Author: SN Sharma

Editor, Eduindex News https://eduindexnews.com

Bouquets and Brickbats

Gang Rapes in India and Legislation

I had been refraining from writing on sex and gang rape as they have become the order of the day. But now I think that a section of the society is getting conscious to get legislation passed for execution of the culprits of the gang rape. I have been keeping a track of the recent development in this direction. The Delhi Police has issued directions regarding removal of heavy curtains and tinted glasses from the vehicles particularly buses. This is a good attempt to curb the crime in moving vehicles. The setting up of inquiry committee is futile and this a measure for making the public sentiment pacify. The assurances from the legislators and the practitioners of the law indicates that they would prefer death sentence in the rarest of the rare cases of gang rape which will provide a new avenue for their earning through court cases which will try to prove that the particular gang rape was not a rarest of rare cases and this will also prove a big loop hole in the legal system to avoid the prosecution regarding the gang rape.
As a policy planner and social activist I would like to have a common and simple legal procedure for executing the culprits of the gang rape. The any culprit of the gang rape should be executed or hanged within a specified time period not exceeding a month. Whether the victim file FIR or someone else, whether she wishes for prosecution or not the culprit will be punished only then we can wish of a society free from the heinous crime like gang rape. The legal system in India is at a crucial juncture as no one fears or respects laws as he/she thinks that no matter what crime he has done he will find a smooth passage on the dint of power, money and connections with top notches of our society.
Media highlights the gang rapes done by the common man but not the daily habit of the sons and wards of influential and wealthy people.
The New Year celebration will turn the tide and slowly the agitation by the youth of Delhi and other Indian cities will meet a slow death like the campaign of Lokpal. Every campaign and agitation against the so-called influential class and wealthy people will meet a slow death in this system of democracy.
Hope to see you soon at public place in some form of agitation against the corruption of some form of crime.
Happy New Year 2013!
Shashikant Nishant Sharma

The Pattern of Civil Services Main Exam need a Relook


There is a genuine concern regarding the pattern of the main examination of the Civil Services. I has appeared for the exam and felt the same concern. But, there was no option. I have done well in the exam and hope to clear it. 
One thing I would like to mention that I enjoyed the essay paper as I had the requisite time to express my ideas as I wished not bounded by the limitation of the time. The number of the questions and the world limit prescription was not fair in this exam. I had completed the language papers in 2 hours and waited for 1 hour to leave the exam hall while I was not able to rest for a while while writing the answers to the questions of the other papers. No doubt the standard of the questions were up to mark but the time limit and the word limit were grossly mismatched for optimal output of the thinking and understanding. 
I would suggest the UPSC to include extempore and public speaking as a level of qualifying the exam like the interview. This measure will ensure the shortlisting of candidates for are better prepared for the civil services as most of the post they serve demand a good command in spontaneity and clarity of thoughts.

Shashikant Nishant Sharma
Urban Planner and Consultant

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DUPI Association, New Delhi


Please Support the endeavour for upliftment of urban poor.

The DUPI Association is well known NGO working for the betterment and development of Urban Poor and Infrastructure in India. Our dedicated volunteers and professionals are doing a great job for the upliftment of the poor. DUPI is an NGO working for the development of urban poor and basic infrastructure in the growing urban areas of India. The organization is registered under Societies Registration Act, 1886 of the Government of India.

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Published Books written by Shashikant Nishant Sharma

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING APPROACHES

Participatory planning processes can have many goals with a variety of communication modes, as well as the decision- making actions taken by stakeholders during such a process.  Parties involved in a planning process have their own goals based on political, cultural and economic factors that are relevant for them. The overall challenge is to define how to support these processes. One approach to tackle this challenge is to make a careful definition of the needs of the intended audience. These needs can be roughly divided into three main orientations that are described below (Geertman, 1996, Wachowicz, 2002). 

Decision-Oriented Approach

The central paradigm in this approach is that planning is a process of choice in a situation of uncertainty. This uncertainty is present in the knowledge of the planning environment.  In this case, one is not sure about the physical and socio-economic structure of the environment and its response upon the actions of actors. The goal of planning is mainly to inform actors about future decision- making and make future operational decisions interpretable

Action-Oriented Approach

In this approach, planning is defined as the result of actions between actors, which are part of the socio-spatial system. Their actions need to be compliant to and embedded in the society. Decisions are based upon interactions among actors. This means that the focus of planning is not per se on a critical evaluation of the spatial organization itself, but on the analysis of the intentional actions and knowledge of the actors involved in planning.
Search-Oriented Approach

The aim of planning as search for direction is not directly to prepare for an operational decision given a well-defined problem, but to reveal alternatives and new solutions outside the direct scope of the observed problems. It is meant for actors to learn and become wiser (Kleefmann, 1984).

Shashikant Nishant Sharma
Urban Planner
{Courtesy: Sharma, S.N. (2012), Participatory Planning in Plan Preparation: A Case of Delhi, Graduate Thesis, Department of Physical Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi}