Left Parties organize dhrana in Delhi against price rice and corruption

The four Left Parties organized a dharna against corruption and price rise at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on July 21. The dharna was organized as the culmination of the week long campaign by the left parties from 15-21 July against corruption and price rise. Hundreds of activists participated in the dharna. Leaders from Delhi and the national leadership of the left parties were present in the dharna and addressed the gathering.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechcury pointed out that the corruption we are seeing today is not some simple corruption due to deterioration of moral values. Corruption today is linked with the neo-liberal economic policies being pursued by the ruling classes today. Without fighting corruption it is not possible to build a new India for which we have the potential, he said. The money lost in 2G spectrum scam alone is sufficient to provide food to all people at Rs 3 per kg for two years, or finance the expenditure on the Right to Education for five years. He emphasized on the need for electoral reforms to strengthen the fight against corruption and demanded that corporate funding of political parties be banned. He appealed to the people to strengthen the fight against corruption and price rise.

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said the UPA government was completely sunk in corruption and it has lost all credibility. The Left Parties want a comprehensive and effective Lokpal bill and not a toothless legislation. He appealed to the participants to be ready for bigger struggles in the future.

Abani Roy from the RSP called on the people to mobilize against corruption and price rise in greater numbers. He said that those who cannot provide relief to the common people have no right to remain in government.

Debbrata Biswas from the AIFB attacked the government for fueling price rise. He also said sustained struggles need to be built and anger of the people must be channelized into militant struggles.

CPI (M) Delhi State Secretary P M S Grewal, Dinesh Varshney from the CPI, Asit Ganguly from RSP, and Dharmendra Kumar from AIFB also addressed the gathering.

CPI(M) urges Tamil Nadu government to evolve ‘land use policy'

The State unit of the CPI(M) on Friday urged the State government to evolve a “land use policy” to prevent indiscriminate acquisition of agriculture lands for other purposes.

Talking to reporters here, State secretary G. Ramakrishnan said in many places lands had been acquired in the name of industrialisation but never utilised for the purpose.

“Let the State government evolve a policy for acquiring agriculture lands. This is very important since the agricultural production in the State has come down from Rs.22,022 crore in 2005-06 to Rs.20,876 crore in 2009-10,” he said.

The party on Thursday met Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and submitted a memorandum drawing her attention to various issues, including agricultural reforms, land distribution to poor, uniform education, industrial policy and empowerment of women and minorities.

Mr. Ramakrishnan said the State government should table in the Assembly the privileges extended to industrial and corporate houses while signing a memorandum of understanding for setting up industries in the State.

“The report should tell the investment brought into the State by these companies and the employment generation by them. We also need the details about the loss caused to the exchequer because of the privileges offered to these companies,” he said.

Asked about the allegations of the DMK leadership that their party functionaries had been targeted by the State government on land grabbing cases, Mr. Ramakrishnan said many of the incidents took place during the DMK regime and no action was taken against the culprits. “There was a direction from the Madras High Court against former Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam in connection with land grabbing. But the police did not take any action at that time,” he added.

As regards uniform syllabus, he said the government should immediately distribute textbooks to students.

“We should keep in mind that uniform syllabus is only one of the many recommendations of the Muthukumaran committee constituted by the previous government. There are other aspects such as education through mother tongue, quality education in government schools and infrastructure development,” he further said. Besides demanding a university for the development of folk arts, the CPI(M) also wanted allocation of adequate land for the sports university.

(Source : The Hindu)