Orissa :Three Left parties criticise Naveen

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Convention to be held on farmer suicides

Revival of Lift Irrigation Corporation demanded

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BHUBANESWAR: The three major Left parties of the State on Friday came down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik Government and blamed it for the spate in farmers’ suicides in the State.

The three parties – Communist Party of India(Marxist), Communist Party of India, and Forward Bloc – also criticised the State government for going soft on those involved in the multi-crore illegal mining scam.

They announced that a State level convention will be held in the city on November 24 on the issues of farmer suicides, mining scam, drought and price rise.

Among the senior leaders who were scheduled to address the rally include CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan and Forward Bloc leader and West Bengal Minister Naren Dey. The leaders of the three parties said that the measures that the State government had announced after the farmers started committing suicide after suffering crop loss due to a bad monsoon and pest attack were not sufficient help the farmers.

The leaders who addressed the presspersons were CPI State Committee Secretary Dibakar Nayak, CPI(M) State Committee Member Santosh Das, and State Secretary of Forward Bloc Santosh Mitra.

They demanded that the State government immediately revive the Lift Irrigation Corporation that had been closed several years ago to increase the irrigation cover. About 12,000 of the total 15,000 lift irrigation points that existed in the State wee lying defunct, they informed.

The leaders also criticised the announcement of the State government that a large number of ponds would be established on agricultural land to help farmers irrigate their crops. “How will the scheme help when there was little rain,” they queried.

They further blamed the government for the decline in agricultural productivity in the State. The agricultural production had decreased with the government allowing the plunder of the mineral resources in the name of industrialisation, they said.

Courtesy : The Hindu

Socialism is the way forward

Mr. Yechury suggested that the time was ripe for international communist movements to intensify popular struggles and launch an offensive against the rule of capitalists.

Disputing the current approach in handling the international financial crisis and terming it as a typical capitalist solution, an international meeting of communist parties and workers on Friday advocated that socialism is the only way forward in the long run.

While tracing the genesis of the economic crisis, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said it was neither the result of greed of some individuals nor an aberration but inherent to the dynamics of the capitalist system that is based on human exploitation.

Mr. Yechury suggested that the time was ripe for international communist movements to intensify popular struggles and launch an offensive against the rule of capitalists.

“This period has also seen the rising resistance to such growing imperialist hegemonic efforts. But it must be noted that much of the struggles launched by the working class and the exploited sections have essentially been defensive in nature… Resistance in the nature of mounting the assault on the rule of capital is yet to take a decisive shape. From this meeting a powerful call must go to all contingents of the international communist movement to intensify popular struggles to mount this assault on the rule of capital… Socialism is the only way…” he said.

Global crisis

On his part, the leader of the Communist Party of China delegation, Ai Ping felt that while many people blame the global financial crisis in the U.S. on speculation or on excessive lending, the crisis is no different from others in history which were caused by the inherent contradiction of capitalism.

New attacks and reordering the world for profit maximisation under the dictates of international finance capital, Mr. Yechury said defines neo-liberalism and how the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank imposed structural conditionalities while disbursing loans ensured compliance to neo-liberal reforms.

He said in the absence of a powerful political alternative, capitalism will emerge from this crisis but at the expense of further intensifying exploitation and through the process of accumulation through encroachment.

Mr. Ping informed delegates from 49 countries and 55 parties how China adjusted its macroeconomic policy, increased government spending to boost domestic demand and improve peoples’ lives which saw its GDP grow by 7.7 per cent this year.

In his address, CPI secretary Pallab Sengupta felt the most powerful peoples’ movement in the world today was aimed against the capitalist system for a world of social and economic justice and socialism.

Interestingly, vice chair of the Communist Party of the United States Scott Marshall narrated how the financial crisis was affecting the working class in his country. He said at a time when economists were declaring the recession was over, the U.S. was still losing around 2 lakh jobs. He saw fresh signs of labour solidarity and saw the election of President Barack Obama as opening the door for a new fight for economic justice, peace and equality.

The three-day meeting will conclude on Sunday with a public meeting where a declaration will be adopted.

Courtesy : The Hindu