Ideas at Work

It's a very unusual development in the annals of democracy in India - for the first time, a deliberate political action group, with a specific agenda to be pursued through its activities, is being formed — the Bangalore Political Action CommitteePACs are nothing new around the world. In the US alone, there are thousands of PACs, each committed to its agenda. In India so far, we've had industry associations, which are in some ways PACs, but apart from this there aren't very many. The usual organising themes for PACs - labour, environment, health, education, etc. - have not year coalesced…

It's a very unusual development in the annals of democracy in India - for the first time, a deliberate political action group, with a specific agenda to be pursued through its activities, is being formed — the Bangalore Political Action CommitteePACs are nothing new around the world. In the US alone, there are thousands of PACs, each committed to its agenda. In India so far, we've had industry associations, which are in some ways PACs, but apart from this there aren't very many. The usual organising themes for PACs - labour, environment, health, education, etc. - have not year coalesced…

I went on a 3 hour trip with a few industry leaders as well as BBMP officials yesterday, looking at some of the 'trail' of waste in the city. The idea was to get buy-in from all the chambers of industry to start doing whatever they can within their own campuses and also understand the economics of the waste trail. Three places that we visited all have important learnings to offer.The biogas plant at IIM, Bangalore substitutes for 16 cylinders of LPG each day, out of the wet waste collected on campus itself. It cost about 10 lakhs to set…

I went on a 3 hour trip with a few industry leaders as well as BBMP officials yesterday, looking at some of the 'trail' of waste in the city. The idea was to get buy-in from all the chambers of industry to start doing whatever they can within their own campuses and also understand the economics of the waste trail. Three places that we visited all have important learnings to offer.The biogas plant at IIM, Bangalore substitutes for 16 cylinders of LPG each day, out of the wet waste collected on campus itself. It cost about 10 lakhs to set…

Anyone watching the EWS evictions in Ejipura is bound to feel heartbroken for the victims. But this is a tragedy that need not have arisen at all. We allow these problems to build up right in front of our eyes, knowing fully well that they will blow up one day. That has to stop. It is not easy, and it is requires long, dedicated attention to a STRATEGY of fixing the housing problem. There is simply no other way.Here's my letter to the CM today, asking him to put such a strategy in place, starting with the Budget he wants…

Anyone watching the EWS evictions in Ejipura is bound to feel heartbroken for the victims. But this is a tragedy that need not have arisen at all. We allow these problems to build up right in front of our eyes, knowing fully well that they will blow up one day. That has to stop. It is not easy, and it is requires long, dedicated attention to a STRATEGY of fixing the housing problem. There is simply no other way.Here's my letter to the CM today, asking him to put such a strategy in place, starting with the Budget he wants…

What can we do to make sure the kind of tragedy that we are witnessing in Ejipura does not come back to haunt us again and again? Nothing short of a comprehensive review of the housing market will suffice, because there is a fundamental problem - the cost of land is so high that too many people are priced out of home-buying. Here are some things we can explore to overcome that.1. Can the impact of 'land value' in housing projects be reduced?The biggest stumbling block in cities is the scarcity of good quality land. As a result, land prices are…

What can we do to make sure the kind of tragedy that we are witnessing in Ejipura does not come back to haunt us again and again? Nothing short of a comprehensive review of the housing market will suffice, because there is a fundamental problem - the cost of land is so high that too many people are priced out of home-buying. Here are some things we can explore to overcome that.1. Can the impact of 'land value' in housing projects be reduced?The biggest stumbling block in cities is the scarcity of good quality land. As a result, land prices are…

The Indian Institute of Public Administration is holding a seminar on the reconstitution of the municipal area into two or more cities. If implemented, that would end the experiment of consolidating all the cities in the area into one single BBMP. I'm speaking at the event later this morning ... here's the gist of what I plan to say.In December 2005, when the government pushed through the creation of BBMP, Subbu Vincent and I wrote an editorial, titled "The sum of broken parts" arguing that this was a bad move. I predicted then that we would be forced to abandon…

The Indian Institute of Public Administration is holding a seminar on the reconstitution of the municipal area into two or more cities. If implemented, that would end the experiment of consolidating all the cities in the area into one single BBMP. I'm speaking at the event later this morning ... here's the gist of what I plan to say.In December 2005, when the government pushed through the creation of BBMP, Subbu Vincent and I wrote an editorial, titled "The sum of broken parts" arguing that this was a bad move. I predicted then that we would be forced to abandon…