Round The States

New Delhi, 17 May 2012

Political Vendetta

UP & TN  TAKE LEAD

By Insaf

Witch hunt and one upmanship sadly appear to be the favourite past time of our State leaders as soon as they come to power. A ready case in hand is best offered by two States and their Chief Ministers. Uttar Pradesh’s Akhilesh Yadav and Tamil Nadu’s Jayalalitha are busy scoring brownie points over their bête noirs. Former UP CM and BSP supremo Mayawati is under Akhilesh government’s priority list and scanner for “the mega scams” during her regime. Irregularities up to a whopping “Rs 40,000 crore” are alleged to have been committed in her pet projects--construction of memorials and parks, land acquisition from farmers, other than the much-maligned NRHM scheme. Instances of boundary walls at memorials being constructed and demolished many times, installation of over “200 elephant statutes” being overpriced at Rs 300 crore,  Rs 55 crore being spent on 37,000 palm trees imported from Dubai for the parks in Lucknow and Noida, et al are under the spotlight. While Akhilesh vows a thorough probe, Mayawati rubbishes it as an attempt to hide “his failures” viz law and order! What both the SP and BSP fail to realise is that this political vendetta may be inconsequential for the aam admi, who changes governments for want of good governance.

Far away down South, Jayalalitha is busy whitewashing the previous DMK rule in Tamil Nadu with new schemes and mega advertising. Instances of her penchant to undo all what rival K Karunanidhi government did include changing the date of the Tamil New Year, converting Anna Centenary Library into a specialty hospital for kids, stopping the Uniform School Syllabus, maintaining Assembly and Secretariat at the 17th century Fort St George instead of the new plush complex built, scrapping or over hauling welfare schemes and projects etc. To top it all, AIADMK government on Wednesday last spent Rs 25 crore on a nationwide advertisement blitzkrieg which celebrates Jayalalitha's one-year in office. The full-page ads with her mega picture scream of heralding a new century for the State and restoring its glory. Be it Food security, women welfare, public works, finance etc the AIADMK claims “revolutionary measures” in just 365 days. Wonder, what more is in store in the next four years of her remaining term.  

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EU Nagaland Visit

The visit of a group of European ambassadors to Nagaland has led to bad blood between two Union Ministries. The Home Ministry is upset with its External Affairs counterpart for not seeking its approval for their visit. It is “mandatory” for foreign nationals to get Protected Area Permit before visiting the State, among other “sensitive” parts of the country. Apparently, not only did the eight-member team from the EU have the requisite permission but that the envoys “deviated” from their three-day itinerary, beginning Sunday last. Instead of meeting Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Governor Nikhil Kumar and officials only, in their bid to explore opportunities of investment in the State as part of India-EU cooperation, the group is learnt to have interacted with some representatives of tribal organisations and NGOs regarding the ongoing peace process. Clearly unacceptable in the backdrop that insurgent groups could try to “internationalise” the issue, the Home Ministry has asked the MEA to seek clarification from the envoys about their interactions other than those with government functionaries. Will it oblige?

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J&K Migrants

The Jammu & Kashmir Government under National Conference Chief Minister Omar Abdullah may claim to have made strides in further restoring normalcy, but a major challenge continues to stare it in the face. According to Home Ministry statistics given out Tuesday last 58,697 families are reported to have migrated from Kashmir Valley to Jammu and other States since the emergence of militancy, particularly January 2011. The Centre claims it is reimbursing the expenditure for cash and ration relief in respect of the migrants in Jammu. Likewise, the migrants, those who are eligible, in other States have been provided facilities which include monthly allowance, provisions of other amenities for health, education and better living conditions as per scale fixed by them. However, there are no statistics of how many have returned home. Is this a priority or not with the Abdullah Government? If so, what steps have been initiated so far? More importantly, it is time both the State Government and the Centre give a serious thought to the moot question: how long will the Kashmiri Pandits continue be refugees in their own country?

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Yeddyuruppa’s Hopes Dashed

Karnataka’s former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s hopes of getting back the top post are clearly dashed. The BJP leader has put his resignation from the Assembly on hold as he is now busy battling the CBI probe into the illegal mining scam during his tenure. Early this week, the CBI raided his two homes, one in Bangalore and in Shimoga, his Assembly constituency among 11 other places. Importantly, the CBI also raided mining firms which are alleged to have doled out large donations to a trust run by Yeddyurappa's family in return for doling out “undue favours” shown to them during his Chief Ministership! Worse, on Thursday last, he and his family were not given anticipatory bail by the CBI designated court, which adjourned the hearing till May 25. While, Yeddyuruppa would be smarting under the rude shock, his party can heave a small sigh of relief, as he had threatened to resign along with eight ministers on grounds that the central leadership was “ignoring” him. Well, doesn’t the party have ample reason to, is a question he should ask himself.

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Gurgaon Top Net City

Haryana has reason to boast of a chip on its shoulder. Its cyber city, Gurgaon, has more households logging on to the net than any district in the country. To top it, Gurgaon has even beaten India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, in the internet race. The Census 2011 reveals that household penetration of internet in Gurgaon is 20.9 per cent, twice the national average of 10 per cent! In fact, it can boast of a better score than IT hubs Bangalore and Hyderabad and has clearly overshadowed mega cities such as Mumbai and the national capital, Delhi. Of the 3,20,000 households in Gurgaon, more than 1,02,000 have computers and over 67,000 are internet-enabled. The reason for this internet revolution is attributed to the large concentration of techies and professionals in the city. Perhaps, other States should take a cue.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)