Opinion View from the LEFT
Although it is in favour of resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan,the CPI has come to the conclusion that the foreign...
Pakistan talks
Although it is in favour of resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan,the CPI has come to the conclusion that the foreign secretary-level talks this week are likely to take place in a listless atmosphere devoid of hope and the expectations of a forward movement are clearly absent. The feeling is that New Delhi is holding the talks under pressure from the US,while Islamabad is unsure of its outcome. Although the Zardari-Gilani government is not fully in charge of the situation in Pakistan and Army chief Pervez Ashfaq Kayani cannot be trusted,there is little option for India but to engage in at least the pretence of negotiations,it says.
An article titled Little hope from Indo-Pak talks in the latest edition of CPIs weekly mouthpiece New Age says that however untrustworthy Pakistan might be,some channels of communication have to be kept open,as otherwise the onus of being unreasonable will be on India since it is the larger and more stable country. There is another reason why India must keep its slender links with Pakistan open. It is that the Pakistan army would dearly love a deterioration in mutual ties,as after 26/11,so that it would not have to fulfil its obligation to continue to fight the terrorists in the countrys north-west, it says.
Inflation
In an article titled Price rise: Lame excuses and fake alibis in the latest issue of CPI(M) mouthpiece Peoples Democracy,Politburo member Brinda Karat argues that the UPA government has consistently refused to accept its responsibilities in containing runaway prices. Seeking to demolish the arguments put forward by the government,she compares the consumer price index of G-20 countries to counter the government argument that high inflation rates are a global phenomenon. While figures show inflation was 14.97 per cent in India in December,Russia recorded 8.8,which was the highest among the G-20 grouping. While Argentina recorded 7.7 after Russia,the lowest inflation figure was -1.7 recorded in Japan. Clearly,domestic factors,not international ones,are responsible for India having the highest annual inflation rates in the Consumer Price Index of the G-20 countries, the article argues.
In fact it can be argued that India is responsible to an extent for the hardening of international prices in certain commodities over the last few years such as wheat and sugar. When a country like India announces its intentions to import vast quantities of a particular commodity,it obviously leads to higher prices in international markets with big players and speculators driving up commodity futures prices, it says.
While the government is in a state of denial about the impact of recession on the working people,the report of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs has assessed that in 2009,13.6 million more people were pushed into the ranks of the poor in India because of joblessness and high rates of inflation, she says.
It is made out as though state governments were responsible for high prices of sugar because of the higher slabs of VAT on sugar including imported sugar. However,23 of the 32 states have nil rate of VAT on imported sugar. On the other hand,Jharkhand under Presidents rule had the highest VAT rate of 12.5 per cent. Congress governments in Rajasthan and Haryana and the Congress-supported DMK government in Tamilnadu have 4 per cent VAT on imported sugar, the article says.
Soft Trinamool
The CPI(M) Central Committees decision to differentiate between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress when it comes to attacking them on the Maoist issue reflected in the lead editorial in Peoples Democracy. The editorial in the aftermath of the Maoist attack at the East Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda was soft on the Centre,merely suggesting that the state governments of West Bengal,Orissa,Jharkhand and Bihar and the Centre should act in unison to combat the Naxalites.
On the other hand,it said the Trinamool Congress continues to play footsie with the Maoists and it was clearly demonstrated by Mamata Banerjees unwillingness to name the Maoists as being responsible for the attack.
This despite the fact that the Maoist leaders themselves have publicly acknowledged in the media that they are responsible for this attack and this was their answer to the joint operations to be launched by the Centre and various state governments.
That the Maoists reciprocate the Trinamool Congresss softness became clear when their spokesman informed sections of the media that the Maoists will not attack or target the Trinamool Congress.
By now it is well-known that the Trinamool Congress has openly called for a halt of all operations by security forces against the Maoists so that the latter can continue to terrorise the people through their violence and browbeat them into opposing the Left Front in the forthcoming elections to the state assembly in 2011,it says.
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