Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
Earlier this week, we find cine actress Juhi Chawla and two of her colleagues facing a Supreme Court rap, being fined INR 20 lakhs for trying to prevent 5G towers from being installed on the grounds that it will pose both environmental and health risks.
The consequences of Juhi Chawla and team taking head on the installation of 5G towers had some lighter moments too. A group of Juhi fans assembled in the court room started singing songs and item numbers from her popular starrers. The judge first cautioned those assembled and subsequently asked for those playing songs in the court room to be identified and booked for contempt.
The apex court pronounced the verdict that the litigation was a publicity stunt and dismissed any further proceedings, while imposing the fine amount. No idea whether Juhi manages to wear it on her sleeve as an environment activist or turns turtle for fear of being imposed with similar penalties. Again no idea whether people will assemble in court rooms for a similar cause, be it coming from the stables of a non celebrity.
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The episode reminds me of the debate I had with the lead instructional designer, Nayna Katia years ago, over a school syllabus book talking about the evils of radiation caused by mobile towers in the vicinity of residential complexes.
Nayna had the final say on it. Her words ring a bell as I read about Juhi Chawla incident in the Supreme Court.
Nayna was emphatic. Please don’t touch on this topic. As of now, there’s no conclusive evidence that emissions from mobile towers cause health hazards. In the event that you take the stand discussed by the book, we can get dragged to court by mobile companies. This happened way back in 2014 just a month before the Modi government earned its first term.
The situation on ground was no different from what it seems to be now. I however, do remember a newspaper report that cited how a group of school girls living in the hostel premises experimented with health indicators, when exposed to mobile radiation compared to when their mobiles were switched off.
The girls experiment provided some conclusive indication that it’s better to keep the mobiles switched off to prevent the harmful effect of radiation. However, there is no similar evidence that can be cited about mobile towers albeit there are a lot of residential colonies fighting to disembark the mobile towers installed in their vicinity.
Still in hindsight, I do feel that Rs. 20 lakh is what the likes of Juhi can easily afford! Publicity after all is indeed a costly ball game! Who knows it better?
