Unauthorised and illegal constructions- Most reliable way out

Urban congestion is a pressing issue in many cities worldwide, including India. One effective strategy to alleviate this problem is to subsidise non-essential companies to relocate outside the city. This approach not only reduces the need for costly infrastructure projects within the city but also creates opportunities in suburban areas. Additionally, such administrative intervention can disrupt the economics of illegal constructions and ease population density.

Subsidising non-essential companies to move outside the city can significantly reduce the strain on urban infrastructure. For instance, the introduction of congestion charges in London reduced traffic entering the zone by 18% and congestion by 30%1. By relocating businesses, cities can achieve similar reductions in traffic, thereby decreasing the need for expensive road expansions and public transport upgrades.

In India, cities like Bangalore face severe congestion, costing the city approximately 5% of its economic output2. By decentralising businesses, similar economic savings can be achieved, which can be redirected to other essential services.

Encouraging businesses to move to suburban areas can stimulate local economies and create job opportunities. Suburbs often have lower living costs and more available space, making them attractive for both businesses and employees. This can lead to a more balanced regional development, reducing the economic disparity between urban and suburban areas.

For example, the IT sector in India has seen success with transport demand management (TDM) strategies, such as providing commuter subsidies and company buses2. These initiatives have shifted 30-50% of targeted employees from cars to public transport, reducing travel times and costs.

Illegal constructions are a common issue in densely populated cities. These structures often arise due to the high demand for space and the lack of affordable housing. By reducing the population density through the relocation of businesses, the pressure on urban land decreases. This can lead to a reduction in illegal constructions as the demand for space diminishes.

Reducing congestion has significant environmental and health benefits. Traffic congestion contributes to air pollution, which has been linked to various health issues, including respiratory problems and cardiovascular diseases. For example, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London, which builds on the congestion charge, has seen harmful nitrogen dioxide levels drop by 46% in central areas. By decentralising businesses, cities can reduce traffic-related pollution, leading to cleaner air and healthier residents.

In Indian cities, where pollution levels are among the highest globally, reducing congestion can have a profound impact on public health.

Subsidising non-essential companies to relocate outside the city is a multifaceted solution to urban congestion. It reduces the need for costly infrastructure projects, creates opportunities in suburban areas, disrupts the economics of illegal constructions, and offers environmental and health benefits. This strategy not only addresses the immediate issue of congestion but also promotes sustainable urban development in the long term.

Engineering,exceptions and limitations

Engineering is derived from the word Ingenius, said some. It is ingenious, no doubt. 

Each day humanity tries to make his world better, he thinks more, innovates more and  finally increases entropy. Hence making his life tougher each day. We did all this in search of finding new comforts, but now the Environmental fatigue has started to set in.  

We used to believe the atmosphere to be a infinite reservoir, The ocean to be a infinite reservoir. But turns out humans have spanned them all by their technology. They were all finite.  

Bit by bit, we have covered the engineering limitations. Trial and error most of the times (As if Darwin's theory would be the ultimate theory we could use).Anyhow, slowly we should be realising what is happening.. The pandemic gave the glimpse on a world without human chaos. The world in peace. The humans need to cool down their innner world to control the outer world.

As says the ancient scriptures, meditation keeps you in a lower energy strata. It calms you down, it keeps your entropy down. There is no better existence than a blissful soul working in ideal condition.

Hope the latest technology that is running for ideal efficiency, achieves it. 

Book Review-"The digital fortress" -Dan Brown

To solve a problem, you need to be smart enough, or you should be clever enough to copy the solution made by the smartest.

The digital fortress is a story based in a purported Secret Intelligence agency of US responsible for  encrypting the digital data of the world. In this world where digital data is supposed to be hidden from everyone than the receiver, the department prepared a back door entry to peep into everyone's privacy. The story starts from a whistle blower who blackmails to expose the data breach and release a better encryption standard than available ever . In the tryst to stop the department from data breakdown it is a race against time to stop the whistle blower. The story gets all the more thrilling when the chase continues all over Spain in order to stop the breach. Will the protagonist be successful? Isn't data privacy a right? Is the antagonist a protagonist. Read to know.

  

Book Review-"Around the world in 80 days" -Jules Verne

 One fine evening Mr.FOGG's narration of a newspaper headline in his club leads to placing a wager.A wager for completing a around the world tour in 80 days. Set in later period of 19th century, the story accounts the interesting experiences and courageous moments undertaken in the journey. It also throws light on the travel modes and the experiences on those around the world. The author has definitely given a nail biting climax even though...

Must read to find the answer

SECOND LAW OF LIFE-life of entropy and irreversibility

       Life is governed by some certain set of laws I believe. There should be something that governs us.What makes me think something? what is it that the brain is trying to achieve by thinking ? Answer ranges from Peace;Internal peace or moksh as Hindus call it. The scientist don't use their brain for this. They do it for human betterment as they call it. Businessmen do it for self-life quality development. Infact all the cases are same in terms of energy. Now the question is how. Every men are working to keep themselves in most comfortable position.Which is nothing but the least entropy generation state.

      Time can be called a function of entropy which is in itself a quantification of usable energy. A higher entropy of system implies a higher energy state which has to be dissipated to reach a stable state.Humans are always in higher energy state.They have to spend their energy when they need to .But we have found ways to surpass the need to prevent that energy disposal by bringing out the machines which dispose a higher amount of energy for the same need. We appointed a agent for our shopping who buys the same things at a higher price for us. The effect of higher price,though not visible to the eyes in the small scale, has got a a royal name of environmental degradation which all environmentalist as well as every nation keeps as a matter of great relevance in every global meet. Entropy generation is function of rate of energy dissipation. "We, the people of earth are not ready these days to give up much of our habits of life" which includes rampant energy usage.Now after this quote we definitely know why the entire world is so excited with energy. The energy of high quality was degraded to lower quality .As well as the energy of every human being is a multiple of his initial energy since he has machines to compound it.Examples of this range from using car to drones which all are an amplification of the energy forms.

     One important characteristic in dissipating such energy is the extent to which this energy has been beneficial to anyone.As per the law of thermodynamics the infinitesimally slow process is the most efficient process.So it also means the inverse is the least irreversible. This applies to every sphere of life, a deed done with careful thinking always lasts long with sustainability.Examples are the democracy and military rule changes around the world .Where democracy is stable since the process itself is slow and made by careful thinking to prevent the loss of energy states of individual entity .Whereas the military rule, though gained fast requires lots of energy dissipation in forms of arms for equalizing the energy level of each entity .All this while we also need to keep in mind that the energy ladder only allows upward movement there is no movement downwards.For every one step down you will be penalized to walk up two steps.So every person as part of humanity needs to keep it in mind that he utilizes minimum energy or generates minimum entropy.

     If carefully observed meditation is a type of decreasing the energy movements of brain which shall make the entity at ease since he gains a lower energy state.Life can never be reversible because it is made to be like that. It can be bought to near reversible by the greatest of yogis who maintain substantially less brain activity and still body. But every human being as a standard entity should keep a tab on their own body and activities which are generating the entropy.Making a energy change should not be subtle but gradual this would ensure that we are not interfering energy states and create a sustainable future.

      

About me:A mechanical engineer with a philosophical touch 

A hypothesis on the persistence of crony capitalism

Excerpted from the RBI governor’s speech at the Twentieth Lalit Doshi Memorial Lectureon August 11, 2014 at Mumbai.

One widely held hypothesis is that our country suffers from want of a “few good men” in politics. This view is unfair to the many upstanding people in politics. But even assuming it is true, every so often we see the emergence of a group, usually upper middle class professionals, who want to clean up politics. But when these “good” people stand for election, they tend to lose their deposits. Does the electorate really not want squeaky clean government?

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Apart from the conceit that high morals lie only with the upper middle class, the error in this hypothesis may be in believing that problems stem from individual ethics rather than the system we have. In a speech I made before the Bombay Chamber of Commerce in 2008, I argued that the tolerance for the venal politician is because he is the crutch that helps the poor and underprivileged navigate a system that gives them so little access. This may be why he survives.

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Let me explain. Our provision of public goods is unfortunately biased against access by the poor. In a number of states, ration shops do not supply what is due, even if one has a ration card – and too many amongst the poor do not have a ration card or a BPL card; Teachers do not show up at schools to teach; The police do not register crimes, or encroachments, especially if committed by the rich and powerful; Public hospitals are not adequately staffed and ostensibly free medicines are not available at the dispensary; …I can go on, but you know the all-too-familiar picture.

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This is where the crooked but savvy politician fits in. While the poor do not have the money to “purchase” public services that are their right, they have a vote that the politician wants. The politician does a little bit to make life a little more tolerable for his poor constituents – a government job here, an FIR registered there, a land right honoured somewhere else. For this, he gets the gratitude of his voters, and more important, their vote. Of course, there are many politicians who are honest and genuinely want to improve the lot of their voters. But perhaps the system tolerates corruption because the street smart politician is better at making the wheels of the bureaucracy creak, however slowly, in favour of his constituents. And such a system is self-sustaining. An idealist who is unwilling to “work” the system can promise to reform it, but the voters know there is little one person can do. Moreover, who will provide the patronage while the idealist is fighting the system? So why not stay with the fixer you know even if it means the reformist loses his deposit?

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So the circle is complete. The poor and the under-privileged need the politician to help them get jobs and public services. The crooked politician needs the businessman to provide the funds that allow him to supply patronage to the poor and fight elections. The corrupt businessman needs the crooked politician to get public resources and contracts cheaply. And the politician needs the votes of the poor and the underprivileged. Every constituency is tied to the other in a cycle of dependence, which ensures that the status quo prevails. Well-meaning political leaders and governments have tried, and are trying, to break this vicious cycle. How do we get more politicians to move from “fixing” the system to reforming the system? The obvious answer is to either improve the quality of public services or reduce the public’s dependence on them. Both approaches are necessary. But then how does one improve the quality of public services? The typical answer has been to increase the resources devoted to the service, and to change how it is managed. A number of worthwhile efforts are underway to improve the quality of public education and healthcare. But if resources leak or public servants are not motivated, which is likely in the worst governed states, these interventions are not very effective.

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Some have argued that making a public service a right can change delivery. It is hard to imagine that simply legislating rights and creating a public expectation of delivery will, in fact, ensure delivery. After all, is there not an expectation that a ration card holder will get decent grain from the fair price shop, yet all too frequently grain is not available or is of poor quality. Information decentralization can help. Knowing how many medicines the local public dispensary received, or how much money the local school is getting for mid-day meals, can help the public monitor delivery and alert higher-ups when the benefits are not delivered. But the public delivery system is usually most apathetic where the public is poorly educated, of low social status, and disorganized, so monitoring by the poor is also unlikely to be effective.

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Some argue that this is why the middle class should enjoy public benefits along with the poor, so that the former can protest against poor delivery, which will ensure high quality for all. But making benefits universal is costly, and may still lead to indifferent delivery for the poor. The middle class may live in different areas from the poor. Indeed, even when located in the same area, the poor may not even patronize facilities frequented by the middle class because they feel out of place. And even when all patronize the same facility, providers may be able to discriminate between the voluble middle class and the uncomplaining poor. So if more resources or better management are inadequate answers, what might work?

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The answer may partly lie in reducing the public’s dependence on government-provided jobs or public services. A good private sector job, for example, may give a household the money to get private healthcare, education, and supplies, and reduce their need for public services. Income could increase an individual’s status and increase the respect they are accorded by the teacher, the policeman or the bureaucrat. But how does a poor man get a good job if he has not benefited from good healthcare and education in the first place? In this modern world where good skills are critical to a good job, the unskilled have little recourse but to take a poorly-paying job or to look for the patronage that will get them a good job. So do we not arrive at a contradiction: the good delivery of public services is essential to escape the dependence on bad public services?

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Money liberates and Empowers…

We need to go back to the drawing board. There is a way out of this contradiction, developing the idea that money liberates. Could we not give poor households cash instead of promising them public services? A poor household with cash can patronize whomsoever it wants, and not just the monopolistic government provider. Because the poor can pay for their medicines or their food, they will command respect from the private provider. Not only will a corrupt fair price shop owner not be able to divert the grain he gets since he has to sell at market price, but because he has to compete with the shop across the street, he cannot afford to be surly or lazy.

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The government can add to the effects of empowering the poor by instilling a genuine cost to being uncompetitive – by shutting down parts of the public delivery systems that do not generate enough custom. Much of what we need to do is already possible. The government intends to announce a scheme for full financial inclusion on Independence Day. It includes identifying the poor, creating unique biometric identifiers for them, opening linked bank accounts, and making government transfers into those accounts. When fully rolled out, I believe it will give the poor the choice and respect as well as the services they had to beg for in the past. It can break a link between poor public service, patronage, and corruption that is growing more worrisome over time.

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http://qz.com/248685/raghuram-rajan-explains-why-corrupt-politicians-win-elections-in-india/