Footpath in the media

Now that we are having a Footpath Bachao Andolan in Chennai, with more and more individuals and groups trying to address this issue, let me add to the mix. Some write ups and media coverage and shameless self promotion by moi. Well anything to be able to walk endlessly and aimlessly, without getting run over or falling into a ditch, in my city.

Corp to accept complaints on footpath woes in The Times of India

300 Kilometers of sidewalk in Chennai Today

Pedestrian-friendly road model taking shape in The Hindu

Lattice Bridge Road in a blog by the same name

Cool Shastri Nagar Junction

Shastri Nagar Junction Reco Full Diagram

Originally uploaded by Chennai City Connect

The diagram on the right is part of the presentation we did for the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation and his team of engineers and officials. Click to enlarge and see other diagrams on our flickr site.

This is our version of what Shastri Nagar Junction in Adyar can look like if redesigned with care. The Commissioner and team were very engaging and encouraging.

For rest of the stretch, from this junction to MG Road Junction, we have detailed notes and suggestions on CAD survey. If interested contact us.

Our team: Dr Murthy Bondada (Fullbright scholar at IITM), Mrs Kavitha Selvaraj (CRN Associates), Ms Sangeeta and Ms Swetha (Architects and ex-Anna Univ grads) and City Connect staff.

We surveyed, photographed, took detailed notes and so on and converted it into nice Powerpoint presentations.

We used some simple principles:

• Try your best to find space for pedestrians, hawkers and others. Come up with a compromise/consensus solution. It does not have to be either/or.
• A footpath can have pedestrians and hawkers, side by side, OR pedestrians and bus stand. Not all three in one place since pedestrians always loose, they get pushed onto the road.
• Give islands to people to wait while waiting to cross the road. (We have proposed an island under the tree you see on the left at the junction.
• The footpath can wind around trees, behind bus stops, etc. It does not have to be a straight line. As far as it is walkable, sloped appropriately for entry and exit, etc.

We also have a set of international standards and do it yourself kit. The idea is that any citizen group should be able to redesign their neighbourhood footpath and related pedestrian facilities using paper, pencil and measuring take.

Our conclusion, at least as far as this stretch is concerned: There is enough space in about 80% or 90% of the stretch to accommodate pedestrians and hawkers. In fact, someone can even build proper structures for hawkers and give enough space for pedestrians to walk and shop.

My hypothesis waiting to be proven:

Hawkers occupy places that are not in use. That is, they don’t sit where people can or are walking. So you don’t clear “encroachment” to make the footpath walkable. You make the footpath walkable to clear the encroachment automatically or prevent it from happening in the first place.

Poetically put, footpath is like the river, pedestrian like a water, hawker like sand. If you place a stone in the river, you obstruct the flow of water, change its dynamics and hence sand accumulates behind the stone.

Similarly, if you make the footpath unwalkable, usually it is build unwalkable from the start by building it a foot high with no sloping at entry and exit, you signal that the space is ready for occupation and “encroachment”. In fact, the encroachers are doing us a favour by utilising precious land in the most efficient manner possible. It would be foolish and wasteful to expect them to leave it unused.

The Corporation is in the process of implementing these suggestions.

Reality of School Education in India

Wanted to assemble some of the interesting articles, data, etc. on schools in India in one place. That way I can forward this link every time I have a discussion/debate with someone on the net.

A typical conversation with an average middle class/rich person about education of poor children will bring up the following questions or stereotypes:

1. Poor parents don’t care about their children’s education
2. Poor kids have no where to go but government schools
3. Private schools for the poor? which private school will take my servant’s child? Private schools discriminate.
4. Hence they need to be regulated and coersed into taking more poor kids
5. Low budget poor school? Are you talking about those fly by night operators, who exploit poor illiterate poor parents and run with their money?
6. Those schools have very poor standards. Also, there are not enough to teach millions of poor kids
7. Private schools for the poor is a joke. It is better for poor kids to go to government schools since they at least have some infrastructure and facilities
8. We need to shut down all these private schools, the ones that are enticing the poor to send their kids. We should file a PIL. Why is the government not doing something to shut them down
9. Poor parents are gullible. They fall for the glitz and glamour of private school. They think uttering some English words is education. They are being fooled.

Start your prilgrimage of discovery, separate reality from myth, at the feet of Shri Tooley baba.  Check out

• Educating Amaretch: Private schools for poor and new frontiers for investors
• Check out first two links on this page by Tooley
• Prof James Tooley’s website at E G West Centre

Note, Tooley did similar research in China, Ghana, Delhi, Hyderabad, etc. The problems and how humans respond to incentives is universal.

Then you have to read my piece (I will find out if you skip this step)

• Choice vs inspector raj

Alternate model: Voucher, Cash Stipend, Tuition Reimbursement Schemes:

• Centre for Civil Society and research page
• More CCS research

Pratham and ASER. Good place for data on education in India

• Note the following is on rural India. ASER (Rural)

May not sound like much. But remember we are talking rural India. Imagine what the numbers are in urban India. And India is only urbanising, not ruralising!

India leads in Teacher absence. How will you solve this, especially if you are not a fan of private schools, competition, vouchers, etc. Check out the paper:

• Teacher Absence in India: A Snapshot

Deal with your myths:
I remember reading that many parents in Bihar chose not to let their kid go to school. Reason: in these schools (read local government schools) there was no one to supervise the kids. Older kids were incharge, whom the parents feared would teach little ones bad habits like smoking. Though the PROBE report is from 1999, it was very influential.

• PROBE

Some interesting articles from The Economist, the most interesting magazine out there as far as I am concerned,

• Sweden and Finland