DYFI TamilNadu state conference invitation

DYFI Tamil Nadu state conference is slated to held from September 24 -26 at Coimbatore.

Left Parties delegates : All party delegation to Jammu Kashmir

The CPI(M) nominated its Parliamentary Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sitaram Yechury & Basudeb Acharia MP to join the all-party delegation. Narhari Mahato (Forward Bloc), Prasanto Majumdar (RSP) and Gurudas Dasguptha (CPI) will also participate in the all party delegation

Kochi expresses solidarity with Left front government in Westbengal

West Bengal Health Minister Suryakanta Mishra has claimed that nearly 300 Left activists, mostly CPI(M) cadres, have been killed in West Bengal in the acts of violence by the ‘Maoist-Trinamool Congress alliance' in the past two years.

 

At a meeting organised here on Sunday by the Ernakulam district unit of the CPI(M) to rally support for the West Bengal CPI(M) in their resistance to the ‘Maoist-TMC onslaught,' Mr. Mishra said the majority of the people killed were very poor. He said the Union Railway Minister's party was colluding with the Maoists in their violent acts with a view to unseating the CPI(M)-led Left government.

Though the Prime Minister had said that Maoist violence was the biggest internal security threat, the Centre continued to back the TMC as the UPA's continuance in government relied on the TMC support. He alleged that a massive campaign of lies was being carried on against the Left government with the help of the `three Ms' (money from the mines, muscle power and the media.)

He also said that the Left government, which was in its seventh successive term, had allotted 11 lakh acres of land to the landless poor, most of whom were SC, ST and minority people.

Karl Marx's classic work "The Capital" reissued by LeftWord books

Leftword books, the leading progressive literature bookhouse, will bring out a complete set of Karl Marx Capital, all three volumes in beautifully bound hardcover in a boxed set this October.
Volume I is A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, translated from the third German edition by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Frederick Engels.
Volume II is A Critique of Political Economy: The Process of Circulation of Capital edited by Frederick Engels, and Volume III is A Critique of Political Economy: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole also edited by Frederick Engels. A related forthcoming title from Leftword is Marx's Capital: An Introductory Reader, with essays by Venkatesh Athreya, Vijay Prashad, Jayati Ghosh, R. Ramakumar, and Prabhat Patnaik.

The three volume set is priced at Rs. 3000/- (Special Pre publication price).

DYFI National Seminar on Increasing Unemployment due to Global Financial Crisis & its Alternatives begins

A national-level seminar on “Increasing unemployment due to Global Financial Crisis, and its Alternatives” organized by central Committee of Democratic Youth Federation of India began in Sikhakara Sadan, Bangalore on Friday. The seminar was inaugurated by leading intellecutal and Vice Chairman of Kerala Planning board Prabhath Patnaik. Com P Sreeramakrishanan, national president of DYFI presided over the function. Agricultural university Vice chancellor S Bisilayya, Leading advocate K Subbarao, DYFI Karnataka State Secretary Com. B Rajasekharamoorthy, president Com. N L Bharadwaj, Reception Committee Chairman and leading musician V Manohar spoke during the inaugural session. 12 papers were presented on the first day of the seminar. 500 delegates from across the country are participating in the seminar.

Sitaram Yechury's Letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman: Breach of Privilege by Mamata Banerjee

Text of the Letter Addressed by Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) Leader in the Rajya Sabha dated September 15, 2010 Breach of Privilege by M/s. Mamata Banerjee

The Chairman

Rajya Sabha

Hon'ble Chairman Sir,

I wish to raise a question involving a breach of privilege of the Council. 

On the last day of the Monsoon Session, August 31, 2010, in response to questions raised by some honourable members, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal made a statement just before the House was declared adjourned sine die by you. 

The statement is recorded in the proceedings as "Re. clarification on speech of Km. Mamata Banerjee at a political rally at Lalgarh".

There are two assertions in this statement which constitute a gross misrepresentation of facts. This is tantamount to misleading the House.

The statement asserts : "Sir, that rally was organized by a forum called Forum of Citizens against Violence". The permission for the said rally was sought by one Shri Pranab Basu, President, Paschim Mednipur District Trinamul Congress Committee through a letter addressed to the District Magistratte on July 23, 2010. The said permission was granted by Shri Narayan Swaroop Nigam, IAS on August 3, 2010, through a letter, No. 773-DM, addressed to Shri Pranab Basu, President, Paschim Mednipur District Trinamul Congress Committee. Copies of both the letters are enclosed for your kind perusal.

Given these facts, the statement made by the Minister in the House is patently false and hence misleading. 

Secondly, the statement asserts that, "Kumari Mamata Banerjee has clarified that she addressed that rally in her capacity as the leader of the Trinamul Congress." The formal letter seeking permission for holding the said rally states as its subject: "Permission for holding a public meeting at Lalgarh High School ground on 9th August '10 from 12 noon by honourable Railway Minister, Government of India, Smt. Mamata Banerjee". The enclosed copy of the letter confirms this. Given this fact, the Minister's statement to the House, once again, is both false and misleading. 

Further, the national media has reported that the Railway Ministry had ordered the deployment of the Railways Protection Force at the venue. A copy of a report that appeared in a prominent national daily is enclosed. The Railway Ministry has not contradicted the information given in this report. Surely, a Minister of the Union Cabinet, addressing a political meeting in her personal capacity as the leader of a political party, cannot order the deployment of the RPF.

I am seeking your intervention in the matter to protect the dignity of the Council and the rights of its members. Surely, such a gross misrepresentation of facts tantamount to misleading the House should attract the attention of Rule 187 raising a question involving a breach of privilege of the Council and its members.

Surely, you would agree that the dignity and sanctity of the Council cannot be allowed to be so severely breached by statements by the members of the Union Council of Ministers which misrepresent facts and mislead the Council.

I, once again, request you to pay heed to this matter and protect the dignity of the Council and the rights of its members.

Left will win again in Bengal, Kerala: VS Achuthanandan

The calculations of the Congress will go wrong in Kerala in the coming local body elections and in West Bengal in the Assembly polls, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a rally organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in solidarity with the Left Front (LF) government in West Bengal against Maoist-Trinamul Congress attacks, Mr. Achuthanandan said that given the massive efforts undertaken by the CPI(M)-led governments in Kerala and West Bengal, the Left would emerge victorious in both States.

In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had provided rice at Rs.2 a kg to around 40 lakh families, drinking water to most households, free health care to around 35 lakh persons and brought around 60,000 acres of land under paddy cultivation to lift paddy output by one lakh tonnes. The performance of the LDF government in Kerala was so laudable that Congress MPs from Kerala had complained to their party president Sonia Gandhi against some Union Ministers praising the LDF government for its good deeds. The Congress and its allies were daydreaming about a victory in the local body polls on the basis of gains they had made in the last Lok Sabha elections. However, the elections would prove them to be wrong, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

Earlier, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and West Bengal Industries and Commerce Minister Nirupam Sen said that the Left Front government was the victim of a massive misinformation campaign which had swayed prominent intellectuals in the country. Although there was the allegation that the LF government was with big industrialists, the results of the 62 nd National Sample Survey show that 95 per cent of the industries in West Bengal were small and medium enterprises. The State had over two lakh self-help groups, majority of them run by women, with a combined deposit base of over Rs.200 crore.

“It is not that there is no poverty or deprivation in West Bengal. All that we claim that we have done much to bring down poverty and deprivation,” Mr. Sen said. Home Minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan chaired the meeting.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Prakash Karat At All Parties Meeting on Kashmir

Speech of Prakash Karat at the All-Party Meeting on Kashmir held on September 15, 2010

Hon’ble Prime Minister, leaders of political parties and friends,

It is a good thing that this all-parties meeting has been called to discuss the Kashmir situation, though it is a belated one.

For three months the Kashmir valley has been in turmoil. There have been continuous curfews and hartals and life is at a standstill. More than 80 people have been killed in firings by the CRPF and the police. Most of them are young men ranging from the age of 9 to 25. We express our sorrow and anguish at the loss of so many young lives.

The people of Kashmir had risen up to fight back the raiders from Pakistan in 1947. They had chosen to accede to the Indian Union. Today they are deeply alienated and angry with the Indian State. We have to introspect as to why this has happened. But that exercise cannot be conducted in this meeting. It needs to be done separately.

The first issue is how to characterize these mass protests. These protests involving stone-pelting youth against the police force should not be equated with the hardcore militant violence and terrorist acts.

If this is so, then the distinction should have been made on how to handle such protests and tackle stone-throwing. Unfortunately, the response of the security forces has been to resort to firings which have led to the loss of so many young lives.

The Home Minister mentioned that the security forces had exercised utmost restraint. But what we have seen is repeated police firings and every death has further aggravated the situation. I would like to state categorically that there was no justification whatsoever for this brutal policing methods.

It will be wrong to characterize these protests as engineered by extremists and pro-Pakistani elements. By and large, these protests are by young people in the valley who have only seen two decades of insurgency and counter-insurgency measures. No doubt there are forces trying to utilize the mass anger and mood.

Given this assessment, the primary issue is how to address the deep seated alienation and the grievances of the people. This requires primarily a political approach and not a law and order stance. There can be no solution by just deploying the security forces to suppress such protests.

In order to bring about a semblance of peace and normalcy, it is incumbent upon the state and the Central government to take the following steps:

(i) Many of the young boys who are in jail should be released if they are not facing any serious charges. Juveniles should not be kept in prisons as it is happening.

(ii) There are a large number of injured. Some of them have been permanently incapacitated. The government should announce a specific package for relief for these people and also for the sustenance and livelihood of their families.

(iii) Both the victims of the militants and those who are former militants need assistance to have their livelihood and maintenance.

(iv) Given the sharp decrease in the levels of militant violence, there should be a reduction in the deployment of the army and the security forces proportionately. Here the question of the continuance of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state arises. The army is not deployed or in use in Srinagar and other cities. Pending the question of amending the AFSPA or the future of this Act, what we suggest is that the Disturbed Areas proclamation be revoked from Srinagar and other urban centres. This will make the AFSPA redundant in these areas. I am sure the assessment of the security situation is that the army need not be deployed in the civilian areas where there is no serious militant activity. The armed forces are conducting an arduous and difficult task and their work has to be concentrated on the Line of Control and on checking infiltration from across the border.

(v) The real issue is about the accountability of the security forces. There have been excesses and violations of human rights. We should remember that the current outburst was sparked off after the exposure of the Machil encounter in which three innocent villagers were killed. Without firm action, we cannot instill any faith in the people.

What is required is the beginning of a political process in which a dialogue can be initiated with all sections in the state. We have our views on what should be the framework for a political settlement. But that is not what needs to be spelt out here.

The first step towards initiating a dialogue with all sections and political forces in the state can be the sending of an all Party delegation to the state to hear the views of the different sections of the people.

The Centre should spell out that there can be a dialogue process without any side setting pre-conditions. It would be better if the Prime Minister appoints a senior political figure who can monitor this process.

I had been to Srinagar in August. I met a number of people. They told me that the political parties in India do not seem concerned at the killings of so many people in the valley. In Parliament, there was an uproar when three people died in police firing near Aligarh. They asked, why is Parliament quiet about the happenings in the valley? We have to understand that there can be no solution to the Kashmir problem without taking into account the feelings and aspirations of the people of Kashmir.

Left Parties At all Parties Meeting on Kashmir

The representatives of the Left Parties – Prakash Karat (CPI-M), A. B. Bardhan (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (AIFB) and Prasanta Mazumdar (RSP) – who spoke at the all parties meeting on Kashmir made the following points:

1. They expressed their sorrow and anguish at the death of more than 80 people in the police firings in the valley in the past three months. They called for a halt to the method of policing which had led to the deaths of large number of people due to firing. There should be a distinction made in handling stone pelting crowds and tackling violence by the militants and terrorist activities.

2. Many of the young men in jail arrested during this period should be released if they are not facing any serious charges. Steps should be taken to provide relief for the large number of people injured and those permanently incapacitated.

3. Measures should be taken for providing economic relief for the continuous disruption of business and economic activities in the valley with special emphasis on providing employment.

4. There should be accountability for the security forces. Action should be taken on excesses and human rights violations. The army is not deployed or in use in various areas. Pending the question of amending the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Disturbed Areas proclamation be revoked from Srinagar and other centres which will make the AFSPA redundant in these areas.

5. The political process should begin and dialogue should be initiated with all sections in the state. For this, an all party delegation should be sent to Kashmir to hear the views of different sections of the people

CPI (M) demands settlement of dues to retrenched labours in Orissa

More than 4,000 labourers, who were retrenched due to shelving of expansion project of Vedanta's Alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, should have their dues settled and paid immediately, demanded Orissa unit of the CPI (M). A fact-finding team of the party also alleged that these retrenched labourers were beaten up by hired goons with the assistance of police and agents of the ruling party to compel them to leave the area as early as possible without settling their dues.

These workers had been employed for the refinery expansion project of Vedanta through the L&T. The L&T had taken the contract for construction work for the expansion project. This was a sequel to the halt of refinery expansion work at Lanjigarh following N.C. Saxena committee report and subsequent orders by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, stating the expansion as illegal in the absence of statutory environment clearances.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)