in my face (or yours!)
Imran, pointed out how I was becoming one of those Indians that I had damned in my first post;
And i figured that obviously thats the Windows Explorer point-of-view.
So first things first. I finally got my reply to
a) How many street lamps are there on the streets of Mumbai?
b) What is the total expense of these street lamps?
What I did not the get the answer to:
1) What are the tech specs of the bulbs that are used in these street lamps? ( i know they use the sulphurised and mercurised type which consume more than 3 times the amount of electricity vis-a-vis the CFL of similar illumination power; I just wanted them to admit it) They said that they do not have the tech specs, but those are with the Power Distr. Cos. that maintain them. (We pay for them, but we do not know what they are, or why we are paying so much!)
2) How does the entire cycle work? (the govt. [which govt. agency?] picks the PDC [ on what basis?] and sign a contract [details?] and decides upon a price [detail?] and Service Level Agreement. What are the exit clauses or penalty clauses in case on party fails to oblige by the contract?
I am still pursuing this. It is not over. It may have taken a good 6 months, but I learnt a lot. Special thanks to the team at RTIIndia.Org. Since I joined there, I was more interested in how these guys pursued these small cases which will eventually lead to a what I dream of, a wave of civic conscience and activism in India.
And i figured that obviously thats the Windows Explorer point-of-view.
So first things first. I finally got my reply to
a) How many street lamps are there on the streets of Mumbai?
b) What is the total expense of these street lamps?
What I did not the get the answer to:
1) What are the tech specs of the bulbs that are used in these street lamps? ( i know they use the sulphurised and mercurised type which consume more than 3 times the amount of electricity vis-a-vis the CFL of similar illumination power; I just wanted them to admit it) They said that they do not have the tech specs, but those are with the Power Distr. Cos. that maintain them. (We pay for them, but we do not know what they are, or why we are paying so much!)
2) How does the entire cycle work? (the govt. [which govt. agency?] picks the PDC [ on what basis?] and sign a contract [details?] and decides upon a price [detail?] and Service Level Agreement. What are the exit clauses or penalty clauses in case on party fails to oblige by the contract?
I am still pursuing this. It is not over. It may have taken a good 6 months, but I learnt a lot. Special thanks to the team at RTIIndia.Org. Since I joined there, I was more interested in how these guys pursued these small cases which will eventually lead to a what I dream of, a wave of civic conscience and activism in India.
11:01 PM
Knowing there's something you don't know is difficult. When you're the only one who knows that there's something that no one knows then its even more difficult. Knowing you don't know and finding answers is great. Perhaps you don't know that most people you know don't even know what they don't know. That's either 'cause they can't see or they don't choose to. If its the former, then you should know that you can help them see all the things they don't know by showing them what you know no one knows. Then they can help you find it out.
In short - there's power in numbers. top