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ROUND THE STATES
India World’s Rape Capital?
STATES TIGHTEN MEASURES
By Insaf
New Delhi, January 19, 2008
Two more rape cases of foreign tourists has forced all the
States and Union Territories to sit up and apply stringent
measures, including increased policing to curb this most
heinous of crimes. Especially against the backdrop of India
that is Bharat fast gaining notoriety as the world’s rape
capita! Two women, one British and the other Russian, were
raped in just under a week in the lush tourist paradise of Goa.
At the rate matters are deteriorating, the State will fast
lose its title from a popular tourist country to a forbidding
rape centre. In Rajasthan, it was bad enough for the State
having to come to terms with the scandalous spectacle of a
senior Orissa police Officer, BB Mohanty, surrendering for his
son’s rape of a German tourist. Now the Government finds
itself rocked by the news of another heinous rape of a
Japanese tourist in the holy city of Pushkar and of a British
woman in Udaipur.
According to the latest crime statistics released by the Union
Home Ministry’s National Crime Bureau, 53 women become victims
of rape daily. Shockingly, Delhi topped the list with 4,134
cases (nearly one-fifth of the total crime against women)
followed by cyber city Hyderabad with 1,755 cases in 2006.
Among the States, Andhra Pradesh had the highest number of
‘fair sex’ crimes --- 21,484 cases or over 13 per cent of the
total cases, with Uttar Pradesh a close second with 9.9 per
cent. To Madhya Pradesh went the ignominious honour of the
highest number of rape and molestation cases (2,900).
Distressingly, over 7,618 women became victims of dowry deaths
of which UP recorded the highest number at 1,798, with Bihar
at 1,188. Clearly, this has shredded the last vestige of the
UPA Government’s tall claims of being the leading champion for
women. Notwithstanding Renuka Chowdhary assertion that she
would personally monitor the probe into the Mumbai New Year
day molestation of an NRI woman incident!
* * * *
Kolkota Fire Leaves CPM Red-faced
The woes of the West Bengal Government continue to multiply.
Barely had the Nandigram conflagration been doused, when the
Left State found itself singed by the fire that broke out in
Kolkata’s high-rise Burrabazaar, India’s biggest wholesale
market. The blazing inferno, which gutted over 4000 shops and
reduced the 13-storey Nandagram Market to dust, took over
three days to control, with the Army overseeing rescue
operations. The market, known for keeping combustible goods
like textiles, lubricants and gas cylinders, was notorious for
many an illegal construction with the shopkeepers failing to
reply to notices. Worse, it underscored the State
Administration complete ill-preparedness to deal with a
crisis. Out of 42 fire tenders pressed into service, only one
was used at a time, thanks to lack of water. Ditto was the
case with the turntable ladder and of the 112 fire fighters
engaged in the operation, 70 per cent were over 40 years.
Incredibly, the city had only one hydraulic ladder. Leaving
many Left leaders red-faced!
* * * *
Dhumal Heralds Decentralised Era
The new Himachal Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, is poised
to blaze a new trail in good democratic governance, al la
Modi’s Gujarat. He is ready to decentralize power for faster
delivery of growth and justice at the grassroots level. Making
this the flagship of his Government, Dhumal has announced that
the tehsildars would be directed to sort out the people’s
problems, instead of their having to run to Shimla for
everything. In his reply to the Governor’s address in the
State Assembly, Dhumal alleged that the previous Congress
regime had left empty coffers, and vowed to bring out a white
paper on the State’s dismal fiscal health. Also on the anvil,
are plans to increase road connectivity in the rural areas and
a special cell in the Chief Minister’s Office for the welfare
of ex-servicemen’s families, who constitute a sizeable section
of the State’s population. How many of these promises
materialize will remain to be seen.
* * * *
Yoga For Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh has taken the lead in popularising yoga by
including it in the school syllabus from the next academic
session. Towards that end, the BJP’s Government organized a
mass ‘surya namaskar’ exercise in the entire State last week.
That yoga is, indeed, popular could be gauged by the
attendance of a large number of people, led by the Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and including children and
college students, at the main function in the State’s capital
Bhopal. The Government plans to extol the virtues of yoga to
enable the youth to be mentally and physically fit. However,
after having burnt his fingers with the minority leaders last
year, Chauhan has learnt his lesson: made yoga participation
voluntary. Moreover, ‘Youth Day’ will hereafter be celebrated
as ‘Yoga Day.
* * * *
States’ Satraps Jostle Over Bharat Ratna
With various States’ satraps and political heavy weights
jostling that their ‘chosen favourite’ be given the Bharat
Ratna, the Union Government may skip giving the award this
year. Making it the seventh time in a row that the country’s
highest civilian award is not announced. The first to lob the
‘give-the-award’ ball was BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK.
Advani who suggested colleague and former Prime Minister
Vajpayee, next came BSP supremo Mayawati who hooted for her
mentor Late Kanshi Ram followed by the BJD Chief Naveen
Patnaik and RLD’s Ajit Singh plugging for their respective
fathers Biju Patnaik and Chaudhary Charan Singh. The
irrepressible RJD chief Laloo Yadav plugged for Karpoori
Thakur, DMK for Karunanidhi and Ram Vilas Paswan for Jagjivan
Ram and Jyotiba Phule among various others. Needless to say,
given our fractured polity the award has more to do with our
leaders flexing their muscle and strengthening their
constituencies rather than honouring national icons.
* * * *
New Constituencies For 24 States
Twenty four States are all set to give a makeover to the
political landscape of the constituencies. This follows the
Union Government’s decision to implement the recommendations
of the Delimitation Commission. Barring Jharkhand, Assam,
Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, where there legal
issues are involved, the rest of the country will go to the
polls on the basis of the redrawn constituencies. Many
political heavy weights, influential State leaders, senior BJP
leaders and the Congress babalog are busy studying the effect
of delimitation on their electoral prospects and hunting for
new safe pastures to keep reaping a political harvest as their
old constituency of committed voters has disappeared from the
political map. Clearly, it is back to square one for our
polity!
* * * *
J&K Minister Quits For Bribery
The Congress Government in Jammu & Kashmir has been rocked by
bribery charges against the Education Minister and PCC Chief
Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed leading to his resignation from the
State Cabinet. Sayeed has been accused by the Independent MLA
Lone of accepting a bribe of Rs.40,000 for sanctioning a
school. To nip the ensuing crisis in the bud, the Chief
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has ordered a probe into the charges
against his close confidant and Minister. Coming on the heels
of the Army’s confirmation of black-marketing of rations meant
for soldiers posted on the Siachen glacier in picturesque
Laddakh, the corruption woes of the State have mounted. ---INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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