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Land Acquisition: STATES PUT QUESTION MARK, By Insaf, 23 Jan, 2015 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 23 January 2015

Land Acquisition

STATES PUT QUESTION MARK

By Insaf

 

The Centre has more on its plate than it can handle. Developments in some States over its ordinance on land acquisition should see it burning the midnight oil to put a strategy in place before the Budget session. While it is known that many Congress-ruled States have said they will not implement the Act, there are other question marks. In Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has threatened to launch a tribal movement against it. At a dhrana outside the Governor’s house former Chief Minister Hemant Soren has warned the people that the ‘NDA is run by industrialists and that they would want to usurp as much land as possible in the mineral-rich State’. In Delhi, Anna Hazare has decided to re-launch his anti-corruption agitation, in which the land acquisition ordinance too would figure in as he is unhappy with the new amendments. But this will be after the Assembly elections. In the North East there is a new dimension added. Mizoram government has set up a committee to look into whether the new law is applicable to the State, given the autonomy it has by the Constitution under article 371(G). A nod from the legislative Assembly would be critical. At the same time, it will also look as to how Nagaland, which too has considerable autonomy over land and its resources, deals with the new law. In the midst of preparations for the Union Budget, the Modi Government will need to do be prepared for more surprises.   

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Swine Flu Alert

The Centre has asked States to gear up to deal with H1N1 infection (swine flu). While the outbreak of the infection as compared to 2009 has not been so virulent, the Union Health Ministry is concerned and told States to ensure facilities for diagnosis and treatment are well in place. The alert comes in the wake of cases being reported from States, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. However, the panic button has been pressed in  Telangana, as in the past one month 11 persons have died of the flu and another 150 people having tested positive in Hyderabad. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has sought Central medical teams be sent to help State health officials, who have been pulled up for showing laxity. While 393 influenza A H1N1 cases and 35 deaths have been confirmed across States till mid-January, the numbers may be more as many cases go unreported. The States would do well to step up awareness of the flu symptoms and preventive measures. Sooner, the better.      

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UP’s Development

Uttar Pradesh can eye faster economic development, provided the Centre keeps its word. The SP-ruled State has been assured initiation of Rs 50,000 crore worth road projects before the year-end, December. Stating the Centre ‘doesn’t want to mix politics with development’, Union Surface Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, made a note that the average length of National Highways in relation to the population was much less and needs to be corrected. Additionally, the State, which has 65,000 km of canal length and many rivers, has been asked to tap its inland water transport potential, like China, as it was a cheaper mode. Further, New Delhi was open to raising the road projects’ outlays, if proposals come its way. However, it takes two to tango. The State needs to get its act together and remove irritants like land acquisition and forest and environment clearances. That shouldn’t be a tall order for Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who too has accorded top priority to the road sector by launching the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Time for UP to look forward to ‘achche din’?

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Assam Upset With Centre

Assam, on the other hand, does not have the same luck. In fact, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is peeved with the Centre for meting out step-motherly treatment. He is preparing to bring out a ‘White Paper’ comparing the aid the State got from New Delhi during the UPA and now the NDA regime. For starters, the Modi government is being accused of holding back development funds and reneging on its promise of getting investment to Assam and other N-E States. On every poll assurance, the BJP has reportedly done a “U-turn”. Instances include: earlier the BJP wanted to drive out the Bangladeshis from Assam, but now it no longer sees foreigners; it was opposed to the land swap deal with Bangladesh but now wants to rush into it; it promised investments but has suspended incentives under the North East Industrial Investment Promotion Policy. The list may be longer but till the white paper is out, Gogoi has decided to pay back in the same coin. His Government is drafting its own land acquisition policy and wouldn’t allow implementation of the Centre’s Act, in the hope that other like-minded States follow suit.   

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Haryana’s Big Challenge

Haryana has an onerous task ahead: not just to save the daughter but to ensure her education. And perhaps this is the reason why Prime Minister Modi chose one of its district, Panipat, to kick off the ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’ campaign in the country. The State has the reputation of having one of the poorest sex ratio. While Modi also launched the Sukanya Samridhi Yojna (girl child prosperity scheme), under which girl children below age of 10 will have bank accounts with more interest and income tax benefits, Chief Minister Manohar Khattar has promised to set up a special fund for girls’ welfare. This fund is to be created at the district level for schemes to ensure girls’ education, marriage, construction of separate toilets and eradication of malnutrition. And while he may say that gender ratio imbalance is prevalent across the country, he cannot deny that his State is the worst-- with 879 females for every 1,000 males. Hopefully, the national campaign which initially focuses on 100 districts, including Haryana’s 12 where sex ratio is critical, should provide Khattar greater impetus to meet the challenge of ending female foeticide and gender discrimination. Will he be able to turn around the State’s reputation, is the big question.     

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Precious Trees

Indiscriminate felling of trees can lead to a big hole in one’s pocket. This is a lesson that a hotelier, his agent and owner of the land would have learnt in Himachal Pradesh. The three have been ordered by the National Green Tribunal to pay a fine of Rs 10 lakhs to the forest department for allegedly cutting 477 trees in Shimla on private land and part of reserve forest land. This is in addition to Rs 20 lakh that the land owner has to cough up for environmental degradation. Inquiries revealed that neither of the three had any permission from the concerned department. Worse, the tribunal was informed by State government that the value of wood felled is Rs 35 lakhs, the area in question is the land constituted adjoining the reserve forest and that some of the trees have been cut in the government’s forest land! The NGT wants the forest department to plant 4770 trees on the land in question and those which cannot be accommodated to be planted in plots close by. The NGT’s first such order should make others think twice before picking up the axe. ---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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