Round The States

New Delhi, 23 May 2007

Dera Ideology Hurts Sikhs

SECTARIAN TENSION ENGULFS PUNJAB

By Insaf

Sectarian Sikh rivalry has reared its ugly head in Punjab. Tension exploded across the State following a clash on May 14 between the Akal Takht clergy and the Dera Sachcha Sauda. Earlier, Sikh organizations, led by the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), were livid on seeing an advertisement featuring the Dera Chief, Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh. This not only hurt the sentiments of some Sikh organizations but provoked about 200 of their activists, led by two members of the SGPC, to burn an effigy of the Baba near the main Dera headquarters in Bathinda district. A clash with the Dera activists followed, causing the death of 17 persons and injury to many more. Tension mounted with each passing day and culminated in a total State-wide bandh on Tuesday by the Akal Takht.

The Akal Takht and all the other Sikh organizations have been opposed to Dera Sachcha Sauda (True Deal) ever since the latter was set up as a sect in Sirsa in 1948 by one Baparwah Shah Mastana Balochistani. Sachcha Sauda claims a membership of more than two crore Sikhs in India and abroad, mostly from the backward communities, including Dalit Sikhs. It recognizes one universal God and respects all religions, as part of its ideology described by the sect as the only “True Deal” in keeping with the idealism of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith. The Sikh clergy has also found the conduct of the Dera Chief in adding “Ram Rahim” to the middle of his name wholly objectionable. Equally unacceptable is his colourful attire imitating Guru Gobind Singh. What is more, the sect also faces grave charges in connection with a murder.

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Political Overtone

What has added fuel to the fire is the charge that the Dera continues to be actively involved in politics as a supporter of the Congress since the Akali Dal came to power in 1978, even though it claims to be a spiritual and social organization. This enabled the Congress to win many more seats than the Akalis in the Malwa region, a known Akali stronghold, in the recent Assembly elections. Its leadership reportedly appealed for support to the Congress regime, led by Amarinder Singh, against the Shiromani Akali Dal of Parkash Singh Badal. In fact, some Sikh leaders accuse the Congress of having actively supported the Dera’s expansion during the last four decades, a la Bhindrawale. Nevertheless, the present Badal Government upheld its governance dharma last Tuesday by enforcing law and order and maintaining peace both during the bandh and thereafter. Much now depends upon the Baba and his willingness to apologise appropriately for having hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs as a whole.

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Mystery Explosion At Hyderabad

Mystery continues to surround the bomb explosion in Hyderabad’s famous Mecca Masjid which killed nine people and injured more than a hundred. Most surprisingly, another five were killed by police firing. The State Government initially denied that the police had fired on the panic stricken crowds of namazis, trying to escape to safety and carry the injured to nearby hospitals. It, however, subsequently conceded that the police had fired (first with rubber bullets and then with regular bullets) when confronted with highly incriminating video recordings of the tragic incident. Top Muslim leaders both in the State and at the Centre now want nothing less than a CBI probe into what is viewed as a calculated bid by some people to disrupt communal harmony and set the State ablaze for political gains. Intelligence services point fingers at Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HUJI), whose leader hails from Hyderabad. But others suspect something more sinister. Hence the uproar for a Central probe.

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Revolt In Goa Congress

Trouble continues to multiply for the ruling Congress in Goa in the run up to the Assembly poll on June 2. Encouraged by the Congress Party’s increasing dynastic inclinations at the Centre, several State leaders have challenged the State Congress decision to enforce “one-family one ticket” principle in the distribution of party nominations. Revolting against the policy, as many as eight senior party leaders have fielded their family members as independent candidates against the party’s official nominees. Even Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane’s son Vishwajeet is contesting as an independent from Valpot, which neighbours his father’s constituency of Partem. The Congress High Command supported the State unit’s policy on the plea that the 40-member Assembly should not just comprise 16 families. In fact, things have gone so far that some leaders have even started questioning the Gandhi family’s moral authority in the matter when it fields Sonia Gandhi and Rahul without batting an eyelid!

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Mayawati Warns Bureaucracy

UP’s new Chief Minister, Mayawati, has swiftly got down to serious business of pulling the State out of what Governor Rajeshwar described in his address to the joint session of the State legislature as Mulayam Singh’s “corrupt, lawless mafia raj”.  The CM has given two months to the State officials to mend matters. At a marathon four-and-half hour meeting in Lucknow without any tea or lunch break, the CM told the officers from Principal Secretaries down to the district level to concentrate on improving the law and order situation. She warned them that she would start visiting the districts after two months and see things for herself. She is also giving top priority to development, for which she has created two new Ministries---Urban Integrated Development and Rural Integrated Development. Both are being headed by hand-picked Cabinet Ministers.

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Apang Opposes Fresh Delimitation

Former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Gegong Apang has strongly opposed fresh delimitation of the Assembly constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh. He has told Chairman of the Delimitation Commission, Justice Kuldeep Singh (Retd) that any change would go against the interest of the people and result in social conflicts among the peace-loving people of the State. Apang should know with his unrivalled experience as the State’s Chief Minister for 23 years. The former Chief Election Commissioner, the late P.V. Perri Shastri, had recommended the present 60 Assembly constituencies only after extensively touring the State and consulting the people at a number of public meetings. Some State leaders have suggested delimitation of constituencies on the basis of population. Apang feels this should be done only if additional seats are allotted to the State, both for the Assembly and Parliament.

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SEZ Problems Continues In W. Bengal

There seems to be no end to the troubles for the Buddhadeb Government in West Bengal  in regard to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects at Singur and Nandigram. Mamata Banerjee seems hellbent on keeping the problem of farmland acquisition burning prior to the Panchayat elections next month. Last week, Mamata’s supporters, alongwith the members of Krishi Bachao Committee (Save Farmland Committee), clashed with the police while trying to reclaim the Singur land. Twenty Trinamool activist and two policemen were injured in a series of clashes with the police. Interestingly, the Trinamool activists these days are increasingly unleashing demonstrations at both Singur and Nandigram particularly on Sundays when the State administration and the police are relatively less alert than on the working days.

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Gogoi Woos Industrialists

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has visited the country’s business capital Mumbai recently to hardsell the Union Government’s revamped North East Industrial Promotion Policy (NEIPP) and woo the industrialists. In several interactions with captains of  industry and businessmen, he apprised them of the new policy under which the region constitutes a whole new SEZ for prospective investors. He has assured incentives to all industrial units for their expansion anywhere in the region. Moreover, the distinction between “thrust” and “non-thrust” industries, made in the earlier policy of 1997, has been discontinued. Importantly, the subsidy for capital investment has been increased from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. All in all, Gogoi has every reason to keep his fingers crossed for big investments in the strategic region. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 16 May 2007

Caste-Mix Rule In U.P.

WILL MAYAWATI END GOONDA RAJ?

 By Insaf

The people of Uttar Pradesh who have given Mayawati a historic mandate are now eagerly waiting to see her fulfil her heart-warming poll promises in her fourth stint as the CM.  She is firmly committed to ending what she described as “goonda raj” and give the people what they are yearning for: a good, clean and responsive governance. Importantly, she has carried forward her social engineering one stage further in the composition of her 49-member Council of Ministers. She has taken recourse to the Narasimha Rao formula in determining the strength of her Ministry---10 per cent of the membership of both the Houses of the legislature. U.P. Assembly has 403 members and the Council 100 members. Her team comprises 11 OBCs, 19 Dalits, seven Brahmins, five Muslims, five Thakurs and one Banias and Bhumihars each.

Mayawati’s commitment to end “mafia raj” that flourished under her predecessor’s Government is also on test, given the fact that as many as six of her Ministers are allegedly facing criminal charges ranging from murder to extraction. One of them who reportedly tops the notoriety charge is a new entrant to the BSP. He has his own “Insaf Sena” in Bundelkhand region. More galling is her decision to induct in her Ministry Anand Sen Yadav who allegedly faces some serious criminal charges. Yadav, who is currently lodged in Faizabad jail has already managed to get himself shifted to a hospital after the results were declared.  His name was in the list of Ministers but he is yet to be sworn-in. With such people in the Ministry, doubts have arisen already whether Mayawati will be able to give a clean government now that she has publicly set her sight on the Delhi “gaddi”.

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“Political Earthquake” In DMK

A succession controversy in Tamil Nadu’s most powerful Dravidian party, the ruling DMK, has caused a “political earthquake” not only in Chennai but also in New Delhi. The UPA Government’s most competent and successful Information Technology and Communication Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, grandnephew of Chief Minister Karunanidhi, was forced to resign from the Union Cabinet on instructions from the DMK supremo. The reason? Dayanidhi is charged by the DMK’s 140-member Administration Committee of having connived in the publication of a highly controversial opinion poll in a Tamil newspaper Dinakaran, owned by the Maran family. The poll voted for M.K. Stalin as Karunidhi’s political successor in preference to former’s elder brother M.K. Azhagiri. This led to a violent attack on the newspaper office in Madurai. Three workers of the newspaper were killed. This annoyed the boss no end, leading to Dayanidhi’s recall from Delhi where he was the DMK’s main voice, like his father Murasoli Maran. Dayanidhi, on his part, is, lying low at present and has reaffirmed his loyalty to the DMK and its leader.

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Assam Towards Progress

Assam’s Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi has reason to feel elated at the end of one year of his governance on May 15 in his second stint as the CM. Despite the problem of continued ULFA insurgency in the State, Gogoi has been able to usher in success in various spheres. His Government’s performance during the year is a step towards his vision of making Assam a front-ranking State in the country. The Government has taken measures to make the State self-sufficient in power, a requisite for industrial development. The foundation stone has been laid of the much-awaited Gas Cracker Project and an independent 100 MW Karbi Langpi hydro-electric project commissioned. Additionally, massive investment has. been made in sectors like health, education and hotel industry, leading to opening up of vistas of employment opportunities.

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Poll-Eve Jolt To Goa Congress

Nearly a week after the exit of one of its top leaders in Goa, Churchill Alemao, the State Congress has got another serious jolt on the eve of the Assembly elections on June 2. Another party leader, Atanasio Monserrate quit the party and joined hands with the United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP), a regional outfit. Worse, Monserrate, a Minister in the present Pratapsinh Rana Ministry representing the Talegad constituency, announced his resignation only an hour before the closing of nominations for the upcoming poll.  This caught the Congress napping, and without a candidate in the Talegad constituency. Incidentally, Monserrate has a history of changing parties.  He had first won the 2002 Assembly poll on the UGDP ticket, but later defected to the BJP alongwith two UGDP MLAs.  He again resigned from the BJP alongwith four MLAs and propelled the present Pratapsinh Rane-led Congress Government.

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Punjab’s Massive Plan

Punjab can look forward to massive development within the next three years, if the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is able to implement its imaginative economic plan. The plan has been unveiled by the party’s working President, Sukhbir Singh Badal, MP son of Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal. The party’s “Vision”, as Sukhbir Singh describes it, focuses on three areas: 24-hour electricity supply to all, development of three airports and promotion of medical tourism to boost finance and provide career opportunities for the youth. The target is to add as much as 6,000 MW of power by setting up coal-based plants. The State Government would liberalise its policy to allow industrial units to install captive power plants. He expects the State to become power surplus by 2010. Three new airports are proposed to be set up in the private sector, venue for which would be finalised shortly.

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J&K Assembly Expansion Plan

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s plan to increase the strength of the State Assembly by 25 per cent, undertake fresh delimitation of the constituencies and give specific rights to the refugees from Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir, has run into difficulty. An all-party meeting to thrash out the proposal failed to win the favour of the State’s top political parties, National Conference and People’s Democratic Party. Both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Chiefs of the two parties, stayed away from the meeting. Azad, on his part, has made it clear that his Government will not take any decision on these crucial issues. The State, he told the meeting, was passing through a critical phase and time demanded that all political parties behaved in a responsible manner. There are sharp differences among the main parties over the fresh delimitation of constituencies in the Jammu region and the rights that should be accorded to the refugees.

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Raje’s Nahar Yatra

Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has added yet another feather to her cap. She has taken adequate steps to resolve the prolonged water problem of the desert districts of Jaisalmer, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Barmer. She undertook recently a four-day 1200-km “Nahar Yatra”, along the volatile Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) in these districts which were earlier rocked by the farmers’ agitation. During her extensive trip she addressed 25 well-attended rallies and announced scores of welfare schemes estimated to involve an expenditure of Rs.900 crore. These schemes include repairs of the Canal, its tributaries and water channels and several other problems pertaining to agriculture, animal husbandry and education.

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Orissa Refinery Plan In Difficulty

Orissa’s massive industrial development plan is now facing another roadblock.  Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik struggles hard to push the controversial Rs.51,000-crore steel plant at Jagatsinghpur by the South Korean major POSCO, another similar problem has cropped up: political opposition to the proposed refinery project by the Vedanta group. The Opposition Congress and the Left parties have announced their decision to launch a satyagraha against the Vedanta project in Kalahandi district from June 16. The project is opposed on the ground that the use of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area like Niyamgiri hill should not be permitted. The POSCO project, for which construction for the first phase was to start last month, faces a new threat. The company has told the Government that if the plans do not take off soon, the project cost would escalate beyond their estimate.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 11 May 2007

Crucial UP Election

MAYAWATI WINS HANDS DOWN

By Insaf

Mayawati has won hands down the crucial U.P. Assembly poll, achieving a lot more than what the pre-poll projections had predicted for her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): single largest party.  Hers is the first party to have won an absolute majority in the 403-member Assembly after a lapse of 16 years. Her triumph is mainly attributed to the brilliant election strategy she worked out months in advance to regain power. For one thing, she cleverly skipped the civic body elections earlier in the year to avert any fragmentation of her party. For another, she undertook social engineering by building bridges with the Brahmins, non-Yadav backward castes and Muslims. Initially, it was hard to believe that in a highly caste-ridden structure of the State, the Brahmins would accept Mayawati’s leadership. But the way she distributed party tickets to the Brahmins and Muslims dented the vote-banks of both the ruling Samajwadi Party and the aspiring BJP.

Additionally, Mayawati’s social engineering strategy got a major boost from the anti-incumbency factor. It is now clear that the people desperately wanted to throw out the Mulayam Singh Government. Consequently, they ensured that the non-BJP and anti-Samajwadi Party votes did not get divided. This resulted in the Congress and other smaller parties polling unexpectedly low scores.  Even Beni Prasad Verma, who had left the Samajwadi Party before the polling, and the BJP State Chief, Kesri Nath Tripathi, lost their elections. The Congress Party also finished far behind, despite hectic campaigning by the party Chief Sonia Gandhi and her children---Rahul and Priyanka. Rahul, described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the “future of UP”, also failed to convert into votes his popularity in the road shows.

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Free And Fair Poll

Happily, the seven-phase month-long process of polling was peaceful, free and fair, something not seen in the State over the decades. It was virtually free of violence, barring only a few instances involving the CRPF. Unlike in the previous elections, not a single gun shot was fired during the poll, thanks to the adequate superintendence by the Election Commission. Not only did the Commission delete from the electoral rolls names of nearly 22 lakh voters who were either dead or had shifted elsewhere, but also tracked down about 8.5 lakh temporarily absentee voters and marked them for closer scrutiny at the polling stations. Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswamy has come forward with an interesting reason for the low voter turn-out, which recorded an eight per cent drop---from 53.58 in 2002 to 45 per cent this time. This, he claims, was because of strict control over bogus voting!

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The Goa Congress has suffered a major jolt in the run-up to the Assembly poll on June 2. The party’s senior leader Churchil Alemao, who belongs to the Catholic community that accounts for 26 per cent of the State’s electorate, has quit his Lok Sabha seat and joined the regional outfit: “Save Goa Front”. Alemao’s exit from the party may mean for the Congress a great loss in the Salcete region of south Goa, known to be a stronghold of the party which has been wining all the eight seats of the region in previous elections for the 40-member Assembly. Alemao’s quitting has given comfort to the main opposition party the BJP. It has already announced its first list of 32 candidates. For the remaining eight seats, it has decided to wait and see the lists of the other parties. Nominations close on May 14.

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Political Trouble In Andhra

Political trouble is brewing in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh. Some senior party leaders are demanding the Deputy Chief Ministership for a representative from the Telangana region in the State. Their demand is in accordance with an “agreement”, they claim to have signed between the State’s two major regions, Andhra and Telangana, at the time of the formation of the State in 1956. The issue has now been raised once more on the plea that entrusting of the post to an MLA from Telangana would help assuage the sentiments of the people who have been clamouring for statehood for the region. The CM has, however, undertaken the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle without naming anyone a Deputy Chief Minister, greatly upsetting the party leaders from Telangana.

Interestingly, the Congress High Command, initially endorsed the Chief Minister’s reluctance to have a Deputy CM. But it has changed its tune, stating that it is the Chief Minister’s prerogative to have a Deputy. Over the last five decades, only five of the State’s 14 Chief Ministers have chosen to appoint Deputy CMs. This was more out of political necessity than any respect for the agreement which clearly stipulated that “if the Chief Minister is from one region, the other region should be given the Deputy Chief Minister’s post. Andhra Pradesh’s first Chief Minister Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, declined to have a Deputy CM and so also the Telugu Desam Chief Ministers, N.T. Rama Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu.

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Badal Gets Centre’s Support

Prakash Singh Badal is going all out to ensure the State’s development in his second stint as the Chief Minister of Punjab. Significantly, he has managed to get a helping hand from the Union Government. To start with, Badal is concentrating on infrastructure development, as per the Akali Dal’s commitment prior to the Assembly poll. During his recent visit to New Delhi, he got the Manmohan Singh Government to clear Rs.3,015- crore worth of road projects across the State. The emphasis is on widening the highways in keeping with the Central policy thrust on infrastructure building. Badal’s next priority is power. He has managed two deals for getting additional power for the State: 395 MW from the Centre’s electricity quota and 500 MW from Chhattisgarh. Badal has also asked the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia for grant of Rs.100 crore for rural education.

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Another Setback To SEZ Policy

The Union Government’s policy for encouraging Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the States has received yet another setback. All the State Governments have unanimously rejected the Centre’s advice to allow tax exemptions to the non-processing (non-productive) areas of SEZs. The Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers on VATS, headed by West Bengal’s Asim Dasgupta, has decided that “no one should impose on the States anything relating to their tax structures and exemptions”, especially in any non-processing parts of SEZ.  The empowered Group of Ministers on SEZs, headed by Pranab Mukherjee has ruled that the minimum processing area would be 50 per cent of the total land area. The Group has also constituted a sub-committee to prepare a roadmap for implementation of a common “Goods and Services Tax”, proposed to be rolled out by the Centre from 2010.

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 The Karnataka Government, led by H.D. Kumaraswamy has managed to get the State Assembly pass two contentious legislations to prevent land grabbing. They were vigorously resisted by its BJP ally and the Opposition Congress. The BJP opposed them  on the ground that the new laws would affect the poor. But it supported the legislation only after the Chief Minister threatened to call off the coalition. The Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2007 outlines punishment for illegally occupying land, sale of agricultural land without conversion and approvals and Government servants facilitating illegalities. The Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill 2007, is intended to curb organized attempts to grab land whether belonging to the Government, local authorities or other statutory and non-statutory bodies owned, controlled or managed by the Government. .---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 3 May 2007

Crucial UP Assembly Poll

MAYAWATI’S SOCIAL ENGINEERING ON TEST

By Insaf

As the U.P. poll marathon reaches its concluding stage, the main political parties in the race have stepped up their campaigning for the last round in the seven-phase nationally crucial election.  At the end of the sixth round on Thursday, most exit polls point to a fractured verdict in a pathetically low voter turn-out which, surprisingly, dropped to as low as 42 per cent in the fifth round on April 28 that covered the Parliamentary constituencies of top leaders, including Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi. Vajpayee’s constituency Lucknow recorded the lowest turn-out of 37 per cent. Lucknow West Assembly constituency registered even lower polling of around 28 per cent. The voting percentage remained between 35 and 40 in the Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, Rae Bareili and Amethi.

At the end of the penultimate round, Mayawati and her BSP once again appeared to be leading in the race for power, thanks to her smart social engineering.  She has adopted the tactic of extending her Dalit base to embrace the Jats, Brahmins and Muslims. This strategy has been put to test in Western U.P.’s Jat-Muslim belt, Ruhelkhand and Farrukhabad. If her Brahmin card pays off, (to be known only after counting on May 11) it will be at the cost of the BJP, which however seems to have improved its position in the fourth and fifth rounds. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh and his ruling Samajwadi Party are facing strong anti-incumbency feelings, especially in regard to the law and order situation. This has forced the CM and his colleagues to undertake door-to-door canvassing as their last-ditch battle for 59 seats in the seventh and last phase of the poll on May 8.

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Assembly Poll In Goa

Even as all eyes are on U.P., politics is quietly hotting up in Goa in the run-up to the Assembly poll on June 2. According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, poll notification will be made on May 8, nominations upto May 16 and counting on June 5.  The ruling Congress faces strong challenges because of several pre-poll developments. The party’s principal ally, the NCP, with only two MLAs in the outgoing Assembly is firmly sticking to its demand for 10 seats in the 40-member House.  The State NCP Chief, Wilfred de Souza has asserted that there would be no compromise on this demand. Moreover, the South Goa Congress MP, Churchill Alemao has announced his decision to leave the Congress and contest the Assembly election as a candidate of a new “Save Goa Forum”, which has planned to contest 35 seats. Meanwhile, the BJP as the main Opposition has decided to field all the 16 sitting MLAs and another 24 candidates for the remaining constituencies. All will be “dedicated workers with clean record.”

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Increasing Terror Strikes In States

Terrorist-hit States across the country have registered increased violence during the first three months of the current year, as compared to the corresponding period in 2006. This has been revealed by the latest status paper on the internal security prepared by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The ULFA violence in Assam recorded a nearly two-fold increase in January-March this year as against the incidents in this period last year---from 65 to 126.  Similar increased violence has been recorded in other insurgency-hit north-eastern States of Manipur and Nagaland. In Manipur, the number rose to 166 from 131 during the first three months this year. The increase is marginal in Nagaland, from 59 to 61 respectively during the first three months of the two years under study. The violence took place mostly on account of internecine clashes between factions of the NSCN.

The Naxalite-hit States have also continued to account for more violent incidents and killings during the first three months this year. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand witnessed a sharp rise in the killings with police casualties nearly equalling those recorded in the whole of 2006---81 in the first quarter of 2007 against 84 in the whole previous year. Concernedly the killings in the Naxal-hit States have been more than even in J&K where the counter-terrorism operations resulted in the elimination of 593 jehadis, including top 52 commanders during 2006. However, despite the continuing anti-terror operations latest reports indicate that the terrorist groups, including the dreaded Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, are actively preparing for strikes across the country together with the local insurgent groups and the ISI of Pakistan.

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Alarum From The South

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi has drawn the Centre’s attention to the dangers India’s peninsular States are now facing from the LTTE of Sri Lanka, which is now using even its air force. The “Tigers” have attacked Indian fishermen and are reportedly grouping with not only the ISI but also some local militant groups. Meanwhile, the present internal security scenario in which most of the States are fighting the scourge of terrorism, the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and later of his wife Kauser bi on a fake encounter has sparked a debate on such killings: A view, attributed to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is gaining ground that Sohrabuddin Sheikh was a Jehadi terrorist who needed to be eliminated. This reminds Insaf of what the late Dharma Vira told Punjab’s DGP on taking over as the Governor of the terrorist troubled State: “I have no use for live terrorists”!

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Fresh Violence In Nandigram

Controversies over the setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by various States continue unabated. While revised guidelines are being worked out for acquiring land for industrial projects in various State capitals, fresh violence has erupted in Nandigram of West Bengal. Even before the dust could settle on the aftermath of March 14 carnage, the village turned again into a veritable battlefield on Sunday last. Two groups of heavily armed activists of the CPM and Bhumi Uchchad Pratinidhi Committee fought a “pitched battle” in different locations of the village. Two persons were killed, both reportedly CPM supporters.  Firearms were used by both sides in the fight in protest against the Police shoot-out on March 14. Bad blood continues among the warring groups, necessitating greater security alert.

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Kerala’s Solution For Land Controversy

The Left Front Government in Kerala, led by V.S. Achuthanandan, has taken steps to eliminate confrontations over acquiring of land for industrial purposes. It has decided to set up Land Banks to protect Government lands and to facilitate land availability for development projects in the State. The Banks are being set up keeping in view the development of the State in the next 25 years. The land requirement for several projects coming up in the State, including the new bypass, ring roads, Metro rail, Railway development, IT Parks and others would be estimated while establishing the Land Banks. Construction of offices and commercial complexes on various sites on a build-operate-transfer basis is also under the Government’s active consideration with the joint involvement of various public and private sector organizations.

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Sheila’s “Sanjha Prayas” Plan

Delhi’s Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit has launched a new initiative for the rehabilitation of the people living in slums (jhuggi jhonpri) colonies in the Union Capital. The programme, called “Sanjha Prayas” is based on the Government’s earlier “Bhagidari Scheme”, launched for the participation of the poor living in slums and resettlement colonies to engage them in identifying and prioritizing problems at the community level. The plan now is to construct multi-storeyed houses for the slum dwellers under a new scheme: “Financial Assistance to Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies.” Four cooperative societies for slum dwellers have already been registered for taking up housing projects and other activities. More will be on the way before long.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)