The Clean Air Asia India Office calls for applications from young, dynamic candidates as Project Assistant/Researchers to be based in Nepal (Clean Air Network Nepal) and Hong Kong (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) under the Fredkorpset Norway South- South exchange program. The duration is for twelve months starting from 1st November 2014.
A university (bachelor) or a masters degree in a course related to transport, environment fields, mass communication or social science e.g. environmental engineering, environmental sciences, urban planning, transport,*
Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience in a comparable position on transport and/or climate change project management and networking.*
Strong interest in research and data analysis.
Ability to communicate effectively with excellent oral and written communication skills, proficient in English, with good interpersonal skills.
Ability to work independently and as part of multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team
Age requirement: 22-35 years old
Open to Indian Nationals only
* Requirements for both the position are different. Please refer to the attached ToRs before applying.
Quoting reference application Research/ Project Assistant-Hong Kong or Research/ Project Assistant-Nepal on subject line, applicants should email their application letter and current CV (as Word attachments) to Ms. Gianina Panopio, center@cleanairasia.org, by27 August 2014.
All applicants should state the reasons for their interest in the position, relevant details of qualifications and experience, and contact details for three referees. Only short listed candidates will be contacted. For further information on the position you may contact Parthaa Bosu,parthaa.bosu@cleanairasia.org
Came across this video of a tuk tuk (or Auto rickshaws as they are called in India) driver with a different attitude in life.. For him it is not just business but also one that enables him to help others.. Wishing him the very best!
Thanks to CNN for this awesome infograph.. Who knew – Japan, with a population of~127 Million people, clocked an amazing 8 Billion trips annually, which put it at the top among nations with most number of trips by train. Interestingly, next to Japan is India (with a population of 1.2 Billion), who despite its massive population only raked up 7.2 billion trips on its extensive rail network..
If you crib about American politicians breaking the rule of law, you have to meet Mr. Najot Sidhu, a colorful politician in India and a current Member of Parliament. He was also one of the celebrated cricketers from a decade ago. Though he has been involved in a series of egregious violations over his colorful career, he somehow managed to get away. Until now. But what he did today deserves serious jail punishment. Let’s see what he did.
Today, Mr. Sidhu kidnapped a security guard at a Toll Plaza! Yep. You heard me right. According to reports seen on leading Indian newspaper Times of India, it all began when the guard, Chenchu Ramaiah, allegedly hurled a stick at Sidhu’s car which whizzed past the Venkatachalam toll plaza at Tallampadu village in Doravarisatram mandal without showing any ID proof or payment of toll fee. This led to a crack in the windshield. An enraged Sidhu came back to the plaza, overpowered Ramaiah and another guard and bundled them into his vehicle. If that is not enough, Mr. Sidhu and his entourage drove to a meeting with the two kidnapped toll plaza staff. Local police who were alerted about the situation, intervened and tried to pacify the politician. Click here to read the entire article.
Wait a minute! Did I hear the word pacify? Is this how police in India are now expected to treat a kidnapper? Isn’t the role of police to arrest such offenders and take them to court? I may be wrong here but I see the actions of Mr. Sidhu are plain breach of law and it can be summarized as a kidnapping and he should be dealt with accordingly. Would the police be “pacifying” a kidnapper had the roles been reversed here – i.e., if the toll plaza guards kidnapped Sidhu and drove him away, and held him against his will for a couple of hours? Would the police be treating the Toll Plaza guards the same way they did with Mr. Sidhu? Arrest his ass and throw him in JAIL! Let him stand in-front of a judge and explain his actions (oh, also don’t forget to prosecute the guards for damaging the vehicle too). If I’m a multinational firm interested in investing in India’s infrastructure such a situation would make me think twice. Incidents of this kind simply undermine investor confidence and erode any faith in the rule of law for citizens and foreigners alike.
For one, this is not what people expect from their elected leadership. India’s Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh and the opposition party leader (BJP party, to which Mr. Sidhu belongs), should come out strongly and condemn this action publicly If anything, reprimand Mr. Sidhu for his actions and set an example. What’s more appalling are the actions of his party man, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, who is another prominent opposition politician. Mr. Naidu, knowing all well what Sidhu did, intervened to broker peace between the police and Mr. Sidhu instead of letting the police carry out their duty. Press reports say that Mr. Naidu requested the police not to register case against anyone, including Mr. Sidhu. Whattt! Mr. Naidu should apologize to the people of his state for his actions and offer all assistance to the police to investigate this case. That is the least these politicians and government officials can do to show the citizens of India that the law is the same for everyone – be it a minister or a commoner on the street. Anyone who breaches the law should/will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. Failure to prosecute Mr. Sidhu would only reinforce the current sentiment among the public – if an offender is powerful or a wealthy politician he can get away with anything.
Note to Sidhu: Mr. Sidhu, you are not definitely the type of leader that India deserves. Your actions are shameful and your theatrics are even more offensive. Stop behaving like a petulant child and behave like a political leader that people want. After all, there are many young kids who grow up aspiring to be you and I hope you don’t lead them astray with such questionable behavior. Next time you approach a toll plaza, make sure to slow down and pay your toll. I’m positive the Indian taxpayers are paying you a handsome salary for your services as a Member of Parliament and you can definitely afford to pay a couple of hundred rupees for a service that everyone else pays. If you do not like slowing down or paying tolls, try catching a bus or even better a train. Oh, and above all don’t forget to render an apology to the poor workers at the Toll Plaza who toil in the baking hot weather all day long just to make ends meet.
Note to the Toll Plaza operators: For crying out loud, install barricades or some other measures to prevent such toll booth violations. If anything, use electronic surveillance equipment to capture the offenders and collect the money electronically. But don’t encourage your staff to throw a stick or a stone at a fast moving vehicle. It’s not only dangerous to the occupants of the vehicle but can also result in such situations where the offenders can get into a quarrel with the enforcers. Work with the police to resolve such violations and please do not encourage your staff to take matters in their own hands.
Just a few months ago, sales of Tata’s revolutionary Nano was caught stuck in a rut with a less than enthusiastic response from the consumers – a mere 509 units last November. For a product that was born from an out-of-the-box thinking, Tata Motors badly needed a similar stream of innovative genius on the marketing side to help enliven the sales of the Rs1-lakh car after posting some dismal sales figures.
Like any successful business house on this planet, a crack team at Tata Motors reworked the execution strategy and put in place a new and unconventional distribution system, which helped Nano sales drive past the 10,000 units mark in April. According to the ET.com article, this is the highest monthly sales since the car hit the roads in July 2009.
The sales strategy, which includes the formation of crack team, is to take the product close to the consumer on the street:
Launched 210 ‘F Class showrooms’, each only about 500 sq ft in size and stocking just one car in smaller towns, and hired 1,200 people to man them.
A tie up with value retailer Big Bazaar, a chain that has 70 outlets in smaller cities and town, to gain traction among the 150 million footfalls the retailer gets every year.
The results are remarkable – Tata is now planning to ramp up the production from 500o units to 10,000 units in the next three months to meet the demand. I bet some MBA grad out of an IIM really made Ratan Tata proud for making the decision to hire him/her. Click here to read the ET.com article.
The Supreme Court on Thursday left no option for the Centre and states but to speedily implement the policy on installation of high security registration plates (HSRP) in 9 crore vehicles across the country.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia andJustices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar slammed the states for their lethargy in implementing the court’s 2008 judgment upholding the Centre’s 2001 notification on mandatory HSRPs for vehicles.
Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Kumar said the executive must implement the court’s order within the stipulated time, especially when the issue concerned safety of citizens, which was of paramount interest for the governments. It lamented non-implementation of the court`s May 8, 2008 judgment pronounced on a petition filed by Maninderjit Singh Bitta and issued contempt notices to the transport secretaries of Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
If officials are found guilty of not implementing GPRS-enabled high security number plates they would not only be punished for contempt but also be liable to personally pay heavy cost.
States which have initiated the process are directed to complete it in six weeks.
Defaulting state transport secretaries are to file affidavit in four weeks.
Editor’s note: Given the constant security threats facing the nation, the swift implementation of high security registration plates makes a lot of sense. How on earth can they track rouge/unsafe elements on the road amongst a burgeoning vehicle population of 90 million that is continuing to grow leaps and bounds with each passing day? If anything, this should be a top priority at the Ministry of Transportation.
I can relate to almost everything in this nice blog post. I enjoyed a fair share of the experiences described by the author, who fondly recollects her memories riding a bus during her college days (in the 1990s) in the Southern India city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras)! For those not in the know, Chennai is one of the top four cities in India – in terms of population, investment, etc and has a relatively good transportation network that is affordable for the masses.
These days I should not be complaining about my daily commute after living through some of these experiences. As dangerous as it sounds, most of my commutes to work and school back in India involved holding on to a window grill for dear life with just one hand and only one foot on the bus’ steps as it whizzed by at 60km/hr. For crying out loud, the country has 1.3 billion people and at times it felt like as if the entire citizenry of the nation decided to ride the very bus that I took to school/work!
Those days all the Chennai Metro buses where painted with green and off-white stripes. When a large rectangular mass of green and off-white stripes appears on the horizon, everyone in the bus stop perks up and strains to see the number on the white board over the large windshield. The ones with better vision are lucky, because after seeing the number, they get 30 seconds more to decide where to position themselves to improve their chances of boarding the bus. My vision was terrible and hence my strategy was as good as a coin toss.
On a few lucky days, I am the first at the entrance. Drones of people embark and disembark the bus through the two entrances in no particular order. The goal is to get in and out of the bus before the conductor blows the godforsaken whistle and the bus begins to move. People still continue to board the moving bus.
Inside the bus, I manage to pull out my free bus pass and the conductor punches a hole to mark my free government permitted ride to school for the day. It is almost impossible to explain how crowded the bus gets. The closest analogy I can give is, it feels like sardines packed in a can. I am swept into the bus and get jammed in the middle. I am suspended in that space. My body is in physical contact with several bodies at various points inside that tight packed space. It is like I have been mapped in the cosmos.
The Chennai Metro bus is a social space; one that is similar to a school, hospital, church, sports club, gym or dance studio. There are certain set of unwritten rules for engagement and obligations to fulfill. By default there are more assigned seats for men than women, generally women sit in the right side of the bus and men on the left. When the bus is crowded a man has to vacate a designated woman’s seat but the converse is not true.
If a woman or a really old man is getting on a moving bus, then more than a few concerned citizens will bang on the steel bus and it will screech to a halt to allow them to get in. If it is just a bunch of guys they would just have to hang for dear life on the windows bars and somehow swing and get their feet on the steps of the bus or just cling to the bus. They still have to pay their fare for the bus ride, as it is gets them to their destination faster than if they run or walk.
If a man is hanging outside, then it is your duty as a passenger who is secure inside the bus to grab their belongings – backpack, lunch bag, etc and keep it secure. If you get off the bus before the guy does, pass it on to someone else for safekeeping. A woman, no matter how agile or skilled is not supposed to hang onto the window or stand on the steps of a moving bus. For some weird reason a disabled or incapacitated woman is more of a societal liability than a handicapped man. Therefore, again the dutiful citizens in the bus tell the woman to get to safety.
NYT’s wonderful analysis hits the nail by pointing out the underlying problem: salaries. Having studied Civil engineering and worked in that part of the world, I can perfectly relate to this situation. It was one of the reasons why I decided to leave the country to explore opportunities in the West.
India really should buck up and address the discrepancies in its salary structures across the industries or else it will be always playing catch up with the other economies around the world..
China has leaped technologically in just two decades and matched its economic growth by tremendously investing and improving its infrastructure, which is made possible by a steady stream of civil engineering graduates.. On the other hand, though India’s academic institutions churn out a good number of civil engineers, many of them are lured away from the profession by the riches and air-conditioned comfort of the software shops… Unless this situation changes, the country’s roads will continue to remain poor and eventually will drag down the economic progress..
Oh, Civil Engineering is not the only profession that has taken a hit from this software-industry propelled economic boom. Many other branches of engineering are also suffering the same fate.The situation is even worse for those with arts and science degrees…
Despite this nation’s rise as a technology titan with some of the best engineering minds in the world, its full economic potential is stifled by potholed roads, collapsing bridges, rickety railroads and a power grid so unreliable that many modern office buildings run their own diesel generators to make sure the lights and computers stay on.
It is not for want of money. The Indian government aims to spend $500 billion on infrastructure by 2012 and twice that amount in the following five years.
The problem is a dearth of engineers — or at least of civil engineers with the skill and expertise to make sure those ambitious projects are done on time and to specification.
Civil engineering was once an elite occupation in India, not only during the British colonial era of carving roads and laying train tracks, but long after independence as part of the civil service. These days, though, India’s best and brightest know there is more money and prestige in writing software for foreign customers than in building roads for their nation.
Good grief.. This has been going on for a while and still no solutions.. Govt. of India needs to kick some butt and get this issue taken care off before the passengers start taking things into their own hands.. LA Times says: “Armed outlaws take cash and valuables from passengers in more than 100 heists a year. Poorly paid security forces and weak governance don’t offer much protection..”
A large group of armed robbers struck the Sealdah—New Delhi Lal Quila Express today, fired at GRP personnel, assaulted passengers and looted them near Bhalui halt in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district, leaving 21 people, including a jawan, injured.
Enraged over the incident, passengers, mostly kanwarias (devotees of Lord Shiva), shouted slogans and ransacked the office of the station master in Kiul.
Around 35 robbers boarded the train at Jamui station and walked into AC and sleeper coaches of the train and started looting cash and valuables, including jewellery and mobile phones worth Rs 2.50 lakh, from the passengers, official sources said quoting the FIR registered by six passengers.
As the unarmed GRP personnel resisted them, they opened fire critically wounding one of them. The jawan has been hospitalised at a nearby hospital, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Railway) R K Sharma said.
According to the sources, four robbers had earlier boarded the train at Jamui railway station, but passengers and the jawans overpowered them and caught two of them. The other two who managed to escape, alerted their accomplices and the robbery took place at the next halt.
Nice work Delhi Police.. Glad to see citizens actively participating in keeping their city safe. Its is amazing to see how social media has transformed our communities and the way we live (and even police ourselves).
The police didn’t initially solicit these photos, but citizens took the initiative to help the authorities because Delhi, a sprawling metropolis that’s home to more than 12 million people, has only 5,000 traffic cops.
This method will only become more useful. The 2010 Commonwealth Games will take place in Delhi in early October, bringing a huge influx of travelers to the roads. Now the info panel at the Facebook () page says: “Managing traffic in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games will be a big challange as well as a great opportunity. Delhi Traffic Police cannot possibly succeed without the active cooperation, participation and support of all the citizens.”
