Round
The States
New Delhi, 26 March 2022
Birbhum Killings
TRIGGERS A POLITICAL CIRCUS
By Insaf
A tragedy is turned upside down into a
political tamasha. Eight houses were set on fire in West Bengal’s
Birbhum district on Monday last resulting in eight persons, including women and
children, charred to death. Since then, ruling TMC is rightly under fire for
the culture of political violence in the State, but the war of words has turned
into a circus, with political parties typically indulging in one upmanship. The
BJP said “The entire episode was akin to Nazi concentration camp. These are
revenge killings by a political party…” and its MLAs have demanded President’s
rule. PM Modi too stepped in and urged people of Bengal ‘to never forgive the
perpetrators of incidents like Birbhum violence and those who encourage such
criminals.’ Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the sight, offered
compensation to the families, resolved no one would be spared, but also said “The
possibility of a larger political conspiracy to malign the image of the State
cannot be ruled out and the investigation will make all-out efforts to unearth
all those who are behind the occurrence of the incident.”. The police version
is: “It’s not political rivalry. It could be deep-rooted personal enmity
between two groups.” A SIT has been constituted. Governor Dhankartweeted: “Horrifying
violence and arson orgy #Rampurhat #Birbhum indicates state is in grip of
violence culture and lawlessness…” While North Block has sought a report, a TMC
delegation of MPs met Home Minister Amit Shah demanding Dhankar be removed as
he has “become a threat to parliamentary democratic system of the country. He’s
appearing in a manner that is totally hampering the federal structure of
running the government and Constitution of the country, and acting as the
Opposition…”Do human lives matter, is a question best not asked.
* * * * * * *
Karnataka HC Sets The Tone
The Karnataka High Court has a piece
of advice for law makers. ‘Hear the voices of silence’ and it’s time to remove
the stark inequality. This while dismissing a petition filed by a man seeking
quashing of proceedings of alleged rape and unnatural sex with his wife and
sexually harassing his daughter.The judge said “exempting a husband from
allegation of rape and unnatural sex with his wife runs against the Article 14
of the Constitution, which speaks about equality….If a man, a husband, a man he
is, can be exempted of allegation of commission of ingredients of Section 375
of the IPC, inequality percolates into such provision of law.” The section
though defines offence of rape, emphasises importance of consent, it has an
exception for non-consensual sex by a husband with his wife.Marriage, said the
judge “cannot be used as a license for unleashing brutal beast on the wife.”The
anomaly is stark: a woman being a woman is given certain status, while a woman
being a wife is given a different status. Likewise, a man being a man is
punished for his acts, whereas a man being a husband is exempted for his acts!The
court said the age old thought and tradition that husbands are the rulers of
their wives, their body, mind and soul should be effaced. And, it’s ‘only on
this archaic, regressive and preconceived notion, the cases of this kind are
mushrooming in the nation.” The law makers must now ‘hear the voices of silence.’When
will the soul searching begin?
* * * * * * *
Wise
SP Decision
A wise decision indeed! Samajwadi
Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has decided to dig in his heels in the State and not
just play the role as the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh but continue the struggle
to uproot the BJP and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who took oath for his
second term. On Tuesday last, he chose to retain the Karhal Assembly seat and
submitted his resignation as member of Lok Sabha from Azamgarh to Speaker
Birla. The people, he said “have given a chance to stay in the Assembly and a
mandate for continuing the struggle for them, and that the party will do so
from sadan (Assembly) to sadak (streets).” Incidentally, it was
his first Assembly victory as compared to four times parliamentarian.
Importantly, he defeated Union Minister Baghel, once a key aide to SP patriarch
Mulayam Singh Yadav, by 60,000-odd votes, guess motivating him to do away with
the lethargy he had these past five years. Plus, the SP tally going up from 47
to 125 has upped the ante for the cadre and Akhilesh’s presence in the Assembly
should ensure his MLAs do their job. In addition, senior party leader Azam
Khan, who is in jail, resigned from the Lok Sabha and chose to retain the
Rampur Assembly seat. His experience as 11-term MLA should help Akhilesh take
on the impossible task of turning the saffron wave to red in the next five
years. Tall order though.
* * * * * * *
‘Better
Times’ For J&K
The Modi government has made a strong
pitch of times being better in Jammu and Kashmir. On Tuesday last, Finance
Minister Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha that efforts to create a “normal
environment” there have elicited ‘good results’. Since abrogation of Article
370 the UT, “was attracting many investments--currently, a delegation from GCC
is looking at such possibilities; job opportunities shall increase with new
industrial policy and investment proposal; people were benefiting from
implementation of 890 Central laws ---those who didn’t have any rights there
earlier, can now get government jobs, and purchase properties; there’s been a
dip in terrorism-related incidents too with 38 terrorists being eliminated just
this year and 180 terrorists, including 42 top commanders and 32 foreigners,
eliminated in 2021” et al. Expectedly, the debate on Budget for J&K was
also used to target Congress by accusing Nehru of taking Kashmir issue to the
UN. “It should not have gone to a global forum. It’s essentially an Indian
issue. We could have handled it. We are handling it, and we are showing the
difference now,” she asserted. Even the controversial film “The Kashmir
Files” got weaved into the debate, with the Opposition accusing the BJP of
“giving political colour” to a film and the latter hitting back and saying
truth can’t remain hidden. The repartee was like missing the woods for the
trees. The question doe the Budget offer to the Kashmiri Pandits, their future?
They would to want to invest but is the environment conducive? That is the real
test of achche din in the Valley.
* * * * * * *
Big
States’ Poor Performance
Large States need to get their act
together. Taps, clean and potable water doesn’t seem to be top priority. As per
the Standing Committee on Water Resources report, tabled in Lok Sabha on
Wednesday last, in States such as Uttar Pradesh, W Bengal, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, less than 40%
of rural households have a ‘functional household tap connection’ (FHTC). Worse,
there is ‘under-utilisation’ of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) funds, which obviously
would ‘deprive targeted beneficiaries of access to safe/clean potable water at
homes.’ The JJM was set into motion in August 2019 with the goal to provide
drinking water to all rural households by 2024. However, “As on date, of 19.18
crore, 8.96 crore (46.48%) rural households have access to clean potable water
supply at their homes!” On the other hand, kudos to Telangana, Haryana, Goa,
Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Dadra & Nagar Haveli which
have achieved 100% FHTC, while others like Punjab, Himachal and Gujarat touch
90% household coverage and should ‘meet
target soon’. Insofar as funds are concerned of the revised estimate of Rs
45,011 crore for fiscal year 2021-22, the ‘actual expenditure was only Rs
28,238 crore.’ More than ‘lack of financial prudence and fiscal discipline’,
the statistics are a sad reflection on so-called ’good governance’!
* * * * * * *
Mind
Your Language
The Thackeray government in
Maharashtra has sought to do away with a ‘mistake’ of the past. Now local
authorities, including civic bodies and corporations must mind their language.
On Tuesday last, both Assembly and Council unanimously passed a bill which aims
to make Marathi language mandatory in all official works. Apparently, the
Maharashtra Official Language Act, 1964 did not make the same mandatory and
thus the minister in charge said: “We are this time not leaving any loopholes
for anyone to find an excuse to not use Marathi language in public and
commercial places. The State government is also coming up with a dictionary of
simple Marathi words that can be used in day-to-day work…..Any (local)
authority, be it established by the State or Central government or (State-run)
corporations, will have to use Marathi while interacting with people and in
internal works too.” Fortunately, there’s an exception: local authorities can
use English or Hindi for certain government works such as communicating with
foreign ambassadors. The timing of the Bill, or the ‘love of Marathi’, however,
has raised eyebrows. Local body elections are due. But
the minister was firm: “elections come and go, should we not discharge our
duties just because these are round the corner? It is our right to bring the
bill.” Need more be said? ----INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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