Freedom First

Summary

Freedom First No. 231 (August 1971) is a monthly issue of the Bombay-based liberal periodical, edited and published for the Democratic Research Service by V. B. Karnik. The issue leads with S. V. Raju’s analysis of the Tamil Nadu government’s Rajamannar Committee report on Centre-State relations, arguing that its loaded terms of reference undercut an otherwise substantive set of recommendations for greater state autonomy. V.B.K.’s regular ‘From Here and There’ column covers President Nixon’s planned visit to Peking and the resulting realignment of Cold War diplomacy, condemns U.S. policy toward the Bangladesh crisis as ‘cruel and senseless,’ and dismisses the Bombay taxi-strike Bandh as a pointless show of union force. M. R. Pai contributes an essay diagnosing the causes of black money in India and proposing tax and regulatory reforms as remedies. Mohan Joshi reports on the JVP insurgency in Ceylon and India’s assistance to the Bandaranaike government in suppressing it. A feature titled ‘These Things Were Happening’ reproduces a television interview with former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk reflecting on the Pentagon Papers and the conduct of the Vietnam War. The issue closes with three book reviews and the ‘With Many Voices’ page of press excerpts on Nixon’s China opening, Bangladesh, and related world events.

Essays

Autonomy for States?

By S. V. Raju

S. V. Raju examines the Report of the Centre-State Relations Inquiry Committee (the Rajamannar Committee), set up by the Tamil Nadu government in September 1969 and chaired by three eminent jurists/educationists. Raju argues the committee’s terms of reference were ‘loaded’ toward finding that autonomy needed expanding, which undercuts the report’s credibility even though its recommendations merit serious consideration. He summarizes sixteen of the Committee’s specific recommendations, covering an Inter-State Council of Chief Ministers, redistribution of legislative lists, devolution of tax revenue, industrial licensing reform, Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction, gubernatorial appointments, and constitutional amendment procedures. The piece (continued from page 2 to page 8) concludes that while the political/administrative recommendations are largely unacceptable as would-be changes to India’s federal structure, the financial and economic recommendations deserve serious study rather than blanket dismissal as DMK ideology.

• The Rajamannar Committee was appointed by the Tamil Nadu government (Sept. 22, 1969) with Dr. Rajamannar, Mr. Chandra Reddy, and Dr. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar as members.
• Raju argues the committee’s terms of reference presupposed that Centre-State relations were unsatisfactory, making the description of it as an impartial ‘inquiry’ a misnomer.
• The report makes 16 recommendations, including an Inter-State Council of Chief Ministers chaired by the PM, redistribution of the Concurrent List, wider revenue devolution, and repeal/replacement of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951.
• Raju divides the recommendations into a political/administrative part he finds largely unacceptable (would create a ‘loosely-linked federal set-up with an extremely weak centre’) and a financial/economic part with considerable merit.
• He specifically endorses reconsidering the Planning Commission’s role, discretionary grants under Article 282, and the licence/permit raj as areas ripe for decentralisation.
• Raju criticises the press for dismissing the report outright, urging that Centre and States critically examine it rather than reject it as DMK propaganda.

From Here and There: Nixon’s Visit To Peking (incl. Cruel and Senseless; Bombay Bandh)

By V.B.K.

V.B.K.’s regular column this issue runs three items. ‘Nixon’s Visit To Peking’ analyses the diplomatic shock of Nixon’s planned China trip, preceded by Kissinger’s secret visit, situating it as a bid for detente that alarms Taiwan and the Soviet Union while promising a reduction in Cold War tensions; the column welcomes the opening but voices concern that closer U.S.-China ties, brokered via Pakistan, may come at India’s expense. ‘Cruel and Senseless’ condemns continued American military and economic aid to Pakistan during its crackdown in Bangladesh as fueling a Vietnam-style guerrilla war. ‘Bombay Bandh’ recounts the failure of a taxi-strike-linked bandh called by the Hind Mazdoor Panchayat and Samyukta Socialist Party, arguing that trade union leaders have devalued the bandh as a weapon through overuse.

• Nixon’s planned Peking visit followed a secret 49-hour visit by Henry Kissinger; the column calls the secrecy hard to understand.
• Taiwan stands to lose its UN Security Council seat as a result of the U.S.-China opening; the column argues it should still get a UN seat of its own.
• The Soviet Union and its allies, including the Indian Communist Party, are described as hostile to the Nixon-China detente, calling it a move to provoke war between the USSR and China.
• The column criticises U.S. arms and economic aid to Pakistan as prolonging a guerrilla war in Bangladesh and effectively ‘Vietnamising’ it, benefiting only Chinese Communists.
• It praises India’s logistic and humanitarian support to Ceylon’s Bandaranaike government during the JVP insurrection as a foreign-policy success.
• The Bombay Bandh over taxi fares is described as a ‘much worse flop’ than the preceding taxi strike, ignored by most trade unions and left leaning parties.

Black Money

By M. R. Pai

M. R. Pai surveys the origins and scale of black money in the Indian economy, tracing it to tax evasion, licence and permit corruption, and political funding, and disputing the popular notion that it is confined to businessmen. He argues black money damages both the economy (fuelling speculative consumption and asset inflation) and the moral fabric of society by widening the gap between the honest and the dishonest. Pai rejects demonetisation as an effective remedy in current conditions, arguing that so much public discussion of the idea has already tipped off hoarders, who have converted currency into other assets. Instead he proposes raising the tax-exemption ceiling, lowering top marginal tax rates, and removing industrial licensing controls to shrink the underlying incentives for generating unaccounted income.

• Pai defines black money in economic terms as ‘unrecorded gains’ — income that has escaped taxation, whether hoarded or converted into property, jewellery, or consumer durables.
• He identifies three main sources: tax evasion under unrealistically high rates, bribery tied to controls and licences, and political funding including election overspending.
• He cites B. R. Shenoy’s estimate that Rs. 500-700 crores worth of import licences are traded due to gaps between the official and free-market value of the rupee.
• Pai argues demonetisation, though theoretically sound, would fail now because excessive public discussion has already let hoarders convert cash into other assets.
• His proposed remedies: raise the taxable-income ceiling to about Rs. 15,000/year, lower the maximum tax rate to about 50%, enforce severe penalties for evasion, and abolish industrial licensing to remove the incentive structure for corruption.

Insurrection In Ceylon

By Mohan Joshi

Mohan Joshi reports on the April 1971 JVP (Janata Vimukty Peramuna) insurrection in Ceylon, describing well-organised attacks on police stations and government buildings by over 15,000 insurgents drawing on some 30,000 sympathisers. He traces the uprising’s roots to disillusioned, Mao- and Che Guevara-influenced middle-class youths who had lost faith in Ceylon’s traditional left leadership, including Mrs. Bandaranaike’s United Left Front government which the insurgents had themselves supported at the polls. Joshi details the diplomatic fallout, including the expulsion of the North Korean ambassador over evidence of North Korean/Chinese financing, and describes India’s rapid and substantial military and logistic assistance — helicopters, army guard duties, naval patrols — calling it a foreign-policy success that nonetheless carries some risk of straining Ceylon’s relations with its Moscow-aligned Communist coalition partner.

• The uprising, beginning April 5, 1971, involved over 15,000 well-disciplined, educated JVP insurgents plus roughly 30,000 sympathisers, out of a population of 13 million.
• Joshi attributes the insurgency’s origin to youths radicalised by Mao and Che Guevara who saw traditional left leaders, including Bandaranaike’s own supporters-turned-insurgents, as insufficiently revolutionary.
• Evidence of North Korean and Chinese financing led Ceylon to expel the North Korean ambassador Hwang Yong Wu; captured materials included copies of Mao’s ‘Thoughts’ and Mao badges.
• India was first to respond to Ceylon’s request for help, providing helicopters, army guard duties, naval patrols, and humanitarian/medical assistance; the U.S., USSR, and Britain also provided military supplies.
• Joshi warns that continuing insurgent activity or a shift in Bandaranaike’s foreign policy could strain her ruling coalition’s relationship with the pro-Moscow Communist Party.

These Things Were Happening (TV interview excerpts of Dean Rusk)

This feature reproduces excerpts from a television interview with former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, conducted shortly after publication of the Pentagon Papers. Rusk defends the Johnson/Kennedy-era conduct of the Vietnam War, arguing the U.S. made greater efforts to protect civilians than in prior wars, that bombing targets were vetted for civilian-casualty risk, and that proposals like bombing dikes were rejected on humanitarian grounds. He reflects on the broader strategic rationale for U.S. involvement, framing it around credibility of American security commitments and the risks of allowing aggression to succeed unchecked, while conceding that scholars and policymakers alike must reckon with the lessons of Vietnam, chiefly that prevention — strengthening vulnerable countries before they are targeted — is the primary lesson for future policy.

• Rusk downplays his personal attachment to the ‘domino theory,’ noting it was President Kennedy, not himself, who publicly endorsed it.
• He states that bombing targets were vetted at high-level meetings for the possibility of civilian casualties, and that dike-bombing was rejected specifically because of its impact on the civilian population.
• Rusk cites Pentagon Papers estimates that bombing-raid casualties were sometimes 80% noncombatant, and references an estimate of roughly 1,000 civilian deaths a day.
• He frames U.S. involvement in terms of the reliability of American security commitments and their effect on the judgments of ‘other capitals.’
• Rusk says the primary lesson of Vietnam is that ‘95 per cent of the problem ought to be prevention’ — helping exposed countries strengthen themselves internally before they become targets — and cautions against deep foreign-aid cuts.

Reviews (Under the Indian Sky; Indo-Iran Relations: Cultural Aspects; The Phases of Indian Nationalism)

By Vilas B. Patankar; Villoo K. Karkaria; S. D.

The Reviews section carries three short book notices. Vilas B. Patankar reviews Asok Chanda’s ‘Under the Indian Sky’ (Nachiketa Publications), praising the former Comptroller and Auditor-General’s forthright analysis of India’s constitutional and political malaise, including his proposal to redraw states into culturally and linguistically homogeneous administrative units. Villoo K. Karkaria reviews Dr. N. S. Gorekar’s ‘Indo-Iran Relations: Cultural Aspects’ (Sindhu Publications), a scholarly study of Persian influence on Indian languages, art, and the development of Urdu, wishing the author had extended the analysis beyond language to art and architecture. ‘S.D.’ reviews Dietmar Rothermund’s ‘The Phases of Indian Nationalism’ (Nachiketa Publications), a collection of the German scholar’s essays on the national movement and the agrarian problem, highlighting its discussion of the rival Gokhale/Risley views behind the Morley-Minto reforms.

• Asok Chanda’s ‘Under the Indian Sky’ is praised for proposing that India’s linguistic-reorganisation ‘mess’ be resolved by breaking the country into culturally/linguistically homogeneous administrative units with powers akin to local government in the West.
• Chanda’s book covers fundamental rights, Centre-State relations, the Congress party crisis, and bank nationalisation across 228 pages.
• Dr. Gorekar’s ‘Indo-Iran Relations’ traces Perso-Arabic vocabulary’s spread into Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Kashmiri, Sindhi and Bengali, and the emergence of Urdu from Indo-Persian contact.
• The Gorekar review notes the book is confined mainly to language, and the reviewer wished it had also covered Persian influence on Indian art and architecture in more depth.
• Dietmar Rothermund’s ‘The Phases of Indian Nationalism’ is a collection of essays including a discussion contrasting Gokhale’s ‘emancipation’ view of the national movement with Sir Herbert Risley’s ‘re-integration’ view behind the 1909 Morley-Minto reforms.

With Many Voices

The closing ‘With Many Voices’ page compiles short press excerpts from Indian and international outlets (The Observer, The Economist, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Indian Express, Hindustan Standard, Deccan Chronicle, Himmat, and others) commenting on the Bangladesh refugee crisis, the Nixon-China opening, Soviet reactions, and related world affairs, alongside a subscription coupon for Freedom First and the issue’s imprint: edited and published for the Democratic Research Service by V. B. Karnik at 127 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 1, printed at Inland Printers, Bombay 7.

• Frank Moraes (Indian Express) is quoted comparing Nixon to ‘the monkey China employed to pull its chestnuts out of the fire.’
• Pran Chopra (Hindustan Standard) criticises India’s Bangladesh policy as marked by ‘double-think’ rather than ‘double-talk.’
• Durga Das (Deccan Chronicle) argues ‘Garibi Hatao’ has become impractical and predicts a shift toward an ‘Amiri Hatao’ crusade for political credibility.
• The Economist (June 12) states that ‘whatever happens to East Pakistan now, India is a certain loser.’
• The page includes a Freedom First subscription form (annual subscription Rs. 5.00) addressed to the Democratic Research Service, 127 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 1.
• The issue’s registration number is given as MH 272, and it is edited/published by V. B. Karnik and printed at Inland Printers, 55 Gamdevi Road, Bombay 7.

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