Economic recovery may be accompanied by rise in prices of essential items

Eminent economist and Vice-Chairman of Kerala State Planning Board Prabhat Patnaik has said that expectations that the international financial system is “now stabilising is likely to prove illusory.”

He was speaking at a seminar on the global economic crisis, organised by the Suryanarayana Rao Social and Educational Trust, in Bangalore on Sunday to commemorate the 85th birth anniversary of trade union leader and freedom fighter S. Suryanarayana Rao.

Prof. Patnaik said although governments all over the world had attempted to provide support to their beleaguered financial systems, “their real economy remains mired in a deep recession.” He said that even if the global economy recovered it was likely to be accompanied by a sharp increase in the prices of essential commodities such as cereals and petroleum products. He pointed out that speculative forces controlled the marketfor these commodities.

Prof. Patnaik warned that the sharp increase in prices of cereals and agricultural commodities might lay the basis for the entry of multinational agri-business corporations into developing markets. This may result in small peasants being thrown off their land. “You do not have to kill peasants to keep inflation down,” he remarked.

Prof. Patnaik suggested that focusing Government expenditure in areas that resulted in the expansion of food output may not prove inflationary. Other measures that would indirectly help small peasants — in areas such health and education — would also enable them to increase their productivity. This, he said, would ensure that Government expenditure did not result in inflation.

Prof. Patnaik said speculative activity had always played a major role in the modern free market capitalist economy. “Speculators”, he argued, “are not interested in permanent investments, they are only interested in making capital gains.”

However, speculative activity, especially in financial assets, had an impact on the real economy. “This results in employment levels in the economy being dependent on the whims of speculative investors.”

Prof. Patnaik said the “obsession with fiscal deficits” is a result of the clout exercised by financial interests. “Why does this section oppose deficits even if they result in the expansion of output and employment?” he asked. He explained that these sections opposed higher deficits because they resulted in expansion in the role of the State and thus “undermine the social legitimacy of the capitalist system.”

R.C. Purohit, former president, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), said that speculative activity in futures trading had an impact on the actual prices of foodgrains in India. Although foodgrain stocks with the Government had increased by 16 million tonnes in the last year, it had had no effect on curbing inflation, he said.

CPIM State secretary V.J.K. Nair, presided over the meeting.

(The Hindu)

CITU protest in Mangalore City

MANGALORE Sept 4: The Construction Workers Federation of India(CWFI) and the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) on Thursday took out a rally in the city and a protest meeting in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office. About 200 labourers from the construction industry participated in the event.

They first took out a procession in the city from Light house hill road to the Deputy Commissioner's office in the heavy rains and held a demonstration there. They were demanding higher wages, medical insurance and many other facilities and social security schemes.

President of the State CWFI Mr. B. Madhava on this occasion said that the construction workers were given raw deal by the government and it has failed to ensure that all construction works exceeding 10 lakhs to reserve 1 per cent towards the welfare schemes for the labourers. The state government has also failed to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion of construction workers as a result thousands of workers were not getting the benefits of the financial inclusion like loans, medical benefits and educational facilities for their children.

Mr. Madhava said the BJP government was more intersted in fanning communal issues rather than looking after the interests of the workers.

The workers later presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to send their appeal to the central government.

(Courtesy : mangalorean.com)

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF FOOD MOVEMENT COMMEMORATED - 31ST AUGUST RALLY AT KOLKATA

A Mammoth Rally Of Determination

Kolkata: August 31, 2009,India News Network (INN): It was a rally of determination – a determination to counter the forces of anarchy and violence running riot in the state of West Bengal targeting the Left Front. As hundreds of thousands of people marched into the heart of Kolkata, the central business district of Esplanade to participate in a Left Front organised mass rally commemorating the 50th anniversary of the martyrs of food movement, one could sense this resolve among the rallyists. It was writ large on their faces.

In the backdrop of Shaheed Minar chowk, these rallyists were not only paying homage to the 80 martyrs who fell at this very place to the brutal lathis of the then Congress government led by B C Roy on this day in 1959, they were also remembering the 276 comrades who were killed by reactionary forces ranging from the ultra left 'Maoist' goons to Trinamuli lumpens to ultra right BJP goons during the period since the seventh Left Front government assumed office in 2006. A two minute silence was observed by the masses in memory of the martyrs.

Family members of these martyrs – some of who were young widows, brothers, mothers, fathers and a few young kids – were prominently seated on both sides of the dais on specially erected platforms. There were also a few among them who were part of that rally in 1959 and who surivived that brutal repression. The dais itself was erected in such a manner that it could be seen, at least partially, from all the six roads leading into and passing the Dorina crossing near Esplanade. This very place was soaked in blood of the 80 martyrs who were part of the 3 lakh strong rally against skyrocketing prices of essential foodgrains on August 31, 1959. The family members of martyrs were honoured by the Left Front chairman Biman Basu at the start of the proceedings. Both the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Basu interacted with the family members before the start of the public meeting in a gesture that touched the rallyists.



And as for the strength of the gathering, one could see the crowds as far as the vision permitted, jampacked on all the six roads around the venue. Even after one hour into the public meeting, streams of rallies from Kolkata and North 24 Paraganas districts were still pouring in and there was no space. We watched senior leaders and former MPs leading their contingents from the districts in huge processions. With this rally being the first organised by the Left Front after the Lok Sabha elections, and coming in the wake of murderous assaults on CPI(M) workers/sympathisers, it provided an opportunity to the cadre and supporters of the Left to assert their resistance to the politics of anarchy and terror.

CPI(M) veteran leader Jyoti Basu, who was the leader of opposition during the 1959 events, in a written speech that was read out by Biman Basu, recalled the 'historic mass movement' and said that despite the killings and atrocities of the then Congress government “we did not surrender”. Today also the common people were facing hardships due to skyrocketing prices of essential commodities due to centre's policies. He accused the opposition parties in West Bengal and 'Maoists' of stalling development through anarchy and terror. He called upon Left Front workers to pledge to fight this anarchy and terror and expressed confidence that “people would not bow down to anarchy and would realise who was their friend and who their foe”. Referring to the recent Lok Sabha election results, Basu said “Many people have voted against us. We have to correct our mistakes. We have to bring them back to our fold. We have also to regain their confidence. The people are our hope in difficult times”. Accusing the Trinamul Congress, Congress and 'Maoists' of killing CPI(M) workers, setting their houses and Party offices on fire, Basu said “We have to counter it by mobilising the people. We should not lose confidence on the people”.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in his speech said that even after 62 years after the British left, our country has not got freedom from hunger. He blamed successive Congress governments for the agrarian crisis and consequently the food crisis. Despite tall talk of 'green revolution', the people do not get square meal a day. The present Congress government at the centre has admitted that 30 crore people in the country go to bed hungry. Even while the food production is declining alarmingly, huge speculation is taking place in forward trading which is resulting in the skyrocketing of prices of essential commodities.. The chief minister attacked the central government for not heeding the Left parties consistent demand to ban this forward trading. He asserted that the Left Front government in Bengal would take all possible steps within its ambit to provide relief to the people from this price rise. He announced that apart from providing rice at Rs 2 per kg, edible oil and sugar would also be supplied through Public Distribution Scheme not only for BPL cardholders but for the entire people, including middle classes in the coming months of festive season. He said it is a difficult task but the Left Front government would undertake it.

Charging the Trinamul and 'Maoists' of trying to create a 'fascist environment' in the state with their politics of terror, murder and intimidation, Buddhadeb asserted that this situation would not be allowed to continue. He said these forces were using the typical fascistic method of trying to create confusion among the poor and middle classes and called upon the poor not to be confused and give in to these fascistic forces. He also appealed to the youth to decide on which side they were – whether on the side of anarchy or the side of progress represented by the Left Front. He called upon the LF workers to take a pledge to move forward with vigour after this mammoth rally.

CPI(M) state secretary and LF chairman Biman Basu in his speech blamed the neo-liberal policies of the central government for the present agrarian and food crises. These policies being pushed by the imperialists needed to be countered through a simultaneous fight against imperialists. He criticised the media for indulging in Goebbelesian propaganda against the Left Front in order to break the unity of the working people. He called upon the cadre to be alert to such nefarious designs. He also called for greater unity among the Left Front in order to take on these challenges.

Leaders of various Left Front constituents also spoke on this occasion. A large contingent of leading intellectuals and artists were present in the meeting.

(Courtesy : http://westbengalnews.blogspot.com/)

A left turn in Japan

Written by Frederik Ohsten
Friday, 28 August 2009

Prime Minister Taro Aso recently dissolved the Japanese parliament, and has called for elections to be held on the 30 August. All signs point to the ruling party, the bourgeois Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), losing power for the first time since 1955 - excluding a 10-month period at the beginning of the 1990s. Right-wing observers are now talking about a ”political revolution” in Japan.

An interesting article in The New York Times talks of a “broad upwelling of frustration” in Japanese society. The article states that the frustrations are beginning to express themselves politically, seeing as the ruling party is almost certainly going to lose power. Japanese politics has seemed stable for decades, since the same party has been in government for more than 50 years. This makes the current change all the more interesting, and significant.

The New York Times article points to the economy as the decisive factor. The headline “Economy spells trouble for leading party in Japan” alone states this clearly. The article quotes a professor of economy, Masary Kaneko from the Keiko University in Tokyo:

“Voters are finally being pushed into action because their livelihoods are starting to crumble.” The article states that the current wave of mass layoffs following the economic crisis has been the decisive factor.

Living standards are falling

According to the World Bank, the average household income has also fallen to a 19-year low. The nation’s per capita gross domestic product declined from the third highest in the world in 1991 to 18th last year. Throughout the last period, ordinary Japanese people have seen an increasingly insecure economic situation.

Since 1990, there has been a large rise in temporary work contracts. Post-war Japan was known as a country where you worked at the same place all your life, and where layoffs and unemployment were basically relatively unknown phenomena. All social measures, even housing, were handled through the workplace. This underlines the seriousness of losing your job in Japan.

Unemployment

These days a third of all workers in Japan are hired on flexible and temporary contracts - if they even have a job. 216,000 workers have been laid off since October last year. The youth have been hit especially hard, as they are the ones with most flexible contracts. In May, the unemployment rate for youth between the ages of 15 and 24 rose to 9 percent. That is almost double the average unemployment rate.

The temporary and flexible workers also receive a lower salary than their contracted colleagues. At factories like Toyota and Canon, they receive less than half. In this way the Japanese capitalists hope to divide and weaken the working class.

Safety disappeared

The Japanese economy is fast in decline. The Japanese economy fell at an annualised rate of 15.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, its steepest decline on record. Even if later quarters should help to cushion the fall (which is far from certain), we are still talking about a dramatic and steep fall, which has shaken the consciousness of broad layers of the Japanese working class and youth. All sense of comfort has vaporised like water on a red-hot frying pan.

Meanwhile, working conditions have also deteriorated and wages have dropped. The number of Japanese earning less than 2 million yen per year (15,000 euro) has risen to more than 10 million. The conditions at large factories like Toyota and Canon have become even more unbearable. Most Japanese still remember the story of a 45-year-old worker at Toyota, who died because he had been pressured to work 80 hours of overtime every month. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. In Japanese there is a word for “sudden death due to overtime” – karoshi. This fact shows the inhumane pressure that ordinary Japanese workers suffer.

Communists gain

It is this atmosphere of merciless pressure on the working class, together with a sudden wave of mass layoffs, which has started a change in the political landscape of Japan. It now seems likely that second biggest party – the bourgeois Democratic Party (DPJ) will take office after the elections in August. Opinion polls give this party around 30 per cent of the votes, as against 20 percent for the LDP.

However, what is really interesting is the clear shift to the left, which can be seen in the support for the Communist Party, the JCP. The JCP is set to surpass the New Komeito Party, a Buddhist conservative party in coalition with LDP. This will make the JCP the third largest party in Japan.

Youth turn Communist

According to an article in the Telegraph, the JCP has gained 14,000 members over the last 18 months. One in four of these new members is under the age of 18. This indicates a clear shift to the left amongst Japanese youth. This is a generation that grew up without having experienced the relative stability and sense of safety that existed in Japan during the post-war boom. This generation has only experienced hard conditions – conditions that have led important layers of the youth to come to revolutionary conclusions.

The JCP daily, Akahata, (the Red Flag) has also increased in circulation in the last period. The paper now has a circulation of 1.6 million copies. The JCP claims well over 400,000 members in 25,000 branches. This makes the JCP the second largest Communist Party in the G8-countries, only the Russian Communist Party is bigger.

Literary socialism

The growing support for the JCP is interpreted even by conservative commentators as a clear sign of the desire for radical change in society. A 42-year-old worker form a Tokyo-based transport company said: "Companies are only interested in their profits and protecting their management. They do not care about their staff. They see us as disposable."

This worker voted for the New Komeito Party in the last elections, but now he has turned to the JCP.

The shift to the left is also apparent in literature. A classical Japanese novel, Kanikosen, written 80 years ago by Takiji Kobayashi, a communist who was murdered by the state, about a group of workers at a crab-factory ship in northern Japan, struggling against the employers, has become a best-seller. It has sold well over 500,000 copies. A manga comic with the same story has sold more than 200,000 copies.

Karl Marx’s Capital has also been published as a manga comic. 6000 copies were sold in the first two days alone after it was published.

JCP leaders steer right

At the same time as this shift to the left is taking place in society, the leaders of the JCP have maintained a course to the right. These leaders openly state that they do not want a socialist revolution, but a “democratic revolution” to make “democratic changes in politics and the economy”.

The party leaders, such as former party Chairman, Fuwa Tetsuzo, are talking about “achieving socialism in Japan in stages” and “following a course towards socialism through a market economy.”

The leaders of the JCP will be pressured by objective conditions. Japanese capitalism is in a deep crisis. In such a period, the open declarations of the JCP leaders in favour of the market economy means accepting sackings, wage decreases and cuts in the public sector. That is the exact opposite of what the party’s supporters want. The new generation of communists want to fight for radical change, while at the same time, the leaders do everything they can to stay within the boundaries of the status quo. This is a finished recipe for internal struggle in the JCP.

The DPJ will be discredited sooner rather than later when they take office. They will only be elected due to the hatred of LDP. Those voters who want to kick the LDP out of office in order to achieve “something else” will find that the DPJ is just another ruling class party. This will mean even bigger opportunities for the JCP. In order to enable the JCP to take advantage of these opportunities, and offer an alternative to unemployment, poverty and the capitalist crisis, a clear defence of the working class is needed. This can only be done on the basis of real communist policies – a return to Marxism. During the course of events, through experience, more and more people in and around the JCP will, without doubt, be drawn in direction of the ideas of Marxism.

(courtesy : www.marxists.com)

Resolution Adopted at The Convention on Right to Food

This Convention for the Right to Food and against Price Rise

Expresses deep concern

At the relentless rise in the prices of essential commodities. The prices of rice, wheat, edible oil, and salt have risen by 12 per cent to 20 per cent, and the prices of some vegetables have doubled. The cost of pulses has more than doubled, and the price of arhar (tur) dal is now Rs 100 a kilo. Sugar at Rs 30 a kilo is the consumer’s bitter lot. The widespread distress caused by high prices will be intensified by the scourge of drought, which has hit crores of rural families in at least 246 districts (as on 20th August 2009) in India. India has more food-deprived and malnourished people than any other country in the world, and is ranked 66 out of 88 countries with respect to the World Hunger Index compiled by a United Nations organization. The current rise in food prices, which puts food out of the reach of a vast majority of the people particularly poor women and children, serves to worsen the situation.
This Convention for the Right to Food and against Price Rise

Holds
The policies of the Central Government responsible for the price rise. These policies include

• the pre-budget hike in the prices of petrol by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 a litre; ·
• the refusal to ban futures trade in essential commodities, leading to speculation (reflected in the high increase in the transaction in futures trade) and higher prices;
  
• weakening the public distribution system and making cuts of up to 73 per cent in allocations of food grain for APL sections to the States in the last two years;
  
• granting, under pressure from sugar lobbies, permission to export sugar, thus causing shortages and high prices;
  
• failing to ensure – by means of public investment in infrastructure, the provision of affordable credit, inputs 1 and extension services, and remunerative support prices to farmers – self-sufficiency in the production of a range of crops, including cereals, sugarcane, pulses and oil seeds, thus causing shortages, high prices and dependence on imports.

Reiterates
The need for a change in these policies

Emphasizes
The urgency for a food security legislation that will meet the globally accepted definition of food security for a household, which is: “access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.” Such legislation must be brought without delay.
That food security cannot be linked to faulty poverty estimates made from time to time by the Planning Commission but must be recognised as a universal right. When the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector has estimated from NSS data that 77 per cent of India’s population spends less than 20 rupees a day, anything short of recognition of the right to food as a universal right and terminating the targeted PDS, which has excluded large sections of the poor from the public distribution system, is gross injustice.

This Convention for the Right to Food and against Price Rise

Considers inadequate and ill-conceived
The Government proposal for legislation as elaborated in a note circulated to all State Governments,

and opposes the specific proposals to:

(1) limit food security benefits to those whom the Planning Commission declares to be “below the poverty line,” an aggregate that represents massive statistical underestimation. Under this proposal, all rights to decide poverty estimates are to be vested in the Central Government, even though State Government estimates of below-poverty-line households, which total around 11.5 crore households, are more than 40 per cent higher than those of the Central Government. In other words, large sections of the poorwill be legally excluded from the right to food.

(2) cut down family quotas from 35 kg to 25 kg.

(3) get rid of the Antyodaya scheme, thus depriving the poorest of the poor of the benefits they receive today. Consequently, the price at which rice is sold to Antyodaya families will be raised from Rs 2 a kilo to Rs 3 a kilo, and the amount of rice they receive under the scheme reduced by 10 kilos a month.

(4) eliminate all subsidies and access to the public distribution system for all APL households, which means that any person earning more than a meagre Rs 11.80 a day in rural areas and Rs.
17.80 a day in urban areas will be out of the Public Distribution System and will be left to the mercy of the market and uncontrolled prices.

(5) restrict the legal entitlement to rice and wheat and exclude other essential commodities such as sugar, pulses, edible oil, and kerosene. Many States, for example, Kerala, have made other
essential commodities available at subsidised rates.

This Convention for the Right to Food and against Price Rise

Asserts
That such legislation as has been proposed will lead not to food security, but to food insecurity. Indeed, it has been estimated that cuts in the present allocations as proposed by the Central Government will lead to a saving of at least Rs 4,000 crore. India still proposes to spend only 1.18 per cent of its GDP – budgeted at Rs. 52,489 crore in 2009-10 – on crucial food subsidies, a share that is less than in many other countries of the world. Financial constraints can never be an excuse to curtail the right to food, and even less so when the Government is prepared to forgo taxes worth Rs 4 lakh crore rupees in a single year, as in the 2009-2010 budget, by means of concessions to corporates. According to one estimate, concessions to corporates in the last two years have amounted to Rs 700 crore a day! The annual amount of tax foregone is many times more than the cost of a universal public distribution system.

Regrets

That the Government has not sufficiently included the rights and concerns of farmers in the proposed food security legislation. On the contrary, instead of policy measures geared to increase food grain production and procurement, including the production and procurement of cereals such as ragi, jowar, bajra, and their distribution through the PDS where such grains are the preferred choice of consumers, the Government note speaks of the necessity of imports to meet domestic requirements. In the context of recent experience, when the UPA Government paid more for imported wheat than it was prepared to give as MSP to Indian farmers, it is essential that any food security legislation ensure expanded public procurement and fair prices to Indian farmers for a variety of crops, including wheat, rice, millets, pulses, oilseeds, and sugarcane. It is equally important to step up public spending for the development of rural infrastructure, and extension services and to ensure the availability of inputs at controlled prices. That the Government has not taken into account the necessity to strengthen the public distribution system, which is essential to ensure food security. On the contrary, targeting and lower allocations have made 5 lakh fair price shops unviable. Measures must be taken to strengthen as well as streamline the PDS, to root out corruption and make the system more accountable to the
needs of the people by means of monitoring and vigilance committees. That the Government has not included other food schemes such as mid-day meal scheme and ICDS nutrition programme in the proposed legislation

This Convention puts forward three sets of demands related to food security:

Demands against Price Rise:

• Ban all future trade in essential commodities
• Strengthen the public distribution system. Restore allocations to the States which were slashed for APL sections
• Ensure dehoarding and take strong action against hoarders and black marketeers
• Withdraw the price hikes in petrol and diesel
  

In Drought-Affected Areas

• Ensure distribution of food grain to all affected families in drought hit areas on an emergency basis
• Help State Governments through urgent allocation of resources to start widescale NREGA projects to ensure real incomes of at least rupees one hundred per work day in drought areas. Remove ceiling of 100 days and give work on demand. Where required food grain can also be used as part payment along with cash
• Ensure regular supply of drinking water
• Ensure fodder for cattle

Demands for Food Security legislation

• Scrap targeting, make PDS universal; entitlements under this Act must be delinked from Central poverty estimates
• 35 kg of food grain at Rs 2 per kg per nuclear household to be provided by Central Government
• include other items, such as pulses, sugar, cooking oil and kerosene, at subsidized rates in the legal guarantee
• incorporate all food and nutrition schemes of the Central Government such as the mid-day meal scheme and ICDS nutrition programme in the proposed legislation
• promote national self-sufficiency in production of food grain, pulses, sugarcane, and oilseeds through public investment, provision of extension services and appropriate land use policies with guaranteed fair prices for farmers and expanded public procurement, implement land reforms strengthen the public distribution system of fair price shops and ensure accountability

This Convention calls for a nationwide struggle on the above demands. The struggles should aim to force a change of policy and bring some relief to the people.

Control Price Rise! Ensure Food Security for All!

UPA government responsible for price rise: CPI(M)

Criticising the United Progressive Alliance government for its failure to tackle the problem of food security, accentuated by the spectre of drought in many parts of the country, a national convention rolled out a set of demands, including universal public distribution system.

Organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday, speakers at the convention For the Right to Food and Against Price Rise, held the Centre's policies responsible for the rise in the prices of essential commodities.

Moving a resolution at the convention, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and MP Brinda Karat said these policies included the pre-budget hike in the prices of petrol and diesel; refusal to ban futures trading in essential commodities; weakening of the public distribution system by slashing allocations; allowing sugar export and then import, benefiting big companies at the expense of people and farmers; and failing to ensure public investment in infrastructure in the farm sector.

Ms. Karat said that while the CPI (M) was all for legislation ensuring food security in the country, it could not agree to the government's proposal of cutting down the allocation of foodgrains from 35 kg each month per family to 25 kg and raising the issue price from Rs. 2 to 3 per kg.

Besides foodgrains, the party wants the government to include pulses, sugar, cooking oil, and kerosene at subsidised rates and incorporate all food and nutrition schemes of the Central government into the proposed act.

In the draft resolution, the convention demanded promotion of self-sufficiency in production of foodgrains, pulses, sugarcane, and oilseeds through public investment, provision of extension services and appropriate land use policies with guaranteed fair prices for farmers and expanded public procurement and implement land reforms.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac and his West Bengal counterpart Asim Dasgupta, Polit Bueau members and CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat are taking part in the day-long convention.

(The Hindu)

Centre failed to control prices of essential commodities: Brinda Karat

Expressing deep concern over the rise in prices of essential commodities, the CPI(M) on Monday demanded that the Centre should take effective steps to provide relief to the people from the crushing burden compounded by drought in various parts of the country.

“Relentless increase in prices of essential commodities has impacted the people, more so on account of severe drought, which, the Agriculture Minister says, is affecting 50 per cent of the districts. The Prime Minister’s speech notwithstanding, it is the signal failure of the Central government as there is no relief for the people,” the Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said.

Addressing a press conference here, the CPI(M) MP said while people wanted concrete steps, unfortunately the government was trying to shift the responsibility and blaming States.

Instead of providing drought relief, the Centre had slashed the over 70 per cent of allocation of Above Poverty Line foodgrains. On the sugar front, the Centre’s polices led to sharp hike in the prices with only sugar mills making profits while both sugarcane growers and people suffered. “It is a sugar scandal in the offing,” she said.

Ms. Karat said the government announced Rs. 81 a quintal for sugarcane instead of Rs. 125 recommended by the Agriculture Prices Commission, leading to a decline in production. It allowed exports by providing incentives and permitted duty-free import since January.

“Neither the consumers nor the farmers benefited from the government’s sugar policy while some big companies did,” she said. There were no estimates of the imported raw sugar stocks in the country being held by big firms, sweet-making or cola companies.

The CPI(M) leader said the proposed food security Act should universalise public distribution system, be delinked from Central government poverty estimates, provide 35 kg of foodgrains at Rs. 2 a kg per nuclear household, include provision of pulses, sugar, cooking oil and kerosene at subsidised rates, incorporate Central government’s food and nutrition schemes, and promote national self-sufficiency in production of foodgrains, pulses, sugarcane and oilseeds through public investment.

(The Hindu)

Republican Left Democratic Front launched; to contest in Maharashtra

he Republican Party of India (RPI - United) and the Left Democratic Front came together on Monday and announced their intention to contest all 288 Assembly seats in tandem in the forthcoming elections in Maharashtra.

RPI (United) leader Ramdas Athavale told the media that his party would now be part of a new front called the Republican Left Democratic Front (RLDF).Along with the RPI (United), the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP); the Communist Party of India (Marxist); (CPI-M); the Communist Party of India (CPI); the Samajwadi Party; the Janata Dal (Secular); Lok Bharati; the Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana led by Raju Shetty who was elected MP from Hatkanangale; Socialist Front; Lok Jan Shakti Party; Rashtriya Samaj Paksh; Samajwadi Jan Parishad; Socialist Front; Lok Bharati; and the Satyashodhak Communist Party are part of the new front.

The various factions of the RPI recently formed a united front in Maharashtra. It also took a decision not to ally with the Congress or the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The only major leader who is not part of this unity is Prakash Ambedkar of the Bharip Bahujan MahaSangh.

Mr. Athavale has been talking of an RPI unity since his defeat in the Shirdi Lok Sabha seat, which he believes was due to the Congress party's dirty politics. He also refused an offer of a Rajya Sabha seat from the Congress ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Mr. Athavale said the RLDF was secular and would represent all poor and backward sections.

In Maharashtra, the main focus would be on the development of the Scheduled Castes, Adivasis and farmers. He dispelled fears that he would be swayed by offers from the Congress or the NCP before the polls and said he would resist such moves.

In the past, Mr. Athavale has been an ally of the NCP and in the last Lok Sabha he was supported by the Congress. “I will not change my stand and stay loyal with the Third Front and will not ditch them,” he said.

The Congress and the NCP have headed a government that has led to price rise, load shedding, corruption, and other issues. The RLDF would address these issues and prepare a social and economic development programme for the State, he said. Seat-sharing among the RLDF allies will be decided at a later stage.

It will hold a rally on September 12 at the Shivaji Park to launch its election campaign. In the last Lok Sabha election, the third Front had contested 12 seats

(The Hindu)

Left, Dalit formation to fight BBMP elections

The coming Bruhat Bengalur Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections will have a new formation, which includes Left parties and Dalit organisations, contesting from all the 198 wards.

The alliance plans to approach the electorate on the broad agenda of addressing the widening gap in access to amenities between the high-income groups and corporates and those living in the lower-middle class areas and bourgeoning slums in the city.

Called the Civic Front, the alliance includes Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), Praja Vimochana Chaluvali, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Ambedkarvada), Republican Party of India, Indian National League and the Karnataka chapter of the AIADMK.

The draft of the agenda of Civic Front, to be released on August 25, says that the city has seen a spurt in wealth generation, but this is cornered by just 20 per cent of people belonging to the top income group.

Resources cornered

Citing a government document prepared for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) projects, it says that the top 20 per cent of the population enjoy 63 per cent of the total amenities. The lowest 20 per cent have access to a mere 1.5 per cent. “The BBMP administration is pre-occupied with providing amenities for the domestic and foreign corporates. The corporates and the rich are getting facilities at their doorstep. Land, water and the environment of the city are being ruined for their sake. The discrimination is so glaring that there is serious unrest and discontent among a majority of people,” it adds.

It says further that the living conditions are miserable in the areas inhabited by the poor, workers of the unoganised sectors, dalits, backward classes, minorities and other deprived sections. It adds that the conditions under which the people of the middle classes live are no better. “Thus those sections of the people who have toiled and are toiling to build this city are being constantly pushed into conditions of constant anxiety, insecurity and deprivation,” says the draft.

Mavalli Shankar, convener of the DSS (A), says that the main question Civic Front addresses is: To whom does Bangalore belong? “We need to question the forces driving the developmental agenda which is geared to support the real the estate lobby and corporates. We hope to provide an alternative vision to this,” he said.

CPI(M)’s Bangalore district secretary K. Prakash says that the Civic Front is not a new political party, but a forum of like-minded people and organisations. “We want to involve local residents’ associations also and work on a long-term basis beyond BBMP elections,” he says.

(The Hindu)

Centre flayed for signing ASEAN trade pact

Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to resort to direct action against the Free Trade Agreement signed by India with ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).

A two-day Kerala State committee meeting of the party, which concluded here on Tuesday, resolved to form a human chain from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod on October 2 in protest against the agreement, which, according to it, would destroy the agriculture and allied sectors of the State. The party urged all those who loved Kerala to become links in the chain. The meeting stressed the need for a strong protest against the Centre’s policy, which jeopardised the lives of three crore people.

The party felt that the agreement was tailor-made to demolish the agriculture sector of a State that derived its strength mainly from cash crops. Products from ASEAN would start flowing into the domestic market of the State soon. As both production and productivity were higher in those countries than in Kerala, the local market would surrender to them completely. Even the products of developed capitalistic countries would reach Kerala through ASEAN.

The future of Kerala’s major produce such as coconut, rubber, pepper, coffee, and tea would become crisis-ridden. The fish species available in those countries were similar to the ones caught in Kerala. Marine products too would enter the country as part of the deal. Traditional industries, including handloom, would be in trouble.

Deal signed in haste

Kerala had warned the Centre in advance about the repercussions of the agreement. The Prime Minister had given an assurance to the State’s representatives that the agreement would be signed only after consultations with the State. But the assurance had been flouted and the deal signed in haste. The Centre had not even come forward to disclose the details of the agreement. It was an instance of the undemocratic way in which the Centre functioned. The Centre had adopted such a stand notwithstanding the fact that agriculture was a State subject. It was the steps initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government in October 2003 which had culminated in the agreement. The agreement, which allowed free flow of products, services and investments without any import duty, undoubtedly carried the globalisation process ahead.

KANNUR: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Wednesday demanded a constitutional amendment to ensure that all international treaties are ratified by Parliament.

Addressing a party rally here, organised in connection with P. Krishna Pillai Day, Mr. Karat said the recent free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN was signed without taking Parliament into confidence and consulting the States. The treaty would affect farmers, especially those in Kerala. Cash crops in the State and domestic industries would be badly affected by the FTA.

“We demand that all such international agreements be ratified by Parliament. The Constitution has to be amended,” he said. The Centre could not take unilateral decisions as the country had a federal set-up.

Mr. Karat said Union Ministers A.K. Antony and Vayalar Ravi were understood to have expressed their objections to the agreement.

The CPI(M) leader called for a strong people’s movement to oppose the neo-liberal economic policies of the Manmohan Singh-led government. The government continued to implement the policies that had widened the social and economic inequalities. It was implementing the policies advocated by the United States.

Food prices had gone up since the Congress-led government came to power three months ago. The agricultural sector had to be strengthened to ensure food security, he said.

Referring to the party’s demand for universal public distribution system, he said the targeted PDS being introduced by the Centre would in no way ensure food security.

It was the duty of the Left parties to take up people’s issues, he pointed out. The Bharatiya Janata Party was in serious crisis in State after State, Mr. Karat said, adding people had refused to support the communal agenda of that party.

Left convention

Earlier, at a function at Iritty here, Mr. Karat said a national convention of Left parties would be held in New Delhi on August 26 to chalk out a campaign against the policies of the Central government.

Thrissur: CPI(M) Polit Bureau member S. Ramachandran Pillai has said that the Centre tried to keep the ASEAN trade pact, which has a devastating impact on the country’s economy, a secret. Speaking after inaugurating a convention of Karshaka Sangam here on Thursday, he alleged that the Indo-ASEAN Free Trade Pact was signed without any discussion.

The Left parties would organise national campaign against the pact if the Central government refused to review it, he added.

“The country should have learnt lesson from the free trade agreement with Sri Lanka. The ASEAN trade pact will cripple the farm sector, which is already in crisis due to global economic meltdown. Fisheries, handloom and small-scale industries also would be adversely affected.” The CPI(M) would form a human chain against the agreement October 2.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)