By Maxwell Pereira
Summer is in… and it is time for people to design ways and means to ward off the heat. Especially for those that enjoy air-conditioning in their cars, the tendency is to resort to darkening of their vehicle glasses with a ‘tint’ in the belief that this helps keep the heat out.
There are many other reasons too – imagined or otherwise, for people to want to be ‘tinted’. The need for privacy, to lend a form of style or aesthetics, the perceived need for security – single females driving alone at night often come up with this one, and for those criminally minded to keep their mugs and nefarious designs from public view.
Spelling out from the road traffic safety point of view some salient features on the use of tinted glasses, BHT Roberts MD in his book “The Causes, Ecology & Prevention of Traffic Accidents” has held that a filmed windshield or rear window can reduce visibility severely, especially at night. Slight tinting of the upper front windshield and rear window - especially along the glass borders, may help reduce both glare and vehicular temperature. But excessive tinting is undesirable because it can interfere with visual acuity and create excessive dimness on cloudy days. This goes for dusty days too. That while the equivalent loss of headlight power is 30%, the loss of effectiveness in seeing red brake or stop lights is 60% - as red light is transmitted through a tinted windshield with greater difficulty as compared to through an un-tinted windshield. That one can readily inspect a windshield for these features by standing in front of it and then visualizing objects in or behind the car. No distortions or other irregularities should be seen.
Provisions against the use of tinted glasses were incorporated under Rule 100 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules – 1989; which read “…the glass of the front windscreen, and side and rear windows of every motor vehicle shall be such and maintained in such condition as to be clearly transparent and allow the driver a clear vision to the front and to the sides and through the prescribed mirror to the rear of the vehicle”. Enforcement of this rule was not immediate.
However, following a series of criminal cases in which the use vehicles with tinted glasses was observed during the early 1990s… when the Government decided to crack down on such ‘tint’ed activity, it was then observed that there were no clear cut directions in the Rule prescribing or defining the minimum level of transparency to be ensured, nor was there any equipment available with the enforcing authorities to measure the same. Consequently, the then Traffic managers of Delhi adopted an ingenious campaign against the use of tinted glasses by merely publicizing the provisions of law and putting the fear of God in the minds of those who did not conform, with veiled threats of the penal consequences, merely through advisory memos. An almost 99% success rate was achieved, despite a raging debate in the media on the pros and cons of enforcement against use of tinted glasses, ‘midst wide ranging protests and supports, with some labeling the entire exercise nothing short of quixotic.
Simultaneously though, the Delhi Traffic Police took up the matter with the Union Ministry to remedy the ambiguity, and consequently came the 1993 amendment to the Rule which laid down that …the glass of the windscreen or the rear window to be such that the visual transmission of light is not less than 70% while glasses used for side windows to be of not more than 50% opacity. Penal enforcement activity against tinted glasses then commenced, though not without some measure of opposition from some diehards!
In 1997 the High Court then intervened following a public interest litigation filed by advocate RN Bagai, wanting to know how the Delhi Traffic Police checked the 50% and 70% transmission of light through the glasses. Finding the checking resorted through the naked eye arbitrary, the Court directed that a suitable instrument be developed to check such transparency levels so that the legal prosecution be effectively enforced. The AGTME – “automatic glass transmission measurement equipment” was then developed by IIT Delhi in conformity with the testing procedures enumerated in the Indian Standards IS:2553(Part-II) of 1992 and authenticated as acceptable equipment by the Court after due testing and approval by the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.
Use of dark glasses or solar films and other material which restricts the transparency of windscreens and side/rear windows in violation of provision 100(2) of the CMV Rules-1989 is an offence punishable under section 177 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 entailing a fine of Rs.100 for the first offence and Rs.300 for such subsequent offences. It would be advisable to adhere to the law and avoid hassles with the Traffic Police, since it is also possible to use the required ‘safety’ glasses or solar films etc within the parameters prescribed for transparency.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 15, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765:
email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday, May 1, 2002)
Monday 15 April 2002
Criminal ‘Hero’s
By Maxwell Pereira
Making heroes out of criminals is the prerogative of we Indians, one feels! Especially going by our record in dealing with the likes of Charles Sobhraj, Phoolan Devi and lately the elusive Veerappan. But then one observes such tendencies now surfacing to noticeable levels majorly too in the land of Robin Hood the benevolent bandit and Jack-the-Ripper; where in a “youth culture intelligence report” a London ‘brand’ consultancy has recently declared that the boundaries between right and wrong are constantly blurring, and that understanding the appeal of criminal culture can teach us a great deal about contemporary attitudes and desires – to be capitalised for commercial and other gains.
This is based on the observation that criminals have become cult figures, leading to a steady flow of films and books on gangsters and international drug barons. Criminal involvement or convictions are observed to do little to dent the popularity of pop stars, and even of sportsmen… whose brush with the law seemingly enhancing their celebrity status.
The report further elaborates: “…not only does a glamorised view of criminality represent excitement and notoriety, it also signifies a need for clear value systems in our ambiguous society. Murderers, pimps, hustlers and hit men have become the latest cult figures to be appropriated by leading-edge culture as it searches for new heros and role models.”
Linked criminal references tend to effectively enhance brand edge, resulting in a growing trend for those in PR to hint at criminal activity to be a badge of pride rather than a negative factor or a slur. The appeal of the illicit and seeking of lifestyles that frequently involve breaking of the law – from wanton indulgence in minor traffic infringements to major and more daring crimes of violence, becoming influencing factors as ‘in’ things to raise one’s level in the popularity charts.
Applying these findings to home scenario, may be we could tell these Consultancy people a thing or two from our own vast repertoire of ‘criminal hero’ experiences. Take the case of Sobhraj. He did succeed in his objective to prolong his jail term in India till such time as he ceased to be a wanted man for the beach murders in Thailand. But had he succeeded in his ultimate designs to continue in India even after serving full term in Tihar, well… I have no doubt whatsoever that we would have elected him to Parliament at the first opportunity. And who can forget Bablu Srivastava’s widely televised statement on camera while being brought in by CBI extradited from Singapore through Interpol, that “…these very policemen holding me in handcuffs today will one day salute me when I become the Home Minister!” And nearer recent times, there was the confident statement by Phoolan Devi’s killer unabashedly telling all, that did the act with the belief that this would land him in Parliament within three years!
Looking back though, it is unfortunate that something that was started as a tool to give impetus to our freedom struggle by Gandhiji in the form of civil disobedience and courting arrest by ‘jail baro’ movements, has grown today into a license to violate law with impunity… even to the extent of arrest and jail being a desired qualification for an aspiring politician! And today, as is commonly perceived, we have graduated to sending our criminals to Parliament as its members, to enact for us, the milieu, such laws as these very lawbreakers were adept at violating.
The reason, our own election laws have not been able to come to terms with ground realities, to keep those perceived to be criminals by the society at large from contesting – on grounds of the inability of the system to really convict them of the crimes they were/or are accused of. For purposes of the Representation of People’s Act, only a conviction disqualifies a candidate, irrespective of the number of murder, dacoity, kidnappings for ransom or extortion cases he may have been involved in or been accused of.
On the contrary, the dictionaries of course clearly describe a criminal to be a person who has committed a crime or crimes – defining a crime as an “offence against the social order or a violation of the mores that is dealt with by community action rather than by an individual or kinship group”; …and more elaborately as an act of commission or omission that falls foul of a public law of a sovereign State to the injury of public welfare and makes the offender liable to punishment by that law in a proceeding brought against him by the State by indictment, by information, complaint or similar criminal proceeding.
Coupled with this, the penchant of the Indian people then to hero worship their criminals to the extent of considering them as more suitable and capable, and with more effective ability to represent or govern them, than the run of the mill academician or the dull clean imaged do-gooder or the social activist – is sure enough a perfect formula to encourage every don in the country to ultimately aspire for and graduate to the nation’s Parliament.
Through fair means or foul, booth-capturing vote-capturing, or sheer reign of terror. And the system lumps it… He gets honourably sworn in with pomp and splendour – gaining for himself a new found respectability and acceptability in society and even by those others already in Parliament, who it is expected would never have otherwise stooped so low as to associate with criminals.
Isn’t it strange then how many such accused of heinous crimes elevated so by their electorate to be worthies in Parliament can brush shoulders and share seats with the cleanest and the most elite of our leaders, with no signs of revulsion or ostracization from the latter.. !
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 15, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765;
email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday, April 24, 2002)
Making heroes out of criminals is the prerogative of we Indians, one feels! Especially going by our record in dealing with the likes of Charles Sobhraj, Phoolan Devi and lately the elusive Veerappan. But then one observes such tendencies now surfacing to noticeable levels majorly too in the land of Robin Hood the benevolent bandit and Jack-the-Ripper; where in a “youth culture intelligence report” a London ‘brand’ consultancy has recently declared that the boundaries between right and wrong are constantly blurring, and that understanding the appeal of criminal culture can teach us a great deal about contemporary attitudes and desires – to be capitalised for commercial and other gains.
This is based on the observation that criminals have become cult figures, leading to a steady flow of films and books on gangsters and international drug barons. Criminal involvement or convictions are observed to do little to dent the popularity of pop stars, and even of sportsmen… whose brush with the law seemingly enhancing their celebrity status.
The report further elaborates: “…not only does a glamorised view of criminality represent excitement and notoriety, it also signifies a need for clear value systems in our ambiguous society. Murderers, pimps, hustlers and hit men have become the latest cult figures to be appropriated by leading-edge culture as it searches for new heros and role models.”
Linked criminal references tend to effectively enhance brand edge, resulting in a growing trend for those in PR to hint at criminal activity to be a badge of pride rather than a negative factor or a slur. The appeal of the illicit and seeking of lifestyles that frequently involve breaking of the law – from wanton indulgence in minor traffic infringements to major and more daring crimes of violence, becoming influencing factors as ‘in’ things to raise one’s level in the popularity charts.
Applying these findings to home scenario, may be we could tell these Consultancy people a thing or two from our own vast repertoire of ‘criminal hero’ experiences. Take the case of Sobhraj. He did succeed in his objective to prolong his jail term in India till such time as he ceased to be a wanted man for the beach murders in Thailand. But had he succeeded in his ultimate designs to continue in India even after serving full term in Tihar, well… I have no doubt whatsoever that we would have elected him to Parliament at the first opportunity. And who can forget Bablu Srivastava’s widely televised statement on camera while being brought in by CBI extradited from Singapore through Interpol, that “…these very policemen holding me in handcuffs today will one day salute me when I become the Home Minister!” And nearer recent times, there was the confident statement by Phoolan Devi’s killer unabashedly telling all, that did the act with the belief that this would land him in Parliament within three years!
Looking back though, it is unfortunate that something that was started as a tool to give impetus to our freedom struggle by Gandhiji in the form of civil disobedience and courting arrest by ‘jail baro’ movements, has grown today into a license to violate law with impunity… even to the extent of arrest and jail being a desired qualification for an aspiring politician! And today, as is commonly perceived, we have graduated to sending our criminals to Parliament as its members, to enact for us, the milieu, such laws as these very lawbreakers were adept at violating.
The reason, our own election laws have not been able to come to terms with ground realities, to keep those perceived to be criminals by the society at large from contesting – on grounds of the inability of the system to really convict them of the crimes they were/or are accused of. For purposes of the Representation of People’s Act, only a conviction disqualifies a candidate, irrespective of the number of murder, dacoity, kidnappings for ransom or extortion cases he may have been involved in or been accused of.
On the contrary, the dictionaries of course clearly describe a criminal to be a person who has committed a crime or crimes – defining a crime as an “offence against the social order or a violation of the mores that is dealt with by community action rather than by an individual or kinship group”; …and more elaborately as an act of commission or omission that falls foul of a public law of a sovereign State to the injury of public welfare and makes the offender liable to punishment by that law in a proceeding brought against him by the State by indictment, by information, complaint or similar criminal proceeding.
Coupled with this, the penchant of the Indian people then to hero worship their criminals to the extent of considering them as more suitable and capable, and with more effective ability to represent or govern them, than the run of the mill academician or the dull clean imaged do-gooder or the social activist – is sure enough a perfect formula to encourage every don in the country to ultimately aspire for and graduate to the nation’s Parliament.
Through fair means or foul, booth-capturing vote-capturing, or sheer reign of terror. And the system lumps it… He gets honourably sworn in with pomp and splendour – gaining for himself a new found respectability and acceptability in society and even by those others already in Parliament, who it is expected would never have otherwise stooped so low as to associate with criminals.
Isn’t it strange then how many such accused of heinous crimes elevated so by their electorate to be worthies in Parliament can brush shoulders and share seats with the cleanest and the most elite of our leaders, with no signs of revulsion or ostracization from the latter.. !
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 15, 2002: Maxwell Pereira, 60 Ashoka Road, ND-1: 3718822, 3731765;
email maxpk@vsnl.com
(published in the Delhi Mid-Day on Wednesday, April 24, 2002)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)