Electron's salute to ISRO

I salute ISRO, for all their recent achievements.
I am proud of having been an electron of ISRO for over 33 years.

Government (women) employees - Looters ?

Today, it's about my neighbor lady ! Oh.. I have nothing personally against her; She is a stranger to me and vice versa.
This lady lives in a rented house, next door. She came here recently (may be on transfer from some other place !? ). She works in some Government office in this neighborhood (as told casually by another neighbor). She goes and returns by walk to her office. I have been watching her for the last few weeks, only to monitor her office going.

On a typical working day, she leaves home by 10.45/11.00 AM. She is back home positively before 12.30 noon. Then again she goes at by about 2.00/2.25 pm. And certainly before 5.00pm, she is back home.
I do not know in which office she works. She must be walking (slow and flowing) atleast 20 minutes to her office, since the nearest office complex is about 15/20 minutes away by walk.
On the week end, on Saturday, she leaves home only after 11.30 am, and does not return at all. This happens on Friday too, if Saturday is a holiday. On Monday, she goes by 11.30/11.40 am only.
I understand that this lady belongs to central Travancore area, and hence goes there every weekend and for every opportunity.
Last Friday, it was half day local holiday for the Govt staff here (on account of some local celebration !). Our lady left home at 11.40am, and returned only on this (Monday) morning.

May be, she takes a lot of leave for personal needs. But how many days leave are these "gumasthans" given ? Is there any attendance system in her office ? I doubt.

If atall this lady works in the office, it is for less than 3 hours a day. My gut feels say that this lady is not touching a piece of paper or pen for the work.

This lady is a true representative of the employees in our State Government offices. They all earn huge salaries, and other benefits. Public money is being looted away by these people.
I personally know, men are much better than the women, in this issue. Women are, in general, unproductive. When women are crying for eqality with men, why is that these ladies behave like this. They should work, and should be productive. They should work in their respective places, and should be honest to their work and the Organisation. These ladies should understand that they are taking the poor man's money (that's why I prefer to call them 'looters').

Those ladies, who are confident that they are honest and productive (and work for the huge salaries they loot away ) need not respond to my observations and these comments .

Beyond the stars

I am thrilled. Not only at the Chandrayaan and MIP, but also at NASA's new findings. Beyond the solar system ...
May I suggest you to visit my blog "Science Today". I have a lot of stuff put there about this.

http://scienctoday.blogspot.com

Chandrayaan, M I P , ISRO

And it's done !
photos..

Chandrayaan, M I P, and Moon Missions

Today, at about 8.30 PM, Chandrayaan will drop the Moon Impact Probe on to the Moon. A major milestone in our Technological progress. Let's wish ISRO all success !

I just had a bit of research into the 1960s ! With the valuable articles appeared in Science Today (2001) magazine, it's great to know about the earlier Moon missions. Please have a look into my blog : "Science Today - Science and Technology for all "

Planting on the foot path

My Social Studies text in the 8th Class ( those days ) had lessons on the reforms made by the Kings. Among the many reforms listed, which are mostly common to all the Kings, is about the planting of "cholamarangal ' (shade trees) along the roads and lanes. King of Travancore was no exception. Trivandrum had (and still has) cholamarangal all along the roads ( except those cut and removed by our development agencies). Though many have been cut, our society is particular to replant the trees ( I don't like to see them small !). That's how many tree saplings are seen on the foot path, these days.
They are all planted right at the middle of the foot path. All the plants are given a protective shielding (mostly of expensive metallic meshed) when planted. And that's the end of it. The shield (cages) starts disappearing.. and over an year, nothing is left.
The picture above shows one such plant, right at the middle of the foot path, and very close to the bus-stop. Half the cage is still intact. I am sure, the other half is on the way to the steel recycling plant, through a local scrap dealer.
.

Street lights

Our city still has its 'royal' traces. The lamp posts in the Museum to Kawdiar route would certify this. The street light poles are of the beautiful royal designs. They are made of cast iron (?) and made by the British (?). They are still in its royal form. That's all fine.
But the way they are maintained is very pathetic. Look at the lamp post (my focus is always at the bottom !). The electric lines giving connections to the lamps are all exposed (but for a thin piece of insulation tape). And the cover (shield) is missing.
This being at a bus stop, people stand very close to these wires. This is a SAFETY HAZARD.
Is any KSEB wizard listening ?

No petrol !

No petrol !

Herd effect

Herd effect ! May be you know what I mean. Look at the group of girls (from some other place, visiting Trivandrum) at Vazhuthacaud. This is on last Sunday morning (around 8.30 AM).
The first picture shows the girls coming out of a Hotel (after breakfast) and starts crossing the road. They don't bother for the traffic at all (may not be evident from the picture, but it was so !).
Picture 2 shows the herd crossing the road, and moving to the other half of the road (traffic almost blocked).
Picture 3 shows the herd running close to their buses parked opposite the Hotel.
The last picture is certainly about the 'slow goers' ( or are they the lonely ones - "ottayaanmaar" ? ). The sleepy ones, who are not in the herd, moves very slow. The herd has to wait for these slowers !

A bus-stop for none

A bus stop for none.
This Bus-stop, with a parking bay, is at Vellayambalam (towards Paalayam/EastFort), near Keltron. No bus stops here and No man waits here. Then how come it's a Bus-stop ? But the sign board says so !

Road dividers can be imaginary

Traffic management is certainly a great task. It's a science, an art, and so is a great technology. Design and layout of roads is a major part of it. The foundation of all technologies is common sense. Any technology, without common sense, is "non-sense".

I think this is true with the case I am showing you here. The photos show a road divider . This is at Vellayambalam. The road from Maanaveeyam junction to Vellayambalam junction. This is a 4 lane road, with an imaginery road divider. But there are a few street lights placed as the divider. A speeding vehicle towards Vellayambalam is almost sure to miss this thin divider.
Look at the photos. You'll find it hard to see the road divider... just because there's nothing like that, but for the street light poles.

The great divide : Injustice from Justice Sreekrishna

The great divide, and the denial of justice.

Our society gets divided on many forms and accounts. The poor and the rich, the literate and the illiterate, abled and the disabled, … and the list of ‘divide’ is very long. Divisions of all sorts There is a continuous effort by our ‘masters of the society” to eradicate such divides, and bring in equality and justice. While many such divisions are still prevalent in our society, divisions of many more are being created. New divisions happen (or created) on many frontiers of our society and life. New cases of “ ‘have’s and ‘have not’s “ are still being created (not just happens).

One such division, recently created, is among the Central Govt employees and the pensioners. The Sixth Central Pay Commission ( headed by Justice Sreekrishna) is the creator of this divide. The Government, however, has vetted the division. However, this not being a National issue, has not surfaced out appropriately.

The division, concerning the Central Govt employees (both present and former), is not affecting the present employees (gainers), but affects the former employees (pensioners) who are the losers. This divide is certainly a painful one for the pensioners, a very small fraction of our society.

Though the present employees are ‘over-joyed’ over the 6PC recommendations and its implementation (with more icing by the Government ), some of the pensioners are very sad about it (although there is an increase in the monthly pension). The reason for this divide is a discrimination towards the pensioners, based on a date.

1 January 2006, the effective date of implementation of the 6PC recommendations, is the unfortunate day for many of the pensioners. The division is among employees retired on or before 31-12-2005 and the employees retired or serving on or after 1-1-2006. The midnight on 31 Dec 2005 is the “Berlin wall” for these two “Classes of employees”. Retirees on or before 31-12-2005 are the have-nots, while all others are haves.

In one of my earlier posts, I brought an example of the division. To remind you of the ‘great difference’, look at the following. There’s many unjustifiable differences, and I am quoting only just one among them

A person retiring on 31-12-2005 gets an amount of 3.5 Lakhs as the Gratuity. But, a person retiring on the next day (ie. 1-1-2006) walks away happily with 10 Lakhs. I am sure that the 6PC and the Govt authorities understand very well that the amount of Gratuity is a lumpsum amount paid to the retired person (as a gratitude !) for making a settlement/ base for his retired (old age) life. Thanks to our system, for giving a monthly pension for the maintenance of the retired’s old age life (though inadequate to maintain the life standards ). The person leaving on 31-12-2005 settles his life with 3.5, and the other person leaving after the midnight of that day settles with 10 Lakhs. The difference is 3 times ! This is certainly a great divide and is not justifiable.

Central Govt rules stipulate (that’s what I understand) that a Commission be appointed for review of the pay and related aspects of the Central Govt employees, once in 10 years. Since the 5^th PC recommendations were made effective on 1-1-1996, the 6^th PC made 1-1-2006 as its “effective date” for implementation. That’s fine, but that’s not meant to be the base for a justifiable structure of pay and related matters. Cost of living or any other economic parameter did not jump 3 times on that ‘sacred’ day.

A revision of pay structure (as given now) can be created by any babu at the Central secretariat. But, that’s not what was expected of the Commission, its Chairman, and the Govt. The Commission was expected to consider the issue and requirements in its global nature and on a 360^O perspective. Had it been on such an angle, a more equitable and justifiable outcome would have come. I think, the Commission had an easy task, by taking it too easy. Was the objective of the task only to frame new scales of pay for the present employees ? Only to make them happy ? Or to compute on a multiplication factor to compute a slightly higher Pension?

On the implementation front, the Govt authorities haven’t put their mind into the social implications of implementing such recommendations. Probably, they did only a mathematical exercise to compute the total financial burden on the national exchequer.

6PC and the Govt authorities, I wish, should have had a more logical look at the social aspects of the implementation of the 6PC recommendations.

What I am pointing out here is only an element of the discriminatory nature of the 6PC aspects. Many more things are in the field. This is evident from the fact that our Armed Forces have NOT accepted the implementation of these recommendations. This too reinforces the fact that Justice Sreekrishna did not do justice to many. That includes our Armed Forces and the poor pensioners.

In my view, the above ‘sacred day’ – 1 Jan 2006 – has no relevance at all. It did the division, and that’s all. This is not justifiable. Why should all the things be applicable from this sacred day only ? What’s wrong if it had a backward date and applicability. That doesn’t mean that I am suggesting for my convenient date for applicability/ implementation. Let the date of implementation be 1 Jan 2006. But it’s applicability, in a proper format, be made backward too. To suggest an example, in the case of the Gratuity, let a formula be made with backward applicability (for the last 10 years). Let the pensioners (before 1-1-06) get a modified Gratuity = 10 lakhs minus ((2006 minus year of retirement) X 10% of 10 lakhs). {This is backwardly tapering down at 10% per year, for 10 years }. In the case of Commutation of pension too, there’s a big discrimination. That too should be appropriately worked out (on such a backward tapering principle) and justified.

I am aware that there would be an additional load on the Govt budget, but that's too small for the Govt to bear. Remember, the Govt could easily write off 75,000 crores towards the agricultural loans (which in fact did not reach the real suffering farmers ). Many more crores have been pumped recently into the stock market system, in an effort to save a minor fraction of our population. The additional burden that would bring in by implementing a backward tapering formula, for the pensioners, is not a burden at all, for the Govt. In fact, that would be a case of justice done.

My attempt here is not to say that 6PC and the Govt did all blunders. They did excellent work and recommendations on many aspects. To cite an example, Govt implemented the ‘One Rank One Pension” principle. By the way, this is an excellent case of doing some justice to all the pensioners.

My attempt here is to invite the attention of ALL related personnel and the Govt to relook into the ‘unjustified’ aspects of this issue.

Will someone put their thoughts on this ? I hope some one does.. the authorities.. the guards of our society …. . and resolve the unjustifiable divisions.

May God Bless all.

Portability of (Vehicle) Numbers

Give me Red ! .. says Amitabh Bachan in an advertisement (Eveready batteries). But, that's not what I am asking for !!
Give me the number ! That's what I demand !! My vehicle number. I don't like to part with my vehicle number, even if I part with my vehicle. I love my numbers.. the mobile number.. the vehicle number .. and some more.
Portability of (mobile) telephone number is just around the corner. I am awaiting for that fortune moment to run away from BSNL, with my number (unless BSNL gives me a better treat).
Likewise, I would like to get my Vehicle Registration Number portable. I love my number ! I don't want to part with that number !!

Is anyone listening ... ?? .... over at New Delhi ???