Regularisation of the rot

We keep reading about various schemes that are brought out by state and central governments, periodically talking about 'Voluntary disclosure scheme' or 'Building / Land Regularisation scheme', (BRS / LRS) these are indeed steps to encourage dishonesty and a punishment for the honest.

Let's look at VDIS, a scheme that was announced in 1997 by the then Finance minster Sri P. Chidambaram. This facilitated a payment of 30% Income tax voluntarily on the previous decades income, with no questions asked. Many a person took advantage of this scheme, with one Ex. CM's son reportedly declaring about 500+ crores under this scheme, the so called biggest conversion of ill gotten money. Those days also we have heard many a murmur about how incorrect of these schemes which encourage people to be dishonest, waiting for the next amnesty. Fortunately nothing more had come after this as far as Income tax is concerned.

There were some effort in asking people to come out voluntarily and declare evasion of Excise duty/ CENVAT or sales tax after this. The success of this has not been publicised much.

We have the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS), wherein a builder who violates the building construction, set back rules, can, by paying a penalty, regularise his/her misdeed. We have seen many a building which violates the rules, which are likely to be benefited by these BRS schemes. There was this hospital, which violated or never had a building plan permission and they have raised a multi storied Hospital in Chennai. Madras High court asked for it's demolition in Jan 2014 and i see this building still there and hospital is still functional. Only saving grace is out of the 5/6 floors, top two floors are incomplete and are not in use. Even the CMDA had been admonished by the HC for not acting for last 10 years.

I know of many a builder who has put up more than a floor than what his plan sanctioned, and made illegal profit and put their buyers at peril. I had faced this brunt, where in i had difficulty trying to sell the property, because the floor where my flat was, is an extra floor and an illegal one. Had to compromise, since the builder never even got it regularised during these schemes nor bothered to inform the buyers to do so.

I have known people who were privy to the information of impending GO of a BRS scheme, over night putting up a slab and regularise the illegal floor(s) under the scheme that will be announced. Most of the time the excuse given by the government is they don't

have the required manpower or wherewithal to demolish the illegal buildings, for introducing these schemes. Unfortunately our citizens also take these periodic schemes into consideration and wantonly violate the rules with impunity. Biggest threat of these violations is the danger to the super structure. While the original building was sanctioned for say 2 floors, when the additional floors are added, naturally it weakens the structural strength and there is a good chance of the building collapsing.

In another blog of mine Holistic - Who lives where, i had talked about how to cut down this menace, by monitoring the building plan sanctions at every level by linking it to the usage. Instead of having chawls like construction in every part of the town, wouldn't it be better if we have some kind of orderly development, where everyone follows the rules and not wait for the next B R Scheme.

Another threat factor is the approach to the courts and illegal buildings continue to thrive simply because, our legal system is enamoured with many a case which will take 10-15 years for them to see light of the day by clearing all the available options. after all that will be the political intervention citing humanitarian consideration, since people have been living there for decades.

Illegal constructions are sometimes protected by putting up a religious structure, once the religious structure comes up it becomes very difficult to  law enforcement agencies to do much and inevitably the illegal construction gets protected. It is another matter that today one can take the help of Google maps to see when the building came up, but no body would want to do that since that exercise will not yield any income either for the exchequer or the individuals.

Land Regularisation Scheme (LRS) is another bigger menace to an orderly development of cities. When there is so much emphasis is given for 'Smart Cities' and Digital India, we keep seeing dwellings in small lanes, once a panchayat layout but now part of a mega city. Many of us would have come across nomenclature like, Revenue plots, Panchayat layout etc., these are nothing but unapproved illegal layouts, which can result in one not getting proper drainage and power connections too. Housing loans will be difficult to get and living conditions will start deteriorating once all plots have buildings in it (most of them likely to be violated buildings). With increased earnings and affordability most of those living in these 20' road streets start owning cars, we can see the daily fun of traffic jams and quarrels etc.

Very rarely we will find illegal layouts being destroyed, simply because there is always a middle man who would have taken the land on agreement from the farmer and sold it to gullible buyers, no politician would like to hurt a potential vote bank, he will some how see that the layout stays put and we get to see these LRS coming up once in a while. However there was a situation in the newly formed state of Telengana, where they  wanted to regularise ownership of land by asking people to pay the penalty based on the current market value, since the market value was so high none of the illegal owners wanted to regularise under this scheme, since they had no threat to their living as such.

Can this be a citizen participatory movement to stop both illegal layouts and buildings. Status of land can be made available on the web with the zoning information. If i as a citizen see a new building  / layout coming up, i should have an option to upload the info into a government server with no option for the recipient to delete the same from the server. Probably with such situations our officials would be forced to act and report, what action was initiated on the illegal activity. Since all these are revenue yielding activities, government can even consider outsourcing the verification work (in the lines of Passport issue) and keep the regulatory control in its hands.

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Kick II – Is it better?

Director SurendarReddy had a tough task of making a sequel and retain the interest like the first movie. In Hindi some of the movie's have had a successful run of sequels like Krrish, Dhoom, Dabangg, Munnabhai etc. However Telugu had not been so. Shankar Dada it self couldn't repeat it's success. In the case of Arya 2, Director took a different tune from the original.

If it was 'Kick' which was the theme in the first part, it is 'Comfort' in Kick II. Connecting both was done effectively with Shyam and some bit of animation. The story according to the titles says is happening most of the time near Jaisalmer, but all the vehicles at Jaisalmer seems to carry Bihar (BR) number plates. This is either because director forgot what he used in the script, probably due to the long gap between the completion and release.

It is surprising that original producers didn't do the sequel, it is the turn of Kalyanram to produce this sequel. He didn't seem to have worried much about the budget for the movie. He did seem liberal, a delight for any director of a movie.

Coming to casting, wondered why a lot of Hindi actors were chosen for this movie like Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra etc., in addition to the villain. Of course the Villain trend from Hindi industry is nothing new, but comedians and character actors makes you wonder if this is being planned for a release in Bollywood too.

Director Surendar Reddy did a decent job of using the theme 'Comfort' however it seems to have worked partially when it comes to the viewer response. May not be a very comforting thought to the producers.

Ravi Teja looked good as RobinHood with his new slim look, but almost the same look for his father character, didn't suit. He was at his best with Bramhanandam who played the role of Pandit Ravi Teja.

Rakul Preet Singh looked good in the songs. Dancing was so so. Someone took good care of her costumes. Probably we will have a new series of 'Kick2' Sarees.

Tanikella Bharani did a very good character, playing a caution master all the time and ensuring the climax he had a good role which he delivered with aplomb.

Bramhanandam, seems to be getting stereo typed. The days of very subtle acting have gone and every director wants to use his time to make the best out of it. Movies like Loukyam & Race gurram had taken his short roles to a peak, but here his presence seems to have been not utilised that well. Probably it is a challenge to the directors for creating a unique role for him.

Ravi Kishen the king of Bojpuri, played the role of the villain very well, in some scenes he excelled, his "son of God" cry is quite powerful

Photography was good and overall the movie is not boring but, you don't come out of the theater feeling satisfied like you did for the original.

I would rate this movie 3.2

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Persistence pays off

 While I wouldn’t call my self a good practitioner of what I am going to write about being persistent, it is a lesson that I have learnt over the years and had to rue many a hasty decision. It is very important that one pursues what they are confident of achieving.

In every business there are going to be hard times only those who are finding a way out within the business can have long term success. Many of us give up or start looking at greener pastures elsewhere, this inevitably leads us to look at greenfield businesses or something we are new for. I have a couple of case studies which i could share.

This is a story of two business people who are in real estate development business in Chennai. Around the same time both started putting up apartments in early 80's. One started with his brother and another with a set of partners. Both later became independent owners of their respective businesses after parting with their erstwhile partners.

Person 1, had a successful business in promoting residential apartment buildings, he was very much successful in the JV route and continued to build apartments each building having about 6-8 apartments mostly.

Person 2 also chose the JV route and started getting good offers and was into buildings with 10-20 apartments per building.

P1 continued to leave his brand on many buildings with his property owners getting him more JV partners due to timely delivery, with low inventory to sell, he was able to accomplish more finished projects and more goodwill.

P2 decided to go public and get his company listed, for this purpose he signed up few mega projects. He managed to get his public issue subscribed and he had money to develop the projects, he wanted. Unfortunately few bad apples upset his plans and his plans started going haywire. More over the property market went into a recession mode. Most of the big projects got struck with unsold inventory. Forcing P2 to start looking at other means to shore up his revenues.

Meanwhile P1 continued with his build small model and was able to whether the recession and was smiling all the way to the bank when most of his peers were struggling with unsold inventory.

What tells us here is persistence to the business and finding a niche can help the business person weather the short term bad times in the business, in this period if we start looking at other ways to ensure revenues or become too ambitious, then the result will be like the person 2.

Similarly there is another story of continuation which paid off in the case of one and how it affected the other in Liquor wholesale business in Bangalore.

Businessman 1 who was a first generation entrepreneur, managed to come close to the management of a Liquor concessionary in Bangalore and was able to get a good patronage, he built a house for himself and started seeing good cash flows.

Businessman 2 who was an employee in a liquor wholesale, took up an agency from the same concessionary and started establishing his business, he used to even accompany the consignments and ensure prompt delivery.

Suddenly the concessionary changed hands from one business house to another. Both the persons referred above were able to build bridges with the new concessionary and continued with their business. B1 was bit by a bug and wanted to start a steel re-rolling business, which looked very profitable at that point of time (Mid 90's). He went about establishing the same along with a technocrat. When the technocrat left in the midway, our man started focusing on this new venture more. Leaving the liquor wholesale to his trusted boys back at Bangalore. While B2 with focused approach was able to increase the volumes and was able to earn more profits. B1 with cash flows from liquor business getting diverted to the steel business naturally lost favour with the concessionary and was given less preference in terms of supplies.

B2 built a house, bought more properties established his brother in IT business. B1 languished with the jolt given by P Chidambaram as the FM to the steel re-rolling industry in the United front govt and lost both the liquor business and in steel business.

Both are real stories, which goes to show how one could flourish even in adverse situations if they stick to their core business and what will happen when we start thinking of riding two horses at a time.

While we could ape Dhirubhai or his son Mukesh in thinking about expansion or backward or froward integration, we have to remember, there has to be a scale to think and also one business which can give us the stable revenues to pursue the new businesses. This is more important in the case of Indian businesses, since our thinking is in terms of our kids running the show or ethical values being what they are, Only when systems and values and accountability rule the roost,

One has to be very careful about expansions and diversification's, it might be just good to stick to what you are good at.

(Copyright of the images used rests with the respective owners)

Srimanthudu - reiterating a theme

Exactly after one week of its release, went to see the movie Srimanthudu.

After two badly run films, this movie is a big relief for Mahesh n his fans. Theater balcony was full even after 7 days of release in Chennai for a Telugu movie, speaks good for tollywood that to immediately after the success of Bahubali.

Movie didn't have dragging scenes, presence of Ali n Kishore didn't add/ contribute much to the comedy track. After 1-Nenokkadine this is another movie of Mahesh without a huge posse of comedians. Maybe tollywood hero's don't want to surrender the movie success credit to comedians like Bramhanandam.

Jagapati seems to be in a dilemma whether he is still a hero, emoting as a parent or  villain he needs to watch Prakash Raj more often n better himself. Sukanya makeup seems to have done her in, with make-up person being caught in her 'Indian (Bharateeyudu)' style of dumb expressions or a rich man's wife. She could have been made to perform better with less makeup.

Villains only the 'Sashi ' character impressed, Mukesh Rishi was wasted. Climax could it have been better, probably the Hero's dialogue towards the end, sums it up.

Songs, Charuseela song was very well executed, feeling fresh. Rama Rama song, choreography was good, could the director have convinced the hero to remove his shoes for the song picturisation being a song performed near the pandal of the Lord. Even the last song was well pictured with rural murals in the backdrop.

Sruthi Hasan in many scenes looked very weak with her zero size. in the recent times she seems to be getting good amount of footage in comparison with the hero (last being Race gurram). She is able to perform, probably being the child of two very good actors.

Mahesh, the self proclaimed directors hero, did his best. Be it fights (my friend was commenting director Siva or the stunt master seems to be a European football league fan ), dances, standing up to his father etc. Mahesh satisfied his fans.

Director Siva did well to bring some of his favourite themes, family bonding, village development, sacrifice for your mother land to the fore n executed a watchable movie. After Mirchi, he has more or less struck to these, however the treatment was different. Hope he will not be bracketed. He should ensure he is able to extract maximum output from senior stars like Mukesh n Jagapati

 I would rate this movie with 4 stars


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Creating a tourist attraction

I happened to be at Ahmedabad for a short visit for medical purpose, which got extended to a long stay due to a medical negligence. Having a 10 year old with you, one needs to keep her occupied. First visit was to this very interesting place was immediately after visiting Sabarmati Ashram, a place not so exciting for a 10 year old.

Before talking about the facility, let's dwell into the history of this place, Kankaria lake is situated in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad. This was built by Sultan Qutbuddin in the 15th century. The facility later used for bathing of the rulers, was completed in 1451 AD and was known as "Qutb Hauz" or "Hauz-i-Qutb". It had a water purification system but it has been lost with the time. At one point of the circular lake, there opens a walkway which later leads into a garden called Nagina Wadi that is located in the middle of the lake.

In the year 2008 in the month of December this lake was thrown open to the public after creating various facilities. Every year in December month 'Kankaria Carnival' is held in a colourful manner over a period of one week.

As we walked into the place, the vastness hit us. We took a train ride immediately after entering, which took us around the periphery of the lake giving us an overall idea about the various facilities and entertainment available in that location.

Having come from Chennai, this was a surprise package, number of activities for the kids n youngsters was mind boggling.

My daughter was delighted at the choice and made an attempt to try as many as possible.
After 7 hours of continuous activity n still few more to see /participate we called it a day keeping it for another day, In one amusement park they measured the height n gave tickets for the rides, in another, they send you in on a general ticket n later tell you can't go on this ride, important rides get eliminated. Wondered why it couldn't have been pre-told.

It took my daughter four visits to this facility to get satiated with the place with so many options to choose, it is no wonder a place visited on daily basis by thousands and during the weekends over 10000 people.

Zoo, Kid's city, Hot air balloon, Tree walk, Segways, variety of boat rides including Bubble Ride, Butterfly park, Desert Safari, Multiple amusement parks, Mini Golf course and many more.

Kid's city is a very informative project introducing to the kids various public services and how they are operated, Fire service, BRTS, Ambulance, Publishing, Radio Jockey, Banking, Video shoot, NCC etc.

While i am not here to review the facility had to give a glimpse of vastness of the project. It is a project converting a lake into a virtual money spinner. This is what has been successfully done in many a location abroad.

Most of our cities have these kind of lakes either inside the city or in the suburbs, probably each one of them can be converted to these kind of tourist hot spots. Interesting aspect in this project is a very minimum entrance fee into the lake area after that every ride or visit is charged separately by the operators, who are private and are motivated by profit and ensure the proper up keep of the equipment. Pricing of the rides is probably regulated, all tickets are generated electronically. Safety of the facility users is kept on top of mind and Helmets, Life Jackets etc are provided wherever required.

While Kankaria lake has about 7 gates public transport is made available at every gate. A key factor to enable visitors to reach the venue without much worry.

Every city probably has a lake which could be made in to a tourist spot not only for the visitors but for the city dwellers who are desperate for outings.

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Porn for Indians – Taboo says the deciders?

As I have been contemplating writing about a new trend among Indians of filming themselves in their sexual acts, came the news of banning few porn sites on the insistence by the Supreme court by the Govt. of India. Liberals feel, it is treading on their feet by the powers to be and conservatives / hypocrites feel it is the best things to happen to the land of Kamasutra.

While I would like to stay clear of this decision of the Supreme court, based on my conviction that they think for our good, like in the case of making wearing of Helmets & seat belts compulsory.

Let me talk about what I was intending to write for a while, that is the trend to shoot our achievements or conquering a pursuit. I have been 'privileged' to look at some of the videos that are circulated on social media, which apparently were either clandestinely / secretively shot or with the persuaded consent and in some cases self shot.

Apparently when you look at the location, most of the time it is hotel rooms, some in the home environment, some very desperate places like fields and bushes or internet cafe cabins. When someone shoots an act without the knowledge of the players concerned, probably it is used more for voyeuristic pleasure or to blackmail the players concerned.

More concerning factor is the clandestine shoots with the hidden camera by one of the players, don’t see any other intention but to blackmail the other player. Some of the films will show the shooter (mostly men) trying to plead / goad the partner to disrobe n pose to the camera. Wonder what is the purpose, most likely the stated fact is to 'enjoy her beauty post the act for personal pleasure'. Women are apparently falling for this plea and give their consent and pose to the satisfaction of the shooter.

There is this other category of girls dancing to the glory with their chest exposed probably in the dorms or PG rooms. Videos that are shot for fun but finding their way into the internet universe.

What I felt very sad and scared was the increasing participation of teens and kids in either participating in the sexual act or agreeing to be shot on camera. School going children, disrobing their uniform is a trend which should worry their parents in particular and all of us in general.

Now if we are getting to watch these videos on social media, it is apparent someone is uploading them and how this is happening, there could be many reasons. Jilted lovers, Blackmailers who couldn’t get satisfied, Conquerors showcasing their achievement, without any concern for their conquest. In some cases, theft / loss of phone or people having access to the internal memory of the phone or the SD card, getting to see the videos and deciding to show the same to the rest of the world is also another possibility

Many suicides could be for this reason. These videos could break many a marriage and even potential alliance. For all this the origin of the problem is the desire to be video-graphed in the buff and fallout can be very dangerous.

A simple advice, don't pose to a camera in nude unless you want to be a porn star, simply because no one knows where these videos will end up.

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