The rising garbage mountains of the once green and pleasant city that is Bangalore aka Bengaluru (pop. 8 million), which are all set to collapse in a deluge of plague and pestilence upon this city — paradoxically the country’s premier science and technology hub — is a grim precursor of things to come for 21st century India’s 7,900 cities, of whom over 70 will be burdened with endangered populations of 1 million plus by the year 2030. Widely acclaimed as the garden city of India until recently, this metropolis is being slowly asphyxiated by automobile pollution — over 2 million cars and motorcycles are choking its inadequate streets — and 4,000 tonnes of garbage which it generates daily is piling up on street corners, pavements and in its famous parks. Ironically, Bangalore’s estimated 100,000 scientists and technologists are unable to devise  tech solutions to address these grave urban blight challenges.

Clearly the civic problems which threaten to overwhelm the city — and most of the country’s urban habitats — are not intractable. The worldover, more populous cities are successfully coping with the challenges of traffic gridlock and garbage disposal, and providing their citizens healthy and productive work and residential environments. Effective civic governance is not rocket science. It requires empowered local government, application of modern technology and maintenance of law and order.

Unfortunately, municipal and rural local governments are the weakest link in the national governance hierarchy comprising the Central, state and local governments. Under the current dispensation, very limited powers of revenue mobilisation are conferred upon municipal and panchayat (rural) governments. This has stymied civic infrastructure development and maintenance in all urban habitats countrywide heavily dependent upon the largesse of state governments dominated by quasi-literate rustic politicians.

Consequently, municipal governments tend to be shockingly technology agnostic. Bangalore’s garbage crisis is the consequence of the failure of Bangalore Municipal Corporation’s ill-qualified engineers — as also of the city’s over-hyped IT industry tech wizards — to adapt technology solutions available off the shelf, to resolve the city’s waste disposal problem. And at bottom is the root problem of the steady ruralisation of Bangalore and the nation’s cities. Sustained neglect of agriculture and rural development by the Central and state governments, has accelerated rural migration into urban habitats transforming the nation’s wealth-generating cities into replicas of the country’s backward villages.

Yet all is not lost for India’s sinking cities. The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution which expand the jurisdiction of local including municipal administrations — but have been neutered by state governments — need to be given teeth by devolution of powers of taxation to enable effective local governance. This will empower municipal governments to invest in technology and maintenance of law and order. It’s pertinent to note that the nation’s cities as hubs of commerce and industry generate an overwhelming proportion of India’s GDP. If allowed to degenerate into cesspools of squalor, the Indian economy will collapse.

Reluctance to invoke defamation laws

In a properly functioning democracy, victims of slurs, slander and libel should have recourse to speedy and retributive justice. Sadly, India’s judicial system is a miserable failure in this respect. In the past few weeks, a slew of charges alleging fraud and corruption have been made against prominent individuals in public and corporate life. Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal has accused the Ambani brothers, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, the Burmans of Dabur, and Congress MP Annu Tandon (whose late husband was a senior official with Reliance Industries) of illegally maintaining accounts of millions of dollars in Swiss banks abroad. All have vigorously denied these allegations.

Kejriwal has also alleged that Union minister Salman Khurshid and his wife, Louise have defalcated the funds of a non-government organisation (NGO), which receives government grants for people with disabilities. Khurshid has vehemently denied the charge. But he needs to go beyond mere denial and throw the book at Kejriwal for slander, libel and defamation. Similarly, maverick Janata Party chief, Subramanian Swamy recently made serious allegations against Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul over the acquisition of a company which published the now defunct National Herald, with Congress party funds for their personal benefit.

The law of defamation in India is based on English common law as practiced in Britain, the US and commonwealth countries. Indeed in India, defamation laws are more stringent as defamation is a criminal and civil offence, whereas in the countries cited above, it’s only a civil tort (personal injury offence) for which a victim is entitled to claim money damages as compensation. Yet despite this limitation, victims of defamation receive justice by way of compensation quickly and effectively.

The standard excuse of the high and mighty accused of fraud by Kejriwal and others is that huge court fees — a scandalous tax on justice delivery which is supinely endorsed by the Indian intelligentsia — is payable on civil actions without any assurance of speedy adjudication. But while this would prevent ‘mango’ people from filing defamation suits, it shouldn’t deter India’s billionaire politicians and business tycoons. Perhaps they are well aware that truth is a valid defence in defamation law.

Be that as it may, it’s indisputable that India’s judicial system has become a shambles over the years, with cases being endlessly and needlessly prolonged. Moreover, there is rising incidence of corruption within the judiciary. Thus defamatory statements are not seriously challenged, and if filed, are settled out of court. In the circumstances it’s hardly surprising that serious — and sometimes wild — allegations are made day in and day out in the print and television media, and latterly also in social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Against this backdrop the case for urgent reform and thorough overhaul of the judicial system has become stronger.