TRICKY POLITRICKS

Every year in winters Delhi and its surrounding areas gets engulfed in a smoke blanket. Disappointing is the fact that this blanket does not keep the poor from dying on roads but adds to the list of those prone to cancer and asthma. It is largely believed that crackers constitute a big chunk of the PM 2.5 suspended in the environment, the facts tell a different story. The sale of crackers in the last three years has gone down by almost 50 per cent.  To the disappointment of religious fanatics, this by no means indicates that crackers do us any good. But this is a message for the intellectuals that everyone is focusing on trivial issues and ignoring the elephant in the room. Courtesy: Bar and Bench The fact that pollution levels are rising every year despite a decrease in sales of crackers forces us to introspect. Also, it underlines that a fine or imprisonment for stubble burning and last moment interventions by the honourable Supreme Court are not helping the cause.  Imposing...

  India is a country of bureaucrats. Every policy, every step is made to go through so many levels that by the time it is implemented, it hardly makes any difference. So, if the government of India decides to reform something, it signifies that the sector, more or less, is already in shambles. But not every good reform can be implemented with good intentions. However, another side of the coin is that Indians are used to the snail walk. Especially with sensitive issues like agriculture. The current regime failed to understand that very fact. Courtesy: The Indian Express Therefore, what could have been the delivery of a much-needed reform for the Indian farm sector turned out to be a disaster. While over 600 farmers died while being tested by harsh weather conditions of Delhi, small businesses lost crores because of the protest.  Clearly, it was not a chance to make gains for anyone. But the question is, where did it all go wrong? The answer lies in the very first chapter of the...