Clipping ED; Manipur Madness; Health Hazard
Opinion Watch
Clipping ED
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was whipped by the Supreme Court for its conduct and the top court asked the investigative agency not to create an atmosphere of fear, and The Asian Age has said in its Editorial that it’s time powers of the ED be curbed. The daily noted that the ED has been accused by the Chhattisgarh officials of being coerced to sign blank notes, which formed the basis for the state government to invoke Article 131 and directly knock at the doors of the apex court.
The daily reminded that the ED had in similar zeal had gone after Thomas Issac, Kerala’s finance minister, in the alleged irregularities in the Masala Bond, while the Reserve Bank of India had eventually ruled that all compliances had been met. Section 45 (i) (ii) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is being dreaded by the entities against whom the ED launches probe, said the daily, as getting a bail becomes almost impossible.
It was the Supreme Court which had approved the overreaching powers of the ED in the special Act. The top court should know that an investigative agency seeks special powers to cut through the laid down procedure only to cover its incompetence and due diligence.
Manipur Madness
In the aftermath of the ethnic clashes in Manipur, which left 70 people dead and several injured, the representatives of the Kuki tribe have sought a separate homeland, and The Indian Express in its Editorial has argued that the consolidation of power in favour of the dominant Meitei tribe is behind the growing social discord.
The Noida-based daily urged upon the leaders of all the tribes inhabiting Manipur to work on a consensus to ensure a new political imagination to accord equality to all. The daily also noted that the Supreme Court’s rebuke to the Manipur High Court for directing the state government to include Meitei in the Scheduled Tribe list should calm the nerves.
The onus for deaths of 70 people first must be fixed, and the judiciary needs to answer under what provision of the Constitution it has the right to meddle into the affairs of reservation, asking the state to give benefit to one or the other section. This identity-based decisions in all walks of life must stop.
Health Hazard
The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has spent over Rs 50,000 crore on the Ayushman Bharat scheme for insurance-based tertiary healthcare, and the medical frauds appear to be taking the people for ride, argued The Economic Times in its Editorial, stating that 95 per cent of the removal of uteruses through hysterectomies has been found to be unnecessary.
The business daily also stated that the security of payments due to government-backed insurance has made the poor people attractive consumers for the private hospitals.
Tales of medical corruption and fleecing by predators in the guise of doctors are tumbling out from all across the country, and it’s now ominous and much of the blame lies on insurance-based healthcare.
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