Round The States

New Delhi, 24 July 2015

BJP Vs Cong-Ruled States

WHO IS MORE CORRUPT?

By Insaf

More States are getting drawn into the no-holds-barred fight on corruption this monsoon session of Parliament. With an unrelenting Congress-led Opposition demanding resignation of Chief Ministers Rajasthan’s Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chauhan over Lalitgate and Vyapam scam respectively as a precondition on any debate in both Houses, the BJP has decided to go on the offensive. Remember, offence is the best defence! It has opened fronts on States under Congress rule, present and past. Talk about corruption in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana and Kerala, it hits back. Armed with an “NGO’s sting operation” against Uttarakhand’s Harish Rawat’s personal secretary negotiating with middlemen to change the excise policy in the State, it demands Rawat’s resignation saying he changed excise policy to make big money. It further accuses Himachal’s Vir Bhadra Singh of “accepting bribe” from a private firm to buy a farm house in Mehrauli, two Goa Congress ministers for taking bribe for what is now known as “Watergate”, land deals of Robert Vadra in Haryana and Kerala’s liquor scam, et al. Both Rawat and Vir Bhadra have rubbished the charges. These are ‘politically motivated and false’ and accuse the BJP of trying to ‘divert public attention from the scams involving its top leaders’. Scandalously, both sides seem to forget that two wrongs don’t make a right. There is not an iota of shame of wanting to score brownie points on the other being more corrupt. Did the aam janta hear ‘mera Bharat Mahan?

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Delhi’s New Battle

Women in the country’s capital, Delhi have good reason to be fuming or at least express concern. The ongoing supremacy bitter fight between ruling AAP and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung may well impact them as well. The latest victim in the tussle is the Delhi Commission for Women. Jung has rejected Kejriwal government’s appointment of Swati Maliwal as the DCW chief and made it known that the doors to the office are not open for her. The reason given by Jung’s secretariat is that the appointment notification didn’t have his approval and thus it becomes “ultra vires and infructuous”. However, the AAP government refuses to pay heed and cancel the appointment. It has also decided not to take note of both the BJP and Congress questioning her credentials as she is the wife of AAP leader Navin Jaihind. While the LG’s office is busy asking principal secretary (social welfare) to furnish facts and circumstances under which the notification was issued, Maliwal is unruffled and claims she will continue working, whether she remains in the post or not! The big question is where do the women go who may want to knock on the Chief’s door for redressal of their grievances?

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MP’s Ban on Frivolous Lawsuit 

Is the Madhya Pradesh government biting more than it can chew? Under fire for the Vyapam admissions and recruitment scandal, the Government has now bulldozed a bill to prevent frivolous litigation in courts. On Thursday last, the State Assembly, mired in protests by the Opposition, passed the Madhya Pradesh Tang Karnewali Mukadmebaji (Nivaran) Bill, 2015 (MP Vexatious Litigation (Prevention) Bill, 2015), to “lessen the burden on courts”. It allows the State’s Advocate General to declare a person “a vexatious litigant” and stop him/her from initiating any civil or criminal litigation “without reasonable ground”. Even though the High Court would need to hear the litigant before passing an order, the AG’s opinion would count to a large extent. Worse, the order could also apply to cases already filed in the courts. The Bill has the civil society up in arms, which sees it as a means to stifle growing dissenting voices in the wake of the Vyapam scam. Not only is it “unconstitutional and undemocratic” fear activists but it will be misused to strike down PILs filed to expose Government’s corruption. Will it be challenged in the Supreme Court?   

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States Can Show Mercy

State governments across the country wanting to show mercy to life convicts are now free to do so. The Supreme Court on Thursday last lifted its order restraining the governments from granting remission of sentences to life convicts who have been in jail for over 14 years. However, there is a proviso. It spelt out four riders to its order: the relaxation should not be used to free convicts sentenced to life in rape-cum-murder cases, or where the Supreme Court or High Courts have pronounced sentence specifying duration of the life sentence or those serving life term are convicted under a Central rule or when a lifer convicted was being investigated by a Central agency like the CBI. The reprieve from the apex court comes in the belief that by showing good conduct, a lifer can hope to come out of jail after serving 14 years...and “that a prisoner could prove to be a fine human being.” How the States use this order and whether it changes lives, is worth a watch.  

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Edgy BiharParivar

Ensuing Bihar elections may not turn out to be a nightmare for the BJP and LJP as time approaches. The reason could well be the uneasy relationship of its opponents-- allies JD(U) and RJD, which appears to be coming to the fore. A tweet this time by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar likening himself to chandan (sandalwood), which is not affected despite ‘snakes wrapping themselves around it’, has given the LJP-BJP the hope, against adverse reports till now. The tweet was in response to a question asking him if he won with Laluji and the numbers are significant, how he will give good governance. While this created a flutter in political circles, the BJP-LJP is using it to the hilt saying it’s directed against the RJD chief and that the alliance was no threat. Recall, Lalu’s statement of willing to drink ‘poison’ to crush the ‘cobra of communalism’, as soon as Nitish was anointed the Janata Parivar’s Chief Ministerial candidate. The undercurrents between the two ‘brothers’ are surfacing much to the delight of BJP-LJP. It expects an open fight when the time comes to work out a seat sharing formula. Winning by default may just be a lingering hope.   

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Andhra Beggar Scheme

The Andhra Pradesh Government hit upon a novel idea of keeping the beggars away from bothering pilgrims, for starters at the Godavri Puskharam festival, which comes after 114 years and called the Maha Kumbh of the south. The Municipal Administration and Urban Development department offered Rs 5000 to beggars to stay away from the bathing ghats during the 12-day festival, to save lakhs of pilgrims in Rajahmundry city and Pushkaram ghats ‘inconvenience’. But the amount offered turned out to be meagre. Apparently, the beggars earn more than what was being offered! Moreover, while there are said to be 3000-odd beggars in the temple town only 200 beggars were identified under the scheme. So, while some would have been compensated for the loss of income as envisaged, hundreds of others would continue to flock the ghats. At the same time, those who opted for the scheme may not have been genuine cases, i.e. those without ration cards and who were not availing government welfare schemes. Notwithstanding the hiccups and the reason behind the scheme, at least the administration’s attention was drawn towards the beggars. Will it consider long-term planning? ---INFA   

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)