People's Democracy
http://cpim.org/pd/Govt Employees Protest PFRDA Bill
THROUGH a statement issued from Kolkata on March 25, by its senior vice chairman Sukomal Sen, the All India State Government Employees' Federation (AISGEF) has informed that on the day the federation organised in all the states of the country, right from Kashmir to Kerala, two-hour walkouts and demonstrations to condemn the introduction of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) bill and demand its withdrawal. Effigies of the bill were also burnt in some states.
The All India State Government Employees Federation and the Confederation of Central Government Employees had jointly called for these protest actions.
One recalls that on March 24 this year, the UPA government at the centre introduced the PFRDA bill with the support of main opposition party, the BJP, ignoring the strong protest registered by the Left parties. It was immediately after knowing about it that the state and central government employees launched the aforementioned two- hour walkout from their offices and conducted powerful demonstrations in front of their offices, condemning the anti-employee attitude of the UPA government and demanding immediate withdrawal of the bill.
It is reported that state government employees organised the programme with success in Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Employees in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal organised massive walkouts and demonstrations.
In Haryana, where the Sarva Karamchari Sangh had lent its support to the call for protest actions, about 20,000 employees belonging to the electricity corporation, municipalities and municipal corporations, teachers, irrigation, education, health, public health, urban development, forest department participated in such walkouts and demonstrations at 180 places of 21 districts of the state.
For this protest, the Sarva Karmachari Sangh leaders had toured through whole of the state to mobilise the employees for sustained programmes of action in the days to come. They brought out the pernicious impact of the bill on the existing pensionary benefits of the government employees and also exposed the real character of the BJP in detail.
During the campaign on this programme in all the states, AISGEF leaders and activists explained the political aspect of this issue. They convincingly placed before the employees the difference between the UPA-I government which, standing on the support of 61 Left MPs, was unable to commit any such mischief while the UPA-II government, taking the advantage of the weak position of the Left in parliament, desperately steamrolling all the harmful and anti-employee bill like the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill and the PFRDA bill, while the next to follow is more FDI in insurance industry.
The AISGEF's contention is that it is due to the pressure exerted by the World Bank, IMF and finance capital in and out the country that the successive governments at the centre, headed by the NDA and the UPA, were trying to privatise the pension funds by placing it at the disposal of private fund managers and thereby paving way for investment of the astronomical pension fund amount in share market speculations. Despite the fact that international experience has proved the privatisation of pension as being beneficial neither to the employees nor to governments, such shameless attempts are being pursued continuously in the interest of private entrepreneurs.
Right from the early days of 2005, when the bill was first introduced in the parliament, MPs belonging to the Left parties in and the working class all over the country have been relentlessly fighting against the blatant attempts of the governments and that is why the bill could not be passed in the parliament. Yet the central government and many state governments are implementing the new pension scheme through administrative orders, without the sanction of parliament. Only the Left ruled the states, viz, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, have declared that they will not implement the new pension scheme for their employees.
The All India State Government Employees' Federation and the Confederation of the Central Government Employees and Workers have decided to further intensify the struggle through direct the entire government employees and teachers in this country, numbering more than 80 lakhs, for withdrawal of the PFRDA bill and restoration of the existing Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to all the employees and teachers irrespective of their recruitment into the service. The AISGEF leaders have also urged the employees to get prepared for a prolonged and militant struggle so as to upturn the government's anti-working class decision. They said the political balance has to be immediately changed to save the country's interest.
CITU OPPOSES PFRDA BILL,
LABOUR LAW AMENDMENT
On the same day, March 25, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) expressed its strongly opposition to the introduction of the PFRDA Bill in parliament a day before. The CITU said the bill was part of the government's neo-liberal pro-corporate agenda to change the concept of pension as "defined benefit" to the workers after retirement to a "defined contribution" by the workers. This makes a mockery of pension as a social security scheme, with the onus of funding and regulation of the scheme shifting from the government or employer to a regulator. The main objective is to divert the pension contribution by the workers to the share market and corporate equity funds.
This bill, initiated during the NDA regime, could not be pushed through because of the opposition by the working class outside the parliament and by the Left parties in the parliament. But the CITU is of the opinion that in a surreptitious manner the UPA government of the Congress party and its allies has kept the avenues open to the regulator for unlimited foreign investment in pension fund without requiring the parliament's assent. This shows how the present government is in connivance with the major opposition party, the BJP, in surrendering to the pressure of the international finance capital.
The CITU has also strongly opposed the introduction of a labour law amendment bill proposing exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments. The bill, if passed, would exempt more than 80 per cent of existing establishments in the country, to ignore virtually all labour laws of the land, as they would not be required to maintain any records of workers working within their establishments. The CITU, along with other central trade union organisations, has been opposing this so called 'labour reform' bill which will usher a jungle law in the industry.
The CITU has calls upon the working class to intensify their ongoing struggle against the above legislations, so that the corporate captive government is forced to withdraw the above bills from the parliament.
| Vol. XXXV No. 14 April 03, 2011 |
TRINAMUL MP CAUGHT WITH CASH
Left Team Demands EC to Act
On March 28, a delegation of the Left parties, consisting of Nilotpal Basu (Central Secretariat member, CPI-M), D Raja (MP and national secretary, CPI), S P Tiwari (Central Committee member, AIFB), Dharmendra Verma (Central Committee member, AIFB) and Abani Roy (MP and secretary, RSP) met the Election Commission of India at New Delhi and submitted the following memorandum.
WE are constrained to draw your attention to the very serious development where a member of parliament from the Trinamul Congress, Shri K D Singh, was carrying cash amounting to Rs 57 lakh. He was reported to have been travelling on March 24 in a private airplane from Delhi to Guwahati which is a poll-bound state and the Trinamul Congress is contesting a large number of seats.
We are also surprised by his reported claim that this money was legitimately drawn from a bank for his own business purposes. We are unaware of business activities in the present times which require such a major volume of cash movement. We are also surprised that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) which held Mr Singh and his associates along with the money and allowed to let him go. And, most importantly, the money itself was not confiscated. We think that this is rather strange because even if the source is known, nobody can vouch for the manner of end use.
In such circumstances, we would like to draw your attention to the ongoing discussion with the EC bilaterally as well as in the all-party meeting on the subject of use of money power as a growing electoral malpractice. It was in the last all-party meeting on March 9, 2011 that the Hon'ble Commission had observed that any press report about alleged possible misconduct regarding electoral malpractices will be taken suo moto cognisance of and enquiry will be ordered forthwith.
Therefore, monitoring of the trail of the money found in the possession of Shri Singh and a thorough enquiry of his whereabouts and activities is urgently called for.
We hope that the EC will act urgently on this very serious development and redeem its commitment of ensuring elections uncontaminated by money power.
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) No. 14 April 03, 2011
People's Democracy Vol. XXXV
Editorial
Libya: End This Cynical Intervention
EXACTLY a hundred years ago, the world witnessed the first instance of an aerial bombardment, ie, of a plane dropping bombs on targets on the ground. On October 26, 1911, Italian planes dropped bombs near Tripoli on Turkish troops. Libya was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Italy subsequently colonised Libya. The Libyan people fought the Italian colonisers valiantly. In the 1920s, Mussolini's Italy used airplanes to strafe and kill thousands of tribal fighters on horseback. A hundred years later, Libya was subjected to a massive aerial bombardment by planes and ships belonging to the United States, France and Britain. Italy did not join in, as that would have raised the spectre of its barbarous colonial history, but many of the allied planes took off from an air base in Italy. The cynical claim of the Western powers is that these air strikes are meant to protect civilians in Libya when precisely hundreds have died in this bombardment.
The assault on Libya began on March 19. The UN Security Council resolution 1973 provided the cover for this aggression against a sovereign country. The resolution had called for a no-fly zone to be imposed over Libya. The resolution was so worded as to provide the pretext for an outright intervention when it talked about taking other necessary measures to protect civilians. Seizing this opportunity, all military installations in Libya have been bombarded; from imposing the so-called no-fly zone, the next step was air strikes against Gaddafi's armed forces on the ground. By this, the military might of NATO has been thrown behind the rebels.
France and Britain were in the lead in calling for a war on Libya. For them, the UN Security Council resolution meant a license to go all out to remove Gaddafi. British government officials have said that the killing of the Libyan leader would be legal, if it prevented civilian deaths as laid out in the UN resolution. Given the different interpretations of the aim of the military intervention and growing misgivings among some of the NATO allies themselves, finally it was decided to handover the control of the operations to the NATO. What Fidel Castro warned at the outset has come true: NATO committed aggression on Libya.
While NATO continues its military strikes in Libya to "protect civilians", the despotic regimes in Yemen and Bahrain are allowed to kill and maim its peoples. The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, is a valued ally of the West and Bahrain hosts the Fifth Fleet of the United States. Their civilians are, therefore, expandable.
If the West's double standards are so visible, the hypocrisy of president Obama is truly breathtaking. Invested with the Nobel Peace prize, Obama is desperately trying to hide his warmongering. In a recent speech, he declared: "We will deny the regime arms, cut off its supply of cash, assist the opposition and work with other nations to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves power". In the same breath, he said: "If we try to overthrow Gaddafi by force, our coalition would splinter".
The differences in the coalition on this "humanitarian intervention" have also surfaced. With the NATO taking charge, Germany has pulled out its two naval frigates and AWACS surveillance planes. Germany was one of the five countries in the Security Council which abstained on the resolution on Libya. Turkey, another partner in the NATO, has disapproved of the military intervention going beyond the no-fly zone and has announced that it will not commit its forces in Libya.
At the recently-held conference on Libya in London, though it was claimed that the Arab League was represented, neither its secretary general nor many of the Arab countries, including Egypt and Algeria, participated. It is only the client States like UAE and Qatar which spoke for the Arab countries.
The US and Britain have started talking about supplying arms to the rebels. At the same time, the NATO commander has indicated that Islamic fundamentalists and Al Qaeda may be present in the ranks of the rebels. NATO has also the job to create a pro-Western alternative government.
The NATO intervention is a calculated and cynical move to reverse the popular uprisings taking place in the Arab world and to hijack it in the name of a humanitarian intervention against an authoritarian regime. The Gaddafi regime which had made up with the West in 2003 and become a favourite of the Britain and other Western countries and who had laid out the red carpet for the oil multinationals is now being demonised, just as Saddam Hussein was in Iraq.
The West is fuelling a civil war. Libya is being forced down a path of destruction. In India, the military intervention by NATO has been condemned by all sections in parliament. The UPA government did right in abstaining on the UN Security Council resolution. But that is not enough. Along with the four other countries – Russia, China, Germany and Brazil – India should demand an urgent review of how the Security Council resolution is being implemented. The US and NATO cannot hijack the United Nations mandate in this manner.
(March 30, 2011)
| Vol. XXXV No. 14 April 03, 2011 |
Only Left is Capable of
Transcending Capitalism: Yechury
THE Heyman Center for the Humanities of the Columbia University, New York organised a two day international symposium on 'What Does Imperialism Mean in an Age of Global Finance?' on March 28-29, 2011. Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member, Head of the International Department of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was invited to deliver the inaugural lecture at the symposium. This symposium began minutes after Barack Obama, the president of the US, addressed the world justifying the attack of NATO forces on Libya. He tried to 'explain the attack' by differentiating it with the earlier US-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Inaugurating the two-day symposium, Yechury started by drawing the attention of the audience to the double standards of imperialism. He said, "His (Obama's) justification of the attack on Libya once again exposes the double-speak of the imperialist forces on regime change. Imperialism's double standards become clear with the US-inspired Saudi Arabian military intervention in Bahrain to prop up the Khalifa, intensely opposed by the people who are seeking better standards of livelihood along with human rights and democracy. In Libya, imperialism seeks a regime change and in Bahrain it seeks to sustain the autocratic rule of the Khalifa family that has lorded over the country since 1783. Both interventions are ironically in the name of protecting the people. The reason for such a double standard is not far to seek. Bahrain is home to the US navy's fifth fleet and has been its steadfast ally. Libya on the other hand, is not such a firm ally. Further, Libyan oil reserves and importantly the ocean of fossil water reserves on which its deserts lie today have the potential of more lucrative profits than oil. A regime change here could well be to imperialism's advantage, while in Bahrain it is not".
Stating that many eminent economists are to follow him, Yechury said, he would not enter into 'their terrain' of talking about the economic aspects of imperialism in today's world. He began his address by talking about imperialism and its affects on India and reminded the audience that last year, speaking at a similar symposium organised by the same center, he spoke about the dollar billionaires in India, whose number had increased from 26 to 52. This year, he pointed out that their numbers had further increased to 69. Quoting from the Financial Times, he said that their asset values are now more than 30 per cent of the country's GDP. This, he contrasted with the nearly 80 per cent of the Indians who are surviving on less than 50 cents a day and said that the hallmark of globalisation under global finance is this exponential growth of inequality. This growth of inequalities has now become a universal phenomenon, with growing inequalities witnessed both between the countries and within the countries, he said.
Yechury observed that imperialism today is betraying a predatory character not often seen in the recent past. He quoted from Marx'sDas Capital, "With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 per cent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent will produce eagerness; 50 per cent, positive audacity; 100 per cent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged".
Continuing, Yechury said, "All through the history of capitalism, accumulation took place in two ways: one is through the normal dynamics of capital expansion (appropriation), through the unfolding of its production process and the other is through coercion (expropriation) whose brutality Marx defines as primitive accumulation of capital. Historically, these two processes continue to coexist. The process of primitive accumulation has taken various forms, including direct colonisation". He reminded that in Marxist conceptualisation, primitive is not meant in the historic frame of 'primitive and modern' but in an analytical frame, where being primitive means being brutal. "In the current phase, the hallmark of contemporary imperialism is the intensification of such brutal primitive accumulation assaulting a vast majority of the people of the world's population, both in the developed as well as in all other countries. Imperialism in this current era is the process of accumulation through expropriation rather appropriation. This naked urge for profit maximisation explains the genesis and nature of the present crisis and also the manner in which it is seeking solution," he said.
Sitaram Yechury, explaining the current economic crisis observed, "The world so far was familiar with bailout packages for resurrecting financial giants that collapsed in the wake of their own making. The reckless creation of new financial animals and mind boggling intermeshing of these to generate higher profits led to large scale bankruptcies. As is the logic of capitalism, the governments rescued the corporate giants by building up a mounting debt of their own. The governments that bailed out these corporates are now caught in the vortex of mounting debt. If corporate insolvency heralded the global meltdown and recession in 2008, it is this sovereign insolvency that is threatening to snowball a deeper crisis. Thus, what had started as the crisis due to the insolvency of some corporates has now emerged as full fledged sovereign insolvency."
"Instead of undertaking poverty alleviation measures and increasing the purchasing power of people, the governments are trying to manage their finances and prevent insolvencies by drastically cutting down on expenditures and significantly increasing their revenues. The former means that the livelihood standards of the majority of the working people are bound to deteriorate because there will be more cuts in the social benefit expenditures. The IMF sponsored 'austerity' packages introduced in many of the European countries are part of these efforts and these have resulted in drastic cuts to the social welfare budgets. IMF, which has given loans to many countries, imposed several conditions and had directed the governments to rein in their fiscal deficit. It had urged the governments not to succumb to the protests demanding the reversal of austerity measures. Moreover, it had asked them to get the annual budget approved by it before introducing in their respective parliaments. This is nothing but a brazen attack on the sovereignty of the respective countries".
He also said that the dominant imperialist powers are seeking their way out of the economic crisis not only by putting greater burdens on the working people of their countries but also by seeking to penetrate and dominate the markets of developing countries. "Efforts are on to coerce the developing countries to accept the various conditions and agreements that are detrimental to their interests".
Yechury reasoned that one of the characters of imperialism in this era of global finance is, thus, to launch an all-out attack on the democratic advances made by human civilisation and "this, in today's context means an out and out attack on the welfare State, as we are witnessing in Europe. The thousands of people coming out on the streets in various parts of the world – the workers demonstrations in the US, the huge march organised in London two days ago and many similar protests – testify to the rising discontent among the people. However, one important aspect that needs to be remembered is that most of these struggles are defensive in nature, in the sense that they aim to safeguard their hard won benefits". Tracing the reasons for the protests in Middle East, he said, "It is this attack on the livelihoods of the people of Middle East that had led, amongst other factors, to the present unrest and mobilised people in such huge numbers. Apart from being subjected to authoritarian rule for decades, the people of these countries have suffered severely during the last two years of the global economic crisis".
Yechury further mentioned that this economic onslaught of imperialism is accompanied by an intense ideological onslaught that essentially argues that it only economics that determines politics and not politics that determines economics. "In this manner, they try to separate politics from economics and hence try to ensure the economic power of imperialism to hegemonise the entire humanity goes unhindered. They argue, for this reason, 'do not politicise economic reforms', 'let there be unanimity', in what essentially is the implementation of a neo-liberal economic order. In this way, they try to de-politicise the society in order to ensure that the popular urge of the people and their striking power is muted. Also, in this process, these campaigns try to suck into its vortex all the hitherto known third world nationalism and seek to negate any relevance to Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)."
Concluding his inaugural address, Yechury said, "While understanding the economic power of imperialism, it is necessary for us to know that it is not possible to realise universal human values and human rights in their real sense under the current system. No amount of reform or tinkering can prevent or stop capital's irresistible urge for global domination, which in real terms means trampling upon human rights and values. Thus, for achieving human rights and realising universal values of humaneness, we need to seek transcendence of the capitalist system. This can be achieved only by strengthening the Left forces, because, it is the Left and Left alone that has the agenda of transcending the system and build a system bereft of all kinds of exploitation".
In the following days, Professors C P Chandrashekhar, K S Jomo, Prabhat Patnaik, David Harvey, Duncan K Foley, and Jayati Ghosh presented their papers on other aspects of the theme.
(INN)
| Vol. XXXV No. 14 April 03, 2011 |
Agriculture and Budget: Business as Usual
Suneet Chopra
IT is evident that when one runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds, it is the hare that is the loser. The present budget does exactly that with the rural hare and the corporate hound. And most budgets have been doing that for nearly two decades now, with devastating effect on our food security, inflation, declining rural employment and increasing inequality of income between the urban and rural sectors, leading to the withering away of resources of the rural masses who still constitute over 60 per cent of our people. So, once more the budget has given the aam aadmi the go by. Moreover, the Rs 11, 500 crore direct tax concessions to the better off are to be offset by the increase of Rs 11, 300 crore through indirect taxes paid for by the people. This is consistent with successive governments' policies of making the already poor pay for the prosperity of the rich.
The agricultural sector, whose share of the GDP has plummeted from 31.4 per cent in 1991 to a miserable 14.2 per cent in 2010, while having to support over half the population of the country, has been starved once more of the resources it badly needs. Agriculture has seen a cutback from Rs 17,695 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 17,523 crore in 2011-12, while rural development has been truncated from Rs 89,629 crore to Rs 87,845 crore since the last budget. Moreover, subsidies on fertilisers have been reduced by 9 per cent, on food by 9.4 per cent and on oil by a massive 38.5 per cent, representing a cut of Rs 20,000 crore. This will be devastating for the rural masses, over 70 per cent of whom are below the 2200 calorie line already and reflect the growing poverty of our villages where 33 lakh farmers have been joining the landless each year since 1991.
This policy has been pursued under the erroneous belief that if the government pulls back from the agrarian sector, private investment will rush in to take its place. We have enough experience that this does not happen. On the contrary, the flight of government investment from agriculture and rural development has led to private investment following suit. Now, the government has decided to increase credit to the rural borrowers at 4 per cent interest if they have paid their previous dues, the very thing for which they were excluded from the debt-relief programmes earlier. Also, the finance minister's exhortation to the banks is to give more loans to the poor and marginal farmers as in earlier years the lion's share of rural credit has instead gone to agro-industries. It is evident from this exhortation that he does not believe that anything is going to change this time either.
At the same time, the rural drinking water programme has got only Rs 8,099 crore. This is Rs 400 crore less than the amount actually spent on the programme last year. The Indira Awas Yojana is again stagnant at Rs 8,996 crore. Given the increase in the price of cement and building materials because of ongoing government policies, it too will be insufficient for the job. The Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana has got Rs 18,217 crore, more than Rs 1,600 crore less than the last year's expenditure of Rs 19,886 crore at. The National Mission for Protein Supplements, organic farming and extending the Green Revolution to the eastern region sound good, but it seems it would remain a non-starter in view of the flood-prone character of the region, with no allocation of irrigation facilities to match it. This failure to meet the urgent demand to improve the rural infrastructure will no doubt affect employment as well. But even though wages under the MNREGA have been linked to inflation, the outlay for the scheme has been brought down by Rs 100 crore to Rs 40,000 crore, despite the ministry asking for no less than Rs 63,000 crore. So a serious attempt at employment growth seems out of question.
To add to all this, we have the ominous threat of more free trade agreements, fluctuations in agrarian prices and the already ruinous crisis the peasantry faces today, which has resulted in 2,16,500 farmers' suicides over the last one decade and a half, with the figure peaking at 17,368 in 2008-09. The budget does nothing to reassure the farmers and agricultural labour that the government is concerned about their suicides and hunger deaths. It seems to be going on with business as usual.
This essentially means going ahead with the corporatisation of agriculture and unleashing speculators on the agrarian market, forcing both distress sales and distress production. All these are likely to go on as before. Ashok Gulati, director of the International Food Policy Research Institute, states: "It's an average budget and lacks the reforms agriculture needed. The steps cannot give you sustained growth in agriculture." Eminent agronomist, M S Swaminathan, chairman of the Farmers Commission, saw it as an opportunity missed on the global scale to make our agriculture pay, while even a number of the members of the National Advisory Council headed by Congress president, Sonia Gandhi spoke of it as being "unimaginative."
These are understatements. If one looks at the allocations for public health schemes, the nation vector borne disease control programme (which includes malaria) has been reduced by 23 per cent, routine immunisation by 17 per cent, the national TB control programme by 11 per cent, and the trachoma and blindness control programme by 4 per cent. Thus one realises that this budget cannot but deepen the crisis of agricultural viability. The promise of coupons to farmers instead of fertiliser subsidy and to consumers instead of the PDS will both create problems of delivery and wreck the already existing institutions of support to the farmers as well as consumers. What we can therefore expect is more sales of land, more suicides and more insecurity of life and livelihood in the rural areas. This is hardly the price the majority of our fellow citizens should be expected to pay to ensure that a handful of corporates profit from the increasing ruin and misery, as the budget seems to be bent on doing. In fact, nothing less than the reversal of these anti-people policies will do. It is thus the bounden duty of the organised movements of the peasantry and agricultural labour to join hands with the working class to ensure these policies are reversed.
| Vol. XXXV No. 14 April 03, 2011 |
Govt out to Perpetrate Crimes upon People
Tapan Sen
THE Congress-led government of the day is on a spree to commit one crime after another on the nation and the people. If the UPA-1 regime could not fulfil its wish-list of anti-people measures as it was dependent on the Left to remain in power, the Congress now has allies like the Trinamul Congress and DMK and an "opposition" like the BJP who support the government in most of its criminal acts.
These crimes are a legion --- from arrogant patronisation to allowing the speculators and hoarders in the food market to jack the prices up and earn windfall profit. It did everything to enable the corporate houses to loot the public exchequer, e.g. in telecom spectrum sale or in procurement of contracts for the Commonwealth Games.
LABOUR
BILL
On March 23, the government introduced in Rajya Sabha a bill titled Labour Laws (Exemptions from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers for Certain Establishments) Amendment Bill 2011, which aims at virtually liberating the employers of establishments employing up to 40 persons from the obligations of almost all basic labour laws governing minimum wages, payment of wages, working hours, contract work, payment of bonus and what not. Already, all these labour laws are being observed more in their violation in most of the workplaces, particularly in the private sector, but the new bill aims to legalise such crimes and give then the statutory seal of approval by the central government.
If the establishments employing up to 40 persons are freed from all obligations under the existing labour laws, what would be its implication? This would throw at least 78 per cent of the workforce in the manufacturing sector alone out of the purview of labour laws and put then completely at the mercy of the employers. Moreover, this figure is based on the employment pattern revealed by the factories who have been submitting regular returns to the government. Further, as per the government's own estimates, hardly 30 per cent of the factories are actually submitting regular returns. Thus the actual percentage of protectionless workers must be much more than estimated.
Now, if we consider the service establishments of various kinds mushrooming in the economy through the process of rampant outsourcing, the number of workers to get thrown out of any kind of legal protection would be much higher. Add to it the normal practice of most of the private sector employers or most of the contractors of public sector companies not to record the names of all the workers in their employment registers, and you will find that in actuality more than 90 per cent of the workforce in the organised sector alone will be at the mercy of total lawlessness and anarchy of the employers class.
We can recall that when the same bill was introduced during the UPA-1 regime, the Left parties and the protest agitations by the working class did not allow the government to push it through. But after getting free from their dependence on Left support, the Congress and their allies are now demonstrating unalloyed loyalty and commitment to their corporate masters, officialising the latter's right to loot the workers and deprive them of their basic rights.
BANKING
BILL
The government introduced in Lok Sabha on March 22 the Banking Laws Amendment Bill which aims to empower the foreign bankers to dominate the private sector banks on Indian soil on the one hand and to empower the private sector shareholders, both domestic and foreign, in public sector banks to interfere in the functioning of these banks through enhanced voting rights.
The implication of this bill has to be understood in the context of loud announcement of the finance minister in his latest budget speech to encourage private sector banks to grow through liberal issuance of licenses. Also, the discussion paper circulated on the website of the Reserve Bank of India virtually calls upon the big industrial houses to own banks of their own and take the rural banks over. All these things, taken together, expose the nefarious gameplan to create a much bigger space for private sector banks and speculators, both domestic and particularly foreign, in the financial sector. This would squeeze the space of the nationalised banks through various policy interventions like merger of banks, reduction in number of branches in the name of duplication and other restrictive directions, thus putting them in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis the private sector and foreign banks. Foreign banks, with much bigger money power, will thus corner the savings of the common people. This will dechannelise the savings generated internally to speculative markets instead of the development and employment generating projects.
In its absolute subservience to their masters in the World Bank and Washington, the government of the day refused to take lessons from the global financial meltdown owing to reckless speculation by the banking sector of the USA and Europe and the resultant recession and crisis in the world economy. Rather, they have chosen to weaken and marginalise the public sector banks and insurance sector which did indeed insulate to a great extent the Indian economy and the people from the disaster of such financial meltdown.
This particular bill too was introduced during the UPA-1 regime but the Left parties did not allow it to pass and it lapsed with the 14th Lok Sabha. Now the UPA-2 government is out to commit this crime on our economy and people.
PENSION
BILL
On March 24, the government reintroduced the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, which the Left intervention had forced to lapse during the last Lok Sabha. On March 24, when the Left MPs in Lok Sabha pressed for a division during the introduction of the bill, as usual the allies lent support to the bill while the main opposition, BJP, also joined in bailing the government out. As it is, this bill is going to facilitate a loot on the social security right of the mass of toiling people, in order too to pamper and patronise the speculators.
The PFRDA Bill proposes a paradigm shift of the very concept of social security like pension from a defined benefit to a contribution arrangement. It liberates the government from its basic obligation to provide for secured benefits and tells the people to purchase their pension, if they so desire, from the market. The new concept will be imposed on all central government employees joining the service on or after January 1, 2004. The bill envisages pension to be given to the employees and workers at the rate based on return on their own money invested in the market. It has mentioned in no uncertain term that there will be no "implicit or explicit assurance" of guaranteed return.
The message is loud and clear. The pension will no more be secure and no more linked with the price index. Workers have to make hefty contributions to get a pension but even after making their contributions, they will have no guarantee that their life-long contribution will fetch them an assured amount. Everything will be decided by the gods of the market. The accumulated contribution of the workers would inevitably flow to the stock market, to be speculated by the fund managers appointed by the Pension Regulatory Authority. There will be no guarantee from the government. Pension amounts will go down if the market is low, and life-long savings will be lost if the market crashes.
So far, the experiences of pension fund investment in stock market in various countries has been that, on all occasions, workers' money in pension fund was used to raise the temperature in the stock market, whereupon brokers and speculators always gained and workers always lost.
As this bill proposes, pension will no more be a social security, i.e. a secure return at the end of service life. The bill seeks to convert pension, or for that matter all kinds of social security, into a business for speculators. Once this bill becomes an act, other social security funds like provident fund etc will, sooner or later, come in its ambit; the government may well retune its monetary policy and interest rate regime to ensure this disastrous inevitability.
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Defend Democracy: Slogan at the Grass Roots
From Our Special Correspondent in Kolkata
THE first phase of elections in West Bengal will be held on April 18, in 54 constituencies of the northern districts. Till date, the main mode of campaign, particularly of the Left Front is intensive door-to-door contact with the people. Group meetings, grass root level meetings are being organised in thousands throughout the state. In most of these meetings, interactions are taking place including questions, suggestions and even open criticisms.
The Left Front, in their campaign, is highlighting the anti-people policies of the UPA government, particularly fuelling price rise and successive attacks on the livelihood of the people, like cutting subsidies for food and fertilisers. One of the important components of this campaign is exposing the difference between the two UPAs - one before 2008 when it was supported by the Left from outside, and the UPA-2 in which Trinamool Congress is a partner. The new wave of pro-corporate reforms like the banking bill, the pension bill etc are a reflection of this difference.
In West Bengal, the TMC and the Congress are not merely 'opposition'; they have in effect run hundreds of panchayats at village and block level from 2008. The TMC has run South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore district councils also. In these three years, a large part of rural Bengal has seen widespread corruption and inefficiency of the TMC. Both their district councils are worst run among the 18 districts. They are lagging far behind the others in terms of MGNREGA or other rural developmental programmes. This has generated discontent even among the people who have voted in their favour. This has become one of the major aspects of the campaign.
From 2009 onwards, railway minister Mamata Banerjee has used railways for narrow political purposes. While making Indian railways bankrupt, she has announced numerous projects and was busy in the stone-laying spree. Even in their manifesto, the TMC has tried to project railways as a model for development. The dubious nature of this claim is being explained by the Left Front in the campaign. Apart from other aspects, one of the major questions is the total failure of railways to generate employment. Fraudulent campaign by the TMC has been exposed to a great degree after the self-immolation of a TMC activist, Prasun Datta, in front of railway minister's residence. Datta, it is alleged, was promised a job in railways, which was later bluntly denied.
West Bengal can never relieve her from the dark memories of seventies, when the state witnessed worst kind of political violence and murderous attacks on democracy. The anarchy and violence let loose by the TMC in the recent past has only reinforced that unwanted memory. In this year's election campaign, the future of peace and democracy in the state has become a major issue. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has expressed hope with confidence that the people of West Bengal would never invite "Change for destruction". The Left front chairman, Biman Basu, has repeatedly termed this election battle as a battle to defend democracy of the people.
However, the main thrust of the Left Front's campaign is on the positive achievements of the government all through the 34 years and particularly its successes in the last five years. During this period, significant progress has been registered in agricultural production, industrialisation despite obstacles from the opposition, expansion of health and education facilities, power generation and distribution. But the hallmark of the government was the steadfast defense of the poor and the toiling people. This has been reflected through the provident fund scheme for the workers of the unorganised sector, social security projects for the workers of different sectors, providing rice at Rs 2 per kg for the poor etc. This has also helped to mobilise toiling masses around the Left. The stream of projects for the minorities, including reservation for OBC Muslims has created a renewed trust for the Left Front. Incidentally, on all these questions, the TMC is very shaky and failed to clear their position even in the poll manifesto.
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WEST BENGAL
Left Will Overcome this New Challenge
Nilotpal Basu
THE continuation of the Left Front government in office without interruption for the last 34 years has been somewhat of an enigma to its friends and foes alike. This was clear on February 13 at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. The Bengal corporate media is infamous for its pathological hatred towards the communists and the Left. Obviously, in recent times, they have been euphoric. At long last, they feel that their dream is on the threshold of coming true. After the electoral setbacks suffered by the Left in the 2008 panchayat elections and more significantly in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and 2010 municipal elections, to them 'the moment of reckoning' had arrived. But alas! The huge gathering of human beings who recently converged on the ground constituted the largest ever popular mobilisation for a long time. A million and a half men and women, poor and resolute, waving the Red Flag high in the sky, authored the signature tune of the coming battle. This had left the correspondents representing the same corporate media in two minds. In my interaction with some of them, I asked them to explain what they saw. They were clearly left guessing. The gathering defied the very premise of the premature obituary of the Left Front that they had written.
THE VITRIOL AND
ITS BACKGROUND
Why does the continued existence of the Left Front provoke such a sharp response? The answer is not hard to find. The process of neo-liberal economic reforms in the last two decades has travelled far and wide in India. The philosophy and ideology of this process has gripped not only the major ruling class parties; even regional outfits have been overwhelmed and co-opted by this phenomenon. Therefore, in the current neo-liberal environment in the country, consensus is not being sought to be evolved but 'manufactured'.
But the Left is the spoilsport. But for the Left, there would be a smooth sailing for manufacturing that consensus, notwithstanding the several dissenting voices. Obviously, in a country like India, the market-led straightjacket cannot address the unevenness and diversity that is the heart of Indian nationhood. And, obviously, the Left – with its critique of the neo-liberal market-led and finance-driven capitalism – can and does act as a fulcrum for rallying round all these processes and forces who suffer from such a paradigm. The poor, i.e. the working class, much of the downtrodden sections of the peasantry, the agricultural labour, the burgeoning number of working people in the unorganised sector and the socially disempowered, i.e. the tribals, the dalits, the minorities and the women can all come together against the neo-liberal paradigm.
But, on the other hand, if the Left is not around, these processes of potential resistance can come to nought. It is precisely for this reason that domestic and international drivers of the neo-liberal process are so hard pressed to undermine or weaken, if not eliminate, the Left. In the recently leaked out cables from the US embassy in New Delhi, brought out into the open by the WikiLeaks website, we find a candid admission. The cable states: "The worst scenario for the US-India relationship would be one in which a "Third Front" forms a government that excludes both the Congress party and the BJP. Under those circumstances, the communist parties will likely wield great influence in a coalition. Nevertheless, the nuclear deal and a closer strategic relationship with the United States have generated an extraordinary public debate in India during the last year. We have won this debate hands down and, as a result, the US-India relationship has a strong foundation on which to grow over the coming decades."
It is apparent that the urgency for securing India-US strategic partnership was actually a euphemism for interlocking India into a subordinate relationship in furthering the US imperialist interest in the Asian region. Absolutely crucial to this gameplan was the undermining of the Left in the 2009 parliament elections. It follows that the strike had to be where it hurts the Left the most. West Bengal, with an uninterrupted 32 years of Left Front rule, was the bastion of the Left movement. Therefore, undermining the Left Front government and the Left movement was an imperative.
Therefore, the traditional anti-communist and anti-Left vitriol, which has been a continuing phenomenon, assumed a new urgency and compulsion. The process of bringing together of all the anti-Left forces, which had started in the aftermath of the developments in Nandigram, combined with this new regional and global dimension.
Such an unprecedented rally of the anti-Left forces of all conceivable varieties would have by itself been difficult in achieving its political objective. It was necessary to attack and defame the Left Front government and the Left movement not from a neo-liberal rightwing platform but with pseudo-Left posturing. A major thrust of this attack was to question the very Left credentials of the seventh Left Front government. The fact that the degenerate and ideologically bankrupt Left adventurist band of 'Maoists', for their own political foothold, was embarking on physical attacks and unleashing campaigns of violence against and physical elimination of the CPI(M) and the Left cadre, brought the otherwise unlikely forces together in this process of grand alliance building. That the 'Maoist' vitriol routinely parroted 'revolutionary jargons' helped put in place this line of attack.
The last one and a half years have been the period of a life and death battle for the Left movement in West Bengal to overcome these forces and their machinations in order to secure and defend its bastion. Obviously, the battle is not being fought within the geographic confines of West Bengal alone.
It is very important, therefore, for us to comprehend and assimilate the implications of this political backdrop and fight back this vitriolic offensive to undermine the Left movement in the country. Therefore, it is also important to comprehend the basic thrust of the direction and record of the seventh Left Front government which has carved out a course that stands in sharp contrast to the policies pursued by the central government and other state governments steeped in neo-liberal thinking.
WHAT IS THE
LEFT PREMISE?
What is the Left premise in the present times? This question has to be revisited in the light of the so-called Left critique to deny the Left credentials of the seventh Left Front government of West Bengal. This critique obviously fails to recognise the fundamental distinction between State power and office. In the context of the Constitution in a bourgeois-landlord State, and given its specific characteristics, the state governments are not invested with State power in a Marxist-Leninist sense. On the contrary, the elected office which the Left has come to occupy with the support of the people is under constant policy challenge and attack. The fact that such a battle has continued for as long as three and a half decades cannot change this basic reality. The very existence and continuation of the government was essentially a testimony for the constant class and democratic struggles but for which this unlikely phenomenon could not have become a reality. Therefore, to effect basic changes in such a framework would be an impossible task. Not only that; even to carry out tasks in the interest of the people, in contradistinction from the neo-liberal policy direction itself, has become an increasingly difficult goal to accomplish.
In this context, it is important to understand what constitutes the basic task of the Left in office in the present times. To start with, a Left government would have to do everything possible to sensitise the people for putting up a resistance to imperialism --- particularly in its present avatar as a driving force for neo-liberal globalisation. Obviously, constrained as it is by the limitations of constitutional powers, this would imply the taking up of an initiative to ensure government intervention in economy, particularly to insulate the people from the disastrous consequence of profit-driven market-oriented aggressive. This would also imply major initiatives in addressing the growing inequality and unemployment inherent in the lopsided growth-centric paradigm which benefits the corporates and other economic elite disproportionately. In the Indian context, this would also mean addressing economic and social injustice which adversely affects the socially vulnerable sections like the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward communities, women and religious minorities, particularly Muslims.
In the present times, the Left premise would also necessitate an underlined urgency in addressing the challenge of communal and divisive forces. And this agenda would have to address simultaneously along two directions. The first would be to strengthen the process of unity of diverse identities and create conditions for mutual respect and harmony, so that people belonging to different identities can and do mobilise unitedly against common policy threats which endanger their life and livelihood. Along with this, and no less importantly, sections who do suffer economic and social injustice on the basis of their identity would have to be provided an equal opportunity by unleashing specific targeted measures for positive discrimination.
To sum it up, in the present context, the Left premise would comprise a fight against imperialism and neo-liberal globalisation, against communalism and the politics of division, and strengthening a strong sense of social justice.
QUESTION OF
IMPERIALISM
It was Comrade Jyoti Basu who set out the approach of the Left Front government on this crucial question. His constant refrain was that 'socialism cannot be built in isolation in West Bengal.' However, what we could do is to constantly sensitise the people on the dangers of imperialism. And there is no question of giving up this conviction. It was during the seventh Left Front government that the question came up so sharply. It was brought up by an agitated US ambassador in India, viz David Mulford. He was objecting to the castigation of US policies and military occupation in Iraq by chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, in one of those mammoth gatherings at the Brigade Parade Ground. While the government of India was in the process of coming ever closer to the US administration of George Bush, Buddhadeb boldly put forth that the anti-imperialist and humanist traditions of our legacy should inspire us to oppose and protest the barbarity which the US imperialism has embarked on in Iraq, causing death and destruction to millions of Iraqi people. Peeved by this, Mulford objected saying that if the West Bengal government is looking for foreign investment, particularly US investment, how can the chief minister dare to criticise the US actions.
Mulford, a rightwinger as he was, had no clue about the approach of the Left Front government. The latter has not been opposed to private investment, or for that matter, foreign investment. But that is for bridging investment gaps, accessing technology not available within the country and, most importantly, to spark employment. It is never ever to compromise on the distinct anti-imperialist legacy of the Left. That glorious tradition remained intact during the last five years. It is essentially for this role of the Left movement and its recognition by the Left Front government that Kolkata still remains home to the largest anti-imperialist congregations of people in the country.
The challenge of neo-liberal globalisation and international finance-driven policies of the union government is, indeed, a humongous one for a Left government, more so if the latter is not merely attempting to provide some relief to the people but also to set out an alternative policy course with the limited powers available to a state government.
The whole question of expanding powers of the state governments and a restructuring of the centre-state relations has been a major contribution of the Left movement, particularly of the Left Front government of West Bengal, in the struggle for strengthening our democracy through progressive devolution and decentralisation. While pursuing the objective of reinforcing democracy and national unity, such a direction of restructuring would obviously help expand the space for the Left Front government to pursue alternative policies. With the onset of neo-liberal economic reforms in this country in the early nineties, the overreaching role of the central government, which played an impediment to the strengthening of the powers of the states, was replaced by the growing role of markets in determining policy in crucial sectors of the economy and the society. Thus the new environment of the reforms directly undermined the intervention by the government in the interests of larger sections of the people.
FIGHT AGAINST
INJUSTICE
Therefore, during its tenure, the seventh Left Front government went on to carry forward the unique programme that had changed the correlation of political forces in the state --- land reforms. Initiated much earlier, the West Bengal land reforms experience has now attracted attention not only of the economists and development experts inside the country but also internationally. In our country, in spite of its dwindling share in the GDP, agriculture continues to provide livelihood to 65 per cent of the population. In such a context, the continued land reforms in West Bengal are a major bulwark against the neo-liberal course of corporate takeover of land and the entry of multinationals in food and agri-business. Since 1977, the small and marginal farmers of West Bengal have acquired 11,27,000 acres of free pattas. Today, 84 per cent of cultivated land in Bengal is owned by small and marginal farmers --- in contrast to the national average of a mere 34 per cent.
That this process also acts as a principal instrument to address social justice is borne out by the fact that recipients of such land redistribution are comprised of 37 per cent from scheduled castes, 18 per cent of scheduled tribes and 18 per cent from the Muslim community. A significant number of these pattas are joint pattas in the name of a man and his wife, establishing the principle of gender equality. That is why today, notwithstanding the fact that West Bengal accounts for only 3 per cent of total agricultural land in the country, it accounts for 22 per cent of land redistribution.
With a smokescreen sought to be created around the developments in Singur and Nandigram, there was a concerted attempt to portray the seventh Left Front government as one which embarked on forcible occupation of agricultural land for the corporates, giving a go-by to its earlier legacy. But the facts speak something else. During the tenure of this government, 16,700 acres of land has been distributed by 2009-10 and another 6000 acres in 2010-11. The land redistributed by the seventh Left Front government alone may be equal to that in the rest of the country during the last 20 years.
Obviously, this emphasis on ensuring land for the small and marginal farmers has been accompanied by expansion of the irrigation facilities. Ignored by the central government and denied of any major central investment for big irrigation projects, the development here has been based on utilisation of ground water through the decentralised initiative of panchayat institutions. As a result of this, just from a 28 per cent of irrigated land in the state in 1977, the proportion has increased to 72 per cent, almost doubling the crop intensity. This has led to increased production and productivity in agriculture. From 74 lakh tonnes in 1976-77, agricultural production is now 170 lakh tonnes. During every year, in the last five years, the GDP growth in agriculture in West Bengal has been far ahead of the national GDP figures in this sphere.
Thus the land and agriculture policies of seventh Left Front government of West Bengal stands in contrast to the neo-liberal direction of opening up agriculture to foreign multinationals in agri-business and retail trade. The new challenge, of course, is how to develop more storage capacity, agri-processing, and a modern supply chain infrastructure where the value of production can be ensured mostly for the producers. If this is not again a Left policy, what is?
On the question of management of the food economy, during the last three years the Left Front government has provided rice at Rs 2 per kg to around 2.63 crore people. The government had to spend Rs 500 crore to enforce this programme. This, again, is in contrast to the direction of reduction in food subsidies and exclusion of huge sections of the population from the ambit of food security through an unrealistic definition of poverty levels and by restricting the public distribution system to a small section of the population.
Similarly, the seventh Left Front government has ensured major advances of those sectors of the economy like small and medium scale enterprises which do not require big investments. In fact, both in terms of number of enterprises and generation of employment, West Bengal has been occupying the first position in the country for quite some time. At this point in time, West Bengal has 28 lakh small industrial enterprises which employ 55 lakh people. This is achieved through increased budgetary support for facilitating the survival and consolidation of such units.
RECORD IN
SOCIAL SECTOR
The seventh Left Front government has particularly taken head on the policy course sought to be pushed by the central government. In education, its major thrust has been to ensure 100 per cent enrolment and sharp reduction in the dropout rate during the earlier period. Professor Amartya Sen is on record appreciating the unique initiative in Bengal through Sishu Siksha Kendras (SSK) and Madhyamik Siksha Kendras (MSK), supervised and run by panchayats which have played a pivotal role in reducing the dropout rates. Effective implementation of the midday meal has been the other major factor. These kendras have appointed teachers from the neighbourhood and belonging overwhelmingly to the disadvantaged social groups like SCs, STs, OBCs and Muslims. The state government provided security of tenure and enhanced the remuneration to these teachers.
In higher education, the state's approach is in complete contrast to the direction of privatisation and commercialisation. In the last five years alone, 74 colleges have been started and five new universities established. These are mainly in backward areas or in those with dense SC, ST, OBC and Muslim populations. Two universities have been created specifically for the Muslim communities --- one under the state government and the other, a centre of the Aligarh Muslim University. It is because of these efforts that sections hitherto excluded from access to higher education have been able to overcome the earlier hurdles. On the other hand, efforts are on to enhance the quality and performance of the universities to bring them national and international recognition and appreciation.
The West Bengal public health system is unique and treats 73 per cent of the total patients undergoing treatment in the state in government facilities. The number of patients accessing services in the primary health centres and rural hospitals is improving rapidly. On the basic health parameters like birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate, West Bengal is way ahead of the national average; on some of these parameters it occupies the first or the second position. Here also, the thrust is on improvement of the health sector through public funding --- in contrast to emphasis on private investment in five star speciality and super speciality hospitals.
Finally, the seventh Left Front government is reinforcing its earlier initiative for ensuring social security for the workers, particularly in the unorganised sector. It has embarked on a massive programmes that bring together provident fund, health insurance and special packages for the exigencies of accident which they might have to suffer. This is bringing an upheaval in the unorganised sector workers' sense of belonging.
A major initiative following the Ranganath Mishra commission recommendations has been to expand the number of OBCs to 53 and extending 15 per cent additional reservation for these communities. Of these, 10 per cent are reserved for Muslim OBCs. Out of the two crore six lakh crore Muslims in the state, one crore 82 lakh Muslims will now benefit from this step. Coupled with this positive discrimination, the hugely expanded investment in education for the Muslims in madrasahs as well as other institutions of education for all stages, including universities, has set out a dramatic course of improvement for Muslims in the development process. Now the empowerment of minority Muslims is not merely through a remarkable level of land ownership but also through educational empowerment.
THE BATTLE
AHEAD
In today's context, if this is not an active Left policy, what is? It is precisely because of this record of the seventh Left Front government that it has come under attack from the extreme rightwing and, of course, imperialist interests. The added dimension today is of attacks from the pseudo-Left platform, spearheaded by the 'Maoists' and their intellectual apologists. However, that such an attack can be successfully met is more than evident from experiences in the past. With the support of the democratic, progressive and the Left movement in the country, the Left movement in West Bengal will definitely overcome this new challenge. The people of West Bengal are preparing for that very big battle.
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ANDHRA PRADESH
Defying Repression,
Anganwadis Rally in Thousands
DESPITE the state government creating many hurdles and resorting to police repression, thousands of Anganwadis rallied in Hyderabad on March 14 demanding the state government to increase their wages, provide retirement benefits and other facilities.
The huge success of the 'Chalo Hyderabad' programme of the Anganwadis was a slap in the face of the state government that thought it could browbeat them into non-participation in the struggle. Many Anganwadi Federation and CITU leaders were arrested in various districts a night before the programme in order to prevent mobilisation. It may be recalled that the same repression was repeated in the case of CPI(M)'s Chalo Assembly programme on March 22.
Yet, thousands of Anganwadis descended on Indira Park for the public meeting on their demands. They raised slogans demanding minimum wage, retirement benefits for them, and against political interference in the appointments and promotions of the Anganwadis.
Addressing the large gathering, Mallu Swarajyam, veteran CPI(M) leader and Telangana armed struggle participant, criticised the Congress government for its apathy towards people's issues, particularly regarding the demands of the working people. She expressed doubt whether there is a government existing in the state or not. She slammed the government for shamelessly exploiting the toil of the Anganwadis and demanded that it should accept their genuine demands.
S Punyavathi, vice president of the CITU, termed this large gathering of Anganwadis as a warning to the state government and asked the chief minister to take lessons from the experiences of the past rulers of the state who suffered when they ignored people's welfare. She demanded a minimum wage for the Anganwadis, instead of the present practice of giving them the honorarium.
P Madhu, former CPI(M) MP, who spoke on the occasion, condemned the state government for extracting a kind of bonded labor from the Anganwadis and demanded that their salaries be raised immediately.
R Sudha Bhaskar, CITU general secretary, condemned the repression unleashed by the state police on the Anganwadis in order to prevent them from reaching Hyderabad. Asserting that such strong arm tactics of the government would not deter the working class, he called upon the chief minister to accept the genuine and reasonable demands of the Anganwadis. He demanded providing them a wage of Rs 8700 for the Anganwadi worker and Rs 7000 for the Anganwadi helper and said this would not be beyond the capacity of the government to implement. He pointed out how some states were providing the Anganwadis with pension after retirement.
P Roja, general secretary of the Anganwadis Federation, demanded payment of a minimum wage for the Anganwadis. She asked the state government to raise the Anganwadis wages in line with the central government decision. She further demanded that there should not be any age limit as to their promotions. She suggested holding of meetings at the district level, once in every three months, in order to resolve the issues.
Julakanti Ranga Reddy, CPI(M) MLA, Swaruparani, AIDWA general secretary, leaders of other mass organisations and political parties also addressed the gathering and expressed their support to the Anganwadis struggle. Lalitamma, state president of the Anganwadis Federations, presided the meeting.
MINISTER'S
ASSURANCES
After the public meeting, a delegation comprising the Anganwadis Federation and CITU leaders met the state women and childrens welfare minister, Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, and held discussion on the problems of the Anganwadis. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Roja said that the minister agreed for a lump sum payment of Rs 50,000 for the worker and Rs 25,000 for the helper, at the time of their retirement. However, the minister did not respond on the issue of payment of a minimum wage for the Anganwadis. She only assured that the present wages of the Anganwadis would be continued as it is and there would not be any wage cuts.
The union leaders opposed the proposal of the state government for introducing a program of 'self-contribution' for the sake of the pensions to Anganwadis. The Anganwadis demand for payment of a month's wage to them as festival allowance received the positive attention of the minister. Also, there was a positive response toward their demands like the removal of the MLAs from the selection committees, and overall removal of political interference in the transfers and the promotions of the Anganwadis. The age limit for the promotions was raised from 35 years to 45 years, said Roja.
(INN)
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TAMILNADU ELECTIONS 2011
DMK-Congress Combine Heading for Defeat
S P Rajendran
THE campaign for the April 13 assembly elections started in Tamilnadu on March 24, with a massive programme attended by AIADMK general secretary Ms J Jayalalithaa, DMDK leader Vijayakant and the leaders of the CPI(M) and CPI. And now the fear of their worst ever defeat is haunting the DMK-Congress alliance headed by the infamous chief minister, M Karunanidhi.
The things that are haunting them most are the unprecedented price rises, 2G spectrum scam, massive power cuts in the state, rising unemployment, increased migration, illegal large-scale sand mining, massive failure in agricultural and industrial development etc, to name only a few.
Now, a frustrated DMK supremo and his partymen are vehemently accusing that the Election Commission of India is working against them. The reality is that the ECI is only implementing the code of conduct and acting against those bribing the voters.
Karunanidhi has accused the Election Commission of imposing excessive restrictions and unilaterally transferring officials. The EC was acting in an "unprecedented manner," he said in a statement.
BRIBING
THE VOTERS
As for the commission taking preventive actions to stop voter bribing, chief electoral officer Praveenkumar said, "It is a cat-and-mouse game. They come up with new methods and we try to plug them." He asked more information from the public about politicians paying cash for votes. Already 40,000 cases have been filed for violation of the model code of conduct, he added.
By March 20, according to Praveenkumar, the authorities had taken action on 105 cases pertaining to bribery and seized around Rs 9 crore in cash.
A newspaper report says that by the said date the total value of the seized money and things like sarees, dhoties, wrist watches, cell phones, silver home appliances etc, was around Rs 17 crore.
In Tiruchi, a few days ago, revenue officials and income tax officials went to the house of a DMK office bearer following a tip-off and wanted to conduct a search. But they were stopped by the DMK cadre who are close to the transport minister K N Nehru. They even threatened the officials against entering the house and 'advised' them to beat a retreat. Only after holding talks for two hours with the DMK strongman could the officials enter the house.
At Madurai, a committee monitoring the model code of conduct investigated an allegation that voters were being given cash at DMK MLA P Moorthy's residence. It may be recalled that Moorthy had tried to relay a road in Kulamangalam area on March 21. As the people gheraoed him and started airing their grievances, this came to a halt and the earth mover was impounded by the people, citing it as a poll violation. Irked by this, Moorthy instructed his party functionaries in the area to woo the voters from there to come to his house.
The opposition, which was keenly watching the development, passed the message to the collector who then sent a squad. Meanwhile, Moorthy have threatened the officials by stating that in another 19 days he would show them who he was. The officials could not continue their search of Moorthy's residence as some DMK men had started intimidating the officials.
On March 29, the Election Commission informed the Madras High Court that there were complaints about money being distributed in police vehicles and by some police personnel.
Senior counsel G Rajagopalan, appearing for the EC, informed this during the course of his arguments on the petition filed by state fisheries minister and DMK candidate K P P Samy.
In its submission, the EC also listed the places where money was drawn, taken to and in the houses it was kept. In all, 2,900 cases were registered and the EC was taking action against the police officers who distributed money. Some names were shocking, Rajagopalan added. He also said some police officers had leaked out information before a search was conducted.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam reserved orders after hearing both the sides.
REBELS THREATEN
OFFICIAL NOMINEES
When the filing of nominations for the April 13 polls to Tamilnadu assembly ended on March 19, one found that an unprecedented number of rebels had entered the fray. A deeply faction-ridden Congress, that has fielded 63 candidates this year, has won the dubious distinction of having the biggest number of rebel candidates. Several Congress nominees, including TNCC president who is contesting from Mylapore, are facing the rebellion from partymen. A local functionary, Sivakami, has filed her papers as an independent against the TNCC president.
Peeved over the denial of ticket, sitting MLA Rani Venkatesan has filed her papers to contest from Sri Vaikundam. Youth Congress state president M Yuva Raja, three-time MLA C Gnana Sekaran of Vellore, Krishnagiri candidate Haseena Syed and Hasan Ali of Ramanathapuram are among those facing the wrath of local partymen.
The situation is such that the INTUC too had to raise the banner of revolt against the state Congress leadership. Its state unit has decided to keep off from poll related work as its members have not been offered seats, said its general secretary K S Kovindarajan on March 27.
There has been utter chaos in Krishnagiri after Maqbool Jaan, named to replace Haseena Syed as the Congress candidate from the constituency, failed to file his nomination in time. The move was allegedly orchestrated by TNCC chief K V Thangkabalu to ensure that the original candidate contests the seat. Ms Syed, a novice, is a confidante of Thangkabalu and presents a programme on his Mega TV channel, while Jaan is a close aide of the TNCC president. Outraged Congress functionaries in Krishnagiri district accused Thangkabalu of taking decisions according to his whims and sidelining the veteran party leaders in the constituency.
Thangkabalu has indeed put the Congress in a deep mess and the party is facing problems after the distribution of tickets. While Thangkabalu's wife, Jayanthi, had her nomination papers for Mylapore constituency in Chennai rejected for inadequate documentation, his protege (Ms Haseena Syed) was forced to withdraw from Krishnagiri under mysterious circumstances.
Curiously, in both these cases, the spouses ended up as the official candidates as they had filed papers as dummy candidates, thereby further infuriating the rival Congress factions who are openly protesting against Thangkabalu, and burnt his effigies outside the party headquarters at Satyamurthy Bhavan and in the roads of Chennai.
THREAT OF VIOLENCE
FROM DMK MEN
DMK MP and film actor Ritheesh was recently arrested and remanded to judicial custody following an attack on dalit people of Pichangurichi that falls under Thiruvadanai constituency. Here, DMK minister Suba Thangavelen is contesting. The people, who have been demanding road facilities for the last five years, opposed the candidate and raised objections for his make-ups to woo the voters. As the news spread, Ritheesh rushed to the village along with his supporters and unleashed an attack against the villagers. The people began an agitation to demand his arrest. The police then intercepted his car and arrested him.
Mounting a scathing attack on the chief minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi for failing on several fronts, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa charged the DMK with planning to unleash violence during the assembly elections to stay in power. Jayalalithaa said so while addressing an election rally in Tiruvarur on March 29. She alleged that, unable to stomach the overwhelming response to the AIADMK alliance, Mr Karunanidhi was planning to feign illness or stage-manage an attack on his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi in order to get the voters' sympathy. If he fails to get it, he would unleash violence, she said.
With DMK strongman and union minister M K Alagiri accusing the Madurai collector and district election officer U Sahayam of favouring the AIADMK, DMK men burnt the officer's effigy and created a ruckus in Melur. An all-party meeting chaired by the collector ended in a scuffle with men from the DMK and AIADMK attacking each other in the presence of officials.
The Madurai Rural Police has registered cases against some of the key DMK functionaries under charges of abusing and obstructing officials from discharging their duties. Following a tip-off that a private vehicle accompanying the Alagiri was carrying cash, the police intercepted the car. According to the police, when the DMK leaders were returning to the city via the Madurai-Tirumangalam national highway late on March 29 night, a flying squad comprising police and revenue officials stopped the vehicle near the Seethalaksmi Mills checkpost. After a check, the vehicle was let off. However, the DMK members claimed that the vehicle was already subjected to a check some 15 minutes ago and they were wondering why the authorities had stopped them again.
As the news spread that the police had insisted on a check again, DMK men from the nearby locality rushed to the spot. Commotion prevailed for some time, when some of the party functionaries shouted against the police personnel and threatened to stage a roadblock. After some time, DMK men dispersed after they were informed that the flying squad had only performed its duty as per the instructions of the Election Commission. The police registered cases under IPC Sections 143, 188, 294 B and 353, among others, against Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore and DMK functionaries P M Mannan, N Suresh Babu and Misa M Pandian. A senior police officer said that the vehicle, which was subjected to check, was following Alagiri's vehicle which had just crossed the checkpost with a pilot vehicle leading the minister's car. Further investigation is on.
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KARNATAKA
Silk Farmers Protest Duty-Free Silk Import
Vishwa Kundapura
UNDER the banner of All India Anti Duty-Free Silk Import Struggle Committee and Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), hundreds of silk farmers, reelers and other people connected with sericulture sector gheraoed the office of Kolar MP and union minister of state for railways, K H Muniyappa, at Kolar on March 24. The police stopped with great difficulty the protesters from entering his office.
The protesters who came in a procession from the silk cocoon market, raised slogans against the policies of the union government, which they said has allowed duty-free import of silk as well as reduced the excise duty on silk imports from 31 per cent to a mere 5 per cent.
Addressing the protesters, KPRS district president P R Suryanarayan said these policies are ruining the indigenous sericulture sector. "The centre has brought the changes only to protect the interests of a handful of silk industrialists," he alleged.
Regretting that the centre has not responded positively to the number of agitations including a recent protest outside Central Silk Board in Bangalore, Suryanarayan warned about severe struggles in future.
The agitators criticised Mr Muniyappa for not taking interest in the cause of sericulture farmers of his constituency where sericulture is one of the major sources of livelihood.
They were also angry over the absence of any officials at the minister's office to receive their memorandum. They later in a procession went to the deputy commissioner's office where they submitted their memorandum.
Reelers' Association president Sabir Pasha, Silk Farmers Welfare Association president Munisonnappa and KPRS district secretary T M Venkatesh also spoke. KPRS leaders Gangamma, T Krishne Gowda, P R Navinkumar and others were also present.
Sericulturist farmers and reelers stage a protest outside K H Muniyappa's office in Kolar
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School for Hindi Speaking States Held at Chandigarh
Vijay Misra
THE Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised at Chandigarh a five day school for party education from March 12 to 16. Party members from 13 Hindi speaking states, namely Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Gujarat, attended the school. While 92 comrades attended it against a quota of 88, 8 of them were women.
On the first day of the school, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury inaugurated the Comrade Rattan Singh Marxwadi Chetna Kendra, the centre for party education, at Dera Bassi near Chandigarh. The centre's building covers an area of 1,000 square yards, out of the 6,000 square yards donated by Rattan Singh, who is chairman of the Control Commission of the CPI(M)'s Punjab state committee, to the party. See People's Democracy, March 20 for a report on the centre.
In the school, the teachers who delivered lectures included CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu, and Central Committee members Ashok Dhawale and S P Kashyap both. The topics they took up were "Our Viewpoint on Mass Organisations," "Imperialism and Its Style of Working in the Post-Cold War Era," "Present Political Situation," "The 'Agricultural Crisis and Our Tasks" and "Casteism and Caste Consciousness" respectively.
Every day of the school was divided into three sessions. The first session was devoted to a lecture on the scheduled topic by the respective teacher. The second session was for group discussion, for which purpose the comrades from all the states were divided into seven groups. The third session was a questions and answers session.
The CPI(M)'s Punjab state committee secretary Charan Singh Virdi acted as the principal of the school while state secretariat member Vijay Misra was in charge of the arrangements. The Chandigarh-Mohali organising committee of the party provided the requisite number of volunteers to look after the arrangements.
Among the students, 11were up to 40 years of age while those from 41 to 60 years numbered 60 and 19 were above 60 years of age. As many as 54 had joined the party before 1985, 33 between 1986 and 2000 and 5 after 2000.
According to educational qualifications, up to Matric were 18, 12 were intermediates, 40 were graduates and 22 were postgraduates.
Class-wise, industrial workers numbered 10, poor peasants 34, rich peasants 3, one was from the landlord class, agriculture labourers were 11 and 34 were from the middle class.
Of the students, state committee members numbered 69 and district committee members 18.
Those who read People's Democracy numbered 10 while 70 used to read Lok Lehar.
Of the students, 36 were attending a party school for the first time while it was the second for 56.
Front-wise distribution was as below: trade unions 6, kisan and agricultural worker front 50, employees front 11, women's front 6, students and others 19.
Central Secretariat member V Sirinivas Rao, who were a member of the Central Party Education Subcommittee, addressed the concluding session. Charan Singh Virdi and Vijay Misra also addressed it. Rao said the Punjab state committee of the party had made excellent arrangements for the success of the school.
The comrades coming from the Hindi speaking states left a good impression during the teaching as well as question-answer sessions. They paid good attention to the presentation and participated in the discussion with lively interest. They were of the view that at least one such type of school may be organised every year on a regular basis.
Veteran communist leader Rattan Singh presented mementos to all the comrades who attended the school.
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Justice for Kashmir
Brinda Karat
"HAMARA khoon, hamare bacche, hamari zindagi sab saste hain" (our blood, our children, our lives have all become cheap)—as mothers, wives, sisters and as citizens, women in the Kashmir valley expressed their anger, their protest and their sorrow thus, at a three day meeting in Srinagar organised by the central government's interlocutors in Srinagar. The formal conference held on March 12-13 at the welcome initiative of Radha Kumar, member of the interlocutor's team was attended by women from all the three regions, Jammu, the Valley and Ladakh. The purpose was to hear the experience and perspective of women and the solutions they offered as part of the discussion being held by the interlocutors with different sections of the people of the state. I attended as part of a group of four women MPs.
POURING OUT
THEIR GRIEF
On the previous day, on March 11, a meeting was organised with the families of those who had been killed in the firings in the summer of 2010. As is known 117 young people, some of them children many of them teenagers, had been shot dead while hundreds more had been injured in the brutal actions of the security forces – whether by the JK police or the central forces. About 50 persons from the affected families attended the meeting and spoke of the circumstances in which their children were killed. The details were horrifying and showed the total lack of sensitivity on behalf of the central and the state government to deal with the mass protests by unarmed teenagers, indeed many of the actions by the security forces were criminal. Instead of dealing with the issues giving rise to spontaneous street anger, the state and the central government used repressive measures, including the use of draconian legal provisions to imprison young people, among them minors.
The speakers at the meeting poured out their grief, some with tears, some with anger, some expressionless as though the burden of their sorrow consumed all their energy, except to just survive. Among them:
"Ishrat and her three sisters from Badgam: My mother Rafika was killed by a bullet which flew through our window—she died before our eyes, we could do nothing to save her.
Rehana from Baramulla: Our child Asif, just ten years old was studying in Class 5. What was his crime? Was he carrying an AK-47? But he was shot by CRPF, we were not allowed to take him to hospital, he died without help.
Faiyaz Ahmed: My wife was too ill to come here. We lost our child Sameer, eight years old. He had taken two rupees from me to buy a toffee. While crossing the road he was brutally beaten and died.
Sister of Fancy Jaan: Fancy Jaan, 26 year old young woman, her beautiful photograph shown by her sister was shot dead in her own home in Batmalu, Srinagar when she went to the window of her home to draw the curtains.
Md Khan: My nephew, Muzaffar Ahmed Butt, just 17 years old, playing cricket with his friends, they hit him on the head with rifles and then hid his body.
Jahanara, mother of Aamir Kabir, a young man sitting by her side, blinded in both eyes by a deliberately aimed shower of pellets shot by the police when he had gone to get medicine for his ailing father. "He is a Class 12 very bright student. If they had killed him I would have suffered once. Now seeing his pain I suffer every minute, every second."
FESTERING
WOUNDS
There were many more such stories, including those of injured persons. These stories and others related by the families found resonance in the conference the next day. The voices of women from different sections of society, including some government officers, reflected the same feelings: Could this have happened in any other part of the country, and not even a constable been punished? This was the question asked repeatedly by the women.
A year after the terrible and tragic events, the wounds inflicted by a callous government fester precisely because not a single person in the police, the paramilitary forces or the administration has been punished or held accountable in any way. After strong protests, the state government had set up an inquiry committee that has only bought time, but has not taken any action. The families have tried to file FIRs against the killings of their children, in an effort to legally record the circumstances of their deaths. However, it is reported that out of 117 cases (some put the figure at 112), only 39 FIRs have been filed. It is for this reason that the demand for an impartial time-bound inquiry as well as immediate action in cases where there is prima facie evidence against specific personnel has been made by the CPI(M) and many others. However, far from accepting this demand, the government is reportedly threatening as well as arresting young people. In some police stations, photographs of the young men participating in demonstrations last year are routinely used to pick up the boys and insist on their frequent attendance in the thanas. This is leading to further resentment and anger. Even today, there are still many young "stone-pelters" languishing in the jails. As is known, minors had been arrested and locked up in jails even though this is totally illegal. Apparently the government answer was that Kashmir does not have juvenile homes, as though this could be an explanation to lock up children. Yet, release of the young people was one of the points of the so-called 8 point package agreed to by the central and state governments to address some of the grievances, a package which remains unimplemented.
Yet another issue is that of totally inadequate compensation or help to those injured and disabled. The families did not mention the issue of compensation even once; they believe that justice is more important, yet the evidence of the callousness of the government was apparent. Even where the breadwinner was killed, there is no job compensation offered. It seems that the present compensation rules admit compassion ground for job only when the person is killed by militants. But even in cases where innocents have been killed by the security forces, no job compensation is offered. Shockingly, young men applying for employment have to get specific NOCs from the police. Where jobs are scarce, this condition becomes another instrument to threaten and blackmail young people.
EFFECT
ON WOMEN
Among the issues discussed in the conference was how the specific situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, termed a "conflict zone" by the organisers, affected women. A common experience was that of being victimised by violence, threats of violence, including of a sexual nature, the fear for the children and young people in the family, the constant insecurity and tension, the curbs on freedom of movement etc.
The presence of bunkers and uniformed personnel in residential areas, outside schools and colleges is a constant worry. The militarisation of the city and reportedly the entire valley is deeply disturbing, particularly for young women who feel threatened by the constant presence of armed forces, and indeed are often abused by their language and their gaze. Working women find it increasingly difficult to freely move around the city, constantly being checked by the security forces. Many women related the humiliation they felt when asked to show their identities by the security forces. Young women students, women college lecturers asked: "Is this not our state, our college, our home—why should we constantly have to prove our identities?" The reported cases of rape or sexual assault by the security forces have according to official sources led to punishment of those guilty. But if indeed this is the case, no one knows about it – it seems these are considered "internal matters." This must be considered totally unacceptable in any democratic society. Security forces can have no such privileges of "identity protection"; on the contrary any such criminal act must invite swift and immediate punishment. But in the valley it seems that such action must be kept a closely guarded secret to maintain the "morale" of the forces. It is hardly surprising that no credibility is attached to such claims of action against those guilty. This is a shameful record and strengthens the feeling that the security forces act as an occupying power.
A disturbing development reported has been the impact in terms of the exponential rise in cases of depression among women, particularly middle aged and senior citizens. At the same time, the participation of women, particularly young women, in struggles for justice and democracy has hugely increased as has their resilience and courage. Unfortunately, the absence of working class women in the conference prevented a fuller understanding of how the conflict has affected them and their lives. The economic impact of the conflict was almost totally absent from the deliberations of the conference and was not included as a theme.
The discussions provided an opportunity for women from Jammu to express their views. Many of those who attended had in fact been born and brought up in the Valley but were driven out by militants and extremists in the early nineties. The sufferings these displaced Kashmiri families have faced – the loss of homes, identities, their culture, their friends, their livelihood – found eloquent expression from the displaced women. Almost two decades of displacement has had its own impact. The resultant resentment and frustration found expression in heated discussions and arguments. The representatives from Ladakh wanted their own defined area to be declared a Union Territory. Although the experiences are diverse and the aspirations equally diverse, there was at the end a convergence on the strong condemnation of the atrocities and human and democratic rights violations which had taken place in the valley, particularly in the last year. There was a near unanimous feeling that peace and calm cannot be sustained without justice.
Several practical suggestions were made by the participants. As a first official attempt to include women's experiences in the dialogue process, the conference organised by the interlocutors was warmly welcomed by the participants.
However, such initiatives, though well intentioned and helpful, cannot substitute for political action and initiatives from the government of India to address the problems in Jammu and Kashmir. It would seem that even as the wounds remain to be healed, the central government has abdicated from its responsibilities in the troubled state. Surprisingly, when the prime minister recently visited the Valley and was asked by a press reporter as to how he saw the situation, he answered that he was "keeping his fingers crossed" that the situation remained calm. In the present situation such a statement brings no credibility to this government. Kashmir demands a political solution, an unconditional dialogue process initiated by the central government with all sections. It demands immediate and urgent measures to punish those guilty of the atrocities committed by security forces, release of those still languishing in jail, removal of the bunkers where there is no militant threat, medical help as also adequate compensation to those injured and to the families of those killed last summer, and amendments to draconian laws. Kashmir demands justice and this is a demand which must be taken to all parts of the country.
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Bangladesh Observes 40th Anniversary of Freedom Struggle
Gautam Das
OUR neighbouring Bangladesh celebrated the 40th year of its independence on March 26. One may recall that the British imperialists ended their colonial rule over India in the year 1947 but not before dividing the country into two parts, India and Pakistan, against the wishes of the majority of our people. The partition and the creation of Pakistan took place on the totally unrealistic basis of religion, and the leaders of the Congress party and Muslim League fell prey to the British machinations. On the one hand Western Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and Sindh and on the other East Bengal, geographically and linguistically a completely separate entity, comprised the new country called Pakistan.
The new rulers of Pakistan, leaders of the Muslim League like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, could not unify the country into an organic whole. Though Bengali speaking people formed a majority in population, the federal government of Pakistan imposed Urdu as the official language of the country. The people of East Bengal, which was now called East Pakistan, opposed this imposition of Urdu language and started an agitation for recognition of their mother language, i.e. Bengali. Students of Dhaka University took the lead in this language movement and the Pakistani rulers tried to suppress the movement by the brutal use of police and military force. On February 21, 1952, four student agitators --- Rafique, Jabbar, Salam and Barkat --- laid down their lives on the streets of Dhaka for their mother tongue. The news of their brave martyrdom spread like a wildfire all over East Pakistan and people from all walks of life now jumped into the language movement. That was the first major mass discontentment against the Pakistani rulers.
Soon after independence, American imperialists too got themselves involved in shaping the Pakistani military forces in accordance with their geo-political designs. Within a decade, backed by American imperialism, the military of Pakistan captured the state power and throttled the fledgling democratic system. The new military rulers, led by General Ayub Khan, curbed all the democratic rights of the people and established a cruel military dictatorship. But the people of Pakistan, of both its western and eastern parts, now started a struggle for democracy. In 1969, the students' and the people's movement forced the military rulers to concede their demand of holding the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections while General Ayub Khan was forced to quit. The new military ruler, General Yahya Khan, held the elections in 1970. Led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, Awami League secured an absolute majority in the National Assembly elections as well as in the provincial assembly of East Pakistan. But the military junta started its own game to stay in power and to deny the prime minister's position to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The people again started a struggle to get power handed over to their elected representatives while the military rulers were only buying time to deceive the people. In a historic rally held in Dhaka city on March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, undisputed leader of the people of East Pakistan, called upon his people to prepare for another freedom struggle. On March 25, 1971 the military rulers arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman from his Dhaka residence, flew him to Karachi and threw him behind the bars. The Pakistani military now embarked on a mass killing spree in East Pakistan.
The people of East Pakistan thus started their freedom movement from March 26, 1971. Almost 95 percent of the people participated in this struggle. Only Islamic fundamentalists helped the army who were killing the freedom fighters, raping women and committing other atrocities. More than one crore people of East Pakistan had to flee from their country and take shelter in India, mostly in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya. The Awami League leaders formed a provisional government in exile within a week of the start of their freedom struggle. The Communist party of India (Marxist) was the first political party in India to demand that the Indian government recognise the provisional government of Bangladesh and extend all possible help, including military help, to the people of Bangladesh.
The people of India extended all-out support to the struggling people of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Aid and Solidarity Committee, led by late Comrade Jyoti Basu, built strong public opinion in favour of recognition of Bangladesh and collected huge relief materials including food, blood and other articles for the Bangladeshi refugees and freedom fighters. Ultimately, the government of India bowed to public pressure and recognised the provisional government of Bangladesh. The US imperialists tried to help the Pakistani military rulers in suppressing the Bangladesh freedom movement by sending their Seventh Fleet to the Chittagong port. But the anti-imperialist people of India raised their strong voice against American imperialists and forced them to retreat.
After nine months of a valiant struggle, the people of Bangladesh finally won their freedom, though more than three million people of Bangladesh had to lay down their lives in their struggle for freedom. On December 16, 1971, the defeated Pakistani army surrendered before the joint military command of Indian Army and Bangladesh Mukti Bahini at Dhaka. The people forced the Pakistani military rulers to free their leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, who after return from Karachi Jail reached Dhaka on July 10, 1972 and assumed power as president of the new republic.
The division of Pakistan and the emergence of a new country (Bangladesh) has been an anathema to the Pakistani rulers as well as American imperialists. While the new government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman adopted a secular and democratic constitution for the country and established friendly relations with India and many other countries, the pro-imperialist forces started a conspiracy against it. On August 15, 1975, some middle raking military officers attacked the house of the president and killed Sheikh Mujib and his family members. Only his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, survived as they were in Europe at the time. Pro-imperialist and Islamic fundamentalists helped the military officers to capture state power after overthrowing the elected government.
Various military officers ruled Bangladesh till 1990. But the people again fought back and re-established democracy in the country. In 2007, however, army officers made use of a political crisis to impose a caretaker government on the country and clamp internal emergency which lasted for two years.
In December 2008, the Awami Legue led by Sheikh Hasina, the elder daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman fought the parliamentary elections in combination with some Left, and democratic and secular forces, and secured an overwhelming majority. She now took over the prime minister's position for the second time. Her new government took oath of office on January 6, 2009.
Though the people of Bangladesh achieved their independence 40 years ago, imperialist forces and other anti-liberation forces, particularly the Islamic fundamentalists, were still active and conspiring against the country's freedom, trying to destroy the democratic set-up of the country. Within 45 days of the assumption of office by Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh Border Rifles (BDR), the largest paramilitary forces of the country, staged a revolt at their headquarters on February 25-26, 2009, and killed 57 army officers including the BDR chief. Earlier, Sheikh Hasina had escaped assassination attempts on two occasions.
Subsequently, the Sheikh Hasina government got a resolution passed for establishing an International Crime Tribunal for trial and prosecution of those who were involved in war crimes during the liberation struggle. Her government also revived the secular constitution through a court order and is striving to strengthen the democratic institutions by holding elections. For strengthening the economy of the country, the prime minister travelled to China, India, Japan and many Arab countries, and signed many agreement for building infrastructure of the country with foreign assistance.
Though the Sheikh Hasina government has earned successes in several fields, some negatives are also developing. Many anti- social elements have sneaked into the Awami League party and are creating the law and order problems. The Awami League had had an alliance with like-minded parties in the last parliament elections, but it contested alone in the recently held urban and local body elections and lost its majority in the local bodies as a result.
The main opposition party, that is the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and the Islamic fundamentalists aligned to it have been opposing every step of the government and continuously boycotting the parliament. Recently the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, threatened the government that "Any time anything may happen." Thus the people of Bangladesh still have to go a long way to consolidate their independence.
| Vol. XXXIV No. 14 April 03, 2011 |
People's Democracy
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