NK'S POST

Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha NK SINGH The delicate question of the right of self-determination is as old as the institution of the State itself. Be it Biafra, Bangladesh, Ireland, Nagaland, Kashmir or Tibet, it is the same old story. The whole of Indochina, especially Vietnam, is aflame because the biggest imperium List power in the world was deprived of its right to self-determination. In this book, Mr Sachchidananda Sinha has forcefully pleaded for the right of self-determination and the right to secede of different nationalities "who for reasons of history is part of one of the existing nations, but in all other respects are different and capable of having an independent national existence". He bitterly criticises the federal system of government, points out the 'disturbing trend of centralisation of power and seeks to re-examine the whole Centre-State relationship in this light. All this has been written with special reference to the Indian context, the author may be cred...

NK SINGH In a 'top secret rejoinder, the much-debated inner try communication issued at the year by top Naxalite leaders, Kanu Sanyal, Chowary Tejeshwara Rao, Souren Bose, D. Naghushnam Patnaik, Kolla Venkaiah and D. Bhuman Mohan Patnaik, the Satya Narayan Singh group is understood to have made a hard-hitting attack on the former for their stand during the period of the split in the CPI(M-L). At the time of the split in group had supported Mr. Charu Mazumdar against the dissident group led by Mr. S. N. Singh. However, some two years later, in "an open letter" presumably drafted in the Visakhapatnam Centrales, they do all the party comrades, blamed Mr Mazumdar for left adventurist deviations and accused the central committee of deviation from "the path of glorious Naxalite peasant uprising". 'Valuable suggestions' from China! The controversial letter, whose authenticity, had since been confirmed by Mr Kolla Venkaiah, one of the signatories, had evoked wid...

NK SINGH The food authorities are seriously considering a proposal to exempt vegetables from the essential commodities price control order imposed under the Defence of India Rules, it is learnt. The reason for this 'back to the pavilion' step is said to be the miserable failure of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to invoke DIR against vegetable dealers. The department, it is learnt, could not even collect data about vegetable prices, not to speak of enforcing the price line. It may be mentioned that vegetables had been included in the list of essential commodities, whose prices were brought under the DIR price control order on August 28 last. Having failed to enforce the order, the authorities are now thinking of retracing the step and excluding vegetables from the provision of DIR. Several factors, including the marketing system of vegetables and the impractical nature of the DIR order, are understood το have brought about this failure. Instead of fixing the maximum m...

NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...

NK SINGH Not allowed to marry her lover-boy-next-door and forcibly married to someone else against her will, Prabha, a 14 year Harijan girl of Bhagalpur quietly slipped out of her house one night in utter disgust and Frustration, That was on February 6, 1973. When she was rescued by the police from a ghetto in the same town some nine months later, on October 20, she had a shocking tale to tell. In her hair-raising account, the poor girl narrated recently to a local magistrate the circumstances in which she had fallen prey to the lust of some wealthy businessmen in the town. During the last nine months, she said, she was criminally assaulted several times by a large number of people including some big businessmen and traders of Bhagalpur, whom she named openly in her statement. She said she was tortured and forced to lead a prostitute's life by them. The girl's medical examination confirmed that she was a minor girl of about 14-16 and was subjected to frequent sexual assaults. P...