News Wrap

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In the faulty recruitment of Group-D staff in West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination (WBSSE), the Calcutta High Court on 22 November 2021, handed over the inquiry into the alleged misappropriation to the Central Board of Investigation (CBI). A panel formed by the West Bengal state government in 2016, whose term ended in 2019, has allegedly made not less than 500 irregular recruitments, even after the expiry of the panel. There were allegations that recruitments have been made from the regional office of the WBSSE. The bench of Calcutta High Court, headed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhay has asked the CBI to form a team headed by a DIG level officer, and look into the recruitment thoroughly.

Rollback Of Farm Laws
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 November 2021, in a dramatic turn of events, announced the rollback of three controversial farm laws, after a protracted and unprecedented face-off between the union government of India, and a section of farmer, mainly from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana stoutly opposing the measures. The prime minister made it clear in his address to the Nation, the laws were being repealed not because he believed they were wrong, or that they would not benefit the small farmers who form a bulk of the community, but because the government had failed to convince the farmer that the changes would help them. The farm laws legislation were enacted in a hurry and without adequate consultation. There will not be widespread consultation between stakeholders before any farm reforms are attempted. The timing of the announcement on Gurupurab suggests that the process of introspection within the government was elaborate and pragmatic. Advice from former Punjab Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh who had hitched his wagon to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, would have alerted the prime minister to the extent of opposition to the controversial law, and to the intractability of the farmer’ position.

Spain’s Mas Graves Bill
During the brutal regime of Spain’s Francisco Franco, hundreds of people were shot in prison in Guadalajara in 1940, and were tossed into a pit, next to a cemetery chapel. Guadalajara is a small city, just east of Spain’s capital, Madrid, 19,000 bodies have been recovered. The exhumation has been carried out by volunteer associations who along with some of Spain’s regional authorities, have led the fight to recover the missing 114000 victims and return them a shared dignity, they have been denied, for over half a century, A bill is working its way through parliament, that Spain’s left wing coalition government says will deliver on its pledge, to respond to the plight of families. The bill aims to improve on a 2007 Law for Historical Memory. Spain’s Minority government needs the backing of smaller left-wing parties, who want it to go further. Meanwhile, right-wing parties are vowing to vote against it.

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Frontier
Vol. 54, No. 24, Dec 12 - 18, 2021