Opinion Destroying growth

Overall inflation has been”stubbornly high” even as investment has been steadily declining,and there is an unprecedented flight of capital,says the Organiser editorial. It adds that according to a recent report,India has slipped to 14th spot in global FDI inflows,and “analysts blame it on negative sentiments prevailing in the country.”

The biggest drag on the economy,however,is the UPA’s burgeoning subsidy bill,it says. “What has happened to the reform promise of downsizing the government and curtailing

administrative spending and unproductive subsidies?”

Attacking the prime minister,the editorial says: “The tragedy is that he not only looks helpless,but totally inadequate to deal with the looming crises ahead.”

It also alleges that the UPA chairperson,Sonia Gandhi,is the real culprit,undermining India’s emergence as a major economic power. “Her pet schemes are designed to bleed the country by a thousand cuts. It is not the love for the poor or concern for rural poverty that is driving her to create a drain on the economy through fancy schemes like right to food,right to education and right to information,” it claims. The editorial asks why Gandhi has not asked the government to invest in rural roads,village schools and colleges,which would result in job-creation,rather than doling out subsidies.

Intellectual error

Discussing the controversial presence of some prominent Indian activists and journalists at conferences organised by the US-based Ghulam Nabi Fai — who was recently arrested by the FBI — a front-page article in the Organiser asks the government to order a high-level probe into Fai’s contacts in India and their activities.

“The revelation about Fai being an ISI agent does not come as a surprise to most Indians,as Pakistan has been engaged not only in such notorious anti-India propaganda but also a proxy war against India through terrorists trained,armed and funded on its soil. However,what has come as a shock is the close proximity Fai enjoyed with several leading Indian journalists and intellectuals,” it says.

About the claim that several of them were not aware of Fai’s links with the ISI,it says there cannot be a “more specious

argument about ignorance of basic facts by such eminent intellectuals who have a wide network of contacts worldwide.”

It continued: “In fact,way back in 1995 itself,separatist leader Hashim Qureshi had exposed Fai’s links with ISI in his book Kashmir: The Unveiling of Truth. Qureshi,who hogged the headlines for hijacking an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1971,wrote that Fai and Ayub Thakur (now dead) were at the forefront of fundraising campaigns for the Jamaat-e-

Islami and its militant outfit,Hizbul Mujahideen,in the US and the UK respectively.”

Tackling more Telanganas

Another Organiser article focuses on the Telangana conundrum. While the BJP has been asking the government to introduce a bill in Parliament for the formation of a separate Telangana,this article suggests that no changes be made to existing conditions without a thoroughly worked out consensus among all political parties.

Arguing that today’s India is vastly different from that of 1947,or even 1975,it says that every corner of the country is conscious of the need for economic betterment,and that there is a growing demand for special attention among hitherto neglected districts: “There is,of course,always the question of viability. Is Telangana economically viable? For that matter,is Vidarbha? Or Gorkhaland? These are valid questions. There is always the fear of being marginalised. But one has to face them,and that is not the task of the UPA government alone,but for all parties to ponder.”

“Perhaps a beginning can be made with the creation of Telangana,keeping in mind the demand for Vidarbha. But somewhere down the line,political parties must jointly draw a Laxman rekha on what is acceptable and what is not. Surely,that is not too much to ask?” M.V. Kamath argues in the article.

At the same time,he claims it is difficult to understand a government that promises to set up Telangana as a separate state and then reneges on its promise. Kamath adds that,while the Srikrishna Committee has submitted its report,the Central government,which has been hit by a series of scams,has been slow to move — a tardiness that has resulted in the resumption of agitations in the Telangana region.