himalayantiger, In democacy, people have right to choose govenment. And prachanda has been saying that. The most radical thing that his group proposed was about land reform. Maoist’s economic policy … As the air of suspicion regarding the Maoists' economic policy prevails in the business/industry sector, a senior Maoist leader and member of the Maoist talks team has said the Maoists would not go for blanket nationalisation of big industries and that they have no problem with liberal economic policies while the main focus will be on revolutionary land reform and promotion of small industries. “The only way to economic transformation of society is through an industrialised economy. The industry sector was not allowed to grow in the past,” Gurung said in an interview with Aajako Abhiyan weekly, adding, “The policies in the past lapped up foreign multi-national companies and allowed them to capture the market, take away cheap raw materials and then market their products here. This should not happen now.” Further elaborating the Maoist economic policy, Gurung said his party was in favour of internal competition between national capital, major industries and cottage industries as domestic capital cannot compete with foreign capital and domestic industries cannot compete with multinationals and same goes with small industries and big national industries in terms of competition should there be no control. He said small industries need protection. “We are not saying we don’t want multinational companies or to prevent them from investing here. We have to see where they want to invest and under what conditions. If it is in the national interest only then we should allow them in,” the rebel leader said and added that the Maoists were not in favour of servile capitalist ventures or foreign ‘broker capitalism’. The Maoists, he said, would encourage a self-reliant domestic economy by using local resources and would be ready to encourage and assist the mercantilist class and industrialists. The economic policies of the CPN (Maoist) will be based on the 75-point program passed by the party a few years back which stressed on radical land reform, nationalisation of land owned by trusts and servile capitalists – without any compensation – and the state’s control on forests, major rivers, lakes and mines and trade of essential goods as well as foreign trade, among others. The 75-point program ratified at the meeting the United Revolutionary People’s Council, the administrative body of the Maoists, also pledged to make the industry sector the mainstay of the economy and sideline the brokers and servile capitalists from the industry sector, promote small industries and ensure the involvement of labourers in the management of industries. Gurung explained that the revolutionary land reform would be focussed on Terai where most of the cultivable land is owned by Shahs and Ranas. He said the land would go to the tillers but the landlords will be allowed to keep up to 10 bighas of land for their upkeep, as “they are also Nepali citizens”. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) provisions, he said, are not in favour of smaller economies and the interest of the poor nations should get more priority in the global trade body. Meanwhile, in another interview with Rajdhani daily, Gurung said the Maoists are not going with the policy of nationalising the industries and that his party would adopt liberal economic policy. However, there will be provisions regarding protection in some areas. According to Gurung, the state should not promote industries like alcohol, tobacco and coca cola that are not in the best interest of the society and the state should adopt policies to control such industries and such investment should be channelled to productive sector. “We are not saying that liberal policy means total freedom; there should be some limitations. The Nepalese industry sector, market and the capital is very backward,” he maintained. “It is disproportionate at present and it should be open and competitive with some protection policies.” Saying that Nepal’s agro-based industries have not flourished, Gurung pointed out the foreign monopoly in the Nepalese market. “The national capital is squeezed because of the monopoly of foreign capital.” nepalnews.com mk June 24 06 http://66.116.151.85/?p=3602