PedeStrain

Few months back, I stopped on a red signal at crossing near Koti. At the junction a 'ticker sound' caught my attention. First I thought it to be sound for orange signal (hinting furious Hyderabadi drivers to throttle) but later realized sound is meant for Pedestrian-crossing!

Whoa, what a move by Hyderabad Traffic Authority, firstly to install pedestrian signals at all major junctions and moreover helping visually challenged pedestrians with audio signal to let them know about Pedestrian crossing interval. I felt this was the friendliest moves by Hyderabad Traffic Police after their ever so generous way of tackling traffic every year at Industrial Exhibition, Nampally.

Days passed by, ticker sound was to be heard at more and more places but had subtle difference!?

There were seldom any pedestrian waiting for that 'Walk-signal'.

Either most of the pedestrians were ignorant, not aware that such pedestrian-crossing installations at many places;

Or other elite few ignored them and gave cold looks to such signals as if they were never meant to be green!

Hyderabadis, why this Kolaveri?

When we know that our hard earned tax is being used in something good why not work with such authorities to make our city look better and more ordered?

Waiting for a mere minute won't do any harm in our travel then why crossing roads abruptly at any time, any place?

Ain't we educated enough to follow and obey traffic rules or we're so very careless about it?

Mostly it goes unnoticed that most of the chokes, mini-jams, traffic snarls happen are due to pedestrians abruptly crossing...

How good will it look if we start using zebra-crossing and do justice to pedestrian signals?

Let's think together and not make our taxes go in vain,

Instead let's make it work to reduce our pain;

By following all traffic norms and avoid being bane,

And should never be called again PedeSTRAIN!

Modi MiniMax Cabinet

After 10 days of emphatic victory it was Government formation day for Modi-led-NDA government. With more talks about SAARC leaders' presence (specially Nawaz Sharif, Rajapakse) and portfolio distribution in swearing-in ceremony what we forgot to look at was the qualifications of new Union Ministers of Indian democracy!

Here goes my blog on how I see my country's Cabinet Ministers:-

Pre-text: Here's an interesting thing done while portfolio distribution. To keep the promise of "Minimum Government Maximum Governance", NDA has reduced ministers by clubbing similar/related ministry under one roof. This gives ministers more power and thus making efficient government.
With earlier coalition government of UPA there were more than double ministers handling different ministries and MoS portfolios. Such assignment was de-facto coalition government model to keep all allies happy may be at the cost of higher number of ministers.
But with a clear BJP mandate, they could play 'Big-boss' rule without any resistance in NDA thus going ahead with 'MiniMax' model.

Starting with the Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi who is leader of Cabinet Ministers and rightly so! He has lead BJP-driven-NDA to power with his rhetoric speeches all across country. He looks be the boss taking all shots and right ring-master for all ministers (pray & hope that all his decisions will favor India-in-general and not-against-any community). Though lesser qualified that his predecessor but still with a degree of Masters in Political Sciences he's a leader to reckon with his all "leadership skills".

Coming to #2 spot of Home Minister, acquired by to-be-ex-BJP-President Rajnath Singh. Physics lecturer by profession he gained his name in BJP thanks to his RSS links and now he's all set to handle Home affairs of our country. His abilities were recently admired in case where he tackled Advani's fall-out over naming Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate in run-up to General Elections 2014. He has been a successful strategist and with his resourcing abilities he's a good prospect for nation.

Going from Home to External Affairs handed over to Sushma Swaraj a very well known face of BJP who has been Leader of Opposition of Lok Sabha in UPA tenure 2009-2014. She has served a long journey from being a Supreme Court advocate till taking charge of MEA.
(+ Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs)

Counting ahead the big guns of Modi Cabinet comes very close aide of Modi, Arun Jaitley who has been handed Finance Ministry (+ Corporate Affairs + Defense Ministry - temporarily?). Ex-Leader of Opposition of Rajya Sabha has actually lost his first Election 2014 (earlier he has been RS member) from Amritsar to Captain Amrinder Singh. But this hasn't stopped him from bagging one of top-4 spot in cabinet! This Commerce Graduate has even practiced Law at Supreme Court (obviously with degree in 'law' ;) ) handling prestigious cases. With commerce background and very vocal nature he's all set to be darling of India Inc and has quite some work at hand. With higher inflation, deprecating rupee value he has his tasks cut-out!

Next biggie in league is Venkaiah Naidu having origin in Nellore and has done Law from Andhra University. He's given charge for Minister of Urban Development. Also he'll be taking charge of Parliamentary Affairs taking legacy forward from UPA's Kamal Nath.
(+  Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation + Parliamentary Affairs )

Controversial ex-President of BJP, Nitin Gadkari has been shown faith in and allocated Transport portfolio (combining Minister of Road Transport and Highways + Minister of Shipping)

Prime-time spokesperson of BJP Ravi Shankar Prasad has been rewarded for his efforts of tackling various media houses by assigning him Communication & Information Technology ministry.
(+ Minister for Law and Justice).
Few people have tipped that he might be brought back as "Information & Broadcasting Minister" but this has been allocated to another media-face from BJP Prakash Javadekar (MoS). He has started a chapter of allowing news on FM radio and 100% FDI in media houses. So, he's right on money from the day of appointment and hope he brings us result sooner than later. He has also be given charge for Parliamentary Affairs, Environment minstry.

Railway Ministry headed towards a rather new national face of BJP, Sadananda Gowda hailing from Karnataka. He has been a surprise factor of Modi cabinet to hand-over such high profile Railway ministry to a first time Parliamentarian.

Contesting from seat of Varanasi, Modi has to do something for the holy city. He has chose 'sadhvi' for his help. He appointed Uma Bharti as Minister for Water Resource highlighting Ganga rejuvenation. So, Modi has something to give back to his constituency in the name of new-looking-ministry headed familiar face of Banaras! What down-plays her appointment is her education which supposedly seems to be till 5th standard!!! Whether education or administration is necessary for being a good minister, only time will tell!!!

Coming to the only 'Muslim' face of Modi Cabinet, which got to be Minority Affairs has went to grand-niece of Maulana Azad, Najma Heptulla. Let's hope that Ex-congress-women and former-deputy-chairperson of Rajya Sabha will be termed as 'perfectionist' as her second cousin Amir Khan.
Unfortunately in her wee hours of taking charge she has struck controversy calling Muslims as non-minority. This will obviously be fodder for media but how it'll affect Muslims, only time will tell...

Sticking to subject of Lady cabinet minister, other 2 from BJP are Smriti Irani and Maneka Gandhi.
Television artiste Smriti who has handled many family member as and ideal bahu (daughter-in-law) is now in charge of Human Resource Development. Before taking office she's dragged into controversy over her educational qualification. While Ajay Maken of Congress questioned a non-graduate minister handling prestigious IITs and IIMs; controversy raked up with Smriti's inconsisted educational certificates submitted at different years. Still this story is far from over as Congress is finding soft target in her with considerable proofs to keep this story in news.

Continuing about 'bahu-talks', while one Nehru-Gandhi family bahu explicitly ruled for a decade, it's not end to road for Gandhi ladies. Another bahu Maneka has been handed over Ministry for Women and Child Development. [On a lighter note, I'm happier that she hasn't been assigned Food packaging or related ministry as India might have to go-green and say no to non-veg.. ;) ]

Rest in Peace - Gopinath Munde who was sworn-in as Cabinet Minsiter for Rural Development but died in a car accident on 3rd June 2014 in New Delhi. He was a senior BJP leader from Maharashtra!

Health ministry goes to Dr. Harshwardhan ex-CM candidate for Delhi'13 polls. Pioneer of Pulse Polio eradication problem is very suited person for this job and hope he will start a trend of "right-person-right-portfolio" assignment.

Coming to coalition....
Ex-Railway Minister LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan this time has been assigned 'Consumer Affairs'. Had BJP not got absolute majority and needed alliance for government Paswan must have been eyeing Railways again. But now he should be happy with allocated portfolio at a juncture where BJP could have formed government on their own.

Talking about another ally TDP has been provided a cabinet berth for "Civil Aviation" and the person chosen by TDP supremo Chandrababu for this post is his old associate Ashok Gajapati Raju. Right within taking charge he has struck a chord with his mentor by initiating talks of renaming Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International airport after TDP founder N.T.Rama Rao. I feel it's just a ceremonial beginning of renaming saga and many government policies will follow this example!

Another core ally of BJP Siva Sena has found Cabinet position for Heavy Industries and the person picked by Thackreys is Anant Geete. Earlier there was discord between SS and BJP over allotment of position but it was surprisingly fixed over-night. Whether it was magic wand from PM or a mere political drama, it's for Pundits to decide!

Last minister among non-BJP cabinet minister is Siromani Akali Dal's Ms. Harsimrat Kaur, daughter-in-law of Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal. She's taken over as Minister for Food Processing Industries.

Telangana - New kid on the block

In 9 north-eastern districts of Andhra Pradesh, many of people going to bed on 1st June 2014 found themselves waking up in a new state of Telangana. Though this is a historic moment but not adhoc. This change comes after decades long struggle for the rights of people of Telangana. This movement gained momentum from 2001 when Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) formed Telangana Rashtra Samiti(TRS) leaving his then-party Telugu Desam (TDP). With lot of drama, agitations, politics, bandhs and every possible effort people of Telangana have been successful in forming 29th state of India.

While Telangana people are elated on a new state but there's other side of story too. People of the residual Andhra are not so happy of division, mostly for losing high-profile-city-Hyderabad! It's the same city which people of both regions have developed together and it must have been a tough decision to accept when Hyderabad will come no longer under their jurisdiction a decade later (Hyderabad to be common capital for Telangana & residual Andhra Pradesh for 10 years). Nonetheless, finally we're going to have a new state carved out of a region sharing same regional language, Telugu.

Though the history is there to be read in detail, but the important question today is what lies next for these imparting states? Looking ahead in future there are lot of expectations from both the regions of ex-AP. Telangana would like to empower it's own people and thrive on the resources of the region, where-as Seemandhra would be in to give a big-time-run-for-money to Telangana in every aspect. There's gonna be lot of issue that'd need discussion and agreement between people of both parts; but going in for a health competition should serve in region's interest. In my view Seemandhra has got an added advantage as they've chosen a growth-oriented, experienced campaigner in the name of Nara Chandra Babu Naidu (NCBN) as their first Chief Minister. Whereas Telangana will be headed by the TRS supremo KCR who as of date don't have experience in leading the government. While NCBN has a range of experienced politicians/bureaucrats to his help and support from BJP-led Central government will be an added advantage; KCR can rely on the patriotic under-current of Telangana people to develop their region.

With both the states are starting a new chapter in Indian history, Telangana is banking on the resources and stake of Hyderabad where as Andhra is banking on their experienced CM who's committed for development starting his state's planning from the drawing-board!
Concluding with wishes to both sides of Andhra and hope we all stand for the pledge that India boasts about: "Unity in Diversity"!

'Bus' ab bas...

29th May 2014 - This day was a memorable day for any Hyderabadi private vehicle driver. As he seldom faced any challenged (apart from bad road conditions - by default) thanks to Telangana bandh by most patriotic Telangana party. While bandh seemed to be quite effective as party is set to step into governance mode in less than a week's time; what made bandh more pleasant was absence of RTC buses from road. This gave auto-rickshaw drivers to have more commanding drives and gave a break to the 'brakes' of 2/4-wheelers. The day marked use of good accelerator on a Hyderabadi road which is quite amazing unless you're a core old city resident!
Places like Lakdi ka Pul, Mehdipatnam wore a deserted look! Near Mehdipatnam I could feel grin on my bike when she'd have seen a fleet of buses standing idle in corner of road. My bike must be feeling so happy that there will be less over taking job at hand today... Much satisfying was organized Lakdi ka Pul junction where our Hyderabad Kings err Bus drivers stop their jets in middle of the road even knowing that fact that bus-stop has been moved to corner due to on-going Metro work. It cares them little even if they stop buses in middle of road, rightly so "government ka maal jo hai"...
Anyway yesterday marked a pleasant day for most of Hyderabadi drivers but won't have been such better day for people who commute by buses daily! :( Spare a thought for people who have no means other than this-economical-government-transport. Anyway, let's hope such days will be lesser as the party famous for 'bandhs' is going to form it's first government soon. [Note: We're not talking about Delhi here.. :P]
Concluding with a wish that we continue to have RTC buses on road but more educated and responsible RTC drivers will help us the most! And a prayer that 'Hyderabad Metro' project go live soon so that we have lesser traffic, better commuting, greener city and happier Hyderabadi!

India General Elections 2014 - My Analysis

It's been a week since May 16 the day which decided fate of thousands of politicians from India. There were lucky 543 who got a ticket to Indian Temple of Democracy, The Parliament!

In many ways these elections have been phenomenal be it land-slide victory of BJP led NDA or complete rout of Congress. There are many ways to look at the results of May16; here it goes my-view...

Election summary starts with emphatic numbers from BJP by getting absolute majority on their own (Only Chanakya could have predicted that ;) ) They swept all major states from UP, Rajasthan, MP, Bihar, Gujrat etc. On the other hand is a very sorry story for Congress which got so less seats in number that they can't even be 'Principle Opposition' in Parliament (< 10% of total).

Following anlaysis breaks down to regional politics:

Source of picture: http://www.mapsofindia.com/parliamentaryconstituencies/maps-election-2014/india-parliamentary-result.jpg

Going geographically from South, Amma showed us why she's *Boss*... AIADMK wiped DMK from Tamil Nadu though they went alone this election. Both the development work which Amma is doing and corruption allegations on DMK paved way for almost 40 MPs from AIADMK to Parliament. But even though being in such big numbers from a regional party they will sit in opossition!

Kerala with West Bengal were the states that went again the wave of this General Elections, called "Modi-wave". While Kerala didn't give much ground to BJP, WB's Mamata di showed us why she's a force to reckon with. She raised many eye-brows by winning 30+ MP seats fighting anti-incumbancy.

Another state (mine) which was not so "Modi-fied" was Andhra Pradesh (Telangana + Seemandhra). In AP Congress was killed twice with understandable Seemandhra loss and shocking rejection in Telangana! Telugu people chose Naidu as their CM, giving so so space to YSR's Jagan. But in Telangana Congress got a drubbing with TRS attaining majority (60+ out of 119) on its own. Congress were riding high on Telangana-sentiment showing how instrumental Sonia-amma was in Telangana state creation. But lack of regional face costed high for the party which reduced to few numbers. Where MIM was one of few regional parties that survived India's Modi-fication and managed to hold their 7 seats with a default Sansand-ratna MP from my city (Hyderabad).

Moving ahead one astonishing point for me was Yeddyurappa winning MP seat in Karnataka. Wasn't it a dent in BJP's anti-corruption movement when they inducted him back in BJP? But no one questions them now as he has got BJP a MP seat! Well.. Is for you to decide whether it was "horses for courses" move or dual-faced-BJP!

Talking about Orissa, BJD survived and held most of their seats in state but couldn't stop BJP of 'bhauni' (start-up) in Orissa. With almost two-dozen MPs Biju Patnaik looks all set for a hand-shake with TMC & AIADMK to stop Congress from grabbing "Opposition" position in Parliament.

Going ahead in north it was all saffron surge!!! Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Uttar Pradesh were all clean-sweeped! UP being biggest surprise of this election. Man-of-the-Elections-2014 Amit Shah, UP State Secretary's plans were very rightly placed yielding mind-boggling numbers for BJP in UP (70+ out of 80). In my opinion making Modi stand for Varanasi seat was The Move of Elections-2014 taking into consideration that (i) It impacts complete UP (ii) Varanasi goes to elections in the last phase of polling, therefore in news for complete election phases (iii) Timings of Modi's nomination filing for Varansi seat on a polling day for other state. All this making it a super-move! SP and BSP were decimated with a big zerO for BSP and singule digit for SP. No questions why Akhilesh Yadav is on rage and dissolved his State Affairs Committee.. But to my surprise he holds on to his position! Wow, what a justice with party-workers...!
Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chauhan delivered it once again after state elections last year leaving almost no room for Congress. Gujrat was swept by their CM's PM ambitions and support was evident with first rally of Modi in Ahmedabad which came post-election-results!

Talking about Delhi, anger of AK-47 resignation from CM post was evident in Delhi results, with BJP bagging all 7 seats. AK has now got work cut out to regain people's faith. My wishes with him to regain trust of Delhi! Anyway, Punjab served as face-saver for AAP with 3 MP seats giving something to cheer AAP volunteers.

In north-most part J&K, Omar Abdullah's National Congress was humiliated. His father Farooq Abdullah lost first election of his life causing celebrations in PDP's camp. Mufti family is now back again in news!!

Tarun Gogoi's resignation from Assam CM post was the news from North-east part of country. First casualty that Congress had post-election-results-declaration. Though with latest update of Sonia Gandhi not accepting his resignation means this episode is far from over!

Well, above was my brain-map of General Elections 2014 which "Modi-fied" India! Please forgive if you encounter figures/data is wrong anywhere courtesy my fading memory.. ;)

Conclusion & Expectation from "Mister Prime Minister":
Being not-a-fan of Modi I'll take in-charge as his critic during his tenure as PM. But surely I'll not forget to applaud him if he walks the talk! He has given good signs by calling all SAARC state heads for his swearing-in ceremony on 26th May. May be it is a diplomatic move to reply Nawaz Sharif's invitation to Modi to visit Pakistan but it'll go down as a promising beginning in my view. As for next 5 years I'd like to see that Narendra Modi of few-month-old who talks about development, good governance, anti-corruption and bringing black money back. Quite interested to see his promises coming true specially about black money which BJP has asked time for some days in power!
If Modi does even does half of what he has promised, I'll be the one rooting for his second tenure provided we never see Modi of 2002 again!

Thanks all for patient reading, would like to hear from you if you've any bouquets or brick-bats for me.. :D