CPIM General Secretary Prakash Karat visit Jaitapur

On Tuesday, Prakash Karat, general secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and D. Raja, MP and CPI national secretary, visited Jaitapur, the site of the proposed nuclear power plant, along with activist Vaishali Patil and others. The delegation of Left parties met the family of Tabrez Sayekar, who was killed in the police firing in April.

“It was a courtesy visit to express condolences. There was a meeting at Nate village and another one at Ratnagiri. The two leaders also met Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited officials who took them on a tour of the site,” Vivek Monteiro, member, Maharashtra State Committee of the CPI (M) said.

“In Mithgavane village, they met the local people and leaders. The people said the Jaitapur issue was significant for the whole country. They said the struggle would be expanded to other parts of Maharashtra and the country,” Mr. Monteiro said.

Perils of Railway Passengers

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its deep shock and grief at the horrific accident involving the Howrah-Kalka Mail in Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. 65 bodies have been recovered and the death toll is rising; more than 200 have been injured. This accident comes just three days after the Mathura-Chaapra Express hit a bus at an unmanned railway crossing at Adhurpur which left 38 bus passengers dead.

Suspected sabotage on the same day as the Kalka Mail accident has led to the derailment of the Guwahati-Puri Express injuring many. All these highlight the perils faced by passengers on the railways.

In the last two years, the railways have been on a disastrous path under the stewardship of former Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee. It has suffered acute neglect and was used for the political ends of the Minister in West Bengal. As a result, more than one lakh safety related jobs in the railways are lying vacant.

In the UPA government, no one is held accountable for this dereliction of duty. The Prime Minister should explain how this shocking state of affairs was allowed to go on. There can be no compulsions of coalition politics when the lives of the people are at stake.

It is not enough to have an enquiry conducted by the railways into the Kalka accident. The Polit Bureau demands the constitution of a high level enquiry into the spate of railway accidents and immediate steps to strengthen the safety measures in the railways.

Jyoti Basu Remembered on his 98th Birth anniversary

Communist Patriarch and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu’s 98th birth anniversary was celebrated across the state on Saturday. Among those who paid floral tributes in the Assembly were Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay, Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, the former Speaker H.A. Halim, and Sitaram Yechury, member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

A non-governmental organisation Pather Panchali, which held annual celebrations on this day at Basu’s residence Indira Bhavan when he was alive, organised a small function at the venue. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh, other political leaders and a large number of schoolchildren took part. Chatterjee demanded that Indira Bhavan, where Basu spent the last two decades of his life, be turned into a museum in his memory.

Born July 8, 1914, in Kolkata to a wealthy family, Basu took to communism in London. On his return to India, he joined the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) and plunged into the Left movement.  Basu made his debut in electoral politics in 1946. He was elected to the state assembly 11 times, losing only once – in the hugely controversial 1972 elections.
After the CPI split in 1964, he joined the CPI(M) and was elected to its first central committee and politburo.  He was West Bengal chief minister from 1977 until he retired in late 2000 due to ill health.

Sitaram Yechury files papers for RS polls in West Bengal

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury on Friday filed nomination as the lone Left Front candidate for Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal.

The Rajya Sabha terms of four Left Front leaders -- Yechury, Brinda Karat, Mohammad Amin of CPI(M) and Abani Roy of RSP, besides Trinamool Congress’ Swapan Sadhan Bose -- will end on August 18.  The remaining sixth seat has been lying vacant since the death of Independent Arjun Sengupta, who was backed by the Left and Congress in September 2010.
The election will be held on July 22.

Our struggle has not ended with the defeat in the elections: Prakash Karat

The Left Parties on Thursday lashed out at the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, saying that as many as 24 of its workers and supporters had been killed since the Mamata Banerjee-led government took power in that State. In a joint resolution, they strongly condemned the “dastardly attacks being unleashed on Left Front activists in West Bengal” and demanded an immediate halt to them. 

Addressing a public meeting in Delhi as part of the national campaign of the Left Parties against Trinamool Atrocities in West Bengal , CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, while referring to the achievements of the former Left Front government in West Bengal in land reforms, establishing communal harmony and transformation of the rural areas, said this was clearly not to the liking of some people. Giving details of the attacks on Left workers since the coming to power of the Trinamool in West Bengal, he stressed, “Our struggle has not ended with the defeat in these elections. We are committed to battle for people's rights.” He also pointed out that people should not forget that two crore people had voted for the Left Front even in these elections, and it would not be easy to crush their spirits or continuing struggle. “If anyone believes that Communism can be ended through physical attacks,” Mr Karat said,” they are wrong.” 

Later, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan pointed out that Ms. Banerjee could not escape responsibility for the hike in the prices of petroleum products and rising prices as her party was one of the Congress's biggest partners in the UPA government at the Centre, while taking credit for slashing some of the taxes on these items in the State. “It isn't as though there are two Mamata Banerjees — one in Delhi and another in Kolkata,” he said. The meeting was also addressed by Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc and Abani Roy of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Present on the dais were other Left leaders, including CPI(M) MPs Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat. 

The resolution blamed the “goondas” of the Trinamool, the Maoists and the Congress for the attacks on Left workers and demanded that the West Bengal government immediately intervene and end the “barbaric attacks.”

Alarming situation in rural Bengal, large scale eviction of peasants by Trinamool land-grabbers.

Poor villagers possessing land right (patta) granted by the Left Front government now facing mass eviction by Trinamool land-grabbers in rural Bengal. Photograph from Indpur in Bankura.  Photo :  Madhusudan Chatterjee.

An alarming situation has engulfed rural Bengal within one and a half month of Trinamool rule following a large scale eviction of peasants from their land by Trinamool land- grabbers with the help of the police.

The evicted peasants are mostly sharecroppers or bargadars who were given hereditary right to cultivate land of landowners under the Land Reforms policy of the Left Front government. Shortly after the formation of the government in 1977 the Left Front implemented its Land Reforms policy bringing about the end of immense exploitation of peasants by landholders. Under the new policy “patta” of government vested land was also  distributed among poor peasants. Within one and a half month of Trinamool rule the land-grabbers across the State have been regrouping  to forcibly occupy the ‘patta’ land distributed to landless poor peasants by the Left Front government. 

Aided by the police Trinamool land-grabbers has already in organized armed operations evicted more than 20,000 poor peasants, mostly bargadars and patta-holders in different districts of West Bengal. While in Haroa at Barasat in north 24-parganas  alone recorded an eviction figure of more than 10,000,in West Midnapore and Birbhum the number of sharecroppers and patta-holders evicted are more than 3000 each. The reports of eviction are also available from Bankura and Hooghly.The Trinamool activists have been in many places engaged by Jotedars and Zamindars whose lands are used be cultivated by bargadars. Now with the help of Trinamool goons they are trying to evict the bargadars or sharecroppers.   

CPI (M) scores significant election victories in Maharashtra

In the elections to several gram panchayats held on June 26 in Thane, Nashik and Nandurbar districts, the CPI(M) not only retained most of the gram panchayats that it had held earlier, but also won over 35 new ones, wresting them from opponents like the Congress, NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena. Particularly good results were achieved in the Dahanu, Talasari, Jawhar, Vikramgad and Wada tehsils of Thane district and in the Surgana, Kalwan and Tryambakeshwar tehsils of Nashik district. The CPI (M) won a total of 107 gram panchayats – 60 in Nashik district, 42 in Thane district and 5 in Nandurbar district. Many of the winners in these gram panchayat elections are AIKS activists.

Thane district: In Thane district, the Party won 42 GPs and 431 seats. 19 GPs were wrested from the opposition. In Talasari tehsil, of the 12 GPs that went to the polls it retained 9 of the 10 GPs held earlier by big majorities. Here the CPI(M) won 107 seats, the BJP won 25 and the NCP just 8. In the Dahanu tehsil, the Party won a total of 105 seats. It retained 4 of the 5 GPs held earlier and wrested 6 new GPs from the NCP. In the Jawhar tehsil, it won 60 seats, retained 4 of the 5 GPs held earlier and wrested 3 new ones. In the Vikramgad tehsil, it won 64 seats, retained 5 of the 6 GPs held earlier and wrested 4 new GPs. In the Wada tehsil, it won 60 seats, retained 1 of the 3 GPs held earlier and wrested 6 new ones. In the weaker Shahapur, Palghar and Mokhada tehsils, the Party won 35 seats.

Nashik district: In Nashik district, the Party won 60 GPs and over 500 seats. 15 GPs were wrested from the opposition. In the Surgana tehsil, all the 58 GPs went to the polls. The CPI(M) won 36 GPs by a clear majority and 294 of the 532 total GP seats in the tehsil, leaving the combined opposition with only 22 GPs and 238 seats. In Surgana, the Party won all the 28 GPs that it had won earlier and wrested 8 new GPs from the combined opposition. In the Tryambakeshwar tehsil, the Party won 11 GPs, 3 more than last time, and over 100 seats. In the Kalwan tehsil it won 10 GPs. It won a couple of GPs in Peth and Dindori tehsils also.

Nandurbar district: In Nandurbar district, the Party won 5 GPs, 4 in Shahada tehsil and 1 in Taloda tehsil. It won a number of seats in many GPs in the above two tehsils and also in Akkalkuwa tehsil.

Earlier, on June 12, CPI (M) and AIKS activists also registered a sweeping victory in the elections to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) of Surgana tehsil in Nashik district by winning 15 of the 16 seats. The single seat we lost was also because of a toss, since the rival candidates had won the same number of votes. Here also we defeated the combined opposition panel of all bourgeois parties like the NCP, INC, BJP and SS. On June 26, in another election to the Hamaal Mapadi (headload workers) constituency in the Parbhani APMC, the CPI(M) scored a significant victory over its opponents and a rebel candidate.

The significance of these victories was that they were won in an adverse political situation, in the wake of the defeat of the Left in West Bengal and Kerala a month and a half ago. This defeat was utilised to the fullest not only by the media to berate and slander the Left, but also directly by our opponents in all the above three districts in the election campaign. However, thousands of CPI(M) and AIKS activists successfully combated this motivated propaganda and worked hard to ensure these victories, which will stand us in good stead for the statewide Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections that are due in March 2012.

On Telengana Issue

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

The political crisis in Andhra Pradesh with regard to the Telengana issue has deepened with the resignation of many MLAs and MPs belonging to the Telengana region. The inaction of the Central Government and the Congress leadership in resolving the issue is the main cause for the present impasse.

It is more than six months since the Justice Sri Krishna Committee submitted its report to the Central Government. The Home Minister had convened a meeting of political parties from Andhra Pradesh soon after. But after that, the government has not taken any decision.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the government take a decision on the matter immediately.

Kozhikode will host CPIM 20th Party Congress

CPIM Kerala State committee has decided to hold the 20th Party Congress at Kozhikode on April 2012. Earlier it was decided at the Central Committee meeting held in  the last month decided to hold the 20th Party Congress in Kerala. The state committee has also decided to hold the State conference at Thiruvananthapuram. Party General Secretary Com. Prakash Karat made the political reporting in the meeting.The committee also made a schedule for the conferences starting from branch conferences  to be held in September - October months, Local Conferences by October last, Area conference by November and District conferences by January and February. It is for the Third time that Kerala is hosting the Party Congress. Palakkad was the venue for 4th Party Congress of the then undivided communist party in 1956, 8th Congress at Kochi in 1968 and 13th Congress at Thiruvananthapuram in 1988.

CPIM : Stand on Lokpal

The battle against corruption, in order to be effective today, can be achieved only through a comprehensive reform of our political, legal, administrative and judicial systems and not through one-off or piece-meal measures. The establishment of an effective Lokpal institution is one such measure. This needs to be complemented by other measures.

 

Lokpal: For An Effective Anti-Corruption Body

 

Introduction

 

Corruption has become a major public concern in the wake of successive scams unfolding over the past few years. In a country like India, where millions of people still suffer from acute poverty, hunger and lack of socio-economic opportunities, the pillage of public resources through corruption amounts to a crime of a very serious nature. Besides impeding economic development, accumulation of ill gotten wealth through corruption is widening the inequalities and ruining the moral fabric of our society.

 

The recent exposures in the 2G spectrum allocation case, CWG scam etc. have shown how thousands of crores worth of public resources have been illicitly cornered by a section of corporates, bureaucrats and ministers. What is worse, tainted ministers have been allowed to remain in office for months and the investigations manipulated, in order to obstruct the course of justice. While corruption in high places has been a feature of our political system for many decades, what has emerged as a dominant trend in the post-liberalization period is a thorough distortion of the policy-making process at the highest levels of the government. A nexus of big corporates, politicians and bureaucrats have matured under the neoliberal regime and is threatening to subvert our democracy. It is clear that the current economic regime has made our system more vulnerable to cronyism and criminality.

 

The battle against corruption, in order to be effective today,  can be achieved only through a comprehensive reform of our political, legal, administrative and judicial systems and not through one-off or piece-meal measures. The establishment of an effective Lokpal institution is one such measure. This needs to be complemented by other measures. There has to be a grievance redressal set-up for citizens, based on a legislation. There has to be a National Judicial Commission to oversee the higher judiciary; there has to be electoral reforms to check the use of money power in elections which is another source of corruption. Urgent steps also need to be undertaken to reform our tax system to plug loopholes and unearth black money, much of which is stashed in offshore bank accounts and tax havens. Firm steps need to be taken to break the big business-politician-bureaucrat nexus. Only a comprehensive systemic reform can effectively curb corruption.

 

Lokpal Bill

 

The institution of Ombudsman, which exists in many countries across the world, has provided avenues to redress public grievances on corruption and abuse of public office. However, the fact that the Lokpal Bill could not be passed in the Indian parliament in four decades exposes the lack of political will to fight corruption. Several governments in the past have taken it up only to shelve it later under various pretexts. The present government has also been compelled to initiate discussion on this bill because of public outcry over successive corruption scandals. It is imperative that a Lokpal Bill which deals with corruption in high places is tabled in the forthcoming session of parliament.

 

In the wake of the on-going debate on what should be the scope and role of the Lokpal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wishes to set out its stand on the main issues concerning the constitution of a Lokpal.

 

1.    Definition of Corruption

 

Corruption involves a whole range of activities from bribery, influence peddling, patronage or favour, nepotism, cronyism, electoral fraud, embezzlement, kickbacks to officials and involvement in organized crime.

 

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has defined the offences that constitute a corrupt act. This definition requires to be widened. The linkage between misuse of public power for private gain or enrichment is a highly restrictive understanding of corruption. In many cases, power is misused to benefit an entity like a private company which is not a “person” as required under the PCA 1988. Often, there may be no traceable kickbacks or embezzlement but there may be a huge loss to the public exchequer and breach of public trust for example through sale of PSUs due to a willful misuse of power.

 

The definition of corruption has to be widened to include “willfully giving any undue benefit to any person or entity or obtaining any undue benefit from any public servant in violation of laws or rules”.

 

2.    Clarity on Functions

 

The Lokpal should essentially be a fact-finding body that receives complaints, enquires, investigates and forward cases to Special Courts where prima facie there is a case of corruption for prosecution and punishment in a time bound manner. It should have powers to recommend an enquiry and investigation suo moto. It should oversee the entire machinery related to corruption cases at the Central level. Finally, it should have the powers to recommend executive action and to approach Courts when these are not accepted.

 

The Lokpal should be entrusted with quasi-judicial powers and autonomy to fulfill these functions in an independent, accountable, transparent and time-bound manner.

 

The separation of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. The institution of Lokpal should conform to this basic structure.

 

An issue to be considered regarding the functions of a Lokpal is whether it will deal with corruption or will it also perform functions of grievance redressal. The CPI(M) favours separation of these functions. There must be a separate mechanism for grievance redressal. This should be set up by a separate legislation. The grievances of citizens about the citizens charter etc should be brought under this set up.

 

3.    Selection & Composition of Lokpal

 

The Lokpal Act should lay down an objective and transparent criteria such as competence, experience, qualification etc for the selection of candidates for appointment to the Lokpal. The selection committee should be broad-based consisting of members of the executive, leaders of parliament, members of the higher judiciary, jurists and academicians. The search committee constituted by the selection committee should also be broad-based.

 

Composition: Apart from the chairperson, there should be 10 members in the Lokpal. Out of these four shall be judicial members, three can be persons with administrative and civil service backgrounds and the other three should be drawn from fields such as law, academics and social service. There should be no member drawn from commerce and industries just as there can be no politician.

 

4.    Jurisdiction

 

While corruption in high places has to be tackled on a priority basis, for the ordinary citizen, it is the corruption faced by them in daily life and in dealings with public authorities that also needs to be urgently taken up. Much of this sphere of corruption falls in dealings with authorities at the states-level. The Lok Ayuktas set up on the lines of the Lokpal should bring all state government employees, local bodies and the state corporations under their purview. Further, a citizen’s grievances redressal machinery that we have proposed be set up separately, should address all grievances regarding delivery of basic services and entitlements for citizens.

 

a) Prime Minister: The Prime Minister should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal with adequate safeguards. The office of Prime Minister along with all public servants was brought under the purview of Lokpal by the V.P. Singh Government in 1989 and in all subsequent draft legislations, the Prime Minister has been placed under the Lokpal. In fact a Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Shri Pranab Mukherjee had made precisely this point while examining the 2001 Lokpal Bill. For the first time since 1989, this government presiding over a large number of scams, is unwilling to ensure accountability of the highest executive office. Clearly, all public servants of the Union Government within the definition in the Prevention of Corruption Act, which includes the Prime Minister, must fall within the purview of the Lokpal.

 

b) Judiciary: The judiciary too needs to be brought under scrutiny and made more accountable, and the stringent requirement of prior permission and sanction from the Chief Justice to file FIRs and investigate corruption charges has resulted in a de facto immunity to them. But the proposals to bring them under Lokpal encroach upon the constitutionally guaranteed independence of the Supreme Court. If a mere allegation of mala fide is enough for the Lokpal to start an inquiry into the actions of judges, it may not allow judges to act without fear.

 

Complaints about corruption against the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts should be handled by a separate body, the National Judicial Commission. This Commission should take care of the appointments in the higher judiciary and oversee their conduct and enquire into the complaints of corruption. For this, necessary legislation will have to be passed. The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010 is woefully inadequate for this purpose.

 

c)     Members of Parliament: At present, the scrutiny of the conduct of Members of Parliament with regard to any corrupt practice is weak and unsatisfactory. For Members of Parliament, Article 105 of the Constitution provides protection with regard to freedom of speech and voting. The real issue is how to ensure that this freedom and protection does not extend to acts of corruption by Members of Parliament.

 

This can be done through an amendment to Article 105, on the lines recommended by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution”.

 

Alternatively, if feasible, there can be legislation that if any Member of Parliament indulges in any act of corruption that motivates his or her action in Parliament (voting, speaking etc.), then this act falls within the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC.

 

5. Lok Ayuktas

 

In the states, Lok Ayuktas should be set up on the model of the Central Lokpal.

 

6.    Protection of Whistleblowers

 

Whistleblowers must be protected in order to combat corruption. Monitoring and ensuring protection of whistleblowers can be a part of the mandate of Lokpal, but this needs a comprehensive statutory backing. The provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Information) Bill, 2010 needs to be strengthened and the bill enacted expeditiously.

 

7. Big Business-Public Servant Nexus

 

It is necessary to recognise that an important source of corruption since liberalisation stems from the corrupt nexus between big business and public servants. It is necessary for the Lokpal to have investigations in cases which involve business entities to recommend cancellation of licences, contracts, lease or agreements if it was obtained by corrupt means. The Lokpal should also have the power to recommend blacklisting companies from getting government contracts and licences. Similarly, if the beneficiary of an offence is a business entity, the Lokpal should have the power to recommend concrete steps to recover the loss caused to the public exchequer. The government should normally accept these recommendations and act upon it.

 

Conclusion

 

The CPI(M) holds that along with a law for setting up an independent Lokpal, simultaneous measures to strengthen the legal and administrative framework against corruption are required. These include:

 

(1)            Setting up of a National Judicial Commission to bring the conduct of judiciary under its purview

(2)            Law to protect citizens charter for redressal of public grievances

(3)            Amendment of Article  105 of the Constitution to bring MPs under anti-corruption scrutiny

(4)            Electoral reforms to check money power in elections

(5)            Setting up of Lok Ayuktas in the states to cover all public servants at the state-level

(6)            Steps to unearth black money and confiscate the funds illegally stashed away in tax havens.