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May 15, 1968, Sorbonne University, Paris: Student protesters who demanded a say in a stifling post-War society. Soon they were joined by factory workers and others.-AFP

Dilemma in Europe

The Left's defence of the welfare state is hampered by its inability to suggest an alternative to capitalism where its resistance can succeed.

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Socialist icon Jayaprakash Narayan addressing a rally in New Delhi in February 1975. Four months later, Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency and it lasted for 21 months.-THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

Democratic disconnect

THE fact that India has managed to sustain a multiparty parliamentary democracy for six decades, which has guaranteed to every citizen a certain minim

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A photograph from the 1967-69 period. Jyoti Basu, Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal, turns around on the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai for a conference of Chief Ministers in New Delhi. Desai is being greeted by West Bengal Chief Minister Ajoy Mukherjee. At left is Kerala Chief Minister E.M.S. Namboodiripad.-THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES

All for a new Bengal

EACH generation has its own dominant image of Jyoti Basu. For an earlier generation than mine this image is of an intrepid fighter in the cause of the

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John Maynard Keynes, who advocated 'socialisation of investment'.-THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

Return of the state

The hegemony of finance capital that underlay neoliberalism is unlikely to persist in the old form.

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Murli Deora, Petroleum Minister, and P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister, at a function in New Delhi.-SUBHAV SHUKLA/PTI

A suitable strategy

As the neoliberal edifice crumbles in the face of rising prices, a rationing regime becomes the only way of protecting the poor from their impact.

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Trained electricians seeking jobs in the Punjab State Electricity Board being dispersed with water cannons during a demonstration in Chandigarh. A file picture. Mass unemployment provides fertile ground for the spread of fascist politics. In India, unemployment in 2004-05 was higher than it had ever been in the post-Independence period.-AKHILESH KUMAR

Breeding ground for communalism

Hindutva may be electorally successful in the short run. But the conjuncture in which it has been thriving is beginning to change.

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Finance Minister P. Chidambaram addressing a national conference on the Union Budget organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on March 5.-R.V. MOORTHY

Conservatism to the fore

It is clear from Budget 2008 that the UPA, instead of abandoning its neoliberal agenda in an election year, has decided to stick to it resolutely.

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Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.-R.V. MOORTHY

Road less travelled

The LDF's one year in power in Kerala is a resounding demonstration of the fact that governments have options other than neoliberalism.

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June 21, 1977: Jyoti Basu takes oath as Chief Minister.-MINATI CHOWDHURY

Left in government

The Left is now placed in a happy transitional period when it can get the support of rural toilers and urban middle classes.

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Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on his way to present the Union Budget..-GURINDER OSAN/AP

The budgetary non-exercise

This year's Union Budget is more a set of projections than a mechanism for conscious intervention with a clear purpose.

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The budgetary non-exercise

This year's Union Budget is more a set of projections than a mechanism for conscious intervention with a clear purpose.

BY PRABHAT PATNAIK

It is not the case that pensioners would be better off if their funds are managed by MNCs. They can agitate against the government (above, a protest in Bhopal) and force it to listen to them but, as the Bhopal gas tragedy victims' case shows, they cannot fight a successful legal battle against an MNC, certainly not within a limited period.-A.M. FARUQI

A tactical compromise

The Budget represents a tactical adjustment in the march along a neo-liberal path, which should not be confused for a new trajectory of "liberalisatio

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