Two good blogs

Though I maintain a blog, I normally do not read blogs. Reading on a laptop is uncomfortable for me. However I liked these two blogs mentioned below
1.This blog of Ajit Chaudhuri makes for an interesting read.I do not think he maintains it now, but the collection of posts is very nice. Ajit is an alumnus of IRMA and is country head for a UK based donor agency. He comes to IRMA every year for sharing his experiences on monitoring and evaluation of projects, his personal experiences in relief work and making us evaluate live projects which his agency is planning to fund. I found him to be very engaging and interesting person. The best part of his sessions was the one on relief work. He had a stint with Care India set up by the India Today Group which undertook relief work post disasters. He spoke on setting up a hospital in Kashmir post the earthquake, working on an island post tsunami and being disconnected with the world for a period of two months, etc.His insights ranged from why one should never travel with security forces in Kashmir, how the Hizbul terrorist outfit will send volunteers for relief work and not the Lashkar, and how the Indian government planned an irrigation project in Rajasthan with the intent of making it the first barrier of defence in case our neighbour attacked us. The funny part was that the entire project was funded by the World Bank!

2.The second blog is again by an IRMA alumnus, Avinashkishore who is currently at Harvard doing his Phd. I had attended his presentation last July where he spoke about the causes of agricultural stagnation in Bihar. His blog is excellent for its Bihar coverage. Also, some of the links that he gives are very good and make for interesting read!

Mumbai under construction....

....is what I tweeted when I realised that getting from the east of Andheri to the West will take me more than an hour due to the many "under construction" projects in that area. Coupled with the fact that rickshaw and bus fares have increased by more than 20% since June,travelling in Mumbai has become a nightmare.
One has to brave the Metro construction, the skywalk, the two flyovers over the Andheri bridge while travelling from Andheri East to Andheri West.The fact that none of these projects get over on time adds to the woes.
We seriously need to time these projects and also ensure that this infrastructure is sufficient for a decade or more to prevent further upgrades. If not we will be left thinking that our government took Keynes suggestion of "digging holes and filling them again" a bit too seriously.

A hypothesis about migrants in Mumbai

The issue of migrants in general and those from the north in Mumbai specifically has been a burning one for many years. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Shiv Sena have been at the forefront of attacking North Indian migrants who engage in different occupations in Mumbai.
Most of the north Indian migrants engage themselves in providing a host of services;from plying rickshaws and taxis to selling groceries,etc. Most of the security guards in the private sector are also from the northern states.
I like chatting up with these people whenever I get the opportunity to do so. The usual belief is that rural to urban migration happens due to non-availability of jobs in rural areas, stagnant agriculture due to a host of reasons, etc. However the people that I have spoken to come from districts that have abundant water supply and they also owned large tracts of arable land. So these guys who ply autorickshaws and sell groceries are not really deprived of water and land in their hometowns. In other words, it is not "distress migration"
The problem I believe is that agriculture is not seen as lucrative occupation. It is also not, I conjecture, seen as a "good enough" occupation.Its also not just about livelihoods. Lack of access to good quality education can also lead to people who are earning a decent income uproot their families and base themselves in urban ghettos.
If this is indeed the case, then we need to get the manufacturing sector on a high growth path. Jobs in cities are in the service sector and this sector cannot absorb the surplus labour currently in agriculture. Factories and consequent jobs on the shop floor are needed immediately.
If not, we will see overburdened cities crumbling against rising number of migrants.