Articles by Ashwin Mahesh

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…

How do we build a society? The routine passage of time, and politics, makes us think that the primary post-independence goal should be to build the country. Yes and no. The nation provides a rallying point for 'us' to think about where 'we' want to be. But underlying that intent, there has to be an idea of what kind of society we want to build. Ultimately, the country's prospects will depend almost entirely on that. This is a daily, continuous question. Hoisting flags on Independence Day should ideally be a kind of milestone in that passage, not a continuous promise…

Property tax rates are very low. Yes, I said low  I know it is not a popular thing to say, but it's the truth. In Bangalore, we pay about 0.06 per cent of the value of a residential property in annual taxes, slightly more in some cases. In Seattle, just to pick a random point of comparison, the tax rate is between 0.8 and 1.1 per cent per year. That's 14 to 19 times higher. Council tax in the UK is in the same range, maybe even higher. There's an old saying that if you pay less (peanuts) you'll get…

Media has been asking what Bangalore BJP MPs can do in new government, especially since the MPs are from the ruling party. Two things come to mind.(a) Make the Commuter Rail project happen. This has been pending for so long, and for such flimsy reasons that it is a shame that we are the only metro without suburban rail connectivity. Over half a million people will benefit daily, and it will also lessen the load on the city. If we also figure out how to create a second airport in the south (between BLR and Mysore) and a new railway station…

When the country was formed after Independence we had a Central government, and the state governments were formed quickly after that. However, much of 'local' administration was not in a third tier, but simply controlled by the Centre and State itself. The 'collector' system that we have in the districts even today is a legacy of this start. It was only in the early 1990s that the Centre passed laws to devolve power and responsibility to the local bodies. First the panchayati raj amendment, and then the urban governance amendment (73 and 74) were passed.Broadly, the 74th Amendment mandates three…

It is quite common in Bengaluru for builders and developers to build houses on other people's lands, or on public lands like lakes. After all, the city used to have more than 500 lakes, and now has only 183. Therefore, we must conclude that the most common activity that occurs on lakes is construction !! It is also quite common in Bangalore for such things to happen with the full knowledge of the local ward engineer of the BBMP. In theory, this official is responsible for making sure that such encroachments don't happen, but in practice he is the one facilitating them…

Akrama Sakrama is a complete fraud. There are many things wrong with this scheme. Sadly, Congress, BJP and JDS appear to be united in their attempts to destroy the city. Regularisation may be unavoidable, given the scale of what has happened so far, but if it's not done right even now, that will be an open invitation to let things carry on as they are in the future too.(a) The proposal does not include any penalty for the officials who connived in the illegalities. In fact, they have not even been identified.(b) There is virtually no transparency. Which are the…

Scarcity creates corruption. Therefore, regulating availability is not the way to tackle it; that will only make things worse. In our country, there is a massive deficit of many things that people want. Affordable houses, good schools and hospitals, water supply, waste management, and so on. This causes intense competition for what is available. Those who can bid high have a chance of gaining, and also those who can rig the bidding itself. Housing is a very good example of this. To buy a house in any of our major cities now, you either need a lot of money, or…

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…

The Chief Minister wants to do the Mayor's job, and keeps most of the power and finances needed for the city with the State government, rather than devolving them. The Mayor is attending to complaints from the public and trying to resolve them, which is good, but surely that seems like the Commissioner's job. Without a framework for running the city, there is total chaos, and no realistic expectation of improvement. What is needed? (a) The CM should constitute the Metropolitan Planning Committee for the Bangalore Region, let SOMEONE ELSE lead the planning, so that there is sufficient mind-space to…