Jaguar solutionThe air in Delhi may have become more toxic following the statement of Ralph Speth, CEO of the UK-based Jaguar Land Rover. The top boss of the Tata-owned luxury carmaker has said that the vehicular emission from this luxury car is cleaner than what Delhiites breathe in the name of air. The top boss is naturally miffed at the ban on the sale of expensive diesel cars in Delhi. But Speth may have a point here. Jaguar comes with features, which conforms to the latest pollution norms of the European Union. Speth goes a step further with the suggestion that such cars can even help clean Delhi’s toxic atmospheric soup. Unfortunately, the Delhi government has just declared its intention of reinforcing the odd-even formula from April. Arvind Kejriwal should have instead urged the rich Delhiites to buy Jaguar SUVs and then made it mandatory for the owners to carry at least four people to work and back home. As an incentive for this carpool, the AAP government can reimburse the fuel charges to the owners. Given the population of the rich in Delhi, supposing a family of four buys four cars, Delhi may not need a public transport system.

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Conservative initiativeThe United Arab Republic (UAE) has always charted its own path. The country is moderately conservative and a free market economy with a fairly liberal constitution. Women are more educated and they are a prominent part of government, right from being ministers to being officials. It comes then as no surprise that Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of UAE, has announced the setting up of ministries of happiness, of tolerance and of youth. And he has also appointed women as ministers of these new portfolios. This is not a quixotic idea or gesture. The ruling class in the UAE has always been prudent in sensing the winds of change, and responding to it in an imaginative way. It seems that the UAE wants to preempt the fallout of Arab Spring of 2011 and the political turbulence that was unleashed in its wake. The government seems intent on anticipating the challenges of a polity that needs to cope not just with the economy but also those arising from social and psychological factors. The sense of paternalism behind the decisions might appear naive to many, and even repulsive to liberals of the Western kind, but the rulers and people of UAE are tackling problems in their own way.

Helping handIn a remarkable judgment, the Supreme Court has asked state governments and Union territories to create provisions to grant compensation of up to Rs10 lakh to rape victims. Given society’s attitude towards victims of sexual abuse, low rate of conviction and poor compensation from state administrations, the apex court’s order will bring immense relief to those who can now hope to rebuild their lives after the horrible experience. The order also asks governments to formulate rehabilitation packages and take a cue from Goa, which has the best compensation structure. Maharashtra being the only state with no framework of relief for women subject to sexual exploitation, needs to bring about a radical change in its outlook. In the absence of a uniform structure of compensation, it had been left to states and Union Territories to formulate their own policies. That clearly hasn’t worked. As the SC bench rightly observed that “no amount of money can erase the trauma and the grief the survivor suffers”, but “this aid can be crucial in the aftermath of crime”.