April 3, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Mutual Concerns

India and Mauritius shared their common concern over the worsening security environment in the region because of superpower rivalry. Besides reviewing the situation in the Indian Ocean and the Iran-Iraq war, the two prime ministers are understood to have discussed bilateral cooperation. The prime minister of Mauritius said that today “peace has become more elusive than ever”.

Fiscal Reform

A stable long-term fiscal policy is on the anvil and will be announced by September along with the Draft Seventh Five-Year Plan. Finance Minister Viswanath Pratap Singh, who disclosed this, also said that a thorough reform of the indirect tax structure was being undertaken and would be incorporated in next year’s budget. He said that “too much of ideology” was being read into the budget. He would not agree that the budget would lead to the scuttling of public-sector outlays in favor of the private sector.

Corruption Probe

The Jammu and Kashmir fire service department has become the biggest den of corruption. Vigilance authorities are probing over a dozen cases involving multi-crore purchases made by the department, said Minister for Estates and Fire Services Jagjivan Lal, who made a surprise visit to the fire service headquarters and confirmed that “some cases of corruption have been proved correct”.

Cooling Showers

Thundershowers in the national capital brought much-needed relief from the continuously rising temperature. The rain that had been eluding the city followed a spell of strong dusty winds. According to the weather office, the sudden rains brought down the temperature in the capital by six degrees Celsius.