Round The States

New Delhi, 27 June 2014

J&K Strife

RETURN OF KASHMIRI PANDITS?

By Insaf

The separatists are up to their old tricks in strife-torn Kashmir: holding the State to ransom by calling a strike and paralyzing normal life. Its latest bugbear is Prime Minister Modi’s promise to resettle Kashmiri Pandits in enclaves across the Valley along with granting citizenship to West Pakistan refugees living in Jammu. In fact, the plight of the homeless Pandits since their purge from the State in early 1990 has been a nagging thorn in successive Central governments flesh. Twenty-five years ago, thanks to a sustained campaign by Kashmiri Jihadi elements, JKLF and Hizbul Mujahideen with active abetment by Paksitan’s ISI led to ethnic cleansing of the community, by subjecting it to brutalities such as rape, torture and forcible seizure of property. Resulting in an exodus to Delhi and Jammu where they have been forced to eek out a living in camps and reduced to being refugees in their own country. The present JKLF chief Yasin Malik has already sounded the bugle, warning Pandits not to take the foolhardy step and return to the Valley. The Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Geelani has too cautioned against the proposal to create special enclaves for the returning Pandits. His reason being it would harm the centuries-old “brotherhood”! At its end, both the State and Central governments are working out the nitty-gritty to enhance the package amount of Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 20 lakhs per Pandit family for reconstructing their homes. In this battle of wits, it remains to be seen whether the Centre would uphold its pledge to ensure the Kashmiri Pandits’ return with honour and security to their homeland Kashmir.

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Gujarat 33% Women Quota 

The first tentative step to give women their rightful place in the sun was taken by Gujarat’s ‘fair’ Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. The State is all set to empower its police force by reserving 33 per cent positions for the fairer sex. Recall, Prime Minister Modi during his election campaign had promised women empowerment to the electorate.  Towards that end, his successor and protégée is first off the mark to ensure equality for women. Scandalously, till date, women have been unable to make headway in the security force due to the rigorous physical tests they need to pass. Patel has assured women that the criteria would be changed to accommodate them. Following in Gujarat’s footsteps, the Union Home Ministry too has announced that all Union Territories would henceforth reserve one third seats in the police for women. Shockingly, there are only 84,479 women cops out of 15.85 lakh, less than 5%, in the country according to the Bureau of Police Research and Development. Interestingly, Maharashtra has the highest number of police-women followed by Tamil Nadu and Delhi. It is a moot point if this measure will reduce crimes against women!

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Bengal-EC Spat

Trust stormy petrel West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to open yet another battlefront. The State Election Commission has moved the Calcutta High Court against the State Government failing to take measures for holding elections to 17 municipalities which were due latest by the month-end. Interestingly, this is the second battle royal between the SEC and Mamata after it took the State to court last year over holding of Panchayat polls. Perhaps, the Chief Minister is fighting shy of holding elections given that the BJP leads in at least four municipalities. Adding to the imbroglio the saffronites buoyed by the recent victory in the General elections intend intervening in the matter in the court. Besides the civic polls, over 500 seats have fallen vacant in different panchayats including North Bengal and Siliguri. Who will emerge victorious in this shadow-boxing?  

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States Under Watch 

The States better watch out. They have been put on notice to get their act together and curb rising prices. The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley minced no words by asserting he would take come down heavily on hoarders of essential food items. His angst arises from the fact that potatoes and onions have risen by over Rs 10 in the last one month and are expected to touch Rs 100 by October. That he means business is apparent when he raised the minimum support price of the said vegetables to $300 per tonne to curb exports and cool prices. In tandem, the Consumer Affairs Department is all set to amend the Essential Commodity Act to empower the Centre to act against hoarders in the States. But with a majority of the Saffron supporters belonging to the trader community it is a moot point how successful the Government’s bid to reign in prices will be. Indeed, the BJP-led NDA might crack the whip given that it is confident of getting the aam aadmis’ support.   

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Storm In Kerala Cong

Predictably Kerala is in the eye of the storm, for all the wrong reasons once again. First it was the BJP which took strong exception to students defiling Prime Minister Modi on social media site Facebook by getting the culprits put behind bars. Now it is the turn of the Congress to get a leg up over its political bête noire. Following the removal of an office-bearer for criticising Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for the party’s electoral rout, dissent has been growing in the State’s Congress Youth wing. At a recent camp of the Youth Congress, leaders criticized Rahul’s measures to bring democracy in the echelons of party hierarchy by holding internal elections. They demanded a return to the old method whereby office bearers are nominated by the party leadership.  Surprisingly, the PCC chief V N Sudheeran and Cabinet Minister K C Joseph endorsed the youth brigade as Rahul’s scheme had increased unhealthy rivalry among leaders, especially as polls to the local bodies are due shortly. Will Rahul heed? 

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States Ignore Rule

This is a tale of the ugly truth of States across the country. Appallingly, most regional governments have no provision for medical certification of the cause of death, thus resulting in no records being kept of the disease or its causes which led to it. Notwithstanding, the legal requirement, which has been in force since 1969 making it mandatory to do so, with no medical records in hand corrective measures are clearly hindered. Consequently, over 80 per cent, of the 48.1 lakh deaths registered in the country are due to “unknown reasons”, with only 9.7 lakhs registering the reason. Interestingly only miniscule Goa and Pondicherry have given a thumbs’ up to the rules by keeping a record of the death data. According to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner the main culprits are Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and some north-eastern States, even as medical certification has increased in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Union Home Minister Harsh Vardhan please note. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)