Charges against Ministers
Majority of the members of the Congress Parliamentary Party Executive are understood to have urged that charges of corruption against Congress Ministers should be dealt with by the Central Parliamentary Board of the party and not officials and official organisations. This would also keep the Prime Minister free from worries and embarrassment.
The Executive discussed on April 9 the Santhanam Committee’s recommendations on corruption at the political level. The Prime Minister, Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri, presided. The Home Minister, Mr. G.L. Nanda, was also present. It was suggested in the course of the discussion initiated by Mr. H.C. Mathur that there could be an independent panel of eminent men to deal with corruption cases at the political level.
The two party Secretaries, Mr. Raghunath Singh and Mr. Panchazari, pointed out that since it was the Parliamentary Board which issued the party ticket for elections and dealt with the Ministry formation, all charges of corruption against Ministers and other party members should be dealt with by it. Mr. K.D. Malaviya is understood to have said that members of the judiciary should not be called upon to look into charges against Ministers and politicians.
Good progress of Kandla
The Commerce Minister, Mr. Manubhai Shah, told the Lok Sabha on April 9 that if the Kandla free trade zone proved a success, the Government intended to establish similar zones at ports where there was “a sheltered area.” He mentioned Haldia, Cochin, Goa, and Visakhapatnam as possible places where free trade zones could be established. Mr. Shah told the House he had every hope that the Kandla free trade zone experiment would succeed. The zone was expected to yield a net earning of Rs. five crores of foreign exchange in three years.
Small car plan
The Union Industries Minister, Mr. T.N. Singh, told members of the Informal Consultative Committee of Parliament on April 9 that until the finalisation of priorities in the industrial programme of the Fourth Plan, he would not be in a position to make any firm commitment about the small car project. Mr. Singh, however, indicated that the Government was very much interested in making available a car that would be within reach of the people.
The current thinking was that such a car should be in the price-range of Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 and the Government was exploring the possibilities of making such a car with foreign collaboration. Mr. Singh also told the Committee that the Government was finalising a massive programme for developing agro-industries in the Fourth Plan. The future growth of small industries would have to be channelised towards the agro-industrial sector, so that shortages of raw materials did not hamper the progress of the small industries. Several members referred to difficulties experienced by small-scale industrialists in securing supplies of raw materials and components. Mr. Singh said that in the present context of foreign exchange scarcity, the scope for improved supplies of scarce materials to the small-scale sector was limited.
