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Blowing Hot and Cold

categories, etc. The major point remained to be settled was an accelerated increment to all traffic employees, which would have cost an additional Rs 6 lakhs.

Flames Dying but Heat Remains


been transferred to Capital Reserve Not Available for Dividend. The Directors are glad to recommend a dividend of 9 per cent, subject to tax, (the same as last year).

Stock Market Aflame

Stock Market Aflame Nishtar THE stock market is aflame. Its pre- budget optimism has been fully vindicated. Equities which had already registered impressive gains in the fortnight preceding the budget have soared. Last weeks rise is perhaps the sharpest move for any single week for a few years. Post-budget happenings lend colour to the suspicion widely entertained in market circles that the sustained influential buying which preceded the budget had been of an informed character.

The Sharpest Reverse

March 2, 1968 Railway Board is the climax of a long bureaucratic career (no member of the Board comes from outside railways or is below 50 at the time of appoint- of management practices can be taken to be safely 30 years old and entirely moulded by his experiennce of day-today operations. It is time railway The Sharpest Reverse Nishtar COTTON growers suffered their sharpest reverse in the battle of prices last week and this happened in the Rajya Sabha. Replying to -a volley of questions during a discussion on a calling attention motion moved by A G Kul- karni and 11 other members, Commerce Minister Dincsh Singh pointed out that there was no cause for any concern over cotton prices as they were still some 36 per cent higher than the support prices

The Storm Has Not Blown Over

have a minimum distortion effect on relative prices. Since transport costs form only a small part of the prices of most goods, especially of the high value traffic which is best suited for transport by trucks, they have relatively little impact on overall economic activity and can be in any case easily passed on to the consumer. Given a basically buoyant economy, increase in the costs of transport would have little effect on demand for transport services. But in a situation where the large capital investment in the railways is seriously underutilised, tax concessions or any differential subsidy to road transport would only lead to diversion of traffic to the roads. The public revenues will then suffer twice over through reduced tax receipts and reduced profits on railways.

The Cotton Controversy

The Cotton Controversy Nishtar COTTON continues to be in the news. The representatives of the top sixteen Indian-cotton consuming group of mills, at their meeting on February 7, "pledged strictly to abide by the decision of the Indian Cotton Mills' Federation" on the holding of stocks, including purchases, of not more than li months' requirements in the case of Bombay and Ahmedabad mills and 2

ICMF Move on Cotton

Nishtar NEW Delhi has turned down the cotton mill industry's demand for the upward revision of realisation multipliers for controlled varieties of cloth in order to compensate for the rise in production costs

Critical Period Ahead

the approval of our collaborators, to float a debenture loan of Rs 2 crores at the prevailing rate of interest for all such debentures issued by comparable manufacturing units in India, and steps are being taken to have the public issue underwritten by financial institutions, banks and insurance companies.

The Story of Cotton Prices

January 27, 1968 Wished procedures under the industrial law.
The year under review has thus been particularly unfortunate for your Company from the employee- relations angle. I can assert with out fear of contradiction that your Company is among the best employers in India, and the earnings of its employees are well above the average in every region of the country. We attach great importance to maintenance of cordial relations with the employees and are always eager to remove their genuine grievances. It is my earnest and sincere hope that thoughtless and irresponsible action on the part of the employees, often motivated from outside by political considerations, will yet be halted so that the continuance of the earlier cordial relationship of mutual trust and respect between them and the management staff built over many years may not be prejudiced. The employees must also realise that loss of production in an important industry like ours, especially in these days of recession, does incalculable harm not only to the Company but also to the many industries we serve. It is essential, therefore, as much in their own best interest as in the wider interests of the country, that the employees should adhere to constitutional methods for redress of their legitimate grievances.

Where is the Cotton for the Buffer Stock

January 20, 1968 more discriminating and choose only the specific and substantive allegations for redress.
Moreover, administrative reform implies reform of the entire fabric and structure of the governmental machinery which comes into direct contact with the public. Success in changing the complex structure of a society in accordance with a Plan, and in increasing productivity at the village and taluka or tehsil, depends largely on the efficiency with which the lower echelons of the administration function. The image of the nation in the minds of millions of farmers, petty traders and consumers is influenced and moulded by the smaller officials engaged in field administration. Unless the structure of administration at the level of the district and its constituent units, viz, taluka or tehsil, is overhauled to suit the requirements of a fast-growing complex community, we need have no illusions about the coming social order. Reforms confined to a few ministries and secretariats do not have any practical significance. Men of the Indian Administrative Service and its allied services have received much attention in the past decade as regards training opportunities and facilities; but men at the levels of the talukas or tehsils have remained in a state of dry rot. A purposeful administrative reform must proceed from the lowest rung of the administrative hierarchy. A top-heavy and bottom-loose structure of administration is unlikely to provide a solid base for a welfare state.

The Tide Turns

the year. There is at present no ship under construction. I have already indicated the difficulties in acquisition of more vessels.
With the closure of Konkan Services the activities of the Bombay Steam Navigation Co (1953) Ltd, have been confined to chartering only. The suit filed by the company lor recovery of compensation from the State and Central Governments has not yet come up for hearing.

Growers Holding Back

pie were not politically more mature when they rejected the Conservatives on the morrow of victory" 31. Commenting on the defeat of the Congress in Madras, the old- time Congressman and Gandhian leader, L Krishnaswamy Bharathi said, "Gandhiji had wanted the Congress to be dissolved in 1947. But the leaders would not agree. Now the people have virtually dissolved it in 1967 in Tamilnad by registering their votes against them.

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