Reflections of Rajaram Bojji

It is not just the administrators, but also the administrators who have become consultants who with poor knowledge of engineering and technology hide behind standard de-bunkering arguments whenever they are faced with giving advice on technologies they do not know! So when Skybus standard gauge rail concept came for evaluation, first check they do is whether it was done by an advanced country and running there or not. Once they find it is not available in any other country and we will be doing ourselves by understanding the same, they will adopt the de-bunkering approach. Oh my goodness, it is not a time tested and proven system, public life is involved and so one should await more work on the issue. Actually technical analysis and reasons why it wont work is absent. If the railway gauge, wheels and bogie only are used, it is not explained by these self-proclaimed experts why it works for normal railway and why it does not work for the Skybus! The load transfer points on to the bogie a...

Doc: Atrilab.skybus.mumbai.080327.v.1.01 Why not Skybus Standard Gauge Metro rail? This technology can permit rail transport without disturbing the existing buildings and along the suburban tracks. Quote: Times of India 26 March 08 “Be It Railways Or Airlines, City Now Looks To Be On Fast Track Elevated rail corridor plan gathers steam Devraj Dasgupta | TNN Mumbai: In a super-quick followup to the railway budget announcement of an elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar, a high-level delegation from the Railway Board will be in Mumbai on March 27 to brief interested bidders on the ground realities. The ministry’s mandarins will elicit the response of interested parties the very next day at a prebid meeting in New Delhi. Western Railway officials, however, say that the stretch from Churchgate to Mumbai Central neither needs nor allows for an elevated corridor. “There is scarcely any free space alongside the tracks between Churchgate and Mumbai Central. The tracks are surrounded b...

It is truly a sad method of planning the current modern airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore in India. No proper thought has gone into connectivity to the cities they serve. It is not a case of conecting one point in city to the airport- a multi-point connectivity from city to the airport is needed. This can be achieved without modal split with Skybus Metro rail which can deliver the passengers and their luggage to the airport security hold directly from multi-point access in the city. We have solution for providing a holistic approach to the transport problem but why sanity does not prevail in our rulers is the moot point.

Indicators of state vulnerability The index's ranks are based on twelve indicators of state vulnerability - four social, two economic and six political.[3] The indicators are not designed to forecast when states may experience violence or collapse. Instead, they are meant to measure a state's vulnerability to collapse or conflict. All countries in the red, orange, or yellow categories display some features that make parts of their societies and institutions vulnerable to failure. Some in the yellow zone may be failing at a faster rate than those in the more dangerous orange or red zones, and therefore could experience violence sooner. Conversely, some in the red zone, though critical, may exhibit some positive signs of recovery or be deteriorating slowly, giving them time to adopt mitigating strategies.[2] [edit] Social indicators 1. Demographic pressures: including the pressures deriving from high population density relative to food supply and other life-sustaining resources. ...

How do we define a failed state? When do we define the state to be sound? The various checks and balances we accept in a democratic society have to be based on the pillars of justice, laws , equal opportunity for all to grow, equity for all, some affirmative action to take care of poor and down trodden and those unfortunates to be cared for by those who do well- if a state can ensure this can we call it a sound one? If all the opposites occur can we say state has failed? Can we identify the thresholds of some identified parameters to give us different degrees of the health of a state on a scale of 1 to 5 – and give warning signs before a state fails? It cannot be 0 or 1 case- the degradation has to be gradual spread over years and similarly building back the framework of values has to be long drawn out affair. Merely holding a dictator in position and supporting a coterie with weapons and fear promoted in the ruled, cannot make a state, I believe.

An experience I remember! The Lufthansa's combined air-rail tkt: I experienced it. It is distinctly terrible when you change from air mode to rail mode even in Frankfurt! The life and glitter in air line areas distinctly contrasts with what you see in railway portion- persons slowly dragging their feet, dull lights, bleak surroundings in comparison with what the airport is just 100m across! You can see efforts to be different but lack of budget is visible. Ok then you board the 300 kmph inter-city. Fine train again with visible less than perfect maintenance in toilets as comapred to an aircraft. Even the Lufthansa stewardess specially provided to look after me , as I was I class pasenger- sounds a bit apologectic offering the coffee and limited snacks from the train service. Between rail and air tremendous attitudinal problems persist. The portion of the I class coach reserved and nominated as such by the railway- they try to create a separate identity but it is not effortless. T...