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Round
The States
New
Delhi, 25 September 2014
Maharashtra Breakup
HUNG
ASSEMBLY, NEW PARTNERS?
By Insaf
The shocking political divorce
between longstanding partners, BJP and Shiv Sena and the Congress and NCP, is
all set to make the ensuing Maharashtra Assembly the biggest blockbuster, after
the Lok Sabha elections. The poll campaign which should kick off will be a
thriller, nail-biting till the end. The now four-cornered contest (five if one
adds the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) is expected to be bitter, as reactions
from all four sides suggest, but more importantly will provide an insight into
whether they will keep scope open for swapping partners or even coming back
together. This is so because the possibility of a hung Assembly cannot be ruled
out. However, the BJP which broke the 25-year-old alliance with its ideological
partner, the Shiv Sena would rubbish it as it brims with ‘overconfidence’ after
the General elections and doesn’t consider Uddhav Thackeray to carry the same
weight as Bal Thackeray. It claims certainty in forming its government with
smaller allies. On its part, the SS sees the poor performance of its partner in
the recent byelections as reason enough not to yield. As for the Congress-NCP
breakup, the latter has taken the call to go alone as it finds going with the
Congress, after its drubbing in the general elections, a greater risk. It
already has come out of the Government, paving way for President’s rule. Be
that as it may, the million dollar question is whose call to go it alone will
prove right. Or, the situation would demand fresh marriages of convenience?
* * * *
Curbing Maladminstration
Maladministration across States
could be set right, if only the bureaucracy is outspoken and fearless. A tall
order indeed, but as the adage goes--if there is a will there’s a way.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court may have shown the way. In a recent order, the
apex court stated that if a civil servant files a petition alleging the
Government was lax in discharging its constitutional duties of establishing
rule of law, his/her behaviour would not be seen as indulging in conduct
unbecoming of a member of the service. More importantly, the administration
cannot take disciplinary action for any such action of the bureaucrat. The
ruling came in a case in which a bureaucrat was signatory to a PIL seeking
bringing back black money hidden abroad. Upholding the petition, the court
passed a judgement seeking setting up of a special investigation team to get
back the black money. In the meantime, an inquiry was initiated against the
officer, which the court viewed as an attempt to “harass the appellant” for his
pointing out certain aspects of maladminstration in Government of India and
quashed the proceedings. Hope the signal reaches far and wide across.
* * * *
Rajasthan
RTE Re-look
Rajasthan Government is all set to
improve on the Right to Education Act. According to reports, it proposes to
bring in two amendments after getting feedback from parents during its sarkar aapke dwar programme (government
at your doorstep). The first change would be to reintroduce exams in at least
three classes from Class 3, 5 and 8 and the second would be to change the
criteria for recognition or registration of institutions. Instead of the
present ‘physical infrastructure’ of schools’ requirement, the State would now
insist on their ‘scholastic learning outcomes.’ This is so because the
Vasundhra Raje Government has made a note of high percentage of closure of
private schools in many States for not fulfilling the mandatory RTE-physical
infrastructure criteria, such as school buildings, playgrounds etc. NGOs
statistics reveal that over 4,000-odd private schools have shut down impacting
over 8.50 lakh students as on March this year. It’s now a question of time, how
soon the fresh bill will be introduced in the Assembly.
* * * *
Of 5
States & Ganga Clean-Up
Five States hold the key to cleaning
up of the Ganga. If these —Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand,
West Bengal, Jharkhand and
Bihar—don’t meddle in political one-upmanship and genuinely chip in to save the
2,500-km river, then New Delhi may well keep its
promise to the Supreme Court that in 18 years, the Ganga
would be finally clean. The five Ganga basin States came into focus after the
Centre told the apex court that its commitment would come to naught if these
States too don’t pledge for the same, as it was primarily their responsibility
to do so. Interestingly, all these five States are non-NDA—UP is ruled by
Samajwadi Party, Uttarakhand by Congress, West Bengal by Trinamool Congress, Bihar by JD(U) and Jharkhand by JMM-led alliance! Will
they cooperate with the Centre, was a million dollar question raised by the
Court. Dirty politics could muddy waters.
* * * *
Gujarat Faux
Pas
Gujarat should be pink with
embarrassment. It made an inexcusable faux pas with a map of China showing parts of India as
‘disputed territory.’ Worse, the map was part of a media kit during the Chinese
President’s visit. It showed boundaries with dotted lines putting a question
mark and sending the administration into a tizzy, when pointed out. The
goof-up: Arunachal Pradesh with the dots around looked more like a disputed
territory, Aksai Chin was shown fully as Chinese territory and J&K next to it
was again shown in dotted lines. After doing its homework the opposition
Congress rightly raised a stink about it saying these are maps distributed and
these carry the description which was distributed by the Gujarat
government! How can India
show parts of the country highly sensitive as disputed territory, was its moot
question. Sadly, none have been forthcoming nor made answerable.
* * * *
Delhi Under Siege
A part of Lutyen’s Delhi was under siege early this week. Why?
Shockingly, because former Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh didn’t want to
vacate his bungalow on Tughlak
Road, after 36 years! Instead, he wanted it
converted to a memorial in the name of his father and former prime Minister Chaudhary
Charan Singh. He was not alone, but managed to get Jat supporters from western
UP to press his demand in Delhi.
They threatened to cut water supply to Delhi
and even hold a Mahapanchayat, to save the Rashtriya Lok Dal president from
getting evicted. The Government fortunately did not yield and stood its ground
that no new memorials would be made in New
Delhi’s Lutyens Bungalow Zone. Singh’s argument that
there was the Indira Gandhi Memorial, Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial, Lal Bahadur
Shastri and Kanshi Ram memorials didn’t hold good. He had to vacate. But not
before the entire drama left a bad taste amongst the city goers. Surely, the
politician must think differently. It is time he stops positioning himself
against public interest for private gain.
* * * *
Sweeping
Railway Stations
Will railway stations across the
country look spanking clean on Gandhi Jayanthi, October 2? Will travelling in
trains be a brand new experience? Only if there is a miracle, would be an
answer. But, the Rail Bhavan in Delhi
has sought to chug along this idea. To ensure Prime Minister Modi’s ‘swachch bharat’ (clean India) campaign,
the Ministry has listed some 245 officials including board members, join
secretaries and directors to not only oversee clean-up operation at one station
each but also to do ‘shramdaan’ (read
perform physical labour). Sweeping stations? Well, that is what it should be
for the 7000 stations in the country. For its cleanliness drive, the Ministry
has decided to pay for the accommodation and travel to the stations and to the
junior staff to be paid a double holiday. The cleanliness drive involves not
just stations, but trains, railway colonies, workshops etc. Capture the moment
on the camera, is the ultimate order. A “before and after” photo of the station
has to be submitted. Hope the officials are on the right track.----INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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