National Forum in Defence of Education - March to Parliament on December 2, 2010

A massive rally will be organized on 2 December 2010 in front of Parliament in which several thousand students, teachers, non-teaching employees and officers of schools, colleges & universities, youths, parents and activists of people’s science movements from all over the country will participate. They will first assemble at Ramlila ground and then march to Parliament.

The rally will be to protest against the anti-people policies of UPA II Government and its neo-liberal ‘reform’ agenda in the field of education and to force the Central Government to accept our demands. These policies are aimed at pushing centralisation, privatisation and commercialisation of the education sector in the country. Such policies will undermine the goal of expansion, excellence and equity in education which can only be achieved through increased public spending based on a democratic education policy.

The call for this rally was given by ‘National Forum In Defence Of Education’ which was formed in a Convention of fifteen organizations of students, teachers, non-teaching employees and officers of schools, colleges & universities, youth, parents, people’s science movement held on 13^th August at New Delhi.

Charter of Demands

•  Allocate 6% of GDP for Education as committed in the CMP of the UPA-1 Government.   
• Include pre-primary to senior Secondary education under the purview of the Right to Education
• Central Government should bear all the expenditure for implementing the Right to Education. Increase the number of schools along with strong social monitoring mechanism involving local stake holders. Delete the provision, Section 35 of the Act, requiring prior permission for any prosecution. The 86^th Constitution Amendment (2002) should be revisited to make the right to education inclusive of common school and neighborhood school.
•  Recruit quality teachers on a permanent basis. Remove the freeze on appointments and cuts in teaching and non-teaching positions. The para-teachers/ contract teachers  and employees should be absorbed on permanent basis.
• Oppose handing over of public educational institutions’ infrastructure and management to the private sector in the name of Public Private Partnerships.
• Reject fee hike. Fully subsidize students from economically backward and disadvantaged backgrounds. 
• Enact a central legislation to bring all private self-financing institutions under strict social control.    
• Implement constitutionally mandated SC/ST/OBC reservations in all educational institutions.
• Fight all attempts to undermine the democratic control of the Parliament, State Assemblies and statutory structures of Universities and colleges (including through instruments like NCHER). Fight against centralization of education.
• Oppose FDI in Education.
• Scrap the FEI Bill and amend the other recently introduced bills to make them democratic.
• Scrap private universities and deemed university status to private institutions.
• Stop bringing education under GATS (WTO).
• Use Information Technology for Distance Education to provide universal lifelong quality education. 
• Do not commercialize distance education
• Undertake Assessment for improvement not Accreditation or Funding. Evolve a democratic and transparent mechanism for Assessment
• Uphold democratic rights in the sphere of education. Hold elections for Students’ Unions, Teaching and Non-Teaching Associations. Provide elected representation in all decision making bodies.

SFI Condems Rahul Gandhi's comparison of Mao with Narendra Modi

Press Release - Students Federation of India                                                  28-11-2010

 In a statement made yesterday Mr. Rahul Gandhi has equated Narendra Modi with Mao Zedong.

Mao Zedong, who led the revolutionary transformation of China in the 20th century, is one of the greatest leaders and political thinkers of the world.  The Chinese revolution is one of the most significant events in world history, where the world’s most populous country ushered in a new era after a long drawn struggle against feudal and colonial exploitation. To compare such a personality with Narendra Modi, whose regime aided genocide against Muslim minorities in Gujarat in 2002, is an affront to the struggle of toiling masses throughout the history of humankind. Such an understanding can only arise from one’s inability to differentiate between the struggle against injustice and exploitation, and attempts to flare up fascistic hatred against religious minorities.

 The statement reveals Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s erroneous and preposterous understanding of politics and world history.

Left Front Week long sit in protest concludes

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday questioned the Trinamool Congress's silence on the development, A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the charge-sheet against 23 activists of the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee in connection with the May 28 Jnaneswari Express derailment case, as the party had held the Communist Party of India (Marxist) responsible for the incident.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that just ahead of the May 30 civic elections the Trinamool Congress had launched a “vicious campaign” claiming that the CPI(M) was responsible for the incident. But the party is silent now that the CBI investigation has revealed otherwise.

“Why did you lie to the people? It was not an insignificant lie; it was uttered after the death of 150 persons. And today you are silent,” Mr. Bhattacharjee asked.

He was addressing a rally on the concluding day of the week-long programme organised by the State Left Front Committee, which was observed as the North-Bengal-Jangalmahal-Sunderbans day.

Mr. Bhattacharjee, who has earlier described the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as a “practised liar,” said “it has been proven today that you were lying.”

The CBI inquiry was ordered upon the insistence of the Opposition, but once the findings have been revealed there is no word from the Trinamool Congress, he said.

“Why are we speaking about the Maoist threat in every district? It is because we want to limit them to the areas in Bankura, Purulia and Paschim Medinipur,” the Chief Minister said.

Describing the Communist Party of India (Maoist) as a “party of cowards,” he said that the people of the Maoist-affected region had staged a turnaround.

Biman Bose, Chairman of the State Left Front Committee, said that the movement in the Maoist-affected areas is often described as “a struggle of the adivasis” or a “Santhal resistance”, but of the 212 people who have been killed in the Maoist-affected Jangal Mahal area, 115 of them are adivasis themselves.

(Source ; The Hindu)

21st Conference of AKEL Cyprus

21st Congress of the Progressive Party for the Working People (AKEL) of Cyprus was held in Nicosia from November 25-28. The theme is "The struggle of the Left and the struggles of the peoples for peace and security against the imperialist order". 1,590 delegates attended the conference.

The Congress assesed the previous five-year period whose central reference point and most significant development was the election of Demetris Christofias to the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus. The Congress has also set out the general guidelines of policies, goals and struggles in the five-year period ahead. Given the Christofias administration and crucial phase of the Cyprus problem, the 21st Congress of AKEL assumes a special importance

Due to the very significant role AKEL plays in the political affairs of the country, the 21st Congress takes on a broader significance for Cyprus and our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. The decisions of the 21st Congress are anticipated with great interest by the entire political spectrum and Cypriot society. Its decisions are awaited with interest also by all from abroad not only involved in one way or another with the Cyprus problem.

Cyprus is not isolated from the rest of the world. In a world where the Left and the forces of labour are under a full-frontal attack by the forces of conservatism and capital, Cyprus today has a President coming from AKEL and the Party of the working people is a ruling party. This fact attaches an international and European dimension to the 21st Congress of AKEL, in the sense that the progressive Left forces in Europe and the world are following developments in Cyprus with interest and welcome every success of the Cypriot Left as their own victory too.


Andros Kyprianou was elected the party general secretary on the closing day. 105-member Central Committee too was elected by the congress. The 21st conference was attended by left-wing and communist parties from other parts of the world, including Cuba, Palestine, Portugal and Russia.

Theses presented at the conference can be had from http://www.akel.org.cy/media/21st%20Congress/21st_AKEL_CONGRESS_THESIS.pdf

12th International Meeting of Communist and Workers party from December 3

As per the decision of the 11th International Conference of Communist and Workers parities it has been decided to conduct the 12 conference in Johannasberg, South Africa from December 3 to 5 , 2010. South African Communist party will host the conference.

The Theme of the Conference is
The deepening systemic crisis of capitalism. The task of Communist in defense of sovereignty, deepening social alliances, strengthening the anti-imperialist front in the struggle for peace, progress and Socialism.

Background information
The last decades of the 20th century saw tumultuous developments and cataclysmic changes. The dismantling of socialism in the Soviet Union, the disintegration of the USSR, the collapse of the communist-led regimes in East Europe and the process of restoration of capitalism in these countries-all constitute a big reversal for the world forces of socialism. In this situation, many communist parties carried serious introspection on the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism. Wilting under the pressure of an intense ideological offensive, many Communist Parties abandoned therevolutionary essence of Marxism- Leninism and embraced social democracy. During this period when the international communist movement has been thrown into disarray, there were some communist and workers' parties that believed these shortcomings and failures in the process of constantly enriching this creative science in accordance with unfolding historical developments, is not due to its inadequacies or lack of scientific method of its content.

It is due to the inadequacies and lack of scientific rigour on the part of those who have embraced this philosophy . Efforts were undertaken to regroup the international communist movement and bring together all those communist and workers' parties that believed in the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had initiated one such attempt in 1993 by organising an international seminar on the 'Contemporary World Situation and the validity of Marxism'. 30 parties were extended invitations to participate in the seminar. 21 parties including the CPI(M) and the CPI participated in the seminar, four parties unable to send their representatives, sent their contributions in the form of papers while five parties sent messages expressing their inability to participate owing to critical political conditions in their respective countries. The success of the seminar in attaining the objectives it had set before it, gave renewed confidence to the various participants, in their struggle to defend socialism and to continue to fight for the goal of socialism.

Five years hence, from 1998, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) took up this task of organising international meetings of the communist and workers parties to exchange opinions on some of the important contemporary developments in world and share experiences. From that year onwards seven consecutive meetings were hosted by the KKE in Greece. The number of parties taking part in these meetings saw a steady increase reflecting the growing relevance and validity of Marxism. To facilitate the smooth organisation of these meetings a working group of international communist and workers parties was formed. This group decides on the theme of the meeting, the venue and dates apart from the parties that would take part in the meeting.

As the experience of organising such meetings proved useful, there was a request to organise this meeting in different parts of the world. Accordingly the 8th meeting was organised in Lisbon, Portugal, the 9th in Minsk, Belarus and in Moscow to observe the 90th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, and the 10th in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The working group had decided in its meeting in February that the 11th meeting would be organised in India jointly by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India.

The 12th meeting will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from the 3nd December 2010 to the 5th December 2010. This is the first ever meeting of this kind to take place in the African continent, thus covering all the continents on the globe.

‘Corporates suborn policymaking' : Prakash Karat

T.K. RAJALAKSHMI : Interview with Prakash Karat, general secretary, CPI(M)
Frontline Magazine Volume 27 - Issue 25 :: Dec. 04-17,

PRAKASH KARAT, general secretary of the CPI(M), spoke to Frontline on the latest controversy involving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Excerpts:

The CPI(M) had raised the spectrum allocation issue way back in 2008, but at that time no one, including the BJP, took it seriously.

Ever since the privatisation of the telecom sector began, there has been a series of corruption scandals. We raised such issues during the time of the BJP-led government and during the first UPA government's tenure. We took up the allegation of the 2G spectrum as early as February 2008. A number of letters were written to the Prime Minister and statements issued by the party regarding the big loss to the exchequer due to the actions of Minister A. Raja. But until the recent outcry after the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, nothing much was done.

Why does a JPC have more sanctity than the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)? Sections within the Congress opine that the CAG report has not incriminated anyone and that the individuals concerned have been removed from their posts.

After the CAG report confirmed that there was large-scale manipulation of the system, the Congress leadership had no other option but to ask Raja to resign. But that does not end the issue. What is required is to find out how such a massive scam could be perpetrated and how an entire system could be manipulated. That is why we have demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee that can go into all the ramifications. I do not know why the Congress party and the government refuse to constitute a JPC. During the period of the NDA government, when the Congress was in the opposition, it demanded JPCs for the Tehelka tapes and for other corruption scandals. The 2G telecom scam is much bigger than these earlier scams. It has caused the single largest loss to the exchequer.

The removal of the people who are responsible from their positions is the first step, whether it is the CWG corruption or the Adarsh Housing scam. In all such cases, what is required is prompt investigation, filing of cases and prosecution of those guilty. In the case of the 2G spectrum issue, the most important step would be to cancel the licences of the companies that illegally got the allocation.

Secondly, there should be an auction of the spectrum so that the government can recoup the losses. The committee set up to inquire into the CWG is useless as it is without any powers. What is needed is investigation, filing of cases and prosecution. The CBI and other investigating agencies like the Enforcement Directorate should conduct joint investigations.

The BJP, too, has in a sense lost the moral authority to attack the UPA on corruption. Is it possible to have a fair inquiry into the allegations against the Karnataka Chief Minister if he continues in office?

The Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka has set a new brazen record in corruption. First of all, the government was conceived with the mining mafia being part of it. This has made the government a centre for all illegal and corrupt activities. The Chief Minister himself is facing serious charges of bestowing favours to his sons and relatives in land allocation. It is shocking that the BJP leadership has refused to act in the face of growing evidence of wrongdoing. Their decision to keep the Chief Minister on has exposed the hypocrisy and double standards of the BJP.

Are all these corruption scandals an outcome of a kind of policy that has been pursued since the 1990s and that the face of corruption has changed somewhat in this period?

After liberalisation, what has developed is a nexus between big business, politicians and the bureaucrats. Under the neoliberal regime, corporates and multinational companies are able to suborn policymaking. If one side of the 2G spectrum is Raja, on the other side are corporates who try to get famous. In the recent case of officials of banks taking bribes for giving loans to the real estate sector, corporates are involved in the bribing. But the government refuses to acknowledge the nexus that has developed. Even some of the regulators are in connivance.

This is not just because politicians need money to fight elections. The loot of public funds is a form of accumulation of capital in the country. Without fighting against this system and policies, corruption cannot be curbed or eliminated.

CPIM Tamil Nadu State Committee to Conduct campaign against corruption

CPIM Tamil Nadu State Committee has decided to conduct  campaign against corruption and anti-people polices of the UPA government and DMK Government in the State. Party will organise 5000 street-corner meetings in the State, besides protests in 200 places and public meetings in 50 centres between December 5 and 11. CPIM Tamil Nadu State Committee secretary Com. G Ramakrishnan said about the course of struggle at a press conference organized in Chennai. 

Even assuming that AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa's offer of support to the Congress was a “tactic” to ensure the exit of A. Raja from the Union Ministry, the CPI (M) does not approve of such a stand, said G. Ramakrishnan. “Our line on the Congress is clear and we will not make any compromise,” he told reporters while explaining decisions taken at the three-day State committee meeting of the party.

Reiterating that the CPI (M) had not discussed anything on the Assembly elections with the AIADMK, Com. Ramakrishnan said as part of the efforts to create an alternative to both the Congress and BJP fronts, the party would continue to launch joint movements with the AIADMK. Asked whether the AIADMK was reciprocating the CPI (M)'s invitations for joint movements, he recalled the participation of former minister D. Jayakumar in the protest in support of Foxconn workers.

“We have been organising protests against the anti-people policies of the DMK government. The DMK is with the Congress and supporting all its policies. Whether it is TASMAC or Foxconn unit, the DMK government has not bothered to stand by the workers.”

He took exception to Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's argument that Mr. Raja was targeted because he was a Dalit and his exit was the outcome of a war between “Aryan and Dravidian.” He said: “The Chief Minister is trying to suppress the scam by giving a caste-twist. People will not accept his argument.”

Com. Ramakrishnan said the recordings of conversations between lobbyist Niira Radia and politicians and industrialists had proved the CPI (M) allegation of a nexus among politicians, higher officials and industrialists.

We’ll tackle Trinamool like we handled Cong, Naxals: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

CPI(M) will emerge victorious over Trinamool Congress’ “politics of violence and murder” as it had fought Congress’ “misrule” in the 70s and the Naxalite movement in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today claimed.

“We successfully fought Congress misrule, the violence of the Naxals and now we have taken on the Trinamool and its accomplice - the Maoists. We will surely win,” Mr. Bhattacharjee told a rally of DYFI in Burdwan on 29th Novemeber.

Lambasting Trinamool Congress for “blocking the State’s industrialisation by resisting Tata’s Nano project at Singur, he asked partymen to be vigilant about the “sinister design” of Mamata Banerjee’s party to “create unrest” through its politics of violence and murder.

“We have in our State a totally irresponsible Opposition party (Trinamool Congress) which has hatched a plot to create total lawlessness and unrest and to foil any development.

“This irresponsible and indisciplined party is bent on undoing all development projects and has thus already caused irreparable loss to the State’s economy. This party has imported a dangerous cult of violence and murder by joining hands with the Maoists,” he alleged.

“We have to be prepared to ensure that there is no conspiracy to undo our efforts for industrialisation.”

Mr. Buddhadeb alleged that the Trinamool Congress’ “acts of violence and killings kept the State government busy controlling law and order resulting in development programmes suffering.”

He claimed that for the last 34 years, the Left Front has successfully struggled for workers, peasants, teachers, employees, the poor and downtrodden.

The Chief Minister criticised the Congress for diving a wedge between the rich and poor since Independence by pursuing “wrong economic policies“.

“Congress is solely responsible for the rich-poor divide as India is the home of the world’s largest number of poor, illiterates, hungry and crorepatis as well,” Mr. Bhattacharjee told the rally blaming faulty planning and wrong economic policies for the state of affairs.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said while China, having a population of 130 crore, had made rapid strides on all economic sectors after 1949, India had a long way to go with 108 crore population before it reached that level.

(Courtesy ; The Hindu)

CPI(M) Gives Voice to Tannirbavi Residents' Protest in Mangalore

Tannirbavi is a picturesque stretch of land, lying between the majestically-flowing Phalguni river and the Arabian Sea, between Kulur and Bengare.

There are about 300 families living in the area over some generations. Out of them, about 98% belong to poor and Dalit classes. Dependent totally on fishing and bidi-rolling occupation, they have been deprived of all benefits that the government makes available by way of developmental works.

for all Tannirbavi residents so far deprived of all such privileges.

Residents complain of the stepmotherly treatment meted out by the city corporation and the governmet and cite the non-issuance of door numbers to their houses as the best example. In the absence of door numbers, they are not entitled to getting any benefits. Ration cards, power connection, water connection, loan facilities, pensions for widows, monthly stipend for the differently able, old age pension and such other benefits have remained out of reach for them.

The only benefit they have so far obtained is the issuance of the voter IDs (EPIC), which too have been issued based on unknown or non-existent door numbers through a nexus between the officials and politicians.

Excepting for a scholarship being given to the Dalit students, where the rest of 22.75% funds earmarked for the community by the MCC go is important question raised by the residents here.

All the ruling party and opposition politicians at the MCC have turned a deaf ear to the demands of the neglected residents of Tannirbavi. Therefore the Communist Party of India Marxist has come out in open support of their agitation.

As part of it, the party's city committee, in association with a few other organizations, organized a procession and a "MCC Chalo" (Laying a siege at the MCC office) on Monday Nov 29. Dalit right activists Baby, Madhava, Jayashri, Jagannath, Lingappa Nantur, CPIM city unit secretary Sunil Kumar Bajal and others were in the procession and led the protest.

The procession began at the Besant school junction and went via Mahatma Gandhi Road towards the MCC office at Lal Bagh. The protesters gathered in front of the MCC office and shouted slogans demanding door number.

(Courtesy : Mangalorean.com)

CPI (M) Orissa State Committee gearing up for mass agitation

Orissa State Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to build public opinion demanding action against culprits involved in the galore of scams that surfaced in recent times.  The party would also take up issues such as permanent job status to casual workers who were forced to work like permanent employee and universalisation of public distribution system.

At the end of the CPI (M)'s State committee meeting, Secretary Janardhan Pati said the 2G spectrum scam had dwarfed all other scams those had come to light earlier. “The Rs.1,76,000 crore involved in the 2G spectrum scam would have made it possible to provide 35-kg rice or wheat per month to all family,” Mr. Pati said.

From December 5 to 11, the party would launch widespread public demonstrations and rallies highlighting cases of corruption those happened during the regime of Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, he said. Mr. Pati said the party cadres would organise public meetings at block level making people aware about the misdeeds by people in power. The State Committee meeting also resolved to step of demand for waiving agricultural loan in 17-drought-affected districts and supply of seeds and water free of cost to farmers for rabi crop. It demanded provision of 10 decimal of homestead and agricultural land to all homeless and landless people in the State. Mr. Pati said during the month of December, January and February, block-level mobilisation programme would culminate in district level.