Edits | August, 2023
The political turmoil that has inundated the nation thanks to BJP’s wherewithal towards both the electorate as well as the judiciary has reached epic levels. Most of the political regimes around the world practise similar strategies but being in India with this large a population and a number of political parties, the proportion of its effect is quite different. The way the NCP has been broken down similar to Balasahib’s Shiv Sena, gives an effect and feel that the Maharashtrian politics was all about money and not about the electorate. If the electorate could have been broken so easily, with first the Shiv Sena and then within the year NCP, both of which are the largest, (most powerful) political parties of the West, and controlling a substantial amount of revenue of the country at the state level, as well as the clout, such an inference seems to be rational.
Further, the consolidation of 39 political parties along with the BJP versus the 29 political parties including the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the Shiv Sena, with NCP appearing in both fractions, may not be a formidable alliance against the BJP. Their common minimum agenda is the eradication of PM Modi, which is not on the cards for the Indian democratic populace at the moment but stands defeated at its inception. The term I.N.D.I.A. coined as an acronym for such an alliance is a mockery. Even if it is not struck down by the courts, intelligent media is not going to use it, and even the political party workers are not going to refer to it due to patriotism imbibed in all political campaigning.
The news that female foeticide is once again striking Haryana, and what is happening in Manipur, is quite disdainful in urban India with Manipur rape victim videos going viral. After the Nirbhaya hatyakand in Delhi, there has been no reform in Indian society vis-à-vis the status of women. They continue to hold the plight, whether it is at jobs, at homes and from whichever strata they come from. It seems like India and Asia will never reform, in favour of women who do drive these economies also. In urban India, working women have their plight since their working age is limited and the job opportunities, even if they are well qualified, are not very many. Such is not the case in the West. It is the age-old mindset of the Brahmin-dominated caste society, which is imbibed in our very DNA. It will be difficult to change this mindset within India. Even the government has left out the ‘beti Bachao beti padhao abhiyan’ after Smriti Irani had taken over. There was some speed when Maneka Gandhi was the Minister of the Ministry for Women and child development. The agencies like DCW and NCW or mere spectators usually. Anyone who enters their premises for help and report has to first enter names three times, from the gate to the reception. How would a woman, who is already roughed by society, go to the functionaries of such setups?
Changing climatic conditions in the northern Indian peninsula is a cause for concern. Back in the 50s when the dams were being constructed rampantly in India for irrigation and flood water control, right after the division, where the focus was to control the water flows from the Indus River and retain it for irrigation, was criticised within India as well as around the world that it will become catastrophic some day. And the same has happened in China also. However, at that time, there was no question of footprint and global warming, which is now. The water on hills usually flows through mountain and hill valleys. For the sake of the site and a beautiful view, man has started building on the floodplains, right up to the apex or crest of hills, which is the way of the water. Further, the dams restrict the flow of water to the plains. So technically, in the recent floods, water has found its way, aided by gravity, to flow into the sea. It is not water’s problem that housing has been built along its way. Here in Delhi, there is a highway which adjoins Noida. About 10 years back, one of the star campaigners, Sri Sri put up a big show on the floodplains of Yamuna, with a huge structure that was almost like a mini township, to host his personal event. The event was graced by dignitaries no less than the President and the Prime Minister at that time, leading to a sanction that this was a done thing- to put up a structure in the middle of the floodplain. On the other side of this floodplain is a host of unauthorised colony houses, which are as high as 6 to 7 storeys, and no municipality official dares to go there for investigation. Then we have Akshardham, one of the largest temples in north India being built right on the bank of Yamuna, which is the riverbed. And then we complain about a flood. Global warming definitely has an effect since there has been a rise in temperature leading to more rainfall and heavy rainfall within a short period of time. But such has been happening on the planet for a very long time. There was a time when the rains did not stop for 1 million years in the life of this planet. So rains are nothing new, and heavy rains are also nothing new. It is only the way the population has exploded on the planet and where it has decided to live, which is the most recent development. Government authorities have little control over any floods, as they can only watch and inform when the water recedes, and they keep the population informed of it.
CA Divesh Nath
Editor Woman’s Era LinkedIn: Divesh Nath