Protest

Degeneration Of Sports Clubs – Dogs & Indians Not Allowed!

Harshad Oak

I have been frequenting multiple Pune sports clubs over the past two decades. So I have kind of been a witness to how sports establishments seem to have moved from being open, sports centers to elitist recreation clubs. It seems like it will only be a matter of time before a “Dogs & Indians Not Allowed*” kind of board gets put up at these clubs. Through this blog, I hope to highlight what I think has gone wrong and some possible solutions.

This blog is primarily based on Deccan Gymkhana and PYC Gymkhana in Pune, as those are the clubs where I have spent most time over the past 20 years. However I believe most of the points below would apply to many such clubs across India. Read more →

Water Cuts TimeTable & Water Crisis Predictions 201’x’

Harshad Oak

By studying data over several years, Oak Labs has come out with the following predictions & timetable for Pune Water Cuts (Crisis). This timetable has been drawn up in 2012 but will apply just as well till the year 2019.

Predictions from 2020 onwards were found to be unsuitable for publication, fearing widespread unrest and law & order issues.

You can change the names & tweak the dates for these predictions to apply to any other city in India.

Read more →

Letter To MEA Following My Ordeal For Passport Reissue At The Pune Passport Office

Harshad Oak

With reference to contact information at http://meaindia.nic.in, have sent the email below to ascpv.twitter AT gmail.com. CCed to jsxp AT mea.gov.in , usxps AT mea.gov.in . Link for information sent via twitter to @ForeignSecNRao  , @VPrakashMea , @IndianDiplomacy @ASCPV.

I will update the article / the comments section if & when I get a reply from the ministry.

*Update 10th June : ASCPV has forwarded to Pune RPO & jsxp.mea has forwarded to M.Pardeshi. No comment or regret as yet.
*Update 22nd June: – No response from MEA as yet. Have sent a reminder tweet. Will send a reminder mail next week.
*Update 29th June: No reply yet. Sent a followup email to the concerned officials.
*Update 30Dec12: A blog about the new Pune Passport office.

Read more →

Protest Pune Corporation Leasing Out Public Properties for 99 years

Harshad Oak

If you wish to oppose Pune Corporation leasing out public properties for 99 years, you can use the format below & mail your protest to to stelang@punecorporation.org. Sorry to be posting this rather late. The last date for submitting your protest is 5pm today (3rd Dec). But it should take you just 10 seconds to mail. Copy draft below, edit as you find appropriate & fire your mail to PMC. Once all our public lands are leased out for 99 years, there’s no going back!

For more info on the issue just do a google search or I had tweeted at length about this from a recent Sajag Nagrik Manch meet at http://twitter.com/harshadoak Read more →

Lavasa City – Scam Or Development?

Harshad Oak

I attended an event titled the “Lavasa Mahaghotala Sabha” or the “Lavasa Scam Meet” on 27 Nov 2010. This event was meant to launch a widespread protest against the Lavasa project. The speakers at the meet were prominent social activists Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare & many others linked to the protest. I have live tweeted at length at http://twitter.com/harshadoak (tweets reproduced at end of article) about who said what at the meet. Thought it would make more sense to go beyond the tweets & blog my take on Lavasa.  Read more →

Frankfurt Airport Incident – Ignorant / Insensitive / Rude Or Racist?

Harshad Oak

I recently traveled to the US and back to India. On my way to San Francisco I had a connecting flight at Frankfurt, Germany. The following is an experience at Frankfurt that I can’t quite categorize. Is it ignorance / insensitivity / rudeness / racism or maybe even an over reaction on my part? Read more →

Voter Apathy Or Election Commission Incompetence?

Harshad Oak

At just 40%, Pune saw it’s worst ever voter turnout for the Loksabha elections. Mumbai was slightly better at 44%. The dismal voter turnout numbers have shocked most of educated India. Political leaders are smirking on TV saying things like “You blame us politicians for not caring about the country, but even the ordinary citizen does not care.” I have no insider info on the matter, but am just trying to apply some common sense to figure out what could have gone wrong. Read more →

Does the government have the right to refuse security to an Indian citizen or business?

Harshad Oak

The Indian Premier League security fiasco had me wondering if it is within the Indian constitution for a government to refuse security to a legal Indian citizen or enterprise. I am no constitution expert, but I would expect providing security of life and property to it’s citizens to be one of the founding principles of the constitution. It is the primary job of the government and there’s no way it can shirk the responsibility. If a government says that it lacks the ability to provide security to its citizens and enterprise, is it legal for the government to continue in power?

Read more →

Terror Attacks – Why Ahmedabad? Why Bangalore? Why India?

Harshad Oak

Terror Attacks In Ahmedabad Bangalore Cities In IndiaIndia has again seen a painful chapter of bombings. Over 20 bombs targeted the Indian cities of Bangalore and Ahmadabad and killed 10s of innocent civilians and injured 100s.

While I feel very sad and rattled by the developments, I also fail to make sense of them. I only have questions for the militants on a killing spree and also questions for myself and all Indians.

Read more →

Royal Challengers Is Obvious Surrogate Advertising For Alcohol

Harshad Oak

It’s good to know that the Health Minister has challenged the name of the Bangalore Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team, “Royal Challengers”. It’s however sad that it takes the Health Minister of the country to speak up before the authorities looked at such an obvious and blatant form of surrogate advertising for liquor brand “Royal Challenge“.

Read more →

Measuring Social Unrest – Revolutionary new OakTyre scale shows the true impact of protests

Harshad Oak

Measuring Protests In IndiaEveryday we read stories about protests in the country where buses are burnt, trains are stopped, public and private property is damaged and so on. However one often feels that the creators of these protests do not get due credit for their work. The government releases figures about the property damages in rupees. However these figures don’t quite convey the true impact that a protest had on the nation. How useful would it be if earthquakes were reported not in a Richter scale but just in terms of the monetary loss of property? Only when someone tells you the Richter scale reading of the quake, do you truly feel the power of the quake. Considering India’s need for a scale for protests, the researchers at Oak Labs have devised the ingenious “OakTyre” scale for measuring the impact of social unrests.

The basic unit of measurement in the OakTyre scale is a “Tyre”. Like we measure distances in meters, we measure protests in Tyres. So the measuring scale goes as follows

Read more →

Pune Corporation egovpmc.com becomes PuneCorporation.org

Harshad Oak

For reasons only known to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the PMC has now changed the official website from http://www.egovpmc.com to http://www.punecorporation.org and killed egovpmc.com.

PuneCorporation.org is definitely a better name than egovpmc, but why kill the established egovpmc.com? They could have just redirected to the new site. PMC also hasn’t shown the sense to buy the domain name PuneCorporation.com. So please note that http://www.punecorporation.org is the official site while PuneCorporation.com is a fake.

However if you are hoping to get some work done on the corporation site, it doesn’t matter if egovpmc.com or punecorporation.org is the official site, because both sites are currently not working.

I think it’s time to use the Right To Information and check which politician’s family member is minting money by bagging these contracts for the PMC websites and delivering rubbish in return.

The art of grabbing public spaces

Harshad Oak

Parking In Indian Cities - Pune - Herald ColumnArticle about improper use of parking spaces and builders tricking the city administration by just converting public parking into private parking spaces.

—

As per construction rules in cities, all buildings need a certain parking capacity to be approved by the corporation. Even these standards seem inadequate to handle the traffic mess in cities like Pune. However builders have found a way to make it appear as if they are conforming to the law without doing anything of that sort. They just convert public parking into private parking and supposedly comply with parking capacity rules.

Read more →

Power Politics – Divide and Rule in Maharashtra

Harshad Oak

This year the state of Maharashtra again suffers from acute electricity shortage and extended power cuts. While cities are facing 2-6 hours of cuts, the villages have to go without power for 10-16 hours a day.

As most in India are aware, the reason for this situation is the incompetence of the politicians and the state run power company they control.

Read more →

Congress NCP reject electoral verdict – Do a policy volte-face

Harshad Oak

The Congress led by Suresh Kalmadi and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar had both promised the electorate that they would not join hands with each other post elections, as they thought the other party was responsible for the ruin of Pune.

The electorate voted under the impression that they won’t come together post election. However like the stereotypical politicians in Hindi movies, both the Congress and NCP now seem keen on coming together in an attempt to grab power. The same leaders who had indulged in extensive name-calling are now on the verge of forming a coalition. You should soon see statements saying that they have come together “For the development of Pune” or “To keep communal forces at bay” or “Our high-command said so” or some such corny line.

While poiliticians continue to behave in this fashion, one can’t really blame the masses for losing faith in Indian democracy.

Using Right To Information Act To Get Better FootPaths for Pune

Harshad Oak

Anybody who has been to Pune would know that the Pune Municipal Corporation is not a very competent body. The city is going down rapidly and hardly anything is being done to stop the slide.

I have been reading up on the Right to Information for quite some time and now intend to use it to get some answers on an important issue, Footpaths. I have written about this before “Pune Corporation – The Art of Converting Public Parking Spaces Into Private Property” and “Footpaths are for pedestrians and not illegal chaat stalls”

All over the city, builders are converting footpaths into parking places or approach roads for their buildings. I intend to get the following info under the Right To Information Act

  1. Details of new footpaths created in the last 2 years
  2. Details of repairs done to existing footpaths in the last 2 years
  3. Want to know if it is legal for footpaths to be paved by the builder instead of the PMC
  4. Has any action been taken against any building / builder for paving a public footpath without PMC permission?
  5. What action has been taken against PMC staff for failure in stopping encroachment and misuse of footpaths?
  6. Are footpaths designed so as to prevent any vehicle parking or their use as approach roads to buildings / parking areas?
  7. Which roads will get new footpaths in 2007?
  8. Is PMC bound to develop and maintain footpaths for all new roads in the city?

I might rephrase things a bit. But this is more or less the info I would be ask for.

I went through Right To Information Info at –

  1. Consumer Forum Procedure for request of Information
  2. Parivartan – How To Apply
  3. PMC Egovpmc – RTI Officers
  4. Model application Format for obtaining information under “RTI Act, 2005”
  5. Right To Information Act
  6. Right To Information FAQ
  7. Right To Information Campaign Workbook

While most of my queries have been answered. I still could not find a satisfying answer to –

  • How much to pay as RTI fees and what’s the easiest way to pay them?
  • None of the docs state clearly what is the amount I need to pay. They state that I will have to pay Rs 25 + photocopying/ postage on actuals. If this amount is going to change from case to case, it means I have to personally go to the PMC office and ask the bureaucrat what amount I need to pay. I would then have to pay it by standing in queues and filling more forms.
  • This I think is a big flaw as it eliminates the option of me getting things done by post and without having to suffer the irritations that inevitably follow a visit to a govt. office.
  • There’s no provision for electronic money transfer. It might seems elitist to talk of electronic transfers in a poor country, but the act should provide for it.

Ideally I should be able to make an online payment for a flat fee of say Rs 100. Then fill up a form on a central RTI site. The site should be well aware of the Public Information officer (PIO) to contact. The PIO should get anemail and I should get a confirmation.

Looking at the government’s e-awareness record, e-Right to Information is unlikely to happen in the near future, so I guess I should start planning my visit to the PMC office.

Any suggestions on how I could simplify the process or make better use of my application, are most welcome.

Pune Corporation – The Art of Converting Public Parking Spaces Into Private Property

Harshad Oak

As per construction rules in cities, all buildings need a certain parking capacity to be approved by the corporation. Although even these standards seem inadequate to handle the traffic mess in Pune, builders have found a way to make it appear as if they are conforming to the law without doing anything of that sort. They just convert the parking potential of the public road into a private parking facility.

Read more →

Pune Power Cuts

Harshad Oak

My letter published in the newspaper Sakal Herald dated 29th Sep 2006.
——
“MSEB or whatever it is known as these days issues these expensive ads every week announcing that it will switch off power for several hours every Thursday for so called “maintenance activities”. Puneites also
seem to have accepted these Thursday cuts as a fact of life. No resistance either from the people or the people’s representatives.
Read more →

Please Do Not Litter – Waste bin just 1 minute away

Harshad Oak

One of the big problems in Indian society is the lack of civic sense. This manifests in various forms, one of the most common being the way in which we litter and convert roads and neighbourhoods into garbage bins.

The common argument is that the administration isn’t doing its job of keeping the city clean. However that argument has no substance. We spit on the roads, dispose plastic, paper and even daily household garbage by the road side.

How can India possibly become a developed nation if we do not fix these basic flaws in our society? It’s not just illiteracy and poverty that’s the cause, as I have seen even rich and supposedly well educated people do the same things.

I feel the solution lies in a change of our prioirty list. Development issues always must be top priority. Basic things like water supply, clean and habitable cities, power supply… should be the only things that matter at election time.

Anyway, garbage dumping is a big problem on the road beside my building. We try telling people to stop and instead use the corportation bin just a minute away, but that hasn’t really worked. So I have now created and put up the following posters on the road. I am hoping that this will lead to some improvement in the situation.

1) Poster 1 (English) – Please Do Not Litter (WASTE BIN JUST 1 MINUTE AWAY)
2) Same mesage in the Marathi language

In India, suffering is just a part of life!

Harshad Oak

If there’s one thing that has an instant and direct relation to development, that’s power supply. The new economy is completely driven by electricity. Switch off the power supply and business and growth comes to a stand still. Considering this, you would expect decision makers to consider electrictiy supply as an item of critical importance.

That might be true in some countries but definitely not in India. The power supply situation just keeps going from bad to worse. You have power cuts for several hours every day in most cities across India. The situation is especially bad in Maharashtra.

India supposedly has a very talented bunch of software engineers. But how can they possibly compete on a global stage if there’s no power to run computers.

Power is just one example, but where’s the water, where are the clean shelters?

What is especially distressing is that Indians just seem to accept atrocities as a part of life. So protests die out quickly and everyone gets used to the suffering. Politicians keep trying to win elections based on religion and caste based issues.

Such instances make it obvious why a handful of foreigners could rule India for over a hundred years. Protesting and demanding rights, is just not part of the Indian psyche. We suffer at the hands of a foreign ruler and then our own leaders and yet we accept it as just a part of life.

Having said all this, even I have to take responsibility as apart from articles and blogs on things I feel are wrong, I haven’t really done much. Need to do more, lot more …..