Recently, Ministry of Urban Development published a list of cities ranking on sanitation 2009-2010 under National Urban Sanitation policy. Cities and towns were rated on parameters such as complete elimination of open defecation, elimination of open scavenging, safe collection and disposal of total human excreta.
Here are some interesting points:
> Small towns have fared better than metros
> Kanpur, once most polluted city finds place in Top 10
> None of the cities is listed under top classification "Green" (which requires city to cross 91 points out of 100)
> Only 4 cities are listed under the next best classification "Blue"
> Once plague hit Surat has come third in the list (I mentioned about this city in my article Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen)
> Karnataka state has more number of cities (5) in Top 25
Here is the list of top 25:
1. Chandigarh, Chandigarh
2. Mysore, Karnataka
3. Surat, Gujarat
4. New Delhi Municipal Council area, Delhi
5. Delhi Cantt, Delhi
6. Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu
7. Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
8. Mangalore, Karnataka
9. Rajkot, Gujarat
10. Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
11. Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
12. Bangalore, Karnataka
13. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
14. Rourela Industrial Township, Orissa
15. Mandya, Karnataka
16. Bidhannagar, West Bengal
17. Noida, Uttar Pradesh
18. Shillong, Meghalaya
19. Ahmadabad, Gujarat
20. Alandur, Tamil Nadu
21. Haridwar, Uttarkhand
22. Bidar, Karnataka
23. Achalpur, Maharashtra
24. Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh
25. Kolkata, West Bengal
The complete list is available at India Environment Portal
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Google SMS Search
This is another product from Google. By sending a simple SMS, you can use the power of Google search and get the results right to your mobile phone. You can send SMS to get cricket score, Indian train PNR status, flight schedules, hotels information on a particular area, stock quote of a company, city weather, definition of a word and more. An interesting note here is, all these SMSs cost you only standard rate not any premium rates!
You have to send SMS to 9-77-33-00000 (India number). Say, you want to know the definition of a word you just heard while moving. Send one SMS to the above number with the text as "define caveat" and you'll get the meaning of the word caveat. If you are interested to know today's horoscope for your sun sign, type your sun sign and send. If you don't know what is your sun sign, just type horoscope followed by birth date as "horoscope Oct 1".
You'll get results as SMS. There are many things you can do using this SMS Search. Check this link for a list of search features available. This is really a handy tool especially when you don't have access to internet but you still want to search in the web!
Do store this number in your mobile device and happy SMS searching!
You have to send SMS to 9-77-33-00000 (India number). Say, you want to know the definition of a word you just heard while moving. Send one SMS to the above number with the text as "define caveat" and you'll get the meaning of the word caveat. If you are interested to know today's horoscope for your sun sign, type your sun sign and send. If you don't know what is your sun sign, just type horoscope followed by birth date as "horoscope Oct 1".
You'll get results as SMS. There are many things you can do using this SMS Search. Check this link for a list of search features available. This is really a handy tool especially when you don't have access to internet but you still want to search in the web!
Do store this number in your mobile device and happy SMS searching!
Thursday, 6 May 2010
An Open Letter to the President of India
Dear Honorable Ms. President of India,
I’m a common man from India. As I heard the news of Kasab’s death sentence, like any other Indian, a lot of questions came to my mind. As I’m sure that no other person would be able to answer these questions, I thought of asking the first citizen of my country. I know you are very busy person, but still I request you to take some time to read these questions and if again time permits, kindly respond.
I heard that the terrorist Afzal Guru’s petition is still pending with the union ministry to be processed and sent to your office. We do not have any hopes on Union government on moving these files. In fact, we have even lost the slightest hope we had. Can I request you to order union ministry to expedite the process and send the request to your office?
We really do not want some terrorist taking the hostage of some useless politician with an exchange offer for Afzal and our country paying the (huge) price for it. Can you please take a note of it to expedite the process?
Even common man knows what Afzal Guru is and I’m sure you will also agree that he does not deserve to be alive. Can I request you to out rightly reject the petition and order for his death sentence?
Also, I heard that there are nearly 52 people waiting for your assent on their execution. Afzal must be somewhere down the line. I really do not know who these other people are and what are their crimes. May I request you to give special attention to Afzal as I believe, as a terrorist he deserves it and pull him to the front in that list and give the consent? I’m sure no one would really mind it!
As a common people, we are very angry with this creature called Kasab. Killing innocent fellow citizens is very hard to forget and forgive. We Indians, are eagerly waiting for his execution. Whether we look at it as tit-for-tat, or a message to all terrorists who look at our country, we want him to be executed at the earliest. We are sure that one day a mercy petition will come to you. Can you please help us realize our dream at the earliest?
There are some senseless people who call themselves as Human Rights Activists, who are right on their toes to oppose the execution of Kasab. May I request you to ignore these people as their logic does not make any sense in case of terrorists?
We are the citizens of India. You are the head of the state. Whenever we citizens are in trouble, we look at you for your help and assurance. When someone from outside created a chaos in my country, we look at you for your action and help. We look at you for your assurance that everything will be alright. I believe you understand the pulse of your people. You are the only hope for us. May I request you to give a signal to all your countrymen that you will uphold the feelings of your countrymen?
Sincerely and warm regards,
A common man
I’m a common man from India. As I heard the news of Kasab’s death sentence, like any other Indian, a lot of questions came to my mind. As I’m sure that no other person would be able to answer these questions, I thought of asking the first citizen of my country. I know you are very busy person, but still I request you to take some time to read these questions and if again time permits, kindly respond.
I heard that the terrorist Afzal Guru’s petition is still pending with the union ministry to be processed and sent to your office. We do not have any hopes on Union government on moving these files. In fact, we have even lost the slightest hope we had. Can I request you to order union ministry to expedite the process and send the request to your office?
We really do not want some terrorist taking the hostage of some useless politician with an exchange offer for Afzal and our country paying the (huge) price for it. Can you please take a note of it to expedite the process?
Even common man knows what Afzal Guru is and I’m sure you will also agree that he does not deserve to be alive. Can I request you to out rightly reject the petition and order for his death sentence?
Also, I heard that there are nearly 52 people waiting for your assent on their execution. Afzal must be somewhere down the line. I really do not know who these other people are and what are their crimes. May I request you to give special attention to Afzal as I believe, as a terrorist he deserves it and pull him to the front in that list and give the consent? I’m sure no one would really mind it!
As a common people, we are very angry with this creature called Kasab. Killing innocent fellow citizens is very hard to forget and forgive. We Indians, are eagerly waiting for his execution. Whether we look at it as tit-for-tat, or a message to all terrorists who look at our country, we want him to be executed at the earliest. We are sure that one day a mercy petition will come to you. Can you please help us realize our dream at the earliest?
There are some senseless people who call themselves as Human Rights Activists, who are right on their toes to oppose the execution of Kasab. May I request you to ignore these people as their logic does not make any sense in case of terrorists?
We are the citizens of India. You are the head of the state. Whenever we citizens are in trouble, we look at you for your help and assurance. When someone from outside created a chaos in my country, we look at you for your action and help. We look at you for your assurance that everything will be alright. I believe you understand the pulse of your people. You are the only hope for us. May I request you to give a signal to all your countrymen that you will uphold the feelings of your countrymen?
Sincerely and warm regards,
A common man
Monday, 3 May 2010
Bengaluru School in Bill Gates Website
Parikrma school in Bengaluru was featured in Bill Gates web site. What is so special about this school that caught the attention of BG?
Parikrma is an innovative school which serves students from some of the poorest communities in Bengaluru. Parikrma's goal is to transform lives by providing children with world-class educational opportunities.
What is more interesting is some of the statistics:
About 89.4% of the students knows what they want to achieve in life compared to 86% from private schools and 42.9% from government school! About 72.7% knows how to achieve this and 86.4% feels they'll achieve this in their life time.
It is very heartening that we do have schools who take the admission from poorest communities, not only educate them, but also instill positive attitude, and confidence to achieve their goals. Compare this to some of the famous schools who take the admission from brightest students (criteria like more than 90%), ensure that they'll also pass out with highest marks (again number is what matters here) but little or no attention to what we call behavioral skills!
Do read the article at BG web site and also the Q&A between the students of Parikrma school and BG.
Parikrma is an innovative school which serves students from some of the poorest communities in Bengaluru. Parikrma's goal is to transform lives by providing children with world-class educational opportunities.
What is more interesting is some of the statistics:
About 89.4% of the students knows what they want to achieve in life compared to 86% from private schools and 42.9% from government school! About 72.7% knows how to achieve this and 86.4% feels they'll achieve this in their life time.
It is very heartening that we do have schools who take the admission from poorest communities, not only educate them, but also instill positive attitude, and confidence to achieve their goals. Compare this to some of the famous schools who take the admission from brightest students (criteria like more than 90%), ensure that they'll also pass out with highest marks (again number is what matters here) but little or no attention to what we call behavioral skills!
Do read the article at BG web site and also the Q&A between the students of Parikrma school and BG.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Now, it is www.sureshc.com
As you might have observed, twopaise.blogspot.com has changed to sureshc.com. Yes, I bought the domain sureshc.com from Host Me. Also, the site design has undergone changes.
I'll keep posting interesting and knowledgable articles. Keep visiting and do provide your comments.
I'll keep posting interesting and knowledgable articles. Keep visiting and do provide your comments.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
World of Magicians!
The very word “Magic” brings excitement to the people. It brings us the memories of Indrajala comics, or the story of Gatodghaja, or our famous magician PC Sorcar! Obviously, people will be interested to know more about magic and magicians. Now, this has become more easy with the launch of World’s first complete magicians website: http://www.worldofmagicians.com/index.php
This website was launched just few minutes back! Visit the site and get to know more about magic and magicians.
(I got to know about this site from Prashanth)
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen – Book Review
Book Title: Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen – How 11 Indians pulled off the impossible
Author: Porus Munshi
Publisher: Collins Business
ISBN: 978-81-7223-774-5
Price: Rs. 295
We rarely hear about innovations by Indians. It doesn’t mean that Indians rarely innovate but we, common man, are not aware of such stories. Also, there is a common belief that India is the place where innovation is something very foreign. For innovation to happen, you don’t have to have best of the technologies, or best of the facilities. All it is required is passion and perseverance. And this is what this book is going to tell to the readers. This book is a collection of 11 case studies on innovations in India spread across diverse fields.
The stories are really inspiring. The first case study is a story of Dainik Bhaskar, a newspaper, who became No. 1 on the day of launch! We normally know how we are addicted to one newspaper, and it is very difficult to change the newspaper. In such circumstances, how a newspaper which is never heard of, can become No. 1 on the day of its launch!
The second case study is about Aravind Eye Hospital. An wonderful story of Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy or Dr. V, who introduced assembly-line technique of surgery to increase the productivity of surgeons! As book mentions, what’s remarkable about Aravind is that only 30 percent of its patient pay! The remaining 70 percent are treated free or almost free! It still makes 35 percent operating profit!
What it requires for you to take on giants worth billions?! A mere Rs. 15000 capital! Yes, this is how Cavinkare jumped into the market to take on giants like Hindustan Lever! Today, Cavinkare is Rs. 750 crore company! This is the third case study presented in the book.
Another story is about eChoupal, a new business model from ITC-IBD on commodity trading, a marriage of “technology” and “trading in rural markets”. An interesting model which deals directly with end farmer with both farmers and the middlemen being co-opted.
The case study of Trichy Police is really an interesting and eye-catching story which should be made a role model for all other states across India. Do you believe when the figure says Trichy police brought down crime rate by 40 percent with mere 260 constables, who were not highly trained commandos but ordinary constables?! How was it possible?
We all know Swiss are masters in watch making. If Swiss says something cannot be done, everyone else agree. But, there was one team in India which transformed the thinking from “If Swiss cannot do, we cannot do” to “If Swiss cannot do, we’ll do!”. That is how, Titan Edge, the slimmest water-resistant watch in the world was innovated! This was achieved by R&D team in Titan headed by B.G. Dwarakanath. One interesting note is the way Dwarakanath himself tested the watch. He calls it Bangalore-Hosur road test! He ties the watch to the shock absorbers of his car and makes several trips on the terrible roads between Bangalore and Hosur, covering 200km!
Another astonishing story is of Surat, which transformed from one of India’s filthiest cities to India’s second cleanest city in twenty months! This credit goes to S.R. Rao, whose transparent model is becoming the standard across the country.
There are similar interesting stories such as Bosch India, which created a new pump, which is cost effective and meets Euro norms, Chola Vehicle Finance which grew from Rs 140 crore to Rs 800 crore, Shantha Biotech, which reduced vaccine dose from Rs 750 to Rs 50, and Su-Kam, which shows what it takes to create an industry!
As the title says, all these stories shows how the people pulled off what it was termed as impossible and made that big and striking difference to the world and the society!
Go, get this book, and get inspired!
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