ashwin mahesh

Over the years, I have had one debate repeatedly - is 'solving public problems' worth anything politically? I think so, and pretty much all of what I think is political in my life revolves around this thinking. I like the idea of solving problems, I believe it excites those who try, and is a real contribution to tackling the problems the country faces. That's why, day in and day out, I talk about problems and their solutions - especially in cities. The argument I have heard the most against this, is that this is not political enough. Winning elections takes…

If you ask people about their local RWA or apartment association, they'll tell you a lot of uncharitable things. Words like 'bickering,' 'clueless,' 'no communication' etc. will dominate the response. And if you stop to think about it, you'll realise that there are a lot of parallels between this and how they think about politics and governance of the country itself. What's going on? First, solving public problems isn't the responsibility of a few people. For legal and practical reasons we have formed these things - RWAs, industry associations, religious trusts, ward committees, city councils, state legislatures, parliament - but…

About six months ago, the Chief Minister announced, with the usual fanfare and ribbon cutting, that the city would be 'garbage-free in 6 months'. Since then, regularly on this wall, I have been counting down the clock to this deadline. Now he's about to give us the Christmas gift we've all been waiting for - one more promise to do something, probably in 6 more months. It was always clear that this would not happen on time. But rather than be a skeptic from the beginning, I decided to wait. I even offered to help some BBMP corporators in South…

About two years ago, I said to a few young people that 'if you do the following seven things EVERY WEEK without fail for the next FULL YEAR for only A FEW MINUTES A DAY, you'll be so successful you'll never have to worry too much about your career and other things. I'm not sure if any of them is trying it out, but this morning in some other context I was reminded of this. I call these the seven 4-letter words that guarantee success. Keep in mind, you must do this EVERY WEEK, no exceptions (health issues apart). You…

Our urban planning framework has totally misunderstood the management of parking. Starting with building bye laws to on-street parking to off-street, pretty much EVERYTHING we do around parking is wrong. And the examples that people point to as 'successful' are often very good examples of failures. The goal of the municipality should be to manage mobility, not parking. And this focus should prioritise mobility of public transport vehicles, and also facilitate good quality infrastructure for pedestrian movement. Look at the example of every major city in the world. They don't go around telling builders that for every square foot of…

The bus fare increases are irrational, and unnecessary. There are at least three things which are wrong, and if these are fixed the bus service could be a lot better without needing to over-charge the poor. a) The government needs to recognise, in its budget, that bus service is a public service that needs subsidy. All over the world public transport is subsidised, because it is well-known that the positive values that result - lower congestion, for example - are far in excess of the subsidy itself. For some reason, the Karnataka government has steadfastly refused to subsidise the BMTC.…