No Cloud In The Sky

We did a one day trip to Coorg. Its green, pretty, and a refreshing change from our traffic ridden lives, as usual...


But right through the monsoon, its really rained just 5-6 days so far :( Of course, then it poured, and one particularly bad 2 day spell saw 20 inches dumped all over with consequent flooding, damage and at the end, not even enough groundwater since the ground, after all, has a maximum seepage rate and this leads to a lot of runoff.

My friend there told us about a little piece of knowledge the Coorgis have gained through experience - a light rain and windy conditions is what keeps the springs going and the streams flowing! Am still trying to figure that one out, but will trust local knowledge on that.

My prayers for Coorg, a good sane monsoon and for all of us. The rivers we take for granted, and the rains that we assume will feed them year open year - nothing is a certainty in the dramatically changing climatic conditions anymore.

There is a keenness to try and understand the North Pole, the ice sheets and the general impact of warming, changing ocean currents, etc. Perhaps we all need to start having those conversations as well.

Shooting, but in the dark ?

Beijing has set goals for being more public transport dependent by 2015.

This goal-setting is what I think needs a serious rethink in urban plans. Delhi's trying to improve infrastructure so more and more cars can drive longer distances. Bangalore is - well - executing fast and nicely on a tonne of bandaids without any apparent set of goals and directions - at least not the right ones.

What would I love to see Bangalore shoot for ? Let's say, by 2015....
(These aren't calculated numbers, but more to emphasize the kind of goals we need to shoot for)

• 25% lesser distance travelled in private cars
• 30% increase in trips on cycles
• 50% more commutes by public transport. Integrated ticketing for trains/buses
  
• >50% people need to travel <10>
• Traffic free city core - except for public EVs, cycles, train
  
• 25% reduction is landfill-waste (70% is organic, we can try segregating)
• Revival/addition of raja kaluves for interconnecting lakes that formed a natural drainage chain
• 30% water needs met through rainwater harvesting
• 40% reduction in number of borewells
• At least 10 recharge wells per sq km for reviving the water table
• Revival of 15 lakes
  
• 25% increase in tree cover, addition of at least 10 "mini forests" inside city limits
• 10% electricity through solar/wind sources

There are ways to achieve each of those (and more such goals). Government initiative, legislation, citizen participation, activism, corporate CSR and incentives - there are many tools. But they will yield results if there is first a consensus on a set of goals that is persisted with, and against which "development" is frequently measured. At the moment, its the actions themselves that are considered good enough for a government showcasing itself as a development friendly one. The thrust and direction of the development is immaterial, and often harmful in the medium or long term without any goals driving the activity.

Edit: @sids says "Without such goals, development is self perpetuating". Well put!