Support my Run at NYC Marathon 2010!

I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible - John Hanc

There are several ways of experiencing the diversity of life that NYC offers, I am told. But none of them beats running the annual New York City marathon - one of the oldest, toughest and most popular marathons in the world.

When I was planning my move into NYC last summer, I vaguely hoped that I would get a chance to run the NYC marathon some day (only the top athletes get a direct entry). But I had no idea that I would get so lucky to run the NYC marathon this year itself!

Just a few days before I boarded my flight to US, a friend from NYC told me that his non-profit organization - Union Settlement Association, was looking for runners to run the NYC marathon on 7th November 2010 and support their work through individual fundraising efforts.

Though I was initially thrilled to learn of this opportunity, I found it difficult to arrive at a decision. I wondered if it would even be possible for me to train for a marathon within 3 months (as against the usual 5 months), especially since I had run my last marathon 3 years back. What would make this race tougher would also be the weather in NYC on race day – 5 to 10 deg C, way below my comfort limit! Not to mention the rigour of settling down in a new city and going back to college after 6 years to pursue a very demanding Masters program.

Eventually, I couldn’t succeed in talking myself out of it. The marathon bug had bit me badly and I enrolled myself to be a member of the Union Settlement team running the ING NYC marathon 2010. Ever since, I have been training like a mad man running 40-45 kms every week. The going has been surprisingly smooth so far, and I am hoping to finish the marathon in 4hrs 30min.

While I have been making great strides (sorry for that!) in my training, I need your help.

The Union Settlement Association is an organization that has been serving the East Harlem community (one of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of NYC) since 1895, fostering community leadership and self-sufficiency by helping local residents build better lives for themselves and their families. They do so by working in close partnership with the New York City government.

Over the last few weeks, I got to learn a lot about their work through my friend (a SIPA classmate who worked at Union Settlement before) and also after visiting their community centre in East Harlem. I must admit that I was left thoroughly impressed by the quality, professionalism and dedication of their work. In signing up to run on the Union Settlement Team, I have pledged to raise $2,500 to support their work.

They have set up a web page to provide donations to your favorite runner (i.e. yours truly :) ) and ways to learn more about Union Settlement. You can also view this brief video on the history and work of Union Settlement. I urge you to make a $100, $50 or $20 contribution today, if possible.

The last couple of years have been challenging for everyone here, certainly for those who benefit from the work of the Union Settlement. While I realize it’s a tough task to ask anyone for money, I ask that you dig deep and support me in this endeavor. If you are able to make a donation, any donation, regardless of the size, thank you for your generosity on behalf of the thousands of people who benefit from the life changing, sustaining and saving services of the Union Settlement Association.

It’s an honor for me to run under the banner of the Union Settlement and with your help, I look forward to reaching the double goal of raising $2500 and finishing the race in my personal best time!

Click here to donate funds for my run now

First Reactions of US!

As I complete my first month in US, I feel this strong urge to put down some of the great and not-so-great things that I have noticed about this country!

Before I begin, some caveats. The points listed below are not in any specific order and the observations may not be unique to US alone. But they are certainly true of US from what I have seen of it in one month and living in two very different cities – San Diego and New York. I am sure this list will evolve over time. But for now, here it goes…

Best of US #1: Sense of orderliness – This is an obvious one. The most striking feature about US (especially for somebody coming from India) is the sense of order that prevails in day-to-day life. Be it the streets or the supermarkets, flying by air or taking a ride in a NYC subway or bus, opening a bank account or locating an address, simple things are just so easier to do out here!

I can’t think of a better example than the amazingly well-organized streets of US. All of them have clear signboards (In San Diego, they even mention the plot numbers covered) and lane markings, traffic flows smoothly, everybody obeys signals, and most importantly pedestrians have equally good if not better facilities than anybody else! I wasn’t surprised when I learned that Google had mapped almost each and every building in the top US cities. I learnt this in San Diego when our GPS device running on a Google base map indicated that our destination was on the right side as we stopped our car besides the building!

NYC takes this one level further by numbering and not naming all its streets - I live off 122^nd street in Manhatten, while my home in Mumbai is on Swayambu Ganesh Mandir Marg. Not just that, my address here fits in line 1 itself (I still can’t believe it), while most Indian addresses need 3 if not more lines, with one exclusively reserved for a nearby landmark!

Best of US #2: A new concept of public spaces – One of the most striking and impressive things about US cities is the prominence they accord to creating beautiful public spaces, and the efforts they undertake to maintain them.

Be it the beautiful beaches of San Diego filled with people (even on weekdays!) doing all sorts of activities – reading a book and enjoying the sun, surfing or kayaking, jogging or listening to a free rock concert; or the Central Park in NY – a dream come true for runners and cyclists, a perfect setting for music performances and a great picnic spot, it is so refreshing to know that malls are the last thing in the minds of people here when planning a fun time outside.

I found it remarkable when a friend from San Fransisco told me that she loves her city even more with every passing year since the city government is constantly at work redeveloping and beautifying various parts of the city! I dream to hear that of an Indian city one day.

Best of US #3: Dignity of human life – Though not very obvious, I feel this is a wonderful virtue that runs deep in the American society and manifests in multiple ways. Almost all public spaces – streets, stadiums, parks, buses, toilets etc. are carefully and meticulously designed keeping the needs of the handicapped in mind. A few days back, I almost stopped and watched in awe when I saw a person on a motorized wheelchair cross multiple streets of New York, faster than the other pedestrians! In contrast, on the pavements of India, even ordinary people sometimes feel handicapped.

Besides, people smile at each other very often and though they don’t always mean it, do take the effort of asking how the other person is doing. I also noticed that most people here accord great dignity to any kind of labour, and would strike a conversation with their building security guards, bus drivers or housekeeping staff just as with any other friend.

Ok, time to move on to some not-so-great things about US…

Worst of US #1: Give me more! – Widely known as it is, the daily life of an American is indeed quite energy intensive and clearly unsustainable.

Complete reliance on cars (except for the top few cities), packaged foods, over usage of tissues and paper napkins, automated cloth dryers and dishwashers – the list of what seems to be grossly out of tune with modern sensibilities on energy consumption is endless. It almost seems like all of human knowledge has been pressed hard into service to ensure that extra little degree of comfort in doing mundane things, with little regard to that imaginary (unfortunately so!) carbon footprint.

What is depressing is that there are hardly any efforts underway to change this way of life anytime soon. Take the case of reliance on cars. As the 8^th largest city in US, San Diego is a perfect showcase. Only limited areas of the city are covered through public transport, that too with infrequent service. While part of the blame clearly goes to an urban planning paradigm that doesn’t seem to incentivize high density and multi-purpose zones resulting in large spread out cities, what was also missing was any serious attempt from the city government to put high quality public transport infrastructure in place. My guess is that the case with most other American cities won’t be very different.

Worst of US #2: Mobile industry is a big cartel – It’s strange that the mobile industry in US is hardly what you would expect it to be at a model free market society. Battle lines are clearly drawn and alliances between mobile handset manufacturers and service carriers run deep, often hurting the interests of the consumers.

For example, I can’t use an I-Phone handset if I don’t choose AT&T as my carrier howsoever poor their network might be (I am not saying it is!). Each handset manufacturer releases different (if any at all) models for different carriers resulting in a limited range of options for any consumer. What is worse is that all carriers lock you into a 1 yr or a 2yr plan with high penalties for violation, and you get to choose only between fixed talktime plans (eg. 400 or 700 mins per month) even though your average usage might be much below that.

Worst of US #3: Yet to figure this one out. Certainly goes to show that the country has more good than bad to offer to any discerning visitor!

Pusuing MPA at Columbia University

Difficult as it is to believe in it myself, it’s true! After spending three most exhilarating and memorable years at Janaagraha, I have quit the organization to pursue higher studies.

Leaving Janaagraha was a very tough decision. My years at Janaagraha have shaped my growth as a public service professional in ways I had never imagined. I got my first ringside view of the exciting world of public change in India, and was fortunate enough to witness some successes too.

In fact, in my last week at Janaagraha, we hit a major milestone in the campaign (Jaagte Raho! or “stay awake”) I was leading at Janaagraha. ECI signed a historic MoU with Janaagraha to launch the BEST initiative aimed at reforming Bangalore’s electoral system. Ball was certainly rolling in the right direction and possibilities of what could be accomplished in near future were boundless.

Yet, I was certain that it was time for me to pass the baton and move on. I have decided to pursue higher studies by attending the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) program at School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University, New York – the most global and amongst the top public policy schools in the world. That I was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship to pursue this education made the decision a lot easier!

The reasons why I chose to pursue this MPA education are simple enough. Let me try and list them out (my fascination with bullet points is there to stay!):

• My years at Janaagraha left me convinced that what I thought was my calling, was indeed my calling! I realized that I was truly cut out for a career in public service. But as I looked ahead, I felt ill equipped to do complete justice to the roles I would like to play. Having been trained as an engineer, I had little besides passion, reason and some experience to keep me going. Given the increasing complexity of public change in a vast country like India, and the multiplicity of debates that each issue throws up, I felt it was essential for me to develop an academic footing in public policy and go deeper into at least one policy sector of my choice – Urban Policy. And which other place to do that better than NYC!
• While the context of India will always remain unique, I strongly believe that we can find the best solutions to our problems only if we are well informed of the history and experiences in public policy arena from all across the world. Studying at a globally reputed public policy school is a good way to do that.
• Besides public policy, there were a few topics in other related fields that I wanted to study for a long time – law, journalism, political science and religion. Spending 2 years at a place like Columbia was the only way I think I can do that!

When I look back at my years at IIT, I almost think of it as memories from a past life. My transformation from an engineers-rule-the-world person to a complete humanities person has been astonishingly quick and effective!

Besides leaving Janaagraha, what made the decision to study MPA abroad especially difficult was the thought of leaving India for 2 years. TWO long years!

My only hope now is that I return back quickly enough without missing any major action (thank god the next parliamentary elections are only in 2014!) and accomplishing as much of the ambitious agenda that I have set for myself J.

Vapi - India's Most Polluted Town!

Today I read this TOI article which confirmed what I always feared to be the truth. Vapi, an industrial town in south of Gujarat and just 17km away from my hometown Silvassa, is the most polluted town in India.

I spent 14 long childhood years in Silvassa before I left to study engineering at Chennai. Vapi used to be the closest railway station which connected us to the rest of the world. Even then, the air of Vapi had a distinctive stench of chemicals that would make you feel sick. I remember my schoolteachers telling us that breathing Vapi's air for 5 minutes is equivalent to smoking one cigarette. I wonder what took so long to arrive at this conclusion, perhaps a brave environment minister?

But the big question that still remains to be answered, what now? One has to see Vapi to believe how environmental pollution, primarily air and water, has engulfed this town. How come Narendra Modi has not uttered a word on this given how ardent a supporter he is of unabashed industrialization? Will Jairam Ramesh, having displayed the courage to accept this fact, do something to bring about a change in Vapi and many such industrial towns that dot the length and breadth of this country?

BBMP Elections : Lessons for the Future

A take on how Jaagte Raho! campaign fared at the Bangalore municipal elections that were held on 28th March 2010, and where do we go from here.

The recently concluded BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) election was the first major milestone for Janaagraha’s Jaagte Raho! campaign in Bangalore. Launched barely 4 months ago on 15th December 2009, the campaign is an attempt to redefine patterns of electoral engagement in urban India over the long term along two key dimensions – improved accuracy of electoral rolls, and high voter turnout.

Admittedly, there were no big victories at the city level this time around, and the turnout (at 44.1%) was similar to that during the last few elections in Bangalore. While the tendency to dismiss effectiveness of civil society campaigns at such occasions runs high, a finer analysis reveals that the issue of urban voter turnout is a complex one and it would be foolhardy to expect anything drastically different unless a few underpinning factors change. These can be broadly classified into factors External and Internal to civil society campaigns such as Jaagte Raho!

External Factors

There are two big external factors which affected the official voter turnout in the BBMP elections perhaps the most:

1. High error rates in electoral rolls – Bangalore’s electoral rolls have been long known to be highly inaccurate, with error rates (omissions and commissions) upto 40%! The issue has been further exacerbated in the last year when the State Election Commission (SEC) took over the charge of updating electoral rolls. While over 3 lakh voters were newly added, only 2500 deletions were made. The result is that Bangalore’s electoral rolls have become highly bloated, with 7 million official voters as against an expected 5.6 million voters going by the 2001 census. If one goes by the latter figure of actual voters, the actual voter turnout in Bangalore could be as high as 55%!

Going forward, this is easily the single most important issue for Election Commission of India to tackle if the perception on urban electoral engagement is to change. The good news here is that Chennai has already shown the way! During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Chennai was the only metro to register a turnout of 60% - a clear 13% rise from the turnout in previous general election. The key reason attributed by the ECI itself was intensive cleaning up of electoral rolls and deletion of names of bogus voters. In Chennai, the ECI carries out an intensive process of electoral roll updation every year through door-to-door enumeration, while Bangalore and most other cities do it once every 5 years.

2. Poor connect between candidates and voters – Besides the call to duty, one of the most effective motivations to vote is to know that one is voting for a good candidate. For this to happen, adequate information on all candidates needs to be made available much in advance of Election Day. This is a long standing issue afflicting our electoral setup, which worsened further in the case of BBMP elections. With the entire election cycle crunched to 3 weeks, perhaps the shortest cycle ever, there was little time left for most voters to familiarize themselves with their candidates, and vice-versa. As a result, many voters found it difficult to shun their general cynicism towards the entire political setup and eventually opted out of voting. The fact that most voters voted on party lines, the ruling party won and independent candidates fared poorly can also be attributed to the same factor to an extent.

Going forward, Jaagte Raho! campaign will continue its dialogue with ECI and create a more favourable eco-system for the ECI to bring about a much needed overhaul of urban electoral systems.

Internal Factors

Despite the large role that external factors can play, there is lot that a campaign such as Jaagte Raho! can do in affecting the trend of voter turnout. Following are the two key reasons why the efforts of Jaagte Raho! had a limited impact in these elections:

1. Launched barely 4 months back, the campaign is still at a very nascent stage of its evolution with only 5% of its targeted grassroots volunteer base (Area Voter Mitras) set up. Building a strong city-wide grassroots network of committed volunteers takes time, as does any genuine attempt at social change. The campaign expects to go through this journey in next few years, as it stays committed on its mission of improving electoral engagement in urban India.

2. Many of the campaign strategies at a micro-level are still experimental in nature, and are bound to get better and more nuanced in their approach with subsequent elections. To add to this, Jaagte Raho! is planning to carry out some core research studies that will provide crucial insights into the reasons that inhibit or encourage electoral engagement in urban India. This will play an important role in guiding campaign’s response in the future

That being said, there were some important positive takeaways for the campaign from this experience viz.

• The effectiveness of Area Voter Mitra (AVM) model has been validated on a pilot scale, with a few AVMs successfully registering hundreds of new voters in their polling booths at one go, and affecting upto 10% increase in voter turnout. The challenge now is to scale this up to a city level.
• Spreading information on ALL candidates is an effort intensive though an essential task before every election. Taking the approach of enabling volunteers to organize ward level Know Your Candidate (KYC) events, the campaign succeeded in enabling AVMs to organize as many as 10 KYC events – the highest for any election in Bangalore so far.
• Several colleges in Bangalore ran voter awareness drives prior to Election Day, through their Jaagte Raho! clubs. In addition, Jaagte Raho! clubs in colleges and companies mobilized close to 80 volunteers for door-to-door drives across the city proving their effectiveness as important channels to get the youth involved in reinvigorating our democracy.

This experience has been crucial for Jaagte Raho! to get a finer understanding of the complexities affecting urban electoral engagement, and to draw up a more nuanced long term strategy for Bangalore and other cities that the campaign will foray into. A change, though unlikely in the immediate horizon, is definitely achievable with persistent focus and action.

This article has been cross-posted at iJanaagraha blog.

A visit to the Parliament House

Every time I visit Delhi, I feel a sense of awe for the power this city exudes. Countless policy decisions being made every day in various Ministries and the Parliament affect lives of a billion Indians in unimaginable ways. It’s only befitting therefore that most of this work happens in the precincts of the grand architectural area called Lutyens’ Delhi.

So far, I had to stay content with viewing the edifice of India’s power corridor from the outside, save a brief visit to North and South Block a few years back. But the desire to see the Indian Parliament and the LIVE proceedings of a house in action stayed elusive. The fact that most of my Delhi trips were planned at short notice, did not allow me to make any elaborate plans besides official work.

But last week was different. I was on a 3 day visit to Delhi and with the help of a few friends at PRS Legislative Research, I managed to get a pass to the Public Gallery of Lok Sabha during the ZERO hour (12 – 1 pm) on Friday, 5th March 2010. I was so excited that I managed to get an official meeting at Election Commission of India to be re-scheduled by a few hours just so that I wouldn’t lose this opportunity!

On the day of the visit, I reached the Parliament House at 11:30am. Prior briefing ensured that I didn’t carry any prohibited items (i.e. anything except ID card and Currency notes), and breezed through the Reception building security in 10 minutes. This is when you land right in front of the main Parliament House (see image below – I didn’t take it!).

I was gripped by an immediate sense of awe standing in front of this majestic building. Most of us would have seen it a million times on TV but this was different. I think I stood for about 5 minutes to really digest the size and beauty of this view.

I was standing in front of Gate 1 and besides the mammoth bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi. There were several media persons hurrying around, I could spot 3 to 4 interviews with MPs happening close by. They were talking about the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill that was scheduled for discussion the following week.

Finally, I made my way to a small opening in the building meant for a passage to the Public Gallery. At12:05 pm, after four long security checks, I finally stepped into the Public Gallery of Lok Sabha. My request for a front row sitting when asked to sit in the 4^th row met with a stern response from the guard - “Do what is told to you”. Apparently, the first two rows are reserved for women. Clearly, Public Gallery had implemented the Reservation Bill much ahead of the Lok Sabha itself!

As soon as I took my seat and glanced at the Lok Sabha floor, I couldnt help but notice how small the Lok Sabha floor actually was! Quite in contrast to the exterior of the Parliament House or how the Lok Sabha itself appeared on TV, the real Lok Sabha resembled a small auditorium with dim lighting (it was artificially lit since little sunlight came in) and poor audibility – at least from Public Gallery.

My initial sense of disappointment was made up by the proximity of Public Gallery to the scene of action. I could clearly spot the members on the floor and was delighted to see all key leaders present – PM Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Verappa Moily, Jairam Ramesh, Sharad Pawar, Laloo Yadav, Sushma Swaraj, LK Advani, Deve Gowda, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and of course the speaker, Meira Kumar. With recent trends of increasing absenteeism in Indian Parliament, I considered myself quite lucky at witnessing action of a near full house!

Coming to the actual proceedings, ZERO hour is supposed to be a free-wheeling open house when opposition MPs can bring up urgent issues of national interest, without prior notice. The first 40 minutes of the ZERO hour were taken up by a long drawn speech by Murli Manohar Joshi of BJP amidst much fanfare, even though the Speaker made repeated requests to terminate the speech after 30 minutes.

Joshi spoke in brilliant Hindi about diverse issues such as food insecurity and government’s complete ignorance of farmer’s problems, Bt Brinjal debate, reservations on UID etc., though he appeared incoherent in parts. All through his speech, I was treated to the usual tamasha of Lok Sabha – thumping of desks, shouting across the floor, regular warnings by the Speaker, MPs standing up and walking etc. I could see people around me in the Public Gallery giggling when all this was happening.

Finally, at about 12:45pm, the PM stood up and began with his response. He was barely audible from the Gallery so I couldn’t hear much except for the fact that he was praising the economic progress in India over last 5 years. At 12:50pm, I left the Gallery to catch a 1pm appointment elsewhere! I later read in Rediff that the opposition wasn’t too impressed with PM’s response. On my way outside, I tried recalling the landmark moments in Indian history that were scripted in this great building. Quite an impossible task!

My brief peep into the Parliament's proceedings was quite overwhelming, much more than what I had imagined it to be. I wished I had spent a full day checking out rest of the Parliament House though I wasn’t sure if visitors were allowed to do that.

Launching Jaagte Raho! campaign in Bangalore

(This post of mine has been reproduced from an entry on iJanaagraha blog)

As the memory of our massive national campaign for Lok Sabha 2009 elections fades into the past, we are all set to rollout an even more intense effort to mobilize electoral participation in urban India – the Jaagte Raho! campaign.

Jaagte Raho! is a long term Janaagraha initiative that inspires values of active citizenship in urban India by bringing out the vote for local, state and union elections; and by promoting participation in neighbourhood areas. The campaign aims to redefine patterns of electoral engagement (voter registration and voter turnout) in 10 cities over the next 5 years, thereby creating a successful model for the rest of urban India.

The first step in this journey were taken on the evening of 15th December when Jaagte Raho! was launched in Bangalore. This couldn’t have happened at a better occasion – a few months prior to the all important local elections in Bangalore!

Bangalore is perhaps the most ill-fated mega city in India – the only one with no elected body at the local level for over 3 years now! Given the importance of local governance in our day to day lives, it is almost a miracle that Bangalore has survived over the past 3 years. But that doesn’t mean much for a city that craves to create a global reputation for itself.

Clearly then, the upcoming BBMP elections present a historic opportunity for the residents of Bangalore to put the life back into its day-to-day governance. But do all of us recognize this as an opportunity? Do majority of Bangaloreans even acknowledge the prominence of local governance in their day-to-day lives? If even some of us do, what are we doing jointly to ensure that we don’t miss out on this opportunity?

These questions have shaped the immediate strategy of Jaagte Raho! campaign in Bangalore. Over the next 3 months, Jaagte Raho! will rollout an intensive awareness and mobilization drive to unite all Bangaloreans in the task of ensuring maximum participation in BBMP elections. At the center of action will be the unique grassroots volunteering position created by this campaign – Area Voter Mitra.

Area Voter Mitras provide local leadership in improving electoral engagement within their polling booth areas (about 1000 voters). They are identified and trained by Janaagraha, and work on the field in close coordination with Janaagraha. However, the uniqueness of being an Area Voter Mitra comes from the fact that they receive formal support from Election Commission of India (ECI) to clean up their voter lists.

The challenge therefore that confronts the Jaagte Raho! campaign is the mobilization of enough Area Voter Mitras to cover all 5000+ polling booths covering BBMP area, within a short span of 2 months. This is where we need all stakeholders of Bangalore – individuals and institutions (RWAs, NGOs, Colleges and Companies) to come forward and commit their energies towards better local governance by joining this campaign.

Launching a campaign like Jaagte Raho! has been possible only after months of preparation and planning. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Chunk of the effort clearly lies ahead of us, the outcomes of which will possibly determine the quality of local governance in Bangalore for the next several years!