India News and Features Alliance (INFA) - Gurjjar Maha Panchayat:CASTE CAULDRON GETS MURKIER, by Insaf, 27 June 2007

Rajasthan is getting poised for another caste conflagration which could create problems in the other States. The Gurjjar reservation stand-off is a classic case of a lull before the storm. Last week, the Gurjjar Maha Panchayat 70,000 plus at Pushkar from several States sounded the bugle for a longer agitation unless the Government conceded the community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status. Asserted Gurjjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla: “The Government has three months and three days; from the fourth day, the people will be in charge.” Even as Bainsla apologised for the violent-turn their agitation had taken and the consequent loss of lives, he made it plain that their demand for a share in the reservation pie would continue non-violently. Two Maha Sabhas, public meetings and jail bharo aandolans have been planned to secure popular support.

Clearly, the Vasundhara Raje-led Government is in trouble unless it gets its act together vis-a-vis the Gurjjar demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list, as in the case of the Meenas, many of whom are today represented in the top all-India services, including the IAS and IPS. The Gurjjars, who constitute 6 per cent of the State’s population, seem to have moved away from the BJP and even demanded the Raje Government’s resignation for having perpetrated violence against them. Importantly, with Gurjjars from neighbouring Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and other States flocking to Pushkar, the caste reservation cauldron is getting murkier and more complicated. The State and the Centre will have to tread cautiously to contain the Gurjjar uprising in Rajasthan and prevent it from igniting new caste wars elsewhere.

With eight months left for the Assembly elections, the Congress Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh, suddenly finds himself on a sticky wicket. Five-times CM of scenic Himachal, he is now having to walk a tightrope after enjoying a hassle-free rule of four-and-a-half years. Thanks both to rival Congress leaders and the Opposition. Notwithstanding, the high hopes among his followers who expect Singh to bring the Congress back to power next March. His biggest problem are the detractors within the State Congress, who are covertly and overtly receiving support from at New Delhi in pulling the rug from under his feet prior to the Assembly poll. On the premise that a new leader alone would ensure the Congress return to power against the backdrop of the party’s defeat in the recent Hamirpur bye-election to the Lok Sabha, despite the fact that Singh led the month-long campaign personally. Adding grist to the cloak-and-dagger maneouvers is the CD released by CM-baiter and former Minister Vijay Mankotia, accusing Singh and his spouse, Pratibha, member of the Lok Sabha, of corruption charges.

However, Virbhadra Singh is unperturbed by these “wild and concocted allegations”. He continues to enjoy a clean image and credibility among the people and is in commanding position both in the party and the State. Interestingly, Virbhadra Singh’s top rival was unable to mobilize the support of even five MLAs after the last poll. His followers are clear: Hamirpur has always been a BJP stronghold and the very fact that it was forced to field former Chief Minister Dhumal is indication enough of the strong challenge posed by the Congress. Not a few State watchers, including senior Ministers, also hoot for Singh’s vote-catching ability, no matter his detractors tirade that he would be able to win only 15 seats, as against 43 out of 60 in 2003. They aver: “If the Congress nets only 15 seats, as they argue, it will be because of Virbhadra Singh. Without him it will be zero.” * * * *

Think farmers suicide, you think only of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Not many are aware that Bundelkhand, in the Hindu heartland of UP too is ravaged by severe drought which has crippled the farmers livelihood and led to untold and unsung misery. In fact, this untold misery has been its fate for over three decades. With successive Governments totally unconcerned by the peoples plight. Last year alone, the district registered over 200 hunger deaths and suicide by the farmers, due to scanty rains. The district has recorded only 350-500 mm annual average rainfall in the last three years and less than 42 per cent of the land earmarked for agriculture is being irrigated. Besides, over 90 per cent of the rabi crop and 60 per cent of kharif have been destroyed. Sadly, instead of setting off alarm bells and declaring the district drought-prone, the State Administration rests the blame on the district magistrate’s doorstep. Clearly, our polity loves a good drought!

The woes of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) continue to increase. At the height of their “ethnic cleansing” from Kashmir during the militant-infested 1990’s, the displaced Pandits totalled 3.5 lakhs. Today, the number has surged to about 14 lakhs. Worse, according to the Panun Kashmir Movement Chairman Ashwani Chrungoo, successive State Governments have only paid lip service to their demand for return to the homeland. Their plea of being forced to live in temporary migrant camps that are “no better than pigeon holes” continues to fall on deaf ears. Matters have been made worse by two factors. First, the political panel set up by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has failed to take any unanimous decision on the KP migrants return. Second, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special package for their safe return and rehabilitation has yet to be endorsed by all the political parties in the State. Scandalously, the KPs continue to be called migrants when, in fact, they are displaced refugees!

Haryana is all set to add a new and laudable dimension to its education policy. In its quest to increase literacy in the State, it has upgraded 419 Government schools from the primary to middle school and 174 from the middle to the high school. Similarly, 419 schools have been upgraded from the high school to senior secondary school level. Moreover, it plans to hire around 1,000 ‘guest teachers’ in more than 800 upgraded Government schools. At present there are 14,660 guest teachers working on a temporary basis in various Government schools in the State. Initially, the State Government appointed teachers to tide over the crisis of finding a large number of permanent teachers. But it now seems to have had second thoughts about appointing permanent teachers. Instead, it has enhanced the number of guest teachers. Additionally, to uplift the education level, the Haryana Board of School Education is set to spend Rs.12 crore on computerising Government and private recognized schools.

Women in Punjab appear to be on a new, different kick--- of drug peddling. In the last two months, the Punjab police have recovered kilos of opium, heroin, smack, poppy husk, sedative pills, drug capsules, morphine injection et al. The rising number of women drug peddlers is giving sleepless nights to the police who have arrested 25 women in the NDPS cases in the last three months. Faced with a severe shortage of women officers, the police department is finding it very difficult to check suspicious looking women. Alive and alert, the drug mafia is taking advantage of this weakness and is, therefore, using women to peddle drugs among the youth, especially in the border areas. Clearly, the drug moll has replaced the drug mafia, posing a new and tough challenge to the Punjab Government and its police.

Bihar and Buddists the world over owe a special thanks to President Kalam for taking the initiative on the world’s tallest stupa, the Kesaria Stupa. A letter by a Buddhist monk propelled the President to ask the Archeological Survey of India to dig afresh the 104-feet Buddhist Stupa, buried by the 1934 earthquake in East Champaran district. The stupa is relevant to Lord Buddha’s life. It was here that the Buddha first mentioned about his Mahaparinirvana and where he reportedly donated his begging bowl to the Lichchavis. The Borobudur Stupa, a prominent World Heritage site, is 103 feet high. Huien Tsang, the well-known Chinese traveller, mentioned the Kesaria Stupa to be 123 feet high, when Buddhism thrived in its Halycon days. Some archaeologists claim it was built between 200 AD and 750 AD. ------- INFA