The CPI (M) has delineated the reasons for its opposition to Article 356. In an editorial in People’s Democracy titled ‘Abjure Political Myopia’, the party says it is necessary to prevent “the continuous misuse and abuse of Article 356 to settle political scores.” Citing the Bommai judgment, it reiterates that a vote on the floor of the house is the only way to establish the majority of a government. This suggests that Article 356 can be invoked only when a government is reduced to a minority through a vote in the assembly and refuses to resign. It then draws attention to the apex court’s rebuke of the then governor of Bihar, Buta Singh, last year, for having recommended the dissolution of the state assembly on grounds of “horse-trading”. The party insists that it has no political points to gain in supporting Mulayam. It has decided to contest the assembly elections in UP independently and it has taken this decision due to serious disagreements with some of the policies and the quality of governance that the SP has provided, the editorial says. Oily embarrassment The CPI (M) has called for a transparent policy of petroleum pricing. Dipankar Mukherjee begins his article in People’s Democracy by saying Sonia Gandhi must feel embarrassed by the way Murli Deora ropes in her name each time he announces a reduction in fuel prices. “Embarrassment to the UPA chairperson is obvious when the job of a marketing manager is assigned to someone who has to take macro policy decisions”. Instead of image-building exercises, the party says, the petroleum minister must address the main issue of reduction in taxes rather than going minor reductions based on erroneous premises. The article says that for the sake of public transparency the government and the oil companies — private and public — should come out with a detailed break-up of the retail cost. The measures for bringing in a transparent pricing policy include reduction in excise duty, change of taxing pattern from ad valorem to specific, formation of a price stabilisation fund, and review of duty drawback. Russia takes the lead An article on the Aero India show at Bangalore describes the comparative advantage of Russian aircraft over the rest, especially the American ones. “For aviation buffs and aviation industry personnel, and even for pilots including American pilots of the F-16s and Super Hornets, the cynosure of all eyes at the Aero-India show were the Russian Sukhoi 30 MKI and the MiG 35 which was making its maiden appearance. Both aircraft made spectacular displays of their advanced performance at high and low speeds as well as high and low altitudes, made possible by their superb thrust-vectoring engines which can swivel to give the aircraft unprecedented manoeuverability including ‘hover’ capability”, the article says. The MiG 35 design is based on its highly-rated MiG 29M fighters, 65 of which are already in service with the IAF and several more aircraft of the maritime version are due to enter service in the Indian Navy. The MiG 35 also uses an updated version of the RD-33 engine, whose Series 3 version also powers the MiG 29 and the MK version powers the naval variant. This commonality of engine type would give the IAF a huge boost in terms of operational efficiency, maintenance and spares. It hopes that PM Manmohan Singh’s recent remark that decisions on such high-ticket military acquisitions would also be influenced by strategic considerations reflects a recognition of such real synergies rather than the chimera of improved Indo-US relations being chased through the nuclear deal! Compiled by Jayanth Jacob
