murali772's blog

Land Acquisition, R & R Bill - last nail on industrialisation coffin?

28 August 2013 - 5:43pm — murali772

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Bill introduced in Parliament is a terrible piece of work. It is a Luddite proposal that threatens all economic development.

The '108 service' conundrum

31 July 2013 - 9:02pm — murali772

Duty calls, but they decided to hold the state on ransom to make their woes heard, by evading duty calls. Hundreds of drivers and paramedical staff of Arogya Kavacha (108 ambulance services) gathered at Freedom Park to press for their demands for job security and wage hikes on Sunday.

Need for change in work culture

18 July 2013 - 1:46pm — murali772

The picture below of a switch box at the 4th cross junction, RMV extn, Sadashivanagar (near Sri Mallikarjun Kharge's house), possibly of the high-mast lamp installation adjacent to it, was taken yesterday. It is right on the footpath, and at a level where even school children can readily access the open wires. And, that is a potential hazard, particularly in the current monsoon season.

Signal-free corridors for arterial city roads - advisable?

8 July 2013 - 5:04pm — murali772

What would be better is to complete the ongoing strategy of BBMP to make the Big10 roads and the Outer Ring Road signal free. This will create a preferred mobility corridor for movement in and out of the city, and also around the city.

Bangalore future with no landfills

12 June 2013 - 6:37pm — murali772

Came upon this ad in the ToI today.

Thereafter, I browsed through

Whither green activism?

31 May 2013 - 7:10pm — murali772

Green activists and local villagers have taken serious exception to proposals from defence and research institutions to build sensitive projects on the 10,000 acres of Amrit Mahal Kaval land allotted to them in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district. Among the sensitive projects are a Defence Research Development Organization proposal to start an aeronaut

A strong case for legalising betting

28 May 2013 - 2:05pm — murali772

Nobody knows exactly how big illegal betting is in India. The police estimate that betting on just the IPL — which lasts only six weeks — is Rs 20,000 crore. Betting on all sports and elections is perhaps 10 times higher. If such betting is legalized, and subject to a tax of say 20 per cent, it will generate anything up to Rs 40,000 crore per year in tax revenue.

Contractor-neta raaj

26 May 2013 - 1:31pm — murali772

A day after 198 corporators condemned the BBMP's decision to freeze 1,970 civic works worth Rs 530 crore based on the report given by the vigilance team, the man behind the investigation tendered his registration and opted for VRS.

Mis-carriage of criminal justice

18 May 2013 - 10:36am — murali772

In the midst of the recent Karnataka assembly election campaigning, a member of a certain popular yahoo-group suddenly came up with a posting that Dr Ashwin Mahesh, the LokSatta candidate from Bommanahalli constituency, has a criminal record.

"revenue pockets" - pocket-boroughs of politico's?

3 May 2013 - 7:46pm — murali772

Following are the excerpts from an interview (published in Citizen Matters, for the full text, click here) of the incumbent Congress MLA from BTM layout constituency, who is now seeking re-election from the same constituency:

B-PAC, the mantra for all of city's problems?

30 April 2013 - 1:15pm — murali772

B-PAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) is all over town, the latest being for backing 14 select candidates for the May 5th Assembly elections.

A resident's assessment of Mr Ramalinga Reddy (Cong), BTM layout MLA - 09-13.

28 April 2013 - 11:25am — murali772

While Daksh - Citizen Matters performane analysis of the MLA is accessible here, as also an interview by the Citizen Matters reporter (accessible here), I thought I'll make my

Cattle rearing in cities

25 April 2013 - 8:10pm — murali772

There is, for instance, this Srinivagilu village road (which is an ideal link to the Intermediate Ring Road for Koramangala S T Bed layout residents, heading towards Indiranagar side), where, at any time of the day or night, you'll come upon herds of cattle, particularly buffaloes, moving about all over; in fact living on the public roads itself.

Active burial ground in the midst of a residential locality

25 April 2013 - 6:00pm — murali772

At the end of the 8th cross, 1st main, S T Bed layout, Koramangala, almost adjoining the army property beyond, is this burial ground, right in the midst of densely populated high-rise residential complexes (It is the vacant land within the 'elbow' in the road facing "Tranquility Apartments" in the map accessible

What are MLA (2013 - 18) candidates' views on the following?

11 April 2013 - 5:43pm — murali772

Various internet web sites have details of MLA candidates like their criminal records, wealth, etc. Nobody however knows what individual candidates stand for, and what their plans are if they get elected. Voters can make better decisions if they know candidates' views on a fixed set of questions, through the following means:

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