Food Security Bill: Unacceptable

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

 

The current version of the Food Security Bill which is scheduled to be finalised by the Cabinet is a travesty of food security. Not only doces it continue the flawed system of targeting into APL and BPL sections, though under a new nomenclature of priority and general sections, the latest version links rights and entitlements of general sections to so-called reforms in the PDS. These reforms which have now been brought in as a separate chapter in the Bill include highly contested policy measures such as cash transfers instead of foodgrains, food coupons and even the use of “aadhar.”

 

The Polit Bureau strongly objects to these new provisions which will reduce the entire Bill into a platform to push through neo-liberal reforms with legal sanction, which are against the interests of the people and which will lead to further exclusions. In a blatant violation of federal norms, the Central Government reserves the right to notify the date of the PDS reforms which will be mandatory for all State Governments.

 

Equally violative of the federal structure, while under provisions of the Bill  the Central Government alone can decide the percentage of people below BPL, the State Governments will have to pay a substantial share of the funds required for other schemes included in the Bill without any indication of what the Centre-state ratio of expenditure will be.

 

It appears that the Central Government wants to utilize the widespread demand for a strong Food Security Bill to push through narrow agendas of those agribusinesses and corporates who want dismantling of the PDS and a truncated Food security Bill.

 

The CPI(M) demands removal of the linking of entitlements to so-called reform. The Bill must include the universal right to at least 35 kg of foodgrains at two rupees a kilo.

CPIM District conferences in Kerala kickstarts

Ahead of the 20th party congress of the CPI-M to be held in Kozhikode in April 2012, the district conferences of the party  in Kerala got underway with the delegates meeting in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode districts on Thursday. Both the conferences are just business conferences which would discuss organisational issues, take stock of the international, national and state-level political and economic issues. No mass rally and other activities are arranged as part of the conferences since Kozhikode is the venue for Party Congress and Thiruvananthapuram is the venue for State conference to be held in February 2012.

Com. V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the Thiruvananthapuram district conference held at AKG Hall in the city. 415 delegates representing 26,929 members in Thiruvananthapuram District are participating in the conference. 2040 Branch conferences 156 Local conferences and 18 Area conferences were conducted before the district conference in the state capital. Party State committee member Anavur Nagappan chaired the inaugural session. The inaugural session was also addressed by CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Central committee members M.A. Baby, E.P. Jayarajan, and A. Vijayaraghavan. Party District Secretary Com. Kadakampally Surendran placed the organisational report.

Com. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurated the Kozhikode conference being held at Mukkam. Senior CPI (M) leader M. Kelappan hoisted the flag at the West Mambetta Kartika Kalyana Mandapam signalling the commencement of the three-day Kozhikode District conference. As many as 303 delegates  from 15 areas committees in the district are participating in the conference. This apart, 36 district committees are also taking part. CPI (M) central committee members P.K. Gurudasan, Vaikkom Viswom, P K Sreemathi, T M Thomas Issac and state leaders Elamaram Karim, A.K. Balan are participating in the meet. Party district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan presented the organisational report.

V S Achuthanandan said economic and political situations all over the world reflect the continued relevance of socialism. He said the developments in Europe and the United States have exposed the deep crisis faced by the capitalist economies. "In America, people are hitting the street as the crisis gripping its economy is graver than the great depression of 1930s," he said. Instead of learning lessons from the crisis in the Western World, the UPA Government had been aggressively pushing policies of globalisation and privatisation without bothering their severe consequences to the common mass, he alleged.