Cities and self rule

SB and Naveen: Now that the disease has been diagnosed by you both so well, what is the next step that we prajas can take? We have very able people representing us from Bangalore in Delhi - HPS and VM. Can we approach them to raise this matter in the highest forum in the country? Can we mobilize all the citizens of the city and plan protest marches, etc.? City Zen

Birds of the long-distance flying kind always fly in large groups and in the most effective formations. Instead of reinventing the wheel, would it make abundant sense for the Bangalore prajas to join hands with Janaagraha who seem to have established themselves well, have already mobilized a sizable group as well as resources, etc.? Would we want to meet together at one of their review meetings and explore the mighty possibilities? More the merrier and MIGHTIER? Here is what my young friend Ms. Aparna wrote to me a few days back. APARNA: "I met the Mr. and Mrs. Ramanathans yesterday; Mondays, they have their weekly reviews. I was simply blown away by the amount of work Janaagraha is doing. They're involved in practically every single aspect of governance and are working shoulder to shoulder with the government. It's simply overwhelming, the scale of their projects. Yesterday, there were about 30 to 40 people in that review. Apparently, all the heads of the project sit in on Monday to share what progress has been made over the week and what they hope to accomplish in the week ahead. They're so professional, so committed, and so goal-oriented, it's very very impressive. They have projects for traffic management, road signs, junctions, signals, drains, solid waste management, garbage disposal, pot holes, drinking water, sanitation, street lights, civic education in schools/colleges - practically everything under the sun. It was a great pleasure to hear Ramesh Ramanathan speak at such close quarters. I don't know if you read his column called Mobius Strip in the MINT. I get it in my mailbox every month since I've registered with Janaagraha on their website. After President Kalam, I haven't heard or read another orator/writer in recent times who can be so inspiring with his language. I will forward his columns to you when I get them. You can also register at Janaagraha.org; you don't have to volunteer for anything if you don't want to; if you just register on their website, they'll send you all the communication; it is worth knowing - in fact, I think it's manadatory if you're a Bangalorean - how much people are doing for their city, their state, even if in some cases it's their adopted home; one curious thing I noticed about the group there, I don't think apart from me, there was a single other Kannadiga - I know after having sat in something so big and so above such petty boundaries, I should not think like that, but it really made me ashamed that there are so many people from outside the state who love this city and the state (they're working in many states outside Karnataka also, like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Kerala which I heard them mention) enough to want to devote their time, energy, and resources to better things here while we ourselves are so reluctant to do something for our homeland which has given us so much. But, that's a small thing; the important issue is that things are happening and Ramesh Ramanathan has demonstrated very well that if you want to make a difference, you can." - City Zen -- City Zen

city zen thanks for posting that. and imo it is a good idea to fly in flocks.

Ms. Aparna writes again as follows:- "I was at Janaagraha today and they're quite keen on having their own forum - I in fact opened the Praja site and showed it to the person who's reviving the Janaagraha blog - she was extremely excited to see it and wondered if Praja members will associate themselves more closely with Janaagraha. Where and when does this meeting happen?" ( Meeting of Prajaas as proposed by S.B. -- City Zen) City Zen

thanks a lot citizen. and please convey my thanks to your friend. tarlesubba

Pranav, Tarle, others I observed that most of our blogs seem to have a hit rate of about 275, give and take. Do you have any data on how the visits to the site have been progressing? Have we hit a sort of plateau? Is it possible to know how many distinct persons are reading our blogs? That way we could get an idea on whether the community is growing. I plan to put my website as bangalore.praja.in whenever I visit other blogs and leave comments. Hopefully that will generate some return visits. Your thoughts? Srivathsa