:1 6 SWARAJYA , October 23, 1971

• • LETTER: A CORRECTION In the article by Mr R. A. Gopala­ CENTRE'S "SECOND THOUGHTS" ON swami~ in SWARAJYA dated October 16, 1971, '; on "Tamil Nad Police Force", RADICAL LEGISLATION the first sentence in the first paragraph , on th~ second column on page 3, should , October 5: The an­ , who is also'l read las follows; "The Armed Police' nouncement of the CentraUy­ a Harijan leader, is not in the' . Force!1 though already increased twice iluposed Congress (R) Ad Hoc Congress (R) and is not known to. in the last decade, is still inadequate." Committee and the Pradesh Elec- be in the good books of Mr Ram. r tion Committee has been inter- The middle (or backward) group preted as the triumph of the has always been the mainstay of some! weeks ago by the Union group aligned with the Union the Congress vote in Bihar. The Power and Irrigation Minister, foreign '1 rade Minister, Mr L. N. pattern was belied in the 1967 Dr K;. L. Rao, for a Central power Mishra. Politics in Bihar can general elections but was rc­ genehting authority to supersede only be understood with reference established to all appearances in the II existing State Electricity to caste groups which endure des­ the 1971 Lok Sabha poll. This, BoarilIs in view of their proven pite peripheral and shifting alle­ however, was no true indicator of ineffibiency seems to have lapsed giances along ideological lines. preferences since, apart from the into limbo, which seems a pity in ('.;aste groups can broadly be 'fact that the upper castes voted view" of the hardships piled, ;1 0 divided under three heads. The almost en bloc against the Con­ P e li on upon ssa, on elec- upper castes, numerically un­ gress (R), the 'Indira wave' seemed tricity consumers in recent i1npressive but holding a near to have erased the caste line for weeks. Rural consumers have monopoly of education and influ­ ~he moment. A fresh general always been treated as poor ence, have until recently provided election, which may come willy relations by the Bihar State Elec­ the bulk of the State's leadership. nilly due to the precarious balance' tricity Board. Regularly, at about The backward, but not Scheduled, in the legislature, may reflect the six in the evening, Whell power ~astes-Ahirs (or Yadavs), Koeris, true state of feelings among these demand mounts in the cities, the ~urmis, etc.-who form the back­ groups. Board's minions" shed" their un­ !:Jone of the peasantry, are pro­ The conscious wooing of the bearable, rural "load ". It must bably' the numerically largest bloc upper castes as reflected in the not Ibe supposed that because but have not yet realized their composition of the Ad Hoc and power goes off in the evenings it full potential as a pressure group the Election Committees is some­ stays' on for the rest of the day. because their leadership is riven, thing new and will have reper­ Pow1r availability in the day-time !:Jy deep personal antagonisms. cussions not easy to foresee. But can best be described as being in Both Mr Daroga Prasad Rai, a one consequence seems already a chJonic state of 'off-and-on' with, former Chief Minister and Mr predictable: this should put an say, one hour 'off' and another 'on'. It iSi impossible to compute the Ram Lakhan Singh , a effective veto on dreams, of effect- senior Minister in Mr K. R ing an instant millennium through damage to crops occasioned by Sahay's pre-1967 government, expropriatory legislation like the the f,~ilure of power to irrigational belong to the--backward Yadav contemplated reduc,tion of land outlets. caste, as does Mr B. P. MandaI ceilings by ordinance. Anyone The leisurely, languid ways of who headed the shortlived Soshit who recalls the tenacious way in )OW~r maintenance men have now - I 'I pal Ministry; both Mr Yadav and which the groups now ruling the readied a stage wher(j) the Board Mr Rai are in the Congress (R) roost in the Congress (R) have is urlable to guarantee continuous but are otherwise at daggers held on to what they have, need supply even to the major cities. Clrawn. have no doubts on this score. One The. State's capital, Patna, wit­ C The Harijans are believed to more "reform" has gone the way nessed intermittent power failures pe led by Mr J agjivan Ram, but' of all reforms. for ~n entire week preceding Sep­ the present Chief Minister, Mr The report that the Centre has tem1.:ler 24 when the Electricity ~ returned the Bihar Land Ceilings Boarp's Patratu thermal station went', "off the stream", i.e., ceased (Reduction) Ordinance with sug­ ,I • gestions for improvements indi~ t o f unctIOn. cates that the Centre is having THe Deputy Chief Minister, Mr second thoughts on radical legis­ Ram. Jaipal Singh Yadav, has lation. Perhaps, after its whole­ blarried the Board's engineers for sale defeat in the four by-elections failure to. maintain supply and in Orissa, the ruling party has got has ::set up an expert committee a real boon wise to the fact that profligate to examine the problem. This for relief s. happiness electoral promises are counter­ last seems to be a belated attempt to WOMen productive after a certain point to 9isarm criticism. The only POPULAR SINCE 1898 when promises come home to reprieve for the consumers lies in 1 AYURVEDASRAM roost. Centiral supersession and a :if PRIVATE LIMITED thorough-going clean-up of the ~l lOO G,N' ROAD. MADRAS. I? A proposal mooted in Patna Augean stables. ••.•.,·.·.·.~M.~.·· :'.''.,.:.:.:.:.,:.!.:.:.::.:(.:,:~.;.:,.:.,.,.,.,.~.:.:~.:.: ...... ;: ,I