The Hindu : New Delhi News : Clean the Yamuna

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Monday, Jul 06, 2009
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New Delhi

Clean the Yamuna

The Ganga and the Yamuna, both originating in the Himalayas, are hopelessly polluted today thanks to human greed and official apathy. Industrial waste, pollution from sewage, un-burnt and half-burnt human bodies thrown into the waters as a religious ritual, all add to the pollution levels. The Ganga at least still flows through Hardwar, Varanasi, Kanpur, etc. The Yamuna is almost stagnant in Delhi. This is because of heavy silting which has raised the riverbed resulting in flooding. It has led to an erosion of the banks. Rampant corruption ensures that Delhi’s sewage, industrial and toxic wastes are thrown into the river without treating them as per laws. The Capital’s infamous “Ganda Nalla”, which was supposed to treat waste water at the Okhla treatment plant, lies defunct.

There was a lot of propaganda that the two rivers will be cleaned within a stipulated period. Resources were also allocated for that. However, after some noise and publicity, the problem is back to square one. It is high time the riverbed was dredged deep so that more water remains in the river and flooding is avoided. Side walls should be built after dredging and deepening the river, allowing an appropriate width, thus preventing the surrounding settlements from floods.

The land reclaimed from the riverbed should be used to build roads and construct high-rise buildings dotted with parks and lawns all along as has been done in cities such as New York, Paris, Moscow, Budapest and Seoul, to support the ever-increasing population.

The same should be done in other cities on the banks of major rivers such as Godavari, Krishna, Narmada, Kosi and Mahanadi. It was done to the Thames in London because the Westminster building was on its bank and the stench emanating from the river stalled Parliament. We in India now have worse situations crying out for attention.

Ganti Mahapatruni Rama Rao,

C - 1199, IFFCO Colony, Sector 17 B, Gurgaon - 122 001.

Now and then

Skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have made life miserable for the common man. The Congress and its leaders committed to public welfare are perturbed over such price rise. They should not feel depressed as history tells us how a similar crisis of similar proportions was tackled by one of its leaders, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai.

During the 1950s, the country faced an acute food crisis. The target of self-sufficiency was missed and rations were cut by one-third on account of the food-grain shortage. Famine-like conditions prevailed across the country, made worse by black-marketing and hoarding. Mr. Kidwai, who held the Food portfolio in the Nehru Cabinet, not only made the country self-sufficient, he converted it into a land of plenty. He achieved this by taking stern measures against hoarders, black marketers and profiteers.

The Manmohan Singh Government today should adopt the very same measures and open shops of essential commodities where these items should be sold at cheaper rates. Action against hoarders and profiteers would go a long way in solving the mammoth problem.

M. Hashim Kidwai,

C-501, Rosewood Apartments, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi – 110 091.

Hello, Mamata….

The departure point of train No.4645 Shalimar Express has been changed from New Delhi to Delhi Junction with effect from May 20. At present this train leaves Delhi Junction for Jammu at 3-50 p.m. via Sahibabad and Ghaziabad. It does not stop at Shahdara, which causes a great deal of inconvenience to commuters as there is only one train between 1-30 p.m. and 4-30 p.m. from Delhi Junction to Shahdara.

Train No.3039 Delhi-Howrah Janata Express, scheduled to leave Delhi at 3-40 p.m. every day, invariably runs late. People living in Delhi’s trans-Yamuna area and wanting to travel to Jammu are forced to either come to Delhi or Ghaziabad, for not a single train to Jammu stops at Shahdara.

On its way to Jammu, the Shalimar Express crosses Shahdara at 4 p.m., and while returning, crosses it at 10-30 p.m. If Shahdara is made a stoppage even for a minute or two, hundreds of passengers will benefit besides generating revenue for the Railways.

We request the new Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to sanction this without any further delay.

M. B. Dubey Bijnori,

Secretary, Dainik Yatri Sangh, Shahdara, Delhi – 110 032.

Back in the NET

The University Grants Commission has at last done away with the blanket exemption granted to those armed with Ph.D. and M.Phil. from the requirement of clearing the National Eligibility Test (NET) for appointment as lecturers in universities and colleges. The exemption was granted in June 2006 under pressure from a small segment of aspirants for lectureship who could not clear the NET (conducted twice a year in June and December) even after repeated attempts, and were unfit for teaching in colleges.

The exemption henceforth will be granted only to those who have done a Ph.D. under the new guidelines, which stipulate a written entrance test conducted by the university concerned, followed by an interview of the candidate, course work on research methodology, pre-submission seminar, publication of a research paper in a refereed journal before submission of the thesis, open defence of the thesis at viva voce, and submission of an electronic copy of the M.Phil./Ph.D. thesis to the UGC for hosting it on INFLIBNET, accessible to all institutions and universities.

Immense loss has already been caused to higher education in the country with the entry of many substandard aspirants who could not crack the NET but could manage to get a substandard M.Phil. or Ph.D. It is all the more commendable that the exemption has been withdrawn with retrospective effect. As they say, better late than never.

Those hit hard by this decision are making a hue and cry and putting pressure on the UGC and the Union Human Resource Development Ministry to roll back the decision. Neither the UGC nor the Government should yield to such tactics on matters of national importance.

Another important decision taken by the UGC is finalisation and notification of guidelines for universities conducting Ph.D. and M.Phil. This decision, effective from June 1 this year, will surely go a long way to improve the quality of M.Phil. and Ph.D., which in a majority of cases had assumed scandalous proportions.

D. P. S. Verma,

(Former Professor of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University) QU – 285 B, Chitrakoot, Pitampura, Delhi – 110 034.

NET error

In the National Eligibility Test (NET) meant for appointment as lecturers in colleges and universities, held on June 28, there was an error in Paper II (Mass Communications). The options given in question No. 32 were wrong.

The question was to match news agencies with their respective countries. None of the options reflected Press Trust of India with India.

Mohammad Shamim Afzal,

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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