Round The States
New Delhi, 9 June 2011
Centre-States Feud
‘RESTORE FEDERAL
POLITY’
By Insaf
The BJP has done at long last what was solely needed for
long. It has spotlighted the undermining of the federal structure in the
country over the years, pushing it towards what appears to be a one party
Central rule. At its National Executive meeting in Lucknow last week, Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi’s resolution lambasted the Centre for “usurping” the powers of
the States. Importantly, the resolution sought to unite regional parties facing
“step-motherly treatment” at the hands of the Congress-led UPA Government and
affirmed: “We shall stand up in
solidarity with any non-Congress States attacked or discriminated against.” The
list of breaches to the federal dharma,
included Governors being used as political agents (as seen in Karnataka) and
Central laws encroaching on States domain and finances. The message was loud
and clear: It’s time to implement the Sarkaria Commission recommendations on
Centre-State relationship.
Modi had obviously done his homework and cited the plight of
BJP-ruled States: At the top was his own State, wherein he lamented that the
UPA was refusing to clear the Gujarat Organised Crime Control legislation for
many years, even though it had been passed by the Assembly twice. Ironically,
an exactly similar law (MCOC) was allowed in Congress-ruled Maharashtra!
Worse, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh too were awaiting this law to be
cleared. This apart, the Centre was using constitutional provisions to make
laws relating to items in the Concurrent List, but was refusing to pick up the
bills. A case in point was the much-touted Right to Education Act and the
National Food Security Act, wherein the States had to shell out more expenditure
without any Central aid! Accordingly, the Lucknow
meet rued: "Non-Congress ruled States are raising voice of disapproval
from all over the country.” Sadly, it appears to be falling on deaf ears!
Mamata’s Gorkhaland
Deal
Peace may finally return to Darjeeling following a bipartite agreement
between the West Bengal Government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The
initiative was taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to resolve the
Gorkhaland problem hanging fire for over a decade as she begins a new innings
in Kolkata’s Writer’s Building.
According to the pact, the GJM will assume power in Darjeeling, with its three MLAs being
inducted into the Board of Administrators that would run the affairs of the
hills till a new Hill Council is formed through elections to be held later.
Significantly, Mamata has kept the Union Home Ministry in the loop about ‘the
settlement’ whereby a tripartite agreement would be signed later. It remains to
be seen whether Mamata’s ‘magic formula’ will bear fruit and ensure that violence
is given a burial once and for all in the salubrious hills.
* * * *
UP’s Mid-Day Meals
Scandal
UP may boasts of a Dalit Messiah in Chief Minister Mayawati,
yet it has not changed the deep seated caste bias in schools in the State. Most
scandalously, a Lucknow
University report has
exposed that mid-day meals (MDM) cooked by Dalits go waste in 40 per cent
schools in three districts. The teachers refuse to taste the meals and students
reject it since the cooks belong to the lower caste. This is not all. In Urban
areas too, in 80 per cent schools there is a difference between the number of
actual students present in the class and the number that are shown to be
availing of MDM and that 95 per cent children bring their own utensils. A
concerned Centre has asked the State Government to look into the matter and
give its report by July-end. Needless to say a voluble Mayawati nonchalantly
remains tight lipped.
* * * *
Fissures in Left
Front
Post the drubbing in the Kerala and West Bengal Assembly
polls all is not well within the 34-year-old Left Front. Deep fissures have
emerged with the CPI and the All India Forward Bloc threatening to quit the
Front. Both have put the onus of defeat squarely on the shoulders of the CPM
and its arrogant and “egotistical former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattcharjee
and wants a leadership change. In fact, the bad blood between the Front, which
had first surfaced in 2007 over the Nandigram firing incident along with the
acquisition of multi-crop land in Singur was papered over. But as subsequent
events are now showing this was only superficial. Clearly, the days of the alliance
seem to be numbered. Adding to the CPM’s woes, its Lalgarh unit has also upped
the ante of forming a break-away party, CPM Lalgarh. All eyes are riveted on
General Secretary Prakash Karat’s next move.
* * * *
Jaya Snaps DMK
Cables
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s ‘vengeance’ on her
predecessor DMK patriarch Karunanidhi knows no bounds. She delivered a body
blow on her arch rival by bringing Tamil Nadu’s lucrative Rs.900 crore private
cable TV network under State control. That too on his birthday, knowing full
well that half the network is owned by Karunanidhi’s nephews the Maran brothers
--- Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi. Coming on the heels of
Jayalalitha cancelling the construction of her arch rival’s pet project of a Rs-1000
crore secretariat and ordering an enquiry into alleged irregularities has only
added to the DMK’s woes. The AIDMK supremo has also scrapped the Kalaignar
insurance scheme. Undoubtedly, hell hath no fury as a rival scorned!
* * * *
MP’s Munna Bhai
Munna Bhai MBBS reel life played out on real celluloid in
Madhya Pradesh. In one of the biggest admission scandals in the country, over
150 medical students got admission in to Government medical colleges after
someone else appeared for them during the pre-medical entrance examination. The
scam came to light when authorities stumbled on a miss-match of photographs
between those who had appeared for the entrance exam and students currently
studying in the course. Shockingly, most of the students belong to the
2009-2010 batch and have already got into the second year while some belong to
the current batch, and will soon appear for their First Year examination if
they survive the scandal. Needless to say, the State Government is in a
quandary. Unlike the film a jaadu ki
jhappi would not suffice in curing the malady of medical impersonators!---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|