Round The States

New Delhi, 2 April 2008

NDA-Ruled States Meet

UPA Accused Of Discrimination

By Insaf

The NDA-ruled States have raised a banner of revolt against the UPA Government at the Centre. Nine Chief Ministers met last Saturday at BJP leader L K Advani’s residence, and not only accused the ruling alliance of “gross discrimination” but decided to go to the people in their respective States with a 10-point “chargesheet”.  The Chief Ministers not just shared their concerns against the “step-motherly treatment” meted out to them, but backed these with specific instances. Naveen Patnaik of Orissa accused the Prime Minister of not keeping his word of allocating Rs 200 crore as Central assistance for the flood-hit State two years ago. Instead, a meagre Rs 2 crore was doled out! JD (U) Chief Sharad Yadav filled in for Nitish Kunar and accused the Centre of brazen bias against Bihar. While Congress-ruled States of Delhi and Maharashtra, he charged, had been given 22 litres and 19 litres of kerosene under the PDS, Bihar was getting only three litres per family.

Madhya Pradesh’s appeal for Central assistance of Rs 1,500 crore for the drought-hit State, it was alleged, had found no takers in New Delhi. Not a single paisa had been given, complained Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Gujarat’s Narendra Modi accused the Centre of playing spoilsport to his initiative of setting up the first university dedicated to children, by taking away 200 MW quota of power supply without notice. A common refrain of the Chief Ministers, alongwith Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, was that not a single brick had been added to the proposed Medical Institutes (AIIMS) in their States in the past four years. In sharp contrast, the NDA had chosen four Congress-ruled States out of a total of six wherein the AIIMS was to be set up. Not just that. The NDA has also decided to exploit the UPA’s discrimination against its States in Parliament, when it meets later this month.

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Ironically the UPA also came in for a scathing attack by its ally, the CPM. At its 19^th Congress in Coimbatore on Saturday last, the CPM asked the Left-ruled States to launch a joint offensive to against increasing encroachment by the Centre into the States’ powers and for “belying all expectations” on improving Centre-State relations. West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who led the attack, accused the Centre of having failed to implement any recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission. He also charged the Centre of “doing nothing” to provide safeguards against the abuse of Article 356 of the Constitution and of misinterpreting Article 355 to unilaterally send Central forces to the States. The Centre was also indicted for its latest “assault” on the decision-making powers of the States. New Delhi was now directly discussing State subjects with the IMF, World Bank, WTO etc and imposing the agencies’ conditionalities without seeking the States’ concurrence .The UPA has yet to respond to the unprecedented attack by the CPM.

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TN-Karnataka Water Crisis

The water issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is on the boil yet again. Passions were aroused on Tuesday last in Karnataka no sooner than Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s utterances that the drinking water project at Hogenakkal, along Cauvery river, would go ahead come what may. Cinema halls showing Tamil films came under instant attack in Karnataka and Tamils Sangam at Ulsoor in Bangalore. Tamil Nadu Assembly soon reacted and passed a resolution asking the Centre to intervene and “maintain the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.” It also wanted the lives and properties of Tamils in Karnataka protected. Meanwhile, protests are snowballing over the issue in both the States-- the film industry in Tamil Nadu has decided to protest with a day-long fast on Friday, whereas activists in Karnataka have called for a bandh on April 10. Karunanidhi has a smooth explanation for the latest row: “Tamils are anathema to some linguistic fanatics in Karnataka. It has become their full time job to hate us. First they said no water for our crops, now they say no to even drinking water …” But Karnataka has its view, strong and uncompromising. 

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Orissa Speaker Resigns

The Orissa Assembly has created murky history for all the wrong reasons. Its Speaker, Maheshwar Mohanty, resigned on Monday last following allegations of sexual harassment and a stormy demand by the opposition for his ouster and an independent probe by either a High Court judge or the CBI. Last week a woman assistant marshal in the Assembly, Gayatri Panda, had gone public and filed an FIR alleging that the Speaker was persistently harassing her and even persuading her through his staff to have a sexual relationship with him. Mohanty, for his part, dismissed the charges as “baseless and part of a conspiracy” and went on to resign “to protect the office of the Speaker.” While the truth whether a third party is involved will be known only after the State Human Rights Commission, gives its report, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already given Mohanty a clean chit. In fact, he has sacked his Information and Public Relations Minister, Debasis Nayak, for allegedly instigating Gayatri to hurl the charges. This dimension too is being probed, adding intrigue to the goings on in the Assembly. 

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Mayawati Hits Back

Mind your language, is the latest bolt from UP Chief Minister Mayawati to her many opponents. The first to receive the warning is none less than the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Mahender Singh Tikait. On Monday last, Tikait was charged with having used derogatory language against the Dalit leader and a woman at a rally in Bijnore on Sunday and found himself slapped with a case under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. Orders were issued for his arrest as such crimes constitute a cognizable offence. The police, however, failed to carry out the orders. Tikait’s supporters, numbering about 1,500, in his village Sisauli prevented it from doing so. The two sides clashed for over 18 hours, leaving 25 policemen and two farmers injured. While Tikait has now agreed to surrender, Mayawati’s “intolerance” has sparked an anti-BSP mobilization. The Samajwadi Party has supported Tikait arguing that nothing objectionable was said and that Mayawati “uses worse language”. The Congress has chosen to tread carefully, saying it would ascertain facts. Meanwhile, some in the BJP have decided to join Tikait’s rallies. After all, jat votes matter.

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Chandigarh: Highest Income!

Chandigarh and its citizens have a special reason to rejoice--like their representative in the Lok Sabha: Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of State for Finance. The city, which is a Union Territory and continues to be the capital of Punjab and Haryana, today has the highest per capita income and vehicles in the country, according to the District Census handbook, released by Bansal on Monday last. (Every household has two or more vehicles.) Chandigarh also leads in maximum usage of clean fuel in the country. What is more, it is now acknowledged as “the most popular marketing research and launch destination”. Nevertheless, all is not honky dory for the city whose population is bursting at its seams and is expected to double in 20 years. It has the worst sex ratio in the world: 777 females per 1,000 males. The ratio further dips if the sex ratio of the slums, 926 females for 1,000 males, is excluded. The city’s urban sex ratio then drops to 500 females for 1,000 males! ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 27 March 2008

Transparency In Justice

Fresh Look At Gujarat Riots

By Insaf

Gujarat’s post-Godhra riots are once again in the spotlight. Six years after the National Human Rights Commission moved a petition seeking the transfer of post-Godhra riot cases to an independent agency outside Gujarat, the Supreme Court on Tuesday last agreed to constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe further into 14 major cases arising out of 10 incidents during the 2002 riots. The trial in all the 14 cases was stayed following the Supreme Court order. These include the Gulberg Society massacre in which some 70 people were killed, including former Congress MP, Ehsan Jaffrey. Also probed further under the criminal procedure code will be the killings in Naroda Pattiya and Sardarpur and the monstrous torching of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, which sparked the riots. Importantly, the Supreme Court has asked the proposed SIT to submit its report in a sealed cover within three months.

Importantly, the Narendra Modi Government conveyed to the Court through its senior counsel, Mukul Rohtagi, that it had “no objection” to the SIT probe. This won the Modi Government kudos from the Court on Wednesday. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat, which set up the five-member SIT, said: “This seems to be a very fair approach on the part of the State Government.” What Rohtagi said deserves to be noted since the NHRC’s petition before the Apex Court had apprehended that the trial, if conducted in Gujarat, would not be fair as witnesses were being threatened. The Gujarat Government told the Court that further investigation by SIT would “fortify the peoples’ faith in the transparency of actions taken by the State”. Equally significantly, the Court did not accept the NHRC’s plea for the transfer of the main riot cases outside Gujarat and a fresh probe by the CBI.

Trial Could Be Outside

The Gujarat Government has, no doubt, succeeded in its object of keeping the CBI out of the picture because of the sharp erosion of the latter’s credibility and the widespread impression that it tends to “play politics” and “oblige the powers-that-be at the Centre.” Nevertheless, the decision by the Supreme Court to set up SIT, headed by former CBI Director, R.K. Raghavan and comprising three serving Gujarat IPS officers and one retired officer from outside, is viewed by experts as hinting at the possibility of the trial being transferred outside the State. Remember, the Apex Court has already transferred two high profile cases in the interest of justice. While the Best Bakery case was shifted after the High Court had upheld the acquittal of all the accused, the Bilkis Bano case was transferred while the trial was still on. The Supreme Court had moved the Bilkis Bano case to Mumbai after fresh investigation by CBI.

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Farmer Suicides Continue

Grim tragedy continues to play havoc with the farmers in Vidarbha. Incredibly enough, P. Chidambaram’s much-hyped and greatly glorified Union Budget has failed to stem the suicides in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. As many as 14 farmers of the crisis-hit agrarian region have reportedly committed suicides in the first three days of this week. Taking the overall toll to 61 after the Rs.60,000 crore farm loan waiver was announced. One Shrikrishna Kalamb, a 48-year-old from Akola district, has left behind five daughters. He did not qualify for the loan-waiver because of the two-hectare ceiling in the Centre’s package. Another farmer, who hanged himself on Monday, owned 16 acres and wasn’t eligible either for the loan. All in all, the States want the Centre to show greater imagination is working out a practical package for bailing out India’s crisis-ridden farmers!

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Congress-SP Cosying Up?

Politics is known the world over to make for strange bed-fellows. But anything, yes anything is possible in India where politics is increasingly being run on the feudal basis of personalities, not principles. Latest happenings in UP and in New Delhi point to a cosying up between the Congress and its bete noire Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party. The UPA Government has decided against a central investigation into some of the cases that the UP government wanted the CBI to take over, including the police recruitment scam, which led the Mayawati Government to sack 18,000 cops. UP Chief Minister and BSP Chief Mayawati had sent a series of cases to North Block to seek a CBI probe into allegations against the former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh. A CBI probe would have pitted the Central Government against Mulayam, something which would have suited Mayawati and her politics greatly, especially in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll.

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Parched Gurgaon

Gurgaon, the modern and high-tech city of Haryana hit the headlines on Monday last for the wrong reasons. Taps in thousands of homes dried up for a week and people had to be at the mercy of water tanker’ suppliers. The water crisis was caused by a breach in a canal that supplies water to nearly 70 per cent of Gurgaon. Caught in a calamity, the city administration sought help from neighbouring cities such as Faridabad, Mahendragarh and Jhajjar  and even had to approach the Army to bail it out with supply of groundwater through tankers. The private water tanker suppliers made a killing and charged anything between  Rs 500-700 for 5,000 litres to the hapless residents. The breach in the canal was repaired and water supply was restored on Wednesday last. The crisis may be a blessing in disguise as it has forced the civic body to sit up and start extolling the virtues of water-harvesting and rain water management. With the water table declining over the years in this city, which mostly houses high-rise buildings and offices, the administration would need to ensure that the builders and colonizers adhere to the rules. Of course, a lot depends on how strict the authorities are—whether they will insist on adherence of regulations or let another water catastrophe play havoc with Gurgaon.  

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Hope For Endangered Vultures

Patience and perseverance has been handsomely rewarded in Haryana’s Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore. It has been able to successfully facilitate the breeding of a white-backed vulture nestled in captivity at the Centre. The 55-day-old vulture chick is perhaps the world’s first to survive this long after being born in captivity. According to Haryana’s Minister of State for Forest and Environment, Kiran Choudhary, doubts about breeding these vultures, which are on the verge of extinction, have been laid to rest with the hatching of the nestling, which is showing good growth and is expected to fledge in another 45 days. This year two species of vultures, the white backed and the long-billed, nestled at the Pinjore. The Centre is a joint project of Haryana’s Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society and is leading vulture conservation efforts in India.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 20 March 2008

Governor Goes Wrong

CONGRESS ROUTED IN MEGHALAYA

By Insaf

Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and her party have egg on their faces once again, thanks to the latest debacle in Meghalaya. They went all out to grab the State Government by hook or by crook. But they fell flat on their faces, notwithstanding the State Governor, S.S. Sidhu’s questionable efforts to help install a Congress Government in the State. Theoretically, the Governor was justified in inviting the leader of the single largest party to form the Government in preference to the post-poll Meghalaya Progressive Alliance. But he went wholly wrong in pragmatically refusing to recognize that the ball game had changed once the MPA had paraded 31 MLAs before him. True, the Supreme Court has ruled that majorities in the States have to be proved on the floor of their respective Houses. But he had no business to ignore the ground reality and not only invite the Congress to form a Government but unconscionably give its leader as many as ten days to somehow muster a majority

The big question now is: will the MPA be able to give a stable Government to Meghalaya under Donkupar Roy. The erstwhile Congress Chief Minister, D D Lapang, does not think so and gives it no more than three months. But he is counting without Purno Sangma and his vast experience both at the Centre and in the State. Remember he was once the State’s CM and thereafter a Union Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker. He can be relied upon to ensure both stability and longevity for the MPA Ministry, based on a clear formula of power sharing: the NCP and UDP, the main constituents of the MPA, have agreed to share the post of the Chief Minister for two-and-a half years each.  A power-sharing agreement is nothing new for Meghalaya. Two Meghalaya stalwarts, BB Lyngdoh and Capt. Sangma successfully shared the top post between 1979 and 1983. Significantly, Roy has asserted: “The formula may have failed in UP. But it will not fail here. People from the hills honour their commitments!”

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Joint Anti-Moist Operation

Desperately-needed cooperation between the States of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra has yielded promising results in the biggest security threat that India faces, combatting the Naxals along the north-south corridor. Seventeen Maoists, including seven women cadres, were killed in two separate encounters with the police in Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh, close to the Andhra border on Tuesday last. Most of those liquidated hailed from Andhra Pradesh. Some 700 police personnel from both of the States, including 250 to 350 Greyhound Commandos from Andhra Pradesh, took part in the four-hour encounter with 80 to 90 Maoists. Another 1,000-strong team of Andhra, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh police successfully stormed and flushed out rebels from the dense forest region of Abujhmart in Bastar, liberating the hilly region from Maoist control after a long while.

Meanwhile, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily, has made some thought-provoking recommendations about tackling Naxalism in its report on “Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution” presented to the Prime Minister. The answer to Naxalism, it asserts, lies in development, not in Salwa Judum, the people’s resistance against Naxals in Chhattisgarh. It has advocated an judicious mix of development initiatives, land reforms and well-planned counter-insurgency operations in Naxal-infected areas like Chhattisgarh. Significantly, this is the first time that a Government body at the Centre has expressed reservations about the people’s resistance movement, which won praise even from the Prime Minister some time back. Local resistance groups called Salwa Judum were started initially in two tribal development blocks in Bastar. These now extend to eleven blocks in Chhattisgarh. 

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Karnataka Poll In May?

Even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi has handpicked SM Krishna, till last week the Governor of Maharashtra, to head its PCC in Karnataka and galvanise the party for the ensuing Assembly polls, the Election Commission is yet to make up its mind whether it can do so by May-end. This uncertainty follows apprehension of the Congress and other parties that if the revision of rolls is hurried through in re-drawn constituencies by invoking Rule 24 of the Registration of Electoral Rules, 1960 (special provision for preparation of rolls on re-delimitation of constituencies) there is a possibility of bringing out a defective roll which will not be conducive for free and fair elections. However, legal experts are unanimous that the EC has a constitutional obligation to conduct the polls in Karnataka before the expiry of President’s rule i.e on May 28.

Elections, they say, cannot be deferred merely on grounds of possible defects in electoral rolls and add that there is no basis for the parties’ apprehension as revision of rolls is an ongoing exercise. The Commission has already set into motion the poll machinery and delimitation of Assembly constituencies in all districts is expected to be completed around March 20. And revised rolls will be published thereafter. Of interest in this context is an interesting instance dug up by the experts wherein elections were held in Assam as per the 1979 electoral rolls before the expiry of President’s rule even though revision of rolls could not be completed. The Election Commission was then clear on one basic point: holding elections was of paramount importance and Constitutional obligation. No questions were then asked nor a controversy raised. Times have surely changed.   

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Trifurcation of UP?

With Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati jumping on to the bandwagon for smaller States, the Centre finds itself increasingly pushed towards accepting the proposal for a second States Reorganisation Commission. This happened on Monday last when Mayawati took on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his suggestion that the Centre could consider formation of smaller States if the State governments sent in their proposals. She pointed out that she had already sent in writing to the Centre on the need  for trifurcation of UP into three States of “Purvanchal, Western UP and Bundelkhand” in the interest of speedy development of the region. Consequently, the ball was now in the Centre’s court. However, Chief Minister Mayawati went wrong on one basic point. It is not enough for the State Government to convey the demand in writing to the Centre. The demand has first to be made by the State Assembly in a resolution, as happened in the case of Uttranchal or Uttarakhand. So the ball is still in Mayawati’s court. Much in regard to the future will depend upon her ability to carry her arch rival, Mulayam Singh Yadav, with her. He is totally opposed to any further division of UP. He sees in the move “a conspiracy to undermine the political importance of the biggest State of the country.”  

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Loan Waiver “An Illusion”

More and more States are now embroiled in the controversy over the UPA Government’s grand pre-poll loan waiver for the farmers. Former chief ministers of a number of States questioned the sincerity of the UPA government to the farmers at a rally in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday last and rubbished the loan waiver as an “illusion”. Samajwadi President and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh argued that if the Centre was serious about resolving the farmers’ problems it should “formulate a national water policy and implement the Swaminathan report.” The report wants the farmers to be paid 50 per cent over and above the production cost. Former Andhra Chief Minister and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu said the “Congress never cared for the farmers, it always favoured the industrialist.” The former chief Minister of Haryana Om Prakash Chautala wanted the cap of two hectares of land to be removed for the purpose of waiver. With General Elections due next year, if not earlier, loan waiver for the farmers is clearly under the scanner.

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Goa’s Damage Control

Thanks to a nationwide outcry against the horrendous murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling and the Centre’s intervention at the Prime Minister’s level, the Goa Government has launched a much-needed damage-control exercise. A midnight curfew has been imposed on all bars and beach shacks, together with a crackdown on drug peddlers. Over 40 people were arrested in an overnight raid on Sunday. Additional teams of officers have been posted along its popular beaches. Anyone loitering after beach shacks have been closed will be questioned and even searched. At least 126 foreign nationals have “died” in Goa of whom 40 were British. The State’s Chief Minister has assured the Prime Minister that the State is still “the safest destination”. IGP Krishan Kumar has promised “ruthless” action to clean up the holiday hotspot. But will they be able to revive the State’s good name pitted as they are against powerful drug cartels and other mafia. Scarlett’s mother, Fiona, still thinks the real issue is “corruption in the police.” ---INFA

 
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 13 March 2008

Kerala’s Bloody Feud

Court Demands Central Intervention

By Insaf

Kerala, brilliantly described touristically as “God’s own country,” has been hogging the headlines this past week for all the wrong reasons. Initially, it was the bloody feud between the RSS and CPM workers in Thalassery, in Kannur district, on Wednesday, which has so far claimed 11 lives. In the past 30 years, 350 political killings have taken place in the red-saffron clashes in this infamous district.  The violence spilled over to the Capital, as the BJP-RSS activists clashed near the CPM’s central headquarters in New Delhi with stones, when its Central Committee was meeting. Eighteen persons were injured in the violence that lasted a couple of hours. Some arrests have been made. But the truth has yet to be fathomed. Who attacked whom first? 

Not only have the Kannur and Delhi clashes had their fallout on Parliament resulting in adjournments of the two Houses, but so also on the judiciary. In an unprecedented response, the Kerala High Court has advocated timely Central intervention as the only solution to end the violence in Kannur. Importantly, it added that New Delhi should send forces that “will not yield to the political or plutocratic clout by those in power and out of power.” Not just that Justice V Ramkumar also hoped that there “would be gubernatorial move to apprise the Central government of the urgent need for a permanent prophylactic action to curb further bloodshed and killings” in Kannur district “where manslaughter is a competing sport.”

The observations were made while ordering an investigation by the CBI into the murder of a worker in Thalassery, which was described as the “hotbed of political; violence and carnage of the worst order.” In a veiled reference to a move of the two parties to hold a meeting to stop the violence, the court observed that “all-party peace missions are nothing but a hoax to hoodwink the fickle-minded public.”  Past lesions have shown that restoration of peace and harmony was only “an evanescent episode invariably followed by history of repeated violence and vindictive vandalism.” No serious concern appeared to have been shown to this manmade holocaust in which the bread winners of several families had been “slain to death driving widows and children to the streets. A severe indictment of the State government for sure, even as the latter protests loudly!.  

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Poor Show By Congress In North-East

Congress hopes of revival in the strategic north-east after the bashing it received in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have proved to be a pipe dream. Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, which went to the polls last week, have sent a strong signal to the Congress — wining back power is an uphill task. While Nagaland and Tripura have given a clear verdict against the Congress, in Meghalaya the party has made a back door entry to power, forcing the Supreme Court to intervene. On Tuesday last, Meghalaya Governor SS Sidhu swore in Congress leader DD Lapang as the Chief Minister, ignoring the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) and its claim of a majority in the 60-member Assembly. While the Congress has 25 MLAs, and claims support of three independent legislators, the MPA, comprising the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the United Democratic Party (UDP), Hill People’s Democratic State Party (HSDP) and Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has 31 legislators.

The NCP leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma, whose petition challenging Sidhu’s action has been admitted by the apex court, has denounced the Governor’s action as “unconstitutional and murder of democracy”. However, the Governor has justified his action on the ground that he had gone by established “convention by inviting the single largest party”. Furthermore, the MPA was not a pre-poll alliance.” Sidhu has also claimed that he had exercised his discretion to “prevent horse trading.” But Sidhu has gone wrong in having given Lapang 10 days to prove his strength on the floor of the House. Two to three days would have been more than enough if horse trading was not to be encouraged. Sangma sees this as an attempt “to please his political mentors.” All eyes are now on the Supreme Court, which will hear the matter next week.  

In Nagaland, the Congress has paid the price of imposing President’s rule in the State on January 3. It’s score of 23 seats was outdone by the NDA-backed Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) bagging 34 seats. A 12-member Ministry headed by Nagaland People’s Front President and former Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was sworn-in on Wednesday, by Governor K Shankaranarayan. Recal, the Centre had sacked Rio’s government nine weeks ago. Rio is confident of providing a stable government and is relieved that the Governor did not choose to keep the Assembly in suspended animation, despite having a majority. As for Tripura, it’s been a clear no-go for the Congress, with the Left Front winning a thumping majority and Manik Sarkar taking over as Chief Minister for the third consecutive term with an unrivalled image of probity and simple living.        

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Ghisingh Resigns, Gorkhaland Revived

The demand for Gorkhaland is set to move into top gear, with Subash Ghisingh giving in to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). After an inning lasting two decades, Ghisingh bid goodbye to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council on Monday last. The man, who had set the Hills ablaze with the agitation for Gorkhaland way back in 1986, settled instead for an autonomous Council for 20 years. The news of his resignation from the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council brought hundreds of people onto the streets. The hill town and adjoining areas reverberated with jubilation as Ghisingh’s bete noire and GJM chief Bimal Gurung won the first round in the battle for separate statehood. The month-long bandh not only had stalled Ghisingh’s plans of placing the Council in the Sixth Schedule, but his entry into Darjeeling. The blockade against Ghisingh has hence been lifted and the GJM finds itself “one step closer to Gorkhaland.” Who will the West Bengal Government or the Centre talk to --Ghisingh’s GNLF or Gurung’s GJM? The coming weeks should throw up an answer.          

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Goa Govt In Spin Over Teenager Death 

The controversy over the death of British teenager Scarlette Keeling on a beach in Goa has sent the State government into a tizzy. Though the 15-year-old’s body was found on Anjuman beach on February 18, the case hit the headlines this past week, following allegations that she was raped and murdered, far from the police’ initial description of “overdose of drugs and  death by drowning.” In fact, the incident has not only put a question mark on how safe is this international tourist haven, but has blown the lid over the extent to which drugs, crime and sex are a part of it. Fearing a backlash on the tourism industry, which is the State’s mainstay, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had held meetings with the State police officials to ensure there is thorough investigation. Under pressure of being accused of “a cover-up and collusion” the police on Thursday, claimed that they cracked the case. Two persons have been arrested and confessed of raping Scarlette and then dumping her on the beach. The teenager’s mother doesn’t believe the police and has accused the Goa police of trying to cover up for the real culprits. For her the “case is not over” and she is going to “fight for justice till the end.”  Battered by bad publicity in the case, the government not only needs to dispel her doubts but more importantly ensure that Goa doesn’t get exposure for the wrong things.  ---INFA

                     (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)