Sedition Somersault; Snotty China; Jiye Yamuna
Opinion Watch
Sedition Somersault
Arguing that laws are meant to protect the people and not the government, The Asian Age has scorned at the recommendation of the Law Commission to retain Section 124A (Sedition Law) of the Indian Penal Code with stricter punishment. The daily stated that the police continue to book the people under the sedition law even while it was stayed by the Supreme Court last year.
The daily reasoned the governments have shown resorting to hide behind the sedition law to deal with criticism. It also stated that “a government goes when the people develop disaffection for it; violence against the law may be dealt with by other laws”.
The sedition law was reduced to a joke by the extent of abuse by the incumbent governments, at Centre and in states. It goes without saying that the most incompetent law enforcement agencies seek tougher laws to hide their inefficiencies.
Snotty China
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, The Economic Times stated, China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu once more indulged in sabre-rattling against the western powers for their stakes in the Indo Pacific. The daily quoted Li claiming that the joint exercise in the Taiwan straits by the US and Canada poses a provocation to China.
The business daily has decoded message for India to state that New Delhi should step up engagement to ensure that Indo Pacific is free, open, and rules-based. The daily reasoned that China is resorting to Cold War mentality.
China under the third term of Xi Jinping at the helm is indeed acting as a bully to the neighbours. Before other stakeholders throw their weight, nations such as India must know that they have to help themselves first, and the seriousness of admission of the task should be reflected in cutting down economic ties with Beijing.
Jiye Yamuna
The Indian Express paid rich tribute to Manoj Mishra, who quit his job in the Indian Forest Service to work for the rejuvenation of the river Yamuna. The daily recalled the contribution of Mishra, who died of Covid, in larger sensitization of the issue of pollution in the river Yamuna.
The Noida-based daily said that Mishra launched Jiye Yamuna campaign after he realized that water was needed in the river for final round of cleaning of waters released by the sewerage treatment plants (STPs). The daily stated that Mishra’s efforts led to the landmark verdict of the National Green Tribunal ‘Maili se Nirmal Yamuna’ verdicts in 2012 and 2013.
Mishra etched his name as a selfless campaigner for the revival of dead Yamuna in the national capital. But a few individuals may not measure up to the task of a toxic systemic failure which killed the pristine river in Delhi.
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