CITU’S MAY DAY MANIFESTO 2012

ON the occasion of May Day 2012, the day of the international solidarity and unity of the working class, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) extends warm revolutionary greetings to the entire working class and the toiling people of the country and the world. The CITU reaffirms its commitment to class struggle and the struggle for emancipation of the human society from all forms of exploitation of man by man.

May Day 2012 is being observed in a background when the working people all over the world along with mass of the people from all walks of life have been loudly voicing their indignation through worldwide numerous protest mobilisations against the very neo-liberal capitalist order which perpetuates loot and plunder on ninety-nine per cent of the common populace by one per cent in the capitalist class. The Indian working class will also be observing May Day this year with more confidence and commitment to carry on the struggle against capitalist exploitation under neo-liberal order, riding on the historic success of all out united countrywide strike action by 100 million workers on February 28, 2012, with a determination to raise the struggle to a more militant height.  

This year May 1 marks the birth centenary of Comrade P Sundarayya, the legendary revolutionary leader of the toiling masses of the country. On this occasion the CITU salutes the revered memory of this relentless fighter for emancipation of the exploited classes.

The CITU calls upon all its affiliates to organise befitting programmes throughout the year to observe the birth centenary of the great revolutionary.      

FRATERNAL

GREETINGS

On the occasion of May Day the CITU reaffirms its international solidarity with the working class of the socialist countries in their struggles for upholding the principles of scientific socialism.  The CITU believes that the left and progressive forces will emerge victorious in defeating the enemies who are constantly conspiring to let loose counter-revolution in the socialist countries to restore capitalism. 

The CITU also expresses solidarity with the working class and toiling masses of the developed capitalist countries in their grim battle against the disastrous fall out of neo-liberal capitalist order and the nefarious design to impose the burdens of the current economic crisis on the mass of the people.

The CITU reasserts the bondage of solidarity with the working class of the developing countries in their bitter struggles simultaneously against imperialist machinations on their country’s socio-political and economic governance on the one hand and the onslaughts on their rights and livelihood by their respective ruling polity on the other under the influence of the imperialist driven neo-liberal order. 

The CITU extends solidarity with the agricultural workers and poor and marginal farmers in their struggle for survival against deepening agrarian crisis and its fall out in the form aggravating poverty and destitution, dwindling employment and earnings and increasing suicides among the farming community.

The CITU also greets the fraternal mass organisations of women, youth and students who are engaged in grim struggles against discrimination, unemployment, commercialisation and privatisation of education and public utilities — all arising out of the policies of neo-liberalism. The working class must establish fraternity with these sections for joint struggles for the cause of the country and the people.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE

PEOPLE OF PALESTINE

The CITU expresses its deep anguish and indignation at the hated Zionist policy of brutal occupation, aggressions, blackmail, blockades and other criminal acts against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza that has been continuing for decades. The CITU condemns such US-imperialist sponsored, uncivilised and barbarous machination by Israeli rulers, in unequivocal terms. The CITU firmly believes that all anti-imperialist, patriotic, freedom friendly, truly pro-people and pro-working class trade union movements in the world have a moral and humanitarian responsibility to extend powerful support to the struggle of the people of Palestine.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE

STRUGGLING PEOPLE

OF ARAB COUNTRIES  

The CITU greets the workers and the people of the Arab world who have come together in the historic popular uprising against authoritarian regimes, centring round the people’s upsurge in the countries of North Africa and Middle East. The double-faced deceit of the US led imperialist powers has been totally exposed. The US and its European allies are conspiring and promoting disturbances against the governments of Syria and Iran who are not subservient to them, in the name of democracy and civil rights etc, while at the same time openly supporting the brutal suppression and atrocities on the people’s upsurge against the pro-imperialist autocratic regimes in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia etc with money and military supplies. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the US has built up military bases in the strategically located and oil-rich Arab countries.

On the occasion of May Day, the CITU appeals to the international trade union movement to extend powerful support to the fighting people of the region and to strongly condemn US imperialism and its European allies for their hegemonic interference in the region with the ulterior motive to instal neo-puppet regimes in the oil rich countries of the regions.

GREETINGS TO THE

PEOPLE OF LATIN AMERICA

On this May Day the CITU greets the Latin American working class for the decades-long determined and militant struggles along with the mass of the people against the economic plunder of imperialism forcing imperialist retreat. 

The victory of the pro-Left political forces in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and some other South American countries as well and their endeavour for an alternative path to neo-liberalism,  have delivered a severe blow to US imperialism. The coming together of the 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations at a conference in Venezuela recently and founding a regional forum called Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is a very significant development.

Socialist Cuba continues to be a beacon of anti-imperialist struggles in the entire Latin American continent. It has played catalytic role in motivating, uniting and mobilising the people of Latin America against US imperialism. Moreover, despite economic blockade and constant conspiratorial onslaught of the US imperialist and other counter-revolutionary forces, the social progress achieved by Cuba is a matter of great inspiration to the working class.

SPECIAL FEATURES

OF MAY DAY 2012

On this May Day 2012, the barbarous face of capitalism stands further exposed under the stewardship of international finance capital in the format of imperialist neo-liberal politico-economic order. In this order, inequality, disparity, poverty and unemployment are promoted on the one hand resulting in rapid reduction in the purchasing power of the mass of the people thereby squeezing the market; on the other, speculation gets priority over productive-employment-generating investment for quick and maximum profit without any hassle. This has led to explosion of worst ever crisis and financial meltdown in the world capitalist order. The crisis originated in the main centre of imperialist power, the United States, and engulfed the entire capitalist world, the advanced industrialised economies most severely.

The burden of the entire crisis, as usual, is being passed on to the toiling people through unemployment, price-rise promoted by speculation, cut on wages and social security and fast informalisation of workplaces through rapid casualisation and contractualisation and various other means while simultaneously bailing out the perpetuator of the crisis --- the capitalist class under the total grip of finance capital.

Mass of the toiling people have now started refusing to accept such loot and plunder on them lying down by one per cent of the capitalist class. The entire Europe is witnessing waves of strike action by the working people against onslaught on their rights and livelihood and similar protest action has also engulfed various countries of Africa and Asia and also got manifested in USA and even Israel. And precisely in this backdrop the world is now witnessing the spontaneous outbreak of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement which originated in the USA last September and gradually spread to 75 cities in the USA itself and to thousands of cities in almost all corners of the globe. And from this movement the slogan was raised – “ninety nine per cent versus one per cent” and “billions for speculators and pennies for the people,” demonstrating intolerance to the system of one per cent capitalists looting ninety nine per cent of the people.  

The CITU welcomes such spontaneous manifestation of peoples’ anger against the onslaught on their rights and livelihood through the spread of organised struggles of working class all over the world. The CITU believes, it is now the task of the working class movement committed to the philosophy of class struggle to raise such growing intolerance to capitalist onslaught on their livelihood to the consciousness and determination for changing the system altogether by overthrowing the inhuman neo-liberal capitalist order. Let May Day of 2012 invigorate such commitment and zeal in the organised movement of working people on a global scale, let us all work with that determination.   

IN INDIA  

This year’s May Day is a proud moment of the Indian working class for the unprecedented all-in-unity of the trade unions in the struggle for ten points demands aimed at defending and promoting the economic sovereignty of the country and achieving the basic socio-economic rights of all sections of the working class and toiling people of the country. The February 28, 2012 nationwide general strike, which is the 14th in the series since the introduction of neo-liberalism in the country in 1991 and involved around 100 million workers in the strike action, has many salient features unparalleled in the contemporary history of strike struggles by modern working class all over the world.

The UPA-2 government has been aggressively pursuing the neo-liberal agenda. Backbreaking rise in prices of essential commodities including food is being promoted and so also unhindered speculation in the commodity market to ensure windfall gains for the capitalist, traders and big landlord lobby. Crucial inputs and essential requirements like fuel, fertilisers, medicines etc are being priced at par with developed economies while keeping the mass of the people deprived of even the statutory minimum wages which can hardly provide for bare survival. Public utilities like health, education, roadways, transport etc are being privatised and commercialised through the so called PPP model to subserve the interests of big business. Simultaneously, blue chip public sector units in strategic, infrastructure and natural resources sector are being sought to be privatised in phases. And the whole neo-liberal process of economic governance in the form of deregulation and privatisation has led to, besides impoverishing the people, explosive exposure of big ticket corruption one after another, all involving plunder of precious natural resources by handful of big corporates, both domestic and foreign.

Such process of loot and plunder of the country and its people which has become synonymous to the capitalist system itself under neo-liberal dispensation, is continuing unabated despite organized protests by the toiling people. The toiling people are fleeced under the design of ‘austerity drive’ while the capitalist class continues to enjoy undue benefits of ‘bailout packages’ at a huge cost to public exchequer. In the current union budget also, while subsidies on food, fuel and fertilisers meant for the ninety nine per cent of the common populace is targeted to be brought down to mere 1.75 per cent of GDP, the same Govt showed no hesitation in allowing a huge concessions and perpetual tax default together to the tune of more than 5 per cent of GDP for the one per cent moneyed class among the large corporates, landlords and traders.

Workers are punished with dismissal and other punitive measures by employers for organising or leading trade unions and even murdered by police or hired goons of employers. And of late, active move is afoot to completely change the labour laws to legitimise the violations and empower the employers to hire and fire at will; pension system is being totally privatised to allow the pension funds to be handled by the speculators, both domestic and foreign along with switching over from a system of assured pension to a system dependent on the market forces. Employment and decent work have become the worst victims under various counts – retrenchment, recruitment ban, outsourcing, casualisation, contractualisation, informalisation, “no wage but honorarium instead” and so on. 

On this May Day, the CITU vows to redouble its initiative to unite the toiling class in the resistance to the regime of loot and plunder on people, who produces wealth and push up GDP numbers by their sweat and blood. The brutality of the employers class, howsoever atrocious it might be with the active patronage of those in governance, have to be combated by the working class through demonstration of greater unity, vigour and conviction to combat and defeat the exploitation and the exploiting class as well.

The challenge before us is to preserve and widen the unity of the working class and the people as a whole in carrying forward the fight against the exploitative system and also against the disruptive and divisive forces which seek to divide the people on caste, religion, parochial, identity and various other lines. Fight against all kinds of social oppression championing the cause of most downtrodden sections of the society, and fight against all hues of communal, fundamentalist and divisive forces is also to be carried forward simultaneously by the working class movement.    

As a follow-up to the historic general strike of February 28, 2012, the CITU calls upon the working class to widen further the all in unity of trade unions at the grassroots level and carry the united struggle of the working people to a militant height to fight for reversal of the anti-people pro-imperialist policy regime.   

SOLIDARITY WITH THE

STRUGGLE AGAINST ATTACK

ON DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

WITHIN THE COUNTRY 

The international day of working class solidarity brings forth the task of organising solidarity with renewed vigour with the struggle against attack on working class and democratic movement within the country as well. In midst of crisis, the capitalist employers and the governments at their behest became more atrocious and desperate in crushing down collective assertion of the workers and trade unions for their just demands and rights. In many workplaces in the country, even the initiative to form trade unions is attacked with dismissal and other forms of victimisation by the employers along with false implication of the workers and union activists in criminal cases by the employers-administration combine. The incidents at Maruti Suzuki plant at Gurgaon (Haryana), Foxconn and Hyundai in Tamilnadu, and Volvo in Karnataka are some the examples. Such incidents of attack are expected to rise and widespread solidarity action by the working class all over the country is the urgent need of the hour, if the increasing attacks for eliminating or crushing trade unions by the employers-government combine is to be combated effectively. May Day 2012 must invigorate such spirit and consciousness for solidarity-preparedness among the trade union movement.

ATTACKS ON THE

PEOPLE OF WEST BENGAL    

Attacks on trade union and democratic rights assumed a new dimension in West Bengal where immediately after the last assembly elections in May 2011 and the formation of a TMC-Congress government, violent physical attacks have been unleashed on the trade unions, the CITU in particular and also on other trade unions and mass organisations of peasants, students, youth and women by the armed TMC-Congress hoodlums, with the police remaining a silent onlooker in most of the cases. Trade union offices are being set on fire and ransacked, Left supporters are being physically attacked, women including the Anganwadi employees are molested and tortured, houses set on fire and many of our comrades have been killed. Till date 58 leading activists of the democratic movement were killed including six from the trade unions; the number is increasing everyday. In the run up to the preparatory campaign of February 28, 2012 general strike, two of our comrades, Pradip Tah and Kamal Gayen were brutally murdered. 

Around 400 union offices were captured and hundreds were ransacked. Workers are being threatened and terrorised to desert the CITU and other trade unions. In many areas, contract workers owing allegiance to the CITU unions were thrown out of employment and new sets of workers engaged at reduced wages in connivance with the contractors. An atmosphere of terror is being sought to be created to maim the Left opposition and democratic movement. Such a situation bears ominous portents for democracy and the fascistic design to suppress the class and mass organisations in this strong bastion is aimed at weakening and marginalising any opposition to the anti-people neo-liberal measures being unleashed by the TMC-Congress regime in the state. Along with the democratic movement, trade union movement led by the CITU has been resisting the attacks braving all atrocities. The TMC government minced no words in declaring their intent to put a ban on right to strike in general and in particular on trade union rights of the government employees. All these are attacks on the rights and livelihood of the toiling class and are not confined to Left supporters alone. Resistance against these attacks has to be built up through broader class mobilisations.

Similar disturbance and attacks are being sought to be created in Left-front ruled Tripura state where assembly elections are going to be held in early 2013. In Kerala also, another stronghold of working class and democratic movement similar maligning campaign along with occasional physical attacks are being launched by the right-wing forces since last assembly election. 

On this May Day, the CITU, while offering Red Salute to the martyrs of working class and democratic movement, pledges to rouse the working class throughout the country ideologically and organizationally, to unite and fight against the brutal onslaught on their fellow travellers in West Bengal and also in Kerala and Tripura who always remained in the frontline of battle championing the cause of the working class and led the struggle against exploitative regime of the capitalist order.

THE APPEAL OF

MAY DAY 2012

On this May Day 2012, the CITU reasserts its commitment to international solidarity with the struggles being carried on by the working class throughout the globe against neo-liberal order and in defence of their rights and livelihood.

The CITU appeals to the working people in the country to work for strengthening the all in unity of the trade union movement in the country to combat and confront the onslaught being brought down by the corporate captive ruling polity on the rights and livelihood of the workers at every workplace; the struggle against attack on labour rights in workplace must be supplemented by solidarity actions in all others. Solidarity actions must form an inseparable part of the day to day collective life of the working people. This is the call of May Day.

On this May Day the CITU calls upon the working class to remain vigilant and fight against the divisive forces of all hues --- communalism, casteism and parochialism while defending and expanding the unity of the class and the people in the struggle against oppression and exploitation.

Long Live International Solidarity of the Working Class!

Down with Capitalism & Imperialism!

Down with Neo-Liberal Imperialist Globalisation!

Long Live Socialism!

CPI(M) declares mayor, deputy mayor candidates for Shimla municipal poll

Tikender Panwar

Sanjay Chauhan

First of the mark, Communist Party of India (Marxists) have announced their candidates for mayors and deputy mayors election for Shimla municipal poll to be held in May. 

District committee secretary Onkar Shad in a communiqué named Sanjay Chauhan as the CPI (M) candidate for mayor and Tikender Panwar for the deputy mayor’s position.The party also declared two other candidates for the ward elections. While Diksha Thakur has been named the party candidate for the Summer Hill ward, Saksham Verma would be contesting from the Nabha ward.

Much importance is being attached to the civic polls as it comes up a few months before the general assembly elections and is being contested on party symbols for the first time.

Breaking from the past, the election for the mayor and deputy mayor post is being held by way of a direct election in the municipality. The municipality has been divided into 23 wards for which councilors would be elected separately.
Courtesy : Hillpost

Victory for Tribal Agitation in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu state government  on Tuesday agreed to launch a special recruitment drive to appoint teachers for tribal residential schools in the wake of the protest organised by the Tamil Nadu Tribals Association in Chennai. Com. Brinda Karat, CPIM P B member who led the protest, said she and the tribals would not leave the city until the government agreed to their demands.

She alleged that the Centre and the State governments, with a few exceptions, deprived tribals of the funds allotted to them under the tribal Sub-Plan. “The governments are not ready to recognise tribes and it is being used as an instrument to deny tribals their resource,” she said, participating in a protest organised by the tribals here. She said tribals in Erode were being denied community certificates after the district was carved out of Coimbatore. She said minerals such as bauxite and iron ore were available aplenty in tribal areas, but the country's mineral wealth was being looted with the resources going to corporate houses, domestic and multi-national.

“In many parts of the world, tribals are stakeholders not only in the surface land, but also sub-surface minerals. But [in India] a Bill pending before a Parliamentary Standing Committee seeks to give funds to the District Mineral Foundation and not to the tribals who are direct stakeholders.”

Even as she was sitting with the protesters, a team of CPI(M) leaders, including Legislature Party leader A. Soundararajan, whip K. Balakrishnan, another MLA Dillibabu, and association president P. Shanmugam held talks with the government. The government side was represented by Speaker D. Jayakumar and Adi Dravidar Welfare Minister N. Subramanian. As the first round of talks failed to make any progress, Revenue Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan held another round of meeting and ended the stalemate.

“The government has agreed to fulfil many of our demands, including special recruitment to select teachers for tribal residential schools,” said Mr. Shanmugam, pointing out that 50 per cent posts were remaining vacant.

When the leaders raised the issue of 21,000 applications, pending with the government, for rights to pattas and use of forest produce vested on the tribals under the Forest Rights Act, the government said over 3,000 applications had been processed and finalised. But the CPI(M) leader wanted the government to consider all the applications. Mr. Shanmugam said the government would take a decision on providing compensation to the Vachathi victims in two days after getting a report from the Dharmapuri Collector. (On June 20, 1992, forest and police officials descended on Vachathi, a tribal hamlet, and committed atrocities on villagers in a raid said to be against sandalwood smuggling.) After the protest, the government agreed to issue community certificates to children if the parents produced genuine certificates. 

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

CPI(M) calls for united struggle against reforms in Andhra Pradesh

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has given a call for a united struggle by farmers and workers against the policies pursued by the Central and State governments. The party city unit organised a meeting at Tummalapalli Kshetrayya Kalakshetram in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

CPI (M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu said that the reforms were pushing the country into crisis. The government's tall assurances that investments would flood the country with reforms turned out be a blatant lie. Across the globe and in US, the people were up in arms against the capitalism, he said. The steep hike in power tariff was a result of the reforms carried out the by the government.

The government dismantled the electricity board into three companies only to encourage private power companies like Lanco, GVK, and Konaseema. The private power companies were looting the State. If the government succeeded in its endeavour to set up private thermal stations from Srikakulam to Nellore, the power would be a dearer commodity. Then, it was not possible to predict how the power tariff would be, he said.

Sompeta, Kakarapalli, and Krishnapatnam agitations were a result of the dissatisfaction of artisans, farmers and tenant farmers who lost their livelihood. The farmers invaded market yard in Warangal to express their anguish and dissatisfaction to the government. The Congress and BJP were sailing on same boat with regard to reforms, he said.

SFI - 14th All India Conference Reception Committee Formed in Madurai

The 14th All India conference of Students Federation of Indian will be held in Madurai on September 4 to 7 . A 601 member Reception Committee was formed with Com. N Sankaraiha as the Honarary President of the Reception Committee. The meeting was presided over by SFI Tamilnadu state President K S Kanakaraj. CPIM State secretary Com. G Ramakrishnan, SFI All India President Com. P K Biju MP, Secretary Com. Rithabrata Banarjee were present during the ocassion. The meeting elected Advocate.R.Vaigai as the chariman of and , Comrade J.Rajmohan as Chairman and Secretary of the Organising committee respecctively. .G.Meenakshi Sundaram was elected the treasurer of the organising commintee. The meeting also elected 56 Vice-Presidents' and 56 Joint-Secretary for the committee.

Comrade N Varadarajan Passes away

Senior CPI(M) leader and former Central Committee member  comrade N. Varadarajan died here on Tuesday at a private hospital after a prolonged illness. Varadarajan, 87, is survived by his wife V Jagadambal and two sons V Kalayanasundaram and V Bharathi.

Comrade Varadarajan who was not keeping well for the past two to three years, had attended the party’s 20th Congress in Kozhikode which concluded on Monday. This morning he complained of uneasiness while he was in the party state committee office in Chennai and was admitted to a private hospital here, where he breathed his last, party sources said.

CPI(M) State Secretary G. Ramakrishnan expressed grief over Mr. Varadarajan’s demise and said it was an “irreparable loss.”

His body was kept at the party’s T. Nagar office for people to pay their respects. It was taken to his hometown Dindigul where the last rites would be performed on Wednesday, the party said in a release. The body will be kept in the party Dindigul district committee office in the morning.

He was born in 1924 in the village of Kambilipattti in Vedanchandhur taluk in Dindugal District. He was the second son of Alamelu and Narayanaswamy. After droping out at 8th standard he joined the Sounderraja Mill as a worker. He was expelled from the job for joining the trade union movement. He became a communist party member in 1943. In 1948 and during the Emergency period he lead underground life for more than 2 years. He was also jailed for a term of 3 years for leading various protests under the banner of communist party. He worked as the secretary of CPIM Dindugal Taluk committee for 19 years. Later he became the district secretary of unified Madurai District Committee. In 1995 he was selected to the party Central Committee. He was elected as the State secretary at the state conference held at Coimbatore in 2002.In the later conferences in 2005 and 2008 he was re elected as the state secretary. He stepdown from the post of state secretary in 2010 February due to health reasons. After that also he was active in the political arena and he played a crucial role in the demolition of Caste wall at uthapuram in Madurai. He was elected to assembly for three times. 1967 from Vedamchandhur constituency and 1970, 1980 from Dindigal Constituency.

CPIM party flag would be flown at half-mast for the next three days as a mark of respect to the departed leader. Peoples from various spectrum came to the Party State committe office, Com P Ramamoorthi Illam to pay tributes to the departed leader. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi and leaders of several other political parties have condoled the death of the Marxist veteran.

Red Salute to the departed Leader of the masses : Team Thunderbolt

CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND PB ELECTED AT THE 20TH PARTY CONGRESS

GENERAL SECRETARY : COM PRAKASH KARAT

Resolutions Passed at the 20th Party Congress of CPIM (Page 5)

18. Ensure Social Security for All Toilers

The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demands that all sections of the toiling people, particularly the vulnerable sections, be brought under the cover of social security. The Central government should allocate adequate financial resources to ensure universal social security.

Social security benefits like pension, provident fund, health insurance etc. are hard won rights of the working class secured through decades of struggle in the twentieth century. These gains are now being reversed through privatisation of pension funds, provident funds and cuts in subsidies and welfare benefits. The neoliberal austerity measures being implemented across the world today specifically target the social security benefits in order to pass on the burden of the economic crisis to the working people.

In India, the overwhelming majority of the 46 crore strong workforce, a large number of them women, is outside the cover of any social security. The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) estimated that 93% of the total workforce was employed in the unorganised sector in 2004-05. The situation has not improved since then, as the NSS 2009-10 data clearly show. This vast mass of people, comprising of the informal sector workers, contractual labourers, self-employed persons, agricultural workers and small peasants, are not entitled to any pension, provident fund or health insurance. The pension schemes for old-aged persons, widows or the disabled persons are so restrictive that the bulk of these vulnerable sections do not benefit from them.

The Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, enacted in 2008 on the eve of the general elections, has thoroughly failed to provide for universal and comprehensive social security. Ten already existing social welfare schemes, most of which cover only the BPL segments of the population, have been extended to the unorganised sector workers. With the ridiculously low BPL criteria of the government, more than 90% of the unorganised sector workers are left out of the purview of these schemes. The important recommendations of the NCEUS for universal coverage have been ignored. Only in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura under the Left Front have sought to implement the recommendations.

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which is mostly restricted to the BPL population. Budget 2012 proposes to spend Rs. 1568 crore on RSBY (including MGNREGA workers) in the current year, which amounts to only around Rs. 550 worth of benefits per worker. Such a token amount will fail to provide any meaningful health insurance coverage. The National Social Security Fund for Unorganised Workers has not been allocated additional funds after the initial allocation of Rs. 1000 crore in 2010.

This Congress holds that health schemes in the name of health security using an insurance model actually channels public funds to private medical sector. India requires a strong public health system which will provide comprehensive health care.

The existing social security cover for the organised sector employees, both in the public and private sectors, is also under threat. The interest rate for the Employees Provident Fund has once again been slashed from 9.5% to 8.25%, affecting millions of workers and employees. The PFRDA Bill seeks to privatise pension funds, allow FDI in the sector and facilitate the investment of pension funds in the speculative stock market.

Under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension scheme, a measly amount of Rs. 400 to Rs. 500 per month is given to old age persons under BPL, out of which the central government bears only Rs. 200 per person. The needs of senior citizens are grossly neglected. Despite repeated demands, the Government has refused to enact legislation to ensure comprehensive social security for the agricultural workers, who are the most exploited. Bulk of the rural poor in India is outside any social security coverage. The paltry budgetary allocations for the social security schemes constrain the capacity of the Central and State governments to expand the coverage of social security. The total Central Plan Outlay for social security and welfare in Budget 2012 was Rs. 18190 crore, which is only around 0.18% of GDP.

The neo-liberal policies pursued by the central government seek to restrict social security to mere tokenism. The 20th Congress of the CPI (M) demands that the government abandon its anti-people approach and make adequate financial allocations to ensure universal coverage of minimum social security benefits comprising of:

• Old age pension above 60 years and extended benefits for senior citizens
• Widow pension
• Maternity benefits etc
• Life and accidental coverage
• Disability allowance
• A public health system tat is adequately financed and accessible to all

These social security benefits should be extended to all sections of the toiling people: the informal sector workers including home-based workers, contractual labourers, self-employed persons, agricultural workers and small peasants. The BPL eligibility criteria for social security should be discarded forthwith.

The 20th Congress of the CPI (M) calls upon all sections of the toiling people to unite and launch sustained struggles to secure their right to social security. 

19.Resolution on Unemployment

The 20th Congress of the CPI (M) expresses deep concern at the failure of the Indian state to ensure adequate employment opportunities for the masses in rural and urban areas. The most recent data point to a grim future for millions of young men and women if the present policies are to continue. It also shows that the much proclaimed growth story of the Indian economy is a jobless and job loss growth.

According to the National Sample Survey data for 2009-10, there is a sharp decrease in employment growth in India, from an annual rate of around 2.7 per cent during 2000-2005 to only 0.8 per cent during 2005-2010. Growth in nonagricultural employment fell from 4.65 per cent per year to 2.53 per cent, even at a time when annual GDP growth was above 8 per cent, during the latter period. The MGNREGA has not been able to ensure more than 40 to 50 days of work per household in a year, despite the statutory commitment to provide 100 days of work.

The unemployment rate for the youth in the 15 to 29 years age group remains at very high levels. For rural young males it was 10.9 per cent and for rural young females 12 percent. The figures in urban areas is equally disturbing, at 10.5 per cent for young men and as high as 18.9 per cent for young women. In both the rural and urban areas, unemployment rate among the educated (secondary and above) persons of 15 years old and above was higher than those whose education level was lower than secondary school.

Even though large numbers of unemployed do not register themselves at the Government employment exchanges, the number of job seekers registered with the 966 employment exchanges across the country stood at a staggering 3.81 crore at the end of 2009, out of which 2.9 crore were educated jobseekers and 90 lakh uneducated jobseekers. As against the registration of over 62 lakh job seekers in 2011, only 4.7 lakh placements were made through employment exchanges.

In this situation of galloping unemployment, the 20th Congress of the CPI (M) strongly protests against the virtual ban on recruitments by the Central Government and public sector units. The 20th Congress also strongly protests against the policy of abolition of vacant posts in various government departments being pursued by the government. There are above 10 lakh vacancies lying unfilled in various central government departments, with the number of unfilled vacancies in the police and defense forces alone amount to over 7 lakh. The number of vacancies in Group C and erstwhile Group D posts in the railways as on 1st April 2011 was over 2.2 lakh. Vacancies also exist for skilled professionals such as teachers, doctors, scientists, statisticians, economists etc. Half of these vacancies belong to SC, ST and OBC categories.

Since the Government which is the main employer in the organized sector refuses to take measures to expand employment opportunities, it is hardly surprising that the total organized sector employment in India was only 2.87 crore in 2010, out of a total workforce of over 46 crore (i.e. around 6%). Employment in the organized sector, public and private combined, has grown by only 2.3 per cent in 2009 and 1.9 per cent in 2010.

This reveals the real nature of India's much proclaimed growth story. An utterly lopsided pattern of growth has meant that while agriculture's share in GDP has declined to just 15 per cent today, the workforce dependent on agriculture still remains as high as 52 per cent. Growth in the services and industrial sectors is failing to generate adequate jobs to absorb surplus workforce from agriculture. Such jobless growth is also creating a growing divide between the urban and the rural areas and widening socio-economic inequalities in an unprecedented manner.

The 20th Congress of the CPI (M) calls upon its units to organize the unemployed people, particularly the youth, and launch agitations on the following demands:

• Lift the ban on recruitment in different Central and State Government departments and PSEs; Stop the policy of abolition of vacant posts and fill all vacancies
• Provide unemployment allowance to the registered unemployed; Modernize employment exchanges
• Expand the scope of the MGNREGA to all individuals (not only to households) and enhance the cap of 100 days
• Initiate Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme at minimum wages with a minimum of one-third jobs reserved for women
• Enhance financial support for self-employment schemes, SHGs and small enterprises
• Release employment data along with quarterly GDP estimates 

20. In Defence of the Rights of the Urban Poor against Anti-People Urban Reforms

 The 20th Party Congress of the CPI (M) notes that while urbanization in many states has picked up in the recent period in our country, the Central Government is imposing a regime of urban reform reflecting the policies of the World Bank. The basic thrust of these policies is to meet the requirements of the neo-rich, the corporate and foreign investors. Considering that the process of urbanization in a country like India also reflects distress migration to the cities of the rural population, these policies have a very negative impact on the vast mass of the urban poor.

Reform projects like the JNNURM; make allocation of funds conditional to the acceptance of anti-people conditions such as the lifting of the urban land ceiling and imposition of a range of user charges on essential civic services. Urban bodies are deprived of funds and the burden of these policies is borne by the common people and particularly the urban poor. Although many State Governments, who are committed to such policies themselves, raise no objections, in fact, the very project is an assault and encroachment on the rights of the States. It is only the Left Front Governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura which had fought against these conditions.

This Party Congress strongly protests against the imposition of high user charges and the constant hike in charges on various municipal services such as water, sanitation, betterment charges ranging from 100 to 1000 per cent. Municipal services which were directly handled by municipalities which were accountable to the people are now being privatized. Various concessions extended to the people are being withdrawn.

This Party Congress notes with deep concern that on the basic right of housing for the urban poor instead of utilizing the available land to meet the housing needs of people, the policy being adopted by the Central Government is resulting in handing over of lands to private real estate operators. Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a recently-introduced scheme, provides an opportunity for the private real estate operators to grab large extent of urban lands which are hitherto with the poor urban slum-dwellers. The RAY, in its preamble, envisages totally slum-free cities. It listed out various categories of land belonging to government or quasi-government institutions, where slums are not permitted. Wherever an exception is to be made, the scheme insists that it should be a PPP model housing only. Taking advantage of this scheme and its related policies, private real estate mafia is resorting to unscrupulous means to drive away the poor from their dwellings to take over the lands. At the same time the Indian Railways and other Central Government institutions which own a substantial amount of land in urban areas are evicting thousands of families who have been living on that land for decades. The police firing and repression in Jharkhand on those resisting evictions resulting in the deaths of six persons and recently the brutal evictions in Kolkata show the anti-poor nature of these reforms.

During the Left Front regime in Bengal, an alternative method of housing for the poor was developed with in situ development of slums in Kolkata and distribution of urban land pattas for the cost of just one rupee. This model should be used all over the country.

This Party Congress calls upon its units in urban areas to take up the wide range of civic issues concerning the urban poor and organize them in their residential areas. This must include the rights of the working poor such as street vendors and migrants. It gives a clarion call for a determined struggle against the harmful urban reforms. 

21. Resolution on Violence against Women

This 20th Congress of the CPI(M) expresses deep concern over the steep escalation in crimes against women, and is alarmed by the barbarity and savagery of the atrocities being committed at a time when women are entering public life, institutions of learning, and diverse work spheres in increasing numbers. The crude commodification of women and the portrayal of women as sex objects in the mass media is highly objectionable and is not only demeaning to women but creates an environment which trivialises the crime of sexual harassment and violence against women.

In the period between 2006 and 2010, crimes against women have registered an increase of as much as 29.3%. While registered cases of domestic violence against women have increased by 5 per cent over the previous year to 94, 041 cases the number of dowry deaths is as high as 8391 in 2010. Yet there is a retrograde campaign to dilute even the inadequate clause 498 at which deals with this issue, which must be resisted. The increase in the number of cases of sexual assault and rape show that the safety and security of women is deeply compromised. There were over 94,000 rape cases registered in 2010, in other words in every hour seven women/children became victims of rape. Many cases go unreported because the victims belong to the poorer socially oppressed sections that have little access to justice. In particular sexual assaults on tribal and dalit women are greatly underreported. Shockingly, the conviction rates in crimes against women are just 26 per cent which means that three fourths of the criminals get away scot-free. The failure to punish the criminals and the long delay in the judicial process is undoubtedly one of the reasons for the increase in rapes and gang rapes being witnessed in several parts of the country.

This Party congress condemns the failure of the Central Government to make the essential changes in the legal framework even though Bills are pending for several years. India is one of the few countries which do not have a special law against child sexual abuse even though such crimes are increasing. Working women face increased cases of sexual harassment at the workplace, including horrific cases against young women in the IT sector, yet twelve years after the Supreme Court guidelines in the Vishakha case, the Government has still not enacted the required law. Even though crimes in the name of honour have increased the Government has refused to enact a comprehensive legislation because of powerful casteist lobbies.

This Party Congress protests against the anti- women and utterly insensitive statements made by some political leaders who blame the victim or who call into question the veracity of her complaint. Recent outrageous statements by the West Bengal Chief Minister calling complaints of rape a political conspiracy against her Government, even while the investigation confirmed the truth of the victims' complaints are an assault on the rights of victims for justice. In Karnataka the ruling party, the BJP has refused to take criminal action against Ministers watching pornographic films during the Assembly session. In Rajasthan, the Congress Government initially did its best to shield a senior Minister and MLAs from charges of sexual exploitation and subsequent murder of a dalit health worker who threatened to expose their misdemeanors. The law gets compromised and victim becomes doubly victimized by such insensitivity and blatant bias by some political leaders and officials.

This Congress demands sound, effective legal intervention to enforce time bound punishment of the guilty. The social, political, and economic factors leading to escalating violence against women must also be addressed in a comprehensive and gender sensitive manner.

The 20th Party Congress of the CPI (M) reiterates its commitment to fight against the increasing violence against women and for stringent punishment to the criminals in all such cases.

Resolutions Passed at the 20th Party Congress of CPIM (Page 4)

13. Resolution on Increasing Contractorisation of Workers

The 20th Congress of the CPI (M) expresses its deep concern and strongly protests, against the increasing contractorisation of workers in various sectors of the economy which has resulted in a manifold increase in the exploitation of workers, by keeping wage costs down and denying workers their minimum rights.

Shamefully, it is the Central and many State Governments in pursuit of neo-liberal policies which have taken the lead in imposing contractorisation of the workforce. In the name of making industries competitive and attracting investments, the Central Government has permitted the gross violation of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 by the private and public sector. The Act prohibits employment of contract workers in jobs of a perennial nature, but in practice this is what is happening and has become wide spread, not only in the manufacturing and service sectors but also in Government services. In the unorganized sector, the practice is rampant.

In Public Sector units, the contractor workers share in the total workforce is more than 50% and in the Private Sector it is more than 80%. As per a recent survey by a Government organization, there are more than 3.6 crores of contract workers under licensed contractors. Keeping in view the mushrooming growth of unlicensed contractors the total number of contract workers will be more than 5 crores.

Contract workers are denied even the legal minimum wages and other statutory social security benefits like ESI, PF. While contract workers are deployed along with regular workers in regular activities of the establishment, their wages are always paltry. In some cases, the contract worker gets one-tenth of the wages of a regular worker, for doing similar work.

The majority of these workers are denied the right to organize. The immediate threat of losing their jobs and income if they unionise ensures that they remain vulnerable to intense exploitation. In particular women contract workers often become victims to harassment and sexual abuse.

Trade Unions in the country have been demanding amendments to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act to ensure regularization of contract workers in perennial nature of jobs, and to end the collusion of employers and enforcement authorities, so as to ensure proper implementation of the law. Pending the legal changes required, trade unions have demanded that contract workers should be paid wages equal to that of a regular worker with other social security benefits so as to end the cruel exploitation prevalent now.

The 20th Congress of CPI(M) extends full support to the struggles of Contractor Workers and Trade Unions on their just demands of ending this exploitative contractor system in regular jobs. The fight against capitalism in its neo liberal phase requires an understanding of how the widespread nature of the contract worker system is functioning as an instrument to intensify the exploitation of labour and further push down the subsistence wage to maximise profits.

As a party of the working class, the CPIM calls upon it's units to launch a widespread campaign against contractualisation of the labour force as part of the party's political platform and to help to mobilize contract workers for their rights and for justice.  

14. On the Demand for Land Reform

The 20th Party Congress of the CPI(M) expresses its strong opposition to the present policies of reverse land reform, that is, the dispossession of the peasantry from their land, and the efforts to facilitate corporate takeover of land, including fertile agricultural land. This is reflected in the Approach document of the 12th Five Year Plan which encourages reverse leasing for consolidation of the landholdings and encourages corporate farming. In many States land ceiling laws have been changed to permit this.

There is extreme concentration of ownership of agricultural holdings in India As the NSSO report on landholdings shows, just 3.5 per cent of landowners own 37.72 per cent of the land. On the other hand, there is a shocking increase in the number of landless peasant households, from 22 per cent in 1992 to 41 per cent today. Clearly, agrarian distress, mainly for the small and marginal peasants, aggravated by neo-liberal economic policies, has forced the rural poor sections to sell their assets, including land and livestock and join the army of migrants in search of livelihoods, while the richer landed classes have benefited.

Although the UPA Government, under pressure from the Left parties, had included a commitment for land reform and distribution in its programme in 2004, it has refused to act even on the recommendations of the official committee report titled "An Unfinished Agenda of Land Reforms."

It has been estimated that the potential of surplus land over the ceilings is 21 million hectares. Of this, only a fraction has been declared surplus, and even less actually distributed.

In contrast, the Left-led Governments in Tripura at present and in West Bengal and Kerala, when they were in office still hold the record for the best and most effective programmes of land reform. In West Bengal, over 11 lakh acres of land were distributed to landless families. Over 10 lakh families were given homestead land. Over 15 lakh sharecroppers were recorded and given inalienable rights. Women benefited through joint pattas and also land titles for single women.The total number of families who benefited from land reform in West Bengal alone will exceed 45 lakh two-thirs of whome were SC ST or from minority communities, which accounts for 48 percent of total land reform beneficiaries in the country. In Kerala, due to land reforms, 26 lakh tenants got land and 5.5 lakh families got 10 cents of land each and homestead rights. The last LDF Government launched a campaign to provide homestead land and houses to all homeless families in the State under the EMS Housing Scheme and set the construction of 5 lakh houses as a policy target. It undertook to distribute a minimum of one acre of land to all landless tribal families, to distribute surplus and waste land to the landless poor, and to provide land possession documents and title deeds (patta) to peasants in hilly regions. Tripura has the best record in the country in distribution of land to tribals and in making these lands economically viable. The Central Government itself has had to admit that the implementation of rights guaranteed to tribals under the Forest Rights Act has been best implemented in Tripura by the Left led Government.

On the one hand the redistributive agenda of Land Reforms is not being taken up in most States despite the concentration of land in few hands and increasing landlessness. On the other hand, large scale forcible acquisitions and the conversion of agricultural and forest land into land for SEZs, mining, for corporates and the real estate promoters is taking place. Tribal communities are particularly badly affected. Several States have amended land ceiling laws and land use rules to facilitate this. In some States even where dalits have been given pattas they have not been given possession of the land, while in other cases like in Tamilnadu, they are being evicted.

The proposed Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act to replace the draconian 1894 Land Acquisition Act, is totally inadequate and does not afford sufficient protection to the peasantry against forcible land acquisition and in fact gives exemptions to as many as 16 laws related to acquisition in areas like mining, SEZs, railways, national highways etc. where compensation provisions will not apply.

This Party Congress opposes the Bill in its present form and demands that it be redrafted according to the suggestions made by democratic organization of the kisans and tribals.

This Congress asserts that no redressal of the problems of the vast majority is possible without altering the correlation of forces in the rural countryside. The inequitous agrarian structure has been an obstacle to unleashing the productive forces, to enhanced productivity, to the modernization of agriculture and to rural development in general. The concentration of land in few hands and the hierarchical power relations revolving around caste, which are reinforced by inequality in land holdings, has also led to widening disparities in income and wealth.

The 20th Congress of the CPI(M) considers that resolving the land question and implementing thoroughgoing land reforms by breaking the land monopoly is central to the emancipation of the rural poor. Carrying out land reform is important to break the continuing caste, gender and other types of social oppression in rural areas.

The 20th Congress of the CPI(M) calls for mobilizing the landless and the rural poor to organize struggles for land distribution and for breaking land monopolies.  

15. Demand for Legal Mechanism to Implement Sub-Plan and Employment Quotas

The 20th Party Congress of the CPI (M) notes with concern that the 1980 Planning Commission guidelines for allocation of budgetary resources for the development of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in proportion to their population has remained only on paper. Whereas the allocations for STs should be at least 8.2 per cent of the budgetary allocation for the central plan and the allocations for SCs should be at least 16.2 per cent, in this budget as previous ones also, the allocations are roughly half of what it should be. The shortfall for the three years since 2010 for the TSP is over 30,000 crores rupees, while for the SCSP it is at least 72751 crores rupees.

The special component sub-plan for SCs and STs is to make up the huge gaps that exist between dalits and tribals on the one hand and the general population on the other. Residential areas and villages of tribals and dalits reflect a most shocking deprivation of minimum civic rights and facilities with no infrastructure or social development. Thus the wanton violation of these guidelines has a direct impact of intensifying the grave injustices perpetrated on dalit and tribal communities. It is shameful that lakhs of crores of rupees have been either cut or diverted in the last decade from the funds accruing for ST and SC development. It is a similar situation with shortfalls in most State budget.

The 20th Party Congress also notes with concern that the constitutional mandate for reservation of jobs in the Government sector is not being implemented with a huge backlog in ST and SC quotas. With the drastic cutback in employment in Government and public sector recruitment, the opportunities for employment in the organised sector for SCs and STs are shrinking. At the same time, in spite of assurances the Government has failed to ensure employment of SCs and STs in the private sector. At present they are employed only in menial jobs and as contract or casual workers.

Thus while the private sector takes full advantage of Government largesse, it refuses to shoulder any social responsibilities. 80 per cent of investments in private sector industries are from public sector banks, they are provided land, electricity, water, transport, infrastructure, tax concessions etc by the governments. As per Union Budget 2012-13, the central government has bestowed Rs 5, 28,000 crores on corporates in the form of taxes foregone. Despite drawing so much of public money and profiteering from it, these private corporate want to escape from the constitutional mandate of reserved quotas for SCs and STs.

In view of these realities,
The 20th Party Congress demands:

• A legal mechanism to ensure mandatory implementation of the Planning Commission guidelines for implementation of sub-plan and special component plan for STs and SCs respectively.
• A legal mechanism to ensure that backlog in jobs in Government and public sector are filled within a timeframe to be specified
• A new legislation to ensure reservations in the private sector.

It calls on the Party at all levels to build united struggles for these just demands of the STs and SCs. 

16.  On Central Government's Mineral Policies and for Tribal Rights

The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses it strong opposition to the mineral mining policies being followed by the Central Government which have led to the loot and plunder of the country's natural resources. Instead of holding the mineral wealth in Public Trust for the long term benefit of the country and her people, the Government has misused its absolute and arbitrary powers to provide huge profits and windfall gains to private mining companies, global and national, while exploiting and dispossessing the masses dependent on these lands. While the Central and State Governments legally maintain ownership of the mineral resources they have in fact virtually handed over all prospecting as well as extraction rights to private companies.

The Central Government while granting mining leases has fixed extremely low royalty rates. The mining companies have made huge profits. For example the Central Government has recently fixed the royalty for iron ore at just 10 per cent of the value of the mined iron ore, whereas even in a country like Australia, the royalty is a minimum of 30 per cent. Royalty in India is equally low for other major minerals.

Much of the mineral wealth is under land occupied either collectively or individually by tribal communities or under common property resources like forests and in Fifth Schedule areas. International conventions adopted by the United Nations as well as the International Labour Organization have recognized the rights of tribal communities on land and surface and sub-surface resources. Many countries including Canada, Brazil, South Africa and Australia have been forced to at least acknowledge in different ways the rights of indigenous communities on mineral wealth in their respective countries.

But in India, where an overwhelming majority of mines are located in adivasi areas, the tribal's have not only been denied these rights but have been driven out of their lands through forcible acquisition or denied access. The spirit of the Samatha judgment of the Supreme Court to recognize tribal ownership rights has been ignored. The legal requirement under PESAA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996) and the Forest Rights Act for consent of the gram sabha is blatantly violated. On the contrary even where the gram sabha has opposed a particular project, the land is forcibly acquired as for example in the bauxite rich tribal areas in Vishakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh and Kalahandi in Orissa.

In the face of growing resistance by tribal communities, the Central Government is proposing an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Act) 2011, to make it mandatory for companies to give funds for tribal development in districts where they have mining leases. The funds are to be put in a District Mineral Foundation Fund which will be under the administration. Coal companies are to give 26 per cent of their profits to the Fund. Companies mining other major minerals are to pay only the equivalent of annual royalty, which is a pittance. The earlier proposal to ensure profit sharing for all mining was shelved under pressure from the mining magnates. Now, in the name of "sharing" the benefits, the amendment could become the gateway for further liberalization to for companies to enter tribal areas and loot the wealth.

The 20th Party Congress holds that this proposal is nothing but tokenism which does not address the basic issue of the rights of tribal's to be recognized as stakeholders in the mineral wealth. The control of the use of the fund in the hands of the bureaucracy also makes a mockery of the process of consultation and consent.

The 20th Party Congress demands a complete reversal of the present policies of the Government on mineral mining.

It demands that the Government must not hand over mineral wealth of the country to private companies through leases or user rights or any other mechanism. Prospecting and mining should be undertaken only by the Government through the public sector or fully state owned enterprises after securing prior informed consent from the Gram Sabhas of communities who use these lands. The Government must also legally recognize the ownership as well as usufructuary rights of tribal's through an appropriate mechanism. It demands suitable amendments in the pending Bill to include these rights.

It calls upon party units, particularly in affected States where tribals are being displaced from land in the name of mining, to launch resistance struggles for these demands and for tribal rights.  

17. On Sri Lankan Tamil Issue

he 20th Congress of the CPI(M) expresses deep concern at the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The Tamil people living in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka suffered heavy losses and casualties during the last phase of the armed conflict with LTTE. Thousands of civilians, men, women and children died during the hostilities. Lakhs of people were displaced from their homes.

Even three years after the armed conflict has come to an end, the Sri Lankan government has not undertaken fully the resettlement and rehabilitation of the people in their areas and providing them with the means of livelihood.

Despite the evidence of atrocities against the people and serious human rights violations, the Sri Lankan government has not taken any serious measures to investigate such crimes and to fix responsibility. Even the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission set up by the government have not been implemented.

The Tamil people can live with dignity and equal rights within a united Sri Lanka only when there is a political settlement based on the provision of autonomy and devolution of powers for the Tamil-speaking areas. Here again, despite assurances given by the Rajapakse government, so far, no meaningful steps have been taken. Instead of arriving at a settlement through direct talks, the matter has been referred to a Parliamentary Select Committee.

The CPI (M) stands for a united Sri Lanka in which the Tamil minorities can live in peace and harmony with the majority Sinhala community. The Party appeals to all democratic forces in Sri Lanka to ensure a political solution to the Tamil question.

The Congress urges the Indian government to make all necessary political and diplomatic efforts to see that:

• The full rehabilitation and resettlement of the Tamil people is expeditiously undertaken
• The Sri Lankan government conducts an independent and credible enquiry into the human rights violations and to establish accountability
• A political settlement is reached based on devolution of powers to the Northern and Eastern Provinces