Delhi collapses after 4 hours of rain
Be careful what you wish for ! Delhi and North India were bereft of rain during the first month of the rainy season. A bit about why Delhi is special. This is a city that is supposed to become a world class city, a city that will host the Commonwealth Games. It is the city that is the capital of a hot emerging economy, the city where people from over the world get their first glimpse of Delhi.
On 27/7/2009, the first major rainfall (major means this was 4 hours of rainfall, not 12 hours or something like that) brought this city to its knees. The news channels are full of roads being flooded, all the major intersections suffering heavy jams (including many areas of the New Delhi area that normally do not suffer traffic jams). Gridlock was the word, with many cases where people did not move beyond 100 meters in 2 hours.
What are the major causes of such a situation:
Read more…
Categories: Accountable, Delhi, Governance, Municipal, Responsibility, Traffic, Transport Tags: Delhi, Governance, Municipal Corporation, Rain, Responsibility, Traffic, Transport
Sending a drunk pillion rider to jail
For some time now, the Mumbai police has been waging an intense campaign against drunk driving, including the use of jail time (anywhere from 1 day to multiple days) as part of the measures against drunk driving. This had surprised many people since observing traffic laws (including road safety laws such as not drinking and driving) is a common problem that India faces, and not too many states had done serious prosecution of such cases (contrast this with the measures taken in states such as Singapore and the United States where you better not be caught drinking and driving). The high number of cases of accidents and fatalities where drunk driving is a factor are incredible; it is absolutely necessary that such campaigns continue.
Here is a case in Mumbai where the police prosecuted a drunk motorcyclist as well as the pillion rider for the crime of drunk driving and got them sent to simple custody for a period of 7 days. This punishment is the longest period of punishment for the crime of drunk driving so far in Mumbai, and the terms of the punishment were also enhanced due to a fine as well as the driving license of the motorcyclist being suspended for a period of 6 months (link to article):
Categories: Court, Crime, Driving, Drunk, Judges, Judiciary, Law, Maharashtra, Police, Punishment, Traffic Tags: Court, Crime, Driving, Punishment, Social Issue, Traffic
India: A magnet for Global Capital
Lee’s Dhaba
#fullpost{display:inline;}Below is a research note from Bank Credit Analyst; Highlights:
In the case of India, we remain relatively constructive as credit flows into the country appear to have largely been utilized in a productive way. As a result,the ongoing liquidity squash should not evolve into a solvency crisis on a massive scale.
Not massive, but Realty is a serious concern…has this been productive? Lee
Given the under invested nature of India’s economy, the return on capital is very high, not only relative to the G7 but also in comparison to other emerging markets. This, along with a lack of major imbalances in the economy should keep India a magnet for global capital.
Currency risk. Net foreign liabilities are just 2% of banking assets, although it is higher for some private sector banks, such as ICICI bank. On the whole, however, net currency exposure is not significant.
As I have said previously, do not blow the FX reserves in defence of the currency. We will need it later – Lee
BCAINDIA
