People's Democracy

on file

IF the five crore Gujaratis ask for their share in the annual income of the state, they’ll be surprised to know it’s in negative. The Gujarat state domestic product for the year 2002-03 is a dismal 2.1 per cent against the population growth of 2.26 per cent, according to government’s statistics.

This might make chief minister Narendra Modi, who has been boasting about the economic development of the state across all podiums, to bite humble pie. Modi had been promising a GSDP annual growth rate of 10 to 12 per cent to the five crore Gujaratis against the target of 8 per cent growth for the country set by the union government.

While the national economy registered GDP growth rate of 4 per cent in financial year 2002-03 against estimates of more than 8 per cent, Gujarat registered a growth of mere 2.1 per cent against estimates of more than 10 per cent. The figures of state economy have been published in the recent issue of ‘Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2003-2004’ published by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the government of Gujarat.

--- The Asian Age, October 12    

IN a country divided by religious issues, even the dead aren’t safe.

The coffin of a Christian, Baga Tulasiga, buried in  “Hindu cremation ground,” had to be dug up after some locals lodged an FIR with the Gurandi police in Orissa’s Gajapati district.

The coffin was brought back to Tulasiga’s home for “reconversion” to Hinduism. His body was then cremated in the same ground as per Hindu rites.

The burial dispute also forced Tulasiga’s family, who had converted to Christianity about eight months ago, to reconvert to Hinduism.

--- Hindustan Times, October 5 

TWO custodial deaths in less than two months had given the opposition Congress a chance to launch a frontal assault on the lacklustre performance of the Raman Singh regime of Chhattisgarh.

The first victim (Ram Kumar Dhruva) was an innocent tribal who died in police custody in mid-August. The case caused considerable hullabaloo, compelling the state government to suspend a number of policemen, and relocate almost the entire staff at the Sohela police station where the incident had occurred. Though the victim’s family was handed out Rs 5 lakh in compensation, five acres of land, and his spouse given a job at the Bhatpara municipality, the state’s image took a huge battering.

The administration had barely recovered from the shock when news of yet another lock-up tragedy filtered in from Piparia in Kawardha, the CM’s home district.

This time the victim was a dalit (Ballu Satnami) the police doubled its guilt by trying to pass it off as a case of suicide when facts showed otherwise.   

--- The Asian Age, October 11 

WITH the state government seeking to shift nearly 50,000 of its employees in one go, all work in Rajasthan has come to a halt.

The mass transfer policy has already resulted in huge protests, thousands of cases being filed before the service tribunal and even police firing, leading to over 40 people being injured.

In effect, the government has been paralysed for nearly three weeks. As chief minister Vasundhara Raje left on her Maharashtra campaign trail, details of the chaos are starting to emerge. Many schools being left with no teachers at all, Sanskrit teachers have been posted in commerce colleges and no work continues to be the order of the day.

Though the government has issued an ultimatum, directing employees to join their new posts by October 11, the commotion over the “largest number of collective transfers ever” shows no signs of ending.

--- The Indian Express, October 11   

BRITISH prime minister Tony Blair, stung by public anger over the Iraq war, has seen his ruling Labour Party slip to third place in a newspaper poll on the eve if its annual conference. The poll in Sunday’s (September 26) tabloid News of the World put Labour in third place on just 28 per cent, behind the opposition Conservatives (32 per cent) and Liberal Democrats (29 per cent). 

--- The Asian Age, September 27