A Thunderbolt from the sky..A thunderbolt that could make change.A Thunderbolt that will tear apart the black clouds of imperialism and communalism that had covered India.Yes change is inevitable..Change will Come..
The Left parties should mobilise public opinion against the “anti-people” policies of the Central Government and promote alternatives that will retard the disparities these policies are bringing about between the rich and the poor, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury has said.Participating in a seminar on the “Central government's anti-peoples policies and alternatives” held at Tummalapallivari Kshetrayya Kalakshetram on Friday, he said the UPA-II was trying to project concessions to the rich as “incentives” and those to the poor as “subsidies”.The Central Government proposed to give tax exemption to the tune of Rs. 2 lakh crores to the very companies that were the reason for economic recession.It gave Rs. 80,000 crore of tax exemption as a stimulus package in the first year and it was getting ready to forgo another Rs. 1.20 lakh crores taxes in the second year.The idea behind the tax exemption was that the companies would spend the money saved for production and salaries of employees. Salaries would only create demand for various goods and buoyancy would be created in the economy.But the alternative to this model was the government collecting Rs. 2 lakh crore taxes and investing it in infrastructure, thereby creating jobs that would, in turn, generate wealth in terms of salaries, resulting in demand for production. This would also lead to economic recovery, but more gradually.He said that the money made in the form of profits by companies that were being given tax exemptions was finding its way into the “futures and speculation markets.”These markets were making profit only by driving up the prices of commodities. The increase in prices was becoming a burden to the common man.Another step that should be taken to revive the economy was banning futures trading on essential commodities.The Rajya Sabha member said that another alternative that would stop the downward spiral of the economy was exempting petroleum products from tax.“The import of petroleum products is very essential for the functioning of the economy.“Why should tax be collected on a commodity that is so necessary for the working of the economy?” Mr. Yechury asked.He said the victory of the CPI (M) in the Durgapur Assembly by-elections was a welcome trend in West Bengal. The victory had helped the party regain its “confidence”. In the party's three-decade rule in West Bengal, “mistakes were made” but these were now being rectified.CPI (M) city secretary R. Raghu welcomed the gathering and district secretary V. Umamaheswara Rao concluded the session. Party floor leader in the VMC general body Ch. Babu Rao was on the dais. (Courtesy : The Hindu)
Lakhs of anganwadi workers under the banner of the CITU-affiliated All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH), took out a protest march and dharnas across the country to press for their charter of demands and against the anti people policies of the Congress Led UPA Government.
CITU leaders, who led the demonstrations, criticised the government for treating the Anganwadi workers as bonded labourers, even as extracting from them all kinds of works in various government agencies. The government was not only backtracking on all the promises it had made to the anganwadi workers in the past, but was retrenching them as well, the CITU leaders alleged.
KARWAR
Hundreds of anganwadi workers took out procession in Uttara Kannada district on Friday demanding minimum wages, security of job and pension schemes after retirement. They accused the state and Central government of neglecting anganawadi workers. In Karwar, a procession was taken out and a memorandum submitted to the DC.
The anganwadi workers urged the government that their retirement age be fixed at 65 years. They demanded that the food being supplied to children be stopped immediately.
The protesters also urged that the amount equivalent to 50% percent of their salary at the time of retirement be fixed as pension.
Raichur
Members of the district unit of the Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers' Union took out a procession and staged a dharna here on Friday demanding that the Government fix pension and provide other facilities to them on their retirement.
Activists led by Chennabasawa and J. Suresh, leaders of the district unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), went in a procession from Ambedkar Circle to the tahsil office. They staged a dharna there and submitted a memorandum to the tahsildar.
In the memorandum, they said anganwadi workers had been serving women and children and helping the Government in the effective handling of health and family welfare programmes. Many workers had continued to serve the Government even after 65 as the Government had failed to announce a limit for their service.
They demanded that the Government fix the retirement age at 65 for anganwadi workers and fix pension at 50 per cent of their salary. It should also provide gratuity of Rs. 1.50 lakh to each anganwadi worker on retirement. They also demanded that the Government maintain proper supply of foodgrains to anganwadi kendras and issue ration cards to all anganwadi workers as well as houses to them under the Ashraya scheme. In addition, the Government should promote SSLC-passed assistant workers as Anganwadi workers based on reservation and take steps to stop corruption in recruitment of workers to anganwadis.
Bidar
Anganwadi workers staged a protest in front of the tahshildar's office here on Friday demanding regularisation of services and better working conditions.
They demanded that anganwadi workers be regularised as Class 3 workers and anganwadi assistants as Class 4 workers. Pension, provident fund and gratuity benefits as announced in the 2009 Budget should be granted immediately, salaries paid to workers be equal to minimum wages fixed for skilled workers, and assistants get minimum wages paid to semi-skilled labourers, they said. Readymade food given to anganwadi children should be stopped and they should be given fresh cooked food. The protesters threatened to take up a Statewide agitation if their demands were not met.
A similar protest was staged in Gulbarga city as well.
HASSAN
Several hundred anganwadi workers, under the aegis of Karnataka Rajya Anganwadi Naukarara Sangha (affiliated to Centre for Indian Trade Unions), took out a protest rally here on Friday and later staged a dharna in front of the taluk office and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the tahsildar.
The main demands of the workers have been that the State Government fix retirement age as 65 and provide a pension of Rs. 1,500 a month. They have also asked for a compensation of Rs. 1.5 lakh at the time of retirement.
All-India protest
Speaking to The Hindu from Bangalore, Varalakshmi, national vice-president of CITU, said this was part of an all-India agitation. In Karnataka, 80,000 workers participated in the agitation.
President of the taluk unit of the sangha Y.R. Manjamma and secretary Shanta Lakshmi said that anganwadi workers have been working for the last 35 years under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), and some of them were between 65 and 70 years.
Some of their other demands include: arrangements for food to be prepared in anganwadi centres, all workers be provided with BPL cards and housing, anganwadi assistants who've passed SSLC be absorbed as anganwadi workers, higher posts be filled through promotions, and end of corruption in appointments and transfers.
Anganwadi workers, who staged a dharna on the road to press for their demands, were arrested in Bellary. In response to a nationwide call, over 200 workers had assembled in the city and formed a human chain at the busy Gadagi Chennappa Circle to protest against the Centre's failure to concede to their demands. Movement of traffic was affected for over 30 minutes. When the workers continued their dharna, the police took into custody around 134 members, but released them later.
“The policies of the state government are against the betterment of anganwadi workers. We have been fighting for our rights for years, however now we will raise our issue using strike as the weapon,” said Shubha Shamim, state chief secretary, Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana, Maharashtra.
The district has over 5000 women- anganwadi workers in 14 talukas who have been demanding revision of wages, pension, Diwali bonus, regular income, implementation of developmental projects. “We do not receive our wage on time. On inquiring with the state government, we were told the amount has been dispatched, however, the money never reached us. We are directly asking the state government to order a probe into where the money goes,” said Shamim. Speaking on the occasion, Kiran Moghe, CPM said, “This concern is not only limited to the anganwadi workers, but to all individuals belonging to the economically backward class. We fully support this fight against injustice.”
ONGOLE
Hundreds of anganwadi workers from Prakasam district, under the banner of the CITU-affiliated All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH), took out a protest march on the Trunk Road on Friday and staged a demonstration in front of the Prakasam Bhavan to press for their charter of demands.
Striking work at the 21 anganwadi centres across the district, the workers, who play a key role in providing child care in rural areas, also formed a human chain, disrupting traffic for sometime on the arterial Trunk Road leading to Chennai, demanding higher wages, job security and status of government servants with pension and other retirement benefits.
“A meagre Rs. 2,200 per month is being paid in case of anganwadi workers and Rs 1,200 in case of helpers.
We demand a minimum of Rs. 4,500 for anganwadi workers and Rs. 2500 for helpers as in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu,” AIFAWH leader Prashanthi told newspersons on the sidelines.
Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has decided to send over 10 lakh e-mails to President Pratibha Patil to demand the extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson from the US for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. The email contains 5 major demands, which is also being faxed to the president. The programme was being inaugurated in New Delhi yesterday by Sri Jayaprakash, convener Bhopal Sangarsh Samithi by sending the first mail. DYFI founder president Com Hannan Mollah, DYFI All India Secretary Com Tapas Singha spoke on the occassion. CPIM General Secretary Com. Prakash Karat participated in the campaign in Lucknow.
over cancellation of ration cards in Ongole on Thursday.
Activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged a demonstration in-front of the office of the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) here on Thursday protesting against cancellation of ration cards and not handing over possession of land sites allotted to them.
The agitators led by CPI (M) town secretary G.V. Konda Reddy, took strong objection to the MRO not handing over actual possession of house sites sanctioned under the Indiramma phase II programme even after lapse of 18 months.
“The Government is making us run from pillar to post. We will be provided land or not'' the protestors angrily asked, Deputy MRO D. Chandrasekhar Reddy.
They also raised slogans against the district administration for allegedly deleting the ration cards of 9,000 families on the pretext of migration without any actual door-to-door survey.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)
The Portrait of legendary leader Comrade Jyothi Basu was unveiled in the West Bengal Assembly complex by former Loksabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee. He also delivered the first Jyothi Basu memorial lecture. The Left Front government has decided to christen Rajarhat as Jyotinagar after late CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu. The government is also looking for land at Rajarhat so that a museum and education and research centre in Basu's memory can be set up soon. Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, PCC president Manas Bhunia and speaker Hashim Abdul Halim paid glowing tributes to Basu.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday rejected the criticism that the nationwide bandh on July 5 caused the country a huge economic loss, and the protest saw the coming together of the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It said these were being raised to divert attention from the main issue.
“The success of the hartal has led to the usual criticism — the economy has lost thousands of crores of rupees. This cry is being raised by the very quarters that received tax concessions worth thousands of crores in the last budget and which are being promised more in the Direct Taxes Code to be promulgated shortly,” party general secretary Prakash Karat said. Writing in the latest edition of the party organ, People's Democracy, Mr. Karat said the Congress accused the Left of joining hands with the BJP. “The corporate media is amusingly concerned about the ideological purity of the CPI (M).”
The politics of the CPI(M), and its stand against communalism, was well-known, he said, underscoring the consistent role his party and other Left parties played in countering communal politics represented by the BJP and defending secularism. The CPI (M) and other Left parties did not suffer from vacillations and compromises to which the Congress was prone.
Mr. Karat said the bogey of the Left joining hands with the communal forces was being raised to divert attention from the main issue. The CPI(M) had opposed the petroleum pricing policies of the successive governments. It opposed the policy announcement made by the United Front government on deregulation and suggested steps that should be taken to reduce the oil pool deficit, but the government did not last to implement the notification. In 2002, when the NDA government implemented deregulation by dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism, the CPI(M) conducted agitations. The policy was discontinued in 2004.
The July 5 strike was called by the Left and seven other parties; with such a big attack launched on the people's livelihood, no Opposition party could keep away from a nationwide protest, and other parties, mainly the NDA, also gave a call for a bandh, Mr. Karat said.
“Faced with this massive opposition and protest, the Congress and its supporters in the corporate media are now raising, in chorus, the spectre of a ‘Left-BJP unity.' They conveniently ignore the fact that almost all secular parties conducted the hartal.”
Mr. Karat said people would not get confused by this, and would judge each party by how sincerely it protected their interests in the face of the price increase.
(Courtesy : The Hindu)
At a time when inflation is high, when the relentlessly increasing prices of food items like rice, wheat, sugar, edible oils, pulses, vegetables, are reflected in a high food inflation rate of 17 per cent, the Government of India has dealt a cruel blow to the people by raising the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene which will further push up prices of essential commodities and have an all round cascading impact on inflation rates. No Government with even an iota of sensitivity for the suffering of the people because of price rise can take such an anti- people step. The deregulation of prices means leaving the people to the mercy of a market controlled by big MNCs and domestic corporates. The reasons being given by the Government for this price hike are totally wrong and misleading. The Prime Minister has justified it saying it is in the interests of the country. The country of the 77 per cent who do not have more than 20 rupees to spend each day or the country of the super rich? He said that these reforms should have been done even earlier. This is an admission that it is only because of the strong opposition of the Left parties that the previous UPA Government whichwas dependant on their support did not dare to end Government controls on price of petroleum products. Because of the Left pressure at that time they could not increase the price of kerosene by even one paisa. But today the parties who are partners in the Government like the TMC are happy to indulge in dramas of abstaining from attending the cabinet meeting! This is a strange way of protesting—staying away instead of opposing and fighting! The truth is that these parties are also agreeable to this anti-people policy. The editor of the Congress magazine has said that only Sonia Gandhi can stop this wrong policy. But even a child knows that the Prime Minister would not be able to take such a decision without her approval. The entire Congress party and its top leadership is responsible for this – they talk of the aam aadmi and follow policies for the khas aadmi.
Deceiving the People
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India has given an advertisement in the News Papers soliciting support of the people for the price hike of Petrol, Diesel, LPG and Kerosene. It is a document of deceit and deception published with public money to befool the people. It gives the various so-called reasons for the price hike. Let us look at them one by one.
Lie No. 1: International prices
The Government says that 80 per cent of the country’s requirement for petrol products is met by imports. Since prices change in the international market this makes a direct impact on India leading to the reason to hike prices. In other words, the price hike is due to international price rises. How much has the increase in international prices been? Since the UPA-II Government came into power in May 2009 the international price has increased by just 70 paisa per litre of crude oil. In May 2009, international crude price was 70 dollar per barrel i.e. Rs. 21.43 per liter (1 dollar = Rs.49). Today it is 77 dollar per barrel which means Rs. 22.13 per liter (1dollar = Rs.46.22). One barrel roughly is 160 litres.
So the international crude price has risen by 70 paisa per litre. But the Government has raised the prices many times more! In the last six months, the price hike by Government is of Rs. 6.44 per litre on petrol, Rs.4.55 per liter on diesel within last four months, and Rs.3 per liter on Kerosene and Rs 35 on Domestic LPG now. Secondly, in the last three months there has been no increase at all in the international prices, so why this hike now? Obviously the international price has nothing to do with the price hike of petroleum products since the last budget in February 2010. The Government advertisement says India imports petroleum products. India imports crude oil, it does not import petroleum products Crude oil is refined in the refineries in India to produce petroleum products like petrol, diesel cooking gas, kerosene etc. before marketing. India imports 75 to 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements. However India is more than self sufficient in oil refining and produces more petroleum products than the domestic requirements. In the year 2009 – 2010 (April-December) it has exported 28 million tonnes petroleum products against an import of 10 million tonnes.
Lie No 2: Government claims to save public sector oil companies
Both the Prime Minister and the Petroleum Minister Murali Deora claim that “The government has acted in the larger national interest of saving PSU oil companies, which are Navaratnas and Maharatnas, from bankruptcy and safeguarding consumer interests.” Is it so? Are the oil companies on the verge of bankruptcy? Let us see what the Petroleum Ministry says in its annual report of 2009-10 on Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the major public sector Oil Marketing Company (OMC): “ During 2008-09, IOC posted net profit of Rs. 2,950 crore
on an unprecedented turnover of Rs. 2,85,337 crore that too after holding the price line for the four major products – petrol, diesel, PDS kerosene and LPG for domestic use. IOC is also the first and the highest ranked Indian company in the Fortune `Global 500’, placed at 116th position by sales in 2008. It is the 18th largest petroleum company in the world. The profit (after tax) for the year 2009-10 (upto December 2009) is Rs.4663.78 crore, whereas the turnover for the said period is Rs.208289.46 crore”. Further, as per the Audited Financial Results for the year ending 31.3.2010 IOC’s net profit has been shown as Rs.10,998 crore with a reserve and surplus of Rs.49,472 crore. In 2009-10 IOC has paid Rs.26,050 crore as excise duty and Rs. 4049 crore on other taxes. In addition IOC has paid the Government dividend of Rs.656 crore in 2007-08, Rs. 910 crore in 2008-09 and for the year 2009-10 it has to pay not less than Rs.3000 crore as dividend. The Other two marketing companies HPC and BPC have earned profits of Rs. 544 crore and Rs. 834 crore during April-December, 2009. And still the Minister gets the perverse pleasure of calling these as bankrupt. It is actually the bankruptcy of the Government which denigrates its own company in such derogatory terms only to fulfill its hidden agenda. Interestingly the same bankrupt companies have been asked to contribute Rs. 250 crore to Rajiv Gandhi Petroleum Institute in Rai Bareilly!
• In the Annual Report it also says that IOC is having major ongoing projects valued at about Rs.65,000 crore and during the year has signed a MOU with Nuclear Power Corporation of India for joint venture in nuclear power generation which is a capital intensive industry with low assured return. If the Government is so concerned about the oil companies and want them to increase their profits let them give up the huge amounts of excise duty they are charging!
Lie No. 3: The argument of the Myth of Under Recoveries
But then what about “under recovery” - a fancy term being used for the last few years which have no place in balance sheet of any company. The government, backed by the corporate media has been successful in its game of deceit and deception in misleading people to believe that the “so called under recoveries” are actually the losses, incurred by the OMCS. In 1976 Indira Gandhi nationalised all the big foreign companies like Burma Shell, Caltex, Esso which were looting India. Before nationalization, these foreign companies used to charge Indian consumers at the international price of petroleum products making huge profits. This was known as import parity pricing system. Everyone knows that it is the big multi-national oil companies and cartels that together control the world’s oil markets and manipulate prices to increase their profits. In addition, the multi-national financial companies further push up prices through massive speculation. In 1976 import pricing system was stopped. The then Government set in place a mechanism called the Administrative Pricing Mechanism (APM). The effort was to increase the domestic refining capacity and to end dependence on imports of petroleum products from foreign companies. As per APM instead of the international price of petroleum products being the basis, the actual cost of crude and refining cost of crude were assessed and a reasonable profit margin was ensured to the companies before fixing the price of products. Once the neo-liberal economic policies under Manmohan Singh began in 1991, there was an increase in the entry of private investors both domestic and foreign. There was intense pressure on the Government to dismantle the APM and go back to the system of loot that existed before. Under the BJP Government, in 2002 the APM was dismantled and import parity was again resorted to for both crude and petroleum products. Import parity price means that the price of the petroleum products within the country would be fixed at par with global prices irrespective of the actual exploration and refining cost within the country. Today even we produce cheaper crude oil in ONGC and Oil India and we refine it at much lesser cost than the global market in our refineries, both public and private, we have to still pay at par with global price irrespective of actual production and refining cost. Under recovery is the difference between the import parity price and the retail price of petrol, diesel, LPG & kerosene, before deregulation. Under recovery is a notional loss based on assumption and not actual loss in real terms. To put it another way. Suppose a pair of shoes is made in Italy which costs 1000 rupees. Suppose India imports the Italian leather but makes the shoes, including the cost of Italian leather, at a much cheaper cost, of just 600 rupees. Suppose the company says that you have to pay 1000 rupees in India because that is the import parity price otherwise the company will suffer an under recovery of 400 rupees! Will you not protest about a notional calculation on the basis of the Italian cost not the Indian cost? But that is exactly what the Government is doing. It is making the unchecked international price of petroleum products as its base to calculate what the price should be charged in India! The oil companies are making a profit even after absorbing the subsidies for cheaper pricing of petrol products through the APM. But the bogey and myth of under recoveries is being used as the excuse to hike the prices.
After 2002, the private sector and domestic companies like Reliance and Essar wanted further deregulation. They were not satisfied with the steps taken by the BJP Government. The Kirit Parikh committee was set up precisely to address the demands of the private sector. This committee gave a report for complete deregulation of petrol products. The present step of the central Government goes further than even the BJP Government and accepts the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh committee to reintroduce import parity pricing through deregulation, in the first instance of petrol. Thus people of India are left at the mercy of the market. Under the cover of under recoveries, we are back to the decontrolled pricing regime based on import parity, when foreign oil companies were operating in the country. Burma Shell, Caltex and ESSO might have gone. But their pricing regime is back.
Lie No. 4 : India is the same as other countries
It is an insult to self reliance achieved in the petroleum sector, when the government advertisement tries to compare the prices of LPG and Kerosene selectively with other countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Instead it should compare the taxing pattern of petrol and diesel with some of the developing countries. Item Countries % of tax to total price
Petrol : Sri Lanka 37% Thailand 24% Pakistan 30% India 51%
Diesel : Sri Lanka 20% Thailand 15% Pakistan 15% India 30%
This shows that the Indian Government through its tax regime is pushing up the price of petroleum products in India compared to other countries. India has one of the highest tax regimes on petroleum products. But the most revealing fact is that on the basis of the information available from Energy Information Administration (EIA) there are 54 developing countries other than India having refining capacity in excess of their consumption. But only three countries, namely Croatia, Philippines and South Africa have gone in for import parity pricing, and in Malaysia and Turkey retail prices are determined by international market prices. Why then should India which is self sufficient in oil refining, but where the majority of the population have fluctuating very low ncomes, go for deregulation to suit the global market prices of petroleum products? Without a global wage how can the global price of essential commodities be imposed on inflation hit people of
India who do not have requisite purchasing power?
Lie No 5. Government will bear Burden of Rs. 53,000 crore. In the Ministry’s advertisement, it says “Even after the price increase, Government will bear a burden of Rs. 53,000 crore during the year.” The Ministry has forgotten its arithmetic. The fact is that the Government is earning huge amounts by putting burdens on the people. During 2009-2010 the contribution to Central Government. Exchequer by the Petroleum Sector in the form of taxes, duties, dividend etc. is more than Rs. 90,000 crore. During the year 2010- 2011, after the increase in taxes, the contribution is going to be more than Rs. 1,20,000 crore. Who is subsidizing whom? And then where is this figure of Rs. 53,000 core in the budget? Where from this figure has been invented? Is it also a case of globalised arithmetic like under recovery which does not find a place in budget or balance sheet? The Truth behind the Lies We should thank Deora who in his interview to a national newspaper makes the actual agenda clear behind the sound and fury of international price, under recovery and bankrupt public sector oil companies etc. The cat is out of the bag when he says: “A free-market regime will create competition between the public and private sectors. This will improve service and could also lead to a price war.” In a price war the public sector OMCs for whom Deora and the government are shedding crocodile tears today, will be the biggest losers. M/s Reliance and Essar have modern high capacity refineries compared to the public sector OMCS who have not been allowed toexpand and to upgrade the technology to the level of these private refiners. Moreover the private corporates has direct access to the highest policy makers to change policies like tax exemptions, tax concessions etc. After all, the Ambanis and Ruias can meet the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Petroleum Minister as and when they like while the public sector CMD’s access is limited to the Joint Secretaries or Secretaries. Backed by the corporate media, the private domestic corporates today and foreign multinationals tomorrow will rule the petroleum sector. This happens when the government becomes a government for the corporates, of the corporates and by the corporates. This is the truth behind the lies of the Government!
The Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc have issued the following statement:
The all India hartal to protest against the steep increase in the prices of petroleum products has been an unprecedented success. Despite detention and arrests of thousands of protesters, there was a bandh like situation in all parts of the country with shops, business establishments, transport and educational institutions being closed. Left leaders, A.B. Bardhan, D Raja and Brinda Karat were arrested for picketing in Delhi. This has been the most widespread protest action in the country in recent years.
The Left parties congratulate the people and the tens of thousands of activists who have made the hartal a complete success. By this action the people have expressed their anger and strong opposition to the anti-people policies of inflicting successive burdens on the people through price hikes of petroleum products.
The Left parties in consultation with secular opposition parties will chalk out plans for further intensifying the movement against price rise to compel the government to reverse these harmful steps.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on July 3 and 4, 2010. It has issued the following statement:
Against Price Rise
The Polit Bureau strongly condemns the refusal of the UPA government to reconsider the decision to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas and the steps being taken to deregulate the prices of petrol and diesel.
By these steps, the Congress-led government is directly responsible for the spiraling price rise of food items and essential commodities. The deregulation of prices are meant to help the private oil companies and put the people at the mercy of a market-controlled by the oil MNCs and the domestic corporates.
July 5 Hartal
The Polit Bureau appealed to all sections of the people to join the all India hartal on July 5 and make it a big success. This powerful all India protest action should serve as a warning to the government not to heap burdens on the people and to withdraw the price hike measures.
Campaign for Food Security
The Polit Bureau endorsed the decision of the Left parties convention held on July 1 to conduct an extensive campaign in the month of August on the demands for a comprehensive food security legislation which will provided for 35 kg of foodgrains to every family at Rs. 2 per kilo; making the public distribution system universal; and distributing the food stocks accumulated in the godowns to feed the people. State units will organise this campaign through padayatras, jathas and rallies.
“Honour” Killings
The Polit Bureau expressed its deep concern at the continuing phenomenon of “honour” killings. The caste khap panchayats are issuing illegal diktats against young couples who marry outside their narrow caste norms, which results in their brutal and inhuman killings. The statement by the Haryana Chief Minister and some Congress MPs defending the khap panchayats are providing sustenance to such illegal and violent activities.
The Polit Bureau demands firm action against those who issue such illegal decisions and resort to intimidation, threats and violence. The government should immediately bring forth a comprehensive law against “honour” killings.
Attacks in West Bengal
The Polit Bureau denounced the continuing violence and attacks against the CPI(M) workers and supporters in West Bengal by the TMC combine. The Maoist involvement in the derailing of the Gyaneswar Express resulting in the deaths of 149 passengers has been established. They are desperately trying to eliminate CPI(M) cadres and terrorise supporters in the Jangal Mahal area. The true nature of the Maoists has been fully exposed by these heinous activities.
The Polit Bureau calls upon all democratic and progressive circles to condemn this degenerate and perverse activities of the Maoists. The Polit Bureau calls upon all its units to step up the campaign in solidarity with the CPI(M) and the Left Front in West Bengal.
Central Committee Meeting
The Polit Bureau finalized the draft of the political resolution for the extended Central Committee meeting to be held in August. This draft along with the review of the implementation of the political-tactical line will be placed before the next Central Committee meeting to be held on July 21-23, 2010.
The Polit Bureau expresses its serious concern about the situation in Kashmir. In the past few weeks, there have been the deaths of a number of young men and teenagers due to police firing at a number of places in the valley. Beginning with the death of a teenage student, there has been an escalation of protest and confrontation which has led to the loss of eight young lives till June 29. The CPI(M) conveys its heartfelt sympathy to those families who have lost their young ones.
The anger of the people erupted after the first incident. Firm action should be taken by the state government and the Central authorities to curb excessive use of force. Subsequently, deliberate attempts have been made to pit young men against the paramilitary forces and the police. It is essential that the police forces exercise restraint and the youth do not fall prey to the instigation to go in for confrontations with the security forces.
What is evident from these widespread protests across the valley is the deep alienation affecting the people. The UPA government has not taken any step to further the political dialogue towards a settlement of the outstanding issues. It is incumbent upon the UPA government to take immediate steps in this direction.
