Madhya Pradesh
Pet A Big Cat
The crores of rupees spent on wildlife conservation are going down the drain, complains state minister for animal husbandry Kusum Mehdele. She offers an easier way out: change the law and allow citizens to keep lions and tigers as pets. Such a move, she says, has paid off in some African countries and in Thailand. While babus in MP, which claims to have 257 big cats in six tiger reserves, have thrown the ball to the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, conservationists claim to be struck dumb by the comments.
Jammu & Kashmir
Honeymoon Hiccups
The uneasy BJP-PDP alliance took all of two months to broker, but it didn’t take two days for it to run into unexpected turbulence. First, CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed raised hackles by thanking militants, separatists and Pakistan for the peaceful polls, and then PDP MLAs wanted the remains of Afzal Guru, hanged for the Parliament attack, to be sent back to the state from Tihar. Ex-CM Omar Abdullah is naturally enjoying the tamasha the most.
Maharashtra
Steak No more
During his poll campaign, Narendra Modi accused the UPA of promoting the “pink revolution”, but beef exports actually rose after he became PM, Maneka Gandhi’s beef exports-terror connection notwithstanding. So imagine Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis’s glee at the presidential assent to the cow slaughter ban, after 20 years. So now even eating beef here can get you jail and fine. Less popular buff meat is exempt though.
Gujarat
Brotherly Warning
As if estranged wife Jashodaben, who’s been seeking information on her status and privileges as the PM’s wife, was not problem enough, the PM is now faced with another embarrassment, elder brother Prahlad Modi, who is the national vice-president of the All-India Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation. The BJP lost the Delhi elections, some say, because the constituency voted against it (and that it did spectacularly well in Uttar Pradesh because the dealers voted in its favour). Modi Senior warned at a rally in Mumbai this week that if the Narendra Modi government failed to raise their commissions and ensure that each one of them had at least “a thousand card holders” to service, there would be hell to pay in the next elections.
Don’t resist Leslee Udwin with Nirbhaya case accused Mukesh Singh’s mother
Delhi
India’s Daughter Doomed
The BBC documentary on International Women’s Day, India’s Daughter, is bound to make India squirm. Not only because of the rapist of a five-year-old telling Leslee Udwin that the life of the beggar girl was of no consequence; or of Mukesh Singh, one of the five ‘Nirbhaya’ rape/murder accused declaring on camera that she should have allowed them to rape her for then she would have lived. But also because of defence lawyer M.L. Sharma saying that if his daughter/sister engaged in ‘pre-marital’ dalliances, he himself would set them on fire. The film was watched in seven countries last Sunday. Meanwhile, the Union budget confirmed that the government spent only 20 per cent of the Rs 1,000 crore allocated for the Nirbhaya Fund last year. Nobody knows how the money is being spent, but indications are much of it goes in installing CCTV cameras in public places.
Delhi
Simplistic Solution
“Creepy”, said some women to railway minister Suresh Prabhu’s announcement that CCTV cameras would be installed in the ladies’ compartments of select suburban trains on a trial basis. With no clue about those who’d be viewing the footage, most women seem uncomfortable about the idea. The cause of women’s safety, they say, would be better served by increasing the number of ladies’ compartments and ensuring that men don’t barge in. More security women in trains and on platforms would also be welcome.
Karnataka
Big Chair Shaking
The defeat of Karnataka PCC chief G. Parameshwar in the assembly elections came in handy for CM Siddaramaiah at the time of cabinet formation two years ago. But following the general elections, it has generally been downhill. The cry went up for the KPCC chief’s inclusion as a deputy CM. Now, a full-blown scandal involving land allotment, accompanied by a perceived passivity in administration, has resulted in cries for a Dalit to be installed as chief minister. The clock is ticking.
