Opinion Broken wings

It claims that promoters and top executives of leading private airlines have met the prime minister in this connection and the PM is said to be inclined to intervene in their favour. It says that while the airline industry is an important part of the country’s infrastructure,fuel prices have a larger impact. “Directly and indirectly they affect every segment of the population,including the poor and the middle classes. Yet the government in recent times has been clear that it will not go back on its decision to reduce fuel subsidies by doing away with the administered pricing mechanism and will stick with its policy of adjusting domestic prices when international prices change. Nor will it forego revenues by cutting duties on fuel any further. Money,the PM is reported to have said,does not grow on trees,” it says.

It says that one of the reasons for the current “mess” in the aviation sector is the government’s open skies policy,which it thought would enhance competition,reduce prices and improve customer service. “One danger,however,is that competitive markets often result in failure” and says “when losses occur,governments should not intervene but should let markets work.”

Diluting ‘equity’

A People’s Democracy article focuses on the Durban climate agreement,saying that despite the talk of India having succeeded in inserting equity into the Durban Platform,in exchange for acquiescing to the new instrument,“there is in fact no mention in the DPEA of either ‘equity’ or the Kyoto principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility(CBDR)’.” This is now being explained away with claims that the new instrument would be “under the convention”,thus implicitly endorsing the equity principle enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The article says:”This argument,however,does not hold water. The convention certainly and explicitly recognises equity and CBDR. But the fact that the US could remain a signatory to the UNFCCC while opposing the Kyoto Protocol,and the fact that the Copenhagen Accord and Cancun Agreements drove a truck through the Kyoto firewall between developed and developing countries,also under the convention,shows that operationalising equity and CBDR is not a cut and dried matter.

“The very fact that there was not even a token mention of equity or CBDR,indeed that mention of these was actively resisted by the US and the EU,is indication that these principles are consciously and deliberately sought to be kept out,” it says. It also argues that “India requires to do far greater technical and analytical work to build solid justification and backing for any stand it wants others to take seriously.”

Small Change

Even as it demands the passage of the Lokpal bill in the winter session,the CPI believes the Lokpal will not make much difference in a class society and argues that a change of the system is needed.

The editorial in New Age takes potshots at Team Anna,the government and the BJP. It says that CPI leader A.B. Bardhan had told team Anna at Jantar Mantar that they had belatedly but correctly concluded that no movement can succeed without involving political parties.

It accuses the government of “deliberately creating confusion” over the Lokpal and alleges the BJP has been taking “contradictory positions” on the issues involved. The article repeats the Left’s argument that corruption is a by-product of capitalism,and thrives despite the many laws meant to check it. “Hence the fight against corruption… has to be linked with the fight for the change of the system,” it says.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.