Round The States
New Delhi, 27 December 2007
Modi’s Solemn
Promise
GOOD GOVERNANCE
& DEVELOPMENT
By Insaf
All eyes continue to be on Narendra Modi and his Gujarat. True, he singlehandedly took on the Congress, its supremo, Sonia Gandhi and all the rebels and
critics --- and created history by winning hands down with a final tally of 117
seats in a 182-member Assembly. The
Congress had to be content with barely
62 seats even though 11 up from its 51 in 2002. But that was yesterday. Today,
Modi is being watched closely as he begins his third term as the Chief Minister.
And Modi has not disappointed so far. He has made all the right gestures and
the correct noises. Displaying magnanimity, he has reached out to all his detractors,
including Keshubhai Patel, within the BJP and the Congress.
More importantly, he has declared that development and giving Gujarat
good governance are paramount. As he put it: “The people have not just given us
power. They have also handed over a responsibility”.
Modi’s message
for his third term is loud and clear. He has promised a sustained growth of 12.5
per cent and vowed to turn former President Kalam’s 2020 vision of India into
reality much before that. Importantly, he has challenged all those who continue
to accuse him of having pursued his communal agenda during the poll campaign.
He has offered to step down if his critics can show him even one instance of
having made a communal pitch. Even as Modi embarks on his Gujarati dream, it
remains to be seen whether the Congress
will carry out a truly Gandhian introspection and learn its Gujarat
lesson. It has to face facts. Neither
Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul carried any great conviction with the voters. True, they
attracted big crowds. But as the late Congress
President, Kamraj, once stated, most people come for tamasha. Every public meeting by a top leader is a mela for them. Ultimately, the people vote on the basis of
their own judgment and fancy!
* * * *
Rajasthan Cabinet
Expands
Emboldened by her Party’s historic triumph in Gujarat, Rajasthan’s Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje,
sprung a surprise on her Party earlier this week by expanding her Cabinet. She
inducted four new Cabinet Ministers and one Minister of State while dropping
two Ministers and accepting the resignation of another. Even as Raje asserted that her expansion was to ‘bring efficiency’
to her Administration, the induction of new Meena and a Gujjar faces is
perceived as an attempt to mollify the agitated Gujjar community, which has
threatened to launch a major agitation after being denied Scheduled Tribe
status in the State. Moreover, coming on the heels of Modi’s landslide victory
in Gujarat, the ministerial induction is a
sharp rap on the knuckles of the RSS-backed dissidents
in the State. With Assembly
elections slated for December 2008 the message
to the dissidents is clear: Fall in
line or quit.
* *
* *
Nagaland Government
To Stay
The controversy over the Nagaland Government’s longevity has
blown over. The Centre has wisely decided against dismissing
the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, as the State is slated to go to
the polls within the next three months. Notwithstanding, the persistent demand
raised by the Congress MLAs that they
had won the no-confidence motion against the Neiphiu Rio Government by 31-23
votes and had the requisite majority to form the Government. In doing so, New Delhi has overlooked
a “constitutional impropriety” committed by the Speaker in ruling that the
NPF-led Government had survived the no-confidence motion last week. Astonishingly,
the Speaker barred three Independent MLAs from voting on the ground that they
had earlier supported the NPF Government. Moreover, he declared the vote of
nine dissident MLAs against the
Government invalid for having defied the Party whip. Raising a moot point: the
Government may have survived, but was the Speaker’s unprecedented ruling
justified?
* *
* *
Mayawati Breaks
Fresh Ground
Queen Bee of social engineering, Mayawati has unveiled a
nouvelle Economic Policy. At its core is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
model wherein the quota system would be introduced, albeit voluntarily, in the
areas and projects to be developed under this model. The reservation policy
would be similar to the on-going policy in the Government service and envisages
10 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes, 10 per cent for the OBCs and
religious minorities and another 10 per cent for the economically poor among
the Upper Castes. Unfolding her Middle Path holistic policy, the UP Chief
Minister vowed that the benefits would
accrue to the deprived and downtrodden sections of the poor. Conveniently,
brushing under the carpet the ugly reality of rising unemployment, increasing
crime graph and pathetic infrastructure. All cannot be waved off merely with
her “sarv samaj” wand! Development is
a hard task master.
* * *
*
Delhi’s Scandalous Record!
Delhi now has the dubious distinction of
having shortest Assembly sessions. Shockingly, the Assembly
met only for 18 sittings this year. The established norm is around 60 sittings,
as decided at a meeting of the Speakers of all Assemblies
convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee recently. Pertinently, the
three-day winter session from 26 to
29 December has a litany of over 224 questions admitted for reply, besides five
bills and three private members resolutions. Ironically, a BJP MLA’s resolution
demands that the Assembly should
have a minimum of 50 sittings in a year and each session
should be at least of two weeks. No matter that the Delhi Assembly Speaker, Prem Singh, summarily dismissed the issue
earlier this week by asserting that
it was the Delhi Government’s prerogative to decide on the sittings.
Questionably, is this fair to the system and the tax payer?
* * *
*
Power For Arunachal
Villages
Arunachal Pradesh has reason to feel ‘alight’. Gone before
very long will be days when sunset was synonymous with darkness for hundreds of villages in the border areas of
the State and the twinkling Chinese lights from across
the border cast an envious glow. Happily, the State Government has decided to
end the India-China “divide” by preparing the “Border Villages Illumination
Programme” to develop infrastructure in 842 villages. The 61-crore project
envisages setting up of plants of a capacity ranging from 10 KV to 200 KV to
bring minimum domestic lighting facility to these villages. Even the remote 170
villages which are not connected by motorable roads will be aglow with
independent hydel power! However, a lot more will still remain to be done. Almost
45 per cent of the villages in the State, home to over 31,000 households, would
continue to grope in darkness, thanks
to funds constraint. Time for the Centre to be generous!
* * *
*
Bird Watching MP’s
Latest Fad
Madhya Pradesh has earned a ‘bird’ feather for its cap. Bird
watching has become the flavour of the winter season in the State with more and
more people, including children, joining various bird camps in Bhopal. The movement for birds and nature
started in the State two years ago in 2005 and has come a long way. It has not
only led to the creation of an NGO, “Bhopal Birds,” devoted to the cause of
nature conservation but the State Forest Department, the Academy of
Administration, the State Tourism Development Corporation and the World
Wildlife Fund for Nature have joined hands to conduct various bird camps in
Bhopal, specially in the Upper Lake, home to many bird species from Europe and
Central Asia. Happily, resulting in the formation of a “Green Brigade”
(Environmentally Aware Citizens) in support of environmental conservation. This
should indeed, be music to India’s
bird watchers led by legendry Salim Ali. ---- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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