AIDWA Andhra Pradesh State Conference begins

The 12th Andhra Pradesh State Conference of AIDWA began in Khammam. Senior leader and Telangana Struggle Warrior com. Mallu Swarajyam raised the flag to start the proceedings.

Inaugurating the 12th State conference of AIDWA on Monday, All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) general secretary Com. Sudha Sundararaman deplored that the government instead of taking concrete steps to ensure effective implementation of the Acts like Domestic Violence Act and anti-dowry law was contemplating to dilute them on illogical pretexts. Coming down heavily on the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for allegedly trying to dilute the laws governing women's protection under pressure from some disgruntled and fundamental forces, com. Sudha Sundararaman has warned of intensive broad-based struggles if the government failed to drop the ‘detrimental move'.

“Specific instances of misuse of the Acts if any could be dealt with separately,” she said while underscoring the need for effective enforcement of the laws to uphold the constitutional safeguards meant for protection of women.

She demanded that the UPA government make proper floor management and ensure the passage of the long-cherished Women's Reservation Bill in the ensuing monsoon session of Parliament.

Sex ratio

As per the 2011 census figures, there was a drastic decline in child sex ratio at the national level as well as in several States including Andhra Pradesh, she deplored pointing out that number of girls had declined from 927 in 2001 to 914 for every 1,000 boys in 2011 census.

Andhra Pradesh reported sharp decline in the child sex ratio to an extent of 18 per cent.

The disturbing figures reveal the plight of girl child in the society and highlight the urgent need for a collective action to check the dangerous trend, she said.

She criticised the government for its alleged apathetic attitude towards addressing the grave problems plaguing women such as growing gender offences, malnutrition and anaemia.

Corruption

Corruption assumed grave proportions in the country under the present regime as was evident from the series of multi-crore scams like 2G spectrum, she charged and alleged that the UPA government lacked commitment to contain corruption which is taking a heavy toll on the common man.

“The rhetoric movements would not serve any purpose,” she felt underscoring the need for sustained agitations to exert pressure on the government take concrete steps to root out corruption from the grassroots level. The Lok Pal bill should have been brought in long back, she said.

Left activists continue protest against fuel price hike across the country

DELHI
Left Front activists led by CPI-M leader Brinda Karat on Monday marched from Jantar Mantar towards the Parliament to protest the 'anti-people' price hike in petroleum products.

The protesters vowed to intensify their agitation against the UPA government before they were stopped at the Parliament Street by the police.

Brinda said the move to hike the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG betrayed the UPA government's preference for the 'khaas admi' as against the 'aam admi', whose cause it claims to champion. he activists from CPI, CPI-M, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), who gathered at Jantar Mantar, marched to demand a withdrawal of the price hike.

Questioning the timing of the hike that came closely after elections in four states, Brinda also said that crude prices at the international level were actually coming down and the oil and gas firms in India were making huge profits.

The CPI-M leader said the entire argument of 'under recoveries' by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was 'notional' rather than 'actual'. She also sought clarification over what the cost of production of oil products was and how much was the tax.

She also attacked the Trinamool Congress over its unwillingness to compel the government to give up ad valorem taxes, and termed a reduction of VAT on LPG in West Bengal as a 'cosmetic show'.

HIMACHAL PRADESH
Despite inclement weather on Monday, the CPIM after holding a procession through the Lower Bazar, in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh the demonstration culminated into a public meeting at Naaz, close to The Mall Road.

Ridiculing the congress slogan of ‘Congress ka haath, aam admi key saath’, Tikender Panwar, CPIM member secretariat said that the party that had professed to work for the common man has turned the hand around to strangulate him with hiking certain petro products substantially.

Hiking the prices of diesel by Rs 3, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG gas cylinder by Rs 50 has broken the back of the ordinary citizen, he said.

The party has decided to intensify the agitations to build a strong movement for exposing the sinister policies of the congress party, he added.

TRIPURA

Life in all spheres of the state got completely paralyzed today in Tripura where the people spontaneously responded to the dawn-to-dusk Bandh called the Tripura Left Front Committee protesting against the recent hike of prices of fuel by the UPA-II Government at the centre.
All the markets, commercial centres remained closed. No student, teaching staff and employees turned up in any school, college and university. All types of vehicular traffic remained off the road and the rail did not move in the state today. All private and Government offices looked to be a solitary place because of no staff attended for duty today.
While hailing the people for rendering overwhelming respond to the Bandh call, Tripura Left Front Committee in a statement said, this irrational price hike is an attack on all sections of people. This hike shall cause unbearable percolating affect to all sections of the people of the state particularly, because of the state’s remote location and its dependence on road transpiration for all essential commodities. So it is a united protest voiced by the people of the state in line with the protest throughout the country.

If the hike of the price on diesel, K. oil and cooking gas is not rolled back and the people’s protest is not honored, the people will have to prepare themselves for a bigger struggle in the coming days, the Left Front urged. Normal life was paralysed in Tripura today during a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the ruling Left Front to protest hike in the prices of petroleum products.

Traffic was off the roads. Shops, markets, schools, colleges and the Tripura University were closed. Attendance at Civil Secretariat, offices and banks was almost nil, officials said. The police said picketers took to streets since morning but no untoward incident was reported. Security was strengthened in the state and the police and paramilitary forces were on patrol in different parts of the state.

PUDUCHERRY

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday held a protest outside the head post office condemning the hike in prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG and demanded an immediate rollback of the hike.

Puducherry secretary of the CPI (M) V. Perumal said that since the UPA came to power for the second time in 2009, fuel prices have been increased 10 times. The hike in prices was a blow to the people, who were already suffering from escalating prices of essential commodities.

Condemning the acts of oil companies, which were putting up advertisements persuading people to bear with the “small increase” in fuel prices, he said that such advertisements were insensitive to the plight of the people.

While corporate companies in the country got huge tax benefits in the form of waivers, the government was trying to bring down fiscal deficit by reducing subsidies provided to the poor, he said.

China's Communist Party members exceed 80 million

The number of Communist Party of China (CPC) members has exceeded 80 million, a senior CPC official said Friday.

The CPC had 80.269 million members by the end of last year, Wang Qinfeng, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at a press conference.The Party grew from only about 50 members at its birth to nearly 4.5 million when the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.Last year, 3.075 million people joined the CPC, the world's largest political Party -- a net increase of 2.274 million taking into account members who died or left the party.The two leading groups in new members were college students and people at the frontline of production or work, such as industrial workers, farmers, herders, and migrant workers, both accounting for more than 40 percent of total new Party members.The CPC received 21.017 million membership applications last year, a year-on-year increase of 861,000.Of the Party's members, 18.03 million were women and 5.338 million were from ethnic minority groups in 2010, accounting for 22.5 percent and 6.6 percent of the total respectively, according to Wang.In terms of occupation, the group of farmers, herders and fishers, numbering 24.427 million, was the largest, while 6.989 million Party members were workers, he said.Another 6.812 million members worked in Party and state agencies, and 18.413 million were managerial staff and professional technicians working in enterprises and non-profitable organizations, and 2.539 million were students, according to Wang.

As the Communist Party of China (CPC) prepares to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its founding, the party is making extra efforts to ensure that its officials are living up to the standards first established by the party's founders back in 1921.

Source : Xinhua

Left Front’s protest march in Kolkota

The Left Front took out an impressive protest march before organizing a meeting in Azad Hind Bag in north Kolkata on June 25. The protest was against widespread Trinamool attacks on Left party leaders, workers and even supporters in West Bengal immediately after the declaration of poll results, price rise particularly the rise in prices of diesel and ,LPG cooking gas.

The march started from Rani Rashmoni Road in Esplanade area where Left Front leaders including Front chairman Biman Basu and Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra were frontliners in the 8-kilometre march along Esplanade East, Lenin Sarani, College Street and Bidhan Sarani. The former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was present at Rani Rashmoni Road.Braving the afternoon rain a large number of Left supporting people assembled at Rashmoni Road. The participation of students and youths was particularly impressive.The Front chairman Biman Basu reminded the marchers of Emergency during the days of Indira Gandhi 33 years ago when ruthless attacks were mounted on the people to take away their democratic rights. Now again after the span of Emergency period a situation had been created by Trinamool-Congress combine by resorting to indiscriminate attacks on Left supporting masses across rural Bengal, he alleged.

CPIM holds anti mining rally in Andhra Pradesh

CPI(M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu has asserted that the anti-mining movement in the tribal areas of Visakhapatnam district will continue until such time all leases are cancelled.

Addressing a meeting, a culmination of an eight-day anti-mining campaign by the CPI(M) in the 11 mandals of the tribal areas, here on Friday, Mr. Raghavulu said already 29 licences had been given for mining in nearly 4,000 acres. Accusing the government of giving scope for illegal mining, he said 120 applications for mining in 1.1 lakh acres were pending with the government.

‘Destructive mining'

‘Destructive mining' would not only ruin the ecology in the Girijan areas but would also devastate the plain areas, he said.

It was estimated that mining in one acre would get Rs. 2 crore of revenue and in 1.1 lakh acres it would get Rs. 2.5 lakh crore.

“But why should Girijans sacrifice their land and ecology for mining, when they are not getting health, colleges or bridges they need and the money on mining was spent elsewhere?” he asked.

The government was not even spending the tribal sub-plan amount of 7 per cent of the budget in tribal areas. The leaders of Congress, TDP, and YSR Congress should declare whether they were with Girijans or hand in glove with those taking up mining. He charged the Congress government with overcoming the Panchayat approval for mining in violation of the Panchyatraj Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act and putting it in the hands of mandal and zilla parishads. The mandal parishads should pass a resolution opposing destructive mining. Describing the tribal movement that led to putting off public hearing on china clay at Sarai in Kandrika mandal as significant,

Mr. Raghavulu said Girijans were ready to lay down their lives for protecting their lands from mining.

If the government wanted to take up mining in areas that would not disturb ecology, it should come out with an alternative mining policy for spending money from it in Girijan areas, set up industries using the raw material within the State and provide employment to local youth.

Former MP Midiam Babu Rao, CPI(M ) district secretary Ch. Narsinga Rao Araku Valley ZPTC Killo Surendra, K. Santi of GK Veedhi, and Makireddy Ramana of Samata, a voluntary organisation, spoke.

(courtesy :The Hindu)

Protest Petroleum Products Price Hike

The Left parties strongly condemn these price increases and demand that they be withdrawn. The Left parties call upon all its units to immediately conduct hartals, demonstrations and other protest actions.

The four Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc have issued the following statement:

The UPA Government has struck another cruel blow at the people by increasing the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. The increase in the price of diesel by Rs. 3 per litre has come at a time when the people are suffering from all round price rise and the inflation rate has crossed 9 per cent. The diesel price increase will raise the price of transportation and affect the farmers as well. The increase in the price of kerosene by Rs. 2 per litre will be an added burden on the poor. The Rs. 50 increase per gas cylinder will also burden the common people.

The withdrawal of 5 percentage points in customs duty on crude oil, which was imposed last year, shows how such taxes are levied by the Centre to raise revenue and this is the main cause for the high prices of petroleum products. Yet, the government refuses to restructure the taxes on petroleum products and give up the ad valorem tax.

The Left parties strongly condemn these price increases and demand that they be withdrawn. The Left parties call upon all its units to immediately conduct hartals, demonstrations and other protest actions.

CPIM demands government to immediatly solve the issue of Tamilnadu Fisherman

The Centre should find a permanent solution for the Indian fishermen's problem who are often arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) secretary, G. Ramakrishnan, has said.

Addressing the media here after a meeting of district committee members of seven party districts on Wednesday, Mr. Ramakrishnan condemned the recent arrest of 23 fishermen of Ramanathapuram.

He urged the Centre to intervene and take necessary steps for their immediate release.

Stating that there were reports on the posts in local bodies being allegedly auctioned by villagers, Mr. Ramakrishnan said such a practice was against the democracy.

Those who win the posts through auction would only focus on earning the money they had spent in the auction, he said.

The State Government should take necessary steps to stop such illegal practice. He also advocated for conducting direct elections to elect the heads of local bodies, instead of indirect election.

Stating that there were agitations throughout the State in support of Samacheer Kalvi, he said the State Government should implement it for all the classes from the current academic year.

Seeking to reduce the fee structure recommended by the Justice Raviraja Pandiayan committee, he also wanted strict action against the private and Government-aided schools that were collecting exorbitant fees.

(courtesy : The Hindu)

CITU DENOUNCE POLICE ATROCITY FOR FORCIBLE EVICTION IN COAL-BELT IN WEST BENGAL

Left: Villagers and coalmine workers at Pandabeswar area protesting brutal lithicharge by police on Tuesday. Right : injured local MLA Gouranga Chatterjee

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions denounces brutal lathi-charge by Police on the peaceful demonstration by around 15000 villagers and coalmine workers opposing eviction of the villagers and contract workers residing and cultivating in the land adjoining the coal-mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd at Pandabeswar area of West Bengal. Police lathi-charge on the villagers and the workers peacefully squatting since last few days against the eviction order issued by Eastern Coalfields Ltd left several people severely injured including the CITU leader and local MLA Gauranga Chatterjee who received severe head-injury and admitted in hospital in serious condition.

It is shocking as well as deplorable that the management of a central government company like Eastern Coal Fields (ECL) sought to evict around thirty thousands of poor villagers and contract workers from eleven villages in the adjoining area of Pandabeswar just to hand over the area to private contractors for mining by throwing several thousands of villagers including peasants, bargadars, agricultural workers etc out of their livelihood and residence. The Colliery Mazdoor Sabha of India (CITU) had already lodged their protest against the said eviction order by ECL in favour of a few private contractors and joined the villagers in protest programmes.

The All India Coal Workers Federation of India while protesting against such police-atrocities decided to hold protest demonstration in all the collieries throughout the country on 24th June 2011 and called upon all the coal workers’ unions irrespective of affiliations to join the protest action.

CITU while condemning such police atrocities as well as the evil ploy of the ECL management to oblige the private contractors by forcibly dislodging more than 30000 villagers, that too without any appropriate compensation and rehabilitation covering all affected people, demands upon the government of India and the coal minister in particular to restrain the ECL management from such forcible eviction of people from the Pandabeswar area in West Bengal and urges upon the state government to take action on the concerned police officials responsible for such barbaric lathicharge on peaceful democratic protest.

Nationwide Protest on June 24, 2011 Against Police Lathi-charge in Hansidiha (Raniganj) Privatization and for adequate compensation to land losers

Kolkata, June 22: Jibon Roy, general secretary, All India Coal Workers’ Federation of India has issued the following statement:

All India Coal Workers’ Federation congratulates the coal workers in Raniganj coal fields and the residents around, for holding a strike in Raniganj and surrounding in protest against yesterday’s police lathi-charge on the coal workers and the common residents in Hansidiha colliery of Pandeveswar region under ECL. The police action ahs caused injury, to around 30 miners and local residents and in which Gouranga Chattererjee, the coal leader of all India stature who is happened to be the local MLA has been seriously injured. Police did not spare even Bansagopal Choudhury, the MP and ex-minister. The strike and bandh has been total in all the coal fields of Raniganj, Jamuria and Pandeveswar regions in Ranganj coal fields.

ACWF condemns the police atrocities, expresses its anguish and indignation against the state policy about a labour, so reversed under the current regime from the policy followed by the LF government on the matter of state’s role in the dispute between labour and the employers. Incidentally, yesterday’s lathi charge has been first of the kind against labour after LF government had been installed in June 1977.

The AICWF however, reaffirms its resolve against the policy being followed by coal India on the matter of land acquisition for green field mining and demands that such acquisition be followed only after negotiated settlement on the matter of providing alternative lands, money compensation and employment to the land losers.

The AICWF reaffirms its resolve not to give in any such polices which may lead to privatization whatsoever it may be the form. The ECL management’s move on Hansidiha has ostensibly been to hand over the patch to private contractor. In no time in the history of ECL such transfer had taken place without prior settlement between management and the trade unions. ACWF complements the local resident around the patch for joining the miners and this would obviously help against the land aggression around Hansidiha patch. If the patch, so identified to be transferred to contractor, will effect 11 villages which is inhibited mostly by the tribal population.

AICWF calls upon all of its affiliates in the country to protest the police action through holding demonstrations or any other forms which many suits them and unite the miners against the privatision/disinvestment/outsourcing and for adequate compensation to land losers.

Left Movement against Corruption

The Left parties – the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party – met in New Delhi on June 19, 2011. They have issued the following statement:

Movement against Corruption

The Left parties decided to conduct a countrywide movement against corruption and to demand immediate measures to curb corruption in all spheres of public life. The Left parties’ platform against corruption includes:

i) Adoption of an effective Lokpal legislation

ii) There should be a National Judicial Commission to curb corruption in the high judiciary

iii) Stringent action against the rampant corruption fostered by the big business-politician-bureaucratic nexus which has led to scandal such as the 2G spectrum case.

iv) Implementation of electoral reforms including introduction of proportional representation system to check money power in elections

v) Steps to unearth black money and repatriation of the illegal money stashed abroad.

In order to get these demands implemented, the Left parties will launch a movement from July 15-21, 2011 all over the country. In this week-long movement, the Left parties will picket Central Government offices, hold demonstrations, dharnas and rallies.

The Left parties will hold a demonstration in Delhi outside Parliament on these demands after the Parliament session begins in July.

44th congress of Communist party of Ukraine concludes

Comrade Petro Symonenko re-elected party General Secretary

 
The 44th Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine concluded on 19th June 2011. On this day, the delegates adopted a new version of the Party Program and made changes to the Charter of the Communist Party. The congress also elected the Party's leading bodies - the Central Committee and Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
The Communist Party of Ukraine re-elected Petro Symonenko as First Secretary of the Central Committee. The congress elected Ihor Alekseyev as Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Heorhii Buiko and Volodymyr Oplachko were elected as secretaries of the Central Committee.

The congress elected the following members of the Presidium of the Central Committee: Adam Martyniuk, Valentyn Matveyev, Kateryna Samoilyk, Valerii Mishura, Mykola Shulha, Oleksii Baburin, Alla Aleksandrovska, Ihor Kaletnyk, Spiridon Kilinkarov, Oleksandr Prysiazhniuk, Petro Tsybenko, and Oleksandr Holub.