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Round The States
New Delhi, 2 September 2023
J&K Statehood
TALL CLAIMS, NAGGING DOUBTS
By Insaf
Is the
Centre putting the cart before the horse, is a question being asked in Jammu
and Kashmir. This, as despair and cynicism continues among the political
parties in the UT from proceedings underway in the Supreme Court over
constitutionality of abrogation of Article 370. On one hand, the Centre asserted
elections ‘can be held anytime from now. It’s for ECI and UT election
commission to take the call…’, and on the other said ‘J&K’s UT status is a
temporary thing…exact time frame for restoration of complete statehood can’t be
given at the moment. It might take some time…’ This was in response to the five-judge
Constitution bench asking ‘specific time frame’ to restore actual democracy. As
‘lack of electoral democracy can’t be allowed to go on indefinitely… This has
to come an end...’ The principal parties, the National Conference and PDP have
debunked the Centre’s stand as ‘diverting the issue’, ‘nothing new being said’
‘elections without Statehood don’t mean anything’ and Apni Party seen to be
close to Centre said, ‘it’s the same casual statement they have been giving for
past three years!’
And
while the Centre has been justifying its stand on removing the special status
enjoyed by J&K, it’s also going at great lengths to claim that its steps to
restore normalcy in the region are yielding results. These include: Rs 28,400
crore central sector schemes for industrial development; Rs 78,000 crore of
private sector; Rs 2,153 crore actual investment done in 2022-23; of 53
projects sanctioned under PM’s Development Package, 32 are complete; terror-related
incidents down by 45.20% compared to 2018; infiltration down by 90.20%, law and
order events reduced 97.20%; incidents of stone-pelting and hartals are nil as
against 1,767 in 2018; casualty of security personnel down by 65.90%, organised
bandhs by secessionist groups down from 52 in 2018 to nil; tourism has footfall of 1.88 crore in 2022, and till date,
over one crore people have visited the UT. Be that as it may, the region
deserves restoration of its democratic rights, deprived for over five years,
since the fall of the PDP-BJP government in 2018. Enough is enough!
* * * *
Assembly
& General Polls
Elections
in five States --- Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan
by year-end may have the Centre now contemplating rolling out its pet project,
simultaneous Lok Sabha polls (due May-June) and advancing these. Rumours to
this effect are floating since Thursday last following the government constituting
a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the
feasibility of ‘one nation, one election’, as was the case in 1967. How soon the
committee meets and prepares its report is a question. Importantly, the
decision comes 24 hours later after the government decided to call a special
session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, with no agenda spelt out.
This has made the Opposition bloc ‘INDIA’ meeting (the third) in Mumbai see
urgency in finalising its strategy and setting up a coordination committee, sub-groups
to work on common agenda, seat sharing, media strategy, joint actions for
campaign and rallies etc. The aim being that it should be ready for all
contingency plans to take on the NDA’s surprise element strategy and ‘gimmicks.’
A tall order alright. Doubling of efforts will depend till the secrecy of the
special Parliament session being called is out in the open.
* * * * *
“Mockery”
In Manipur
‘Stop
mockery, let’s save democracy’ slogans in Manipur Assembly on Tuesday last were
not off the mark. The one-day session was less than an hour and adjourned sine
die! The blame was put on Congress MLAs for shouting slogans demanding the
session be extended to five days to discuss the grave situation prevailing.
Instead, the House passed resolutions among others to ‘resolve all differences
among the people, till complete peace returns to the entire State, through
dialogue and constitutional means.’ Clearly, dialogue isn’t working as all 10
Kuki MLAs, including BJP’s 7 were absent, making pale the resolution ‘to work
for oneness and harmony of all the people of Manipur, irrespective of caste,
community, region, religion or language.” The absentee MLAs reasoning being
given Biren Singh’s failure in protecting lives of common people and officials,
convening the session ‘is devoid of logic and rationality’. Apparently, the
session was called to avoid a constitutional crisis as it must be convened
every 6 months and the last was held in March. The exercise over, the
government is at odds to restore normalcy. At least 6 persons were killed on
Thursday last in firing going on for three days between Kuki-Zomi-dominated
Churachandpur district and Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district. Perhaps it’s
time for the BJP headquarters to consider replacing the Chief Minister as being
demanded to instil semblance of some confidence among the people.
* * * * *
Punjab’s
No To Corruption
‘Zero
tolerance against corruption’, is Punjab government’s message to its employees.
‘Neither any corrupt element nor their sympathisers will be spared in the drive
to make the system transparent, clean and effective in the public’s larger
interest’, warned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday last. A day earlier,
ESMA was invoked, barring all government officials and employees from leaving
their place of posting till October 31 or till further orders. The trigger:
over 2,000 employees under banner of ‘Revenue Patwar Union’ and ‘Revenue
Kanungo Association’ have called for a pen-down indefinite strike from Friday
(September 1) over a corruption case registered a week ago against two revenue
officials in Sangrur district. While the Unions say they aren’t buckling down,
Mann tweets: “…they are free to go ahead with a pen-down strike, but the
government will later decide whether to give them their pens back or not … we
have many educated unemployed people who are ready to hold your pens. The
people of Punjab will not be allowed to suffer.” Moreso, as revenue officials
and staff are critical for disbursement of crop compensation to and relief
material to farmers affected by the floods. Will Mann’s policy to wipe out
corruption succeed? Easier said than done.
* * * * *
Delhi, Most Polluted
The
nation’s Capital, Delhi, now holds the distinction of being the world’s most
polluted city! A report, Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) by Energy Policy
Institute, University of Chicago, warns its 18 million residents are on track
to lose ‘11.9 years of life’ if current levels of pollution continue to be higher
than the limit set by WHO and 8.5 years relative to the national guideline. If
it’s any consolation for Delhiites, ‘all of India’s 1.3 billion people live in
areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the 5 µg/m3
limit’; and 67.4% of these live in areas which exceed the country’s own
national air quality standard. The country also was responsible for 59.1% of
the world’s rise in pollution from 2013 to 2021 and is among only six
others--Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Indonesia where 3/4th
of people lose ‘one to over 6 years of their lives because of the air they
breathe’. While India declared a war against pollution in 2019 with its
‘National Clean Air Programme’, it failed to meet the target in those 101
cities. There’s a fresh target and fingers be kept crossed if ‘New India’
breathes clean air. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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