Latest news with #ShailajaChandra
Time of India
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Delhi at its tipping point': Ex Delhi chief secretary warns CM Gupta
Former Delhi chief secretary Shailaja Chandra on Thursday urged Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to show political courage and abandon decades of "appeasement politics" in favour of long-term urban planning. In an open letter in The Indian Express, Chandra, who also served as secretary in the Union Health Ministry, congratulated Gupta on assuming charge of what she referred to as "India's most demanding urban assignment". At 81, Chandra said she had no political agenda and was not seeking an advisory role - only a response from the Chief Minister to what she described as a "moment of reckoning". by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Nhà tiền chế 2025: Lựa chọn nhà ở giá cả phải chăng (Xem ngay) Nomad's Notebook Nhấp vào đây Undo "You can interrupt the decay - or you can inherit its failed logic. Delhi deserves courage, not administrative tinkering," she wrote. Chandra also opined that the chief minister has a rare opportunity to break with the past and outshine even Delhi's most enduring and popular chief minister, the late Sheila Dikshit, especially with the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar. Live Events In the letter, the former bureaucrat accused successive governments of choosing vote-bank politics over planning, turning Delhi's migrant influx into a " politics of patronage ". She highlighted the violation of planning and environment norms in legitimising temporary shelter through free utilities and retroactive regularisation. "Seven million people live in unauthorised colonies. Effluent from industries using carcinogens is discharged into storm-water drains. The Yamuna is choking. And yet, the politics of appeasement continues," she wrote. Blaming the continued erosion of urban planning on ad hoc policy, judicial verdict reversals, and legislative actions that allowed large-scale encroachment of public and agricultural land, she called for an "end to endless retrofitting". While asking the chief minister to set a limit on further regularisation of illegal colonies and publicly declare that no further encroachments would be legitimised. She suggested using all available enforcement tools with proper coordination with state administrative machinery. Chandra also recommended the creation of "migration-responsive" housing near employment hubs. Further she called for temporary structures for new migrants, and distribution of services based on need, not political convenience.
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Time of India
Retired IAS officer gives reasons why middle-class life in 2025 is better than in the 1970s
The generational debate over whether life was better in the 1970s or in 2025 has taken over social media, and now, an unexpected but powerful voice has joined the conversation. Shailaja Chandra , an 80-year-old retired IAS officer , took to X (formerly Twitter) to share her experience of growing up in a middle-class family during the '70s and why, despite the noise and burnout of modern life, she believes today's generation might actually have it better. Her post came as a response to a viral LinkedIn note by Himanshu Kalra, which painted a bleak picture of the modern Indian middle-class experience. Kalra compared the linear and 'sorted' path of a middle-class man in the 1970s—college, job, house, family—to the relentless rat race of 2025, where debt, job insecurity, high inflation, and mental health issues dominate the narrative. Chandra, however, had a different perspective. Reflecting on her own lived reality, she wrote that while the 1970s may have seemed simple, they were in fact 'very limiting.' Most families lived in joint households, constantly tracked their spending, and lived without the luxuries we now take for granted. Foreign vacations were a fantasy, eating out was rare, and even local travel was limited to trains like the Rajdhani, not flights. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo — over2shailaja (@over2shailaja) In contrast, she argued, today's middle class enjoys a far more enriched lifestyle. Be it the freedom to rent or own well-located homes, the ability to pay for children's extracurricular activities, or the convenience of online shopping and net banking—modern life, she said, offers comforts the older generation could never have imagined. Two working parents, CCTV-monitored housing, and access to leisure and fitness activities have made life more secure and enjoyable for many. She also praised the hustle culture of upskilling, saying that today's professionals constantly improve their value by learning and moving between roles, something that wasn't as common or even possible back then. Chandra ended her post with a cheeky note, asking people not to argue with 'nanis and dadis' because they, too, have 'eyes, ears, and a brain.'
