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Round The States New Delhi, 22 April 2010 PM To The States GROWTH MUST TOFIGHT NAXALS By Insaf The Centre is finally listening to States. It is showingsigns of moderating its policy to fight the Naxal menace, thereby acknowledgingthat it is not just a “law and order problem”. Addressing the country’s topbureaucrats on Civil Services Day on Wednesday last, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh urged the officers to come up with “innovative ways” to ensure that thebenefits of government programmes reached the people in the remotest villages.This, he said was important as one could not overlook the fact that Left-wingextremism flourished in under-developed areas. Clearly, the recent events (readDantewada massacre) have underscored the need for urgent and considered action andthat the poor tribals need to get equitable share in the fruits of development,so that the Naxals get no local support. Of course, the UPA government would furtherneed to actively involve the State governments and seek their advice of how totake forward its agenda of “inclusive growth” in the naxal-affected districtsin the red corridor. More so as the Naxal threat is bound to have a bearing onthe country’s mammoth population census, which could help target governmentservices such as PDS or NREGA reaching the people. So far, in Chhattisgarh hundreds of villageshave been rendered out of bounds for government officials by the naxalitegroups. The administration of six districts, including Dantewada and Bastar hasinformed senior officials in Raipurthat it will be difficult to carry out the census exercise--counting of people,collection of biometrics data for preparation of the National Population Register(NPR) in many areas because of inaccessible terrain and the presence of naxalitesin the villages. This, unfortunately will affect the data in the NPR, which isexpected to be fed into a scheme for allotting a unique identification numberto every individual in the country. The NPR and UID are aimed at bettertargeting of government schemes especially to those belonging to the sociallyand economically weaker sections. * * * * Setback To ModiPlan Narendra Modi’s grand plans of making Gujaratthe first State to introduce compulsory voting in elections to all local bodies’received an unfortunate setback. Last week, Governor Kamla Beniwal refused togive her assent and returned the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment Bill2009). The reasons cited: the legislation violates the Constitution, which doesnot allow voting to be mandatory and that no punishment can be meted out fornot participating in the voting exercise. Recall, that the State Assembly hadpassed the Bill in December last year. However, Modi appears to be determinedand proposes to pass the Bill once again in the Assembly. “It is the privilegeof the Governor to return the Bill. As far as the government is concerned wewill place the Bill before the Assembly and pass it,” said its spokesperson onTuesday last. Additionally, the government does not propose to incorporate anychanges in the Bill and will stick to its present form for now! * * * * New CM In Meghalaya Musical chairs in Meghalaya seem never-ending. On Tuesdaylast, the north eastern State got its 25th Chief Minister since itacquired statehood in 1970 and the eighth in 12 years! Mukul M Sangma took overfrom chief minister DD Lapang after he was elected as the leader of theCongress Legislature Party on Monday night. Apparently, trouble started brewingfor Lapang a month ago when some party members wanted him to drop threeIndependents and the lone regional party (KHNAM) MLA from the Cabinet. However,Lapang refused to oblige. He “could not betray friends” who helped him form theCongress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government in March 2008. These friendshad broken away from the NCP-backed Meghalaya Progressive Alliance after thevoters had delivered a fractured verdict. The ruling alliance has a comfortablemajority of 44 ina 60-member Assembly, with 28 MLAs of its own, along with partners-- the UnitedDemocratic Party (10 MLAs) and six others including three Independents. Sangmais considered the Congress’ counter to NCP’s Purno Sangma in the Garohills—half of Meghalaya. How long he will last is anyone’s guess. * * * * RTE Binds ThreeStates The three States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have something in common. They all lag waybehind other States in terms of education indices and will have to pitch in themaximum for implementing the Right To Education Act. As per the statistics ofthe Human Resource Development Ministry, of the 13.3 lakh new teachers, theBSP-ruled UP will have to induct 3.9 lakh, JD(U)-ruled Bihar 2.2 lakh and CPM-ruledWest Bengal 1 lakh. And, of the 7.5 additionalclasses required, UP will need the most ---2.5 lakhs, followed by Bihar 2.2 andWest Bengal 1.3 lakhs. Also the three Stateswill need to construct the maximum number of toilets for girls in schools andmake special provision for drinking water. Obviously, the statistics are aglaring example of how these three States have paid scant attention toeducation over the years. In contrast, States such as Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Maharashtra reveal that these aremore educationally enlightened. The big question before the HRD Ministry iswill the three opposition States be able to meet the goal of free andcompulsory education to children as envisaged. * * * To Drought-HitStates The Centre is now adhering to the adage “A stitch in timesaves nine.” It has realized that it is better to give subsidies to save thestanding crop rather than dole out relief to States once the crop has failed.Interestingly, the realization dawned after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjeefinally approved over Rs 4,800 crore from the National Calamity ContingencyFund (NCCF) for 325 districts in 15 States hit by drought last year. Importantly,an additional Rs 1,200 crore was approved for Punjab (Rs 800 crore) and Haryana(Rs 400 crore), which had not declared drought in 2009 event though the twowere worst-affected by deficient rainfall and had chosen to put in extraefforts to save the standing crop. The funds are expected to help the twoStates cover costs in providing power to farmers to save the paddy crop. Of theRs 3,600 crores for 14 other States, Bihar, whichgoes to polls will get the largest chunk of Rs 1,200 crore. The others includeRajasthan 1,034 crore, Maharashtra Rs 672 crore, Andhra Rs 640 crore, UP Rs 515crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 245 crore and Jharkhand Rs 200 crore. * * * * Priority ForWomen Andhra Pradesh is giving top priority women empowerment asdesired by the Congress High Command. The party-led Rosaiah government onMonday last decided to give land to 69,500 women from landless families under itsland distribution programme. Accordingly, the women in 23 districts have achoice of either taking 2.5 acres of wet land or five acres of dry land. Inaddition, the government will provide monetary assistance as it realizes thatgiving land alone will not help. And, those who want to start cultivationimmediately could apply for crop loans. Women, feels the Andhra administrationcan be better custodians of land a they have more affinity to it instead of menwho could decide to mortgage, sell or dispose it off. In all, of the 1,00,600acres earmarked to be distributed under the programme, 52,000 acres will go tothe SCs/STs and BCs in the hope that the exercise will help in povertyalleviation. ---INFA
(Copyright,India News and Feature Alliance)
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