Election Promises
By Insaf
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Jayalalitha has got off on a flying start albeit by upholding her electoral promises. Immediately after her swearing-in, the AIADMK supremo ordered a slew of measures to underscore that she had meant every word of her commitments made to the people. First of the block, over 500 liquor shops were shut down and farmers dues waived including crop loan. Additionally, as per new regulations the State-operated Tasmac shops would remain open for a shorter duration. Aware of the after-effects her measures would have on drinkers, the State Administration intends opening many de-addiction centres. Also on the anvil are 100 units of free power every two months for domestic consumers. To keep her loyalty among her ‘tribe’ the Chief Minister will soon distribute eight grams of gold.
As Tamilians rejoice with their windfall, in nearby Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarui has left many red-faces in the Communist high ranks thanks to his advertisement blitz berg, as it goes against the concept of collective leadership. More so, after Pinarui announced a slew of austerity measures including no refurbishment of Ministerial bungalows. However, he intends continuing with the prohibition policy of the erstwhile Chandy-led Congress Government in the State. The beginning of a new phase in politics?
HC Strikes Jat Quota
Haryana jats are very angry with the Punjab and Haryana High Court for striking down Chief Minister Khattar’s move to grant them 10 per cent reservation along-with five other communities in Government jobs and education. Predictably, not only do various Jat groups and influentialKhaps feel betrayed but they have sternly warned the State Government that it has to fight further to showcase its support for the community. Needless to say the Administration has only itself to blame for the legal imbroglio it faces. For reasons best known to it the State relied on a report which had been trashed by the Supreme Court to carve out a new backward class category to benefit jats, Jat Sikhs, Mulla jats, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis. The State Administration is keeping its fingers crossed as the spectre of a second waive of unrest looms large.
Buildings In Place of Red Light Area
Kamathipura was a buzzing pleasure zone till recently in Mumbai’s central district with its ‘hi-fi’ sex workers. Today, it has made way for malls thereby driving lust out of India’s business Capital’s oldest red light area. In fact, social activists and cityscape enthusiasts organized a Kamathiapura Night Walk in a bid to capture the urban history associated with it before the area transforms in to a another concrete jungle. To uplift the life of the poor homeless sex workers various NGOs have taken it upon themselves to rehabilitate them. Also, some enterprising sex workers have moved to suburbs or do business on Twitter and Whatsapp. It remains to be seen whether real estate will chisel out the new faces of the sex workers.
Centres Dues To States
Till yesterday the States were in the red vis-à-vis Central dues, today the boot is on the other foot. Shockingly, the Centre owes over Rs.81,000 crores to States as tax shares of the last ten years, Interestingly, this shortage was discovered during a recent CAG audit which showed that the Centre’s tax and duty collections to be given to States which stood at 29 per cent in 1996-97 had now gone up to 32 per cent in 2014-15. Of the Rs 81,000 crores Uttar Pradesh would end up with a bonanza of Rs. 7000 crores along with other big States. Even for smaller States any additional amount would be a windfall. States now hope the Centre will fulfill its promise.
Congress-Mukt State?
The Grand Dame of politics might have lost the battle at the hustings in four of the five States which went to the polls recently. But it has come up trumps when it comes to loyalty. In an unprecedented move, the West Bengal Congress leadership asked its newly-elected MLAs to give a written undertaking that they owe allegiance to the Party, read First Family. Add to this, they would not defect and if they did, they would resign from the membership of the Legislative Assembly. Scandalously, this undertaking was taken on a Rs. 100 stamp paper. Predictably, the Sonia-Rahul duo distance themselves from La Affair Loyalty even as its Spokespersons were hard put to justify it as a “voluntary exercise”. This apart, the Congress is left red-faced as it has no Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu for the first time in history. Congress-Mukt State?
India’s Killer Roads
Punjab has earned the ignominy of having killer roads in the country. Amritsar and Ludhiana top the million-plus cities where seven lives are snuffed out in every ten road crashes annually. Ludhiana comes second with two crashes followed by Prime Minister Modi’s constituency Varanasi. According to the Road Ministry’s Transport Research Wing Report while the number of deaths in accidents among 50 big cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru have decreased over the last three years from 17,007 in 2013 to 16513 in 2015, the opposite holds true in rural areas where road fatalities are on the rise. Having risen from 83,003 to 89,155 from 2013 to 2015. Over all, the total number of road deaths in the country stood at 1.46 lakhs which is the highest and maximum among all countries. This is not all. Thirteen States including UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana alone account for 83.6 per cent of all road accidents. Earning India the nick name of ‘Deadly’.
South Big On Medical Tourism
As India becomes a medical tourist destination its own score card on the doctor-patient ratio is poor. Shockingly, there is only one doctor to attend to over 1681 patients. Worse, this is hindering health care services across the country as the distribution of doctors is so skewed that just four Stats Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and undivided Andhra account for nearly 46 per cent of the 9.5 lakh medical practitioners registered in the country. Thereby leaving big States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, UP etc. with very few doctors. Interestingly, Karnataka which boasts of the highest number of medical colleges, 50, has 1,01,273 doctors while Maharashtra with 48 medical colleges has over 1,53,000 doctors. Tamil Nadu is next with 46 medical colleges and 1,11000 practitioners and Andhra 71000 doctors and 46 medical colleges. Any wonder foreigners flock to these States for treatment. —INFA