Minister Raja Should Resign

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The outcome of the 3G spectrum auction convincingly proves that Union Communication Minister, Shri A. Raja, was clearly involved in corrupt practices by selling 2G spectrum to some industrialists by manipulating TRAI recommendations. Whereas 3G spectrum could fetch Rs. 70,000 crores, 2G spectrum was sold at a paltry sum of Rs. 2000 crores only. Shri Raja had done so by blatantly violating the law causing a huge loss to the public exchequer.

Despite repeated demands made in parliament and outside, Shri A. Raja is nonchalantly continuing to stick to his position. Such a situation cannot be allowed to be continued.

The CPI(M) demands that Shri A. Raja should immediately resign from his post pending a high power enquiry into the entire 2G spectrum scam.

If the minister refuses to resign, the Prime Minister should sack him to maintain the dignity of the high post Shri A. Raja is holding in the Government.

Wild Allegations by TMC

Sitaram Yechury and Basudev Acharia met the Home Minister today evening and handed over a letter on the unsubstantiated and wild allegations leveled by the TMC. We are releasing the text of the letter:

 

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Dear Home Minister,

 

We seek to draw your attention and intervention in a serious situation that is developing in the course of the current election campaign to municipal corporations in the state of West Bengal.

 

The enclosed letter from the Chairman of the Left Front, Shri Biman Basu, explains how the Trinamul Congress leader and Union Railway Minister is deliberately stoking panic and terror amongst the Muslim minority population claiming that she has secret information that a section of the police will help the Left Front in unleashing communal violence in the state.

 

You are surely aware that during the last thirty three years of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, the state and its people have seen unprecedented communal harmony and fraternity. This record makes all of us proud in India and is often portrayed as the symbol of India’s strength in secular democracy. You will surely agree that any effort to blemish this record are not in the interests of our country’s unity and integrity. Further, casting such wild and unsubstantiated allegations, especially by a Union Cabinet Minister, also violates the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951.

 

If indeed the TMC leader and Union Minister does possess some secret information we request you as the Union Home Minister to obtain such information and act on it in consultation with the state government. If on the contrary, there is no such information, as surely is the case, then may we request you to set at rest the apprehensions and tensions that have resulted from the Union Minister’s utterances.

CPIM to rule 12 Panchayats in Karnataka

CPIM candidates have won in 322 panchayat wards in the elections held to local bodies in Karnataka. Above all CPIM will be ruling 12 Panchayats in the state independenthly. Of the total candidates elected 25 % are women.  

Party made strong presence in the panchayat elections in Chickbelapur, Gulbarga, Mangaluru, Gadhak, Beedar, Uduppi, Belgaum and Mandya districts. Julipalaya, Paragod, Kanadavarappalli, Kuruthuppallai, Somanadhapura, Paattapalaya are the panchayats in Chickbelapur  district that CPI M won alone. Majority seats  in Thiru malai, Ulleyeri, Somanahalli, Hambasandra panchayats in Gundibanda Taluk had been captured by CPIM. Vanaguruve Panchayat in Uthara kannada District is also wrested by CPIM. 

Of the 26 seats in Juliyappalaya panchayat CPIM won 22 seats. In Gulbarga district CPIM will rule a panchayat with the help of alliance parties. Of the total 5474 panchayat seats in the state, Congress and Janatadal is having the upper hand.

Rich tributes paid to Com. P Sundarayya on his 25th Memorial Day

Rich tributes were paid to Puchalapalli Sundaraiah, on the occasion of his 25th  death anniversary, here on Wednesday. The CPI (M) Vijayawada city unit organised a meeting to pay tributes to him.

On the occasion, CPI (M) state secretary and Polit bureau member B.V. Raghavulu stressed on the need to reach the masses and the oppressed taking a cue from life and personality of Sundaraiah. The simplicity, humanity behind the sacrifice, and commitment were some of the facets of Sundaraiah's success. His simplicity was to reach common man and mingle with them. And, his sacrifice had a face of humanity as he distributed his lands for landless. Likewise, he never went back in time of difficulties, he said, adding, these qualities were need of hour to achieve the Sundaraiah's goals and objectives. “The people, world over, were confronting many new problems like abuse of natural resources by few rich people, and growing Capitalism. These rich people were driving the people towards socialism. New forces were seeking inspiration from life of Sundaraiah and Marxism to resolve these problems. And, hence, it was necessary to gear up for setting up socialist society,” he said.

The ruling Congress and many political parties have stopped thinking about the problems the common man was facing as they were more interested in power, and struggling with internal squabbles. The people were in dire need of political party like CPI (M) to agitate in behalf of them, he said. Stating that CPI(M) Party Congress which was due in February 2010, could not be organised due to elections in many states. The all India meeting was postponed to 2012, and extended central committee meeting would be organised in Vijayawada from August 7 to 10. As many as 370 delegates would attended the meeting to discuss the political developments in last three years and chalk out future action plan, he said, and recalled that all India meeting conducted in 1982, when Sundaraiah was alive, in Vijayawada was a grand success. CPI(M) central committee member Paturi Ramaiah, district secretary V. Umamaheswara Rao, city secretary R. Raghu, floor leader in VMC Ch. Babu Rao and others were present.

NALGONDA: The CPI (M) district secretary Nandyala Narasimha Reddy called upon party cadres to draw inspiration from Puchalapalli Sundarayya and relentlessly strive to realise his ideals. Speaking at a meeting commemorating the 25th death anniversary of Mr Sundarayya at Dhoddi Komraiah Bhavan here on Wednesday, Mr. Narasimha Reddy described Mr. Sundarayya as a champion of the working class movement and an epitome of selfless service.

KADAPA: Communist stalwart Puchalapalli Sundarayya was a revolutionary planner par excellence, built progressive movements and would always be an inspiration to the Communist movement, CPI(M) district secretary B. Narayana and district secretariat member N. Ravisankar Reddy asserted on Wednesday.

Paying rich homage while observing Sundarayya's 25th death anniversary at the party office, they said Puchalapalli Sundarayya left an indelible mark on integrated water schemes, land issues and priorities for the State in books authored by him. His books on - A.P. Comprehensive Water Schemes, Poor and Land Distribution, Prajarajyam in Visalandhra – were invaluable. He not only countered casteism in his native village, established coolie sanghams, undertook salt satyagraham, picketed toddy shops but spearheaded the Telangana Armed Struggle, all aimed at building a new social order, the CPI(M) leaders asserted.

Dissolution of MCI

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The removal of Ketan Desai from the post of Director of MCI is a much belated and required step. The prima facie evidence of corruption at the top levels of MCI required firm Government intervention. The CPI(M) had urged the Government in Parliament to take action to remove Desai, ensure accountability and Parliamentary oversight on such bodies like the MCI through required amendments to the MCI Act, while protecting the autonomy of the MCI.

However utilizing the need for removal of Desai, the Government has brought an ordinance to dissolve the entire council shortly after the Parliament session. This shows the absence of minimum democratic norms. The Government should have taken Parliament into confidence before dissolving an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament.

Secondly, since health is a state subject and medical education is on the concurrent list it was mandatory for the Central Government to have consulted State Governments by calling an emergency meeting of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare. In the dissolved Medical Council, State Governments had their representatives. The seven member Board of Governors now appointed through the ordinance consists entirely of centrally nominated persons. This is a violation of federal principles and is an injustice to the States.

The ordinance reflects a policy of overcentralisation of powers in the hands of the Central Government which does damage to the federal character of the Constitution. The CPI(M) calls upon the Central Government to immediately call a meeting of the Central Council and ensure that the rights of the States are not bypassed.

Maoist Kilings in Dantewada

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the ghastly killing of 35 persons including 24 civilians in Dantewada in Bastar by Maoists in a landmine blast yesterday.

The attack on the private passenger bus by the Maoists only highlights their bankrupt policies of attacking ordinary citizens in various parts of the country including tribals who refuse to accept their dictates.

The CPI(M) appeals to the people to raise their voice against the murderous attacks on people and their livelihood and resist their depredations against peaceful citizens.

CPI(M) wants land returned to Dalit families

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the State government to return the 53 acres of land that had been grabbed from 20 Dalit families at Siruthavur village, to their heirs. Addressing the media here on Sunday, G. Ramakrishnan, State Secretary, termed unjustifiable the recommendations of the K.P. Sivasubramanian Commission that the lands allotted to Dalits in 1967 could be taken up for distribution to other landless Dalits. If it had not been for the 20 families lodging complaints, and the Communist Party submitting a memorandum to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi about the land grabbing, the enquiry commission would not have been appointed. Hence, the land should be distributed to the heirs of the families, he said.

Refutes charges

Mr. Ramakrishnan also refuted the charges made by the Chief Minister that the CPI (M) had supported the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the by-election without the latter demanding it. He said that it was the decision of the party's executive committee to support AIADMK. Moreover the AIADMK had sent a letter seeking the CPI (M)'s support in the by-elections.

Stating that untouchability was still prevalent in many forms in the State, he said that a two-day State-level conference of the Tamil Nadu Untouchabilty Eradication Front would be held at Pudukottai on May 28 and 29 and would be attended by the party's national general secretary Prakash Karat.

Citing the Pallipalayam incident, where a CPI (M) functionary was hacked to death for fighting usury, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that the party would organise a conference at Pallipalayam in Namakkal district on May 23, demanding abolition of the same.

He opined that with higher education still remaining a distant dream for many, the Foreign University Bill would only further reduce the chances of the poor getting higher education, and the CPI (M) would oppose the Bill.

The party also demanded that textbooks for matriculation schools under the Samacheer Kalvi Thittam be published and distributed by the State.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Khap panchayat: signs of desperation? - Jagmati Sangwan

The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing illegal diktats has increased manifold.

In Haryana today, rapid capitalist transformation is accompanied by a regressive feudal consciousness. As education and political awareness spread among Dalits, women and backward sections, alongside there is a massive consolidation of caste (khap) panchayats in defence of the status quo. The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing illegal diktats has increased manifold. Attacks on young couples, Dalits and progressive-minded people have become frequent. 

A recent landmark judgment by the Additional Sessions Court at Karnal in the Manoj-Babli “honour” killing case, in which five accused were given the death sentence, sent shock waves among caste panchayat leaders, as it reminded them that they were not above the Constitution. The court took serious note of the fact that the policemen deployed for the security of Manoj and Babli actually facilitated the accused in perpetrating the crime.

Though geographically small, Haryana is socially and culturally heterogeneous. For example, in some areas and among certain castes, marriages within the village and even intra-gotra marriages are not uncommon. At the same time, such marriages are treated as incest in certain other areas, and among other castes. Even the caste or khap panchayat is not a feature prevalent throughout the State, as many believe, but is confined to a particular region. Thus, a section of people of one particular caste proclaims itself as the cultural representative of Haryana, refusing to acknowledge the customs and traditions practised by others in their own neighbourhood. 

A look at the demography of the State and its development statistics would help to contextualise the problem. The State that stood second in per capita income in the country has one of the lowest sex ratios (821 in the 0-6 age group). Female foeticide is rampant, and the situation is so bad that wives are being brought from far off States. Not once have these panchayats called a maha-panchayat to pass a resolution against female foeticide or dowry or even in connection with the crisis in agriculture — problems staring the people of Haryana in the face. 

After the judgment in the Manoj-Babli case, however, a congregation of caste panchayats representing the Jat neighbourhoods from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan was called at Kurukshetra on April 13. It was decided that panchayats would now fight for legal status to legitimately maintain the “social order.” One of the main agendas of this sarv-khap panchayat was to push for amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 that would ban marriages within the same gotra (clan within which men and women are considered siblings and hence cannot marry). Under this Act, marriages between certain lineages from the paternal and maternal sides are already barred.

Most of the khap panchayat diktats are against couples who are not from the same gotra. In fact, not more than one case of honour killing has been of a couple within the same gotra. By creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young couples are incestuous, what the khaps are actually opposing is the right to choose a marriage partner. Among the several instances of khaps issuing fatwas in Jaundhi, Asanda, Dharana, Singhwal, Hadaudi, Maham-kheri, Ludana and other villages, not a single one was an intra-gotra marriage, yet the married couples were declared siblings, and families made to  suffer boycotts and excommunication from their villages.

A sad example of the gotra row is that of Ved Pal Moan, brutally beaten to death last year when he tried to secure his wife who was confined by her parents at Singhwal village in Jind district. He was escorted by a police party and a warrant officer of the High Court. Ved Pal had married neither within his gotra nor within the same village. In this case, another absurd code was invoked by the khap: that the couple violated the custom of not marrying in the neighbouring village as it forms part of bhaichara (brotherhood). A khap congregation held in March 2009 publicly pronounced the death sentence for Ved Pal, and it succeeded in executing it in June. As couples are selectively targeted, it is clear the real motive is to control women's sexuality to ensure that property remains within the patriarchal caste domain (mainly Jats in Haryana). 

The sarv khap panchayat also called for social boycott of individuals who raised their voice against the caste panchayats. A former police chief of Haryana, himself a self-styled caste leader, went on record threatening khap-critics. How can a former DGP publicly threaten law-abiding citizens, and yet continue to enjoy the hefty perks and pension out of the public exchequer?

The caste panchayat leaders have decided to stifle any voice of assertion from the backward sections. On April 21 more than 20 houses of Dalits were burnt down at Mirchpur village, in the presence of a police force, allegedly by thugs belonging to a dominant caste, resulting in the death of an 18-year-old handicapped girl and her ailing father. A panchayat of khaps convened at Mirchpur three days after the carnage not only declared all arrested persons innocent but also issued an ultimatum to the government for their release! This was exactly the pattern adopted by caste panchayats in the Gohana (2005) and Duleena (2002) incidents, where brutal attacks on Dalits took place. 

Even elders from socially and economically weaker families are not spared. At Khedi Meham in December 2009, the father of a newly wed groom was forced to hold a shoe in his mouth in front of the whole village by the panchayatis. Ordinary citizens are caught in the contradiction between two sets of values — the blind consumerism of the neo-liberal dispensation, and the outdated feudal values represented by the khaps. The first is no replacement for the second, and indeed, pseudo-modernism only strengthens the forces of revivalism. The alternative to both types of distortions lies in the spread of healthy and progressive values that can be unleashed through only a new social reform movement in the entire Hindi belt.

Limited but crucial role

The judiciary does have a crucial role to play but has its limitations too. On June 23, 2008 Justice K.S. Ahluwalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court made a revealing observation while simultaneously hearing 10 cases pertaining to marriages between young couples aged 18 - 21: “The High Court is flooded with petitions where … judges of this Court have to answer for the right of life and liberty to married couples. The State is a mute spectator. When shall the State awake from its slumber [and] for how long can Courts provide solace and balm by disposing of such cases?” A legislature with little political will and a pliant executive will have to be made responsive under pressure of a mass movement.

The voices of dissent are also getting consolidated under the umbrella of organisations like the AIDWA and other democratic forces. The younger generation must stand forth as responsible social activists and lead the struggle for change in an otherwise feudal society that lives by the dictum “Jiski lathi uski bhains” (the powerful call the shots). In Haryana each passing day is costing the lives of innocent women and men. 

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

This woman wages a lone battle against khaps

CHANDIGARH: Top politicians kowtow to them. The police watch from a distance when they hold their mahapanchayats. Lovers shiver at their mention. But, if the dreaded khap panchayats in Haryana's badlands fear anyone, it's a 50-year-old woman — a former international volleyball player — who is contemptuous of their diktats.

Three decades ago, when three girls from rural Haryana could not join Jagmati Sangwan to represent India in volleyball for Asiad because they were married off by their parents, it marked a turning point in her career: the beginning of a long struggle against oppression of women.

It pained her when India returned with a bronze as she believed the three girls would have got the country gold. What rankled her more was the fate of numerous girls in Haryana whose cause she then took up with a gusto.

It was in 2002 that Sangwan won a major battle when she barged into a mahakhap panchayat at Sir Chhotu Ram Park in Rohtak. Khaps do not allow women into their meetings. But, Sangwan, made of sterner stuff, couldn't be pushed around. None dared ask her to leave.

Jagmati's voice against khap fatwa is so strong that she has become an eyesore for these Taliban-type courts. Irritated by her, khaps have termed her a "gang leader".

"They try to defame me but I continue my fight for the rights of women and the weaker sections. The khaps are anti-women and anti-Dalit," said Sangwan, director of Women's Study Centre, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

Sangwan has a force of over 1,000 women activists, being state president of the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA). When the powerful panchayat in Karora village of Jind district was adamant on social boycott of the family of Manoj after the infamous honour killing in which he and his wife Babli were murdered for marrying "despite belonging to the same gotra", Sangwan was the first to support their families.

"It would have been difficult for us even to survive without the support of Jagmati," said Chanderpati, the mother of Manoj. Not only this, when police did not arrest influential khap leader Ganga Raj in the honour killing, Sangwan called for a statewide protest, forcing the leader to surrender.

Sangwan began raising her voice against the khaps in 1988, when a girl was raped for revenge after her brother eloped with a girl from the same village in Jind. "We forced the police to lodge an FIR against the rapists and kept the victim with us for six months to ensure her safety," said Sangwan.
(Courtesy : The Times of India)

CPI(M) wants prices of farm inputs reduced

Party wants Swaminathan panel report implemented

Says MNCs are allowed to trade in 198 commodities

BANGALORE: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and All India Kisan Sabha general secretary K. Varadarajan on Saturday urged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to implement the M.S. Swaminathan Committee Recommendations for reducing the price of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides and increase the minimum support price of agricultural produce.

Criticised

Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha on fertilizer policy here, Mr. Varadarajan criticised the centre for its failure to give relief to farmers. Accusing the centre of dancing to the tunes of the U.S., he alleged that the UPA Government was more serious than its predecessors in implementing the “liberation, privatisation and globalisation” policy. This the reason for reducing the fertilizer subsidy by Rs. 3,000 crore in the last budget.

The Government raised the price of urea by 10 per cent as a disincentive to save soil quality and farmers from low productivity. If it was sincere, he said, the Centre should have reduced the price of potassium and sulphate.

Mr. Varadarajan accused the Centre of reducing food subsidy by Rs. 428 crore. Even the discretion to reduce the subsidy for fertilizer had been passed onto the company concerned, subjecting farmers to further harassment and fraud.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that the Government was allowing multinational corporations to trade in 198 agricultural produces in the country.

Farmers and those who depended on agriculture would be unable to compete with them as their prices would be low, because of their mass production. Bt. Cotton and Bt. Brinjal, introduced by companies such as Monsanto, would destroy Indian farmers.

All these had prompted the CPI (M) and Kisan Sabha to launch an agitation against the Centre in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala.

He said they would join non-Congress and non-BJP parties and mass organisations to take up the struggle wherever the CPI(M) had less influence.

The State unit leaders such as Maruthi Manpade and Bayya Reddy spoke.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)