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Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 30, July 17, 2010

The Substance and the Symbol

Thursday 22 July 2010, by Surendra Mohan

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If the most salient feature Indian politics were to be named, it would be its preference of the symbol over the substance. The decision to create a unified command in the Centre, increase in police force at the State levels and the creation of paratroops to fight against the Maoists begs the question as to what is the substantive cause of the rise of the Maoist threat. The frustrating of the people in the more devastated areas where mining operations have displaced the tribal people and the kisans in hundreds of thousands has compelled them to turn to the Maoists. Much before the latter launched their armed resistance against the MNCs’ machinations, they had organised a big conference on the issue of the massive displacements that the people were faced with. That was in 2007 in Ranchi. But, there was no one to attend to angushed voices of those affected or threatened. No one thought of creating a unified command to check the illegal mining of iron ore in Karnataka. The Union Minister of steel, Veerbhadra Singh, complained last month that iron ore was being mined illegally in eastern parts of the country and shipped to China. He expressed surprise as to how the illegally mined ore reached safely the port and was loaded into ships. When the reports of the fabulous wealth of the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, were published, no one asked how much other authorities in that State and the neighbouring States of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal would have made from various contracts given for mining. A recent judgment canceling the permission for mining iron ore mines given by the State Government to Posco, the South Korean steel major, by the Orissa High Court, has exposed the partialty of the government to the South Korean MNC. For, the High Court found that the claims of other claimants had not been considered.

The Central Government showed no concern over these developments. The BJP Government in Karnataka cannot muster the courage of relieving the Ministers responsible for illegal mining though they had shown their mala fide intention of even toppling the Chief Minister. Its central leadership was keener to mollify the Lok Ayukta, Santosh Hegde, rather than recognise his dissatisfaction and act to remove it. Why is it that the strictures passed by the Lok Ayukta, the admission by Veerbhadra Singh of illegal mining in eastern India and the large-scale corruption involved in this sector do not draw forth a unified response from the Centre and the concerned States? Why is the robbery of three million tonnes of iron ore from one port in Karwar alone, which should indicate the huge amount of stolen ore in various other parts, which deprives the country of valuable mineral and the governments in New Delhi and the States of substantial amount of revenue, create such grave concern?

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THE Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, M.S. Ahluwalia, has said that there is no reprieve from the price rise and inflation. While inflation in June was reported to be 10. 5 per cent, it was also reported that it might in fact be more than this estimate. Inflation in food items is above 17 per cent. This, however, is in respect of wholesale prices. The retail prices show much bigger rise. Over and above that, the Union Government has raised the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene. Kerosene will be available at seven per cent higher prices, much higher than the raise in respect of petrol, three per cent, and diesel, 1.5 per cent. Is this inordinate rise in kerosene prices due to its use by the poorer sections? Every lower middle class and poor family will be hurt hard by this rise. But, it may be instructive to note that out of the total prices of these products, the amount that the Centre earns is half of its price. Moreover, four big oil cartels, all from the USA, control the world prices of petroleum products, and we continue to increase the amount of our import of these products every year.

The Union Finance Minister has his own tricks to play on the Indian people in his annual Budgets. In this year’s annual Budget, he has doled five lakh crores for the government. The written-off loans of the big business, called non- paying assets, are another item of theft of the wealth produced by the masses. When one reads about similar thefts at the lower levels in the administration of the public distribution system or the implementation of the MGNREGA one realises that the substance is not important, only symbols are. Therefore, for example, the Rajasthan Government has done away with independent social audit and decided that the same administrators who have been hand-in-glove with the perpetrators of theft are to supervise the investigations into thefts.

The Union Government failed to legislate the Food Security Bill because it was finding it difficult, in the face of public opposition, to disband the public distribution system. Now, the National Advisory Committee, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, is debating the issue and has recommended that 50 most backward areas should be selected for special treatment. The people there, without distinction, have to be given 35 kilograms of cereals every month at deferred price. The rest of the country will not see such universal coverage, but a division between the BPL and APL families. If 35 kilogram of cereals were to be provided to every family in the country at Rs 3 per kg, the total estimated cost would come to Rs 84 thousand crores. But, this small sum, when compared to what the Central Government has been giving to the affluent sections, is not to be spared. Limiting coverage of a few areas for provision of food security when poverty is spread over the entire country is quite unrealistic. Members of the NAC are experienced persons with glowing records of public service. That they should take up such indefensible positions is a sad commentary on the state of affairs..

The North-East has suffered from regional economic imbalances for half-a-century or more which has meant underdevelopment, unemploy-ment and despair. It is now facing another prospect: large scale displacement of the people and hazardous ecology, for several big dams are sought to be constructed in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Similar is going to be the fate of the Konkan area in Maharashtra where some special economic zones, several hydro-electric projects and a nuclear plant are going to be established. Wherever these anti-people developmental activities are initiated, the resulting helplessness of the people in defending their homes, hearths and livelihood compel them to agitate. So far, peaceful protests are witnessed in these and other similar areas. But, the Centre and the States are generally deaf to such protests. They probably like that people resort to violence. For, it is easy to give such protests names like subversive, Naxalite, Maoist or anti-national, make the administration more centralistic and hand it over to the security forces. This practice has alienated the Kashmiris, the Nagas and other such groups from the country, not only the regime. Such alienation no democratic country can afford. But, our rulers could not care less. They must look at the substance in the complaints and the protests of the people, violent or peaceful, not as defiance of their authority, but expressions of mass distress. This is the only appropriate response that a democratic regime can adopt.

The author is one of the country’s leading socialist ideologues.

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