Hindustan Times: April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Gas pipeline deal soon, says Iran President

Iran, Pakistan and India would soon give final shape to the proposed three nation gas pipeline, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday night. But he placed a question mark on the implementation of the June 2005 gas-by-ship contract.

The Iranian President conceded there was a clear link between the gas by ship deal to sell 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to lndia and New Delhi's decision to vote against Tehran at the IAEA governing board in September 2005.

Talking to the press after talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said: "Each vote has its own impact." But he added that the India-Iran relationship was "deeper than a vote". India's vote against Iran at the IAEA "related to the past", he said. "We are now looking forward."

The IAEA votes took the Iranian nuclear issue from the domain of the atomic watchdog to the UN Security Council. Ahmadinejad was pleased that Indian officials had given a "good and appropriate response" to Washington when it came forward with words of advice for Iran before his brief visit to Delhi.

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Labels: decision, Gas pipeline deal soon, IAEA vote, India, India-Iran relationship, Iran, Iran President, New delhi, Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tehran

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ISRO record: 10 satellites from 1 rocket

An Indian rocket successfully launched 10 satellites into orbit at one go on Monday reaching a milestone in , space technology and boosting India's image as a major player in the multi-billion-dollar satellite launching business.

The PSLV-C9 injected two Indian satellites and eight nano satellites into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. "Today's mission has been a remarkable success as we set a record injecting 10 satellites simultaneously Though . published material on space launches show Russia has launched 13 satellites simultaneously we do not know how successful the results were," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said.

The single-core version of India's workhorse launcher PSLV boomed into a cloudy sky with a payload of 850 kg. After 1,020 seconds, it launched India's Cartosat-2 A and IMS-1, and the nano satellites designed by universities in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and Germany. ISRO charged $600,000 for launching each of the nano satellites.

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Labels: Indian rocket, Indian satellites, Indian Space Research Organisation, nano satellites, PSLV-C9, satellite launching business

Monday, April 28, 2008

Don't mind nuke test, if voted to power: Advani

If voted back to powel the BJP would not shy away from conducting a fresh round of nuclear tests, party leader and prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani said on Sunday.

In an interview to a Malayalam television channel, he said the two rounds of nuclear tests in Pokhran had earlier helped India position itself among world powers.

"Almost all nuclear powers never said that they would not test their nuclear stockpiles. So why should India do it? We don't mind another blast if it is necessitated," Advani said during a two-day tour of the state.

A restriction on conducting further nuclear tests was one of the rea- sons his party was opposing the nuclear deal with the United States. "Our opposition to the nuclear deal and the Left's position on it are totally different. We have no plan to oppose everything American as the Left is doing. We are opposed to the provisions of the Hyde Act, which literally prevents the country

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Labels: BJP, Hyde Act, interview, L.K. Advani, Malayalam television channel, nuclear tests, Pokhran

Friday, April 25, 2008

Hollywood Ending

There was pin-drop silence in the stands, a deadly, deathly hush that made the Jaipur players' frenzied post-match celebrations appear almost incongruous. After all, they had done the unexpected, perhaps even the unbelievable, by pulling off a quite remarkable win out of nowhere, stunning the opposition and home crowd alike.

Needing 215, Jaipur were 186 for three at one stage and coasting comfortably before they self-destructed, much to the delight of a hyper-excited Hyderabad crowd.

With one over to go and down to their tail, Jaipur still needed 17 off the last over for an improbable victory and the matter seemed done and dusted Hyderabad looked like they would finally be getting one win in their kitty.

What everyone seemed to have forgotten though, was that cricket as a game, is notoriously unpredictable. And when you throw in the fact that Jaipur still had their maverick magician on the field, the inimitable Shane Warne, then you had to know that they weren't about to give up the ghost, not as long as they could breathe.

For most of the day, Andrew Symonds, who made the IPL's fastest ton in 47 balls, had the edge on his celebrated compatriot. But little did he know that the man they called "Hollywood" would hijack what could have been a Symonds Special in a matter of a few minutes.

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Labels: Andrew symonds, cricket, Deccan Chargers, Hollywood, Hyderabad, IPL matches, Jaipur, Pankaj Singh, Warne whacked Symonds

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Admission overhaul soon

The Central government has finalised a bill that proposes to fix the minimum age for admission to preschool at 3 years and 10 months.

The draft Right To Education Bill, which will be put up for cabinet consideration in May would also protect parents and children from screening by schools and prescribes huge fines in case of violation.

Prepared by the Human Resource Development Ministry, the bW says the minimum admission age for Class I should be 5 years and 10 months before the beginning of the academic year This implies the admission age for preschool would be 3 years and 10 months.

Last year, the Delhi government fixed 3 years as age for admission to pre-school, 4 for pre-primary and 5 for Class I.

The bill, which aims at implementing the Right to Education guaranteed by the Constitution in 2002, shields parents from arbitrary admission rules of private schools. If found subjecting parents or children to screening, the school will be fined Rs 25,000. A repeat offence will invite a fine of up to Rs 50,000. If a school is found guilty of taking capitation fee, the fine will be up to ten times of what it charged.

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Labels: admissions, central government, childern, education, parents, pre schools, private schools

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

If BRT Doesn't Work We'll Scrap IT Corridor Of Chaos Says Government

If things don't improve on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stretch in two days, the government may in all likelihood dump the project that has created a traffic nightmare in south Delhi and caused widespread anger.

"If the people of Delhi feel that it is not working, we could take a decision. After all in a democratic setup, policies and programmes are drawn for the benefit of the people," said Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf on Tuesday He, however, still hoped that the 5.8 km corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand flyover would "succeed" after the faults are rectified.

"We do not want to do anything to inconvenience the people in an election year," he said.

His comments came even as jams on the BRT continued to fuel public anger for the third straight day.

The anger echoed in the Rajya Sabha as well where members demanded scrapping of the project - "one of the most ill-conceived transport schemes ever seen by the Capital".

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit meanwhile chaired an emergency meeting with all BRT stakeholders. A source said she was "angry, disturbed and annoyed" due to the complete failure of the project so far. "She has realised that the cascading effect of the corridor had practically led to huge traffic problems in most south Delhi localities," the source added.

Abandoning the project did not come up for discussion but Dikshit gave a stern warning to all involved in the project - DIMTS, transport department, DTC, tranc police, RITES and two professors from IIT-Delhi. "You people had advised us that the project is doing wonders elsewhere. The experience suggests otherwise," she told the oncials and gave them two days to improve the system.

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Labels: Ambedkar Nagar, BRT, Bus Rapid Transit corridor, Commonwealth Games, delhi, government, Moolchand flyover, nightmare, Rajya Sabha, traffic, traffic police, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Who should we blame?

The Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system is anything but rapid. Cars crawl, pedestrians are confused, cyclists joust with motorcycles in their lane, and buses stop ahead of their bays. And no one quite knows whom to blame for this mess.

On the first working day since trials began on the 5.8-km BRT corridor: there was complete chaos. The short stretch between Moolchand and Ambedkar Nagar took more than an hour to cross, with the wait time at intersections like Archana and Chirag Dilli between 15 and 20 minutes.

Everyone concerned blamed malfunctioning traffic signals. But deeper issues were at work, and no one could hold out any promise of their resolution, early or delayed. "What was the need to impose this strange project on us? I was satisfied with the way things were, we never had jams like these before on this road," said an exasperated Dheeraj Gupta, who works for an MNC.

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Labels: blame, buses stop, Cars crawl, motorcycles, The Bus Rapid Transport, traffic signals

Monday, April 21, 2008

For Putin successor, yoga the best pill

Yoga is set to get a huge push in Russia, where the Indian art was banned and lessons were passed on secretly during the Soviet era.

Dmitri Medvedev, who will take over as Russia's new president next month, is a known yoga man and is expected to do what his predecessor Vladimir Putin did to judo.

"Little by little, I'm mastering yoga," Medvedev, who takes pride in his ability to perform shirshasana, a headstand pose, recently told the weekly news magazine Itogi. "The responsibility (of my job) is huge. To prevent headaches, I needed to practice yoga more intensively than before."

Yoga was banned in the Soviet era as the art, with its Hindu spiritual underpinnings, was seen as against the prevailing philosophy of MarxismLeninism. Today, it sweeps through Russia's physical culture studios, which until recently were dominated by body building and martial arts.

"Ten years ago there were only three yoga schools in all of Moscow, now there are several hundreds," said Inna Assekritova, a Moscow business executive who got hooked to yoga 30 years ago, when it was strictly banned. "In Soviet times, it was almost impossible to find a teacher; and all information about it had to be secretly passed from hand to hand," she said.

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Labels: India, Indian art, Russia, Russia's new president, Soviet era, Vladimir Putin, Yoga

Friday, April 18, 2008

Torch passes in peace, Delhi pays the price

The Indian government and Delhi Police ended Thursday with a sigh of relief, but Delhi was gasping for breath long after the Olympic flame had left for its next destination, Bangkok.

With a staggering 17,000 policemen and commandos swarming the heart of New Delhi, the torch completed its 2.3 km journey down Rajpath that had been sanitised from even the somnolent babus of the many sarkari buildings around.

The widely feared Tibetan protests were largely non-violent; the police still arrested as many as 267 people for trying to disrupt the run.

"No protester could manage to breach security anywhere in the city," Rajan Bhagat, Delhi Police spokesman, announced at the end of the day "All attempts to create trouble were thwarted."

In fact, all of Delhi was thwarted.

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Labels: Bollywood Star, Indian government, New delhi, Olympic flame, Olympics torch relay, Rajan Bhagat Aamir Khan, Tibetan protests

Thursday, April 17, 2008

9 percent OBC quota at IITs this year

Seven Branches of IIT will reserve nine percent seats for OBC category students in the 2008-09 academic session, a joint admission board decided in a meeting on Wednesday. Directors of the seven IITs, along with representatives of IT BHU and ISM Dhanbad said that admissions into the JEE 2008 will be done taking into account the reservation for OBC category students.

However, the three new IITs, proposed in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh will implement 27 per cent reservation. "The new IITs will take in 50 percent general category students and the rest will be from SC, ST and OBC categories. But the existing IITs will implement the entire 27 per cent reservation by 2010," said Prof Surendra Prasad, director, IIT Delhi.

The IITs will have to double the existing strength of faculty in order to cope with the extra students. "At IIT Delhi we have a sanctioned strength of 556 faculty positions and roughly 420 are filled," said Prasad. "If we plan to implement 27 per cent OBC quota by 2010 we will need to double faculty strength in the next two years."

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Labels: 2008-09 academic session, admissions, IITs, JEE 2008, joint admission board, OBC category, OBC quota, reservation, seats, Seven Branches of IIT, students

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Fortress Delhi gears for Olympic Relay

The Olympics torch relay run in Delhi will be held on Thursday under heavy security deployment, unprecedented outside of Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations.

At least 13,000 security personnel will keep a watch on the torch during the run, which had to be cut short in countries like the US, UK and France due to anti-China protests by Tibetans.

The torch will be brought to Delhi on Wednesday night and will remain here for roughly 20 hours, before being flown to Bangkok. Unlike in other countries, you would be lucky if you get even a glimpse of it. Till Tuesday evening, there was no official word on whether public would be allowed on either side of the Rajpath on which chosen dignitaries would carry the flame. The 1-km run wil11ast at best an hour The exact time of the run is not known yet.

Only about 500 special invitees and selected schoolchildren would be allowed on the relay path.They will be surrounded by 1,000 security personnel in civil dress - 600 from the NSG and paramilitary forces, and the rest from the Delhi Police. All roads leading to the India Gate C-hexagon, Vijay Path and Rajpath will be out of bounds for the public for about four hours around the time of the relay.

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Labels: delhi, Heavy security, India Gate C-hexagon, Olympics torch relay, Rajpath, Tibetan protesters

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Long waiting time delays BRT launch

If you take the Josip Broz Tito Marg to office or home, prepare for endless delays at traffic intersections. And there are nine intersections on the 5.8 km long Bus Rapid Transit corridor (BRT) itself. Originally slated to open on Tuesday, the BRT has now been delayed due to the inability of authorities to accommodate all signal cycles within 180 seconds.

With traffic cycles of 3 minutes or more, the South Delhi road will rival some of Delhi's worst traffic intersections such as ITO and Ghazipur.

Unlike normal roads with common traffic signals for a11vehicles, there would be four different traffic signals on the BRT stretch to regulate different modes of transport - buses, cars and two wheelers, cycles and pedestrians. Experts say 3 minutes is just the waiting time at the BRT, not taking into account traffic pile- ups. "With such a huge volume of traffic and narrow lanes, crossing the signal at one go will be impossible. If you are stuck at a signal for three signal cycles, you would end up waiting 10 minutes or more," said an expert.

While the ideal wait time is 120 seconds, the wait time in the BRT corridor would be 180 seconds at bigger intersections. This, when serpentine queues of cars have already started forming on intersections at Pushpa Vihar, Madangir, Chirag Dilli, Archana cinema and Moolchand. "We have tried to keep the maximum traffic wait time at intersections to 180 seconds," said a senior official of the Delhi Integrated Multi-Moda1 Transit System Ltd. (DIMTS), which is supervising the project.

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Labels: Bus Rapid Transit corridor, delhi, Delhi Integrated Multi-Moda1 Transit System Ltd, Josip Broz Tito Marg, massive jams, traffic

Monday, April 14, 2008

US alters visa rule, tech grads can now stay longer

Just A few weeks after Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates's testimony to the House of Representatives, the US government has extended the time foreign graduates can stay and work after graduation from 12 to 29 months. This means that a graduating student now gets a longer stay in the US without a worker visa, typically an H-1B.

Gates had said the "US faced a critical shortfall of skilled scientists and engineers", and argued that immigration rules should be "revamped" so US companies can attract and retain top scientific talent.

In a press release, the US Department of Homeland Security said it had issued an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) from 12 to 29 months for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students. The extension will be available to students with degrees in science, technology engineering, or mathematics employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verif 7 programme.

"This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving US companies a competitive advantage in the world economy," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The decision also extends the period of stay and work authorisation for all F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions, and al- lows students to apply for OPT within 60 days of graduation.

The yearly cap on H-1B visas is 65,000. An additional 20,000 visas are available for graduate students at US universities.

Companies like Microsoft have been lobbying the US Congress to raise the visa cap, saying that there was a shortage of skilled workers in the technology field. There are over 80,000 Indian students enrolled in US universities. India is also the leading place of origin for international students in the US followed by China and Korea. There are over half a million international students studying in the US.

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Labels: Bill Gates, graduate students, H-1B, Microsoft, Optional Practical Training, stay longer, US government, visa rule

Friday, April 11, 2008

Scheduled Castes clears Other Backward Classes quota law

Ending uncertainty over the controversial law providing for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in central educational institutions including IITs and IIMs, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld its validity but ruled that the "creamy layer" among the backwards would not get reservation.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan upheld the Central Educational lnstitutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, paying the way for its implementation in all central educational institutions.

The landmark verdict comes as a major victory for the UPA government, which had to face embarrassment after the court stayed the implementation of the OBC quota law last year.

The bench, also comprising justices Arijit Pasayat, C.K. Thakker, R.V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, unanimously said the "creamy layer" must be excluded from the socially and educationally backward classes as per a 1993 government order The government order excludes wards of people holding constitutional posts and senior government officials from the quota ambit.

Justice Bhandari asked the government to exclude the children of former and present MPs and MLAs from the purview of OBC reservation. The judges, however, clarified that the "creamy layer" concept was not applicable to Scheduled Castes and Schedu1ed Tribes. There should be a periodic review after five years on continuing with the OBC quota, they added.

The bench also upheld the validity of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 that enabled the government to enact laws providing for OBC reservation in central education- al institutions, saying it did not violate the Constitution's basic structure. It also rejected the petitioners' contention that not extending the OBC quota law to minority educational institutions was illegal.

The exclusion of minority educational institutions from the ambit of the law did not violate the Constitution as "they (minority institutions) are a separate class and their rights are protected by other constitutional provisions," the CJI said.

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Labels: 93rd Constitutional Amendment, central universties, cut-off marks, higher education, IIMs, IITs, K.G. Balakrishnan, minority institutions, OBC quota law, reservation, SCs, STs, students

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Mayhem hour in unsafe Noida

A GANG of motorcycle-borne criminals went around Noida shooting and robbing people with chilling impunity on Tuesday night, leaving a woman dead and a retired army officer with severe gunshot injuries. The suburban township was shaken and panicky the day after.

Four men on two bikes first robbed a businessman and two passers-by at gunpoint. They then tried to snatch the car of a retired lieutenant-general after shooting at him. Finally, they shot dead a former airhostess whom they also tried to rob. All of this in just an hour.

By the time the police swung into action, the gang had disappeared. Noida police chief A. Satish Ganesh said, "We received information in reverse order - heard of the last incident first. That's why the delay."

The police believe the three incidents could be interlinked. "There is a possibility that the same gang was involved in all these cases," Ganesh said.

There has been a steady increase in the incidence of crime in Noida over a comparable period last year: vehicle theft is up from 153 to 252, thefts from 109 to 124, and murders from 11 to 15.

Residents said they felt unsafe. "Law and order has always been an issue in Noida," H.K. Garg of Sec 27 said. "So many incidents happening the same night is very scary ."

The first victim was a businessman in Sector 61. He was robbed at gunpoint, and two motorists who stopped to help were also robbed.

The next victim, Lt General (retd) T.J.S. Gill was stopped a few kilometers away as, he drove home from a party The robbers . asked him for his car keys. He refused, and they fired three shots at him, hitting twice. He suffered serious injuries in his stomach.

The last victim was 26-year-old former airhostess Sheeba Thomas. They stopped her Hyundai Accent and tried to rob her. She resisted and slapped one of the men, who then shot her dead. The National Commission for Women has sought action.

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Labels: former airhostess Sheeba Thomas, Mayhem hour, motorcycle-borne criminals, Noida, robbing, unsafe

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Hillary asks Bush to skip ceremony

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has urged President George W. Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies this summer unless China improves human rights.

Hillary, in a statement, cited violent clashes in Tibet and the lack of pressure by China on Sudan to stop "the genocide in Darfur".

"At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government," the New York senator said.

Bush plans to attend the Summer Olympics ceremonies in Beijing in August and so far has resisted pressure to change his plans in response to a violent crackdown against protesters in Tibet by Chinese authorities.

China has also been accused of refusing to use its influence on the Sudanese government to get it to stop what the US calls a genocide in the Darfur region.

Hillary has gone a step further than US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California who last week urged Bush to keep the option of boycotting the ceremonies on the table.

"I encourage the Chinese to take advantage of this moment as an opportunity to live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity, ideals that the Olympic games have come to represent," Hillary said.

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Labels: Beijing Olympics, Chinese government, Hillary Clinton, new york, opening ceremonies, President Bush

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Mumbai stops honking, but Delhi gives two hoots

WITH 6,295 drivers penalised, Mumbai's unique 'No-Honking Day' initiative brought decibel levels down in India's third noisiest city on Monday Delhi, the second noisiest, however, appears to be least bothered.

"It is not necessary that we do everything that our Mumbai counterparts do. As the traffic pattern in two cities is ditTerent, the requirements are ditTerent too," joint commissioner (traffic) S.N. Shrivastava said. "Traffic cops routinely prosecute people for using horns at intersections and 'silent' zones. But we are not observing any special day".

Most of Mumbai's 6,295 penalised drivers appeared perplexed on being fined for something that comes as naturally as digging their noses or scratching their cheeks. Was the drive a success? "It is a good start," said Harish Baijal, deputy commissioner, traffic (suburbs), part of a triumvirate of traffic police officers determined to bring change to Mumbai's roads.

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Labels: delhi, drivers, India's third noisiest city, Mumbai stops honking, Mumbai's roads, No-Honking Day, traffic pattern

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Your kid's school fee is set for a steep rise

You are already paying more for your vegetables and grocery, now get ready to pay more for your child's school fees.

A group of 300 private schools, most of them in east Delhi, on Friday announced that they might soon increase their fees by up to 30 per cent. The announcement by the Federation of Schools could trigger similar fee hikes across the city .

The federation said the new fee structure would come into force once the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations are implemented.

Private schools in Delhi pay their teachers the same scale as government teachers. If the scale of government teachers rises after implementation of the pay panel's recommendations, private schools will a1so have to raise fees. "There wn be 20 to 30 per cent increase in fees as it is our only source of income," R.P Mallick, chairman of the federation, said.

S.L. Jain, chairman of the National Progressive Schools' Conference, another association of various prominent schools, said the fee hike might become necessary "But the hike will depend on various factors such as the present fee structure of a school, the budget and other individual specifications," Jain said. Most school authorities felt a fee hike was inevitable although Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road, said it was too early to comment. Usha Ram, principal of Laxman Public School, said: "The percentage of hike may depend upon what the government decides. But in order to retain good teachers we need to pay well." Gowri Ishwaran of Sanskriti School agreed.

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Labels: fees hikes, higher education, kids, National Progressive Schools Conference private schools, school fees, teachers

Friday, April 4, 2008

Extra water is no help, it only stretches your bladder: study

Drinking lots of water doesn't really do wonders to your body as is , the popular belief, according to two American kidney experts. In a study , they have dismissed as myths the beliefs that drinking lot of water clears body toxins better, improves skin tone and helps reducing weight.

There is no scientific proof to establish that average healthy people needed to drink at least eight glasses of water each day, the doctors have said in a new scientific review published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. All that excessive water does is ensure more trips to the loo.

Dr Dan Negoianu and Dr Stanley Goldfarb of the Renal, Electrolyte and Hypertension Division at the University of Pennsylvania added that guzzling plenty of water could be, in certain cases, downright harmful. Indian doctors agree with this, especially with people who suffer from kidney ailments. "This reduces the sodium level in the body If water enters the body more quickly than it can be removed, body fluids are diluted and a potentially dangerous shift in electrolyte balance can occur," said Dr Anoop Misra, Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospitals. He advocated an exhaustive scientific study in the matter.

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Labels: american Society of Nephrology, doctors, hypertensions, improves skin tone, kidney ailments, reducing weight, water

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Planners, politicos in campus face-off

A MAJOR controversy could be brewing between India's education planners, and politicians advocating a populist approach to education.

On Wednesday evening, IIM-Ahmedabad chairman Vijaypat Singhania refused to be persuaded by HRD Minister Arjun Singh to roll back its proposed 150 per cent fee hike.

Hours earlier, the Planning Commission recommended that profit-making should be allowed in higher education, thus paving the way for the entry of corporates in the sector.

The Commission's proposal, sent to PM Manmohan Singh, could trigger a debate reminiscent of the controversy over OBC quota in institutions of higher education.

The report has its genesis in a similar proposal mooted two years ago by the National Knowledge Commission. The HRD ministry had opposed it then, saying education was a ‘social service'.

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Labels: higher education, IIM-Ahmedabad, india's education planners, OBC quota, politicians, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Shri Ram College of Commerce

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Rs 1,400 crore down stinking drain

This must be the most expensive bit of housekeeping anywhere in the world, and pointless. Over Rs 1,400 crore has been spent on cleaning up 22 km of Yamuna River cutting through Delhi. And it remains just as dirty .

Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju called it a "stinking drain" on Tuesday. "I went there to perform the last rites of my mother and the smell at the ghat was unbearable."

This observation came at a hearing by a bench comprising Katju and Justice H.K. Sema of a public interest litigation seeking the court's intervention in the implementation of safety measures on national highways.

Katju raised the Yamuna clean-up issue to explain why the Supreme Court cannot and should not get into areas marked out for the executive (the government). It didn't work in the case of Yamuna.

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Labels: government, Markandeya Katju, stinking drain, Supreme Court, Yamuna clean up, Yamuna river

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

We need radical solutions

A NEW flyover is thrown open every month, a new subway starts functioning at nearly the same frequency and the Metro expands in inches. It's time, say experts, Delhi thought of radically different solutions to its persisting traffic woes.

The Ashram Chowk crossing in South Delhi has two flyovers but the jams there show no signs of letting up. Roads to Dwarka don't look any lighter post Metro and officer-goers of CGO complex continue to ignore the subway made for them.

And here is the rub: it's not gong to get any better. The number of vehicles hitting Delhi roads every day stands at 52 lakhs, growing at six per cent every year. The holding capacity of the roads, on the other hand, has grown only marginally "Factor in 45 minutes . of extra time when going to office," said S.M. Sarin, former Director of the Central Road Research Institute. That's one solution, but hardly radical and, truth be told, quite grim.

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Labels: Ashram Chowk, new flyovers, new subway, public transport, South Delhi, the Central Road Research Institute

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