Press Releases Archive

Do rains respond to prayers? Asks the Lok Satta

Propitiating Gods for precipitation of rains in 2009 by an elected Government and a devasthanam board nominated by it borders on the ridiculous, commented the Lok Satta Party here today.

Instead of going to the rescue of farmers hit by the drought-like situation with an alternative plan, the Chief Minister is hoodwinking the people by initiating the ritual. The Endowments Minister who is supposed to protect temple properties from encroachers supervises the ‘Varuna yagam.’ The TTD, which is expected to productively utilize people’s offerings to the God for their welfare, is squandering away precious resources on such unwarranted rituals.

Talking to the media, party spokesmen Katari Srinivsasa Rao, V. Laxman Balaji and G. Raja Reddy said there was nothing wrong in a Government resorting to cloud seeding in a bid to precipitate rains. But scheduling the program for the middle of July when the rainy season would be at its peak naturally sparked doubts about the Government’s motive.

The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that the Government is going ahead with its pet scheme of cooperative farming, undeterred by advice to the contrary from saner elements. They told the Government if the productivity and production were low it was not because the holdings were small but because the farmers had no access to resources and markets. The Government supplied certified seeds enough only for eight percent of the total acreage and tested only four percent of soils. Apart from addressing such lapses, the Government should provide credit and marketing facilities to farmers.

The party spokesmen accused the Government of not displaying either leadership or competence in resolving people’s problems. It had so indiscriminately issued ration cards that the beneficiary families exceeded the number of families in the State. And yet, tens of thousands of poor families do not have white cards. It had not come up with any concerted action plan to prevent recurrence of Bholakpurs (where 14 people died of ‘drinking water’).

They also referred to the Government appointing an Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Security in which the Home Minister did not find a place, and said it once again mirrored the Government’s irrational and hare-brained policies.

“Instead of focusing on ensuring independent crime investigation and equal treatment to all before law, ad hoc, arbitrary decisions are being taken. The Government did not or could not explain why such a body is necessary or how it would solve the problems. These arbitrary ‘firmans’ remind us of the shenanigans of autocratic rulers like Mod. Bin Tughlaq. It is time the Government got its act together and acted with some degree of responsibility and good sense”.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 - 16:55

Lok Satta rebuts malicious campaign

Parties that blame the Lok Satta for their poor performance in the 2009 elections had better advocate single-party democracy as in China and the erstwhile Soviet Union, the Lok Satta said today in a sharp rejoinder.

A number of leaders in both the TDP and the BJP had been griping and wailing over the Lok Satta “hijacking their’ votes and contributing to their dismal show, according to media reports.

Talking to the media, Lok Satta Party spokesmen V. Vijayender Reddy and E. Chennayya said that far from being chastened by the electoral debacle and mending their ways, some of the traditional parties seemed to regard the electoral arena as their sole preserve. “They conveniently forget that in a democracy, every one has a right to form a party and seek voters’ blessings. The beauty of democracy lies in the fact that no party has a monopoly over any section of voters. A mature political party in a democracy should humbly accept the people’s verdict instead of trying to find scapegoats in other parties or blame the voters themselves. Perhaps they believe in single-party democracy.”

Referring to the allegation that the Lok Satta seemed to have a secret understanding with the Congress since it did not field candidates against the Chief Minister and his son in the Pulivendula Assembly and Kadapa Lok Sabha seats respectively, the Lok Satta leaders dubbed it as not only baseless but also malicious. The party did field Mr. Gudipati Prasanna Kumar to contest against the Chief Minister’s son in the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. Despite its best efforts, the party could not find candidates in 45 Assembly and 10 Lok Sabha seats. Pulivendula and Kuppam happened to be among Assembly seats where the party could not locate suitable candidates. The party allocated the Kuppam seat to the Backward Classes United Front which had come forward to field a candidate.

“People’s welfare is the sole touchstone for our stand on any issue, and not partisan considerations,” underlined the spokesmen in the context of the Government moves to supply mineral water to every habitation and promote cooperative or collective farming.

The Lok Satta Party was the only party, which included supply of safe drinking water in all problematic areas as one of its 50 “irrevocable guarantees.” “We are glad the ruling party has taken a leaf out of our manifesto. But unfortunately, its copying is not smart.” The Lok Satta had promised water supply through installation of reverse osmosis plants in areas where the water is not potable either because of excessive fluoride or salinity or pollution by industrial effluents. The Lok Satta scheme to devolve a per capita grant of Rs.1000 to every panchayat/ward/division will enable the local body to go in for such plants and provide even livelihood to plant operators.

The Lok Satta is unequivocal in its operation to cooperative or collective farming as conceived by the State Government because productivity and production are not scale-dependent. Many countries including Russia and China were forced to beat a retreat from collective farming as their experience was disastrous. In contrast, the productivity in a small land holding is higher because of the care bestowed by the small farmer. Productivity in the Indian context has to do more with accessibility to and affordability of technology and not fragmented holdings. Cooperative farming can perhaps be experimented in saline areas and rain shadow areas.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 17:30

Lok Satta screens candidates For GHMC elections

The Lok Satta Party, which is determined to make a good showing in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, has completed screening of candidates for 70 of the 150 divisions.

Mr. Katari Sriniasa Rao and Dr. P. Bhaskara Rao, party spokesmen and Mr. Dasari Ratnam, State Convener, Yuva Satta, told the media that the Lok Satta call to the young and educated to contest the elections on the Lok Satta platform had elicited tremendous response. What is heartening is that a number of candidates with leadership qualities and competence and commitment are among the applicants. The candidates would be finalized once the Government finalized the reservation of wards for different communities.

The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that the Lok Satta, despite the enormous good will it enjoyed, could not poll votes in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the same proportion because of the malicious propaganda that a vote to the Lok Satta would be a wasted vote. In addition, considerations of caste, money and liquor played a significant role.

In contrast, the local elections would be fought on local issues. The Lok Satta is in the process of finalizing division-wise and time-bound agenda to resolve the burning problems of people ranging from drinking water supply and sanitation to traffic and public transport.

The Lok Satta leaders said that the GHMC elections provided a golden opportunity to develop Hyderabad on par with the best cities in the world provided the citizens utilized their vote with discretion. As of now, land grabbers and goondas ruled the roost as the young and educated shunned politics and civic matters. They said that in the recent past attempts had been made to grab land in ENT Hospital, Kothi and in Chikoti Gardens, Begumet.

Thanks to the Lok Satta, the young and the educated have now realized that they should lead politics from the front, like Subhash Chandra Bose, Chittaranjan Das, Jawaharlal Nehru and Prakasam Pnatulu in the past.

The Lok Satta is launching its Mission 2014 (of coming to power) beginning with GHMC, asserted the leaders.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - 17:40

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