Last month was the nth occasion when the Maharashtra government was supposed to start the strict enforcement of the draconian helmet rule in Pune. And for the nth time it flopped. Why the Government expected that it would be successful on this occasion given n-1 previous failures and all other things remaining constant is a mystery. The Government's vain efforts on this front are now a source of great hilarity for Puneites and although it might have escaped them, an embarassment for the authorities.
And then some time last month, they announced a much more reasonable law comprehensively banning use of plastic bags in the state. This was, it was reasoned, as a response to the July 26th floods in Mumbai. Apparently, it was the clogging caused by plastic bags that caused the drainage systems to fail. The language of the legislation was terse and strict - no exceptions made. There were protests by the usual suspects happened of course - how will one get milk ? what about cooking-oil ? what alternatives are we supposed to use ? does the Government realise the amounts of price-hike this will cause ? etc etc - of course we needn't have bothered. After making a few noises for a couple of days everyone has forgotten about it. The starting date for the proposed ban is long gone and yet we see plastic bags existing happily in our daily lives, carrying items of day-to-day use, littering roads and (maybe) blocking drainage.
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