Buddha's manifesto

1

The Congress manifesto for the current elections talks of the middle path, and balance between government regulation and private sector enterprise, between the public and private sector, urban and rural areas, building a modern economy and thrust to traditional industries. This balance it says has helped the country weather the current slowdown. Despite ushering in economic reforms, and steering the country in the direction of greater liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the Congress does not want to be seen a party that favours the market. The 2004 manifesto did not fight shy of the "P" word. Selective privatisation of state enterprises would be pursued, it said, and money raised from sale of public sector equity would be spent on social progammes. It had a detailed economic programme. It spoke of giving incentives to boost private investment. While the public sector was useful in establishing projects, the private....

Voting Is Not Enough, Youth Must Make Their Voices Heard Too

10

Across the country campaigns have sprung up urging educated youth to come out and vote. For some it is a brand-building exercise. Tata Tea's Jaagore campaign, in association with urban reforms advocacy, Janaagraha, is a wake-up call that blends with the stimulants it hawks. Actor Aamir Khan would like youth to regard the casting of the ballot not as a vote for but a vote against - a protest against everyone and everything that harms the nation. Having tasted success with the Forest Fights Act, the rural employment guarantee scheme and the Right to Information Act in the past five years, social action groups are seeking greater influence over party manifestoes and post-poll programmes. A network of 3,000 non-governmental organisations have been holding hearings with people across the country to tap into their expectations under the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan or Break No Promises campaign, that was launched....

Cong could count the farmer on its side

3

These are elections that the Congress Party has been preparing for over a year. Last year, then Finance Minister P Chidambaram was surprised when the party's troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee had said privately, soon after the Budget, that elections would be held on time. Mr Chidambaram had showered Rs 66,000 crore on the countryside in the biggest farm loan waiver ever and in a press conference, after the Budget presentation, he had said, "the time has come to stand up and be counted". The math he was talking about was the arithmetic of votes. The loan waiver would not have been needed, or its size could have been reduced, if successive governments, including this one, had not meddled with farm pricing. Last year, when food prices shot up worldwide, in response to a spurt in oil prices (and diversion of corn for production of bio-fuel), wheat and non-basmati rice exports....

Trinamool tries to woo urban voters with argument

4

"The Left Front is like gangrene. It cannot be cured. It must be excised out." Restraint is not what you see in economists Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari's study on West Bengal. (http://indicus.net/media/index.php/2009/1324-transforming-west-bengal-changing-the-agenda-for-an-agenda-for-change). It reads more like a party pamphlet but nowhere will you find acknowledgement that it has been paid for by Dinesh Trivedi, the Trinamool Congress General Secretary. Perhaps they did not want to dilute the credibility of the study. To Debroy's credit, he had resigned in 2005 from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute after Sonia Gandhi reportedly disapproved of his study ranking Gujarat the best in economic freedom, which Chief Minister Narendra Modi flogged to his advantage. The economists say it is their "duty" to document West Bengal's decline. They list five symptoms, five diseases and prescribe 30 remedies. This is a disguised election manifesto. Trivedi says his intention is to provoke debate. He does....