IPL, Natural Disasters And Morality - Ranjeev Dubey

A well written Article - IPL, Natural Disasters And Morality:

"When social elites endorse immoral conduct, society cannot have moral underpinnings. 

When social elites don't act on their professed ethical constructs, pointing fingers at politicians and celebrities at best comes off as part of weekend time pass.

If we want a society that genuinely strives to a better and higher moral standard, we will have to put the interest of the group taken as a whole above our dharma, as a warrior, a corporate executive or even as a father. 

That is a huge cultural shift and till we can all get there, all the indignation and the hysterics is just purgation."

'via Blog this'

The Land Acquisition Law Confusion

 

After a long drawn debate, and discussion last year, dcoumented at -http://www.prsindia.org/pages/land-acquisition-debate-139/ the Confusion of the Land Acquisition Law/s Continues...

Nov 20, 2014

Law minister Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday ruled out taking the ordinance route for any amendments in the Land Acquisition Act <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Acquisition_Act_1894>> though he said the government was in favour of bringing some changes.  "There is a proposal. The call has to be taken by the concerned (rural development) ministry," he said, without elaborating on the proposed changes.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had last week said the government will amend the "tough" land acquisition law even without opposition support as it looks to restore confidence in the economy. The government is in favour of consulting other parties and developing a consensus on the proposed changes. Some states have already expressed concern and cited difficulties in acquiring land for infrastructure projects with stringent clause such as obtaining consent of at least 70% of affected landowners in case of PPP projects and 80% in case of private projects.
Source - Times of India

Nov 9, 2014

The Land Acquisition Bill, which was passed during the previous UPA regime with then opposition BJP supporting it, seeks to set a fair compensation for farm land being taken over for industrial projects. But the law has made land acquisition very difficult, slowing projects. States too have come out openly against the law saying it had hurt the process of acquiring land for infrastructure projects. Jaitley said that the "obstacles" to the land laws would have to be first removed in order to implement the concept of smart cities in India.

In Budget 2014-15, Jaitley had proposed an allocation of Rs 7,060 crore for developing 100 'smart cities' in the country. The Rural Development Ministry has already suggested a number of amendments to the Land Acquisition Act that will water down provisions such as mandatory consent of at least 70% locals for acquiring land for PPP projects, and 80 per cent for private projects. Jaitley also said that the government's disinvestment programme will "unfold" in the next couple of days.

Source - DNA India

July 15, 2014.

The government is keen on bringing changes in the new Land Acquisition Act to make it more industry friendly.  The government may also convene an all-party meet to evolve a consensus so that a Bill to amend the one-year-old law could be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament.
Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari has already started informal consultations with the allies as well as some of the opposition parties.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has sent a note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), suggesting dilution in some of the key provisions of the Act, as proposed by the revenue ministers of the state governments during their recent meeting with Gadkari.
The provisions that the MoRD is keen to dilute include the one that made it mandatory to obtain prior consent of at least 70 per cent of land owners in case of acquisitions for public-private-partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent in case of private projects.

In its note to the PMO, the MoRD suggested that the requirement of consent of land owners should be done away with for the PPP projects, where the governments hold ownership of the land. If the rider cannot be struck off, the clause should be revised to make sure that land could be acquired even if 50 per cent of the owners had given consent, the MoRD argued in its note.  The Congress-led UPA government got the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill passed by both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha during the monsoon session of Parliament last year. It replaced the archaic Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The new law was projected as a pro-farmer legislation and triggered concerns in the industry about the delays it would cause to acquire land for any project. Though the BJP helped pass the bill in Parliament, the party hinted during its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year that it would give the law a re-look if elected to power.

Source - Deccan Herald

Time will only tell...

Road Under Construction Causes Accident - Engineers Booked - TOI Bangalore

For probably the first time, ever, two BDA engineers and a project-in-charge manager were on Friday arrested by the Bangalore traffic police in connection with a ghastly road accident. The accident on September 3, due to an unpainted divider, killed two persons and injured one near Outer Ring Road in Devarabeesanahalli, exactly opposite Accenture and Ecospace tech park.

The arrests are said to be the direct outcome of a meeting chaired by Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B Dayananada a few days ago instructing all traffic police officials pin the blame on and arrest BDA and BBMP engineers in-charge of badly-maintained roads in case of fatal accidents.

(Above) Mangled remains of the vehicle which rammed into the median, killing two and injuring one. (Below) The clumsily-placed hazard board at the median in front of theDevarabeesanahalli flyover following the accident. 

Confirming the arrests, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic East) Babu Rajendra Prasad told Bangalore Mirror, "We have arrested AEE K Sripad Raju and AE Pradeep from the BDA, along with project manager Vittobha from Simplex Infrastructure Private, to which the work of maintaining the roads and completing the project had been outsourced.''

The trio has been booked under sections 279 (negligent act on a public way), 304 (A) (causing death by negligence), and 337 (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others). Dayananda told Bangalore Mirror: "I have instructed the traffic police to book cases against the concerned civic officials wherever their fault is found. In this particular case, the engineers and project manager were arrested for failing to paint the central median with reflective paint and install sign boards cautioning drivers on the road about the barrier."

Sources said that after the accident, a small reflector board held up by stones has been placed at the site. However, even this is said to be not very visible. Sripad Raju told Mirror, "Road safety is a different job and it has to be implemented by B-Trac. Painting and putting up sign boards is work that is supposed to be taken up by the traffic police. The accident occurred because of rash driving and not because of incomplete work. Putting the blame on us and holding us responsible is not done in this case." However, Prasad said: "If the work is incomplete, why do they deem the road safe enough for motorists to ply? They should close off all roads until the roads are completely ready for travel. We also held a meeting with BBMP and NHAI officials the day before yesterday where we apprised them about all problem junctions in the city that needed to be addressed in terms of lighting and road repairs."

Source - http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/cover-story/A-first-for-city-2-Engineers-held-for-road-mishap/articleshow/42380011.cms