Anagha Speaks

With the recently concluded elections in Bhugaon (a village 5 km away on the western fringe of Pune), it was heartening to see a more than 90% voter turnout. Last Sunday I witnessed the entire village out on the streets since morning, queuing up to cast their votes. The spectacle really made me think. Who are really the custodians of a robust democracy that India boasts about? The villagers, who have been relegated to the back with tags like 'uneducated', 'poor', 'illiterate' were all "literate and socially aware" to come out of their homes on a Sunday morning and participate actively in making of the government in their own small and meaningful way. While, the residents of cities tagged often as 'the educated, urbane intellectuals', want to enjoy the holiday meant for elections out of the city. Does this mean that the so called intellectuals have given up on democracy? Or are they educated but socially illiterate? Are they so ensconced in t...

Today I plan to take a brave step and hope to begin writing about some of the larger issues, concerns, debates and opinions on India and her policies and I thought the blog is now ready to move away from only the Pune centric issues and graduate to express my thoughts on India. I hope you will enjoy and continue reading. A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests that "India fails because it repeats its mistakes". India, which was, at the beginning of this century, a focal point for the entire world, suddenly seems to have lost its sheen. When the entire world was looking towards India, and wanted it to succeed, 'our train' derailed and missed the point where we were all traveling. Numerous studies, articles, theories and debates have emerged on this single most, yet the most pressing issue for India and the world. In Shashi Tharoor's words, the World wants India to succeed and that was very evident in the early 2000s when India seemed to embr...

The Bhusari Colony Bus Depot Junction on Paud Road where the Subway Pedestrian Crossing is proposed. I am confronted with a dilemma since last week. A subway proposal has been proposed for the Kothrud Bus Depot junction on Paud Road and I have been asked to comment on its design! Keeping in character of not staying within my scope, I have started raking up too many unasked and unanswered questions. And why not? After all, it is my hard earned tax money that will end up in making this subway. On the face of it, the subway proposal is a great political project - its gives visibility, it is in tune with the principles of sustainability, it promotes safe pedestrian movement and hence indirectly promotes walkability in a city; it represents social equity and it targets the heart of voters by making road crossing safe for school children (and hence woos mothers) and senior citizens. Pedestrian choose to cross taking risks despite presence of a pedestrian crossing bridge ....

In June 2013, I had written a blog highlighting the need for increasing urban finance autonomy to make cities having better infrastructure and better management. This was, in reference to the High Powered Executive Committee (HPEC) recommendations that have been made to effectively implement the decentralization promised in the 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India. For such financial reforms, there are two side pulls and pushes that are essential. One, where the urban local body, including its political and administrative set up, demand for it. And the other is, through the State Government, who makes the required changes to actually decentralize the cities and their financial management. There has been a long standing argument of the State Governments that urban local bodies have shown such a poor performance with regards to governance that adding to the financial revenue and giving financial autonomy will spell disaster, leading to higher levels of corruption and fund...

"T he Metro will pass along the road right next to my bungalow. Will my property rate rise or fall? Can I continue staying at my bungalow with my family? Or will this mean that I need to redevelop, amalgamate with four other neighboring plot owners and build a commercial building on this property? "  While trying to answer these questions, I was suddenly overcome with a feeling that while I have been so engrossed speaking about the Metro, its technical implications (Elevated or Underground) and about the densification of the city due to 4.0 FSI, what had remained completely unaddressed by me, were the socio-economic implications of a Metro on a middle class Punekar! I will attempt to write this blog post demystifying some of the myths and presumptions of having a Metro in Pune and its direct relevance to a life of a Punekar. For the time being, I will keep aside all of my objections to the Metro and discuss this subject, hopefully as unbiased as I can. Lets t...

A conference on Sustainable Cities was concluded today, June 18, 2013, at Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute for Environment, Education and Research, a joint initiative between BVIEER and The Urban Team of ICRIER (www.icrier.org) headed by Dr Mrs. Isher Judge Ahluwalia. As a part of this seminar, a summary was presented of the High Powered Executive Committee Report, popularly known as the Ahluwalia Report. This report focuses on multiple level of reforms for financial independence of Municipal authorities, a premise, already identified, that can enable better delivery of Urban Services in cities of India. Amongst many reforms, the Report suggests that municipal authorities should raise their own finances, independent of the State Governments, thereby gaining a level of authority, accountability and thus offer better civic services to its citizens. When financial autonomy comes, it is estimated that Municipal authorities will also become more accountable, much like when we ...

  पुणे विकास आराखडा - २००७-२७ : हरकती व सूचना १. सर्व पुण्याच्या नागरिकांना existing landuse survey चे रेपोर्ट ताबडतोप उपलब्ध करून द्यावेत. हा रेपोर्ट उपलब्ध नसल्या मुळे विकास आराखड्या मधील   बऱ्याच विशिष्ठ मुद्द्यांवर नागरिकांना कुठलीही हरकत घेणे    किंवा सूचना देणे शक्य होत नहिये. त्या मुळे , हा रेपोर्ट उपलब्ध झाल्या नंतरच हरकती-सूचना घेण्याची मुदत निश्चित करावी ही   आमची मागणी आहे.   २. पुणे विकास आराखडा २००७-२७ ह्यात   UDPFI (Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation), ह्या भारत सरकार ने प्रकाशित केलेल्या कुठल्याही बाबींचा विचार करण्यात आला नहिये. खालील काही ठोस उदाहरणे देऊन ह्या बद्दल आम्ही   तीव्र निषेध व्यक्त करतो:   अ) commercial land use साठी शहरामध्ये ४ ते ५ % जमिनीचे allocation असावे असे UDPFI norms मध्ये नमूद केले असताना , पुण्याच्या   विकास आराखड्या मध्ये फक्त १. ३८ % एवढीच तरतूद का करण्यात आली आहे , ह्याचे स्पष्टीकरण आम्हाला द्यावे , अशी आमची मागणी आहे. commercial activity साठी कमी जागा ...