Govt not serious about tackling monstrous problem: Varun Gandhi on worsening air quality in Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): With the air quality in Delhi-NCT worsening, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday questioned the lack of "concern and coordination" among multiple government agencies in tackling the crisis.
Neither government nor people are serious about this monstrous problem, he said in tweets, claiming that hospitals are full of patients with breathing, heart and lung problems.
"Eight out of 10 children in Delhi-NCR have respiratory problems. After years of discussions, why is there a continuing lack of concern/coordination between multiple government entities," he asked.
Gandhi wondered if the cost of solving the problem is higher than lifetime respiratory care for 46 million people.
Taking note of the incidents of stubble-burning and use of firecrackers, mostly during Diwali, he said the practice of serving "poison" to our own people should be stopped.
With the air quality deteriorating, the BJP and the AAP, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab where incidents of stubble burning have shot up, have blamed each other for the annual crisis.
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Kerala Chief Secy speaks out against 'being labelled black'
Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 26 (PTI): Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan has spoken out about the colour and gender bias she has faced and its continued presence in society, sparking a debate on social media with many people showing their support.
What prompted the Chief Secretary to ignite the social debate was a comment made by someone comparing her work with that of her husband and predecessor V Venu by saying "it is as black as my husband's was white."
Hurt by the comment, Muraleedharan had put up a Facebook post about it but later deleted it because she was "flustered by the flurry of responses".
"I am reposting it because certain well-wishers said that there were things that needed to be discussed. I agree. So here goes, once again," she said in her post, which garnered over 1,000 reactions and has been commented upon and shared hundreds of times.
In the FB post on Tuesday night, Muraleedharan also shared how she grew up feeling like she was worth less because of her dark skin. It was only later, with her children's help, that she realised black is "beautiful."
Speaking to a TV channel on Wednesday, she said that society needs to change its attitudes and overcome these biases. According to her, this change must begin at home and in schools.
She further said the comparison with her husband was "unexpected" and it was Venu who encouraged to put up her FB post against it again. "He is the one who gave me the courage to do so," she said.
She added that, being in government, she was in a better position to bring attention to the issue, which was another reason for speaking out.
She also felt that the comparison not only referred to her dark complexion but carried a "value connotation" about the current governance being "black". "Therefore, I thought that we need to 'call it out'," she told the channel.
While she refused to tell the channel who made the comparative comment, she said the individual has not responded subsequently.
She said that she was getting a lot of responses regarding her post, some asking why she was reacting, while some others sharing their similar experiences.
"Those who have not faced such a bias, think it is a small issue. But, it is a big deal for those who have faced it. It is something which has questioned their identity and worthiness," Muraleedharan said.
Her solution to the issue is to "turn it on its head" and to say -- "yes I am black. Black is seven times beautiful."
She said that she was aware of instances where dark-skinned people have not been considered for jobs, especially where personality is a requirement, "unless they show a great amount of oomph".
"So, just like the glass ceiling exists for women, there is colour bias or discrimination at various levels also," she said.
Muraleedharan said that, as per her nature, she gets hurt initially by such things, but for a short time and then she quickly forgets it. "That is why I am able to move forward in life," she added.
She also referred to the support she got from her children and how they helped to change how she saw herself.
"It is a great experience when your children give you the courage to express yourself. Many people have told me. I am happy that our younger generation has persons like these," she said.
Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, shared her post with the comment -- "Salute dear Sarada Muraleedharan. Every word you have written is heart-touching. It deserves to be discussed. I too had a dark-skinned mother."
State General Education Minister V Sivankutty also backed Muraleedharan's "courageous response" and emphasised that discrimination based on skin colour has no place in a progressive Kerala.
In her FB post, she said that in the last seven months, since she replaced her husband as chief secretary, there has been a "relentless parade" of comparisons with him, and she had become "quite inured" to it.
"It was about being labelled black (with that quiet sub-text of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of. Black is as black does. Not just black the colour, but black the ne'er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness," she said in her post.
She further questioned why black was vilified when it was the "all pervasive truth of the universe"..
The chief secretary also shared a childhood memory of her, as a four-year-old, asking her mother whether she could put her back in the womb and bring her out again "all white and pretty".
Growing up, it led to her feeling like a lesser person for not being fair, which had to be compensated somehow, she said in her post. But her children, who "gloried in their black heritage", changed her point of view.
"Till my children. Who gloried in their black heritage. Who kept finding beauty where I noticed none. Who thought that black was awesome. Who helped me see. That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness. That I dig black," she said.
