Cash is king
An article in the RSS weekly Organiser calls the governments plan to provide food,fertiliser and other subsidies in cash a move in the right direction,saying that while these subsidies were theoretically aimed at the poor,most of the benefits were effectively captured by the rich.
The verification of BPL cardholders is a tedious process,and it is comparatively easier to verify the true status of a bank account. It argues that instances of the poor having handed over their BPL cards to operators in times of need have already come to light: No such problem is encountered in cash subsidy. Besides,a UID number would help in checking leakage of cash subsidies. At the same time,the article argues for the need to expand the scope of cash subsidies beyond food,fertiliser,LPG,kerosene and diesel. It says that the BPL card system should be ended because providing benefits on this basis creates an incentive to remain poor so as not to lose their BPL status. Alternative is to distribute subsidies to all citizens of the country irrespective of their BPL or APL status.
Law of the jungle
The Organiser editorial discusses the recent Supreme Court order disbanding the Salwa Judum,calling it a severe blow to the anti-Naxal movement in central India,especially Chhattisgarh. The Naxal sympathisers in the media and the vocal sections had successfully portrayed Salwa Judum as some kind of underhand operation of the government. In reality,it is a reaction by the tribals who were unwilling to play into the hands of the Naxalites,waging a war against the state, it says.
It examines the courts cited reasons for scrapping Salwa Judum,like the lack of education or skills of the SPOs because of which they could not be expected to understand the likely dangers of their mission. This actually amounts to questioning the common intelligence of the tribals. In fact,the tribals of Chhattisgarh would understand it the best as they are the worst victims of the Naxal violence, the editorial says.
In the wake of the order,it suggests that the best solution now was to recruit these SPOs into the state police force. The amount of money paid to them should be enhanced and they must be given basic training in police force… If rules can be relaxed for admissions into premier institutions in the country,in the name of caste and religion,they can certainly be modified to recruit brave men into our police force, it says.
The editorial says that this was the second case in the past two months that the Chhattisgarh government has lost in the Supreme Court the first being grant of bail to Binayak Sen. The government would do well by ensuring that its case is strong and not easily dismissed by the courts scrutiny. For,the courts decide a case on the merit of the evidence and presentation, it says.
Cabinet kerfuffle
Panchjanya has dubbed the recent cabinet reshuffle a meaningless exercise,saying that while the home minister,P. Chidambaram,and the foreign minister,S.M. Krishna,were not touched,law minister Veerappa Moily was made the scapegoat. The change in Moilys portfolio has exposed this governments thinking that it does not want an independent and assertive judiciary, it said. It also questions the continuance of ministers like Vilasrao Deshmukh and Kapil Sibal.
