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Economic Highlights
Governance Paralysed:KARNATAKA MESS CONTINUES, by Insaf,31 October 2007 |
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Round The States
New Delhi, 31 October 2007
Governance
Paralysed
KARNATAKA MESS
CONTINUES
By Insaf
Karnataka continues to bleed and suffer --- politically
Governance in the State has been virtually paralysed for the past many weeks,
thanks to the shenanigans of the politicians, especially the highly discredited
Gowda duo of father and son. Imposition of President’s rule on the State on
October 9 brought a glimmer of hope for the common people. Yet the mess has continued, this time thanks to the Governor,
Rameshwar Thakur, and the powers that be --- the UPA Government and its Congress bosses.
Both have been calculatedly dragging their feet in gross
violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the judgments of the
Supreme Court. Otherwise, a BJP-JD(S) Government should have been sworn-in by
now, ending the impasse and the
administrative paralysis.
Governor Thakur should have clinched matters once the BJP
and JD(S) paraded 129 MLAs in support of Yedyurappa as Chief Minister. But he
chose not to do so. Surprisingly, he spoke of “consultations” with the Centre,
which were not required. He also spoke about stability and horse-trading. In
doing so, he ignored the Supreme Court’s land mark ruling in regard to
President’s rule. In the case of S.R. Bommai, a former Karnataka CM, it ruled
that whether a Government enjoyed a majority or not was to be decided only on
the floor of the House. Not so long ago,
the Supreme Court ruled in the Bihar Assembly
dissolution case that the shifting
stand of the political parties could not be a ground for dissolution of House.
Basically, the Congress has
had one clear strategy. Somehow keep the BJP out and ensure a Congress Government. Or, dissolve
the House and order a fresh poll.
* * * *
Jharkhand Booms To Naxal Terror
Naxal terror struck Jharkhand last week with ghoulish
vengeance. Killing 18 people including former Chief Minister Babu Lal Marandi’s
youngest son Anup. Dressed in CRPF
khakis, they opened fire at the end of a football tournament in Chilkhari
village in Giridih district. Not only did they cock a snook at the joint
operations being conducted by the Bihar and
Jharkhand Governments to flush them out but this is the first time that the Red
Brigade has targeted main line politicians. Specially against the backdrop that
the local polity have accepted Naxalites as an inseparable part of the system
at the grassroots. So much so that
poll-time boycott calls by the extremists are often “bought off” by candidates,
whatever their party affiliation.
Clearly, this holds ominous portends for the polity as Marandi was the
only leading politician in the forefront of the anti-Maoist campaign in the
State.
* * * *
Nandigram Erupts
Again
After a lull of a few months
Nandigram once again erupted in violence last week and turned in to a war zone
with battle lines drawn between the Trinamool Congress
and the Left parties. Four CPM supporters were killed in a bomb blast and gun
shots were reportedly fired at the convoy of the Trinamool Chief, mercurial
Mamata Banerjee. Predictably, this sparked off fresh trouble all over the
State. With accusations and counter-accusations flung against each other by CPM
leaders and Mamata. Trinamool activists retaliated by blocking roads and railway
tracks in large parts of Hubli and also gave a bandh call, which paralysed the whole State. Making most of the war
of words between the two political rivals, the Bhumi Uchchhed Prattirodh
Committee paralysed large parts of East Midnapore
by calling a bandh.
* * * *
Nitish Hits Laloo’s
Come Back Plan
Bihar once again resonated to the
sounds of ‘Jab tak samose mein aaloo, tab
tak Bihar mein Laloo’ as the former Chief Minister of Bihar
and the Railway Minister and RJD Chief held a massive
Chetna Rally in the State. This was Laloo Yadav’s first trip to his home State
after his defeat in the 2004 Assembly
polls. A worried Laloo left no stone unturned to make this rally a resounding
success to mark his arrival back in the
State politics. Many special trains ferried people from all over the State and the
neighbouring areas for the rally held in the Capital, Patna. The NDA Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
didn’t take things lying down either. He announced his Government’s decision to
reserve 50 per cent seats in the three layers of the panchayati raj system for
the most backward castes’ and thereby not only consolidated his socio-political
base but also hit Laloo’s comeback plan hard.
* * * *
UNPA To Mulayam’s
Defence
The newly-formed UNPA has come to the defence of beleaguered
Samajwadi Chief Mulayam Singh in his controversial disproportionate assets case. Calling it a “politics of revenge,” the
TDP Chief and Convener of the anti-Congress
front Chandrababu Naidu accused the Congress
of being vengeful and victimizing the Samajwadi supremo and his kin.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Supreme Court has issued
notice to Mulayam and his family in the assets
case after the CBI reportedly found evidence of huge property acquisitions.
Needless to say, the action of the
premier investigation agency is bound to further widen the Mulayam-Congress rift. Even as the CPI (M) Chief Prakash Karat met
with SP leaders to enlist their support for the Left’s opposition to the
nuclear deal.
* * * *
Unprecedented March
Of Landless
New Delhi was besieged last Monday when
25,000 landless people barged into
the Union Capital to demand land rights for the displaced and the landless. Under the banner of Ekta Parishad, they marched on
foot from Gwalior to Delhi, taking 30 days. Significantly, the
marchers included 250 foreigners from 29 countries. Over Rs. 3 crore to 4 crore
was spent to feed, shelter and march the landless
poor to Delhi
to register their angst with the top powers that be. An anxious Prime Minister responded
promptly and successfully prevented
the marchers from reaching Parliament
Street, the normal venue for rallies and
demonstrations. Two committees were grandiosely announced at Ram Lila ground on
behalf of Manmohan Singh. One, the National Land Reform Council, headed by the
PM himself and two a committee on State Agrarian Relations & Unfinished
Land Reforms. With the “solemn promise” that these panels would look into all
land-related issues and make appropriate
recommendations. It is a moot point whether these committee lollypops will
sweeten the bitter lives of the landless!
* * * *
Sting Creates Tehelka For Modi
The Tehelka sting has indeed created tehelka for Narender Modi, who is seeking a third term as Gujarat’s Chief Minister. Notwithstanding Modi’s decision
to brazen out all exposures with the response: “I will not comment.” The sting
operation purportedly quotes the 2002 Godhra riot foot soldiers (Bajrang Dal,
VHP and Shiv Sena men) disgustingly boasting about having carried out the
killings with State support and having been sheltered by the Administration
against the subsequent judicial onslaught.
As the Congress, various
regional parties and human rights activist up the ante for Modi’s removal,
following the Ahmedabad District Collector “blacking out” the TV coverage, the
sting threatens to boomerang on the Congress.
Reportedly, it has triggered the polorisation of voters in favour of the
beleaguered Chief Minister. Will the polls be ‘hai hai Modi’ or ‘jai jai’
Modi’? Time will tell before too long.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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States Alerted Again:TERROR STRIKES IN FESTIVE SEASON ?, by Insaf,24 October 2007 |
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Round The States
New
Delhi, 24 October 2007
States Alerted
Again
TERROR STRIKES IN
FESTIVE SEASON ?
By
Insaf
All the States have been put on a red alert by the Centre
once again, following unprecedented terrorist violence and turmoil in Pakistan. The
Punjab Police have strongly cautioned their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir that the militants are
reportedly planning attacks on the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and Jammu
Railway Station. The self-styled Commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Karim Ansari is
stated to have been directed to launch attacks not only on the sacred shrine
and the Jammu station but also on cinema halls
in Jammu as in the recent case of Ludhiana. Reports from
Punjab also indicate that Kashmiri terrorists in league with Punjab rebels may
trigger blasts in various towns of Punjab, including Ferozepur, Patiala, Bhatinda and
Phagwara. Punjab terrorists, backed by Pakistan, are clearly trying to
revive old links with the Kashmiri rebels.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has got
all the States to join a virtual nationwide hunt for tracing unauthorized and suspicious purchase of SIM
cards because of their crucial links with the Ajmer
and the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad.
The Harkat-ul-Jehadi-i-Islami (HUJI) is said to have zeroed in on the mobile
phone trigger mechanism to carry out such explosions in preference to using the
common alarm clock. In fact, this mechanism was used in the Mecca Masjid blasts
and now in Ajmer Sharif. What is more, the two accused in the twin blasts have
disclosed in their narco-analysis that they had helped obtain 50 to100 SIM
cards over a period of time. These SIM cards have yet to be located by the
Hyderabad Police. Hence the Centre’s plea to the States to take the disclosures
“very seriously” and somehow trace the lethal SIM cards.
* * * *
Army’s Olive Branch To ULFA
The Army has extended an olive
towards the militant ULFA in Assam if it agrees
to come to the negotiating table without preconditions. Significantly, this is
the first time that the Army itself has not set any precondition. Stated the Army Chief: “The Army is willing
to go back to the barracks.” Adding that if the Bodoland Liberation Tigers and
the National Liberation Front of Bodoland (NDFB) could come to the negotiating
table “then why not the ULFA”. At the same time, he has warned that Pakistan’s ISI
under the directions of the Muslim fundamentalists is becoming increasingly
active in the State. Reportedly the ISI had a hand in the recent bomb blasts in
Guwahati and other places in the State. No matter that the ULFA continues to
keep the police and security forces on their toes.
* * * * *
TN Reservation For Minorities
Post Ram Setu controversy, Tamil Nadu is back to the
politics of reservation. The Tamil Nadu Assembly
on Monday last passed a Bill, to
replace an ordinance, providing for 7 per cent reservation for minorities --- 3.5
per cent reservation each to backward Muslims and Christians in government jobs
and in all educational institutions in the State. The new separate quota will
be within the 30 per cent reservation already being provided to the backward
castes in Tamil Nadu, where there is a high percentage of reservation of 69 per
cent including 20 per cent for the Most Backward Class
(MBC); and 19 per cent for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. It is another matter
that a petition challenging the inclusion of the 69 per cent reservation in the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution is still pending before the Supreme Court.
* * * * *
BJP Taking On Mayawati
The BJP is finally getting its act together in UP for taking
on Mayawati and regaining its hold on the upper caste Hindus. As a first
measure, the Saffron Sangh is preparing to lash out against the Chief Minister for
glorifying Periyar, the Southern Dalit
reformer known for his highly objectionable statements and abuse against the
Hindu Gods and hatred for Hindi. In his book Sachchi Ramayana, Periyar presents a diabolically distorted view of
the epic, including extremely offensive references to Lord Ram and Sita. This
book is not only being freely doled out by the BSP offices across the State, but Mayawati is also installing a
number of Periyar statues. To stall her bid and wean back the upper caste
Hindus, specially Brahmins, to the Party fold, the BJP is preparing to awaken
and ignite the electorate with many of Periyar’s “inflammatory” statements.
Will Lord Ram oblige the BJP once more?
* * * * *
EC Makes Modi Wary
Elections are no cakewalk but a bed of thorns, as Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi is slowly but surely finding out. What with the
Election Commission busy breathing
down his neck with a long list of dos’ and donts’. In its concerted bid to
conduct free and fair elections in the State, the EC has decided to send three
Special Observers to supervise the observance of the model code of conduct by
the political parties. Another three teams of officials are set to oversee poll
readiness in Baroda,
Surat and
Ahmedabad. Coming on the heels of the transfer of senior Police and IAS
officials by the EC, Modi is busy ensuring that he does as he is directed, lest
he earn the wrath of the EC. As matters stand, the rebellion within his flock
is already giving him sleepless
nights along with renewed carping by the TV channels about Godhra and its bloody
aftermath.
* * * * *
Dussehra in Kashmir
Kashmir once again resounded to the burst
of fireworks on Sunday last, though with a crucial difference. This time it was
the effigy of ‘God of Evil’ Ravana which went up in flames. After a gap of 19
long years, Dussehra was celebrated
with gay abandon in Srinagar.
What made the exercise most nouvelle,
memorable and important was that hundreds of Muslims joined their Kashmiri
Pandit brethren and others at the Mata Shiva Bhagwati shrine for the
traditional havan. The last havan was performed in 1988.
Pertinently, this is the tenth religious place to be reopened in the
strife-torn State. Clearly, winds of
peace and brotherhood are blowing across
the Valley. Dussehra. Remarked a Kashmir watcher: “It remains to be seen whether Dussehra and its spirit, which signifies the victory
of good over evil, will pervade all over the State.”
* * * *
Sanyas Lessons For Kerala Clergy
Winds of change are also sweeping across
the Syrian Christian clergy in Kerala. Where the Syro-Malabar Church
--- regarded as the oldest in the country --- has reportedly decided to embrace
the Hindu tradition of sanyas. This
and other cultural aspects like bhajans are
becoming a part of the new curriculum for training the Christian clergy in the
Church. Explained the Church Spokesman: “As priests have to work in the Indian
milieu, it is necessary that they
learn about India’s
strong spiritual foundations like the Gurukul system, Sanyas, and Varnashram”.
The curriculum called the ‘Charter for priestly formation in the Syro-Malabar Church’ includes an introduction to
Hinduism and lessons preparing
students for an ascetic life with the help of Sanyasis. Moreover, the priests
are said to be most impressed by
other good ideas in the Indian way of life and are busy imbibing the rich
Indian traditions. The Church calls it “Indianisation”! ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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New Thrusts Planned:Economic Boom In North-East, by Insaf,17 October 2007 |
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Round The States
New Delhi, 17 October 2007
New Thrusts Planned
Economic
Boom In North-East
By
Insaf
India’s long-neglected North-East region
and its States have reason to be on cloud nine. They have been assured an economic boom in the next five years by
the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission,
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and profitable trading with South-East
Asia by the External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Both were
speaking at a three-day conference at Guwahati last week on India’s Look
East Policy and the challenges for sub-regional cooperation. The Eleventh Five
Year Plan will allocate Rs.12,793 crore from the Central Government for
development of roads in the region. Besides, Rs.9,500 crore to Rs.10,000 crore will
be invested for improving rail connectivity. There are also proposals to
provide rail heads to Meghalaya and Sikkim
and airports to Kohima, Itanagar and Sikkim. Ahluwalia even suggested a
Guwahati-based airline for operating within the region.
Equally promising was the first-ever North-East India
Investment Opportunities Week held earlier in Bangkok at the initiative of Mani
Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Development of North-East Region (DONER). At
least eight MoUs were signed in regard to road construction and agriculture, in
a conference attended by 280 entrepreneurs from India
and 150 from Thailand.
The Sikkim Government showed interest in setting up casinos and five-star
hotels. Meghalaya identified medicinal plants, roses and strawberries for potential
export. The most luring offer came from Thailand’s Department of Commerce.
The Thais, it said, would be keenly interested in importing vegetables and
fruit from the North-East instead of China, once the Free Trade
Agreement comes into force later this year. Indian vegetables and fruit are
much cheaper. But there is one major hurdle. The Thais know little about the
region so far.
* * * *
Panchayati Raj Scandal
India has reason to be proud of its
Panchayati Raj as it has taken democracy to the grassroots.
Shockingly, however, the system is badly letting down the aam aadmi in one crucial sector: development. Only the other day,
the Union Panchayati Raj Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, expressed concern over the failure of the Panchayats to
utilize the funds earmarked for them due to non-availability of district plans.
He told a national conference on District Planning under the Backward Region
Grant Fund (BRGF) in New Delhi
that of the Rs.4,000 crore earmarked for the Panchayats this year only Rs.222
crore was disbursed as they could not meet the criterion required to utilize
these funds. Of the 250 districts covered under BRGF, only 53 had district
plans and only 31 met the eligibility criteria.
At least five States have so far not even bothered to set up
District Planning Committees. Heading this list is Gujarat of Narendra Modi,
who loudly claims to have made his State a development model for the rest of India. The
others are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.
Mercifully, for the common man, Aiyar has bent over backward to be helpful. His
Ministry has decided to make available last year’s unutilised funds in the
current financial year for the construction of Panchayat ghars, anganwadi centres, educational activities and sports
facilities, kitchens for mid-day meals and housing for the poor. The States and
their panchayats clearly need to mend their scandalous ways.
* * * *
Farmers Suicides In
Gujarat
Gujarat has joined the growing list of
States where the farmers have committed or are committing suicides. Thanks to
information secured by a social activist, Bharat Jhala, under the Right to
Information Act, the Gujarat Governments has admitted 489 cases of farmer
suicides since 2003. The State Government was reluctant to provide the
information but it agreed to do so when the Central Information Commissioner intervened. Even now, according to Jhala,
information on six districts has not been made available. What is more, the
data collected shows “6,055 accidental deaths of farmers”. These have yet to be probed. Clearly, the
suicides indicate an ominous trend in the agrarian sector of Gujarat,
no matter Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s tall boasts on development.
* * * *
Naxalites New
Target: Industrial Belt
The blast in a Ludhiana cinema hall last week is a grim reminder
that India’s security apparatus leaves much to be desired both at the Central
and State level. No matter, the vacuous rhetoric of teaching the terrorists a
lesson. In fact, the Union Home
Ministry is so busy curbing Pakistan-sponsored jehadis that it seems to have missed
out the latest warning bells from the ever-expanding Naxalites menace.
Reportedly, the Red Brigade is now systematically moving terror into new States
like Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. According to intelligence sources,
they are busy setting up regional, zonal and State committees with special
focus on targeting urban cities and towns.
What is more, two principal
industrial belts have been identified for urban mobilization: Bhilai-Ranchi-Dhanbad-Kolkataa
and Mumbai-Pune-Surat-Ahmedabad.
* * * *
Himachal Poll
Controversy
The controversy over Himachal Assembly
poll dates has largely blown over. The Election Commission
has turned down the Congress Party’s
plea for postponement of the two phase poll on November 14 and December 19 to
sometime in February since the term of the Assembly
expires only on March 9. The EC has, however, agreed to consider the State
Education Board’s request to prepone the December poll by 15 days to avoid a
clash with the School Board Exam and non-availability of school infrastructure
and teachers for election duty. Importantly, the E.C. has blown sky high the
Congress claim that advancement of
the poll would lead to confusion through the creation of two elected Assemblies. It has clarified that “after the
notification of a new House the old House ceases to exist” in accordance with
law!
* * * * *
Tamil Nadu’s Wind
Power
Talk of energy and one’s thoughts automatically turn to
thermal, hydro-electric or solar power --- and, till last week, to nuclear
power, thanks to the Manmohan Singh-Bush deal. Few ever think of wind as a
source of much-needed power. Yet not many are aware that the Tamil Nadu
Electricity Board (TNEB) generates 1,000 MW from wind energy which is equal to
what the State generates from its hydro stations. True, wind power has its
problems. Until Monday last week, for instance, the TNEB was getting 1,000 MW
from the wind mills. But generation drastically dropped to 19 MW when the wind
pattern changed dramatically. However, the breakdown in supply was only for
short periods as West Bengal, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh promptly responded to
the TNEB’s SOS and graciously diverted 300 to 400 MW each!
* * * *
MLAs Scandal in
Jharkhand
Think Jharkhand, think scandal. Since its inception a few
years ago, notoriety is synonymous with the State. The latest in Jharkhand’s
chequered history of scams is the State Government’s reported decision to grab
prime fertile agricultural land, valued at Rs one crore per acre, to build
homes for the MLAs. The property belongs to the Indian Council of Agriculture
Research’s Horticulture & Agroforestry Research Programme (HARP) for field
trials of important crops and lies along the busy Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway.
Scandalously, the MLAs housing cooperative society earlier rejected the site
allotted to it at Malsiring village as the proposal to build the State’s new
Capital there had been cancelled. Leading to a crash in land value, only Rs 2
lakh per acre. Sadly, the Chief Minister Madhu Koda who is member of the MLAs
society, seems unperturbed by the heartburn among the HARP employees about
their future. ----- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature
Alliance)
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President’s Rule In Karnataka:JD(S) GORY TALE OF BETRAYAL, by Insaf, 11 October 2007 |
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Round The States
New Delhi, 11 October 2007
President’s Rule In
Karnataka
JD(S) GORY TALE OF
BETRAYAL
By
Insaf
The curtain finally rung down on Wednesday on a gory
political potboiler of betrayal and back stabbing in Karnataka which would put
a Bollywood film to shame. With the BJP formally withdrawing support to the
20-month long Government of JD(S) Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, President’s Rule
was imposed on the State and the Assembly
kept in suspended animation. Governor Rameshwar Thakur favoured dissolution of the Assembly
and fresh elections to avoid ugly horse-trading and underhand deals between the
parties. Many at the Centre agreed with him in their anxiety to block all possibilities of the BJP and the JD(S) again coming
together and forming a Government. But they ran into a major hurdle: the
Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in the Bommai case. This left only one course
open to the Union Government: impose President’s rule and keep the Assembly in suspended animation.
The Supreme Court’s judgment limits the President’s power initially
to imposing Central rule and keeping the Assembly
in suspended animation. The President can consider dissolution
of the Assembly only after both the Houses
of Parliament have ratified Central rule in the State. Perhaps it is as well that
the Assembly is in animated
suspension in view of the uncertainty over Parliament’s next session because of the UPA-Left logjam over the
Indo-US Nuclear Deal. This leaves scope for two alternatives since politics is
the art of making impossible possible. At one stage, the Congress was receptive to JD(S) feelers favouring a Government
headed by Union Minister of State for Planning, M.V. Rajasekharan, a Lingayat,
like BJP’s CM-designate Yediyurappa. But Maharashtra Governor S.M. Krishna, a
Vokaligga, scuttled the proposal. Secondly, the JD(S) and BJP could still
decide to bury the hatchet and rule the State.
* * * * *
Himachal Greatly
Surprised
Himachal Pradesh has been taken totally by surprise by the
Election Commission’s announcement
of the dates for the Assembly poll
on November 14 for the snow-bound constituencies and December 19 for the rest
of the State. In fact, the first response to the announcement was one of panic
as the State was expecting the election in February since the term of the
68-member Assembly ends only on
March 9 next. The Government’s biggest worry now is that its plans to announce
a slew of pre-election sops --- jobs and development works in the districts ---
have gone awry. The State Government had planned to announce these sops after
October 15 following the Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh’s return from Washington. However, the
CM is not unduly bothered. He is confident of winning once more on the strength
of his Government’s performance over the past five years!
* * * *
Ajmer Sharif Blast
The bomb blast in the dargah of the Sufi saint, Khwaja
Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer,
a shrine in Rajasthan venerated alike by Muslims, Hindus and Christians on
Thursday has once again pushed the Centre and the State Governments into the
dock. Mercifully, the blast was low-intensity and causalities were limited to 2
killed and 17 injured when some 5000 devotees were present. But the incident
could have been prevented if only both the Central and State Intelligence and
the Police had been truly alert. Only last week, Union Home Minister Shivraj
Patil had warned once again that terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, based
in Pakistan,
would strike religious institutions to provoke communal conflict. In fact, he
even issued a red corner alert to
the States at a two-day conference of Director Generals and IGs of Police New
Delhi. Sadly, however, in all such exercises continue to end in rhetoric and
still more rhetoric. Time for some solid action.
* * * *
Assam I-Cards For Muslims
What the Centre can do, Assam
can do one better when it comes to minority appeasement. The State Chief
Minister, Tarun Gogoi, in a first of sorts, has decided to issue identity cards to daily wage labourers
belonging to the minority community. Ostensibly, to stop their “harassment” in the name of identifying illegal
Bangladeshi migrants. “The Government cannot allow this,” he thundered at an Iftar party in Guwahati. In addition, the
Muslims have also been promised a slew of welfare schemes. All with an eye on
reaping the political harvest in the forthcoming Panchayat polls. However, the
Congress is worried that a major
chunk of Muslims, particularly those of erstwhile East
Pakistan origin, might yet vote for the Assam
United Democratic Front (AUDF) headed by Badruddin Ajmal. Interestingly, ensuing
criticism of the CM’s announcement has got Gogoi to promise something long
overdue: an I-card for every citizen. But the question is when?
* * * * *
National Tears Over
Onion
Failure of the onion crop in Maharashtra
and Karnataka has led to copious tears all over the country. So severe is the
shortage that the States which account for 30 per cent of the country’s 66 lakh
tonne annual crop of onion, are also feeling the heat. Retail prices are now as
high as Rs.30 per kg and continue to rise. Adding to the consumer woes, at many
places farmers are hoarding onions expecting more prices for their produce.
While Government officials blame traders for hoarding, the traders hold the
unseasonal rain guilty. Either way for Indian households, barring the National
Capital Region of Delhi, the writing is on the wall: pay more for onions in the
next couple of months. Delhi’s
Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, has arranged to provide the common man with
onion at Rs.22 per kg from Government-managed counters!
* * * *
J&K On The Boil
Again
Jammu and Kashmir is on the boil again. Juma’t
al’vida, last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan, which fell yesterday, saw a
two-member fidayeen squad attack the
headquarters Battalion of the CRPF in
Srinagar, leaving three police personnel injured on the eve of the 72-hour
unilateral cease-fire declared by the Pakistan-based United Jihad Council.
Earlier on Wednesday, nine terrorists, two Army majors and a jawan were killed
in a fierce battle in the Tanmarg area in Baramulla district. Incredibly
enough, the cross-fire between the
Rashtriya Rifles and the militants lasted three days, prompting the new Army
Chief, Gen Deepak Kapoor to disagree with his predecessor
and rule out any “troop cut till the State returns to normalcy.” The outgoing Army Chief, Gen. J.J. Singh had
asserted on his last day that the
situation in J&K was “fast moving towards normalcy.”
Not unexpectedly, the PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, latched
on to the two statements and attacked the two Army Chiefs for giving confusing
signals to the troubled State. However, the PDP, which has been vociferous in demanding
troop withdrawal, today finds itself caught on the wrong foot, thanks to its
Tanmarg MLA, Ghulam Hassan Mir and
former Housing Minister. Shockingly, Mir offered prayers at the graves of the
nine militants killed in Tanmarg. Queried about his “betrayal”, he explained to
a national daily: “I offered fateha in
the capacity of being a Muslim. I don’t think there is anything wrong in this.”
Yet the message that has gone out
from this PDP leader, who was once in the running for the Deputy Chief Minister’s
job under Ghulam Nabi Azad, has caused great embarrassment
to his party. It confirms once more the PDP’s close links with the militant
groups.
*
* * *
Yamuna Satyagraha
Save the Yamuna campaign in New Delhi is growing. Ignored by the
Government, the activists of the “Yamuna Satyagraha” have decided to spread to
11 places across the Capital. Their
demand of exempting the river’s floodplains from construction work has fallen
on deaf ears, despite their campaigning for the past 60 days. The sit-in, near
the riverbed site where the Commonwealth Games Village is to be constructed,
will now extend to places including the Supreme Court, India Gate and Raj Ghat. It may be recalled that the Yamuna Satyagraha
started in 2000 in protest against construction of the Akshardham complex on
the riverbed. It made no impact on the authorities. Now in its seventh year,
the campaign is trying to urge journalists, sportsmen, artists and students to
join in. Time will tell. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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Unprecedented Confrontation:TAMIL NADU Vs SUPREME COURT, by Insaf, 4 October 2007 |
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Round The States
New Delhi, 4 October 2007
Unprecedented Confrontation
TAMIL NADU Vs SUPREME COURT
By Insaf
Tamil Nadu is more or less back to normal after an unprecedented
confrontation between the State Government and the Supreme Court, triggered by
Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s virtual defiance of the latter’s order banning a bandh to press
for early execution of the controversial Sethusamudram Project. Fortunately,
Karunanidhi realized in good time that all that the Supreme Court had done was
to follow its previous binding judgments. On November 1997, the Supreme Court
expressly approved a judgment of the
full bench of the Kerala High Court (February 1997) that “a call for a bandh effectively precluded citizens from
exercising their fundamental rights and was, therefore, unconstitutional.”
Subsequently in December 2003, the Supreme Court thundered in the case of James
Martin vs. State of Kerala
about the necessity of controlling bandhs with an iron hand to protect “victims
of the high-handed acts of some fanatics with queer notions of democracy and
freedom of speech or association.”
Karunanidhi also now recognizes
inwardly that the Supreme Court was within its right to take notice of what it
considered to be a break-down of the Constitution. True, the law does not
permit the Apex Court
to pass orders for dismissing the Government under Article 356 of the
Constitution. Nevertheless,
according to leading jurists, if the Court is of the opinion that there is a
constitutional breakdown of machinery, it can advise the Government to look
into it. At any rate, the Court’s oral observations threatening to recommend
sacking of the State Government and imposition of the President’s rule were
intended to ensure that the State machinery functioned and followed in accordance
with its orders. Importantly, not many are aware that oral observations made by
the judges have no force in law. No formal order was passed
by the Court threatening imposition of President’s rule, a power which vests
only in the Central Government.
* * * *
Karunanidhi: Facts and Fiction
What next? Will Karunanidhi be
hauled over by the Supreme Court for contempt? Much depends upon Karunanidhi’s
willingness to stop trying to be
clever by half. On Wednesday last, the CM made “amends” by coming up with a new
explanation for his inability to enforce the Supreme Court order banning the 1 October
bandh. The official order, he said, “had
reached the Chief Secretary only by 10.30 p.m. and there were only a few hours
left for the bandh to commence.” Yet the
facts of case go against the DMK Chief’s claim. The Apex Court ruling was flashed by all news
channels by 1.30 p.m. and Karunanidhi himself stated before the TV cameras at
2.30 p.m. that a hunger strike would be held instead; he even mentioned the
venue in Chennai. Eyewitnesses
confirm that the speakers at a public meeting that Karunanidhi attended that
evening touched on the point repeatedly. Interestingly, the Court had ordered
that there should be no disruption of public transport on 1 October. However,
only 61 of the city’s 16,000 buses came out that day!
* * * *
States Put On Fiscal Alert
All the States have been put on their best fiscal behaviour
by the Centre. Playing spoil sport, New
Delhi has issued
a stern ultimatum to the States: show work, only then we will show you the
money. Consequently, the States are now busy drawing up plans to meet their
fiscal targets. Peeved by the fiscal profligacy of the States, the Finance
Ministry has made it clear to all the State Governments that no more funds
would be released unless they furnish
utilization certificates for the past allocation. Adding to the woes of the
States, the Centre has outlined “specific steps” to ensure compliance. Moreover,
it has also declared that no further transfers would be made to a Reserve Fund
until unspent balances in the Fund had been utilized. The Centre’s control over
extravagance and wastefulness has
also been tightened. Further, the Chief Controller of Accounts has been
directed to keep vigil during his “pre-payment scrutiny.” It remains to be seen how many States will
comply with this new directive.
* * * *
DGHC Assured Autonomy
Better late than never! The Centre has at long last agreed
to give the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council autonomous self-governing status
under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, as demanded by Subhash Ghising,
President of the Gorkha National Liberation Front. The West Bengal Assembly had earlier bowed to the GNLF supremo’s wishes
and adopted on 16 March 2006 a resolution for bringing the DGHC, set up in 1987
following an agreement between the Union Government, headed by Rajiv Gandhi,
the West Bengal Government and the GNLF, under the Sixth Schedule. Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule will give the
DGHC constitutional protection. Its existence will no longer be dependent on
the goodwill of the State Government and its laws. The Centre has promised to
bring forward a Bill for the purpose during the winter session
of Parliament. It has also agreed to take into account the GNLF’s demand for
incorporation of some more areas of Siliguri District in the autonomous Council
to make it economically viable. Ghising and his GNLF will need to keep their
fingers crossed!
* * * *
BSP’s Social Engineering
UP Chief Minister Mayawati is once more at her social
engineering best. After successfully
wooing Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh and now trying to repeat the same in Gujarat, the Bahujan Samaj Party in Chhattisgarh has
decided to engineer a social pact with the OBCs and Scheduled Castes to make
inroads into the State polity. Hoping to replicate her successful UP social engineering experiment Mayawati has decided to contest all the 90
States Assembly seats in next year’s
election. In the last Assembly poll
the BSP had contested 52 seats and won two seats. To bring the 52 per cent OBCs
and 22.3 per cent SCs into the party fold bhaichara
(brotherhood) committees have been launched in the State.
The shrewd Mayawati has dumped the upper castes in the State as they
constituted only 4 per cent of the total population here. Notwithstanding the
fact that the present Chief Minister belongs to the upper caste.
* * * *
In Harmony in Kerala Village
A small village in Kerala has set a heart-warming example of
living in harmony. A Muslim family in Perruvalloor panchayat in Malappuram
district has given some of its land for the rebuilding of an ancient temple.
And, the Hindu temple would be just 50 metres away from a mosque, behind a
madrasa! The decision was taken by a five-member committee constituted by the
panchayat, after debris of an old Gowri Shankar temple was recovered near the
madrasa a few weeks ago. Though minor disagreements between members of the two
communities were resolved initially, the final approval of constructing the
temple was kept a secret to avoid any unpleasant incident. Now, in the holy
month of Ramzan one can hear at the same time priests chanting prayers and
calls for namaaz from the mosque.
* * * *
Gujjar’s Step-up Demand
The Gujjars of Rajasthan appear hell bent to get themselves
the status of Scheduled Tribes. In a planned agitation, over five lakh Gujjars
courted arrest in the State last week as part of their “jail bharo” action. The agitation started on Sunday last, when the
Gujjars decided to stop supplying milk to dairies and customers throughout the
State. The agitation is a “do-or-die situation” whereby, anyone who goes
against the collective decision would be fined Rs 5,100, thereby affecting milk
supply in the State. The Gujjars provide 60-70 per cent of milk to small cities
and towns and another seven to 13 lakh litres to the Rajasthan Saras Dairy. The
Gujjars claim that their’s is a fit case for ST status and, in support, they
have decided to lay siege in New Delhi
on Saturday. The community will protest outside the BJP headquarters as it is
angry with the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP Government in the State. Whether their
protest will be successful or not is
anyone’s guess. The only thing
certain is that the country’s capital may well be held to ransom. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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