By Sidharth Mishra

In a few years from now, if a historian was to recall takeaway from the centenary year of the prestigious Delhi University, it would be a very gloomy picture. Despite normalcy having returned post-Covid, Delhi University this year is going to set a records sorts for delaying the start of academic session by almost four months.

Till some years ago, July 15 was day when the session would start at the prestigious university, come what may. Even when there were changes from annual to semester system or from three year to four-year-degree programme and the reverse, the session was not known to have been disrupted the way it has happened this time.

The university authorities would put the blame at the door of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the delay in the conduct of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET). The delay has largely been there because the UGC decided to expand the scope of the erstwhile Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET).

By Sidharth Mishra

GRAP, the Graded Response Action Plan — a set of anti-air pollution measures followed according to the severity of the situation, has come in to force. It’s a long list of directions to prevent pollution but the document has largely remained silent on how to grapple pollution in the national Capital from stubble burning in Punjab.

The withdrawal of Monsoon leads to drop in wind speed. This comes at a time when crop stubble is burnt in the fields of Punjab and wind direction changes to northwest. This leads to build up of pollutants in the air especially in the national Capital. GRAP is being introduced from October 1, a fortnight before the use start of stubble burning in Punjab and complete withdrawal of Monsoon.

By Sidharth Mishra

The skull-drudgery indulged into by the Arvind Kejriwal government is not limited the education sector. Another major area which has been witness to a systemic collapse in the national Capital is the transport sector.

Come winters and the national Capital is agog with the smog from burning fields of Punjab, is it? Though Mr Kejriwal has insisted on this fact in past years, with an AAP government in Punjab now, would he repeat the same allegation this year?

As we wait for the air quality to deteriorate, let’s face the fact that one of major factors for the increase in air pollution in the national Capital over the years is the collapse of public transport system. Due to its shrinking fleet, the public transporter – Delhi Transport Corporation, has been forced to shut down its depots.

In the past seven years the number of operational bus depots has come down from 46 to 39. The bigger shame is that 99.15 percent buses of the operational DTC fleet are over-aged and not fuel-efficient, thus adding their bit to the pollution in the city.

By Sidharth Mishra

Political analysts and media studies scholars world-wide attribute credit to social media for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal coming to power in Delhi in 2013 and prime minister Narendra Modi at the Centre in 2014. It’s true that Arvind Kejriwal, coming from an engineering background, was the first to understand the power of digital technology and turned it into the sinews of his start-up Aam Aadmi Party.

Narendra Modi, given that he is a keen and sharp student of politics, looking at the assembly poll results in Delhi was quick to grasp the power of social media. He made use of it during the 2014 general election, which helped him to come to power with a thumping majority.

The Congress on the other hand refused to learn from the debacle of Delhi in 2013 and went unprepared into 2014 general elections on the social media front. No wonder it lost miserably. Congress leadership failed to fully understand the complexities of a social media success story and continued to commit ‘harakiris’.

By Sidharth Mishra

Last week Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) went on a strike. The agitating teachers marched from Delhi University campus to Delhi Chief Minister’s residence demanding their long pending salaries. This event failed to find space in the columns of the city newspapers next day. It’s another matter that the same newspapers on the said day had filled columns with all kinds of inanities about Delhi government’s ‘yeoman’ efforts.

This has been the general story for the past nine years. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, among other qualities, has show the brazen ability to practise McCarthyism. Now what’s that? McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations specially done in public and in an attention-grabbing manner.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi Model has less to do with governance and/or development but certainly more to do with the politics of fib, based on blatant falsehood. Aap Aadmi Party came to power targeting Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government of corruption, and promising an honest government.

By Sidharth Mishra

The Sunday before the last, we had the nation glued to the television sets to a post-lunch spectacle of the twin towers built by real estate giant Supertech in Noida being brought down. Some news channels called it as ‘Towers of Corruption’. The channels had a field day, in fact they built up the feverish pitch talking about the event overlooking all the other developments for more than 24 hours.

Many years ago, at a seminar, one had heard the late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley say, “Camera likes sad pictures.” The much adored attorney had gone onto to say, “Camera, per say, likes unhappy people. It likes tragedies. It can capture a flood, an earthquake, and a famine. It can capture very easily an angry man or a suffering person. So if you say this year India had best-ever food grain production in history, which is factually correct, the camera is bored with that item. It doesn’t have any value. It likes a house broken in an earthquake; it doesn’t like the building which is standing erect.”

By Sidharth Mishra

One was pleasantly surprised last week to see a notification from Delhi government banning the use of crackers till January 1, 2023. The element of surprise was the early notification and a good feeling that despite the ongoing political fracas, there were people in the bureaucracy alive to the problems of the people.

The notified ban is similar to the practise in the past years when the Supreme Court, and on its goading the city government, clamped restrictions on the use of crackers during the festival of lights -- Diwali, and the winter marriage season. These bans were notified as part of the steps taken to check ever rising air pollution.

However, in the past the bans came late giving ample time for the sale of crackers in the grey market. Thus despite the ban one always woke up to the morning after Diwali to choking air.

By Sidharth Mishra

In William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, there is a discussion on sanity and insanity. Given the ‘insane’ events during the special session of Delhi assembly, convened Friday last, the question arises whether it was a deliberate act to drown the controversy around Excise Policy scam or finding a way out of the cesspool of corruption has become difficult.

To somebody who has followed career graph of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for two decades now, given the current situation, he is making the most ‘rational’ move to defend his party and the government. He has to ensure that the drama of absurd goes on. No wonder there would be a vote of confidence on Monday despite no such demand being made by the Opposition or a direction coming from Raj Niwas.

Delhi government is now functioning with the sole purpose of creating perception that its leader Arvind Kejriwal was an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Logical construction and argument have given way to irrational and illogical speech.