Cataclysmic Chaos; Employing Women; Sanitation Icon

Opinion Watch

Cataclysmic Chaos
The Hindu in its Editorial, while noting that El Niño year prediction of north India seeing a sparse monsoon has come out wrong, stated that “losses worth ₹10,000 crore were reported by Himachal Pradesh” following heavy rains and consequent landslides. “In the context of these altered weather patterns that warnings by scientists and environmentalists of the perils of wanton construction in the Himalayas must be factored in. The ongoing Char Dham road building project has led to large-scale altering of the mountains with significant chunks carved away, rendering them vulnerable to upheaval,” argued the Chennai-based daily.

The rail officials manning Kalka-Shimla heritage trains have accused the NHAI of unscientific cutting of mountains to build Solan-Parwanoo road, while geologists have claimed that mountains have been cut vertically at 90 degrees against norms of 60 degrees.

Employing Women

The Asian Age in its Editorial on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of training two crore ‘Lakhpati Didi’ noted that 52 per cent of the population in the country is aged below 30 years, translating into roughly 72 crores, while “about 35 crore women, a number almost equal to the whole population of the United States, belong to this group”. It added that only 10 per cent of the women are either part of the workforce or in search of a job. The daily spotlighted the significance of Modi’s assurance of building 15000 women-led Self Help Groups (SHGs).

The SHG movement did great wonders to empowerment of women in Bangladesh, while it has been a huge success in southern parts of India even before Modi came to the helm of affairs in Delhi. To make promise of training two crore women in his 10^th speech from the Red Fort should fall in the realm of selling dream in an election year, and one may ask: “how did the government, UPA and NDA both, fail to take the success of SHGs in south India to all the states”.  

Sanitation Icon

The Indian Express has paid rich tributes to Bindeshwar Pathak, who thought of human dignity to create a pan-India network of toilets, recalling that his three months stint at a Dalit habitation in Bettiah in Bihar late 1960s gave India her the foremost sanitation man. Pathak in 1970s, said the Noida-based daily, went on a construction spree of two-pit pour-flush toilets in office complexes of municipalities of Bihar with assistance of the state government.

Pathak also cared for the abandoned widows of Vrindawan, and he was truly one of the last surviving Gandhians.      

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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