Minister says defence deals need middlemen

A debate is raging within the UPA government about reviewing the system of involving middlemen in defence deals. It has been triggered by the fact that several defence deals, including the Eurocopter deal, have fallen through in the absence of such middlemen.

According to minister of state for defence Rao Birendra Singh, even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has questioned the defence ministry's policy of not involving middlemen. He said, "The policy of not involving middlemen is proving expensive for the country's defence preparedness. Military hardware that should have been inducted into the armed forces 10 years ago has not been inducted."

"In view of the disturbed neighbourhood we are living in, this means we are compromising on national security," Mr Rao Birendra Singh pointed out in the course of an exclusive interview.

The minister believed that though middlemen cannot be banned, "we are concerned about solicitation. Solicitation on behalf of a company is prohibited," he stressed....

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Image and Article source: Asian Age
Article taken from the issue: 28 Jan 2008

CPM looks for 3rd front

CPI(M) general sec retary Prakash Karat on Tuesday said that his party, which has been playing the "true Opposition" all through the over three-and-a-half years of the Congress-led UPA government, is working towards the formation of a third front as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP.

Mr Karat called for strengthening the unity of the Left and democratic parties. "Neither the Congress nor the BJP can bring about the alterna tive in the country. Only the CPM can bring in the change, and it is the only hope for the future in India," Mr Karat said, inaugurating the party's three-day state conference in Madurai.

Taking credit for making the Union government commit to the common minimum programme, Mr Karat said it was not the BJP but the CPI(M) that took up the role of the Opposition even while offering outside support. While the CPI(M) was focusing on people's issues, the BJP was concerned about "communal issues", such as Ram Sethu, he said.

Even though the CPI(M) supported the Congress-led UPA in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections to isolate communal forces, it has been opposing the wrong economic policies of the government. Listing the shortcomings of the UPA government, including the failure to provide 33 per cent reservation for women, Mr Karat said its wrong economic policies had made the people reject the Congress in Punjab, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh.

"People are not interested in nine per cent growth. And the CPI(M) is not

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