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ROUND THE STATES
New Delhi, 9 August 2006
Red Alert In States
Major
Terror Threat On I-Day
By Insaf
New Delhi and all State Capitals are
preparing to celebrate the 58th Independence Day on Tuesday amidst unprecedented
security and anxiety, thanks to terrorist threats. Various intelligence agencies have cautioned
the Governments at the Centre and in the States of possible
attacks on sensitive and vital installations, religious places, economic
infrastructure and public functions. The
Union Home Ministry has sounded a red alert across
the country. High on the terror list is Mumbai.
Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal reviewed the situation in Mumbai at a
meeting with the Chiefs of Police and the
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in New
Delhi on Monday.
Other State Governments have likewise reviewed security measures for the
annual I-Day celebrations.
Besides the terrorists’ threats, India’s peninsular States are having
to brave another onslaught: nature-made “terror”. Rains continued to pound Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Orissa for days together. The downpour on the eve of the I-Day
celebrations left behind a trail of death and destruction. In Maharashtra
itself, heavy rains have till the time of the writing claimed 52 lives. More
than one lakh people have been evacuated by the Army, Navy and the Air Force
teams. Two cadets of the National
Defence Academy
were also swept away in flash floods.
Similar grim situation prevails elsewhere in Gujarat,
Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
* * * *
Centre-ULFA Talks
In Jeopardy
Developments during the last fortnight or so indicate that
the much talked-about direct peace talks between the dreaded ULFA of Assam and the Centre may not take place, at least in
the near future. While the Centre wants
a “genuine” ceasefire before starting the talks, the ULFA leaders want their
top leaders released. Interlocutor Indira
Goswami informed the Home Ministry that until the leaders are released, the
outfit will not name its team. The
result? More pressure
for inclusion in the agenda of ULFA’s demand for sovereignty, more violence and
a call for the boycott of Independence Day celebrations. From the Government’s side, after a ten-month
lull, the Army has mobilized its forces against serial attacks by the outfit.
In an encounter in Assam’s Nalbari
district, four ULFA militants were killed. The ULFA is now on the war path,
while the Army is intercepting and hunting down militants in Barpeta, Baska and
Kamrup districts.
* * * *
Situation Improves
In J&K: CM Azad
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad firmly
disagreed with the widespread perception created by the Opposition leaders and media
that the militancy has increased in the State. On
the other hand, he claimed in the State Assembly
last week that there was “a discernable change for the better in the law and
order situation.” During his eight
months in office, there had been a 17 per cent fall in the overall
militancy-related incidents, 18 per cent decrease in civilian killings, 55 per
cent fall in IED explosions and 66 per cent decrease in the killings of
security and police personnel”. Importantly, he has ruled out talks with the
militants on the pattern of the Centre’s talks with the Naga rebels. Azad considers
the situation in J&K as totally different from the one obtaining in
Nagaland. Those wielding the guns in J&K were non-State actors from Pakistan, Afghanistan and some other
countries, whereas in Nagaland “we are talking with our own people.
Projecting
Investment Climate In M.P.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is
making a determined bid to project the State’s huge potential of investment
opportunities. Last week, he showcased in
New Delhi the business-friendly approach and policies of his Government
at a Global Investors Summit in collaboration with the Federation of Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Chouhan particularly highlighted the investment opportunities in mining,
tourism, power, roads, IT, agro-processing
and chemical and industry sectors. The
Chief Minister has promised the industrialists good infrastructure, like roads,
power, water and clean environment. Already, several agro-parks have been
established across the State, the
age-old octroi system has been abolished and, most importantly, a “single
window system” and “single table system” have been introduced for quick
clearance of projects.
* * * *
Amarinder Set To
Win Again
The Punjab Congress
and its Chief Minister Amarinder Singh seem set to retain power in the
State. With barely six months left for
the Assembly elections, the main
Opposition, Akali Dal (Badal) and its ally BJP are in disarray. Various other
groups of Akalis have come together once more to oppose the Badal group in the upcoming
poll. Anti-Badalism is their binding
force. Those who have joined hands
against Badal include the radical leader Simranjit Singh Mann, Akali Dal
(Delhi) President Paramjit Singh Sarna and Prem Singh Chandumajra of SAD
(Longowal). They have got together to launch a Gurdwara reform movement to free
the Sikh religious places of Badal’s influence.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has reshuffled his Council of Ministers to
ensure better governance.
* * * *
Congress Kicks Off Poll Campaign In UP
Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul kicked off the Congress Party’s campaign for the U.P. Assembly poll early next year on Tuesday at a mammoth
rally in Kanpur, the State’s industrial hub.
This was the first of eight rallies to be addressed
by the duo during the next few weeks. Rahul stepped out of the family’s
boroughs of Sultanpur and Rae Bareli for the first time and, what is more,
delivered his longest ever speech lasting 12 minutes. Significantly, he concentrated
mainly on wooing the youth, who constitute about 52 per cent of the
electorate. He asked them to condemn the
communal and caste politics practised by the non-Congress
parties ruling the State during the last 16 years. Sonia Gandhi, for her part, called upon her partymen
to wage a do-or-die battle to regain popularity for the Congress in the country’s largest-populated State. The
party today has barely 16 MLAs in a House of 402 members..
* * * *
Corruption Charges
Against Gowda Family
Bangalore continues to witness
a sensational running battle between the Karnataka Congress
and the ruling JD(S) of Deva Gowda and son Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Now that the erstwhile Prime Minister’s
long-time friend and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has switched to the
Congress along with his supporters,
grave charges of corruption are being made against the Chief Minister and his
family in a bid to destabilize the Government.
The latest allegation is that the CM’s wife bought a 9.72 acre software
park in Bangalore, officially valued at Rs.36 crore. The family has been
accused of having bought this huge property from a bribe of Rs.150 crore, collected
from some mine owners in Bellary. The Chief Minister has rubbished the charges as
politically motivated, designed to destabilise his Government.
* * * *
Farmers’ Suicide
Continue
Farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra continue to
commit suicide at a distressing rate
of two per day since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the six districts on
July 1. Despite the Prime Minister’s special
package of Rs.1,075 crore, announced during his visit, the farmers are still
suffering greviously because of the
failure of the crops during the last four years. As Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar
candidly told the Lok Sabha the other day, the remedy is not a mere relief
package but adequate supply of water for irrigation, presently in short
supply. Meanwhile, Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh has directed his administration to ensure that all relief
measures are properly implemented in Vidarbha’s six districts reporting maximum
suicides. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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