Opinion BJP racing nowhere

Of the BJP’s anti-corruption campaign,it says that even as Advani was announcing his yatra,the Lokayukta of Chattisgarh severely indicted the Raman Singh government for rampant corruption. “This comes days after the Karnataka Lokayukta holding the BJP government guilty of severe corruption… In haste,the BJP has changed its chief minister in Uttarakhand before charges of corruption could consume its state government. This is its track record on corruption.”

Sputter and stall

The CPI’s weekly New Age argues that the global economy has lost its momentum for recovery,and is edging close to a second recession. It quotes Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman saying that the risk of another recession has risen to one in two.

Saying that “warning bells have been sounded by the UN,IMF,World Bank and other institutions with strong calls on the US and the EU,in particular,to take urgent actions both on fiscal consolidation without sacrificing short-term support for growth and jobs,and on the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone periphery threatening the stability of the decade-old single monetary union.”

The US economy grew by less than 1 per cent in the first half of 2011. Unemployment remains at 9.1 per cent and would be so through 2012. On the other side of the Atlantic,EU leaders are yet to arrive at any credible solutions to both financing debt-stressed peripheral states and securing the solvency of the banking system,it says. The article says that UNCTAD has projected a slowdown for the world economy from about 4 per cent GDP growth in 2010 to around 3 per cent in 2011. While China’s growth is lowered to 9.4 per cent,India’s expected 8.1 per cent growth in 2011 is based mainly on domestic consumption and investment and positive contribution of net exports.

Dereliction of duty

People’s Democracy also focuses on the recent CAG reports on Air India and the Krishna-Godavari basin production-sharing contracts. An article says that the CAG had indicted the civil aviation ministry on the acquisition of aircraft by Air India and Indian Airlines,terming it a “recipe for disaster”.

It claims the CAG report,when read along with the fourth report of the Committee on Public Undertakings on the merger of the erstwhile AI and IA,makes it abundantly clear that it was not a “recipe” for future disaster but a “well-scripted” disaster plan to serve the business interests of Boeing,the US aircraft manufacturer. “In the process,the two national carriers,since 2006 after their merger,have now accumulated losses of Rs 20,000 crore and have a current debt amounting to Rs 46,000 crore.” Besides calling for the resignation of Praful Patel — the former civil aviation minister — it says a probe should be conducted to find the others who planned the Air India disaster.

Another article,claiming that the CAG report on KG basis gas contracts has exposed the bureaucrat-corporate nexus,demands the immediate prosecution of concerned officials,penalties on Reliance and other private parties for gold-plating contracts,change in production-sharing contracts to prevent misuse and review of the new exploration licencing policy.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.