Development with a disclaimer

Kerala732;s new chief minister V.S. Achutanandan has a reputation for being conservative on development issues...

Kerala8217;s new chief minister V.S. Achutanandan has a reputation for being conservative on development issues, but the Left clearly realises that jobs and investment in business can fetch good political dividends. So it is not surprising when Achutanandan says in an interview to People8217;s Democracy: 8216;8216;Our new LDF government will leave no stone unturned in developing and attracting new investments in the field of Information Technology.8217;8217; He goes on to say that 8216;8216;many IT giants8217;8217; had met him and offered to set up business in Kerala that would provide 8216;8216;thousands of employment opportunities8217;8217; to IT professionals.

However, he tries to stay close to his image with a disclaimer that his government would focus on the interests of peasants and traditional industries that, according to him, had suffered during the previous UDF regime. Achutanandan comes into his own while explaining LDF victories in IUML strongholds and 8216;8216;impressive gains8217;8217; among women voters. Apart from highlighting the ice-cream parlour sex scandal, he believes the CPM8217;s stand against the UPA8217;s position on the Iranian nuclear programme and its 8216;8216;pro-American8217;8217; policies won the support Muslim voters. As for support from women voters, he says this has to do with his campaign against sex rackets and sexual assaults on women which the previous government failed to deal with.

More pressure on UPA

The message that the Left would like to send to the government following the victories in West Bengal and Kerala is that it will now bring to bear more pressure on the UPA government. It may not have started off ideally8212;with the government effecting a steep hike in petrol and diesel prices on Monday 8212;but during a victory rally in Kolkata, reported in People8217;s Democracy, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat promised the Left would now bring more pressure on the UPA government 8216;8216;not to go in for anti-people policies8217;8217;.

However, at the very same rally, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee made a familiar speech: step up the urbanisation drive, bring in more investments, expand trade and commerce, and improve the state government8217;s work culture. For the record, he also said a balance must be maintained between industrialisation, agricultural expansion and land. The chief minister, who in recent days has been given hints to tone down his liberal image, evidently has little intention of doing so and said the state8217;s progress was along an 8216;8216;untravelled path8217;8217; and 8216;8216;there was no scope for looking back and decelerating8217;8217;. This, he firmly told the rally, was the 8216;8216;will of the people of Bengal and India8217;8217;.

Act on CAG recommendations

In The Stock Market Meltdown: A Preliminary Comment, Prasenjit Bose positions himself alongside the CBDT which had issued the so-called 8216;8216;rogue circular8217;8217; for taxing FII transactions, and against capital account convertibility. He believes that after the May 22 crash, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is seen to be 8216;8216;desperately advising8217;8217; investors not to panic.

8216;8216;It is obvious that the public financial institutions are being instructed to buy heavily in the stock market in order to prevent any further fall of the indices.8217;8217; As for the CBDT circular, it was in keeping with the 8216;8216;eminently reasonable recommendations of the CAG8217;8217; as presented in a report to Parliament last month. According to him, the efforts to 8216;8216;bring the enormous profits8217;8217; of the FIIs within the tax net had led to the flight of capital and this was an effort to blackmail the government to abandon steps to tax speculative gains.

Bose makes three suggestions: that the CBDT should go ahead with the recommendations of the CAG especially with regard to the cost-benefit analysis of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements; reintroduce long-term capital gains tax; give up plans for introducing capital account convertibility because it would be a 8216;8216;sure recipe for large-scale capital flight and currency crisis8217;8217;.

Fida over Fanaa

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Taking up Aamir Khan8217;s cause, the CPM daily believes the Gujarat government8217;s actions is reminiscent of Hitler8217;s Germany. There is no official ban, writes

V. Srinivasarao, but the BJP8217;s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha has arrogated to itself the authority to act as an extra constitutional authority to force a ban on Fanaa in Gujarat.

The Bollywood actor8217;s case is not merely related to his support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan and tribals displaced by the Sardar Sarovar project. He is also a victim of cultural policing, says the author, citing earlier actions against Mallika Sarabhai and M.F. Hussain.

The Aamir issue certainly brings back the Left8217;s activism on cultural issues 8212;-the party8217;s Politburo had earlier issued a statement on Fanaa. But the author8217;s unabashed praise for Khan is embarrassing. 8216;8216;Aamir is not an individual, he represents a justified cause. To support him means in a broader sense to support people, support democracy, support secularism, support patriotism.8217;8217;

8212;Compiled by Ananda Majumdar