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Round The States
Major Issues Pending
PM HAS NO TIME FOR FIVE CMs
By Insaf
New Delhi, December 15, 2007
Five Chief Ministers have been knocking at the Prime
Minister’s door for the past few months seeking an
appointment, but to no avail. This sensational information was
disclosed in the Rajya Sabha nee the Council of States by a
Biju Janata Dal MP, BJ Panda, from Orissa. Wherein he brought
to the notice of the Centre that the Chief Ministers of Orissa,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Rajasthan have been
wanting to take up issues of serious concern to their
respective States. But till date Manmohan Singh has not been
able to find time for them, leave alone redress their
grievances. Among these issues, the States wanted to discuss
the draft mineral policy, which is of crucial importance to
the economies of the five States and the revision of coal
royalties, pending for the last six years.
Shockingly, the Prime Minister, who was present in the House,
chose to remain quiet, leaving it to his Home Minister Shivraj
Patil to reply to the accusations levied against him. Patil
informed the House that the Prime Minister was always ready to
meet anyone. But he had set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to
look into the draft mineral policy and interact with the
various States. In fact, the Prime Minister himself had
advised the Chief Ministers to hold discussions with the GoM
and put forth their points of view. The GoM had heard the
Chief Ministers out for over two hours. Further, they were
asked to submit any other point at a later date. Added Patil,
the Prime Minister would be always willing to meet his State
counterparts. But a visibly agitated MP had the last word:
“The Prime Minister has time for Singapore and Uganda, but not
for us.”
* * * *
First Phase of Gujarat Poll
The ballots are in the box for the critical first phase of
polling for 87 Assembly seats in Gujarat. Sealing the fate of
over of 669 candidates including 53 women in the fray in South
Gujarat, Kutch and Saurashtra. A highly acerbic and no-hold
barred campaign by the Congress and BJP has resulted in both
being served notices by the Election Commission for violating
the model code of conduct. While it is do-or-die for the BJP
and its poster boy, Chief Minister Narender Modi, the poll
outcome will seal the fate of the Congress in regard to the
Indo-US nuclear deal and also determine the timing of the next
general elections. Interestingly, the odds for Modi’s return
have slipped in the satta bazaar. All eyes are now riveted on
the second-phase of polling on December 16.
Even as the Congress lambasts the State Government for the
abysmal economic growth, Gujarat is way ahead of the other
States in terms of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to
employment generation and even the implementation of the UPA’s
own flagship National Rural Empowerment Guarantee (NREG)
Scheme. Significantly, the Minister of Planning, which the
Prime Minister heads, puts the GSDP growth rate at 12.5 per
cent for 2006-07 as against Congress-ruled Delhi at 9.18 per
cent. The figures for West Bengal, Andhra, Haryana, Punjab and
Kerala are 8.13, 8.02, 8.05, 4.93 and 8.01 respectively.
Moreover, Modi’s State was way ahead of the other States in
employment generation: 99,000 persons were given employment
through exchanges in 2006. In sharp contrast, there were only
9,700 in Tamil Nadu, 900 in Andhra and 10,000 in Kerala. Not
only that. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation has held Gujarat as the
“best administered State” in the country.
* * * *
Evergreen Badal Gets Gold Halo
The evergreen 81-year old warhorse of Akali politics, Parkash
Singh Badal has acquired a “golden halo.” The four-time Punjab
Chief Minister completed 50 years in active politics last
week. Celebrating it by laying the foundation of India’s
biggest 29 acre cricket stadium in Bathinda. Needless to say
his long innings is no mean achievement against the backdrop
of our ever so fickle here-today-gone-tomorrow polity. To
Badal along with the BJP, goes the credit for initiating the
era of coalition politics in 1967 when his Shiromani Akali Dal
joined hands with the erstwhile Jan Sangh to end one-party
Congress dominance in the State. Displaying political
astuteness coupled with magnanimity, the 81-young Chief
Minister is widely viewed by his followers as a lighthouse in
today’s murky politics! Former Haryana CM, Om Prakash Chautala,
described him as a “champion” of the farmers who had striven
hard to safeguard their basic rights and interests.
* * * *
Raje All The Way In Rajasthan
Vasundhara Raje has reason to beam from ear to ear on two
scores. One, on completing four years of BJP rule in
Rajasthan. Two, the line-up of senior leaders, led by BJP’s
Prime Ministerial candidate L.K. Advani to facilitate her at a
mega rally held in Jaipur last week left none in doubt that
Raje is the BJP’s undisputed leader in the State. Importantly,
for the first time the various factions in the State BJP had
buried the hatchet to make the rally a resounding success. The
Chief Minister also used the occasion to launch various
welfare schemes in the State even as she blamed the Centre for
discriminating against the State. She has accused the Centre
of not releasing funds due to the State in the power sector,
not allocating adequate urea stocks and not setting up a
refinery to use the crude struck in Barmer. Moreover,
Rajasthan University has not been upgraded to a Central
University and the State has not been granted the promised IIT.
* * * *
Kashmiri And Sikh Radicals Tie Up
The controversial demand for self determination by various
radical groups in India received a major boost. The All India
Hurriyat and the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front joined hands
with the Dal Khalsa at a rally in Chandigarh last week in the
pursuit of their common goal. Namely, to make coordinated
attempts to wage a joint struggle and ensure that ethnic,
religious and cultural minorities were able to maintain their
distinct identities. Significantly, the leaders of the three
parties were also joined by radical activists and leaders from
Nagaland and Manipur. The meeting adopted seven other
resolutions demanding among other things, that India sign the
Optional Protocol of Civil and Political Rights and allows
scrutiny by international forums. The rally also asked for a
mechanism to control State-sponsored mass violence against
ethnic minorities and the immediate withdrawal of immunities
currently granted to the police, paramilitary forces and the
military, including the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
* * * *
Caste Splits Muslims In Bihar
Islam is said to be casteless. Yet, this is not the case in a
tiny village in the East Champaran district of Bihar. The
Muslim population there is presently locked up in a bitter
caste war between the “forward Saiyyads” and the “backward
Ansaris.” The Saiyyads have not only burnt the huts of the
Ansaris in Allehpur but carried their differences over to the
local mosque. The Ansaris have stopped offering prayers at the
mosque dominated by the Saiyyads and built another for
themselves. Opening another flank, the Saiyyads are asserting
that the land on which the Ansaris have built their mosque
belongs to them. The caste conflict between the two erupted a
year ago, when an Ansari bridegroom reportedly trampled over
the graveyard of some Saiyyads’ ancestors. Worse, local
politicians are now busy fanning internecine caste flames.
---- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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