J&K Poll; Freak Freebies; Bartering Life

Opinion Watch

J&K Poll

The Tribune in its Editorial has hoped that elections in Jammu and Kashmir would soon be held. It added that the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the exercise to complete the electoral roll would take just a month. The Chandigarh-based daily counted the positives, terror-related incidents are down by 45 per cent since 2018 and infiltration bids down by 90 per cent, to caution that forces inimical to peace in the Kashmir valley may sabotage the election process.

The popular verdict on the abrogation (special provisions) of Article 370 may be seen in the outcome of the J&K Assembly elections. While the Centre indeed has told the apex court that poll may not take much time, writing on the wall suggests that Lok Sabha elections would precede the electoral event in the valley.

Freak Freebies

Deccan Herald in its Editorial has welcomed the cut in the prices of the LPG cylinders, while noting that the measure would also reduce consumer price index (inflation) by 30 basis points. The Bengaluru-based daily argued that the Narendra Modi government consistently jacked the LPG prices, from Rs 450 in 2014 to Rs 1100, despite international rates being lower. The daily also wondered the fate of the freebies plank of Modi with which he had been going after the Opposition parties.

There are suggestions that the oil and gas companies were making windfalls out of the higher LPG prices. Also, the claim that oil and gas prices are market-linked has been proven to be bogus in the recent years.

Bartering Life

The Economic Times, as well as several other dailies, have come out with Editorials on the University of Chicago’s 2023 Air Quality Life Index report, which concluded that an average Indian was losing 5.3 years to pollution, which is 11.9 years in Delhi. The business daily quoted a Lancet study of 2019 to peg the lost output at $36.8 billion for India from premature deaths, while the Dalberg Advisers in 2021 estimated that India was losing three per cent of GDP ($95 billion) annually to pollution. It added that 59.1 per cent of global pollution is coming from India since 2013.

Except for the hills, the Indian life is spent in inhaling dust and smoke all across the length and breadth of the country. Tackling pollution is also not on the agenda of political parties.   

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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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