Anagha Speaks

When the Model Building Bye-Laws 2016 were published this week, there was a certain resistance amongst us Building professionals. The reason was that there is a certain skepticism for any rules that come from the way top. We architects, like to deal only with local level regulation, something that gets our Plans sanctioned as fast as possible from the Municipal body. Also, there seemed to be no involvement of Indian Institute of Architects, a apex body that represents all Architects of this country (at least not mentioned in the document itself). But, after the first reading of the document, I was pleasantly surprised! First of all, I really appreciated that the basic objective outlined in the document was to bridge the gap - where building bye laws to do not exist, this Document will hopefully give guidance in formulating local bye laws. Secondly, where local bye laws and enforcing mechanisms do exist, these are guidelines to streamline the timelines and the overall mechanisms, p...

Maharashtra state has been the forerunner in many aspects. From social reform and women's education to Industrialisation and Urbanization, Maharashtra has led India's growth. While there was a nationwide interest in The Union Budget, I wonder why Maharashtra's Budget does not get discussed and debated and tweeted and  whatsapped as much! After all, the successes, the spendings and the fiscal policy of the State of Maharashtra creates a significant impact on India's success & fiscal health. The overall outlay of the budget allocation of Maharashra is about 12% of that of India's, which is significant for one state. In fact, the total outlay of Maharashra this year exceeds the total outlay for India in the 1990s. Further, the total allocation for the Agricultural & allied sector in Maharashtra is about 25000 crores, while in the Union Budget it is about 36000 crores. So the approach of the Central Government to boost the agricultural and allied sector s...