Letters to the Editor: Delhi’s water woes

Delhi’s water woes

Delhi has been facing a severe water crisis for more than a month now. The reason cited by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is low water level in the Yamuna. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government has blamed Haryana, which is upstream, for not releasing enough water in Yamuna leading to depletion of water level at Wazirabad Pond. Haryana has in the past accused Delhi of wasting over 175 cusecs of water every day, claiming that city’s Haidarpurwater treatment plant did not have the capacity to hold the large amount of raw water coming through the canal. Amidst these claims and counter claims, it’s the common people who are suffering. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, despite his tall claims, has done little to improve water situation in Delhi over the last 7-8 years. In 2015, he was blaming the Haryana administration, in 2022 he is still blaming Haryana. So much for the ‘Delhi Model’.

Abdul Bari, Delhi

Will TV channels heed Editors Guild?

Amid a global outrage over some of BJP’s spokespersons’ inflammatory remarks targeting Muslims, the Editors Guild of India has slammed TV news channels for their “irresponsible conduct” and underlined that the channels should take a critical look at what they have done just to increase viewership and profit. It also called for stricter vigilance by broadcasters and journalist bodies. However, will news channels take this criticism seriously or heed the EGI’s advice? Not likely. As long as this TRP game is there, things aren’t going to get better. And forget about self-censorship, there has been none. The EGI has rightly said that our news channels are playing the part of the infamous Radio Rwanda. What we have just seen in the form of global outrage is just the beginning. If not reined, these channels and their sold out ‘celebrity’ news anchors will land the country into a deeper mess. For now, these anchors are laughing all the way to the bank with many of them reportedly earning in crores annually.

Sanjay Srivastava, Allahabad

Repo rate & inflation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) this week raised the repo rate for the second time in as many months by 50 basis points to 4.90%. Since May the repo rate has been increased by 90 basis points by RBI to rein in inflation which has been hovering over the 6% redline. The common man, who is already feeling the pinch with ever increasing living costs, the new policy decision will make EMIs costlier. But will it ease inflation and help the economy? Many experts have been underlining that India’s problem is not on the supply side but the demand side. Instead of hiking repo rate, the government may well consider lowering indirect taxes, especially the myriad duties on petrol and diesel, the main fuel used in the transport and agriculture sectors. The government may easily recover its revenue losses by restoring the corporate tax to the pre-2019 levels.

Anshuman Dey, Kolkata

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)