Monthly e-newsletter from Focus on the Global South, India


Content summary:

The most significant political issue currently in the country is the India-USA Nuclear Deal. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding the Parliament and the people of the country to ransom by refusing to wait for debate and discussion before going ahead with operationalising the deal. This is despite the majority in Parliament being opposed to the deal. The left parties have pointed out that the controversial deal is not about nuclear energy as much as it is about strategic tie up with USA, a step that is extremely dangerous, not to mention unethical. President Bush wants India as an ally in order to use its territory for its war plans in West Asia and also to checkmate China. PM Singh who signed a Joint Statement with President Bush, covering a wide range of sensitive issues, soon after assuming office treads the same flawed path on the Nuclear Deal.

This issue carries a letter from three eminent jurists questioning the claim of the executive that the deal need not be debated and passed by the Indian Parliament Added to this angle, other wider questions on the deal need to be addressed. About the viability of nuclear energy, the issue of nuclear testing and weapons on one hand and disarmament on the other.

Journalist P Sainath was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award on 31 August 07 in Manila. We carry his acceptance speech where he spoke of the legacy bequeathed to Indian journalism by freedom fighters who doubled up as journalists, and said he was accepting the award on behalf of the same tradition of giving voice to the voiceless.

The Independent Peoples Tribunal (IPT) on the World Bank will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi from September 21-24 2007. Neil Tangri, in a curtain raiser on the IPT, exposes the World Bank’s attempt to push developing countries to privatize public assets; reduce regulation and state controls on multinational corporations; re-orient their economies away from self-sufficiency and towards exports; weaken labour and environmental standards; and do away with other barriers to concentrations of wealth.


Contents:

1.       NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS  
1.a. Iraq’s oil workers: news report
1.b. NBA: Eminent Persons’ team visit Sardar Sarovar affected areas
1.c. New from LeftWord: Subordinate Ally: The Nuclear Deal and India-US Strategic Relations. By Prakash Karat
        
2.       STATEMENTS/REPORTS
2.a. ‘Executive cannot act independently of Parliament on nuclear deal’
2.b. P. Sainath’s Ramon Magsaysay Award acceptance speech
2.c. Statement: National consultation on ‘What the WTO Doha Development Round means for India’
2.d. National Peace Council of Sri Lanka: press release: Results Of Deliberative Poll
2.e. Letter to Prime Minster on farmers demands

3.       ARTICLES
3.a. The World Bank on Trial. By Neil Tangri