Gyan session inspired by midnight wanderings
June 18,
Some of you may be aware of my midnight wanderings. A few minutes back i was back from one such adventure. To spice up things let me tell you that the time is around three early morning.
My mother last evening told me that she wanted me to go to the batra hospital and since it was around 6:30 she wanted me to accompany her. Sensing nothing fishy in it i said ok and headed towards batra hospital in a rickety auto-rickshaw with my dear old mother.
She got of a few meters after the bus stop and instead of getting into the hospital she went into the orthodox chruch situated right next to the hospital. Some of you guys would say big deal! And actually it is because after 1996 i have been to the chruch only about a couple of times.
The church that we go to has a tuesday evening mass and it usually last till around after eight in the night. But even god was aware of my habits and he had the mass wrapped up within five minutes of my entering the church. Thus failed another of my mother's attempts to make a believer out of me.
A victory like this needs to be celebrated. So i saw my mother home and headed to PVR saket with nothing specific in mind. The time was around 7:40. Despite a weekday most of the shows were house full and I was left with no option but "bhoot" at around 11:15 in the night. So waited for more than three hours to see a movie. Kinda reminded me of the old days trying to get hold of a front stall ticket.
After the movie on my way back home and i heard people shout. Since it was kinda loud i thought that some kinda fight might have broken out. I went near and found about twenty people replacing the electric cables in the locality. Their war cries would have been louder that made by the Senegal after it defeated France.
As the cables inched ahead the guys got more fervent and the excitement was kinda infectious. I don't think I have seen happier men than those twenty odd. Later I got a few snaps and talked to some of the guys.
Most are farmers from Rajasthan. They've been bought by contractors to delhi and work on a daily wages basis. The contractors get the work from distcom and the telecom companies like BSES, tata indicom and such. Most get more money than what a DVB employee used to get and the productivity of these guys is much more.
I am also aware of a small group of workers settled near bhatti mines. Unlike the farmers from rajasthan that group actually worked in the stone quarries around delhi. Just a few kilometers from the chattarpur mandir these guys stay in the mud houses surrounded by abandoned stone quarries. Some of the things are rather primitive by delhi standards. Food is cooked using the firewood obtained from the nearby sanctuary. Since cutting wood is prohibited most of the women folks and the kids have to walk for hours together to collect the required amount of firewood.
I have not found any information about the santuary in question. But it extends from beyond tughlakabad and if you keep walking then you would eventually reach bhatti mines. The place has an extensive metal boundary netting. Further a lot of work has been done to provide the green cover that is present. The few groups of women told me that not long ago the entire place was a wasteland. Even here most of the inhabitants are from rajasthan. Despite living in mud houses the locality has access to electricity and most houses have tvs and fridges along with cow dung cakes plastered on the walls. They prefer the mud houses because it's inexpensive and rather cool compared to the concrete versions.
I was told that these guys are relatively well off. The settlement has got some kind of a legal validity. Most have ration cards, there is a govt health center nearby. Unlike this group the other one live in the temporary slums near batra hospital.
The most interesting interpretation of what I saw is that some kind of trickle down effect that is taking place. This effect is kinda unseen by most of us but its real. So your usage of some of the relatively high end services is actually creating opportunities for these people.
And the potential for such employment is huge. Say for example the power situation in delhi. As of today delhi gets far more power than it requires and yet we face power cuts. The reason is the sorry state of affairs of the delhi distribution network. According to a recent press report it would take at least three years to overhaul the system. And three years of employment for the farmers of rajasthan. And imagine if we work upon the distribution network for our entire country then the economy would save billions and employment would be generated for people at the grass root. And for people like us it would mean uninterrupted cheap power. For the MNCs and IT companies it would mean that they can do away with the investment on generators and UPS.
Just like power there are innumerable projects that have the potential to change the landscape of the lowest strata of the economy. The fly overs, the metro the golden quadrilateral are just a few examples.
Now if you look for the reasons behind this transformation then the obvious answer seems to be the private initiative. I agree but I feel that there is more to it.
If any one remembers travelling in a private blue line bus he would agree that private initiative in itself is not the solution. What needs to be done is to define clearly measurable goals for the private sector and then have proper regulators to ensure that these guys go about doing their job. Equally important is to ensure that these private operators make money. If they don't then the result will be similar to what we saw in the orissa power reforms and our good old delhi bluelines.
Now coming back to the power situation in delhi, things have improved because of the vision shown by some of the bureaucrats and the govt. These guys were able to formulate a policy that addressed the issue that I raised in the previous para.
I can kinda sense the growing yawns of those who have been able to reach this far. So let me wind up for the day and share a nice piece of new with you guys. At bangalore I wont have access to my own personal computer. So it may take some time before you all get a group one again. But in case I get any mails I will reply.
Take care,
Shijo
Some of you may be aware of my midnight wanderings. A few minutes back i was back from one such adventure. To spice up things let me tell you that the time is around three early morning.
My mother last evening told me that she wanted me to go to the batra hospital and since it was around 6:30 she wanted me to accompany her. Sensing nothing fishy in it i said ok and headed towards batra hospital in a rickety auto-rickshaw with my dear old mother.
She got of a few meters after the bus stop and instead of getting into the hospital she went into the orthodox chruch situated right next to the hospital. Some of you guys would say big deal! And actually it is because after 1996 i have been to the chruch only about a couple of times.
The church that we go to has a tuesday evening mass and it usually last till around after eight in the night. But even god was aware of my habits and he had the mass wrapped up within five minutes of my entering the church. Thus failed another of my mother's attempts to make a believer out of me.
A victory like this needs to be celebrated. So i saw my mother home and headed to PVR saket with nothing specific in mind. The time was around 7:40. Despite a weekday most of the shows were house full and I was left with no option but "bhoot" at around 11:15 in the night. So waited for more than three hours to see a movie. Kinda reminded me of the old days trying to get hold of a front stall ticket.
After the movie on my way back home and i heard people shout. Since it was kinda loud i thought that some kinda fight might have broken out. I went near and found about twenty people replacing the electric cables in the locality. Their war cries would have been louder that made by the Senegal after it defeated France.
As the cables inched ahead the guys got more fervent and the excitement was kinda infectious. I don't think I have seen happier men than those twenty odd. Later I got a few snaps and talked to some of the guys.
Most are farmers from Rajasthan. They've been bought by contractors to delhi and work on a daily wages basis. The contractors get the work from distcom and the telecom companies like BSES, tata indicom and such. Most get more money than what a DVB employee used to get and the productivity of these guys is much more.
I am also aware of a small group of workers settled near bhatti mines. Unlike the farmers from rajasthan that group actually worked in the stone quarries around delhi. Just a few kilometers from the chattarpur mandir these guys stay in the mud houses surrounded by abandoned stone quarries. Some of the things are rather primitive by delhi standards. Food is cooked using the firewood obtained from the nearby sanctuary. Since cutting wood is prohibited most of the women folks and the kids have to walk for hours together to collect the required amount of firewood.
I have not found any information about the santuary in question. But it extends from beyond tughlakabad and if you keep walking then you would eventually reach bhatti mines. The place has an extensive metal boundary netting. Further a lot of work has been done to provide the green cover that is present. The few groups of women told me that not long ago the entire place was a wasteland. Even here most of the inhabitants are from rajasthan. Despite living in mud houses the locality has access to electricity and most houses have tvs and fridges along with cow dung cakes plastered on the walls. They prefer the mud houses because it's inexpensive and rather cool compared to the concrete versions.
I was told that these guys are relatively well off. The settlement has got some kind of a legal validity. Most have ration cards, there is a govt health center nearby. Unlike this group the other one live in the temporary slums near batra hospital.
The most interesting interpretation of what I saw is that some kind of trickle down effect that is taking place. This effect is kinda unseen by most of us but its real. So your usage of some of the relatively high end services is actually creating opportunities for these people.
And the potential for such employment is huge. Say for example the power situation in delhi. As of today delhi gets far more power than it requires and yet we face power cuts. The reason is the sorry state of affairs of the delhi distribution network. According to a recent press report it would take at least three years to overhaul the system. And three years of employment for the farmers of rajasthan. And imagine if we work upon the distribution network for our entire country then the economy would save billions and employment would be generated for people at the grass root. And for people like us it would mean uninterrupted cheap power. For the MNCs and IT companies it would mean that they can do away with the investment on generators and UPS.
Just like power there are innumerable projects that have the potential to change the landscape of the lowest strata of the economy. The fly overs, the metro the golden quadrilateral are just a few examples.
Now if you look for the reasons behind this transformation then the obvious answer seems to be the private initiative. I agree but I feel that there is more to it.
If any one remembers travelling in a private blue line bus he would agree that private initiative in itself is not the solution. What needs to be done is to define clearly measurable goals for the private sector and then have proper regulators to ensure that these guys go about doing their job. Equally important is to ensure that these private operators make money. If they don't then the result will be similar to what we saw in the orissa power reforms and our good old delhi bluelines.
Now coming back to the power situation in delhi, things have improved because of the vision shown by some of the bureaucrats and the govt. These guys were able to formulate a policy that addressed the issue that I raised in the previous para.
I can kinda sense the growing yawns of those who have been able to reach this far. So let me wind up for the day and share a nice piece of new with you guys. At bangalore I wont have access to my own personal computer. So it may take some time before you all get a group one again. But in case I get any mails I will reply.
Take care,
Shijo
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