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Round
The States
New
Delhi, 18 February 2017
J&K
Encounter
ARMY
TALKS TOUGH
By Insaf
The faceoff between security forces
and the local population in Kashmir is
worrisome. The Centre is once again talking tough, after the State preferred to
molly-coddle the stone-pelters during last year’s agitation over Burhan Wani
killing. Having lost four of his men, including a Major in two separate
encounters in the Valley on Wednesday last, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat
warned that those who create hurdles during security operations and help the
“terrorists to escape”, or display flags of Pakistan and the Islamic State,
would be treated as “anti-nationals”. This, after he said that security forces
in the Valley were suffering “higher casualties” as the local population was
preventing them from conducting their operations and worse even supporting the
terrorists to escape at times. The Army, he cautioned would “get them” and such
people will be treated as “over ground workers of terrorists” and can be fired
at. The message through the media after paying homage to the slain soldiers,
has hit the headlines. Will it deter the people and the youth even that the
winter season is receding or will this statement stoke fire with the flash
mobs? All eyes would be on the Army Chief.
* * * *
TN
Suspense Ends
The suspense-ridden political drama
in Tamil Nadu being played out since February 7 has ended. At least, for the
time being. On Thursday last, Governor Rao administered the oath of Chief
Minister to Sasikala loyalist Palaniswami following his claim of 124 MLAs
support. He now heads a 31-member Cabinet, retaining most of the earlier one
and has a fortnight to prove his majority in the Assembly. That he will is a
foregone conclusion, but the fight within the AIADMK looks to be far from over.
Having lost out in this big fight, former CM and Jayalalithaa loyalist
Paneerselvam proposes to move a No Confidence Motion when the floor test takes
place and his camp of MPs have petitioned the Election Commission challenging
Sasikala as party General Secretary and demanding her election be declared
‘illegal’. Will he be able to improve his tally of 10 MLAs support within 15
days or split the party or eventually fall in line, are still nagging
questions. However, the picture is crystal clear about one aspect i.e. like her
political mentor Jayalalithaa, Sasikala will continue to hold the reins of the State
and run the Government by proxy from behind bars. And, there can be no two
opinions that it will be a long wait for the people to have their say in
choosing their Chief Minister.
* * * *
Uttarakhand
Record Poll
Uttarakhand has set a record in its
short history. The hill State witnessed heavy voter turnout of near 70 per cent
on Wednesday last in its 4th Assembly election. Further, it could boast of a peaceful poll
with no complaints and no re-polling ordered. Over the years, the State has
witnessed a gradual rise in voter turnout: In 2002 it was 54.34%, in 2007 59.4% and
in 2012, 67.22%. However, there was a fresh trend: many villagers in Garhwal
and Kumaon Hills played spoilsport and kept their word to teach the politician
a lesson. There was zero or minimal turnout in rural areas like say
Pithoragarh, where 600 village voters of Gangolihat stayed away to press their
demand for a road to the village or Kweerijimia village, where less than 10
people went to the booths! Clearly, while villagers hope their boycott would
make a dent in the ruling Congress’ fortune, Chief Minister Rawat may have a
frown even with the high voter turnout. This is normally construed as a vote
for change. Is this the reason he sported a ‘black tika’ on his forehead to “ward off the evil eye?” Wait till March
11th.
* * * *
MP’s
Moral Character
Madhya Pradesh has got a terse
lesson in character and nation building. MBBS admissions obtained through the
high profile Vyapam scam between 2008 and 2012, was described as ‘mass fraud’
by the Supreme Court which it could not condone. Thus, on Monday last, a
three-judge bench cancelled the degrees of 634 doctors stating: “National character,
in our considered view, cannot be sacrificed for benefits - individual or
societal.” It went a step further and turned down the appellants plea of
allowing them to keep their degrees provided they would do social service free
of cost for some years. “If we desire to build a nation on the touchstone of
ethics and character, and if our determined goal is to build a nation where
only rule of law prevails, then we cannot accept the claim for suggested
societal gains.” Recall, that the MP Professional Examination Board had
cancelled these admissions as the fraud came to light and in May 2016 a bench
of the apex court too had described these as illegal. The verdict was however
split, and thus this order. Will it be a deterrent in future, time will
tell.
* * * *
Bihar’s Trial
Tribulation
Bihar’s VIP prisoner should
make others lodged snugly in different jails uneasy. On Wednesday last, the
Supreme Court ordered that RJD leader Mohd Shahabuddin be shifted from Siwan
jail to Delhi’s
Tihar. This for ‘a free and fair trial’ following two petitions pleading it
wouldn’t be possible given his clout in Siwan and that witnesses feared for
their lives. Shahabuddin counsel’s argument that there was no provision of law that
mandated transfer of an accused from one prison to another didn’t hold good.
The court noted: “the principle of free and fair trial doesn’t only protect the
rights of the accused but also ensures that faith of victims in the justice
delivery system is vindicated...this is not a normal and usual case.” Recall,
the four-time RJD MP from Siwan is booked in 75 cases. Of these 45 trials are
still on, he has been acquitted in 20 cases, convicted in 10 and sentenced to
life imprisonment in two cases. The court has asked the JD(U)-RJD Government to
hand over Shahabuddin to Delhi’s
jail authorities within a week and conduct his trials through
video-conferencing.
* * * *
Jharkhand’s
Online Jugaad
Jharkhand’s tribal areas should
sound warning bells for Modi’s Digital India. Far from ushering in
transparency, the online system has ironically triggered a new brand of
corruption! Village folk are being cheated of their money and land. Even with
connectivity being a problem, government programmes are going online making a
further mess of schemes such as MGNREGS. A month-long study by a social
activist in districts like W Singhbhum, Godda, Khunti etc reveals that “digital
signatures of gram pradhans are stored in dongles and used for illegal money
transfers, arbitrary deletion and addition of names or photographs has damaged
credibility of muster rolls, wrong photos are uploaded on job cards and
payments are going into accounts that workers are not even aware of.” Worse,
the computer operator is much sought after by the ‘middlemen’ as he can help
siphon off wages by faking muster rolls. The villagers are clueless of what’s
going on. Sadly, the Centre is merrily issuing directions instead of letting
States implement programmes according to needs and capacities. Surely, it
should have been wiser after the Indian jugaad
beat note bandi.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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