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| Omar kills two birds with one stone | | |
Of late Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,seems to have softened as far as his relations with the state unit of the Congress are concerned.He is no longer as pugnacious against the Congress leaders in Jammu and Kashmir as he used to be.This mellowing in his temperament may be the result of his keen interest in sustaining the alliance between the National Confer ence and the Congress.No doubt he has received full support from the Congress high command,especially the party vice-President,Rahul Gandhi,which has helped him to survive as Chief Minister despite occasional needling from the leaders of the state unit of the Congrfess.For all these years he,therefore,took the state unit of the Congress for granted since he had the backing from Rahul Gandhi and others who were opposed to changing the political arrangement.But when Omar Abdullah realized that the Congress high command no longer ignored suggestions from leaders of its state unit he thought it better to buy peace with the state leaders.That Omar Abdullah has undergone marked change in his attitude towards the state unit of the Congress is reflected in his nod to the demand for c creating about 700 new administrative units and in incorporating some of the provisions of the 73rd constitutional amendment in the state Panchayati Raj Act.And he gave the opportunity to the state unit of the Congress for modifying the Ganai committee report on creation of new administrative units in the state.The cabinet accepted the CSC report,which had been prepared by the Congress,with the result the state will have now about 700 new administrative units.,
The second time the state unit of the Congress received a shot in its arms was when the cabinet headed by Omar Abdullah agreed to incorporate some of the provisions of the the 73rd constitutional amendment in the Panchayati Raj Act in Jammu and Kashmir.The state Cabinet has approved incorporation of some provisions of the 73rd constitutional amendment in the Panchayati Raj Act.These important provisions include three-tier reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and women, separate election commission, separate finance commission and much more.Senior Congress leaders have a reason to cheer because for the last couple of years they have been fighting for empowering the Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir.And they believe that by incorporating all good provisions of the 73 rd constitutional amendment in the state Panchayati Raj Act all the Panchayats stand empowered. No doubt the National Confer ence leadership had some reservations for extending the central Act to the state because doing so would have been construed as dilution of Article 370 of the constitution of India which provides that any central Act cannot be directly made applicable to Jammu and Kashmir state.It can be either made part of the state constitution and some of its provisions could be extended to the state and that too only after approval from the state legislature.However,Omar Abdullah had decided to accept the Congress demand some 10 days ago.And he had indicated to the media that all good provisions of the central Act were to be incorporated in the state Panchayati Raj Act.And he has stuck to his commitment and the cabinet decision will become part of the Panchayati Raj Act after it was approved by the state legislature during the upcoming budget session.
By allowing some basic provisions of the central Act to be part of the Panhcyati Raj Act in Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah is said to have killed two birds with one stone.First,he has clamed down the leaders of the state unit of the Congress and by doing so he has set the stage for a pre-poll alliance between the NC and the Congress.If Omar Abdullah's plan to forge a pre-poll alliance with the Congress succeeded he could prevent the PDP from regaining power with the support of the Congress.Secondly,he had realized the importance of several thousand panchs and sarpanchs in the ensuing poll battle.Majority of these members of the Panchayat committees were up in arms against the NC leadership for its delay in empowering the Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir.The NC leadership feared that these panchs and sarpanchs could woo a section of voters to vote against the National Conference.Hence in a bid to keep these panchs and sarpanchs in good humour Omar agreed to empower Panchayats in the state.Whatever may have been the motive behind Omar;s nod to creation of about 700 new administrative units and to empowering Panchayats in the state he deserves credit for it.It is now to be seen whether the NC or the Congress become main beneficiaries of the two vital decisions of the state cabinet in the ensuing Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections.
Voting in the time of smartphones
Bishwanath Ghosh
Drawing-room campaigns do not work in a country like India where large sections do not have houses to live in, leave alone television or the Internet. How time flies - and often it is the arrival of an election that reminds that we are five years older since we last voted.
I still can't believe that 10 years have passed ever since I had taken the Tamil Nadu Express from Chennai one night to spend two months in Uttar Pradesh, reporting on the public mood in the run-up to the 2004 general election. I even recall the tiny details: the simple dinner at a rest house in Rae Bareli, the spicy lunch at a hotel in Allahabad, the tea-break on the road to Ayodhya.
At the time, India was shining - or so the rulers claimed. If you went by the advertisements released by the government in newspapers and television, India, under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, was making rapid strides in the path of progress. There was peace in the country, peace with the neighbours, highways were being built, poverty was on the decline, the unemployed were getting jobs and, above all, the country had become a nuclear power and earned the respect of the international community.
Projection vs. ground reality
This happy picture, painted by the BJP in its "India Shining" campaign, went very well with the image presented by the Congress of being a party in a shambles. Sonia Gandhi was still being considered a foreigner; Rahul Gandhi was only 33; its top leadership mostly comprised men who were well beyond seventy and couldn't be counted as charismatic campaigners; Manmohan Singh had nearly retired from public life; above all, the party had no projected prime ministerial candidate.
So if you were to watch the run-up to the 2004 election from the comfort of your drawing room, you would have believed that the battered Congress stood no chance against the dynamic BJP, which had made India shine.
But the ground reality was different, as I found out when I went from one town to another in U.P., talking to the lay voter (and not just to the taxiwallah). It was evident that life had remained unchanged for the common man, and that the "India Shining" campaign only rubbed salt into his wound.
As the election dates drew nearer and top BJP leaders began hitting the dusty roads, they probably began to realise that little had been done for the masses. L.K. Advani, in his election speeches, was suddenly adding a footnote to the "India Shining" campaign: "We are only saying that India has begun to shine. We never said that India has shined."
The footnote had come a little too late in the day. Even though there wasn't a wave for or against the BJP, the anti-incumbency anger was palpable at the ground level - but not at all visible from the drawing room. In Allahabad, for example, public resentment against Murli Manohar Joshi, the Union Minister and the sitting MP, was so pronounced that I wondered whether I should say so in my dispatch.
It was unthinkable that Mr. Joshi would lose on his home turf and I did not want to make a fool of myself by writing him off. I eventually wrote what I saw and heard. When the results were declared, Joshi did lose - and so did the BJP.
Time flies - we are suddenly into 2014 and yet another general election is round the corner. Back in 2004, even Gmail was a year or two away (I remember sending my reports from a Yahoo ID), but today we also have Facebook and Twitter and, above all, smartphones that provide us round-the-clock access not only to these social networking sites but news as well.
Online propaganda
Also back then, only journalists and columnists could give news and views, but today everybody who has a computer and a smartphone is entitled to expressing an opinion - and being read too. So much so that at times you find an intimidating online mob out there, ready to lynch newsmakers who are pronounced guilty by the ever-shrill television channels.
Needless to say, the election campaign has acquired a new dimension: online propaganda. I have about 1,800 Facebook friends - of them nearly 60 per cent are not politically inclined. Among those who have political leanings, 40 per cent are in favour of Narendra Modi, another 40 per cent in favour of Rahul Gandhi, and the remaining 20 per cent neither in favour of Mr. Modi or Mr. Gandhi but strongly against the Aam Aadmi Party. Am I going to be swayed by their opinion? Maybe yes. Maybe not. Is the election going to be decided on the basis of their opinion? Certainly not.
Drawing-room campaigns, as had been demonstrated in 2004, do not work in a country like ours where the vast majority does not even have houses to live in - leave alone drawing rooms equipped with TV or an Internet connection. The results of the 2014 election, therefore, will be decided by Indians who probably don't even own a phone - leave alone a smartphone.
If we haven't heard that Indian's voice yet, that's only because we have been too busy listening to the 'Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi' debate. But we shall hear his voice, loud and clear, when the votes are being counted.
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Birth Anniversary on February12, Deenbandhu: Noted Freedom Fighter
O.P.Sharma
Charles Freer Andrews
Gandhijis close British associate, popularly known as Deenbandhu, has carved out a niche among the Indian people. His real name was Charles Freer Andrews, a British residing in India. His role in the Independence movement is praiseworthy indeed and his pro-poor philosophy is still fondly remembered by the people.
Born on February 12, 1871 in England, Andrews studied at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and afterwards began studying Classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Later, he came to India as a priest of the Church of England and a Christian missionary as well as social reformer in our country.
Friend of Indians
He was an educator and an active participant in the campaign for Indian independence and also became a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading light in its Indian civil rights struggle. C. F. Andrews was affectionately dubbed Christ's Faithful Apostle by Gandhi, based on his initials. For Andrews's contributions to the Indian Independence movement; Gandhi and his students at St. Stephen's College, Delhi named him Deenabandhu, or "Friend of the Poor".
In 1904, he joined the Cambridge Brotherhood in Delhi and arrived there to teach philosophy at St. Stephen's College, where he grew close to many of his Indian colleagues and students. Increasingly dismayed by the prevailing conditions, he sided with Indias political aspirations and wrote a letter in the Civil and Military Gazette in 1906 voicing these sentiments. Andrews soon became more actively involved in these activities. He helped to resolve the 1913 cotton workers' strike in Madras.
With Gandhi, Tagore Known for his persuasiveness, intellect and moral fibre, he was asked by senior politicalleader Gopal Krishna Gokhale to visit South Africa and help the Indian community there to resolve their political disputes with the Government there. He met there young lawyer, Mohandas Gandhi, who was attempting to protest against the racial discrimination and civil liberties. Andrews was deeply impressed with Gandhi's knowledge of Christian values and his
espousal of the concept of ahimsa, non-violence. He helped Gandhiji organize an Ashram in South Africa and published his famous magazine, The Indian Opinion.
Following the advice of several Indian leaders Andrews was instrumental in persuading Gandhiji to return to India with him in 1915. Andrews was elected president, All India Trade Union during 1925 and 1927. He accompanied Gandhiji to the Second Round Table Conference in London.
While working for Indian independence, Andrews developed a dialogue between Christians and Hindus. He spent a lot of time at Santiniketan in conversation with the great poet and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore, Noble Laureate. Deenbandhu also supported the movement to ban the untouchability.
Later life
Gandhi reasoned with Andrews that it was probably best for sympathetic Britons like himself to leave the freedom struggle to Indians. He was widely known as Gandhi's closest friend and was perhaps the only major figure to address Gandhi by his first name, Mohan. Charlie Andrews died on April 5, 1940 during a visit to Kolkata and was buried there.
Commemoration He is widely commemorated and respected in India. Two undergraduate colleges of the University of Calcutta, the Dinabandhu Andrews College, and the Dinabandhu Institution commemorate his name.
(Starline Syndicate Service)
All guns blazing
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seems intent on proving that he is in no way politically or morally obliged to the Congress, which is supporting his government from the outside. By lodging an FIR against former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in connection with a street light project that was implemented ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch furthered the political agenda of the Aam Aadmi Party government. It reinforced one of the core points of the AAP campaign, fighting corruption in high places. It also demonstrated the AAP's resolve not to engage in any political compromises in return for an extended lease in power. The Delhi Police are not under the control of the AAP government, and Mr. Kejriwal therefore used his government's own arm, the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch, which is staffed by personnel on deputation from the Delhi Police, to register the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code. Of course, it is not as if the AAP government brought up the case out of thin air to prove a few political points. The findings of the Shunglu Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed to irregularities in the tendering and allocation of work for street lights. Although the CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry in this case, it could not find anything irregular against Ms. Dikshit. Mr. Kejriwal must be hoping that the ACB will come up with something substantial against his political rival. The AAP recently targeted top politicians, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, P. Chidambaram, and Kapil Sibal, branding them all as corrupt. While the minority AAP government being supported by the Congress is unlikely to last very long, the Congress cannot obviously bring down Mr. Kejriwal on the ground that he is attacking its leaders as corrupt. The Congress strategy would be guided by political calculations, and party leaders might want to allow Mr. Kejriwal to continue for a little beyond the Lok Sabha election. So far, the Kejriwal government has shown that it wants to use power in Delhi to enhance its national image as an anti-corruption crusader. Governance benefits for the people of Delhi are only incidental to this larger agenda. How far the corruption case against Ms. Dikshit would go is not very clear, but the AAP government might already have achieved what it set out to do: present itself as a relentless crusader against corruption. Born as it was of a social movement, the AAP sees power as being only incidental to the larger purpose of eradicating big ticket corruption, and is ready to go down with all guns blazing. Article taken from National Daily The Hindu
Road tolls and resentments
The recent attacks by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists on toll booths in Maharashtra are to be condemned. However valid their protest against paying road toll may appear, it does not legitimise violence. Such acts at one level exposes the uncertainties involved in collecting toll, which could potentially harm plans to build an extensive road network. At another level, they highlight public concern over opaque ways of determining road-user charges. The government, which is trying to find ways to ensure safe ways of toll collection, must bear in mind that both issues are inextricably linked. Since 2000, the Central government has been promoting the levy of toll as an important tool to finance road construction. It now considers toll as being indispensable to attract private investment. The existing rules permit investors on road projects to charge users for an agreed period and retain the amount collected. To the investor, the projected rate of return of 14 to 16 per cent looks attractive. The Central government plans to build the bulk of the 10,000 km of national highways and 1,000 km of expressways in the next four years as toll roads, with private investment. State governments are taking a similar route to upgrade road networks.
However, in recent times investors have started to complain that their revenues are less than projected because of imprecise traffic estimates. As a 2012 study on Indian toll roads done by Fitch Rating, an international company that evaluates project finance, shows, the figures of actual usage of many roads are less than the projected figures. Protests against tolls only add to their woes and increase risks, developers lament. These issues need quick remedies, and so does the plight of users. Unlike other parts of the world where alternative toll-free roads are available in a given route, in India there are hardly any. Those who find the user charges steep and want to take an alternative route, even if it is longer and winding, have no option. Governments too overlook the improvement of alternative routes, to reduce leakage of toll revenue. Second, as cities expand rapidly, toll roads on the periphery, originally conceived as inter-city roads, become part of the city. The toll plan does not accommodate such changes in travel patterns. This causes hardships to users and increases resentment. Another contention is that even before roads are completed, toll charges commence. It is possible to remove distrust about tolls by bringing in transparency in the contracting process. The projected traffic volumes, estimated revenue collection and details of actual amounts collected should be available in the public domain. The long-term solution, however, lies in treating roads as a public good and spending more government funds on developing them. |
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