ROUND THE STATES

New Delhi, 26 April 2007

Kashmir’s Reconstruction Plan

SLEW OF MORALE-BOOSTING MEASURES

By Insaf

Jammu and Kashmir is set to get a slew of morale-boosting measures by way of the Centre’s “reconstruction plan” for the prolonged militancy-hit State. These were discussed in depth at the Prime Minister’s third Roundtable in New Delhi on Monday, attended by 44 leaders representing almost all the political parties and top social groups in the State, except separatist hardliners of the Hurriyat Conference. Based on the recommendations of the four Working Groups which the PM had constituted in May last year, the measures have already been cleared by an inter-ministerial committee of the Union Government. The plan includes a new development package of Rs 7,947 crore, recommended by the C Rangarajan group, opening of eight trans-LoC points for greater people-to-people contact with a simplified procedure proposed by the Rasgotra group and some innovative suggestions for improved governance made by the NC Saxena groups.

Two representative committees are being constituted for speedy programme implementation and monitoring. Some sensitive issues have, however, remained unresolved at the Roundtable. On the questions of troop deployment and withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the Prime Minister made it clear that these were linked to the level of terrorism. The troops could not be withdrawn unless terrorist incidents came down, an opinion earlier expressed by the Defence Ministry  and the State Governor. The issue of rehabilitation of militancy victims, raised by the PDP supremo Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is presently under study, based on the recommendations of the Ansari group. The most crucial issue relating to the Centre-State relationship is under in- depth examination by another working group, headed by Justice Sageer Ahmed, formerly a Supreme Court Judge.

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Winds of Change in UP

A wind of change has started blowing in Uttar Pradesh after about 60 per cent of the State’s electorate has voted for the new Assembly. At the end of the fourth round of the seven-phase election, all the exit polls show that Mayawati’s BSP is surging ahead, while the ruling Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh is slowly losing its way, provoking the Chief Minister to step up his campaign for the remaining three rounds. The polling for the fifth round is scheduled for today, April 28 and for the sixth and the seventh phases on May 3 and 8. As many as four former Chief Ministers, Om Prakash Chautala of Haryana, Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu, Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and S Bangarappa of Karnataka are campaigning vigorously for Mulayam Singh, in addition to some Bollywood stars, and throwing  hints of forming a third front at the national level as an alternative to the NDA and the UPA.

The voting pattern so far clearly indicates that the BSP has gained somewhat from the decline of the Samajwadi Party and not so much from the over-hyped alliance with the Brahmins and the other upper Caste groups, which have remained the BJP’s preserve to a large extent. In fact, what has really helped the BJP are its social and political coalitions. Kalyan Singh has gained for the parry his Lodh votes and the alliance with the Apna Dal of Beni Prasad Verma has resulted in an extra-ordinary swing in the Kurmi votes in favour of the BJP and against the Samjwadi Party. The BJP may thus end up with even 120 to 130 seats in the 403-member Assembly. This has made the four major parties to start thinking of post-poll strategies in a hung Assembly. Mulayam Singh wants to ensure that Mayawati does not become the CM. The Congress and Mayawati want both the BJP and Mulayam out at all cost.

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Six States Defy Supreme Court

Six major States of UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and J&K have so far defied the Supreme Court’s directive on Police reforms, which requires the States to loosen their executive grip over the police. In a bunch of reforms ordered by the apex court last year on a PIL filed by a retired DG of Police, Prakash Singh, all the States were required to put in place an institutional framework to insulate police officers from carrying out illegal orders, as well as to deal with complaints against errant personnel. The States were also directed to provide a minimum term of at least two years for the Directors General of Police  (DGPs), who were required to be selected from a short list of officers compiled by the UPSC. Initially, all the States took up cudgels against the order on the plea that law and order was a State subject and that the police should remain under their control.

When the Supreme Court persisted with its directions, the States  slowly started giving up their defiance. Some of them complied fully with the orders and some others did so partly. As many as seven larger States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal have partially complied with the court’s order. Interestingly, none among them has so far set up the required State Security Commission and the Police Complaints Authority. But they have taken other measures  like the provision for fixed tenures for the DGPs and other field officers. Smaller States like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Sikkim in the north-east and Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Goa have fully complied with the Court’s direction by setting the required Commission and authority and making necessary amendments in the rules. Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka and Kerala have no doubt passed some laws. But these are not so much to comply with the Court’s order but to circumvent it.

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ULFA Strikes Again

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has reacted violently once more to the ongoing military crackdown, which has reportedly killed 48 activists and choked its supplies and communication lines. The underground guerrillas kidnapped from Guwahati last week the Executive Director of the Food Corporation of India and his driver. Two days later they released the driver but have demanded a ransom of Rs 21 crore for the release of the officer. While the family of the officer has denied  receiving a ransom call, the State’s Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi has reportedly confirmed that the officer has been abducted by the ULFA and that “the Government is very concerned and the security agencies are trying to trace the FCI official and rescue him unharmed.” The officer’s official car has been found abandoned at Rangia, 40 km from Guwahati.

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Bonanza For Haryana Farmers

The farmers of Haryana whose crop suffered a heavy damage due to hailstorm and heavy rainfall during February-March have been given by the State Government adequate relief for the losses they suffered. The State’s Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, announced a compensation of Rs 200 crore for the affected farmers. The Chief Minister has also committed to the farmers that the State Government will undertake completion of the remaining portion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal in the Punjab territory, once the matter is decided by the Supreme Court. The court is expected to deliver its verdict soon on the issue of Punjab’s reluctance to release Sutlej water to Haryana for which the SYL project was conceived years ago. Once the SYL is completed, Haryana’s water problem for irrigation would be resolved considerably.

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Centre’s Warning To Three States

The Governments of UP, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been warned by the Centre as the season’s first wheat crop is brought to the mandis, that they would not be given their PDS (Public distribution system) quotas if they did not purchase their quotas for procurement from the open market. The target for these three States is 15, three and two lakh tonnes respectively. These States procure most of their wheat from Punjab and Haryana. The Central Government’s directive follows an unprecedented situation where under the farmers are selling their produce only to the private buyers who are offering a higher rate than the procurement price fixed by the Union Government. In fact, all the States, besides these three major ones, where private players are active, have been asked to stick to their “procurement targets” or face the prospect of wheat scarcity under the PDS schemes. --INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)