Morbi Bridge: Unforgivable callousness; Pink Tide in Brazil; Laws and violence
Opinion Watch
Morbi Bridge: Unforgivable callousness
The CCTV footages of the ill-fated Morbi Bridge leave no doubt that it should have been forbidden for the public use. On a regular interval such mishaps keep taking place in one or another part of the country, and life continues nonchalantly. That heart of the people to forgive grave misconducts on the part of the administration is at the core of the prevalent culture of negligence, unaccountability and apathy.
Newspapers in their editorials struck a consensus stance that accountability should be fixed. The Indian Express wondered how a private company could open a bridge without the nod of the local administration, and even if it what were the officials doing for three days.
The Times of India has commented that the Morbi mishap is a symptom of a crisis at the heart of India’s urban governance. The daily reminded that the World Bank in 2010 had stated that over 55 per cent of India’s population lives in areas with urban like features. The municipal revenue in the country is stuck at one per cent of the GDP from 2007-08 and 2017-18, while the same for South Africa and Brazil are six and seven per cent respectively.
The Pioneer quoted the Morbi municipal officials who claimed that the company had to report back with the completion of the renovation works and afterwards the safety audit would have been done. This must exemplify administrative rot in the country.
The people must first begin respecting their lives to make the administrations accountable by ensuring that their votes aren’t cast on castes but for works carried out in their areas which improve their quality of life.
Pink Tide in Brazil
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has risen like a phoenix. He has brought the Pink Tide in Brazil. The Indian Express has stated that the rise of the Left of the Centre governments in Bolivia, Colombia, and Chile has now swept through Brazil.
The Noida-based daily credited Lula for stitching a formidable coalition by picking up his rival Geraldo Alckmin as the vice presidential candidate to take on the popularity of Jair Bolsonaro. Latin America is now the new hope for the left of the centre politics even while the right of centre politics is gaining popularity in Europe. While Lula’s victory is being hailed in many quarters for his commitment to environment, he may struggle in the Brazilian Parliament where he would be lacking the majority on the lines of his Chilean counterpart Gabriel Boric.
Laws and violence
The Hindu has taken a critical view on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent observations at a conclave of State Home Ministers where he came down heavily against intellectuals supporting left wing extremism. The Chennai-based daily commented that Modi’s speech “contained a possibly unintended explanation for why academicians, students and lawyers are languishing in prison on terrorism charges”.
Modi had called for the “elimination of all forms of Naxalism, be it of the gun-wielding variety or the kind that uses the pen to raise international support and to mislead the youth”. The laws such as UAPA have been well-nursed by the Congress-led UPAand the BJP-led NDA. Such laws by their nature carry the risk of the miscarriage of justice.
About The Author
Proper coverage on Morbi Bridge and sad to know the negligence of the administrative authorities on Morbi bridge to cost life of more than hundred people. This shows, people is counted only for votes but no accountability & sensibility towards their life.
– Our current approach towards supporters of Left wing may be a good/bad tactics…a question of absolute freedom of speech vs misguided young minds to the extreme end to break away from integrity of the country.