TheIndianEXPRESS THE OP-ED PAGE 11 www.indianexpress.com l WEDNESDAY l APRIL 24 l 2013 shows the way The city’s metro project demonstrates how private capital can be deployed in public projects in a transparent and efficient manner

a city population of 6.8 million and a ger fares and lease rentals and real bai in 2014 and for Chennai in 2015. POSTCARDS metropolitan population of 7.8 mil- THE PROJECT is being estate development at the metro The fare-escalation formula allows lion as of 2011, it is the fourth most stations. This business model based increase in fares by 5 per cent every populous city and the sixth most implemented not as a on transit-oriented development year in the first 15 years, besides OFCHANGE populous urban agglomeration in simple mass transit makes metro stations hubs of eco- neutralising the inflation (WPI . The metro rail project that system, but as an urban nomic activity, increases metro rid- based) up to 60 per cent. spans over 72 km is a significant re- redesign concept with ership, reduces road congestion, World over, there are about 200 sponse to the growing transport de- and improves financial viability of rail-based urban mass transit sys- mand from this rapidly growing ur- emphasis on last-mile the metro system. No metro system tems. Most of them have been built ban region. As investments in connectivity, room for non- in the world is financially viable by governments as they are capital manufacturing, R&D, IT and motorised transport, purely from passenger fares. The intensive projects that typically biotech industries have flocked to pedestrian facilities, green four profit-making metros in the make losses, but are essential for ISHER JUDGE AHLUWALIA the area, this has strained the exist- world (Singapore, Hong Kong, the liveability and competitiveness ing infrastructure of the city. Given areas and public spaces To kyo and Ta ipei) get a substantial of large cities. Less than half-a- the long time it takes to put trans- with an eye for aesthetics. part of their revenue from property dozen systems have been built un- port infrastructure in place, the development at metro stations. Fol- der public- private partnership. HYDERABAD, the capital city of metro rail project, which was lowing this model, Hyderabad The Hyderabad project is one Andhra Pradesh, located on the launched in May 2012 and is sched- C R SASIKUMAR Metro will derive 45 per cent of its of the largest metro rail projects banks of the in the north- uled to be completed in May 2017, is abad, are many. N.V.S. Reddy, pillars have been constructed. ($2.6 billion), the Government of revenue from lease rentals of the built by a private entity anywhere ern part of the Deccan Plateau, has not a day too early. managing director, Hyderabad Works at both the major depots of India has sanctioned Rs 1,458 crore real estate developed at metro sta- in the world. It demonstrates how again shown the way. In an earlier The project uses state-of-the- Metro Rail project, maintains that Miyapur and Uppal, and at the cast- as VGF (viability gap funding), tions and depots and 5 per cent large volumes of private capital can column, we reported on the Outer art technology with stringent techni- the metro rail has kept a safe dis- ing yards at Uppal and Qutubulla- amounting to 10 per cent of the from advertisements, parking and be deployed in public projects in a Ring Road in Hyderabad as one of cal specifications, performance cri- tance of at least 500 feet from mon- pur, are in full swing. The first project cost. The remaining Rs other miscellaneous sources. The transparent, efficient and competi- the few examples of transit-ori- teria and safety standards. For uments such as the , stretch of 8 km is expected to be 12,674 crore is being invested by the other half of its revenue will come tive manner. It is not surprising that ented urban development in India, example, a communication-based Salar Jung Museum and other completed by December 2014. private partner, L&T Metro Rail from passenger fares. the project was selected for the which has also unlocked land value train control (CBTC) system is be- structures of archaeological impor- Building a modern mass transit (Hyderabad) Ltd. The Govern- The fares have been set keeping Global Engineering Project of the to partially finance the new infra- ing introduced as a signalling sys- tance. He also points out that “an el- system in dense traffic corridors in ment of Andhra Pradesh is spend- in mind considerations of afford- Year Award earlier in 2013 by the structure needs of a growing city. tem, which can accommodate evated metro system is much more Indian cities is an engineering feat. ing Rs 1,980 crore on land acquisi- ability and compatibility with bus sixth Global Infrastructure Lead- Hyderabad has now come up with a much greater frequency of train energy efficient than an under- It is even more commendable when tion, widening of roads, relief and fares in Hyderabad. To protect the ership Forum in New York. India metro rail project with multi-modal traffic than the distance-to-go sys- ground system. Also, since under- it uses an innovative financial de- rehabilitation (R&R), and shifting consumer from the private opera- has been the top recipient of pri- connectivity under public-private tem that is in use at the Delhi ground metro stations need to be sign so as to require very little public of utilities. There is no further fi- tor’s over-charging and also to ring- vate participation in infrastructure partnership (PPP). The project is Metro. The metro stations are being built in ‘cut and cover’ method, it is funds. It offers new opportunities nancial support from the govern- fence the mega PPP project from activity since 2006, attracting a total being implemented not as a simple built with single-pier (pillar) sup- not technically and financially advis- for developing urban infrastructure ment during the entire concession possible political or bureaucratic investment of Rs 2,20,000 crore in mass transit system, but as an urban ported cantilever structures rather able to opt for an underground sys- for cities when their urban local period. The system comes back to interference, passenger fares and 2011-12 alone. This should encour- redesign concept with emphasis on than the three-tier supported portal tem in Hyderabad in view of its bodies are completely starved of fi- the government after the conces- the fare-escalation formula have age other cities to follow the lead last-mile connectivity, room for cy- structures that completely cover the tough, rocky terrain.” nancial resources. sion period of 35 years (extendable been frozen and notified in ad- given by to plan cling and other non-motorised road and create a tunnel effect. Most of the engineering design The metro rail project was by another 25 years). Hence the vance. The basic fares in 2014 will ahead by attracting private invest- transport, pedestrian facilities, There has been some dis- works have been completed and all awarded through a transparent concessionaire is only licensed to range from a minimum of Rs 8 (for ment in transport infrastructure. green areas and public spaces with satisfaction from some quarters procurement contracts have been process of competitive bidding, use the land, while the government up to a 2 km ride) to a maximum of an eye for aesthetics. about not going underground at finalised. Orders have been placed based on a model concession agree- continues to be the owner. Rs 19 (for a more than 18 km ride). The writer is chairperson of Spread over 650 square kilome- least in some places in order to pre- for coaches, signalling and telecom- ment for urban transit prepared by A revenue model has been The minimum fare in Hyderabad ICRIER and former chairperson of tres, Hyderabad is one of the largest serve the beautiful view of the an- munications, rails and fasteners. the Planning Commission. Out of a carefully worked out, with a mix of in 2014 is the same as in Delhi in the high-powered expert committee metropolitan areas in India. With cient monuments, which, in Hyder- Out of the total of 2,500 pillars, 450 total investment of Rs 14,132 crore affordable and predictable passen- 2011, and that projected for Mum- on urban infrastructure services

MARCELO M. SUÁREZ-OROZCO AND CAROLA SUÁREZ-OROZCO Adrift in a new world An optimist to the last Does the US do enough to assimilate immigrants who arrive Justice Verma worked tirelessly in the country as children or teens? towards a better system SEEMA CHISHTI between 1999-2003), he didn’t pull any When asked “what do you like most overwhelmed by the challenges of in- dents sustained high academic perform- punches in Gujarat in 2002. He meticulously about being here?” an 11-year-old Hait- ner-city teaching, considered immi- ance over the five years of the study, and recorded the events, holding the Narendra THE alleged involvement of two ethnic ian boy in Cambridge told us, “There is grant parents uninformed and unin- another 11 per cent showed significant WITH Justice J.S. Verma gone, for several Modi government systematically account- Chechen brothers in the deadly attack at less killing here.” His response was no- volved. Having just one friend who improvement. While they experienced scribes — not just court reporters, but those able for the violence. Post-Gujarat, Justice the Boston Marathon last week should tably succinct, but not unique. A Sal- spoke English fluently was a strong pre- the same initial shock of migration, they interested in law and the intersection be- Verma was seen by political leaders as exactly prompt Americans to reflect on whether vadoran 10-year-old whose family had dictor of positive academic outcomes. tended to be enrolled in supportive tween law, politics and justice — it is as if a who he was, and what they saw scared them. we do an adequate job assimilating narrowly escaped death squads re- Yet, more than a third of the students in schools, to have caring teachers, and to long and grand conversation has abruptly He was a fiercely independent judge, honest immigrants who arrive in the US as chil- counted intense loneliness. A 12-year- our study reported that they had little or develop informal mentorships with ended. The Justice indulged our questions, and happy to stay that way. dren or teenagers. old girl whose family had fled chaos in no opportunity even to interact with coaches, counselors or ministers. In ad- but he was always much more than an al- He was never afraid to raise issues of In 1997, we started a large-scale Guatemala for the Bay Area similarly native-born students, much less make dition, other researchers, like Philip manack of the judiciary. He never gave you judicial accountability, or hold the many study of newly arrived immigrants, ages turned inward. close friends. Kasinitz, John H. Mollenkopf, Mary C. the feeling he had retired 15 years ago. “shaagirds” he tirelessly mentored to a high 9 to 14, in 20 public middle and high Not surprisingly, students from Our research also confirmed that Waters and Jennifer Holdaway, have Instead of telling us how it had all gone to standard. He had an impeccable track schools in Boston, Cambridge, Mass., strife-torn areas were more likely than kids who arrive during their high found that the second generation — seed, as others of his age may have done, record, from his days as an advocate and and the San Francisco Bay Area. Our others to report psychological symptoms school years, as Ta merlan Tsarnaev American-born kids of immigrant par- he always gave one hope later, judge, in Madhya participants came from Asia, Latin like anxiety, depression and trouble con- did, face bad odds, especially if they ents — assimilate, and even excel, to a for the “system” and re- Pradesh, to his time as a America and the Caribbean; many fled centrating and sleeping. experienced interrupted schooling, greater extent than the “1.5 generation” mained a gold standard judge in Rajasthan and not only poverty but also strife. Over five (children who immigrate in or before by which to judge court Delhi. He authored the years, we interviewed more than 400 stu- their early teens). actions. 1993 judgment consid- dents, as well as their siblings, parents WHATEVER MOTIVATED the Tsarnaev brothers surely is not the Whatever motivated the Tsarnaev The 1990s, when Jus- ered to be the origin of the and teachers. We gathered academic fault of the schools and may never be known. brothers surely is not the fault of the tice Verma rose to promi- much-discussed “colle- records, test scores and measures of psy- schools and may never be known. nence as a Supreme gium system” of Indian chological well-being. Among some of the distinctive features Court judge, were a time judges appointing them- The two brothers accused in the Many newcomer students attend family instability and traumatic disloca- of their case are family estrangement, of great turmoil in politics selves. To his credit, he Boston bombings — Ta merlan Tsar- tough urban schools that lack solidarity tions back home. multiple relocations across countries and, more specifically, the never shirked from taking naev, 26, who was killed on Friday, and and cohesion. In too many we found no According to news accounts, the and, possibly, religious radicalisation. executive. With single- a critical look at the big his brother, Dzhokhar, 19, who was cap- sense of shared purpose, but rather a younger brother, Dzhokhar, was a But the broad lesson — assimilat- party rule and the idea of a ideas of the time. In a se- tured later that day — were around 15 student body divided by race and ethnic- “smart” and “respected” student at ing immigrant students into the fabric “committed” judiciary ries of lectures he gave and 8, respectively, when they immi- ity, between immigrants and the native RindgeandLatin,wherehehadfriends of society through academic, psycholog- giving way, there was about five years ago, cit- grated. Both attended Cambridge born, between newcomers and more ac- and was a wrestling-team captain. But ical and other supports — should inform space for the judiciary to ing contemporary judge- Rindge and Latin, that city’s only public culturated immigrants. Only 6 per cent attheUniversityofMassachusetts,Dart- educators and policymakers in the pursue the issues it JUSTICE (RETD) J S VERMA ments, he drew a fine line high school. They were not part of our of the participants could name a teacher mouth,hewasflunkingout.Thesociolo- decades ahead, when immigrants and deemed important, giving 1933-2013 between activism by the study, but they fit the demographic as someone they would go to with a gist Alejandro Portes of Princeton and their children will account for most of rise to what came to be court and its overreach — profile of the subjects of our research: problem; just 3 per cent could identify a the educational psychologist Cynthia the nation’s population growth. known as judicial ac- and encouraged debate birth to families displaced by war or teacher who was proud of them. GarciaCollofBrownhavefounddeclin- tivism. Years before the HE NEVER shirked from on the subject. strife, multiple-stage (including back- When asked what Americans ing performance over time. Nearly two- The writers are the dean and a discourse shifted to judi- taking a critical look at He was a great nar- and-forth) migration, language diff- thought about immigrants of their na- thirdsofthestudentsinourstudyexhib- professor, respectively, at the UCLA cial “overreach”, Justice rator of stories, about iculties and entry into harsh urban envi- tional origin, 65 per cent of the students ited such decline. Some dropped out to Graduate School of Education and Verma and some of his the big ideas of the time. how he was the first to ronments where gangs and crime are provided negative adjectives. We also findwork;othersjoinedgangs. Information Studies colleagues committed In a series of lectures he open his court on the day temptations. found that many educators, already The good news: a quarter of the stu- The New York Times themselves to ensuring gave about five years Emergency was imposed that the law did its job. In a ago, citing contemporary or how he wrote the landmark judgment in Vishakha judgment on judgements, he drew a MOCK FIGHT chief minister for his role in the post- the Jain Hawala case for sexual harassment in View from the LEFT Godhra riots. It says the “recent expo- example, Justice Verma fine line between 1997. Criticised in some AN EDITORIAL in the CPI weekly sure of evidence that the Gujarat state raised the bar for han- activism by the court and quarters for not distin- New Age discusses what it termed a government was receiving a continu- dling corruption cases. its overreach — and guishing between Hin- “mock fight” between allies BJP and lesser crime?” it wonders. must follow just as it would in the case ous stream of intelligence reports af- He clearly laid out the duism and Hindutva in JD(U), and criticises Bihar Chief Min- of a common citizen. And the law ter the unfortunate Godhra train gaps in Rajiv Gandhi’s encouraged debate on his memorable line about ister Nitish Kumar for remaining with mandates that a police officer who is tragedy, and that the situation was security that led to his as- the subject. “Hindutva being a way of the BJP even after the post-Godhra ri- SETTING AN EXAMPLE derelict in duty in a sexual violence building up towards a communal con- sassination. As chief jus- life”, he would just smile ots. The article points out that “when THE CPI(ML)’s weekly ML Update case must face criminal charges that, if flagration, were not taken into ac- tice of India between enigmatically, and urge us the riots took place in Gujarat, Nitish focuses on rape in Delhi and other proved, could lead to between six count by the state administration, 1997 and 1998, he was able to push through to read the judgment again more closely Kumar was very much the railway min- parts of the country. It alleges that the months and two years in jail. shows the latter’s connivance in the the voluntary code of conduct (Restatement and “see it for what it is”. ister in the Vajpayee government (and) incidence of crimes against women “Similarly, assault of an unarmed subsequent communal carnage that of Values of Judicial Life) for how judges He recalled, quite evocatively, a non- he did not raise his voice against it, and children, aided and abetted by po- citizen by a police officer is a crime — took place in 2002”. must conduct themselves. More, he contin- judicial moment when he addressed an though another Bihar leader resigned lice apathy and misogyny, is evidence why the delay in lodging an FIR The article notes that this material ued to play by the rules in his own life — liv- audience marking 20 years of the demoli- from the ministry over the issue.” that the Central and state govern- against a crime, just because the per- was submitted to the special investiga- ing, as a peer said, “in a rented accommoda- tion of the Babri Masjid in December last “Not only this, after the riots, ments have not attempted to seriously petrator is a cop, that too when video tion team (SIT) three-and-a-half tion in Noida, without the trappings of year. He related the story of his father, a there were two general elections for read, let alone implement, the Justice evidence stands testimony to the months before it submitted its final re- several jet-setting others who conducted ar- railway officer, during Partition, and how Lok Sabha and Nitish and his JD(U) J.S. Verma Committee report. crime?” it asks. The article argues that port. “Now new petitions have been bitration proceedings”. he aided a Muslim friend who had decided to very much contested these elections The article claims that the de- accountability on part of the police is filed before the judiciary claiming that Justice Verma, who was frequently stay back: “my father relocated his family as a constituent of the NDA. Was not mand for the sacking of the Delhi crucial in curbing rapes and other the SIT decided to cover up the crimes consulted by the government and outsiders so as to be able to support his oldest friend, so Modi communal at that time?” it asks. Police Commissioner is entirely justi- crimes against women. “A nd account- and has gone out of its way to misguide as someone who could be relied upon to that he felt secure in his social life.” It goes on to argue that Nitish has no fied in light of the rape of a five-year- ability can be ensured only by a zero the court, giving a clean chit to the ac- give good advice, was never considered by Now, as Justice Verma himself has problem with other BJP leaders and old girl in Delhi and the rape and mur- tolerance policy for wrongdoers in cused and closing the case. The judici- the Congress or the BJP to be a judge who relocated, quite suddenly and without a perhaps considers them to be secular. der of a Dalit girl in Aligarh. “He uniform,” it says. ary must take cognisance of this fact,” would toe their respective lines. His Hawala fuss, perhaps it is time to use the story of his “L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, claims that the suspension of the ac- it says. Under these circumstances, judgment and the Ayodhya reference and life as a beacon in these trying times. He Uma Bharati and scores of BJP lead- cused Delhi cops pending inquiry is the editorial says, “by any standards of later, the so-called Hindutva judgment, ran- would not have sounded so bleak, but ers are still facing trial for the demoli- ‘due process’ and is adequate action. RESIGNATION DEMAND morality, the Gujarat chief minister kled with the Congress, and it opposed his perhaps typed out 10 ways in which to cre- tion of Babri Masjid in 1992... Does When police officers break the law AN EDITORIAL in CPM journal must resign forthwith.” appointment by the NDA as the chairman of ate a better system. Nitish feel the demolition of a and commit a crime, they must not be People’s Democracy demands that the National Human Rights Commission. historical place of worship [to be] a spared: action as mandated by the law Narendra Modi resign as Gujarat Compiled by Manoj C.G. But after his appointment (his tenure was [email protected]

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