 "Best of BS Opinion: Tunnel vision, guaranteeing personal guarantees & more")
National relief at the rescue of 41 construction workers from the collapsed Silkyara tunnel after 17 days has been bolstered by impressive inter-agency cooperation and feted as a prime example of India’s jugaad capabilities. But the euphoria must be tempered by sobering realities. First, the hazardous last-mile operation at Silkyara was carried out by the most marginalised and poorest workers in the Indian labour chain, rat hole miners, an activity that was banned by the courts nine years ago. Second, the disaster must refocus attention on the huge environmental risks that the Centre and state government have been taking in indiscriminately building largely unneeded and poorly engineered infrastructure in the fragile Himalayan ecology. If there is a lesson from Silkyara, it is that environmental and workers’ safety should be paramount in India’s mega-infrastructure push, the second edit argues. Read it here.
In other views:
Amita Batra explains why the recently signed IPEF supply chain agreement is unlikely to go far in ensuring significant supply chain diversification. Read it here
M S Sahoo says that in guaranteeing personal guarantees, the apex court has rescued the institution of surety under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Read it here
The second edit examines the puzzle of rising demand for cash in the economy. Read it here
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