The Political CupCake- seems evenly divided
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 1st Aug. 2016
The Political battle for the largest state seems to be heating up much before than its normal time. Basically almost all the political parties in fray seem to have underlined the need to have some control or handle in the administration of the state, which is the hotbed for their national political ambitions. However again the focus seems to be on social issues wherein the ‘Cow Brigade’ seem to have done more than its fair share of damage. Its antics seem to alienating the Dalits as well as Daily Wage earners alike. Although the daily wage earners seem to be equally miffed about the law & order related issues that frequently arise on this count. This seems again whereby the commercial news media will like to recycle & replay the old stories about caste dominated politics and the caste-value of leadership. This is even as their much touted MY-factor fizzled out badly for the state during the national elections for the state, however somehow polity doesn’t want to give up on the old narrative as they don’t want the new icons to rise above the horizon. The commercial news media of course follows from such polity rather than challenging the same.
The leaders seem to missing the point to fill the public perception about development. The issues pertaining to local employment generation, start-ups, small business expansion and loans, new manufacturing or industrial units or improving attractiveness for service sector seem to be getting less and less talk about. The irrigation system and canal mis-management could be a big draw in the state which was hot by draught earlier and now seem to be braving floods. The state seem to lack any short term or medium/long term plan even though its dependence on agri sector jobs is like to remain high for a considerable time. There has been little improvement in ration supply to the poor or for that matter their compensation (awarded by the state) reaching them. The state provided schooling and healthcare remain as bad as ever even though the party in the helm seem to have locked up people responsible for “Ghotala/s” in this areas as one of their claim to fame. The politicians connected to the ‘grassroots’ would however pick up emotive dalit issue somewhere even if outside of the state, rather than slug it out with the locals, an era of television and internet politics-although many would remain in denial.
While the leadership at the state might have shown considerable interest in flying planes, its work to improve the city bus transportation service seems to be totally absent. Some of its fastest growing cities cannot compare to a Bhopal or Surat on the parameter of inter-city transportation service. The auto-unions dominating the scenario seem to have resisted the ‘Uber-ization’ rather successfully and this is unlikely to gain the party in power, any of the progressive votes. The progress in other states on Computerized public service centres say from bills and municipal tax payments to certificate issuance or processing of request for say ration cards etc. seem to lacking for the state even though the government would go great length in touting its achievements in the advertorials. A flood of ghost employees in the offices (who would almost never be seen) and rampant corruption is most likely to be among issues, given that some of other parties have some track-record on this count, subject to revival of the developmental politics, of course. And then let’s see how the Game shows up…
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 1st Aug. 2016
The Political battle for the largest state seems to be heating up much before than its normal time. Basically almost all the political parties in fray seem to have underlined the need to have some control or handle in the administration of the state, which is the hotbed for their national political ambitions. However again the focus seems to be on social issues wherein the ‘Cow Brigade’ seem to have done more than its fair share of damage. Its antics seem to alienating the Dalits as well as Daily Wage earners alike. Although the daily wage earners seem to be equally miffed about the law & order related issues that frequently arise on this count. This seems again whereby the commercial news media will like to recycle & replay the old stories about caste dominated politics and the caste-value of leadership. This is even as their much touted MY-factor fizzled out badly for the state during the national elections for the state, however somehow polity doesn’t want to give up on the old narrative as they don’t want the new icons to rise above the horizon. The commercial news media of course follows from such polity rather than challenging the same.
The leaders seem to missing the point to fill the public perception about development. The issues pertaining to local employment generation, start-ups, small business expansion and loans, new manufacturing or industrial units or improving attractiveness for service sector seem to be getting less and less talk about. The irrigation system and canal mis-management could be a big draw in the state which was hot by draught earlier and now seem to be braving floods. The state seem to lack any short term or medium/long term plan even though its dependence on agri sector jobs is like to remain high for a considerable time. There has been little improvement in ration supply to the poor or for that matter their compensation (awarded by the state) reaching them. The state provided schooling and healthcare remain as bad as ever even though the party in the helm seem to have locked up people responsible for “Ghotala/s” in this areas as one of their claim to fame. The politicians connected to the ‘grassroots’ would however pick up emotive dalit issue somewhere even if outside of the state, rather than slug it out with the locals, an era of television and internet politics-although many would remain in denial.
While the leadership at the state might have shown considerable interest in flying planes, its work to improve the city bus transportation service seems to be totally absent. Some of its fastest growing cities cannot compare to a Bhopal or Surat on the parameter of inter-city transportation service. The auto-unions dominating the scenario seem to have resisted the ‘Uber-ization’ rather successfully and this is unlikely to gain the party in power, any of the progressive votes. The progress in other states on Computerized public service centres say from bills and municipal tax payments to certificate issuance or processing of request for say ration cards etc. seem to lacking for the state even though the government would go great length in touting its achievements in the advertorials. A flood of ghost employees in the offices (who would almost never be seen) and rampant corruption is most likely to be among issues, given that some of other parties have some track-record on this count, subject to revival of the developmental politics, of course. And then let’s see how the Game shows up…