u/MACVXACE

Check if you are able to from your phone. And one thing that I noticed while giving awards through phone, phone starts vibrating for the few sec ( till the animations play ).

Happy weekend y'all. #5

( I almost forgot about this one lol, as I didn't got enough reach last time ) But here I come. 😀

In the noise of our democracy, the quietest protests are often the most deafening. Today, as we witness Sir Sonam Wangchuk battling the bitter cold and government indifference for the future of Ladakh, we are haunted by a chilling historical parallel.

Eight years ago, another distinguished scientist-turned-satyagrahi, Professor G.D. Agrawal (Swami Sanand), sat in a similar silence. He waited 111 days for a response that never came—until his heart stopped.

If you want to understand the gravity of Sonam Wangchuk’s current struggle, you must understand the tragedy of Professor Agrawal.

1. The Man: Who Was G.D. Agrawal?

Before he was a sanyasi, G.D. Agrawal was not just an activist; he was the architect of India’s environmental regulations.

• The Scientist: He was a Professor at IIT Kanpur and the first Member-Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). He held a PhD from UC Berkeley.
• The Believer: He bridged science and spirituality, believing that the Ganga was not just a water body (H2O) but a living ecological system with self-purifying qualities (Aviral and Nirmal).
• The Shift: Realizing that policy papers were ignored by politicians, he renounced his comfortable life in 2011 to become Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, using Satyagraha (fasting) as his last weapon.

2. The Struggle: The 111-Day Fast (2018)

In 2018, at the age of 86, Professor Agrawal began his final fast at Matri Sadan, Haridwar. His demands were not radical; they were scientific necessities for the river's survival:

• Stop Hydroelectric Projects: Halt the construction of dams on the pristine upper reaches (Alaknanda, Mandakini, etc.) that were choking the river’s flow.
• The Ganga Act: Enact the Ganga Protection Management Act (a draft he helped prepare) to give the river legal rights.
• End Mining: Stop illegal riverbed mining in the Kumbh area.

3. The Timeline of Apathy

This is where the story mirrors the current reality of Ladakh:

• June 22, 2018: He begins his fast.
• The Letters: He wrote three separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, explaining the science and his demands.
  • Result: He received no direct reply from the PM. The only response was a bureaucratic letter from Minister Nitin Gadkari urging him to stop.
• October 9, 2018: Disheartened by the government's prioritization of "development" over the environment, he renounced water.
• October 10, 2018: Authorities forcefully removed him from his protest site to AIIMS Rishikesh, citing his health.
• October 11, 2018: He passed away from cardiac arrest. He died feeling betrayed by the very system he had served as a scientist.

The irony: Condolences poured in on Twitter after his death, from the very leaders who ignored his letters while he was alive.

4. The Parallel: Sonam Wangchuk (The Current Struggle)

Today, Sonam Wangchuk stands where Professor Agrawal stood. The parallels are terrifyingly exact:

• The Profile: Like Agrawal, Wangchuk is a man of science (Engineer, Innovator, SECMOL founder) who has dedicated his life to solutions, not just problems.
• The Cause: Just as Agrawal fought for the ecological integrity of the Ganga, Wangchuk is fighting for the ecological integrity of the Himalayas. His demand for the Sixth Schedule is essentially a demand for legal protection against unchecked industrial exploitation—exactly what Agrawal’s "Ganga Act" was.
• The Method: Both resorted to the Gandhian tool of indefinite fasting (Climate Fast) because all other avenues of dialogue were shut.
• The Response: The "deafening silence." Just as Delhi ignored the letters from Haridwar in 2018, there is a perceived lack of urgent, high-level engagement with the demands rising from Ladakh today.

History has a cruel way of repeating itself. In 2018, we lost a legendary IIT professor because the state calculated that his protest could be waited out. It ended in a national tragedy.

Sonam Wangchuk's struggle is not just about Ladakh; it is a test of whether our democracy has learned anything from the death of G.D. Agrawal. We cannot afford to lose another visionary to the silence of the administration.

I personally don't own any car, hence I am genuinely confused ( Although We use same petrol for bikes too ).

Now, I was watching a recent interview of Nitin Gadkari in which he was defending the use of Ethanol. The primary argumensts that he repeated were that india would reduced the 22lakhCr of Petrol Import. And it is good to reduced pollution and it gives good enough rates to farmer.
The primary question that he could not answer clearly were: despite him claiming about the cost reduction of petrol when ethanol would be blended with petrol, Petrol price have seen no reduced and its increasing rapidly. So what is the benefit, Arn't customers paying it with their milage drop and extra money.

They claim that after 2023 all vehicles are E20 compiled, Now the thing is do they really expect a vast majority of population to switch thier cars to 2023 models? Why are customers with models older than 2023 ones are being ignored.

And there are lot more concerns regarding ethanol that needs to be seriously addressed.

Now if government Is facing so much criticism, why dont government improves the EV charging facilities and all so that people who are fed up with this drama can peacefully Own and Drive their Ev's.

Questions:- why should I pay more for less milage and worst quality?
Who would be responsible for all the extra repair cost that ones has to bear because of Ethanol?
Why did the costs didn't reduced?
Is ethanol even a good alternative?
"To produce 1 liter of anhydrous ethanol (ready for blending), the total water footprint is overwhelmingly dominated by growing the crops rather than the industrial refining. 

For the most common crops, the total "Farm-to-Fuel" water cycle consumes:

• Rice: ~10,790 liters of water
• Maize (Corn): ~4,670 liters of water
• Sugarcane: ~1,600 – 3,630 liters of water."

If we focus to improve the existing resources and focus on making existing things better compatible then useage of Ethanol seem justified. otherwise why should one pay more to get less and that to with problems as bonus.

Few links that would be good to watch:- https://youtu.be/z8-a3iuYMwQ?si=C-lJwBscgJf7alBk ( Interview of Gadkari )
https://youtu.be/xhiUa0oD_6Q?si=b7O6AAhf-Zq_0qWg (News Pinch)

This is my opinion for which i am looking for answers.
(Posting this here as car users seem most affected ).
Edit:- r/CarsInidia removed it

https://preview.redd.it/6rd7jw8jd6dh1.png?width=2940&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd1d4ec2255c330cf143af083eb9f299d704ea1c

Happy weekend Y'all.