Left thought they can decide how the govt functions and congress thought they can bend the left for every issue. For the N-deal, Congress sided with the dreaded US and left as usual, put their ideology ahead of India's national intrest. BJP put petty politics over national intrest. The seat was vaccant and SP put entering the ruling side over reservation with congress. SP benefitted the most from drama. Begining of the end of left in india. There wont be any phase in indian future where left will have so much influence (brake power) on the govt. Red Salute and people will show the results of what you guys did.
RE:Has the Left overplayed its hand?
by sibby mathews on Jul 08, 2008 05:29 PM Permalink
Mohammed
The left may secure fewer seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections (in Kerala and Bengal, they are very strongly incumbent in both state and central governments; good enough reason why their tally can only go down - if the Congress had been in a similar position, they would certainly have been wiped out in the coming elections but the fate the left will encounter will be far from being so stark). But that in no way would mean a permanent loss of constituency or loss of potential for it to grow.
In fact, the reality that is India (which is so wholly different from the rosy picture painted by much of the print and electronic media) would yield to idealogies such as that of the left a compelling reason and opportunity to grow multifold in the coming decades, especially when the benefits of literacy and the attendant awareness begins to reach larger sections of the disadvantaged classes that have been hitherto kept fooled and exploited by politicians of various hues.
RE:Has the Left overplayed its hand?
by Marvel on Jul 08, 2008 06:00 PM Permalink
Hey Sibby, You should be joking if you are meaning that Jokers (commies) possess these idealogies that you proclaim. These Karats, Yechuries, Rajas are nothing but Chinese Stooges. To hell with their lopsided ideologies. The rosy picture is that today there is shortage of labour owing to good effect of NREG. The rosy picture is that rural labour are getting Rs.200 per day instead of paltry Rs.30 they used to get 5 years ago. Rosy picture is that it is first time after 1995-2000 that salaries are in 5 & 6 digits. Rosy picture is that there are 250million Middle class and growing. I hope you take these into consideration in your rosy pictures. Left is an abstacle in development. Such ideologies are only slowing down tactics. That is the reason why we find ourselves in this mess that is the Indian polity.
RE:Has the Left overplayed its hand?
by sibby mathews on Jul 08, 2008 06:18 PM Permalink
Oh no, not so fast.
You mentioned the NREGS. I suppose you might have read a bit about it. Can you tell what exactly you read ? And what was the source ?
The NREGA is an enterprise of the human resource development ministry in association with state governments. It is almost entirely budgeted by the centre and was wrung out of the unwilling hands of the Congress administration by the left (as part of the CMP). As a result, the centre initially marked 200 of the poorer districts of India for coverage and then, under further and relentless pressure from the left, spread it across the entire country.
It would be too elaborate an exercise if I were to go into the full chronology and details of the developments behind this initiative, but if you have read extensively about it, pray tell me whether you did not notice that had it not been for the left, it might not have even been considered at any stage ?
However, as with every poverty eradication or rural development scheme in India, this schmeme too suffers from being affected by that most dominant of our national traits - namely corruption.
The efficacy of every people oriented initiative varies widely across states and varies in consonance with the extent of corruption in those states. Thus, while the NREGS is reported to be the most successful in Kerala (a state that has been named by Transparency Int. the least corrupt in India for several years), the story is entirely different in states like Bihar, U.P.etc
RE:Has the Left overplayed its hand?
by arun patwardhan on Jul 09, 2008 01:58 PM Permalink
What a twisted text! Dumb, NREG is taken by Central govt from REG scheme in MAHArashtra for last 30 years. The success in Kerala is so superficial that despite its claimed success you always se most of the construction labour ( most unprotected job is done by keralite migrants to other states (Including Gulf) Had it been been so successful why the need to migrate for most unprotected and unsettled job for keralite?
The Kerala looks better state not because of Left, but the gulf money ( and to some extent religious conversions) that made teh education and in turn employement affordable. (Thanks to Left for making people migrate for job and not allowing job creation within state)
If Left has that vision and ideology why they could not start the REG scheme in Kerala or WB instead on waiting for center to take it up?
Why WB is not successful like Kerala in NREG scheme?
RE:Has the Left overplayed its hand?
by sibby mathews on Jul 10, 2008 12:41 AM Permalink
Oh, the case of the 6 blind men describing an elephant.......(and going a step further and screeching out to the world that only the dumb will have different descriptions !!)
On your queries:
The NREGS is a massive scheme (unlike the REG scheme of Maharashtra state) and is intended to cover the entire BPL population. Thus, the resources needed are so great that only central allocation can make it happen.
Yes, Kerala workers (drawn from among the poorest) are engaged in construction jobs in the gulf. And they are not working there for nothing. They continue for years there and save enough to achieve a string of personal objectives, education of children, construction of a home (often a higher end bungalow when compared to what their counterparts in other Indian states who cannot make it to the gulf in such large numbers can ever manage !), marry off their children, set themselves up for old age.... So, that only reinforces the point that Kerala is the most accomplished among Indian states in terms of real poverty alleviation.
About other Indian states: Despite being 'blessed' by having been free of left rule, the poor in many of these states wallow in misery, slave on other's lands, avoid sending their children to school and instead make them work along with them to add to the family income, have never seen anything like a decent school or a public health centre in their lives (though these states have earmarked huge allocations for such objectives)
