2011

After several days of deadlock with Parliament unable to transact any business due to Opposition protests on various issues, including and notably FDI in retail, the logjam has finally been broken with the UPA Government giving in to the BJP and Left’s insistence against operationalising FDI in multi-brand retail. The government’s latest decision, spelt out in the Lok Sabha by Leader of the House and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, agrees to keep the original permission granted for 51 per (…)

by SHOBHA AGGARWAL
“Sir, I am shocked to see such a brief reply, which is no reply at all. I admit that it is a failure on the part of the Parliament for holding the Government and the Executive accountable for their failure to notify Central Acts for implementation… I feel that the Government and Executive are making a mockery of the Parliament and making a mockery of the legislations.” —Shri D. Raja, MP Rajya Sabha in response to a written reply on Starred Question No. 244 regarding (…)

Mamata Banerjee’s firm and principled stand on FDI in retail trade made the Centre blink. The FDI proposal has not been ‘withdrawn’ but ‘kept on hold’. It was a tactical retreat by the Congress for buying time and garner necessary support in Parliament. When the Prime Minisiter telephoned her from Delhi, seeking her support for FDI, the polite but firm Chief Minister told him it was not possible for her to change her stand. “I am sorry,” she said. Earlier, importunities by Pranab Mukherjee (…)

At long last the cat is out of the bag. By moving heaven and earth over a period of nearly four years and camouflaging the decision by various conditions, more cosmetic than real, to mollify the expected and legitimate opposition to it, the Union Government has decided to welcome 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in over fifty million plus cities (provided the State governments agree).
It has been also decided that for anyone to set up shops in India, a minimum investment of $ (…)

The winter session of Parliament was speculated to be on fire due to debates over the Jan Lokpal Bill and the final outcome of the Team Anna-UPA II Government duel. What emerged surprisingly was the decision to allow foreign direct investment in the retail market. The phenomena saw not only the Opposition coming forward with its sacred exercise of criticising the government but also the key allies of the UPA like the Trinamul Congress and some Congress Members of Parliament expressing (…)

Obstacles staring right in the face. Revolts brewing from different quarters. No I’m not referring to Team Anna, with the Gandhian leader almost set to go fasting once again before the year ends. But the gravest danger comes in the wake of the Central Government giving the okaying nod for Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector. Quite obviously it’s bound to hit the local retailers and along with them the medium-rung traders, farmers and producers. Reactions could compound as there (…)

Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister for Rural Development, is one of the many Ministers in the present government who makes radical statements on behalf of the people and yet has no hesitation in being totally faithful to the norms of neo-liberalism. The Land Acquisition Bill 2011 is a case in point. To cover up the hidden agenda of selling the country to transnational and multinational corporations, there are certain clauses in the Bill which sound revolutionary and yet when analysed are (…)

Introduction
Human rights represent an ambitious attempt to bring rationality into the political institutions and civil society. Liberty and human rights are both a cause of the American Revolution (1776) and had been a purpose for drafting the United States’ Constitution. No idea aroused more hope and greater fear than the insistence on human rights in politics and society. The American Revolution, therefore, attracted attention because its leaders justified their action on the basis of (…)

Truth is seldom etched in black and white. Most often it is all grey.
The attitude towards Kishenji, and all the works he carried out throughout his life, stands testimony to this. While to many he was a villain, to some others he was a hero, a character whom they saluted for the last time with the words ‘amar rahe’.
His body was cremated on a Sunday, after it was handed to his family by the West Bengal Government. This is what Hindustan Times wrote about the cremation day:
“The (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
It was a massacre of innocents by all counts. What happened at the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in the early morning of December 3 was not just a tragedy but a heinous crime which killed nearly two thousand and hospitalised countless others, brings out something much more ghastly than the hazards of modern industrialisation.
The enormity of the crime—unprecedented in our times—lies not merely in any negligence on the part of the workers and superintending staff (…)