INSTIGATED: The communal violence in Delhi even while Donald Trump was in town was instigated by BJP leader Kapil Mishra as acknowledged by former cricketer Gautam Gambhir
BY RAJAN NARAYAN
AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when there were riots in Delhi between the pro- and anti-Citizens Amendment Act supporters. For a Saturday following the week when the Congress objected to the manner in which reservations have been made for the zilla parishad polls. For a Saturday following the week when the State government has moved the Supreme Court for interim relief on diversion of Mhadei river. For a Saturday following the week when over 18,000 students began their journey to unemployment by answering the HSSC exam.
violence in delhi
And a few stray thoughts on violence breaking out in various parts of Delhi due to clashes between the pro and anti-CAA groups. It has been alleged by former cricketer Gautam Ghambir that BJP MP Kapil Mishra provoked the violence in which 13 people were killed. Shockingly the riots in which more than 20 became victims of bullet shot injuries occurred when US President Donald Trump was in Delhi. For the first time a large number of journalists were also attacked during the riots which was still raging as on Wednesday morning.
The media persons were forced to delete the scenes of the violence captured on their cameras and mobile phones. What started off in Shaheen Bagh as a peaceful protest against the CAA was converted into a communal war between majority and minority communities by the BJP. The curious part is no action was taken by the police till Tuesday, though the violence broke out on Sunday. Though Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and he is being blamed, he says he was helpless because unlike in other Union territories which have their own ministries and cabinet, the police in Delhi is not within the chief minister’s control. The police in the national capital come under Union Home Minister Amit Shah who must bear the responsibility for the continuing violence in north-east Delhi. Part of the reason why not enough police were deployed to control the violence was because the bulk of the police force including the Central Reserve Police were diverted for security for President Donald Trump’s visit.
trump denies comment
It was an extremely embarrassing moment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when American media persons asked Donald Trump about his stand on the CAA and the ongoing riots in New Delhi. It almost seems to be an action replay of the Partition when the two communities attacked each other. It is significant that there was no violence of any sort for over two months when Muslim women occupied a road in peaceful protest in Shaheen Bagh. Delhi police did not take any action against the Shaheen Bagh protestors even though they were blocking a main road.
tough judge pushed out
The High Court headed by Judge Murlidharan in a midnight hearing ordered the Centre the file FIRs against BJP leaders who gave hate speeches. It also reprimanded the police in Delhi severely and blamed them for the escalating violence. Not surprisingly the presiding Judge Murlidharan was transferred by the President the very next day to the Punjab and Haryana HC. His successor has shamefully given the centre four weeks to reply to the notice on hate speeches.
Finally, Tuesday, for the first time since the violence spread to virtually the whole of Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah called for a meeting of all concerned including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt. Governor of Delhi Pradeep Bhaijan. It was decided to reinforce the police presence and take the help of the Central Reserve Police to restore peace to Delhi. Now that Donald Trump has left the bulk of the police force will be free to control law and order instead of protecting the American president. The most heartening aspect of the ongoing riots in Delhi was on Wednesday when many citizens organized a peace march calling for the return of order in Delhi. It is clear from reports on the riots in Delhi that senior BJP leaders including Amit Shah are using the CAA to polarize the country on communal lines. It is shocking that communal riots over CAA should breakout in the national capital while the American president was visiting India for the first time.
The only consolation is that in Parliament the BJP has assured that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented. The NRC was supposed to follow the National Population Register and is already being implemented in Assam. But the circumstances in Assam are different as the objective of the citizens register was to counter the mass migration of Bangladeshis into Assam.
PATTERN OF RESERVATIONS
AND a few stray thoughts on strong objections from the Congress on the pattern of reservations for OBCs and STs in the forthcoming ZILLA Parishad elections scheduled to be held on March 22 and the Opposition including the Congress have decided to fight it on party lines. There is a lot of dissatisfaction over seat reservations for the Zilla Parishad elections which exceed 50% of the total seats. As against this the amount of reservations of OBCs and STs is 60% in the current elections. There are allegations of rigging of the reservations in favor of the BJP. For example, Nelly Rodrigues of the Congress who has been the Zilla Parishad chief for decades cannot contest this time as the seats have been reserved for OBCs. The rift within the Congress may deprive them of an opportunity to defeat the BJP in the Zilla Parishad election.
Even on the eve of the process of nominations for the Zilla Parishad the Congress had not taken a call on contesting the election on party lines. This may be to accommodate members of Goa Forward and some Independents and even some of the ten defectors who merged with the BJP. Girish Chodankar the president of the GPCC, believes that the Congress has a better chance if it ties up with Independent candidates in the constituency where they have a hold. In the meanwhile a number of complaints have been registered with the State Election Commission on violation of the Code of Conduct by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Tourism Minister Manohar Babu Azgaokar during the carnival float parade. The GPCC secretary has filed a complaint against the chief minister for flagging off carnival float parades in Panjim and Margao.
This is because once the schedule for any election is announced members of the Cabinet including the CM cannot participate in any official function. The High Court has also been moved in challenging the reservation of three constituencies in south Goa. The petitioners have pointed out that Usgao which was reserved for women in 2010 and OBC in 2015 has now been reserved for ST. This is depriving candidates of the general category from contesting the elections. In fact, if one examines the pattern of reservations, there are much fewer seats for the general category this time than in previous elections.
It is expected that the CAA issue will play a major part in the ZP elections. It provides an opportunity for the combined Opposition consisting of the Goa Forward, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Congress, not to mention the Independents, to demonstrate their disapproval of the CAA and NPR. The ZP elections which is being held on March 22, 2020 with results out the next day will prove the loss of faith of Goans in the BJP.
MHADEI PROJECTS
AND a few stray thoughts on the State government filing an application before the SC against the verdict of the National Water Tribunal. It may be recalled that the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal recently permitted Karnataka to continue construction activity on its projects aimed at diverting the Mhadei river. Senior advocates representing Goa mentioned the matter for an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court but were not provided any relief. The SC upheld its directive permitting Karnataka to continue with construction of the Kalsa Bandara near Belgavi. Goa’s stand is that Karnataka cannot notify the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal award till the matter is pending before the SC. The Combined opposition has demanded a White Paper on the diversion of the waters of the Mhadei water. The details provided in the SC order indicates that the water diverted is meant not only for drinking but also for power generation.
It is Manohar Parrikar who opened the window for Karnataka to challenge the earlier decisions of the tribunal barring it from diverting Mhadei waters which flow predominantly through Goa. To help the BJP just before the elections Manohar Parrikar reportedly wrote a letter to former Karnataka Chief Minister Yedurappa claiming that Goa was willing to meet the drinking water claims of Karnataka by the diversion of Mhadei’s waters. In fairness it must be admitted that Parrikar’s estimate of Karnataka’s water need was 10% of the demand of the former Karnataka chief minister.
Admittedly there is severe shortage of water in the Hubli, Dharward areas or Karnataka. The problem is that Karnataka is seeking to divert the Mhadei river not just for drinking water but for irrigation purposes. The Karnataka government has misused the Mhadei waters for growing sugarcane which consumes large quantities of water. It is alleged that Karnataka is planning to divert the Mhadei water to the Malaprabha basin which is the sugarcane belt of Karnataka. While for Karnataka it may be a question of expanding the area under sugarcane cultivation, for Goa the diversion of Mhadei will spell the death of the entire riverine ecosystem in the State. The first casualty will be drinking water supplied to Panjim and Ponda, which rely on tributaries of the Mhadei river. There is also the fear that the Mhadei and Netravali wildlife sanctuaries will be very badly affected if Mhadei river water is diverted.
Also barge movement which is the lifeline of the mining industry in the State will also be badly hit. There will be not enough water in the Mandovi for barges to reach the MPT for the export of ore. The off shore casinos may also have to shift if the Mhadei waters are diverted. It may already be too late because the Karnataka government’s dam at Khalsa Bandara near Kankumbi village near Belgavi is almost complete. In retrospect I am inclined to believe that Goa made a mistake in sacking Sushant Nadkarni as its advocate on the Mhadei case. All the major successes that Goa has had must be attributed to the stiff fight put up by Atmaram Nadkarni who continues to represent Goa even though he was promoted to the post of additional solicitor general. The new advocate general who is now representing Goa is not as effective as Atmaram Nadkarni.
HSC EXAMS COMMENCE
AND a last stray thoughts on the commencement of the Higher Secondary School exams in the State on Wednesday, February 26. This year there will be as many as 18,000 plus students appearing, with girls out numbering boys. It would appear that boys in Goa are not interested in studying. In fact, in the recent convocation held by Goa University only one male got a gold medal with all the others going to the girls. Chief Guest Vice President Venkaiah Naidu commented on the girls taking over the top position from the boys, commenting that may be the boys were distracted by their smart phones.
Of the 18,000 students as many as 5,500 have registered in the commerce stream. Equalling those who have opted for science. It is unfortunate that only about 3,000 have enrolled in the vocational stream. This reflects either on the quality of the vocational courses or the inclination of Goan students. Every year we have witnessed very high pass percentages with several schools getting 100% pass percentage. We also notice individual students getting if not 100% in some subjects at least 97 to 98%. We have always thought that this is absurd as it is not possible to score such high marks unless all the students are geniuses.
The bitter truth is there is competition among the various boards as well as the alternative boards like the ICSE and the Kendriya Vidhalaya CBSE boards to inflate the marks of the students. This is because board results are partly considered competitive exams. I recall that when I was a student the maximum marks a science student would get is 70 to 75%. In the arts and commerce stream it was difficult to get even 60%. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly pointed out in his `Maan Ki Baat’ Indian students should focus on “vocational courses and technology.”
Unfortunately, even in our best engineering colleges the standards are very poor. Unlike in the past when the IT industry used to recruits several lakh engineers they have started sacking even mid-level managers. The reality is that the world is changing and even in manufacturing major industries are switching to artificial intelligence and new technologies. The automobile industry for instance will be forced to switch to electric cars and two- wheelers within the next two or three years.
The irony is that while increasingly CEOs and chairpersons of top companies in the world ranging from IBM to Microsoft are Indians, we find it difficult to get even competent managers in our own country. The majority of students who pass out of the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science which are listed amongst the best institutes worldwide, migrate abroad for want of opportunities in India. What is important is not the percentage of marks our students get and the number of schools which get 100% pass but the quality of education. Goa should learn from Delhi where government schools have been performing better then private schools with as many as 490 students from Government Higher Secondary School getting admission to the Indian Institute of Technology. We also need to persuade Goans of dignity of labor even in their home state. While Goans are willing to sweep floors at the London airports they will not do any manual labor in Goa. They still complaint of migrants taking their jobs.