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Friday, May 28, 2010
DERAILMENT OF GYANESHWARI EXPRESS ON 28-05-2010 - INSTEAD OF EXPRESSING GRIEF, PRIME MINISTER SHOULD SACK IMMEDIATELY MAOIST RAILWAY MINISTER
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Gyaneshwari express derailment in west Midnapore district on Friday 28-05-2010 after a blast by Maoists sabotaged the train tracks. The PM has announced a compensation of Rs two lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for each of those seriously injured in the incident.He asked Railways and other authorities to provide all assistance to the bereaved families, the injured and other passengers."The Prime Minister is grieved to learn of the tragedy today morning when Gyaneshwari Express met with an accident. The Prime Minister has asked the Railway and other authorities to ensure that all assistance is provided to the bereaved families, the injured and other passengers," a PMO spokesperson said.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
GLOBAL CRISIS - SHADOWS OF SOVEREIGN INSOLVENCY LENGTHEN
EDITORIAL OF PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY
THE current panic in the global stock markets, leading to sharp falls on concerns centering around the announced measures by the countries of the European Union to reduce fiscal deficits vindicates the analysis contained in these columns in the past that a new global capitalist crisis is impending. After having announced a $ 1 trillion financial lifeline for the Euro region, the European finance ministers decided to collectively work to reduce deficits in individual countries. The bankruptcy crisis in Greece has already seen massive cuts in government expenditures. Spain and Portugal have also announced budgetary cuts. One global finance executive has said “corporate debt risk was the 2008 story, now it is sovereign debt risk.”
It is no longer a European story. The Asian stock markets have seen a steady decline which has impacted on Indian stock markets as well. China’s Shanghai, Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s Kospi, Thailand’s SET have all reported significant decline. In an economic world dominated and led by finance capital the natural tendency is to follow deflationary policies domestically in order to satisfy investors. This is precisely what the European economies are trying to do to appease finance capital in the face of sovereign insolvencies. The net result is that the livelihood status of the vast majority of the common people in these countries and globally would further deteriorate as much of the containment of deficits will be done by slashing already drastically cut social sector expenditures.
This is capitalism’s most familiar story. In order to retain, if not enhance profits, the degree of exploitation of the working people is intensified. All this is done in the name of generating economic recovery. The working people are told to lose their jobs today so that the economy can grow and therefore they may be employed tomorrow. There cannot possibly be a more gigantic deceit.
Sovereign insolvencies were bound to occur given the manner in which global capitalism chose to recover from the current recession. The bail out packages globally amounted to over $ 10 trillion. All this came out of the tax payers money. While the tax payers suffered, the governments were also reduced to bankruptcy. The consequence of such a global trend has increased the number of billionaires in the world by over 200 and their aggregate capital has expanded by over 50 per cent during this very crisis. Forbes Magazine has recently reported that as of late 2009, the number of billionaires soared from 793 to 1011 and their total fortunes from $ 2.4 trillion to $ 3.6 trillion.
Given the global recession such massive accumulation in the hands of the wealthy can only be put to good use on stock and raw material markets leading to the creation of new financial bubbles which neo-liberalism hopes will trigger growth based on speculation. The seeds of fresh crisis are being sown by replicating the process, which in the first place, created the current crisis. It is not surprising therefore that oil prices which had hit an all time low of $ 47 a barrel in December 2008 now stands over $ 80. A classic case is that of Russia which saw a GDP decline of 7.9 per cent in 2009 but had double the number of billionaires. The result is that the very same financial giants which caused the present crisis are now announcing super profits. J P Morgan Chase announced a record $ 2.7 billion profit in the second quarter of 2009.
As the bankruptcy crisis of Greece shows, much of this largesse to make the wealthy wealthier is being done at the expense of massive cuts in social security expenditures. The first four months of 2010 saw austerity packages being adopted by the Greek government of nearly $ 15 billion. This was painfully accompanied by four successful general strikes in the space of one month. A breather has now been provided to Greece with the $ 140 billion support package that it has received form the European Union and the IMF. It is still uncertain if this will prevent a complete sovereign insolvency in Greece. But the consequent pressure on all European countries to reduce their deficits has left global finance capital worried over yet another economic slow down. This is the catch 22 situation of global capitalism today. In order to appease finance capital they are forced to reduce deficits. This in turn means lower governmental expenditures depressing domestic demand and consequently depressing growth. This also means lesser revenues in the hands of the government to continue with bail out or stimulus packages. This further adds to depressing economic growth. Such economic slow down further discourages finance capital. This is the vicious cycle of capitalism and its crisis.
As the crisis of corporate insolvency appears to be overcome the shadows of sovereign insolvency lengthen.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 23-05-2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
CPI (M) PHONE TAPPING
THE last week of April was dedicated to financial business in both houses. In Lok Sabha increases in the prices of essential commodities, petroleum products and fertilisers were the issue on which the Left and other opposition parties walked out for three consecutive days. There was a division on cut motions moved by the Left and other parties when a large number of demands for grants were guillotined. In the voting on finance bill on April 29, the Left parties’ amendments were defeated by voice vote. The Left and other parties registered their protest over the price increases and walked out during the voting.
ON PHONE TAPPING
Monday, April 26, saw a ruckus in both houses parliament when the opposition brought the issue of tapping of political leaders’ telephones. They called it “unethical, unconstitutional and shameful,” subverting the democratic system and breeding an atmosphere of illegality in the higher echelons of governance.
During the discussion on phone tapping, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said it affects probity in public life and undermines the foundations of our parliamentary democracy and constitution. In a judgement in 1997, the Supreme Court had clearly stated that if not done in accordance with the law and laid-out procedure, it is violative of articles 19 and 21. Yechury asked: are we today exercising restraint about not misusing the provisions of Indian Telegraph Act of 1882 which is an anachronism in today’s modern world? The Supreme Court has specified five circumstances in which tapping is permissible. But phone tapping for political reasons is not in the interest of the country or of parliamentary democracy. The information is that the tapping related to the 2G spectrum scam. It is confirmed that licenses were given to certain firms, who later sold them to foreign telecom players for huge amounts and thereby got windfall profits. Yechury emphatically said the information from authorised tapping is not used to clean the system but information from unauthorised tapping is used to score political points. This cannot be allowed to continue. It is high time the anachronistic 1882 Act is suitably amended and brought in tune with the modern times.
Yechury also accused two Israeli companies, working in India, of being involved in phone tapping, saying this is a serious problem for internal security.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010
NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTI-FARMER POLICIES
THE Central Kisan Committee of the All India Kisan Sabha met in Delhi on May 7-8 to discuss on the different issues confronting the peasantry and to formulate the response to them. The CKC meeting noted that the Congress-led UPA government is pursuing anti-people and anti-farmer neo-liberal policies with greater vigour. The CKC resolved that there is a need to further intensify struggles against these policies. The major decisions of the meeting were:
1) To have a nationwide campaign in June 2010 to expose the UPA government’s anti-farmer policies like the pro-monopoly Seeds Bill and Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, Indo-ASEAN free trade agreement, the decontrol of fertiliser prices and shift to nutrient based subsidy and cuts in fertiliser and food subsidi.
2) To run campaign across the country against the Maoist-Trinamul violence and killings of workers of Left and democratic organisations in Bengal and other parts of the country.
3) To hold programmes across the country to commemorate the 75 Anniversary of the foundation of the All India Kisan Sabha culminating on April 11, 2011.
4) To organise a workshop of North Indian states/Hindi Speaking states on June 26 and 27 to identify specific problems in these states and take up an intense campaign and massive protest action based on the demands.
5) The CKC condemned the utter indifference of the UPA government to the suffering of the masses who have been reeling under sky-rocketing prices of food and essential goods. It sought for remunerative prices for farmers’ produce with effective procurement and a complete ban on futures trading in food grains.
6) The CKC strongly condemned the compromising of our sovereign rights over biological resources by exempting 190 items from the purview of the Biological Diversity Act. It also passed a resolution congratulating the Left Front in Tripura for having won a record victory in the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council by securing all 27 the seats.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010
EXTREMIST HINDUTVA EXPOSED - CPI (M)
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from May 5 to 7, 2010. It issued the following statement.
The arrest of three persons in the Ajmer Sharief Dargah blasts of 2007 have revealed the role of Hindutva extremist elements in this terrorist attack. One of those arrested is reported to be a member of the RSS. These elements are linked to the group which conducted the Malegaon blasts in Maharashtra. The enquiries point to the involvement of the same elements in the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.
The arrest of three persons in the Ajmer Sharief Dargah blasts of 2007 have revealed the role of Hindutva extremist elements in this terrorist attack. One of those arrested is reported to be a member of the RSS. These elements are linked to the group which conducted the Malegaon blasts in Maharashtra. The enquiries point to the involvement of the same elements in the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.
The central government should ensure a coordinated investigation of all these terrorist attacks linked to Hindutva extremists.
In the Mecca Masjid bomb blast, a number of Muslim youth were rounded up and kept in detention and tortured for weeks; 26 of them were also chargesheeted and kept in prison for seven months. The bias in police investigation of terrorist incidents against Muslims in general is disturbing.
The government of Andhra Pradesh and the CBI must take remedial measures. All those arrested and detained in the Hyderabad case must be suitably compensated.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010
CPI (M) ON MISUSE OF CBI
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from May 5 to 7, 2010. It issued the following statement.
Instead of using agencies such as the CBI to investigate economic crimes and cases of corruption, the ruling party is unscrupulously utilising the CBI for its narrow political purposes. The brazen manner in which the CBI investigations have been used to muster support against the cut motion is bringing the agency into disrepute. The ruling party cannot be allowed to bring the CBI into disrepute.
The revelation of phone tapping of four political leaders further reinforces the charge that the Congress party is utilising security and intelligence agencies such as the IB for its political interests. Using these agencies for such purposes should be made illegal and liable for criminal prosecution.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
'RESTORE DEMOCRACY IN JANGAL MAHAL'
THAT Goaltore in Midnapore West district has been the scene of grisly murders of leaders and cadres of the CPI (M), and of innocent rural folk, who would not act as the agents of the left sectarians and their right reactionary links, saw several long marches starting from April 21. The marches were held at the aegis of the CPI (M)’s local units.
We note that for the past weeks, PCAPA, a front of the ‘Maoist’ killer brigade, has called for a bandh in protest against the so-called ‘State terror.’ Even a month back, joint forces ops, or no joint forces ops, any call for such a bandh by the killers would have witnessed the rural poor tremble in their bare feet, and down shutters for days and months together. So much was the terror that the villagers would not even be allowed to draw water from the wells, nor to go to their cabbage-brinjal-potato-rice patches to collect the basic necessities of life.
The scenario no longer applies, much to the chagrin of the closet ‘Maoists’ and their Trinamuli agent provocateurs. The large turnout of the people under the vanguard leadership of the CPI (M) has also disappointed the Patrika group, which had the temerity to chortle in recent issue when a CPI(M) cadre was killed, and noted how the ‘Maoists’ were ‘never in retreat’ but were waiting for an opportunity to strike back. We may merely assure them that one grisly targeted murder of a CPI (M) worker would not prevent the people from being organised against gangs of criminals and hired assassins called the ‘Maoists.’
The Goaltore marches were ample proof of the steel-willed desire of the masses to restore democracy in the jangal mahal. At Goaltore the marchers included the rural poor, the fishing folk, the bargadars, the small-plot-owners, the khet mazdoors, the small shop owners, the roadside stall-owners—and the women, thousands of them, many carrying their young on their backs, or across their waist, and every one of them carried a Red flag with the hammer-and-sickle sun-lit bright in emblazon against a hazy blue sky as temperatures soared beyond 480 C. Nobody minded the heat as the procession we walked in with the midday sun pouring down heat, traversed close to 15 km of so-called ‘Maoist’ ‘terrain,’ if we are to believe (difficult) the Patrika reporters.
This is the Goaltore where places like Mali, and Patharpara have witnessed ‘Maoist’-Trinamuli terror-tactics. As we file this report, we hear that similar marches were held the same day away from Goaltore in remote rural stretches of Pingboni, Adalia, Nischindapur, Dhamcha, Nagdana, and Peruabad. Ten Gram Panchayats of the area then brought out ten long lines of marchers in the afternoon. Slogans rang out with call to isolate the killers and to drive them off and away.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 02-05-2010 (www.pd.cpim.org)
EDITORIAL OF "PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY" DATED 02-05-2010
ALL INDIA GENERAL STRIKED (HARTAL) ON 27-04-2010 SCORES RESOUNDING SUCCESS
AS reports appearing in accompanying pages clearly show, the nationwide hartal called by 13 Left and non-NDA secular opposition parties was a resounding success. It was widely expected that this hartal would result in a twelve-hour dawn to dusk bandh in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, states where the Left is influential. However, many other parts of the country also saw a similar situation. The combination of the Left and regional parties saw the action being very effective in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra etc.
The spontaneous and the large-scale involvement of the people reflects the mounting anger against the relentless rise in the prices of essential commodities (which have been continuously growing at the rate of nearly 20 per cent for over a year). This has seriously eroded the living standards of the vast masses of the people. This has resulted in lakhs of people being pushed below the poverty line from being above.
On the same day, April 27, these 13 parties ensured that the parliament also participated in the hartal with the Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day and the Lok Sabha beginning its proceedings at 6 pm, at the culmination of the 12-hour hartal. The Lok Sabha took up the agenda of adopting the Union Budget for 2010-11. With the further discussion on the demands for grants being guillotined, this was the time for moving the cut motions asking for the reversal of specific budgetary proposals that had led to the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and fertilisers.
Though the discussion on the demand for grants of the petroleum ministry could not take place due to the guillotine, in an unprecedented step, the speaker of the Lok Sabha permitted the moving of the cut motion on this score, reversing the earlier tradition of not allowing cut motions for ministries whose demands for grants are not discussed. This came through the ruling on a matter submitted by the Left MPs who pointed out that Article 113(2) of the constitution gave the right to the Lok Sabha to exercise its power “to assent, or to refuse to assent, to any demand, or to assent to any demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein”. This is the first time since independence that this constitutional provision was invoked.
As is known, this cut motion was defeated in the Lok Sabha with 201 votes for and 288 against. These figures must be seen in the context of 22 Samajwadi Party and 4 Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs who walked out before the voting. This happened despite the fact that both the parties were party to the 13-party call for a national hartal as well as to move cut motions in the parliament. Both the parties actively led and participated in the hartal in the states where they have influence, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively. They now have to answer the various speculations that are currently doing the rounds in the media attributing various reasons for their walk-out.
Further, the BSP (21 MPs) that strongly spoke against the UPA government’s economic policies, particularly price rise, mysteriously chose to support the government on the vote advancing the plea that they do not wish to vote with the communal forces. This is, indeed, a strange argument from a party that thrice shared power with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh! In addition, the Congress party shamelessly succeeded in mobilising the BJP-supported Jharkhand chief minister, Shibu Soren, to vote with it on this occasion.
If the Congress party could not manage these maneouvres, then the final voting would have been 249 in favour of the cut motion and 266 with the government. This latter figure is six short of the majority mark in the Lok Sabha. The Congress party has, once again, displayed its infamous expertise in winning the vote in the parliament like it did on several occasions in the past, particularly on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the recent past.
The Congress party is seeking to unsuccessfully justify its unscrupulous and immoral maneouvres by charging the opposition with wishing to destabilise the government in its eleventh month. Cut motions, under parliamentary practice, are not designed to destabilise the government. If that was the objective, then the opposition would have moved a no confidence motion. Cut motions are designed to pressurise the government to rescind specific budgetary proposals. True, if a government looses a cut motion, then it has to resign. This, precisely, is the pressure that the opposition mounted on this occasion in the interests of the welfare of the vast majority of Indian people. If the government had rolled back the backbreaking hikes in the prices of petrol, diesel and fertilisers, then the reason for moving the cut motion would simply not exist.
The UPA-2 government has to ask itself the question as to why it reduced itself to this state of counting its numbers in its first year itself. This is, indeed, unprecedented. Particularly in a situation where during the last two decades, no coalition government at the centre was led by a party which, itself, had more than 200 seats. The answer to this question lies in the spate of anti-people policies that this government is adopting which is alienating many sections that had initially extended support to it.
At the initiative of the Left, pressure was mounted on the government both inside and outside the parliament on April 27 against rising prices. The parliamentary cut motion was confined to only one measure that is required to contain this price rise – the rollback of budgetary hikes. The Left parties, additionally continue to demand that the central government must immediately ban all speculatively futures/forward trading in all essential commodities; universalise and strengthen the public distribution system (PDS); and release the excess stock of foodgrains in the central government godowns through the PDS.
The central government has not acceded to any of these so far. Clearly, therefore, the struggle continues. In fact, it has to be intensified in the interests of protecting and improving the livelihood of the vast mass of the Indian people.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 02-05-2010 (www.pd.cpim.org)
BENGAL MUNICIPAL POLLS: FISSURES IN THE OPPOSITION - B Prasant
THE bourgeois media and the corporate houses that sponsor them – out of their own financial compulsions – have for some time now been filled with hopes and aspirations about the ‘sure’ defeat of the Left in Bengal when the municipal polls are held in May this year, with better things to follow. Before exploring the ground under the feet of the right reaction, let us turn to something else.
The rich hope for a débâcle of the left in the civic elections. The petit bourgeoisie fear that the Left may have to face defeat. These are but class responses. What we regret especially is that not-a-few ‘left’ thinking people, intellectuals, literati, artistes, have even gone on to create ‘scenarios’ for the future right-wing government that shall ‘come to office, yes, certainly.’
One newspaper editor now regularly runs a column where he pontificates the ‘ways-and-means’ that the rightists must look out for, while running the Bengal government ‘on a long term basis,’ from 2011. Nevertheless, the doubters remain in the microscopic minority.
The other day, a well-known progressive, secular, liberal historian, a genuine CPI (M) supporter, expressed his critical apprehension as to how he would run the mufussil college that he heads as the principal, once ‘the brigands come to office.’ What makes him and his like so sure that the Left is going to be voted out and comprehensively?
The middle classes, the late and very much lamented Polit Bureau member of the CPI (M), Saroj Mukherjee, would never fail to remind, are a vacillating lot.
Go instead, as we have done of late, to the villages like those in the Binpur block in Midnapore west, or in the terai and dooars regions of north Bengal, and you shall be met with bright-eyed optimism of the masses, for they have little doubt of the fact that the electorate would never vote in the anarchic brigade.
Approach the workers who have been cruelly retrenched by the managements and who draw what is still a pittance of an allowance due to them courtesy of the Left Front government, and you shall see courage of conviction about the outcome of the polls. Who is concerned with despondency? The Red flag shall flutter once again, the workers believe.
The wondrous fact has been that other than vague charges like, say, the isolated, if sad, incident of police firing during Nandigram episode, or the so-called lack of ‘proper’ (i.e., consumer-oriented, market-driven, pro-rich) governance, the opposition could only point to an issue, in their attack mode, on which they are themselves deeply mired in – the issue of law-and-order. The Left would tend to agree with the rightists that there is need for restoration of democracy, on very different grounds, grounds that have everything to do with rightist intransigence and left sectarian adventurism – at the cost of the lives and livelihoods of the people.
The political meadow of the opposition in the meanwhile shows increasing signs of cracks and fissures. The actors and actresses who appear on the stage of rightist drama are becoming bitterly personal in their internecine quarrelling. The comfortable confines of a central government club of an office in downtown Kolkata was the venue for the latest round of talks in the afternoon of April 22 between Didi’s men and the despondent looking lot called the Pradesh Congress. The meeting had already turned biley when somebody mentioned, before the horse-trading commenced in earnest, one Pradesh Congress leader’s recent attack on the Trinamul Congress when he had commented that there was one post ‘of political prominence’ in that outfit that all others were ‘unlit lamp posts.’
The Trinamul Congress during the negotiations just told off the Pradesh Congress big shots, our sources tell us, that out of 141 seats in the Kolkata Corporation, the Pradesh Congress might get 20 or less. The Pradesh Congress leaders then fretted, fumed, and even let loose a bad word or two. Nothing happened. Nothing can happen.
The Trinamul Congress would crop the opposition political meadow flat and bald by overwrought, power-packed, mowing down. To them, the Pradesh Congress is an entity that hangs on to the political pallu of Didi, to survive in Bengal. The opposition in Bengal shall remain an uneven mess. The Trinamul Congress is sure of a runaway victory. The masses are also sure – of a defeat for the practitioners of banditry, on May 30 when Kolkata goes to the polls. 2011 is yet a way off.
Source: People’s Democracy dated 02-05-2010 (www.pd.cpim.org)
MAOIST BUTCHERS OF SINGER VARA VARA RAO SLAIN INNOCENT VILLAGER ORPHANING HIS WIFE & DAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF REVOLUTION
WIFE AND DAUGHTER BESIDE THE DEAD-BODY OF HARIPADA SINGHA ON BASANTPUR ROAD IN DAHIJURI VILLAGE OF JHARGRAM, WEST BENGAL ON 05-05-2010. HARIPADA SINGHA WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED BY THE PERVERTED AND INSANE MAOIST COMRADES OF ARUNDHATI ROY, MAHASWETA DEVI, MEDHA PATKAR, “PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES” (PUCL), “PEOPLE’S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS”(PUDR), ASSOCIATION FOR PROTECTION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (APDR) AND OTHER SO-CALLED INTELLECTUALS AND HUMAN RIGHT ORGANISATIONS AND CORPORATE MEDIAINSANE MAOIST BUTCHERS OF ACTRESS APARNA SEN SLAIN INNOCENT VILLAGER ORPHANING HIS WIFE & DAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF REVOLUTION. BRAVO APARNA SEN!
WIFE AND DAUGHTER BESIDE THE DEAD-BODY OF HARIPADA SINGHA ON BASANTPUR ROAD IN DAHIJURI VILLAGE OF JHARGRAM, WEST BENGAL ON 05-05-2010. HARIPADA SINGHA WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED BY THE PERVERTED AND INSANE MAOIST COMRADES OF ARUNDHATI ROY, MAHASWETA DEVI, MEDHA PATKAR, “PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES” (PUCL), “PEOPLE’S UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS”(PUDR), ASSOCIATION FOR PROTECTION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (APDR) AND OTHER SO-CALLED INTELLECTUALS AND HUMAN RIGHT ORGANISATIONSTuesday, May 4, 2010
PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PERSONS PROTEST AGAINST ILL-TREATMENT OF INDIAN RAILWAYS UNDER MAMATA BANERJEE
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Saturday, May 1, 2010
MAMATA BANERJEE REFUSES TO ANSWER ON OPERATING RATIO IN THE INDIAN RALWAYS
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