Scraps Stuffs - Random musings from apun ka desh

Rise to meet the water challenge

This is a timely article.

Water shortages in India are already acute and will get worse in the future. Rising population, environmental degradation, truant monsoon, inefficient usage of water, incorrect cropping patterns, increasing contamination and pollution of fresh water sources among other reasons will really make the problem severe.

There is a major reason for increasing floods during the monsoon and water scarcity during other seasons for the same region. Deforestation. This results in an inability of the soil to hold water. Ground water acquifiers don't get recharged enough. A depleting water table is one result. Precious fertile top soil getting washed away is another. Trees help break the force of the rains as a result of which enough water gets into the ground water tables.

In my opinion, lots of small steps would give better results than grandiose river linking projects.

1. Recycle, recycle, recycle. Don't let water go waste.
2. Water is a precious resource, use less of it. Fix leaky taps, close all taps fully. Try to avoid using a shower. Using a bath tub should be a strict no-no.
3. Avoid contaminating water going down the drain, don't flush toxic chemicals (including poison used to kill pests, paint, thinner, industrial chemicals etc.) down the drain.
4. Change cropping pattern. Water intensive crops should only be grown in water surplus areas. We grow millions of tons of rice which goes and sits in godowns to be eaten by rats. It would be better to grow more pulses, oilseeds which don't require too much water and other crops that aren't water intensive.
5. Recharge ground water wherever possible. Soak pits, adequate distance between bore wells, ban on digging bore wells in areas with scarce ground water etc. will all help.

The problem in India is lack of foresight. Unless we reach a crisis situation where everyone is literally at everybody else's throat, people don't realize the gravity of the situation.

The problem is bad and its going to get worse. A whole lot worse.

Is Pakistan unravelling?

A nice article by the good Coloner (retd.).

If Pakistan implodes, India will be affected. No two ways about it. The sooner we accept this, the better for all of us.

My career as a banker is over: Gelli

You bet its over Mr. Gelli! No one in their right minds will ever hire you, unless they want to scam people.

This prick doesn't seem to realize the concept of responsibility!!! What an idiot.

Only in India...

Seriously. The infrastructure is going from bad to worse. The government appears directionless. And arrogant on top of that what with Siddaramaiah saying that no IT company is leaving. Well, if they aren't, then it would be because of their large investments in Bangalore. But they will definitely rethink about sinking in more money here.

BATF is shutting down. BCC is running massive scams. BDA has a part-time head now. Or was it full-time?

Is this the beginning of the end of Bangalore as the first choice of the IT industry? Or will Telgistan get better infrastructure and a sense of direction, whichever way it is.

Time will tell.

Finished reading Paro: Dreams of Passion, the first novel by Namita Gokhale last weekend. It was interesting. When it first came out in 1984, it probably would have been considered a bold and frank novel, but is pretty tame now. But better than most of Shobha De's books.

Good time pass is what I would call it.

Now that I have a substantial commute to and from work, this is what keeps me sane on the drive

1. Santana
2. U2
3. Tears for Fears
4. Colonial Cousins
5. Lucky Ali
6. The Wallflowers
7. Radio City
   

Recently I finished reading my copy of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code"

The reviewers are right, its unputdownable. I read it across three days, usually after dinner and TV. The plot is interesting and although the theology part may be alien to people not of the Christian, Jewish or Muslim faiths, following it is no problem. Conspiracy theory buffs will love this book as also his other book "Angels & Demons". I'm looking forward to buying/hiring this one and then his other two books.

I have often wondered if the history that we learnt at school was true. We keep hearing of new discoveries that often disprove some historical fact or the other. Or prove something that was only conjecture once upon a time. Recorded history is one thing, but believing one version or the other of events that took place in the dim and distant past quite another. And I believe that history is written by the winners, especially when there are few other witnesses. So what should one believe? Received wisdom or think for oneself?

I don't believe the Aryan Invasion Theory that was propounded and perpetuated by the British because they needed a pretext for ruling over us. I believe its a myth that will be conclusively disproved in my lifetime.

Upgrade yourself from the world of coding - Deccan Herald

This is a fine article from Subroto Bagchi, the co-founder and COO of MindTree. The only problem with what he is suggesting is that lack of time may prevent one from developing the skills required to take one to the next level. Efficient time management is the key. Just developing the skill to manage one's time better will make a huge difference.

What's wrong with RAW?

Politicians being politicians look after their interests first.
Then the interests of their family.
Then the interests of their relatives.
Then the interests of their friends.
Then the interests of their supporters.

The interests of their country comes last, if at all.

Even if we have laws to prevent R&AW from being used for political purposes, how would we enforce this?

There is no cure for the problems mentioned in this article which is a good one overall. I would have said parliamentry oversight could be one remedy but then I firmly believe in "you scratch my back and I scratch your's" when it comes to politicians. So a parliamentry committee is a no go.

Arjun tank programme suffers more delays - India News Online :: 123Bharath.com - Updates News when it happen

Such an idiotic article!!!

I don't know where to start. These Indian media bastards wouldn't know a tank if it came and bit them on their fat arses!

But one example should suffice to illustrate why incomplete information put out by Indian media gives a distorted picture of the problems that Arjun apparently faces.

"But army officials said there were numerous problems with the Arjun - it is too wide to be transported on Indian Railway rakes, it weighs almost 10 tonnes more than similar tanks developed by other countries and there were teething problems with its engine."

It's too wide by design. IA wanted a western style heavy and shouldn't be cribbing now if what they wanted is delivered. If the IA wants western style heavy tank protection at Russian tank weights then they need to get their heads examined by a good shrink because such a combination is not possible with today's technology, let alone technology that India possesses. Existing Indian Railway rakes cannot take the Arjun but IR is designing rakes that can. And IR will charge the IA extra because the width of the Arjun exceeds the overhang that is allowed. As far as weighing 10 tonnes more than similar tanks developed by other countries, that's an outright lie. Arjun needs to be compared with western style heavy tanks and not with Russian lightweights. Russian tanks emphasize mobility over better protection levels because their philosophy is different from Western/NATO philosophy. Western tanks have crew protection levels which are way beyond what Russian tanks provide. Arjun is based on similar philosophy, no wonder it weighs more. Its weight is comparable to that of the Western heavies. Teething problems with its engines were expected because temperatures in the Indian Thar desert are high compared to where Western tanks were expected to operate - the plains of Central Europe. The Arjun uses a version of the German MTU 838 diesel engine. This engine delivers 1400 hp which would be sufficient if additional power wasn't drawn for cooling. This air-conditioning reduces the output which is why mobility suffers a little bit. Since India doesn't produce any tank engine, we are forced to depend on imports for this crucial part.

Renuka's blunderbuss

That tourism minister has suddenly become a defence expert, all because a parent was in the services :-D

Just like a former PM who suddenly became a tank expert and started touting to all and sundry that the T72S was superior to the T90 that India was buying.

Yes, and pigs can fly.

Should India remain silent?

The above news report mentions that George Fernandes, the former defence minister in the Vajpayee government was strip searched twice in the US, once while on an official visit and once in transit. That's pathetic! But typically, we Indians will not make a song and dance about it and will let other people walk all over us :-(

I wonder what's in our pysche that makes us take injustice and mistreatment lying down.

The best thing would be to lodge an official protest and decline any official visit to the US by any Indian government official / public servant until the US officially apologises for this incident and makes a solemn promise that this will never occur again.

Not really.

We need lots of rain to fill tanks around Bangalore that are dry.

It was nice to see some good old fashioned, honest to goodness rains in Bangalore after a long time. It rained cats and dogs, elephants and camels and all the other animals in the jungle! It started at about 7.30 last evening and continued until 11.30. It may have drizzled for some time after that. There is a tank on the way to my office which used to be bone dry. That had some water this morning, which confirms that it really poured last night. Lots of wind too, which made an umbrella useless.

This is the first time I'm seeing rain like this in Bangalore.

It rained heavily last evening and continued to do so last night. Since even a short downpour is enough to flood Bangalore streets, its no surprise that tons of places were under knee deep water. The first thing I noticed today were more potholes, created overnight. Obviously, with one of the constituents of the present government being JS(S), there is no progress on repairing roads, let alone relaying the ones too far gone to repair :-( So much for promises that all potholes will be filled within four days. Which might be technically true since no start date was ever mentioned :-D

There continues to be no sign of progress on the flyovers on Airport Road and the two flyovers on Bannerghatta road. Nobody knows what their completion dates are.

Nobody cares either.

Another nice article from Swapan Dasgupta, possibly the only Bengali not constantly towing the Congress or Left Line.

The PM has now shown that he too is not above partisan politics by the two actions OKed by him as described by the article below. Another leg of the Congress holier-than-thou pedestal has just been demolished :-)

Not that the people care. The people of India are above politics. No wonder we get the government we deserve!

Manmohan is just another politician

Bangalore must have the most pathetic infrastructure of any major city in India.

It is difficult to find one pothole free road in Bangalore, let alone one smooth one. Almost every road is choked with traffic because the public transport system is the pits and everyone uses their personal transportation. Lots of cars, SUVs and bikes with just the driver in/on it equals total traffic chaos. I'm guilty of the same but there is no choice.

Electricity supply is equally pathetic with long power cuts during weekends the norm. This is true even in the central parts of the city where I used to live until very recently. Far flung areas are worse with upto twelve hours of power cut during Sundays.

Water supply is also pathetic with large areas not receiving corporation water supply and being forced to depend on borewells or tankers.

Bangalore Shining? Only a true Bangalore chauvinist will say that is true!