Round The States

New Delhi, 30 April 2008

Foodgrains For BPL Families

NDA STATES RUBBISH SONIA SERMON

By Insaf

UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi’s latest homily to the States has been rubbished by most NDA and non-Congress Chief Ministers. Addressing a rally near Malda, West Bengal on Monday last, Sonia sought to absolve the Centre for the blame of price rise saying: “It is easy to criticize the Centre, but it is imperative that the State Governments fulfil their responsibilities. They should come down on black marketers and hoarders and ensure availability of foodgrains through the PDS.” What is more, she added: “If the funds are utilized without discrimination the life of the people would improve”. But, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, for one couldn’t disagree more reflecting the general mood. He even went on a 24-hour fast with his people on Wednesday to protest against the Centre’s discrimination against the State and “continued indifference” towards Bhopal’s pending demand for drought relief and allocation of foodgrains.

In a recent letter to the Prime Minister, the BJP Chief Minister pointed out that while his Government was offering incentives to farmers to procure more foodgrains for the PDS, the Centre was cutting corners. Its allocation of 35 kg foodgrains per BPL family was barely enough for 41.25 lakh families, whereas the number of families on the rolls totalled 62.5 lakhs. In addition, the Centre needed to allocate 1.19 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains per month for the Above Poverty Line (APL) families. Worse, the allocation under APL was much higher for Congress and UPA run States. In the first six months of 2007-08 Tamil Nadu had been allotted 14.50 lakh metric tonnes, Andhra Pradesh 11.37 lakh, Karnataka 6.90 lakh and West Bengal 3.6 lakh metric tonnes. In sharp contrast, Madhya Pradesh was allotted only 66,000 metric tonnes. Ally CPM, too has not been able to digest Sonia’s sermon.  Commented Jyoti Basu: “Her words are not important.”

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J&K Militants Secure Voter I-Cards

The Election Commission (EC) has gone into a tizzy in its preparation for the Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir this October. In an unprecedented security breach, electoral photo-identity cards were found on the bodies of two slain Pakistani militants in Handwara, Kupwara District, early this year. The cards were genuine and not faked by militants, as the State police would have liked to imagine. The names and address were correct, but the militants’ photos were put on the I-cards. Obviously, stating that it was an inside job, by an official in the electoral registration office (ERO). While one person has been arrested, the EC has decided to put on hold issuance of any fresh I-cards. It is to consider among other issues the possibility of whether it could replace all 40-lakh cards, first issued for the 2002 election. A meeting with State election officials has been called next week.

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Astrologers In Poll Demand

Astrologers are having a field day in Karnataka as the State moves towards its crucial Assembly poll, the outcome of which is anybody’s guess. Those close to the Congress and the BJP have again predicted that their best chance of defeating H.D. Deve Gowda and his sons, including former Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, is by putting up women candidates against them. (Remember Deve Gowda lost the last Lok Sabha election from Kanakapura when pitted against a Congress newcomer Tejaswini Sriramesh). Consequently, the Congress has done two things. First, it fielded a woman candidate against Deve Gowda’s elder son and former Minister H.D. Revanna. Now it has pitted former Chief Minister, late Ramakrishna Hegde’s elder daughter, amiable Mamta Nichani, against Kumaraswami from the Ramanagara seat. The candidate against Revanna is one S.G. Anupama, daughter-in-law of the arch rival of Deve Gowda, late G. Puttaswamy from Holenarasiapura. Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy has ended speculation that he would contest from two Assembly constituencies in the first phase of the poll on May 10.

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No Sex Education In Maharashtra  

Introduction of sex education in schools in Maharashtra is clearly a no-go. The Education Minister Vasant Purkhe’s announcement that sex education would be made compulsory from class IX in the next academic year was met with furore and strong resistance from MLAs. Cutting across party lines, the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP legislators had the following to say: the move was a “western conspiracy to corrupt local culture”, it would lead to “love gurus and sex gurus” being appointed and that the “issue is against all religions and that children should not be corrupted.” Sensing the members’ touchiness about educating students about the birds and the bees, the Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar has asked the Government to put its decision on hold and first consult educationsists, social activists and MLAs who had studied the issue.

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Villagers Turn Millionaires

Farmers are for once happily at the ‘receiving end’. A village in Punjab is proof enough. Around 175 farmers of Jhurheri village, in Mohali have become millionaires overnight. On Saturday last, they received cheques ranging from Rs. 4 crore to Rs 10 crore from the Land Acquisition Officer. The whopping amount was “compensation” for their lands acquired by the Government for extending the Chandigarh international airport. Interestingly, the rate applied was Rs 1.5 crore per acre, the highest ever in the country! The Government will disburse Rs 360 crore as compensation to a total of 222 farmers. Life for some, who were finding it tough to survive on small chunks of land, can now start afresh. In fact, perhaps for many others too, if only they would cite this case if necessary.  

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Workers Shortage in Tea Industry

The tea industry captains in Assam are a worried lot. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is cutting into their workforce. Not only is the number of plantation workers falling, worse it is so during peak plucking and pruning season (April-December).  Two divisions of Chandipur tea estate in Barak or Surma Valley had 400-odd workers this week, as against a normal strength of 600-700 workers. The management realized that they were among the 75 large tea estates which were facing a “NREG induced labour shortage.” The reason being a Rs 30 difference in wages--while tea gardens pay 48.65 per day to plantation workers, the NREGS ensures Rs 77 per day. The situation, according to an official of Indian Tea Association, is “getting out of hand,” but is hopeful of tiding over the crisis.

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Camels Make It Good

Incredibly enough the camel is in the news—for reasons both good and bad. The good news is that the camel has become dearer. The price of the camel in the Thar Desert, over the years has gone up primarily for two reasons: One, with the fuel prices escalating the animals are now replacing the tractors in farm-rich areas under the Indira Gandhi Canal system and are more in demand. Two, its milk is an elixir, now a cure for diabetes. Thus, gone are the days when the price a camel fetched was that of a goat. Instead, the herders now fetch Rs. 1.5-2 lakhs for a camel. The bad news is that the camel population is dwindling. In the 2007 livestock census it had come down to 4.30 lakh, from 6.68 lakh in 1997 and 4.98 in 2003. But now that the camel is fetching more, the demand for breeding the traditional ship of the desert is certain to go up. Moreover, fewer would come under the butcher’s knife for its meat. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)