MGP at the Public hearings

Date: Feb 3, 2006

MGP at the Public hearings

Date: Feb 4, 2006

There was a clear division between the local rural folk and the Mysore reps.Leaders from the surrounding villages were all praise for Infosys, for bringing prosperity to their families in one way or other. One may say these villagers were working for the local contractor or brought to defend the expansion proposal. But I doubt whether a ZP member, local panchayat presidents, V-Ps, and women organization members were hired and tutored. There appeared to be certain frankness and honesty in what they said.
The objections raised were answered point by point. The main objection of petitioners was about the proposed closure of the road. The KIADB assured to provide an alternate link road behind Infosys. The KIADB industrial layout was formed when D.Devaraj Urs was the Chief Minister. The layout has separate raw water supply lines exclusively for industries. They will not draw any drinking water coming to Mysore! Under the industrial policy (industrial policy adopted all over the country offers incentives and subsidies, like subsidy offered to LPG cylinders for homes) lands are allotted to industries whether Infosys or any one else at reduced rates.
None opposed the expansion! They raised certain issues, the impact that the expansion may have on Mysore city. But, from the replies, they seem to have been taken care of such issues. Mr. Bapu Satyanarayana, MGP leader, referred to the criticism made by former PM H.D.Deve Gowda about the Infosys expansion and described its mentor Narayana Murthy as the 'true Mannina Maga'!

I attended the public hearing as a journalist. My report appears in Business Standard.

Date: Feb 4, 2006

Thanks Mr. Gouri Satya for your reporting and for prividing the link. I read other news reports as well, about the meeting. In the previous blog on infosys and MGP being a speedbump, the article headline to me, seems apt.

MGP had been raising so many untenable objections and Gen Vombatkere mentioning that they have to "oppose" big business and so on. Since no one objected to anything at the meeting, what was the blowing hot air about, I wonder. ACICM was not far behind criticizing (before the meeting) in nespapers about the Infosys plan and how it was bad for Mysore. So many lies about the water supply to Infosys affecting Mysore and so on.

That there is a disconnect between these organizations and the general Mysorean or the people living in the villages around Infosys campus, is glaring. Thats why I and a lot of other Mysoreans don't care to join any of these organizations. The MGP has a few good people in their ranks with good intentions and I wish them all the best. Hope they are not misled in future and don't in turn mislead people. A praise from Mr. Bapu Satyanarayana about NRN is a welcome note and perhaps a dissenting voice in the MGP ranks? Or was this much ado about nothing in the first place?

Good, that there are some "arm chair" critics, as Mr. GVK has been described (I am guessing this!) that provide forums like this for meaningful discussions and hope more people start blogging. Thanks for the same. There are real issues concerning Mysore that people should keep on the front burner and we need real people to get involved.

Date: Feb 5, 2006

It is a standard practice to perform not only environalmental impact assessment when major investments are made, but also a social impact assessment. This is defintely expected of any international consulting companies. The expertise required to do social impact assessment and enevironmental assessment is quite different. From the presentation given by Infosys managers was pedestrian at best or outright demeaning after making such elaborate arrangement.

It was interesting to hear villagers and their leaders asking Infosys employment for their children who have not completed even PUC or showering parise for giving employment. In fact these people whether manufactured or not, coming to such a public hearing and taking part has to be appreciated. But it was distressing to see not many people coming from the city but for mostly members of MGP. It is equally sad to see MGP is being criticsed directly and indirectly for having done their civic duty and imputing unfounded motives to their interest. Thankfully no one has blamed them yet with blackmailing Infosys.

Performing social impact assessment and enviornental assessment is not easy as I mentoned. Therefore if our media is impressed by the wisdom of the villagers, and not by the observations of MGP members, it speaks volumes about how seriuosly we take subjects like environmental protection , CDP, rule of law, equity etc.

I for one is not at all against Infosys and having worked for a multinational have great admiration for those who hold high principles. I consider Infosys to be such a honest and upright company especially being on the US stock exchange. It does not mean that there could be things which could be done without the knowldege of the top management. How can work start before all the approval? The answer given was contractor has started it as though the contractor has nothing to do with Infosys. I fail to understand how asking for a study to find out the impact of supplying water to Infosys will affect Mysore is being anti Infosys. If I am on the top management of Infosys, I would ask my managers to know the answer to that question. So also how a major operation like infosys will have an impact on CDP of Mysore if it was not considered. Why is a traffic a night mare in Bangalore? With proper planning such a situation could have been avoided. MGP has voluminous data on CDP having involved in two of them and some MGP members know why and how CDP of Mysore is not done properly.

If some of bloggers take time to find out what MGP has been doing, I am sure they would change their opinion. It would be very boring if all MGP members have the same opinion. That is one more reason for appreciating MGP which gives a platform for people with various backgrounds and ideology. I am a strong believer in free market and there are some in MGP who are believers in the public sector. Still we can work together when we have the same goal of helping Mysore and Mysoreans.

Date: Feb 5, 2006

Gouri Satya wrote:

Mr. Bapu Satyanarayana, MGP leader, referred to the criticism made by former PM H.D.Deve Gowda about the Infosys expansion and described its mentor Narayana Murthy as the 'true Mannina Maga'! .

We Mysoreans should feel proud of a person of our city, coming from a middle class society, for having scaled great heights in Industry; for the social benefits the Infosys Foundation has provided to the deserving; and for helping lot of eligible youths find employment.

Date: Feb 6, 2006

With due appreciation and apologies to Mr. Shenoy, I'm also wondering how come "not many" Mysore City residents to turn up at the Infosys public hearing! Maybe most Mysoreans have greater issues at hand such as a city full of litter, congestion, falling heritage buildings, water problems, law and order and so on, to think about. The things that affects the real Mysore Grahakas.

The allegation that the whole lot of media persons there were not serious about environmental protection, ignorance of CDP, indifference about rule of law and so on, Mr. Shenoy, is unfair. I don't think the media has any fixed agenda. If they did, they would not have come out with so many news items previously published on the Infosys issues, mostly negative information and sound bites from MGP and particularly ACICM about how bad Infosys was going to be for Mysoreans. Media has given enough and more coverage to the MGP and ACICM so far.

The other interesting thing is that none of the MGP members clearly came out with any opposition for the Infosys proposal at the hearing. The MGP letter to the DC clearly objects to many things in detail. Regarding the water issue, asking for a study on the impact of providing water to Infosys is not a wrong question, so long as the question was just that. If one reads point No.5 of that letter (MGP letter to DC reproduced kindly by Gen. Vombatkere in the previous blog), there is clear data (based on assumptions) given about the impact that it would have, Infosys already presumed guilty before trial. Why was there a need to provide so much detail and assumptions about how much water will be consumed from ground sources, that so much water will be diverted to Infosys from the water meant for Mysore and so on. This data cannot be backed up so why not simply ask a simple question to Infosys about how they propose to harness water resources. The point also mentions that water supply to Infosys is "unjust and undesirable".

Mr. Shenoy mentions: "If some of bloggers take time to find out what MGP has been doing, I am sure they would change their opinion". Other than the newspaper supplied sound bites, how else can the general public "find out" what MGP has been doing? I could not locate any website, I would be grateful to Mr. Shenoy if the website, if it exists, be provided on this forum. I am sure there is no shortage of people who will appreciate the sincere efforts of MGP, including yours truly.

Date: Feb 6, 2006

This is in response to Cap Anup Murthy's comments to find out about what MGP has been doing. It is true that media has been giving a lot of publicity about MGP. But the press coverage of MGP does not even 20% of the activities of work MGP is doing. It is true that in this internet age, espcially in a software city like Mysore, a well respresented NGO with active members should have a web page. Unfortunately MGP has none. Therefore one can find more about MGP activities or the way it is functioing is to visit its office (6/1 vivekananda Road. Yadavagiri which is located opposite to State bank of India building. Phone number is 2515150).

Any one who will visit the office is likely to change his/her opinion about MGP. It will not be an exaggeration if I state that over the years MGP has built up an excellent knowledge base on several straegic factors affecting Mysore. This data base was done created using the actual experience of thousands of consumers affected. Sometimes even the government officers have made use of this data base. Directly thanks to MGP, thoussands have been benefited over the years. However there are few who having violated building bye laws or other regulations (constructing buildings in the park, breaking environmental laws, giving or accepting bribes, etc) or not performing the work properly especially in government offices have been affected by MGP's activism.

Date: Feb 6, 2006

Bhamy V Shenoy wrote:

It is true that media has been giving a lot of publicity about MGP. But the press coverage of MGP does not even 20% of the activities of work MGP is doing. It is true that in this internet age, espcially in a software city like Mysore, a well respresented NGO with active members should have a web page. Unfortunately MGP has none.

The question is not what percentage of MGP work (20 percent), but how often does MGP get reported in the local media. Of course it is not its fault if our media reports, uncritically, whatever is handed out it by MGP. To be fair, MGP is not the lone NGO in hogging headlines, occasionally with a mug shot of a leader. We don’t know about the newspaper’s, but the public credibility of the NGO is undermined by such uncritical exposure.

As for MGP’s much good work that goes unreported, Dr Shenoy would like one to figure it out for oneself, by paying a visit to MGP’s Yadavagiri office. Would like to mention here that a few MyMysore arm-chair thinkers (Capt.Murthy included) are toying with the idea of setting up a group weblog to network NGOs in Mysore. An IT professional, Mr Sanjay, has volunteered to design the Mysore NGOs blog. MGP could have web page in the proposed group blog, if Dr Shenoy and his MGP colleagues so desire.

Date: Feb 7, 2006

RE: MGP at the Public hearings Sri Sanjay's generous offer to help MGP