Round The States
New Delhi, 21 April 2018
Modi’s “Cashless” India
STATES HIT BY EMPTY ATMs
By Insaf
The Centre’s grand
plans towards a ‘cashless society’ have not only come to haunt it but become a
butt of jokes. Many States this past week have had “cashless” ATMs, giving a
handle to social media to mock Prime Minister Modi’s resolve, asking is this what
he actually meant! Long queues outside of people trying to withdraw cash in
cities in poll-bound Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,
Telangana, the north-east et al, have put the Union Government in a tight spot.
It has no logical explanation to offer to jittery citizens or even the States
leadership. On the one hand, Finance Ministry admits there is a temporary
shortage of currency notes because of an unexpected spurt in demand but cannot
say why. On the other hand, some Chief Ministers accuse the Opposition of hoarding
cash for the Karnataka polls, or that some are deliberately indulging in it to
give the Centre a bad name. Then there are others who claim there are problems
of replenishing the ATMs though there is enough currency notes in the country.
What does one make of this? It is time, the Centre realises that the use of
cash remains undimmed and that the digital revolution in States across the
country as envisioned is not happening. The cash crunch has sadly brought back
the ‘terror of note ban’ again and has made the Opposition warn of “financial
emergency”. Certainly no Achche din.
* * * *
BJP
States U-Turn
Three BJP-ruled
States do a U-turn! Prodded by the Centre, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh revoked their directions to the State police to implement the Supreme
Court order on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and instead are set to file
review petitions in the apex court. This obviously follows violent Dalit
protests and outrage in several States with Modi government coming under fire
for the apex court ‘diluting’ the Act. In fact, ‘friendly party’ in Tamil Nadu,
ruling AIADMK, will too move the SC, and Kerala has already done so. While the
BJP governments simply say they are affected by the judgement, the motive is
obviously the Assembly polls due in all three States by year-end. Predictably,
the SC order will hurt their SC/ST vote bank, and make the fight tougher as
they also reckon with the anti-incumbency factor. Meanwhile, the Centre too is
unwilling to take chances. It is ready with an Ordinance, if the apex court is
unwilling to concede the IPC has been diluted.
* * * *
Delhi’s
Never-Ending Tussle
Not again! Delhi’s
AAP government and the Centre are at it again, entangled in yet another tu-tu-mein-mein (bickering). This time
round the tussle is over the Modi government cancelling appointments of nine
advisers and consultants, whose monthly token salary is said to be Rs 1 or Rs
2.50! The Union Home Ministry has justified its order, cleared by Lt Governor
Baijal on Tuesday last, saying these posts created by the Kejriwal Cabinet in
2015 are “not valid,” as these have been done by “an agency not competent under
the law.” The big question is why has North Block woken up late as it quotes a
1997 circular and another in 2015, regarding requisite approval? ‘To paralyse
our government work’, is the AAP government’s answer. The conspiracy, it added,
is to derail education and health revolution taking place in Delhi, which the
BJP is incompetent to do. Will the Government challenge the order? Recall, only
last month it tasted victory after the Delhi High Court reinstated the 20 MLAs
disqualified by Nirvachan Sadan. There could be a double whammy.
* * * *
Haryana
Tie-Up
UP poll formula may
just work in Haryana too. This perhaps would be on BSP chief Mayawati’s mind. For
on Wednesday last, her party announced an alliance with the Indian National Lok
Dal (INLD) in Jat land. The successful victory of the BSP-SP tie-up in UP
byelections could be a factor for a repeat tie-up after two decades. Recall,
the two had an alliance in 1998, contesting all 10 Lok Sabha seats (INLD in 7
and won 4; BSP in three and won one). But it didn’t last long. This time round,
the adage-- well begun, is half done – would explain the hurry of an
arrangement, given Assembly polls are a long way off-- October 2019. A pleased INLD
chief Chautala has termed the move ‘as an alliance of dalits, backward classes
and farmers, along with ‘kameras’
(labour class) to make the State BJP-mukt”.
The two will announce seat-sharing closer to the polls. However, they must
remember another adage: there can be many a slip between the cup and lip.
* * * *
TN
Hullabaloo
Tamil Nadu’s Raj Bhavan
has got entangled in nasty controversies. Governor Banwarilal Purohit managed
to wriggle out of one by apologising, while the other refuses to ebb, with the
Opposition seeking his resignation. On Tuesday last, Purohit called a press
conference where he assured stern action in a case involving a woman college
professor, who reportedly had advised girl students to ‘extend sexual favours
to senior university officials in return for academic and financial gains.’ He
also denied having to do anything with it and resigning. At the end, he
patronisingly chose to pat a woman journalist’s cheek instead of answering her
question. This led to an outrage in the journalist community and social media. With
his explanation of his gesture stemming from “affection and appreciation” to a
“granddaughter’ and an apology, the matter is over. All eyes would now be on
what comes of the inquiry into the college professor. While the Opposition has
demanded an CBI probe, the State police has handed it to the Crime Branch-Crime
Investigation Department. Have respect for your governor.
* * * *
Telangana’s
Tree of Life
Telangana’s Tree of
Life is crumbling. There is growing anxiety in the State forest department to
save the ‘second largest banyan tree in the world’. The centuries-old tree,
spread over three acres in Mahbubnagar district is now being given saline
drips. Nicknamed ‘Pillalamarri’
(children’s Banyan tree), it was a major tourist attraction but the premises
had to be shut down since December last year, as authorities noticed it was
dying. The reasons being: the tree was infested with termites and tourists
would use its branches, bent downwards, as swings. It was put on Chloropyrifos,
the obvious treatment to control termites, around the root system and affected
areas of trunk and branches, but it didn’t work. Then came a brain wave and the
staff started injecting diluted insecticide drop by drop into the tree like a
saline drip. Today, the tree has hundreds of saline bottles hung every two
metres and it is working. There is hope it will survive and next two to three
months should give reason to breathe a sigh of relief. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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