Press Releases Archive

Don’t leave tenants to landowners’ Mercy: Lok Satta

The Lok Satta Party today demanded that the Government go to the rescue of tenants who suffered crop losses following unprecedented floods in River Krishna and its tributaries.

Talking to the media, party spokesmen Katari Srinivasa Rao and Dr. P. Bhaskara Rao said that the Government as of now seemed to have abdicated its responsibility of extending any assistance. Going by the Chief Minister’s pronouncements, the Government had left the tenants to the mercy of landowners for receiving any assistance it rendered to landowners for loss of crops. Apparently, the Government which promised facilitation of bank loans to tenants also had not come up with a mechanism to identify tenants.

The Lok Satta leaders suggested that the Government find a way out to compensate tenants who could not claim any compensation for want of evidence to establish they are tenants. (Landowners do not enter into formal lease deeds with tenants fearing they might be deprived of their land one day or the other, although they orally lease their lands). A welfare-oriented Government should view the problem from a humanitarian angle, the party leaders pleaded.

The Lok Satta leaders said that rendering assistance to flood victims had been characterized by chaos, delays and corruption because local governments had been weakened by centralized rule for more than two decades. Even to this day, the Government has not succeeded in directing the flow of relief material to the deserving.

Accustomed to centralized rule, people looked to the Chief Minister to listen to them and redress their problems. The Chief Minister should, therefore, ensure that the aid reached the last flood victim, without losing patience over people’s grievances.

The spokesmen announced that party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan would be visiting Guntur and Krishna districts on October 15 and 16. Leaving Guntur in the morning on October 15, he will be visiting Oleru and flood bank villages and Repalle. On October 16, he will be visiting the flood-affected areas in Vijayawada city and some villages in Avanigadda mandal.

The party faulted the State Government decision permitting private, gas-based power producers to sell 20 percent of the power generated to whomever they wanted. They should be permitted such sales only after the State’s power requirements were met. The power producers should sell the 20 percent of power also to distribution companies in the State at rates agreed to earlier.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - 18:28

Constitute National Judicial Commission: Dr. JP

Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan has requested Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to immediately constitute a National Judicial Commission with powers to appoint and terminate the services of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

Dr. JP, who called on the Prime Minister at Raj Bhavan here last night, said the commission should comprise eminent citizens chosen in a bipartisan manner and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. He also wanted the formation of an Indian Judicial Service on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service.

Dr. JP’s suggestion assumes significance in the context of allegations of corruption against a section of the judiciary and the controversy surrounding the declaration of assets by Judges.

Addressing the media, Dr. JP said he had also suggested to the Prime Minister to make civil services competitive by providing opportunities for induction of the best and the brightest in different fields. He pointed out that sectors like education and health care are in an awful state throughout the country because there are not many competent people in the services to handle such all-important sectors and deliver results. Although Governments spent thousands of crores of rupees, the quality of education is shocking in that 40 percent of students cannot read a simple passage and 70 percent cannot do a simple division or subtraction after seven years of schooling.

There should be competition to appoint the best in key positions, drawing from government as well as outside. All key appointments, he said should be made by invitation and nor by application. The time has come to put an end to hierarchy in civil services and encourage competition and choice.

Dr. JP also pleaded for initiation of reforms in policing by making crime investigation independent so that it could be shielded from political pressures.

On governance in general, Dr. JP suggested that unless powers and resources are devolved on local governments, there can be no improvement. To curb likely irregularities and corruption because of decentralization, Dr. JP said, ombudsmen could be appointed in every district to check them.

Dr. JP told the media the Prime Minister had appreciated the suggestions and promised to follow them up.

Dr. JP, who is visiting the flood-hit Mahbubnagar and Kurnool districts on October 11 and 12, indicated that the Lok Satta Party planned to adopt a village in each of the four badly affected districts (including Krishna and Guntur) to facilitate their all-round development with the help of NGOs, the Government and philanthropic individuals on a long-term basis.

Dr. JP said that there was a proposal to divert the Hundri river a few kilometers away from Kurnool so that the town would not be vulnerable to frequent floods. If the proposal was feasible, funds should not be a constraint for implementing it.

Dr. JP heartily congratulated the officers and staff who have been tirelessly working to extending relief to the flood victims. He described the public response to the tragedy as magnificent in that every section contributed their mite towards relief.

Dr. JP demanded that all liquor outlets in the flood-affected areas be shut down at least for three months to protect the lives and security of poor families.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. K. Rosaiah, Dr. JP quoted field reports to point out that large numbers of people in the flood-affected areas are squandering the assistance they are receiving from the Government and NGOs on liquor consumption.

The licenses of the shops which remain closed could be extended for the period they remain closed.

Saturday, October 10, 2009 - 20:52

Dr.JP's Letter to P.M. on Flood Relief Help

Following is the text of a letter that Lok Satta Party President, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan presented to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad to night today (9th Oct) on “Flood Relief Assistance”

9th October 2009
Hyderabad

To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
The Prime Minister of India

Esteemed Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh ji,

We are grateful to you for the prompt assistance provided by the Government of India to Andhra Pradesh following the unprecedented flood in the Krishna River, last week. Your Government’s assistance has greatly aided the immediate relief and rehabilitation efforts of the AP State Government.

Now, we earnestly urge you to examine and act upon the following five critical issues, as a part of the Union Government’s long-term reconstruction and flood management assistance to Andhra Pradesh:

  1. Resettlement of ‘lanka’ villages: The Krishna River’s lanka villages (situated on the river channels and close to the mouths of the river) are highly vulnerable to both riverine and coastal flooding. These villages should be relocated to suitable and safe locations nearby, to keep human settlements out of the flood path. As in the case of Godavari River’s lanka villages, agricultural activities could however be permitted to continue in these fertile but, low-lying and flood prone areas. The government’s Resettlement-and-Rehabilitation package for the State should fully and generously provide for the proper relocation of these lanka villages to safer areas.

  2. Creation of a permanent ‘National Disaster Relief Force’ at multiple locations: The recurring heavy floods to the mighty Godavari and Krishna rivers in Andhra Pradesh have seen the governmental relief measures taking some time to reach the affected peoples and areas. Therefore a contingent of ‘National Disaster Relief Force’ needs to be created on a permanent basis to provide effective emergency relief. This rapid-response Force should be manned by adequate numbers of fully trained emergency relief personnel and must be provided with the necessary equipment including motor boats and human flotation devices along with emergency medical supplies and ready-to-eat emergency food rations. Units of this Force could operate out of bases in Vijayawada, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams (all on the Krishna River) and Rajahmundry (on the Godavari River), to provide rapid emergency relief to flood-affected regions.

  3. Flood-proofing the hydel power generation units: The long-term reconstruction package must provide for the flood-proofing of the hydroelectric power generation units on the right and left banks at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams on Krishna River. This package must also provide for the strengthening of the hydel power distribution infrastructure. These steps would greatly contribute towards ensuring that hydel power generation and distribution are not adversely affected during major flood events.

  4. Strengthening of the Krishna river bunds: Last week’s unprecedented flood of 25 lakh cusec-magnitude has severely exposed the structural limitations of the existing bunds on Krishna River (located downstream of the Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada), which were designed and constructed to handle floods of less than 10-11 lakh cusecs. The bunds’ structure should be greatly strengthened so that they can handle floods of much higher magnitude, of around 25 lakh cusecs. This project must be taken up in a time-bound manner, and needs to be completed within two years.

  5. Constitution of Expert Committees for flood mitigation and response to climate change:

    1. The Krishna River, which usually sees chronic shortages of water leading to frequent water sharing disputes, has now witnessed a flood of unprecedented magnitude. Last week’s flood underscores the importance of a scientific and timely decision-making process on the manner of storage and sharing of river flows, anticipation of riverine floods and mitigating floods including advance depletion of reservoirs. We therefore urge the Government of India to constitute an Empowered Expert Committee to institutionalize permanent and verifiable measures for real-time monitoring of rainfall-runoff patterns and river water levels at critical points and thereby take appropriate and timely decisions to mitigate future floods. Such a Committee could consist of domain experts drawn from the Central Water Commission (CWC), other concerned public agencies and academia, experts in disaster management and public officials of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

    2. Recent scientific evidence suggests a delay in the yearly onset of monsoonal rains, even as the intensity/severity of some individual rainfall events is increasing; the monsoon rainfall events too are perceived to have become more erratic and less consistent over the years. Any such long-term changes in the rainfall patterns would greatly impact Indian agriculture. Continental Europe has been experiencing advanced onset of its yearly spring and has undertaken a corresponding change in its agricultural practices.

    Given the unique water-use needs and water management practices of Indian agriculture, we need to undertake a rigorous scientific study on the impact of any long-term change in the monsoonal rainfall patterns, drawing upon global expertise in this field. Therefore, we urge you to constitute an Expert Committee to study climate change patterns in India and recommend appropriate modifications to current water management and agricultural practices.

Undertaking the above measures would greatly help prevent or mitigate future floods and establish sustainable water management practices. We therefore urge your government to take all necessary steps at the earliest by charting a time-bound programme, to achieve the above objectives.

We have great faith in your leadership.

With personal warm regards,

Sincerely,

Jayaprakash Narayan
President

Friday, October 9, 2009 - 21:26

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