Praful Patel’s Lakshadweep Policies: Developmental or Arbitrary?

The idyllic islands of Lakshadweep are brimming with a deep resentment against their administrator Praful Patel. Other than the fact that Patel's decision to ease Covid norms has been blamed for a massive Covid spike in the islands, there's also a sense of disquiet amongst Lakshadweep's inhabitants over a slew of new policies that have been introduced by Patel since his appointment five months back. Some of the new contentious policies that are being criticised to be "undemocratic and anti-people" include a ban on beef in the Muslim majority archipelago, a preventive detention law that makes provisions for detention without a warrant for upto a year and the draft panchayat notification, which proposes that anybody with more than two children can be disqualified from contesting the panchayat polls. While in the political front, several Rajya Sabha MPs and opposition leaders have written to President Kovid criticising Patel's "autocratic style" and urging the President of India to recall Patel along with his proposals, on social media platforms, #SaveLakshadweep has been trending as thousands of citizens have been trying to draw attention to what's happening in the islands. Although Patel says that it's all in the name of development, can his policies adversely impact the economic and the socio-cultural fabric of these islands as people are complaining? Are the objections raised against his proposals justified? Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha Guests: Wajahat Habibullah, Retired IAS officer, former Administrator of Lakshadweep, First Chief Information Commissioner of India and the former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, Senior Journalist and Author Sabith Jesri, Native of Lakshadweep Editor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices