Left Front retains Tripura tribal council with thumping majority

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front in Tripra Friday stormed back to power in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) for the second consecutive term in the election held on May 3. Total number of seats is 28. Election was suspended in one seat due to death of a candidate. CPI-M secured 25 seats while its ally Communist Party of India (CPI) bagged one seat.

With this victory, the Left Front has captured the TTAADC four times (1985, 1995, 2005 and 2010) after the autonomous body was formed under the sixth schedule of the Indian constitution in 1985. 

Tripura CM, Manik Sarkar and CPIM Central Committee thanked the people of Tripura and appealed to all sections to co-operate with the newly elected council to carry forward the welfare schemes for the development of backward communities.

CPIM Central Committee Communique

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from May 5 to 7, 2010. It has issued the following statement:

On Price Rise

The Central Committee reviewed the movement against the price rise of food items and essential commodities. There was an impressive mobilization for the March 12 rally by the Left parties which gave a call for the April 8 picketting and court arrest programme against price rise, for land, employment and against the attacks on the CPI(M) and the Left in West Bengal. According to the reports, 20 lakh people participated in these programmes.

The thirteen parties call for a countrywide hartal against price rise was a big success with a total shut down in many states.

The cut motions moved in the Lok Sabha by the opposition parties on the day of the hartal was to protest against the budget provisions which fuel price rise. The Central Committee condemned the UPA government for refusing to reverse the increase in customs duty on crude oil and excise duty of petrol and diesel announced in the Union Budget.

The Central Committee decided that the movement against price rise should continue. For this, the Left parties should meet and chalk out the next course of action.

Corruption Scandals

The Central Committee noted that the Budget session of parliament was marked by the outbreak of large scale corruption cases and scandals which are the outcome of the big business-politics nexus. The IPL affair has led to the first resignation of a minister from the UPA government, accused of malpractice; the IPL involves illegal money flowing in through the Mauritius route and other tax havens, the use of benami companies and large scale evasion of taxes. The Central Government has refused to institute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the whole matter.

The 2G Spectrum contracts given out in 2008 saw the involvement of the Telecom minister, A Raja in large scale corruption. The CBI investigation which included telephone tapping has confirmed the wrong doing of the minister. The Central Committee demanded the removal of A Raja from the ministership and a thorough probe into the telecom scam. The illegal mining activities of the Reddy brothers of Bellary such as the Obulapuram mining project has had the protection of both the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh and the BJP government in Karnataka. Thousands of crores of rupees are being made though such illegal mining activities.

The arrest of the chief of the Medical Council of India, Dr. Ketan Desai, for accepting a bribe of Rs. 2 crores shows the rot which exists in such regulatory bodies. Earlier, similar corruption was unearthed in the AICTE. The corrupt practices in the MCI have polluted the medical, educational and health system. Firm steps must be taken to clean up these institutions. There are allegations of corruption and misuse of funds allocated for disability sports. The Paralympics Committee has been charged with mismanagement of funds.

The Central Committee called for firm and sustained steps against all forms of corruption in public life and those which are the outcome of the big business-politics nexus.

Misuse of CBI

Instead of using agencies such as the CBI to investigate economic crimes and cases of corruption, the ruling party is unscrupulously utilizing the CBI for its narrow political purposes. The brazen manner in which the CBI investigations have been used to muster support against the cut motion is bringing the agency into disrepute. The ruling party cannot be allowed to bring the CBI into disrepute.

The revelation of phone tapping of four political leaders further reinforces the charge that the Congress party is utilizing security and intelligence agencies such as the IB for its political interests. Using these agencies for such purposes should be made illegal and liable for criminal prosecution.

Extremist Hindutva Exposed

The arrest of three persons in the Ajmer Sharief Dargah blasts of 2007 have revealed the role of Hindutva extremist elements in this terrorist attack. One of those arrested is reported to be a member of the RSS. These elements are linked to the group which conducted the Malegaon blasts in Maharashtra. The enquiries point to the involvement of the same elements in the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.

The Central Government should ensure a coordinated investigation of all these terrorist attacks linked to Hindutva extremists.

In the Mecca Masjid bomb blast a number of Muslim youth were rounded up and kept in detention and tortured for weeks. 26 of them were also charge-sheeted and kept in prison for seven months. The bias in police investigation of terrorist incidents against Muslims in general is disturbing.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh and the CBI must take remedial measures. All those arrested and detained in the Hyderabad case must be suitably compensated.

Mumbai Trial Verdict

With regard to the biggest terrorist violence in India, the Mumbai attack, the Central Committee expressed satisfaction that through the judicial process the accused Ajmal Kasab has been convicted. The Central Government should make all efforts to bring the other accused persons to book to face trial.

Struggle Against Disinvestment

The Central Committee extended its full support to the public sector employees who are struggling against disinvestment of shares in enterprises such as the BSNL, Coal India etc. The CPI(M) calls upon all sections of the people to oppose the government’s shortsighted policy of disinvestment and privatization of the public sector.

Against Retrograde Legislations

The Central Committee reiterated its strong opposition to the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha disregarding the opposition at the introductory stage. The Left parties have already spelt out the totally one-sided nature of the Bill which constitutes a serious violation of India’s sovereignty and which compromises the rights of citizens regarding their safety and health in the eventuality of a nuclear accident.

The Central Committee is strongly opposed to the Foreign Education Providers Bill introduced in parliament. The Bill does not serve the interests of higher education in the country but will only facilitate commercial and private teaching shops in the name of foreign educational providers.

Tripura Autonomous District Council Elections

The Central Committee warmly congratulated the CPI(M) and the Left Front of Tripura for their sweeping victory in the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council elections. Of the 27 seats which went to the polls, the Left Front has won all the 22 seats declared so far.

Organisational Decisions

The Central Committee conducted a mid-term review of the implementation of the organisational tasks decided at the 19th Congress of the Party in April 2008. An indepth examination of the work for implementing the tasks was undertaken and the immediate tasks for the future were worked out.

The meeting constituted a four-member Central Disciplinary Commission of the Central Committee. The Commission will consist of S Ramachandran Pillai (Chairman) and Madan Ghosh, V Srinivasa Rao and U. Vasuki as members.

Extended Meeting: The extended meeting of the Central Committee will be held from August 7 to 10, 2010 at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The Central Committee worked out the schedule for the preparations for the extended meeting.

Political Campaign

The Central Committee called upon the Party to undertake a political campaign on the following issues:

1. On restructuring Centre-State relations in view of the Centre’s inequitable policies and encroachment on state’s powers.

2. Scrapping the present Civil Nuclear Liability Bill and bringing in legislation which will protect the interests of the Indian people.

3. Oppose the setting up of foreign educational institutions in the country.

4. Against high level corruption and demanding action against those involved.

5. Take firm action against extremist Hindutva organisations involved in terrorist violence and action against those fomenting communal violence.

6. For bringing the women’s reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha and its adoption.

Withdraw the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill!

The HRD Minister has tabled the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill along with three other education related bills in the Lok Sabha today. The SFI registers its strong protest against the tabling of the FEI Bill which seeks to promote FDI in Indian higher education.

The bill seeks to allow any “foreign education provider”; who have twenty years experience of providing “educational services” in any country and who can maintain a corpus of Rs. 50 crore; to set up off-shore campuses in India. The bill gives complete freedom to these foreign education providers to determine the fee structure and admission criteria for students, even absolving them from the constitutionally mandated reservations for socially deprived sections. This will only lead to rampant commercialization of higher education and create enclaves for the elite within the education system, undermining the principles of equity, social justice and intellectual self reliance.

The stated objective of the bill in keeping sub standard foreign institutions at bay is nothing but an eyewash, since the bill in Clause 13 (1) allows for foreign institutions which are not even notified as FEPs to offer certificate courses in the country without any regulation. Clause 9 (1) further enables the Central Government to waive off even the minimal regulations provided in the bill on the basis of criteria such as “reputation” and “international standing” of the institution. These provisions further make the bill a sure recipe for misuse and corruption.

The likely gain from this bill being cited by the HRD Minister, in terms of good quality foreign universities coming to India, is never going to materialise. No reputed foreign university has so far announced its intention of setting up campuses in India. The ones that are interested to enter are teaching shops, whose sole motivation is to make quick profits by offering sub-standard courses, which have little academic value. In this regard, SFI would like to cite the views of Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who has said that: “Whenever these outstation universities set up campuses, be it in Singapore or other places, they have not been able to reproduce the culture of the original place”.

SFI considers the FEI Bill to be the first step towards the implementation of the HRD Minister’s neoliberal agenda in higher education. SFI is determined to fight this agenda tooth and nail. SFI Units across the country will organise protests to force the Government to withdraw this anti-student bill.

DYFI Rally in Chennai For Peoples Cause

DYFI TamilNadu state committee organized a rally in the state capital Chennai demanding rollback of various anti-peoples measures taken by both the State and Central governments. The rally also demanded immediate filling of various state and central government vacancies. The other demands included extension of National Rural employment guarantee scheme to urban areas too. The protesters demanded immediate withdrawal of policies for selling shares of public sector institutions. There are around 63 lakh unemployed youth who have registered with the employment exchanges across Tamil Nadu. DYFI State President Com SG Ramesh Babu, State Secretary Com Kannan, Former office bearer Com. S K Mahendran MLA led the rally and spoke on the occasion(Photos : Gavaskar Theekathir)

May Day in Greece: Workers’ class response to the capital

The strike mobilisations on the MayDay organised by the All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) in 75 cities throughout Greece, were a watershed event in the mobilisations of the class movement during the last period. The participation exceeded all the previous as tens of thousands of workers, men and women, young people, pensioners and immigrants, self-employed demonstrated their determination to clash with the new anti-workers, anti-peoples’ measures decided by the social-democrat government together with imperialist unions and organisations such as the EU and the IMF and with the support of the conservative party of the ND and the nationalist LAOS.

Thousands of workers and especially young ones -to whom this year’s Labour Day was dedicated- have rallied once more and in a difficult and critical juncture with PAME, the main and authentic force that expresses the interests of the working class in the labour and trade union movement and in the struggles.

The participation of the workers proved that once again they turned their backs on the opportunist parties and on the compromised leaderships of the confederations of the trade unions in the private (GSEE) and public sector (ADEDY) that seek a variation within the EU supposedly in favour of the people, exonerating it in a provocative way in contrast with the IMF and sowing illusions for the possibility of the formation of a different, a “good” stability pact within the imperialist EU. Their rallies had not only scant participation but also prearranged provocative incidents took place aiming to make large masses of workers withdraw from the struggle and to be reproduced by the media in order to cover the slogans and the volume of the demonstrations of PAME that targeted against the aims of the plutocracy.

As noted by the main speaker of the rally of PAME in Athens “In the name of all the dead of our class and of the young generation, PAME calls upon the working class to lead the struggle to confront the brutal offensive against all peoples in Europe”.

The new measures announced by the government on Sunday, May 2 are literally a slaughter: they abolish the 13^th and 14^th wage in public sector and transform them to a gratuity; likewise the 13^th and 14^th pension (both in private and public sector); they freeze the wages in public and private sector for thee years; they promote the anti-social security measures for the increase of retirement ages; they impose drastic cuts on pensions; they increase the redundancy threshold from 2% to 4%. Moreover, they impose rise in VAT on public consumption goods from 21% (after the rises before two months) to 23%, the abolition of the collective labor agreements, drastic cuts of benefits and redundancy payments, mass dismissals in public sector and local administration.

But above all the measures include the most important element for the increase of the capitalist profits that is the complete overthrow of the labour relations while they grant new provocative benefits to the big capital. At the same time, they prepare the ground for the complete abolition of the 13^th and 14^th salary and pension both in private and public sector.

The class oriented forces of PAME are giving a militant response to this wave of anti-labor measures. They call on the people to be in alert and to go on a new general strike on Wednesday 5 May. With the slogan “the plutocracy to go bankrupt” they call the working people to participate even more determinately in the picket lines and the strike demonstrations of PAME throughout the country.

“No matter how many billions they lend to the Greek state this does not mean anything for the people. After all capital will continue exploiting the working people even harder and the decayed political system will continue treading down and intimidating them, it will continue to need workers without dignity”, stated Aleka Papariga, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece at the demonstration on May Day.

On behalf of Communist party of Greece she also rejected the ostensible meeting of political leaders which as she stated “it aims only at giving the impression that people consent”. In addition, KKE stated that “there is absolutely no need to meet with the representatives of the “troika” (EU, European Bank, IMF)” and therefore refused to participate in such a meeting as the yellow trade unions and the other bourgeois parties did.

The insanities of our era

Reflections of Fidel

THERE is no alternative but to call things by their name. Anyone with minimal commonsense can observe without much effort how little realism remains in the current world.

When United States President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Michael Moore stated "Now please earn it!" That witty comment pleased a lot of people for its acuity, although the Norwegian committee’s decision was perceived by many as no more than demagogy and an exaltation of the apparently inoffensive politicking of the new president of the United States, an African American, a good speaker and an intelligent politician at the head of a powerful empire enveloped in profound economic crisis.

The Copenhagen world meeting was about to take place and Obama raised hopes of a binding agreement in which the United States would join a world consensus in order to avoid the ecological disaster that is threatening the human species. What occurred there was disappointing; international world public opinion had been the victim of a painful deception.

In the recent People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which took place in Bolivia, responses full of wisdom were put forward by the ancient indigenous nationalities, invaded and virtually destroyed by European conquistadores who, in their search for gold and easy riches, imposed over the centuries their egotistic cultures, incompatible with humanity’s most sacred interests.

Two news items that arrived yesterday express the philosophy of the empire in its attempt to make us believe in its "democratic", "pacific," "altruistic" and "honest" nature. Suffice it to read the text of those agency cables from the capital of the United States.

WASHINGTON , April 23, 2010—"The Obama administration is considering deploying a new group of intercontinental ballistic weapons that could deliver large conventional warheads, non-nuclear but capable of reaching targets anywhere in the world in approximately one hour and with a extremely powerful explosive capacity.

"While the new super-bomb, mounted on Minuteman missiles, will not have nuclear warheads, its destructive capacity will be equivalent, as confirmed by the fact that its deployment is anticipated in the recently signed START 2 agreement with Russia.

"The Moscow authorities demanded and succeeded in having inserted in the agreement, a provision demanding the United States decommission one nuclear missile for every missile it deploys.

"According to reports in The New York Times and on CBS News, the new weapon, baptized PGS (Prompt Global Strike), could carry out tasks like killing terrorist Osama bin Laden in a cave, destroying a North Korean missile as it is being transported to the launch pad, or demolishing an Iranian nuclear site - all without using nuclear bombs.

"The advantage of having a non-nuclear weapon with the same localized impact effects of a nuclear bomb is considered interesting by the Obama government.

"The project was initially proposed by Obama’s predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, but was blocked by Moscow’s protests. Bearing in mind that the Minuteman also transport nuclear warheads, the Moscow authorities said, it would be impossible to establish that the deployment of a PGS was not the beginning of a nuclear attack.

"But Obama’s government considers that it can give Russia or China the necessary guarantees to avoid misunderstandings. The launch facilities of the new weapon will be mounted in sites at a distance from nuclear warhead deposits and will be open to periodic inspection by Moscow or Beijing experts.

"The Prompt Global Strike warhead would be launched on Minuteman missiles armed with 1,000-lb. conventional warheads, designed to strike targets with incredible accuracy.

"Responsibility for the PGS project – which is estimated to cost $250 million just in the first year of experimentation – has been handed to General Kevin Chilton, chief of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Chilton explained that the PGS will fill a gap in the Pentagon’s current range of options.

"‘Today, we can present some conventional options to the president to strike a target anywhere on the globe, but within a time span of at least four hours,’ said the general. ‘To act on a particular target faster than that, the only thing we have is a nuclear response.’"

"In the future, with the new missile, the United States could act rapidly and with conventional resources, both against a terrorist group or an enemy country, in a much shorter time period and without arousing international anger at the use of nuclear weapons.

"It is anticipated that the first tests will begin in 2014, and that by 2017 it would be available in the U.S. arsenal. Obama will no longer be in power, but the super-missile could be the non-nuclear legacy of this president, who has already won the Nobel Peace Prize."

"WASHINGTON, April 22, 2010—An unmanned Air Force space plane was launched this Thursday from Florida, in the midst of a veil of secrecy over its military mission.

"The rocket carrying the reusable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle lifted off at 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, according to a video distributed by the army.’

"‘The launch is imminent,’ Air Force Major Angie Blair told AFP.

"Resembling a small space shuttle, the aircraft is 8.9 meters in length and 4.5 in wingspan.

"The manufacture of the reusable space shuttle has taken years and the army has only offered vague explanations as to its objective or role in the military arsenal.

"The vehicle is designed to ‘provide the environment of a ‘laboratory in space’ to test new technologies and components before these technologies are assigned to satellite programs in operation,’ stated the Air Force in a recent communiqué.

"Officials have stated that the X-37B will land at the Air Force Vandenberg Base in California, but they did not say how long the inaugural mission will last. ‘

"‘To be honest, we don’t know when it’s going to come back,’ Gary Payton, second assistant secretary of Air Force space programs, told reporters this week.

"Payton stated that the shuttle could remain in space for up to nine months.

"The aircraft, manufactured by Boeing, began as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) project in 1999 and was then transferred to the Air Force, which plans to launch a second X-37B in 2011."

Is anything more needed?

Today they have found themselves with a colossal obstacle: the now uncontainable climate change. The inevitable temperature increase of more than two degrees centigrade is being mentioned. Its consequences will be catastrophic. In just 40 years the world population will increase by two million, thus reaching a total of nine billion people; in that brief period: docks, hotels, seaside resorts, communications, industries and installations in the vicinity of ports will be submerged in less time than is required for the enjoyment of half of the existence of the generation of one developed and rich country, which is currently refusing to make the most minimum sacrifice to preserve the survival of the human species. Agricultural land and potable water will be considerably reduced. The seas will become polluted; many marine species will become impossible to consume and others will disappear. This is not affirmed by logic but by scientific investigations.

Via natural genetics and the transfer of varieties of species from one continent to another, human beings succeeded in increasing production per hectare of food and other products useful to humans which, for some time, alleviated the scarcity of foodstuffs like corn, potato, wheat, fibers and other necessary produce. Later, genetic manipulation and the use of chemical fertilizers similarly contributed to the solution of vital needs, but they are now reaching the limit of their possibilities for producing healthy food appropriate for consumption. On the other hand, in barely two centuries, hydrocarbon resources that nature took 400 million years to form are being exhausted. In the same way, vital non-renewable mineral resources that the world economy requires are being exhausted. At the same time, science created the capacity of self-destroying the planet several times in a matter of hours. The greatest contradiction in our era is, precisely, the capacity of the species to destroy itself and its incapacity to govern itself.

Human beings have succeeded in raising their possibilities of life to limits that exceed their own survival capacity. In that battle raw materials in their reach are being consumed at an accelerated rate. Science made it possible to convert matter into energy, as occurred with nuclear reaction, at the cost of enormous investments, but the viability of converting energy into matter is not even on the horizon. The infinite cost of investment in pertinent investigations is demonstrating the impossibility of achieving in a few dozen years what the universe took tens of billions of years to create. Is it necessary for the child prodigy Barack Obama to explain that to us? Science has grown extraordinarily, but ignorance and poverty are also growing. Can anyone demonstrate the contrary?

CPI(M) Karnataka state Committee plans ‘mammoth' protest rally in September

MYSORE: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will stage a mammoth rally in Bangalore in September to protest against the State Government's “administrative failure on all fronts and its inability to distribute ration cards to the poor”.

This was decided at the State Secretariat meeting of the party, which concluded here on Friday. CPI(M) State Secretary V.J.K. Nair told presspersons that the party would mobilise lakhs of people to participate in the rally, which would underline the growing resentment of the economically weaker section of society towards the Government. He said the Bangalore rally is part of the ongoing agitation against the Government's anti-people policies.

Mr. Nair said even though the Centre was responsible for the increase in prices of essential commodities, the State Government had failed to bail out the common man by way of subsidies, but had no compunction in releasing funds to maths. The BJP Government in the State had increased the prices of milk, water, bus fares and it was reluctant to reduce its cess on petrol and diesel to minimise the impact of hike in petroleum prices, Mr. Nair added.

He pointed out that the State Government had failed to make good its promises of distributing 35 kg of rice at Rs. 2 per kg and free power supply to farmers.

Corporate subsidies

The CPI(M) said subsidy to the poor could be garnered by reducing the subsidy to industries and the corporate world. About 1,500 companies had received subsidies of about Rs. 5 lakh crore, he said, adding that if this was cut down, it could help subsidise food for the poor.

Mr. Nair said farmers received a pittance as compensation in lieu of land from the Government.

Tax relief

Lampooning the Rs. 400 crore tax relief announced by the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, he said this only favoured the rich and the higher-middle class as most of the relief was for the aviation industry, construction, etc.

CITU May Day Pledge

The trend in the working class movement which confined itself to the immediate struggle only, which looked upon May Day as only for declaration and assertion of partial demands, diverted the working class movement from its revolutionary objectives, and ending of capitalist rule and establishing socialism and working class power” wrote Comrade BTR in Working Class on the eve of May Day, 1986 and today after 24 years when capitalism stands totally exposed world over after the so called global finance meltdown, these words should arm the working class with revolutionary arsenal to battle against capitalist exploitation in the neo-liberal form. The neo-liberal economic policy, driven as it is by the international finance capital, aims at quickest way of maximizing the profits. As a result May Day this year sees the workers locked in a grim combat against the attacks of rising prices, inflation, attacks on wages, indecent jobs and monstrous rise in unemployment. India is no exception, confronted with double digit inflation with 1/3rd of world‘s hungry population living in the country where 77% of the population can not spend more than Rupees 20 per day.

Working Class in India has been undergoing relentless onslaught of the neo-liberal policies since early nineties under the cover of a fanciful word coined for this purpose - Globalisation. The proponent and cheerleaders of this new brand of economic imperialism led by the ruling polity, the multinationals / domestic corporates and their captive media are trying to misinform and mislead the country that the IPL, Satyam, Illegal Iron Ore Mining by Reddy’s of Bellary and others, Share Scam of Nineties etc. etc. are only aberrations and not part and parcel of casino – capital driven neo-liberal economy. It is for the working class, whose rights and livelihoods are being jeopardized at every step, to expose the real face of present day capitalism and neo-liberal globalization which is a daylight (‘nightlight’ of IPL), loot and fraud on the economy and the people of the country. Neither Government enquiry nor JPC can even cosmetically treat the ugly face of the capitalism, in the bizarre scenario of ‘corporatisation of politics’, ‘Dinakaranisation of judiciary’, ‘pricing of news’, ‘Tharoorisation of Congress” or ‘Reddyisation of BJP’ and so and so forth

Establishment of Socialism and Working Class power is the only alternative as pointed out by Comrade BTR. Let us rededicate ourselves to this cause on this year’s May Day.

Successful Countrywide Hartal

Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh

The call given by the thirteen parties for a countrywide hartal against price rise on April 27 has met with a big response in most parts of the country.

The thirteen parties call was joined by other parties in the states.

The success of the hartal shows the anger and discontent among the people at the failure of the Central Government to check price rise. There was a complete hartal in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Orissa, Kerala and Tripura. In Andhra Pradesh, there was a successful bandh all over the state with the strike being partial in Hyderabad. In Tamilnadu too there was a hartal all over the state with Chennai having a partial strike.

In West Bengal, there was a total stoppage of work and movement of traffic. In Uttar Pradesh, in all cities and towns markets were closed and rail and road traffic were affected in many places. In Bihar there was a total hartal in all the districts. Rail and road traffic was disrupted due to rail and rasta roko. Markets, commercial establishments and educational institutions remained closed.

In Jharkhand, markets were closed and rail and road traffic came to a halt. Several state government offices remained closed.
In Orissa, all central government offices, central public sector undertakings, banks, railways were paralysed. State government offices in many districts were also closed. Road and railway traffic was paralysed.

In Kerala, all shops and commercial establishments remained closed. Road and rail traffic were paralysed. In major cities and towns LDF workers held demonstrations in support of the hartal.

In Tripura, there was a complete strike with all offices, markets and educational institutions being closed. All vehicular traffic also came to a halt.
In Maharashtra, all the districts observed rasta roko and rail roko for various periods. In Karnataka, more than 50,000 people protested against price rise in Bangaluru and the strike was a success in other districts. In Madhya Pradesh, there was hartal in Gwalior, Morena, Shivni, Bind, Rewa, Singroli and Indore.

In Himachal Pradesh, markets remained closed in Shimla and rasta roko was observed in various parts of the state.

In Chattisgarh, there was hartal in the state capital Raipur. Shops, commercial establishments, hotels and the main markets remained closed. In many parts of the state rasta roko and rail roko was also observed.

In Punjab, there was rasta roko in twenty places in the state. In Haryana, in all towns, there was hartal with markets remaining closed.

In Delhi, there was a strike in many industrial areas by the workers. There was rasta roko and picketing in 25 spots in the city, Ghaziabad, and Noida.

Calcutta - Westbengal

Ranchi - Chathisgarh

Danbad - Jharkand

Chennai Central Railway station

Chennai - Guindy Railway station

Belgaum - Karnataka

(Photos - Gavaskar @Theekathir, The Hindu)

Phone Tapping: Home Minister's Statement Unconvincing

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

The statement by the Home Minister denying that any interception/tapping of phone calls of political leaders has taken place, is unconvincing. The government would find it expedient to deny the use of intelligence and security agencies for such surveillance.

 

The CPI(M) demands an independent probe into the matter so that the truth can be uncovered.