Posts : India

A small note for IAS aspirants - Civil Services Examination

Mani1972 - 5-SEP-2010

Wanted Praja to host an often requested note on civil services examination. Hope it is okay to host this one-off small note for IAS aspirants.

Car usage disincentives - it's happening

murali772 - 24-AUG-2010

Are you a resident of Mizoram capital Aizawl? If yes, do not buy a car until you have a garage or parking space. Grappled with constant traffic snarls, Mizoram has finally found a way out, banning the sale of vehicles to any individual who does not own a garage or parking space. A car purchased after August 30 will be viewed illegal if its owner does not possess a garage or parking space.

Make Independence Day and Republic Day compulsory at Schools and Colleges

ranga - 14-AUG-2010

Hey Praja's Very happy 63rd Independence Day.

While celebrating the same, i was wondering what is happening to our nation now. We don't see school children dressed up in colors or uniforms going to the school and celebrating the Independence Day / Republic Day, no loud speakers singing patriotic Song.

Say NO to Autos / Taxi's on 12 th Aug 2010

ranga - 10-AUG-2010

Unique campaign is floating around called Meterjam, to teach a lession to the erring Auto's and Taxi's. This campaign already has over 22 k strength from major cities, we find that for fare rise or anyother issues, even a road accident with an auto or taxi all of them gang up and fight with a common man.

CWG - Corruption Wealth Games

Naveen - 6-AUG-2010

Finally, heads begin to roll after a week of denials - see this report.

The steeply sloping playing field

murali772 - 4-AUG-2010

The official demand for returning the money paid by the government telecom arm, BSNL, for third-generation (3G) spectrum (turned down, for now, by the Union finance ministry) is an illustration of why the state should be kept well away from running a business — it is not possible to be both player and umpire.

Where is India headed ?

Naveen - 2-AUG-2010

China has now surpassed Japan as the No.2 economy in the world - India, whose economy was 80% of China's in 1990, is now a mere 25% of China's.

Some fancy ideas for mass transport

srkulhalli - 24-OCT-2008

Got these when I was browsing around. Kind of exotic - enjoy wwwa.vito.be/FADC/report1/10_Ankur%20Bhatnagar_UniModal.pdf http://www.unimodal.net/

Counting the poor - how many do we have?

silkboard - 15-JUL-2010

Public Agenda dear, here is that intellectually ruminating discussion we said we will have soon. How many poor people do we have in our country? The debate, and understanding the number is important because the classic quote goes - "you can't fix what you can't measure". If you can't count your poor, you can't check how your poverty alleviation programs are working.

Two important things around which disagreements arise are 1) How do you define a poor household? 2) How exactly do you count people using the poverty definition you accept?

First of all, the two popular stats that are quoted to start a discussions like this

  • Arjun Sengupta - 77% of Indians lived on less than Rs 20 a day.
  • Suresh Tendulkar co. - Poverty ratio at the all India level ... 37.2% in 2004-05. Rural poverty ... 41.8% and urban ... 25.7%. Criteria, spend per person per month. Rs446.68 in rural areas. Rs578.8 in urban. (see http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_an-honest-measure-of-poverty_1323446)

Some other notable stats:

ಮಹಾತ್ಮಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಯವರ ಜನ್ಮ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ಯದ ಕೊಲೆ?

mbnataraj - 3-JUL-2010

ಮಹಾತ್ಮಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಯವರ ಜನ್ಮ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ಯದ ಕೊಲೆ
ಇತ್ತೀಚಿನ ಒಂದು ಘಟನೆಯೇ ಈ ಆಲೋಚನೆಗೆ  ಮೂಲ ಕಾರಣ.
ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ ಇದು ಅಷ್ಟು ದೊಡ್ಡ ಅಪರಾಧವೆಂದು ಅನ್ನಿಸದು.
ಆದರೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಆಲೋಚನೆ ಮಾಡಿ ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಈ ಬಗೆಯ ಸಣ್ಣ ಸಣ್ಣ ದಿನಂಪ್ರತಿ ಆಗುವ ಮತ್ತು ನಾವು
ತಡೆದು ಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಸಂಗಗಳಿಂದಲೇ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶ ಹಾಳಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಕಾರಣವನ್ನು   ಕಾಣ ಬಹುದು.
ಎರಡು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಕೆಳಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಮಗನ ದ್ವಿಚಕ್ರ ವಾಹನ ಶಿರಸ್ತ್ರಾಣ ಧರಿಸದೆ ನಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯ ಸೂಚನೆ ಬಂತು.
ಕಾನೂನು ಪರಿಪಾಲನೆಯ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಅರಿವಿದ್ದ ಅವನನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದಾಗ ಸಾಧ್ಯವೇ ಇಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿದ.
ಆದರೂ ಅಕಸ್ಮಾತ್ ಅವನ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರು ಯಾರಾದರೂ ಒಂದು ಕ್ಷಣ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಹೊಗಿರಬಹುದೆಂಬ ಸಣ್ಣ
ಸಂಶಯದಿಂದ ಕೇವಲ ೧೦೦ ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಎಂದು ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟೆ.
ಈಗ ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಅದೇ ದಿವಸ, ಅದೇ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅದೇ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಅದೇ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆ ಆದರೆ ಸೆಲ್ ಫೋನ್ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತಿದ ಉಲ್ಲಂಘನೆಯೋಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಬಂದಿತು.
ಆದರೆ ಈ ಬಾರಿ ಈ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ನಂಬುವುದಕ್ಕೆ  ಒಂದೇ ತೊಂದರೆ. ನನ್ನ ಮಗ ಅಮೇರಿಕಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದ. 
ಆ ಸ್ಕೂಟರ್ನ  ಏಕೈಕ   ಚಾಲಕಿ ನನ್ನ  ಮಗಳು ಅದೇ  ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ವರಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ವ್ರತ, ಗೃಹ ಪ್ರವೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುತ್ತಿದಳು.