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| Tribals making huts at the Jon Beel mela in Morigaon on Thursday. A large number of tribals from the nearby hills have come down to take part in the mela where they buy products through the age-old barter system. The traditional cockfight is a special attraction of the mela. Picture by Eastern Projections |
The ministers are simply refusing to go away. With the Anti-Defection Amendment Bill becoming an act earlier this week, Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh closed the camp opened at his official bungalow. However, almost all ministers continued to loiter in the corridors and lounge of the chief minister’s secretariat.
For the moment there is no threat to the nearly two-year-old Secular Progressive Front ministry from the BJP-led Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA), but one fear continues to persists in the mind of the ministers. The new legislation requires Ibobi Singh to reduce his ministry size to 12. At present there are 31 ministers, 25 of cabinet rank and eight ministers of state.
The ministers are trying to be in Ibobi Singh’s good books to ensure a berth in the ministry but their constant loitering in Ibobi’s office has not only become an eyesore for the officials who are required to frequent the chief minister’s office, but also hampering file work. “The other day I had to wait several hours to get a signature of the chief minister, as Ibobi Singh remained surrounded by his ministers for most part,” an IAS officer rued.
Here’s more on ministry-size reduction. Article 371A, tribal diversity and the peace process are the three things most dear to the Nagaland government when it comes to arguments on things unsavoury to its politics.
So when it came to the Anti-Defection Amendment Bill, a host of ministers made trips to Delhi arguing against reduction in ministry size.
The argument has been simple, but complex to understand: a memorandum stated that the state was protected by Article 371A and the Centre cannot unilaterally ask Nagaland to reduce its ministry size.
Second, it said that the peace process was on and all these changes might change the texture of the process. Much to the government’s distress, there has not been any comment from the NSCN (I-M) against the proposed deflation of the jumbo-ministry here. The council in Nagaland has 36 ministers in a House of 60 members.
Last Assembly, too, it was more than 30 ministers. The argument of the state government is that since the state has 16 tribes, all tribes have to be given equal representation.
Much to the disadvantage of the establishment here, Arunachal Pradesh has 26 tribes and has, in principle, accepted the act.
A favourite of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee these days, chief minister Neiphiu Rio may just be able to bargain a few more in the ceiling on the council of ministers for his state.
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| Neiphiu Rio |
Trouble along the highways — robbery, extortion and harassment — brought together all drivers of commercial vehicles in Manipur. Now they realise that indeed self-help is the best help.
The Manipur Drivers’ Welfare Association (MDWA) recently announced that it would start giving scholarships and free education to meritorious children of drivers this year onwards.
The announcement came during the 15th annual Drivers’ Day, which was held on January 14. The Drivers’ Union proposed two schemes. One, it would provide scholarship to three meritorious students, who scored the highest marks in the Class XII examination.
The first, second and third ranked children of drivers would get monthly scholarships of Rs 4,000, Rs 3,500 and Rs 3,000 respectively.
The same scholarships would be given to three students who secured the highest marks in the matriculation examination as well.
The other is free education from Classes VII to X for four meritorious students. Names of four students were announced for the free education. Of the four, one is reserved for the children of widows.
Moved by the drivers’ concern for their wards, Manipur school education director N.K. Shimray contributed Rs 10,000 to the fund for free education.
It is almost official. At a recent meeting between Congress MP Santosh Mohan Dev and Assam Tourism Development Corporation managing director Kamal Goswami in Silchar, Dev alleged that two central schemes for promotion of tourism in Cachar could not get off the ground as Dispur failed to mobilise a “matching contribution” to go along with the main corpus to flow in from the Centre’s coffers.
There was no alternative for Goswami, a suave bureaucrat, but to admit that the prevailing cash crunch had prevented Dispur from releasing the matching grants. The first of the twin schemes relate to the Rs 30 lakh Yatri Niwas at Khaspur near Silchar, where the ruins of the 17th century Dimasa kingdom still exist as unique historical landmarks. The second is the Rs 30.5 lakh Yatri Niwas at Bhuban hills also near Silchar and the famous hilltop shrine where the idol of Lord Shiva was installed in the days of yore. It still attracts scores of devotees every year.
Dev pointed out that due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Assam government in funding the beautification of the downtown 50 bigha-Gandhi park at Silchar, the once shimmering beauty has now turned into a wide marshy land filled with a profusion of weeds. An outlay of Rs 50 lakh is needed to re-landscape the park to turn it into an exotic tourist resort again and add to the beauty of Silchar town, once famed as the second-most beautiful town in Assam after Tezpur, but now inexorably going to seed.
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| Footballer David Beckham with his cellphone |
The chief ministers of Meghalaya and Assam have decided to protest the mobile migration scheme. But in the opinion of the informed, the decision has come several days too late. On top of that, the protest has yet to be communicated to the Centre.
Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang, for instance, did not stir before January 16, when with only 15 days to go for the completion of migration from prepaid to post-paid connections, he announced with alacrity that he would take up the issue with the Centre. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, in true big-brotherly manner, announced his decision to protest the central directive, just a few days earlier. But those expecting the states to put their foot down over the unjustified directive as soon as it was announced had to be disappointed.
Meanwhile, downcast subscribers, with no faith in the chief ministers’ vows, are queuing up in Shillong and Guwahati to change over while, as they said, the Centre has the last laugh and the service provider laughs its way to the bank.
