Simple live solutions in traffic and septage management

Dear world ,

When Government of Kerala was unable to provide adequate land for a four lane road between Edappalli & Talappadi in NH 17 the NHAI went out of the project itself. The NHAI & GoK blame each other. Just let us look what the Kenyans, strapped for money did in their two lane highways for easing traffic congestion. See the attachment. They provide an extra lane on the left side wherever there is a steep climb for the slow moving large vehicles to use. Isn’t there a lesson to learn from them in this matter. Although not a transportation expert, I was impressed by what they did here. Later I found out that in all their two lane highways, they do it!!!!!

Cut back to septage-When I was in the fourth largest town in Kenya, Nakuru, during a meeting with Local Self Government officials, I asked them what they do with their septage. They immediately replied that the septage removal is done by the municipality and the same is transferred to the Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant for further processing.
Now, please tell me, how many in the KWA or equivalent bodies in India could be responding like them?

Money and Power is of no use, if one does have the sense to use it properly.

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Safe Sanitation in Kerala

While Government of India considers Kerala a state which has achieved 100 % sanitation and hence has excluded the state from the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), it has to be studied whether the sanitation facilities in the state is 100 % safe sanitation. There are several problems in various urban and rural areas in Kerala in the field of sanitation. The most common and critical are given below. Please note that the list is not exhaustive but only indicative.

1. Common facility for collection, treatment and safe disposal of domestic effluents.

Sewer systems are seen only in the cities of Trivandrum and parts of Cochin. Even in Trivandrum the sewer system is available only within the old city limits. Areas south east of Karamana, west of Vallakadavu, north of Airport, Kowdiar and Kesavadasapuram are not covered by the sewer system. The domestic effluents so collected are used for farming purpose near Valiathura which was acceptable technology at the time of installation of the system (about 70 years ago). A new treatment plant using modern technology is being set up at present. In Cochin, where there are two treatment plants in operation (one at Elamkulam and the second near KINCO jetty near High Court junction) only a part of the city is covered by the sewer system. Very interestingly, Vyttila, Elamkulam and Kadavanthra areas, close to the oldest treatment plant in the state are still not covered by the sewer system. The treatment systems installed are supposed to be of high quality yielding treated effluent of acceptable quality fit for discharge in to the backwaters. The third of the sewer systems is for Guruvayur Municipal area laid about 20 years back but not yet commissioned due to the absence of the treatment plant. Thus it can be seen that the entire state is depending on Septic Tank-Soak Pit systems for treatment and disposal of domestic effluents. Multi storey apartment complexes are exceptions, thanks to the initiative by Kerala State Pollution Control Board to insist on them having their own plants for treatment of the effluents to acceptable quality before disposal by means of Soak Pits. It may be of interest to note that Bureau of Indian Standards never suggested Soak Pits as means of disposal but has recommended only dispersion trenches (Seepage Beds) in IS: 2470 Part II. The only code in south Asia which suggests Soak Pits is Sri Lankan Code (SLS: 745) although the same code gives Seepage Beds as an alternative.

2. Construction of Septic Tanks

It has been observed that most of the Septic Tanks constructed whether in rural areas or urban areas are not as per IS Code (IS 2470: Part I). Even many of the qualified and practicing Architects are not even aware of such an IS Code. Further, in many households, Septic Tanks are constructed without any impermeable floor making them Soak Pits in the technical sense. In localities where the water table is generally high, an ‘overflow pipe’ is found to be provided at the outlet of the Septic Tank directly feeding a canal or a drain or a water body.

3. Use of Soak Pits

Soak Pits in water logged/high water table areas are generally provided with an ‘overflow pipe’ is found to be provided at the outlet of the Septic Tank directly feeding a canal or a drain or a water body. This is being done without taking in to consideration the fact the drains are designed only for collection and transport of storm water.

4. Septic Tank Sludge

Even in multi storey apartment complexes having treatments, use of a Septic Tank or similar anaerobic reactors is a necessity for primary anaerobic treatment of sewage and all such reactors will require periodical removal of sludge. While public or local bodies satisfy themselves by putting up notices or forming ‘action councils’ against indiscriminate disposal of Septic Tank sludge, there is no proper direction to the users as to how to dispose off the same. The ground reality is that there is actually no method of safely treating and disposing the sludge available in the state. In the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, wherever there is a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant, the plant will accept such sludge at a fee of ₹ 200/- per load (approximately 3000 L). However, the local bodies there are not strict with the movement of Septic sludge and hence the owners of gulpers prefer dumping the material in a nearby water body in many cases.

5. Safe Drinking Water

Safe drinking water is actually a rare commodity in the water rich state of Kerala. There several Water Treatment Plants installed and operated by Kerala Water Authority. However, that supply and demand do not match even by 50 %.

It could of interest to note that there are some small towns in South Asia which take initiatives in tackling such problems in ways acceptable in social, legal and technical sense. Just two examples are given below.

One is Musiri in Trichy district Tamil Nadu. The town has facility for collection, transport and treatment of Septic Tank sludge. The town has a very good composting plant for Solid Waste Treatment. The treated sludge is mixed with compost and the result is better quality manure.

The second small town is Balangoda in Ratnapura district, Sri Lanka. They went one upon Musiri by charging a higher price for the manure containing treated sludge than the plain compost. The latter is priced at LKR 8/- while the former is priced at LKR 7/-.

Now, to the key question-If even small towns in Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka can do many things in this direction, why not in Kerala? Here comes the critical question- Who will initiate all these?

 

 

Courtesy: “TSC”

Why there should not be education for all

Some years back when I was in school I remember having seen an advertisement by the Government. In that a graduate was applying for post of a driver, he seemed desperate to get a job, but another man comes up and asks him ” If educated men like you  come for this job then what will people like me, who have no education do?”

In Kerala its no news when a PhD person goes for Lower Division Clerk (LDC) exam. It is of no wonder that a MSc fellow can be a bus conductor in Kerala SRTC. These situations arise because the educated (degree holders) are not confident enough to venture out and try their education to bear them fruits on their own effort. They apparently see only Government jobs and pension schemes.

In Tamil Nadu, I see casual labours who bring tea to office get Rs 5000/ month. That is a guy without 10th pass who is happy for what he is getting. What about the educated class. They on the other hand are always frustrated and disinterested and dissatisfied about the money. They look forward for promotions higher posts, higher money, better “living conditions”.

They do see that the casual labour who comes everyday and brings tea is getting so much money, but he is not educated, what about his social status, what about his future and security in life, what will happen to generations of his class that come up.

Then there is the thought that OK the higher officers should mentor them to finish education get a job, help them to get the required certificate. Help them financially if they cannot afford education. On a second thought, there is a pause. What will happen if he qualifies the barriers of certificates. He will search for better job, better pay. He won’t go again as a tea-boy. As the number of educated people increases there is a growing demand for job.Then there will be saturation and eventually there won’t be any tea-boy. A machine will sit at the corner of the room whizzing out hot coffee and tea, as and when required. A small number of people will serve as workers who will supply the milk and check the water in the machine. Automation will be a  boost, but what will the billions of highly educated people do? OK, then we will look for answers around, we will search for answer in Google (USA) we see they sell high-end product and market it so that the money keeps moving. We look at Japan and see that they improve themselves and make others look at them with awe. They will fight the USA markets to get their products sold. What will we do? Hey, we already have an answer in Kerala. Those who study well will also go for jobs like driving autos, being bus conductors, putting up a tea shop and other commonplace activities that earn a living.

This is exactly why I think that people should not be educated. If you shout at the tea-boy he will take the brunt and move on. If you shout at an educated tea-boy he will shout back or give you an invisible kick.

The industrialisation and Information technology has not given us a sustainable  path of livelihood. But Indians have the answer at hand. Be ” uncivilized”. That is go back to agriculture, enjoy spiritualistic and scientific ambitions in shade of a tree with discussions and debates rather than blogs and forums. Cut down the waste , cut down the cost.

It may seem sarcastic that I have used the means of blog to communicate this. But that is how life is. But i know people who don’t understand what a blog is.

Anna Hazare , the news, the hunger, the strike and the ignorance

Anna I enquired whether it is a he /she? Whether it is related to TN elections? And what is that bizarre second name?

The phenomenon, Anna Hazare captured media, a slight semblence to Nehru with his Nehruvian hat and appearance with  a seemingly innocent smile. An interviewer asked Anna Hazare why he would not contest in elections and change the system. Anna H answers that the way he did was the way he could do. He cannot be a politician and get corrupt.

This is another way of blaming the other side. What the social worker sees is the tip of iceberg ,he says yeah there is lot under it that is causing trouble,making Titanics sink.That is bad the people need a bill. Not a hotel bill or other bills of payment, but the Lokpal bill. That word “Lokpal” excludes the power to gather all people around. How many people understand what “Lokpal” means?

I personally had to search for it . Newbies scour and findout something like this http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/what-is-the-jan-lokpal-bill-why-it-s-important-96600

And something is here http://www.annahazare.org/

The old chap with a new pose for his photo in that website, i perceive, can’t bring a change. Media and related people, yes  they have to follow ( I have seen the hindi flick ” Peepli live” and the malayalam movie ” Swa. Le”) . BJP praises him while there is no news that the Congress INC had  a say on it ,NCP did.

Wikipedia boasts about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare but fails to  impress me.

The fast began on April 4-5, around those days,and the news got some wide reputation when it ended by April 9. That a hunger strike of 4-5 days can make a hero doesn’t sink in the mind as fast as the news media was flashing it.

I have heard that the poverty and living standards in the MP and some northern places is comparable or even worse than the third world countries. So our sub-continent is 3 worlds in one, the super metros including bengaluru, the developing places like Kochi and the sub-standard low-class country-sides. People live with hunger and there is no strike good enough to capture attentions that will alleviate the problems that come  as parcel with poverty and hunger,ignorance and intolerance. It is very interesting that one man  Anna can make volntarily mass movement, and still more fact of wonder is that the government  notices that.

BEL walk in on 25 November 2010 at Bangalore for Apprenticeship training ; Experience

This is the advertisement of BEL they had put up in their website

go here http://www.bel-india.com/images/itm-pdfs/19_Oct_2010_GAPP_WALK_IN_INTERVIEW_2010-11.pdf for actual advertisement

_______________________________________________

“WALK-IN INTERVIEW” FOR GRADUATES IN ENGINEERING

FOR THE APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING

On 25th & 26th NOVEMBER 2010

Bharat Electronic Limited, Bangalore Complex, is conducting “Walk-in-Interview”

for GRADUATE ENGINEERS FOR APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING for the period of

One year under Apprentices Act.

General Conditions / Instructions: –

• • Qualifying Marks: For General/OBC Candidates – First Class and for SC / ST /

PHP Pass Class.

• • Age limit: 25 years for General / OBC candidates and 30 years for SC/ST/PHP.
• • Candidates who have passed their examination on or after 01.01.2008 only will

be considered.

• • No TA/DA will be paid to the candidates.
• • Candidate should produce Original Certificates i.e., Degree Certificates or

Provisional Degree certificate, SSLC marks card for verification.

• • SC/ST/OBC/PHP certificates (if any) should be produced for verification.
• • Employees’ children should compulsorily produce the MEDICAL IDENTITY

CARD issued by the company at the time of interview.

Candidates who fulfill the above conditions only need to appear for the interview.

The results of shortlisted candidates and their induction / joining schedules will be

announced through BEL website (www.bel-india.com) only.

Canvassing in any form will result in disqualification.

Only Indian nationals need to appear.

ADDL. GEN. MANAGER (HRD)

________________________________________________

They had this colourful way of advertising. Yes they have good advertisement writers, it seems. So we have nice government run companies in this country. While many look away after seeing the mention of Apprentices Act in there ,the name BEL sounds good, every guy wants to test his worth by attending the interview. In a city like Bengaluru (Bangalore) we expect Electronics engineers working in various IT/BPO companies to come and attend this interview. So when I go for attending; jobless that I am, I can expect either a crowd looking to get some experience in core field, with things that they have mugged up and vomited on hundreds of papers in the span of 4 years of engineering, few exceptions exist but they are exceptions OR I can expect very few jobless creatures who would go for anything respectable for their engineering degree under the sun.

So I was going to Bengaluru, the electronic city of India, of IT a hypercity, only later I understood that it was all a hype.

I landed there in Airavat an Air conditioned bus of note.  Airavat is a hindu mythological  creature , a divine white elephant of  lord of devas Indra, Airavata: had thousand tusks. Incidentally after misunderstanding between God Siva and Ganesa, Beheaded Ganesa got an head transplant, the head was donated by Airavata the elephant. Airavat grew another head.

I asked people about Jalahalli only to know that the place is pronounced as Jaalahallli(ജാലഹള്ളി,ஜாலஹள்ளி,) . Platform number 22 from the city bus stand, majestic, will get me to BEL. My usual tragedy worked, there were people in the bus going for the same business as mine. So no problem in finding out the Centre for learning and development. The guy I acquainted said that BEL took some 10  people each year for apprenticeship training. He didn’t know any other details. I told my CVRDE, DRDO walk in interview experience at Avadi Chennai. With a huge mob i half guessed that they may follow the DRDO’s way. But no there was announcement.

The Announcement said. “ Don’t rush, every eligible candidate will be given a chance for the interview. We are taking only Electronics, Electronics and telecommunications, Electronics and Communications. All others may go. The walk in interview is for Graduate Engineers for Apprenticeship Training. Only Rs2600 will be paid if selected, there will be no accommodation. The queue didn’t mind those. Now he announced some more. Only people passing above 1.1.2008 are eligible. Yeah! Cool English. Way to go man. We need exactly such guys so that more private companies of better people run business here and make the country better. Then he announced in a non-English language, probably kannada. So I told a native candidate in front of me, atleast you know what they are saying. He smiled.

And then there was some confusion, an official from inside came out and said “ we don’t want instrumentation guys, Electrical and Electronics guys just go back we don’t want any EEE guys. So there was a Tamil “Makan” (guy) an E&I engineer asking him that he should have mentioned such things in the advertisement. The official countered the argument saying that he could have contacted before coming, and he was not invited to come there. (what an attitude). The official continued “This is a Government institution, I cannot do anything”. The Tamilian went to another brown dressed guy. He spoke in Tamil and that official told him “ I don’t know Tamil and you don’t know Kannada, I’m sorry. He said “Sir, OK, then English”. The official was not ready to hear. Both were helpless in face. I waited. I wanted to get inside the gate atleast. There was repeated advertisement “PDC is compulsory”. What is PDC? It is Pre-degree certificate in Kerala, could be anything in other states of India. OK it was decoded as provisional degree certificate. Many didn’t have that. So they left. Others ignorant of this stood in the line. There were flying comments about BEL, the girl’s queue, why the officials talked to girls only though there were female security-persons.  And there was comedy on a fat security he was shooing, blowing his whistle and calling at the crowd like he was addressing a herd of buffaloes. “Pretty experienced, he must have never missed a buffalo in his life” was a popular joke. He didn’t hear it nor would he understand even if he hears because it was not in kannada. Apparently, BEL was Bengaluru Electronics Limited not Bharat Electronics Limited. At the gate I got confirmed that I, an E&I guy was not allowed to attend. In their words “We don’t want instrumentation guys”.They kept announcing “The result will be published at our website  http://www.bel.india.com” .A few minutes before he was announcing the site as bel dash india dot com , finally he convinced himself that it was bel dot india dot com while actually it was bel hyphen india  dot com. You will find something in bel.india.com its not an “address not found” place. You can get bel.india.com address from net.

Yes these guys were narrow minded.  Knowing only kannada nothing “above” it (hehehe..:-)). But in reality I lost time, money and lost a chance to get interviewed. So the only other choice was to go round the city and be a tourist. I’d time till night to catch a reserved bus. So i went to majestic. Found some places.

The buses were apparently fully run by Government. I couldn’t understand the letters and variants of “…uuwu…” No English, not even a picture of bus at bus stop; What the….Do they think they are Japanese  to be proud of the language and use it to produce MNCs? Japanese make user’s manual in Japanese but that is Japan. Dear kannadigas don’t you understand that you are part of India, in records at least? At Majestic there are bus route numbers in English and place names in kannada and English. OK you have English, thanks to British for colonising you guys. I went roaming through the streets of the place. They have good footovers and foot-unders. There are cleaning personnel actively doing their work. Very unlike any government servants, the sweepers cleaned and  moved tonnes of soil spread throughout the bus station. Yes there was a lot of dirt, it will be a hardship for these people to keep the station clean. But ultimately  the Hon’ble CM and others will take the credit of making Karnataka what it is. The world has seen their worser than kindergarten assembly http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article824863.ece . You can find lot of youtube videos start here and watch the play http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNhJpUK456Q. (Kar “Nataka” ).

 

I found my white elephant turning and getting itself parked in un-numbered platform, that was platform 15 at kempegowda bus station (KBS), inter state buses com here,  reclining on the pushback I could only smile at my question Yed-ur-appa (a rough translation from Tamil -> what place man?

Nationwide strike by trade unions in India

It has become an uncommon event. But life went smooth today. There was shop, internet and everything I required. Strikes in kerala are so common that some call them the other holidays . And the surprise is that most people support it. Its a good excuse to exempt oneself from work and with good reason. The Beverages Corporation and Co-operative Society run Liquor shops reap maximum benefits from the people who celebrate the festival of hartal/ strike/ bandh with bottles. Some creative way of spending the unexpected holidays , isn’t it.

And then there was another top news :- the death of drunkards who drank illegal toddy at Kuttipuram, Malappuram district, Kerala. That was funny considering that the majority of population considered it to be Haram. Ok the drunkards were of some other religion.

Kerala is famous for its tea and spices . But people are going after liqour.  But the longest queues are at the Beverage shops. This is a place were Sree Narayana Guru had told people not to make, sell or consume toddy.  There are more respectable jobs aiding the Coconut and Coir industry that all those who climb Coconut trees can do.

Related Articles

• Judicial probe into hooch tragedy (thehindu.com)
• Indian unions protest price rises (bbc.co.uk)

Research as a career

Dr. Alex Pappachan James, an alumni of GEC Kozhikode gave a lectur on research as a career on 6th April.

In fact, he was a student of 1999-2003 AE&I batch, the first batch to get in and out of GEC Kozhikode. He showed the old photos of college, where there was nothing much of infrastructure. But people where willing to study, and he told that infrastructure mattered the least in education. He nowadays works in Griffith university , Australia, and does research in computational intelligence/ neuroscience program there.

a search will give you his linked in profile

http://au.linkedin.com/in/alexpjames

Inauguration of the Applied Electronics and instrumentation block and the Chemical engineering block at GECK

Inauguration of the Applied Electronics and instrumentation block and the Chemical engineering block at GECK.

The college site has been revamped  http://geckkd.ac.in/. Introducing the e-journal system to access journals.

The applied electronics and instrumentation block has been christened Dept. of Electronics Engineering, a big misnomer.

But due to lack of space, if that can be  an excuse, it has to be like that.

Decorations:

In schools days there won’t be many who didn’t have their name written/scratched on benches. the minister takes it to the next level. Call it inauguration. Engrave the name on granite. Put it at every place he/she goes. Funny. Yet happening.

UPSC/Engineering Service application

I bought the UPSC application form from a  post office. Now I am confused what a central recruitment fee stamp is, The employment news tells me that is a stamp one gets from post office. I go back to post office, and they enlighten me that is a stamp that is cancelled! after you bring the filled up application form to post office, you may get it cancelled! from any nearby post office.

I decided to fill the application form, and was irritated by all the Hindi in between. OK, Hindi happened to be the national language, I should concentrate on English though. After filling up the form for IES now I’m confused whether it is Indian Engineering Service or indian Economic Service, completely unrelated stuff.  There is a site for employment news  http://www.employmentnews.gov.in/  which guides you to date of newspaper .

For online application go to http://www.upsconline.nic.in/

And finally I landed on the page I required :

http://www.upsconline.nic.in/ntf-engg.htm#Appendix%20-%20II%20General%20Instructions

The 10th anniversary of GEC Kozhikode

Tin jubilee that’s what they call the 10th anniversary. With too many improvisations in the pipeline, GEC kozhikode celebrated the 10th anniversary with PTA meeting on January 30 ,2010.Followed musical and artistic events and GK quiz.

Drama , group dance, break dance, skit and musical night all remain inexplicably beautiful. Unfortunate that I couldn”t get hold of a camera, to capture those precious moments.

This time it was a problem-less event with each branch enjoying it there own way. That was a really marvellous icing to the fantabulous celebrations.

Long live GEC-K