Round
The States
New Delhi, 20 July 2019
Assam’s NRC
NEVER-ENDING EXERCISE?
By Insaf
Assam’s NRC conundrum lingers on. Both the
Centre and the State government have again knocked on the Supreme Court’s door
seeking extension of the deadline for publishing the final consolidated NRC by
a month. The reasons cited are on two counts. One, that lakhs of people may
have been wrongly included due to local factors. And, two that the devastating
floods have hampered its work. But what will be worrying for a large number of
people is the Centre saying that “India cannot be a refugee capital of the world”
and it (read Modi government) is committed to deal strictly with illegal
immigrants. Thus, the message is clearly tough -- that the process under way
needs to be ‘tweaked to deal with wrongful exclusions and inclusions.’ In fact,
both the governments have pleaded for a 20 per cent sample re-verification in
districts close to the Bangladesh border as lakhs of people ‘could have wrongly
been included.’ At the same time, the Assam NRC coordinator told the court that
though he will be ready to publish a supplementary list of additional
inclusions and final exclusions on July 31, another month is required to
publish the ‘final consolidated NRC’. Submit a copy to the Centre, is Chief
Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s advice as already 80 lakh-odd people are said to have already
been re-verified. The matter is listed for July 23 and all eyes will be on
where the NRC is finally headed.
* * * *
AP Dream Dashed
Andhra Pradesh’s farmers see a ray of hope. The
World Bank has put a spanner in former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s dream
project of world class capital ‘Amaravati’. It has decided not to give $300
million loan, following its inspection report (submitted this January but not
made public), perhaps necessitated by protests from several NGOs led by Capital
Region Farmers Federation, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Human Rights Forum, etc,
these past over four years. The activists were against building the capital by
acquiring farmers land, development close to Krishna riverbank and accused Naidu
of misrepresenting facts to secure the loan. Worse, none of the promises to
farmers, who had lost land and their livelihood, were being fulfilled, fertile
farmlands and forests were diverted, 20,000-odd families displaced, etc. The
government, demand the NGOs must return the plots taken forcefully, a judicial
inquiry into socio-economic damage, land transactions and psychological trauma
of thousands of people, prosecute brokers, real estate agents and others who
purchased or facilitated the purchase of the assigned lands etc. music perhaps to Chief Minister Jagmohan
Reddy’s ears, as he is already on his predecessor’s case, but will the young
shoulders be able to carry the burden?
* * * *
3
Parties Dilemma
Nirvachan Sadan could well play spoilsport
for three political parties. West Bengal’s TMC, Maharashtra’s NCP and the CPI are
under the scanner of Election Commission and may no longer have the tag of
‘national’ parties. More so, as the 3-member Commission it is said is in no
mood to be soft anymore and issued its show cause notices, seeking reply by
August 5. It quotes the rulebook, Election
Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, wherein ‘national status’ is
conferred on a party if its candidates secure: at least 6% of the votes polled
in a State in a LS election; if four of its MPs get re-elected from any State;
if it wins at least 2% of seats in the LS in past General Elections; if the
party is recognised as a State party in at least four States. Their
dismal performance this General Election puts them in the dock. It was a
similar story in 2014, but the EC then paid heed to their pleas and amended the rules to assess the status
eligibility over two elections rather than one. Not anymore. They better
prepare to say goodbye to a permanent election symbol across States, free campaign
slots on national broadcasters during polls and their right to a party office
in New Delhi. Unless there is a miracle!
* * * *
Bihar & North-East Flooded
The devastating floods in the
North-East and Bihar have taken a heavy toll. The number of people having died
is over 110 so far and the casualties continue to rise. Bihar’s districts of
Araria, Kishanganj and Sheohar have been worst hit with 4.6 million people
affected and the death toll rising to 67. The numbers may be more as figures from Katihar,
Saharsa and East Champaran, were not available with authorities. However,
waters in the State are said to be receding, and the government will soon need
to shift its focus on prevention of outbreak of diseases. In Assam, 29
districts have been deluged and over 5.57 million people have been affected by
the floods. However, what is interesting is that the State has witnessed a “significant decreasing” trend in the average
monsoon rainfall since 1870 even as extreme rainfall or sudden downpour days
that lead to frequent flooding are on the rise. The deaths are claimed to be ‘lesser’
this year because of “government preparedness”. However, that should be no
solace as the reality is that the yearly phenomenon has not made authorities
any wiser. Human lives are lost, but who cares?
* * * *
Punjab Suspense
Does Navjot Singh Sidhu finally walk out of
the ministerial pavilion, is a question doing the rounds in Punjab. The
cricketer-turned politician had sent his resignation to Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh on Monday last, but till now there has been no conformation
whether it has been accepted, given that Amarinder has yet to see it. Recall
Navjot had been stripped off key portfolios in the Cabinet reshuffle in June. A
peeved Navjot had sent his resignation earlier to Congress President Rahul
Gandhi, as he has been at loggerheads with his Chief since long. The first
instance was his controversial visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in ceremony
of prime Minister Imran Khan last year where he had hugged the Army Chief
leading to a huge controversy back home. And then it was the General Elections
when Sidhu and his wife accused the Chief Minister of having had a hand in the
denial of ticket to her to from either Chandigarh or Amritsar. Though Amarinder
says he has no issue with his wife, the resignation is learnt to be pending at
the Congress headquarters in the hope of a rapprochement. Will it succeed?
* * * *
Congested Mumbai, Delhi
India’s financial and political
capitals should make its citizens seethe with anger. Among the 10 most
congested cities in the world, Mumbai tops the chart, whereas New Delhi is not
far behind with No 4 slot! The study ‘2018 Traffic-Index’ was done across 403
cities in 56 countries to understand congestion levels or the excess time it
took commuters to travel from point A to B.
Mumbai’s congestion levels peak at 65% with reasons for high traffic
being ‘lack of road space, simultaneous infrastructure projects, low adherence
to traffic rules and high population and car density’. New Delhi’s congestion
level is 58%, even though its traffic saw a drop of 4% since 2017. And while
during morning rush hour the congestion could be up to 73%, ‘maneuvering your
way through the city’s streets during evening might prove to be unwise as
traffic levels sometimes shoot up to 93%,’ says the study. The governments
obviously need a road map or will the look at the other congested cities --
Bogota at No 2, Lima (3), Moscow (5), Istanbul (6), Jakarta (7), Bangkok (8),
Mexico City (9) and Recife (10), to find a way out? ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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