‘Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right.’ ‘It is intrinsic to right to life’.

The historic judgment of the Supreme Court delivered today will have far reaching consequences. The right of the individual which is being trampled upon by the corporates and the government, has been restored in law, by the highest judiciary of the country. The constitution has been upheld.

The railway accident at Khatauli, U.P., two days back causing death of many people and injury to hundreds has brought the issues of security and functioning of the Railways in to  the open. Minister, Railway Board and the employees are all giving contradictory statement, starting a blame game, while the people are suffering.

The issues are serious and is concerning the lives of the people. It is very clear that the continuous governments have been ignoring the safety concerns and upgradation, repair work etc. The number of employees required as per standards are not maintained.  A look in to the shortage of staff show the utter neglect of the management in this respect:

The number of railway employees have been reduced almost half during the last 40 years or so while the number of new railway lines and trains have increased, including the goods trains. A report published in ‘Deshabhimani’ daily mentions about the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways which has noted that out of the 1,04,445 Loco Pilots required to run the trains, only 83,098 are available with a vacancy of 21,347  unfilled. Many good trains are stranded due to shortage of Loco pilots. It is the same with the case of Station Masters, repair people etc.

The government is fully responsible for the continuing accidents. Immediately after an accident, a committee to inquire in the matter is appointed, but what is the report of the committee or what action is taken on the report is usually not known.

It seems that the government is completely ignoring  and weakening the Railways to find  justification of privatisation of this great institution for the benefit of the corporates.

A thorough inquiry in all these matters should be ordered and necessary action to save the lives of the travelers.

There is an article published in Hindu dated 21-08-2017 in the Editorial page with the above mentioned heading. After narrating about the daily show of hate and patriotism by both the Indian and Pakistani soldiers, which has become a show with thousands of visitors on both the sides cheering and encouraging, the authors have asked a very relevant question : ‘Is it necessary to continue this patriot games?’. They continue: ‘Seventy years may not be a long time in the lives of two post-colonial nations, but the 70th anniversary of freedom is a good time to start accepting each other’s existence as sovereign independent entities. India needs to accept Pakistan’s tryst with destiny and what it does with it, and vice-versa.’

The opinion is worth discussion by the people and governments of both he countries.

Thousands of people marched through the city of Boston shouting “No Nazis, no KKK, no fascists in the USA!”, “Stop pretending your racism is patriotism,””Our country will soon come together as one!” 

It was a direct rebuff to the statement of US President Donald Trump congratulating the participants of a racist rally stating that they are “very fine people.” Now the people have given a fitting reply to the Trump Government.

Such a rebuff is necessary to those in India also who want to raise communal hatred and to destroy secular fabric of the country.

Almost all the big and small cities in the country faces severe traffic jams, causing loss of time and unnecessary harassment to the people. Lakhs of new vehicles, mainly cars, are joining the existing number of vehicles. Despite many suggestions and recommendations, the situation has not improved, rather worsened.

Loss of time, difficulties, harassment, more pollution, higher expenditure, increasing accidents, road rage – what is the remedy? The central and state governments, experts, people’s representatives, manufacturers – all have to think about and find out solutions to this menace.