|
|
|
|
|
|
In Search Of Excellence:WHERE ARE THE INCENTIVES?, by Dharmendra Nath (Retd IAS), 30 Apr, 2010 |
|
|
Open Forum
New Delhi, 30 April 2010
In Search Of
Excellence
WHERE ARE THE
INCENTIVES?
By Dharmendra Nath
(Retd. IAS)
Ostensibly we seem to be suffering from a surfeit of
excellence. It is strewn everywhere around us as a part of almost every name. We
are surrounded by all kinds of institutions of excellence, Schools of
Excellence, Colleges of Excellence, even Colleges with Potential for Excellence
under a UGC scheme. If excellence was a matter of nomenclature only then there
would be no problem.
‘Water, water every where, not a drop to drink,’ perhaps describes
our situation aptly and also the limitations of a short sighted name-based excellence
policy. Such a policy clearly raises unrealistic expectations and runs the risk
of giving less than promised.
Harvard, Yale, Massachusetts or Oxford
and Cambridge
do not describe themselves as institutions of excellence; they are so rated by
the people. In our own country before the craze began nearly a decade ago, we
had widely known and respected institutions of excellence without any mention
of it in their names. Everyone knew and flocked to them. In fact, their names
defined excellence.
Of late, however, we are seeing excellence more in the name.
Are we thereby replacing efforts to achieve excellence with excellence bestowed
from above as a baptismal gift? Do we read excellence in names only and are quite
unable to recognise it in its true colours?
A look at our performance paints a rather dismal picture.
Our institutions of excellence are frequently manned by contract appointees, who
are paid even less than the regular ones. This is ostensibly done in the name
of scarce resources. But how do we hope to attain excellence without adequate
compensation? As for money, there is no shortage of it in the country today.
Turn any stone and you will find a hoard beneath it.
Commonsense says that contract employees are to be paid
higher than regular ones partly to compensate them for the future uncertainty
and partly to offset various other benefits that regular employment entails.
But that does not seem to bother us. We would not like to recognise this and
instead we merrily recruit those who are prepared to rough it out or to
shortchange the system. This necessarily excludes the best and reduces the size
of the talent pool tapped.
If our search for excellence is genuine it can be no excuse
that there are long queues of applicants even under the present regimen. We all
know that we can buy any thing cheap, only we have to compromise on quality. But
that surely is not the road to stardom.
The bard of Avon said ‘What
is in a name? A rose called by any other name will smell as sweet.’ We do not
seem to subscribe to that at all. We try to put it all in the name. He also
said ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness
thrust upon them’. From the evidence around us it appears that we are earnest
believers in the third route to greatness. Greatness is to be bestowed rather
than achieved.
Not only with institutions, but in other walks of life too we
seem to place a disproportionate faith in names. So we call ourselves
Suyash,Vishal and Pragati. Our shops and establishments are named Santushti, Samarpan
and Niramaya. Our residential colonies follow the same pattern Rameshwaram, Indraprastha
etc. Our food articles and food supplements are similarly named to support their
high-flying claims. A body trimming food supplement currently being advertised is
suitably named Fatgo. For nutrition you clearly take Nutricharge. Are we so full
of ‘hollow men’ and hollow institutions and such great believers in names?
The logic seems to be: just put it in the name and every
thing else shall follow. Taste of the pudding is in the eating. Whoever said
that? Not we. We would not like to go beneath the surface.
Name and face value carry such a lot of weight with us. Does
our cultural orientation favour profession over practice? Swayed by profession
and tall promises we see around us a lot of gullible people taken for a ride by
conmen and fake salesmen. We read of those stories in the newspapers all the
time. Turning ashes into gold!
It has been said that nothing compares with the misery of
holding a position and not deserving it. That too does not bother us. In
personal life the effort by and large is to get there by any means and not to
look back or reflect too much on why and wherefore of things. But is that the
road to excellence?
Even so, tall claims without substance will not delude even the
credulous for long. And surely this kind of hide-and-seek entails loss of
precious time and opportunity. We should be considering some alternative
approach. For example, we could go in for some kind of an open grading system,
something like star-rating of establishments. One could grade institutions on a
star scale and also provide for some incentive scheme to improve star-rating. These
ratings can then be assessed and reassessed periodically. That is far more
likely to generate widespread excellence.
Building and maintaining incentives to excellence in the
society is an ongoing task. The issue should therefore be taken seriously. To
illustrate my point I will cite just one instance where we did away with an
existing system of incentives to excellence.
We once had a system, perhaps by accident, to motivate
achievement in public services. There were Municipal services, then State
services and finally Central services, all with different grades of pay.
Municipal services had the lowest grades, then came the State services and
finally the Central services, which had the highest grades. People strove to
improve their position by moving from the lower to the higher one. That
provided an incentive to excel, to do better. In the name of equal pay for
equal work we did away with that. Now almost all grades are the same and the advantage
of an inbuilt incentive system has been lost.
Let us take a lesson from this. Communism has already
inflicted a setback on our search for excellence for long by limiting human
concerns to food, clothing and shelter. Human horizons cannot be limited in this
way. Education, health, culture and self-improvement did not figure in their
list of human aspirations. They never realized: ‘What a piece of work is man, how
noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like A god! the
beauty of the world………’
Let us not dither nor delude ourselves. Let us put in place
an open hierarchy of institutions to nurture the competitive spirit in them and
to encourage superior performance by whoever can. Bestowing the honour of
excellence in name is ill-conceived and counterproductive.—INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
|
|
Opposition Cut Motion:UPA TRIUMPS, BUT WAR CONTINUES, by Poonam I Kaushish,1 May 2010 |
|
|
Political Diary
New Delhi, 1 May 2010
Opposition Cut Motion
UPA TRIUMPS, BUT WAR CONTINUES
By Poonam I Kaushish
Billed as the political IPL’s battle
of nerves, it ended with three ‘magical’ alphabets becoming the game changer:
CBI. Call it the Central Bureau of Investigation or by its present-day
nickname, Congress Bureau of convenience, connivance and corruption it matters
little. Clearly, the ‘kanooni nautanki’
exposed once again that political maya can
be traded for legal nirvana with the
devil taking the hindmost! Dividing the Opposition by hook and by CBI crook.
All over a silly
do-or-die-but-doomed Opposition sponsored cut motion in the Lok Sabha against
the Government's decision to hike the prices of urea and petrol. Thanks to the
killer instincts of seasoned Congress managers, CBI ‘agreeing’ to play footsie
with BSP’s Mayawati leading to her ‘I
love Congress’ googly, BJP Jharkhand
ally JMM’s Shibu Soren’s sudden ‘Alziemher’cross-voting, Mulayam-Lalu duo’s
`socialist betrayal’ of the comrades, the Right and Left ended up inflicting a comical
self-goal.
Adding insult to injury, post the ‘floor
collapse’ the Opposition advertised that it cannot come together even on
neutral issues like price rise. Worse, the BJP and Left find itself in a
piquant predicament: They don’t know who are with them and who are not. Mulayam-Lalu
inflicted the unkindest cut; participating in the 13-Party Left sponsored Bharat Bandh only to dump it hours later
for the comrades `joint-venture’ with ‘communal’ BJP. Even the 3MPs-strong JD (S) Deve Gowda, Chandrashekhara
Rao’s two-member TRS and ‘Congress rebel’ Bhajan Lal all failed to turn up for
voting .
At the same time it was a wake-up
call to the Congress as its credibility plank had taken a severe hit. True,
thanks to CBI crook it had enticed Maya and Soren, got Mulayam-Lalu to stage a
walk-out and exploded the myth of Opposition unity with 289 MPs voting for the
UPA. But it no longer could be sanguine about its allies support. Take away the
BSP’s 21 MPs and JMM chief Shibu Soren’s vote and the UPA tally is 267, seven
below the half-way mark, UPA II is not close to being formidable. Their support
comes with a heavy price tag: a case by
case basis rather than agreement on policy. The fate of the Women’s
Reservations Bill a case in point.
There is a growing disquiet sense among
some of its allies whose support is critical, that the Congress is moving away
from a coalition dharma towards a single-Party
rule mindset. NCP’s Pawar seems to think that the IPL ‘leaks’ are the handiwork
of the Government to embarrass him. Trinamool’s
Mamata is worried about the forthcoming W Bengal Assembly polls, DMK is
undergoing family upheaval and a defeat in next year’s State polls could lead
to another political realignment. Last but not least staunch ally Lalu who
resents being sidelined and kept out of the Cabinet.
The Congress’ doing business with arch
rival BSP once again highlights the use and misuse of the CBI for political
ends. Getting the investigative agency to consider Mayawati's plea for closing
a disproportionate assets case against her and ‘go-slow’ on similar cases
against Mulayam, Lalu and Soren. On the
facetious familiar “secular logic” against “communal forces.”
However, the Congress will have to walk
a tightrope during its on-going UP yatra to
expose the corruption under the BSP regime. Given that it is attempting to
emerge as the main Opposition party in the run-up to the 2012 UP polls. In
keeping with this gameplan, the Congress has mounted a strong campaign against Mayawati
and christened her daulat ki beti and moortidevi
after the innumerable statues built by her. Ironically, despite such strong
criticism it is now forced to treat Mayawati as an ally and is at a loss to
explain the Congress’ strategy in UP in the coming days.
For the main Opposition Party BJP,
the going couldn’t get any worse. Not only was its motion defeated but it inflicted
a collateral damage on the Party when it Jharkhand ally Chief Minister Soren ditched
it in the Lok Sabha. Not only did it demonstrate how clueless the BJP’s
floor-managers were but also how coolly Soren dined with BJP President
Gadkari’s after casting his vote, with the latter having no inkling that the
JMM Chief had bolted from its stable.
The Party retaliated swiftly by
withdrawing support to Soren’s Government, but by then, enough damage had been
done to the BJP’s credibility and standing in a State which was until a few
years ago it considered its stronghold. Party leaders admit that the decision
to embrace Soren three months ago to form the Government was rank opportunism
but are all said to do it again.
The Left must be equally
embarrassed, as it had bought Mulayam’s sound byte of a larger non-UPA
“secular” alliance taking shape at the Centre. It was hoping that the coming together
of “secular” parties in Parliament would be the first step towards a
realignment of forces. But the Yadav duos’ walkout from the Lok Sabha, showed
that the Third Front is an idea whose time might never come. The second time in
less than two years that the SP Chief has ditched the Left for the Congress. First
over the Indo-US nuclear deal in July 2008. It remains to be seen if the Left
has learnt its lesson yet.
As for Mulayam and Lalu both have exposed
their inherent inability to take on Congress. Given that it would be imprudent
for the m to antagonise the ruling Party. Both need the Centre’s ‘help’ to get out of various
cases against them and family members. The good news for Mulayam is that his arch
UP rival too, has come to Congress’ aid. But the tacit backing for the UPA would
make it difficult for the SP to claim that it has the wherewithal to take on
Congress.
For Lalu, with Bihar poll bound the
implications are more serious. Given that JD(U) and NDA doesn’t tire of dubbing
the RJD as a Congress B-team. But the Grand Dame is clear: support for the
Centre in the hour of crisis will not change its’ attitude towards the RJD and
will go it alone in the coming polls in Bihar.
As for BSP’s Mayawati none knows her
next move. Congressmen read her newfound bonhomie, as her way of blurring the
partisan faultlines when Congress is seeking to cast itself, as her principal
opposition. Even as she underlined her support to the UPA she repeatedly
asserted that protest against the Centre on discrimination towards UP would
continue. This dictomy is reflective of Mayawatis’ dilemma as she is conscious
of the fact that siding with the Opposition against the UPA does not gain her
anything. On the contrary, bailing the Government out has helped her legally.
By refusing to play second fiddle to the Left Opposition grouping Mayawati made
plain she was not billing to subsume her identify to the Left or BJP. As she sees the BSP as the ‘’third national
party’ after the Congress and BJP and has never hidden her prime ministerial
ambition.
“By supporting the UPA, we cannot
take a strong stand in Parliament against the government on many issues and
become bound to support its policies,” an MP said. “We must spell out clearly
what exactly we mean by outside support. How can we support the Congress here,
whom we are so critical of back home?” said another MP.
Sadly, a more serious political
fallout was the brazen wrecking of CBI’s image as a “professional investigative
agency.” In fact, like successive Governments prior to it, UPA I and II have
successfully undermined its autonomy and independence. Be it Bofors scandal in
1990s or Lalu, Mulayam and Mayawati in 2010, all have used an abused the CBI to
further their political interests.
The tragedy of it all, in an era
where political image has come to be branded like detergents, quick-fix
solutions are sought for chronic maladies.
Times out of number our netagan
are only thinking of themselves, seeking an image rectification instead of
dealing with chronic maladies that plague India. Time for our powers-that-be to
desist from playing further havoc. CBI or no CBI, at the end of the day, are we
going to mortgage our conscience to corrupt and tainted leaders. INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
|
|
Just 1411 Tigers:WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?, by Syed Ali Mujtaba, 27 April 2010 |
|
|
Sunday Reading
New Delhi, 27 April 2010
Just 1411 Tigers
WHERE DO WE GO FROM
HERE?
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
The advertisement campaign that there are only 1411 tigers
left in India
has attracted wide attention. It has also moved a large number of hearts.
People from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat
to Arunachal Pradesh want to know the root of the problem. They are perplexed
how such a catastrophe is taking place right under the Government’s nose and no
solution has been found to stem the decline of the tigers’ population.
One of the reasons for this decline is obviously poaching,
which is done because there is a huge demand for tiger body parts and its
skins. The body parts are used in a wide variety of traditional medicine and
black magicians use its skin as a seat. In order to meet these demands there
are criminal gangs that fund the poaching operations in India. It’s an
organized crime conducted in collusion with local people, forest communities
and the wild life protection officials.
Poor infrastructure is another reason for the decline of the
tiger population. The under-equipped forest guards find it difficult to protect
the tiger reserves. Most of these have very limited frontline staff and each would
have to cover an area of 65-70 sq km. This is ridiculous task and sometimes forest
officials would inflate the figures of the tigers to save their jobs. The tiger
reserves also exist in an environment where thousands of indigenous communities
live side by side. The relationship with the local communities and the forest
is the "weak link” in the conservation effort of the tigers.
Of late tiger conservationists want the local communities
out of the reserve as it felt that they are a hindrance in protecting the animals.
However, the local communities are shifted from the core areas of the reserves
without being given any alternative access for grazing or fuel collection. They
have no other option but to turn to the reserves for their survival and poach
tigers for their livelihood.
Additionally, the developmental priorities of the government
are causing an irreversible ecological transition in the tiger reserves
resulting in the decline of their population. Extractive industries like mining
and manufacturing and power plants are found in the reserves. Thus the insidious
encroachment of the development projects is coming in the way of saving the tigers.
Clearly the fate of the tigers is entwined with the area of
forest reserves. The depleting forest area poses a challenge to the
conservation plan and it is estimated that 726 sq km of forest area has
decreased in the past one decade.
Indeed, tigers are territorial animal. They literally need
land to roam freely. With the birth of a male tiger, this search starts. Either
the old tiger gives way or the male has to look beyond the protected areas of
the forest and move into the guarded area of the forest. The tiger could expand
its space when the outside world was forested, but now when the forests are
degraded, they have no where to go except outside the reserve zone.
The total core area of a national park is about 17,000 sq
km. A tiger needs a minimum 10 sq km territory to roam, mate and live. If we
compare this with the dwindling forest space, then we can rationalize why we
have so few tigers left.
The census has revealed that many more tigers lived outside
reserves than those inside. The 2001 census put the number at about 1,500
tigers inside and as many as 2,000 outside. The 2005 census found the number of
tigers in the reserves between 1,165 and 1,657 but did not account those living
outside. What happened to them? Where did they disappear? Were they all killed
by those who live outside the reserves?
This could be true because the people who live outside the
reserve are poor and resent these animals. The tigers kill their cattle, the
herbivores and wild boars in the reserve eat their growing crop. Thus those living
around tiger land are at the receiving end and therefore it would be in their
best interest to kill the big cats and its preys.
So where do we go from here? How do we save the tiger? Do we
plan to expand and increase the forest area or save those people who live
outside the reserves or save the tigers? The best way would be a combination of
all three. We have to protect the forests from depleting. The conservation of
the tigers should not be at the expense of the indigenous people who live
outside the reserve. The best way could be a co-existence formula between the
forest, the tigers and the indigenous people.
Unless we re-imagine the conservation efforts differently
there is little hope to expect anything from the ad campaigns. The hard fact is
that more forest land is needed to safeguard the tigers and for this systematic
planning must be done. The tract of land outside the reserves has to be to be
planted with trees that will help survive the cattle and the goats. In
addition, we have to look after the people who live outside the reserves. They
should be generously compensated for the crops destroyed or their cattle killed
and provided with alternative access to grazing and fuel collection.
Moreover, substantial and disproportionate development
investment in the areas adjoining a tiger reserve must be ensured. This would
benefit the people around the reserves and they must be made partners, owners
and earners from the tiger conservation plan.
All this, however, does not mean that we should not improve
the infrastructure and manpower to watch and ward the forest. This is equally essential
to stop poaching. Efforts should also be made to improve the prey population so
that tigers can feed upon them easily. More camera traps should be set up to
monitor the tigers and their prey. These could be also used for surveillance
against the poachers and the timber cutters, who are depleting the forest with
impunity.
Indeed, the entire apparatus for the conservation of the tigers
from bottom up should be streamlined. The head in-charge of the tiger reserve
should be made accountable and their work should be periodically monitored. Anyone
found neglecting his/her duty should be taken to task.
Unfortunately, the tiger conservation plan is infested by
lobby and pressure groups that call the shots. They are the ones who block the
positive move to conserve the tigers. It’s thus imperative that the wings of
such groups should be clipped.
The media campaign should move from making noises that there
only 1411 tigers left. Instead, it is its duty to drum up a new agenda for the
conservation of the tigers. The focus should shift to reclaim the forest land
and how to add on it. It should also address the issues confronting the
indigenous communities.
Finally, the countrymen must wakeup to the reality and
identify the solutions and volunteer to monitor the changes taking place on the
ground. Unless something drastically is done to change the discourse of tiger
conservation, nothing concrete is going to come out from making sheer noises
that there are only 1411 tigers left. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|
|
Delhi Stopover:KARZAI INDIA’S BEST BET, by Monish Tourangbam, 28 April 2010 |
|
|
Round The World
New Delhi, 28 April 2010
Delhi Stopover
KARZAI INDIA’S BEST BET
By Monish Tourangbam
Research Scholar, School of
International Studies (JNU)
It
would be stating the obvious to say that Afghanistan
is vital for the stability and security of South Asia.
If Afghanistan
fails, the region fails. The course of events has not been encouraging there
with the Taliban confident of driving the NATO forces to war fatigue. Besides,
plans being hatched among international players to collude with the so called
“Good Taliban” do not sound very promising either.
This
is a crucial juncture in Afghanistan’s
search for stability and security and an important test for India’s
regional diplomacy. New Delhi should deploy its
entire diplomatic might to raise its influence in the proceedings in Afghanistan for India’s own interests and for the
betterment of the Afghan people. At present, India’s
soft power is evident in the volume of assistance given towards the
reconstruction of the war-torn country, resulting in India having to suffer some serious
casualties in recent times.
India’s activities in Afghanistan
have been a constant source of irritation for the Pakistani establishment,
insecure and suspicious that increasing Indian influence might be inimical to
its own influence in the region. The nightmarish rise of the Taliban yet again
as a viable political force in the future of Afghanistan
should not be good news for India,
or for that matter any other country in the region.
But,
Pakistan
as evident from history has other plans. The Pakistani military and
intelligence having been actively involved in the creation of the Taliban at
the first instance see this ultra-conservative Islamist group as a favourable
force to Pakistan’s
interests. It is apparent that the Pakistani establishment wants to install in Kabul a power structure
cooperative of its game plan, which will in turn spawn other anti-India
activities in the region.
President
Hamid Karzai’s short stopover in New Delhi en-route to the SAARC summit in
Thimpu, Bhutan is a significant gesture that should further the camaraderie
that the New Delhi shares with his
establishment. It should serve as a further vindication of India’s soft power influence and encourage New Delhi to continue and accelerate its humanitarian
activities in Afghanistan,
keeping in mind the safety and security of Indian lives.
The
Karzai visit served as a platform for both the countries to assess the present
conditions and realities of the reconstruction and the fight against terror in Afghanistan. India’s unwavering commitment towards civilian
assistance to Afghanistan
was reiterated and in turn, the Afghan President reassured his resolve to
provide full security to the Indians working in Afghanistan.
Quite
rightly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh categorically stated that heinous
attacks against Indians would not thwart India’s
pledge to extend all possible help to see a democratic, pluralistic and
independent Afghanistan.
India has pledged $1.3
billion for a slew of reconstruction and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.
India’s
civilian activities in Afghanistan focuses on infrastructure development, human
resource development, capacity building, food assistance and other small
development projects aiming at immediate benefits to people at the grassroots
level. During President Karzai’s talks with PM Singh, a special note was made of
the Zaranj-Delaram road project, the Pul-e—Kumri to Kabul transmission line project and
scholarships programmes bringing direct benefit to the Afghan people.
Satisfactory attention was given to the progress being made in the construction
of the building of the Afghan parliament.
A
common struggle against extremism and terrorism was advocated, and India wholly supported a reconstruction process
led by the Afghans and dictated by the interests of the people of Afghanistan.
"The two leaders reiterated their conviction that the national rebuilding
process in Afghanistan
should be led by the people of Afghanistan
in keeping with the principles of national sovereignty, independence and
non-interference in internal affairs," read a joint statement.
Accordingly,
the Afghan President briefed PM Singh on the peace jirga, an assembly of tribal
elders he plans to convene next month and the ongoing efforts to integrate
those elements of the Taliban, which have no links with the Al Qaeda or any
terrorist network. "We discussed the upcoming Afghanistan Peace
Consultations which should comprise the people of Afghanistan, those from all
walks of life, to advise on how to move forward for reintegration and
reconciliation of those elements of Taliban and others who have accepted the
constitution or not part of the Al Qaeda or any terrorist network," Karzai
said.
The
London Conference held early this year had endorsed the “Good Taliban Vs Bad
Taliban” line and largely accepted the centrality of Pakistan in dealing with the
Taliban. India’s concerns
over unaudited dependence on Pakistan
were sidelined. New Delhi has always been wary
(with evidential reason) of raising the responsibility of Pakistan in the
Afghan conflict.
At
least influential sections of the Pakistani establishment have an apparent
stake in the rise of Taliban in Kabul.
A Taliban takeover will unnecessarily increase India’s strategic vulnerability. In
India’s rivalry with
neighbouring Pakistan,
it really counts to have a neutral Karzai, if not a supportive one. India sees a feasibility problem in the plans to
win over the sections of the Taliban, especially when the latter seems be able
to strike even the capital city Kabul
with impunity. As such, New Delhi took the opportunity to yet again
caution the Afghan leader against any power sharing deal with the Taliban.
But
the political landscape in Afghanistan
is complex and it will be premature to pass any verdict on the proposed Afghan
Peace Consultations as of now. President Karzai is the best alternative present
for India
and all assistance and support should be extended to his government at the
moment. Despite all his flaws and accusations of being corruption-tainted, he
is still the most legitimate power-holder in the Afghan scenario with whom some
meaningful cooperation and diplomatic channeling can be worked out.
Although
he was re-elected in rather controversial rounds of elections, he is still the
only available and by any standards a far-better alternative to the
gun-flaunting Taliban who have inculcated a habit of routinely defying
international law and all semblance of a civilized governance. Given the tense
and insecure atmosphere amidst which he tries to maneuver, half-hearted
allegiance and measures to discredit him would only embolden the Taliban.
The
outcome of the Peace Consultations has to be watched but at the same time India as well
the international community need to be prepared for the worst. New Delhi’s caution
against power- sharing with the violent and brute Taliban need to be taken into
account, and the dependence on Pakistani military and intelligence should be
adequately evaluated lest the same mistakes further stuns any prospect for a
normal and stable Afghanistan.
The
world has already witnessed the implications of a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, and members of the international
community particularly India
and the US
have borne the brunt of suicidal Islamist extremist groups. As such, history
should serve as a lesson to help stop the recurrence of at least the
preventable causes that would once again dump all well-intentioned measures
into the drain. The end result would be an unstable Afghanistan ruled by aggressive
fanatics, with an uncertain future on the horizon. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
|
|
Of CBI & Vote Bank:STATES BAIL OUT THE CENTRE, by Insaf, 29 April, 2010 |
|
|
Round The States
New Delhi, 29 April 2010
Of CBI & Vote
Bank
STATES BAIL OUT THE
CENTRE
By Insaf
The States have bailed out a beleaguered Centre as never
before. Ironically they have enabled New
Delhi to secure Parliament’s approval for the Finance
Bill, even as their regional leaders cried hoarse against price hike. Four days
prior to the crucial cut motion in the Lok Sabha, the opposition satraps
threatened to vote out the UPA-II. The dice clearly appeared to be against the
Centre. But vote bank politics and CBI cases against BSP supremo Mayawati and
others intervened decisively. Hours before the cut motions on Tuesday last, the
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister announced her support (21 MPs) to the UPA, saying
it was to keep the communal forces out. However, the truth lies elsewhere. Call
it coincidence, but the CBI on Friday last told the Supreme Court that it would
consider Mayawati’s plea for closure of a disproportionate assets case against
her.
Likewise, Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav too
decided to go along with the Congress rather than the Left parties as he eyed
his party’s position in Uttar Pradesh. He had burnt his fingers in the Lok
Sabha poll by aligning with BJP’s erstwhile Kalyan Singh and did not want to be
seen siding with the BJP on the cut motion. The Muslim vote in the Hindi
heartland is obviously a crucial factor. The Bihar Assembly elections later
this year are Lalu Prasad Yadav’s concern. By getting his four RJD MPs to
abstain he seems to be keen to work out some sort of electoral arrangement with
the Congress. Moreover, the three leaders are looking for a further quid pro quo.
The Congress will need keep in mind their strong opposition to the Women’s
Reservation Bill and put it in cold storage. At the end, while the Left parties
could only say “it is unfortunate”, the big question is will the Centre
eventually oblige its adversaries?
* * * *
Uncertainty In Jharkhand
Meanwhile, in all this high drama, developments in Jharkhand
have come under the spotlight. The State Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren sprang a shocking surprise. In the chair for
four months with the support of the BJP, Soren voted for the UPA; he is
technically still a Lok Sabha member! An incensed BJP immediately considered
withdrawing support, but put its date with the Governor on hold, following
Soren’s apology and undertaking that JMM was with the NDA. It is also
considering Soren’s latest offer. On Thursday last, the JMM chief offered to
step down as CM and support a saffron nominee. He, however, sought that his
son, Hemant be made the Deputy CM. The BJP is now not only weighing Soren’s
sincerity but the options of who could don the CM’s post –former CM Arjun
Munda, or Deputy CM Raghuvar Das or former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha. At
its end the Congress “waits and watches”, the developments. Sadly, political
uncertainty dodges Jharkhand yet again.
* * *
W Bengal’s Salwa Judam
CPM-ruled West Bengal seems
to have its own prescription of tackling the Maoists problem, now that the
country is awash with varied solutions. It has the communist version of the salwa judam “people’s resistance” groups
in about 15 villages. Apparently, over the past year-and-a-half heavily armed
CPM “fighters” have been living in nearly a dozen camps in Bankura, one of the
three Maoists-infested districts, other than Purulia and West
Midnapore. So far about “60 Maoists” have been killed, claim the
police. Each of these camps, which have the backing of local MPs and MLAs, have
been set up at strategic locations, and house a 100-odd such men. The private
militia admits the Government is “encouraging the villagers” to carry out carry
out a night vigil to stop the Maoists from entering their villages. Will the
state-sponsored movement yield results? Remember the salwa judam miserably failed in nearby Chhattisgarh.
* * * *
Reprieve For
Amarinder
Dame luck has smiled on Capt. Amarinder Singh as it has on a
few former chief ministers across the country. He is back in the reckoning in Punjab politics. On Monday last, the Supreme Court, gave
a hard knock to the Akali Dal-BJP government by declaring the former CM’s
expulsion by the State Assembly in September 2008 as “constitutionally invalid
and undemocratic.” The Assembly had revoked Amarinder’s membership for his
involvement in a 32.1 acre land scam. The five-member bench ruled that it is
“improper for Parliament or Assembly to expel a member for breach of privilege
citing acts of corruption or misconduct allegedly committed as part of
executive functions.” The only exceptional cases where acts which occur outside
the House could affect the integrity of legislative functions could be when
“legislators accept bribes in lieu of asking questions or for voting” in the
House, the court elaborated. Ideally, it suggested the Government should have
filed a criminal complaint against Amarinder. The judgement has thus not only
helped the Congress leader regains his MLA status but he could stake claim for
the leadership of the Punjab PCC before the High Command.
* * * *
AGP-BJP Alliance off?
The BJP has received a rude shock in Assam. Its
coalition partner, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has decided to call of its
alliance with the saffron party. A decision to this affect was taken by the
AGP’s steering committee on Sunday last. As a next step, it has been sent to
the general house of the party for ratification. The trouble between the
coalition partners started a while ago with a growing discontent among party
workers that the BJP had benefitted the most from the tie-up in the recent Lok
Sabha polls. Of the 14 seats, while the BJP’s tally went up from two to four,
the AGP could win just one against the two it had held earlier. This apart, it
was agreed that while the saffron party would be the dominant party in General
elections, the AGP would lead the alliance in the 2011 Assembly polls. However,
the new BJP President Gadkari has ruffled feathers at a recent press
conference. He said the party was able to go it alone in the Assembly polls,
making AGP leaders quip of how ignorant he was about Assam and the AGP. Will
the BJP be able to mend bridges?
* * * *
Rajasthan Hit By
IPL
The IPL controversy has triggered ripples in Rajasthan too.
On Thursday last, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused former BJP Chief Minister
Vasundhra Raje of allowing former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to act as “an
extra-constitutional power” during her regime. Modi, he charged used to
pressurise officers for favours and "bureaucrats went to his hotel room
carrying files for clearance but Raje who was aware of all these happenings
never cared to stop him." Additionally, he said the law department was
examining the purchase of two heritage buildings, belonging to the government
by Modi at Amber on the outskirts of Jaipur. Raje has hit back saying the CM
was diverting attention from crucial issues, such as water, power and
unemployment, facing the State. Dismissing his charges, Raje said in the past
17 months in power, Gehlot has made various allegations but failed to proved
none. This slanging match looks will carry on. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
|
|
| | << Start < Previous 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 Next > End >>
| Results 4501 - 4509 of 5987 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|