Bengaluru cops evolve better system, traffic signals to get smarter

 The Bangalore traffic police will soon introduce Area Traffic Control Systems (ATCs)

Soon, you will spend less time at traffic signals if the traffic density is low and longer, if the density is high. The Bangalore traffic police will soon introduce Area Traffic Control Systems (ATCs) that will gather information on vehicle density and movement at every junction and will communicate it to the control room in the Traffic Management Centre.This will enable the traffic police personnel to decide on the waiting time for motorists at a particular signal. “Initially, a pilot mode will be introduced in the Central Business Distict (CBD) areas and the traffic light timings will be managed from the TMC,” a senior police officer said.

The traffic police department, in a joint venture with the B-TRAC, had conducted studies on the density of vehicles at every major traffic junction in the CBD.

The movement of vehicles during peak and non-peak hours too was considered while deciding on the timings for traffic signals. The waiting period at traffic junctions could be different at different times of the day,” an officer explained.

Now, road users have to wait till the pre-set timing of the signal gets over, even if there are no vehicles plying from the other direction. With the ATCs, signal timings of a particular traffic intersection will be connected to the Traffic Management Centre, which is equipped with the necessary hardware and software.

The traffic movement and the density will be assessed by the software with the help of cameras at every junction and other manual inputs, if required, and the signal timings will be communicated from the TMC to the particular intersection virtually controlling the stop and start timings of the signal from the control room.

Adorable Idea For Hunger Eradication

You know, thousands of people are starving around the world because of manmade or natural causes. A welfare state should ensure atleast their citizens are not hungry, and implement some plans to assure it. A novel idea of the same comes from Kerala, the southernmost state of India. Malappuram, one among the 14 districts in the state, municipality has set up a refrigerator from which needy can eat food freely.

The scheme, titled ‘Akshayapathram’, is the first in the country offering food to the needy. Municipality has introduced this to make the town hunger free.

Inspired by an anonymous Arab whoo set up a refrigerator in the Saudi Arabian city of Hail to feed the poor, the municipal council set up a large refrigerator near the Govermnent Hospital, Kottappadi, on Saturday and called upon the people to donate fresh and left over food. Anyone can leave cooked food in the refrigerator. And anyone can eat it too.

“We expect good response,” said Municipal Chairman K.P. Mustafa. What promoted Mr. Mustafa to launch the scheme was the sight of street children eating from heaps of food waste dumped by hotels in Mumbai. “Hunger is the same everywhere. Instead of discarding leftover food, we can make good use of it,” said Mr. Mustafa. He said concerns of hygiene and food safety raised during a meeting held a couple of days ago would be addressed. “We will ensure clean and safe food,” said Municipal Vice Chairperson K.M. Girija.

Food Tokens

The scheme has a ‘food on wall’ component too,  in which all restaurant of Malappuram will cooperate. Anyone wishing to donate a meal to the needy can pay the restaurants, which will display a token of food on their walls. Anyone can take the token and eat from restaurant. “It is simple and direct. Charity is going to town in a unique way,” said Mustafa.

Alternative way to File a Complaint, Go Online

Last Year i got a call from my friend, when i was Bangalore Bureau in charge of my News channel. He called me because he urgently need a help from me. Some one theft his sister in law's mobile phone from her bag while she was attending a test in Kamakshi Palaya, a place in the outskirt of Bangalore. She doesn't know that much about the place and want to go to the police station to file the complaint. The main constraint before her was how to find out the police station with in a limited time, because she has to go back Kerala in the evening itself. Immediately i called my friend's sister in law and gave direction to what to do and informed about it to the Kamakshi Palaya Sub Inspector. Soon after she went there and filed a complaint by giving details about the phone, like IMEI number, Model etc.

I recollected this incident why because now Bangalore Police introduced a new system to help such people, who lost their valuables. If you lost something, there's no need to go police station to register a complaint. You can file it through Online. If you have lost any item, you just need to visit the city police website(www.bcp.gov.in) and click on the lost report option. Enter details of the lost object and other particulars. You can collect an acknowledgement(form 76A), which may have to be produced before the authorities concerned in case you require a duplicate of a lost document or to claim insurance. For instance, you can use this acknowledgement from police website to get duplicate copies of SIM cards, credit/debit cards, Education Certificates, Passport, Property documents etc.

Police have partnered with 'Lostclickfound', a start-up which is managing the reportage of lost items. Lostclickfound aims to act as a platform for those who have lost valuables and those who find abandoned items. Though they charges for their service, it is totally free for those who reports in Bangalore City police website. 

The police are enthused by the response since it was started two months ago. Items most likely to be reported lost on website are mobile phones, credit/debit cards. laptops, two-wheelers, cameras. Commissioner M.N.Reddy said that the force is committed to simplifying procedures." The FIR KIOSKS and this feature have got a good response, " he said to Media.

Really we need such people friendly platforms and application to ease the procedures of our Bureaucratic domain. We all are fed up with the slow process of our public administrative services in real life. If our local self government and other public service units adopts the Bangalore police's model then we can save lot of time. In other side we can convert our official's as well as people's time to some other productive sector. Actually we have lot of alternatives in all four pillars of our democracy. But what is lacking is the will power for adoption and implementation it in our system. 

Go Natural, Use CNG in Vehicle, Air pollution is Violation of Right to Life

'High air pollution is violation of the right to life, which includes the right of enjoyment of pollution-free water and air for full enjoyment of life. Interpretation of Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Indian Constitution.'- Karnataka High Court

With a large number of Indian cities embarking on natural gas vehicle programme it is essential that the elements of these programmes are well defined for maximum environmental and public health gains. It is important that the lessons are drawn from the well established programmes in the region to chart the future course. The existing programs in Indian cities are of varying scale and scope and reflect the regional imperatives. Environmental imperatives are much stronger in India today, which in conjunction with the energy security concerns are propelling these programs.

The front runner cities that have already established their first generation CNG programmes like Delhi and Mumbai along with the new ones are at the throes of planning the second generation expansion. This will require well thought out policy and criteria to maximize the environmental and public health benefits of these programmes and also make them economically effective. Therefore, it is important to consider the criteria on the basis of which the future expansion of CNG infrastructure and transport sector programmes will be planned in India.

Currently, it is estimated that the transportation sector uses up less than 2 per cent of the natural gas in the country. As the natural gas grid further expands and more cities begin to get access to natural gas, the prospect of its application in the transportation sector also increases. The compressed natural gas vehicle (CNG) programme is expected to expand considerably in future.

According to the estimates of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, currently, there are 7 lakh natural gas vehicles in the country. This is expected to increase to 58 lakh over the next 10 years. Delhi alone has more than 2 lakh vehicles. Around 30 cities have access to CNG and some of them have implemented the programme of varying scope. It is also expected that the pipeline network will increase to 15,000 Km and implementation of city gas distribution network will cover around 150 to 200 cities by 2014. This potential can be further exploited if the natural gas distribution network is expanded and strengthened.

Environmental imperatives of CNG programmes in India: The use of natural gas in the transportation sector is primarily driven by the environmental and public health imperatives. Indian cities of Delhi and Mumbai had started implementing natural gas vehicle programmes during the nineties when even Euro I emissions standards were not in place and the sulfur content of diesel in India was as high as 5000 – 10,000 ppm. With fuel substitution, these cities were able to leapfrog to much cleaner emission levels.

The India’s NGV programmes have primarily targeted the most polluting segments on the Indian roads that include diesel buses, three-wheelers, taxis and small commercial vehicles. This is somewhat different from the much older but very large programmes of Argentina and Pakistan where petrol driven light-duty cars were targeted largely for energy security reasons. Natural gas is abundantly available in Argentina, Bangladesh and Pakistan and it is easier for them to run their spark ignition petrol engines on natural gas as an energy security measure. Pakistan and Bangladesh however, have started to target diesel bus sector now for environmental reasons.

The CNG programme targeted diesel vehicles in India mainly because diesel-related pollutants are either already very high or rapidly increasing in Indian cities. While more than half of Indian cities are reeling under critical level of particulate matter, the NOx levels have also begun to rise. There are serious public concerns over health implications of diesel related fine PM, and other air toxics. These fears are supported by the sprinkling of studies in India on health impacts as well as the epidemiological studies from other parts of the world that have shown statistically significant associations of ambient PM levels with a variety of health effects in sensitive populations, including premature mortality, hospital admissions, respiratory illness and changes in pulmonary function.

Thus, Indian cities cannot continue to add the high emitters of PM and NOx, like conventional diesel vehicles. The level of roadside exposure to pollution from traffic has a significant effect on health and the severity of the public health impact. Rate of dieselization of the light duty vehicle sector is already quite high. In 2000 the share of diesel cars in the new car fleet was just about 4 per cent. This has already increased to 30 percent and is expected to be half by 2012.

 In India, rigorous emissions inventories have not been carried out to understand the impact of dieselisation on ambient air. A collage of small evidences, however, bears out the impact on air quality. A World Bank supported study on source apportionment of PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 micron in size) in selected Indian cities released in 2004 shows that, depending on the season, the contribution of diesel fuel to the total PM2.5 ambient concentration can be as high as 61 per cent in Kolkata, 23 per cent in Delhi and 25 per cent in Mumbai.

A 2004 study carried out by Mario Camarsa, then with the UK-based Enstrat International Limited, has assessed the impact of low-sulphur diesel fuel on diesel emissions in three Asian cities — Bangkok, Bangalore and Manila.iii This bears out the varying but growing trends in diesel emissions in these cities. In the Indian city of Bangalore, the Camarsa study found diesel engines to be a significant contributor of the total NOx emissions from vehicles — as much as 40 per cent — and comparatively less significant contributor of PM10.iv

The concern over air pollution and particularly toxicity of diesel pollution had propelled the public campaigns in Delhi.

More reading click this link; www.cseindia.org/userfiles/cngfuture_pdf.pdf

Adding to this yesterday(23.04.2015) the Karnataka High court made clear to the State Government that all public transport vehicles and three wheelers in Bengaluru city would have to be compulsorily run on CNG at the earliest and diesel vehicles kept off the road. 

The court cautioned the authorities that it would treat high Air pollution in the city as violation of the right to life. (A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy made these observations orally during the hearing of public interest litigation petition suo motu initiated by the court based on newspaper reports on high air and noise pollution in the city.

(Note- Post Courtesy to CSE & The Hindu)

Waterman of India- Rajendra Singh gets Stockholm Waterprize

Meet Rajendra Singh, a water-conservationist from Alwar, Rajashtan, basically from Dollah Village of Baghpat district in U.P. He has helped over 1000 villages to get water and revived 5 rivers through his path-breaking techniques implemented by his NGO 'Tarun Bharat Sangh'. Now Singh has been awarded with the Stockholm Water Prize, also known as the Nobel Prize for water, and he is fondly known as the 'Water-Man of India' for his achievements.

When i saw this report in one Social Media, just thought to share it here. Because such people are still living near to us. But, we are always wandering behind some film stars or some other entertaining paper heroes. Main stream Media too often concentrates on sensationalism to increase their TRP rating. So, we the people are not able to know about the the real Heroes of our time.

Rajendra Singh's NGO has played a vital role in fighting the bureaucracy and the mining lobby and has helped villagers in water management in extremely dried area through rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques.

"It's been over 35 years since i shifted to here. I used to provide medicines to old in Rajasthan villages. I also used to help children to go to school. But one day an elderly man told me that the people there don't need medicine or education but water. From that day onward i started working on water problems in the villages there."- quoted IANS him as saying.

"It's been a long journey. I didn't know anything about water harvesting or how to get the ground water table recharged but locals helped me learn and i never looked back after that," says Rajendra Singh

We need such selfless services to uplift our Country. Instead of complaints, try to solve the problem around us like what Singh did.

To know more about him go through this Wikipedia link;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Singh

Tears of Appraisal ! Goat & Horse Story

There was a farmer who had a horse and a goat…..

One day, the horse became ill and he called the veterinarian, who said: Well, your horse has a virus. He must take this medicine for three days. I'll come back on the 3rd day and if he's not better, we're going to have to put him down.

Nearby, the goat listened closely to their conversation.

The next day, they gave him the medicine and left.

The goat approached the horse and said: - Be strong, my friend. Get up or else they're going to put you to sleep!

On the second day, they gave him the medicine and left.

The goat came back and said: - Come on buddy, get up or else you're going to die! Come on, I'll help you get up.
Let's go! One, two, three...

On the third day, they came to give him the medicine and the vet said:- Unfortunately, we're going to have to put him down tomorrow. Otherwise, the virus might spread and infect the other horses.

After they left, the goat approached the horse and said: Listen pal, it's now or never! Get up, come on! Have courage! Come on! Get up! Get up! That's it, slowly! Great! Come on, one, two, three... Good, good. Now faster, come on...... Fantastic! Run, run more!
Yes! Yay! Yes! You did it, you're a champion!!!

All of a sudden, the owner came back, saw the horse running in the field and began shouting: It's a miracle! My horse is cured. We must have a grand party. Let's Cook the goat!!!! 

Lesson: Management never knows which employee actually deserves the appraisal. 

Delhi Election, A Case Study

The changing scenario in the political spectrum of the largest democracy is interesting to study. It is evident that all of us like to dream rather than to go with the ground reality. So that, dream sellers got majority in the last few general elections in India. We need visionary leaders, who have the capacity and brilliancy to direct us to the new challenges. The 21st century demands radical changes in sociopolitical arena and in economical reformations. As a case study we can take Delhi election result and see some of it's flows.

1. Don't blame the BJP leaders who gave the baton to Kiran Bedi. There is not that much difference in their vote share comparing to last one. Though she is not that much deep rooted to urbanized poor class, somehow managed to keep the vote bank.

2.The election result is introspective to the Modi Government and BJP leadership. Some consecutive win gave overconfidence and egoistic attitude among saffron belt. Minority votes consolidated behind AAP because of the fear psychosis created from radical Hindu groups.

3. Apart from rhetoric exercise nothing had done explicitly by NaMo. They simply started following the path of Congress in dealing with black money like issues. Nine month is not enough to analyse, but the steps taken so far wouldn't be sufficient to address the issues of common man and youth of this nation.

4. The decline of vote shares of Congress and others show us that, they united to stop Namo, Shah triumph. Its a blow to this team. The religious and so called secularist forces gave vote to AAP have no other intention. If they secure their vote bank, the result would be something else.

5.It was not a normal process that reflected in the mandate. Its a deliberate, planned and organised execution. We can experience hypocrisy in secularism in all four pillars of our great democracy.

6. If any group or individual is ground to earth, and does something to the wellness of society, irrespective of interest, should be selected. But so far, it's not like that. Welcomes the new change, that struck in our country. Hope, the winners will drive the momentum on the right way.

Delhi Result On the context of National politics
 Delhi contains only 1 PC of Indian population. The political parties which has not more than 5 PC of vote share ruling in some states. We have to amend the constitution that allows political parties to contest election irrespective of their vote share. Then, how many parties will get that opportunity? Let's discuss this issue seriously.