Opinion BRICS BANK

“Though the establishment of the development bank will take time,its significance should not be missed. The concept is not new. Similar attempts have been made by the Latin American countries. They too have decided to have their own development bank as parallel to the IMF,” it says,arguing that Hugo Chavez was the first to moot such an idea of “freeing the economies of the developing countries in Latin America from the manipulation of international finance capital.” It notes that BRICS may have much larger impact if the Durban decisions are really implemented.

The article,at the same time,was critical of the UPA government. “It seems that India is not that enthusiastic on the issues discussed at Durban. Though our leaders swear day in and day out by [the concept of [a multi-polar world order,we are more and more succumbing to American manipulations. The reasons are obvious. The Congress leadership has sold itself to the policies of neo-liberalism…”

MURDER INCORPORATED

The CPI(ML) weekly ML Update talks about the murder of one of its leaders in Assam. It holds the ruling Congress responsible for the killing of Gangaram Kol. “Gangaram was a militant and popular leader of the tea community in the Dibrugarh-Tinsukia region,and he had been at the forefront of protests against largescale corruption in gram panchayat schemes and in the public distribution system. Undoubtedly,he was killed at the behest of the corrupt nexus of panchayat representatives,government officials,and politicians,” it says,pointing fingers at a local Congress MLA.

The editorial talks about the agitation Gangaram had waged to highlight irregularities in PDS and claims the government was reluctant to order a CBI probe but had to do so after public pressure. “Assassination has been a notorious stock-in-trade for the mafia of industrialists and politicians threatened by trade union movements,” it says.

SHOP TALK

The Samajwadi Party chief may have triggered a political buzz by talking about a third front,but the CPM is not surprised. On one hand,the future of UPA 2 is uncertain and on the other,the Congress is in a near-pathetic situation in states considered as its strongholds,argues the CPM’s People’s Democracy: “It is not unusual that in the run-up to general elections,talk of new alliances amongst political parties and excitement over coalitions is generated. However,with nearly a year left for the 2014 general elections,such excitement seems to have begun early mainly due to the growing uncertainty of the UPA 2 alliance…”

Amidst such speculation,it argues that the real aspirations of people do not receive attention. “The reason why parties like the SP that continue to bailout this Congress-led UPA government talk in terms of a third front is precisely because there is pressure from the SP’s own political and social base for a change that will provide people some relief from their present miserable conditions of existence.”

Compiled by Manðj C.G.