PRAGOTI

The need of the hour is a non-partisan and secular effort to protect the Land Reforms Act. There has been an uniform attempt by the UDF government to derail the process of reclamation of public land that was initiated by the predecessor LDF government. Comrade V S Achuthanandan writes. 

This article is with reference to the article “Cracking the Kerala Myth” by Arvind Panagariya, that appeared in the Times of India, dated 2nd January 2012. It may suit the political convictions of the Columbia Professor to criticise Kerala’s development experience from his free-market perspective; he is also free to argue that Kerala’s is not a “state-led success” and that its “left-of-centre governments” did not contribute to its success. However, while doing so, one expects a modicum of rigour in argument. Sadly, Panagariya’s piece falls flat, both in its historical grasp and statistical rigour, writes R. Ramakumar 

One has, in the last few weeks, been asked this question often: “what prevented the Left parties from bringing in a Lokpal Bill earlier?” This was particularly after I sent across an interview with Prakash Karat on the subject. Some thoughts on that here.

The CPI(M) will undertake a comprehensive review of the results to identify the causes which have led to the erosion of support for the Left Front and the political shift that has taken place in West Bengal. The CPI (M) will, after the critical examination of the election results, orient itself towards taking up the issues of the basic classes and fighting for the interests of the working people. The political platform of the Left which includes the fight against the neo-liberal economic policies, defending the livelihood of the people, defence of national sovereignty and secularism remains as the only alternative political platform for the country as against those of the ruling class parties like the Congress and the BJP. General Secretary of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat writes.