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Urbanization and pollution
It is sad to say that today Guwahati is in the grip of a clash between expansion and the city's fading green cover, which defines a pressing modern dilemma. It is an acceptable fact that rapid and rampant urbanization has drastically resulted in the gradual decadence of the city's green cover. It is true that we ought to keep pace with urbanization, which is one of the modern exigencies. Infrastructure development like the building of flyovers is always welcome, but it doesn't take place at the cost of environmental degradation. The city needs both flyovers to carry the city haste and, at the same time, abundant greenery to cradle its soul. Another problem is now the city is grappling with rapid motorisation, which results in congestion and traffic chaos, apart from vehicular emissions, which have emerged as a dominant source of pollution. While diesel-run vehicles have dominated the transport sector in the adjoining areas, freight traffic along the Guwahati-Byrnihat corridor has contributed to emissions significantly. The biomass decomposition adds to secondary pollution. The lack of enforcement and limited monitoring has allowed pollution to grow unchecked. We need a comprehensive and inclusive approach coupled with scientific monitoring and community involvement so that there is a balance between adopting measures to modernise a city with equitable air quality improvement while preserving our 'Mother Nature'. This is what we can proudly call true modernisation. It is impossible without dedicated funding and fostering coordination among different government departments and agencies. We, as conscious citizens, have to honour both steel and saplings, because urbanization is a reality, and monitoring city pollution is our responsibility to make our city life worth living in the concrete jungle.
Iqbal Saikia,
Guwahati.
The Nepal outrage
The unbridled protest of Gen Z over the ban of 26 social media platforms in Nepal manifested how detrimental it can be to curb the central digital freedom of the government authority against a generation that feels sidelined by traditional politics. It was a stern disapprobation against corruption by a generation who cannot be bamboozled by fancy political jargon and sophistry, and by the time proscription was lifted to palliate the tension, the death toll had increased to 19, causing public and government edifice arson. The message is pristine:to interdict freedom of speech is to court punishment, and with the same faces at the helm for almost a decade exercising malfeasance, such a catastrophe was inevitable.
However, many reasons from the past are spiralled in the present insurrection. Nepal had been consistently ranking poorly on the corruption indices. It almost ranked 107 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International 2024 Corruption Perception Index, and two major scandals were a paragon of elite impunity in Nepal. The first concerns the Giri Bandhu Tea, where the estate of owners - allegedly in collusion with politicians - have for decades attempted to convert lands protected under law into commercial real estate for profit. The second one was the Lalita Niwas land grab scam. Beginning in the 1990s, it involved the illegal transfer of government-owned land to influential businessmen, politicians and government officials. And recently the loss of 1.47 billion rupees for purchasing two A330 jets by Nepal Airlines compelled the many young Nepalese leaders to perceive it as exploiting the nation's cash when the land is facing economic crises for personal gain under the cloak of national security. These long-pending shenanigans by the government added a cause for the infuriated citizens to remonstrate against the corruption.
In an economically beleaguered nation where the top 10% of earners receive three times more income compared to the bottom 40% of earners combined, defenestrating the younger Nepalese from every opportunity and forcing them to emigrate for better career prospects, the recent 'Nepo-kid' campaign, which showcased the luxury lifestyle of politicians' family members, added more salt to their injury.
Moreover, the history of Nepal politics has been anfractuous, shifting between monarchy, autocracy and unstable democracy. There was always a wrangle over the debate between monarchy and democracy, of which form can bring a better form of governance in Nepal, as some Nepalese still reckon that democratic government since the monarchy abolition in 2008 has failed to address the salient issues like corruption, unemployment and development, and monarchy appears to be expedient. Such an economically destitute nation is still perplexed with their political setup, and where a mass population is looking to efface their penury and for whom social media is the only medium to connect with the modern world, censorship on it was sure to bring horrendous outcomes.
Also Nepal can be considered as being a highly globalised country in the form of outward migration. Some 25% of its GDP comes from external remittances. For Nepal's younger generation, being connected to the external world remains a requisite.
Amid this mayhem, many names came to the fore as to who was to be crowned as the leader of the government. Among them are retired Chief Justice Sushila Karki, former mayor Balendra Shah and former CEO of Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising. While Shah, a former rapper, civil engineer and independent mayor, had garnered significant support from the young generation, since his anti-corruption stance resonated with young voters seeking authenticity and reform. Whereas Ghising's name is widely respected for his successful work in resolving Nepal's longstanding electricity load shedding crisis, earning him the reputation of a capable technocratic leader.
The Gen Z agitation was a dead ringer for what happened in Sri Lanka and in Bangladesh recently. And this sprouts up the security concern for Indians, since a weak and unstable Nepal opens the door to China's deeper influence through loans, infrastructure and security ties. For India, this means risks at the open border, as instability can hit trade, security and even the safety of the larger Indian diaspora, demanding direct scrutiny over the 1770-km-long open border with Nepal.
Kabir Ahmed Saikia,
Rajabari, Jorhat