Round The States

New Delhi, 24 September 2008

Raigad Takes The Lead

FIRST-EVER REFRENDUM AGAINST SEZ

By Insaf

Little known Raigad in Maharashtra has given a new and dynamic thrust to India’s young democracy, thanks to the controversy over SEZ land. On Sunday last, over 6,000 land-owners from 22 villages participated in the country’s first-ever referendum at the grassroots to decide whether they wanted to sell their land to Mukesh Ambani’s proposed multi-crore SEZ project. While the verdict will be formally known only next week, the outcome for both the State Government and the Reliance Group appears to be a clear no-go. The landowners are firm about enforcing their basic stand reflected in their popular slogan: “SEZ hatao, Konkan bachao” (Remove SEZ, Save Konkan). The project requires more than 10,000 hectares, whereas the 22 villages comprise nearly 3,000 hectares in the Hetwana area. “Even if Reliance pays us Rs 1 crore per hectare, we shall not part with our land”, is the common refrain of the villagers, led by an aggressive anti-SEZ committee.

The referendum, initiated by the Forest department and carried out by the Raigad Collector Nipum Vinayak, is well within the Land Acquisition Act, wherein soon after a notification for acquisition is issued, objections, if any, are invited from the farmers. If the latter express themselves against the acquisition, then the competent authority is barred from passing the final award. The big question now is whether the Congress-led Democratic Front Government in Maharashtra will honour the verdict of the landowners. According to a senior minister if the vote goes against the SEZ “we will have to accept the farmers’ verdict.” The Government may instead declare the entire area as a Green Zone i.e no developmental activity will be allowed in the area and the farmers will not be permitted to use the land for commercial purposes, only for agricultural activities. Maharashtra has about 130 SEZs, which are slated to attract an investment of Rs 1.35 lakh crores and generate 60 lakh jobs. Will the Raigad referendum set a new trend in the country and give India’s farmers an effective voice?

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Karnataka Violence & Article 355

New Delhi’s admonition to the BJP-led Government in Karnataka and the BJD Government in Orissa over the violence against Christians has sparked off a controversy over the use of Article 355 of the Constitution. The question being asked is whether the UPA government is guilty of double standards. Since Sunday last, 17 churches including two in the state capital Bangalore, have been vandalized by Bajrang Dal activists. While the Centre’s rap has yielded welcome dividends by forcing Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa to pull up his police force and invoke stricter laws, it has also enabled him to raise a basic point: “When 20,000 Hindus were massacred in J&K, when there were serial blasts in Mumbai, when the Andhra Home Minister was killed, when 18 people were killed in Singur, the Union Home Ministry did not dare send advisories.” Article 355 empowers the Centre to “protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbances” in addition to ensuring that governance is carried on as per provisions of the Constitution. Why then advisories only to Karnataka and Orissa?

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Power Sharing in Tamilnadu

The desire of Tamil Congressmen to share power with the party’s ally, the DMK in Tamil Nadu, is yet to cut ice with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. Not only does he want Congress Supremo Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to personally initiate the power-sharing dialogue, but that any such proposal should be a quid pro quo in the Union territory of Puducherry, where the roles are reversed. The Congress Government in Puducherry is surviving with DMK’s support (The former has 10 MLAs and the latter 7) in a 17-member House. Karunanidhi made known his tough conditions at a rally organized by the DMK in Tiruchirappalli last Sunday, notwithstanding the PMK’s exit from the coalition and the Left parties withdrawal of outside support. The DMK has 95 MLAs in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly and needs the continued support of the 35 Congress MLAs to retain power. With general elections slated early next year, how soon the Congress yields to Karunanidhi’s conditions remains to be seen. After all, it badly needs the DMK’s support in the South.  

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Nursery Of Terrorism?

Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh is fast acquiring the notoriety of having become the nursery and hub of terrorism. Wherever a terrorist attack takes place in the country, Azamgarh’s name invariably crops up. Initially, Dawood Ibrahim and Abu Salem were known to hail from Azamgarh. Now we have the Basher also from Azamgarh. Remember, he is allegedly the main suspect in the Ahmedabad serial blasts and is in jail now. (Azamgarh is also the native place of Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi and Shabana Azmi). Only recently, Azamgarh hit the headlines when Yogi Aditya Nath, a BJP member of the Lok Sabha, and his motorcade comprising scores of vehicles was attacked while he was on his way to the DAV College campus in Azamgarh to carry forward his war against terrorism. The miscreants pelted stones on the motorcade and even opened fire. The Yogi escaped narrowly. One person was killed and several injured in the widespread violence, viewed as the new face of terrorism in UP.  Not surprisingly, Tuesday last saw the Delhi Police conduct a series of searches in various places in Azamgarh district in their hunt for the absconding devils behind the Union Capital’s recent blasts.

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J&K Polls Likely On Schedule

Elections in Jammu & Kashmir in all probability will be held on schedule with the Centre keen to bring an end to Governor’s rule sooner than later. Recent assessment reports from Home Ministry officials and the State administration give New Delhi the confidence that the ground situation could become stable before November. The State was under siege for over two months due to violence in both the Valley and Jammu region over the Amarnath Shrine land transfer controversy, inviting Governor’s rule in mid-July. After some semblance of order now, the Centre is of the opinion that not holding of elections would send the wrong signals of victory to the separatist forces. Thus, it is going all out to ensure elaborate security arrangements to convince the Election Commission about its preparedness for the polls, notwithstanding low chances of the Congress coming back to power. How convincing is the Home Ministry will be known soon.

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Another First By Modi

Narendra Modi has scored another first. The Gujarat Chief Minister has got six public sector enterprises (PSEs) to toe his line --of sharing their profit with the common man. In a meeting called at his bungalow on Tuesday last, Modi got the CMDs of the PSEs to agree in principle to set aside “30 per cent of their profit before tax (PBT) for welfare activities” in the State. They have also been instructed that a resolution to this affect must be adopted by their respective annual general meetings (AGMs). Last Saturday, Gujarat Industries Power Co Ltd was the first to pass such a resolution towards its “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). The company had recorded a PBT of Rs 140 crore for the fiscal year 2007-08 and is set to contribute a whopping Rs 50 crore for welfare activities. Modi, can thus, take the credit that the much-touted CSR by business houses is not just lip service, at least in his State. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)