Cycling in India

हमारी अग्यानता की जड़ें गहरी व मज़बूत हैं ?

2008-01-30T18:17:00.000+05:30

- अगर हमारी अग्यानता की जड़ें गहरी व मज़बूत हैं ? -
- तो क्या आगे का पथ सरल व आसान हो सकता है ?
- शुरुआत कहाँ से की जाय ?

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१ - किसके लिए ? -
२ - मसीहा या पथ ? -
३ - लक्षण क्या अौर कैसे ? -
४ - आधुनिक, सरल व साधनों के अनुरूप ? -
५ - ग्यान की कमी, साधनों की कमी, या विश्वास की कमी ? -

Touting Adventure Tourism in India

2006-12-04T15:47:00.000+05:30

Indian Tourism Ministry is busy touting India, as a destination for adventure tourists, from around the world. One look at the state of Indian roads, traffic planning, roads / highway vision documents, and facilities for cyclists and pedestrians, will surely put off the most intrepid of adventure tourist, from venturing onto Indian roads, without strong protective fibre glass gear.
Indian roads and highways, just do not have any place or space, for cyclists and pedestrian tourists. Maybe, this is a convoluted attempt, by Indian highway planners, to promote the low cost airlines in India.
The absolute insensitivity, of highway planners, to the needs of Indian pedestrians and cyclists, hardly needs any mention. But that the tourism ministry, keeps toying with the idea of India, as a safe destination for walkers, trekkers and cyclists, as part of an adventure tourism marketing promotion to India, is nothing short of a pipe dream.
If tourists still keep wishing, to make their risky manouevres, on Indian roads and highways, is a testimony to the intrepid tourist, rather than to the planning of the Indian tourism ministry.
A liberal dose of accident insurance, would be a good advice, for the Indian tourism ministry to give to tourists, on behalf of the Indian urban planners, and highway architects and contractors. That even the Vision documents do not have concrete mechanisms, for cycling tracks, pedestrian path ways, facilities, is shocking.
Even the local cycle industry is hardly considered a suitable party for inviting suggestions while the highways are being built. Surely the bicycle manufacturers, and pedestrians, should have a say in the construction of Indian highways, as they are rolled out in India.

Highways Planners of India

2006-11-30T22:31:00.000+05:30

The IRC provides Indian highway engineers, technocrats and contractors a forum to share their experiences and technical knowhow.
I personally am supremely unqualified, either as a highway engineer or a contractor, but as a technocrat, I do sometimes wonder, why are Indian highway and urban planners, so insensitive and blind to the needs of the Indian cyclist.
Is it that the highway and city planners, never think they will ever be cycling or walking in their life ?
There is no attempt, to even invite any suggestions, from cyclists, or for that matter even pedestrians, as to the shape of future Indian highways, when the plans are being drawn up. Maybe, all the planners assume that in India, roads and highways, are meant for trucks and buses, police jeeps, Toyota Corollas belonging to politicians and their ilk, and for private cars.
The thought of the cyclist and of the pedestrian is totally absent from the blueprints like Road Development Vision 2021, which envisages 80,000 km of modern highways and link roads.
Amusingly, need was perceived for drawing up a separate Rural Road Development Plan 2025.
The Prime Minister also has initiated a Grameen Sadak Yojana in anticipation of farmers, bringing their farm produce to the warehouses of retail chains like Tesco, Walmart, Reliance, Ambanis and Sahara.
How much will it cost the Indian government to lay out sustainable cycling tracks, besides the highways ? Nobody has the time for such questions, these are all brushed aside like rural dirt.
Even a city like New Delhi, which has a much higher number of cyclists compared to car drivers, has no cycle tracks or integrated planning for pedestrian crossings.
But then, like all other Indian middle class super power aspirations, Indian planners feel it is more important to have highways without cycling tracks, and pedestrian facilities, just like it is more important for India, to be in Security Council, rather than, have prosperous farmers who need not commit mass suicides.