Cities that Spew poison
Prior to ascending the Delhi throne Modi had presented a rather peculiar idea of development in one of his speeches. He went for Bullet train, precisely based on this vision.
According to his concept, whether people need it or not, India should have a bullet train, even if people don’t travel; it doesn’t matter.The world will take notice of India. China adopted the same strategy; it showcased Shanghai and showcased to the world that China is developed.” Or so went the logic. Modi subsequently preoccupied himself with impressing the world than taking up real development work.The so called ‘Gujarat Model’ is also part of this strategy; let us not forget. Hence Modi focused on cities.
He made news with ‘Smart city’ fantasy. He intensified the illusory idea of urban centered development by leaving out the rural. Thus we see a great divide between Urban India and Rural India. Rural India is paying for the welfare and needs of the urban. However it is being lost out in its share of development.
Today the cities are getting 24X7 electricity, while rural farmers are denied of this. Urbanites are the true beneficiaries of rivers that traverse through villages! In summer to secure the supply of water for industries and city dwellers state prohibits farmers from using the river water. In cities huge residential complexes have gobbled up the very lakes that nourished these cities. Though farmers are growers of food, the real beneficiaries are urban dwellers.
According to this development paradigm, Cities are the crowning glory of the country, but these have become cancerous lumps to the country. On the one hand the seekers of luxurious life prefer cities, on the other farmers who want to escape from the agrarian crisis are flocking the cities as cheap labor. Slums right at the feet of the icons of development, like the proverbial darkness at the bottom of a lamp.
The same cities which Modi used to impress the world as markers of development have become an embarrassment internationally. India is home to 14 of the most polluted cities cited globally. The true irony being that the capital city of Delhi is among the worst polluted metropolis.
WHO released its report after studying 4300 cities in 108 countries. Delhi has the dubious distinction of occupying the No.1 place in air pollution. Mumbai too is not far behind. The study takes note of the account the air pollution as a major indicator. Not only Delhi and Mumbai , but other cities like Kanpur, Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Lucknow too have found their way into this dubious list of polluted cities. Delhi has witnessed series of forced holidays to schools and colleges due to this deadly air pollution. Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi CM who goes around coughing with a scarf around him, has become a metaphor of the situation of Delhi.
After Delhi, country is heavily dependent on Mumbai. This metropolis has welcomed the labor of every region and caste. The city has degenerated so much that none of the city railway stations can handle the pressure of the populace. Half an hour of rain is enough to knock the city out of commission. Notoriety of Mumbai rains is such that the city is yet to recover from such a downpour last year. The development induced pollution coupled with a huge influx of people has worsened the air quality in Mumbai.
It is ironic that the constituency that Modi represents, Varanasi too is in the list of most polluted cities. It seems to challenge the pet campaign of Modi, ‘Swach Bharath’ The notion that the cities identified with religious places are cleaner is a misplaced one. Cities like Varanasi are classic examples of unbridled pollution. Ganga has been polluted beyond redemption by the devotees. The industrial effluents and religious ‘effluents’ are equally contributing in polluting the holy river. Varanasi is, today considered as the notorious city that has polluted both its air and water.
Cities have become a labyrinth. Man seems to be caught in the middle without a way of getting out. The chimneys that spew poison, polluted air and water are the outcomes of the very paradigm of development we pursued. A developmental paradigm that seems to be preoccupied with the notion that profiteering will make us ignore the air we breathe or water we drink and the values attached to it. Eventually this may prove to be a suicidal.
Cities that think selfishly of their own luxury and needs by forgetting the villages should be reminded that their survival depends on the survival of the villages. There should be some balance between cities and villages. Development should spread and expand equitably. If we pursue a development that wrecks our land, water or air, then the situation won't’ be better than the man who slit the goose that laid the golden egg.
In the near future our cities may be declared as unfit for human habitation, and people may as well be forced to return to villages for survival, the govt better pay attention to make these villages livable.
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'Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial': SC remarks in Yasin Malik case
New Delhi, Nov 21: Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial in our country, the Supreme Court on Thursday remarked and indicated it may set up a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing a CBI plea against the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving life term in Tihar jail, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The bench, however, remarked, "How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu... In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab and legal assistance was given to him in the high court."
Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack, was hanged till death at the Yerawada Central Prison .
The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, to take instructions on the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta pointed out security concerns and said Malik couldn't be taken to Jammu for the trial.
The law officer accused Malik of "playing tricks" for having asked to appear personally and not engaging a lawyer. Mehta said Malik was not an ordinary criminal and showed a purported photograph of Malik sharing the dais with terrorist Hafiz Saeed.
The top court said it could order trial to take place inside the jail premises and ask the judge to come to the national capital for the proceedings.
The bench, however, noted all the accused persons in the matter had to be heard before it passes an order.
Mehta said Malik appearing in the Supreme Court physically raised security concerns previously.
The bench said Malik could be allowed to appear virtually in the apex court proceedings and posted the matter on November 28.
The CBI in the meantime was directed to amend its petition and implead all accused persons as respondents.
In 2023, Mehta wrote to then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla flagging a "serious security lapse" after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case.
Malik, serving life sentence in a terror-funding case, was brought to the high-security apex court premises in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court's permission.
Expressing surprise at his presence, Mehta informed the apex court there was a procedure for high-risk convicts to be allowed into the courtroom to argue their case personally.
The CBI said Malik, the top leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was a threat to national security and cannot be allowed to be taken outside the Tihar jail premises.
The apex court on April 24, 2023, issued notices on the CBI's appeal following which the incarcerated JKLF chief wrote a letter to the registrar of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2023 seeking permission to appear in person to plead his case.
An assistant registrar took up his request on July 18, 2023 and said the apex court would pass necessary orders -- a decision the Tihar Jail authorities reportedly misconstrued to allow Malik to appear and argue his case.
Mehta referred to the CBI's contention in its appeal against the trial court order to bring Malik to Jammu for the in-person examination of the witnesses in the kidnapping case, and said under Section 268 of the CrPC a state government may direct certain people to not be shifted from the confines of a prison.
On September 20, 2022, a special TADA court in Jammu directed Malik to be physically produced before it on the next hearing for him to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case.
The CBI challenged the trial court order before the Supreme Court as appeals in TADA cases are only heard by the top court.
Rubaiya was abducted near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989 and freed five days later after the then BJP-backed V P Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists in exchange.
Mufti, who now lives in Tamil Nadu, is a prosecution witness of the CBI, which took over the case in early 1990s.
Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after he was sentenced by a special NIA court in May, 2023 in a terror-funding case.
