[Assam] Driving in New Delhi -a report from the LA Times

[Chan Mahanta]

>Clandestine payoffs or special favors smooth the way for buying 
>property and >acquiring government ration cards, among other things. 
>They secure places in >good schools for your children, ensure you 
>prompt attention at the hospital, >provide you access to bank loans, 
>exempt you from local building codes.


*** Shame is not the issue Ram. How to change things is.

Bottom line: India is INCAPABLE of change. That is why Assam must NOT 
peg its future to that of the profoundly dysfunctional India. Assam 
can and ought to fashion its own system of modern,accountable system 
of governance, in a truly democratic fashion ( unlike des-demokrasy 
that is).

And we ought to support those in Assam who have been attempting to do just.













At 12:15 AM -0500 8/4/06, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>This is a real shame. Of course we have all known this for many 
>years. Unfortunately, it is not just in Delhi. In Guwahati, at one 
>time it was next to impossible to get a driver's license through 
>legitimate avenues - greasing palms was a pre-requisite. I am sure 
>the situation may be much different today, but then, am not holding 
>my breath.
>
>--Ram
>
>
>Corruption revs up perilous driving on New Delhi streets
>
>Up to 75 percent use payoffs to skip test and get their licenses anyway
>
>By HENRY CHU
>Los Angeles Times
>
>NEW DELHI - It doesn't take a Harvard degree to figure out that 
>driving here is hazardous to your health. Near-misses, reckless 
>weaving and cars blithely going the wrong way are highlights of the 
>daredevil derby known as New Delhi traffic.
>
>ADVERTISEMENT
>
>But a recent study by economists from Harvard and other American 
>universities suggests that, indeed, a majority of this city's 
>drivers get their licenses without actually knowing how to operate a 
>car. They ply the roads because of a simple fact: government 
>corruption.
>
>As many as 75 percent of motorists in New Delhi obtain their permits 
>by hiring agents whose palm-greasing intervention saves them time, 
>energy and the hassle of learning the difference between the brake 
>and the accelerator, the report says.
>
>Those with agents bypass long waits in dingy government offices and 
>almost never have to submit to the road test that's required of all 
>would-be drivers. In fact, when newly licensed motorists who 
>participated in the study were given a surprise driving exam, more 
>than 60 percent flunked.
>
>"We had five questions about how to start a car, how to change gears 
>and how they worked, which are very basic questions," said Marianne 
>Bertrand, a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School 
>of Business and a co-author of the report. "They couldn't answer 
>them."
>
>Evidence of such cluelessness is thick on the ground in India's 
>capital, where getting from point A to point B is a white-knuckle 
>exercise and traffic safety seems an oxymoron.
>
>Law of the asphalt jungle
>
>Each day, more than 4 million vehicles jockey for position along 
>narrow lanes that wind through ancient bazaars or boulevards 
>originally designed for the horse-drawn carriages and stately cars 
>of India's British colonial elite.
>
>Rules of the road exist but mainly on paper. On the streets, it's 
>the law of the jungle.
>
>Bus drivers cut off motorcyclists, truckers dodge cows, entire 
>families squeeze onto a single scooter, three-wheel "auto rickshaws" 
>zip in between everyone else, and those on foot utter prayers and 
>curses in equal measure.
>
>It's a raucous free-for-all where the most important piece of advice 
>is found painted on the backs of taxis and trucks: "Horn please."
>
>"They drive like they're pedestrians. If it's faster to go the wrong 
>way up the street, they'll do it. They have no sense of danger," 
>said one exasperated British executive who ventures out behind the 
>wheel only on weekends. "You have to be vigilant all the time."
>
>Extra danger in the dark
>
>In 2004, Delhi Traffic Police logged 9,083 accidents, in which 1,832 
>people died. That's an average of five auto-related fatalities a day 
>in a city that boasts 14 million people - but only 2.6 million 
>licensed drivers, a Transportation Ministry official said.
>
>Many accidents here occur at night, when some motorists drive with 
>their lights off, in the belief that their car batteries will last 
>longer.
>
>The chaos on New Delhi's streets is at least partly explained by the 
>findings of the study published last month by economists from 
>Harvard University, the University of Chicago, New York University 
>and the International Finance Corp., an arm of the World Bank.
>
>The scholars were commissioned to look into the effects of 
>government corruption. Their report, "Does Corruption Produce Unsafe 
>Drivers?" (answer: yes), has cast an unflattering light not just on 
>the menace lurking on New Delhi's streets but also on India's 
>Kafkaesque bureaucracy and the dishonesty it has spawned.
>
>Clandestine payoffs or special favors smooth the way for buying 
>property and acquiring government ration cards, among other things. 
>They secure places in good schools for your children, ensure you 
>prompt attention at the hospital, provide you access to bank loans, 
>exempt you from local building codes.
>
>"The whole country is deep in corruption," said N.S. Venkataraman, 
>an activist in the southern city of Chennai, formerly known as 
>Madras. "Corruption is there from one end to the other."
>
>
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