A Capital under pollution lockdown

Air pollution has once again brought the Capital to a grinding halt. It’s high time authorities look for long-term policy measures and implement them faithfully

The ongoing onslaught of air pollution has crossed all safety limits and has virtually put the citizens, especially children and the elderly of the Capital city under house arrest. This state of affairs was inevitable given the Diwali festival followed by crop stubble burning in States of Haryana and Punjab. These developments in the face of an approaching winter season and higher moisture content in the air have culminated and given rise to the worst air quality ever seen in recent times. Authorities have responded with counter measures such as slashing of metro fares during peak hours, coupled with increasing the frequency of metro trains. Additionally, parking rates have been quadrupled ostensibly to discourage people from taking out their vehicles and, hence, curb pollution. However, the measures taken to stem the impact of air pollution seem too little and have been executed too late.

Crop stubble burning has been a major contributory factor in the air pollution fiasco currently being faced by Delhites, yet the National Green Tribunal or the authorities have still been unable to dissuade the farmers from proceeding ahead and resorting to the age-old practice of burning crop stubble. The panicky initiatives undertaken currently by the authorities are only symptomatic treatment of the much larger problem that is unfortunately not getting addressed. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, a level of 100 as Air Quality Index (AQI) is deemed satisfactory, but Delhi's AQI already has an average range of 300 to 400. However, the current conditions have caused a severe spike in pollution levels with the AQI crossing 450 mark in several parts of Delhi.

The lack of a concentrated strategy to identify and shut down the sources of air pollution has meant that Delhi, and increasingly other cities in India, continue to go through the roller coaster ride of better days and worse days — pollution wise. Delhi's deteriorating air quality is already taking a toll and if left like this, pollution levels can lead to disastrous consequences for its population. A Greenpeace India report states that the National Capital Territory of Delhi already witnesses approximately 1.2 million deaths every year that can be attributed to air pollution. To make matters worse, along with the rising levels of particulate matter and noxious gases, the compliance with air pollution control measures by private entities is also becoming more and more difficult to supervise.

Authorities must aim to subdue pollution arising from large sources such as construction sites in and around the Capital. Emission load in the form of PM 2.5 levels from building sites is estimated to be 1,017 kg per day, whereas roads and flyover construction contributes to nearly 274 kg per day. Merely imposing restrictions on construction activities is just not sufficient as the compliance across the NCR is dismal given the lack of manpower and resolve with the civic bodies to implement the restrictions. Given these challenges, the Government must rope in the resident welfare associations through the Bhagidari scheme whereby the residents of every locality are sensitized to pollution consequences and sources and suitably empowered to control pollution in their specific municipal areas.

The Supreme Court-appointed Environmental Pollution Contra Authority (EPCA) is proceeding as per the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in order to manage the current pollution crises. But the need of the hour is to see that the plans translate into action on the ground. Unless this is ensured, next year's winter season will be no different from this year. For a better measure, and better results in curbing pollution, the EPCA could integrate public participation in order to help Delhi breath easy. The involvement of citizens could be to generate innovative ideas to control air pollution. For instance, globally carbon from polluted air is now being harvested to make tangible products such as building material and ink. These path-breaking ideas are attracting attention of innovation and research centers of various ivy league universities across the world. Once these R&D labs are able to attach suitable technologies to productize the material present in the polluted air the recycling of air pollution could begin in volume and scale.

Countries are also quickly developing and installing mammoth air purifiers to take on the polluted air in their cities. The Smog Free Tower being built by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde in China is being described as “the world's largest smog vacuum cleaner”. The tower with an appearance of an air ioniser is nearly seven meters high, and is capable of to cleaning 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour, with power consumption as low as 1,700 watts. India has a robust science and technology base and utilising this, the Government can explore installation of mass scale air purifiers on building tops and other public places so that a considerable dent can be made in the fight against air pollution.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/a-capital-under-pollution-lockdown.html

BJP announced 14th Mayoral candidate in UP

By giving its nod for sitting Allahabad Mayor Abhilasha Gupta, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced its 14th Mayoral candidate in Uttar Pradesh. With this, the party has announced 14 of the 16 Mayoral candidates in the state. Gupta was elected as Mayor as an independent candidate in 2012 civic body elections and is the wife of cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta alias Nandi. On Sunday night, state BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey had declared Sanyukta Bhatia as Mayoral candidate for Lucknow and Mridula Jaiswal for Varanasi. Other Mayoral candidates announced late Sunday night were Dr Rajiv Agarwal from Aligarh, Dr Mukesh Arya Bandhu from Mathura, Ramtirath Singhal from Jhansi, Vinod Agarwal from Moradabad, Sanjeev Walia from Saharanpur and Asha Sharma from Ghaziabad. The Urban Local Bodies poll is likely to see the BJP coming out with its election manifesto, which may be similar in nature to its Lok Sankalp Patra, brought out before Assembly polls. The three-phase civic polls from 22 November will be the rulingparty’s first electoral test after it stormed to power afterthe Assembly poll in March this year.

“The party is planning to come up with an election manifesto for ULB elections. The aim is to ensure overall improvement of municipal corporations and other civic bodies. Through the manifesto, the party’s endeavor will be to establish a direct connect with the public and find alternatives to their problems,” state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said in Lucknow on Monday. “The manifesto will be a pledge to simplify complex tax structure in urban, local bodies and simultaneously increase revenue of municipal bodies by widening the tax base. It will also focus on strengthening urban public transportat and improve drinking water,” he said.

Exuding confidence of his party sweeping the ULB poll, Tripathi said, “We aim to win all 16 municipal corporations. It will be a hattrick for us after the massive wins in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Assembly polls.” As per the election schedule, 24 districts will go to polls on 22 November, while 25 districts on 26 November, and 26 districts on 29 November. Counting of votes polled for 16 nagar nigam, 198 nagar palika parishad and 438 nagar panchyart will be done on 1 December. More than 3.32 crore voters will be eligible to cast their ballots at 36,269 polling booths and 11,389 polling stations.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/lucknow/bjp--announced-14th-mayoral-candidate-in-up.html

TDP confident of strengthening base in Telangana

Undeterred by the exit of its 13 MLAs and other key leaders in Telangana, the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) state unit is hopeful of emerging stronger in the next elections.

The TDP, led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, had won 15 Assembly segments and a Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana in the 2014 state and general elections, respectively.

However, since then its 12 MLAs and the lone MP have switched over to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

The party received further setback as the Telangana unit's working president and MLA A Revanth Reddy recently joined the Congress along with a considerable number of state and district-level functionaries.

The TDP is now left with just two MLAs in Telangana.

"I don't see any crisis. We have lakhs of members, thousands of activists and hundreds of leaders. We feel we are out of disturbances. Our responsibility is to take forward the people's struggles more effectively," the TDP's Telangana unit president, L Ramana, told PTI.

He said people still remember the development works and services carried out by the party when it was in power (in the undivided Andhra Pradesh).

The TDP, in the coming days, would reach out to the people by strengthening its district units and making the party cadre more active, Ramana said.

Chandrababu Naidu, who shifted his base to Vijayawada where the permanent capital city of Andhra Pradesh is coming up, addressed the general body meeting of the TDP's Telangana unit in Hyderabad last week.

He visits Hyderabad occasionally after shifting to Vijayawada.

While addressing the meeting, Naidu asked the party activists to focus on strengthening the organisation and leave the task of formulating strategy to him.

"I too have experience...What to speak and what to do when and what strategy to follow, you leave it to me. You keep faith in people. Work with the party's flag. It is my responsibility to give you direction and strategy from time-to-time," the chief minister said.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/top-stories/tdp-confident-of-strengthening-base-in-telangana.html

SC seeks Centres reply on pleas challenging Aadhaar

The Supreme Court today sought the government's response on four petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and linking of bank accounts and mobile numbers with the 12-digit biometric identification number.

The apex court did not pass any interim order in the matter saying that final hearing in all Aadhaar-related issues would start before another bench in the last week of this month and the Centre has already extended the deadline till December 31.

A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, said that the banks and telecom service providers should indicate the last date of linking bank accounts and mobile numbers with Aadhaar in the messages sent by them to their customers.

"We make it clear that in the messages sent by banks and telecom service providers, the date of December 31, 2017 and February 6, 2018, shall also be indicated as the last date of linking Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile numbers," the bench said.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, referred to a recently filed affidavit by the Centre and said the government has said the deadline for linking Aadhaar may be extended till March 31, 2018.

The bench, however, said the petitioners can raise this issue before the court which would hear all Aadhaar-related matters in the last week of November.

"There is no doubt that these arguments need consideration. The matter is going to come up in the last week of November and the time (to link Aadhaar with bank accounts) has been extended till December 31," the bench said.

On October 30, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that a constitution bench would be constituted and Aadhaar-related matters would come up for hearing before it in November last.

Several petitions challenging the Centre's move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing various services and benefits of welfare schemes have been filed in the apex court.

Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.

The Centre had on October 25 told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enroll for it.

Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".

They have also objected to the CBSE's alleged move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for students appearing for examinations, a contention denied by the Centre.

One of the counsel representing the petitioners had earlier said the final hearing in the main Aadhaar matter, which is pending before the apex court, was necessary as the government "cannot compel" citizens to link their Aadhaar with either bank accounts or cell phone numbers.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/top-stories/sc-seeks-centres-reply-on-pleas-challenging-aadhaar-act.html

Rlys to invest USD 150 bn, create 1 mn jobs in 5 yrs: Goyal

The Railways is looking to invest over USD 150 billion over the next five years which would help create one million additional jobs, minister Piyush Goyal has said.

Goyal, who took over as the rail minister after a Cabinet reshuffle in August, said he was trying to give the national transporter a "new direction".

"During the next five years, the Railways alone will be looking at an investment of upwards of USD 150 billion. And when I translate that into jobs, I see a million jobs being created only through investments in the railway sector," he said.

The Railways can play an important role in "aggressively pursuing" government agenda to provide safe, secure, comfortable travel, he said addressing an awards function organised by the business daily Economic Times here late last night.

A focus on infrastructure could also help increase local manufacturing, he said.

Goyal said his ministry was also compressing the time taken for complete electrification of rail lines to four years from the earlier plan of 10 years, which would help cut costs by around 30 per cent for the loss-making Railways.

This electrification initiative would help save the national transporter around Rs 10,000 crore per annum on fuel bill, he said.

Earlier this month, Goyal had said the Railways would create one million jobs within the next 12 months.

In 2015, his predecessor Suresh Prabhu had said the Railways needed investments of Rs 8.5 trillion over the next five years, and invited overseas investors for the same.

Prabhu had also secured a debt funding worth Rs 1.5 trillion from Life Insurance Corporation to fund various projects.

It is not clear whether Goyal's USD 150 billion is part of Prabhu's Rs 8.5 trillion investments.

Source : http://www.dailypioneer.com/top-stories/rlys-to-invest-usd-150-bn-create-1-mn-jobs-in-5-yrs-goyal.html