Articles by Dipak B R Chaudhuri

Nineteenth Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1969-70; presented to the Parliament of India in December, 1971; Rs 875.

March 4, 1972 Or take, again, the industrial sector. Much has lately been said about the fall in the industrial growth rate. In this context, the role of the larger houses as well as the objective of curb- ing monopoly and concentration of economic power have also come in for a lot of discussion. The recent decision to allow larger production from established capacities, for instance, has raised its own problems. The Company Affairs Ministry has objected to applications from the larger houses being cleared without reference to it. Problems have arisen also in regard to the working of the Monopolies Commission and the extent to which the Commission may inquire into inter-connections of companies belonging to large houses. Similarly, there are cases of partial clearance of certain applications while other essential matters have been kept pending so that the purpose of the clearance is lost. A case is built up for providing additional incentives, including extension of the system of development rebate, to promote investment In industry. The Finance Minister is under pressure to do something in this direction in his Budget, though there are also contrary political constraints to be reckoned with. The Economic Affairs Committee alone will be able to provide the guidelines on these issues.

Dipak B R Chaudhuri IT was on a Sunday morning last winter that the idea of a 'Fertiliser Promotion Council' was scotched on the advice of Cabinet Secretary T Swamina- than, who the evening before had finally consulted a few public sector technologists. Though not formally rejected, the proposal has been effectively shelved. What seems to have weighed heavily in the decision is the history and record of another such body, viz, the Fertiliser Association of India. The idea of a 'Fertiliser Promotion Council' had its origins in the recommendation of the Sivaraman Committee in 1965 for a 'National Fertiliser Promotion Corporation' to work on sales promotion and farmer education. The idea was develped later, envisaging a statutory board or council on a registered society basis. It was thought that Government must play a role in the distribution of fertilisers because of its responsibilities for increasing agricultural production and for seeing that there is social justice in economic development. The Fertiliser Committee in its report in 1965 thus spelt out three responsibilities : first, to carry the message of balanced fertiliser application to all parts of the country; secondly, to guarantee supply of fertilisers at fair prices, and thirdly, to build up a good fertiliser distribution system in the remotest corners of the country by acti- vising the credit sector. Government would have a special role to play because sales promotion activities of Pri- vate manufacturers would aim to boost the merits and sales of brand products. This would be to the detriment of balanced fertilisation. The Sivaraman Committee, therefore, felt it necessary to entrust basic promotion to a special representative agency that would supplement the work of the existing official agencies.

Lobbies and Pressure Groups in New Delhi Dipak B R Chaudhuri LOBBYING is an integral and often constructive part of the legislative process, both as a source of information for legislatures in the enactment of sound laws and as an outlet for the aims and desires of special interest groups. In the language of contemporary political science, it is the activity of representing the cause of an interest group in the political system. But much too often the systematic and well-planned operation of large pressure groups prevents rather than encourages the balanced compromises that are the goal of a democratic system.