Round The States
New
Delhi, 15 May 2015
Govt
Advertising
CHIEF
MINISTERS, PARTIES PEEVED?
By Insaf
Three cheers to the Supreme Court!
It has sought to put an end to misuse of tax-payers money across States, at
least on one front. Government advertisements from now on can no longer have
photographs of Chief Ministers, ministers, political leaders of ruling parties,
as per the orders. It stated: publishing photographs of politicians,
associating them with Government policy and its achievement, could develop
personality cult in the country which is a direct antithesis of democratic
functioning and should not be allowed...” Only photographs of the President, Prime
Minister and Chief Justice of India can be an exception it noted, accepting
partly its committee’s recommendations on nature of government advertisements.
Importantly, while the court admitted
there is nothing wrong in government advertising its policies and achievements,
it must be done without naming the party in power and without containing
pictures of its leaders. Will this order now see Government spending less on
advertisements as these will not carry their leaders’ photographs, be it on
hoardings or in newspapers or other media?
Undoubtedly, Chief Ministers would
be peeved and the big question is whether any government or a political party
would seek a review. As of now, while many are said to be ‘studying the order’,
the Delhi government has welcomed it and assured prompt compliance by removing
hoardings of Chief Minister Kejriwal. On the other hand, in Maharashtra,
the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna has
criticised the order questioning whether it “amounted to insulting the
democratically elected State governments, the Parliament and the legislatures?”
Will there be more such responses? For one, the Centre will have no complaints.
Prime Minister Modi has got a carte blanche to figure in the advertisements!
But a nagging uncertainty persists, what will happen if the State governments
don’t comply? Will the apex court be flooded with contempt of court petitions
by the tax-payers?
* * * *
Early
Poll In TN?
Will Tamil Nadu advance its Assembly
elections? This is the big question during the rounds in political circles,
following the acquittal of AIADMK supremo J Jayalaliltha in all corruption and
conspiracy charges in the Rs 66.6 crore disproportionate assets case. With the
State, specially its capital Chennai erupting into celebrations after the
Karnataka High Court order, the Opposition DMK has reason to be worried. Not
only shall Jayalalitha be back in the Chief Minister’s chair, but the policy
paralysis of the past eight months would be over. The development agenda and
welfare schemes for the people are bound to be taken up with more fervour. This
would have more to do with an eye on the ensuing elections next year. However,
with the court verdict removing the taint of corruption, she may opt for
getting a fresh term soon instead. All eyes would be on the AIADMK legislature
party meet next week, which shall elect her as its leader, paving the way for
her to take over the Chief Minister chair for the fifth time. While more
celebrations are planned, will Karnataka government play spoilsport by filing
an appeal in Supreme Court?
* * * *
Bottom of
Form
Battle Over Land Bill
Notwithstanding the land acquisition
Bill being referred to a parliamentary standing committee, the acrimony between
Congress and BJP is far from over. In fact, the battle is getting worse and
terribly murky. On the one hand, other than its campaign of reaching out to the
farmers, Rahul Gandhi and team launched an attack on the BJP in Parliament
saying that it was indulging in vindictive politics and had scrapped the mega
Food Park project in his constituency, Amethi in UP. The BJP denied it saying
that it was cancelled during the UPA-II rule and if he can arrange 50 acres the
NDA government would revive it! However, it has stepped up the pressure on the
Congress to ease it campaign by having its Government in Haryana set up a
commission of inquiry to probe alleged land deals by Rahul’s brother-in-law Robert
Vadra. The retired High Court judge is now to look into land deals in Sector 83
of Gurgaon where Vadra’s firm, M/S Skylight Hospitality has had dealings in
real estate. With report to be handed
over the Khattar government not later than ‘six months’, all eyes would be on
whether the anti-farmer campaign of the Congress eases on Modi government or
picks up further steam.
* * * *
Reshuffle
of Governors
The transfer of Governors appointed
by the UPA government doesn’t seem to ebb. In the latest reshuffle and
appointments of new Governors, the Modi government has shifted Arunachal
Pradesh Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma to Mizoram. Shockingly, in the
past one year, he is now the eighth Governor the north-eastern State will have,
but only till 2018 after which another incumbent shall be appointed. The
five-year tenure seems to have been given a royal go-by. Likewise, Syed Ahmed,
Governor of Arunachal Pradesh has been shifted to Manipur till his term ends
September next year. The big question doing the rounds is why were these
Governors shifted when new appointments were made? The Modi Government has
chosen to appoint its senior BJP leaders to four States: V Shanmuganathan to
Meghalaya, Draupadi Murmu to Jharkhand, Tatagata Roy to Tripura and J P
Rakkhowa to Arunachal Pradesh. The ‘musical chairs’ doesn’t seem to be over yet
as the Centre has to fill vacancies in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and
Telangana—all non-BJP ruled States.
* * * *
Bonanza
For Jharkhand MLAs
Jharkhand’s MLAs have given
themselves a big treat. On Tuesday last, the Cabinet of Raghubar Das’ BJP
Government gave the nod for an 80.06 per raise in their salaries. The
justification being the last revision was done five years ago. Now each
legislator will get a hefty pay packet of nearly Rs 2.10 lakh per month as
against Rs 1.15 lakhs. This is on lines of recommendations made by a Committee
formed by the Speaker. While the Cabinet was ok with most suggestions, it
didn’t approve extra Rs 5 lakh travel allowance sought, but offered Rs 3 lakhs
instead. However, this would not be a dampener for the MLAs as while their
basic salary has been hiked from Rs 20,000 per month to Rs 30,000, the
allowances have been raised from Rs 11.62 lakh to Rs 21.64 lakh annually. In
addition, the Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition and ministers get higher
emoluments. In comparison to other States, the Naxal-hit
State MLAs are not faring too bad with
their salaries more than Punjab counterpart,
but less than Karnataka. Will higher salaries improve performance too? ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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