Round The States
New Delhi, 24 August 2019
Dalit Protests
DELHI GOVT REACHES OUT
By Insaf
This election season, Delhi comes to the aide
of Dalits. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government has reached out to the Centre
demanding it allot land as it proposes to build a “magnificent” Ravidas temple
at the same site it was demolished. After 24 hours of the dalits taking to the
streets against the demolition of the temple by the DDA on August 10 following
Supreme Court’s orders, the Delhi Legislative Assembly stepped in on Thursday
last, passing a resolution to construct the temple. In fact, the AAP government
lost no opportunity to hit out at the Centre for badly mishandling the issue
“by not supporting their (Dalits) cause in the court of law which finally led
to its unjustified and unfortunate demolition.” It also made note of the
protest, which was massive, brought traffic in several parts to a standstill
and at Tughlakabad turned violent leaving several people, including policemen
injured and many cars vandalised. But there could be more trouble as the police
arrested Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and 95 others, and sent them to
14-day judicial custody. While a close watch is being kept, BSP chief and
Dalits messiah Mayawati has asked her votebank for restraint and that rule of
law must prevail, leaving many surprised. Be that as it may, it is to be seen
whether Centre obliges Kejriwal with the land. After all Assembly polls are on
the cards and the pros and cons need to be carefully considered.
* * * *
Normalcy
Far Cry in Kashmir
Into the third week of the unprecedented
lockdown, Kashmir shows no signs of limping back to normalcy. At least on both
the fronts of schools reopening in phased manner and government offices being
functional, the administration has had little success. Not only are many
schools still locked up, but even those who are open and teachers present,
classrooms were empty as parents fear for their kids’ safety. Their reasoning
with mobile services still down, there is no way for them to connect with their
children. The attendance at government offices has been rather thin but would
it really matter as “no one visits the offices!” Reports are suggesting that
there seems to be an undercurrent in the Valley that the people have chosen to
negate the administration efforts to restore normalcy and embarrass New Delhi
in the international fora. This would be an explanation why shopkeepers
continue to keep shutters down in areas where restrictions have been lifted. At
the same time, Opposition parties, including Congress, TMC, CPM, and DMK, are
trying to up the ante on the Centre to release political leaders under
detention by holding a protest meeting in Delhi on Thursday last. Clearly, the
Modi-Shah team has to do more for while it may think time is a healer, ground
reality may prove them wrong.
* * * *
Rebellion
in Haryana Cong?
It’s election season again and Haryana is
hitting headlines. Congress’ two-time former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda has made matters worse for the ‘grand old party’, in doldrums after 2019
polls. At a recent “Parivartan (change) rally” in Rohtak, not only did he
declare himself chief ministerial candidate with or without the Congress,
announce his own manifesto but claimed the party “had lost its way and isn’t
the same old Congress!” Signs of rebellion alright, as he has ‘freed himself of
all restrictions’ and supported scrapping of Article 370, for he “wouldn’t
compromise on patriotism.’ Be that as it may, is the Congressman making grounds
for parting ways, floating his own party or join another national party? Or
send strong signals that the High Command better yield and put him back as
State party chief by removing Ashok Tanwar? As of now, over 60 former MPs and
MLAs were at this rally and he has 12 of 15 sitting MLAs support. Will 10
Janpath heed as October is not far? The bigger question of course is whether it
will make any difference of stakes to the party!
* * * *
Bihar
& Its Madrasas
Bihar seeks to have a feather in its cap, be
the first in minority care. The JD(U)-BJP government has decided to repair and
rebuild madarsas, about 2,549 recognised, in a phased manner. Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar wants these now to have new facilities such as hostel, libraries
and science labs. Earlier, the works were undertaken by the madrasa committees
with help of government grants, but now a panel of the State Madrasa Board will
do the needful. It has been sanctioned Rs 25 crore for phase 1 in districts of
Aurangabad, Nalanda and Darbhanga, wherein repairs and rebuilding will be done
for 25 madrasas. The Minority Welfare department has invited proposals.
Remember, in his first term Nitish was running schemes for minorities such as
scholarships to students, vocational training programmes, and provide
interest-free loan to students. Hope it’s seen as a helping hand to partner BJP
and importantly Modi in fulfilling its commitment of “sabka saath, sabka vikas aur sabka vishwas”
* * * *
Andhra
Gets Hard Knock
Andhra Pradesh government will do well to
mark the idiom ‘Err on the side of caution’. Its young Chief Minister Jagan
Mohan Reddy, in a tearing hurry to expose corruption during his predecessor
Chandrababu Naidu’s regime, is already getting caught on the wrong foot. On
Thursday last, he got a rude shock when the AP High Court struck down the order
terminating Rs 3,216 crore hydro-power irrigation project of Polavaram on
Godavari river to Navayuga Engineering Co. Ltd to execute. The pre-closure
order issued by related Corporation was suspended, order for reverse tendering cancelled,
as the company argued having already spent Rs 398 crores, no delay and project
will be completed by November 2021. The government’s argument of having right
to go for fresh tenders as it will cut project’s cost and enable more bidders,
didn’t hold water with the court, having Naidu have the last laugh as he said:
the CM had taken it up as “a prestige issue to prove there was a lot of
corruption in the project works.” Jagan needs to be cautious as New Delhi too
is concerned over cancellation of contracts as it will send wrong message to
investors. Indeed, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
* * * *
‘Boo’
To Supreme Court
‘We don’t give a damn’, sadly seems the
message to Supreme Court of India! Senior students in two educational institutions
in UP and Odisha ‘violated’ its guidelines of 2007 for prevention and
prohibition of ragging. On Monday last, 200 1st year students at UP
University of Medical Sciences (UPUMS) in Saifai allegedly were forced to shave
their heads, parade on the campus and on their knees offer salutes to their
seniors. In Odisha, seniors were seen ‘slapping juniors while asking them to
run down the stairs, tearing off shirts, some being thrashed, some forced to
mimic sex scenes while others made to dance in undergarments’ at State-run Veer
Surendra Sai University of Technology in Sambalpur district. Saifai SDM has
ordered a probe and so has the Odisha Skill Development & Technical
Education asked the Registrar to do the same. However, what should be equally
shocking is that authorities in both these institutions sprang into action only
after photos and video of the incidents went viral on social media! Remember,
the Court had asked State Governments to amend their anti-ragging law to
include provisions that place penal consequences on institutional heads. Will
they too be made answerable?---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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