Khaki & Tech

Indian paramilitary forces adopted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, as part of defence operations in July 2012, following a demonstration by a start-up founded by some IIT Bombay graduates to the National Security Guard (NSG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi Police, Maharashtra Police and the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.


That is how the firm, idea-Forge, made Uttar Pradesh Special Task Forces its first client. "Drones can be deployed in the most dangerous and rugged circumstances and are made just for the forces," said Ankit Mehta, cofounder and CEO of the Navi Mumbai-based firm, whose drones were used in rescue and search operations in the recent Beas River tragedy where 24 B Tech students were drowned, the Saharanpur riots, the Pune landslide and for crowd surveillance at the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad last year.

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IB is a chicken?

Three of the IB’s sins are particularly harmful to the country. First, its operational incompetence has now become legendary. The tragedy in Mumbai is only the most spectacular in a long list of failures. Many IB personnel have no aptitude for the job and some have no interest in what they do. Quite a few IPS officers apply for a deputation to the IB simply to get away from tough areas such as Nagaland and Kashmir. Upper echelons of the organization often conduct haphazard studies into security threats while subsidiary units are left to pursue their own agendas. The organization is poorly managed, with fragmentation and chaos being order of the day.
Second, the main task of the IB seems to be furthering the political interests of its masters instead of bolstering internal security. India has now become familiar with the sorry practice of paid journalism. This phenomenon involves politicians paying journalists for favorable coverage. When the Congress Party was in power, many IB officers were reportedly the conduit for cash to journalists who sang paeans to the government.
Third, discrimination is rife in the IB. It has a culture of wall-to-wall hierarchy that favors sycophants. The personal track records of employees are often inconsequential. What matters is whether their superiors like them personally, making the IB an organization tailor-made for fawning courtiers. There is a widespread perception that the IB is not a good place to be if you belong to a lower caste. Harassment is rife, and there is no clear means of recourse to employees who are wronged.


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Perks of Power

A DIG from J&K in thick of a storm
The son of a top Jammu and Kashmir police officer has posted a series of photographs on Instagram that show his father’s apparent abuse of power. The photographs have gone viral on social networking sites, evoking angry reactions.
One of the photographs shows a man — apparently a policeman — sitting near the feet of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Jammu, Shakeel Beig and helping him put on his shoes. The caption with the photograph , posted by Beig’s son, who goes by the name Tonybeig on Instagram, says: “Real king – My Dad!! Last time he put his shoes himself was almost 15 years ago #BossLife #King xx.”

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High price of spare parts & vehicle theft

Its often said that police is left  cleaning mes created by other players in society.
Many places in India are notorious for vehicle theft and than quick dismantling to sell spare parts.
Owner claims insurance & moves ahead with life while auto companies are making a killing by pricing spare parts high, so that there is a market for spare parts supplied by grey market. If this case is with CCI, what if police also becomes a party & present evidence ( if any). Right now this is conjecture , but if there is data to support this hypothesis, it would be helpful

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/auto/news/auto-components/why-carmakers-are-joining-hands-against-cci-charge/articleshow/44913617.cms

Death of a CBI investigator

As opposed to what they show you in bollywood movies, real life of an investigator is quite different & pretty normal.
This news item talks about an ace investigator of CBI who dared to go against media trial & strived to reach till truth.

Food budget for prison inmates

It will be interesting to compare allowances across states & find out what is the amount in different states
But kerala rates seem reasonably high given that economies of scale kick in when food is prepared for such large no of people & as it is prepared by prison inmates only labour is practically free.

Delhi Police goes Tech Savy

Wonderful App of Delhi Police by which some petty corruption which is purely transactional in nature has been controlled.
People can make online complaints about lost mobiles, PAN card, sim and other documents & get a digital certificate which can be used to get these documents issues again from relevant authorities which insist on a police report

Earn while you serve sentence in Jail

Is not it surprising that only conivcted prisoners are allowed to work inside jail

So what do under trials do?  while away time, while 90% of prison population is undertrial

Andhra is a progressive state from police point of view

All the right noises made by Andhra CM Mr Naidu

Model village amongst mines

Idea which I submitted on PM's portal

States are going to get huge money by coal mines auction.Instead of money going into general pool or meet deficit of states it should be directly used for development of villages which are impacted by mining. e.g. there could be 500 villages affected by these mines, if 5000 crore i.e. 10 cr per village can be used to provide basic amenities in this village it would be a win win situation & inch towards model village concept of PM if we dont allot funds collected from mines to development of village, local vilagers will keep on protesting against mine like this.

Smart City

PM and the government has been talking about smart city.
As someone who has lived in small towns, transitional cities & metros both India and abroad to my mind liveable city is first step towards achieving a smart city.

My idea of basic infrastructure intervention which govt should make to nudge city's infra and improve its living conditions are following 15 things of reasonable population say above 2 lakhs

1. A lab to test food products for adulteration (private initiative, govt just to check credentials)
2.at least 5 well developed market places with parking, toilets and open areas ( like chandigarh sector markets, no need of new investments. Improve existing markets by removing encroachments, uniform signing and boards and uniform way of shops)
3. at least 5 towers with 200 flats each - 1 bhk where people in low end labor job live with dignity. these places will not be sold as if sold below price to poor they will either sublet these or sell them. If priced as per their real value poor for whom these are intended will never be able to buy it. Instead they should be given on lease of 3 yrs each. Rent should be used purely for their maintenance and construction of new towers. Initial cost of making 5 towers per 2 lakh population should be borne by government. they should be spread within city instead of being outside from where commuting to workplace is difficult and costly thus deterring labour to shift to these places.
4. an auditorium to hold social functions- estimated cost 10 crore- it should be PPP where govt provides land and pvt party bears cost of construction. In return it can charge market rate to pvt organiser while giving it free or nominal cost for govt mandated functions.
5.A city forest. Preferably in centre of city as this will provide opportunity to improve traffic also. A scheme like pitr parvat where people finance planting and maintenance of tree in memory of their loved ones can take care of running cost. initial expense 10 cr
6.Modern crematorium where electricity and gas can be used to burn Deads. Market rate can be charged for funeral to recover running cost. Initial cost - 10 cr
7. one garden for every 10000 population. this will provide breathing space for birds, old people, women and kids. social function can also be held here. 20 such garden for 2 lakh city would mean investment of 20 crore
8. A stadium with 5000 seating capacity with swimming pool and mats for wrestling must. this would be a pure PPP  project whre pvt party financing it can levy user charges. while talented players will be allowed to practice free when certified by govt. estimated cost on govt 10 crore
9. A city transport system, which will have buses owned by pvt party but whole system regulated by govt. bids would be invited for identified routes and monopoly rights provided. Ads to be used as revenue stream. modern bus stops to be constructed and maintenance to be carried out by pvt party. rates to be decided by govt and a fixed formula used to link it to wages, fuel cost & price of vehicle thus obviating need for frequent agitation to raise fare. Possible cost to government 10 crore
10. A waste disposal plant. A system where a pvt party collects waste and households are charged different rates depending on they give segregated/mixed waste. Waste has to be collected from their house/ they provide themselves. Govt inspectors to fine people who litter and to monitor pvt party performing tasks of collection and disposal of garbage. estimated cost to govt 10 cr
11. Either solar/wind/bio gas based , at least one renewable energy based small power plant for town
12. A water tank or water body ( if not natural create an aritificial),which can serve as source of drinking water, tourism, can store excess rain water. All run off water of city can lead to this water body.
13. At least one hawkers zone for every 40k population, multi level parking in busy markets & a network of bio degradable public toilets. - cost 10 crore
14. Rain basers, a centre of orphans, destitute women. pvt chairty orgnaisations encouraged to open. Govt to just provide fund.
15. piped natural gas in residential area to stop black marketing of cylinders, reduce demand and filling of one cylinder to other