Page 46 - Tehelka Issue 8&9

HimacHal pradesH

he BJP government in the Minister Jai Ram after the passage of ing on baseless facts. ‘’Truth is that
hilly state of Himachal the bill clarified that Himachal is not states like Andhra Pradesh, Karna-
Pradesh has passed a the only state in the country which taka, Delhi, Telangana, Tripura, Mi-
bill in the state assem- has given such kind of rank and fa- zoram and Rajasthan already have
T bly, which gives cabinet cilities to the two posts. According to this bill and we too have followed
ranks and equal facilities to two him, many other states have created that,” he added.
newly created posts of Chief Whip such posts with similar privileges. But here, the question arises that
and Deputy Chief Whip in the state. The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in such circumstances where does
This has been done at a time when leader Mukesh Agnihotri, while the status of law which restricts a
the state needs to take strict auster- talking to Tehelka said that his party state making more than 12 minis-
ity measures to reduce deficits and strongly opposed the BJP govern- ters stand? The Chief Minister says
avoid a debt crisis. Himachal is fac- ment move. ‘’They are trying to save that the previous Congress govern-
ing a huge debt of 50,000 crore. them from the office of profit rule by ment had appointed 9 Chief Parlia-
Not only this, the state is facing the creating these unnecessary posts, mentary Secretaries (CPSs) which
highest ever graph of unemploy- which is just a burden on the poor was a huge burden on the state
ment and the numbers according to people of the state,” he added. exchequer. “We are not going to ap-
government records have gone up On the other hand, Chief Min- point CPS,” he added.
to 8,34,714. ister Jai Ram Thakur defended his The lone CPM legislator in the
The Chief Minister Jai Ram government decision and said that state Assembly Rakesh Singha also
Thakur succumbed to internal pres- the opposition Congress is argu- opposed the BJP government deci-

HP move to give cabinet status to

chief whip raises many eyebrows

The BJP-led Himachal government faces opposition for giving the Chief Whip and his deputy the status to these five religious leaders • Job jab As many as 40.8 per cent of the total or postgraduate and other professional
asking the government to file a reply. youth in the state are unemployed, most of degrees in their kitty. The survey reveals
rank and facilities equivalent to cabinet ministers in the state, writes rakesh rocky
them having degrees in their kitty that every year there is an increase of
What the law says? 10% in unemployment in the state. Most
The Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, of the unemployed are in Kangra dis-
sure within the party and agreed to sion. “They didn’t have the money 2003, limits the size of all ministries in The unemployment status trict, which has 1,90,783 unemployed
create the two posts, assigning them Himachal is facing even to pay the interest of huge India, came into force on July 7, 2004. According to the state government re- youth, while Mandi has 1,51,137, Shimla
the ranks and facilities equal to that debt on the state. Moreover, this This Act stipulates that the strength of cords, Himachal till the December 2017 81,070, Hamirpur 66,994, Una 62,755,
of cabinet ministers. The state has a debt of `50,000 is a mockery of the law, which re- the council of ministers should not ex- had 8,34,714 registered unemployed Sirmaur 58,350, Chamba 6,453, Bilaspur
an assembly of 68 members and ac- crore. The state stricts a state to have only 12 min- ceed 15 percent of the total number of in the state. The numbers of those un- 53,258, Kullu 46,111 and the tribal dis-
cording to law there can only by 12 isters,” he added. However, the CM members in the Lok Sabha (in case of employed, who are not enrolled in the tricts of Kinnaur 9,445 and Lahul Spiti
ministers, including the chief minis- is staring at the clarified that the two posts have the central government) or the relevant state government department, are sep- have the lowest number 4,681.
ter. All these ministerial berths were been created for better coordina- state assembly. arate. This is the highest ever number of The previous Congress regime
filled after the new government highest ever tion in the assembly and this does An exception has been made only the unemployed in the state. “The grow- which had 9 CPSs, claims that it pro-
took oath in December last year. graph of not violate any rule regarding for smaller states such as Sikkim, Mizo- ing number of unemployed in the state vided jobs to as many as 1.49 lakh youth
As there was no scope of inducting the restriction on the number of ram and Goa where the strength of the is a matter of serious concern. In such in five years. “We focused on this front
more ministers, it is said there was unemployment ministers. assembly is 40 or less. There, the state a situation, the governments must not seriously as the state didn’t have much
pressure within the BJP to at least and the numbers, Interestingly, in another BJP government can have a maximum of 12 spend money just to fulfil its political scope in public sector,” said Mukesh Ag-
adjust two of the senior legislators ruling state, Madhya Pradesh, ministers. aspirations,” said BD Sharma, eminent nihotri, CLP leader. He admits that the
and give them ‘respectful’ ranks. according to the BJP government gave cabinet But all the states who have already political observer and former Director huge number of unemployed youth
The state Assembly in the Budget government rank to five sadhus (religious lead- completed the prescribed quota of min- of Information in the state. in the state is a matter of concern and
session passed the Bill which was ers). However, on April 10, the state isters, are adjusting ruling party legisla- According to a survey conducted by the government needs to adjust more
brought in the house by the ruling records, have High Court issued a notice to Mad- tors out of ministry but with cabinet/ the labour bureau, as many as 40.8% of number of youth in the industries.
BJP government amid strong op- gone up to 8,34,714 hya Pradesh government over MoS status with all salaries and all other the total youth in the state are unem-
position from the Congress. Chief granting minister of state (MoS) facilities to the ministers. ployed, most of them having graduate letters@tehelka.com

tehelka / 15 may 2018 46 www.tehelka.com tehelka / 15 may 2018 47 www.tehelka.com

46-47 Rakesh Rocky.indd 2-3 02/05/18 5:41 PM