OPINION

The Monsoon winds are withdrawing and the period of the lockdown too is over. Having enjoyed an extended long-run of breathing clean air, the residents of the National Capital Region (NCR) should now get ready to lose some breath.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has planned a meeting with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. In the run-up to the meeting, Delhi CM has got flashed his sincerity to address the issue at hand by getting himself photographed with the scientists of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Pusa. The scientists have invented a way to dispose of ‘parali’ (crop stubble) without burning.

But is stubble burning at the bottom the problem? Last year, when Delhi CM blamed the farmers of Punjab for ‘choking’ Delhi, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh in a letter to Prime Minister wrote, “How can a country be called developed when its capital city has been reduced to a gas chamber, not by any natural disaster but a series of man-made ones?”  

Stubble burning is part of a natural process which the farmers have practiced for ages. How come it’s now being blamed for high level of pollutants in Delhi’s post Monsoon air? There are, in fact, evidences which would show that ‘parali’ is not to be blamed alone. Last year at the peak of pollution, only 44 per cent of Delhi’s PM 2.5 load was attributed to stubble burning in the neighbouring Punjab and Haryana.

Profession of Law & Constitution

This is a momentous year for every Indian. The year 2020 marks the completion of 70 years as the Republic and it also marks the commemoration of 70 years of the Constitution of this great country. The Constitution of India, which is perhaps the Magna Carta of the contemporary times, is 70 years young (Institutions will always continue to be young as it is only the human beings who age with time).

Law students, and legal professionals, should know that the only profession that finds a mention in the Constitution of India is the legal profession. Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India states:

“No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a LEGAL PRACTITIONER of his choice”.

So, the legal profession is THE Profession which is constitutionally ordained. Take up the cudgels to perform your constitutional obligations first by becoming a law student and then by choosing law as a career.

It’s a much clichéd saying that in democracy, ultimate accountability is to the parliament. However, this is also true that howsoever much a government may make use of the various tools of mass communication to overcome an impression of shortcomings of governance, the proceedings of the legislature, especially the Indian Parliament, is such that the executive benches cannot escape scrutiny.

Despite the brute majority the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys in Lok Sabha and a now dominant position in Rajya Sabha, it fears the onslaught of the oppositions on the recent reverses the nation has faced on the account poor economic planning, aggression by China on the border and most importantly its inability to control spread of coronavirus infection across the country.

Launching Health Minister Harshvardhan on social media, as the face of the government’s initiatives to counter Covid-19, a day before the commencement of the Monsoon session of parliament somewhere indicates the realization within the ruling ranks of its low credibility on the issue. Ever since the onset of the epidemic in the country, Dr Harshvardhan has been conspicuous by his absence in the public domain.

The much delayed admissions to various colleges and courses of Delhi University have begun. Soon, there is going to be a big rush for admission seekers and for some days headlines would be talking about the high cut-off marks. Soon the admissions would get over and Delhi University would be conveniently forgotten especially as far as any good news is concerned.

Thereafter, it would be about candidates splurging during the students’ union elections and the teachers being perennially in agitation mode over one issue or other. Though the desire and will of the teachers’ association is also under doubt as they in past years are not known to have fought a do or die battle over any issue.

Their agitations is largely in blackmail mode and gets withdrawn as soon as they are placated with individual favours; or how else would have the non-payment of salary to the teachers and staff of the 12 Delhi University colleges dragged on for so long without any solution in sight. Finally the straving teachers went to court, which has given them relief.

The criticism of the present turmoil in the Indian media, particularly the television, comes with the rebuttal of the critic being a Libtard. The next volley is about media remaining sympathetic to the earlier regime and why then no questions were asked for such sympathies. There is no denying the fact that many a present day vociferous flag-bearers protesting the slant being brazenly projected in the media were themselves guilty of enjoying undue access and patronage, blighting the line between honest journalism and patronized pen-pushing.

Having said this, the aforementioned premise cannot be justified merely being a reflection on the mood of the people; it has more to do with the market and the revenue models. This writer worked in The Pioneer in time and era when it was seen as the only major right of the centre English daily. But to the credit of the editorial leadership of the newspaper, despite the slant it never discouraged contrary opinion and gave space to it.

More importantly, it held the ideological position paying a commercial price as many a government agencies and department worked overtime to demolish the revenue model of the newspaper. It indeed was a challenging task to be the paper of the Opposition and also being the paper of the right of the centre thought.

The same cannot be said about the present day votaries of the right of the centre ideology. It’s more a case of being on the right side of the government. Being honest to an ideology demands a price which these present day pretenders did not pay then nor are they paying now as on both the occasion they were on the right side of the government.