Personal View

In his 100 th year, the question: Just how good a singer was he? Alok Tiwari Forty-five years ago, this day, Mohammed Rafi left this world. In his centenary year, his influence goes on like the limitless expanse of blue sky. There was a time when it felt the tech-modulated new sounds may obscure the golden age of Hindi film music. Strangely though, technology has not only helped preserve that legacy but also enabled its revival. Old music, old songs, old singers— Rafi prominently among them— are riding something of a second wind. There are channels and websites devoted to him and his songs. Fans dutifully chronicle anecdotes from his life, even if their veracity sometimes seems doubtful. Explanations have been around for almost as much time as his songs. Reams have been written about his versatility and range, the emotions he brought out, his flawless Hindi-Urdu pronunciation. Lyricist Javed Akhtar called Rafi the original playback singer, the first to realize that his songs a...

The ill-effects of climate change are no longer theoretical, they are everyday lived experience Alok Tiwari As the climate summit COP28 being held in Dubai enters its final day, the oil lobby is looking like having its way. There was a lot of quibbling about including the “phase out of fossil fuels” as one of the goals in the deal. You don’t get to include such language when your host is one of the major oil producers of the world. So, the latest draft has reportedly watered it down to “phase down of fossil fuels”. What gets included in final document or, indeed, if there will be a final document remains to be seen. It will be par for the course if the phrase is left out in its entirety or watered down to such an extent as to be meaningless. Some deal may emerge allowing everyone to claim victory. But you can be sure humans will appear defeated. All multilateral deals are necessarily a result of compromise between various competing interests and contradictory goals. They are driven...

Principles are not for mentioning in speeches at international summits Alok Tiwari The last couple of months have not been easy for India’s foreign policy. The country has been accused twice by Canada and US of involvement in assassination or plotting to assassinate individuals in those countries. The Canadian accusation about killing of pro Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was met with furious denial by India and a visible deterioration in relations with it. US indictment accusing an unnamed Indian government official of plotting to assassinate another Khalistan proponent Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has met with more muted response. India has said assassination wasn’t part of its official policy and has promised to investigate the US charge. Whether there is any truth in Canadian and American allegations will probably never be known. Until more concrete proof emerges, we must live with allegations and their denial. What is known is that governments of all manner have indulged i...

Swachh Bharat has made a difference but much more needs to be done Alok Tiwari It is that time of the year when the Central government gives away awards for achievers in India’s cleanliness drive. This time the honours have gone to Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh as the cleanest large city and cleanest state respectively. Haters might see political undertones to the results, especially since Bengaluru has been named among the dirtiest cities. It is possible politics may have affected the outcomes somewhat but let us not go there. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is one initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that can be unequivocally supported by all. Sanitation and hygiene have been traditionally neglected in India. Our cities and villages have been and still are monuments of dirtiness. It is a matter of immense shame that decades after Independence, a prime minister has to tell the citizens not to pee and poop in public. This when we boast of being among the oldest civilizations. We ...

 It is not a coincidence that best universities exist in societies that are freer Alok Tiwari Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his latest Mann ki Baat highlighted the loss suffered by the country by some families holding weddings abroad. While destination weddings within the country are getting popular even among middle class, weddings abroad are not so common. It is still a trend only among the very rich. I do not know how much that means in terms of foreign exchange loss. But there is another phenomenon that I hope the prime minister takes note of. It is the trend of Indian students going abroad to study. Among my friends, I am not aware of a single wedding that was held abroad. However, in my immediate neighbourhood, a firmly middleclass locality, there are about 10% households (including, I must confess, my own) having their children studying and/or working abroad. A quick online search revealed mind numbing figures. Over a million Indian students go abroad for studies. Th...

People should be 'visible' in same proportion as they are in larger population Alok Tiwari Right until the wrenching loss on Sunday, Team India had been riding high in the World Cup. There was particular focus on pacer Mohammed Shami who played a key role in India’s unbeaten run up to the final. The adulation showered on him was partly to undo the abuses he suffered from a nefarious section among us during an earlier relatively poorer run. This section not only targeted him for being a Muslim but also threatened unspeakable violence on his family members. So, when this time his performances proved critical in Indian victories, many of us rightly felt compelled to come out strongly on his side. Some even projected the diversity of Team India as proof of India’s fundamental secular character. Some of it was repudiation of increasingly communal discourse in our politics, which is fine. But to the extent it was meant to paper over the harsh realities of community relations in Ind...

The way EC is revising electoral rolls will bury Indian democracy Alok Tiwari The Election Commission of India seems to be doubling down on its move to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls it started in Bihar. The revision has been challenged in the Supreme Court by a clutch of opposition parties and NGOs. Instead of waiting for the SC to take a position on the issue, which would be morally and legally the right thing to do, it has instead written to chief electoral officers of all states to start preparing for similar revision beginning next year. This by itself is a brazen disregard of the judiciary and points to unstated objectives of the exercise. SIR has raised hackles on several counts. For one, it was started in Bihar, a state that is due to go to polls in November. Second, this time EC is asking anyone whose name does not appear in electoral rolls of 2003, when the last intensive revision was conducted, to produce one of the 11 specified documents such as...

It's not rocket science to address how to improve air quality or water supply or traffic system Alok Tiwari Delhi’s air quality in winter is something of a cruel annual winter joke on the country in general and people of Delhi in particular. This year, Mumbai has joined the national capital in that misery and infamy. The two megapolises are not alone. Dozens of Indian cities report air quality that would be a matter of shame anywhere in the world. Things are rapidly getting worse. Despite having action plans to improve air quality in cities for years, there is little to show. Some cities, mostly small ones, have reported modest progress on some parameters while many have slipped down. Even where there is progress on paper the experience of citizens is different. Officials go the extra mile to make sure figures come out good. Monitors are installed in neighbourhoods having less population and traffic. On days the figures are particularly bad, the data are simply not uploaded. Th...

Forcing people to junk old vehicles and buy new ones will not reduce pollution Alok Tiwari   All hell broke loose last week when the police in Delhi began impounding some vehicles entering fuel pumps for a refill. Without much notice, the authorities had begun enforcing an old rule that prohibited running of petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years in the national capital. Cameras read the numbers of vehicles and checked with the transport department’s database. As soon as an older vehicle entered the fuel station, an alarm was raised. In some cases, the police took the vehicle straight to a scrap station. All the owners got was scrap value calculated as per specified formula and promise of tax rebate on the new vehicle they may purchase. In other cases, the vehicles were let off, but drivers were warned not to ply them on the roads anymore. This led to immediate panic and protests. Though the move was a long time coming, it was deemed s...

Electoral bonds with their opacity foster corruption Alok Tiwari The just-concluded final hearings in the Supreme Court of challenges to Electoral Bonds Scheme have been an eyeopener. It is true political parties of all hues have always relied on anonymous sources of money and they would like to keep it that way. However, what takes one’s breath away are brazenly egregious arguments put forward by the solicitor general on behalf of the Union government in support of the Bonds scheme. As is well known, the Electoral Bonds allow anyone to make anonymous donations to political parties of any amount. In theory, even recipients are not supposed to know who has given them the money. The donors buy bonds worth thousands of crores from State Bank of India and can literally drop them at the office door of the party which can then deposit them in their account and nobody ever asks any question. This is in the country where a common citizen can be asked source of funds and needs to submit P...

  Always problematic, Film Certification Board has recently been going berserk Alok Tiwari   The role of film censors in India has always been contentious. Lately it has become more so as the euphemistically named Central Board for Film Certification has shown remarkable overreach that is breathtaking even by its own low standards. It has stopped director Honey Trehan’s Punjab ’95 for over two and half years demanding nearly 120 cuts. The movie is based on life of a real-life Sikh activist who investigated the cases of alleged abductions and killing of civilians by the Punjab police at the height of militancy in Punjab. The activist Jaswant Singh Khalra himself disappeared in similar manner. His case is well documented with several Punjab policemen convicted for his abduction and murder. The convictions were upheld even by the Supreme Court. One of the changes that the censors have demanded in the film is that the Punjab police not be called Punjab police! The cha...