The inclusion of the right to free and safe clean air and water as a basic human right is increasingly vital in the context of the fast-emerging ecological crisis, driven primarily by global warming and climate change. Humanizing the police and implementing substantial reforms are also the demands of bad times.

The Taj City has become a hub of Homeopathy treatment, with a dozen local Homeopaths getting international recognition for their pioneering efforts. A Prestigious German group recently honoured Dr Pradip Gupta, who runs the Neminath Homeopathy Hospital.

Despite numerous demands over the years, there seems to be no possibility of establishing a High Court bench in Agra. The Jaswant Singh Commission had recommended the establishment of a High Court bench in the city of the Taj, for which BJP leaders had been agitating for years, but now everyone has forgotten about it. The demand for Harit Pradesh or Braj Pradesh has also been cold storage.

A city on the brink, Agra now teeters on the edge of a disaster. The spectre of Bhopal's tragic legacy looms large, as the city's industrial landscape, marked by lax safety standards and regulatory apathy, poses a grave threat to its residents.

Early Sunday morning in smoggy conditions, an 18-year-old youth was running alongside trucks and buses on the busy Yamuna Kinara road. When stopped for a brief chat, he expressed his frustration, "When there are no free playgrounds or open spaces, where should we practice running and stamina building for competitions?

One question that keeps coming up is still waiting for an answer. Can't the fundamentalist beliefs of a particular religion keep pace with the democratic lifestyle and open society values?