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Round The States
New
Delhi, 18 November 2023
TN Governor-Govt Rift
BILLS RETURNED, GETS WORSE
By Insaf
Governor-government
tussle in Tamil Nadu’s is getting worse. On Thursday last, Governor RN Ravi
returned 10 pending bills to the ruling DMK government. Within hours, a special
session of the Assembly has been called on Saturday (today) and according to
Speaker M Appavu these Bills, including the power of the state government to
appoint university VCs, one on anti-corruption measures and early release of
prisoners would be taken up. Apparently, the Raj Bhavan has chosen to ignore
the Supreme Court’s ‘serious concern’ a few days ago about Governors not acting
on Bills. Or would it argue, it hasn’t sat on these and acted promptly by
returning them? Whatever inferences are made, the big question is Ravi’s action
triggersa constitutionaldilemma. Once the Assembly passes these Bills again, Ravi
will be bound to approve them, says Appavu. However, recently at an even at Raj
Bhavan, Ravi had said if a bill doesn’t get his assent, it means that the bill
is dead.While that needs to be watched, the sheer returning of the Bills en
masse puts the spotlight about his role and powers. Is he over stretching it?
For while, a Governor is expected to approve Bills passed by Assembly,
returning these, raise questions about the balance of power between the state
and the Central authorities. In this case, there is need to set that glaring
imbalance right. Enough is enough.
* * * *
Muscle & Money Power
The
Election Commission has a long way to go before it can rein in ‘money and
muscle power’ in elections. Details of candidates in Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh Assembly polls are the recent most examples to confirm the
misgivings of the democratic system being ‘free and fair’. As per Association
for Democratic Reforms data, of the 2,534 candidates in MP, where polling took
place on Friday last, 472 candidates have declared ‘criminal cases’ against
them: Congress (291), BJP (65), AAP (26), SP (23), BSP (22) and Independents
(215). Worse, 291 have declared ‘serious criminal cases’: Congress (61), BJP
(23), AAP (18) and BSP and SP both 16 each, Ind (157). In Chhattisgarh, which
too wrapped up its 2nd phase of polling it’s no different: of 958
candidates, 100 declared criminal cases: 13 of Congress, 12 each of BJP and
AAP, JCC-J, 12, BSP 2 and Ind 50. Of the 56 ‘serious criminal cases, Congress
has 7, BJP and JCC-J 4 each, AAP, 6, BSP 1 and Ind 34. Next is the ‘crorepati’
list in MP which reveals 727 are in the fray: 200 fielded by BJP, 196 by
Congress and rest belong to other political parties. In Chhattisgarh 253 crorepati candidates
are contesting: 60 candidates by Congress, 57 by BJP, the rest from other
parties. People’s representatives, is what they are known as?
* * * *
Now
Bureaucratic Scam
All
eyes are on the latest rift between the Delhi government and the Centre. On
Thursday last, Delhi vigilance minister Atishi wrote to the ED and CBI, seeking
a probe into Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar viz alleged financial irregularities
in the acquisition of land for the Dwarka expressway. The scam has led to Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal writing to LG Saxena recommending Naresh’s immediate
removal and sending the 670-page to CBI or ED for further investigation.Atishi
has said the investigation found that the Chief Secretary benefited a company
linked to his son with over R.850 crore of “illicit profits”. “A clear
nexus has been found between Naresh Kumar, his son Karan Chauhan and the
beneficiary land owners who were provided a windfall gain of Rs.897.1
crores at the cost of public exchequer...” it read. She also recommended
removal of Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to ensure a fair investigation.
Expectedly, Naresh has denied all charges, claiming he was being targeted for ordering
probes into several cases, including Kejriwal’s home renovation and alleged
excise policy scam. Be that as it may, the truth must come out and not be
pushed under the carpet as one of the ongoing brawls the ruling AAP has with
the Centre over control of the bureaucracy.
* * * *
Tunnel
Tragedy & Warning
The
Silkyara tunnel tragedy in Uttarakhand, trapping 40 labourers sadly reinforces the
government brazenly ignoring the eco-warning time and again. The tunnel near Uttarkashi,
whose portions caved in on Sunday last is part of the controversial Rs
12,000-crore Char Dham all-weather road project involving four-laning of
hillside highways. These mountains said Minister of State of Road Transport and
Highways V K Singh ‘are young and fragile…according to data, it (tunnel) was
stable for four-and-a-half years. But for some reason, the cave-in occurred.” Absurd,
to say the least as the government and National Highways & Infrastructure
Development Corporation Ltd failed to heed to environmentalists and scientists’
warning that excavating such highways and building many tunnels in the name of
development of backward regions is a recipe for engineering disaster at high
altitudes. ‘For the future, we will review wherever such tunnels are being
constructed,” was Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami response to not heeding to
warnings and playing around with the fragile ecosystem in the Himalayas. No
solace for the families of the labourers.
* * * *
Southern
States Firm
Five
southern States have forced the National Medical Commission to put on hold its decision
to limit number of MBBS seats to 100 per 10 lakh population in every State.On
Wednesday last, the apex medical education regulator announced that these “Guidelines
for undergraduate courses under the establishment of new medical institutions,
starting new medical courses, increase of seats for existing courses, and
assessment and rating Regulation 2023” will now be implemented for 2025-26
academic year, only after there’s consensus following further stakeholder
consultations. While the restriction would have allowed 40,000 more MBBS seats in
states such as Bihar and Jharkhand, where there’s over 70% deficiency as per
new seats-to-population ratio norm, the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala, would have been barred
from raising their medical seat capacity, which they all plan, for the next
academic session (2024-25), as these have already exceeded the ratio. The
Commission must tread carefully for not only States, but students too mustn’t
be penalised!
* * * *
Curbing
Female Student Dropouts
Three
cheers to the Supreme Court! It has sought to ensure that adolescent females
between 11-18 years, hailing from poor families, don’t drop out of schools
because of lack of basic facilities such as toilets and sanitary towels. It has
asked the Centre to put down a “national model for ratio of number of girls’
toilets per female student population across government-aided and residential
schools in the country”, before finalising the draft National Menstrual Hygiene
Policy, 2023. Besides, it must bring about uniformity in modalities to be
followed for distribution of sanitary napkins by considering practices followed
in States. The top court was dealing with a PIL seeking free sanitary pads to
every female student in classes 6-12, separate toilets for females in all
government-aided and residential schools and awareness programmes on
maintenance of toilets and spread of awareness. Earlier, it asked the Centre to
engage with all State governments and UTs to ensure a uniform national policy
is formulated with sufficient leeway for them to adjust based on prevailing
conditions. This would aid the National Health Mission steering group to
reevaluate national guidelines. Sooner the better.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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