Articles by B M

Inspector-General of Police in charge of the operations, whose extensive reports on 'Naxalite' activities have been prominently printed under his name in all the four dailies of Bihar. With such a policeman-journalist in action, poor and landless peasants and harijans cannot avoid being labelled 'Naxalites' and then being shot for being 'Naxalites.' The government has decided to freely provide firearms to the landowners of Bhojpur and Patna districts for use against 'Naxalites.' The 'Naxalite-hunt' is on in foil swing. Today's 'Naxalites' are poo peasants tomorrow's will be other dissenters

NEW DELHI Indo-Soviet Economic Co-operation B M INDO-SOVIET trade and economic co-operation have run into several snags in recent times. In the form in which these relations have been maintained so far, they have reached a virtual stalemate. New initiatives are, therefore, called for if that trade is to expand and new areas of co-operation are to be productive. The new five-year trade agreement which is to be signed before the end of this year

NEW DELHI Growth without Priorities B M THERE is a revival of confidence in official circles about the economic situation. The check on the galloping price rise is regarded as the most reassuring development. This, it is believed, allows some flexibility to policy- making and the management of the economy.

NEW DELHI Vendetta against Indigenous Technology B M THE fertiliser industry, from its very inception, has been an outstanding example of how foreign business interests have been assisted by their would- be Indian collaborators (both in the private and public sectors) and by the higher levels of the bureaucracy, to ' stunt indigenous development and sabotage growth targets. This has taken place despite the existence of a competent band of Indian scientists and engineers in the Planning and Development Division of the Fertiliser Corporation of India who could well have carried this sector to self-reliance. In fact, official quarters did entrust responsibility for the development of the industry to these technicians in the late sixties and the early seventies. But the indigenous technical agencies were given short shrift, and the culmination came with the decision to return to turnkey arrangements, with Japanese interests, for the construction of new fertiliser plants even though the Indian capability in the field was thereby left underemployed and despite the readiness of international agencies such as the World Bank to give credits for the construction of the fertiliser industry in the public sector with the P and D Division of the FCI as prime consultants for the purpose.

NEW DELHI Strengthening the Status Quo B M AFTER prolonged hesitation and drift, the government is showing signs of evolving some sort of an economic policy frame. There is no well-defined statement and evidently none is intended to be presented. The budget speech of the Finance Minister later this month may, however, betray the new directions. The reluctance to present anything clear-cut by way of a policy statement no doubt stems from the awareness that the populist commitments and pretensions of the past would then be seen to have been mere slogans. The trend of policy now is such as would not win public applause if it were to be frankly outlined and stated. Therefore, the line adopted for purposes of public consumption has been to strike a posture of confidence and otpimism. The slight seasonal fall in the wholesale price index has been made much of as if it were a consequence of the government's anti-inflationary policies. Indira Gandhi, at the inaugural function of the Khetri copper project, went so far as to claim that her government had handled the economic crisis more effectively than many other governments and that conditions in India were already better than in other countries. Her colleagues in the government