Articles by Hiranmay Dhar

there is lot of difference between shaking hands and touching the feet. The former expresses an attitude of practising equality and the latter expresses surrender to the one whose feet are being touched. We, therefore, do not mind the president or prime minister shaking hands with any citizen, but certainly hate it when they touch the feet of citizens, irrespective of their status, Leave alone the debate that went on the public, private morality of the highest state functionaries in the west, within our own nation the PM and the president have faced tensions because of these issues. Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad publicly disagreed on the question. Nehru raised a serious objection when Rajendra Prasad wanted to participate in the re-construction of Somanath Temple, and also when he wanted to visit Benaras and touch the feet of priests. He even raised an objection to Prasad's observance of

Split in Jharkhand Movement Hiranmay Dhar THE political situation in Dhanbad has recently undergone significant changes. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has reportedly snapped its decade-old links with the Marxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC). The JMM itself stands split. On April 6, it sacked its President Binod Mahato, allegedly for his inefficiency and corruption. Mahato is contemplating counteraction. Meanwhile, it appears that the mafia king, Suraj Deo Singh, is bidding in this situation to become a working class messiah.

that Raj an was living under police custody, was also not turned as a witness. When this case was going on Mr Antony was the chief minister and therefore the prosecution enjoyed ample opportunity to take (evidence from him." About the reply of Karunakaran to a fetter of Viswanatha Men on, then an MP, relating to the arrest of Rajan, which formed an important part of the ease for prosecution, the judgment has this to say: "By depending upon this reply one cannot make a jump to reach the conclusion that Mr Karunakaran was fully aware of Ra- jan's arrest. Kamnakaran's reply was uncertain and without certainty, The then home secretary gave evidence that the reply was only a routine and ordinary one. . ." The evidences of the two witnesses about the election speech of Karunakaran at Mala constituency is also rejected by the Erna- kulam Court. According to these two witnesses, both belonging to CPI(M), Karunakaran had said in his (election speech that Rajan was arrested following a murder connected with a banned party. 'The then Central minister, Mr A C George, Kerala MLA, Mr E Gopalakrishnan, and several other CPI and RSP leaders were also present on the same platform when Karunakaran made the speech. They should have been brought in as witnesses. . . None of them were found in the witness list".

which would be equally disastrous to the state and the coir workers. To reinforce this argument, the employers and their' representatives have been pointing to the prospect of a fall in foreign exchange earnings due to decline in foreign demand for coir. Now that the cost of production of synthetic coir has gone up as a result of the rise in oil prices, this argument no longer has the same force.