CPIM led Candle Light protest in Tamilnadu to highlight the power crisis in the state

Cadres of Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged a demonstration  and held a candle light protest on Saturday across Tamilnadu condemning the State government for the prolonged power cuts.

CPIM Memo to President: Targetting of Muslim Youth

Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the CPI(M) led a delegation to meet President Shri Pranab Mukherjee regarding targeting and persecution of scores of Muslim youth in terrorism related cases.  The memorandum submitted to the President has demanded that:

1.Compensation and rehabilitation for the innocent persons implicated in such cases.

2.Provision of Special Courts with time bound procedures to settle cases within a year.

3.In cases where the court has held that evidence has been concocted or misrepresented by the investigating agencies to implicate innocents, action must be taken against those responsible.

4.The draconian provisions in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act must be reconsidered and removed.

The other members in the delegation were Subhashini Ali, member of the Central Committee of CPI(M), Mohd. Yusuf Tarigami, MLA, Jammu & Kashmir and member of the Central Committee of CPI(M), Sehba Farooqui, member of the Delhi state committee of CPI(M) and three young men who were jailed for long periods and then acquitted by the courts.  They are Mohammed Aamir from Delhi (in jail for 14 years), Maqbool Shah from Srinagar (jailed for 14 years), Syed Wasif Haider from Kanpur (in jail for 8 years).

Following is the Text of the Letter Addressed to the President                                     

                        November 17, 2012

The President of India

Rashtrapati Bhawan

New Delhi

Dear Rashtrapati ji,

I write to draw your attention to the grave miscarriage of justice to scores of Muslim youth who were and are being wrongly arrested and charged in cases related to terror attacks in different parts of the country. In some cases these young men have been incarcerated for ten to fourteen years as undertrials and then finally acquitted by the courts as being innocent. Several reliable groups of concerned citizens and organizations who have collected the details of these cases, have revealed how the court judgements themselves have strongly indicted the investigation agencies for the biased mentality against the Muslim youth and in several cases the manipulation and presentation of concocted evidence against innocent young men. It would appear that the investigation agencies are more driven by the requirement to show “results” in their investigation rather than to ensure that it is the actual culprits who are caught. 

Muslim youth are the most vulnerable targets today. The draconian provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are used to deny the normal processes of justice, while there is no time bound procedure for the judicial processes. There is a growing feeling of fear and apprehension on the one hand and anger on the other that innocents are being implicated. Young lives have been destroyed, families stricken, forced into social isolation, driven into debt to pay the huge expenditures in legal fees—the terrible conditions caused by State led injustice.

As an illustration, the cases of the four young men Md. Aamir from Delhi, Syed Maqbool from Srinagar, Wasif Haider and Mumtaz Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh are presented before you. They were arrested arbitrarily when they were just eighteen or nineteen years of age, implicated in dozens of cases, incarcerated for over ten years and each one of them was, as held by the courts, innocent. They are today without jobs, considered unemployable, with dark and uncertain futures.

While no quarter can be given to any individual or group which is responsible for dastardly terror attacks, the arrest of innocent Muslim youth has reached serious dimensions which requires immediate attention. It is a blot on the principles of secular democracy. At the same time, the arrest of innocent people means that the actual culprits go free. There are three aspects, which require to be looked at:

1. Compensation to and rehabilitation of the innocents. While in some cases, with the intervention of the Minority Rights Commission and other agencies, some monetary compensation may have been given in a few cases, by and large most of the victims of State  injustice are in a terrible condition. It is essential to ensure justice by providing compensation as well as the means towards a livelihood through provision of employment or any other avenue suggested by the victim.

2. The provision of Special Courts with  time bound procedures is essential so as to end the sometimes deliberate prolonging of the cases. All such cases should be settled in a year.

3. In cases where the Court has held that evidence has been concocted or misrepresented by the investigating agencies to implicate innocents, action must be taken against those responsible. This will act as a deterrent in the deliberate implication of innocents.

We believe also that the draconian provisions in the UAPA must be reconsidered. At the time of the passage of the Bill in Parliament the CPI(M) had warned of the consequences of keeping such provisions on the Statute book akin to TADA and POTA. Experience has shown the legitimacy of the apprehensions expressed at that time.

We request you to take up these issues urgently with the Government of India. We also enclose relevant information and documents with further details.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Prakash Karat

(General Secretary)

Annexure

Examples of some of the cases of acquittal and discharge of youth wrongfully charged and incarcerated

01 – Mohd Marouf Qaamar (Delhi), ….     Acquitted on 11.11.2008, Tis Hazari Court Delhi

02 – Tariq Ahmad Dar (Kashmir),           Discharge 2006    Case of Tis Hazari Court, Delhi

03 – Tasleem (Muradabad – UP), Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari Court No. 19, Delhi

04 – Najeem (Muradabad – UP) Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari  Court No. 19, Delhi

05 – Shamim Akhtar (Kolkata),  Discharge – Release on 1998, Tis Hazari Court No. 19, Delhi

06 – Syed Maqbool Shah (Kashmir) Acquitted on 08.04.2010, Patiala House Court, Delhi

07 – Mohd Aamir Khan (Delhi)  Acquitted  - 17 Cases (Delhi & NCR), Release on: 09.01.2012

08 – Haroon Rashid (Bihar),  Acquitted on Jan – 2010, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi Case

09 – Dilawar Khan (Orissa), Acquit on Jan – 2010, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi Case

10 – Salman Khurshid Kori (Manipur)Acquitted on 14.12.2011, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi Case

11 – Syed Mubarak (Sitapuri – UP)         Acquitted ………….Case of Bareli Dist Court – UP

12 – Abdul Mubeen (Sidhard Nagar)       Acquitted ……………Case of Agra Dist Court – UP

13 – Ghulam Mohd (Kanpur),                 Acquitted on 12.08.2009, Case of Kanpur City – UP

14 – Sajjad-ul-Thman, (Kishtuwar)         Discharge on 14.04.2011, Case of Lucknow – UP.

15 – Mumtaz Ahmad (Sopur)                 Acquitted on 06.08.2003 Case of GRP – Kanpur, UP.

16 – Faheem Ansari (Maharashtra)         Acquitted case of Mumbai, 26.11.2008, Session Court & Supreme Court

17 – Saba uddin (UP),  Acquitted Case of Mumbai, 26.11.2008, Session Court to Supreme Court!

18 – Jogeshvari Rly st Case,                 2 Persons Acquitted Mumbai Maharashtra Case

19 – Tilak Nagar Rly st Case,  2 Persons discharge & 2 Acquitted. Case of Mumbai,

20 – Ghaat – Kopar 2003 Case  9 Persons Acquitted, Case of Mumbai, Maharashtra

21 – Gateway of India Case,                 2 Persons Acquitted, Case of Mumbai, Maharashtra

22 – Rehmana Farooqui    Acquitted by Delhi High Court in 2007 in 2000 Red Fort Case.

Left Front will Spread Movement on Attack Against Women All Over The State: Biman Basu

The West Bengal Left Front Committee issued its absolute dissent over the rampant of anti-women crime in the State of West Bengal at Rashmani Road in Kolkata near Dharmatala. Thousands of protesters gathered today at Dharmatala to strengthen the call of the Left Front to protect women from growing social disasters that curb out social security and democratic space in West Bengal. The Left Front vowed its discontent over the passive and continual sponsorship of the State Government to the growing felony and criminalization against women. Rapes, physical harassments, incidents of abuse are getting surfaced in this state every now and then. The State Government is doing away with this towering criminalization with their hypothetical ‘created incident’ or ‘done by CPI(M)’ theories, which are not getting welcomed by common people. The West Bengal Government has created so much of ground level chaos through its autocratic attitude that the people of West Bengal are much angry than frustrated that they have no other way but to launch protest on the streets. On the 17th of November 2012 the state witnessed just one of a kind protest led by Left Front which was going to get followed by waves of protests voicing the rejection of TMC Government. The meeting was presided over by the Left Front Chairman Biman Basu; it was women of this state on the front-foot this afternoon.

Left Front Chairman Biman Basu while addressing the crowd pointed out that there are plenty of cases where TMC leaders are allegedly associated with such incidents. He also made it clear how the State Government’s responses with ‘created incident’ theory that either way deciphers their attitude towards criminalization against women. Sharply criticizing the role of state police Basu mentioned how the police have been acting indifferently or in some cases counter-productively to the victims of those brutal incidents. Innocent college girls are not even spared these days from the wild intensions of the offenders who are mostly TMC supporters, said Basu. He also mentioned that the State Government’s passive endorsement had caused the towering high on this sort of anti-women crime which we are tolerating every day. It is not only the subject of anti-women crime that the Chief Minister is endorsing, same way she is doing away with the disasters of police firing either at Loba Village, Birbhum or at Tehatta, Nadia. The way she is trying to cover up the incidents translates either to a direct endorsement of anarchy which may be in some way or other helping her or her party to do whatever she is targeting for, or on her gross incompetence to maintain social rest, law and order. It is the people of this state who are facing series of attacks, molestation and killing every day. Basu asked people of the state of West Bengal to unify and fight against the role of the Government. He then issued ultimatum to the State Government that this specific meeting is not the ending; it marks the start of continuous protest movements against their anti-people installations. 

The leader of opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra started addressing the huge gathering by expressing his concern over growing rate of crime against women throughout India. He discussed about the situation of Hariyana, Karnataka and Delhi regarding this issue. Then coming back to West Bengal he drew everyone’s attention by saying that the larger share of anti-women crimes are being committed in the rural areas of the state. So it was his understanding that protest movements must have to be organized in rural areas, village specific mobilization discarding those criminal tendencies against women is a must to do task for every leftist of the state. Speaking on the state sponsorship to the criminal offenders he said that if the people are aware of the attitude of the Government then they must translate their discontent in to massive protests. It is the misfortune of the people of West Bengal that Left Front Government is not in power; when women are attacked, molested, that means democracy is under attack. The draconian TMC Government has turned this state to an endangered state in just 19 months, said Mishra. He also said that it is the utmost priority of the leftists to stand beside the oppressed people; the duty of Left Front workers start with helping people out there. He thoroughly discussed the cases of the developed countries where women are playing key role, women are accounted for 2/3rd of net labour worldwide where they are consuming only a half of net production and wealth generated. If leftists are sworn to fight for the peasant’s rights and labour interests, if the leftists are foot soldiers of class struggle, Mishra mentioned that then fighting for the rights of women is no split phenomenon than that. All the issues of social disorder, capitalist oppression and the issues of caste division must be addressed uniquely but the protests must be united in order to deliver the gravest blow to the anti-people ruler to ensure the emancipation of the oppressed, said Mishra. CPI State Secretary Manjukumar Majumder, RSP leader Mihir Byne and Manoj Bhattacharya were among the left leaders, who spoke to the gathering regarding the issue of growing attack against women.

SFI All India Protest Day on 19th November

The Central executive committee of the Students’ federation of India in strongest possible words condemns the recent spate of Imperialist aggression spearheaded by Israel leading to an unrelenting military attack on the Gaza city killing as many as twenty one people including a number of children in the last three days.

More than 280 strikes have been launched against Gaza in the last 72 hours, killing 21 Palestinians and injuring almost 200 people. Those killed include Hamas military chief Ahmad Jaabari and a number of innocent children.

The US backed Zionist aggression has been the root cause of current crisis in Gaza. In the meeting of the UN Security Council USA has again shamelessly advocated for Israel clearly reflecting its own strategic designs.

The UPA government in the centre has again chosen to remain silent on this issue debunking the historic position of our country, which has always stood with the liberation struggle of Palestinian people.

 
We demand that the central government must immediately denounce the Israeli aggression and work with other countries to push for immediate truce in Gaza.
The CEC of SFI stands in complete solidarity with the people of Palestin

e and calls upon all its units to rise in protest against the heinous and barbaric Israeli aggression. The CEC of SFI calls upon all its units to observe an All India Protest Day on 19th of November throughout the country in this regard.

AIKS Condemns the firing on Sangli farmers in Maharashtra

The All India Kisan Sabha strongly condemns the heinous police firing on protesting farmers at Sangli in Maharashtra on 12th November. One farmer died in the incident. Another farmer who was part of the protest was run-over by a truck. AIKS offers its condolences to the families of the bereaved. Kisan Sabha demands Rs.10 lakh compensation and a Government job to one member of each of the families of the deceased. 

The sugarcane farmers in different parts of Maharashtra have been on a consistent organised struggle demanding not less than Rs.3000/tonne as the first advance and Rs.3600/tonne as the final price for sugarcane in the State. The AIKS has been part of this struggle and have been carrying on a united struggle for remunerative prices. In the run-up to these struggles on 21st October 2012, a 500-strong Convention had been organised jointly by the AIKS, CITU and AIAWU at Ambajogai in the Beed District of Marathwada region comprising of sugarcane farmers, sugarcane cutters and sugar factory workers which took up demands of all three toiling sections.

Meanwhile, in the Kolhapur District of South Maharashtra, four Left and secular parties had come together to form a Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti and have held large demonstrations for remunerative price to sugarcane farmers. The AIKS has been a part of the struggle in Kolhapur including other organisations of the peasantry like the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana. The struggle has now spread to other cane growing areas and sugarcane farmers in Beed, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Pune and Sholapur Districts have been agitating with the demand that Rs.3000/tonne be fixed as the first advance on sugarcane purchase this season. In Ahmadnagar and Parbani Districts the Kisan Sabha has been independently carrying out this struggle from the last few months. On 9th November 2012 there was a miltant demonstration by over a thousand farmers at Pune under the banner of the Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti. It was in the course of the continuing struggle of sugarcane farmers, cutters and sugar factory workers that this brutal police firing took place.

Yet again police fired on protestors on 14th November also. Police have arrested 152 protestors while no action has been taken on the police officials guilty of firing causing injury and death. This exposes the fact that the Congress-NCP led State Government is taking a confrontationist stand openly in favour of the sugar lobby and is least bothered about resolving the issue through negotiations. It is to be noted that the Congress-NCP State Government in line with the Congress-led Central Government and the Agriculture Ministry’s proposal to decontrol sugar industry, decided not to intervene in sugarcane pricing this year even before the Rangarajan Committee recommendations have got Parliamentary sanction. The Government is shirking its responsibility and wants the peasantry to settle the issue directly with the sugar mills and cooperatives. The private millers and cooperative sugar factories have refused to pay Rs.3000/tonne and were offering only between Rs.2100/tonne to Rs.2300/tonne.

Notably the private sugar mills in different parts of India owe arrears of over Rs.10,500 crores to sugarcane farmers. The ruling class has not made any sincere effort to recover this amount and give it back to the farmers. In Maharashtra a vast majority of the cooperatives and sugar mills are directly owned or controlled by the leaders of the Congress-NCP combine or the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. Hence none of these parties are interested in resolving the issue or paying remunerative prices to the sugarcane growers.

The AIKS along with the different Farmers’ organisations that are part of the Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti is organising a massive protest Dharna on 16th November in Kolhapur against the police firing. This will be followed by a massive protest rally in Mumbai on 26th November 2012.  We warn that protests will be intensified if the Government continues with its insensitive stand.

CPI(M) to contest from six seats in Gujarat Assembly Elections

CPI(M) announced to contest next month's Gujarat Assembly polls from atleast ten constituencies  and also brought out its election manifesto at Ahemdedabad on Friday. 

"In Gujarat, our party is going to contest total ten seats. Today we are releasing a list of six candidates and we will later announce other names," former MP and central CPI(M) leader Sukomal Sen said while releasing the party manifesto.  Sen said that the party promises to take up issues related to food security and providing 35 kg of grain at Rs 2 per kg to poor people. 

Criticising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government, he alleged that there was no difference between the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government and Modi-led Gujarat government and described them as being "anti-people."

Talking about Modi's recent Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra, Sen said, "During his yatra, Modi very conveniently omitted what Vivekananda had said about the Hindu-Muslim unity." 

CPI(M) is in talks with rebel BJP MLA Kanubhai Kalsaria to extend support to each other's candidate in the coming elections. Kalsaria has decided to field seven candidates of his recently-formed Swabhiman Manch.

State CPI(M) secretary Arun Mehta said that the party would field candidates from Visavadar (Junagadh), Rajkot (East), Umargam (Valsad), Jamnagar Rural, Khedbrahma (Sabarkantha) and Santrampur (Panchmahal). "At present, there is a crisis of morality and honesty in both the major political parties of the state. And CPM is the only political party which stood the test of honesty and right now Gujarat is in need of honest and moral leadership," Mehta added. 

CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat will address a public rally in Bhavnagar during the election campaign. Other national leaders, like party general secretary Prakash Karat, MP Sitaram Yechuri, former MPs Suhasini Ali, Mohammad Salim, Nilotpal Basu and MLA from Rajasthan Amara Ram are also likely tocampaign.

Condemn Israel's War on Gaza

 

Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and S. Sudhakar Reddy, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India have issued the following statement:

 

We strongly condemn the renewed military attacks on Gaza. More than 250 strikes have been launched against Gaza in the last 48 hours, killing 18 Palestinians and injuring over 150. Those killed include Hamas military chief Ahmad Jaabari and 4 children. This aggression is similar to the last war that Israel had launched on Gaza in December 2008 in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

The 1.7 million people of Gaza continue to remain under a brutal siege, with the Israeli stranglehold affecting even basic necessities such as food and medicine. Reports available indicate that hospitals are running out of medicine. Power and water supplies have been cut to the Gaza residents.

 

We call upon the Indian government to condemn the Israeli aggression on Gaza. India must also suspend immediately its military ties with Israel, as India's huge arms purchase helps to subsidise the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

China's new communist leadership

Xi Jinping (C), Li Keqiang (3rd R), Zhang Dejiang (3rd L), Yu Zhengsheng (2nd R), Liu Yunshan (2nd L), Wang Qishan (1st R) and Zhang Gaoli (1st L) attend the first plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

A new generation of top Chinese leaders took the stage on Thursday in one of the world's most important power transitions, taking the helm of the ruling party of the world's second-largest economy and the most populous country.

Xi Jinping was sworn in as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), leading the seven-seat Political Bureau Standing Committee.

The other six members of the top leadership of the Party's central leading organ are Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli.

They were elected at the first plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee following the CPC's 18th National Congress. [ Their election marked a smooth top leadership transition following the 16th national congresses of the Party in 2002.

The smooth transition suggests that the Party is moving steadily towards an established norm regarding the handing over of power, which will be crucial for sustained stability and development of the country, analysts observed.

"The new leaders are not ossified or conservative. Their election will ensure that China will continue with both reforms and the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, as they have witnessed, participated in and benefited from reform and opening-up," said Xie Chuntao, a professor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The leaders made their debut upon their election at the Great Hall of the People under the spotlight of hundreds of reporters from across the world.

Xi said they will take "the relay baton passed on to us by history" and make continued efforts to achieve the renewal of the Chinese nation. "We will rally and lead the whole Party and the people in making continued efforts to free our minds, carry out reform and open up," Xi said.

Xi noted that the Party faces many severe challenges and that there are many pressing problems within the Party, citing corruption, a separation from the people and bureaucracy.

Amid global economic uncertainties and domestic complaints over the wealth gap, corruption and environmental woes with rising calls for deepened reform, analysts said China will face more challenges in the years to come.

FROM THE PEOPLE

The seven Standing Committee members of the Political Bureau have witnessed and endured China's vicissitudes and hardships over the last six decades, including the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Xi and Li were born in the 1950s, while the other five were born in the mid- to late 1940s.

Xi, Li, Zhang Dejiang and Wang toiled in communes and villages during the Cultural Revolution, when millions of high school graduates were sent to rural areas to receive "re-education" from peasants and help with rural development. It was during their re-education that Xi and Li received their first official titles. Acting as the Party branch secretaries of their respective production brigades, they got the chance to learn administration at the grassroots level.

Yu worked as a technician at a radio factory in the city of Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei province for a few years, while Liu was a teacher before becoming a reporter at the Xinhua News Agency. Zhang Gaoli was a craneman and loader at an oil company in south China's Guangdong province after graduating from university.

Such experiences, analysts observed, gave them keen insight into China's situation and helped them understand the people's woes and expectations.

Xi previously said that he received a great deal of guidance from two groups of people: the old generation of revolutionaries and the village people in Shaanxi, his ancestral home where he received seven years of "re-education."

GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCE

As observed by Professor Xie, the new generation of leaders have shown "capacity in controlling overall situations and tackling complicated emergencies" and "are well prepared for challenges and ready to take opportunities."

All of them boast rich governance experience, climbing the Party cadre echelon step by step. Over his 40-year-long career, Xi left his footprint in both the comparatively underdeveloped inland and rural areas, such as a commune in Shaanxi province and Zhengding county in Hebei province, as well as the more prosperous coastal Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and the country's financial and economic hub of Shanghai.

Most of the new leaders have experience in governing frontier regions for reform, while others are familiar with the situation in underdeveloped central and west regions.

Analysts said the lineup will help the collective leadership to consider matters from an overall perspective when making decisions.

In addition, as a result of long years of experience as local governors, they have also cultivated a down-to-earth work style.

"Do it now" is Xi's motto. He always warns officials to perform services while keeping in mind that their official titles are in the hands of the people, instead of within their own grasp.

THEORETICAL GROUNDING, GLOBAL VISION

Unlike their predecessors, the new leaders grew up in a peaceful time, which offered them a chance to receive better education than previous generations.

Notably, they received a complete and systematic education on the mainstream ideology of socialism, which had a formative effect on their views and values, said Dai Yanjun, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The seven leaders have diverse higher learning backgrounds, varying from engineering to humanities.

Xi holds a doctorate of law from the prestigious Qinghua University, where he also received education in chemical engineering after he returned to Beijing from Shaanxi. Li studied law at the elite Beijing University after he ended "re-education" in Anhui province. He later received a doctoral degree of economics from the university.

These education opportunities equipped the leaders with a firm theoretical grounding. Xi has urged officials at various levels to "read some history" and learn to "seek the correct orientation and path from history."

As witnesses and participants in ongoing globalization, the new leaders also have a broad vision and know how to deal with the international community.

Xi Jinping made a successful visit to the United States in Feburary this year. In a written interview with the Washington Post before his tour, the vice president said, "The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space for China and the United States."

As vice premier, Li Keqiang visited the three European nations of Spain, Germany and Britain in January 2011. Prior to his visits, he wrote three articles that were published in influential newspapers in the countries, stating China's development orientation.

Another vice premier, Wang Qishan was described by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson as a man who "enjoys philosophical debates and has a wicked sense of humor."

RIGHT FORMULA

According to the CPC's constitution, a Central Committee is elected at a national congress, which is held every five years. The Central Committee, usually with more than 300 full and alternate members, then elects its Political Bureau and the bureau's Standing Committee.

More than 2,300 delegates to the national congress on Wednesday elected the 18th CPC Central Committee through secret ballots, who then voted on the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee on Thursday.

Previously, a meeting of leading cadres was held in Beijing in May to nominate candidates of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee.

In the eyes of Huang Yebin, a delegate to the Party congress, the new generation of leadership are "energetic, trustworthy and with both integrity and capacity."

"I'm sure they will lead the nation to a prosperous society," Huang said.

The CPC's National Congress was a widely watched agenda this year for "one of the world's most important power transitions" that followed it, as some foreign media said.

Two authors co-published a comment in the Financial Times on Monday, which said that China "has developed the right formula for choosing political rulers that is consistent with China's culture and history and suitable for modern circumstances." Daniel Bell and Eric Li, a professor of political theory at Qinghua University in Beijing and a Shanghai-based venture capitalist, wrote in the British newspaper, "The Chinese political system has undergone significant change over the past three decades and it comes close to the best formula for governing a large country.

"It (Chinese regime) should be improved on the basis of this formula, not western style democracy," they observed.

NEW FACES IN POLITICAL BUREAU

In addition to the seven Standing Committee members, the Political Bureau has another 18 members. Among them, Liu Yandong, Li Yuanchao and Wang Yang are serving their second term in the central leading organ.

Liu Yandong

 Liu, 67, is also a state councilor. She holds a doctoral degree of law. Li is also a doctor of law. He was previously a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. He is 62.

Wang, 57, is Party chief of Guangdong Province. He previously worked in Chongqing. He is a master of engineering.

The new members of the bureau are: Ma Kai, Wang Huning, Liu Qibao, Xu Qiliang, Sun Chunlan, Sun Zhengcai, Li Jianguo, Zhang Chunxian, Fan Changlong, Meng Jianzhu, Zhao Leji, Hu Chunhua, Li Zhanshu, Guo Jinlong and Han Zheng.

Among the new faces, eight were born around 1949, the founding year of New China. State Councilor Ma Kai is 66. The master of economics previously led the National Development and Reform Commission.

Sun chunlan

Sun Chunlan from Fujian Province is currently the only woman Party chief in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Her entry added one more woman member to the Political Bureau. Liu Yandong was the only woman in the central leading body. Sun is 62.

Li Jianguo, 66, is vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The senior legislator is a Chinese language and literature graduate.

Meng Jianzhu, 65, is a state councilor and also minister of public security. He holds a master's degree of engineering.

Li Zhanshu is director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. He was previously Party chief of Guizhou Province. He is 62. Beijing Party chief Guo Jinlong received a physics education in university, and previously worked in Tibet for 11 years. He is 65.

Fan Changlong, 65, and Xu Qiliang, 62, are two members from the army. The two generals are both vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission. They began service in the 1960s.

Seven new faces are under the age of 60. Wang Huning, 57, was previously a member of the Central Committee's Secretariat. Before he started a political career, he was a professor of the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai.

Sichuan Province Party chief Liu Qibao, 59, is a master of economics. He previously worked at the Communist Youth League of China, served as deputy secretary-general of the State Council and deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily. He has also worked in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Zhang Chunxian, 59, is Party chief of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He holds a master's degree in management. He worked in Hunan Province before he was transferred to Xinjiang.

Zhao Leji, party chief of Shaanxi Province, previously worked in Qinghai, a plateau province with adverse natural condition, for 27 years. The philosophy graduate from Beijing University is 55.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng is a master of economics. He is 58.

Notably, the Political Bureau has two members who were born in the 1960s -- Sun Zhengcai and Hu Chunhua.

Sun, also 49, is a doctor of agronomy. The Party chief of Jilin Province was previously minister of agriculture. Hu, 49, is Party chief of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He volunteered to work in Tibet after graduating from university, and stayed there for about 20 years. He worked at the Communist Youth League of China before going to Inner Mongolia.

The plenum also elected the Secretariat of the Central Committee, which includes Liu Yunshan, Liu Qibao, Zhao Leji, Li Zhanshu, Du Qinglin, Zhao Hongzhu and Yang Jing. It is observed that the new leading echelon has rich governance experience at provincial levels, and they also boast good education backgrounds, with more than 10 doctors and masters, whose majors vary from economics, politics and law to agronomy and management.

Their experience and education backgrounds will help push China towards greater progress, observers said. Liu Xiangting, a resident at Dashilan, a community near Tian'anmen in downtown Beijing, said the emergence of a new leading team indicates that China will enjoy greater development momentum. 

 "I hope the new leaders will care for our livelihoods, boost development and keep themselves clean," said Liu.

(Source : Xinhua)