ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Loans, Doles and the Poverty Line


gramme and assistance to terrorists in the Punjab. Yaqub Khan proposed mutual or international inspection of each other's facilities. His offer was treated with little credibility. Even if it was accepted, Pakistan could have already secreted away a few bombs before the regime could come into force. In any case the IAEA has no experience in inspecting uranium enrichment facilities like that of Pakistan. Besides, it would imply that India as well as Pakistar would have to surrender their political use of the nuclear option. On the Punjab problem, Yaqub Khan was told of intelligence reports of inflammatory propaganda aimed at the Sikhs who crossed the border and training facilities and supply of arms.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY- Facade and Reality of Environment Protection

For the agricultural worker, the recommended 'family' calorie intake is 11,160 K calories per day (see Table 2). The cost of food, etc for this energy requirement is Rs 27.47 per day. Therefore the annual income for this category of households should be Rs 10,026.55. But according to the government, unlike in an urban area, husband and wife are supposed to be employed in the rural area. But this generally is not the case. Increasingly there are more woman- headed families. Even according to the government formula, a man and woman should earn Rs 5,013.27 each per annum to fulfil the ICMR criterion. Further, an agricultural worker should either earn this amount in the 130 days he is gainfully employed or earn the same amount in a job that gives him employment throughout the WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY year. In the 130 days work norm, the daily minimum wage would have to be Rs 38.56 at current prices. At present he does not get even one-fourth of the above amount.

The Other Side of the Dam

The Other Side of the Dam Bharat Dogra The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams by E Goldsmith and N Hildyard; Volume I: Overview; Wadebridge Ecological Centre, UK, pp 345. Available in India from Gandhi Book House, Rajghat, New Delhi.

Farm Exports from a Hungry Land


by the Finance Minister. They were largely of a conventional and formal type. But it appears that, unlike in the past, this was not the case so far as business leaders were concerned. More than at the formal consultations, business leaders seem to have given more weighty and effective advice on an informal basis. It would appear their advice carried a great deal of influence with the Finance Ministry and fiscal measures got fashioned on that basis. This is only underlined by the fact that even the odd suggestion that fiscal measures of interest to the corporate sector should be in what was called a three-year perspective finds a reflection in the budget proposals, with the offer to discuss how matters move in respect of the corporate sector in the coming three years. More striking in this connection has been the decision to raise the NRTP exemption limit to Rs 100 crore, which is more generous than the rise to Rs 50 crore which industry itself had been pleading for.

INDUSTRY-Health Hazards of Cotton Textile Workers

February 16, 1985 cognisance of the cry for help of the Hari- jans. Most of the accused were arrested many days after the event.
The urban areas of Broam and Ankleshwar and the coastal areas of Broach district are notorious for smuggling, black-marketing, gambling, matka and illicit distilling of alcoholic beverages and illegal arms deals and many types of anti-social activities. Goondas and musclemen flourish in these areas. Ordinary people wonder how these persons operate in broad daylight if the police do not extent to them some patronage. In these areas the poor live not under the rule of the Government of India but Goonda Rule. Anyone belonging to the SC and ST communities who refuses to bow down before the dominant community is in danger of being deprived of his life and property. Several murders of this nature TEXTILE mills are the most important source of employment for industrial workers in India, and it has been estimated that nearly one and half million workers are employed in these mills. Despite this and the fact that these mills have been the scene of several working class struggles, working condition in most of the textile mils are known to be very bad. Dust, heat, noise, contact with dangerous chemicals and high frequency of accidents are the most common occupational hazards.

DELHI-Rehabilitation of Riot Victims

December 15, 1984 DELHI Rehabilitation of Riot Victims Bharat Dogra AT its peak, nearly 40,000 victims of the recent Delhi riots had sought shelter in various relief camps, official and non-official. To this must be added the people who had sought refuge in the homes of relatives or friends, and also those whose houses remained safe but whose shops, etc, had been destroyed. Thus, on the whole, there were nearly 50,000 victims belonging to over 10,000 families. Between two and three thousand people had died in the riots. The number of affected persons would rise further if we also count the incidental victims of riots such as those who used to work in the factories and workshops which were destroyed.

THE ELECTIONS-Voting Rights of the poor

December 8, 1984 So action had to be taken to collect the maximum possible Hindu votes by reassuring them that the Sikhs would be taught a lesson; the responsibility for designing the plan of that action and for its execution must have been left completely to the hoodlums of Delhi who formed the leadership in Delhi's Congress(I). Need for immediate action however arose on October 31, the moment Indira Gandhi was shot by her two Sikh security guards. It was realised that the opposition parties would fully exploit the situation and public confidence in the ability of the ruling party to give protection to the Hindus against the militant Sikhs would be shattered and crucial Hindu votes would be irretrievably lost. Orders must have been issued immediately to put the plan into action. Then everything began to happen at the same time; as violence broke out rumours spread like wild fire; every Gurudwara was an arsenal, Sardars have planned to attack and kidnap children, Sikhs had distributed mithai (sweets) to celebrate Indira Gandhi's assassination, in Trilokpuri two infants of a Muslim had been sacrificed in gratitude. Such rumours and the terror campaign had the desired effect of inflaming public passion and whipping up violence against the Sikhs. So on the night of November 2 Muslims rushed out en masse and tore the Sikhs to pieces and raped their women. For full three days, Delhi was allowed to be ruled by murderers and arsonists.

Operation Flood and Dairy Development in Villages around Delhi

Operation Flood and Dairy Development in Villages around Delhi Gurucharan Bharat Dogra BETWEEN November 1983 and March 1984 we went to some villages around Delhi to study the system of milk production and distribution, specially how it has been changed by Operation Flood (OF) during the last 14 years of this project. Our findings are summarised below.

MADHYA PRADESH-Repression of Rajnandgaon Workers

October 13, 1984 special vehemence for those production lines which are colourfully called "the likely winners" in the export drive. The idea being canvassed is that the export drive would have to be made more selective as it should be more efficient and in the case of at least the selected production lines and industries all restrictive policy hang-ups of the past must be discarded. The work of the foreign trade policy committee is thus not confined within the narrow frame of trade policies and procedures. It cannot be. Its scope is wider so that it can provide the thin edge of the wedge for a more radical revision of the industrial and economic policy- frame in the future. The watchwords in this context, of course, are liberalisation and market competition. This also gives a clue to the nature of work of the other committee on the public sector. Here are indeed some indications of the policy preferences that would hold sway in the political Establishment in the event it is able to win the coming election. The populist gestures and leftist posturing are for the hustings. What would follow is realism and pragmatism and the necessary advance work in that direction has been taken in hand.

MINING-Labour s Plight Continues after Nationalisation

the 15 per cent price preference for local goods did not help Indian companies since prices are compared on ex-factory basis.
There is a similar outcry from the medals industry. Public sector steel plants are saddled with stocks as imports continue unabated. Refineries working on tinplate waste (now on the automatic permissible list) and metal scrap are clamouring for relief from cheap imports.

MILK PRODUCTION-Not Such a Flood


RELIABLE statistics are crucial to development planning in any sector. It is on the basis of such data that existing programmes can be evaluated and decisions taken on their continuation or replacement by other programmes. In the area of rural development, unfortunately, the data base is not every reliable. And nowhere is this shortcoming greater than in dairy development.

LABOUR-Bhilai Management s Vendetta against Mine Workers

LABOUR Bhilai Management's Vendetta against Mine Workers Bharat Dogra THE manually operated iron ore mines of Dalli are the captive mines of the Bhilai steel plant (BSP). Nearly 8,000 workers of these mines have been withcut work for nearly three months and without wages for nearly seven months. The extreme distress caused to these poor miners can be imagined. Many of the workers and their families have been forced to subsist on rice bran and wild fruit and leaves. Several cases of death caused by continuous hunger and malnutrition suffered for several months have been reported from the town of Dalli-Rajhara where the iron ore miners live.

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