Articles by Nireekshak

Distressed Friends Nireekshak PATRIOT last week frontpaged a letter addressed to it by the Managers of Times of India, Statesman, Hindustan Times, Anand Bazar Patrika, Hindu and Indian Express. "Dear Friend" said the letter which was anything but friendly, "We should like to draw your attention to the decision of the Society [Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society] that if one member newspaper is affected by a strike, the other members should exercise self-restraint and not exploit the situation. The President of the Society, in his letter dated July 18, has drawn your attention to this decision and requested you to conform to that decision should there be a strike in a member newspaper establishment in your region." The letter continued:

Understandable Apologies Nireekshak IF the strike in most of the leading English newspapers had been shorter, we would, perhaps, have been treated to many new facets of Indo-Soviet differences over arms aid to Pakistan. The Prime Minister's secretariat seems to have handled the uproar fairly well on the whole, though it could have gainfully persuaded the Prime Minister to make the appropriate noises somewhat earlier. Was she, by any chance, restrained by the pro-Soviet wing in the Ministry of External Affairs ? Was it a case of nerves? Whatever it was, the Prime Minister has handled the issue with some panache. Credit is probably due to P N Haksar who heads her secretariat.

Arm Twisting in Concert Nireekshak AN excellent example of how a nation can run the gamut of emotions from self-confidence to fright is provided by the coverage of Pakistan's bid to get arms from the Soviet Union, It all began with a PTI report dated New Delhi, July 3, which quoted Pakistan Times as saying that "Russia is not prepared to put a stop to the flow of its weapons to India. Instead it seems willing to sell weapons to Pakistan also." On July 6, UNI said in a report datelinod New Delhi that "Pakistan's latest effort to obtain military equipment from the Soviet Union does not appear to have borne any result, according to information reaching official sources here". Hindu published this report on an inside page (page 7).


wrong with the industry.
To this "classic" class war is added tension between the neo-industrialists in the rural areas and the agriculturists. As industrial units spring up with the attendant show of wealth and as the 'nobodys' of yesterday begin to move about in cars, the automatic reaction of the farmer is to resent these people. This mutual antipathy stands in the way of integration of the agricultural and the, emergent industrial sectors of the rural economy. Thus when the engineering industry in Kolhapur was passing through a crisis for want of demand, the Kolhapur Shetkari Sangh was unconcerned. The Sangh has considerable influence over farmers in the area but local industry made no efforts to enlist its co-operation in securing orders for pumpsets and agricultural implements.

You Have Some Choice! Nireekshak WHICH paper do you read? On May 25, T V Parasuram cabled Indian Express from Washington that "the World Bank's Aid-India Consortium has recommended 1,000 million dollars of non-project aid, including 100 million dollars towards debt relief, and 450 million dollars of project aid to India during the financial year 1968-69". "The level of aid will make up for the shortfalls of the last year predicted Parasuram confidently. Sunday Standard front-paged the story under the heading MASSIVE AID CLUB PLEDGE I BILLION DOLLARS TO BE UNTIED Krishan Bhatia had a different story in Hindustan Times. "Besides praising India for its 'excellent performance in agriculture" Bhatia reported, "the Aid- India Consortium has accepted that 'India needs non-project aid of the order of $ 1 billion from its members and the International Development Association' during the current year". "As was expected' Bhatia added by way of clarification, "some of the principal donors