October 28, 1981, Forty Years Ago

A high-level Indian delegation to Paris left for home after moving closer to signing a $ 3.3 billion agreement for the purchase of Mirage 200 jets and other armaments. Indian officials who declined to be identified said that the deal had not been completed but might be formalised by the time Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visits France on November 12. The Indian mission was led by P K Kaul, defence secretary, and included Air Force Chief of Staff, Air Marshal Dilbagh Singh. A French Defence Ministry statement said that the talks had been held to facilitate the continuation of an agreement. When the deal is finalised, India is expected to terminate the final part of a $ 1.3 billion deal to buy Jaguar jets with British Aerospace.

Unrest in Poland

Polish troops virtually took over the administration of 2,000 villages to restore economic order and streamline food distribution, ahead of a proposed strike by the Solidarity Trade Union. The minister of general administration, Tadeusz Hupalowski, said that the troops deployment ordered by the Polish government to put down “street provocation” would begin on October 26. The soldiers’ first duty would be to ensure that “the food reaches the market”.

Youth politics

The Opposition student bodies, speaking basically the same “Gandhian” language, couched in varying phraseology are a divided lot. And as most of their leaders admit, there is no hope of reconciliation between them. The Yuva Janata (Janata Party), Yuva Lok Dal and the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha (BJP) are pitted against each other.
These are excerpted from the paper on 27/10/1981. There was no edition of the paper on 28/10/1981 on account of Diwali