Round
The States
New Delhi, 16 May 2013
Bihar’s Special
Status
CONGRESS, BJP SPAR
ON NITISH
By Insaf
The Centre is leaving no stone
unturned to woo Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) Chief Nitish Kumar. First,
Union Finance Minister Chidambaram asserted “granting Bihar Special Category status was a possibility,”
on his maiden visit to Patna.
Then he hurriedly revised the definition of backwardness for determining a
States eligibility to enhance Bihar's access to central funds whereby special
assistance would now be judged on the basis of measuring a State’s distance
from the national
average on parameters such as per capita income and other human development
indicators. Indeed, tailor-made for the State as it lags behind in the
development index. Predictably, this has set the cat among the pigeons and
opened another fissure of mistrust between coalition partners JD (U) and BJP.
Worried that it was a Central ploy to wean Nitish, the Saffron Sangh advised its ally not to be
“tricked”. Taking umbrage to unsolicited opinion the CM hit out at those
“conjecturing a growing bonhomie”' between Congress and JD(U). Adding, "Those who see politics behind
it are victims of ignorance." Clearly, the 16 year-old trust between the
allies seems to be fast evaporating, advantage Congress?
* * * *
Of Yatras & Poll Fever
In the rising tensions between BJP and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar over
the Congress’ promise of granting Special Status to Bihar,
all Parties have started preparations for the forthcoming general elections. While
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is busy wooing his electorate by resuming his Sewa Yatra, RJD's Lalu
Prasad has completed Parivartan Yatra while
LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan is hoping to ring in a change with his ongoing Bihar Bachao Yatra. To underscore his
claim that he is not a ‘has been’ Lalu Yadav at a massive rally in Capital Patna unleashed his “T2” sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi
to carry forward the RJD flag, urging the crowds to throw out “dictator” Nitish,
who is “behaving like a parrot sitting in the lap of BJP and RSS”. His message
was clear: His successors were not wife Rabri, S2 brother-in-law, Sadhu and
Subhash but his sons. Undeniably, dynasty is no longer the prerogative of the
Congress alone, the regional satraps RJD and SP are not far behind. Leaving one
wondering if Lalu’s charisma and days are numbered wherein he has to lean on
the Gen Next for support? An unperturbed Nitish continues nonchalantly in the
hope of making Bihar’s “Special status” his
poll mantra. What next?
* * * *
TN Celebration Mode
Tamil Nadu is in mega celebration mode. It’s Chief Minister
and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha has completed two years of rule. The
announcement on Thursday last, was splashed across full page (some six pages)
ads in national dailies! For those who would have missed her blowing her own
trumpet, it’s worth a recap. Not one, but many feathers in her cap is the
unabashed message. The topmost being “CM Wins Cauvery waters for TN” wherein
she states that 30 years in politics, “this is the first time that I have
experienced a sense of fulfilment and achievement.” Perhaps, she would have
done one better had she been magnanimous to acknowledge the Supreme Court’s
role in resolving the TN-Karnataka dispute. But that is obviously not her
style. What is, are the innumerable freebies that have been doled out
---“laptops to students, mixies, grinders and electric fans, milch cows, goats and
sheeps, free rice to provide food security, four gms gold, Amma canteens giving low priced but quality food to poor …et al. To
top it, Jayalalitha is all set to dwarf rival DMK, with the tallest statue in
the State of Tamil Thai (mother of Tamil) at a cost of
Rs 100 crore! Guess it’s only a fraction of the mega bucks being spent on the
celebrations.
* * * *
Andhra-Centre On Collision Course
It was unthinkable that Congress-ruled
Andhra would be on a collision course with the Centre. But, the cancellation
of bauxite mining leases in tribal Vishakhapatnam
district has lead to a whopping row. While the State has challenged the move,
the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry headed by Congressman Kishore Chandra Deb first
asked Governor Narasimhan to use his special powers under Scheduled Areas to
cancel the mining leases due to adverse ecological impact May last. When that
didn’t work he has now evoked the Forest Rights Act which bars non-tribals from
getting mining rights and provisions of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act
(PESA). Many State watchers smell a political
rat as the mining leases were given by the late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar
Reddy in 2004 and 2009. Another stick to beat YSR’s son and Congress bête noire Jagan Reddy with?
* * * *
Drought, Flood States Get Relief
Three drought and flood hit States
can breathe easy. This follows the Centre’s approval of Rs.511-crore assistance
for Rajasthan, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh following their plight during
last year’s natural calamities. While
Rajasthan gets Rs.320 crore, Arunachal Rs.147 crore and Nagaland Rs.44 crore
under the National Disaster Management Fund. Further, an additional grant of Rs
256 crore was given to Maharashtra for
rejuvenation of orchards in the State’s drought-hit regions. Another bonus is
to provide feed concentrates for cattle under the National Mission on Protein
Supplements during the current fiscal year. Recall, the Centre had
given Rs 3,039 crore for Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat
and Kerala earlier which too were affected by drought. Clearly, the weather God might play hooky but
the Government is not leaving anything to Lord Indra.
* * * *
Baby
Boom In Kerala
Kerala has once again notched up a new record in
the country. Whereby it is the first State which has succeeded in reducing
deaths of new-born between 28 days or less. According to the latest Sample
Registration System the country’s neonatal mortality rate decreased six per cent from 37 during
2004-10 to 31 per 1000 berths. Significantly,
neonatal deaths comprise the largest fraction of infant moralities.
Shockingly, Madhya Pradesh has the highest neonatal deaths followed by Uttar
Pradesh. But happily, taking a leaf from God’s own country, Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh too have shown dramatic improvement in infant deaths. Thanks to
new initiatives likes special new-born care units, new-born stabilization
units, warmers and phototherapy units across villages. Clearly this should help erasing India’s record
of abysmal infant mortality.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
|