Breathless New York; Backward March; Infusing Life
Opinion Watch
Breathless New York
With wildfire in Canada forcing the people in New York to stay indoors, as air quality index turns five times worse than Delhi, The Economic Times in its Editorial has called for measures to address cross border pollution and also the revival of the Male declaration. The daily advocated airshed approach against the current focus of political and geographical jurisdictions.
The business daily underlined that the National Clean Air Programme of India that aimed to reduce air pollution by 25-30 per cent has been a non-starter. It also noted that 46 per cent of pollution in India originates from other states.
Political apathy to air pollution is a global phenomenon. The US had walked out of the Paris Accord on order of Donald Trump. Parliamentary oversight needs to be strengthened and accountability with punitive measures should be fixed for fancied national plans coming cropper by target years.
Backward March
Indian society, if seen from the lens of horrendous crimes against women, is walking backward, and The Telegraph in its Editorial has quoted a study to state that incidents of demands for dowry are on the rise across the country. Worse, the daily said, dowry demand is rising even in socially advanced Kerala, which has always been hailed for 100 per cent literacy.
The Kolkata-based daily further quoted from the study of an NGO to state that employed women were able to pushback marriages. It argued that employment, the lack of it among women, is giving rise to more demands for dowry despite advancement in social indicators, including education.
Indian society is facing explosion of materialism, and money is more precious than the people. Social regression is also amplified by instances of casteism deepening with politicians promoting divide by nursing and exploiting tools such as reservation. By forcing women to not gain more than 13 per cent space in the Assemblies and Parliament, the buck stops with the politicians for failing half the population of the country.
Infusing Life
The Asian Age has welcomed the decision of the Union Cabinet to administer third booster dose to the state run BSNL, while a cumulative Rs 3.33 lakh crore has been pumped into the telecom PSU since 2019. The daily said that the government is almost giving out Rs 220 crore to the BSNL on a daily basis.
It also stated that BSNL has cut down headcount by two-third to report operating profit. The daily has counselled the government to make the BSNL by listing it on the stock market and funding for its infrastructure investment to connect areas not served by private companies.
Telecom market in India is now almost vulnerable to manipulations of cartelization with only two firms mostly in the business. This calls for measures to boost presence of multiple players in the telecom market, and revival of the BSNL should be with the aim to finally disinvest it at the right price.
About The Author
