WARS, ECOCIDE AND THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK.

 It's a disturbing sign of the times that the global levers of power today are controlled by genocidal murderers, sex offenders, megalomaniacs, war criminals and rapacious billionaires who should all be in jail. Collectively, these psychopaths are driving the human race ever closer to the seventh mass extermination, this time of homo sapiens- which is probably a good thing from a planetary perspective, for we do not deserve this wonderful orb. Any one of three forces- Artificial Intelligence (AI), Climate Change, War- has the capacity to exterminate us, but it gets even worse: the last three years has demonstrated that all these three forces are now coming TOGETHER to do the job under the guidance of the sociopaths mentioned above.

As we edge ever closer to a war-driven holocaust in Ukraine and the Middle-east, this three-way synergy is becoming more pronounced and evident. AI is being used to assassinate leaders, military chiefs and scientists, to communicate and surveil, to guide missiles and bombs, to make war itself autonomous. The fate of "enemies" is now being decided by algorithms, not rational persons. This harnessing of A.I. for war has been exposed in the tussle between Anthropic and the Pentagon, when the latter refused to accept the guard-rails which Anthropic had inserted into its algorithms to prevent their misuse. Anthropic was black-listed for taking an ethical stand, but Open AI and others quickly filled the void. AI is making even conventional/ non-nuclear wars more lethal and opportunistic/acceptable for those nations which possess the technology.

This AI is being being used by robber baron warlords, criminal syndicates masquerading as elected governments, to wage illegal wars,  driving us ever closer to climate Armageddon by destroying the natural environment, increasing the emission of GHGs (Green House Gases), and polluting the soils and waters of a dozen nations. Sadly, however, no one is talking about the environmental catastrophe unfolding in larger concentric circles, all eyeballs are fixated on missiles, drones, aircraft carriers and the straits of Hormuz.

A study has revealed that three years of the Russia-Ukraine war has released an additional 350 million tons of pollutants/ GHG/ CO2 into the atmosphere, 1% of annual global emissions, through bombings, explosions and fires. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Kherson region of Ukraine by Russia in 2023 flooded 600+ sq.kms of the downstream area, causing a humanitarian and ecological disaster on an unparalleled scale: more than 83000 tons of silt contaminated with heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel) has been deposited downstream, making the soil and water there toxic and poisoned for decades.

The entire 365 sq.kms of the Gaza strip has been carpet bombed by Israel to an extent that there is now no farmland or green area remaining there. Thousands of unexploded ordinance are buried in its soil and cities.  80% of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, and according to an estimate by the UN this has created 63 million tons of rubble, which will take 15 years to remove if 200 truck loads are removed every day! The cost will be more than a billion US dollars. Effectively, the entire 365 sq. kms has been degraded into a wasteland.

The environmental impact of the on-going US/ Israel war on Iran will be much worse, both for the land and the sea, especially now that oil facilities are fair game for all parties. Israel initiated this new phase of environmental warfare by bombing Teheran's oil storage tanks in the second week of March : the resultant massive plumes of black smoke which persisted for days was bad enough. Worse was the rain that fell, "black rain" containing all the released pollutants which have now leached into the soil, making it toxic and barren for decades, and contaminating the ground water. Israel's attack on Iran's Pars gas field on the 18th March is the beginning of an ecocide in the whole region: it processes 600 million cu.mtrs. of natural gas every day. With such a humongous volume being set on fire, the toxic fumes will envelop not only Iran but the entire Gulf region, and could travel even as far as Pakistan and India. Iran's inevitable retaliation by bombing the oil fields of Israel and the Gulf countries will exponentially multiply this pollution. One shudders to even imagine how much pollutants all this will add to the atmosphere.

Tens of millions of liters/barrels of oil are contained in the ships, both military and civilian. riding on the Persian Gulf, all in harm's way of the war. More than 13 million barrels of oil and 500,000 tons of gas are presently locked up in the straits of Hormuz alone in 300 ships. If even half a dozen of them are sunk, the waters of the Gulf shall be contaminated for decades, all marine life destroyed. Have we conveniently forgotten what happened during the Iraq war, when Saddam Hussein spilled millions of liters of oil in the sea? That marine area has yet to recover, even after 26 years.

A recent study quoted in THE GUARDIAN  reveals that 5 million tons of CO2e has been emitted in the first 14 days of the current war, from destroyed buildings (2.4 million tons), fuel for military vehicles ( 529000 tons), bombing of oil facilities ( 1.88 million tons), destroyed military hardware ( 172000 tons), munitions (55000 tons). This is equivalent to the annual carbon budget of the 84 lowest carbon emitting countries in the world. 

The Netanyahus, Putins and Trumps of the world are not only waging illegal wars and trashing humanitarian covenants, they are committing ecocide on a horrendous scale. This is another reminder that fossil-fuelled geopolitics is incompatible with a liveable planet. The Doomsday Clock in Chicago University, which is so set up that midnight signifies total Apocalypse, is getting ever closer to that point in time. It was at 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, today it is at 85 seconds to midnight. The world is running out of time fast, and that is not  just a metaphor.

LOW ON OIL, BUT WE HAVE PLENTY OF GAS !

•  I can't be sure, but I'm fairly positive that the most Googled word this fortnight was "gas", thanks to the Gulf conflict and the shortages of said element in India. Now, one would have expected that, given that our rulers- politicians, bureaucrats, judges- are so full of gas, there would never be a shortage of it here, but apparently there was, notwithstanding the denials by Epstein's buddy. This has led to a veritable  explosion of memes and wisecracks on social media on the subject, sparing not even our revered Prime Minister's enviable grasp of science. And when one speaks of gas in India, can the malodorous subject of flatulence be left unaddressed?
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• So, this week I've decided to develop further the spark of scientific genius ignited by our PM and explore more deeply the subject of gas, or to be precise, its by-product--flatulence. And I'm amazed at how well researched this subject is! Did you know, for example, that research has established that farting is a natural and healthy process, a voiding of the by-products of digestion, just as the gas flares in a petroleum refinery ? That one should fart at least 32 times a day? Less, and your gut microbes are not functioning at optimum levels; more, and your digestive system is being asked to process more than it can handle. Overload, much to the discomfort of those sitting next to you, as Trump's advisors frequently discover.
•     But here's the interesting thought: can you even imagine the volume of gas Indians produce? 1400 millions expelling gas 32 times a day! Why, if we could only tap it, we could forget about the straits of Hormuz or even the need for the strategic reserve Mani Shankar Aiyer is critical of! We could become atmanirbhar on a colossal scale. All we have to do now is to make use of Mr. Modi's untapped scientific potential, and leave the rest to Nutty Aayog. In fact, I believe the government is already moving in this direction- according to Whats App university it has banned the production/sale of digestive tablets and syrups in order to increase the production of HPG (Human Produced Gas). Anyone who refuses to produce HPG can now be arrested under the Essential Commodities Act. Way to go, Mr. Puri, I always had a , well, gut feeling that you could do it when it came to the crunch, or gripe! 
•    Wait, there's more. Studies by John Hopkins University indicate two important benefits of flatulence. One, passing gas frequently is good for your circulatory system as it releases pressure on it. Two, HPG contains hydrogen sulphide, produced by the action of the gut bacteria. This gas plays a vital role in maintaining normal blood pressure; it causes the arteries to dilate, letting blood circulate more freely, reducing pressure on the arteries and providing protection against hyper-tension, strokes, heart attacks and kidney diseases. Now I realise why some of the healthiest people I know are ones who  pass gas with the frequency of an AK47, and just as loudly!
•    Ever wondered why our politicians enjoy such longevity- they just keep on going on and on, rivalling the life spans of tortoises? Well, the answer to that too lies in gas- specifically in the "padyatras" they regularly perform ( the word "pad" has a distinctly gaseous meaning in Hindi, but we'll stick to its literal English translation- a "walking tour"). These can be categorised as "Fart Walks". According to an article by Kirtika Katira in the WION dated July6, 2024, Fart Walks is the latest fitness trend which has taken TikTok by storm. Essentially a post prandial/dinner walk of about 30 minutes, it is the panacea for bloating, indigestion, gas, heartburn, diabetes and blood pressure. It does so by helping food motility- the process of moving food from the stomach to the intestines- where it is quickly digested and absorbed. The accelerated (by walking) process releases a lot of gas which has to be expelled. As the name suggests, Fart Walks are not meant for conversation but for some serious farting. Now you know why our "pad yatra" addicted politicians live so long. This may also explain Rahul Gandhi's sudden bulging biceps!                                                                               So the next time you take an after dinner stroll, dear reader, and pass an old gentleman sputtering along, emitting subdued explosive sounds like the misfiring piston of an old scooter, don't be alarmed. Doff your cap politely to him and walk on with your nostrils shut. That old geezer might be me! 

SCRUBBING THE MIRROR DOESN'T HELP.

Posted: 15.03.2026.

(This piece was published in THE TRIBUNE, Chandigarh, on 15.03.2026, with some minor editing)

The smell of censorship hangs heavily over Delhi these days, enveloping two books, one for perhaps containing official secrets, the other for calling a spade a spade. It's a theater of the absurd, and brings to mind that well-worn World War II anecdote: a man, who publicly called Churchill a fool, was promptly arrested. Opposition MPs in Parliament protested that England was becoming a police state where free speech was being curbed. Churchill clarified that the man was being proceeded against, not because he had called the Prime Minister a fool, but for revealing a state secret! Unfortunately, this sense of humour is missing in our institutions, having been replaced long ago by a sense of righteousness and entitlement.

We will probably never know what official secrets General Naravane's book contains that prompted this government to disallow its publication or even a discussion in Parliament. But it's the furore over the other book, a Class VIII text book on Social Sciences published by NCERT, that is more disturbing and warrants a deeper reflection. Does Churchill's quip about revealing a state secret apply to it?

I for one was shocked at the sheer ferocity of the Supreme Court's reaction when some lawyers brought the book to its notice. The CJI  dubbed it "a calculated move to undermine and overawe the judiciary", to "demean the dignity of the judiciary", a " deep rooted conspiracy". He called for a "deeper probe", adding for good measure that no one would be spared and that "heads must roll.". He refused to accept the Center's or the NCERT apologies. The three academics who wrote the chapter have been blacklisted and debarred from any future engagement by any govt. institution or university.The book was banned instantly and a Sidney Sheldon type investigation launched to trace all of the 38 copies of the book sold so far- I believe about 20 of them have been retrieved, the remaining continue to pose a grave threat to our democracy, like a hidden time bomb.

From material in the public domain, one has been able to glean that this was a new book on Social Sciences for Class VIII, it contained a chapter entitled "The Role of the Judiciary in our Society." The offending part, it is reported, was a sub-chapter called "Corruption in the Judiciary." It attributes delays in the dispensation of justice to factors such as inadequate number of judges, complex legal procedures, poor infrastructure and corruption. It is this latter part which appears to have invited the Court's ire, even though 9 out of 10 Indians would agree with these conclusions.

Moreover, the book is certainly not targeting the judiciary, as the Court appears to believe. It also criticizes other organs of the state. As THE HINDU writes in an editorial: the problem with the SC ban "is not that the textbook selectively targets the judiciary, it is that the judiciary selectively targets certain portions."

Let's not gloss over the reality- corruption has been part of our culture from time immemorial, regularly reinforced by every element of our establishment. It would be a fantasy to expect the judiciary to be an outlier on, or an exception to, this. Data presented in Parliament in February shows that between 2016 and 2025, 8600 complaints were filed against sitting judges. In 2011 Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court was impeached on corruption charges: he resigned before he could be impeached, but he was never prosecuted. In 2018 Justice RK Mittal, a Tribunal judge, was sacked in a corruption case. The case of Justice Yashwant Verma, in whose official house crores of unexplained cash were allegedly found just last year is nowhere near resolution and he continues in service. More instances can be found in the book A CONTROVERSIAL JUDGE (2025) by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Ayaskant Das. India ranks 79th out of 143 countries in the Rule of Law Index (2024), that is, we are in the bottom half. Surely, the factors listed in the NCERT book may have something to do with this?

  An issue which strikes at the very roots of judicial probity should be confronted head-on if we wish to resolve it, and not brushed under the carpet. As Prashant Bhushan says: "Judiciary is not above scrutiny and is accountable to the people..... Reference to judicial corruption and delays in the NCERT curriculum is in keeping with the constitutional values of transparency and accountability." In fact, advocate and eminent legal scholar Gautam Bhatia has questioned whether Article 19 of the Constitution even empowers the Supreme Court to ban a book. It is unfortunate that the Court has decided to take this route; the CJI's assurance that this "is not meant to stifle any criticism" sadly does not inspire much confidence. There has already been much redacting and sanitisation of NCERT textbooks by this government and we could do without more. Education should prepare our youth for entering this harsh and imperfect world, not gloss over its defects under a coat of judicial enamel paint. A celebrated poet had already said this, centuries ago:

" Umra bhar Ghalib yehi bhool karta raha

Dhool chehre pe thi, aina saaf karta raha."

[Your entire life Ghalib you repeated this error

The dust was on your face but you kept wiping the mirror.]

INDIAN RAILWAYS -- RUNNING LATE FOR 2047 ?

 I've said it before and I'll say it again for the doubtful benefit of this hearing impaired government- putting old wine in new bottles doesn't change the wine for the better. A prime example of this is the Indian Railways, their slew of hyped up new trains- Vande Bharat, Tejas, Namo Bharat, etc.- and the claim that it has transformed the way Indians travel. It hasn't, it's just made it more expensive.

Last month I had to go to my hometown, Kanpur, to revitalise my withering roots and decided to travel by the Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat, touted as the last word in luxury, speed and punctuality (my first time on a VB). It was none of these. The fallacy started unravelling at Platform 16 of the New Delhi Station itself, where I arrived at 2.30 PM (departure time was 3.00 PM). The train arrived two hours late and left two and a half hours late-at 5.20 PM. So much for punctuality. Worse, there was no sharing of information with the hundreds of waiting passengers- merely a bored announcement every now and then that the train "is delayed by 15 minutes." (It was always 15 minutes, not a minute less or a minute more).This announcement of delays by instalments (on the airlines pattern) is inexplicable in this age of real time information when a train's actual location can be tracked minute by minute. Why not share it with the passengers who had trusted your bloated hype? And isn't it ironical that the Railway Minister is also the IT Minister but the Railways don't know where their train is at any given moment?

The stranded passengers were treated like dirt (again, on the airlines model) in other ways too. They had to stand on their feet for two hours- there were barely half a dozen dirty benches on the platform for more than a thousand; if there were old, or sick or disabled, that was just too bad, they were collateral damage on the country's journey to vishwaguru status. The platform, where India's most (allegedly) magnificent train was to arrive, resembled a Sadar Bazaar trading yard. Every now and then a cop would come and shoo them away for causing overcrowding!- where were they supposed to go?

[Passengers at NDRS waiting for the Vande Bharat doors to open. The similarity to a cattle yard is coincidental. Photo by Atul Shukla]

It was no better inside the train (when it finally arrived): the entrance foyer was jammed with all kinds of food cartons, garbage bags and crates of bottled water. The toilets were awash like Niagra Falls. The meals showed the effects of privatisation at its worst- packets of "chura" of unknown origin, a soft drink, something which was said to be tea and a moldy piece of cake; we added up their printed MRPs, which came to Rs. 50/, though IRCTC must have got them at least at 25% less through the lowest tender process. The passengers, however, paid Rs. 80/ each- another proof of how rapidly the railways are moving on to the airline model. The train's maximum speed (displayed on an LED screen above the doors) never exceeded 128 kmph, and that too for very short periods, so much for its high-speed boast of 180 kmph.

The worst, however was to come on the return trip when we disgorged from the train at the New Delhi Railway station at 11.00 PM. Complete pandemonium prevailed on the Ajmeri Gate side exit- no proper lanes for cars, no separate lanes for taxis, no identified points for boarding or deboarding: these are all standard requirements/facilities at any railway station in any developed country. The result was total chaos- hundred of passengers rushing around, blocking traffic, to find their ordered Olas and Ubers, vehicles parked any which way. It took us more than 45 minutes (one fifth the journey time from Kanpur on the train!) to locate our Ola and exit the station. I shudder to think what would have been the fate of the old, the disabled, ladies travelling alone and foreign tourists unaccustomed to our bureaucracy who had swallowed the fable of "Athiti Deva Bhav." I longed wistfully for the Shatabdi days, when one just went to the pre-paid taxi/ auto rickshaw booths managed by police, paid the fare, and were allotted a taxi/auto without any fuss or the danger of being run over.

So here's the low-down. Today's trumpeted trains are no better-probably worse- than our earlier Shatabdis and Rajdhanis which made no tall claims but delivered more than they promised. All this hype of high-speed trains is just that- false hype. We may have the technical capacity to build such trains, but we lack the administrative and policy-making ability to operate them as they should. Reasons?- lack of infrastructure: tracks, signaling and communication systems, skilling of staff, catering, station management, accountability. The Railways' planning model is faulty and has been stood on its head: instead of planning from the top down it should be doing the reverse- upgrade the infrastructure to developed countries level first and THEN introduce the high speed trains.

Most important- treat your paying passenger with respect and consideration. Travel is not just about speed, it's a package of various experiences. The Railway's responsibility does not end on the platform- it has to develop proper station infrastructure, both inside and outside, ensure systems that enable a passenger to enter and exit a station in an orderly manner, with convenience and safety. Dial down the hype and dial up the delivery. It's a long, long way to 2047, Mr. Minister, a much more difficult journey than the three-piece suit hop to Davos. 

AN INDIAN VIEW OF THE EPSTEIN FILES- WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY.

 

Epstein who? Emails-when? Meetings-where?

Every era produces its own prophets, who inscribe their wisdom on our digital walls; the year 1 AE (After Epstein) is no different. A friend has just forwarded to me this priceless diagnosis of what ails us: When faced with temptation, wise people abstain. The others Epstein. This single digit sentence explains what the Epstein Files are all about, and why a pedophile, sex-trafficking celebrity, long dead, is causing so much churning in the capitals of the neoliberal world (and in India, which is neither neo nor liberal). Here are the titbits (is that the appropriate word?)  which I have gleaned so far from this affair.

One hears that Mr. Vivek Agnihotri, the film Director so beloved of the BJP, is a very angry and worried man these days. He has lost his IPR and franchise of the word "Files"; his Kashmir Files, Bengal Files and Kerala Files had an authoritative ring about them, for are files not the repository of truth within the government ? But he no longer has the "personality rights" on this word  for it has been hijacked by Epstein and Pam Bondi and henceforth will convey, not pseudo-nationalism and Islamophobia, but sex, sleaze and betrayal- a more exciting batter, I agree, but not one which can garner votes. Mr Agnihotri will now have to look for a new word for "Files": may I suggest "Lies" or "Fakery" or "Fibs" ?

The world's glitterati- the Davos types, politicians, marquee actors and singers, the fixers, fashionistas, sheikhs and sultans- who cannot bear to be out of the news for even a day, are faced with a horrific quandary: which is worse- being mentioned in the Epstein files or not being mentioned in them? (Remember Oscar Wilde: The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about?) The former can lead to social disapprobation, dismissal, law suits and even worse; the latter would be a living death, for it would be final proof that they are non-entities, that they never mattered, were not important enough to be honey-trapped. For some the wretched choice has already been made- Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Lord Mandelson, the President of the WEF, the Swedish Chief of UNHCR, an ex Chief of the CIA. The elite in India too is holding its breath, poring over every new list of emails through their Cartier or Maybach looking glasses to see if their names (or, God forbid, their photo!) are there. But the common man-i.e. 99% of India- is not bothered: he's busy full time in checking if his name is on the voter's list. This is Mr. Gyanesh Kumar's stellar contribution to limiting the impact of the Epstein story within our shores! Thank you, sir.

But we have two shining stars (or potential asteroids for Mr. Modi) from India who have the distinction of having made it to the Epstein short-list: one a Minister who has anger management issues and a failing memory for number of meetings held and emails sent, the other a Captain of industry who, to continue with the cricketing analogy, has a weakness for the fine leg, especially if it is attached to a tall, blonde Norwegian of the opposite sex (if the emails are right). Right now the two are being pilloried by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament, quite unjustly, in my view. For one was promoting Digital India (even before it was conceived!) and the other building our Vishwaguru status globally, all undercover (or covers), of course; if the price of these laudable objectives involved enjoying the hospitality of a convicted sex predator or a massage or two, so be it. It was all for King and country, wasn't it, in the finest traditions of Lawrence of Arabia, Kim Philby, Mata Hari and James Bond, to mention just a few. All done at their own expense and time. Never have so many owed so much (in crypto, of course) to so few! Methinks, a Padma Bhushan or two would be in order here.

Finally, it must be said the Epstein Files is no respecter of reputations. One mail mentions our very own globally acclaimed wellness guru, Deepak Chopra, who dispenses advice (at very steep rates) to CEO's about how to view life. But per one released mail he has reserved his most penetrating observation for Mr. Epstein: 

"God is a construct, cute girls are real." 

In other words, what you see (in that Manhattan flat or Virgin Islands resort) is what you get, so grab it (or her). Forget about God! A cutie in the hand is worth a deity in the bush ! No wonder the man has made millions.

Even His Holiness the Dalai Lama appears to have been dragged into this controversy needlessly, with Chinese social media alleging that he had met Epstein, in an apparent attempt to discredit him after his Grammy win earlier this month. The Dalai Lama's office has issued a strong contradiction and condemnation of these planted posts. I am sure no sane person would believe this Chinese canard. But it must have been a close call for His Holiness's advisors, and a difficult choice- should they ignore this Chinese slander, or should they condemn it ? This is what I would call being on the horns of a dalailama.

And while Heads of Government all over the world are speaking on the Files, ordering inquiries and sacking people, in India there is total silence. The Prime Minister only speaks during election times, his hangers on cannot speak of anything except Rahul Gandhi's ancestors, and the media is still fighting the Sindoor war with Pakistan and discussing the bisexuality of Babur. The country has become one vast black hole from which no light can emerge. But if you listen carefully, you'll hear a protesting voice emanating from that hole: "What! Me resign? But I was ambushed!"

We are like this only, folks. Satyamev Jayate.

BUDGET 2026-27: WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, MADAM FINANCE MINISTER ?

Preservation and protection of the natural environment has never been a priority in our annual Budgets; ALL Finance Ministers have taken it for granted and have treated it as an infinite resource rather than a living entity to be nurtured and carefully harvested on a sustainable basis. In July 2014 I had written a blog on these pages about precisely this: Budget 2014- Shortchanging the Environment. Eleven years down the line this catastrophic deficiency in planning persists, even though a new, and compelling, dimension has been added now with the acceleration of Climate Change (CC). The need now is, not only to provide public funding for measures to counter CC (adaptation, mitigation) but also for rehabilitation of those directly affected by it- poor farmers, landless labourers, fishermen, nomadic tribes. Unfortunately (and predictably) this Budget, like its predecessors, does none of this.

We should perhaps have expected this from the tone of the Economic Survey 2026, released a couple of weeks earlier. In it, the Chief Economic Advisor blatantly bats for growth and neo-capitalism at the cost of the environment. Defying all science, he states that cutting carbon emissions should not be our top priority, and that "a 3*Celsius world would be a liveable one"(!) Confounding all evidence and scientific global consensus, he goes on to maintain that "growth and prosperity strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability.." Yes, sir, they do, but only if  done in a sustainable and ecologically friendly manner, which is not how it is happening in India. Maybe, if the Economic Advisor had paid more attention to what a fellow economist (without any political bias), Gita Gopinath, had said in Davos, he would have better understood the problem, and how wrong he is. 

This government suffers from a severe case of CID (Compulsive Infrastructure Disorder); Capex is fine and needed for growth, but so is the environment. There are huge environmental costs to rapid infrastructural expansion- both the World Bank and the IMF estimate this at between 3.5%-5% of our GDP, which comes to about USD 200 billion or 1800000 crore rupees. 

The 2026-27 budget proudly mentions the creation of a mineral corridor (for rare earths) in four southern states, three more high-speed rail corridors, zero duties for maritime catches in India's EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) or the high seas, tax exemptions for setting up data centers, but there is no mention of how the environmental consequences of these initiatives shall be addressed or mitigation of them funded. Are these corridors necessary at all, given the large number of expressways being built all over the country? The corridors shall lead to large scale land acquisition and displacement of populations, adding to the 60 million project refugees already created since Independence. Hundreds of thousands of trees (and mangroves, since rare earths are found in large quantities in coastal areas) shall be felled. The boost to maritime fisheries is welcome, but where are the guard rails to ensure that the livelihoods of traditional fishermen will be protected and not replaced by mechanised trawlers or that measures shall be taken to curb overfishing? The data centers require humongous quantities of power and water- where will they come from in this water stressed country?

The damage to the environment by the various corridors will be enormous, as pointed out above. The dilution of the regulations that could have checked this, or compensated for it, such as the Forest Conservation Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Wildlife Protection Act, and the defenestration of the regulatory institutions, have so weakened these checks over the years that we can expect minimum oversight or safeguards in the execution of these projects.

Thousands of crores shall be needed to mitigate, and compensate for, the adverse impacts of these projects, but the Finance Minister has said not a word about this- about who will pay for it and where the funds shall come from. This silence and ambiguity appears to be a deliberate strategy of decentralisation of costs to the states: the political credit and financial gains will accrue to the Center, but the social and budgetary costs will have to be borne by the states from their own resources- an innovative (mis)interpretation of the concept idea of federalism!

Finally, it appears that the 16th Finance Commission is also in lockstep with the central govt. like all so-called autonomous institutions in this country. For it has chosen to completely ignore the right of the Himalayan states to fair compensation for the ecological services they provide to the country (water, clean air, carbon sequestration, climate moderation). These states, supported by a large number of advocacy groups, had demanded a Green Bonus of Rs. 50000 crores over the five year period of 2026-2031. Not only would this have been fair compensation, these funds would have met their developmental needs without having to resort to unsustainable  exploitation of their forests, rivers minerals and tourism potential. Any idiot can see that excessive and unsustainable "development" of the Himalaya (and other mountain ranges like the Aravallis and Western Ghats) is not in the interest of the country as a whole, and that therefore these mountain states should be incentivised not to do so.

But the 16th F.C. failed to see this simple truth. Early reports indicate that it has not provided any Green Bonus; nor has it provided any special grants (outside the Center's discretion, which has now become totally politicised) for climate mitigation or disaster relief. All it has done is tinker with the definition of forests which, in pure financial terms, is meaningless. Even worse, the 16th FC has now discontinued the RDG (Revenue Deficit Grant) which these states had been receiving since 1974, making a huge dent in their finances. They shall now have no option but to continue to ravage the fragile Himalayan environment to fund their development activities.

Whether or not the BJP gains from this year's Budget is a moot question; what is not moot is that the short-sighted neglect of the environment continues unabated in our planning and funding processes. Ms Sitharaman and her co-pilot in the Finance Commission have just nudged us a bit closer to environmental collapse, and the financial collapse of some states.

NOT JUST AQI, WHAT WE NEED IS A BSI ( BULLSHIT INDEX ).

 ONE has always had the highest admiration and respect for Merryll Streep' s acting qualities, graceful beauty and composure. To these qualities I should now add her strong moral conviction and the courage to speak out: her take down of Trump at the recent Golden Globe awards function was something to watch, and won her a standing ovation. (Hopefully our Bollywood marionettes watched it too). But I find that she is also relevant to the India of today: as proof, here is another of her statements:

" Funny thing about getting older, your eyesight starts getting weaker but your ability to see through people's bullshit gets much better."

I can vouch for the fact that never was a truer word spoken: at three score and fifteen, I can no longer spot the prettiest lady in a crowd before Neerja can bat an eyelid  (as I was wont to earlier), and I take quite a few wrong turns on the road as the traffic signs have become as blurred as Mr. Modi's visions for 2047, but give me a piece of bullshit and I can spot it for what it is instantly, through the layers of grandstanding, hypocrisy and ignorance which is the hallmark of our government and ruling classes.

IIT Kanpur got it all wrong when it diagnosed the NCR smog as consisting mainly of vehicle emissions, construction dust and paddy burning. It failed to detect a major ingredient- Bullshit (BS)- whose particles- BS 2.5 by lesser politicos and BS 10 by Ministers- have seen a major increase since 2014. These emissions are usually disguised as droplets of nationalism, religious revivalism or Viksit Bharat slogans. They affect, not the lungs, but the IQ of the residents here, which explains why the BJP keeps winning elections. In fact, I have a theory about this: the lower the IQ of a particular place, the higher its AQI readings. To test this thesis I am now looking for a nerd who can build a  B***S**T Index (BSI).

Readers would be well aware of the blasts of BS sprayed on a regular basis by those who decide the nation's destiny- that there is no connection between air pollution and lung diseases, that 2025 was the "cleanest" year in Delhi's history, that AQI and temperature are one and the same, that the EU trade deal is the "mother of all deals" (which presumably would make the Trade deal with the USA the "mother-in-law" of all deals), that mountains should be defined by height, not their ecological importance, that that those who feed stray dogs should keep them in their homes- the largest adoption programme in the world's history, considering that there are 70 million of these community dogs, that the US SEC's summons could not be served on Adani because it did not have an official stamp, that the globally acclaimed Sonam Wangchuk   is a security threat to India, that we need to take "revenge" for centuries of occupation by outside forces, that it is one Chief Minister's personal mission to hound a minority community and expel six lakhs of them from the state's voter list, that trade unions are responsible for the country's lack of progress. It's a long list, folks, and getting longer with each BJP election victory, which is why the smog keeps getting thicker.

But the mother of all BS 10's was discharged recently by our suave, foreign university educated (MBA, University of Pennsylvania) bureaucrat-turned-billionaire Railway Minister who announced that he was banning the wearing of "bandh gallas" in the Railways because it was a (British) "colonial legacy." Now, generations of IAS officers will agree that the bandhgalla is the nearest they have got to a hangman's noose, that it is an instrument of torture, especially during the summer months. It needs to go, for climatic reasons. But to banish it because it is a colonial vestige reeks of  ignorance and hypocrisy posturing as nationalism and  "desh bhakti". It also indicates that the Hon' Minister suffers from both long and short term memory loss.

He forgot that the "bandhgalla" is not a British invention-it (or a close variant of it) was the formal dress of the Mughal courts and the ruling families of Mewar and Rajasthan; the more showy "achkan" or "sherwani" also belongs to this apparel family. Worse, by landing up in Davos just a week later in a three-piece suit- an indisputably British attire - he not only displayed short term memory loss but also his lack of sincerity about banishing colonialism! 

Did he also forget that the whole system of railways in India was built by the British, replacing the humble bullock-cart, and changing the face of the country? Would he also like to ban (with a little help from the RSS, no doubt) the English language, the University system of education, allopathy, nuclear technology and the watch, sunglasses and pens which adorn our Prime Minister's personage, all products of colonial nations?                                                         Maybe he would like to rethink his passion for all things "colonial", be a bit more discriminatory and focus on those things and practices which truly reflect the worst of the colonial past and have no place in a modern India. Here is a short list:

Unelected (and usually unelectable) Governors who behave like Viceroys and lord it over elected governments; Raj Bhavans which function as opulent embassies of the Center in the states (and sometimes as dens of conspiracy); summer vacations of Supreme Court judges (even though tens of thousands of cases are pending in that court and no other institution enjoys this facility); the humiliating practice of addressing judges as "Mluds" in a free country; the royal trappings of just about everything in Rashtrapati Bhavan, including a cavalry regiment exclusively dedicated to escorting the President, on the lines of the Praetorian Guard of the Roman emperors, or the Garde Imperial of Napoleon, or the Gardes Suisses or the Gardes Francaisses of the Swiss and French monarchs, respectively. The President is no monarch, (or at least so we hope), and there is no need to display such in-your-face-pomp to the citizens of a democracy, especially when it comes at such a cost.

There are plenty of colonial practices which need to be jettisoned, but we can surely do better than begin with the bandhgalla ? When B***S**t becomes state policy, one has to agree with the dude who redefined Pranayam as : Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit. Which is why we need a BSI, folks