Round The State

New Delhi, 20 November 2021

Farm Laws &Sikh Pilgrims

WOOING PUNJAB ELECTORATE

By Insaf

Will protesting farmers in Punjab take the bait or send a strong message they aren’t fools? The timing of decisions by both Centre and State governments apparently don’t hide the real intent—of wooing one of the biggest vote banks before the ensuing Assembly polls. On Friday last, Prime Minister Modi ‘apologised’ and announced the decision to repeal the three contentious laws, formalities for which will be completed during the Parliament session beginning month-end. A victory for the farmers alright! Earlier on Tuesday last, the Centre announced reopening of the Kartarpur corridor to ‘benefit large numbers of Sikh pilgrims’. A day later, the ruling Congress announced its decision to cancel FIRs against farmers -- protesting against the farm laws and  involved in stubble burning, despite the air quality reaching dangerous levels.

For the BJP, the two decisions reveal it had to do something drastic to make ground in Punjab, particularly with farmers and that too Sikhs, who were seething with anger. Chief Minister Channi’s decision appears to be aimed at trying to halt farmers from leaning towards his predecessor Amarinder Singh, who is said to have been working on the Modi government on withdrawal of the laws. While it’s too early to say which way the wind will eventually blow, political parties’ delegations are making a beeline for paying obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib. Channi led a Jatha of his Cabinet on Thursday and a 21-member team of local BJP leaders did so before him. However, AAP sees politics being played as its team was denied permission on Friday. More will follow. Whose prayers will Baba Nanak heed to, time will tell. 

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Kashmir Admin Rattled

A rattled Kashmir administration yields. On Thursday evening, bodies of two civilians, who were killed in an encounter in Srinagar’s Hyderpora were exhumed by the authorities and returned to the families, to give them a dignified burial at least. Equally important is that J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ordered a magisterial inquiry tweeting the ‘admin reiterates commitment of protecting lives of innocent civilians & it will ensure there is no injustice.” However, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has demanded a judicial probe saying the LG’s inquiry “cannot be fair”… and that ‘people and leadership of the country rise in defence of democratic rights of citizens of India from J&K as well as there is a need to share this pain of Kashmir before it is too late. The inquiry into the Hyderpora encounter follows amidst protests by family members of three of the four persons killed on Monday last, as they insist it was cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians, they were not “terror associates”, as police claim, who used them as ‘human shields’. Political parties too joined in the protest, demanding justice. The Centre needs to keep its promise of ‘winning hearts of people,’and it can do so only if it gives it an honest shot. 

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Chinese Checkers In Arunachal

Is Arunachal Pradesh’s boundary being undermined, is a big question which begs an honest answer from New Delhi. In fact, the north eastern State needs to knock hard on the doors of both North and South Blocks as a report by NDTV on Thursday last reveals new satellite images of a second Chinese settlement consisting of 60-odd buildings within its territory! The enclave, in Shi Yomi district, lies 6 km within India, between the LAC and international boundary which each country claims as its own territory. Satellite images of the same area from March 2019, says the news channel, don’t show any such settlement, thus suggesting it was constructed within the past year. The NDTV report confirms the coordinates of the new enclave ‘fall within Indian territory as recorded by Union government’s official map service, Bharatmaps as well as official data from the Survey of India website.’ However, the Army is in denial mode and claims the enclave “lies to the North of LAC in Chinese territory.” Is it yet again choosing to look the other way? For the existence of a first such settlement, 93 km of the latest one, as revealed in January, was confirmed by a Pentagon report, making explicit reference to a 100-home civilian village constructed in AP in 2020. The government then had reacted sharply to that report, stating “China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas, including in the areas that it has illegally occupied over the decades. India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory, nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.” Not accepting, is like behaving like an ostrich. Time both Home and External Affairs Ministries stop burying their head in the sand! It like Beijing must “resolutely safeguard national integrity,” the Indian turf.   

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WB Slams Centre

West Bengal has yet again slammed the Centre for interfering in the country’s federal structure. On Tuesday last, the Assembly passed a resolution against New Delhi’s decision to extend BSF jurisdiction from 15 km stretch to 50 km, becoming the second State to do so after Punjab.The resolution said ‘the House believed that increasing the BSF’s jurisdiction was against the country’s federal structure, as law and order is a State subject…the notification exceeded the provision of the BSF Act and it would lead to coordination issues between the State police and BSF.’ Demanding the decision be withdrawn immediately, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said “We have nothing against the BSF as a force, there are many good officers, but at the same time, there are others who torture people residing near the border. This is an attempt by the Centre to control a portion of the state.” Plus, he wondered if the BSF ‘is unable to control infiltration and illegal activities within 15 km, how is it possible it will succeed in doing it within 50 km!’ Be that as it may, a TMC MLA’s accusation that the BSF personnel touched women inappropriately in garb of frisking led to a furore with BJP MLAs accusing the TMC of insulting the security forces and wanted the remark be expunged. Predictably, it wasn’t as the tu tu mein mein between the TMC and BJP shall be a never-ending story. What comes of the resolution eventually needs to be watched.  

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Good & Bad of Policing

Nothing changes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The two States have scored the lowest in overall policing, as per a nationwide survey by independent think-tank, Indian Police Foundation. The survey which reached out to over 1.61 lakh people over past 5 months, both online and offline, reveals that southern and some Northeast States fared better on most policing indices --IPF Smart Policing Index 2021,compared to the north. The top five States with the highest score on overall policing: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam and Sikkim, whereas Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjabare from bottom upwards. Interestingly, the survey, an assessment on PM’s Smart Policing initiative, showed a national average of satisfaction at 69% on issues such as police sensitivity, accessibility, responsiveness and technology adoption among others. But Bihar and UP are disappointing. On a scale of 10, Bihar scored the lowest in five categories: 5.98 in ‘Public Trust in Policing’, 4.97 in ‘Integrity & Corruption-Free Service’, 5.81 in ‘Technology Adoption’, 5.84 in ‘Police Responsiveness’ and 5.75 in ‘Police Sensitivity’, whereas UP scored the lowest in three categories: 5.59 in ‘Helpful and Friendly Policing’, 5.27 in ‘Fair &Unbiased Policing’ and 5.80 in ‘Police Accountability’.State governments and its police departments would do well to study the survey and not scoff at it, for ‘Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.’ ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)