It is no secret that not only the value of immovable properties
have come down considerably for the last several months, But there are no
buyers of properties even at the lowered figure. The number of transactions in
Sub-Registrars officesthroughout the country can be
said to be almost negligible. This situation is likely to continue for few more
months or for one or two years and till the global economic situation
stabilizes and the employment opportunities improve.
Though the market value of properties are
down by 30 to 40 per cent and the property developers are ready to sell their
properties at the reduced prices, the State Governments are still in no mood to
reduce the guidelines value of properties fixed by them when the property
market was at boom and are turning a blind eye to the ground realities with the
result that the purchasers of immovable properties have to pay stamp duty and
registration charges at a higher value as fixed under guidelines value than
payable at the prevailing fair market value. This attitude of the StateGovernments is highly deplorable and can be termed as a crime
on the society and the people.
At least now when the market value of immovable properties have
come down considerably and the purchasing power of a large number of people is
reduced beyond imagination, while the banks have reduced their interest rates onhousingloans under instructions of Reserve Bank of India, it would nothing
but be fair and proper for the State Governments to initiate action without
further delay to reduce the guidelines value to fall in line with the market
value of properties.
In Karnataka, the revised guidelines value of properties as per
the revised rates effective from 19.4.2007 is definitely on the higher side.
It is not the prerogative of the Government to continue maintain
the guidelines value fixed by it when the property price were at their peak
even when there is slump in the real estate market. When the government swiftly
acts to make upward revision of guidelines value to get more revenue, in the
same fashion the government should swiftly act to reduce the guidelines value
when the market is on the downward trend.
The significance of SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) in mutual
funds can be properly comprehended at the time stock indices are going up and
down often. SIP refers to investing money at spaced intervals in smaller
quantities as against making a one-time lump sum investment
The desired end is to capitalize on the
volatility of equity markets by causing the average purchase cost to
be lowered, Nobody will argue about
the usefulness of a SIP but there
is also a darker side to it Let us weigh
the pros and cons of it:
1 ) The most important benefit of a SIP is the chance
to reduce the average cost This can be done
when equity markets go through a stormy patch, As the investment
amount of each installment is fixed there is
a gain for the investorwho receives a higher number
of units. Here is an example:
Let us suppose that the monthly investment installment is
Rs. l, 000 and the net asset value (NAV) of the fund is
Rs.50. This will cause 20 units of the fund to be credited to the
investor. Next month if there is a volatile market the fund's NAV will fall
to RsAO. This in turn will cause a lowering in the average
purchase cost; and in this way the investor will have 25 units credited to his
account. What this means is that a SIP can assist investors inbenefiting from volatility in equity markets.
2)A lack of discipline in investing invites trouble for us. Very
often when we keep money aside for the purpose of investment we end up using it
for other purposes. The investor is thus removed far from his goals, With
an SIP the investor continues to be invested in a disciplined way and remains
on course to accomplish his financial goals.
3)An excuse that is often heard for not investing is the lack of
money, By lowering the minimum investment amount Sip solves this problem.
4)For instance the minimum investment amount for a lump sum
investment in a diversified equity fund may be Rs.5,000, it can be as low
as Rs.500, for a SIP.This route of investment is more withinyour pocket
5)Very often investors try to time the market to get invested
when markets have bottomed out This task is not within the reach of most
investors, A SIP investment nullifies market tirmng. As it is an ongoing
investment investors can focus more on urgent matters,
1 )If equity markets rise in a secular way a SIP could fail
in lowering the average purchase cost. This is possible in shorter periods
of time. In this case investing through a SIP could become more expensive
than a lump sum investment. The answer is to go for a SIP that runs
through a suitable time frame of perhaps 12-24 months,
2)A SIP becomes aimless if it is not a part of an
investment plan, It is not an end in itself but only a means to
an end, It should be part of an investment plan with an aim.
3)Whatever the SIP may be a fund that is not well-managed
will stay that way.You have to choose a fund that is properly
managed which is right for the investor and then only should you invest in it
through a SIP
There are a number of plus points in the SIP method of investing
and there may be times when it may not come up to our expectations,
Investors should make investment decisions after getting to know all the facts
and conditions, large city like Bangalore with 8.00 million
population and about 3.50 million vehicles requires multi-model transport to
provide better mass transportation facilities for the convenience of
the citizens.
Without such a system the traffic
congestion is critical and the city is facing serious vehicular
pollution and noise pollution, long hours of joumey, slow vehicle
speeds to reach the localities, too many road accidents, serious
parking problems, and frustration for going through all these tortures every
day for travel to reach work places and other destinations for working and
living. This situation is due to non-introduction of a Rapid Transit
System ( RTS ) when the population reached 3.00 million. It is to be
stated here that that metro rail was introduced in Paris in the year
1900. We mayobserve inlarge cities of Europe that the traffic congestion and numberofpedestrians on roads are less due to the convenient metro systemconnectinglocalities and the city center.
Citizens get into the metro stations which are
available in most of the localities within a distance of 1 km and get
out from the metro stations near the work places or other
destinations. They do not wait like the citizens of Bangalore for
mass transportation. In Paris the frequency of metro
trains is only 2 minutes.There are metros in 105
cities of the World already. In Bangalore metro is
beingintroduced 110 years after it was introduced in
Paris. Another unfortunate proposal under implementation in
the Bangalore metro is the standard gaugeadopted instead of
the broad gauge to enable linking to the national net work
ofRailways as suggested by the Railways.
In caseofstandard gauge coaches are to air lifted and placed on the
rails instead of bringing them by rail in the case of broad
gauge metro. When metro adopted broad gauge in Kolkata and
Delhi, why Bangalore adopted standard gauge requires to
be explained. However, citizens in Bangalore are
suffering without amulti-model transport system. Any numberof widening of roads or construction of flyovers or underpasses will not improve the situation which we have observedso far.
By the time two phases and extension of metro
is completed, thepopulation of the city will be 10 million
and the number of vehicles will be about 4.30 million leading to critical
traffic and transportation situation.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Delhi which
conducted Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Surveys and
Studies of Bangalore reported that according to the western experience, if
the population of a city exceeds the limit of one million, the road based
bus service alone cannot cope upwith the increase in demand for
travel. The Institute recommended in the year 1964 introduction of
Rapid Rail Transit System in Bangalore.
They also recommended Ring Railway in the City by
connecting the link between Mysore line, HAL siding, and Salem line on the
southern side where there is no railway line. Bangalore had a population
of 1.20 million population in the year1961 according to the
Census, 1961. In the year 1964, when CRR! recommended Rapid Rail
Transit System, the population was about 1.27
million. But no actionwas taken since then and the result
is the present bad traffic and transportation situation. At least now there
is some effort to improve the situation by considering proposals to
introduce the Multi-modal Transport System.
Multi-modal Transport System is suggested incorporating the
Metro Rail in two phases, and the extension recently approved by
Government as the main rapid transit system and monorail on either
side of the metro line routes as feeder service. BMTC bus transport
will act as feeder service to mono rail and metro rail according to the
existing road network in various parts of the City. The metro andthe
monorails are extended up to the Peripheral Road on
all sides for proper connectivity. The exact alignment of the
extensions suggested may be worked out by the consultants
on ground conditions and feasibility.
Metro Rail phase-I and
phase II, and extension of Metro recently considered by Government
is incorporated. The metro line is extended upto the Peripheral Road
in all the six directions namely;
|
East
|
: Towards White
Field,
|
|
|
North
|
: Beyond Yelahanka,
|
|
|
North West
|
: Towards Tumkur
Road,
|
|
|
South-West
|
: Towards Mysore
Road,
|
|
|
South
|
: Towards Kanakapura
Road,
|
|
|
South-East
|
: Towards Hosur Road.
|
|
B) Mono Rail
Mono Rail is proposed on either side of
Metro Rail as follows:
I) Along Bagalur Road in between East-West
metro from White Field and North South metro towards Yelahanka.
2) (a) Between metro line towards Yelahanka
and towards Tumkur Road.
(b) Along Nagashettihalli and Sanjaynagar
Main Road from Peripheral Road to North-South metro,
and Peripheral Road to East-West metro.
3) In between metro towards Tumkur Road and
Mysore Road, Mono rail is proposed along MagadiRoad.
4) In between metro towards Mysore Road and North
-South metro towards Puttenahalli, mono rail is proposed along
Kanakapura Road.
5) In between North-South metro towards Puttenahalli and metro
towards Electronic City, mono railis proposed along
Bannerghatta Road.
6) In between metro towards Electronic City and metro
rail towards White Field, mono rail isproposed along Varthur Road
(Airport Road) , and along Sarjapur Road.
In addition to the mono rail in between radial metro
corridors, mono rail is also proposed along theOuter
Ring Road ( ORR) to connect the localities all round and to
connect metro corridors.
Bus transport is suggested to be feeder service
and may be reorganized to connect only the
stations along metro rail/mono rail . and will not
operate on long distance routes.
The Traffic and Transit Management Centers (TTMC) by BMTC under
JNNURM proposed atJayanagar, Vijayanagar, Banashankari, Koramangala,
Shanthinagar, ITPL ( White Field ) , Kengeri, annerghatta, Yeshwanthpur, and Domlur, not yet taken up
may be relocated at the junction of Highways and Peripheral Road to enable
traveling public arriving or leaving the City by roads to avail the metro
and mono rail systems.
This arrangement will reduce bus movements
along heavy transportation corridors and help in reducing congestion.
It was reported a few days back in the news papers that
the Rapid Rail Link to Airport is not considered by Government as it
is very costly and that it creates lot of technical/practical
difficulties to take it along Sankey Road and Bellary Road
with several under bridges and flyovers. The
South -Western Railway has indicated the possibility of running
coaches from Yeshwantpur to
Yelahanka on one route and Channasandra to Yelahanka on the
other route. From Yelahanka the Bangarpet line which runs near the
front boundary of the Airport area is free with almost no traffic, and it
is possible to run coaches without any problem. This is a very good
proposal and may be introduced quickly at a cheaper cost till metro
is extended ultimately to the Airport.
It is suggested that the Railways may consider running coaches
from the HAL Airport along the existing HAL siding along the Channasandra route
so that the eastern parts of the City like; Indiranagar,
Koramangala, Hosur- Sarjapur layout area, etc are benefited by
this convenient connectivity to Airport.
Coaches may be run on Whitefield and Salem
railway line to enable the air passengers residing in areas such as
Whitefield, Sarjapur road, Electronic City etc., to reach the
International airport. If the proposal to continue HAL Airport as a second
Airport for domestic flights is considered, the
connectivity to BIA along HAL siding will enable linking BIA with the HAL
domestic Airport.
When the multi-model transport system is introduced as a
comprehensive proposal, and the projects required are taken up
simultaneously involving private sector, it is possible to provide relief
tothe citizens for convenient travel avoiding all the serious traffic
and transportation problems as stated earlier in this Report. This
will also prevent the trend for private vehicle ownership which
is increasing at present at a rate of
14 % per year. Shall we hope that the Multi-model system
proposal receives consideration of the Government on priority to avoid
very costly projects like Rapid Rail Link and the delayed Metro which is
progressing very slow and not giving early relief to the commuters of
Bangalore?
more:
No comments:
Post a Comment