Modi goes for broke after illegitimate wealth

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Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s demonetization of high value currency notes has exposed the rather large and bloated underbelly of our society. The shenanigans of this section of Indians in the background of the demonetization put us to shame in front of the world which has been watching the developments in the country with interest. Every country, as indeed every Indian, is aware of how our economy has had to contend with a parallel economy of formidable proportions. But its ramifications as they unfolded made most of us wonder whether most of us were crooks and had no patriotic feelings.

As Modi’s surprise announcement about demonetisation was made late in the evening around 8.30 PM on the 8^th November last one thought people would take it easy and look for ways out to get most of their unaccounted cash, if any, disposed of some way or the other next day but mostly in a regular manner. One thought the demonetization would not yield much as an opportunity had already been given to all the cash hoarders to declare their holdings on payment of minimal tax, penalty and surcharge amounting to a total of 45% under the Income Disclosure Scheme 2016 (IDS) that was run for as many as three months from 1^st June to 30^th September 2016. The Scheme yielded more than Rs. 65000 crore (Rs. 650 billion, around $95 billon), by itself an astronomical sum. But for the size of the unaccounted wealth estimated to be a mindboggling sum of around 9 lakh crore (Rs. 90000 billion, approximately $1500 billion) this was considered chicken feed. And as the prime minister had warned earlier that further action would follow if the outcome of the IDS was not satisfactory action to further squeeze out unaccounted cash was expected.

As the high value currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- were to cease to be legal tender by the midnight of 8^th November the hoarders tried most of the tricks that they could possibly use. They made a beeline that very night for the jewellers and unloaded the cash there and were prepared to get in return whatever was offered. The shopping hours, at least for jewellers, got extended and the business during those hours was reported to be of Rs. 100 crores in Bhopal alone. Many of the jewellers are going to have to answer for their indiscretions in course of time. Apart from buying jewellery the hoarders tried to buy railway tickets to be cancelled later. Enormous number of railways tickets for all air-conditioned classes were bought with the intention of cancelling them eventually. The government had to block that route of changing the colour of the ill-gotten money. That Indian attribute of “jugaad” was in full play.

From the 9^th November onwards the black money barons put all their human resources for exchanging their black cash at the bank counters. That the exchanged amount would only be of a paltry Rs. 4000/- (later raised to 4500/- and eventually reduced to Rs. 2000/-) did not really matter. Initially only the same representative was asked to join the queue in a bank over and over again with different IDs. When the authorities intervened to check this ploy multiple representatives were mobilized to exchange the cash at different locations. For all their labours the representatives got a petty commission but they were clogging the banks to the detriment of genuine exchangers whose wait at the banks was avoidably lengthened.

The authorities were apparently watching the proceedings with a keen eye. When it was realized that the same set of men were exchanging cash at different times in the same bank or at different banks they introduced the marking of the fingers of the representatives with indelible ink that is generally used during elections. As even then some misuse of the facility was noticed the authorities reduced the amount dispensed for exchange to only Rs. 2000/-. Ingenious as all crooks are, even this they tried to circumvent. Then the practice of exchanging only in the branch where the depositor had his account was introduced to further bar the hoarders from attempts to launder their money.

 It has been a very difficult and strenuous time for people all over the country. As somebody remarked, the entire country was seemingly waiting in long, serpentine queues to exchange their defunct cash in order to run their households, businesses or whatever. Here too the hoarders who are nothing but anti-socials increased the pain of the general public by sending their hired hands. Some deaths occurred of people while waiting in queues.

Likewise, it has been a tough time for the bankers. A few deaths took place in banks too due to over-strain. Nonetheless, they did a tremendous job. Not only did they have to contend with long line of money exchangers, they had to deal with enormous amounts of cash which in many cases were mixed with fake Indian currency. The fake ones, especially those printed in Pakistan, are difficult to detect. Pakistan had made special efforts to set up a press that was capable of introducing almost the same security features as are used in this country. The Bank staff had, therefore, to be careful, keeping a sharp eye while receiving cash that was tendered over the counter. It was kind of a game of matching of wits virtually at every step and checkmating the fraudsters and frustrating their pernicious efforts to 

cheat the government.

Not only did they try to recover whatever was possible from their piles of cash that had become trash, they even tried to save themselves from the arms of the law. They not only burned them, they also dumped in rivers and drains huge numbers of currency notes of high denominations that they were left holding in their offices, business sites or residences. A whole truck-load of currency was reported to have been set fire to. The rot has seeped in so deep that a large number of seizures were made in small towns from Gujarat to Bihar and from Punjab to Tamil Nadu. Many seizures were effected while the cash was being transported by these crooks to places that they thought were convenient for their illicit purposes. On the plus side, the local bodies and the utilities have had a windfall. All outstanding payments have been paid off, including some in advance, to fatten their always-starving finances. Likewise temples too have had so much cash showered on them that some of them have had to hire extra hands to count the piles of cash.  

 No reports of our “netas” (political leaders), the repositories of substantial amounts of black money, have, however, surfaced so far except one from Bhopal where it was reported that they were browbeating cooperative banks to provide them with back-dated FDRs. Cooperative banks still operate manually and the records can be easily fudged

But the unscrupulous man in business or industry is, kind of, never-say-die person. He would never give up and come clean and surrender. Hence, only a small proportion of dirty cash is likely to be exposed and brought overground. A lot will remain underground as liquid cash. A far greater proportion has been invested in fixed assets like land, real estate, etc. But Prime Minister Modi is not going to relent; he is going for broke after the cheats and the unscrupulous. Already, raids have been conducted on jewellers – their shops and residences – and he has announced a drive against “benami” property, i.e. property held against the name of a fictitious person where most of the black money has been invested.

If not anything else, the proceedings in this regard show how rich the country is, only the riches have been cornered by a few crooks. It has always been rich but ordinary people could never enjoy its wealth. The Mughal raiders, the Europeans, the British and now the crooked politician, bureaucrats and businessmen have looted it. It is only Modi who has taken this step knowing full-well it might electorally backfire on him.

*Photo from internet

21^st November 2016

Our life our times :: 4 :: Air purifiers

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The national capital of India, Delhi, has been choking ever since the Diwali fireworks fouled up the air. That looked like a trigger, which in fact it was not, for the continuing spell of intense air pollution. With a blanket of smog settling down over Delhi schools have been shut, construction and demolition works have been banned, polluting power plants like the one at Badarpur have been closed for ten days. “The city has turned into a gas chamber”, that is how Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi, described the situation. I spoke to an 87 years old very old friend to inquire how he was doing. He reported that he and his 80 years old wife had sealed themselves in their second storey flat with doors and windows shut. One cannot move out even to buy the necessities. Even the warmth of the mellow winter sun that they used to enjoy in the approaching cold weather sitting out in an ill-kempt park, too,  has been denied to them. It is a horrid situation – an abominable turn of events during the season of festivities, flowers and fun and frolics. Children are suffering the most. For them there is no school, no fun and games and, what’s more, they cannot go out in the open and play. If they get out they have to wear a mask – a necessary encumbrance.

In such a circumstance, no wonder people would look for means to ameliorate their condition. In the process,s people are increasingly turning to technological assistance. Science has handed over to humans a very potent appliance in the shape of technology that can be used for satisfying various kinds of needs – from basic to the most sophisticated. Most being aware of them, it is not necessary to go through all the developments in the matter. What is something new in India, however, is the air purifier that is not all that well known. If one looks for it in the internet one would come across numerous brands with various specifications and several claims for the machines’ versatility.

This is the machine age and one cannot really live comfortably without their help. With economic progress even the middle classes in their tiered differentiations have acquired air-conditioners that control the hot or cold weathers within the confines of one’s living or bed rooms or even large halls. With cut-throat competition and proliferation of manufacturers to meet the rising demands the prices have fallen making them affordable for those who never could entertain a thought of acquiring one a few years ago.

It seems it is now the turn of air purifiers. Now, with frightfully toxic ambient air people are getting more and more inclined to buy air purifiers. One of the first of them was perhaps installed by the US Embassy in the capital. Progressively, as the air quality deteriorates even during the seasons when it is expected to be normal or slightly worse air purifiers provide an alternative to treat the pollution in the air. They do filter out the harmful particulate matters (PM 2.5 and PM 10), protect people from taking in foul air which has all the potential to seriously damage their health. But installing it at home will protect one only for a period of 12 hours or so. When one is out and away from it one remains exposed to the pollution.

Apart from dealing with very harmful PM 2.5 and PM 10 these contraptions also help in keeping out the allergens helping to make those comfortable who suffer from allergy or those who are asthmatic. Besides, they extend protection from dust, pollen, pet dander, mites and their faeces, etc. Regardless of their benefits, Indian households never perhaps ever contemplated to buy such a machine that rendered only limited assistance. But with heavily toxic air that has settled down over Delhi people are turning to these machines that are, unfortunately, of limited use. Besides, the other disadvantage is that these machines run on dirty energy, rising consumption of which exacerbates the pollution caused by coal-fired thermal power plants. It is a great irony; it is we who create polluted air  by our own indiscrete activities and then we have to have machines to filter it.

The whole sordid thing started with Diwali. With the pollution base already high the fireworks made it worse.  Delhi air is not free of pollutants even at the best of times. Diwali made it worse, as it does virtually every year. And, yet people do not draw a lesson. But the fillip to the deteriorating quality of air was given by the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. For want of cheap labour that they used to get from Bihar they switched over to harvesters for reaping their paddy crop that, unfortunately, do not harvest as the humans do; they leave a fairly tall stubble. That stubble reportedly is of no use and hence it is set fire to. The burning of the remnants of the paddy crop in the three states has raised the smoke that engulfs the entire region, the urban concentrations including the megapolis of Delhi. That and the usual sources like smoke from thermal power plants and incoming dust from the desert region in the west compound the problem.

People are having a terrible time. United Nations has come out with a warning that the record pollution levels of 999 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic metre is more than 15 to 16 times more than what is considered safe. PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matters, both clocked 16 times more than what is safe. The air has become toxic and with every breath adults and children are inhaling poison which can eventually cause the dreaded disease of cancer.

Air purifiers or wearing masks when out in the open are short term preventive measures – like palliatives. A more fundamental approach to cut down on the source of pollution is urgently needed. Already number of deaths due to air pollution in the country is climbing rapidly and has risen to more than a million and has overtaken China.

 It cannot be that the paddy stubble is absolutely useless. After all, it is an organic matter and has to have carbon as one of its components. No wonder, Nitin Gadkari, a central minister has suggested production of bio-fuel from it. This will eliminate the smoke and also be profitable to the farmers. Such plants need to be commissioned as soon as possible all over Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. Fireworks in Delhi need to be banned regardless of the fact that it is a demand of spring festivities or weddings or whatever. Public transport needs to be strengthened to reduce the dependence on personal vehicles. Delhi reportedly has 6,000,000 vehicles of all kinds – commercial, private, four wheelers, three wheelers and two wheelers of varied ages emitting into the Delhi atmosphere gases that are poisonous.  Promotion of electric battery operated vehicles seems to be the need of the hour. And, Delhi should go for an all out campaign for solar energy. All government establishments, their extensive terraces, the stadiums and their open spaces, the parking lots etc. can be used for installation of solar panels.

All this needs to be done on war-footing; there is not a day to lose as numerous lives are being damaged and lost to this Frankensteinian monster.

*Photo from internet

15th November 2016

Bhopal Notes :: 43 :: THE FOULED UP LAKE

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Its waters are dangerous to touch and risky to drink

Now it is official; the waters of the Upper Lake are not fit for bathing or even sipping – a ritual that is called “achaman” observed by Hindus after their prayers. The Locally based Pollution Control Board issued a warning for the people who were to perform their rituals on the banks of the Lake on the occasion of Chhath Puja that was to take place last Sunday. The Chhath festival is dedicated to the Sun and his consort Usha to thank them for the bounties bestowed on people. Celebrated generally by people of Bihar, it has now almost become a national festival as the Bihari Diaspora is present virtually in all states.

The Pollution Control Board said while exposure of the skin to the waters could cause skin diseases, especially eczema, ingesting it would be more dangerous as the e-coli count is almost double the level far higher than what can be tolerated by normal humans. This had to happen as the powers that be, including those in the Department of Environment and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, have never bothered to divert sewage and other pollutants that make their way to the Lake through as many as nine drains. They have had project after project but the situation has not changed. Perhaps the conditions have worsened. No wonder the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) has predicted if action is not taken on its plans for the Lake submitted as far as back as in 2013 the Lake most likely would disappear in 20 years.

On the one hand the Tourism Development Corporation has, seemingly, acquired proprietary rights over it and pushing projects one after another without any regard to their impact on the Lake. While the Boat Club has become the hub for people to come and collect in large numbers, boating has gone up exponentially. One shudders to see so many motorised boats plying on the Lake that is a source of drinking water. In no civilized country a drinking water source is used in such a casual manner as in Bhopal. The Tourism Corporation may have improved its own bottom line by putting motor boats in the waters of the Lake in contravention of the prevailing ban but it has brought the Lake into red. There are other lakes like those at Shahpura or the Lower Lake where the motor-boating could be diverted but no, every activity has to be undertaken at the Upper Lake This is not counting the Sair Sapata, the huge amusement park that has come in Prempura, again, on the banks of the Lake The outfit was bad in concept and has been bad in its effect on the Lake. As is understood, the CEPT has recommended in its report a shift for the tourism unit from its present location.

While the MP State Tourism Department has played havoc with the Upper Lake the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, supposedly its custodian, has played no mean role in its progressive degradation. It has been attempting everything to improve its appearance by way of cosmetic changes but it has never formulated a project to block the nine drains that bring millions of litres of sewage into the Lake. The responsibility of maintaining a reasonable water quality is that of the Corporation and the obligation of supplying water to the consumers is also of the local body. That, in effect, results in the local body supplying poison to the citizens of the town who get the Lake waters from the Corporation pipe lines. Nobody seems to be bothered – neither the Municipal Corporation nor the state government – the losers in the process are the people. What is not even funny is that every instrument of the state is in place with all the necessary kinds of resources and yet it is the people who get the rawest of deals.

In addition, the farmers in its catchments that fall in the neighbouring district are not bothered about the effects of their chemical farming on the Lake. They merrily use chemical fertilisers and pesticides remanants of which flow into the Lake polluting it further. While the government has created an organic farming zone, it never considered the catchments of this Lake for converting into an organic farming zone. This was taken up years ago with the government by the Bhopal Citizens' Forum but to no avail. 

One wonders whether the authorities in the government or in the Corporation will take the findings of the local Pollution Control Board seriously enough and initiate remedial measure in double quick time. None can, however, be sure as we have observed utmost indifference to the water body despite claiming it as the identity of the city. The latest in this chain is the governments’ unshakable perch on the CEPT report that promised improved days (and water) for the Lake

 

Bhopal Notes :: 42 :: Diwali Blues - Thumbing Nose at Apex Court

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We, in the older part of Bhopal are still trying to catch up with our sleep after the horrendously loud bangs on Diwali night and the night after that. These were terrible nights and the perpetrators of this torture were particularly sadistic. During the earlier part of the night it would be all quiet and nice. The bangs would come later, closer to midnight and would continue up to 3.00 AM. One would be rudely shaken out of sleep if ever one managed to literally steal forty winks. Their mission seemed to have been not to allow sleep in the neighbourhood regardless of age or sickness of those who happened to be around.

These young sadists were thumbing their noses at the Apex Court which had ordered about a couple of years ago that loud noise including that made by fireworks would be restricted up to 10.00 PM. That was a decent hour to collect one’s crackers and go to bed, allowing people, particularly the seniors, a bit of quietude for them to sleep. But no, who is going to do that? Who is going to obey the order which they thought was issued by imbecile judges? Pleasure of self is more important, after all, Diwali comes only once a year. What if all these high decibels cause a little unease, especially to those who are hardly of any use to the society, anyway?

We are progressively becoming a third rate nation where a large chunk of the population revels in not playing by the rules – or, for that matter, laws. According to them laws are to be broken. Things are made easy for them in their lawless pursuits by the lack or absence of effort to enforce them by the law enforcement agencies. Walk out, if you can on the streets, and see the laws being torn to tatters. Encroachments galore, handcarts choking the traffic, which, in any case, doesn’t give a damn for the rules of the roads. These have become death-traps where chaos and mayhem rule. Numerous precious lives have been lost in the mad and undisciplined traffic that rules the streets. Traffic Police treats deviances with kid gloves. There’s no enforcement though the physical presence of the law may be visible. If daily nightmare of anarchic traffic is not being governed who is going to take governance to annual inconveniences of two or three nights of Diwali. This state is, perhaps, the best example of non-governance in almost every department.

 And, the claim is it is the fastest growing state. Do non-governance and economic growth go together? More the non-governance, the greater is the state’s gross domestic product – is that what the government is aiming at regardless of how the citizens are hassled every day. If that is the lot of common men why have a Department of Happiness when people’s unhappiness quotient is being raised  because of the state’s non-governance and mis-governance.

 The night after Diwali a haze hung over the Upper Lake and most of the city. I know since I can see the vast spread of the Lake and a tiny portion of New Bhopal from my windows. Television news channels showed how Delhi was being choked with smog. Isn’t that a lesson for most of the cities, particularly in the up-country? In Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and myriad other towns normal life was impaired, children were choking and they were forced to wear masks. Is this the future that we are leading them to – a life of misery, bronchial allergy, emphysema, impaired respiratory health, asthma, even cancer of lungs? After-effects of Diwali revelry continue lengthening people’s misery. Why cannot air pollution be checked, especially that which is created by fireworks and firecrackers in an episodic manner? The governments have to have the will to curb, even ban such unhealthy and thoughtless activities indulged in by even the majority community for the larger good instead of trying to nurse their vote banks. Okay, forget about the old and the sick; at least, think of your children, the future of the country.

While parting a word about the Apex Court’s decision is necessary. It had come down heavily against noise pollution between 10.00PM and 06.00AM as far back as in 2005. Its orders have been observed more in breach than in compliance. The state governments which have the power to control this kind of pollution are just not bothered and the politicians concerned feel that any action to curb noise pollution caused especially because of religious sentiments would cut into their votes. Hence complete liberty prevails in regard to creating as much noise as one possibly can. The point that needs consideration is why issue orders that one cannot enforce. Such instances of failure of law laid by the Apex Court detracts from its majesty and dignity, especially when its orders are made light of by much lesser men of the state governments.

*Photo from internet

Cricketing beards bend it their way

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Beards have ultimately won not one but two series against New Zealand this year. While the bearded team won all the five test matches, the one-day series was won by three matches to two. The last One Day International (ODI) at Visakahpatnam must have been very disappointing for the New Zealanders. They lost it by as many as 190 runs, a stunning defeat – all because of too many bearded men in the field?.

One was left wondering whether this superlative performance was because of the sudden growth of fizz all around in the Indian camp. New Zealand are actually not quite the push-over in so far as the game of cricket is concerned as they would seem to be from the results. To beat them so thoroughly, particularly in the five five-day test matches needed, one thought, much more than cricketing acumen. One wonders whether it was the new facial that the Indian brigade landed on the grounds with that did the trick. Never in the history of cricket in India had so many bearded men taken to the field to play the gentleman’s game. This time almost everyone barring one or two sported lush and well-cultivated black beards and luxuriant mustachios.

Out of the 19 named for the tests with New Zealand as many as thirteen sported beards – some shaggy and others really lush. There were some unlikely team members who also took to growing good, healthy looking beards. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, for one, was never the one who could be expected to raise that healthy growth. But he did and sported a good lush beard – probably inspired by the skipper Virat Kohli. Even Ravi Chandran Ashwin, that unlikely Tamilian, displayed the unexpected fungus along with Umesh Yadav who, not to be left behind, fell in line with the team spirit and could manage a kind of stubble, somewhat like a wild and widely-spaced under-nourished, draught-stricken growth. Murli Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, however, took the cake away being virtually unrecognizable in their thick well-groomed fizz that seemed to have been fertilized with heavy doses of urea and potash.

As an aside, one must mention the legendary Dr. WG Grace who used to display a massive flowing beard. A cricketing legend in more ways than one he excelled in batting, bowling and fielding. One wonders whether those superlative qualities were born out of the best beard ever witnessed on the cricket pitch. A 19^th Century cricketer he used to represent England along with his two other clean-shaven rather undistinguished brothers.

Among the fresh faces for the final two ODIs Dhawal Kulakarni and Hardik Pandya also displayed facial hair. While Dhawal’s was sumptuous and made him look more like his fellow Mumbaikar, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik’s was no match. No wonder he was dispensed with in the final ODI having been rather undisciplined in his bowling in the fourth ODI. One wonders if it was because of lack of care in raising a good-looking growth that matched the heft and carry of a speedster.

A bearded team seems to have been a kind of a totka for Indians. Unfortunately, I could not get the English equivalent of the word. The online dictionaries have been of no help, frankly confessing that it is not yet on their database. In Hindi totka is associated with superstition. It suggests that if you did a certain thing in a certain manner you were more likely to do well. Many cricketers, including the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, believed in it.  It could mean putting on the left leg-guard before the right one or vice versa. It all depended on the player to determine which act of his before commencement of a match actually resulted in better performance. Perhaps, landing on the cricketing middle with beards, too, is a “totka” pushed by the skipper, MS Dhoni and his deputy, Virat Kohli, both of whom have lately given up their hairless visages.

If beards could win cricket matches, why have it against the players. It does seem to do wonders to them. Let’s all revel in beards and clap the team on to more and more successful exploits on the cricket pitch at home or abroad.

*Photo from internet

Bhopal Notes :: 41 :: Days are numbered for fancied Upper Lake

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Nobody seems to be overly rattled by the threat of the Upper Lake disappearing in the next twenty years unless proper care is not taken of it and its catchments. That the Lake was under this kind of a threat was mentioned by Saswat Bandyopadhyay, Professor in the faculty of Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), a reputed training and research institution based at Ahmedabad during an interview with a local vernacular daily. He was here in connection with a seminar on Smart and Resilient Cities Integrating Approaches. He has a number of years of experience in the field of urban infrastructure and environmental management.

Apparently, because of his close association with the preparation of the master plan for development and conservation of the Upper Lake on behalf of the CEPT that was given the consultancy for the purpose by the state government he was asked questions relating to future of the Lake. It may be recalled that the CEPT prepared the Master Plan after a detailed study of the Lake and its catchment areas and submitted the same to the MP Government in 2013. The report is stated to be under examination since then. One wonders how many years a government with its huge paraphernalia should take to examine the report and a plan submitted by the consultants whom it had appointed - what is under submission is, after all, not rocket science that is beyond the comprehension of the government. It must be something more than what meets the eye – something that smells very, very fishy.

Bandyopadhyay’s interview revealed something dark and sinister about the Lake. He said that if steps were not taken in accordance with the Plan submitted by CEPT the Lake could disappear in the next twenty years. In this connection, one recalls that three researchers from three different universities had studied the Lake in detail a few years ago and had opined that unless conservational efforts were made the Lake could disappear in around eighty years. Obviously, during the intervening period, the time available to restore the Lake has appreciably shrunk and it has now come down to only twenty years. Quite clearly it is terminally sick and given the government’s couldn’t-care-less attitude it could die within the lifetime of numerous of those who drink its waters (of course, after treating it) and haunt the Boat Club on its shores for entertainment and recreation.

While the Mayor, who is the chairman of the Empowered Committee for conservation of the water body, got rattled – but only for a short while – there has been no reaction from the state government. In so far as the state government and its concerned departments are concerned the words of Saswat Bandyopadyay seem to have fallen on deaf ears. There seems to be an ill feeling in the government against the CEPT represented by Bandyopadhya for the simple reason that his report refused to say what the government wanted to hear. Hence the report has been suppressed and is likely to be killed by sheer inaction. The government wouldn’t mind its money going down the drain if the political objectives are not met.

 Because of the unconscionable delay the Citizens’ Forum had appealed to the National Green Tribunal to issue directives to the government to make the report public. Though it has been shown to the NGT, and that was more than six months ago, yet it has not been made public. Clearly, the government does not like the report; if that is the case nothing prevents it from rejecting the report. But no, it has taken to the typical bureaucratic way of allowing it to gather dust and rot.

While Mayor has called a meeting of the Empowered Committee reportedly after 27 months the report seems to have provoked a reaction from the government’s Environment Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO). A so-far-unknown Wetland Conservation Authority functioning under the EPCO seems to have woken up and has called a meeting of all government stakeholders of the Upper Lake. One wonders where this Wetland Authority was all these years and why it was kept hidden from public view by the powers that be and what exactly it has done to prevent degradation of the Lake. Anyway, its meetings may hardly yield anything positive as it is the political head of the state that has to take a decision in respect of the CEPT report.

Saswat also seems to have said that the (ill) effects of inaction on the CEPT report will be visible in around five years’ time. Besides, the unrestricted construction and encroachments in the catchments of the Lake will also reveal their impact around the same time. That construction is going unabated is apparent as I can see new clusters of light across the shores little away from Bishenkhedi.  According to Saswat, natural flow of water into the Lake is being hampered and, obviously, unless this is checked its Full Tank Level (FTL) is going to shrink as also its catchment area. He also mentioned that since the Lake straddles the districts of Bhopal & Sehore it is difficult to coordinate action for its conservation. The people of Sehore do not drink its waters and, hence, they merrily carry on with their chemical farming.

The newspaper pointed out in brief some of the issues that are there in the CEPT report. From it, it seems, what got the goat of the government was perhaps the recommendation to ban construction and housing projects inter alia in Bhauri and Phanda where heavy constructions have already taken place. Bhauri was developed as an institutional area against the advice of Late Mahesh Buch who was against implementation of projects there as the place had no water. True enough, sometime back there was a proposal to supply water to Bhauri from the Upper Lake. In Phanda Aakriti builders were handed over a huge area of land where low rise housing is coming up. Similar allotment of lands was made to others too for housing projects knowing full well that the area fell in the catchment area.

The business of allotment of land and construction on them provide attractive spin offs for the greedy politicians, bureaucrats and sundry minions. And hence the CEPT report is just not acceptable, especially when the next election is round the corner. In making such an allotment some years ago to Chirayu Hospital and Medical College near Phanda the politicians, bureaucrats and municipal officials revealed their greed and exposed themselves to ridicule. The frontage of the hospital gets flooded even if the town gets below-average rainfall. It is situated plumb in the catchments of the Lake.

Hence, the Upper Lake’s is a gone case. Its sources Kolhans and Uljhawan rivers will be exterminated starving it of water and eventually leading it to its death. The local government with its greedy politicians and bureaucrats in active collaboration with the real estate lobby will see to it that the Lake succumbs to the multi-pronged assaults made on it.

*Photo from internet

Disappearing freedom of expression

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Rama Chandra Guha, free-thinker, author and historian

Ram Chandra Guha, a free-thinker, author and a historian who has authored numerous books on Indian History and random societal matters, recently enumerated eight reasons why Indians cannot speak freely. He says India is a 50-50 democracy. It is democratic only in a few respects and it is not so in many other respects. He says the country is free in respect of conduct of free and fair elections and movement within the country. It is, however, only partly democratic in other ways. “The democratic deficit” that largely occurs is in the area of freedom of expression.

According to him, there are eight ways freedom of expression is being threatened. Analysing the whole gamut of connected issues, Guha cites retention of archaic British-era laws, a faulty judicial system where the lower courts, particularly, are too eager to entertain petitions seeking ban on individual films, books and a variety of works of art, the rise of identity politics, especially of the regional kind, behavior of the police force which generally sides with the “goondas”, pusillanimity of the ruling class in decision making, particularly when votes are at stake and dependence of the media on the government for advertisements as some of the ways in which freedom of expression has been brought under threat, even curtailed.

Guha’s analysis is unexceptionable. I have purposely not dilated on all the ways that he thinks freedom of expression is being denied in the following paragraphs only to keep this discourse short. I, however, wish to write about the last one as it has hit me, and I am sure many others, at a personal level. I find myself in tune with the last one as I have experienced the denial of my right of expressing my views on local and other wider issues.

 I am a casual writer and took to writing after retirement from the Government of India. To start with, the lack of civic amenities in Bhopal provoked me to write letters to the editor of the Central Chronicle, then the only English language newspaper in Bhopal with substantial local content but with limited circulation. In those early days I had no computer and I used to bang away on my portable typewriter the deficiencies in performance of the civic body. Twenty years ago the public bodies and other utilities were far more inept than they are today and there was much to write about. Most of the times the letters would not have any effect but some would go home and yield some results. That itself gave a great deal of satisfaction.

 The postal system was reasonably good in those days and my letters to the Central Chronicle on local issues would get published within two or three days. The ones that I used to send on wider issues to The Statesman in Calcutta would take five or six days to be published if the newspaper’s editor, the venerable Mr. CR Irani, happened to put his seal of approval on it. I was gratified to see that some of my letters would occasionally lead the letters column on the Centre Page of the Statesman. That was a huge matter for me, and I would indulge in some slapping of my own back. The electronic media had till then not made the kind of inroads in the area of journalism as it has done now. The Statesman was then in a healthy state and used to be published from New Delhi and Calcutta and its Centre Page occasionally used to carry letters of readers in two whole columns

Soon the Hindustan Times came to town. And, perhaps, simultaneously, I acquired a desktop that made writing far easier. The newspaper had a four page city supplement which used to cover political, social news as also news from the world of fine arts and sports. Its editor, Askari Zaidi was a fantastic journalist who had a different kind of take on journalism.  He once happened to tell me that he thought that the newspaper and the city would gain and become richer if the local thinking people were given a platform. And he did that and, as far as I am concerned, there was never an occasion when my piece did not find the light of day in the Supplement.

 He, therefore, published articles from Late Mahesh Buch, Kripal Dhillon, former DG Police who was hugely concerned about the deteriorating quality of life in the city, Prof. Zamiruddin Ahmed who has a flair for writing in English as well as Urdu, RJ Khurana, retired chief of Joint Intelligence Committee of Government of India and so on. I too joined them and my first article entitled “The Dying Lake”, a hard copy of which I left at Zaidi’s office, was promptly published. I had written the piece as somehow the Lake appeared to me to be degrading and decaying. Mr. Zaidi published it with photographs and all. It was an out and out criticism of the way the Upper Lake, a great asset of the city, was being managed.

My honeymoon with the Hindustan Times continued for more than five years till, sadly, Mr. Zaidi had to leave. Since then the editorial policy changed and the newspaper would not publish unsolicited articles. Even the Times of India, which later started publishing from the town, adopted the same policy. At that time it was not clear whether this posture of the newspapers was adopted of their own accord or the management received directions from the local government. Now, however, it seems the print media is under threat of losing government advertisements were it ever to publish comments and opinion pieces that happen to be against the government.

 So we, all of us who happen to have opinions of our own and can ventilate them in our writings were effectively gagged. For some time I was terribly annoyed and peeved but could do nothing about it. People who used to read my columns would ask why I discontinued writing. I could only shrug my shoulders and say that my lips were effectively sealed. Sadly, the healthy Bhopal supplement that Hindustan Times used to bring out was scrapped and in its place what they came out with was nothing better than a rag. The same goes for the supplement of the Times of India which goes by the name of Bhopal Live – having more of Bollyood news than of Bhopal.

Print media, whether managed by corporate world or run on their own juice, are financially very vulnerable. While private sector ads seem to be running riot these days yet most of the papers hugely depend on government advertisements. Government is, therefore, a great beneficent for the promoters of print media. Scarce is a newspaper that cares little for the government ads. The net result is that a reader has no way to have his opinion published. Most people would have noticed that even the column of “letters to the editor” has been scrapped.  What has been provided is space for a measly few words through what they call “feedback”. So, even if on an issue one boils within with rage or gnashes one’s teeth one cannot communicate it to the people through opinion pieces or letters to the editor

Guha very rightly says that the dependence of media on government advertisements is especially “acute in the regional and sub-regional press. The state and political parties can and do coerce, suppress and put barriers in the way of independent reporters and reportage.” Quite logically, therefore, the guillotine fell on us and we were all gagged, our freedom of expression flying out of the window.

*Photo from internet