Round The States
New Delhi, 11 March 2010
Mujahideen, Maoist
Threat
3 STATES ON ALERT, NEW
OFFENSIVE
By Insaf
India’s internal security is under fresh
threat, both from terrorists and Maoists. On Monday last, three States --
Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka were put
on terror alert. This follows interrogation of Indian Mujahideen (IM) suspect
Salman Ahmed, who has “revealed” that plans are afoot to engineer serial blasts
in three cities, Mumbai, Bangalore
and Kolkata and in particular “target foreigners.” Hence, the State governments
have been asked to tighten security, as the Centre does not want to take any
chances given its past bitter experience of not reacting to available
information. Salman, a native of Azamgarh, in UP and a suspect in serial blasts
in Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur,
has confessed that the IM has set up bases in Karachi,
Kathmandu, Dubai and the Middle East under its “Karachi project.” The plan
by Pakistan’s ISI is to
train motivated Indians to attack targets in India
so as “to create a degree of separation from Pakistan.” The Centre cannot ignore
this more so as another IM jehadi, Khwaja Amjad’s revelations tally with those
of Salman and confirm that the IM operatives visited Kolkata four months ago to
activate their sleeping cells.
Meanwhile, the Centre has finally adopted stern strategy viz
the Maoists’ threat. It has discarded Kishenji’s ultimatum of striking cities
and towns if its offer of talks is rejected. Instead, it has put Operation
Green Hunt into top gear in Bengal and
Jharkhand. On Wednesday last, the police forces of the two States along with
the CRPF launched a joint offensive against the Maoists in the bordering
districts of West Midnapore and Purulia. In
particular, the action in the Kolhan forest area comprising parts of West and East Singhbhum in Jharkhand assumes major significance as
it clears doubts over Chief Minister, Shibu Soren’s intention. The tribal CM,
till recently, had shown reluctance against such operations and even Kishenji
had put him in a separate category, saying “we will confront him only when he
acts adversely.” On Saturday last, the Maoist leader had hinted that Kolkata
and Bhubaneswar
could be targeted as chief ministers Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Naveen Patnaik
were keen that operations against the Maoists be stepped up. Will he able to
carry out the threat, given the Centre has turned the heat on the Maoists?
* *
Chhattisgarh For Transparency
People’s yearning for clean and transparent governance is
slowly but steadily making headway. Be it the BJP government in Chhattisgarh or
the panchayats at the grass-root level in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the winds
of change are blowing. On Tuesday last, Chief Minister Raman Singh announced in
the State Assembly that he has decided to make public details of the assets “owned
by him, his ministers and party legislators every year”. Additionally,
government officials have been directed to put the details of their property on
websites of their respective departments. The declaration followed when Raman Singh responded to the opposition
Congress’ question on how many IAS, IPS and IFS (Indian Forest Service)
officials had furnished details about their property as required under the
rules. Obviously, it was more than welcome. The Congress MLAs too decided to
follow suit and announced they would also declare their assets “every Budget
session.” Recall that only last month, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister,
Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his BJP ministers had made public details of their
property by tabling them in the Assembly.
* * *
Sarpanchs To Fight
Corruption
Likewise, the desire to fight corruption has been taken up
by 40 sarpanchs in Rajasthan, mostly first-timers. They have recently resolved “not
to sign cheques blindly, succumb to pressure from government officials or
accept bribes of any kind.” And, their intent should not be questioned as for
starters they have spent less than Rs 20,000 in the recently-concluded panchayat
elections. Apparently, the resolve follows a tour of Vijaypura, a model
panchayat unit under the NREGS in Rajasthan last month. One of the tips the
sarpanchs took back was to maintain a complete record of all cash transactions
to avoid corruption allegations. “The most important thing is not to sign all
papers and cheques presented before you,” was a clear message. And, another way
to steer clear from corruption was to stay close to the people who voted for
them. This way they could avoid advances from corrupt officials. As most of the
sarpanchs won on the platform of transparency, they have resolved to keep that
promise. .
* * * *
No Stopping MNS
There seems to be no stopping Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
(MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and his supporters in Mumbai. Not even a warning by
the Supreme Court, so it seems. On Tuesday last, the apex court cautioned Thackeray
from making hate speeches against north Indians as cases against him would
continue. It was hearing a plea for stay of trial in three more cases filed in
Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh relating
to his hate speech in Mumbai in 2008. The MNS chief was seeking transfer of
these cases as he feared his safety. Last month the court had transferred seven
similar complaints pending in Jharkhand and Bihar to Delhi. While the SC sent notices to the three
State governments and stayed the trails, it didn’t stop MNS supporters to go on
a rampage in Mumbai twenty-four hours later. They vandalized two Airtel stores
for not having Marathi as one of the languages in its pre-recorded messages for
subscribers. While the MNS seeks to deny involvement of its members,
Thackeray’s speech earlier in the day warning Airtel of its “deadline being
over” were enough indications of who was behind the vandalism.
* * * *
Delhi “Best City”
Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has
reason to rejoice. Despite the entire city being dug up, it has got an
excellent certificate -- of “offering the best quality of life” to its
residents among all cities in the country. This comes in the form of a
“Liveability Index” released by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on
Monday last, based on surveys conducted in 37 cities for over a decade. Delhi outscores metros such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata; NCR towns Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad; and even planned cities like Chandigarh. The National capital ranks first
on parameters like population, density, safety, transport, education, job
opportunities and accidents. The only
place it falls behind is in health care, where it is ranked 17th much
after Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kolkata. According to the
survey, the next best cities to live in after Delhi are Mumbai, Chennai and
Bangalore. The bottom rankers are: Jamshedpur, the worst and preceded by
Vishakapatnam, Patna, Lucknow and Ludhiana. About the survey’s authenticity,
CII says: “The study uses hard data collected from reliable sources to
eliminate the possibility of personal bias or a sampling error obscuring the
reality.” ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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