After the executive

The BJP8217;s recent national council meet in Delhi comes in for focus in an editorial in People8217;s Democracy.

The BJP8217;s recent national council meet in Delhi comes in for focus in an editorial in People8217;s Democracy. The slowdown in agricultural growth and the consequent agrarian crisis is blamed on the policies of the Vajpayee government. Referring to the BJP8217;s charges against the UPA government on issues relating to minorities, the CPM says it was not 8220;vote bank8221; politics or 8220;minority appeasement8221; which was the issue but the failure of the Indian state to provide a fair deal to the largest minority community in the country. 8220;The UPA government has to redeem its pledge to provide social justice to the minorities and deprived sections,8221; says the editorial.

Also, the BJP8217;s announcement of giving women 33 per cent of seats in party committees is seen as a cover-up for its shifting stand on reservation for women in legislatures. 8220;Moreover,8221; notes the editorial, 8220;care has been taken to exclude central office-bearers and the parliamentary board from this requirement.8221;

Not without children

The UPA government draws flak for its 8220;apathetic attitude8221; towards children as reflected in the meagre allotments made to the Integrated Child Development Services scheme. According to the Working Group on Child Development for the Eleventh Five Year Plan, on an average, between 2000-01 and 2004-05, only 2.38 per cent of the total Union Budget was given to children through child specific programmes. In an article titled 8216;Mr Finance Minister, Lend Your Ear to Children, Please8217;, it is noted that only Rs 4,761 crore, or around 0.0095 per cent of the total of more than Rs 5 lakh crore, was allotted for the ICDS last year.

The article cites CITU8217;s demand for allocation of Rs 12,000 crore to the ICDS, including Rs 2,500 crore for improving the conditions of anganwadi workers and helpers. 8220;This is just Rs 700 per child per year. Can a country which cannot spare this small amount for its children, ever dream of having a bright shining future?8221;

In a flap

While the West Bengal government faced criticism for its failure to contain bird flu, the CPM comes out in support of the state government. An article points out that unlike in other states, where the state governments would only have the concentrated zones of big poultry farms to reckon with, in Bengal poultry is a household phenomenon. Thus, any response to a flu outbreak has to be operationalised on the basis of search-and-find operations.

A vast amount of human resources is thus necessary for this task. Also, there is personal resistance, based on affection, among farmers to the idea of culling.