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Round The States
New Delhi, 2 April 2008
NDA-Ruled States
Meet
UPA
Accused Of Discrimination
By Insaf
The NDA-ruled States have raised a banner of revolt against
the UPA Government at the Centre. Nine Chief Ministers met last Saturday at BJP
leader L K Advani’s residence, and not only accused the ruling alliance of “gross
discrimination” but decided to go to the people in their respective States with
a 10-point “chargesheet”. The Chief Ministers
not just shared their concerns against the “step-motherly treatment” meted out
to them, but backed these with specific instances. Naveen Patnaik of Orissa accused
the Prime Minister of not keeping his word of allocating Rs 200 crore as Central
assistance for the flood-hit State two years ago. Instead, a meagre Rs 2 crore
was doled out! JD (U) Chief Sharad Yadav filled in for Nitish Kunar and accused
the Centre of brazen bias against Bihar. While
Congress-ruled States of Delhi and Maharashtra,
he charged, had been given 22 litres and 19 litres of kerosene under the PDS, Bihar was getting only three litres per family.
Madhya Pradesh’s appeal for Central assistance of Rs 1,500
crore for the drought-hit State, it was alleged, had found no takers in New Delhi. Not a single
paisa had been given, complained Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Gujarat’s
Narendra Modi accused the Centre of playing spoilsport to his initiative of
setting up the first university dedicated to children, by taking away 200 MW
quota of power supply without notice. A common refrain of the Chief Ministers,
alongwith Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, was that not a single brick had been added
to the proposed Medical Institutes (AIIMS) in their States in the past four
years. In sharp contrast, the NDA had chosen four Congress-ruled States out of
a total of six wherein the AIIMS was to be set up. Not just that. The NDA has
also decided to exploit the UPA’s discrimination against its States in Parliament,
when it meets later this month.
* * * *
Ironically the UPA also came in for a scathing attack by its
ally, the CPM. At its 19th Congress in Coimbatore on Saturday last, the
CPM asked the Left-ruled States to launch a joint offensive to against
increasing encroachment by the Centre into the States’ powers and for “belying
all expectations” on improving Centre-State relations. West Bengal Chief
Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who led the attack, accused the Centre of
having failed to implement any recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission. He
also charged the Centre of “doing nothing” to provide safeguards against the
abuse of Article 356 of the Constitution and of misinterpreting Article 355 to
unilaterally send Central forces to the States. The Centre was also indicted
for its latest “assault” on the decision-making powers of the States. New Delhi was now directly
discussing State subjects with the IMF, World Bank, WTO etc and imposing the
agencies’ conditionalities without seeking the States’ concurrence .The UPA has
yet to respond to the unprecedented attack by the CPM.
* * * *
TN-Karnataka Water
Crisis
The water issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is on the
boil yet again. Passions were aroused on Tuesday last in Karnataka no sooner
than Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s utterances that the drinking water
project at Hogenakkal, along Cauvery river, would go ahead come what may.
Cinema halls showing Tamil films came under instant attack in Karnataka and
Tamils Sangam at Ulsoor in Bangalore.
Tamil Nadu Assembly soon reacted and passed a resolution asking the Centre to
intervene and “maintain the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.” It also
wanted the lives and properties of Tamils in Karnataka protected. Meanwhile,
protests are snowballing over the issue in both the States-- the film industry
in Tamil Nadu has decided to protest with a day-long fast on Friday, whereas
activists in Karnataka have called for a bandh
on April 10. Karunanidhi has a smooth explanation for the latest row: “Tamils
are anathema to some linguistic fanatics in Karnataka. It has become their full
time job to hate us. First they said no water for our crops, now they say no to
even drinking water …” But Karnataka has its view, strong and
uncompromising.
* * * *
Orissa Speaker
Resigns
The Orissa Assembly has created murky history for all the
wrong reasons. Its Speaker, Maheshwar Mohanty, resigned on Monday last following
allegations of sexual harassment and a stormy demand by the opposition for his
ouster and an independent probe by either a High Court judge or the CBI. Last
week a woman assistant marshal in the Assembly, Gayatri Panda, had gone public
and filed an FIR alleging that the Speaker was persistently harassing her and
even persuading her through his staff to have a sexual relationship with him.
Mohanty, for his part, dismissed the charges as “baseless and part of a
conspiracy” and went on to resign “to protect the office of the Speaker.” While
the truth whether a third party is involved will be known only after the State
Human Rights Commission, gives its report, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has
already given Mohanty a clean chit. In fact, he has sacked his Information and
Public Relations Minister, Debasis Nayak, for allegedly instigating Gayatri to
hurl the charges. This dimension too is being probed, adding intrigue to the
goings on in the Assembly.
* * * *
Mayawati Hits Back
Mind your language, is the latest bolt from UP Chief
Minister Mayawati to her many opponents. The first to receive the warning is
none less than the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Mahender Singh Tikait. On
Monday last, Tikait was charged with having used derogatory language against
the Dalit leader and a woman at a rally in Bijnore on Sunday and found himself
slapped with a case under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Prevention of
Atrocities Act. Orders were issued for his arrest as such crimes constitute a
cognizable offence. The police, however, failed to carry out the orders. Tikait’s
supporters, numbering about 1,500, in his village Sisauli prevented it from
doing so. The two sides clashed for over 18 hours, leaving 25 policemen and two
farmers injured. While Tikait has now agreed to surrender, Mayawati’s “intolerance”
has sparked an anti-BSP mobilization. The Samajwadi Party has supported Tikait arguing
that nothing objectionable was said and that Mayawati “uses worse language”.
The Congress has chosen to tread carefully, saying it would ascertain facts. Meanwhile,
some in the BJP have decided to join Tikait’s rallies. After all, jat votes
matter.
* * * *
Chandigarh: Highest Income!
Chandigarh and its citizens have a special reason to rejoice--like
their representative in the Lok Sabha: Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of
State for Finance. The city, which is a Union Territory and continues to be the
capital of Punjab and Haryana, today has the highest per capita income and
vehicles in the country, according to the District Census handbook, released by
Bansal on Monday last. (Every household has two or more vehicles.) Chandigarh
also leads in maximum usage of clean fuel in the country. What is more, it is now
acknowledged as “the most popular marketing research and launch destination”.
Nevertheless, all is not honky dory for the city whose population is bursting
at its seams and is expected to double in 20 years. It has the worst sex ratio
in the world: 777 females per 1,000 males. The ratio further dips if the sex
ratio of the slums, 926 females for 1,000 males, is excluded. The city’s urban
sex ratio then drops to 500 females for 1,000 males! ---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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