You cannot blame a government for everything. There are certain things which can easily be controlled by even normal attention paid by the citizens.

A female elephant was found dead in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand on Tuesday after being run over by a train. It is being reported that the locomotive driver (train driver) of high-speed Dehradun-Kathgodam Express, who is expected to slow down while passing through the national park, did not slow down the train, resulting in the death of the elephant.

We cannot blame the govt. for such carelessness on the part of the train driver.

That said, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Dehradun visit on International Yoga Day, majority of the roadside advertising hoardings in Dehradun and adjoining areas were focused on Swacch Bharat Mission, Namami Gange and Ujjwala yojana. There was nothing else to propagate.

As far as these flagship missions are concerned, except for Ujjwala yojana (who clear impact is still to be known), there was not any visible progress in clean Ganga and civic cleanliness front. The cities, towns and villages are as full of trash as before (if not more). The state of numerous riverlets, seasonal rivers and Ganga also seem to have not improved much.

That apart, there was not much for the Prime Minister to speak about Uttarakhand focused schemes either. These are the areas where citizens cannot do much. The blame will be squarely be on the government.

----