___________

The Congress party in India is a party where the Gandhi family (especially, Sonia and Rahul) have too much power without much responsibility and that has been the major reason the UPA 2 government has floundered in many ways. Commenting on one such aspect, the indecisiveness of UPA2, Shekhar Gupta wrote: "The inherently indecisive style of this establishment is compounded by the fact that its administrative and political authority is so scattered — so scattered, in fact, that the buck has to make a dozen halts en route, like a DTC bus, before it finally stops with somebody." 

Alternatively, the BJP refuses to atone and clean up its tainted image and is yet to apologize for the Gujarat events in 2002 (unlike Congress which has apologized for the 1984 Sikh massacre in Delhi) and continues to stand behind Narendra Modi.

Fortunately, people in Odisha don’t like either and both Congress and BJP are down and out in Odisha.

As a result BJD and Naveen Patnaik have been governing Odisha for the last 12 years and in some sense going stronger. However, there have been many major shortcomings.

• BJD has been in the opposition in the central government for the last 8 years and Odisha has had very little  representation in the central government.
• Without a strong and credible opposition the Odisha government has been complacent in many spheres. They have done better than the previous governments but there has been a lot of missed opportunities.
• The current government really has only one minister with influence, which is the CM.  The other ministers seem to be only for show and have no real decision making power.

The first two shortcomings can be addressed if BJD splits to two "strong" regional parties that can relegate the national parties of Congress and BJP to 3rd and 4th position in the state.

That way at any time one of the regional parties can team up with the coalition that runs the government at the center and make the case for Odisha from within the central govt. This would be better than what happened in the last 8 years where there has been zero (initial days of UPA 1) or only one minister in the central government from Odisha, and ZERO representation from Odisha in the central cabinet.

Tamil Nadu with DMK and AIDMK as the leading regional parties is a good example of regional parties having strong influence in the center. One or the other has been an ally of the center for a long time.

UP with SP and BSP as number 1 and 2 is somewhat similar though neither are part of the central government. But they extend support to the central government. Because of that SP now has strong influence on the government. Moreover, Ajit Singh from another small party is in the cabinet as the minister for Civil Aviation.

If one considers the CPI(M) in West Bengal to be a regional party (which it almost is) then West Bengal with TMC and CPI(M) relegate Congress and BJP out of the top 2. They have benefited by this approach as CPIM from West Bengal had a huge say in UPA1 (until the end) and TMC has 5-6 ministers in the current central government.

In Maharashtra the regional parties of NCP and Shiv Sena partner with Congress and BJP and thus lookout for Maharashtra’s interest.

The third shortcoming can also be addressed by the split in that the parties resulting from the split will provide opportunity for new emerging leaders and intellectuals to be part of these parties and force the BJD-Naveen to decentralize power.

In conclusion, it may be good for Odisha if BJD splits to two "strong" regional parties that can relegate the national parties of Congress and BJP to 3rd and 4th position in the state.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Steel players pay Rs 2041 cr tax to Centre, Rs 1038 cr to state

… the steel sector in the state has recorded an investment of Rs 51940.67 crore till the end of December 2010.

…The 50 steel companies that have inked MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government have generated direct employment for 21508 people besides creating indirect jobs for 52448 others.

Out of 21508 people engaged in the direct route, 14217 are from within the state and the remaining 7291 outside Orissa. In the indirect employment category, 38122 people from the state have got jobs and 14326 persons have been sourced from outside the state.

According to the state steel & mines minister Raghunath Mohanty, 29 out of these 50 steel firms have begun partial production, achieving a sponge iron output of 6.24 million tonne per annum (mtpa) and steel capacity of 7.79 mtpa.

These steel units have achieved a CPP (Captive Power Plant) capacity of 1062 MW and have spent Rs 61.21 crore on peripheral development till the end of December last year.

Among the steel investors who have made significant investments in the state are Bhushan Steel Ltd-Dhenkanal (Rs 12000 crore), Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd-Sambalpur ( Rs 7000 crore), Jindal Steel & Power Ltd-Angul (Rs 8470.96 crore), JSL Ltd-Kalinganagar (Rs 5367.59 crore), Essar Steel Orissa Ltd-Paradip (Rs 5077 crore), Adhunik Metalicks Ltd-Kuarnmunda (Rs 1740 crore), Visa Steel-Kalinganagar (Rs 1626.83 crore) and Tata Steel-Kalinganagar (Rs 1302.60 crore).

The units that have started partial production are Aarti Steels Ltd, Adhunik Metalicks Ltd, Visa Steel Ltd, Shyam DRI Power Ltd, Sree Metaliks Ltd, Jain Steel & Power Ltd, Eastern Steels & Power Ltd and Bhushan Steel Ltd to name a few.

…The envisaged capacity of all the steel companies, that have signed MoUs with the state government, is 83.66 mtpa and the state has attracted investments worth Rs 2.30 lakh crore in the steel sector.

I agree with his view on Congress as well as BJP. Following are excerpts from an interview of Dr. Ramachandra Guha by Sheela Bhatt in rediff.

Some Congress leaders have mocked Hinduism, sometimes even Hindu civilisation while trying to attract the minorities.

Lots of people have this view of the Congress. I wish we had a political party to challenge the Congress. That would offer the people of India a wider vision of how this country should be built. But we don’t need polarising issues. Such criticism comes from people who have a polarised vision.

I come from Karnataka. In the last election, the BJP put up 224 candidates but not one Muslim. Almost 15 percent of the population of Karnataka is Muslim. So you are telling 15 percent of Karnataka you don’t count for us. Then how can you blame them for voting for the Congress? The BJP originally, said, ‘appeasement of none, recognition of all.’

But they never followed it. In Karnataka they attacked Christians after the Muslims in Gujarat. They had only one woman in the cabinet and she too has been sacked. So what message are they sending?

Is this the alternative to the Congress? The Congress can be a cynical manipulator. It plays one community against the other, okay, but, what are you offering that is better?

Do you think in the coming decades the BJP will form a national challenge to the Congress?

I don’t think so. It has fallen back to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). I think it’s possible that in 20 or 30 years time we may see a new political formation. It is possible a middle-class formation which is not captive of one family or one religion or one caste may emerge.

The BJP had a great chance to become a national party, but it has lost it. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s time, even at the time of the last election they had a chance to grow, but they always go back to the RSS.

When the Jaswant Singh crisis happened, (former deputy prime minister and then Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha) L K Advani went to see (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat who is head of a social-cultural organisation.

Who will trust the BJP as a young and modern party?

After reading the Congress’s history so well are you surprised by the way in which Sonia Gandhi has taken control of the party in the last ten years? Are you surprised to see the way she has grown and established herself?

I think she is a person of great determination. She has worked very hard. In the revival of the Congress she has been central. But there is a negative side also.

I see that a culture of chamchagiri (sycophancy) has flourished under her. There is a darbari (court) culture, there are chamchas around her. That is not healthy for any democracy.

That is not healthy for the Congress. It is not healthy for India that you have a situation where the prime minister has to come through the Rajya Sabha. He is totally dependent on her. He can not make Cabinet appointments without her approval. I think, there are problems. There are problems in the ways the Congress is run today.

Do you think its basic ideals remain strong today?

I don’t know. I can only say about the Congress is that it is not as bad as its alternatives. It is less bad. You cannot say it’s a healthy, democratic, well-functioning political party.

Look at world leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. How did she come to the top? In democracies political parties have to be open, transparent and secular institutions where anyone can enter. When they put in hard work and talent they can rise.

Look at how Barack Obama and Merkel came up. In the Congress, unless you are close to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi you will not progress. This is well established. We should know that the culture of sycophancy is undemocratic and foreign to the Congress culture. For 80 years the Congress did not function in this way.

Congressmen think that without the Gandhi family they will disintegrate.

Maybe they should have a process of churning and they should rediscover themselves. I can’t say that it’s a happy situation. Because, it amounts to feudalism and it’s not democracy. It is similar to a monarchy where Sonia Gandhi is the queen and Rahul Gandhi is the rajkumar (prince). That is not democratic.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

the BJD has decided to bring four resolutions against the Centre. “We will move resolution against the Centre for neglecting the cause of Odisha in the field of railway, for not increasing mine royalty in a regular manner and not giving its due share to the State, Centre’s negligence in providing help to the State to face the Maoist menace and Government’s failure to provide flood assistance to the State,” Mohanty added.

I agree with the above.

After the BJD-BJP alliance broke BJP state legislators withdrew their support from the Orissa government.  That led to the Governor asking the party in power to seek a confidence motion in the Orissa Legislative Assembly. The party in power did that, but through a voice vote. This led to cries of "murder of democracy" by many opposition leaders. The Governor sought clarifications from the Chief Minister, sought other counsels and went to Delhi to give his report. In other words there was a big broughaha over this issue. The following report from an article in Pioneer lists other such incidences and calls this outrage phoney.

The phoney hullabaloo over voice vote is nothing but a made-up controversy in these election times. There are precedents to show that confidence motions have been passed and no-confidence motions have been rejected by voice vote in the various State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha in the past. Complying with the orders of the Rajasthan Governor to prove his majority, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot won a confidence motion by voice vote on the floor of the Assembly on 3rd January this year. If no-confidence motions can be defeated by voice vote, why can’t the confidence motions be won by voice votes? Four such no-confidence motions were defeated by voice vote in the Lok Sabha itself. A no-confidence motion against Andhra Pradesh’s Congress Government moved by the Telugu Desam party was defeated by voice vote in April 2008. In the same year, a no-confidence motion against the Speaker of the AP Assembly was defeated in a similar fashion. In 2007, a no-confidence motion against the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly was defeated by voice vote too. In March 2003, a no-confidence motion against the UP Chief Minister Mayawati was also rejected by voice vote. Where is the recording of numbers that is being talked about? The cosmetic outrage over Naveen Patnaik winning the confidence motion by voice vote is being carried too far. As for the division of votes, let us see what happened to the no-confidence motion moved by Sonia Gandhi in August 2003 against the NDA Government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After the Speaker declared that the no-confidence motion has been defeated by voice vote, Congress pressed for a division. When the division took place, it was defeated by an overwhelming 126-vote margin. In our case, when the Speaker declared that the confidence motion has been passed by voice vote, Congress and the BJP had already left the House protesting against some of the Speaker’s rulings. Nobody from these parties was left in the House to demand a division.

The following list is from http://ws.ori.nic.in/ola/, click on Assembly Members, and then click on the appropriate assembly.

Following is from http://rc.orissa.gov.in/writereaddata/sublinkimages/167.doc.

PRESS RELEASE

January 30, 2008

Reg:   Submission of Memorandum by the House Committee of OLA to the Hon’ble Minister of Railways on 30.01.2008.

        The members of House Committee on Railways under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Speaker, Orissa Legislative Assembly, accompanied by the Members of Parliament submitted a Memorandum to the Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways in his office chamber. In the said meeting, Chairman, Railway Board and other high officials of Ministry of Railways were present.

          Orissa is on the threshold of major industrial upsurge and first progressing towards rapid industrialization. The large number of MoUs have been signed with several companies for setting up Steel Plants. Similarly, MoUs have been signed for setting up Alumina Plants and Super Thermal Power Houses. Several ports are also coming up along the Orissa coast. It is expected that additional generation of traffic will be staggering 200 to 250 MTPA by 2016.

          In the background of such massive transportation requirement, the rail infrastructure require urgent strengthening and expansion.

           Hence, the committee has given a proposal for enhancement of allocation of funds for the six ongoing projects to the tune of Rs.655 crore, for electrification of two Sections for Rs.50 crore, for gauge conversion Rs.125 crore, for doubling Rs.500 crore, altogether totaling to Rs.1330 crore, in the ensuing Railway budget.

–        2 –

          Hon’ble Railway Minister gave a patient hearing to the various demands raised by the House Committee and assured to look into the various proposals positively. He further assured that additional funds will be given for the projects in the execution stage for their early completion.

          On Puri-Konark project, Hon’ble Minister suggested that if land can be provided by the State Government, the project can immediately be taken up by the Government of India keeping in view the huge tourist potential of the area.

          The Committee also requested Hon’ble Minister to sanction nine new railway lines for which survey has already been completed. Hon’ble Minister assured that sanction of viable projects will be processed for approval of Planning Commission. The Committee also put forth demand for introduction of new train services, extension of selected existing services, increasing frequency of popular trains, improving quality of onboard services and amenities at the major Railway stations in the state.

          The Hon’ble Minister, Railways directed the Railway officials to examine the proposals given by the House Committee on Railways of OLA.

Various news reports mention some additional details. For example, New Indian Express reports that the committee asked for the following:

Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh- Rs 120 crore, Khurda Road- Balangir-Rs 150 crore, Haridaspur-Paradip-Rs 175 crore, Angul-Dubri- Sukinda Road-Rs 75 crore,Talcher-Bimalagarh-Rs 75 crore, Daitari-Banspani-Rs 60 crore.

Electrification of Kharagpur-Nimpura- Bhubaneswar and Bhubaneswar-Kottavalasa lines-Rs 50 crore, gauge conversion of Rupsa- Bangiriposi and Naupada- Gunupur lines-Rs 50 crore and Rs 75 crore respectively and doubling of Titlagarh- Lanjigarh Road-Rs 500 crore.

Following is the Pioneer report on this.

The Centre’s stepmotherly attitude towards the cause of Orissa is clearly evident in the railway sector. While the State contributes significantly to the revenue of Railways, the railway route length spread across Orissa is a mere 2,495 km with an average of 15.03 km per 1,000 square km as against the national average of 19 km and much less than the average in the contiguous States.

During 2003-2004 and 2004-05 with respect to the working expenses as a part of gross earnings, the top two profitable railway zones were the South East Central (62.8 percentage and 56.1 percentage) and the East Coast Railways (66.64 percentage and 61.75 percentage). A big part of the profit of the East Coast Railways comes from transporting minerals from various mines in the tribal areas of Orissa.

Despite this, on an average during the last 16 years beginning from 1992-93, the State has received a paltry of Rs 254 crore per annum only. As a whole during the last 16 years, the State has received only Rs 4,070 crore.

While in 1992-93 it had received Rs 68.48 crore, the State received Rs 107.61 crore in 1993-94. Similarly the State received Rs 93.62 crore in 94-95, Rs 149.24 crore in 95-96, Rs 80.29 crore in 96-97, Rs 158.73 crore in 97-98, Rs 254.74 in 98-99, Rs243.74 crore in 99-2000, Rs 239.19 crore in 2000-01, Rs 178.66 in 2001-2002, Rs 194 crore in 2002-03, Rs 306 crore in 2003-04, Rs 360.98 crore in 2004-05, Rs 374.51 crore in 2005-06, Rs 653.90 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 606.51 crore in 2007-08.

Criticising the Ministry of Railways apathetic attitude towards the State, Speaker of Orissa Legislative Assembly Maheswar Mohanty said the Centre had been consistently ignoring the demands of the State in the railway sector for the last several years. “While preparing the Railway Budget, the Centre should take the revenue contribution and economic condition of the State as a criteria rather than taking population into account,” he said.

BJP State president Suresh Pujari has also criticised the Centre’s funding pattern to the State in railway sector.

It may be noted that East Coast Railway that was made functional from April 1, 2003 with three divisions namely, Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Waltair, has a lowest operating cost in the entire country. However, expansion of jurisdiction of East Coast Railways has become a necessity in light of the recent industrial projects coming up in Orissa for ensuring better coordination and facilitation of bulk customers.

In its memorandum which will be submitted to the Prime Minister and Railway Minister, the House Committee of the Orissa Assembly has urged the Ministry of Railways to either extend the jurisdiction of Sambalpur division to include Jharsuguda-Barsuan-Kiriburu, Rourkela-Nuagaon, Jharsuguda-Himgiri or to create a new division with headquarters either at Rourkela or Jharsuguda with its jurisdiction.

Likewise, the jurisdiction of East Coast Railways may be extended to include Bansapani-Padapahar section and Bhadrak-Laxmanath Road section.

Since Independence, only three broad gauge rail links namely, Talcher- Sambalpur, (174 km), Koraput-Rayagada (164 km) and Daitari-Banspani BG rail link have been commissioned. Projects like Lanjigarh Road- Junagarh sanctioned in the year 1993-94 have not been commissioned due to inadequate allotment of funds.