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Attention Finance Minister:Attention Finance Minister,Shivaji Sarkar,25 June 2009 Print E-mail

BUDGET SPECIAL

New Delhi, 25 June 2009

Attention Finance Minister

CUT DIRECT TAXES, BOOST SPENDING

By Shivaji Sarkar

It is one of the most turbulent times for the economy. Equally, it is one of the most difficult times for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for giving the final touches to his budgetary proposals. He has too little in his kitty and the nation is looking to him to offer a tax bonanza. No Finance Minister in the recent past had done such a tight rope-walking.

In this limited option, he has to closely review the tax policy. He has the problem of reducing prices, increasing industrial and farm production, create jobs and earn less revenue. The recent trends on the revenue front for him have not been encouraging. But growth momentum has to be his top priority.

The stimuli announced in December, January and in the interim budget did not have a significant impact. They were all in the nature of cut in indirect taxes. The industry had its benefit but largely did not pass it on to the consumers.

The budgetary process also has to counter the global protectionist trends in the US and West. It has to fight with the subsidies the US administration is extending to different sets of industries and the farm sector. The protectionist trends have hit the export-based industries hard. The FM has to rehabilitate these export units, which have sacked about 13 lakh employees, create conditions for sustenance of the IT industry, ensure better corporate governance and boost confidence and create an atmosphere of hope all around.

World Bank projections for a booming India is on a long term basis. It cannot be achieved unless the “doctor” –finance minster- writes the right prescription. But all agree, including the denizens in the finance ministry that the time has come to have a relook at the tax structure and wherever possible extend relief.

The experiment with indirect taxes has not yielded the desired results. The obvious choice is to play with the direct taxes. There are many lobbies suggesting different methods. The strongest one backed by the political parties’ favours increasing threshold limit from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. It is a populist demand. It serves a political purpose in the short run for placating a segment of the population for vote bank politics. It certainly is not beneficial in the long run.

The nation needs to widen the tax base. Increasing the threshold limit from time to time is not a sanguine economic judgement. Letting a large section move away from the tax net is not desirable. Besides, it does not help anyone much. At that level taxes are at the lowest level. What needs to be considered is how to lessen their burden because that decides the base for taxes at higher strata as also empower the people with extra cash so that they can go to the market. Theoretically, they should remain the taxpayer even if it is a token amount of Rs 1000 a year.

The minister, however, has to reconsider the tax rates, which at the highest rate with surcharge comes to around 33 per cent both for individuals and corporate. In simple terms, it means robbing one of one-third of his income. This is too harsh, impractical and leads to complicated procedures of seeking deductions through devious methods prescribed in the Mahabharata of Income Tax rules.

These methods often help many persons, proficient with rules and right connections, to reduce their burden to around 23-24 per cent. But the others end up paying high taxes. The FM has to rationalize it not only for procedural reasons but also for the purpose of giving a boost the sales of products and ensure sustenance of the industry and entrepreneurship.

Clearly, the recession has robbed the people of their capacity to buy.  The small measure of re-jigging the tax rates would lay the foundation for low but effective tax regime. The FM has to ensure that there are not more than two tax rates beyond the threshold limit. He should levy a token tax at the lowest limit as discussed. Beyond that he should bring it down to 12 per cent up to an income of Rs 6 lakh and 17 per cent beyond that.

He may have some concern over how to tailor savings and certain other incentives that traditionally the tax procedures ensure. Normally the people should be trusted to do it. But under no circumstances can there be an absolute trust. Some may always do it and some may never. It is the latter who have to be reined in. For this purpose, he can include another two per cent in the tax rates or round it off to 15 per cent at the lower limit and 20 per cent at the higher limit. Even after giving concessions his effective tax rate would remain slightly lower than the present accruable rate.

A direct benefit would be higher revenue realisation. The lower tax rates would tempt many business people, who invariably try to evade taxes, to pay it. The government can say that it had been offered a flat rate of Rs 1400 at one time but they did not come forward. It is true. The reason is the complicated tax rules and the tendency of the department to harass the honest taxpayer. The FM has to simplify the rules and stop the practice of harassment.

The income tax department must be told that a technical non-inclusion of some tax measures is required to be seen in the proper light and do away with the provision of penalty in most cases. The taxpayer must be given his due honour for participating in the process of nation building. He should not be treated as a criminal. In case of some miscalculation or oversight, the assessee should be let off after he pays the difference.

Likewise, the post-tax appellate procedure also must be simplified. It is too time consuming and burdens the exchequer with a heavy cost. This needs to be curtailed. If the rules are simplified, the department’s staff and infrastructure cost could also be reduced. It would be a big savings in these difficult times.

Similarly, he has to simplify the provident fund withdrawals which invite high taxes. This too can be simplified by levying a flat token tax of a low sum. The basic concept should be to earn revenue on a regular basis and leave people with enough cash to buy and sustain the market.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

Doha Trade Talks:DELHI GIVES PUSH FOR RESTART, by Dr PK Vasudeva,23 June 2009 Print E-mail

Events & Issues

New Delhi, 23 June 2009

Doha Trade Talks

DELHI GIVES PUSH FOR RESTART

By Dr PK Vasudeva

Reflecting desire of several key WTO members, including India and the US, to return to full-scale negotiations to conclude the Doha global trade deal, talks on bridging gaps on agriculture, non agricultural market access (NAMA) and services are likely to pick up momentum again.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) said in a statement that “Chairperson (of agriculture negotiating group) David Walker (has) announced that the agriculture negotiations will return to a “multilateral” process (i.e. one involving and controlled by all members), reflecting members’ desire to see the talks pick up momentum.” Accordingly, a schedule for negotiations for the next few weeks, before the summer break in August and early September has been announced.

In a surprise move, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had said in the US that New Delhi is ready for “give and take” without being “frozen in pre-negotiating position” in the interest of global trade. After fruitful discussions in Washington, he said the “interlocutors have been told to take steps for resuming the multilateral negotiations,” the Doha process. “If there is a log-jam it has to be broken and the process taken forward. We have to come together, sit together to find a common meeting ground,” he has made it known. 

Describing the Doha Round as a marathon that is on its “last lap”, Sharma has hoped that countries would show flexibility for concluding the negotiations. Undoubtedly, concluding the Round at a time when countries are battling an economic slowdown will send a strong signal of willingness by nations to move away from protectionism to a rule-based multilateral global trading system.

Placed in the opposite camps of the developing and developed countries, India and the US had serious differences over the level of protection that should be provided to subsistent farmers from opening of global agri markets.

The Doha multilateral negotiations launched in 2001 have remained inconclusive since July 2008, depriving the world of an additional trade opportunity, estimated at $150 billion. If taken forward, it could provide a boost to the world economy reeling under the slowdown. New Delhi hopes there would be a ‘road map’ to restart the Doha Round of global trade talks by the time the G-8 Summit meets in Italy this year. “Let us make efforts to resume the stalled Doha Round talks,” Sharma said while inaugurating a CII-India Conference on “Managing Global Crisis”.

However, to succeed, negotiators have to ensure that this remains a Development Round both in letter and spirit. Any digression from the core principle of the DDA would dent the image of the WTO in the developing world as a platform for negotiating fair multilateral trade rules. The current economic slump and protectionist reactions from the industrialised world earlier this year should guide negotiators towards commitments that will stand the test of time for all countries.

Indeed, India would be under pressure from developed countries to hasten the process of liberalisation since it has witnessed growth even during the current slowdown. Therefore, from an industry perspective, it is imperative for New Delhi to bind itself to commitments that would continue to keep its products and services competitive in global markets, which can turn protective under pressure.

Clearly, some important objectives have to be met for the Round to be successful. First, there is need to ensure that market access to countries in the three main areas--industrial goods, services and agriculture retains a balance.

Second, in the area of industrial goods, negotiators should focus on lowering the rates of tariffs based on an agreed formula and there should be no move towards a zero duty regime for select products, as proposed by some developed countries. The Swiss Formula as advocated cannot be accepted by the developing nations as it amounts to being discriminatory. Given the structure of industry in the country, it will be impossible to safeguard interests of small industries in any sector if tariffs are eliminated at a multilateral basis. Clearly, any such move for India, which has an industrial base comprising several layers of SMEs, should be on a bilateral basis, not at a multilateral level comprising 153 member countries.

Third, there has to be enough meat for negotiations on the services pillar. There is very little to show on what India will gain in the services sector from the Doha Round. To ensure balance, it is important to build a strong services agenda before concluding negotiations on industrial goods or agriculture. 

To remain competitive, there is also a need for industry to understand the impact of commitments that New Delhi may make under the single undertaking in areas such as WTO Rules; Anti-Dumping and Subsidies; Trade and Environment; TRIPS, Biological Diversity and Traditional Knowledge; before the Round is concluded.

Herein lies the problem: It is the differing perceptions of the developing and the developed countries on the outcomes of the negotiations on most of the critical areas included in its negotiating mandate that have resulted in the impasse in the Doha Round. While developing countries have argued for the mainstreaming of development objectives in the multilateral trading system, the developed countries have pushed for market access in areas that suited their interests.

This hiatus between the two groups of countries was clearly evident in agriculture and services. Thus, in agriculture, developing countries have argued that the WTO Agreement on Agriculture must take into consideration the interests of the low income and resource-poor producers by providing them higher level of protection, while developed countries have sought larger market access to promote the interests of the large conglomerates, in particular.

But in services, where several developing countries have argued for higher degree of market opening, especially under Mode 4, which allows job-seekers better access to international markets, developed countries’ response has been rather lukewarm.

As countries are getting into the negotiating groove once again, a balanced outcome is expected from the Doha Round. The architects of the Round had, in fact, tried to ensure such an outcome when they had agreed that the outcome would be in the nature of a ‘single undertaking’, which really meant that the Doha Deal can only be done when WTO Members have concluded agreements on all areas included in the negotiating mandate. 

Thus, the negotiations have seen considerable movement in the areas of agriculture and market access of non-agricultural products, while the area of services has been on the back burner. Dealing with agriculture and NAMA in the negotiations without bringing in services and several other areas of interest to developing countries, including the possible discipline to prevent misappropriation of traditional knowledge and illegal bio-prospecting, would leave these countries at a tremendous disadvantage.

Among other issues, they would have to fast track the services negotiations, which may be the only way to counter the restrictions on Mode 4 services that have been imposed by several developed countries during the past few months.

Clearly, Sharma has to keep it in mind while negotiating that there is a lot for all countries to gain from the Doha Round, yet the core objectives set at Doha in November 2001 have to be safeguarded. It is not so easy to settle the issues related to agriculture, NAMA, services and Trips because the developed countries have to give much more to bring in the balance in the multilateral trade. --INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

Centre Bans Maoists:WEST BENGAL DITHERING, by 24 June 2009 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 24 June 2009

Centre Bans Maoists

WEST BENGAL DITHERING

By Insaf

West Bengal is not only in the cross-hairs of Naxalisms but is now busy grappling with another storm brewing in Writers Building. Thanks to a controversy over the question of going along with the Centre’s decision banning the CPI (Maoists) as a terrorist organization. This follows the CPM General Secretary’s Prakash Karat’s ‘supreme’ diktat that the Left-wing extremist group should be engaged “politically and administratively” to “isolate” them from the people instead of banning them. Though State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has made plain his opposition to the Karat line, he now faces the tough and specious suggestion of “politically and administratively” engaging with a terror group banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Adding to the State’s quandary is Karat’s latest missive: West Bengal Government had no intention of banning the CPI(Maoist). Going in for the jugular, the CM cryptically asserted that it was the “State Government’s business” to implement the ban. How?

Ban or no ban, the Maoists continue to rule the roost in Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa by holding an effective two-day bandh. Notwithstanding, the Centre’s rejection of the Maoists “peace offer” as a “diversionary” ploy to escape the onslaught by the security forces in Lalgarh. A group of 50 armed naxals stormed the civil court building in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district, adjoining Patna and freed their commander. A home guard was killed and seven others injured in the indiscriminate firing by the Maoists. In Jharkhand, the Maoists blew up a panchayat building in Palamu district; in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura in West Bengal and in Maoists-hit southern and western districts of Orissa, normal life was affected.  

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Failed Monsoon Worries States

With the risk of a failed monsoon looming large, both the Centre and State Governments fear the worst: a possible drought, crop failure, economic recovery being hit, farmers’ protest and rising food prices. The meteorologists have warned of the El Nino effect, i.e. a periodic weather anomaly that saps the monsoon of its strength most of the time it occurs. While the Centre is keeping a close watch and has called for States’ agriculture secretaries meeting, some Chief Ministers including Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh’s, are resorting to yagyas (prayers) to please the rain gods. In Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra the farmers are fearing large-scale crop loss, while in Kerala and Uttarakhand among others, the shrinking reservoirs would clearly affect power generation and release of water to irrigated tracts. With 60 per cent of the country’s net sown area depending on rains all eyes are on the weather gods.

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UPA to Stake Claim In Jharkhand?

Jharkhand has given the UPA fresh hope of staking claim to form the State government. In the bye-elections held to the two Rajya Sabha seats on Sunday last, the combine wrested the seats from the NDA, which fell vacant following BJP’s Yashwant Sinha and JD (U) Digvijay Singh election to the Lok Sabha. The State has been under President’s rule since January after the UPA was unable to agree on JMM leader Shibhu Soren’s successor. However, with its new found victory and ‘enough’ numbers in the 82-member House, the JMM leaders plan to go to Delhi to impress upon the Congress High Command to withdraw President rule. On the other hand, the BJP is mulling over the latest shock of its own allies ditching it in the State.   

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Maharashtra Spells Trouble for BJP

Adding to its woes, Maharashtra continues to spell double-trouble for the BJP. Barely had it recovered from setting its Uttarakhand house in order, by anointing Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as the new Chief Minister, the Phoenix of factionalism savaged by internal bickering, stares the Hindutva Brigade in the face in the Western State. Infighting continues to fester between former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and the State BJP President Nitin Gadkari engaged in a debilitating one-upmanship tussle. With Assembly elections due in October it is imperative for the Saffron leadership to put up an improved performance in the coming polls. Given the severe reverses it suffered along with ally Shiv Sena in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls. A victory would go a long way in re-energising the Party cadres. Besides, a third consecutive defeat for the two NDA partners in the State would not only raise serious questions about their ability to defeat the Congress-NCP combine, but, more important, it would put a big question mark on the viability of the alliance itself.

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Bihar CM Nets RJD Leaders

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar never had it so good. It’s raining ‘MLAs’ literally with his JD(U) being inundated by requests from arch-rival Lalu’s RJD and Paswan’s LJP leaders to join the Party. In the last few months alone a number of RJD-LJP leaders have switched loyalties. Nitish’s latest prize catch is RJD’s Dalit face eight-time MLA and Minister Ramai Ram and his daughter Geeta, an MLC. For already-down-in-the dumps Laloo and Paswan struggling to keep their flock together post the Lok Sabha poll mauling, these desertions spell double-trouble. One, it sent out a strong signal that their days of ‘Partying’ are numbered. Two, their plans to rebuild their respective Parties has hit the first obstacle. Call it poetic justice or what you may, but nemesis seems to have caught up with them. Will Nitish have the last laugh?

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Delhi Tops Infant Deaths

Delhi, the Union Capital is no place for infants. No matter its claim to all-round development and a third consecutive win for the Shiela Dikshit Government.  The number of children dying within the first year of birth has doubled in the past two years, according to the Economic Survey of Delhi for 2008-09. The infant mortality rate in 2007 was 25.4 deaths per 1,000 children between the age of 0 and 1 year, as against 12.9 in 2006 and 18.1 in 2005. While the State government can take solace from the fact that the Capital’s IMR is better than the national average of 55, the recent survey comes as a severe jolt as it’s the only State to have a rising IMR. The last time Delhi had such a high IMR was in 2001 (24.5 deaths). Though the government has been raising the budget for health care, the latest being an allotment of Rs 1,019 crore, the sorry state of affairs obviously reveals that the medical system is crumbling.  

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Karnataka’s All-Women Prison

Karnataka is soon to have its first all-women prison, in the footsteps of an all-women police station. The State Government has decided to convert an existing jail in Tumkur, to meet its long-pending commitment of a separate prison to curb harassment and exploitation of women inmates. Having got the nod, the prison authorities have asked the PWD to renovate the historic jail. Other than roomier cells and recreation centres, the prison is expected to have a crèche to accommodate the inmates’ children, a hospital and classrooms for continuing education. Statistics show that 180 women convicts and 200 women undertrials are languishing in different jails. Many of them, however, can now look forward to being ‘treated with dignity’ under one roof. --INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

National Employment Scheme:CAUGHT IN BUREAUCRATIC SNAGS, by Suraj Saraf,17 June 2009 Print E-mail

Open Forum

New Delhi, 17 June 2009

National Employment Scheme

CAUGHT IN BUREAUCRATIC SNAGS

By Suraj Saraf

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has been hailed as the most important flagship project of the UPA government to unlock the potential of the vast rural population (72%) through tackling its unemployment problem.

Launched in 200 districts in February 2006, the project had been described as a major success by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. She said it underlined the Government’s commitment “to reach out to the masses and provide them with all basic amenities.”

Highlighting its important aspects at a NREG conference in Delhi, she said it had stopped the exodus of labour, empowered women, provided basic facilities in many sectors, including education and health, and transformed life in the rural belt. “Only when the common man prospers will the country prosper.”

Importantly, the NREG had been widely lauded and accordingly being taught at the J.P. Kennedy School, the Marvard University and the London School of Economics. However, conscious of the fact that such a crucial project might have lacunae, delegates were promised to be removed. It was necessary that implementation of the scheme should be reviewed frequently. So far, two important studies have been conducted ---a report by the CAG and a study by the National Sample Survey viz some States (Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh “which had best utilized the scheme in creating jobs and assets and given a fillip to rural economy.”) This is expected to take one year, to be followed by a national survey later.

Meanwhile, some State governments have made their own assessment. But let us first see what the CAG has to say. He had criticized the dilution of the NREGA due to poor record maintenance, delayed payment of wages and non-payment of unemployment allowance. The NREG was launched to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year. In its performance audit report, the CAG noted that of the Rs.13074 crore funds, including the States’ share of Rs.813 crore up to March 2007, the State government could utilize only Rs 8823 crore.

It further observed that the NREGA being a Central law, the Union Ministry of Rural Development should accept the overall responsibility for coordinating and monitoring its administration and ensuring economical, efficient and effective utilization of funds provided by the Union government.

According to the ministry 3.81 crore households had demanded employment but only 2.10 crore were beneficiaries during 2006-07. Besides, there were several cases of delayed payment of wages for which no compensation was paid. “While there was inadequate assurance that all demands for work were being captured, there were also instances of non-payment of unemployment allowance, which became due to job seekers even where the records indicated that employment was not provided within 15 days from the date of demand. However, no one was fined for violation of the Act.”

The CAG report also noted that poor record maintenance further diluted the purpose of the Act. Systems for financial management and tracking were deficient, as monthly squaring and reconciliation of accounts at different levels to maintain financial accountability and transparency were not being done.

Worse, there was absence of proper planning mechanism for the implementation of NREGS in Haryana and though employment was provided to 36% households, the assets created were by and large not beneficial to the community, according to the CAG report for 2007-08 placed in the State Assembly.

Highlighting the lack of planning, the report said district perspective plan for five years and annual plans for implementation of the scheme were not prepared. Importantly, the report underscored serious bungling in the implementation of the scheme, and said there were cases of over or double payments, insertion of bogus names in muster rolls as also payments without proper receipts.

In addition, assets created were not beneficial to the community. The report also under scored instances of defective budgeting, improper planning, lack of coordination, slow implementation of development schemes, defective execution of works, deficiencies in systems and procedures, excess payments, wasteful and avoidable expenditure.

In a day-long dialogue in Jaipur, several concerned organizations threw light on “practical difficulties” in the execution of the NREGS, including insufficient payment for the NREGS workers, irregularities in the measurement of works and flouting of government orders by the panchayat officials.

Many useful suggestions included that elected representatives should adopt specific villages for keeping an eye on the implementation of the NREGS and help plug loopholes where the responsibilities assigned by the government were not being fulfilled; that each adult member of a rural family should be treated as a unit for providing employment;   that works such as development of pasture land, erecting sand walls and plantations should be included in the NREGS and that a farmers’ Commission headed by a farmer should be set up, etc. 

Interestingly, efforts have been made to alleviate suffering of those rendered jobless by the current economic slowdown. State Governments have been asked to provide jobs to those going back to their States after being laid off.  The States should issue job cards on a war footing, register demands for jobs and engage them at least for 100 days or till the economy registered an upturn and they get back their jobs.  

The Centre had initiated the measure to widen the scheme in the wake of reports that at least five lakh workers had lost their jobs. States have been told that it is most appropriate time to fill all vacancies, including the post of Rozgar Sahayak at the panchayat levels, who maintained records, technical hands at the block level to monitor schemes, accountants and IT professionals to upload data.

The Centre is hopeful that it would create an employment potential for about three lakh personnel, with wages under these categories ranging between Rs.2000 and Rs.10,000 a month. Taking heart from the global popularity of the scheme, the department is exploring the possibility to earn carbon credits for the “green jobs” rendered by the rural masses. The Ministry of Environment and Forests had been asked to study the benefits to environment from their services, quantify the same and asses if revenue could be earned from carbon trading.

Here it is pertinent to underscore what Jean Dreze, one of the initiators of the NREGS had to say in a recent interview to a national daily. One, he emphasized that the operational framework of the NREGA needed radical overhaul. “The support structures required to make the NREGA work are simply not in place. For instance, there is no grievance redressal process. The Central Employment Guarantee Council has been disbanded, against the law.”

Two, was in regard to households as units made entitled to work instead of individuals. This was crucial as the household approach has caused much confusion, especially since the term has not been well-defined. Also, taking the individual as the basic unit throughout the system would help to streamline the record and achieve transparency.

Third, he said this would facilitate full and equal participation of women; they would have their own job card and bank account, instead of depending on their male relatives. Lastly, individual entitlements would enable poor families to work for more than 100 days, if required. One person, one job card, one bank account should be the basic principle, he emphasized.  

Since the NREGS aims at mitigating rural unemployment, it is essential that it benefits and works in cooperation with other important schemes with the same end. One such project is that of Khadi & Village Industries, that provides long term employment to eight million rural workers. As the 11th Five Year Plan points out “Village industries have an important role in generating employment at a comparatively low cost. This sector has prospects for high growth in output and creation of new employment opportunities.”

Fortunately, a loan of $ 150-million has been provided by the ADB aiming at enhancing the income and employment in the rural non-farming sector. Indeed, both projects viz the NREGS and the Khadi and Village Industries Development working in cooperation can ensure the required impetus for rural India that will also augur well for inclusive development for which everyone is emphasizing to accelerate the employment and GDP. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

 

Reds Vs Reds:FIGHT TO LIBERATE LALGARH, by Insaf,18 June 2009 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 18 June 2009    

Reds Vs Reds

FIGHT TO LIBERATE LALGARH

By Insaf

Three States-- West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland are gaining notoriety for being the badlands of the country. In the first, it is Reds vs Reds with the Maoists taking on the CPM’s (red brigade) for control of villages in rural Bengal. Emerging from the Bengal- Jharkhand border, the Maoists audaciously struck Jhargram town followed by laying siege of two police stations in West Midnapore district aided by the local tribals. As it stands the Maoists have turned 100 sq km and 1100 villages into the country’s second ‘liberated zone’, after Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. The Maoists are seeking to increase their sway from next week by laying siege on Goaltore and Salboni 50 km away from Lalgarh. Already in Lalgarh district the Maoists brigade has taken position of the villages and are hounding out the CPM cadres and leaders, targeting their party offices and digging roads and setting up barricades to block access to security force.

Clearly, the Naxal game plan is to create liberated zones in the State. Against the backdrop that a demoralized police force and a wary State government which refuses to take action. It does not want a repeat of Singur and Nandigram. In West Midnapore district, Maoists have laid siege on two police stations into the tribal police station areas. Underscoring as never before how administrative institutions, systematically subverted over the years by the CPM, collapse when there is a threat of a power-shift reducing party cadres to sitting ducks. Clearly, the CPM’s cup of woes continues to overflow post its electoral debacle. It is a moot point whether the red brigade will be able to curtail the Maoists fire or will the State erupt into a full-fledged civil war. A worried New Delhi has dispatched the CRPF’s new anti-Naxal commando force to the State. Notwithstanding the Central forces continuing operations to rid Lalgarh of the Maoists, the siege once again exposes the unpreparedness of both the State and Centre to tackle growing Naxal menace.    

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Dacoit Throws UP Police In Turmoil

If it is the Maoists on a rampage in West Bengal, it is the dacoits who have wrought havoc in Uttar Pradesh. Imagine, a lone dacoit in Jamauli village in Chitrakoot district of the Hindu heartland took head-on around 400 police personnel, led by top UP officers in a deadly encounter on Tuesday last, killing three cops and injuring an Inspector General and Dy. IGP. Shockingly, it took the police 50 hours to battle and ‘smoke out’ the dacoit, who hid in a cluster of 40-odd houses and eventually kill him. Notorious Ghanshyam Kewat aka Naam has indeed made a name for himself in the annals of notorious dacoits. Many in the heartland dub him as an incarnate of the dreaded Phoolan Devi. The drama however, highlights the miserable performance of the State police force. 

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 Nagaland’s  Ethnic Inferno 

In Nagaland, the North Cachar hills continue to be engulfed in an inferno of ethnic violence which erupted in March last. Leaving over 50 dead as unidentified miscreants alternatively targeted Zeme Naga and Dimasa tribal villages. The Dimasas comprise about 35 per cent of the hill district’s population, followed by the Zeme Nagas who are about 11.5 per cent. The Tarun Gogoi State Government already grappling with the twin menace of insurgency-induced violence and a nexus between the politician and insurgents is now working overtime to bring things under control. Towards that end, it has placed the North Cachar Hill Autonomous Council under suspended animation and deployed additional forces. 

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 Uttarakhand Adds To BJP Woes

There seems to be no respite from the bitter infighting in the BJP, engulfed as it is in a tough war between rival internal factions. If the stark differences within the Central leadership were not bad enough, Uttarakhand is in the throes of a fresh crisis. This follows former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s resignation from the Rajya Sabha, ostensibly to go back and work among the masses. Notwithstanding his taking back the resignation a day later, the entire drama is an ill-conceived attempt to mount pressure on the party for beleaguered Chief Minister B C Khanduri to quit. Adding to the all-round confusion, the State Legislative party is reportedly split down the middle between the rival factions. Undoubtedly, Khanduri gained a breather by winning the Kapkot bypoll following the 0-5 defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. But with the Koshiyari faction asserting that the issue of leadership change was alive, despite show cause notices to 21 members, everything seems to be up in the air.

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Mumbai Division Over ATR

The Mumbai 26/11 carnage refuses to die down on the political stage. What with the Maharashtra Government continuing to play havoc and politicizing the terror attack. The latest is its refusal to table the Ram Pradhan Committee report to inquire into the bloodbath. Instead of tabling the entire findings of the two-member Committee, the Government chose to table an abridged Action Taken Report (ATR).  Thanks to serious difference within the Cabinet over its findings. Primarily, why Mumbai Police Commissioner was shunted out when the report had given the Mumbai Police a clean chit? Worse, replacing him with an officer who was Commissioner of State Intelligence Department indicted for intelligence failure. Resulting in not a few Ministers wanting another committee to study the report! Politicians will be politicians.

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 Orissa’s Five-Year Perspective Plan 

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has decided to take a cue from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in improving his governance report card. On the lines of Singh asking his ministers to plan a 100-day action plan, Patnaik has instructed his secretaries to prepare a five-year perspective plan. They have to act fast and do the needful in consultation with their ministers in just 15 days! In the first meeting of secretaries last week, the CM asked the officers to implement bijli, sadak and paani programmes.  “We cannot yield the fruits of welfare schemes if officers make reviews in AC rooms,” was his clear message. The officers are to now head to the villages and  ensure the schemes serve the people’s purpose.   

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 ‘Sleepless Nights’ For MP CM

Worried over poor performance in the Lok Sabha poll, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has turned into a workaholic, stretching his days at both ends. After bagging 25 out of 29 seats in 2004 and winning a State election comfortably last year, the party was sadly down to 16 seats this general poll. In a damage control exercise, the BJP CM has particularly set his eyes on the rural folk, which let him down. On Saturday last, he surprised everyone by spending the night in tribal-dominated Saheli village of Hoshangabad district, listening to grievances, sanctioning a higher secondary school and promising to provide wheat at Rs 2 a kg to BPL families. Back in Bhopal on Sunday, Chouhan preferred to restructure the Rural Development Department, dealing with schemes for the girl child and women, rather than rest. Hope the hard work pays off.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

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