NK'S POST

Buyingfor Rs 8 and selling for Rs 2 is a recipe for scandals NK SINGH Onion is selling in Bhopal at a retail price of Rs 13 a kg. MP Government is purchasing it from farmers at Rs 8 a kg and, then, auctioning it to wholesale dealers for Rs 2.50 a kg, the minimum sell price fixed. The middlemen are raking in unbelievable profit of 500 percent. An economist may call it a harebrained idea: purchasing something for Rs eight a kg and then selling it at one-third of the price. But the government is doing it in the name of bailing out farmer, hit by a plunging market. Operation Onion looks like a get-rich-quick scheme. Step one: Government buys at the rate of Rs eight a kg. Step two: Government sells at the rate of Rs 2.50 a kg.  Step three: Traders sell it back to farmers for Rs 5 a kg. Step four: Farmers recycle the sold-purchased-sold onions to government at Rs 8 a kg. Everyone makes a quick buck. Everyone is happy. It is simple. It is beautiful. The scheme anno...

MP CM believes that a promise a day keeps Congress away NK SINGH Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan loves to make promises. His political opponents call him Ghosna Veer ---- announcement warrior. The derisive Hindi term conjures up image of a Don Quixote, a knight in shining armour, out to save his subjects by creating a canopy of announcements to shield them from Unhappiness. Sample this. In the first ten years of his tenure he made nearly 8,000 promises. The average comes to more than two announcements a day. During the last three years, as he settled in his job, the speed slowed down --- onlyy 1,500 announcements, at the rate of 1.3 per day. Every time the chief minister climbs a stage to make a public speech, heartbeat of his officers in Vallabh Bhavan, the state secretariat, goes up. They tighten their belts, waiting for the unexpected. Often they learn about decisions having grave implications for public finances through public address syste...

Leaders shortchange the State, make it a political orphan NK SINGH Country’s first high speed premium luxury train, Tejas, rolled out last week between Goa and Mumbai, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu's area. The second Tejas will ply between New Delhi and Chandigarh. Bhopal is, of course, no where in the picture. Eighteen years ago, Madhavrao Scindia, who was Railway Minister then, gifted country’s first Shatabdi Express to Bhopal. It was a world class train. Anyone who has travelled by Shatabdi during its initial years was thrilled by its level of punctuality, cleanliness and quality of food. You could set your watch by the train’s arrival and departure. It was The Most Prestigious Train. Now travelling by the same train has become a nightmare. Coaches stink. Seats are broken. So are most of the fixtures in toilets. Windowpanes are cracked. Doors don't close. You need to be a brave soul to visit its loo. Even Executive Class coaches are in dilapidated condition. Tra...

MP Govt ends up with egg on face for mishandling farmers’ agitation NK SINGH The Madhya Pradesh Government has never had such an incompetent Home Minister. Bhupendra Singh has ended up with egg on his face due to his mishandling of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. Earlier this week, after six farmers were killed in Mandsaur firing ---- the toll has now gone up to seven ---- he insisted that police had not opened fire on the crowd. It took him three days to find out that it was his police that had opened fire! The least that he could have done was to apologise for his brazen attempt to mislead people. But, apparently, he belongs to the genre of politicians whose skin is thicker than a crocodile’s. Bhupendra Singh is not the only one with egg on his face. As the agitation turned violent, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the farmers as “anti-social elements”. Later, he declared an unprecedented compensation of Rs one crore to relatives of the same “anti-social ...

DB Post 14 May 2016 NK SINGH Politics is full of paradoxes. BJP can boast of someone like Anil Dave, epitome of integrity and probity in public life. The same party harbours and nurtures someone like Gyan Singh, honourable MP from Shahdol, now known as the Fevicol Minister of Shivraj cabinet. The curious case of Gyan Singh has no parallel in India’s parliamentary history . He brazenly continues as a minister in Madhya Pradesh Government despite resigning his seat in the State assembly almost six months ago. It is a classic case study of politicians’ unbridled lust for power. It also symbolises BJP’s metamorphosis from a party with a difference to a party that is hardly different. The bare facts first, for the uninitiated. Gyan Singh, who is Tribal Welfare Minister in Shivraj cabinet, contested and won Lok Sabha by-election from Shahdol last November. The election was necessitated due to death of the then BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste. Consequently, Gyan Singh res...

DB Post 26 March 2017 NK SINGH Ask any self-respecting Indorean to locate the world capital, and chances are that he would unhesitatingly name Indore. It is a people passionately in love with their city. The citizens of Indore have just discovered one more reason to admire their beloved town. People of Indore are still gushing about, with awe in their voice, about the city administration’s ongoing crusade against cattle mafia. The unprecedented blitzkrieg against mafia started about a month ago, when illegal cattle-breeders stabbed to death a 25-year-old municipal employee during a drive against stray cattle. The murder took place in a crowded locality in broad daylight as armed thugs attacked municipal staff removing stray cattle. The stray cattle squad of Indore Municipal Corporation had gone to that area in response to citizens’ complaint to chief minister’s helpline. Since then Indore Municipal Corporation , backed by district administration and a long-suffering c...

नरेन्द्र कुमार सिंह कांग्रेस के राज में नेशनल हेराल्ड और उसे प्रकाशित करने वाली कंपनी एसोसिएटेड जर्नल्स लिमिटेड को हमेशा सरकारी दामाद का दर्जा हासिल रहा है. मध्य प्रदेश में तो प्रेस काम्प्लेक्स की स्थापना ही इसलिए हुई कि 1981 में तत्कालीन कांग्रेस सरकार नेशनल हेराल्ड को कौड़ियों के भाव जमीन देना चाहती थी. इस मायने में सारे अख़बार मालिकों को एसोसिएटेड जर्नल्स का शुक्रगुजार होना चाहिए कि उसे उपकृत करने की खातिर सरकार ने दूसरे अख़बारों को भी फायदा पहुँचाया. नेशनल हेराल्ड को भोपाल में 1981 में जिस नाटकीय ढंग से रातों-रात सरकारी जमीन दी गई थी, वह अपने आप में एक दिलचस्प किस्सा है. अर्जुन सिंह को मुख्यमंत्री बने कुछ महीने ही हुए थे. तत्कालीन प्रधानमंत्री इंदिरा गाँधी 20 जुलाई 1981 को भोपाल आ रहीं थीं. अवसर था एसोसिएटेड जर्नल्स के भोपाल प्रोजेक्ट के शिलान्यास का. नेशनल हेराल्ड की स्थापना जवाहरलाल नेहरु ने की थी और उसे चलाने वाले एसोसिएटेड जर्नल्स की पहचान गाँधी-नेहरु खानदान की पारिवारिक कंपनी के रूप में थी. अर्जुन सिंह तब राजनीतिक रूप से काफी कमज़ोर थे. वैसे भी कांग्रेस का कोई भी मुख्यमंत्री इंदिर...

चम्बल की बीहड़ों में एक रात नरेन्द्र कुमार सिंह भिंड जिले की बीहड़ों के बीच बसा मदनपुरा गाँव. १९८२ के गर्मियों की एक रात. अँधेरा इतना था कि हाथ को हाथ न सूझे. सामने पहाड़ जैसे ऊँचे बीहड़, उनके बीच ऊबड़-खाबड़, घुमावदार पगडंडियों का जाल. अगला कदम कहाँ ले जायेगा, इसका कोई अंदाज़ नहीं. टार्च की धुंधली रोशनी के सहारे हम एक-एक कदम फूँक-फूंककर बढ़ा रहे थे. तभी एक मोड़ पर कई बड़े टार्चों की तेज रोशनी से हमारी आँखे चौंधिया गयी. एकाएक हमें चारों तरफ से हथियारबंद लोगों ने घेर लिया और बंदूकें तन गयी. कुछ समय के लिए साँस टंगी की टंगी रह गयी. फिर किसी ने रमाशंकर सिंह को पहचाना, जो उन दिनों भिंड जिले से ही लोक दल के जुझारू विधायक हुआ करते थे और अब ग्वालियर में एक बहुत ही सफल प्राइवेट यूनिवर्सिटी चलाते हैं. अब हम गैंग के मेहमान थे. मध्य प्रदेश, उत्तर प्रदेश और राजस्थान के लगभग २०,००० किलोमीटर में भूल-भुल्लैया की तरह फैले चम्बल के बीहड़ों की खासियत यह है कि पांच-दस फीट आगे का आदमी भी आँखों से ओझल हो सकता है. डकैतों की बड़ी से बड़ी गैंग आराम से हफ़्तों किसी खो में छिपी रह सकती है और घाटी के दूसरी तरफ मार्च कर रही पलट...

WHY POOR ARE TREATED AS PARIAHS IN INDIAN MEDIA NK SINGH   With the growth in population, literacy rate and disposable income, t he circulation of newspapers has zoomed in the last two decades, especially those published in the Indian languages. It is not rare for chain newspapers to claim a daily circulation is excess of a million copies. A newspaper selling less than a hundred thousand copies is considered a small daily now-a-days. The paradox is that even as the newspapers’ circulation is increasing, their influence is decreasing. Journalists realise that their writings or broadcast does not command the same impact that they would, say, two decades ago. Why? The resp ect for the printed words has gone down over the years. Certain developments have changed the public perception about the Fourth Estate. Journalists were caught with their pants down, first, during the Emergency. 24/7 news channels too the dumbing down to a new low, wiping off all pretentions of intellectual pursuit...

नरेंद्र कुमार सिंह पिछले सप्ताह मीडिया की आजादी पर एक और हमला हुआ। दिल्ली में गृह मंत्रालय ने पत्रकारों से बात करने पर अपने आला अफसरों पर पाबंदी लगा दी। गृह मंत्रालय ने एक आदेश में कहा है कि अतिरिक्त महानिदेशक (मीडिया) के अलावा कोई भी अफसर पत्रकारों से बात नहीं करेगा। पत्रकारों से भी कहा गया है कि वे नॉर्थ ब्लॉक के कमरा नंबर नौ के अलावा कहीं भी अफसरों से मुलाक़ात नहीं कर सकेंगे। यहाँ तक कि होम सेक्रेटरी भी सीधे पत्रकारों से बात नहीं करेंगे। कुल मिलाकर शाम को अनौपचारिक बैठकों में गर्म चाय के प्याले ( और कभी-कभार भजिए) के साथ मसालेदार खबरें परोसने के पहले अफसरों को अपनी नौकरी , कंडक्ट रुल्स और ओफिसियल सीक्रेट एक्ट याद करना होगा। वॉटरगेट से सरकारों ने सबक नहीं लिया ऐसा नहीं कि सरकारी दफ्तरों में पत्रकारों के घुसने पर पाबंदी लगाने के बाद मीडिया में सरकार के खिलाफ निगेटिव खबरें आनी बंद हो जाएंगी। कोई भी सरकार ऐसा नहीं कर सकती है। प्रजातन्त्र की यही खूबी है। याद रखें कि दुनिया की सबसे शक्तिशाली सरकार की भरपूर कोशिशों और धमकियों के बावजूद वॉशिंग्टन पोस्ट ने वॉटरगेट कांड क...