Delhi : Impound only those vehicles which spread pollution
Citing technical glitches in ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras and sensors, non-enforcement in neighbouring states and general public outcry, Delhi government has requested CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) in National Capital Region to keep the decision to deny fuel and impound end-of-life two- and four-wheeler vehicles on hold.
Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta, who was my guest in ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show, to be telecast on India TV on Saturday night said: “It is our misfortune that Delhi has been declared one of the worst polluted cities in the world. The previous government did not take any serious steps to stop air pollution and the capital, instead of becoming a green city, became a gas chamber. It was then that the courts, National Green Tribunal and CAQM stepped in. The order to deny fuel to petrol and diesel vehicles that are 10 to 15 years old was issued by CAQM. I think this order is not justified.’
Rekha Gupta explained: “I would like to assure the people of Delhi that our government would ensure no injustice is done to the people. We will place this view before the courts, NGT and CAQM. There are thousands of middle class families, including my father, who use their vehicles occasionally… The previous Kejriwal government had been scrapping old vehicles since last one and a half years. ..In the past, the government did not do its duty and the people had to face the music ….. Our government will not allow people to face injustice for keeping old vehicles. There is no logic behind refusing fuel to old vehicles in Delhi, and allowing neighbouring states in NCR to sell fuel.”
Ban on selling fuel to 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles was enforced from July 1 and 158 vehicles were impounded till Wednesday. There are thousands of vehicle owners in Delhi who rarely use their old vehicles, but they are now facing the possibility of their vehicles being impounded and scrapped.
In 2014, National Green Tribunal had ordered that 10 to 15 years old vehicles should not be allowed public parking space. In 2018, Supreme Court directed that all 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles in Delhi be impounded. For ten years, when Arvind Kejriwal was the Chief Minister, his government dithered and did not take any concrete decision. In 2025, CAQM ordered that the Supreme Court order be enforced from July 1. ANPR cameras were installed at all petrol pumps, police was deployed and old vehicles were impounded.
This has caused panic among the denizen of Delhi. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa wrote a letter to CAQM requesting the order be kept in abeyance, but since the apex court and NGT have already issued orders, it will take time to resolve this crisis.
The question is: why didn’t Kejriwal’s government put its argument before NGT and apex court that in order to curb pollution, only those vehicles must be seized which are creating air pollution, whether they are two- or 20-years-old? It does not make any difference. If the vehicle is fit and if its pollution level is within permissible limit, where is the logic behind impounding them?
Trinamool man convicted of post-poll rape of minor in Bengal
In the first post-poll violence case in West Bengal, a special POCSO court in Malda has convicted a Trinamool Congress supporter and retired school teacher, Rafiqul Islam for raping a nine-year-old girl in June, 2021. The victim’s parents had cast their votes for BJP in the state assembly elections.
On the order of Calcutta High Court, CBI was asked to probe this case and 22 witnesses deposed before the court. The girl’s parents are labourers and they have demanded death for Rafiqul Islam.
This is one of 55 similar cases in which post-poll political violence shook Bengal after the assembly elections. In another case, CBI has framed TMC MLA Paresh Pal, councillors Swapan Samaddar and Papiya Ghosh as accused in the murder of BJP leader Abhijit Sarkar in Kankurgachi, Kolkata. 18 persons, including three police officers, have been named in the supplementary chargesheet.
On May 2, 2021, Abhijit Sarkar was beaten to death after poll results came out. Sarkar was making videos of TMC workers carrying out violence in the homes of BJP supporters. Abhijit Sarkar’s brother Biswajit alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s supporters forcibly entered their home and beat up his mother and brother. They then murdered Abhijit Sarkar.
Political violence is not new in Bengal. Such violence takes place mostly after the elections. Post panchayat elections, village pradhans who were elected on BJP ticket had to flee from their homes to neighbouring Jharkhand. They were facing attacks from Mamata’s supporters and police did not provide them any protection.
On August 19, 2021, a five-judge bench of Calcutta High Court handed over all post-poll violence cases pertaining to murder and rape after elections to the CBI, which registered 55 cases. Chargesheets have been filed in most of these cases and trial is in progress.
CBI has appointed special counsels in different courts. Today’s case was the first one in which the minor girl was raped. Now that the verdict has come, Trinamool Congress leaders cannot claim that their party has no hand in post-poll violence.
Deepfake videos : A scourge for civil society
A strange case of two youths from Nuh, Haryana, making an AI-generated deepfake obscene video of Samajwadi Party MP from UP, Ikra Hasan, has come to light. The two boys uploaded the video on social media and it soon became viral. The youths, aged 13-14 years are illiterate. They created a fake Facebook page in the name of Ikra Hasan, MP. In their bid to increase the number of followers, they made an AI-generated deepfake obscene video of the MP.
Ikra Hasan contacted a Congress leader Razia Bano in Nuh, and after inquiry, the two youths from Aamka village in Nuh were nabbed. A village panchayat was held where the two boys admitted their guilt. They were given a sound thrashing and let off with a warning.
Though the two youths apologized, the deepfake obscene video had already circulated far and wide, and became viral on several platforms.
Nuh in Haryana has become a centre for cybercrimes and deepfake videos. Criminals operating from Nuh carry out ‘digital arrest’ and swindle money from innocent people.
In Iqra Hasan’s case, since the two offenders were adolescent, no legal action was taken. But this is clear proof of how AI deepfake videos have become a scourge in today’s society.
In today’s hyperactive digital world, it is difficult to block such objectionable content completely. Once such video is uploaded on a social media platform, the victim will have to first prove that the content is deepfake, he or she has to lodge a complaint with the police, and on police instruction or at the request of the victim, the social media platform will have to remove the deepfake video. The victim may also have to do the rounds of law courts to get relief.
In the recent past, I had also been a victim of deepfake videos. The offenders used to sell spurious medicines or promote investment by using my actual video overlaid with AI-generated fake sound. All such videos that show me selling medicines or investments are fake. I frequently get information from my friends and viewers about such fake videos.
I have a dynamic order from the court, and whenever such deepfake videos come to my notice, I get them removed from the platforms. But after a few days, another deepfake video surfaces. This is a problem that has afflicted people across the world. Already there is serious thinking going on as to how to curb such crimes.
Why Modi picked Rekha Gupta as Delhi CM?
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta was today sworn in as the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi before a huge gathering at the historic Ramlila Maidan. Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Raviraj Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Kumar Singh also took oath as ministers, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Singh, other top BJP leaders and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and NDA allies including N. Chandrababu Naidu.
With this, BJP has returned to power in Delhi after 27 years. Congratulating the new CM and other ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that “this team beautifully mixes vigour and experience, and it will surely ensure good governance in Delhi.”
Soon after the swearing-in, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced that the first instalment of income support to women at the rate of Rs 2,500 per month, under Mahila Samridhi Yojana, will be credited to their bank accounts by March 8.
The main question hovering in the minds of people was why the party leadership took 12 days to decide about the chief minister in full secrecy till the time the name was announced on Wednesday evening at the legislative party meeting. I think, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked the women voters of Delhi for their support and trust by picking Rekha Gupta as the chief minister. Now that she has taken over as the chief minister, her first responsibility will be to ensure that women get Rs 2,500 every month as was promised in the BJP Sankalp Patra.
The best path for the BJP to express its gratitude to the voters of Delhi will be to work as superspeed and implement the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, Rs 500 LPG cylinder and Ayushman Bharat Yojana for providing health cover up to Rs 5 lakhs per family per year to poor and vulnerable sections of people. This will not be a difficult task. Only orders need to be issued.
However, the biggest challenge for the Delhi chief minister will be to work on a war footing to rid the capital of air pollution, repair potholes on roads, provide clean drinking water and clean up the Yamuna river. If work starts fast on these fronts, the people of Delhi will feel that they have not done a mistake by giving BJP a chance to serve the city after a long hiatus of 27 years.
If Maharashtra was lost because of voters’ list, what about Delhi?
A day before BJP swept to power in Delhi after 27 years after getting an emphatic mandate in the assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Mumbai, where he demanded that the Election Commission must have over to his party detailed list of voters of the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Rahul Gandhi, along with NCP (Sharad) leader Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut addressed a joint press conference where he alleged that 39 lakh voters were added during the five-month period between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state. Rahul Gandhi said, on the contrary, only 32 lakh voters were handed during the five years period from 2019 to 2024.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that the adult population in Maharashtra was 9.54 crore, as per government data, but the number of voters is 9.7 crore. “We want to know who are these new voters?”, Rahul Gandhi asked.
Sanjay Raut alleged that BJP has invented a new formula to win elections with the help of Election Commission. He said, the 39 lakh new voters in Maharashtra will now be added to the Bihar voter lists, since Bihar would be going to elections towards the end of this year.
“This is the floating voter, who move from one state to another, where elections are held. BJP wins elections with the help of these floating voters”, Raut said.
Supriya Sule demanded paper ballots to replace EVMs. She alleged that the EC never listens to opposition parties’ demand for repoll, nor listen to their demand for change in poll symbols. “The EC never replies to our complaints. If you want to save democracy, the EC must reply to all our queries”, she said.
The fact is, Rahul Gandhi never sticks to figures whenever he makes allegations. In the last three weeks, he had raised the allegation of malpractices in electoral lists at least thrice. Every time, he changes his figures.
On January 18, while addressing a rally in Patna, Rahul Gandhi said, the number of voters in Maharashtra rose by one crore in the last five months. On February 3, while speaking in Lok Sabha, he put this figure at 70 lakhs. On Friday, he said the figure was 39 lakhs. It is now difficult for anybody to decide which figure could be correct.
The Election Commission on Friday said, it would respond to Rahul Gandhi’s charges with full facts and figures. In a tweet on X, Election Commission said, it “would respond in writing with full factual and procedures matrix uniformly adopted across” India.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, since Congress is going to be decimated again in Delhi elections, Rahul Gandhi is trying to prepare a ground for giving excuses for his party’s impending defeat.
Fadnavis said, “it would be better if Rahul Gandhi introspects, otherwise the Congress party is bound to sink”.
Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said, the defeat in Maharashtra assembly polls has acted as an electric shock for Maha Vikas Aghadi and Rahul Gandhi is unable to reconcile with reality. “He is only making excuses. It will be better if Rahul Gandhi forgets the past and prepare for fresh elections”, Shinde said.
Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane compared Rahul, Sanjay Raut and Supriya Sule with the “3 idiots”. He said, “earlier Congress and its allies used to get en bloc Muslim votes and the Hindu votes used to be divided. This time Hindus voted unitedly and MVA got a shock. If Rahul and Supriya Sule have problems with EVMs, they should first resign from Parliament and tell the people that they do not want to remain MP by becoming elected on the basis of EVMs.”
I think, Rahul Gandhi sometimes speaks whatever is given to him in writing. He does not do research on his own. I have seen the Election Commission figures. The Congress was in power in 2009. From 2009 to 2014, 75 lakh new voters were added in Maharashtra electoral lists. From 2014 to 2019 assembly elections, 63.1 lakh new voters were added. From 2019 to 2024, 71.84 lakh voters were added.
The pattern is the same. I have given here the figures. It is for the people to decide whether the charges of manipulation in electoral rolls can stand close scrutiny.
Artificial Rain in Delhi: Is it possible?
Air pollution in Delhi-National Capital Region has touched ‘severe-plus’ category for the third consecutive day, with people in the capital gasping for breath. Delhi government has asked 50 pc of its staff to work from home.
As early morning smog covered the capital, visibility at Delhi airport was 800 meters on Tuesday at 7 am. Since Monday morning, GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) Stage 4 is in force, with all schools and colleges of Delhi University closed. Blanket ban has been imposed on construction/demolition activities, while entry of diesel trucks into Delhi has been prohibited.
Despite all-out efforts, air quality index is not improving. Experts say, if the situation continues, people in the capital region will be forced to inhale poisonous air. Everything now depends on wind speed and light rain, which can improve the air quality index.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has requested Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav to convene an urgent meeting to explore carrying out of artificial rain through seeded clouds as an emergency measure.
Leaders of different political parties are presently engaged in blame game, but the only solution available is this: If strong winds blow in the capital, or if there is sudden rain, the air quality index will improve dramatically. Blowing of wind cannot be controlled artificially, but artificial rain is being projected as one of the solutions.
Some people have suggested that if Dubai can carry out artificial rain through cloud seeding, why can’t Delhi? According to one report, efforts were made to bring artificial rain in Delhi in 2019 and 2021, but proved futile.
For cloud seeding, one needs clouds in the sky and a bit of moisture in the air. In winter, air in Delhi is usually cold and dry. Cloud seeding process can only convert moisture in the air into rain drops. Had there been clouds in Delhi’s sky and a bit of humidity in air, artificial rain was possible. Experts are ruling out this option for the moment.