Tuesday, March 16, 2010

CITU All India Conference begins on March 17


 Press Release
Chandigarh / March 10
“The 13th All India Conference of Centre of Indian trade unions (CITU) will be a new milestone in history of the struggles are being fought in the defence of the interests of the working class of India, which is going to be held from 17th to 21st March,2010 at Comrade Jyoti Basu Nagar (Sohi Banquet,Zirakpur) Chandigarh.”  These ideas expressed by Dr. Joginder Singh Puar Chairman , Comrade Charn Singh Virdi Vice Chairman , Comrade Vijay Mishra President , Comrade Raghunath Singh general Secretary of the reception committee for this conference jointly during a press conference held at press club Chandigarh. They said that 2500 delegates elected from the 51 lacs membership of CITU and 100 foreign delegates from 25 other countries will participate the conference and will review about the achievements and deficiencies of the struggle have  been fought by the trade union movement for the defence of the interests of the working class in the past and adopt the strategy for the struggles would be fought by CITU within coming 3 years. They added that membership of CITU has increased from 40 lacs to 51 lacs during last three years due to its scientific approach and struggling attitude in the favour of working class. They said that all the trade unions in India came together in the field of struggle due to the initiative of CITU, which provided strength to the working class unity and increased pressure to resist the intensity of the on sloughts on the interests of the working class by the imperialism and ruling classes. They said that CITU took initiative in the past to increase the participation of women in the working class movement.

The leaders said that CITU also took initiative in organizing the workers of unorganized sector and also in increasing unity with the fraternal organization like AIKS and AIAWU through joint struggle though which workers-peasant unity has been increased. The leaders said that where conference will elect the office bearers, working committee and general council, it take concrete decisions through discussing different issues in the six commissions formed by the conference.  They said that the issues discussed in these commissions will be revolutionary ideology of the working class and role of trade union , Unity of working class and our approach , News media and working class , About security , health and environment , challenges in organizing unorganizedbworkers and organizing the working women and our objective etc.

They said that this conference will be participated by the Chief Minister of West Bengal along withbmany other ministers and MLA’s of Kerala and Tripura.

The leaders told that a maha mazdoor Rally will be held at Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjit maidan (Industrial area phase-II) Chandigarh on the last day of conference 21st March, which will be addressed by Budhadeb Bhattacharya the Chief minsiter of west Bengal, Dr. M K Pandhe the all  India President of CITU, Mohammed Amin all India General Secretary of CITU, Dr. Hema Lata the  general secretary of AIFAWH and Comrade Raghunath Singh all India Vice president of CITU along with others. The rally will be presided over by Comrade Vijay Misra the president of Punjab CITU. They said that rally will be participated by the workers and other toaling people of Punjab along with their families. They said that the demands that will be highlated in the rally are as ban strictly on the unlawful outsourcing system in government, semi government and private units, regularize the all workers working on contract basis, stop privatization of the institutions providing basic facilities like health, education ,electricity, water, transport etc and public sector, ensure implementations of labour laws strictly , the officers and administrators who are violating labour laws must be punished , roll back false case registered against the trade union leaders and workers, lift ban on organizing meetings, rallies on the mill gates, stop doing lay off, retrenchments and lock up, make an effective law through discussion with the trade unions to ensure the security of the unorganized workers, make a law to ensure security of migrant labour , ensure guarantee of work for whole year to NREGA workers. Pay minimum wages to NREGA workers with Rs.200/-, expand this scheme upto the urban area. The leaders said that the preparations of conference and rally are going to be complete. They said that this conference will gain an inmportant place in the history of Chandigarh and
Punjab.

CPI(M) asks Government for CB CID probe in Com. Velusamy murder





CPI(M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan has urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to order a CB-CID inquiry into the murder of the party’s Pallipalayam unit secretary C. Velusamy, saying the deceased would not get justice from the local police.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Ramakrishnan said despite Mr. Velusamy having notified the police on Feburay 25 of the life threat he faced from local financiers, no action was taken. 
He had approached the police in Pallipalayam for help subsequently on March 10, but was killed an hour later.
Mr. Ramakrishnan said Mr. Velusamy was allegedly murdered by a gang led by local financiers Sivakumar and Rajendran, because he had laid bare their wrong deeds. According to him, the gang sexually assaulted a girl and posted the video recordings on the internet. The girl’s family had borrowed money from them.


CM orders CB CID probe into murder of CPI(M) functionary

Chennai, Mar 16 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today ordered a CB-CID probe into the murder of a CPI(M) functionary in Namakkal recently.

In an official press release here, DGP Letika Saran said that the probe has been transferred from local police to the CB-CID on the orders of the Chief Minister.  A case under different sections of IPC, including murder had been already registered, she said. On Monday, CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan had written to Karunanidhi, demanding a CB-CID probe. Velusamy, who was fighting against usury in the locality, was hacked to death outside a police station in Namakkal on March 10.

(Photos @ Gavaskar Theekathir)

OPPOSE FOREIGN EDUCATION INSTITUTION BILL : SFI

The Union Cabinet has cleared the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill in a meeting today. This has paved the way for introduction of this bill in the Parliament. This move by the government is meant to further the agenda of commercialization and opening up our education sector to foreign players in keeping with its neo-liberal policies. This bill had been pending for the last four years, since it could not be tabled in the Parliament due to the spirited opposition by the Left Parties and the democratic student movement during the previous government’s tenure. The new HRD minister had declared that getting this bill passed would be one of the first things on his agenda.

Contrary to what is being propagated by the government and its neo-liberal ideologues the foreign university bill will not bring in any quality educational institutions to our country. It is only an attempt to legalize profiteering by substandard and commercially driven educational providers to come and set shop and make money in the country. The bill also exempts all these foreign educational providers from obeying any quota norms which will further increase the discrimination levels which already plague our educational system.

The passage of this bill would also be an attack on our intellectual self-reliance where educational providers would not be guided by any concern for the society at large but more interested by profit motives and at best serving the dictates of the market.

The SFI has been consistently opposed to this bill and will launch a country-wide movement against this anti-student and anti-national legislation. We appeal to the student community to rise against this attempt to sell out our education sector and also expose the myths which are being circulated to garner support for this bill.

The problem which our education sector faces can not be handled by promoting and allowing more private and foreign educational providers who have a free run. What is required is a significant increase in government spending on education, something which the present government has conveniently forgotten and overlooked.

Do Not Support the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill : Left Parties Appeal to All MPs


Dear Member of Parliament,
 
The UPA Government is about to introduce the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill in Parliament. This Bill seeks to cap the liability of nuclear plant operators and the equipment suppliers in case there is an accident involving a nuclear plant.
 
This legislation is being pushed by the Government because of pressure from the US equipment suppliers and investors put through the US administration at the highest levels. The US has made a precondition that India must put a cap on liability of the nuclear operators and virtually remove all liabilities of the equipment suppliers before it delivers on its promises in the India US Nuclear Deal. That is why the Fuel Reprocessing Consent, claimed to be a done deal by the proponents of the Nuclear Deal has yet to be agreed to by the US. Neither have the dual use technology restrictions been removed as the Prime Minister had claimed before the Parliament.
 
 Salient Features
 The salient points in the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill are:
Ø·   It allows the foreign reactor suppliers to rake in unlimited profits while transferring their liabilities to the Indian exchequer.
Ø·   Financial liability for a nuclear accident will be capped at only 300 million SDRs (Rs. 2142.85 crore). Beyond this cap, the affected people will not get any compensation for either loss of life, health damages or damages to property and environment.
Ø·   The liability of the Indian operator of nuclear plants will be limited to only to Rs. 500 crore. The Central Government can decrease the amount of liability to a minimum of Rs. 100 crore.
Ø·   The difference between the two – Rs. 2142.85 and Rs. 500 crore, i.e. of about Rs. 1642 crore – is the Government’s share of the liability.
Ø·   There is no legal liability of the foreign reactor supplier even if it supplies faulty and substandard equipment.
Ø·   Any liability for foreign reactor suppliers can at best be included in private contracts between the suppliers and the Indian operator.
 Problematic Provisions
 Given that a serious nuclear accident can cause damage in billions, the small cap of 300 million SDRs proposed shows the scant regard the Central Government holds for the Indian people. Any damage beyond this will not be compensated either by the Government or by the nuclear operator, which in the present case is a state operator. Given that accidents like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the two most well known nuclear accidents in history, have caused billions of worth of damages; this effectively means abandoning the victims in case of a nuclear accident.
The Bhopal Settlement of $470 million (Rs. 2152 crore) reached between the Central Government and Union Carbide and accepted by the Supreme Court, has proved to be totally inadequate. Even today, lakhs of gas victims are suffering and have received only meagre compensation. It is completely unconscionable of the UPA Government to suggest that all nuclear accidents, which have the potential of being much larger than the Bhopal tragedy, be capped at a figure that has already been shown to be a gross underestimate. Apart from this, the minuscule liability of Rs. 500 crore for the Indian operator – currently the state owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited – is tantamount to encouraging the operator to play with plant safety.
The suppliers’ liability has also been made virtually non-existent in the proposed Bill. Normally, if any accident takes place in a nuclear plant, the victims and the Indian operator should be able to sue the supplier for damages if the cause of the accident is found to be poor or faulty equipment. The Bill takes away this legal right of the Indian operator as well as the victims. Instead of ensuring the operators’ and victims’ right to claim damages from the supplier, the current Bill limits this to only a private contract between the supplier and the operator. The US suppliers can make billions of dollars from the Indian market, but will not have to pay any damages for a nuclear accident. Even if they are completely at fault.
 Favouring US Suppliers
 It is important to note that neither the Russian nor the French nuclear equipment suppliers have raised the issue of capping or limiting nuclear liability. It is an entirely US concern and being driven by the interests of US suppliers and investors. If this is accepted, this will be yet another case of the Central Government capitulating to the US and putting the interest of US capital before the interests of its people.
 
The Central Government has already proposed to buy 10,000 MW of nuclear reactors from private US suppliers like GE, Westinghouse and others without going through open tendering and competitive bidding mandated under the present Electricity Act. This is being done as Government to Government contracts, precluding public scrutiny of the terms of these contracts. The Government is also unwilling to tell the people either the cost of those reactors or the cost of electricity which is to be produced from such imported reactors. The latest figures available from the US regulator makes clear that the cost of US made reactors will be 3 to 4 times that of indigenous reactors and so also the electricity produced from such plants.
 
Moreover, even such high price for their reactors and billions of dollars of profits is not enough for the US nuclear suppliers. They also seek to completely cover their risks at the cost of the Indian exchequer. Omer F Brown, the key spokesperson for the US nuclear industry and the lead counsel to two major nuclear industry groups – the Contractors International Group on Nuclear Liability and the Energy Contractors Price-Anderson Group – articulated the US position on the need for nuclear liability law in India while speaking at a business summit in Mumbai in December 2006:
 
Currently, India does not have a nuclear liability law covering its facilities. Therefore, concerns over nuclear liability would be a major impediment to any nuclear trade with India...Most US nuclear suppliers would not be willing to work in India without nuclear liability protection.
 
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake informed House Foreign Affairs Committee last year, “We are hoping to see action on nuclear liability legislation that would reduce liability for American companies and allow them to invest in India…”. Recently, he said in an interview (10th March 2010):
 
We also are very much hoping that the Indian government will proceed with very important legislation on nuclear liability, that will be very important protection for American companies who are seeking to do more business in the civil nuclear area, in India. And, we were very gratified to learn that the President of India has announced India’s intention to introduce this bill in the current session of the Indian Parliament.
 
This is the background to the proposed legislation.
 
Against Indian Jurisprudence
 The current liability regime in India is quite clear: for hazardous industries, the plant owners have strict liability for accidents and the law does not accept any limits to liability. The party concerned must not only pay full compensation to affected persons but also bear the cost of environmental damage that any accident may cause. The Oleum leak from Sriram Food and Fertilizers settled the liability regime in India. The Supreme Court judgement in this case – MC Mehta vs. Union of India (1987) – stated clearly:
 
…in case of accidents occurring in plants run by enterprises which are engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous activity that poses a potential threat to the health and safety of persons such enterprises applying the Polluter Pays Principle owe an absolute and non-delegable duty to ensure that no harm results to anyone. (emphasis added)
 
Any legislation seeking to cap liability as is being proposed will therefore be completely retrogressive.

International Liability Regimes
The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill states that the Bill is meant to facilitate India’s entry into an international nuclear liability regime. It explicitly states that India intends to join the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, which was adopted in 1997. This it is argued would provide India access to an international fund to compensate victims of nuclear accidents, for which India too has to make its own contribution.
 
What is not mentioned, however, is that only thirteen countries have signed this Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC): Argentina, Australia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Ukraine and the US.  Out of these thirteen countries, only four including the US, Argentina, Morocco and Romania have ratified it so far. Hence the Convention has not yet entered into force since it requires the ratification of at least five States with a minimum of 400,000 MW of installed nuclear capacity. In contrast to the existing Paris or Vienna Conventions, the CSC provides complete protection to the suppliers of nuclear equipment. This is the reason why important countries such as Russia have not signed the CSC; which has been a bone of contention between the US and Russia. Most other countries operating significant number of nuclear plants have also not joined the CSC. Therefore neither is there any reason why India should hurry to join this Convention, nor any basis to the claim that joining this Convention would immediately provide access to international funds, since the CSC is yet to enter into force.
 
The Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage under the auspices of the IAEA attempts to put together a common minimum liability regime for countries operating nuclear plants. India is so far not a party to this Convention. It is noteworthy that the Vienna Convention does not cap nuclear liability but only puts a minimum floor. It also allows countries to operate their independent liability regimes. For example, Germany, Japan and Finland all have unlimited liability, the same as current Indian law.
The US, which is not a part of the Vienna Convention or the Paris Convention (but a signatory to the CSC) has its own Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act 1957 (last amended in 2005) governing its domestic nuclear damage liability. The Price-Anderson Act ensures the availability of private-sector funds of over $ 10 billion (over Rs. 45000 crore) to cover liability for nuclear damages. Thus the liability of the US nuclear operators for nuclear damages is 23 times more in the US than what is being proposed in the Indian legislation. Are Indian lives 23 times cheaper than American lives?
Not in the Interest of Indian People
The nuclear liability regime being proposed through the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill is nothing but a huge hidden subsidy to the US equipment suppliers. It appears that in order to promote private nuclear power plants and favour US equipment suppliers, the UPA Government is willing to sacrifice the interests of the Indian people.
 
We appeal to you to consider all these aspects of the Bill carefully. We hope you will take a stand against this Bill which compromises the vital interests of the Indian people regarding their safety and security.
 
Prakash Karat                  General Secretary, CPI (M) 
A. B. Bardhan                   General Secretary, CPI
Debabrata Biswas           General Secretary, AIFB                                 
T. J. Chandrachoodan     General Secretary, RSP