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| Omar scores over all MPs | | | Early Times Report
Jammu | Sept 17
In 2002 assembly elections, the National Conference president and then youngest Ministers in the Union Government, Omar Abdullah may have suffered humiliation for the follies of his father but six years down the line the youngest Member Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir seems to have learnt lessons quite well.
First of its kind in India, a national survey indexing all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies on the basis of their performance in socio-economic and infrastructure sectors has placed Omar’s constituency at number one in Jammu and Kashmir. The Srinagar-Badgam Lok Sabha segment has been placed at 208 rank in terms of performance on socio-economic sector and at 279th in terms of infrastructure development. Omar’s arch rival and another young leader Mehbooba Mufti finish poor at the second last rank among six constituencies in the state.
Congress MP Chowdhary Lal Singh’s constituency of Kathua-Udhampur-Doda has been placed at the poor last rank in the state but he does not have to worry about it. After all, Lal Singh’s performance, though poor as per the survey finding, is at least 50 points better than that of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bariely constituency and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi constituency.
“Nothing quite compares with the eloquence of numbers. By definition India is a mosaic of cultures, geographies and economies. And nothing symbolises this better than the rankings of the Lok Sabha constituencies”, says the India Today magazine’s survey of India’s best and worst constituencies.
The Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency represented by Madan Lal of Congress has ranked at number in the state. Out of all LS seats in India, Madan’s constituency is at rank 260 in terms of socio-economic development and 247 in terms of infrastructure access. The Congress MP has reason to feel happy and elated.
Speaking to EARLY TIMES over phone from Hyderabad, Madan said, “I have put in all my efforts to repay to my electors the faith they reposed in me”. Among his major achievements, he counts over half a dozen colleges and double laning of Jalandhar-Jammu rail line.
Ladakh constituency represented by Thupstan Chhewang of Ladakh Union Territory Front is ranked at number three in the state and at all India level it is at rank 264 in terms of socio-economic development and 184 in terms of access to infrastructure. The Baramulla-Kupwara constituency represented by Abdul Rashid Shaheen of National Conference is at 277 rank in terms of socio-economic development and 205 in access to infrastructure.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti’s constituency of Anantnag-Pulwama is the second worst performer at 296 rank in terms of socio-economic development and 308 in access to infrastructure.
Chowdhary Lal Singh of Congress doubts the indexing methodology as his constituency finishes last -363 in terms of socio-economic development and 357 in terms of infrastructure access. Lal Singh has a reason to protest. The indexing is not the basis of performance an individual MP may have registered during the present term. The parameters also include what he inherited from his predecessors.
“I have got more than 400 projects completed so far in the areas of my constituency and am sure of meeting the 800 target before end of my term”, Lal Singh told EARLY TIMES. He further said, “in Omar Abdullah’s constituency only 90 projects have been taken so far.
Efforts were made to reach other MPs but they were not immediately available for comments.
Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to Parliament and has been home to eight prime ministers, makes an entry at number 212 with Kanpur, thanks to the dividend of legacy the commercial city delivers.
The real shocker is that Bihar boasts of 32 of the worst 100 constituencies while Uttar Pradesh is home to 29 to the bottom of the pile. Curiously the listing reads virtually like the first list of 100 worst districts classified by the Patel Committee in 1964. It is as if time has stood still.
Go south to discover another India. Nearly 80 per cent or 79 of the 100 best constituencies are located south of the Vindhyas. Indeed, Palakkad, the worst performing constituency of Kerala, is ranked 94 on the billboard chart.
As do the MPs who represent major metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi or Kolkata, who have inherited developed constituencies thanks to the British Raj and the natural advantage of being commercial and political capitals.
“It is not a story only of legacy or a reflection of the state's performance though. The rankings depict the harsh truth that efficacy of governance at the local level matters most”, says the survey report.
Every general election sees nearly 45 per cent of the sitting MPs trounced. In 1999, 241 sitting MPs lost the polls. And it is a long-term trend. Voters in 174 constituencies have not re-elected their MPs since the past four elections and over 180 seats are won or lost within a margin of 5 per cent of polled votes.
What the electors and the elected deem as anti-incumbency is simply the inability of politicians to overcome the system. All that the political class could come up with was the Rs 2 crore-per-MP-per-year Local Area Development Scheme which has become a tool for nepotism and rampant corruption.
Barring Surat which elected Morarji Desai, none of the prime ministerial constituencies figure anywhere on the top 100 list. Nothing represents this reality better than Uttar Pradesh which has elected eight of the 14 prime ministers since 61 years of Independence.
Phulpur and Allahabad, represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, who was prime minister for 17 years, rank 409 out of 543 on the socioeconomic index.
Lucknow, which elected Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is placed at 269. Ballia, which elected Chandra Shekhar (and now his son), ranks 388 and Chaudhary Charan Singh's Baghpat is 362.
Amethi which has elected members of the Gandhi family- Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi (twice), Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi-five times out of 10 polls.
It ranks 484 on the socio-economic index and 475 on the infrastructure ranking.
Rae Bareli, which has elected a member of the Nehru-Gandhi parivar in eight of 14 general elections, ranks 507 on the socio-economic development and 464 for access to infrastructure. It is not just prime ministers.
Even though Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who represents Chapra (now Saran), has been the chief minister twice, his constituency ranks 407.
The survey report concludes, “unless public representatives realise that the huge monster called government is made to deliver, they will be haunted by anti-incumbency and their voters by poor governance. These ratings simply reflect the distance between the need of the voting class and a slothful system”. |
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