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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 3:50:16 pm

Systemic Rot

The agitation over irregularities in the MPSC system has exposed the fragility of public recruitment in the state. This systemic problem threatens not merely careers but the confidence in the promise of equal opportunity. A public examination rests on an elementary compact which is that candidates invest their time and money and the state promises a fair contest. When that compact is compromised, the damage extends well beyond a cancelled paper. It corrodes faith in the proposition that...

Systemic Rot

The agitation over irregularities in the MPSC system has exposed the fragility of public recruitment in the state. This systemic problem threatens not merely careers but the confidence in the promise of equal opportunity. A public examination rests on an elementary compact which is that candidates invest their time and money and the state promises a fair contest. When that compact is compromised, the damage extends well beyond a cancelled paper. It corrodes faith in the proposition that ability, rather than influence or access, determines who gets a government job. The government finally has agreed to a judicially headed inquiry into alleged irregularities, including paper leaks. The panel, chaired by former judge Dilip Bhosale, includes senior IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe as secretary. Its mandate is to examine the allegations, with a report expected within 60 days. In recent years, the MPSC has been bedevilled by repeated disruptions, uncertainty over examination schedules and questions about the commission’s transparency that have frustrated the dreams of aspirants, many of them from rural Maharashtra. Competitive examinations, be it the UPSC or MPSC, consume years of preparation, coaching fees and family savings. Many candidates come from modest backgrounds, for whom a government appointment represents economic security and upward mobility. A compromised examination imposes costs that cannot be measured by the expense of conducting it again. Time lost cannot be restored, and candidates who have prepared honestly should not have to bear the consequences of institutional failure. The government’s concessions address several immediate grievances. These include a commitment to recruit 70,000 people over three years, increase vacancies through the Group C examination, and withdraw cases registered against protesters. But recruitment targets require published schedules and transparent results. Without these, the government’s commitment risks becoming another empty announcement against which aspirants must eventually agitate. The government must realise that institutional, rather than individual, accountability matters more in fixing systemic rots in bodies like the MPSC. The commission needs safeguards against paper leaks; it needs secure independent audits, and a credible mechanism for investigating complaints. The political participation of opposition leaders has inevitably complicated the protest. But political involvement does not, by itself, invalidate legitimate grievances. Equally, the government must resist treating public order as a substitute for addressing the substance of the agitation. The students have returned to their studies, but the underlying dispute remains unresolved. The 60-day inquiry offers the government an opportunity to replace assurances with evidence and reform. Its credibility will depend on the independence of the investigation, the publication of its findings and the implementation of its recommendations. For the MPSC, the real examination has only begun. Its real test is whether it can restore the belief among Maharashtra’s students that merit, and not manipulation, determines who gets through.

Choking Mumbai

Correspondent
Apr 22, 2025
2 min read

For decades, Mumbai was perceived as a rare urban oasis, where the saline sweep of the Arabian Sea blunted the worst ravages of India's air pollution. That illusion has now been dispelled. A meticulous four-year study by Respirer Living Sciences (RLS), using data from its AtlasAQ platform, reveals the bleak truth that the city’s air is thick with pollutants all year round, with no ‘clean season’ left.


Mumbai’s annual average levels of PM10 (particulate matter ten microns or less in diameter) have consistently breached the national safety threshold of 60 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³). This is not merely a seasonal malaise tied to cooler winter months, as once assumed. Alarmingly, the city’s pollution levels persist even through the hot season, a time when improved atmospheric dispersion should offer natural reprieve.


Across the city - from Chakala in Andheri East to Deonar, Kurla, Vile Parle West and Mazgaon - pollution has become an unrelenting, ubiquitous presence.


The culprits are well known: traffic emissions from a burgeoning number of vehicles; unregulated dust from frenzied construction; industrial activity in and around the ports; and a conspicuous lack of dust control measures. Mumbai’s ceaseless growth now risks becoming a chronic liability.


Worryingly, the regulatory response remains sluggish. Mumbai’s urban planning continues to treat clean air as a peripheral concern, not a foundational necessity. Development plans rarely integrate environmental impact assessments in a meaningful way.


A sharper, citywide strategy is urgently needed. Dust suppression rules at construction sites must be enforced strictly, with financial penalties for violators and incentives for best practices. Traffic management systems should be overhauled to ease congestion and encourage the use of public transport. Expansion of clean, reliable mass transit network needs to be urgently prioritised. In addition, comprehensive real-time air monitoring at the ward level should be deployed, enabling authorities to respond to localised pollution spikes swiftly rather than relying on citywide averages that conceal dangerous hotspots.


Longer-term, clean air targets must be hardwired into the city’s master planning and transport policies. Green buffers along major traffic corridors, stricter emission norms for commercial vehicles and incentives for rooftop gardens and urban afforestation could all play a part. Industrial zones near port areas should be subjected to rigorous air quality compliance measures, not token self-certifications. Private developers and large infrastructure firms, often among the worst offenders, must be made stakeholders in the clean air mission through binding regulations.


Mumbai’s commercial dynamism - as a magnet for migrants, entrepreneurs and investors - depends not just on glittering skyscrapers but on something far more basic: the ability to breathe. Unless clean air becomes an unshakeable priority, the city risks suffocating its own future. For a metropolis that prides itself on its resilience against terror attacks, monsoon floods and economic shocks, the real test will be whether it can muster the will to fight an invisible, pervasive enemy slowly corroding the lives of its 20 million citizens.

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