Round The States

New Delhi, 15 October 2015

Gujarat’s ‘Caste War’

DEMOCRACY NOW A VICTIM

By Insaf

Is Gujarat in the throes of a “caste-war situation”? So is the case of the State Election Commission for postponing the panchayat elections due this October-November by three months. The growing Patidar agitation for quota has obviously rattled the State government, whose machinery has told the SEC that if the polls are held now “no one may cast their vote”. Further, it told the Gujarat High Court that it wouldn’t want to take chances with the safety of politicians against the people’s anger of “not allowing them in their localities.” The explanation hasn’t gone down well with the Court, which was hearing a petition questioning the Government Ordinance allowing the SEC to postpone elections on grounds that the situation wasn’t conducive for “free and fair polls.” It did well to remind the poll panel that it was an “independent body’ and should strive towards ‘furthering democracy’ instead of diluting principles of elections! While the SEC may choose to ignore the rap, the BJP government would need to set its house in order and get back into control. Hardik Patel’s agitation has undoubtedly opened a Pandora’s Box with many other communities starting their own pro-reservation stir. Not being able to provide a conducive law and order situation for elections doesn’t speak well of the State administration. It cannot afford to say polls be damned, particularly when ‘caste-ridden’ Bihar is going through a bigger and bitter exercise. *                                *                          *                                       *                         *  

Maharashtra Storm

A political storm is brewing in Maharashtra. There is nagging uncertainty over the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. This follows sharp differences of opinion between the partners over the launch of former Pakistan minister K M Kasuri’s memoirs in Mumbai. While the SS was dead against the function, Chief Minister Fadnavis provided full security for it. Prior to this was the tiff over Ghulam Ali’s concert. However, friction has been brewing for some time now, as the Sena is feeling the pinch of being the lesser half. It claims of not being consulted (recent hike in taxes, seeking aid package from the Centre etc) and that its’ opinion is being ignored. While this is nothing new, the Sena is probably now more worried about the BJP’s popularity sliding. And if it is so, then it too may get hit in the ensuing civic elections. Therefore, the fresh threat of walking out. Will the roar turn out to be yet another whimper?

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Angry Assam

Assam is both worried and angry. Its fears that China’s commissioning of the dam on the Brahmaputra will cause irreparable damage to the north-eastern State and other parts of the river basin have gone unheeded. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been raising the issue with Prime Minister Modi for long. However, instead of taking it up with the neighbor, Modi has sought to show much bonhomie and camaraderie with the Chinese President, is his criticism. In a statement to draw the Centre’s attention Gogoi noted that it was an utter failure at the highest diplomatic level to prevail upon the Chinese not to go ahead with $1.5 billion Zam Hydrpower Station on the Brahmaputra around Yanhang Zango in Tibet. The issue is of utmost importance to the Assamese and this casual approach puts a big question mark on the Centre’s intent. It must translate its promise of prioritizing the North-East with action, before much water flows down the Brahmaputra!

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States Must Lodge FIRs 

Pushed into a damage control mode, the Centre seeks to instill confidence amongst the minorities across the country. In an advisory, the Union Home Ministry has asked States & Union Territories ‘not to discriminate against minorities and immediately register FIRs.’ Registering of FIRs on time, it elaborates shall ensure timely filing of chargesheet and a speedy trial to ‘restore faith of different communities.” Additionally, the Ministry has launched a Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) with an initial corpus of Rs 200 crores to ‘reduce disparity in quantum of compensation’ amount notified by various States/UTs for victims of similar crimes. This apart, the fund is to support and supplement the existing Victim Compensation Schemes notified by States UTs. While the States have been asked to share the advisory with concerned departments, the big question is what is the advisory the Ministry would have for right-wing activists and indeed for itself not to discriminate against the States?

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Telangana Farmers’ Woes

Nagging uncertainty unfortunately is adding to the woes of Telangana farmers. Already hit by a bad monsoon and kharif crop failure, they have to wait ‘endlessly’ for the Government to let them know whether they will get any compensation or not. The process to assess the damages is terribly slow and one could say farmer unfriendly. Though the State Assembly has accepted the fact that the “crop damage/affected yield of several crops was over 50 per cent”, in 443 rural mandals, it needs to be substantiated with statistics. Chief Minister too has stated that input subsidy to the tune of Rs 15000 crore is needed to provide some relief to the farmers. So where is the delay? The answer lies in the Guidelines which are too demanding and the other factor being the process undertaken for assessment of crop yields by the planning and revenue department takes longer than expected. The farmers would have to wait till November. For only after the State government has its report, will the Central team be able to examine the “intensity of the drought.” Did we hear the Modi government talking of cutting red-tapism? Sadly, for the farmers that is not the case.

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No Women In Kitchen 

Women’s place is not in the kitchen, at least for the Aligarh jail authorities. While women may be better cooks than men, the latter at least cook in peace, is the authorities’ logic to shut down the separate kitchen for women inmates. According to a report, two years ago, the jail had two separate kitchens. However, the women’s bickering and skirmishes was too much of a headache for the staff. The fights would revolve around quality or someone jumping the queue or one caste inmate touching the utensil of another, etc. Then there would be issues around someone taking long to make tea, another taking an hour to boil milk, or someone’s child being hungry and the burner not free et al. With too much on their plate, the staff has now 100-odd men who cook food for 3000 inmates. Women have to eat what the men cook. They don’t have a choice for peace in the kitchen is what matters most! ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)