silkboard's blog

Someone (BPAC?), please fund a CIO for Bangalore

19 May 2013 - 6:45pm — silkboard

"Can't fix it if you can't measure it". That is what a lot of people say. There is a lot that gets measured by BBMP/BMTC/BWSSB/BESCOM/BDA etc. But we just don't get to see. Want GIS data used for creating masterplan to be public? Want to know the city's water consumption, and inflow from each source every day?

The day of equality, and confusion!

5 May 2013 - 5:05pm — silkboard

One vote, is all you are worth, like everyone else around. That's equality. The word democracy sounds heavy and "elitist" :) So I prefer equality. And this time, there was confusion too. Was confused till the "moment", which party or person to vote for?

Cash for votes - some investment mathematics

30 April 2013 - 9:36am — silkboard

"The rates have gone up". "Many of them want touch phones". "down payment for a new bike". "Digital box for TV" (remember the digitization deadline?). The murmurs are on. The "cash rates" are as high as Rs 4000.

Water - its going to be pretty serious this summer

12 March 2013 - 10:25am — silkboard

We are probably going to see a severe water shortage from mid April onwards. The word going around is that this won't be a routine shortage that we are used to over last few years. May get pretty serious.

Understanding "sustainable" - the Whitefield Marathahalli case study

1 March 2013 - 7:29am — silkboard

Mobilicity Event @ CiSTUP, March 6 - Day Plan

26 February 2013 - 1:08am — silkboard

Here is an hour by hour plan for the event day (March 6). Please do register here if you want to attend. And more details are on this event post.

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Chiranjiv Singh report - on new capital for Karnataka

4 February 2013 - 8:38am — silkboard

Mr Chiranjiv Singh, an IAS officer from 69 batch, now retired headed this Alternative Capital Project (ACP). ACP and Mr Singh apparently produced a report that suggested building a new capital city of Bangalore. I have heard about this report from a few people, but haven't seen this report at all, nor have I met Mr Chiranjiv Singh.

"Rs 4500 not good enough" - how much is?

30 January 2013 - 9:02am — silkboard

Some interesting numbers from the ongoing protests by anganwadi workers. See them in context of minimum wages prescribed by state government.

From The Hindu, Jan 24,

Ward committees etc - sorry, wouldn't work

28 January 2013 - 9:10am — silkboard

Moving a comment on this excellent post from PSA/Pathy sir up here in the hopes of generating more discussion. And some disclaimer first - 1) I am not against the concept of engagement/consultation.

BMIC - Why so high toll on NICE road?

21 January 2013 - 10:16pm — silkboard

Kind of tired now of reading once-in-a-while-news-updates on NICE vs State of Karnataka case in Supreme Court. Also tired of seeing blatant self-promotion (misuse? illegal?) by Mr Ashok Kheny on his state-given PPP land. But more than that, why are the tolls so high on the NICE peripheral road?

IDD's railway projects in Karnataka - details and progress

19 January 2013 - 10:27am — silkboard

Wanted to put out IDD's budget allocation for Railway projects. Sourced from IDD website (here), just in case it goes away or is edited. For everyone to see, react or read between the lines :)

Indian Railways and the federal shackles - time for a break up

14 January 2013 - 7:58pm — silkboard

There are state highways, and national highways, who builds and maintains what is pretty clear. Viability analysis and rate of return on investment is not the top consinderation when state, such as Karnataka decides to upgrade a state highway, or just build a new road to connect a new district.

Pictures of rooftop Solar system

22 December 2012 - 8:59am — silkboard

Continuing over from this other discussion (Rooftop solar for domestic needs), here are the pictures of the Solar system we put up at a remote rural location.

Batteries and charge controller, or "Solar power conditioning unit" as they call it

Extortion - the three way squeeze on street vendors & hawkers

12 December 2012 - 8:22am — silkboard

Hope you all read about the BBMP councillor extorting Rs 15000 / month from an eatery at Kalasipalya. Here is the news report in DH. I cross checked to find same version in Hindu also, so its not a one off tabloid type story:

Right to Services - Sakala doing well? Numbers for you

5 December 2012 - 9:31am — silkboard

Sakala launched in April this year, and the system should now have more than 6 months worth data for us to see. Thankfully, Sakala system makes a lot of data public. Just go to Sakala website, and then, on the right hand side, find links to "public reports", and report of last month, right now November.

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