Round The
States
New Delhi, 22 August 2020
MP’s Children
ONE MORE VOW OF GOVT JOBS!
By Insaf
Madhya Pradesh’s
Children! That’s the new mantra of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. On Tuesday
last, akin to the ‘sons of the soil’ doctrine, he announced a bonanza for the
State’s bachohon (children) i.e. all
government jobs will be reserved and given only to them and that his government
was making the necessary legal provisions for it. The important decision boomed
through a video statement was: from today, “The resources of Madhya Pradesh are
for the children of Madhya Pradesh.” The bonanza comes at an expected time,
just ahead of the Assembly by-polls for 27 seats in the Chambal-Gwalior region,
for which the dates are awaited. As the guidelines are yet to be streamlined,
ongoing recruitments said the government shall not be affected. Chouhan’s bête
noire and upstaged CM Kamal Nath obviously couldn’t resist a jibe and promptly
tweeted: “After 15 years, you have woken up to the issue of providing
employment for the youth… Let this not remain just an electoral promise in view
of the coming bypolls…” Recall he had himself announced 70% of jobs in
industrial units to be reserved for locals. However, in the repartee, both
forget there are many Supreme Court judgments against 100% reservation and that
domicile cannot be the basis for reservation. This would go against fundamental
right to equality of citizens for the announcement violates constitutional guarantees
under Article 16(2) which clearly safeguards citizens against discrimination. Will
it pass judicial test?
* * * *
Kerala’s
Big No To Centre
Kerala won’t allow
New Delhi’s airport plans to take off. Following an-all Party meeting on
Thursday last, Chief Minister Pinararyi Vijayan has said a big no to Union
Cabinet’s decision to lease Thiruvananthapuram airport, along with two others, to
Adani Enterprises Ltd. Not only will he explore legal options against the “sell
out” to billionaire Gautam Adani, but the Assembly too shall pass a resolution
opposing it. “We will not allow this to happen. We firmly believe (that)
without the State’s consent nobody can take over it,” is Vijayan’s argument and
has said so in his letter to PM Modi. Congress is in tow saying it “can’t
support the move to loot a public property by an industrialist close to Modi.”
But, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri in a tweet retorts “Make up your
minds, my friends. By the way, do you remember what the Left said when you
privatised Delhi & Mumbai airports?” That’s passé but the runway ahead is
not going to be smooth. God’s own country is unwilling to cooperate. This PPP
model is not going to fly?
* * * *
UP’s
Brahmins
Uttar Pradesh is in
the throes of a more belligerent round of caste war-- Brahmins Vs Thakurs.
While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is accused of promoting ‘Thakurvaad’ since he took over 3 years
ago, the rumbling of a growing sense of insecurity among the priestly class is
not being heard just from Congress camp, but within the BJP fold too. Worse and
shockingly after the infamous encounter of Kanpur-based gangster Vikas Dubey, followed
by killing of five of his associates, all Brahmins! Having launched a ‘Brahmin Chetna Samvad’, an online effort
to connect back with the community under Brahmin
Chetna Manch, Congress leader Jitin Prasad has written an open letter to
all Brahmin MLAs, urging them to raise the community’s concern over ‘security
and harassment’ during this Assembly session. Surely, Yogi would tactfully deal
with it, but what about party MLA Devmani Dwivedi, who has sent a list of
questions to the Speaker. These include how many Brahmins were killed, how many
killers were caught and how many killers managed to get the police punishment
in the three years of the Yogi government? A strong indication the BJP’s
traditional vote bank, Brahmin community, about 10% of electorate is upset with
Yogi’s government. Will New Delhi have to step in?
* * * *
‘Incompetent’
Gujarat?
The Centre coming
down on Gujarat, the ‘Best State for business, start ups’ et al, makes
headlines. Wrong perhaps? Not for the Jal Shakti Ministry. It has an
embarrassing dossier on Vijay Rupani government—an “inordinate delay” in
projects to clean up two rivers—Tapi and Sabarmati. A peeved Union Minister Shekhawat
has shot off a letter to the CM noting that while ‘Sabarmati project is yet to
be completed six years after funds were sanctioned, there has been practically
no progress till date in Tapi project’, 16 months-odd after Central funds were
released! In 2014, Rs 444 crore was sanctioned for cleaning up the Sabarmati but
the Ministry finds itself extending the project’s completion date from
September 2018 to March 2020 and again to March 2021. For Tapi river, Rs 971.25
crore was sanctioned; 1st instalment of Rs 13 crore released in
March 2019 to build 39 treatment plants. Shockingly, only Rs 8 crore were
transferred to Surat Municipal Corporation in November 2019, (delay of 8 months)
and balance Rs 5 crore are still to be released. Besides, there’s “practically
no progress on ground till date.”
* * * *
Bihar’s
Split Opposition
Bihar’s 5-party Opposition
is in disarray! There are desertions when Assembly elections are slated in
October-November! On Thursday last, the main opposition party, the RJD, got a
rude shock as three more of its MLAs joined the JD(U), taking the figure to six
MLAs having crossed over so far. This includes Lalu Yadav’s daughter-in-law
Aishwarya, locked in a marital dispute with Tej Pratap Yadav. Just three days
earlier, 3 RJD MLAs who had been expelled for anti-party activities merrily
joined the JD(U), bringing down RJD’s strength down to 74 of 80 in the
Assembly. At the same time, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi-led
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) quit the Mahagathbandhan, but has chosen to
remain silent on any future plans of with any party or grouping. However, he is
clearly peeved over non-formation of the coordination committee and Lalu’s
announcement of son Tejashwi Prasad as its chief ministerial candidate. Taking
partners for granted is a no-go as fence crossing is so much easier now. Whether
Congress, RLSP and VIP get bitten by the dal
badlu bug is immaterial as the ruling combine of JD(U)-BJP appears to have
an edge.
* * * *
Rajasthan’s
Rasoi Yojana
Having had the stomach
to weather the month-long political storm, Rajasthan Chief Minister realises
focus must go back to governance and the common man. On Thursday last, his government
launched Rs 100-odd crore yearly Indira
Rasoi Yojana, offering subsidised
meals to the poor and needy at Rs 8 per plate. Though each plate is priced at
Rs 20, government will give Rs 12 subsidy per plate and feed about 1.34 lakh
people with 100 gm each of daal and vegetables,
250 gm of chapati and pickles in that plate. Though launched with much fanfare through
video conferencing in 325 of 358 kitchens in 213 urban bodies, the scheme is
not original. His predecessor Vasundhara Raje says it’s just a name change. Her
government had launched Annapurna Rasoi
Yojana in December 2016, which Gehlot government said had ‘expired’ on
March 31 this year. The fresh scheme claims a difference i.e. “People will be
respectfully seated and served fresh and nutritious food ...menu will be as per
local taste instead of serving same food at all places...” Whether it’s same or
there’s a change is immaterial. What matters is that ‘No One Sleeps Hungry,’ as
pledged is fulfilled.--- ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
|