Amita Singh

Fix administrative onus for illegal constructions

September 1, 2022

The Supertech towers are demolished, leaving behind grave questions of accountability of many undetected partners in crime. Considering that Indian cities are expected to double their population by 2050 with many new megacities added, one cannot afford to repeat such a calamity. Our concerns on accountability of city and district...

Focus on UN resolution on religion, beliefs

August 25, 2022

Our country just waded through the UN declared International Day to Commemorate the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on 22 August. The General Assembly, however, failed to elaborate on the limits to practicing “religions” as well as “beliefs”. The terms “religion” and “beliefs” are the...

Animals, when disaster strikes

August 20, 2022

Public policies inherently focus on problems in captions not in the content that follows. While carcass of big cash earning animals like tigers, elephants and livestock make news, the smaller ones just disappear. Animal protection laws suffer from lack of equity which is morality, fairness and good conscience. The judiciary...

Momentous initiative by Sadhguru, PM Modi on soil conservation

June 16, 2022

A recent initiative on soil conservation by the illustrious Sadhguru of Isha Foundation, followed by a passionate speech on this concern by Prime Minister Narendra Modi provokes a much desirable discourse on soil conservation as a sine qua non of life on earth. Sadhguru is not exaggerating to say that...

Environment day with a missing spring and lost souls

June 2, 2022

We did not get the most joyful season “the Spring” this year. I am scared to believe that this may be repeated next year too. This season’s greatest offspring have defined music, poetry, songs, and dances, splashed brightest colours in festivals and community ceremonials nonetheless nature’s strongest wilderness singers forming...

Biodiversity is our shared future

May 19, 2022

Every year the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) announces a theme-specific for that year’s Biodiversity Day on 22nd May. This year a theme that needs much introspection on the policy front is ‘Building a shared future for all life’. While the theme is a stark reminder to...

Political recidivism beyond courts to control

April 28, 2022

Political recidivism is a tendency of politicians to relapse into criminal activities despite correctional measures used upon them from time to time. When a lawmaker insists on chanting a religious devotional hymn not in his private worship space (Puja Griha) or in any other place appropriate to the honour of...

Smart cities raised over virtual communities

April 21, 2022

This last section of my ongoing series on smart cities will focus on an unresolved gulf between virtual and real communities that influence decisions on a city’s ‘smartness’ and on their ranking scale. We know that selected cities are expected to prepare project proposals around ‘citizen’s aspirations’ before the Mission...

Police constables in smart cities

April 14, 2022

The ‘Constabulary’, seen as a ‘Beat Constable’ or the ‘PCR’ has received least attention in police smartening drives. The fact that they give a ‘face’ to policing by being first responders to city’s or citizen’s emergency has also been understudied. Smart cities see proactive patrols through a fleet of smart...

Smart cities need smart answers for stray animals

April 7, 2022

In 1999, as I was sitting on the broken rim of a waste filled well in Nathupur village, (currently main hub of Gurugram district) Rajlaxmi a herder woman started talking to me while holding a gorgeously smart 3 feet tall ram by his ears. She had seen admiration in my...

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