Urban space design

Consider the horror when the fire ambulance is not able to reach the burning site or When a medical ambulance is stuck in traffic and fails to make it to the hospital on time or children are not left with any park and open spaces to play and practice. Indian urban space has become a rotten ship. Given the congestion, overcrowding and resource crunch, Indian cities have become unsustainable and unmanageable. Part of the reason lies in poor designing, lack of vision and forethinking in building our urban space. Time has come to rethink and redesign Indian urban landscape design and overall life ecosystem.  This blog identifies five such actionable doable low hanging fruits.

1. The first step could be to redevelop all the parks and roads to create underground parking. For example, the Cannaught place circle was redeveloped to host a railway transit point and metro junction. The same could be done to all the parks in all the colonies of Delhi and major cities. It will help in solving the problem of parking and decongest our cities immensely. The park redevelopment could happen as a public-private-people partnership project. The private player can work on a boot operate transfer model and earn a good amount of definite revenue from the park and the parking. Some underground space could also be used as an indoor sports club to help the whole project become sustainable.  

2. Every 5 kilometers there should be a street food karkhana. It could be a multi-story building with fast lifts where all the rediwalah, sabjiwalah, and every other street-side shop could be rented space. The model of street food and roadside vendors should be ended and instead, a home delivery based street food model should take its place. The government can engage in PPPP (Public-private people partnership) to build such karkhanas and rent out fixed-size "thela" space.  Space inside would only be used for food preparation. One section would be sitting space to eat like food courts. But the real salesman would be the delivery guys. Call based or app-based booking of order could be provided by the government. And private delivery service guys can deliver things to the home of the individual or in the food court sitting area. The regulation of the building lies with the government. Various wings like quality assurance officer, food safety officer could be permanently hosted in the space. The permanent fixtures on the roadside selling food items, grocery and fruits would not be allowed anymore in such setup. Rather a close-knit network of government regulatory agencies, karkhana committee (private agency and people of the area), street food maker,  delivery service providers, application provider, and end customer would ensure easy, quality assured access to cheap food. It would decongest our roads, ensure better quality and help in maintaining hygiene and cleanliness. Some rediwalah can operate from home as well and just take the help of ecosystem services of the karkhana. This will make the entire value chain more organized and streamlined. In the context of Delhi, one section of low-income housing buildings can be remodified and used for providing such services within a 5-7 km radius.

3. All the school parks should be compulsorily open to common public for playing outdoor sports. This will provide huge playing space in the community. Delhi has already implemented this scheme with great success.

4. A bidding system should be opened where whoever wishes to sell the land, the government must have the first right to buy. Only if a competing bidder offers more than 15% than the government offer then the other person should be allowed to buy the land piece else government should buy the land. This way the government can create a huge repository of land. This land space would be scattered and fragmented. However, this would be very useful in the event of a large scale mega projects where the government wishes to rehabilitate and resettle people. The government can exchange land and relocate people using this. It would be extremely useful given the fact it is nearly impossible to find a contiguous landscape for development. 

5. All the major markets should be vehicle-free zone except two-wheelers and regulated battery rickshaws (managed by market committee). Three-wheelers and above should be allowed to play only after the closure of market and only for a specific duration. Parking space as mentioned in the first point should be developed beneath the road or beneath the nearby park in order to decongest the market and ease the mobility for the public.

A lot more could be done and there are numerous small actions with high returns but all hinges on the local leadership, public participation and governments focus. Covid-19 has given us an opportunity to think about our public spaces and the problem of crowding. Let us take it seriously and make the best of this opportunity.

Corona - 3: How will it change our lives forever?

Barak Obama once said, "When disaster strikes, it tears the curtain away from the festering problems that we have beneath them." Covid-19 has uncovered the holes in our armors. Our health system, screening, sanitation, and hygiene all stand ruptured at this hour. Indeed these are difficult times and only time will tell which way the Indian elephant will sit after suffering from the most egregious man-made disaster of human history. However, necessity is the mother of invention. Covid-19 brings a host of short to medium-term shifts in the Indian way of living. 

1. A new mode of lifestyle, supply chains, and businesses will emerge. 

 2. Technology innovation will proliferate. The home-based service delivery model will be the new norm. 

3. "Work from Home" model will become a new norm. 

4. Social distancing will bring greater individualism and professional behavior.

5. Covid will turn India to invest more in research, and education.

6. Hygiene and cleanliness will be better understood by the public. Awareness of food safety norms will increase. At least people will start washing hands regularly.

7. There will be lesser crowding in public places. Public spaces will be decongested for at least a few months/years. Though over time normal habits will reemerge if the government fails to tap this opportunity.

8.  The theory of Natural selection will be at play. Stronger/Richer/Healthier will survive.

9. The reading habits of people will strengthen.

10. Family bondings will increase but at the same time, divorce rates will also spike for the short term. Parents will be more valued. The child population will increase. 

11. The remote area habitation will be preferred.

12. Backyard businesses, Homepreneurship will be improved.

If the government and society proactive work thereafter then such medium-term shifts could turn permanent over time. It is high time the government should utilize all its manpower to make the best use of the opportunity in making India a cleaner, decongested, and inclusive society.

Corona - 2 What lies ahead?

The stock market mayhem is continuing unabated. Investors have lost nearly 30 Lakh crore in the last one month. Companies have shifted to work from home model. Businesses have shut down their activities. So a prime question is what lies ahead? The following are the 10 things one can expect in the next eight to twelve month timeframe.

1. Specifically speaking of a country like India, nearly 90% of the workers are in the unorganized sector where no social security is offered. They live in hand to mouth situation. With businesses closing down, these daily wagers and un-skilled workers will find it very tough to survive. Therefore, General Basic Income (GBI) kind of scheme must be on cards where money could be directly deposited to their accounts. 

2. The economic response task force under the chairmanship of the finance minister will take a host of industry-specific measures. It is likely to provide stimulus packages to most affected sectors like Aviation, Tourism, etc. 

3. There will be a definite fiscal slippage of almost 200-300 basis points. Moreover, the interest rates will be lowered in order to provide easy money.

4. There could be a Covid Tax on the general public and corporates for the next 2-3 years come. All the CSR funds, religious and social organizations, NGOs, etc could be put under the Tax net in these times.

5. Every crisis offers an opportunity to break from the past and usher a new future. The Covid crisis will also be the same. It will be an opportunity to reform the taxation structure of the country. All the exemptions on social religious organizations will be taken away. All the exemptions and deductions for the general public could also be taken away.

6. The country will move vigorously towards a cashless economy. More and more transactions will happen online and in card mode.

7. "Work from Home" model will become a norm for IT companies. It will bring down the cost of office space in major cities.

8. There could be a financial emergency at the later stage of the crisis. The salary of government employees will be reduced to half. Many other similar cost-cutting measures will be taken by the central and state government.

9. A population bust will happen 9 months down the line. Husband-Wife with free time locked up in one apartment for 15 days are likely to procreate. 

10. In an extreme scenario, the country may turn beggar. Banks might collapse due to rising NPA.  Stock market losses, Banking failure, high fiscal deficit, civil war-like situation because of high joblessness and heavy external debt could result in a major crisis for the country. The one positive amid all the uncertainty would be political stability, and resolve of the nation.

However, all is not dark. There is a best-case scenario as well where all the above listed 10 phenomena will happen albeit at a reduced scale and with much less intensity. In any case, the timing of Corona could not have been worse. It is akin to a rub of salt on economic wounds from which India is suffering at present. 

  

Corona - 1

When the misfortune comes, it happens in the most unexpected manner. No one would have thought that the smallest one-cell creature will bring life to the standstill. It is not a superstar or an atomic bomb or war amongst nations. Rather it is a fight between nature and homo sapiens and no guesses needed, nature has once again shown us "who is the boss". 

The whole world is in a state of lockdown and isolation. Materialism has come to standstill and possibly will soon crumble under its own weight. All the to-do lists, homework, job duties, have just one-word Quarantine. Most manufacturing plants have closed except for essential services. IT companies have shifted to work from home model. The crisis is so big that one can not discount the possibility of a doomsday,  at least for overcrowded countries like India. Even if we are able to control it, coronavirus will change our lives in many ways forever. The world will not be the same as before. 

WhatsApp university is superbly thriving propagating useful, unuseful information and fake information like wildfire. A lot has already been written on social media, news portals, and multimedia platforms. Amid all the cacophony around coronavirus, it would be blasphemous to not give it deserving space on this blog. 

Our reaction to Corona has been on the lines of a famous quote by Voltaire. At first, the world ignored Corona. Homo sapiens true to their deep-rooted arrogance, rejected nature's call of justice. Soon the ignorance turned into laughter. Indians were specifically joyous about Corona with slogans like "go corona go", local language songs, memes doing rounds on social media. As reality seeped in, the serious fight has begun. Only time will tell who will win the war but with the chirping of birds, return of dolphins to seacoast and dogs fighting on the streets, one can be sure that Corona (in turn nature) has already won the initial battle.

However, what has happened is past and we are already sailing in the present. The existential question for us now is what lies ahead? What could happen 2 to 3 months down the line? What are different credible ways to deal with this crisis? And what is the ray of hope amid all the negativity, and pessimism? My next four blogs will discuss each of these aspects in detail.  Till then, stay safe, stay home and stay alive.

Untold stories

A lot has been happening around. Coronavirus, Budget, Delhi violence, Shaheen bagh, Trump visit, and much more. It looks like the entire landscape is in a state of flux. The budget did not bring any reforms 2.0. It was again a piecemeal change in governance. Trump's visit was more of an unofficial start of his election campaign. It was about showcasing the friendship of Modi and Trump. Shaheen bagh was about Dadi's. Unfortunately, a model protest lost its steam due to Delhi violence. Coronavirus was about the threat of the health pandemic and China's preparedness to deal with it. It was amazing to see how china built a 1000 bed hospital in just 10 days' time.

It was also a month of celebrations. February is a month of marriages and birthdays. It makes me wonder why is that a trend? For someone to be born in February means the intercourse would have happened in the May-June timeframe. However, those are the months of peak summer. It is awkward that people will sleep on top of each other, hand in arms, drenched, smeared and soaked in each other sweat and sowing the seeds of future civilization. That too when it is not even their anniversary or any other occasion when love is in the air. Air is so hot in those months that even love also prefers to remain inside the sachet.  

Anyway, life in February is more fun as weather is not too cold and not too hot. Occasional western disturbances temper the rising sun. Exercising, sports become a lot more fun. The rest is life as usual.

General all weather rhyme

This can be used for any girl be it your wife, sister, daughter or girlfriend.

ऊपर से सख्त , अंदर से  लगती नटखट
लगती है खूंखार पर है बड़ी होशियार
दिखाती है चाबुक पर है बड़ी नाज़ुक
हरकतें है अटपट पर खाना बनती है चटपट
करती है बड़ी खटपट पर काम में है फटाफट
मिज़ाज़ से संवैधानिक पर वो है एक वैज्ञानिक
लगेगी बहुत भोली पर दे देगी गोली
इतना तो मैंने दिया बाकि दिमाग लगाओ भइया ||

Trap Civil services interview

A very common technique of trapping students in civil services interview is by making them buy a common counter-government narrative which is broadly available in media. Other trap questions to test the mental alertness of the student is to ask him multiple questions and see if he is answering all of them or not. Check his Optimism, 4-D thinking, Whether a candidate asking cross-question or not?

Check if the candidate is reading between the lines or not?

 Here I am listing some of the common ways to trap a civil services candidate in the interview:

Q.1 Do you believe in government numbers?

Q.2 Do you believe the government has missed a point by focusing on CAA and NRC rather than bringing UCC and Population control measures?

Q.3 Whose fault is pollution in Delhi, Delhi Government or Haryana government?

Q.4 Democracy vs Philosopher king? Cons of democracy?

Q.5 If Uniform Civil Code is about equality then what about Sabrimala?

Q.6 If you support CAA then what would you do with pigeons making a nest in your house?

Q.7 End justify means or not? What about international relations?

Q.8 If you will deal peacefully with protestors then how would you deal with mosquitoes who are troubling you?

Q.9 Should Civil servants be allowed to express themselves freely?

Q.10 Culture of North India vs South India? Which one did you find better?

Q.11 Do you think farmer's income can be doubled in the next few years or we can achieve the target of $5 trillion economies by 2023?

Q.12 What is your view on government budget proposals on Women and Health?

Q.13 If you have to take the shortest route from Arunachal to Rajasthan, which all states would you cross?

Q.14 Who was the first president of India? Shri Rajendra Prasad Sharma or Yadav?

Q.15 What are some of the good things about feeling poor?

Q.16 Can a Muslim ever dream of becoming prime minister of India? Can a Muslim ever become a prime minister of India?

Q.17 Politics of freebies? How just is it to provide free passes to women on buses? Does this really work?

Q.18 Where do you see India 15 years down the line?

Q.19 Do you think the notion of secularism opted at the time of independence has become a burden on our country and it needs to be changed?

Q.20 How is the weather today?

Q.21 Economists in India are doctors without a stethoscope? Vijay Kelkar

Q.22 India is like a Thali? Shashi Tharoor

Q.23 A king is better to be feared than loved. Machiavelli

Q.24 Is India a nation or a nation-in-making?

Q.25 What is the psychology of a mob?

Q.26 Should we give 1/3rd of our salary to our better half or not?

Q.27 How would you categorize a developed society?

Q. 28 Politics as art of possible?

Q.29 Architect vs Civil Engineer? Who should get priority in making a building?

Q.30 Media regulation. Considering the menace of social media, should we regulate it?

Q.31 Stakeholders, Employees, Entrepreneurs, Government,  Customer which is more important for business? The customer wants privacy, the government wants access? Which one should we go for?

Q.32 What are much-hyped reforms 2.0? Don't you think the government is already doing that?

Q.33 Constitutionalism vs liberalism? Which one comes first? Social change vs law change which should happen first? W.r.t. Triple Talaq or Jallikattu?

Q.34 Election commission reforms? Model code of conduct? Anti-defection law?

Q.35 Suggest some ways to improve democracy culture in India?

Will gather more questions soon.