The new HRD minister  Prakash Javadekar

 is the “right person in the right place.” He is the one who has the personality combined with diligence and pragmatism, he will be successful in extricating the HRD ministry from the controversies and deficiencies. however has to cope with numerous challenges to cleanse Indian education. the recently released national policy on education report 2016 (NPER) has convincingly argued that Indian education system is in a state of “disarray”. the most important issue is that of the degree trading deemed universities. the Tandon committee found “undesirable management architecture” in most of the deemed universities, a reference to their being family, rather than professionally, managed. the committee also indicted the 44 varsities for “thoughtless introduction” of new study programmes beyond the mandate of the original terms of grant of deemed university status. it also concluded that none of them were engaged in any meaningful research activity. when the government realised that the public mood was against indiscriminately granting deemed university status (later university status) to all sorts of private teaching shops owned by unscrupulous persons, mainly politicians. with the floodgates having been opened by Arjun Singh and reports of the poor quality and unemployability of Indian university graduates causing alarm in industry and media, the government was forced to a freeze sanctioning new deemed universities, and placed existing ones under the scanner of the Tandon committee. it is reported that at the time of the freeze order, 225 proposals for deemed universities were under the consideration of the commission, of which 37 were from Tamil Nadu, 30 from Uttar Pradesh, 24 from Maharashtra, and 17 from Karnataka. moreover, the HRD ministry constituted its own committee under the chairmanship of prof. p.n.Tandon, to investigate existing deemed universities. the Tandon committee’s recommended for derecognition 44 deemed universities was accepted by the HRD ministry. as usual the managements of these institutions approached the judiciary. the case is pending.in this context, one aspect has to be made clear. UGC action to grant deemed university status is a clear case of encroachment of state autonomy. moreover, UGC is ill-equipped to monitor and control the functioning of the deemed universities. therefore, the granting of deemed university status should be stopped forthwith. the existing deemed universities may be brought under the ambit of monitoring by central/state government.

Times of India, HRD Mantri’s real job is not fire-fighting, it’s education,  July 10, 2016,

Smart Cities

''The new NDA government under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had announced that the UPA government’s Scheme of RAY would be discontinued and the liabilities of this scheme are proposed to be subsumed in the proposed new scheme, i.e., 'Sardar Patel National Housing Mission. ‘In fact, the NDA Government has proposed to provide Housing for All by the year 2022 and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is in the process of developing a new scheme to cater to housing for all by 2022, by building 30 million houses, mostly for the economically weaker sections and low income groups. The projects already proposed under RAY are planned to be subsumed in the new scheme. Experts believe that it will be tough task to fulfill the NDA government’s promise of “housing for all by 2022,” considering the track record of different government programmes in the recent years. The Standing Committee on Urban Development in its recent report (18 December, 2014) has urged upon the Ministry Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation to make concerted efforts “to remove all the bottlenecks and implement the scheme in true spirit otherwise, the target for “Housing for All” would remain a distant dream.” The NDA government has also come out with the ambitious plan of building 100 smart new cities in the country. Smart cities are projected to be equipped with basic infrastructure and will offer a good quality of life through smart solutions. Assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation along with safety of its citizens are some of the likely attributes of these smart cities. The government seems to look forward to the building of the smart cities that will have better facilities, better connectivity and better environment. In 2015, the NDA government has unveiled a list of 98 cities, including 24 state capitals for its Smart Cities project. Moreover, there is also no reference about how far the concept of smart cities will help to make the Indian cities slum-free. In fact, it has to be noted that the strategy for the development of Indian cities, including the concept of smart cities, will not be fruitful unless it includes a plan for making the cities slum-free.

Unstable Waters: Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is a water scarce area and rain water is the major source of water supply in the state. Tamil Nadu accounts for 4 per cent of the land area and 6 per cent of the population, but only 3 per cent of the water resources of the country. Most of Tamil Nadu is located in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats and hence receives limited rainfall from the south-west monsoon. The total water potential of the State is 36 km3 or 24,864 M cum. There are 17 major river basins in the State with 61 reservoirs and about 41,948 tanks. Of the annual water potential of 46,540 million cubic metres (MCM), surface flows account for about half. Most of the surface water has already been tapped, primarily for irrigation which is the largest user. There are about 24 lakh hectares irrigated by surface water through major, medium and minor schemes. The utilisation of surface water for irrigation is about 90 percent. The utilisable groundwater recharge is 22,423 MCM. The current level of utilisation expressed as net ground water draft of 13,558 MCM is about 60 percent of the available recharge, while 8,875 MCM (40 percent) is the balance available for use. Over the last five years, the percentage of safe blocks has declined from 35.6 per cent to 25.2 percent while the semi-critical blocks have gone up by a similar percentage. There is shortage of water for various competing requirements such as, domestic, agricultural, commercial and industrial purposes. Moreover, over the years, proper attention has not been given to maintain the sources of water storage built in the past, viz., lakes, ponds and tanks (including the Temple tanks), which criss cross all over the State, besides the naturally formed lakes and estuaries. Over the years, a large number of the water bodies have been encroached by anti-social elements. Temple tanks all over the State are invariably occupied by encroachers. Moreover, most of the lakes, tanks and ponds have remained unattended for long and as a result, silt formation has reduced their storage capacities. Above all, unscientific (mostly illegal) sand mining has caused severe damage to most of the river systems in the State. As there is growing pressure on available water resources due to the burgeoning demand for water, concrete steps have to be initiated to desilt, renovate and restore the existing water bodies and create new sources to increase water storage facilities so as to enable adequate supply of water. For providing equitable, affordable piped water supply to the people of the State it is required to explore and tap all obtainable sources of water, including rain water, groundwater, surface sources, desalination and waste-water re-use.

Street vending in Chennai

Street vending or hawking is one of the important means of earning a livelihood for the work force in the city. Estimates show that about 66 percent of the city’s work force is involved in informal sector and a sizable proportion among them constitutes unorganised retail traders. Of these, a significant section comprises street vendors or hawkers. Estimates show that Chennai has about 1.25 lakh street vendors or hawkers. They are found in every busy location and road/street in all over the city. However, the presence of large numbers of street vendors or hawkers   has become a contentious issue.  Truly, hawking on road margins, pavements, pedestrian sub-ways and foot over bridges leads to congestion and overcrowding. In many areas footpaths are almost lost to the hawkers. Increasingly, pedestrians are finding to their dismay that the space meant for them is only shrinking.  Besides eating into carriage/pedestrian way, the hawkers often dump garbage in the areas where they carry on their trade, creating nuisance to the public. Sometimes, when hawkers appropriate so much space for themselves they do become more of an impediment/ irritant than a convenience.

 In many areas the shopkeepers keep their fingers crossed as their shops are becoming unapproachable and often invisible for the customers. There has been a long-running battle between street vendors, shopkeepers and pedestrians in all the cities/ towns all over the country over encroachment of roadsides and pavements by hawkers. In fact, trade wars between shopkeepers and hawkers take place very frequently in different places in the cities/towns all over the country.  As residents’ associations as well as shopkeepers associations become more powerful, there is growing pressure on local municipal offices and police to tackle “the hawker menace.” But the hawkers have the support of local politicians and goons, who receive “mamool” from the hawkers.

The hawkers say that the shopkeepers, including big ones, also obstruct traffic flow and pedestrian movements by spreading their wares on pavements and road margins. Besides, according to them, the greatest cause  of  obstruction to traffic  flow,  inconvenience to commuters, nuisance to shopkeepers, and hindrance to street vendors themselves is caused by encroachment of road margins and pavement by  parking (legal as well as illegal) of trucks, cars, motorbikes, scooters, even in busy roads and nearby markets in the cities/towns.

 At present, street vending or hawking is an integral part of urban life in Indian cities/towns. Various studies have already confirmed the fact that street vendors comprise one of the most marginalised sections of the urban poor. What was a sporadic activity found near the railway stations, bus stands, markets and other busy localities, today street vending is institutionaslised in every part of the cities and towns all over India. In fact, one can rarely find a road, street, lane or public place without the presence of hawkers. Experts say that as long as people are unable to get better jobs with higher remuneration in the formal sector, they will continue to fall back to street vending or hawking as a profession/activity to eke out their livelihood. No doubt, the presence of large number  street vendors create  numerous problems  for the civic authorities, traffic police, vehicle users, shopkeepers, pedestrians and the general public. But it is impossible to totally eliminate street vending, for it will jeopardise the livelihood of millions of poor people. Any attempt to eliminate them will only be counterproductive and lead to disharmony. Yet their operations have to be necessarily regulated so as to reduce commuter hardships, obstruction of traffic flow and hindrance to shopkeepers.

 In sum, at present, street vending or hawking is an integral part of urban life in Indian cities/towns. Various studies have already confirmed the fact that street vendors comprise one of the most marginalised sections of the urban poor. What was a sporadic activity found near the railway stations, bus stands, markets and other busy localities, today street vending is institutionaslised in every part of the cities and towns all over India. In fact, one can rarely find a road, street, lane or public place without the presence of hawkers. Experts say that as long as people are unable to get better jobs with higher remuneration in the formal sector, they will continue to fall back to street vending or hawking as a profession/activity to eke out their livelihood. No doubt, the presence of large number  street vendors create  numerous problems  for the civic authorities, traffic police, vehicle users, shopkeepers, pedestrians and the general public. But it is impossible to totally eliminate street vending, for it will jeopardise the livelihood of millions of poor people. Any attempt to eliminate them will only be counterproductive and lead to disharmony. Yet their operations have to be necessarily regulated so as to reduce commuter hardships, obstruction of traffic flow and hindrance to shopkeepers.

Sickness of SMEs

In recent years, the small scale (SME) units have been put to cruelty and grave hardship because of the introduction of scheme of classifying accounts into non performing assets (NPA). In 1997, NPAs of micro, small, medium, large industries put together stood at 15.8 percent of bank loans. In the same year, while the SSI sector was responsible for nearly one-half of the total number of NPA accounts, its share in the absolute amount of NPA accounts was about 20 percent. Thereafter, the proportion of NPA accounts started to decline due to the introduction of very stringent norms. It declined to 10.7 percent 1999-2000 and thereafter it showed a continuous decline and stood at to 2.4 percent in 2008-09. But recently there has been an enormous increase in the number and volume of NPA accounts. The NPAs of the Indian banking sector increased to 2.40 percent in 2010-11 and increased further to . 2.94 in 20011-12. In absolute figures NPAs have almost doubled during 2009-2012, i.e. it increased from about Rs.56,300 crore in March 2008 to about Rs.117,262 crore in March 2012. And assets under reconstruction had trebled during the same period. But for the restructuring of corporate sector bad loans amounting to Rs.2.0 lakh crore in the last two years the banking sector would have witnessed an enormous surge in the volume of NPA. According to figures provided by RBI many corporates have gone for second restructuring, which shows that the situation is becoming more serious. Experts feel that applying certain common norms to classify the accounts as NPA for all categories of industries, viz. large, medium, small, and micro units, is illogical and unreasonable. To treat a micro industrial/business unit together with large scale units is sheer imprudence and ramification of neo-liberalism. The current practice of classifying industrial units as “non- performing,” if interest or installments of principal due remain unpaid for more than 90 days has caused grave hardship and untold sufferings to the small scale entrepreneurs across the country. So they have been clamoring for relaxation of norms for NPAs and extension of time limit for repayment of loans from the present 90 days to at least 180 days, following the ongoing global recession.5It has resulted in more and more SME units becoming sick and ultimately NPA in the absence of proper rehabilitation or restructuring of the SSI as in the case of the corporate sector. As a result, the SME units all over the country are in a fix, anticipating closure of their units any time either by themselves or by the banks.Reports show that sometimes the bank officers harass the borrowers even for flimsy and unorthodox reasons.

Vendors Relocated in Pondy Bazaar Hawkers' Complex lose patrons

Obstruction of traffic and pedestrians and causing hindrance to shops by roadside/pavement vendors have become contentious issues in cities and towns all over the country. In Chennai city also thousands of street vendors/hawkers have set up roadside/pavement shops all over the city encroaching upon pavements and roadsides with political patronage and connivance of corrupt officials. The encroachment of roadsides and pavements by hawkers/vendors also cause obstruction to the shop keepers leading to clash between regular shopkeepers and hawkers. Sometimes road-side stall owners also fight over occupying a space. In some cases they become law unto themselves with political patronage and as a result regulation becomes difficult. In many cases, the local authorities have removed the encroachments by hawkers. But after some days they return to the same spot. Even intervention by the Courts has produced nil results. In the busy business centre of Pondy Bazaar in T.Nagar, Chennai, hawkers had set up business on roadsides and pavements causing obstruction to the shopkeepers, besides causing traffic problems and inconvenience to the pedestrians. Pavement on both sides of the entire stretch of Pondy Bazaar was occupied by hawkers obstructing traffic, pedestrian movement, besides causing great inconvenience to shopkeepers. The pedestrians invariably were edged out. The shops encroached upon the space meant for pedestrians, thereby forcing them to use the carriageway. Based on complaints from shopkeepers and pedestrians, the corporation authorities removed the encroachments with police protection on many times, but the hawkers used to return with redoubled vigour. Finally on November 7, 2013, the Chennai Corporation implemented a Madras High Court order and evicted 96 hawkers who have been on the road for decades. The traders were forced to vacate the pavement and move into the three-storey shopping complex built for their benefit by Chennai Corporation on Thyagaraya Road. The complex  was built for the hawkers in March 2011  remained under lock and key until recently, as hawkers were not  interested to move into the complex, built on a budget of about Rs 4.5 crore. The complex was designed to have 629 shops, including 100 on the ground floor that were to be occupied by flower, vegetable and fruit vendors. The buildings corridors are rather narrow but it has good lighting and toilets. But there are no security guards or any system to lock the complex at night and drunkards use the building as a shelter.

Actually a plan for re-locating the hawkers came up in 2003, after a Madras High Court-appointed Committee came out with its report. The building has provision for the 650-odd hawkers identified by the Committee. The hawkers were unimpressed by the size of the shops because each shop has an area of 5 x 5 feet as against the 10 x 10 feet demanded by the hawkers. According to the hawkers, here are no facilities for them to store their wares and there is no guarantee that their things will be safe at night. Recently, this commentator, made a study of the business prospects of the resettled hawkers. The hawkers occupying shops in the second and third floors were found to have not much business. Most of the shops remained shutting even during peak hours. The general complaint of the hawkers resettled in the complex is that customers patronage has declined considerably compared to their pavement shops in Pondy Bazaar, where they were vending for more than two decades. Most of the hawkers resettled in the complex said they were planning to move elsewhere than suffer in doing business in the complex. Some of them have already shut shop and moved elsewhere after their business took a severe hit but the others remain clinging on with the hope that their customers will follow them to the complex sometime soon.