Left cadres protest against price rice across the country

Cadres of Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged demonstrations at different places in Tamilnadu on Monday urging the Central government to bring about changes in the Food Security Bill and take steps to implement the demands put forth by the Left parties with respect to public distribution system. The demonstrations were held at places including Tiruverumbur, Manachanallur, Thuraiyur, Lalgudi, Uppiliapuram, Musiri, Thottiyam and Manikandam. The demonstrators urged the Centre not to stop the benefits given under the public distribution system to several States including Tamil Nadu under the garb of food security.

They also demanded the Centre not to reduce the quota of essential commodities such as rice and kerosene given through ration shops and ensure distribution of LPG cylinders without any delay. Payment of reasonable procurement price for agricultural products as prescribed by the M.S. Swaminathan Committee; distribution of 35 kilograms of rice under public distribution system; issue of ration cards to all families and firm action against smuggling of rice were part of the demand.

Hundreds of workers and supporters of Left parties CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc were arrested by the police during a rally in front of the Orissa State Assembly on Monday while they were demanding food security for all the citizens of the country.

More than a thousand of supporters and members of the State committees of these parties staged the rally after taking out a procession from the Master Canteen Square to the Lower PMG Square to demand right to food through a universal public distribution system (PDS).

The Left parties would also stage another rally on Tuesday demanding food security, said CPI Bhubaneswar zone secretary Sura Jena.

In their five-point charter of demands, the Left parties urged the Government for adopting a universal PDS by scrapping the present classification under the BPL and APL systems. Blaming the ‘highly dubious’ poverty estimates of the Planning Commission, leaders of the parties said the Government should discard such wrong estimates. They also demanded that the Government implement the Swaminathan Committees’ recommendations to protest farmers and to take steps on war footing to control the price rise.

CPI(M) politburo member and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suryakant Mishra, Odisha CPI(M) secretary Janardan Pati, CPI State secretary Dibakar Nayak, Forward Bloc State secretary Santosh Mitra, Jagatsinghpur CPI MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai, Chhatrapur CPI MLA Adikand Sethi and veteran CPI(M) leader Sivaji Patnaik led the rally.