What is new
From British Raj to Swaraj, Garbage Woes Inundate India
- Published on 22 September 2018
(:Landfill Stink Measurement. Iimage Courtesy: CPCB)
"Insufficiency of dustbins tends to encourage the common practice of throwing litter and rubbish from upper windows on to the paved back spaces below and to intensify the lack of sanitation. Even in the sewered aeras, sewage stagnates as a result of blockage of drains and traps with refuse, and the areas at the backs of the lodging-houses seems be seldom clean. The conditions which prevail indicate the need for more stringent municipal administration”.
Anyone might wrongly take this as ‘mohalla negative news’ played up by Modi critics to spoil the ongoing social media-empowered Swachhta Hi Seva (SHS) campaign.
The fact is that the Quote is from the 1931 report of Royal Labour Commission (RLC). And the description relates to Rangoon (now Yangon), which was then part of British India.
What RLC said about the rot bedeviling Indian cities is far more relevant and alarming than what it was in 1930s. British India’s concern over the insanitary conditions is documented in other such reports and laws too as we would find later in this column.
Anyone, with an iota of respect for facts, can drive through any city and any village to find that official claims on Swachhta are a mere puff. Millions of corridors are splashed with paan spits. Countless window slabs and similar structures are littered with broken glasses and construction materials even in decent apartment buildings.
And the monumental proof of sanitation crisis is Delhi’s world-famous Ghazipur waste dump. It spans over 70 acres with maximum height of 62 metres. In November 2017, East Delhi Municipal Corporation sought expression of interest from specialized agencies to cope with fires that erupt at this landfill.
Delhi’s two other such dumps are also a disgrace. North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has minced no words in articulating garbage crisis.
G20, EU & Other Votaries of Corruption-Free Governance Face Heat
- Published on 22 September 2018
(Edited Image Courtesy: UNODC)
Pressure from within and outside is mounting on global/regional bodies to act credibly against corruption. This follows the realization among anti-bribery stakeholders that global bodies excel in ritualism of issuing communiqué & declarations.
Several member countries of global entities take half-hearted action against hydra-headed corruption in their respective national jurisdictions. Many members such as India prefer passive play and dislike disclosures on their anti-corruption conduct.
The frustration over this sorry state of affairs is palpable from G20 to European Union to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
As put by Transparency International (TI) in a release issued last month, “Despite more than 60 anti-corruption commitments from G20 leaders in the last few years, there is little evidence of any real progress”.
In an earlier report issued during April 2018, TI exposed shocking laxity by G20 leaders in honouring their 2014 promise to act against anonymous companies.
With GDP Politics Turning Murkier; Save Statistics from Politicians
- Published on 30 August 2018
UPA’s Tainted GDP vs NDA’s Clean GDP
(Image Courtesy: taxindiaonline.com)
Gross domestic product (GDP) is no longer expressed in black and white. GDP is now painted in different shades. It can be tainted too in Indian political narrative. And this was amply demonstrated last week by Modi Government.
It fired all cylinders to ridicule a news agency story dug from an official report that was lying unnoticed in public domain since 25th July 2018. The story quoted data from the report of Committee on Real Sector Statistics (CRSS) to show that GDP grew faster under UPA than under NDA.
The story also referred to UPA recording double digit growth in two years. This emerged after CRSS linked old GDP data series with new data series.
CRSS was one of the five committees constituted by National Statistical Commission (NSC) for statistical improvements. The fifth panel is yet to submit its report.
Apart from phoo-phooing the story, the Government also downgraded the official report from final one to the draft one. It did the same for three other NSC reports too. As an after-thought, the Government inserted an identical page in all reports, seeking public comments on the reports.
All the four reports were shifted from prominent display on home page of website of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (mospi.gov.in) to a spot that most visitors would miss (http://www.mospi.gov.in/nsc_draft_reports). This is ultimate proof of Government’s half-hearted commitment towards transparency.
Where Are The Jobs?
- Published on 13 August 2018
(Edited Image Courtesy: Uttrakhand's Directorate of Training & Employment)
“Let us assume the reservation is given. But there are no jobs. Because in banks, the jobs have shrunk because of IT. The government recruitment is frozen”.
Union Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari recently admitted this bitter truth while commenting on Marathas’ agitation for jobs reservation.
Mr. Gadkari has thus touched soul of crores of unemployed & under-employed persons across India. His statement would also strike the right cords with countless people who work below Government-notified minimum wages.
The picture one thus gets is of “angst” to borrow a word from Rajasthan Chief Minister,Vasundhara Raje.
The other day she told a TV news channel: “Lynchings are a result of inability to find jobs”. She observed angst is spreading everywhere, and people are reacting angrily to their circumstances.
Apart from big guns within BJP empathizing with the jobless youth, others within and outside the Government are also chipping in their concern.
Last month, Swami Ramdev stated: “Unemployment is a big question in the country and the Centre and the state governments are not able to do much as they were supposed to solve this issue”.
Swami Ramdev, who last year conferred Prime Minister Narendra Modi with title of RashtraRishi, has obviously failed to convince the latter.
No wonder Mr. Modi went hammer and tongs against those who see joblessness. Replying to no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against his Government on 20th July 2018, PM reeled off dubious statistics & guesstimates to claim that one crore jobs have been created in one year.