{"id":176642,"date":"2021-11-13T02:35:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=176642"},"modified":"2021-11-13T02:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:05:54","slug":"tripura-latest-to-wield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2021\/11\/13\/tripura-latest-to-wield\/","title":{"rendered":"Tripura latest to wield"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

UAPA Stick<\/strong>
\nBJP-ruled Tripura is the latest State to join others in brazenly using the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to stifle citizens\u2019 right to freedom of speech and expression. It\u2019s police has wantonly charged lawyers, journalists and 100-odd social media users with UAPA for posts on communal violence, which followed after reports emerged last month from Bangladesh that Hindu minorities there were attacked during \u2018Durga Puja.\u2019 Significantly, on Thursday last, the Supreme Court was convinced to entertain a petition of two advocates and a journalist seeking quashing of an FIR and a criminal case lodged under UAPA provisions against them for bringing facts through social media posts about the \u2018targeted political violence\u2019 against Muslims in the north-eastern State, as spelt out by a fact-finding report \u201cHumanity Under Attack in Tripura #Muslim Lives Matter\u201d.
\nWhile the court asked the petitioners to first approach High Court on the FIR, the latter\u2019s concern over UAPA misuse, made it agree to hear the case. Indeed, what emerges is yet another example of sheer high-handedness of the government to quash dissent. The petition makes a critical point: \u201cIf the state is allowed to criminalise the very act of fact finding and reporting \u2014 and that too under the stringent provisions of the UAPA in which anticipatory bail is barred and the idea of bail is a remote possibility \u2014 then the only facts that will come in the public domain are those that are convenient to the state due to the \u2018chilling effect\u2019 on the freedom of speech and expression of members of civil society. If the quest for truth and reporting thereof itself is criminalised then the victim in the process is the idea of justice.\u201d Therefore, the judiciary must draw the laxmanrekhafor the government in Tripura and elsewhere, particularly UP and J&K, to protect what the Constitution gives to citizens, its fundamental rights. No encroachments, please.<\/p>\n

AP-Odisha Resolution
\nWill they make a breakthrough? A big question as both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha decide to find an amicable solution to nagging territorial issues and refrain from going to court. On Tuesday last, Chief Ministers Naveen Patnaik and Jagan Mohan Reddy met in Bhubaneswar with officials in towto get cracking on the issues: One, construction of Neradi Barrage by Andhra over Vamsadhara river, of which 154 km lies in Odisha, and 82 km flows from AP. In 1962, the latter decided to construct the barrage for irrigation, but Odisha opposed it as it would submerge portions of farmlands; a Vamsadhara Water Disputes Tribunal was set up in 2010 which in 2017 gave Andhra go ahead and asked Odisha to acquire 106 acres of land in its region and hand it over to Andhra. But acquisition is yet not done! Two, Kotia gram panchayat, wherein both sides approached Supreme Court, which said sort it yourselves, given Odisha says Andhra officials intruded into villages there and other parts creating a law-and-order problem, whereas AP contends the villages belong to it. Where lies a solution then? The Chief Secretaries have a tall order now. Their bosses have directed they set up a system to work on the outstanding issues and find a solution. If there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way?<\/p>\n

Rajasthan & Punjab
\nWill Congress-ruled Rajasthan go Punjab\u2019s way, or will the political crisis blow over? Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot met party high command separately over long pending Cabinet reshuffle and expansion on Wednesday last. An exasperated Pilot tweeted \u2018it\u2019s been 3 years since govtformation, but party workers (read his loyalists) who sacrificed everything are awaiting their dues\u2026 they should be rewarded in form of political appointments, at the earliest as elections are approaching soon.\u2019 Will it happen as a step towards reconciliation between the two camps? Necessary alright, but it shouldn\u2019t be a knee jerk reaction like in Punjab, wherein the crisis within refuses to ebb. Chief Minister Channigot Advocate General Deol to resign to appease PCC chief Navjot Sidhu, who had objected to his appointment in September. It\u2019s had a reaction: Additional AG, senior advocate Berry resigned on Wednesday, two days after he was appointed, asking the government \u2018not to ridicule and diminish status and dignity of senior advocates of High Court\u201d. The party high command would do well to go beyond that and see the larger picture.
\nTNFlooding
\nInundation in capital Chennai during the incessant rains in Tamil Nadu, speaks volumes of how authorities and governments refuse to learn from mistakes. \u201cWhat the authorities were doing for the past five years after the 2015 deluge?\u201d, the Madras High Court asked on Tuesday last and went a step further warning Greater Chennai Corporation officials that it wouldn\u2019t hesitate to initiate (contempt) proceedings if the situation is not improved within a week. While hearing a PIL, against encroachments on public roads and to restore their original length and breadth, it also noted \u201cFor half of the year, we are made to cry for water (apparently due to shortage) and for another half we are made to die in water.\u201d So far 12 people have died including in nearby areas. Clearly, it\u2019s people who suffer and instead of relief watch governments indulge in the usual blame game. The floods have given the DMK government to focus on its predecessor AIADMK\u2019s work on Smart city project in the city, as T Nagar, is the worst hit. Chief Minister Stalin noted: \u201cWe don\u2019t know what they did with it\u2026no work was done\u2026a Commission of Inquiry will be constituted\u2026\u201d Apparently, the Chennai corporation spent over Rs 100 crore to construct stormwater drains between 2019 and 2021, but the area has been severely waterlogged. Funds washed away literally.<\/p>\n

Pollution &Jugaad
\nVisuals the AAP government spraying water, using boats and trying to erect a makeshift barricade on the river to \u201cscatter and lessen\u201d the white foam in polluted Yamuna, is typical jugaadthe system relies on! The government of course knew that people would take a dip in the river to celebrate Chhath puja, but that is all it could do to clean it up. And it appeared to be satisfied with its work of \u2018beating the foam with sticks\u2019, dispersing it by \u2018breaking it\u2019to go past the celebrations. Certainly not a long measure as its resolve to clean up river turns out to be mere words. Plus, there was the usual politics over it, with BJP leaders defying an order \u2018not to celebrate on the banks of the Yamuna.\u2019 Some of them proclaimed they won\u2019t follow the DDMA ban order and \u2018no one can stop us from performing our rituals.\u2019The Kejriwal government, they added, is \u2018not allowing us to celebrate\u2019 and so we \u201cappeal to all mothers and sisters to come here and celebrate Chhath and we will provide them security.\u201d The big question being what about security of their good health? The leaders as usual would like to leave it to ram bharose! \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Insaf UAPA Stick BJP-ruled Tripura is the latest State to join others in brazenly using the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to stifle citizens\u2019 right to freedom of speech and expression. It\u2019s police has wantonly charged lawyers, journalists and 100-odd social media users with UAPA for posts on communal violence, which followed after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-176642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}