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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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’?
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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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