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Political Notes

	July 16, 2007

BJP demands Sharad Pawar’s resignation



The BJP has demanded a CBI probe into the import of nearly ten lakh tonnes of wheat at a price range of $320 to $360 a tonne. BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said in New Delhi on July 13 that the price is far higher than $263 per tonne, rejected by the Government in May on the ground that it was too high. The party demanded Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s resignation for causing a huge loss to the exchequer.



Javdekar said that the “dubious” decision would cost the nation Rs. 400 crore extra for the import of five million tonnes of wheat. He pointed out that the Government had imported wheat at $230 a tonne last year.





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Country facing shortage of leaders with nobility : Kalam



Days before President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam demits office, he has said that the country is facing “a shortage of leadership with nobility” and the people were now looking to the Judiciary as their only hope. Speaking at the launch of e-court project in New Delhi on July 9, he said a nation fails not because of eco¬nomic progress but because of an increase in decision-makers with small minds.



“Our society is going through unique dynamics due to the shortage of leadership with nobility. The only hope the nation cherishes and looks to is the judiciary with its excellence and impeccable integrity... This casts a very heavy responsibility on the entire judicial system to live up to the expectations reposed in it and to maintain the sacred aura attached to it unsullied. Qualities of honesty and integrity are synonymous with each member of the judicial system,” he said.



Present at the function were Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and Communications and Information Technology Minister A Raja.



Describing the country’s judicial system as “dynamic” and “throbbing with life”, Kalam said “as the ultimate protector of human rights and the final resort for dispensation of justice, the citizens of India look up to this institution with hope.”



Appreciating the e-courts project that aims at enhancing the efficiency of the judiciary by linking the courts electronically and digitising the services, Kalam said the government should now work towards creating an e-judiciary.



The e-courts project, to be implemented in three phases over a period of five years, entails setting up digital inter-connec¬tivity between all the courts from the taluka level to the Su¬preme Court, video-conferencing facilities at the courts, digital archiving and creation of e-filing facility.



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Sale of Gandhi papers



Another valuable lot of Gandhi documents came up for sale, this time at Sotheby’s, but on this occasion the auction went through on July 12 without anyone at India House - or anywhere else - noticing.



A Sotheby’s spokesman said : “Lot number 17 was an auto¬graphed manuscript by Gandhi in which he discusses a range of political and cultural subjects. It had a reserve price of pound #25,000 to #35,000.”



“It went to a private buyer for #45,600,” the spokesman added.



This is not the first time that auction of Gandhi memorabi¬lia has come and gone without stirring much interest in India.



The auction of Gandhi’s article in Urdu Harijan at Chris¬tie’s was stopped the previous week after intervention by the Indian High Commission, acting on instructions from Delhi.



This time, it seems no one had looked at the Sotheby’s catalogue.



It contains a long description of the “draft with revisions of a series of articles for Young India discussing a range of political and cultural subjects: the caste system”.



Gandhi is quoted as declaring that “untouchability is surely disappearing and with its disappearance the way to swaraj is becoming safe and easy”.