The Eastern Economist Septenber 25 1953

The current plans for the expansion of road and rail transport are woefully inadequate; and in so far as the extension of the rail transport system depends on the availability of steel the current steel plans are as well as the import programme equally in need of being reconsidered. [...] THE EASTERN ECONOMIST 517 THE WEEK'S NOTES THE SPECIAL MARRIAGE BILL The reactions to the Special Marriage Bill decribed by the Law Minister during his speech in the Council on the motion for a Select Committee have revealed disagreement even in a few responsible quarters which has arisen mainly because of the huried drafting of the Bill. [...] But the principle may be defended on the basis that the conception of the joint family dpending on custom and religious injunctions need not apply where they are vitally infringed as in the avoiance of a ritual marriage in acquiring eligibility for divorce in the.application of the Succession Act and so on. [...] From the military point of view the announcement has been well-timed because the end of the monsoon has always acted as the signal for the Communist offensive; the U. S. decision to take over the financial burden must serve as a warning against the renewal of an offensive. [...] The objective of the present revsion effort is to establish procedures such that when a foreign bid is rejected the facts of the situation and the reasons will be apparent to people on both sides of the Atlantic.