ROUND THE STATES

New Delhi, 11 July 2006

Orissa Gallops Ahead

MASSIVE INVESTMENT BY GLOBAL GIANTS

By Insaf

Orissa and its Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have reason to rejoice. The State is on a roll. With the international steel sultan Lakshmi Mittal announcing last week his company’s decision to set up a 12-million-tonne plant in Orissa at an estimated cost of Rs.40,000 crore, the total quantum of investment in the steel sector in the State has shot up to Rs.1,78,000 crore.  As many as 43 MoUs have already been signed, and the one with Arcelor-Mittal is awaiting some formalities to be completed. Those which have inked the MoUs include the Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) of Korea, at an estimated investment of Rs.51,000 crore, Tata Steel, Essar Steel, Jindal Steel and Power and Bhushan Steel.  With the commissioning of the POSCO and Arcelor-Mittal plants, Naveen will have earned a special place for himself in the State’s history.

The two deals with the global giants in the steel sector provide personal satisfaction to the Chief Minister on two other counts, besides putting the backward State on a fast track towards prosperity.  First, he has succeeded in fulfilling his father Biju Patnaiak’s dream for securing big foreign investment. Kalinga Bull, as Biju Patnaik was known, had invited as the Chief Minister Swaraj Paul to invest in the State.  That did not work.  Naveen has now got Lakshmi Mittal, who used to be a great friend of his father.  When Mittal acquired a 65,000 tonne steel plant in Indonesia, his first foreign venture, Biju Patnaik inaugurated it.  The, then, Chief Minister had close ties with Sukarno of Indonesia.  That plant made huge profits and the acquisition became a hallmark of Mittal’s successful business strategy. Mittal has now returned the compliment to Biju’s son and political heir.

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Jharkhand’s Loss

Orissa’s gain may well turn out to be Jharkhand’s loss.  Although Mittal has denied that he is going to pull out of the State, he candidly told a Press Conference in New Delhi that Jharkhand had disappointed him by the slow pace of land allotment for the Rs.40,000-crore, 12-million-tonne steel plant for which he had signed an MoU last year. "The position in Jharkhand is not satisfactory……We are keeping our fingers crossed”, he said. Politically too, the BJP-led NDA Government is facing a major problem of sheer survival.  A group of five independent MLAs, whose support is crucial for keeping the Government afloat, have threatened to review their support.  They are upset by Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari’s accusation that Home Minister Sudesh Mahto was inducting “criminals” in his All-Jharkhand Students’ Union.

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Setback To Telangana Demand

The Andhra Pradesh Congress and its Chief Minister, Rajasekhara Reddy have proved the party’s solidarity and popularity, if the recent local body elections are any indication. It has won a majority of seats in the three-tier Panchayati Raj, leaving its main opponent TDP far behind. The Telangana Rashtriya Samithy (TRS) too suffered a crippling rout, thanks to Reddy’s two-pronged strategy --- fast-track development and little forward movement on the statehood issue. The TRS, despite its President Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement that it was a “do or die battle” for the Telangana state, has suffered a further setback. The long-awaited report of the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Pranab Mukherjee, shows a lack of consensus among the UPA allies for a separate State, which was put down as a “must” in the Common Minimum Programme.

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Terror In Mumbai

July this year has turned out to be a month of misery for the Mumbaikars--- and the Maharashtra Government.  It started with the monsoon fury and unprecedented water-logging across the financial capital of India.  Shiv Sainiks thereafter took the streets after a gap of three years, violently protesting against the desecration of the bust of Bal Thackarey’s wife Meenatai.  The city and several other towns in the State were brought to a standstill. But the bloodiest worst happened on terror Tuesday.  Eleven-minute bloodshed on local trains was caused by a series of seven bomb blasts during the afternoon rush hour.  More than 200 people died on the spot and four to five hundred commuters injured.  The terror has stunned the world. The finger of suspicion points to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Pak-based Lashkar-e-Toyyeba. Is India being soft towards the terrorists?

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ULFA Scores A Self-Goal

The ULFA cadres in Assam have scored a self-goal. At a time when the Centre was all set to have direct peace talks with the underground outfit, they have struck once more in Guwahati.  Three of the cadres were arrested by the police last week-end for serving an extortion notice for Rs.15 lakh on the Reserve Bank Regional Director and for other unlawful activities. A hand grenade was also recovered from their possession.  This has prompted the Union Home Ministry to make it clear that it would consider the outfit’s demand for release of its top leaders only if it publicly abjures violence and sets a definite timeframe for initiation of the dialogue.  The Ministry has reiterated its stand to ensure that the freed leaders do not pull a fast one on the Government by dumping the peace talks half way, perhaps under pressure of Pakistan’s ISI.

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Ghulam Nabi’s Landmark Decision

Even as grenade attacks on innocent people continued in Jammu and Kashmir all of last week, intense celebrations were held in townships elevated to the status of district headquarters and tehsils in a landmark decision by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.  Eight new districts, thirteen tehsils and three sub-divisions have been created, taking the number of districts to 22 and tehsils 81.  The people of most of the militancy-hit townships have been demanding upgradation to district level to ensure better security management and greater employment potential. The creation of four more regional districts was recommended by the J.N. Wazir Commission --- three in Jammu and one in Kashmir. The Azad Government reconsidered the recommendation and looking at the “changed political scenario”, decided to give four districts each to Jammu and Kashmir. Now the two regions will have ten districts each, with Ladakh comprising two districts of Leh and Kargil.

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Separate High Court For Haryana

Haryana will soon have a separate High Court --- as soon as the State Government identifies the site and provides the required funds for the purpose. Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj has ruled out an earlier suggestion to have the Court in the State’s present capital, Chandigarh, on the plea that two High Courts cannot operate from the same city (Punjab will retain its High Court in Chandigarh).  Bhardwaj has already written to the State Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to locate a site. The strength of judges for the new High Court would initially be the same as the number of judges presently handling the work in the present Punjab-Haryana High Court. It would finally depend upon the disposal of cases.  The disposal rate for a High Court Judge works out to 2,000 cases per year, which is the national average.

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Rajasthan Towards e-Governance

Rajasthan is all set for a leap forward in the Information Technology (IT) sector.  Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has finalized a deal with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in Redmount, USA last week.  The State Government and the Microsoft Corporation have decided to work together in IT education, e-governance, healthcare and women empowerment through information and computer technology. This would enable Rajasthan to enhance its status to that of a progressive IT State.  Raje is making an all-out effort of devising an effective plan for technical development in the State.  The Chief Minister would soon set up a working group to prepare inputs for e-governance framework. Bill Gates is taking great interest in working towards an effective government-private sector partnership in making Rajasthan an IT progressive State. . ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)