ROUND THE STATES
New Delhi, 15 February 2006
Amending Foreigners’
Act
APPEASEMENT RISKS
NATIONAL SECURITY
Insaf
National interest is being trampled on by the UPA Government
at the Centre in its desperate bid to return to power in Assam. This is
clearly reflected in the reckless dilution of the Foreigners’ Act of 1946, enacted
to protect India
from depredations by foreign nationals. The
legislation is now being amended, as per the Union Cabinet’s decision last
week, clearly compromising with national security. The Government has been working on the move
since July last when the Supreme Court struck down the controversial. Illegal
Migrants Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) Act.
This Act had failed to control
the illegal influx of Bangladeshi Muslims into Assam by putting the onus of proof
of a person’s foreign identity on the complainant. The situation would predictably remain the
same once the Foreigners Act is amended.
The amended Foreigners’ Act, designed to appease the Muslims
for electoral gains, amounts to a “backdoor” move to get past the Supreme Court
order. It provides for a “fair hearing” by
Tribunals set up by the Government before persons are declared foreigners.
In fact, Sonia Gandhi, who kick-started the Congress campaign at a rally
in Jorhat over the week-end, virtually admitted that the amendments to the Act
were aimed at wooing lakhs of Muslim migrant voters in Assam. Recently, 13 hardline Muslim organizations in
the State formed a political platform to take on the Congress in the Assembly
poll in April-May.
* * * *
Alarming Situation
Steady influx of Bangladeshis continues to be a major
political issue. About eight years ago
the, then, Governor of Assam, Lt-Gen (Retd.) S.K. Sinha had, in a special report
to the President of India, stated that there was a 77.42 per cent rise in the
Muslim population in Assam over the past 20 years and that 57 of the 126
Assembly constituencies in the State had shown more than 20 per cent increase
in the number of voters between 1994 and 1997.
Dhubri, Gopalpara, Barbeta and Hailakandi had become Muslim-majority
districts. The latest estimate is that Muslims in Assam account for 30 per cent votes
and hold the key in 35 of the 126 Assembly constituencies. The appeasement of
Muslims would, indeed, help the Congress to retain power in Assam. But the amendment of the Foreigners’ Act undermines
national security.
* * * *
Terror From Nepal
National security is already threatened from the North, reflected
in a recent report by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a Central para-military
force guarding Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders. It has disclosed mushrooming madrasas in some
Nepal districts bordering India. These have become a hotbed of Islamic
fundamentalism and are helping to push
militants and weapons into India. At least 73 madrasas along the border in India are reportedly
providing the militants and the agents of the ISI of Pakistan shelter and
financial assistance. These are proliferating in three border districts of Bihar and two of U.P.
More concernedly, the SSB has given a detailed account of how the madrasas
in India are being used by
the ISI in close coordination with the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu.
The madrasas and mosque-cum-madrasas, on the Indian side of
the border numbering 810 and 383 respectively are allegedly getting financial
assistance through the Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, and the Habib Bank of Pakistan. The funds are being used as the militants’
bases to accumulate arms and ammunition and provide training to the terrorists.
Add to this the daily deteriorating Naxalite menace in as many as 13 States of
India, from north to south. The outfit is said to have links with the Maoists
of Nepal. The SSB report gives credence to this theory. The latest is the Naxalites’ first-ever
attack on a public sector unit, killing eight Central Industrial Security Force
(CISF) personnel and injuring nine others at the NMDC’s depot in Dantewada
district of Chhattisgarh. Three days
earlier, they had killed 12 security personnel in the same district.
* * * *
Pre-Poll Scene In Kerala
Kerala, another poll-bound State in the next two-three
months, is poised to provide a different political scenario. Unlike in the past when the main players used
to be the Left-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF, this time four-corner contests
are in the offing. The CPM Politburo has rejected the proposal for an alliance
with K. Karunakaran, former Chief Minister and a Congress veteran who has since
formed a new party, Democratic Indira Congress (DIC). Karunakaran’s DIC which helped the LDF win
the local body elections recently, could now become a key player in the
political space outside the two fronts. The party is unlikely to ally with the
BJP which is planning to fight the upcoming Assembly poll on it own. Right from the beginning, the LDF was sharply
divided over the Karunakaran party’s alliance with it.
* * * *
Re-Building Bihar
Bihar’s new Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
has now a strong supporter in the Planning Commission and its Deputy Chairman,
Montek Singh Ahluwalia. While finalizing the State’s annual plan with Nitish
Kumar last week, Ahluwalia stressed the need to urgently re-build Bihar and extricate the State from its development
freefall. A supportive panel thus approved
a plan of Rs.8,250 crore for 2006-07, as against Rs.5,400 crore for the current
fiscal. Later, Ahluwalia told the media that funds would flow into Bihar districts in a big way through programmes like the
Rural Employment Scheme, Backward Region Grant Fund and Bharat Nirman. He favoured a convergence of different
schemes. Nitish Kumar promptly
responded: “I can go all whole hog.”
* * * *
Dim View Of Maharashtra’s Progress
Maharashtra has been given a bad chit by the
Planning Commission. It has taken a dim
view of the State’s performance during the last four years. It observed while finalizing the annual plan
for the coming financial year that Maharashtra,
historically a favourite of the investors, has slipped on Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) and the industrialization fronts. Montek Singh Ahluwalia told
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh that Gujarat
had taken an edge in FDI and that even Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were only
marginally behind. The Commission also showed concern about the regional
imbalance. The Deputy Chairman reportedly remarked that Vidarbha and Marathwada
looked poor relatives at a wedding. The Commission has stressed that the
imbalance was at the root of demands for Statehood, like the one in Vidarbha.
* * * *
Punjab Bonanza To State Staff
With more than a year to go for the next Assembly poll,
Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of the Congress has started offering
sops to the people. Like his counterpart
in Kerala, Singh too has announced appointment of the Fifth Pay Commission to
revise the pay and allowances of the State employees. Addressing a massive
rally of 55 different Unions, the Chief Minister also announced a package for
the employees which will include merger of 50 per cent of the DA with the basic
salary. He has also announced
restoration of the pension scheme for teachers in Government-aided
schools. New recruitment has also been
announced for 12,000 teachers, 3,000 police personnel, 1374 doctors, 450
Patwaris and 1300 veterinary doctors.
* * * *
Communal Clashes In Ladakh
The scenic city of Leh in the upper reaches of Kashmir,
known for its communal harmony over three centuries, is tense today for alleged
tearing of the Quran by some miscreants.
The holy book is now in the Centre of a row between the two principal
communities of Ladakh – Buddhists and Shia Muslims. On February 5, some Shia Muslims who are in a
minority in the Leh district but in a majority in adjoining Kargil, claimed
that some Buddhists had torn a copy of the Quran at a village mosque. A
widespread agitation flared up throughout Ladakh and led to communal clashes.
The situation was soon controlled, thanks to timely intervention of Chief
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who rushed the high-level teams of police and army
officers to control the situation and enquire into the issue. No untoward incidence has been reported
since. ---INFA.
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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