continued prosperity in the country.
Reflections on the year gone
After a decade a mixed achievements it is time to look forward for a period of faster growth and more even spread of prosperity in the country. India has done well to hold on to its own during the two significant downturns in the decade (the dotcom burst in the early 2000’s and the more recent 2008/09 recession). It has received all round praise for its Macroeconomic policies and the growth rate it is clocking year on year. We have won a war in Kargil but did not do as well in handling internal strife’s Maoists, Kashmir and Northeast. Poverty is in general declining but we are nowhere in the human development index (119th rank out of 169). India ranks 84/180in the corruption perception index, we have to go back to the drawing board on how to tackle this cancer in the system (In the government as well as the society).
With all the above we can take comfort in the fact we are still the largest democracy in the world and the most stable one in the south East Asian region. Democratic institutions see to work with all the limitations.
However the recent events CWG, 2G, Justice Balakrishnan, and Adarsh etc should be a serious cause of concern and puts a big question mark on our faith in the overall governance and the institutions.
Serial scams are draining the citizens’ belief that the country is in the right hands. The Prime Minister is an honorable man and no doubt the cleanest public figure in the country today, but what is the use if his men are stealing the wealth of the nation.
30,000 crores spent on the CWG games and no one is sure how much was spent usefully. As per UN estimates we could have built 2 crore or more toilets in a country where >70% of the population do not have access to toilets.
The 2G scam is even more scandalous, the related Radia tapes show the depth of collusion between Politicians, Journalists and the Industry. Popular Journalists passing off as defenders of truth in public life where shown to have feet of clay.
I am not confident that anything substantial will happen in either of the above cases since the independence and integrity of the agency probing is itself under serious question. CBI creates big news conducting raids and then goes dead silent for years. As I write this the IT appellate tribunal has spelt that Win Chadha and Ottavio Quattorcchi have indeed been paid bribes by AB Bofors while the same CBI is trying to close the case against Quattrocchi. So we know where the CWG and 2G investigations will go.
It is a bitter end to the year 2010 with a whole lot of scams and a lot of questions in our minds. Let us hope that this decade will see more constructive politics and continued prosperity in the country.
With all the above we can take comfort in the fact we are still the largest democracy in the world and the most stable one in the south East Asian region. Democratic institutions see to work with all the limitations.
However the recent events CWG, 2G, Justice Balakrishnan, and Adarsh etc should be a serious cause of concern and puts a big question mark on our faith in the overall governance and the institutions.
Serial scams are draining the citizens’ belief that the country is in the right hands. The Prime Minister is an honorable man and no doubt the cleanest public figure in the country today, but what is the use if his men are stealing the wealth of the nation.
30,000 crores spent on the CWG games and no one is sure how much was spent usefully. As per UN estimates we could have built 2 crore or more toilets in a country where >70% of the population do not have access to toilets.
The 2G scam is even more scandalous, the related Radia tapes show the depth of collusion between Politicians, Journalists and the Industry. Popular Journalists passing off as defenders of truth in public life where shown to have feet of clay.
I am not confident that anything substantial will happen in either of the above cases since the independence and integrity of the agency probing is itself under serious question. CBI creates big news conducting raids and then goes dead silent for years. As I write this the IT appellate tribunal has spelt that Win Chadha and Ottavio Quattorcchi have indeed been paid bribes by AB Bofors while the same CBI is trying to close the case against Quattrocchi. So we know where the CWG and 2G investigations will go.
It is a bitter end to the year 2010 with a whole lot of scams and a lot of questions in our minds. Let us hope that this decade will see more constructive politics and continued prosperity in the country.
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