Unsafe Cities Or Paranoid Citizens
Security today is big business in Indian cities. It's perhaps the profession that has undergone the most change over the past decade. Not just shopping malls and multiplexes but even…
The Green Pilgrim – Combining spirituality with eco-awareness and conservation
I believe that the easiest way to convert someone into a nature lover is to ask him/her
to plant a tree and then take good care for it. Getting thousands to do the same would
be a small step in our path to recovery from centuries of plundering of natural
resources.
Call For Speakers For The IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology Closes Tomorrow
IndicThreads.com invites submissions for the IndicThreads.com Conference On Java Technology 2007 to be held on 26th and 27th October 2007 at the Symbiosis Infotech Campus, Hinjewadi IT Park, Pune, India. The conference is the premier independent conference on Java technology in Asia and is the place to be, to learn the latest in the Java world while meeting with like-minded individuals from across the industry. You can find details of last year’s conference at http://conference.indicthreads.com
For The Cause Of The Taj
The Taj Mahal wasn't the beneficiary of your votes, the phone companies were
Blame It On The IT Wallas
"IT walon ney sab mehanga kar diya hai" said the travel agent after charging me a hefty sum for a Volvo bus ticket. Apparently it was peak season and any…
Searching For A City In CyberSpace
An article about how and why city administration should use new age mediums like the internet to communicate with citizens and manage the city.
Also a quick look at the recent PMC scheme about including citizen suggested projects in the city budget for 2007-08.
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The PMC recently invited development project proposals from the public. These projects were to be considered for inclusion in the PMC budget for the year 07-08. I checked the PMC website egovpmc.com for the necessary form, but the site was a disappointment. I later attended a meet on the topic organized by the Grahak Panchayat. The team of enthusiastic oldies volunteering work for the Panchayat provided more information and the requisite form.
The art of grabbing public spaces
Article about improper use of parking spaces and builders tricking the city administration by just converting public parking into private parking spaces.
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As per construction rules in cities, all buildings need a certain parking capacity to be approved by the corporation. Even these standards seem inadequate to handle the traffic mess in cities like Pune. However builders have found a way to make it appear as if they are conforming to the law without doing anything of that sort. They just convert public parking into private parking and supposedly comply with parking capacity rules.
As Sweet As Honey, As Free As The Web
“Article about freedom on the Internet published in my bi-weekly column for the Maharashtra Herald daily newspaper.”
Orkut.com has been getting the Internet a lot of bad publicity of late. Orkut is a site where you can find old friends and make new ones. It has 1000s of communities and millions of active members. But this popularity has also made Orkut the favourite punching bag for the media today. It may be an obscure Orkut community that defames a national icon or some anti-Indian post on an Orkut forum, but it all becomes sensational news very quickly.
The reasons why we keep seeing these news are –
1) It’s very easy to find improper things on Orkut. If you spend 15 min on Orkut you will find somebody somewhere talking nonsense about some great man or saying things that might be offensive to someone.
2) Orkut’s popularity ensures that any Orkut news gets a lot of attention.
3) Orkut will always provide a steady stream of controversial news, as moderating Orkut is close to impossible.
So if a 24 hr news channel is short of news it can always pick something from Orkut or an offensive video from YouTube and blow the story out of proportion.
Blind Belief Brings No Relief
"We are complicating our lives with superstitions. Instead, let logic and science be our guide." Lately I have been spending some time looking for an office space. Apart from the…
Power Policy Of Divide And Rule
Maharashtra again suffers from acute electricity shortage and extended power cuts. While the govt. hasn’t shown much innovation or vision when it comes to power supply, it has been ingenious in managing the power cuts. It’s relying on good old “Divide and Rule”.
Considering that the entire state of Maharashtra is short on electricity, an outsider would think that all parts of the state will be facing equal power cuts. But the reality is that the power cuts vary inversely to the political importance of a place in the state.