Round The States
New Delhi, 11 June 2009
Murder, Corruption
Rocks
MAHARASHTRA, KERALA IN TAINT
STORM
By Insaf
From the high portals of Parliament, some more States are
now in the vicious tentacles of corruption. After UP and Bihar, last week
alone, Maharashtra and Kerala are in the eye
of the taint storm. In Mumbai sitting NPC MP and former State Minister
Padmasinh Patil was arrested for his alleged involvement in the “double murder”
of Maharashtra Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver three years
ago. Coming just months before the Assembly polls later this year, it has
caused big embarrassment to the Party which is now caught between a rock and
hard place. Notwithstanding, Patil’s suspension from the Party he continues to
be an MP. Even as NCP supremo Sharad Pawar asserted “law will take its own
course
In Kerala, the CBI has got the Governor Gavai’s permission
to prosecute CPM State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the
infamous SNC Lavlin case. Recall, in 1997 when Vijayan was the State Power
Minister, the Kerala Government entered into a contract with Canadian company
SNC Lavlin to renovate and modernise three hydro-electric projects. Later, a
CAG report found that the Rs 375-crore project money was wasted as the company
did not complete them. Besides, these projects, Lavlin also had a sub-deal to
mobilise Rs 98 crore for a cancer hospital controlled by the Party, of which
only Rs 9 crore came. Needless to say this has put the Party in a cleft stick
with a lot of egg on its face.
* * * *
Bihar For Scrapping
Central Schemes
Bihar’s Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, has
now pitched for a lot more than the special status he has been demanding for
his state like some other Chief Ministers. He now wants the Central schemes
scrapped and the funds allotted for these schemes to be transferred to the
States so that they can use them for programmes relevant to their needs. The
Central schemes, he argues, were unable to achieve their aim because different
states had their different requirements. It was, therefore, futile to have
common schemes for the country as a whole considering its sub-continental size.
Nitish Kumar clarifies: “At the time of devolution of funds,
the Centre allocates funds for its schemes and only the rest of the money is
shared with the States. This practice must change. Every State has different
needs and the State Governments should be allowed to run schemes that address
their requirements.” Significantly, Nitish Kumar has the backing of the JD (U)
and its President, Sharad Yadav. His party also wants the Centre to give
greater importance to regional balance in allocating resources. Adequate
attention, for instance, needs to be given to Bihar’s
level of poverty and backwardness.
* * * *
Kashmir On The Boil
Kashmir continues to be on the boil over the rape and murder
of two young women in South Kashmir’s Shopian
district ten days ago. Despite the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordering an
impartial enquiry into the murders, Srinagar
remains under a blanket of curfew. Normal activity stands crippled with schools
and colleges shut. In fact, deserted streets and closed shops greeted the
summer tourists thanks to a strike called by the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom)
Conference. With the unrest refusing to die down, the Union Home Minister
Chidambaram on his maiden visit to the Valley has asked the Unified Command
Council to bring things under control.
Specially, as the Amarnath Yatra is all set to roll out from 15 June.
* * * *
Plan To Rid States Of
Red Terror
Good news awaits States infested by the deadly Maoists
virus. The Union Home Ministry is all set to unleash a major post-monsoon
offensive time-bound counter-operation led by the special anti-Naxal Cobra
battalions against the Naxalites-ridden Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. The
three States, apart from Maharashtra and Bihar,
have witnessed a string of deadly “Red terror’ Maoists attacks killing over 381
persons, including 149 security personnel since the beginning of the year. The
last straw was when the Naxalites triggered a landmine blast in Jharkhand
killing 11 CRPF personnel. Hopefully, the States can breathe a sigh of relief!
* * * *
Dynastic Politics
Hurrah!
India’s dynastic politics, which
shockingly continues to grow by leaps and bounds, has set a new, if little
noticed, record. Laws and rules were bent in December 2008 to enable Hamdullah
Sayeed, son of the late PM Sayeed, Union Minister, to contest and win the
recent election to the Lok Sabha from Lakshdweep and, at 27, become the
youngest MP in the 15th Lok Sabha. Lakshdweep,
India’s smallest
constituency with a population of 60,595, is governed by the Constitution
(Scheduled Tribes) (Union
Territories) Order 1951.
This in its original form disqualified from contesting anyone who was not born
in the cluster of in those tiny islands.
Hamdullah did not fulfil this condition as he was born in
Karnataka and brought up in New Delhi, where PM Sayeed spent most of his adult
years as one repeatedly elected by the people of Lakshdweep to the Lok Sabha.
Conscious that every seat was going to count in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the
UPA Government pushed an amendment to that special law in December 2008 so that
Hamdullah could inherit the legacy of his late father, who died in office. The
amendment dispensed with the requirement that the candidate should be born in
Lakshdweep. Instead it provided that it would be enough if both the parents of
the candidate were born there. Hurrah!
* * * *
UP Colleges Ban
Jeans For Women
Even as the Congress appears ‘gung-ho’ over the Women
Reservation Bill, the States are in ‘regressive mode’. On the heels of the Ram
Sene campaign in Karnataka against women frequenting pubs, now it is the turn
of UP. Four leading Kanpur
women colleges have said a big no to girls wearing jeans, tight tops,
sleeveless blouses and high heels on the campus. Cell phones too have been
banned. On the facetious ground that it would
“prevent eve-teasing.” Recall, only last month the Shiromani Gurudwara
Prabandhak Committee in Punjab disallowed a
girl admission in its college as she had ‘tweezed eyebrows’. So much for women
empowerment. Pink chaddi campaign,
anyone.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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