Mainstreaming Northeast; Amshipora Justice; Saving Seas
Opinion Watch
Mainstreaming Northeast
The Asian Age in an Editorial has hailed the “mainstreaming” of the North-eastern states, arguing that all the seven states has the Bharatiya Janata Party as a common thread and that the party’s North-Eastern Development Alliance (NEDA) has been hugely successful. The daily noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 50 visits to the region in the last five years. The daily sought to suggest that the Northeastern region can no more have grievance being seen far away from New Delhi.
The daily opined on the government formation in Meghalaya and Nagaland on Tuesday, while Tripura swearing in ceremony will take place on Wednesday. The BJP had contested against Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, fielding candidates on all 60 seats, while managing to win two. Yet, the BJP is part of Sangma government. All political parties are part of the Nagaland government. There will be no opposition in Nagaland. Political equations in the Northeast should not be the sole criteria to gauge if the region of “mainstreamed”, and socio-economic development must also be accorded due importance.
Amshipora Justice
The Army court has given life sentence to a captain of the Rashtriya Rifles for fake encounter in which three men were killed in Amshipora, a Shopian village in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Express in an Editorial recalled that the youngest of the victims was just 16 years old. The victims had trekked from Jammu in search of job, said the Noida-based daily, while recalling a couple of incidents in which the Army tribunals suspended similar conviction and sentencing.
The daily also stated that the three men were killed ostensibly to claim the Rs 20 lakh reward for information leading to killing of terrorists. Extra-judicial killing is the hallmark of a mediaeval state. The timidity of the army tribunals to uphold sentencing against convicts of killings must not be acceptable in the modern era where human values are celebrated. Also, the security agencies may need to examine the relevance of putting rewards on criminals, for the practice certainly belongs to the British era, and there must be strength within the intelligence wings to track down the law-breakers.
Saving Seas
The Telegraph in an Editorial mentioned the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, which is an island of trash and three-time the size of France between Hawaii and Japan, to turn spotlight on the significance of the world reaching agreement to enforce the outcome of the UN Biodiversity Conference. The Kolkata-based daily said that the agreement, which is yet to be ratified, seeks to turn 30 per cent of world’s oceans into protected marine areas by 2030.
The daily rightly said that the oceans have mostly been uncared for even while the giant ships dump garbage in the high waters, with consequences being spate of floods in the Global South, developing nations, besides causing global warming. The daily wishes that the UN must hold the nations responsible, which is itself problematic, for the institution has been found to be toothless.
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