Round The States

New Delhi, 2 December 2010

Dealing With Naxals

NEW SECURITY PLAN ON ANVIL

By Insaf

States can now look forward to a Naxalite free era. The Union Home Ministry has decided to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) expected to be in place by the end of next year.  Conceptualised on the lines of NCTC set up by the US post-9/11, it is to help the States counter the dreaded Maoists. Not only that. The NCTC is to be tasked with preventing a terrorist attack, containing a terrorist attack, and responding to a terrorist attack by inflicting pain upon the perpetrators. It would serve as an umbrella authority on terror-related matters on which representatives from various intelligence and investigative agencies would be represented. Also, it would have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations. In addition to the NCTC, NATGRID a network of various individual databases relating to rail and air travel, phone calls, bank accounts, credit card transactions, passport and visa records, PAN cards etc would also come handy. It is a moot point whether this new security architecture will finally nail the Maoists.

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Jaganmohan Quits Congress

The Congress problem child in Andhra Jaganmohan Reddy finally cut the umbical cord with the Party. He alongwith his mother, an MLA sent their resignation letter to Party President Sonia. Though his exit from the Party was on the cards following his TV channel Sakshi’s stringent criticism against both the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, the High Command waited for him to take the first step. It is no secret that since his father Rajshekhar’s demise, the young Lok Sabha MP has been hoping to be anointed Chief Minister. But no such luck. Adding to Jagan’s woes, the new Chief Minister managed to create a wedge in the family by making his uncle Vivekanand Reddy a Minister in his 39-member new Cabinet. This is not all. In a decisive move, the Congress leadership also dropped four of Jagan’s loyalists from the previous Cabinet and brought in 11 new faces including Ravindra Reddy, a known YSR baiter along-with giving a lion’s share to the Reddy community, traditional backbone of the Congress, as part of the strategy to contain Jagan's threat to wean away the Reddy community. All eyes are now on Jagan’s next move.

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West Bengal Deals With Maoists

There is some good news for embattled West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. According to him, the Maoist problem in his State is largely under control. Whereby the jungle areas of the State have been freed of Naxalites and continuous operation are being undertaken to uphold the rule of law. To deal with the high risk to the police personnel posted in the Maoist-affected districts, Bhattacharjee announced compensation to police officers and employment to one of the kin of dead policemen. Not only that. Efforts are on to speed up the construction of housing for police personnel and provide them with better healthcare facilities. It remains to be seen whether these measures are limited only till such time the State goes to polls early next year.

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Maharashtra In BIMARU Rank

India’s commercial State Maharashtra is set to join the ranks of the country’s four BIMARU States. A new study by Mumbai University shows that Maharashtra, once seen as an epitome of growth, development and progress, fares quite poorly in the all-important factor of economic growth rate. Shockingly, the State fell to 11th for growth from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Both Bihar (rank 4) and Rajasthan (10) rank higher. While backward states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh seem to have woken up from their slumber and taken giant strides towards progress, Maharashtra is facing a reversal of fortunes. Despite having a large base of its own tax collection, the State has got mired in inefficiency, poor governance, corruption charges and an apathetic attitude towards its own people. More, Government spending in development, education, social and economic areas indicates that the State’s overall health is not only poor but marginally above that of Bihar. Shocking to say the least!

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Railways Play Spoiler In IT City

Now it is the turn of the Indian Railways to play a spoiler in the construction of Karnataka’s high speed rail link plan (HSRL). The much delayed project connecting Bangalore to its new international airport proposal has hit a fresh speed breaker over the legal framework. The plan mooted in 2006 at a cost of Rs.6,000 croresm which was intended to reduce commuting time from the present one hour to 20 minutes, has been indefinitely postponed. Primarily because of two reasons. One, railway constructions outside urban municipalities fall under the purview of the Railways and, two, the Centre has still to delegate powers to the State under the Central Metro Railway (Construction) Act 1980. Adding to the quagmire, the extension of the Bruhat Bangalore Corporation limits to encompass the new Bengaluru International Airport, located 37 km away, cannot be carried out due to ongoing census that prevents redrawing urban geographies till March 2011. The much feted IT capital will have to sweat it out in roadblocks.

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State-Centre Tussle In Kerala

In Kerala too, the Left Democratic Front Government and UPA have locked horns over widening of national highways through state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Ahead of April 2011 Assembly elections, the State Government wants the Centre to not only give market value for land acquisition but also foot the bill for resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced due to widening of highways. Predictably, the Centre has refused to make any exception thereby stalling widening work on several projects. Already, five four-laning projects on NH-17 and three on NH-47 are in limbo. A tough talking State Government has written to the Road Transport Ministry to stop all land acquisition in the state. Clearly, the Road of Governance is filled with murky pot holes.

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Congress Seeks Divine Help

Now it’s the turn of the Congress in Orissa to seek divine help. In a move to embarrass the ruling BJD in the land acquisition deal for Vedanta University project at Puri, the Congress MLAs went to the Lord Jagannath temple and offered prayers to the deity seeking his blessings for early end of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s ‘mis-rule’. It also accused the Chief Minister of reneging on the recent direction of Orissa High Court which held that land acquisition for the university was illegal and directed the State Government to return the acquired lands to their original owners. Will Lord Jagannath oblige? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)