Opinion View from the LEFT
An article in CPM weekly Peoples Democracy calls for a review of the environment impact assessment.
A democratic environment
An article in CPM weekly Peoples Democracy calls for a review of the environment impact assessment (EIA) procedure in the light of the recent conditional clearances granted by the environment ministry,mainly to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra and POSCOs plant in Orissa. It says the actions of the ministry in the last few months expose the weakness of the EIA notification of 2006,arguing that this was not geared towards the effective and continuous monitoring of big projects so that they complied with the conditions under which they had been allowed to proceed with their work.
In the wake of this gap,the conditions being imposed by the ministry on these projects are unlikely to be met… Today the ministry is using its discretion to ignore the advice of teams led by eminent scientists who have raised technological,environmental and social concerns with regard to many of these projects, it says.
The article argues that impact assessment has to be democratised to make the ministry and the companies more accountable. A proper and independent system of doing impact assessment and monitoring compliance needs to be put into place. Thus it is time for reviewing the EIA experience in order to make a comprehensive law that gives more rights to project-affected people by involving public representation and consultation at all stages of impact assessment, it notes.
Dyed in saffron
As the Budget session gets underway,the Left has once again signalled its intention to raise the issue of saffron terror in Parliament,a move which could expose the chinks in the opposition unity. The lead editorial in the CPIs weekly journal New Age says both the Congress and the BJP have deliberately ignored Hindutva terrorism.
Though the ATS in some states and some national investigating agencies do claim that they have enough proof to nail Sangh-affiliated organisations for several bomb blasts,still the UPA government is not ready to order a comprehensive probe in the sinister game-plan of the Sangh Parivar.
With an eye on the sizeable Muslim votebank in poll-bound West Bengal,the Left has been pitching for the release of Muslim youth who are in jail in connection with cases of bomb blasts in Malegaon,Ajmer,Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express. The article says,Not only do these young people need to be released immediately and compensated,but action has to be taken against those officials who wrongly implicated them. it talks about the need for cleaning and overhauling the police and investigating agencies that have been heavily infiltrated by RSS personnel during the six-year rule of theBJP-led NDA.
CEO Singh
The lead editorial in CPI(ML) journal ML Update attacks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for comparing the loss to the national exchequer caused by 2G spectrum allocation to the subsidies meant for the poor. It focuses on the prime ministers media interaction and criticises him on several counts. Noting Singhs assertion that of all the decisions he has taken,seven out of 10 turn out to be correct,which the shareholders of a normal corporation would call a job well done,it says so here we have Singhs essential vision of democracy and his role as prime minister: he is the CEO of a normal corporation!
It says,Manmohan Singh and his ilk can only see politics through the corporate prism where the government is just a service provider to those who can afford to buy that service. Not even a sleeping shareholder,the notion of a citizen has actually been reduced to that of a fee-paying customer and those who cannot afford to pay simply do not count!
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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