| For
Art's Sake Delhi:
That Atal Bihari Vajpayee is sensitive to all matters artistic is well-known. What however
was not known, until last week that is, is that he has a special liking for the work of
Madhubani artists. Chandrakala Devi, an artist from that district in Bihar and a
President's Award winner, arrived in Delhi last month with a proposal for the propagation
of papier mache toys that her family specialises in. But when she called on Murli Manohar
Joshi, the haughty HRD minister had no time for her. When she persisted, he threw the
proposal back at her. Livid, she shot off a letter to Vajpayee, questioning the calibre
and commitment of his cabinet colleague. That did the trick. Soon, she received an
invitation from the PMO, asking her to meet the officials concerned to discuss her
project. Surely, an able prime minister, even if he presides over an unstable government.
Give and Take
Delhi: With a
large number of BJP MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly turning against him, Chief Minister
Kalyan Singh has hit upon a novel plan to ward off possible moves to oust him. In the
recent past, Kalyan has been spending more time in Delhi than in Lucknow, cosying up to
party MPs and lending them an ear. Last week, BJP MPs busy with the budget session of
Parliament were surprised to receive invitations from Kalyan. Individually and in small
groups, they were sought out by Kalyan who patiently listened to their problems and
promised to do his best to redress their grievances. In return, his only demand was that
they jointly resist moves by his opponents to dethrone him. What after all is politics
without such quid pro quos?
Bag-slapping
Lucknow: It's
one touch-and-smack incident which even the unruly Uttar Pradesh Assembly had never
witnessed. A state minister sitting beside a woman BJP member in the lobby of the Assembly
last week was attracted towards her purse. He looked at it for a while, then felt the
leather and, as if involuntarily, slowly began to open it. The lady appeared shocked at
the minister's behaviour and in a reflex action slapped him hard. The incident immediately
created a flutter among the legislators present in the lobby. Not knowing what had hit
him, the visibly embarrassed minister tried to smile it off, while the lady continued to
gnash her teeth at him. While this is a first for the state Assembly, which has seen worse
unparliamentary behaviour, no one quite knows whether the minister has a particular purse
fetish.
Divide and Rule
Patna: Laloo
Yadav seems to be enjoying the renewed tussle between his perpetually squabbling
brothers-in-law, Subhash and Sadhu Yadav. The duo tried to outdo each other in a bid to
take credit for a rally in Patna, addressed by Laloo and Mulayam Yadav. Younger brother
Subhash had a head start in painting the city's hoardings and billboards with RJD slogans,
leaving advertisers and the ad agencies aghast. That's when Laloo reportedly summoned
Sadhu and inquired why he was lying low. Sadhu, with more muscle power at his disposal,
got the message and went about outdoing his brother. In the end, it was Laloo who went
laughing all the way to the venue of the meeting -- a little competition between his
wannabe successors had done a world of good to his party's image.
Flying Swami
Bangalore: Sri
Balagangadharanatha Swamiji, 54, one of the most powerful religious figures in Karnataka,
wields considerable influence over the Vokkaliga community. As the head of the community,
the swamiji's writ runs among Vokkaliga politicians, represented by the likes of former
prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda. So last fortnight, when Swamiji's Vokkaliga devotees in
the US decided to gift him a helicopter, influential Vokkaliga ministers in the Government
thought of giving him tax exemptions to the tune of Rs 12 lakh. And if everything goes
according to plan, the helicopter will be presented to Swamiji on his birthday on
September 3, when a big bash is planned with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the
chief guest.
Saffron Brief
Lucknow: At a
time when opposition parties are crying themselves hoarse about the Vajpayee Government's
"hidden agenda", a "shakha" for bureaucrats addressed by RSS chief
Rajendra Singh in Lucknow on July 25 has stirred a fresh debate. Organised by
controversial IAS officer Akhand Pratap Singh, it was attended, among others, by Chief
Secretary Yogendra Narain, state police chief K.L. Gupta, chief minister's Principal
Secretary B.N. Tewari and Principal Secretary (Finance) Anurag Goel. The RSS chief
reportedly lectured the officers on how to improve the functioning of the state Government
and promote RSS' programmes.
The unprecedented event caused a furore with the opposition
Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party condemning the "attempt to
build a Hindu Rashtra by influencing the bureaucracy". Akhand Pratap Singh justifies
it, saying, "There was nothing unusual. It was only a gathering of Allahabad
University old students." The state IAS Officers' Association has taken the matter
seriously. But its hands may be tied as there are too many senior officers ready to toe
the "saffron line".
Death Pranks
Chennai: The
Tamil Nadu Government always becomes wiser after the event. Two years ago when ragging led
to the death of a medical college student, it promulgated an ordinance banning the act in
educational institutions. Now the DMK Government is planning an Anti-Eveteasing Act
following the death of college student Sarika Shah in Chennai on July 24 -- her 20th
birthday. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi says that the Youth Congress activists whose
filmi-style pranks allegedly led to her death will not be spared. It is another matter
that the police acted only after the public expressed anger over the incident. But as many
in the state ask: Is there a point in legislating laws unless they are properly
implemented?
Wounded Revival
Calcutta: Stereotypes
about West Bengal's trade unionism were reinforced on July 22. Ailing shoe major Bata
India's Managing Director Keith Weston was holding a meeting at his Batanagar factory
office when three suspended Bata Mazdoor Union leaders stormed in. The argument that
followed ended with the manhandling of the Canadian-born Weston. The injury to Weston was
minor -- a gash on the hand -- but it opened old stitches on the state's industrial image.
Now it's back to square one for those who were trying to promote industrial resurgence in
West Bengal by wishing away the trade unions' reluctance to reform.
The state was prompt in despatching armed police to the
factory to quell notions that the CITU-controlled union may have nursed about the ruling
party's backing. Most of the workers were in no mood to support their leaders who were
dismissed by the management after the incident. Blue-collar workers of the state's
remaining industries have made it clear that their voice will not be controlled by the
white-collar union bosses. Even so the reaction may have come too late in the day. Few
outside the state need further convincing that militancy and indiscipline in industry are
far from dead in Marxist West Bengal.
Endless Trauma
Jaipur: Last
week when Bharat Bhushan Pareek, a 35-year-old advocate, walked out of Jaipur jail, he
became the first accused in the J.C. Bose Hostel rape case to be granted bail by the
Supreme Court. Pareek was one of the 15 suspects named by the 28-year-old rape victim in
September last year as those who had been sexually exploiting her since 1991. She chose to
inform the police after nine persons allegedly raped her at the J.C. Bose Hostel in the
Rajasthan University campus but Pareek was not among them.
Pareek's bail is significant as it will strengthen similar
pleas from the other accused. It will also help the state Government's case as it has been
charged with soft-pedalling on the issue. The other accused may not get such a benefit as
the trial court has already rejected one bail application. Some of them plan to take
advantage of the woman's varying testimony: in May she alleged that she was gangraped a
third time but later admitted to the police that she had sex with a doctor of her own
volition.
The accused are now demanding that the statement she made to
the police be handed over to them. But the CBI probing the third case wants to complete
the investigation first. This will only mean a further delay of the trial and more trauma
for the victim as the CBI started questioning her only recently after she returned from
psychiatric counselling in Bangalore.
A Rival for Partner
Shillong: It
was a familiar story playing itself out in Meghalaya last week. Chief Minister B.B.
Lyngdoh resigned on July 27 morning after the ruling United Parliamentary Forum
disintegrated. But by the evening he was back again as the chief minister -- with the
support of his erstwhile rival, the Congress.
The "marriage of convenience" had to be undertaken
as Lyngdoh's United Democratic Party, with 20 MLAs in the 60-member house, was under
constant pressure for ministerial berths from coalition partners. The situation is not
likely to ease as the Congress -- with 26 MLAs -- is very much the senior partner in the
new coalition. Though Lyngdoh will continue as chief minister for the next two years (the
Congress' Deputy Chief Minister D.D. Lapang will take over from then on), given the
fragile political unity in Meghalaya, doubts remain whether he will last even the next two
months. All that Lapang would venture is that the arrangement for now "is in the
interest of the stability of the Government".
Toxic Bail-out
Bhopal: It
happened so quietly that even the residents of the sprawling slum across the road from
Union Carbide's infamous pesticide plant did not notice it. In early July the Madhya
Pradesh Government cancelled the land lease of the factory, closed since the gas tragedy
in 1984 that has so far claimed 7,000 lives. Now a board on its main gate proclaims that
the 62-acre property belongs to the state Industries Department.
The overnight transfer has put paid to the hopes of the
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan which has been running a sustained campaign
against contamination of groundwater sources by toxic effluents released by the plant.
"This is a naked attempt to bail out Carbide," says its convener Abdul Jabbar
Khan. At the centre of the controversy is Gas Relief Minister Hamid Husain Khan, who
appeared out of nowhere two months ago to take up cudgels on behalf of Carbide. He denies
that the toxic waste released by the plant has polluted the hand pumps in the area and
maintains that there is no danger from the chemicals dumped outside the plant.
Interestingly, a government document proclaimed in 1996 that
"the gas had badly polluted the environmental status of the localities". It is
in this background that environmental activists suspect the worst: Carbide offered to hand
over the land and the Government readily obliged it. Says Khan: "Politicians take
money from Carbide and that is why successive governments have tried to bail it out."
The saga of Union Carbide refuses to end.
Air Control
Hyderabad: At
first glance it looked like a Sunday clearance sale of used cars and jeeps. A closer
scrutiny showed that the 2,000-odd state and Central Government vehicles lined up at the
Gymkhana Grounds were being issued Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC) by Chief
Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu himself. After the Andhra Pradesh Government decided
recently to curb auto emission levels in the city, a half-yearly PUCC has become mandatory
for all vehicles. Moreover, all vehicles of 15 years and more vintage can no longer ply on
the roads.
Hyderabad, which registers about a lakh vehicles every year,
tops the country in density of vehicles: 1,980 for a km of road. To counter the alarming
trend, the Government is planning a Light Rail Transit System. "Auto emissions cause
60 per cent of the city's air pollution," says environmentalist Captain J. Rama Rao.
With the Government's latest measures, the citizens, hopefully, can look forward to
cleaner environs. |
