The editorial alleges that the stimulus package will benefit only the corporate houses and not the masses. “These tax concessions may reduce prices but they do not, in any way, enhance the available disposable incomes in the hands of the people. Unless this increases, no amount of tax cuts and bailout packages for the corporate sector will help in reviving the economy. On the contrary, if the same Rs 30,000 crores were to be spent directly through public investment, in say, construction of rural roads, the employment that this could generate would enlarge domestic demand when people spend their salaries which, in turn, would stimulate the economy.”, it states.

It goes on to laud the efforts of CPM-ruled states like Kerala and West Bengal in tiding over the economic crisis and urges the central government to follow them. “In stark contrast, the CPI(M)-led Left governments in West Bengal and Kerala have announced stimulus packages aimed at increasing aggregate demand through increased government spending. This is the most affective way to combat the recessionary conditions rather than offer public money for bailout packages. The Kerala government has announced a package which is equal to 5 per cent of the state’s GDP. This goes into expenditures on public works, irrigation, water supply and housing schemes. This is nearly 10 times, in percentage terms, the fiscal stimulus packages announced by the central government which amounts to only 0.5 per cent of the GDP”, the editorial declares.

Cinema verité

In an article titled “Slumdog Millionaire and Eight Oscars”, the CPM mouthpiece hails Danny Boyle’s Oscar winning film and terms it “truly classic in terms of cinematic merit — script, cinematography, music score, sound and riveting performances.

The article takes political digs at the present government through a cartoon featuring Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh with the words: “You deserve it! You made this film possible by turning India into a great slum in the past 60 years!”

While pointing out that it was different from popular Indian films the article states: “It indirectly shows how after the Mumbai blasts, innocent poor people were attacked by hooligans at the railway station; how the Malegaon bomb blasts carried out by Hindu chauvinist group, made poor Muslims suffer untold miseries; how hapless unemployed poor North Indians and Bihari youths had to face the onslaught of Shivsainiks in Maharashtra.”

The article also castigates those who criticised the film by saying that India was depicted in a negative light.”The armchair, ivory tower intelligentsia, which has never comes to term with real concerns is appalled”, it says.