Round The States

New Delhi, 26 February 2009

Reorganisation Of States?

SEPARATE TELENGANA ALMOST CERTAIN

By Insaf

Telengana and its people appear poised to trigger off  a renewed demand for a second States’ Reorganisation Commission. Happily for the Telenganites, the Congress has willy nilly been forced to change its stand and endorse the demand for a separate Telengana State. Its change of heart has been forced by the forthcoming Assembly and General elections. Telengana region accounts for 15 of the 45 Lok Sabha seats and 107 of the 294 Assembly seats. The Congress, it appears, is now inclined to go ahead with Telenagana without referring the issue to a second States’ Reorganisation Commission, which it had proposed in 2001 and incorporated in its election manifesto for the Assembly poll. The Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had made several representations to the Party high command. It even walked out of the UPA in 2006 and got its MPs to resign from the Lok Sabha. The Samithi’s recent poll alliance with the TDP and the Left parties seems to have proved the proverbial last straw that broke the camel’s back.

The developments in Andhra Pradesh and the almost certain creation of a separate Telengana State have been carefully noticed everywhere, especially in Vidarbha and Darjeeling hill areas. Vidarbha leaders have decided not to allow the Centre to keep playing ducks and drakes with its future. They want a separate State of Vidarbha without any further delay. They are even prepared to opt for a second States Reorganisation Commission, subject to one condition. Its report must be made available within a year at the outside. Not many remember that the first States Reorganisation Commission had recommended the creation of Vidarbha as a separate State in 1956. But powerful vested interests in Maharashtra successfully scotched the proposal. Darjeeling hill areas too would be happy to see a second States Reorganisation Commission to look into their demand for a separate State. There is no other way they can hope to achieve their ambition against strong opposition from the Left Front rulers of West Bengal.  

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Bengal No Longer Industry Hotspot

West Bengal has had to pay a heavy price for Nandigram and Singur protests/social unrest. The CPM-led state has slipped from rank four in 2007 to 13 in 2008 in terms of industrial investment plans. According to a recent study by ASSOCHAM, for the first time in five years actual investment in industrial projects in the West Bengal dipped sharply. The Tata Motors walk out with its Nano car project was the beginning of the slide. Since then the corporate world has desisted from going to Bengal. In 2004, while industrial projects implemented totalled around Rs 2244 crore, the figure rose to Rs 5,072 crore in 2007. But by February 2009 actual investment in the State fell to around Rs 3,600 crore down by over Rs 1,400 crore. In fact, robust investment plans worth Rs 2,43,489 crore was made by India Inc for Bengal in 2007, but these fell to Rs 90,095 crores in 2008, a slump of 63 per cent during Jan-Dec 2008. For Bengal the message is clear: halting development for political gains can be extremely harmful. Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee should make a note.

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Tamil Nadu Courts In Limbo

Last week Tamil Nadu confirmed the notion of both lawyers and the police that they are above the law. While the State police went on a rampage, chased and beat up lawyers and  smashed windows car panes the lawyers hit back ransacking and setting ablaze the police  station in the Madras High Court premises. The incident has forced the Supreme Court to take the probe under its control. In fact, the apex court has put both the parties on the mat, questioning “who had ordered the police into the court premises” and expressing its displeasure over the way in which the lawyers had gone on strike and paralysed the judicial system in the State. Indeed, the lawyers strike in support of Tamils in Sri Lanka and other issues has become an endemic problem. Shockingly, the High Court has worked for only nine days since this year!  In all this milieu, the AIADMK has sought to take political mileage by demanding the dismissal of Karunanidhi’s government on the ground of a breakdown of law and order in the State. Will the impasse continue or will the people get a respite?   

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Nyaya Yatra In MP

BJP-led Madhya Pradesh has now chosen the path of Mahatma Gandhi to register its protest against discrimination by the Centre. On Saturday last, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan embarked on a nyaya yatra to highlight the UPA government’s discrimination in allocation of coal to the State among other issues. He decided to cover the 7-km stretch between Sarni and Pathakheda on foot to launch what is being termed as “coal satyagragha.” However, during the yatra other grievances such as reduction in food grains for BPL families, lesser funds for Indira Awas Yojna for the homeless and lack of assistance for drought-affected areas in the State were also highlighted. The moot point: is the Centre playing vote-bank politics since the State is being ruled by an “opposition” party. Well, Madhya Pradesh has its own Munnabhai. Will he succeed? 

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Delhi ‘Not Ready For Games’

Delhi may turn out to be a major embarrassment for the country, if it fails to deliver on the Commonwealth games front. Signals are that it very well could if it doesn’t get its act together. “Though the games are drawing near, many projects have yet to be initiated let alone completed,” is the finding of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which submitted its report last Tuesday. So far it has this to say:  “There is inadequate infrastructure in all sectors such as roads, airport, accommodation, surface transport, entertainment, basic amenities, parking information centres, security, stadia and supply of power”! In particular the committee pointed out that there was a huge gap between demand and supply of hotel rooms and that the pace of creation of additional hotel accommodation at 39 sites was lagging behind schedule. Worse, the House panel found it frustrating that there was a “distinct absence of a coordinating mechanism to ensure all authorities/agencies worked in a united manner.” Given this worrisome background, will Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit pull the Games through?    

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Passports For J&K Militants’ Kin

Being related to a militant or a known separatist in Jammu and Kashmir may no longer be grounds for denial of a passport. In its bid to bring respite to its people, the Omar Abdullah government has decided to streamline the process of mandatory police verification for issuance of passports. The move has been necessitated to make the obtaining of a passport easier, particularly for pilgrims travelling on the Haj. Recently, the Saudi Arabia has made it known that temporary Haj passports issued by the Central Haj Committee would no longer be accepted. Abdullah is learnt to have raised the issue with the concerned officials and the Centre and agreed in principle that the police and its intelligence wing will not oppose issuance of a passport on the basis of his or her being related to a militant. Soon, gone will be the days when family members and even immediate and distant relatives of many militants were denied passports on the plea that it could be “misused or prove harmful to the sovereignty and integrity of the country.” --INFA

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