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A few challenges
25th Jan 1999 Srinath Srinivasa @usa.net
When confronted by a vast set of domains and asked to post an idea, it is only natural that we can think of nothing concrete. So, with the permission of Vani, I would like to post a few challenges facing India and elicit ideas to solve them. And with the permission of the authors I would like to enter them in the IfI database. The advantage is that the ideas get recorded in a thematic context and are available for further commenting and voting by other readers. They would also serve as a reference for any NGO or individual wishing to implement them. 1. How can we bring about communal harmony and avoid incidents like Gujarat and Orissa and Ayodhya? 2. What is the reason for the large amounts of poverty and how can we reduce poverty? Is it just an economic problem? Or does it have more dimensions like social, political, etc? 3. Most Indian cities have crossed the limits in vehicular pollution. How can we bring down the pollution levels? Stricter rules (and nothing else) would only increase corruption because people *have* to use vehicles and conduct their daily businesses, and in the absense of any other alternative, they have to use their own vehicles. So when things are at a desperate state, they resort to any means to stay on the roads. On the other hand, building mass transport would take lot of time and money. Such projects cannot keep pace with the rate of growth of vehicles. Even a law forbidding the use of leaded petrol would be very hard to implement as changing engines of vehicles is something that not many can afford to do. So, what can we do about it? Enough! 3 problems are enough to overwhelm us-- for now. Your innovative solutions solicited! Best, Srinath -- Send in your ideas to address challenges of Indian life: http://www.indiapolicy.org/ife
