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NOW KARAT IS LEADING!  It would seem that there is no issue on which the redoubtable general secretary of the CPI (M) Prakash Karat does not have an opinion. We are now all too familiar with his views on the nuclear deal. After having threatened to withdraw support to the government on the issue, the CPI (M) has now backed down a bit and said that it would do nothing until talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency are over. But Mr. Karat’s pronouncements on cross-media ownership are curious to say the least.After vehemently upholding the cause of a free press in a democratic system of governance, he has suddenly advocated the need for his party to formulate a code of conduct for the print and electronic ‘media. We may be forgiven for thinking that this smacks of authoritarianism and could even be thought of as a form of muzzling the press.As for cross-media ownership, there is no law that prevents anyone with the resources from starting several media ventures. Indeed, India has several media houses that have done so. What Mr. Karat seems to have forgotten is that it is his own party that has a stake in several media concerns in Kerala. His fears that 26 per cent Foreign Direct Investment in the media has made sections of it more pro-Western, anti-political and anti-Communist are uncalled for. Despite all its flaws, the press in India has more often than not said it like it is. At a time when FDI is being invited into most sectors, why should there be different rules for the press? The politically savvy Communist Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his illustrious predecessor Jyoti Basu have been clear that FDI is not anathema to the party and is needed if the state has to develop further. Let us not mince any words; Mr. Karat has overstepped himself here. The party’s plans to have a nation-wide protest against a possible fuel hike are valid. This would indeed make life difficult for the common man. It is incumbent on the CPI (M) as a party of governance to raise these issues.But over the last year at least it appears to have adopted an obstructionist approach to the very government of which it willingly became a part The party has never had such a high profile or so much clout ever and so it is [...]

This country by law and the Constitution adheres to the principal of free choice. However, by floating the idea of conscription as a possible solution to the manpower crisis facing the Indian Armed forces, a worried Chief of Army Staff Deepak Kapoor has not really served the cause. He was careful, of course, to say that it had not yet come to that, and the government might have to “look at it” in the long run. But the fact is that conscription is an abhorrent idea arid cannot be pushed by any government at the Centre. The Army Chief need not have wasted a moment on the thought. By mentioning it at all, General Kapoor has attempted to deflect attention away from where the focus should actually be – on the total failure of the government and the armed forces in correcting the officer shortage that has dogged the forces for more than a decade. There have been fancy advertising campaigns, camps of all kinds, tinkering efforts with promotion schemes, some juggling of pay packets and perks. The net result has essentially been zilch. ear on year, the hard numbers stare us in the face. As per figures presented in Parliament, the Army is short by 11,238 officers, the Navy by 1399 officers and the Air Force by 1528 officers. The numbers have come down only marginally over the earlier years. In 2006, 811 officers applied for premature retirement, with 464 making it out, along with 87 of their Air Force colleagues. In fact, the conscription idea is all the more foolish, considering that it is officers we are looking for. Year on year, the feeder institutions like the IMA-Dehra Dun, the NDA-Pune, and the OTA-Chennai, only manage to fill the gap, without making much of an impact. The IMA last year boasted about a “highest ever” graduation of 625 cadets, but reports coming in of falling intake are already of great concern. Hopefully, perhaps, General Kapoor was only throwing in the conscription idea to further spur the Sixth Pay Commission to favourably look upon the demands for large pay hikes for service officers and ranks. There is no doubt a strong case for this, considering the salaries that qualified youngsters are wooed with even as they step out of the portals of their educational institutions. Slow promotions are an issue, but not as much as unfair methods of assessment, [...]