STATE WITHIN A STATE

Bikash Choudhury


Once again the Bombay Municipal Corporation is in election mode; but, will it be able to solve or at least cope with the challenges of administering a city of over 12.4 million populations with half a million floating population visiting the city on daily basis? Not only the city infrastructure but the entire governance architecture of the city is crumbling under the weight of management challenge of scale. Actually, the concept of Municipal Corporations have never been designed to deal with the complexity of governing a State; and therefore, organization designed to look after the civic services can’t be expected to run a State of Mumbai’s dimension, complexity, challenges and National & Global importance. Mumbai is suffering from acute infrastructure deficit and scarcity of land and coupled with those administration bottlenecks stunting the growth of city; much like, other Global Cities. The Mickensey plan of converting Mumbai into a global city by 2013 with investment of 50 billion USD must be gathering dust in the Mantralaya cupboard. Why not convert Mumbai into a city State within the State of Maharastra-“State within a State”. Mumbai could have its own State Assembly and Chief Minister with the mandate to convert Mumbai into one of the best Global Financial Capital. A State Finance commission could be set up to decide on the distribution of tax revenue between State of Maharastra and City State of Mumbai. Further Mumbai could be divided into 12 corporations with ten lakhs of population each for better administration. With inception of Mumbai City State; may be the Infrastructure & Governance deficit won’t vanish over night. However, this would certainly develop appropriate governance architecture with competent human resources to run Mumbai as a smart city. Residents of Mumbai would go head over hill with such a prospect. Can the demand for a City State status for Mumbai enter into the election manifesto of political parties in this Bombay Municipal Election?

FEAR OF LAW & POLICING

Bikash Choudhury




While the innocent girl battles for her dear life; it would be unfortunate to discuss about the pros and cons of our legal system and weakness in our policing. However, the debate must continue to find a reasonable solution in a reasonable time frame. Many people believe Pipili gang rape case would not have hit the National headline and cost the job of cabinet minister, had it not been election time in Odisha; most important grass root politics leading to election of three tier Panchayata system. Salman Rushdei was also prevented from attending the Jaipur literary festival and stopped from even having a video presence/chat due to our divisive and competitive politics being played on the eve of election in North India. Two days back another gruesome incident of lifting a girl in broad day light and molestation was in the news; all these above events have a common theme and that is complete absence of fear for the law and policing from the minds of people who are criminally inclined. When, over millions of cases plug our legal system; getting justice and punishing the culprits of crimes in time to instill fear for the law of the land has been driven to the level of absurdness. However, at the same time it does not take rocket science to understand that if our judicial system can make few exceptions and take the cases of heinous crimes on fast track and convict the culprits with exemplary punishment before the incident vanish from the public consciousness; that would actually help create fear for law over a period of time. This will require an especially skilled investigative and legal team at the services police stations as and when the require. Another simple technique also could considerably reduce the incidence of crime on our streets; that is the ability of our general public to protest at the crime scene. Protest can be raising of voice and fist collectively against the criminal which could drive a fear in the minds of hardest of criminals and resulting in crime prevention. This will require counseling of public and enhancing the level of awareness which could work as an effective preventive shield against crime & criminals for the innocent and reduce that much amount of work load on Police.

While Judicial and Police reforms hanging fire for long time; a few minor changes in Police administration could bring about a sea change in effective policing. Our policing system is based on the bottom of pyramid-Constable and by empowering them with knowledge and skill on policing, law and human rights would prevent their misuse and help better law enforcement. They should be encouraged to apply their mind while upholding the discipline in the Police force; which may not have any conflict if a collective mindset were allowed to develop in the services. Many times ordinary people remain in awe of uniformed police men and fear of approaching them in time of need; which can be corrected by deploying competent and empowered women as interface between public and police in each police station as public relation officer. With population and economic growth the complexity of policing is also growing thick and fast; therefore, to have a better grip over policies on policing and law & order Govt. should have a top police officer with knowledge and competence as an advisor in the department of home affairs in the state; which should also bury the long standing demand of Indian Police Service cadres related to position and postings which is in larger interest of Policing.
Biggest fear is if our laws and policing could not instill fear; then more gentle men would be inclined to come out of their trousers putting the dignity and safety of women into further risk on our streets which our society can ill afford.

Alternative Political Front

Mr. D.Raja
National Secretary
Communist Party of India
New Delhi


Sub: Alternative Political Front

Esteemed Mr. D.Raja,

Greetings for New Year 2012 for you and your colleagues in Communist Party of India though we are in the third week of Jan 2012. I have studied your comments on ‘alternative political front’ in The Hindu of 15 th Jan 2012 and appreciate and also support such a political movement on National interest. A new political front based on policies and programs all the more important at this juncture as we compare the relative progress made by China in our neighborhood. (China has grown its GDP 10 times between 1998 and 2006, in about three decades) There is no reason why India could not achieve the same if competitive politics is substituted with collaborative one and Institutional arrangement is revisited in an organized manner to deliver Roti, Kapda & Makan with Bijli, Sadak & Pani to our people living at the bottom of pyramid.

I find current competitive and strident politics in both sides a threat to development and political stability; in contrast all political parties and their opinion and perspective should be respected even if not conceded to; which would open scope for co-operation and collaboration on policies and issues inside and outside parliament.

Mr. Raja, you being a very senior Ideologue of your party and politician with respect across political parties must consider dealing with broad fault lines of our polity; and, let us not make, the same mistake that our feudal leaders made some 300-500 years ago while dealing with Britishers.

I wish if you could invite some leaders from other National/Regional parties to your Party National Congress and make them listen to the deliberation and hear them out; we could effectively build a foundation for Collaborative Politics in the country and which invariably would enrich our democracy and effective Governance achievable in not so distant future.

Thanking you a lot.
Kind Regards,

Bikash Choudhury
Socio-Economic-Political Activist
09853426657


Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com
Mobile: 09853426657/09238912647 Address:flat # 202 Basudev Enclave Patia Bhubaneswar Odisha INDIA-751024

Secretary
Department of Science & Technology
Govt. of India

Esteemed Mr. T.Ramasami,

This is with reference to our discussion at KIIT University-UNESCO Kalinga Prize function at Bhubaneswar. I just wish to put the thought that I shared with you in writing for your reference.

PROBLEM:

"While our country is a nuclear power and developed missile system and investing in Chandrayan project;unfortunately, we are still using same age old technology for Human Waste Management in Urban areas-flush-safety tank and sewerage which is very expensive and time consuming.In decade or two nearly 40% of people would be living in urban areas and could pose a heavy financial burden on city administration"

Limitations: expensive, high water consumption, high maintenance cost and highly polluting

NEED:

To invest in R&D for developing a technology that does not require a sewerage system and consume less water, more hygienic and less expensive.


Suggestion:

Railways have recently developed a green toilet with application of Biotechnology and IIT Kanpur also working in this area. Dept of Science & Technology need to take this project in larger scale in collaboration with domestic and foreign companies.

Savings: Country could save billions of dollars by substituting sewerage network and sewerage water processing plants in urban areas.


Thanking you a lot.
Warm Regards,


Bikash Choudhury
Socio-Economic-political Activist


Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com
Mobile: 009853426657/009238912647 Address:flat # 202 Basudev Enclave Patia Bhubaneswar Odisha INDIA-751024

How to deal with policy paralysis?

SECRETARY GENERAL,CII


Esteemed Mr.Chandrajit Banerjee,

Greetings for New Year 2012 for all of you in CII. As premier Industry Association and top think-tank must have felt the Policy Paralysis in Govt. and Political volatility in the country. As the efficiency in Govt. (faster decision making) has bearing on the productivity of Private sector; CII must draw up a strategy to improve the external environment for the better of business and our economy. Here is my suggestion for your reference.

1. Top Bureaucracy: About 1500 Secretary level officers in Union & State Govt. and 500 district magistrate play key role in policy and execution in the country. If by some method we could influence their behavior with respect to Governance collectively then decision making process and time lag could be improved substantially and could bury the policy paralysis for good and country could return to 9-10% GDP growth sooner than later.

2. This asks for a resetting of bureaucratic mindset with a more open, creative, dynamic and growth oriented mindset that supports collaboration & innovation in Governance.

3. CII could design a program for senior bureaucrats to be able to ventilate their minds and appeal to their sensibilities, National pride, Sense of history, Philosophy of life and Spirituality.

4. For a program like this the location would remain central and the counselors very important.

5. Suggest Ananda Spa in Himalayas as venue and Sri Sri Ravishankar,
Sadhguru Jaggi Basudev and Swami Sukhabodhananda as spiritual counselor
and Mind Guru Ms. Rekha Shetty and corporate trainer Ms. Priya Kumar as organizational counselor with talks by original thinkers like
Mrs. Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (performance with purpose), Mr. Raghuram Rajan former IMF chief Economist, Mr. Narayana Murthy former chairman of Infosys, Captain Gopinath founder of erstwhile low cost airline Air Deccan and Mr. Kishore Biyani founder of Bigbazar.

6. The program could be of three days with day one dedicated to relations building and relaxation in the spa and spiritual counseling, day two for the core training program and goal setting and day three for sharing of learning and collective commitment for a paradigm shift in Governance to catch up with growth.

7. Intuitively 2012 appears to be a great leap year and such a training program can be completed for entire lot of 2000 officers in 3 months by running two programs in each weekend at two different locations for a group of 100 officers.

8. The Idea behind the exercise is to create a collective mindset in bureaucracy(in shortest period of time) that would support innovation-excellence and enterprise in Governance. If China could grow its GDP 10 times in three decades then India should do the same in a decade or two with equity and openness.
Warm Regards,

Bikash Choudhury
Socio-Economic-Political Activist

Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com
Mobile: 009853426657/009238912647 Address:flat # 202 Basudev Enclave Patia Bhubaneswar Odisha INDIA-751024

INDIA CALLING:INDRA NOOYI

Esteemed Mrs. Indra Nooyi,

Greetings for a Happy and event filled New Year 2012 for you personally, professionally and for your immediate family. I take this opportunity to draw your attention to “the Idea of India being a Developed Nation by 2021”. My argument is how long we could let Indian students brutally bruised in Australia, Indian dignitaries humiliated in USA airports, Indian fishermen fired upon in Indian territorial waters off Tamil Nadu and Indian candidate defeated in the race for UNSG? I think time has come when ordinary Indians should need to think of doing something to complement the efforts of our Govt..

Mrs. Nooyi a few gifted people like you must now think of returning to the country and contribute your expertise in shaping the destiny of India in this decade and beyond. China has grown its GDP 10 times between 1998 and2006, in about three decades; given a chance India could do still better in a decade or two knowing Indian ingenuity. Mrs. Nooyi you have already achieved a lot already; what more can you possibly achieve in current position compared to making your country/motherland a more competitive and possibly developed Nation. I agree, this proposition could look like a blank slate; but, I have a start point and finishing line in mind. Please read on.

Mrs. Nooyi, you could organize a few more gifted individual like Rajat Gupta, Vikram Pandit and L.N. Mittal to start a consulting organization in India possibly like a Mickensey or BCG to engage with State and Central Govt. of India to make them more efficient which will in turn make India as a country competitive in global market place.
Consult Public Sector in India to be prudent and profitable.
Strategize with Private Sector to dominate South Asia (10-20 companies), consolidate in Asia (10-15 companies) and Global foot print of 5-10 leading Indian conglomerates.
At least we should have a Walmart/Microsoft/Google/Pepsico/Nokia/GE among Indian companies in 10-20 years time.
Engagements to find solution for the challenges in Energy, Water and Urbanization in India.
Finishing line could be jumping into public life from Chennai/New Delhi/Mumbai or near your alma mater now Kolkata.

Mrs. Nooyi, here is a need for you a take a hard look at your career and an alternative in adding to the Indian growth story-a very big canvas to paint colors with your experience and expertise while making your mother and mother land proud. May be, the script would eventually turn out to be entirely different and not that rosy but I am sure you would make all those challenges worth the life & living in India.

Thanking you a lot.
Warm Regards,


Bikash Choudhury
Socio-Economic-political Activist


Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com
Mobile: 009853426657/009238912647 Address:flat # 202 Basudev Enclave Patia Bhubaneswar Odisha INDIA-751024

FIVE POINT AGENDA OF PM

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
New Delhi

Esteemed Dr. Singh,
Greetings for the New Year 2012 for your kind self, the first family and officers & staffs of PMO. I feel our Prime Minister must be seriously thinking about top five issues to be dealt with on priority in 2012. Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee recently conceded that “need creative solution” to appropriately deal with current economic situation and challenges. There can’t be two opinions about that; however, we may need an entirely different “political discourse” and willingness to unlock value, cut unproductive expenses and to invest in the areas which will return a handsome dividend with multiplier effect on the economy in short to medium term and beyond.

Unlock Value: (a) Urgent need to add a tinge of entrepreneurship into Public Sector to do justice for the public investment. One way is by appointing Co-Chairperson in PS board of directors from suitable and competent panel private sector CEO without any conflict of interest with a mandate to add value.
(b) House wives and unemployed men in urban areas could be trained in manufacturing job skills in arrangement with private sector (CII & FICCI) and offered part time jobs of 2-4 hrs a day for suitable products to cut manufacturing cost and add value while better prepared for competition with China.
2. To Cut Unproductive Expenses: Out sourcing the management, maintenance and development of top 50 cities to private sector with a suitable business model on a transparent bidding process. Private sector could bring best of management and technology with abundant capital to cut cost with better service while expected to generate profits (surplus). This is some thing GoI & State Govt. could collaborate on.
3. Investment: GoI, State Govt. could launch a Village Cluster Economic Development Scheme under DRDA in all 500 districts with 5 clusters each and each cluster in turn having 10-15 villages with an outlay of Rs. 2500 crores. The main objective of program should be to grow the Gross Cluster Domestic Product at substantially faster rate with Integrated Economic Management by dedicated and professionally qualified team in collaboration with cluster residents.

Kind Regards,

Bikash Choudhury
Socio-Economic-Political Activist