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Lynching Over ‘Beef’: BAN DIVISIVE POLITICS INSTEAD, By Insaf, 1 Oct, 2015 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 1 October 2015

Lynching Over ‘Beef’

BAN DIVISIVE POLITICS INSTEAD

By Insaf

 

Beef ban is sadly becoming overtly political in various States. The shocking lynching of a 50-year-old man by a mob in Bisara village in Uttar Pradesh has sparked outrage across the country. On Monday last, a mob of 200 persons attacked the family of Iqlakh accusing it of consuming beef. This after an announcement was made in a temple that a cow had been slaughtered and beef stored in their home. The Akhilesh Government has offered a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family, ordered a magisterial inquiry and deployed additional forces in the area. Is this enough? The larger question has to be addressed that there appears to be a growing trend of anti-minorityism not only in the State but across others too. Laws are being enforced but not in the right spirit. Religious belief of people is being hurt. The opposition parties are talking of a growing ‘hate climate’ in the country. It may not be untrue. In Maharashtra, the BJP government has extended the cow slaughter ban act to bulls and bullocks, which has evoked criticism. In Jammu & Kashmir, the cow slaughter ban and consumption of beef has brought about a divide between the ruling PDP and BJP, with the former saying the prohibition cannot be accepted and the latter insisting on strict implementation. Recall, that recently beef was taken off the menu in Kerala as trucks carrying the cattle were attacked by rightwing activists. If the trend goes unchecked the society will get dangerously fragmented. With local polls and State polls only on their agenda, the ruling elite mustn’t play with fire and instigate their vote bank. Time to consider ban on divisive politics.

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Maharashtra Fund Raising

Maharashtra has decided to dig into the wallets of the public to tackle the drought in the State. For the next five months, the Devndra Fadnavis Government has opted to levy a surcharge of Rs 2 on petrol and diesel and raise VAT on liquor, cigarettes and beverages by 5 per cent. Additionally, gold and diamond jewellery would become dearer with the surcharge on VAT to be 1.20 per cent. While the move has obviously been frowned upon, the exercise should generate an additional revenue of Rs 1600 crore-odd for the State exchequer to aid the farmers, facing one of the worst droughts in recent times. Additionally, the Government has asked its various departments to consider austerity measures and spell these out for the next Cabinet meeting. Indeed, those affected will keep a watchful eye on how the government machinery chips in to drought kitty.

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Meghalaya Demolition Drive

Better safe than sorry, is the message in Meghalaya. Illegal construction in its capital Shillong has come under the scanner of the High Court. It has ordered demolition of floors beyond the third floor of at least 21 multi-storeyed buildings following a PIL by some lawyers. They recalled the devastation following the 1897 earthquake which led to 1500 deaths and reduced the then capital of Assam to rubbles. With the hill capital turning into a concrete jungle, increasing the risk of earthquakes in the seismic zone, the court also asked the CBI to identify more cases of illegal construction and zero in on officials of the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority, who are responsible for giving such permission. They shouldn’t be allowed to go scot-free, it directed. While a 15-day deadline for demolition of additional floors of buildings already identified has been set, the CBI has to submit its report by October 15. How many others will face action remains to be seen.

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Bengal’s Digitalisation

West Bengal appears to be taking the lead in going digital. Action rather than mere words is what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s message is to the Union Government. Not only has her administration declassified secret files of Cabinet meetings held during 1939-47, but all files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose with it. In this age of internet and social media the TMC government believes in transparency, claims Didi though there is not much to show on ground and asserts that historic documents must be accessible to all and not be stored in bags. In particular, she has asked the Centre to declassify the files (89 in number) on Bose, which should help demystify his mysterious disappearance seven decades ago. With 401 files declassified in digitised form the government plans to digitise the post-independence era and make these public. Indeed, a lesson or two for Modi’s ‘Digital India’ campaign.

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Delhi’s Flop Show

Delhi’s AAP Government is definitely not on the national map, leaving Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal disappointed. His conclave of Chief Ministers on Cooperative Federalism and Centre-State relations on Wednesday last found no real takers barring two. While invites were said to have been sent to all CMs, only Bengal’s Mamata and Tripura’s Manik Sarkar took the trouble to show up. Rather, Sarkar only met Kejriwal and didn’t stay for the deliberations. Kejriwal was thus left best with messages from Bihar’s Nitish, Mizoram’s Lalthanhawla and Puducherry’s Rangaswamy. He chose to take the blame on to himself saying he had fixed date in advance without consulting the others. Be it so, the big question is would it have been different otherwise? Most unlikely, as he so far has been a one-man show.  However, the poor attendance didn’t seem to dampen his spirits. He had yet another platform to hit out at the Centre and did precisely that. Perhaps the next time he should think of having a conclave on steps for good governance. Guess there would be many present giving him tips.      

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Toilet Revolution 

It’s a thumbs’ up for Sircilla constituency in Telangana. It could be the first in the country to have a toilet in every home. Represented by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao, the government flushed out funds to help villagers build the toilets. While a survey showed that number of households already had individual toilets, there still remained a target of 12,505 which had to be met in mandals including Mustabad, Gambiraopet and Sircilla. Thus, since September 1 meetings with villagers began and eventually they were convinced to opt for one. It was then the duty of the Government to bear the cost at Rs 12,000 per unit. By 28th of the month 52 villages had become free of open defecation with 8878 of the 12505 toilets built and remaining 3627 to be completed by October 2. Today, there are signs warning villagers that they would be fined Rs 100-500 if found defecating in the open.. Guess there will be no defaulter.---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

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