Articles by A R Desai

Trends of Change in Indian Society since Independence RAJIV GANDHI and his (ever changing) team are proclaiming, through their massive and expanding TV and radio network that during the remaining 15 years of the 20th century a face-lift will be given to Indjan society by ushering in changes of a far- reaching nature through economic policies, technological thrusts, educational and cultural programmes as well as by making governance clean and efficient. This promise of a face lift is described as ushering Indian society, within a decade and half, into a computer-laser-age founded on high productivity and efficient and clean management.

The concept of rural development has undergone a drastic change since the fifties. The new stance of the state which appeared with the slogan of 'garibi hatao' is aimed at preventing the rural poor from further sliding into poverty with a further decline in their purchasing power This shift in strategy enables the ruling class to evolve programmes and policies which will appease selected fragments of the poor temporarily, and to divide them by offering specific relief measures to selected target groups and thus diffuses the rising upsurge of the rural masses. It is therefore, misguided to attribute the limitations of the rural development programme to a 'lack of political will', On the contrary, the 'political will of the ruling classes is strongly biased in favour of the propertied classes, and by its very logic will become increasingly more fierce in suppressing movements of the poor.

to advance further unsecured loans with no prospect of recovery. Unsecured loans outstanding amounted to Rs 70.13 lakh as on March 31, 1984, SIPCOT, This company was set up in 1971 as a wholly owned government company with the objectives of: (i) Implementation of a package of incentives for the benefit of entrepreneurs; (ii) development of potential growth centres in backward districts of the states and provision of developed lands to industries; and (iii) provision of finance to medium and major industries under the Industrial Development Bank of India's scheme for refinance. The Report noted that though the loan amounts sanctioned and disbursed are showing an increasing trend during the three-year period under review, the assistance to industries in backward areas is progressively decreasing. Non-receipt of applications for setting up industries in backward areas was attributed by the company as the reason for the fall in assistance to this sector. Further, the Report reveals that trading in surplus money had become the second largest source of income to the company next only to interest on term loans. Though huge cash surplus had been estimated and realised, share-capital assistance from the government had not been regulated properly. The funds which were allotted by the government for furtherance of industrial activity have been diverted for non-industrial purposes (deposits with banks).

Congress(I), Communist Parties and Communalism A R Desai THE recent developments in Assam, the Bhiwandi-Bombay complex in Maharashtra, Kashmir and Punjab and the astute use of teligion by the Congress(l) in the mass media, including reshaping the content of the educational and other socialising processes, have revealed the limitations of the Communist Parties of India in analysing the use of religion made by the Congress Party to subserve the interest of the bourgeoisie in India. The brief note "Congress (1) and Communalism" (EPW, July 7) has very rightly raised the crucial issue.

deficit budgets and the recurring demand for Central grants. On January 18 last, the Haryana Assembly had approved the government's bill to double the court fees. The measure, which the Revenue Minister said would affect only the propertied classes, is expected to net an additional Rs 35 lakhs from registration and Rs 3 lakhs from copying fees. Since the expenses on establishment have soared during the last two or three years, it is doubtful whether even the sizeable yield from the new tax package would help the state to shake off its economic stagnation of the past three years. , Meanwhile, there has been in recent weeks a new political development