Happy (Second) Birthday - Modi Sarkar

Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal. 

The Modi government turns two,
is it time for us Indians to cheer or boo?
The WSJ* thinks India in much better shape,
post what some consider the ex-govt.'s rape.

The common man often confused with AAP**
still feels trapped like in a pool of crap.
Schemes to uplift the masses announced in plenty
hard delivery of the same near to empty.

Food inflation high, employment is low,
just trumpets of glory the Govt. blow.
Industry struggling, its bearings fully not found.
Agriculture suffering, there is drought all around.

Business and banks are headed for a fight,
defaulters booking their international flight.
Corruption, scams, retribution hog  daily news,
no visible action - just plenty of  conflicting views.

Go ahead with reforms like promised - India prays
The minority opposition halting progress - Govt. says
Inaction in Parliament at taxpayer's cost
has the plot the Govt. lost?

Tons of garbage everywhere in sight,
utility and infra. for most a plight.
For many his rule has lost its sheen,
and India now called the "one-eyed queen".

The PM still speaks to India from his heart,
while most of his people do nothing but fart.
A dream of SMART India he weaves
with admiration for him, world leaders he leaves.

There are three more years for him to go,
will he run it as a one man show?
Will his policies show results in time
of true success will the jingles chime?

To be fair - give him credit where due,
he won't give up or bid adieu.
Respect he has won on foreign soil,
made friends for India, with a lot of toil.

From now on until May next year,
too many events that this world should fear.
And, in this very torrid time
Modi has to make India Shine.

Clutching on to the hope of seeing better days,
This Nation in him hope lays.
For the day the corrupt pay for their sin,
And we all celebrate democracy's win.

All we can do is wait and see
Meantime I award his govt. a "C".

* The Wall Street Journal
** Aam Aadmi Party.

The Modi-fication of Mumbai 2014-2034

THE PLAN In a PPT format

Lately, the music player in my brain has been playing Billy Joel's "I'm moving out" repeatedly, and the only reason being the revised draft development plan 2014-2034 (DDP) for the city of Mumbai. Guess, if it is passed, then I will not just be singing that song, but looking at moving out.


The plan is already 2 years behind. Last year the Chief Minister ordered the planners to re-work the plan based on the heavy criticism it received from various citizen bodies. Is the revised plan any better? Depends on whose point of view one looks at it from, and with the criticism received so far, looks like it may end up on the drawing board again, leaving much of the City's development until then in a state of whimsical arbitrage and dangerous consequences.

Well, I am not going to criticize the plan. There are several doing that already. To add to it, the City's civic authorities are also being hammered in the press for the massive corruption unearthed in the roads and drainage contracts. Not that it makes much difference 'cause it never did. The money siphoned shall never return and no officer of consequences will ever get punished. The reason is very obvious. If the DDP is a window into what will happen next, it is nothing short of party time for the officials.

My humble observations and comments for the non-bots that read me:

1. Increasing the buildable Floor Space Index (FSI) across the city will not make real estate cheap, it never has. It will only make the land bankers richer. Hence, the cost of acquired land, from a builders perspective will not change.
2. Affordable housing will remain a myth if the job is left to private builders, and quality a myth if the civic bodies execute it.
3. A slum dweller rarely finds living above the ground liveable. Something about the fresher than toxic air on the ground not being agreeable. Or, is that the occupant has to actually pay for the water, electricity and amenities used? Cheaper to pay a fixed lump sum to the slumlord billionaire and live in "Hotel Slumdog" - everything included. So the SRA allotted flat is rented to someone looking for affordable housing and the slum dweller goes back to living on encroached public lands for almost free.
4. Open spaces, parking spaces, cultural spaces, recreation spaces all contribute to the City's quality of life. But who cares when the only yardstick for measuring QOL is money, "doesn't matter black or white" (credit - MJ).
5. Nearly half the City would be ineligible for FSI 2 until the CRZ (Coastal regulation Zone) and airport funnel restrictions are sorted. With the way IS and others are making inroads into this Country, I wonder if anyone would like to live in a building with a helipad on top unless you have made it to the top 1000 in the City.
6. Skygardens on the top of buildings - nice, but what about light hitting the roads? One can already smell the neighbours breakfast, and I am talking about that lives in the building and not the apartment next door. So would it not have been better to attach FSI with progressive setbacks and land consolidation? With enhanced FSI the City should have restricted building footprint to 33% of land area and height no greater than 5 - 10 times road width. Playing cricket on a roof top is as unsafe as playing on the road, but I assume, as always, that situation would be addressed after it happens and not before.
7. Water, drainage, roads. The City's natural water bodies can just about fulfill the needs for a year, and if the rain Gods decide to play traunt, then I don't know who this City can turn to? On the other hand, millions of gallons of treated and raw sewage is disposed off into the sea each day with no real arrangement for water recovery. Going vertical is great, City needs it as there is no land, but has anyone passed through the manmade vertical jungle of Lower Parel lately?
a) The connecting roads are woefully inadequate.
b) People using the road are in desparate need to use the loo or attend some funeral. At least the driving sense suggests it.
8. Schools, hospitals, musuems, fire stations, police stations, community centres. Where are these in the whole equation? While there is a whole lot of money to build statues to commemorate glorious kings of the past, is there is no money for civic facilities for the people in the present? Each and every one of these facilities could be named after the Great Maratha and the people would bless his soul and the people responsible for building it.

Instead of modifying the plan, had the Civic authorities looked at MODI-fying the plan, a lot of problems could actually be solved. The SMART way of going about would be to find ways and means of reducing the population of Mumbai. On the other hand, with millions of unsold homes, would it not be cheaper to ask developers to sell 1/3 rd of them to the City at cost and it, in turn, the City could sell them as affordable homes?

I am not sure if any of the scammed money will ever return to the coffers like it should- despite all the political noise in the centre that it will.  But surely, most of that Rs 5,000+crores that leak out as contracts for roads drains, and other such nice works each year from our civic budget will be saved henceforth, and can be put to good use - right? Sorry wrong question.

Rs 5,000 cr scam in BMC road works, alleges Congress

— By FPJ Bureau | Mar 04, 2016 01:28 am 

Mumbai: It will take Rs 2,000 cr to make Shivaji statue environment friendly

Does Mumbai really need 11 lakh more houses?

The state’s plans to build more houses in the city is just a sophisticated land-grab scheme.

Hussain Indorewala is an urban researcher with the Collective for Spatial Alternatives and an assistant professor at the Kamla Raheja Vidynidhi Institute of Architecture in Mumbai.

Mon, May 02 2016. 02 08 AM IST

Experts raise doubts about Mumbai’s development plan

Revised development plan for Mumbai’s development till 2034 has a bold but challenging proposal on creating affordable housing

BMC proposes 2 FSI in revised draft DP 2034

GEETA DESAI | Thu, 28 Apr 2016-08:00am , dna

Doing away with the controversial area-based variable floor space index (FSI) concept in the earlier draft, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed a uniform two FSI in its revised draft Development Plan 2034 for the city. The civic body has also proposed high FSI of 5 for commercial purposes.

In the revised draft DP, the basic zonal FSI of city and suburbs is maintained along with the fungible FSI.

Mumbai: Modifications in development plan for transport projects get easier

MMRDA will not require sanctions for realignment of existing corridors or any new projects  GEETA DESAI | Mon, 9 May 2016-05:40am , dna

Draft Development Plan 2014-2034: 4 sq m open space per capita to be retained across Mumbai

On Monday, the BMC decided to retain this at 4 sq m across the city as prescribed in the previous DP.

Smart cities will tackle rapid urbanization: PM Modi

IANS | Jan 3, 2016, 07.12 PM IST

The B2B of Saving Democracy

It's B2B (or Back 2 Beef time) in the State of Maharashtra. The Bombay (Ahem! not Mumbai) High Court passed a judgement on the 6th of April 2016, that eating, importing and possession of beef is not a crime in the State of Maharashtra while upholding the ban on cow slaughter. It dilutes the enactment of the Maharashtra Government passed in March of last year that was viewed by people from all communities as strangulation of constitutional rights assured by this Democracy. But, how does one prove that the beef consumed, transported or stored is imported from out of the State? The onus to prove otherwise is on the authorities. Then, everyone knows that those in power know how to abuse it too like it happened in the case of a building called "Adarsh".

Wow! Just a few days back the same Court ordered the demolition of the very same scam-tainted 31-floor apartment building that has been mired in controversy since the start of this decade. It gave people some degree of hope that someday, the people who abuse power in this Democracy will get punished. personally, I feel that the order delivered only 50% justice as the genuine eligible buyers will suffer under the order.


Lately, be it the case of  Choppergate or Coalgate or one of the many national scams; booking the "King of Good Life" - Vijay Mallya or its "Emperor" - S. Roy; punishing corrupt builders or greedy bureaucrats and occasionally politicians even; deciding on the odd-even traffic scheme in Delhi or animal rights; taking on NEET1 or triple 'talak" ; imposing President's rule in Uttrakhand and Arunachal or the overruling it; granting bail to a JNU student (Kanahiya) or denying bail to an ex-DU professor (Geelani); the voice of the Honourable Courts, be it the Supreme Court or the High Courts in various States has been quite audible. More ferocious than their bark has been their bite, and one wonders if they are executing their right role - that of a democratic watchdog or are they in their judicious blindness, also being used to settle scores. Are they helping in saving democracy or... It's a different matter that the Courts have a backlog of 31.4 million cases, some going back to the time this Nation was born (1947) or even before.

The Indian National Congress (INC) led by the Gandhi family (jocularly referred by some as "Gandhi INC.") have reasons to believe that democracy in India is in danger and needs to be saved. As much as the Nation has been amused by the "Save Democracy" march which many called the "Save Dynasty" march, the world was not amused at the amusing Mr. Donald Trump's victory in being nominated as the Republican Party's candidate for a stint in the White House. The fear of his rule has pushed the Democrats (though not necessarily believers in democracy - just like those in the INC) to seek funds to not just save the democrats or democracy in the USA but "Save the World" itself.


Looking at the situation around the world, theorist have begun to debate the efficacy of the democratic system itself, asking if there is true democracy functioning anywhere in the world? North Korea seems to think it does, at least for one person - it's rule of KIM, by KIM, for KIM, and the world powers just let him, unlike many such leaders that have been ousted from Iraq, Libya; with current attempts ongoing in Syria to help people in those nations lead a truly democratic life. Kim must be doing something right to keep his place as did his father as did his father.

No wonder new leaders around the world have therefore adopted Kim as their role model. Going by their behaviour and way of running their nations, it certainly seems plausible.

But then one wonders if some species of the human kind deserve a democratic system? Was Winston Churchill right in his assessment? Guess it's time to go Back 2 Basics of understanding what real democracy means and can it, like an endangered species, be saved?

Baghdad

Tripoli

We require more than 70,000 judges to clear pending cases: CJI TS Thakur

Mon, 9 May 2016-07:26am , PTI

Justice TS Thakur once again expressed concern over the shortage of judges in the country, saying, "we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases."

The Indian court case that started in 1878

MUMBAI, April 29, 2016

Updated: April 30, 2016 07:28 IST

Demolish Adarsh Society, Bombay HC directs Ministry

What the Bombay High Court verdict on beef ban means

Maharashtra Beef Ban: The law had been amended to include Section 5 D that banned people from possessing meat of cow, bulls and bullocks, slaughtered within or outside the state.

Written by Aamir Khan
MumbaiUpdated: May 7, 2016,