Hindustan Times_Vir Sanghvi_Jessica Lal

This counter point written by Vir Sanghvi in Sundays HT reflects some of my thoughts on the Jessica Lal matter. Unfortunately the article is not available online and for their archives u requrire to pay.
I will smmarise his opinion. It says that there is no point in blaming the judiciary, instead the corrupt police officers should be questioned and taken action against.

There is Hope

Any nation is known by the protection, justice and rights it gives to its citizen. The history of the mighty being convicted for their crimes is not to be found. The powerful do not commit any crime , or it is impossible to convict a powerful person who has commited crime.
Jessica Lals case also seems to have the same fate of not finding justice. But ther seems to be a glimmer of hope. The media pressure and the voice raised by the citizens has probably made some difference. Without being cynical let me hope the guilty do get punished.
As I have mentioned previously the public memory is very short and this is best exploited by the politicians. Some of the news agencies carrying report of Jessica's story, the links to them.....

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=171367

http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/26/stories/2006022614870100.htm

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=jessicalall&slug=Jessica+case%3A+Public+anger+builds+up&id=18840&callid=0&category=National

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1428964.cms

Well there is a plan to review the blog at the end of the year. Let us see whether Jessica Lal's soul will be at peace at that time.

Electricity in Mumbai

I dont live in a suburb of Mumbai but still I am considered to be living in Mumbai. I live around 50 kms away from Mumbai. Power cuts have become regular in the last one year. Slowly we have started accepting this as a way of life. Maharashtra was once upon a time had surplus power and it has a huge deficit. People and politicians blame the situation on various things. The Enron debacle being one of them, lack of foresight by the leaders. At present around 6 hrs of power cut is there in urban area and 12 hrs power cut in rural area. The citizens have learnt to accept this and live with it. From the reports I have read , things will start to improve ,if any action is taken today, only from 2008. The questions which come to my mind ?

1. The different billboards in Mumbai must be consuming lot of energy, I think they should be asked to go solar. They are exposed to sunlight continuously and they ,the big people ,have the money to put the solar panels.
2. Lighting for heritage buildings should also be considered on the same lines.
3. Reconsider free supply of electricity to farmers.
4. There is around 30-40% distribution losses , which needs to be controlled immediately.
5. I personally know of some people, educated who have their meters tampered , hand in glove with the electricity line man, and therefore they dont get a bill more than minimum. as a result they use electricity without any responsibility.
6. Most government institutions use electricity without any responsibility. Make an individual responsible in each department and give him incentive for reducing power consumption in his department. Most of the lights, fans ACs are on when even nobody is there. There is tremendous scope for tightening the belt without affecting the business.

See the irony of it , the analysts talk of making Mumbai a international business hub like Singapore or Hong Kong, and as I walk the streets of Dadar, there is no electricity.

Let there be light !

Land in Mumbai

As a Mumbaite I have the preivilege of travelling in the local train. My journey is of one hour and I come across the whole of India. There are no complaints, everybody has accepted the inhuman conditions in which we all travel . U will have to see it to believe it. Recently I read an article in DNA that most of the land leased to big shots have had their expiry date and even where there are legitimate lease, the lease rent is pathetic. They pay pittance to what amount of land they are using. The corporation, mayor all are silent on this front. The rates paid by the common man defy all logic , when u consider that the BMC and the state is losing revenue to the tune of 4000 crores per year. That is lot of money and think u is benefitting from it bcos we dont dare or care to ask.

India Uncut

Well i was just going thru Amit verma's India Uncut and it impressed me. Precisely today he is writing about the journalist arrested for writing a report on pets. I will definitely be interested to know how they tackle this ? For those who have not read India Uncut , u can surely give it some time.

Welcome

There are many things which strike us , ignite our passion and then slowly die out. We have collectively lost the ability to strive towards collective good. A good movie moves us , but only till the next day and then we are again back to daily grind.
The fact that Manu Sharma and his friends have been acquited and we are no wiser regarding who killed Jessica Lal, this took the courts seven years to decide. Do u read and understand what I do.
A police officer with a salary of 9000 has assets worth 45 lacs and he is hounded by the ACB , all of a sudden. Did they realise that he is corrupt only now ? Tell me how many police officers are u aware of who are living thier life beyond their means ? Are we blind ? An IAS officer commands the maximum dowry of around 1 crore because he is going to earn honestly ?
The big fish and the small fish always escape , it is the medium fish which gets trapped. Daya Nayak is a medium fish who will soon be forgotten, but is he being made a scapegoat to hide the real things ? I dont know .
I wonder how much of reality we all know ? Most of our information is based on media or the movies , and we need to use our discretion to believe them . It is always good to have a pinch of salt while reading hyped up news. Also the collective memory of us is very short ?
So forget everything and continue to enjoy life.