Round The States

New Delhi, 17 June 2010

GoM On Bhopal Verdict

CONG GOES FOR DAMAGE CONTROL

By Insaf

Bhopal continues to dominate thinking and the newspaper headlines, not only in Madhya Pradesh but in all State capitals. Once more it has become a national issue involving top leaders not only at the Centre but also in the States. Last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a nine-member Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to assess the options and remedies available to the Government in the light of the shocking court verdict in the gas tragedy case. It is expected to go into a range of issues including the relief and rehabilitation of victims and their families and submit its report to the Cabinet in ten days.  However, the exercise is being viewed by many as a damage control exercise and primarily to douse public anger. 

The Government has been at the receiving end since the court verdict. Other than the victims, their families and NGOs, the BJP has gone on a major offensive. Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi has questioned Congress President Sonia Gandhi over her "silence" on the verdict and asked her to explain who was the 'Maut ka saudagar' (merchant of death)? Importantly, the BJP has specifically targeted the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for allowing former Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson to leave the country. This past week, television channels have been playing bytes of the Madhya Pradesh former Chief Minister Arjun Singh in the aftermath of the tragedy in December 1984 that Anderson was given bail since he agreed to be present in court when the charges are made. While Singh has maintained a stoic silence, the Congress, has sought to shift the entire blame on "systemic" failure and said there was “never ever any intention of Central government to allow any culprit to go scot-free." The big question is: Will the GoM be able to make amends to this systemic failure?

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Relief For Manipur

Manipur can heave a sigh of relief.  It should hopefully limp back to normalcy after over two months of economic blockade by agitating Naga groups. On Wednesday last, the Centre finally decided to move in and assured the Ibobi Singh Government that the first convoy of trucks would ply into Imphal on Saturday, with the help of paramilitary forces. The blockade of NH 39 (Imphal-Dimapur) and NH 53 (Imphal-Silchar), the life line of Manipur was started by the All Naga Students Association of Manipur (ANSAM) on April 12 to protest against the  elections to six Autonomous District Councils in the Hills which, it alleged, did little for tribal rights. It was further intensified by the Naga Students Federation (NSF) on May 3 after the Manipur Government decided not to allow NSCN (IM) General Secretary, T Muivah, to undertake a “political” visit his native village Somdal in Ukhrul district. The two sides had thus literally pushed Manipur to the verge of a breakdown with stocks of all essentials commodities, including baby food and life saving drugs, almost drying up. While the NSF has temporarily suspended the blockade after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Centre is keeping its fingers crossed the ANSAM follows suit. Else, it would continue its much-needed intervention in view of the Guwahati High Court's order to it as well to the  State governments to keep NH-39 and NH-53 free from all obstructions.

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Orissa’s Illegal Mines

Orissa presents a classic case of how illegal mining is unabashedly thriving in the country. The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) last week disclosed  that 215 out of 341 working mines i.e. over 60 per cent in the State were operating without statutory Central government clearances! Shockingly, some mines have been in business for years without even submitting a statutory mining plan to the authorities. Of the 215 mines, 15 have been operating without clearances for over two decades, while 17 operators have done so for 15 to 20 years. Another 38 mines have existed illegally for 10 to 15 years and 65 for 5 to 10 years, whereas the other "illegal" 80 mines have there for one-five years. Worse, the State government officials were aware of these mines in question, allowing them to violate the law by taking advantage of a loophole in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957. In this case, if the mine operator applies for renewal of a lease within prescribed time, then under Rule 24A(6) of the Minerals Concession Rules 1960 — introduced in 1994 — the lease is automatically 'deemed' to have been extended till the State government actually deals with the application.

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ULFA For Peace Talks

Good news has come Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s way.  The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has formally expressed its willingness to open peace talks with his Government to end over three decades of violent insurgency in the State. "We have got a formal communication from the ULFA regarding holding peace talks," Gogo told the media on Sunday last. However, he refused to elaborate whether it was a formal letter or who had communicated the offer, except that it was from an important leader of the outfit. There has been a deadlock in opening peace talks between the two sides with Gogoi insisting that the Government would go for peace talks only after the ULFA formally express their interest. As of now, almost the entire ULFA top brass, including its chairman, deputy commander-in-chief and political ideologue are in jail, which leaves its self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah still elusive, believed to be somewhere on the Myanmar-China border. The Government has appealed to him to come and join the peace process. How soon will the negotiating process start, is, however, any body’s guess.

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Drought In Himachal?

A drought-like situation is playing spoilsport for crops in Himachal Pradesh. It has damaged a major area of vegetable crops in the Kandaghat area. Over 60 per cent of the crops have been damaged, delaying the transplantation in the area. Farmers are worried that this year they might have to bear heavy losses. ”I am a nursery grower but as you can see a maximum of my area is empty because of drought,” a farmer explained. “Our cash crop is tomato, capsicum and cauliflower and our economy depends on these vegetables. But because of drought, all our crops have been damaged.” This year, the crops of capsicum, brinjal and tomato had already been damaged. The nursery owners are worried that if there are no timely rains farmers won’t be able to produce vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and tomato this year. Sadly, the drought has hit when the area under vegetable cultivation has increased from 25,000 hectares to 50,000 hectares in the State during the last few years. 

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Caring Delhi

Delhi is not as heartless as is made out to be. A recent survey by an NGO, HelpAge India carried out on senior citizens in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata and Hyderabad, found that the country’s capital has the least percentage of elderly abuse reported--15.4 per cent. In comparison, 79.3 per cent respondents in Bhopal faced some form of abuse, whereas Kolkata had 22.8 per cent reported physical abuse. Interestingly, Delhi has the highest number of elderly owning property in the country (68.3 per cent), with 62 per cent deriving their main source of income from pension. The survey also found that 19 per cent victims faced abuse from their domestic help but the maximum abuse was inflicted by their own children! The main context however, being property (35.4 per cent) followed by lack of emotional support (30.2 per cent).The silver lining is that Delhi is more aware of laws and programmes (53.8 per cent) as against Mumbai (44.7 per cent), Kolkata (40.3 per cent ) and Bhopal a mere eight per cent. Time for other cities and towns to sit up.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)