Deluge on one side; famine on another
Some parts of Karnataka have suffered serious damage to property owing to torrential rains. In some other regions, there is scarcity of water owing to poor monsoon. The CM has said his government would be coming up with schemes to tackle this situation in at least 12 districts in the near future.
Some districts in North Karnataka have received good rains, while some have not. If it does not rain in the next one month in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Vijayapura districts, things would go from bad to worse. There is almost 50% scarcity of rain in these areas.
Hyderabad Karnataka is in the red with lack of normal rains in the area; though it has already been two months since the monsoon set in. The farmers are tensed since the lakes, ponds and other water sources do not have water in them and the table is fast depleting. Birds and animals are suffering because of there is hardly any water in spaces where they quench their thirst. Heat is on the rise in the region. Sowing has already taken place in about 80% of the cultivable land in Kalaburagi district which amounts to six lakh hectares and farmers are looking forward to rains lashing the area soon enough to sprout the seeds. There was some sprinkle of the showers in the last week of May and that was it. Rains disappeared after that. Bhima, Amarja, Kamalavati, Mullamari, Kajina, and other major rivers have dried up in the area.
Hyderabad Karnataka region had to receive at least 120 mm rain in the month of July. But there is a lack of 60% rains in the area. Vijayapura and Kalaburagi are suffering under the dry spell. People are in distress even over drinking water. Some areas in South Karnataka such as Kolar and Chikkaballapura are also facing shortfall of rain.
The CM had called for DCs meeting on Monday at Vidhana Soudha and discussed the further plan of action. He has said a disaster management action will be initiated to tackle the distress situation in those areas with drought kind of condition. The loss caused by natural disasters should be compensated for.
The state government has already released Rs 43 crore for this purpose, and would allocate even more funds if need be. Possibilities of supplying drinking water through tankers to places that are facing scarcity of water, is also under consideration.
While all this situation is being tackled in North Karnataka, some irresponsible MLAs belonging to BJP who have benefited thousands of crores under illegal mining, have started this cry for separate North Karnataka state. Media is using all opportunities to build various narratives around some spur of the moment talks CM HD Kumaraswamy had with the members of press in Ramanagara. Some leaders are behind this ‘separate state’ demand. Leader of Opposition, Yeddyurappa is trying to fan the fire by giving silent support to those who are crying aloud for separate state, and hoping to destabilize the government.
There is a good amount of truth in the allegation that North Karnataka has got a raw deal as far as development is concerned, ever since the formation of Karnataka was complete. But the people responsible for that are the legislators who represent the region, and no one else. Nearly 100 MLAs who have been elected from the region have hardly spoken for the region in the house, as per veteran journalist Patil Puttappa’s words. Once elected, they go and create a base for themselves in Bangalore, and come to their constituencies only when elections are close or when they are invited for the events.
Hence, the people’s representatives have ignored the cause of their people big time. People know the response BJP MLAs showed when Mahadayi water sharing dispute was being protested against, by farmers of Dharwad region recently. These are the same MLAs who are encouraging this separate state cry.
Had the Prime minister convened a meeting of Goa and Maharashtra CMs, and addressed the problem, it could have been solved amicably long ago. The PM didn’t respond even when the then CM Siddaramaiah took an all-party delegation to Delhi. Leaders like BSY and Jagadish Shettar sat silently in such meetings. Now they are all very affectionate towards North Karnataka people and want a separate state for them.
Hence the efforts to divide the state are on, full swing. BJP is doing this with the upcoming general elections in mind. Instead, they should focus on developmental works in the state, help the state get aid for regions affected by famine and drought from the centre. They shouldn’t play politics in this matter.
This is a very strange situation Karnataka is facing which is stark contradiction of natural phenomenon in state. Some regions are facing famine and some others are facing floods. The elections have got over only recently. Our leaders and MLAs have to go to people to deliver better facilities for them. Instead, they shouldn’t engage in destabilizing the government. All parties have to come together for the cause of people.
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Not surprised EC gave itself clean chit: Cong slams poll panel on Haryana complaints
Warns ECI of legal action over 'condescending' tone
New Delhi, Nov 1: The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations of "irregularities" in Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to "strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality", then it is doing a "remarkable job" at creating that impression.
The opposition party claimed that the EC's reply was written in a tone that is condescending and warned that if the poll panel persists with such language then it would have no choice but to seek legal recourse for getting such remarks expunged.
The Congress's response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over "irregularities" in assembly polls, saying the party was raising "the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome as done in the past.
The Congress said it is not surprised that the ECI has examined its complaints and "given itself a clean chit". The answer given to the question of the machines' fluctuating batteries seeks to confuse rather than clarify, it said.
"At any rate, the ECI reply is nothing more than a standard and generic set of bullets on how the machines function rather than a specific clarification on specific complaints. In short, while our complaints were specific the ECI response is generic and focused on diminishing the complaints and the petitioners," the Congress said.
In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, "We have carefully studied your response to our complaints. Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself. We would normally have let it be at that. However, the tone and tenor of the ECI's response, the language used, and the allegations made against the INC compel us to submit the counter-response."
The Congress letter said that if the Commission grants a recognised national party a hearing or examines issues raised by them in good faith it is not an 'exception' or 'indulgence' but it is the performance of a duty required to be done.
"If the Commission is refusing to grant us a hearing or refusing to engage on certain complaints (which it has done in the past) then the law allows recourse to the higher courts' extraordinary jurisdiction to compel the ECI to discharge this function (as happened in 2019)," the letter said.
The Congress leaders, who had petitioned the EC alleging irregularities in the polls, said every reply from the EC now "seems to be laced with ad-hominem attacks" on either individual leaders or the party itself.
"The ECI's reply are written in a tone that is condescending. If the current ECI's goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality, then it is doing a remarkable job at creating that impression," the party said in its letter to the EC.
"Judges who write decisions do not attack or demonise the party raising the issues. However, if the ECI persists then we shall have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks," said the letter signed by Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Singhvi, Uday Bhan, Partap Bajwa and Pawan Khera.
They also said that the "pattern" sought to be identified by the ECI in its reply is "disingenuous" as sometimes acting on complaints immediately is the key.
"If they are not redressed on the ground then they become redundant. And then the only remedy available is an Election Petition which is a lengthy process taking years to resolve. Thus, we approach the ECI with whatever information we have, and the ECI with the vast resources at its command, examines and reviews this information to see if the same is correct. Many times, the ECI has found our information to be correct. Other times, not so. But we do not name and shame the ECI for those moments after the Election is over," they said.
The Congress said if they were "bad faith actors", then they would never engage with the ECI to begin with. "We would focus on naming and shaming the Commission with examples from the ECI's own recent history which do not shroud it with glory," it said, adding that they would have never engaged in that case.
The Congress said it has sent over a hundred complaints against the prime minister and home minister, but "the ECI has taken action in precisely zero complaints, while calling our party president and former party president to account for their actions/speeches".
"We would point out how the ECI never published a dissent note, actively suppressing it instead, by a former Commissioner in this regard. We would point out that the ECI has almost always fought any move for transparency and increase in VVPAT verification numbers, with the same having to be ordered by the Supreme Court. We challenge the ECI to fact check the above since it finds the INC's misgivings to be based on phantoms," the Congress said.
In a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the poll panel had said such "frivolous and unfounded" doubts have the potential of creating "turbulence" when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties' anxiousness is peaking.
The BJP retained power in Haryana winning 48 of the 90 seats in the October 5 assembly polls.
