At the same time, he claims that the 123 agreement, as defined by President George W. Bush, has exploded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s oft-repeated assertion that India will settle for nothing short of full civilian nuclear cooperation — “Bush has made it clear that there is no assurance of uninterrupted fuel supply nor is there any question of transfer of reprocessing and enrichment technology to India.” The report submitted by Bush to the US Congress approvingly states that India has cooperated with the US on the Iran nuclear issue in the IAEA and the UN, he notes. Already, he says, the Pentagon considers India a strategic ally and the US Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facilities Structure lists New Delhi among developing “cooperative security locations” — a category of US military bases. The steps to ensure “inter-operability” of the two armed forces are proceeding apace, he adds. “It is this interlocking of India with the US’s global and military strategy which is being hailed by the pro-American sections of the ruling establishment and the corporate media ...they are not only oblivious to the dangers posed to India’s sovereignty and strategic autonomy but seem to be craving to replace Pakistan as the reliable subordinate ally in South Asia,” he observes.

Freeze financial liberalisation

An article titled ‘The balloon bursts” by Sitaram Yechury dwells on the financial crisis in the US in the light of the Lehman bankruptcy and the distress sale of Merrill Lynch and asserts that it is incumbent upon the UPA to shield the country from such massive global speculation. “At least now, the UPA government must realise that without the banning of speculative forward/futures trading in essential commodities, the run away price rise cannot be contained,” it says.

It argues that the moves to increase the volumes of foreign finance capital in insurance sector, permitting foreign banks to acquire Indian private banks will only create avenues to bail out the international finance capital from the crisis by offering new avenues for investments and profit making. “This, however, would put at risk the life-long savings of a large number of Indians which are currently lodged with the Indian financial institutions. Remember that the bulk of the assets of insurance giants like AIG Inc. are the pension funds of workers and employees,” it says. “The Indian economy and the people must be protected from this crisis. Three of the Wall Street’s five big independent investment banks have disappeared in less than six months. What India needs is not more of financial liberalisation, but less of it,” it concludes.

Bajrang Dal’s terror acts

The lead piece is on the Bajrang Dal’s terrorist activities in Orissa and Karnataka and the blasts in Nanded, Thane-Vasi and Kanpur in which the role of the saffron outfit is suspected. “The violence in Orissa and now in Karnataka by the Bajrang Dal in the context of the clear evidence of their guilt in making bombs and planning communal attacks calls for immediate action against the Bajrang Dal. The Manmohan Singh Government has to answer the people why it is utterly failing to protect the security of minority communities mandated by the Constitution,” it asked. “It is also necessary for achieving success in this battle against terrorism that all citizens in the country, especially the minorities and weaker sections, are treated equally. They need to be assured that they can depend on the administration for just and fair treatment.