Round The States
New Delhi, 17 September 2009
Worrying Internal
Security
STATES STERNLY
TICKED OFF
By Insaf
The States have been sternly ticked off by the Centre as
never before for not doing enough to tackle the country’s internal security.
Little has been done by way of reforms, despite repeated reminders. Nothing
has, for instance, been done to set up police establishment boards to decide
transfers and postings of police personnel. Some States have even reduced cops
to “a football to be kicked from one post to another.” Worse, most State
governments have failed to provide adequate funds for the police, whereas
security should be the first charge on the State exchequer! Importantly, the
Centre’s despair was first spelt out candidly by the Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram while inaugurating a three-day Conference of Directors General of
Police and Inspectors General of Police on internal security in the Capital on
Monday last. At the same time, he offered a solution to the top cops: “Why do
you remain silent when arbitrary postings and transfers are made by the State
Governments?...Is it not your duty, as heads of State police to raise your
voice not only on behalf of your officers but also on behalf of the people that
you are duty-bound to protect.” The big question is: When will mindsets and old
habits change?
Strong criticism came the next day from the Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh, who lamented that little success has been achieved in dealing
with Left-wing extremism, the “most serious” internal security threat. Latest statistics
reveal that the Naxalites have their pockets of influence in 20 States. More
than 20,000 police station areas in 223 districts in these States had been affected.
Of these, the CPI (Marxists) remains the most potent of the Naxal group with
presence in 17 States and a 90 per cent share in Naxal violence. Violence has
been consistently witnessed in about 400 police stations areas of about 90
districts in 13 of these States. Last year 1,591 incidents of Naxalite violence,
resulting in 721 killings, were reported from 399 police stations areas of 87
districts of 13 States. This year’s figures are not far behind. There were 1,405
incidents of Naxal violence resulting in 580 killings already from 355 police
stations in 78 districts of 11 States
* * * *
Mamata Scores Again
Winds of change continue to blow in West
Bengal with the Trinamool Congress giving the ruling CPM yet
another crushing blow. This time in Siliguri, the nerve centre of North Bengal politics and the State’s second most
important commercial hub after Kolkata. The formidable TMC-Congress combine got
a clear majority on Tuesday last bagging 29 of the 47 seats in the Municipal Corporation
elections, demolishing the Left Front’s three-decade rule. The CPM managed to
win only 17 seats against its strength of 36 in 2004. This, despite Siliguri being
one of the few corporations which has a good track record, with the State’s
Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharjee, who hails from here and is its MLA.
Besides, not only did the minister campaign actively, but so did Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In sharp contrast, the TMC chief, Mamata Banerjee, did
not go there even once. Indeed, it is a decisive victory for Didi, who joyously proclaimed that they
had captured the “Red Fort.”
* * * *
Gujarat Booster For BJP
Gujarat’s Narendra Modi has given the demoralized
BJP a much-needed morale booster. After a string of defeats since the Lok Sabha
polls, the party wrested five Assembly seats from the Congress in the State’s byelections
held for seven seats. The Congress retained one and managed to take one from
the BJP. With this recent victory, the strength of the saffron party in the
182-member Assembly has gone up to 122, the Congress trailing with just 54 and the
rest six others. Clearly, the bypoll has provided Modi a breather too after his
party’s defeat in the Junagadh municipal elections this June. Addressing a
rally on Monday last, the Chief Minister felt emboldened enough to warn “that
the people of Gujarat support us strongly.”
Meanwhile, the BJP has added a seat each to its kitty in Madhya Pradesh and
Uttaranchal bypolls. The Congress has to find solace in retaining one seat each
in Madhya Pradesh and the Andhra Pradesh bypolls.
* * * *
Bundelkhand Wins
Lottery
In the struggle for one upmanship between Congress General
Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the poverty-stricken
Bundelkhand region has won a big lottery. On Monday last, the Prime Minister’s
Office approved a Rs 30,000-crore special development plan for the region,
notorious for dacoities, drought and starvation deaths. In fact, the package is
a lot more than what Rahul asked for, Rs 8000 crore. However, his demand for a
Bundelkhand Authority covering both UP and Madhya Pradesh is on hold. But this
should not be a damper as all proposals for the region, covering parts of the
two States will be directly implemented by the Centre. For starters, while the
National Thermal Power Corporation will build a Rs 20,000 crore 4,000 MW power
plant at Lalitpur in MP, the Water Resources Ministry has been asked to prepare
the Ken-Betwa river linking project between the two States. In addition, the Agriculture
Ministry is to plan a Central
University to provide research
inputs to farmers on alternative crops requiring small quantities of water. Interestingly,
political warfare has its plus points!
* * * *
Student Trouble In Sikkim
Is Sikkim
going the Maharashtra way? Last week the N-E State’s
Chief Minister Pawan K Chamling found his counterparts in Bihar, Nitish Kumar
and Assam’s
Tarun Gogoi complaining. The reason: Sikkim students had “abused and
beaten up” non-local students at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology
(SMIT) and the North Eastern Hills University (NEHU) respectively. While the
SMIT’s director was forced to close down the college last week for 10 days, the
police had to beef up security at NEHU. Trouble started at the SMIT, after a
Bhutia student abused some non-Sikkim students and later a few Sikkim students
beat up non-locals during a volleyball match, forcing over 600 of them to take refuge
on the sixth floor of the hostel. The next day saw non-locals catching trains
back to Bihar. Of the 2,000 students in the
SMIT hostel, 1400 are non-locals with 800 from Bihar
alone. At NEHU, Assamese students were attacked by local students. Is
regionalism raising its ugly head in the North-East?
* * * *
Rajasthan Rewriting
History
History continues to be written and rewritten in Rajasthan
with the change of rulers. Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has got his
Government to issue instructions to the State Education Boards to scrap controversial
references from books that promote right-wing propaganda and also blame the
Congress for encouraging insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir. The books were
introduced during the BJP’s Vasundhra Raje’s Government in 2003 and are said to
be written by academics who were sympathizers of the Hindu organizations such
as the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. The Gehlot Government set up a three-member
committee to look into the matter. This committee recommended that
objectionable portions be deleted. Must politicians play duck and drakes with
history, ignoring truth and age-old values? ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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