THE CYCLE OF UN-EDUCATION - abridged from my Deccan Herald column today - the first of a 3-part series on the past, present and much-needed future of higher education in India. 1/n There are over a thousand universities in India, and close to 18,000 colleges, but the popular imagination of higher education has always centred on a couple of hundred names. The great majority of students, however, go to other places that offer much less and are hardly known.

During the last two days, I posted extracts from the district-wise agenda and manifesto of @AAPKarnataka and then from the Bangalore agenda. Those were location specific. A number of issues, however, cut across topics, and here is that list ... 1/n 1. Anti-Corruption

- Full powers and budget to the Lokayukta
- Ending corruption in recruitment
- Transfers my govt only, not by MLAs
- Open public data, and open software in contracts
- Suo motu RTI disclosures in all departments

On behalf of @AAPKarnataka I was at a Civil Society Forum meeting of 30+ organisations to discuss their inputs to the manifestos of political parties for the upcoming election. BJP and JDS didn't come, INC and CPM were present. Some observations ... 1/n CSF represents a wide swathe of society, and its members have extensive experience in working for development. I've known lots of them over the years, and it was good to catch up. It is inspiring how some people spend their whole lives to improves the lives of others.

Tanker water supply in the city should be carried out only by BWSSB. And the rates charges should be the same as those charged for piped water supply. The government's refusal to accept this responsibility is a tacit green light to the illegal extraction and extortionist supply. Government-created scarcity is at the heart of corruption. Schools, medical facilities, land for housing, water supply ... these are all areas in which it is plainly evident that because the government doesn't do its job, an alternate and expensive private market has come up.

Y'day we looked at the inputs received from all the districts in the state to compile the agenda and manifesto of @AAPKarnataka. The link to that is repeated below. In this thread, I'll post the inputs received for the Bangalore agenda. 1/n

Y'day's link -

https://twitter.com/ashwinmahesh/status/1641447003564707840

Planning

- Metropolitan Planning Committee will be allowed to work as it should.
- No more construction by BDA. New infra construction authority for all roads, pipes, drains, so that there is no confusion in coordination.
- All mobility projects to be approved by BMLTA

22% hike in toll on Mysore expressway just weeks after it is inaugurated. Shows terrible planning, even if there is some rule-based 'explanation'. In fact there should be no toll at all. Most people think that 'roads' are among the first things they get for their taxes. A regular six-lane highway, with good shoulder space for 2-wheelers and proper clover leaves for interchanges without cutting across the road is all that was needed. And state roads that are built that way are free to the public in most states.

Throughout the last four weeks, multiple inputs from the districts were received for inclusion in the development agenda and manifesto of @AAPKarnataka. In this thread, I've listed some of the things that people pointed to, in their respective areas. Bagalkote

- Research and training centre for grapes pomegranates & sugar cane.
- Solar park in Hunagund taluk, which has high potential for renewable power
- Cold storage facility in Jamkhandi to help farmers store their produce for longer periods of time and prevent wastage.

Is '40% sarkar' really new? One answer could be that it has always been this way. But there's something odd about it. People who routinely pay bribes are complaining (sometimes writing to the PM) that the demands are 'excessive'. I.e. a little corruption is ok, but not this much. If it's getting out of hand even by standards that we've become used to, one could ask, why? One possible explanation is that we don't have a government at all. It is purely an arrangement. At the intersection of different agendas, there is power to be shared. But at a cost.

Food Safety and Standards Authority says curd sold in southern states has to be labeled as 'dahi' and the local language word can be put in brackets after that. I say that at least half the members of the Authority at any time should be from South India. Problem (will be) solved. It's a small thing. I recognise that. But there is a fundamental issue that we keep circling around, and it needs to be addressed because it will come up in little things like this all the time. What we need is an institutional mechanism to prevent them before they happens.

Leaders of political parties should be able to speak with the public about development issues, impromptu. Most cannot, and that's why they keep the public at arm's length. Educated voters would be shocked by the ineptitude of some leaders they've voted for if they ever met them. Comfort and familiarity in discussing issues doesn't guarantee that leaders will do the right thing, but without those they will struggle to carry others along in whatever they propose to do. Interactions with others are a good way of refining and improving ideas.

One month anniversary of Shivamogga airport. No sign of any airline yet. Did you know that this is just the first phase of the airport, and there is a second phase to accommodate growing traffic? :-) Meanwhile, there are other things that the district actually needs now, instead. For the 500 crores, we could have (a) hugely improved tourism infra at Jog Falls, (b) promoted adventure sports like rappelling, kayaking, trekking, (c) set up a textile park for the handloom and power-loom industry, and built a horticulture research centre in Thirthahalli.

The list of things that don't work as advertised gets longer as we get closer to an election, because the rush to click overtakes the slow pace of serving the public.

- Shimoga airport
- Namma Clinic
- Mysuru expressway
- Whitefield extension of Metro Not to forget many other things launched earlier that no one even asks about ...

- cycle lanes
- bus lanes
- bus stops with shelter, seating, route info
- TTMCs

There was even an AC bus stop, as I recall, somewhere near BBMP headquarters!

On schedule, the 'feeder' bus to connect Byapanahalli to KR Puram isn't quite ready. This was very well known before the Metro launch over the weekend, and in fact even longer than that. But across the government, they're comfortable with letting the commuters down. The problem is quite simple. The area around both stations is so badly designed that if you ran the feeder buses regularly there would be a big traffic jam, and if you did not run there would be thousands of passengers left stranded.

Milk supply to schools in several districts has been hit. In six or seven districts, there has been no supply at all for two months now. Education dept says school management committees did not report this. KMF apparently has diverted milk powder for sweets and ice-creams. 1/n Education department should have a dashboard for everything that is supposed to happen regularly in its schools. If milk supply is hit for a single day in a single school, it should have a way of knowing that, and not claim that SMCs are not alerting it. Alertness is its job too.

2-language policy is best. If we deliver knowledge of and in both the local language and English, that will serve the students just fine. This way there will be no imposition, and a market in learning other languages voluntarily for fun and need will emerge, as elsewhere. Voluntarily learning any language should never be opposed. Equally, any compulsion to learn any language besides the 2 should be stopped. These are the widely held positions of the locals everywhere in India. The only real point of dispute has been about the 'link' language.

How long will it take for BBMP to fully remove all the soil that was dumped in Hosakerehalli lake, now that it has been announced? And how long will it take for Metro to close the gap between Byapanahalli and Krishnarajapuram - three months as announced, or longer? A group of young people came over today to present what they want to see in governance pertaining to youth issues. In the course of that chat I pointed out something which struck a chord with them - those in charge today can't deliver the future the youth are hoping for.

Additional Metro lines are necessary but will not by themselves decongest the. The reason is simple - the city is adding people at three to six times the carrying capacity of the Metro. Something else is needed, therefore, which will can close this gap. Buses and footpaths. We need to double the bus fleet and build 1500 footpaths that are WALKABLE. If we do that, we'll see big shifts in how short trips are made (including first and last miles on Metro). Without that we'll get more Metro ridership but not enough to rein in the chaos.

Lots of people have been sending ideas for inclusion in the manifesto of Aam Aadmi Party for the Assembly elections. Public transport, farming, youth issues, education, jobs, gender - wide range of topics. @AAPKarnataka is thankful for all the inputs. Hundreds of interactions have been held over the state in election campaigns in different constituencies. These have drawn attention to the quite different needs of each part of the state. Such inputs are a vital part of how politics and government become 'representative'.

BBMP dumps vast amounts of soil in Hosakerehalli lake - this will significantly reduce its size. Approvals from Tank Conservation Authority not sought. No public information on the purpose, either - residents say it appears to be a road to connect to a new building project. Residents who sought information about the project at a ward committee meeting were also told nothing. Some years ago, in a verification exercise, it was that found that BBMP has numerous projects that had never been properly signed off, but were being carried out anyway.

BESCOM says 90% of high-tension cables are now underground. And the ground itself is all over the place in the process. After years of doing the same work, they don't have a tidy way of laying the lines and putting up the infra at different scales. This can be fixed in less than a month. It's simply a matter of deciding to do it properly, and including the right designs in the work contracts. The only reason it doesn't happen is that the government doesn't want to do it right.

Education and health. Education and health. Again and again. This the eye of the needle through which our politics will have to pass. If - and when - those who can deliver this to all sections win elections, India will join the ranks of developed countries. Else, we will not. In some states, leaders advertise the infra they're building. Others flaunt new investments in their districts. Some others try to fix law and order. Those are good things too, but they're not game-changing. Without education and health, those who lag today will lag tomorrow too.