Articles by Nireekshak

Sections and Crossings THE battle of the Sunday editions is on, The national papers, one after the other, are going over a separate magazine supplement, with varying success, tribune is a mess; Hindustan Times is struggling to find its way around. The latest to join the race is Statesman which now brings out a measly section of four pages of no particular distinction. Statesman, as a matter of sad fact, is steadily going downhill, sans leadership sans direction; what is worse, it is becoming unreadable, a sorry state for a paper that once commanded such great respect and attention. The front page has no character and the editorial page is probably left to the mercy of the printer. Proof-reading, once its pride, is neglected

The Swadeshi Spirit Nireekshak HINDUSTAN Standard deserves congratulations on three counts: first, for serialising a chapter from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's book "Political Situation in Pakistan"; second, for providing a fuller account of Lard Mountbatten's Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture than other papers did; and, third, for giving extensive coverage to the exciting literary case in which Samarcsh Bose, a Bengali writer, is on trial for alleged obscenity in his best-selling novel "Prajapati". Bhutto's views are well known, but this is the first time that they have been fully formulated in a book which, says Standard, is banned in Pakistan. But apart from saying that the three-part serial is. a slightly abridged version of the first chapter of Bhutto's book, the paper vouchsafes no further information, say, about the publishers or even how the articles came to be offered to it. Nevertheless, the paper has done a public service in publishing the articles. Bhutto may be in jail now, but a term in jail is often the prelude to power in many countries. So it is important that India knows Bhutto's mind as fully as possible.

Showing Slips HINDU is back in circulation, at last. And Tamil Nad, which has for years hung breathlessly on the colourless prose of its editorials, can now relax. During its forced hibernation it has evidently acquired cartoonist Puri whose piece on E M S Nam- hoodiripad recently helped enliven the paper's otherwise sombre page seven, opposite the editorial page. For reasons of its own, Hindu has always fought shy of putting cartoons on the front page, even in the days when, in superior splendour, it used to feature David Low. Now Hindu is content with native genius. That is something to be thankful for, even if it may have to do with the provincialism of foreign cartoonists and the Reserve Bank's unwillingness to be more sparing of foreign exchange.

LONDON Keeping BBC Unfettered THE British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has long been considered one of the most typical British institutions. Yet it is hardly 40 years old. Broadcasting is such a central part of modem life, however, that BBC's youth is often forgotten. Instead of being seen as an organisation that is still trying to find its true role, the BBC has the public image of a central pillar of the established British order

October 19, 1968 terms of the longer-term aims of its sugar policy, may be too heavy.
IN a lengthy circular to shareholders, the management of Automobile Products of India (which produces Lambretta scooters) have sought to impress upon them that the reappointment of Technical Services as managing agents is absolutely essential and that no other form of management would be able to establish the company on a firm footing. In fact, it claims that termination of managing agency will disrupt the fulfilment of the company's expansion programme, and adversely affect its entire structure and will be harmful to the interests of the company. Technical Services has held this office since API's inception 19 years ago, but its term expires at the end of 1968.