Articles by Sumanta Banerjee

WEST BENGAL Bleak Political Landscape Sumanta Banerjee SOME of the theatricality of the commercial Bengali stage is spilling over onto the political scenario of West Bengal. The recent killing of a few policemen has all of a .sudden broken the heart of the Congress(I)

Crisis of Indian Press Irrelevance of Press Commission Sumanta Banerjee DURING the last 30 years or so, certain pressures have woven them- selves so closely into the fabric of the Indian press that they have become nvisible, Since 1954, when the First Press Commission brought to public notice the growing concentration of newspaper ownership in the hands of a few big business houses, a certain awareness of the direct pressure of such ownership on the pattern of reing has emerged among sensitive sections of our people. Again, the events of the early 1970s culiminating in he declaration of Emergency and pre- censorship rules opened the eyes of these sections to pressures on the press from another quarter

The Island of Dr Marx Sumanta Banerjee Suddenly, by common impulse, we found ourselves on our feet, mumbling together into the smooth lifting unison of the 'Internationale'. A grizsded old soldier was sobbing like a child, Alexandra Kollontai rapidly winked the tears back. The immense sound rolled through the hall burst windows and doors and seared into the quiet sky, .,. And when it wan over, as we stood there to a kind of awkward hush, someone in the back of the room shouted, "Comrades! Let us remember those who have died for liberty".

the Indian government, has increased Food Aid: Charity or Profitable Business?
from about US $100,000 in 1964-65 Sumanta IN reply to questions in the winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister R Venkataraman disclosed that the Co-operative for American Relief Everywhere, or what is better known by its acronym CARE, which was supposed to be feeding some 10 million Indian school children with free food, has repatriated to USA about US $ 6 million between 1964-65 and 1979-80. He, however, neglected to add that CARE's agreement with the President of India, signed on March 6, 1950, under which it was allowed to begin its operations here, does not make any allowance for any funds to be provided from any government or non-government Indian source to CAREYet, it is evident from CARE's programme plans that government funds are being budgeted every year towards CARE's operational costs in all the 14 states where the organisation's school-fee ding programme is operative, Table I gives a summary of such government funds diverted towards CARE during the financial year ending 1971, the total coming to more than US $ 10 million. The question arises, under what authority are the state governments superseding the original 1950 agreement to provide operational costs to CARE, and those also in foreign exchange? The Centre subsidises the state governments to the extent of 40 per cent of funds spent on school feeding and/or selfhelp and/or food-for-work programmes. It is not known, however, whether the subsidy is with direct reference to CARE's feeding programme.

China: Survival versus Ideological Purity Sumanta Banerjee The Mandate of Heaven: Marx and Mao in Modern China by Nigel Harris; Quartet Books, London; pp 307,