DDA rollback?
Stung by the negative public feedback about the much touted District Development Authorities (DDA), the TSR government, in all certainty has made up its mind to beat a hasty retreat. The purported objective of these authorities was to give a fillip to planned development in the state and ensure implementation of rules and regulations in the construction activities. However true its character, the Babudom made these authorities yet another centre of red tape and associated corruption. Understanding the dislike of the public for these authorities, the opposition was vocal in demanding their scrapping but the government stood its ground terming these authorities a necessity. The newly appointed State president of BJP got a taste of public resentment on the issue during his recent tour and the government too understood that persisting with them could prove counterproductive in the assembly election slated in early 2022. Accordingly a roll back plan was devised in which the chief of the saffron party met TSR and requested him to dissolve these centres of corruption and public inconvenience.
School Saga
The education department’s latest plan to set up 190 schools – two in each block- appear impressive on paper but a close scrutiny of the department’s efforts and the results produced by it in the last 20 years shows that grandiose plan is yet another step on the path which leads to nowhere. It appears as if the successive governments in the Himalayan state have used the department and the education system to further their political agenda. One wonders the need for a new set of government schools (named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee) in a state where hundreds of schools are facing immediate closure due to absence of students. If inculcating quality education and eye catching slogan of giving a competition to famed private schools is the rhyme behind these schools then Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalayas and more than 500 Model schools already exist in the state that were set up with a similar intent. It is advised that the political parties should resist the temptation of extracting mileage from the education system and adopt a long term plan devised with inputs from experts so that the future of the state is kept safe.
Palate Politics
Former CM Harish Rawat is back in doing what he does best, throwing lavish feasts with some subtle theme. Recently the Congress veteran posted an interesting invite on his Facebook page in which he expressed his desire to host the first 20 responders with some Kumaoni delicacies. However the feast was attended by a large number of his followers and people from different sections of society. The astute politician that he is, Rawat probably did the FB invite ploy to evade criticism of hosting a gathering during the pandemic times and also wriggled past any censure that could have come up from the rival camps of his own party. With the crucial elections to the state assembly just a little more than a year away, Rawat would surely host many more such parties for the food aficionados and at the same time would keep the pot of politics simmering in the state with his masterly manoeuvres to unnerve his opponents both within and outside the party.
Friday, 06 November 2020 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
