Foreign aims

The CPIM clearly has hopes from Pranab Mukherjee as foreign minister 8212; what with having described him as the 8220;member with the most political experience in the Union Cabinet8221;.

The CPIM clearly has hopes from Pranab Mukherjee as foreign minister 8212; what with having described him as the 8220;member with the most political experience in the Union Cabinet8221;. In a front page article 8220;Mid-term reappraisal of foreign policy needed8221; in People8217;s Democracy, party general secretary Prakash Karat says Mukherjee and his cabinet colleague, Defence Minister A.K. Anthony, are well acquainted with the Congress8217;s role in formulating a foreign policy based on non-alignment. In their new role, the ministers should 8220;reappraise8221; the foreign and security policies to give them a 8220;proper direction8221;, he says. However, the CPIM leader also gives credit to the UPA government for some recent steps it has taken, which he believes, have the potential for realising the foreign policy goals in the common minimum programme. One is the PM8217;s visit to Brazil for the IBSA summit which, together with the NAM summit, 8220;showed how India can play an important and constructive role in advancing the platform8221; to defend sovereignty and forge South-South ties. The government earns kudos for its efforts to have a convergence of ideas with Russia and China. But the 8220;trend of accommodating to US interests remains dominant.8221;

With reservation

CPIM central committee member and former Rajya Sabha MP Nilotpal Basu says when the Supreme Court recently asked for details of the policy formulation on OBC reservation in aided educational institutions, or applied the 8220;creamy layer8221; criteria for promotion for SCs and STs in government jobs, those actions 8220;undermined the constitutional spirit itself8221;. He points out that the legislation on OBC reservation in aided institutions of higher learning had been referred to a parliamentary standing committee and the SC8217;s direction that the standing committee8217;s report be presented to the court was 8220;a clear constitutional encroachment8221;. He writes that while the judiciary could examine the constitutional validity of a law once enacted, neither the government nor the courts had any say in the matter before this had been done. On a 8220;creamy layer8221; for SCs and STs for promotion in government jobs, Basu notes that this was 8220;not a concept8221; mentioned in the Constitution and here too 8220;it again appears to be an overstep in the policy and statutory space8221; by the judiciary. Basu says that 8220;8230;there is a growing degree of convergence of certain judicial pronouncements with neo-liberal agenda8221; on issues such as workers8217; right to strike, labour reforms etc.

Stressing fee

The Left has regularly spoken up against increasing fees for education. In the latest issue of People8217;s Democracy, writer G Mamta argues against it by referring to a Kingston University study. According to this study students were being forced to join the sex industry to be able to pay their fees. In 8216;Let us not allow this to happen in India8217;, the writer refers to proposals for raising fees: 8220;We are already witnessing a spate of suicides of students who were unable to pay the exorbitant fees collected in various education institutes across the country. If we let the Shylocks have their way, it would be disastrous to our education system.8221;

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar