Round The States

New Delhi, 22 March 2007

Farm Versus Factories

STATES FOR CHANGE IN SEZ POLICY

By Insaf

West Bengal’s Nandigram, a little known village until recently, has cast a long shadow on the industrialization plans of various States through the establishments of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Even though the Centre has already cleared more than 400 SEZs across the country, the State Governments are increasingly under pressure from the farmers to reconsider their decisions to acquire farm lands for factories. In the light of the horrendous toll inflicted by police firing on farmers and their families protesting against the acquisition of agricultural land, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has announced not only his Government’s decision to shift the chemical SEZ project site from Nandigram but also to put on hold other projects.  In fact, the CPM partners in the Left Front, presently ruling in Kerala and Tripura and supporting the UPA Government at the Centre, are publicly pressing for a change in the land acquisition policy.

Farmers in Orissa, Maharashtra and Haryana have already taken up cudgels against the decision to acquire farm lands for setting up SEZs. In Orissa, confrontation between the villagers to be displaced and the State Government is growing what with the opposition taking cue from the violence in West Bengal.  They have taken a hard stance against the Tata Steel project to be set up at Gopalpur and also protested against the Aluminium project in Rayagada district. Up in the North, a farmers’ lobby, headed by former Chief Ministers Om Prakash Chautala and Bhajan Lal, has taken up cudgels against Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda for his Government’s decision to acquire farm lands for several SEZ proposals. Similar lobbies have also cropped up in Punjab and Maharashtra, even as trouble is brewing in the other States. Lending strong support is the statement of the IT Czar, Narayana Murthy, from Bangalore opposing farmland for SEZs.

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Rahul’s Road Show In U.P.

Poll activity is picking up feverishly in U.P. for the seven-phase Assembly poll from April 7 to May 8, with MPs from the State and their Central leaders anxiously moving in as Parliament recessed on Tuesday until April 26. While the Central Election Committees of the major parties in quest of power are busy finalizing their lists of candidates, the Congress High Command has finally deployed its “Crown Prince,” Rahul Gandhi to lead the party’s campaign and take charge of the overall strategy. He is all set to hold a series of road shows across the State, starting from the Delhi-UP border. On his first day, he covered the districts of Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. Many more are on his list as the tempo builds up and other youthful Congress MPs, notably Jyotiraditya Scindia, pitch in. Also on the cards is campaigning by Priyanka Wadra in Rae Bareli and Amethi, Parliamentary constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission is taking all possible steps to ensure a free and fair poll. Several senior officers, including the Chief Secretary, have been replaced and more transfers are expected to follow. Even district level officers, whose proximity to the ruling Samajwadi Party has been established, are in the Commission’s list for marching orders. According to the EC sources, the transfer list so far has been prepared only for regions which will go to the polls in the first two phases. The new Chief Secretary, Shambu Nath is touring different parts of the State extensively to review the poll arrangements. He has already held a meeting at the headquarters with all the Principal Secretaries. The Commission, on its part, is leaving nothing to chance and is monitoring the security situation in the State closely. It has also decided to appoint for the first time Special Observers, each of whom will be in charge of specified districts

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J&K Crisis Averted

The crisis in the Congress-PDP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir seems to have blown off, at least for the time being, thanks to the Prime Minister’s intervention. Manmohan Singh’s painstaking efforts to convince the PDP supremo Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the futility of demanding at this stage reduction in troop deployment and withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act seem to have succeeded and the threat of a break-up of the coalition averted, thanks to some face-saving formulae. The PDP top leadership is due to consider the issue finally at its meeting in Srinagar on March 25. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, on his part, has hardened his stand and ruled out troop reduction which, he believes, would jeopardize peace in the State and so also endanger the lives of its innocent people. Governor S.K. Sinha has trashed the PDP’s diabolical demand as “obnoxious”.

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Naxalite Terror Again

The Naxalite terror is fast picking up again, after about a year’s relative lull, especially in the newly-carved out, tribal-dominated States of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Barely a week after the killing of Jharkhand MP Sunil Mahato and two others, the Naxals gave a deadly twist in Chhattisgarh last week to the ongoing battle between the rebels and the security forces, aided by a local tribal militia, Salva Judum. Surprisingly, they  slaughtered in sleep 55 police personnel in a pre-dawn operation in Dantewada district. The massacre took place in a region where the Government’s writ barely runs, a situation that prompted the Prime Minister to equate the Naxalite threat with terrorism. One wonders how the Naxals managed to enter Dantewada police headquarters, a heavily fortified camp.

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Terror From The Sea

Growing terrorism in the country has taken a new turn. Defence Minister A.K. Antony apprised the Lok Sabha last week of the Jehadis using sea routes for infiltration into the southern States, starting from Kerala. He has identified that marine terrorism, gun-running, drug trafficking and piracy were major threats for the sea boarders. Earlier, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Southern Command, had stressed the need for maintaining a strict vigil in the wake of the threat posed by the extremist elements, aided and abetted by the ISI of Pakistan. Intelligence agencies believe that the sealing of the land borders in the north and the west has forced the terrorists to search out new infiltration routes. Fortunately, the Coast Guard is up and about. It is said to have prepared a coastal security scheme to improve its effectiveness all along the coastal areas.

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Cauvery Rocks Parliament

The Cauvery water dispute continues to bedevil relations between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Mounting bitterness between the two States even spilled over into Parliament earlier this week, constraining the Speaker to adjourn the Lok Sabha for the budgetary session one day ahead of the schedule.  Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy made a welcome move for a one-to-one talk with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi for hammering out an amicable solution. But the latter has refused to entertain the suggestion, asserting: There is no scope for thought. It may be recalled that the Tribunal’s final award last month had allocated 270 tmc ft of waters to Karnataka and asked the State, from where the Cauvery originates, to release 192 tmc ft of water annually to Tamil Nadu. This led to large-scale violent protests by farmers and several other groups in the Cauvery basin districts of Mandya and Mysore.

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Delhi Civic Body Poll

The election for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on April 5 has attracted greater political interest than ever before. Traditionally, civic polls in the Union Capital have been seeing straights fight between the Congress and the BJP.  But this year’s poll has broken the tradition. Multi-corner contests in almost all the 272 Wards will be taking place. All major regional and other national parties have put up their candidates. Surprisingly even Sharad Pawar’s NCP, which did not send even one Councillor to the MCD House in the 2002 poll, has fielded candidates in 139 Wards and the BSP is contesting 230 Wards. Likewise, the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh has fielded 28 candidates, Janata Dal (U) 17, Janata Dal (S) 7 and the CPI 16. Over 300 candidates from regional parties are also in the fray, which is a record according to the State Election Commission.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 15 March 2007

Congress Fourth Front

MULTI-CORNER CONTESTS IN UP

By Insaf

Political activity is fast hotting up in U.P. for the crucial seven-phase poll from April 7 to May 8.  As the nominations for the first round of polling in 62 constituencies in 13 districts close next week, all parties in the fray are preparing for intense multi-corner contests for all the 403 Assembly seats. The ruling Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh, the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP have finalized their strategies and pre-poll understandings with smaller parties. While the Congress, which presently stands fourth in popularity reckoning, is desperately trying to stage a come-back in the State politics. Sonia Gandhi has personally worked out a Fourth Front with the support of some of the Congress partners in the UPA at the Centre, Lalu Prasad’s RLD, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP. Electoral adjustments are also being negotiated with Ajit Singh’s RLD, the CPI and Jan Morcha of V.P. Singh and Raj Babbar.

The BJP is now a front-runner, having considerably improved its chances of regaining power in the State, thanks to the impressive showing in Punjab and Uttarakhand.  It has already tied up a pre-poll alliance with its NDA partner, Janata Dal (U) of Sharad Yadav-Nitish Kumar-George Fernandes as also the Apna Dal. The party is hoping to get the support of a majority of the Brahmins, who constitute about 11 per cent of the State’s population , as also of the other upper castes namely Rajputs and Banias comprising 12 and 13 per cent respectively. It is hoping to get the support of non-Yadav OBCs through the JD(U) and Apna Dal.  The party is also expecting full support of another OBC, the Lodhs to which Kalyan Singh belongs. He is being projected by the BJP as its chief ministerial candidate. The ruling SP is counting mainly on Yadavs, the CPM and Muslims, who constitute 16-17 per cent of the State’s population. In fact, even the Congress MP, Obaidullah Khan is reportedly campaigning for the SP.

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EC Shifts Top Cop

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has taken some unprecedented steps to ensure free and fair poll in U.P. These include marching orders to nine senior IAS and IPS officers, including the Director General of Police, his Deputy and the Principal Secretary Home, who, the Commission thought, were “admirers” of Mulayam Singh and had attended a Government function at Samajwadi Party headquarters in late June last year.  The EC is said to have been watching closely the activities of the bureaucracy since the poll was announced on February 21. But it chose to wait for action until the Governor’s poll notification when the State administration came under the EC’s “superintendence”. The entire bureaucracy is upset and the top cop, DGP Bua Singh has already put in his papers, seeking premature retirement. He was due to retire on June 30. More officers may follow suit. They feel one with Bua Singh who has stated: “The EC has been unfair to me. I have an unblemished service record…”

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Assets Case Vendetta, Says Badal

Within days of taking over the Chief Ministership of Punjab for the fourth time, Parkash Singh Badal faces criminal charges against him during his earlier stint as the CM from 1997 to 2002.  A Special Judge at Chandigarh ordered framing of charges against him, his wife, son Sukhbir Singh and others for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. The case was filed during the reign of Amarinder Singh. Badal has reacted sharply to the charge and claimed that nothing has been established against him. He stated during his first visit to the Union Capital as the fourth-time CM that he was a victim of political vendetta and blamed Amarinder Singh for “employing the Government machinery to frame him. He asserted: “It must be the first case of its kind when allegations have been made quoting reliable sources… I committed no wrong and amassed no wealth disproportionate to my known sources of income”.

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Coalition Problems In J&K

Relations between the ruling coalition partners in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are increasingly soaring. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has been advised by the party High Command to lie low and leave the “first strike option” for breaking up the alliance to the coalition PDP. This advice was given to Azad who air-dashed to New Delhi over the week-end, following the PDP Ministers’ decision to boycott the Cabinet meetings until their demands were conceded. The coalition’s erstwhile Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and party Chief Mehbooba Mufti have been demanding drastic troop withdrawal and repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.  Azad has rejected the demand and asked the PDP leaders to surrender their personal security first!

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Nitish’s Plan For Bihar’s Progress

The NDA Government in Bihar, led by Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (U), has adopted several good ideas from the Centre and implemented them in the State, Bihar became the first State in the country to have laid in the State Assembly its “Economic Survey” prior to the budget presentation. Some of the fiscal initiatives which Nitish Kumar adopted in his budget proposals as the Finance Minister were also inspired by the Centre’s model. If the Centre has identified 23 districts of the State for implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the State Government has decided to extend the scheme to the remaining 15 districts with internal funding. Ditto with the National Horticulture Mission (NSM) which the State Government has implemented in 19 districts uncovered by the Centre with its own resources.

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New Industrial Policy For NE

A new industrial policy has been worked out for the north-eastern region by the Union Government to replace the existing which expires on March 31. According to the Minister for the Development of the North Eastern Region, Mani Shankar Aiyar, the new policy will ensure that capital subsidies and the viability gap funding are made easily available for small hydro-electric project and biomass fuel projects. The new policy reflects the Government’s keen desire to provide to the people of the distant region power on priority. At present only about 24 per cent of the households in the region get regular power supply, even though 62 per cent of the villages in the region have been electrified. Power generation is proposed to be more than doubled in the next five years, from 2000 MW to 5000 MW.

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Bloodshed In Nandigram

West Bengal’s Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s bold declaration that his Government’s policy on industrialization and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) was “irreversible” has taken an ugly turn. Even though the CM had indicated at a massive farmers’ rally that shifting of the SEZ venue of the Nandigram project could be considered, the people of the area and those opposed to the SEZ policy revolted. When a land acquisition notice was put up, local villagers and some political activists cut off the entry point to the area. This led to the deployment of a large contingent of the police force which opened fire on the protestors, killing at least eleven people. The police has, however, clarified that they fired in self-defence only after the teargas shells and rubber bullets failed to control the protestors at the entry point. The villagers, they claimed, were carrying fire arms.

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RWAs in MCD Poll Fray

Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit’s much publicized “Bhagidari” concept that her Government introduced in 2000 to involve Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in civic issues has now gone beyond the “participatory and responsive governance”. The RWAs are now demanding a direct role in governance and are fielding their candidates in the Municipal Council elections on April 7.  The move is intended to give voice to their dissatisfaction with their ward Corporators. The RWAs feel that the presence of their own representatives in the Municipal Corporation would strengthen the “Bhagidari” concept. Actually Bhagidari’s failure was evident last year when the citizens’ bodies throughout the Capital forced the Government to roll back the hike in power tariff. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 7 March 2007

U.P. Poll & Supreme Court

PROBE AGAINST MULAYAM ILL-TIMED

By Insaf

Samajwadi Party supremo and Chief Minister of U.P., Mulayam Singh is facing problem after problem prior to the Assembly poll next month.  The Sonia Congress is his main trouble-creator. The latest is the Supreme Court direction of March 1 on a PIL by allegedly a Congress sympathizer for a CBI enquiry into his and his family’s assets reportedly disproportionate to their known sources of income. Constitutional experts have described the directive on March 1 as singularly ill-timed, if not faulty, since election to the Assembly had already been announced on February 21. Fali Nariman, a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court recalls a contempt petition against Narasimha Rao, then Prime Minister, in the Babri Masjid case. The matter came up before a double-bench, headed by Justice Bharucha when elections were round the corner. The bench preferred adjournment beyond elections, so that the Court was not drawn into any political controversy.

Meanwhile, encouraged by its remarkable electoral victories in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the BJP has decided to field almost all its front-ranking leaders to campaign in the seven-phase Assembly poll in U.P., starting April 7. Former Party Chief Venkaiah Naidu has been made incharge of election management. Naidu’s selection is expected to prevent “parallel power centres” that have been the bane of the party in recent years. An old warhorse who can get every one to work, Naidu is hopeful of wining upto 300 of the 403 Assembly seats through electoral understanding with the NDA partners, especially the Janata Dal (U) of Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar and the Kurmi-dominated Apna Dal of Sonelal Patel. Both these parties have pre-dominantly OBC constituencies. The BJP is also hoping that the upper castes would also support it, despite desparate efforts of the Congress to win them back.

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Crown Of Thorns For Khanduri

Uttarakhand’s new Chief Minister, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri seems to have won a crown of thorns, if the post-poll developments are any indication. A retired Major-General of the Corps of Engineers, he has been chosen because of the great administrative and organizational capabilities he showed as a Union Minister in the NDA Government.  But he has a challenging task ahead. With the BJP’s 34 MLAs in the 70-member Assembly, he cobbled up his majority with the support of two Independents, both Congress rebels, and the three-member Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD). But more difficult for him is to bring Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, a Thakur, on board. The former CM was a strong contender for the chair a second time and refused to accept Deputy CMship or Speakership obviously under protest. Thakurs have a sizeable strength. Khanduri is a Brahmin.

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Badal For Good Governance

After finishing the task of Ministry-making in one go with all Cabinet-rank 17 Ministers (12 from his SAD and 5 from the BJP), Parkash Singh Badal has set the tone for his governance: Clean administration and “back to the people approach”. Badal’s first major engagement on taking over the reins of the State for the fourth time was to address a meeting of all the Secretaries and financial Commissioners to emphasize the need for what he described as “positive and constructive approach to governance” with no place for “personal” agenda. Badal has also given high priority to reviving the State Legislative Council to rope in talented people as law makers, people who have excelled in various fields but shied away from contesting elections because of the rough and tumble of electoral politics.

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Sonia’s Good Chit To Hooda

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda could not have asked for more.  At the Navyug rally at Sirsa on the occasion of the second anniversary of his Congress Government on March 2, it was none less than the party Chief, Sonia Gandhi, who gave him a good chit, declaring him “successful with distinction”. Indeed Haryana today is reaching new milestones on almost every developmental front like industry, agriculture, education, health, roads etc, thanks to the far-sighted policies of the Hooda Government.  Reputed industrial establishments and multinational companies are increasingly investing in industrial zones of the State. Expressways and flyover are being constructed fast; also technology parks and industrial townships are coming up. In the last two years, the Hooda Government has increased employment generation more than three times.

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Naxals Kill Jharkhand MP

The killings of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Sunil Mahato and three others in broad daylight prove once more that the writ of the Government does not run in a vast area of Jharkhand where the Naxalites are in control. It was the worst attack in the recent past. The killers entered a crowded football ground in a vehicle, got down at the place where the MP had come to inaugurate a match, shot him and his aides, set ablaze his car and escaped. Hundreds of people remained mute spectators. Obviously, there was no mystery about the attack. Mahato was known to be actively working to control the Naxals’ violent activities that included looting of trains and snatching of weapons from the policemen. The Naxalite menace has now become a major national problem with at least 76 districts in 18 States in their grip.

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Shaky Coalition In J&K

The ruling Congress-PDP alliance is increasingly becoming shaky with the latter strongly demanding reduction of troops in the Valley and withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from the State. The situation came to such a pass last week that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to intervene to diffuse the crisis in the coalition Government when the PDP, the main ally in the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Government, took an extreme position on the vital security-related issue. While both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister have stated that the troops reduction could be contemplated only if terrorist activities ended in the troubled State, former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has renewed the plea for troops reduction, stating “why use a hammer to kill a fly”.

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Cauvery Issue Reaches Boiling Point

The prolonged Cauvery waters dispute mainly between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has reached a boiling point. The controversy has taken a political turn at the Centre, with the UPA Government finding it difficult to notify the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal which has hiked Tamil Nadu’s share from 206 tmc ft in its interim order of 1991 to 419 tmc ft, leaving 270 tmc ft to Karnataka. The latter is upset and tense about it, because the State where the river originates is required to release to Tamil Nadu an additional 192 tmc ft annually. Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda led an all-party delegation to New Delhi and wants the issue discussed in Parliament.  Speaker Somnath Chatterjee met MPs from both the States on Tuesday to find a common meeting ground. But the discussions between the two sides turned so heated that the Speaker decided to shelve the issue for the time being.

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Kerala: Cop Crime State

The police seems to be usurping the criminals’ territory in Kerala. A report recently compiled by the State police, first of its kind in the country, has revealed that as many as 850 personnel in the force are presently facing criminal charges. The personnel from the rank of Constable to DSP stand accused to crimes like rape, murder, house-breaking, immoral trafficking and atrocities against women. The figure of crime by the men in uniform relates to the period between 2000 and 2006. The State police’s own report has also revealed that as many as 14 of the accused are from the intelligence wing of the force and most of them are facing forgery charges. Incredibly, seven of them are from the Crime Branch. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 1 March 2007

Three Assembly Polls

CONGRESS ROUTED OUT IN TWO

By Insaf

The outcome of the three Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur has clearly shown once more that the voter now understands the value of his vote and wants good, clean governance.  If the Congress Governments have been routed out in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the Manipurians have retained the party in office for another term in the interest of moderation and stability. In Punjab where no party or combine has been voted consecutively for a second term during the last 20 years or so, the Akali Dal-BJP combine has this time romped home with a clear majority, bagging 67 seats in the 117-member Assembly and leaving the ruling Congress behind with 44 seats.  However, despite the defeat, the Congress has recorded in its favour a swing of five per cent of the votes polled in 2002. It has also improved its position in the rural areas, thanks to considerable development under the outgoing Amarinder Singh Government.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine improved its vote percentage by seven and fourteen per cent respectively, mostly in the urban areas. However, the Akalis won six seats less than its tally of 54 in 2002. But the BJP has improved its position considerably,  to the surprise of even its Central leadership.  The party has won 19 of the 23 seats it contested, against only three in 2002.  This gives Prakash Singh Badal, fourth-time Chief Minister of the State, a comfortable majority in the Assembly and a greater clout to the BJP in the Ministry.  Their victory is attributed to the fact that Sikh and Hindu votes combined in the urban areas and, what is the more, a large number of Sikh workers actively campaigned for the BJP candidates.  This was well reflected in the victory of the BJP’s Navjot Sidhu against Finance Minister Surender Singh Singla. The combine’s declared economic policies, especially plans for farmers and Dalits, also helped. Surprisingly, BSP’s Mawayati received a major rebuff. All her 113 candidates lost.

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BJP Wins In Uttarakhand

The BJP’s victory in Uttarakhand has indeed brought back the party to the centre-stage of national politics.  It has won 34 seats against 21 of the ruling Congress. The BJP has gained 16 seats with a vote swing of seven per cent in its favour over its 2002 performance.  But, unlike the Congress, the saffron party has failed to secure an absolute majority in the 70-member Assembly.  Much would depend on the three independents, who are Congress rebels. The Congress’ loss of 15 seats against the 36 it won in 2002 was mainly due to acute infighting in the party. This led to the presence of several rebel candidates in the fray as Independents and, significantly, an ineffective poll campaign that failed to project the Narayan Datt Tiwari Government’s many achievements during the last two-three years.

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Consolation In Manipur

In Manipur, the Congress has something to cheer about. Although the party fell short of an absolute majority by two votes with 29 seats in the 60-member Assembly, it should have no difficulty in forming the Government for the second time in succession.  It has the support of the current coalition partner, the CPI, which has won four seats. In fact, the stability of the Okram Ibobi Singh-led Ministry, which became the first Government in the State to complete its full five-year tenure, was one of the main reasons that prompted the people to vote it back to power. Another reason for popular support to the Congress was its reputation for moderation and its decision to keep away from the several underground groups that are known to be receiving active support from politicians of other regional parties. Significantly, the pro-NSCN United Naga Council succeeded in sending to the Assembly six of its eleven candidates for pursuing its demand for the creation of Nagalim or greater Nagaland.  

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Poll Pitch Moves To U.P.

Poll campaigning in UP has jazzed up with the rout of the Congress in adjoining Uttarakhand, once the hilly part of the larger State. The BJP and the BSP of Mayawati, emboldened by their success in Uttarakhand, have moved their crack troops into U.P. for the poll in seven phases, starting April 7. Adding to the excitement is the ruling Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh’s success in winning the seventh vote of confidence in his Government (the second in two months) on Monday in a near-empty House. The BSP, Congress and the RLD stayed away and the BJP walked out of the Assembly, leaving Mulayam Singh to sail through comfortably. The trust motion was passed by a voice vote after which the Speaker Pandey adjourned the House to meet again on March 12.

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Madhya Pradesh Towards Progress

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh has reason to celebrate. He and his Government received a major compliment the other day from the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Madhya Pradesh, he said, was moving in the right direction on the economic development front. The occasion was the Chief Minister’s discussion with the Planning Commission for finalising the State’s annual plan for 2007-08.  The plan has been pegged at Rs.12,011 crore, a hike of Rs.2061 crore in the current year’s allocation. Considering the State’s progress roadmap, the Commission has allocated a one-time additional Central assistance of Rs.111 crore for projects of special benefit to the State, which has made appreciable progress in the social sector, especially education and health. The Commission has also appreciated the continuous efforts to improve irrigation and women empowerment. The Commission has, however, advised acceleration of efforts for employment generation and poverty reduction.

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Special Central Grant For Orissa

Orissa, too, has been given an additional one-time grant of Rs.80 crore for projects of special interest to the State. This was announced by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia while finalizing with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the State’s annual plan for 2007-08 in New Delhi last week.  Ahluwalia complimented the State for its economic performance, pointing out that Orissa had developed potential to go for a higher plan size for the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).  There has been a substantial improvement both on revenue deficit and fiscal deficit. The Commission has noticed that the State Government has created an investor-friendly environment and a large amount of foreign investment has been indicated. Several foreign companies have shown interest in setting up industrial projects in Orissa.

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Gujarat’s Tax-Free Budget

Gujarat’s Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala has presented a tax-free budget for 2007-08. He has also announced in his proposals an additional tax relief of about Rs.400 crore, leaving a deficit of Rs.70 crore which he hopes to meet by reducing Government and non-development expenditure.  Chief Minister Narendra Modi has described the budget as “pro-people”, benefiting more than 90 per cent of the poor and middle-class families. The Finance Minister has also announced a massive Rs. one-lakh crore outlay for the State’s Eleventh Plan (2007-08). It will be more than double the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs.47,000 crore. The State Government is hoping to achieve a 10.62 per cent growth rate at the end of the Tenth Plan.

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Fresh Trouble In Singur

Fresh trouble has arisen for the West Bengal Government and its Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the farmland acquired for the Tata car project at Singur. Over 350 protestors tried to force their way into the village on Saturday last in a bid to damage the fence around the project site.  Most of the protestors are marginal land owners who are dissatisfied with the compensation package. To make matters worse, the Calcutta High Court has pulled up the State Government on a batch of public-interest litigations (PILs) for following two sets of compensation rules for the acquisition of land. The Court has directed the Government to show it all the documents and agreements in this regard. Nevertheless, the Tatas are pushing ahead with their plans for manufacturing a people’s car of Rs. one lakh---and keeping their fingers crossed. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)