OK, so we have been had...

May 2014 saw BJP coming to power on the back of massive spending from industrial houses and installed one of the most controversial persons as the Prime Minister of India. 31% of the voters choose BJP and due to fractured opposition and the ruling party reeling from corruption charges saw BJP ascend to power.

Even though many sane voices spoke of the danger of BJP coming to power and the divisive persona of the Prime Minister candidate, voters were still swayed by huge promises of bringing back black money and of better days, progress for everyone and an end to corruption. Promises that don't seem to have come true till date although a lot of water has flown under the bridge.

What has indeed happened is that the worst fears of the wise ones, that of the country being divided on the basis of religion are indeed coming true.

Much as we fight this madness on a daily basis, through posts on social media sites such as Facebook, et all, the fact is that we have been literally had.

This madness occupies our mind space and raises our temperatures. Many amongst us still do not see the danger of a polarized society. People who celebrated till some time back unity in diversity suddenly seem to want the whole cake to themselves. They are not bothered about the feelings of others and want to bring them back into their own fold.

What we now need to do is to free ourselves from this madness and finds ways and means of taking the country forward. The way things are going, we don't seem to be making any progress. It is sheer good luck that oil prices have fallen globally, yet the rupee is becoming weaker by the day and if the present theatrics continue not many foreign countries would be interested in investing in India.

We need to reverse this trend. How we do it is the big question.

Exposing the current regime is a good start but we need to do more. We need to raise the awareness level of the common public as the media has abrogated its role in exchange of pecuniary benefits.

And this awareness has to be raised sans any political patronage because the moment you associate any political party with the message, people tend to feel that it is just propaganda.

We need to keep our political views aside and work systematically to save the cultural fabric of our nation otherwise we will have no answers to our coming generation which will most definitely question our silence.

An agenda for Bombay

Bombay has a population of 12.5 Million people. About 60% of the population lives in slums. Real estate prices range between an absurd 3,00,000 per square feet to 12,000 per square feet making it impossible for most to buy a house in the city. Builder, Politician and Landowners nexus makes land scarce. Add to this rule and regulations that strangle utilization of land through Floor Space Index Rules and you have the perfect recipe for daily struggle for most of the residents.

Bombay requires a complete rethink. Not only Bombay for that matter most cities need a complete rethink.

Every day millions move from their homes to work places using public and private transport and most travel in sub-human conditions often spending up to four hours every day in a wasteful commute.

Yet, transport service providers are running in a loss.




The solution to the problem lies is rationalizing the city and making public transport so strong that people do not use personal vehicles.
How can this be done?

The only solution that will work is to make the city go vertical. For this we need suitable amendment in the FSI rule. We need to do away with the rule completely.

Areas near railway stations should be cleared to expand the railway system into an 8 track system from the present 4 track at most places. All platforms should be double discharge and there should be no vending allowed on stations. All stations should have elevated bus and public transport stands such as people can use these facilities to quickly move out of the station into the waiting transport. They should not spill onto the roads.

Offices should be located not more than two kilometers from any station and therefore within walking distance. Covered walkways should be provided from stations to office complexes. It would be best if the office complexes were located on the railway station itself thus eliminating the need for people to travel using any public transport.

Every building should be of at least 40 floors with refuge floors every 7^th floor. This will lead to accommodation of 288apartments if the building was to have 2 wings with 4 apartments per wing. This will move about 288 families into one tall building. Each flat should be a standard apartment of 1000 square feet and consist of 3 Bed Rooms, a Living Room and a Kitchen. Standardizing the apartment will allow for factory made doors and windows and reduce time taken for constructing the building. Such a building will occupy about 12000 Square feet of ground space. Even if one such building came up on 1 Acre of land, we will need about 9000 acres of land to house the current population. And we have much more than this available, in fact we have 600 times this land mass available.

These houses can be sold for around 4000 rupees per square feet giving a profit of about 2000 rupees per square feet to the builder, a massive profit one would say. A house anywhere in the city will thus cost40,00,000. An affordable figure.

All the available land should be acquired by the state for the good of the people.

As people get concentrated near railway stations, the far off areas of the city can be returned to nature and be converted into forests and parks for the benefit of the residents.

Markets can also be made vertical with a few buildings serving the purpose of the community rather than malls which are energy inefficient and eventually cost the consumer.

Can this be done? Yes. Will it be done? Maybe, if we are able to rise above personal greed and personal gain. We can create a city that redefines the way we live.

The importance of non-violence in protests...

Remember reading this somewhere, something to this effect.

"The state will provoke and create conditions where you become violent, this is something they can handle, they have laws and machinery to put you in the place where they want you. It is non-violence that they don't know to handle. What can you do to a person or group of persons who sing songs, hold candle light vigils, silently march through neighborhoods. Nothing. That is where the state does not know what to do and how to handle such protests.

This is the only way to beat the state at its own game"

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-power-of-non-violence/

Six Important Points about Nonviolent Resistance

First, he argued that even though nonviolence may be perceived as cowardly, it was not. In fact, it was a method that did resist. According to King, a nonviolent protester was as passionate as a violent protester. Despite not being physically aggressive, "his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken.? 

Second, the point of nonviolent resistance is not to humiliate the opponent, but instead to gain his friendship and understanding. Further, the use of boycotts and methods of non-cooperation, were the "means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.? The result was redemption and reconciliation instead of the bitterness and chaos that came from violent resistance.

The third point King advanced was that the battle was against the forces of evil and not individuals. Tension was not between the races, but was "between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a victory not merely for fifty thousand Negroes, but a victory for justice and the forces of light.? Thus, tension only existed between good and evil and not between people.

Fourth, nonviolent resistance required the willingness to suffer. One must accept violence without retaliating with violence and must go to jail if necessary. Accordingly, the end was more important than safety, and retaliatory violence would distract from the main fight. King believed that by accepting suffering, it led to "tremendous educational and transforming possibilities" and would be a powerful tool in changing the minds of the opponents.

King's fifth point about nonviolent resistance was that the "universe was on the side of justice." Accordingly, people have a "cosmic companionship" with God who is on the side of truth. Therefore, the activist has faith that justice will occur in the future.

King's sixth point was central to the method of nonviolent resistance. He believed the importance of nonviolence rested in the fact that it prevented physical violence and the "internal violence of spirit." Bitterness and hate were absent from the resisters mind, and replaced with love.

http://www.kingian.net/

Martin Luther King on Non-Violence

“Driving’s not a competition. Just get there safely.” And I remind myself that the other driver is a suffering being and wish him (sometimes her) well. “May you be well. May you be happy. May you be free from suffering.”
http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/quote-of-the-month/martin-luther-king-on-nonviolence

Ten reasons why Modi will not be able to deliver on his promises

1. The number one reason is that like the Congress, Modi and BJP believes in trickledown effect. It will promote large industry and industrialist in setting up factories and businesses in the hope that these industries and industrialists will create jobs and money will end up finally in the hands of the consumer. This has been the standard approach of all capitalist countries but the results are there for everyone to see, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. 
2.  Because the government is spending more than its income, the government will not be able to cut down on taxes and may end up increasing taxes to bridge the earning and spending gap. This will leave still less money with the consumers. Less money with consumers means that although there will be factories producing goods, there will be no one to buy those goods. And given the shoddy image India has abroad, the international market isn’t really waiting with open arms to buy the goods manufactured in India. 
3. The race for plum portfolios shows that BJP elected members are as keener to get hold of a ‘lucrative’ berth. A berth that will not only make them rich but provide for their generations to come. Thus corruption is likely to continue unabated and it will be the polity that will suffer at the hands of this corruption. 
4. It has been reported that Mr. Modi wants to move the freight off the trains on to the roads to give a boost to the transport industry. Unfortunately, transport industry runs on expensive and dollar denominated purchase of fossil fuel. 31% of India’s import in 2012-2013 comprised of fossil fuel. A boost to the transport industry will spell doom for the railways, one of the last remaining public sector undertaking that is making money. Railways may end up in the same condition as the national air carrier, Air India. This also demonstrates that government run public sector undertakings will continue to be stripped in favor of private organizations and profits will go into private hands.
5. With such a large mandate that has come about riding on the contribution of party workers and crony capitalists, it is but natural that all those who contributed to the success of the party will demand their pound of flesh. And if that is not delivered to them on a platter, the honeymoon may end much earlier than envisaged by people.
6. On the one hand the government is promising higher prices for the farmers and on the other they are promising lower prices to consumers. Unless the government moves swiftly to manage waste in the supply chain, this does not look like something that will happen quickly. Also, any effort to tame down the profiteers at the selling end of the supply chain is likely to bring about howls of protest. Eliminating the middle men is going to be a tough proposition as it would mean indirect FDI in retail.
7. As prices continue to rise, doing business with India will become difficult for the world. India will no longer be able to provide cheap manpower in IT enabled services given the rising cost of infrastructure, utilities and education. Especially education as the government has abdicated its duty of creating human resources in favor of private organizations.
8. Rising prices will also drive the poor out of expensive cities thus creating reverse migration to villages. This may create problems about which no one has even started thinking about. Case in point is the negative growth of Mumbai as per last census. Discontinuing popular subsidy schemes like MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) will be difficult and any attempt to do so will have negative effects on the electability of the BJP in the coming state elections. Same with other schemes like the Food Security Act, Right to Education Act (Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan) and as these subsidy schemes are essentially schemes implemented by the states and there are vast leakages in the schemes with benefit not reaching the intended recipient, disillusionment with the central government will continue to rise.
9. Rising real estate prices will make it difficult for business to set up shop here. Housing price rise will keep pushing the working class to distant geographic areas putting pressure on transportation. And transportation is a recurring cost which the country can ill afford.
10. With the country heavily dependent on inward remittances of dollars from expatriate Indians and falling exports, world economic scene will continue to play an important role in the story of India. And unfortunately this, Mr. Modi has no control over.