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A few suggestions on Opendata

Everything else

I had a few ideas and wanted to run it through you guys.

I think we should lay greater stress on partnerships. We will be able to make a greater impact and work on our strengths if we do that. When I say our strength what I essentially mean is our community and our analytical skills. While I realise what I am proposing is not really "OpenData" but it will be a very good start.

Some organisations I suggest we reach out to are -

1. Accountability Initiative - (check them out here: http://www.accountabilityindia.org/)
I had reached out to the lady who runs it, Yamini Aiyer, for some other reasons. If you look at their home page they have a lot of mention of opendata. During our conversation she told me that they already have MIS data of 12 government ministries ( I dont ask the exact details) but they have not made them available yet. Maybe we can get our hands on that data and then start discussions on them and make that data available on our site.

Give prosecution & suo motu powers to Lokayukta - Petition

Everything else

This petition’s been created to request those concerned to

01) Appoint the Upa Lokayukta at the earliest.

02) Give prosecution and suo motu powers to the Lokayukta.

(If the Lokayukta has suo motu powers, it can speedily take up investigations on its own without waiting for someone to file a complaint.)

03) Dismiss the corrupt government officials from service.

04) Retain Justice Mr. Santosh Hegde after accepting his demands/requests.

Justice Santosh Hedge's requests to the government as soon as he'd taken over as the Lokayukta chief

01) Give power of suspending and revoking suspension of corrupt officials.

02) Amend Section 36 of CrPC to confer police power on the Lokayukta.

03) Give suo motu powers to investigate Class I officials as well as politicians, who come under the Lokayukta purview.

http://www.thepetitionsit...

United Way of Bengaluru to hold Corporate Quiz Challenge 2010 on June 26, 2010

17 Jun 2010 17:00
Asia/Calcutta
Everything else

            United Way of Bengaluru to hold Corporate Quiz Challenge 2010 on June 26, 2010
            QuizCraft (of KBC fame) to conduct the competition with Charu Sharma as the quiz master
            Proceeds to support corrective eye surgeries of underprivileged adults and children 

            United Way of Bengaluru to hold Corporate Quiz Challenge 2010 on June 26, 2010
            QuizCraft (of KBC fame) to conduct the competition with Charu Sharma as the quiz master
            Proceeds to support corrective eye surgeries of underprivileged adults and children 

A praja face to face meet at Vittal Mallya Road June 12, 2010

InfrastructureEverything else

I, Mr. KV Pathy and Mr. Janardanam arrived at the Vittal Mallya road at about 8:30 AM to day as scheduled. We were later joined by Dr. Srinath Heragu. We started our tour of the road from the kasturba road end of the Vittal Mallya Road.

Green Bangalore: Some Reflections

14 Jun 2010 17:00
Asia/Calcutta
Everything else

Literary, Arts and Heritage Forum, NIAS, is pleased to announce a Lecture on "Green Bangalore: Some Reflections” by Prof Vijay Tiruvady (vrt@bgl.vsnl.net.in)
On Monday, 14 June 2010 at 5.00 PM in JRD Tata Auditorium, NIAS

Highlights of the talk:
The Greening began with the development of Devarakadus & Gundutopus around Bangalore;
The next greening took place around settlements adjacent to lakes, a network of which was established by Kempe Gowda to harvest Monsoon rain water;
The first area within Bangalore to be greened was the 40 acre Rose & Cypress Garden of Haider Ali.
With the growth of the British  Empire plant collecting expeditions resulted in exotic species coming into Lalbagh.
With these developments Bangalore has had a mix of indigenous and exotic plants like no other city in India.  
Through the 19th Century all the early institutions in Bangalore were planted with this mix of indigenous and exotics.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill

With all the interesting Parliament bills that get discussed, scrutinized and thrashed by media and people like us, there are many more which get missed out. Through the PRS site I came across "Pension Fund and Regulatory Development Authority Bill".

Before I try to explain it, here are some fun facts
  • Only 13% of the workforce is currently covered by pension schemes
  • Total government (centre+states) pension cost has increased from Rs 6,400 crore in 1991 to Rs 46,569 crore in 2001 and it is estimated that this figure will reach around 80000 crores by 2081-82
  • A number of states are already defaulting on pension payments. Employee Pension Scheme was reportedly underfunded to the extent of Rs 22,000 crore as on March 31, 2004.

Essentially, the PFRDA bill aims to address all of the above. This Bill provides a regulatory framework for a new pension system (NPS) which will be available to any individual. All the employees who joined the central government on or after 1 January 2004 already come under this new pension system.

The UID debate

Governance

Dear  all, attaching a couple of recent files on UID:

  • a) A "skeptical note" on UID by a Prof ramkumar( form tata institute of social sciences)
  • b) Minutes of meeting with NGOs /CSOs organised by UID this month.

In other civic forums , the UID debate has gone to the level  of "stop UID" campiagns.

The anti UID lobby (currently in the civic space there seems to be more of them or at least more vocal) has a few broad areas of concern and pehaps rightly so

Monthly Face to Face meeting, june 2010

12 Jun 2010 08:30
Asia/Calcutta
Everything else

 

Venue : Remodeled Vittal Mallya Road

 Date : 12 June 2010

Start: 8:00 AM

End:   9:00 AM

 

A blessing or a curse?

Economy

 The Global Investors Meet (GIM) which concluded on Friday the 4th June 2010, has thrown up a new monitory scale of lakh crore. With the all too common inflation this is no surprise. It can expand to infinity. The Tata nano has started its production line, when there is no parking space in metros like New Delhi, Bangalore etc.  Unfortunately the space on the planet earth is limited however much we wish it is not true.

The great Indian passport farce

Everything else

 My sister visited Passport Service Kendra in Devarabeesanahalli on the 25th for the reissue of passport of her minor child. Needed to travel for a family emergency so she checked the option for tatkal.

First WTF moment. The officer checking the application scratches out her tatkal mark and ticks normal, reason given, another inspecting officer will make the determination after hearing your case and not you.  

Second WTF moment. She waits patiently for the interview where the officer says oh you marked normal on your application so you wont get tatkal. He didnt accept the argument that his own officer, who was nowhere to be seen at that time, had changed it. As a solace she is told the passport will arrive in 3 days flat.

So all arrangements to handle the family emergency and postponement of  tickets on penalty is arranged. Now comes the whammy its 2nd june and no trace of the passport. Status as of 2nd June is

"Passport will be dispatched within 3 working days excluding the date of submission."

A web query to check the status met with the following response

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