Round The States

New Delhi, 7 May 2016

Uttarakhand On Fire

POLITICALLY AND LITERALLY

By Insaf

From the political frying pan in to fire, literally. As the Supreme Court continues to hear the imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand and has asked the Chief Minister Harish Rawat to take the floor test on Tuesday next week notwithstanding the CBI quizzing Rawat on the “sting” purportedly of him offering monies to wean dissident Party MLAs, the Administration is busy dousing forest fires raging across the State. This year alone, over 20667 forest fires have taken place destroying 1,900 hectares in 1,500 villages in Kumaon and Garhwal division of the State with losses crossing over Rs.2500 crores. More. The inferno reached Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, forcing the Centre to call in army personnel to assist NDRF, SDRF officials and pressed helicopters to contain the flames. However, according to forest officials the blaze is largely man-made thanks to a nexus of villagers and timber and land-builder mafia who deliberately set the forest on fire.  The modus operandi is simple: The conflagration only damages the lower portion of the tree whereby the upper portion can be used or sold in the market. The builders too are happy as blaze clears the forest to facilitate their expansion plans on encroached lands. Thus everybody makes money.  None care about the ecological and environmental disaster.

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Its raining gold in Tamil Nadu

Its raining gold in poll-bound Tamil Nadu’s electoral circus. Today, TPD founder NT Rama Rao’s Rs.1 kg free rice offer in the 90s is history, as AIDMK supremo Jayalalitha woos her voters with 8 grams of gold, free mobiles and laptops to ration card holders, 50 per cent subsidy for women to buy scooters, mopeds and 100 units of free power for two months in her election manifesto. If this is not enough, she has also dangled the carrot Rs.40 thousand crores in loans for farmers and Rs.18 thousand as maternity assistance and leave for nine months from 2016-21 for women. Its another matter that this coincides with the five-year term of the new elected Government. Not to be left behind the DMK has upped the category of phones by promising smartphones and tablets for 16 lakh school students, cheaper milk, waiver on education and farm loans. It remains to be seen whether their respective electorate believes in their leaders’ bonanzas.

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Centre-SP Clash On Water

As acute drought grips India trust our Parties in UP to play politics over water with an eye on next year’s Assembly polls. The ongoing tussle and accusations between the Centre and ruling Samajwadi Party underscores how lightly the aam aadmi is treated by their political maai baap. In parched Bundelkhand district, Akhilesh Yadav Government has slammed the brakes on a water train sent by the Centre on the fallacious grounds that the crisis was “not serious” as in Maharashtra’s Latur. Worse, it accused the BJP of sending an empty train sans water, wanting to snatch credit from it and show the Administration in poor light. It’s another matter that the State Administration has requested the Modi Government to provide 10 thousand tankers for distribution in the scorched region. In this continuing slugfest who will quench the peoples thirst?

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Defection New Game in AP, Telangana

Party hopping seems to be the new game in twin States Andhra and Telangana.  Wherein legislators have taken defection to new dizzy heights, albeit by adroitly switching loyalties to the ruling Party, that too without being sounded out to do so. Shockingly, a dozen TDP MLAs, seven Congressmen and three YSR Congress lawmakers have defected to Chandrasekhar Rao’s TRS in Telangana. But the obverse holds true in Andhra, where 13 YSR Congress legislators have shifted allegiance to Chandra Babu Naidu’s ruling TDP. Taking the ruling Party to a total of 117 MLAs in the 175 member Assembly. Predictably, this has led to a total decimation of the Opposition in both States. More so, against the backdrop that both the TRS and TDP already enjoy a comfortable majority in their respective States and did not need to poach rivals to stabilize their Governments. Clearly, the defecting MLAs view it as a ghar wapasi to ‘greener pastures’.

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No Toilets in 11 States

Prime Minister Modi’s pet project of making Bharat Swachcha has got mired in a cesspool. Scandalously, just 54 per cent of last years toilet target has been met in urban areas, whereby against a target of constructing 25 lakh toilets only 12.2 lakhs have been  built. Worse, is the situation in 11 States which have failed to build even a single sauchalaya.  These include poll-bound Assam, J&K, Meghalaya and Tripura. But there is a silver lining to this culvert. Urban Andhra is set to become the first State to be Open Defecation Free by Mahatma Gandhi’s birth day October 2  by completing its target of building 194,336 individual household toilets. While Modi’s home State Gujarat has emerged the best performer accounting for more than one third of the total household toilets constructed during the last year, UP has improved its position by completing over 1.78 lakh toilets. Will the willful defaulters follow in their Swachcha counterparts footsteps?

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Bihar’s Maikhana Express

All roads in Bihar lead to UP. With the Nitish Kumar Government enforcing prohibition in the State, tipplers cross over to Ulta-Pulta Pradesh’s Ballia district for their daily dose of nasha.  All it takes is a 40 minute train ride on the “Maikhana Express”, 55017 Chhapra mail. Predictably, not only are liquor vendors laughing all the way to the bank with  booming sales and new customers but also rail authorities as ticket sales have shot up by 31 per cent. But there is a fly in this jaam. Ballia does not represent the entire State, where excise inspectors have earned the ire of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for low revenue collections and dwindling sales target this year. Meanwhile, in neigbouring Odisha, women envy their Bihari sisters as the State’s liberalised liquor policy continues to ruin families due to their men-folk being inebriated. They demand immediate closure of liquor shops in their localities. Will Naveen Patnaik do a Nitish Kumar and oblige? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and  Feature Alliance)