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Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
CORRUPTION IN CWG 2010: PROTESTORS DEMAND THOROUGH, TIME-BOUND PROBE
ABOUT 700 activists of the CPI (M) held a protest demonstration outside the Delhi secretariat on October 20, demanding a full time-bound probe into the corruption in Commonwealth Games, immediate declaration of free use of all sports facilities for the public, return of funds from the Special Component Plan for SC/ST development diverted illegally by the Delhi government for the CWG, strict action against errant the contractors (86 per cent as per the labour ministry), payment of all outstanding dues to workers, and rehabilitation of all hawkers, street vendors, homeless etc.
Addressing the gathering, CPI (M) state secretary PMS Grewal criticised the limited scope of the V K Sunghloo committee appointed by the prime minister and its narrow interpretation by the Delhi chief minister. He said the additional taxes and VAT, diversion of funds earmarked for social welfare, increase in tariffs of buses, Metro and water etc had been forced on the people of Delhi in order to fund the games. But the people will not tolerate any eyewash investigation that does not bring to task all those involved in corruption and misappropriation of funds, including those in the highest positions.
The gathering was also addressed by CPI (M) state secretariat member Mohan Lal, Anurag Saxena (CITU), Nathu Prasad (convenor, Dalit Adhikar Committee), Albeena Shakil (JMS), Ravinder (DYFI) and Anand (SFI), who spoke about the adversity faced by different sections of the people during the organisation of the Commonwealth Games.
A memorandum enlisting all the demands was submitted to both the prime minister’s office as well as the Delhi chief minister by a delegation comprising of M L Malkotia, Ashalata and Asha Sharma. The Delhi government representative shamelessly denied any role of the Delhi government and was reluctant even to receive the memorandum, echoing the attitude of the Delhi chief minister who wants to evade all enquiries.
The protesters vowed to continue the struggle till all the guilty are brought to book for this massive corruption.
MEMORANDUM
THE memorandum sent to Dr Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of the government of India, sought to draw his attention to the profligate, corrupt and anti-poor aspects of organisation of the Commonwealth Games 2010. The details are as below.
Colossal Expenditure: The 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) have been marked by profligate expenditure. This is borne out by the following facts that are public knowledge today:
In 2003 at the time of bidding for the CWG the projected expenditure was Rs 1,899 crore.
In April 2007 the union cabinet approved a budget of Rs 3,566 crore for the CWG.
In the July 2009 CAG report the cost of creating venues, city infrastructure and operational expenses of conducting the games was estimated to be Rs 12,888 crore.
The estimated cost rose to Rs 70,000 crore at the time of the start of the games.
The cost of organising the 2006 CWG at Melbourne was just Rs 5,200 crore. Even if we presume a 100 per cent increase in costs due to inflation, the total expenditure on the 2010 games should be one-seventh of what it was reported to be at the start of the 2010 games.
Massive Corruption: The above exponential increase in estimates of expenditure is in itself sufficient grounds to suspect massive corruption. This is further confirmed by the following:
Whereas it cost Rs 90 crore to build a new cricket stadium at Hyderabad, the cost of renovating the JLN Stadium was Rs 961 crore!
The cost of the foot overbridge outside the JLN Stadium that collapsed was pegged at Rs 10 crore. The Army built it afresh at a cost of just Rs 80 lakh!
There was glaring corruption in hiring utilities for participants as the table below shows:
Item
Purchase cost of Item
Rent (45 days)
Treadmill
Rs 7 lakh (at Harrods, London)
Rs 9,75,000
Refrigerator (big)
Rs 15,000-20,000
Rs 42,202
Computer (top quality)
Rs 60,000
Rs 89,502
Liquid Soap Dispenser
Rs 460
Rs 3,397
Toilet Paper Roll
Rs 30-40
Rs 4,138 (purchase)
The wilful pandering to the demands of contractors over and above the original amounts at which contracts were given to them also reeks of corruption. For example, the multinational Emaar MGF that was given the contract for the CWG village for Rs 1038 crore was inexplicably handed out a bailout package of Rs 700 crore by the government in May 2009.
Diversion of Social Welfare Funds: The Delhi state government illegally diverted funds meant for the welfare of deprived sections to the CWG. This is borne out by the following:
Rs 678.91 crores was diverted from the Scheduled Castes Special Plan (SCSP) by the Delhi government for the CWG. This was admitted by the union home minister in the Rajya Sabha on August 27, 2010.
The delivery in Delhi of several social welfare measures like widow or old age pension has been stopped in large measure in the recent months. This gives rise to suspicion about diversion of funds to the CWG from other heads of social spending as well.
This diversion of social welfare funds comes in the background of an increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, rampant inflation in the prices of edibles, enhancement of VAT on several commodities and hike in bus, Metro and water tariffs in Delhi, all of which are adversely impacting especially the poor and deprived sections. In plain words, the central and Delhi governments have willingly facilitated the loot of public money in the name of expenditure necessary for the CWG at the cost of their meagre commitments to social welfare.
Inhuman Treatment of Workers: The workers engaged in building different facilities for the CWG have been subjected to inhuman exploitation by builders and contractors:
They have not been paid statutory minimum wages besides being deprived of benefits like provident fund and ESI in total violation of labour laws.
In 2008-10, the Labour Department officials made 958 inspections of CWG construction sites. Violation of labour laws was found in 827 i.e. over 86 per cent of the cases. This shows the scale of violation of labour laws by construction companies and contractors.
Prescribed safety norms were totally ignored at CWG worksites. As a result, over 100 workers have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured.
Forcible Displacement of the Poor: This is one of the most shameful aspects of organisation of the CWG motivated by the strong desire to showcase ‘Shining Delhi’ to foreigners sans its squalor and poverty. What this means can be seen from the following:
Over two lakh families from 44 slum clusters were evicted to make space for CWG related projects. They were promised relocation at outskirts of the city where they would face gruelling commutes to work, lack of civic amenities and disruption of their children’s schooling. How many such families have actually been relocated even in this manner, is not clear.
Thousands of vendors and hawkers were forcibly displaced, depriving them of their means of livelihood. No guarantee for their rehabilitation after the CWG has been given.
A generalised “purdah” through installation of so-called “view-cutters” was thrown over poorer parts of the city to render invisible the areas deemed unsightly for the visitors’ eyes.
Flawed Infrastructural Development: The reality of the much touted benefits of the infrastructural development undertaken for the CWG is laid bare by the following:
Construction of new bridges, flyovers and roads is confined to the venues at which the CWG were held or their approach routes. Colonies, adjacent to CWG venues have not seen any infrastructural development. Thus adjoining colonies of the poor continue to have broken roads, poor sanitation, irregular bus services, absence of parks, patchy street lighting etc.
Urban renewal forms an integral part of the vision of countries and cities organising international sporting events. For example, London’s successful bid to host the next Olympic Games was predicated on its promise to develop run-down inner city areas and clean up and regenerate deprived zones. No such vision informed the organization of the 2010 CWG.
It is claimed that CWG sports facilities will help boost Indian sports. If the existing user charge based model is continued, CWG sports facilities will remain out of reach of most people. The fact that the Government did not use the CWG to develop sporting facilities in different areas, especially those of the poor, underlines the elitist nature of its sports policy.
Accountability: The role of all agencies involved in organising the CWG must be minutely investigated and they must be made accountable for any lapses on their part. However, certain recent developments give an impression contrary to this.
These are:
There is no clarity about the terms of reference of the V K Shungloo committee appointed to probe the organisation of the CWG.
The Delhi CM has publicly sought to define the scope of this committee as being one which will only probe corruption in the expenditure by the Organising Committee.
This is an ill-concealed attempt to prevent a scrutiny of the role of the central and Delhi governments, DDA, CPWD, MCD, DMRC etc, the expenditure undertaken by whom is many times more than that undertaken by the Organising Committee.
In the light of the above, the CPI (M) demands:
1) Time bound enquiry into the entire organisation of the 2010 CWG. Detailed and transparent investigation of the role of all agencies involved in holding them. Strict punishment to all those found guilty of corruption or profligacy in any aspect of organisation of the CWG.
2) Immediate allocation to the Delhi state government by the central government of social welfare funds diverted for the CWG.
3) Strict action against all builders and contractors who violated labour laws in constructing the CWG projects. Immediate disbursal of outstanding dues of workers of these projects.
4) Rehabilitation of all vendors and hawkers displaced for the CWG; issuance of tehbazari licenses to them and proper rehabilitation of families evicted to make space for CWG related projects.
5) Ban on user charges for availing sports facilities built for the CWG or those hitherto existing for enabling people to freely access and use these facilities.
6) Development of a minimum of eight sports grounds per Vidhan Sabha constituency in Delhi; development of sports clubs and free sports training for children and youth.
A copy of the memorandum was forwarded to Mrs Sheila Dixit, chief minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org
Vol. XXXIV, No. 43, October 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
LIC AGENTS RISE UP IN NATION’S INTEREST - P G Dileep
WHILE the prices of essential commodities and petroleum products have shot up quite high, the very existence of poor LIC agents is now under threat. Yet, if they are now on the agitation path, it is not for some narrow gain. It is to be noted that never since 1956 (when the insurance business in the country was nationalised) have the LIC agents agitated for a rise in their commissions.
Even today, those who move in all parts of the country, in even the remotest areas, to bring business for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), are not asking for a raise in the commission rate. Then, one may wonder, why are they now coming out into the streets? They are in fact fighting to protect the existing benefits available to the agents while keeping in view the broader interests of the nation. Their demand is that the LIC must be saved and their hitherto available rights must be protected.
The fact is that it was the force of 14.5 lakh agents that raised the capital of the LIC to more than Rs 11 lakh crore (11,000 billion rupees) from a meagre Rs 5 crore in 1956. Over the years, a lot of sweat and blood of the agents has gone into this substantial growth of the LIC. The Indian insurance agency system has been treated as a model all over the world. It is, moreover, the LIC agents who are working hard to ensure the growth of the LIC even after the entry of 22 joint venture companies in the life insurance business in the country.
That is how the multinationals have realised that the LIC can be destroyed, to their advantage, only by eliminating these agents. So they are hell bent upon breaking the backbone of the LIC, i.e. the agency force, in collaboration with the UPA government.
Moreover, as these multinational companies are operating in the Indian market in collaboration with Indian corporate companies, the latter too are hyperactive to somehow influence the UPA government to try to eliminate the agents.
However, if the government of India succumbs to this pressure, it would amount to killing the goose that lays golden eggs.
The reason is simple. There is no other organisation like the LIC which has helped the government by handing it over Rs 11 lakh crore for infrastructure development. Logically, if such a huge resource base gets jeopardised, there is no doubt that the Indian economy would collapse and India would have to be permanently dependent on the IMF and World Bank for loans. Further, the capitalist countries are doing their level best to block the fast growth of Indian economy towards a prominent position in the world. That is why the agents of the LIC have repeatedly been pointing out that this is not a problem of agents alone but of every patriotic Indian citizen.
It is in this background that the LIC Agents’ Organisation of India (LICAOI) has chalked out an agitation programme, with the support of other sections of the common public, to save the LIC.
The demands the LIC agents are projecting are as below: control on the prices of essential commodities, protection of all public sector undertakings, halt to privatisation, withdrawal of the Insurance Bill, legislation to ensure the welfare of LIC agents, withdrawal of the amendments to the Agents Rules 1972, designation of the agents as sales executives, no introduction of direct selling, withdrawal of the IRDA proposal for agency renewal, and implementation of the demands to which the LIC management had agreed earlier.
On September 1, the day on which the LIC was formed, its agents formed human chains in front of all the divisional offices of the organisation. The slogans were Save LIC and Protect the Agents.
The action took place is in coordination with the CITU, AIIEA and NFIFWI. There were militant demonstrations in 73 divisions of the LIC, with 150 to 10,000 agents and their family members, LIC staff, members of fraternal trade unions and members of the common public participating in the demonstrations. About two lakh people joined the programme overall. In almost all places, MPs, MLAs, mayors, councillors and trade union leaders were present to express solidarity. This agitation conducted on an all-India basis proved to be a big success.
On the same day, a signature campaign commenced in all the centres. V S Achuthanandan, the chief minister of Kerala, inaugurated the all-India signature campaign in Thiruvananthapuram and several prominent leaders then took it ahead. The plan is to submit a memorandum to the union finance minister with five crore signatures. The LICAOI has solicited the support of one and all in this venture.
(P G Dileep is general secretary of the LICAOI.)
Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
CPI (M) ON LAND ACQUISITION BILL
THE POLIT BUREAU OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST) MET AT NEW DELHI ON OCTOBER 4 AND 5, 2010. IT HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT ON 5 OCTOBER 2010
In the recent period, the issue of forcible land acquisition for various projects in different states against the consent of a majority of landholders and the highly inadequate compensation offered to the farmers has come to the fore. This has highlighted the necessity for the new Land Acquisition Act alongwith the legislation for resettlement and rehabilitation.
The Polit Bureau demands that the 1894 Land Acquisition Act be scrapped and the government bring forth legislations for land acquisition and for resettlement and rehabilitation in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
Source: www.cpim.org
Saturday, October 2, 2010
KERALA: LDF GOVT REVERSES THE TIDE OF DECLINE - Pinarayi Vijayan
DURING the UDF regime, its policies worsened the fiscal condition of the state of Kerala. The UDF government therefore imposed newer burdens on the people. Its financial state reached a dreadful situation, thanks to the chaotic fiscal management and corrupt governance under the UDF. In 2001, when the UDF came to power, total liability of the state was Rs 23,918 crore and but it increased to Rs 50,000 crores by the completion of its tenure in 2006. This impaired even the pay revision of government employees, which is due once in four years. Various pension schemes and welfare measures were either frozen or remained unpaid for long. Most of the days, the government treasury remained closed.
ALTERNATIVE FISCAL POLICY
As soon as the LDF government was formed in the state, it set in motion several imaginative and innovative schemes and projects so as to strengthen the state exchequer. While intervening to strengthen the fundamentals in various spheres including infrastructure development, the LDF government showed utmost concern to deal with the question of social security and initiated numerous welfare schemes. Its financial management with numerous novel proposals is well appreciated, and the government treasury has never been closed during the LDF period.
As a result of the alternative fiscal policy of the LDF government, the 3.3 per cent revenue deficit during the UDF period was reduced to 1.9 per cent during 2009-10. Commercial tax collection has recorded an increase of 14 per cent during this period; tax revenue has registered an average increase of 20 per cent. Commercial tax during 2005-06 was Rs 6,983 crore but increased in to Rs 13,194 crore in 2009-10. The value added tax (VAT) has increased to Rs 6,945.41 crore compared to Rs 3,321.9 crore during the UDF period --- a significant increase of 109 per cent in four years. The innovative idea of the government to add to the non-tax revenue by dredging the sands deposited in the major dams has been widely appreciated.
The fiscal deficit in 2004-05 was 4.04 per cent but the last budget projected it to come down to 3.49 per cent during 2010-11. Capital expenditure was merely Rs 682 crore in 2004-06 but is estimated to go up to Rs 4115 crore by 2010-11; it would be an all-time record in this regard. The government is endeavouring to increase its revenue from both tax and non-tax sources by implementing various innovative schemes.
The LDF government has taken utmost care to protect the state’s interests in the inter-state river water disputes. Mega ventures like the Vizhinjam Port project, Vallarpadam Container Terminal, Railway Coach Factory at Kanjikodethe etc are getting materialised because of the state government’s determined efforts. Lots of efforts were made to improve the ports to ensure their further development; a port policy was also formulated. The central government gave to the state the Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra award in 2007 and 2008 for its social forestry project. The forest policy of the state was formulated in this very period. The government has decided to set up a biodiversity research centre of international standards. The wages of the workers employed in forest areas, including the adivasis, has been increased by 30 per cent.
LANDMARK IN DECENTRALISATION
Unfortunately, while in power, the UDF regime endeavoured to sabotage the People’s Plan which the preceding LDF government had initiated and which had ensured people’s involvement in decentralised planning. Moreover, the UDF government slashed the powers of the local self-government institutions time and again. The Gram Sabhas were turned into mere forums to acknowledge the beneficiaries’ lists and this deteriorated the concept of ensuring people’s participation in the process of decentralised planning and execution. The state government had held back the SC development fund and even attempted to devastate the Kudumbasree, a self-help group. Powers of the local self-government (LSG) were drastically curtailed during that period.
But after assuming power, the LDF government once again showed its zealous dedication to ensuring the decentralisation of powers and took effective steps were taken to strengthen the LSG. The government devolved more powers and sufficient funds to the local self-governments and successfully implemented the concept of decentralisation in its true spirit.
The landmark achieved in decentralisation is significant in the state’s history of development. The People’s Plan has resulted in momentous strides in the overall development of Kerala.
STRENGTHENING PDS, COOPERATIVE BODIES
In the cooperative sector, the deposits have increased three times during the last four years of the LDF regime. All efforts were made to strengthen the cooperative sector and provide it various loans to the tune of Rs 5,000 crores every year. In the cooperative sector alone, 46,000 retail outlets were established as a part of the LDF’s policy of market intervention and to strengthen the public distribution system.
The LDF government has organised 51 Pattayamelas and allocated the title deeds to the landless poor; 1,20,300 landless people were thus given land. In case of any land acquisition for infrastructure development, the LDF government has shown extreme care in rehabilitating the affected families and ensuring them sufficient compensation for the land acquired. A land bank has set up during this period to protect lands from the illegal possession of and encroachment by the wealthy and distribute them among the landless poor.
The LDF government earnestly endeavoured to protect the interest of the believers. A Sabarimala master plan has been prepared for comprehensive development of the Sabarimala shrine. The Malabar Devaswam Board has been formed to administer the temples in the Malabar region and all the Devaswam appointments have been made transparent by handing the appointing job over to the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC). In place of the meagre remuneration given to the priests, the government has introduced a pay scale and their salary levels have been increased from Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 to Rs 3,150 and Rs 8,390 respectively. Construction of the Karippur Hajj House was recently completed. The LDF government has implemented a welfare scheme, including a pension scheme, for the Madrassa teachers also.
The UDF government’s policy had resulted in a shrinking of the Kerala State Roadways Transport Corporation (KSRTC); the design was to ultimately dismantle it. But the LDF intervention reversed the situation and the corporation has now successfully implemented numerous creative projects. The entire functioning of the corporation has modernised, 4,965 new bus schedules have started and natural gas is now being used in most of the buses in order to improve the fuel efficiency. Permanent appointments have been made in the KSRTC and thus more than 19,000 jobless youth have got employment. So as to ensure transparency in the purchases, open tender system has been implemented. This has saved more than Rs 1.5 lakh per bus, compared to the previous government. The KSRTC presence in public transport had shrunk to 13 per cent during the UDF regime; now it has increased to 27 per cent. The LDF government’s consistent effort to improve the road traffic will be remembered all the time.
The LDF government has ensured that all the permanent appointments are made through the KPSC.
FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY
For the first time in the country, physical education has been included as a part of curriculum in the state. The sports quota appointments have increased from 20 to 50 so as to ensure more employment opportunities to the sports persons. Aiming to protect the rights of the youth, setting up a youth commission with quasi-judicial powers is in progress. All the dues of the contractors till December 2009 have been cleared and e-tendering has been implemented to ensure transparency.
The Registration Department was in a chaotic state and no effort was made to ensure transparency in the registration of property. The LDF government intervened to ensure transparency and to prevent unlawful activities. It enacted a law to prevent fraudulent registration and to check forgery of documents. Benami transfers of property and other frauds in registration have been effectively checked by mandating the affixing of a photograph and thumb impression on the documents.
As a result of the ardent intervention of the LDF government in Kerala, not a single household of common men in Kerala is now left out of the advantages of one or another project. It is the LDF government that recovered the state from the clutches of the UDF policy that threatened to obliterate all the past advantages. If the UDF regime had continued, the people of Kerala would have been in a state of utter devastation and anguish. The historic importance of the LDF government’s tenure is that it overturned a chaotic situation and led the state to progress and development, despite the menace of the central government’s devastating policies and also the impact of the worldwide economic recession. Obviously, it was possible due to the alternative policies framed within the perimeters of a state government’s limited powers.
The LDF government is marching ahead, writing memorable chapters in the history of Kerala’s development. Reactionary forces in the state have united to sabotage the LDF government’s efforts and are trying to unleash the caste and religious sentiments for their dubious game. The self-declared pseudo revolutionaries have also joined them. The right wing and reactionary media extend tremendous support to such heinous moves.
But there is no doubt that the enlightened people of Kerala are capable enough of rebuffing all such ignominious designs. The state has been a model in safeguarding the communal harmony and no effort of the evil forces could ever disrupt the secular fabric of the state. The Kerala legislative assembly is one of the rare legislatures the Sangh Parivar could never enter. The Kerala model of development has been made possible by confronting the communal forces on the one hand and by implementing the pro-common man policies at the centre of all development efforts, on the other. On their part, the people of Kerala will no doubt extend solid support to the LDF efforts for rapid development and to protect the secular fabric of the state.
Source: www.pd.cpim.org
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Bengal Left Front Govt Stands for Democracy & Development - Biman Basu
THE Left Front government of Bengal had created history by winning the popular verdict of the people of Bengal for the seventh consecutive term in 2006. But it is found that after the electoral reversal of the Communists and the Left in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the reactionary forces led by the Trinamul Congress (TMC), the main opposition in the Bengal Assembly, have started a nefarious game plan attacking the democratic initiatives of the CPI(M) and the Left front parties. TMC has the patronage of the corporate media barons in its ugly campaign against the Left based on sheer lies and slander in the state as well as in the rest of the country.
Since the Bengal Left Front government is trying to resist the imperialist patronised neo-liberal economic policies through alternative policies in the state, the imperialist-patronised agencies have become super active involving their energy and finances to spearhead the heinous campaign of TMC against the Communists and Left parties. Serious violent activities are perpetrated by the right reactionaries and ‘left’ sectarian so-called ‘Maoists,’ along with TMC in different parts of Bengal. In certain areas, these undemocratic activities are unleashed by the Indian National Congress (INC). Now it seems that the TMC and the INC want to move jointly together.
AN OUTCOME OF STRUGGLES
It is known to all that the LF government came to office through long and protracted struggles of the toiling people through an arduous journey in the 1950s, the 1960s and part of the 1970s. The journey of struggle was unleashed by the people under the stewardship of Communists, and the Left and the democratic parties in the state. Those years were not the days of happiness and comfort. They were marked by bitterness, oppression on the people, and assaults on the democratic masses and their democratic rights.
My intention is not to narrate the history of the last three-and-a-half-decades. I want to mention the beginning of the 1970s when Bengal witnessed subversion of Indian democracy in our state. The people of Bengal were confronted from all corners with the imperialist-patronised reactionary cliques and by right-wing, left sectarian political forces to make the common people’s lives miserable. As a result, 20,000 thousand families had to face eviction from home-and-hearth, 80,000 people had to move around different parts of Bengal under threat from fake cases lodged by the Congress party, and more than 1400 men and women of CPI(M), Left parties and sympathisers were martyred. During this period, 350 trade union offices were forcibly closed by the reactionaries; students’ union elections were not allowed to be held; 927 teachers of different tiers of education were forcibly driven out of the institutions they served. The situation in the then Bengal was just like a ‘semi-fascist terror,’ and an undeclared emergency.
Although Bengal faced an undeclared emergency in the first half of the 1970s, the entire country experienced the declared emergency in the mid-1970s. During these days, the democratic people of Bengal and the Communists learnt new methods of maintaining contact with the struggling people and mobilise them in a quite different manner. When the right opportunity and scope for the choosing of their representatives came, the people utilised that scope by electing the representative of their own choice. After the first Left Front government was constituted, the chief minister, Jyoti Basu, declared that the Left Front government would work for the interest of the masses of the people and move forward towards election of the local self-government, which will maintain close linkages with the people.
SALIENT ACHIEVEMENTS
The achievements of the Left Front government also cannot be narrated in complete length in the present essay. To focus upon only the highlights, the first major work was to form the three-tier Panchayati system in rural Bengal. Second responsibility was to revive the moribund municipalities in urban Bengal. It took some time to amend the Municipal Act, but after the formation of the Panchayati system, the major task undertaken was to implement land reforms. It may be noted that 54 per cent of the farmers of the country, who have benefited from distribution of surplus and benami land, belong to Bengal. The total agricultural land distributed in Bengal is the highest in any state of the country. It was 11.28 lakh acres upto February 2010. This figure constitutes 22 per cent of the total land redistributed in the whole of the country. By now, 30.12 lakh farmers have benefited in the state, over 73 per cent of them belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and religious minorities. With a view to empowering women, 6.15 lakh joint pattas and 1.62 lakh individual pattas have been distributed. This apart, through the recording of sharecroppers (‘operation barga’), which forms an important component of land reforms, 15.13 lakh farmers have benefited. Implementing the recently passed tribal forest rights act, the state government has started allotting land for the tribals to the tune of 1549.65 acres in the tribal-dominated districts, with total pattas distributed amounting to 26,061. Over one lakh claims are under enquiry and are in the process for distribution of more land parcel amongst members of the tribal community. Scrutiny is being held up due to Maoist violence and terror in tribal dominated areas like Jangalmahal.
Further, the state government has introduced a scheme of purchasing land from willing farmers at a price, which may be 25 per cent higher than the market price, and distribute the same free of cost to landless agricultural labourers. These land reform measures have been supported by the spread of irrigation, use of improved seeds, a mix of chemical, organic, and bio-fertilisers as well as setting of seed villages and bio-villages. Using improved seeds and balanced use of fertilisers in the line of an alternative technology, Bengal has now reached first position in the production of rice, second position in potato, first position in all vegetables together, and also in a comparatively better position in the production of major fruits. In the year 2009-10, the overall rate of growth of agricultural production has been 4.2 per cent in Bengal, which is much higher than the rate of growth of agriculture for the country as a whole (-0.2 per cent). As a result, the purchasing capacity of rural Bengal families has gone up. About Rs 27,000 crore of industrial goods are being sold out in rural Bengal per annum, which has pushed up the internal market for industrial goods.
INDUSTRIAL FRONT
In the sphere of large and medium scale industries over the period between 1991 and December 2009, more than 2000 units with materialised investment of about Rs 50,000 crore has started production. In the current year, the materialised investment in the large and medium sectors has once again nearly doubled to cross Rs 7000 crore compared to the previous year. In the field of small scale and cottage industries, the achievements of the Bengal Left Front government have been excellent: Bengal’s position over many years was at the very front in the country. In the cooperative sector, the performance of the state government is noteworthy. The cooperatives have received the spadework and they are active in different nooks and corners of the state. There are even cooperatives of the tribal people, which are known as Large Size Multipurpose Societies (LAMPS), and about 151 LAMPS are working at the present moment in the state, among the tribal population. These LAMPS also organised 9000 self-help groups. The state Left Front government. out of its own procurement of rice for internal production involving the state agencies, FCI, cooperatives, and self-help groups, could distribute rice at Rs 2 per kg for all the BPL families of Bengal, incurring an additional subsidy cost. About 12 lakh self-help groups with a membership of more than one crore are playing a remarkable role in the field of generation of employment. More than 90 per cent of the members are women.
The state Left Front government has been providing financial assistance to the workers of closed factories and closed tea gardens. A Provident Fund scheme for the workers has been introduced which is the first of its kind in the country. The total number of beneficiaries will cross 30 lakh in the current year. There is scheme for agri-workers’ benefiting 8 lakh workers. In addition to this, the welfare schemes for construction workers, bidi workers, and for transport workers have been undertaken. The total figure of beneficiaries may cross 60 lakh in the current year. Another important scheme of providing old age pension, disability pension, widow pension, as well as pension for artisans, handloom weavers, farmers and fishermen has been introduced which has already benefited 4 lakh people. In addition to this, the pension scheme has already been introduced to cover all the SC and ST groups in the state.
HEALTH & EDUCATION
In the sphere of public health, the state has a wide coverage, right from state hospitals to health centres, and sub-health centres in rural Bengal. About 73 per cent of the Bengal population are getting service from all these centres. Serious emphasis is given to preventive health care and decentralisation of curative health care, which has lowered the death rate to 6.2 per thousand in Bengal, which is the lowest in the country. In the sphere of education, major achievement is the large-scale financial allocation and wide increase in availing of the scope in all the realms of education, right from the primary level to that of the higher education. At present, initiative is taken to increase the participation in vocational and technical education from school upwards with incentives given.
CONSTRAINTS OF STATE GOVT
Since the Left Front government was formed in 1977 in Bengal, it is trying to implement a pro-people programme in the state. However, the state government is to function within the framework of federal polity of the Indian Constitution where the government of India is to discharge its constitutional obligation in providing finances for the states. Unfortunately, on many occasions, the central government's share to the state reached very late - sometimes even forcing non-utilisation of the said funds. For example, the state government has recently asked for the due share under constitutional obligation for Rs 1400 crore, which has not yet been released. The state government demanded funds for Aila cyclone victims and their rehabilitation, reconstruction, and repair of mud dams and construction of concrete dams in the Sunderbans area. A small quantum of fund was released, which is far, far less than what is needed and demanded. Our state is now passing through drought-like situation, and already 11 districts are declared as drought-afflicted districts. To combat drought, a minimum amount of Rs 1713 crore is required urgently and where the state government allotted Rs 613 crore, as per constitutional obligation the central government has to release Rs 1100 crore. Discussions favouring the release of the funds have yet to start. It is found that the Trinamul Congress (TMC), as a constituent of the UPA-II government, is creating obstacles in the release of the due share to the people of Bengal in all possible manners. The TMC is doing everything possible to conceal its anti-people, anti-democratic and anti-development attitude from the people of Bengal.
Further, the TMC since 2007 in particular, started a nefarious game plan forming a rainbow alliance combining right wing forces with the left sectarian so-called ‘Maoists’ to beat back CPI(M) and the Left as well as the Left Front government. These ugly forces concentrated their attacks on the democratic rights of the people and democracy itself to create anarchy, lawlessness, and terror-stricken situations. Since the Lok Sabha elections, these anti-democratic forces killed 279 CPI(M) and Left workers and leaders. These martyrs are mostly poor agricultural workers, daily wage earners, and many of them are from the tribal community. Democratic people of Bengal, under the leadership of the CPI(M) and the Left Front are continuing a serious campaign-movement against the anti-democratic violent activities of TMC and 'Maoist' joint forces, and Congress. Since the people of Bengal are fighting against the exploitative system, campaigning against the strategic relationship with the US, which may jeopardise the sovereignty of India, and fighting for the workers’-peasants’ interests and for the interest of the democratic people, the reactionary forces of all hues are bent upon attacking the Communists and Left forces for their own class interests.
We are all aware of the democratic movement of the Bengal people but we should realise also that the movement is a part-and-parcel of the larger democratic movement of the country as well. With the assistance of UPA-II government, TMC as a part of the central government, takes the advantage of all anti-democratic forces and continues their slanderous campaign against the achievements of the Bengal Left Front government. At this juncture, workers-peasants, employees, students-youth, women, teachers, and other sections of the society all over the country are to take a bold stand in exposing the lies-slanders of the Bengal opposition and firmly express their solidarity with the people of Bengal since the Left Front government of Bengal stands for democracy and development.
Courtesy: www.cpim.org.in
Sunday, September 26, 2010
IRAN’S BUSHEHR NUCLEAR REACTOR COMMISSIONED - Yohannan Chemerapally
IT was a wait that lasted more than four decades, Iran has with Russian help finally got the Bushehr nuclear reactor officially commissioned in mid-August. It will take another two months for the country’s first nuclear power plant to start generating electricity. Work had first started on the Bushehr plant way back in 1974 with the help of the Federal Republic of Germany. But after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the imposition of sanctions by the US, the Germans withdrew from the project. Iran had then approached many countries including India for help in completing the project, which was in complete compliance with the NPT. It was only in 1995 that Russia agreed to step in, despite tremendous pressure from the West, to help in completion of the long stalled project. Iran has now become the 33rd member of the world’s civilian nuclear club and the first country in West Asia to posses a nuclear reactor.
The IAEA has certified that the Bushehr Reactor is entirely for peaceful purposes. The neo-conservatives in the US and government of Israel have been crying hoarse that with the commissioning of the Bushehr reactor, Iran is well on its way to become a nuclear power. The former Bush administration senior official, John Bolton, had recently called on Israel to bomb the Bushehr plant. The IAEA has said that no nuclear fuel is being diverted to Iran’s nuclear program, which Teheran has been insisting anyway is for peaceful purposes. The Bushehr Plant only has a lightwater reactor. It is very difficult for plutonium of weapons quality to be extracted from the spent fuel of a light water reactor. Russia while providing the nuclear fuel is also committed to taking back the spent fuel. This was done to allay the West’s fear that Teheran may misuse the light water reactor produced plutonium.
CONSIDERABLE DELAYS
Even after the Russian company stepped in to start work at Bushehr in 1998, there were considerable delays, triggered mainly by political pressure emanating from the West. Moscow on several occasions backtracked on deadlines and the delivery of nuclear fuel. Eventually, the Kremlin seems to have made a calculated decision that Russian national interests would be better served by completing the Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia stuck to its commitments despite the “reset” in relations with the US, after Barack Obama became the president. In recent months there have been a few angry exchanges between Moscow and Teheran after the passage of the latest UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The Iranian leadership made it abundantly clear that they were upset with both Moscow and Beijing for supporting the draconian sanctions imposed on their country.
Iran is one of Russia’s key trading partners. The volume of trade between the two countries is projected to exceed $5 billion by the end of the year. The two countries are currently involved in negotiations involving more that 130 joint ventures that could raise the volume of bilateral trade to $200 billion. Many of the projects are connected to oil and gas. In a 2008 agreement with Iran, Russia’s Grazprom was given the rights to develop gas fields, build refineries and participate in the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
Iran is the third biggest client of Russian weaponry after China and India. In the last couple of years, Russia has sold around $10 billion in weaponry.
In 2005, Moscow had agreed to sell S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. In 2007, another agreement was signed to sell SA-15 surface to air battery systems along with 30 air defense missile systems for safeguarding the Bushehr nuclear plant. Moscow has however temporarily suspended the sale of some categories of surface to air missile defense systems to Iran in the wake of the new UN Security Council sanctions. But Teheran is not complaining too much after Moscow gave up on its last minute hesitation under pressure from the West and delivered the fuel for the Bushehr reactor.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Bushehr, the head of Russia’s Nuclear Corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, said that countries that abide by the IAEA rules have the right to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The head of Iran’s nuclear agency, Ahmad Salehi, described the commissioning of the nuclear plant as “a political victory” for his country, He said that despite all the political pressures and sanctions, Iran’s peaceful nuclear program has received a boost. The Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said that Iran has the right under the NPT to enrich its own uranium to pursue its peaceful nuclear program. Early this year, the Iranian government had announced that it plans to produce 20 per cent grade highly enriched uranium. Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is solely geared at producing electricity.
As the Iranians were celebrating the opening of the Bushehr Plant, the Obama administration was working overtime to convince Iran’s major trading partners and traditional friends to start implementing the draconian sanctions envisaged in the latest UN Security Council resolution and later on enhanced by Washington. Senior US officials were sent to key Latin American and Asian countries to push for the implementation of the Security Council resolutions. They warned that Banks in countries like Brazil, India, the UAE, South Korea and Japan risked losing access to the US financial system if they continued to do business with their Iranian counterparts.
A new US government report has listed 22 countries which continue to maintain strong economic links with Iran, despite the UN Security Council sanctions. The US and the EU have imposed more stringent sanctions than the ones already there in the June Security Council resolution. The US report singles out India as being the state that allows companies to do the most business with Iran. The other important countries that have been singled out for criticism in the report are Russia and China. The Indian external affairs minister, S M Krishna, had said the kind of sanctions the Obama administration wants the government to implement would have “a direct and adverse impact on Indian companies and more importantly on our energy security”.
AMERICAN PRESSURE
Under American pressure, many Indian companies like Reliance, have already ceased operations in Iran. UN sanctions or American laws are not meant to be automatically obeyed by states. The Indian government’s decision to keep on talking with the Iranians on the gas pipeline deal seems to have irritated the Obama administration. There have been suggestions from Washington that India can give up its hopes of occupying a permanent seat in the UN Security Council if it continues to do business with Teheran. The new American sanctions law gives the American president the authority to open an investigation on the “basis of credible evidence” that a company is investing in Iran’s energy sector. Stuart Levey, the US treasury department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence and the pointman on Iran , said recently that “it is incumbent upon governments to put into place appropriate mechanisms” to implement the UN as well as the even more tougher US/EU sanctions, which prohibit investment in Iran’s oil and gas sectors.
It is unlikely that US arms-twisting will have a significant impact on the policies of important countries. Turkey, which along with Brazil, had made a concerted attempt to block the ill-conceived June UN Security Council resolution, has already conveyed to Washington, that it would not be adhering to the new sanctions regime unilaterally proclaimed by the Obama administration. Turkey in fact stepped in to sell 1.2 million barrels of gasoline to Iran in June. This was at a time when most other countries refused to sell refined petrol to Iran, fearful of repercussions from Washington. Due to sanctions imposed by the West, Iran is woefully lacking in refining capacity and hence the demand for refined petroleum products from other countries.
Meanwhile Iran, buoyed by the commissioning of the Bushehr reactor, has once again renewed its offer for talks on the basis of the “nuclear swap deal” it signed with Brazil and Turkey. Teheran has called on the Vienna Group to start talks expeditiously. The Vienna Group which consists of the US, Russia, France and the IAEA, has now approved of the Turkey-Brazil-Iran Declaration as a basis for negotiations. In the Declaration, Iran had offered to dispatch 2,500 kg of its 3.5 enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for the 20 per cent enriched uranium it would receive from the West to be used as fuel for a scientific reactor situated near Teheran. The US state department spokesman said in the last week of August that Washington is hopeful that talks between the P-5+1 which consists of the five permanent Security Council members along with Germany and Iran would start “in the next few weeks”.
But the “carrot and stick” policy being adopted by the West against Iran continues. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, beating the war drums, warned Teheran that a failure to reach a “credible agreement” on its nuclear program, would force “world powers to mobilise again” to defend the security of Iran’s neighbours. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an American television network “that allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons is unacceptable” and that the US has contingency plans to attack the country at short notice. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini once again reiterated in the third week of August that any talks with the US will only take place after Washington gives up “on sanctions and threats” against Teheran.
Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org
IRAN’S BUSHEHR NUCLEAR REACTOR COMMISSIONED - Yohannan Chemerapally
IT was a wait that lasted more than four decades, Iran has with Russian help finally got the Bushehr nuclear reactor officially commissioned in mid-August. It will take another two months for the country’s first nuclear power plant to start generating electricity. Work had first started on the Bushehr plant way back in 1974 with the help of the Federal Republic of Germany. But after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the imposition of sanctions by the US, the Germans withdrew from the project. Iran had then approached many countries including India for help in completing the project, which was in complete compliance with the NPT. It was only in 1995 that Russia agreed to step in, despite tremendous pressure from the West, to help in completion of the long stalled project. Iran has now become the 33rd member of the world’s civilian nuclear club and the first country in West Asia to posses a nuclear reactor.
The IAEA has certified that the Bushehr Reactor is entirely for peaceful purposes. The neo-conservatives in the US and government of Israel have been crying hoarse that with the commissioning of the Bushehr reactor, Iran is well on its way to become a nuclear power. The former Bush administration senior official, John Bolton, had recently called on Israel to bomb the Bushehr plant. The IAEA has said that no nuclear fuel is being diverted to Iran’s nuclear program, which Teheran has been insisting anyway is for peaceful purposes. The Bushehr Plant only has a lightwater reactor. It is very difficult for plutonium of weapons quality to be extracted from the spent fuel of a light water reactor. Russia while providing the nuclear fuel is also committed to taking back the spent fuel. This was done to allay the West’s fear that Teheran may misuse the light water reactor produced plutonium.
CONSIDERABLE DELAYS
Even after the Russian company stepped in to start work at Bushehr in 1998, there were considerable delays, triggered mainly by political pressure emanating from the West. Moscow on several occasions backtracked on deadlines and the delivery of nuclear fuel. Eventually, the Kremlin seems to have made a calculated decision that Russian national interests would be better served by completing the Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia stuck to its commitments despite the “reset” in relations with the US, after Barack Obama became the president. In recent months there have been a few angry exchanges between Moscow and Teheran after the passage of the latest UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The Iranian leadership made it abundantly clear that they were upset with both Moscow and Beijing for supporting the draconian sanctions imposed on their country.
Iran is one of Russia’s key trading partners. The volume of trade between the two countries is projected to exceed $5 billion by the end of the year. The two countries are currently involved in negotiations involving more that 130 joint ventures that could raise the volume of bilateral trade to $200 billion. Many of the projects are connected to oil and gas. In a 2008 agreement with Iran, Russia’s Grazprom was given the rights to develop gas fields, build refineries and participate in the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
Iran is the third biggest client of Russian weaponry after China and India. In the last couple of years, Russia has sold around $10 billion in weaponry.
In 2005, Moscow had agreed to sell S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. In 2007, another agreement was signed to sell SA-15 surface to air battery systems along with 30 air defense missile systems for safeguarding the Bushehr nuclear plant. Moscow has however temporarily suspended the sale of some categories of surface to air missile defense systems to Iran in the wake of the new UN Security Council sanctions. But Teheran is not complaining too much after Moscow gave up on its last minute hesitation under pressure from the West and delivered the fuel for the Bushehr reactor.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Bushehr, the head of Russia’s Nuclear Corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, said that countries that abide by the IAEA rules have the right to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The head of Iran’s nuclear agency, Ahmad Salehi, described the commissioning of the nuclear plant as “a political victory” for his country, He said that despite all the political pressures and sanctions, Iran’s peaceful nuclear program has received a boost. The Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said that Iran has the right under the NPT to enrich its own uranium to pursue its peaceful nuclear program. Early this year, the Iranian government had announced that it plans to produce 20 per cent grade highly enriched uranium. Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is solely geared at producing electricity.
As the Iranians were celebrating the opening of the Bushehr Plant, the Obama administration was working overtime to convince Iran’s major trading partners and traditional friends to start implementing the draconian sanctions envisaged in the latest UN Security Council resolution and later on enhanced by Washington. Senior US officials were sent to key Latin American and Asian countries to push for the implementation of the Security Council resolutions. They warned that Banks in countries like Brazil, India, the UAE, South Korea and Japan risked losing access to the US financial system if they continued to do business with their Iranian counterparts.
A new US government report has listed 22 countries which continue to maintain strong economic links with Iran, despite the UN Security Council sanctions. The US and the EU have imposed more stringent sanctions than the ones already there in the June Security Council resolution. The US report singles out India as being the state that allows companies to do the most business with Iran. The other important countries that have been singled out for criticism in the report are Russia and China. The Indian external affairs minister, S M Krishna, had said the kind of sanctions the Obama administration wants the government to implement would have “a direct and adverse impact on Indian companies and more importantly on our energy security”.
AMERICAN PRESSURE
Under American pressure, many Indian companies like Reliance, have already ceased operations in Iran. UN sanctions or American laws are not meant to be automatically obeyed by states. The Indian government’s decision to keep on talking with the Iranians on the gas pipeline deal seems to have irritated the Obama administration. There have been suggestions from Washington that India can give up its hopes of occupying a permanent seat in the UN Security Council if it continues to do business with Teheran. The new American sanctions law gives the American president the authority to open an investigation on the “basis of credible evidence” that a company is investing in Iran’s energy sector. Stuart Levey, the US treasury department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence and the pointman on Iran , said recently that “it is incumbent upon governments to put into place appropriate mechanisms” to implement the UN as well as the even more tougher US/EU sanctions, which prohibit investment in Iran’s oil and gas sectors.
It is unlikely that US arms-twisting will have a significant impact on the policies of important countries. Turkey, which along with Brazil, had made a concerted attempt to block the ill-conceived June UN Security Council resolution, has already conveyed to Washington, that it would not be adhering to the new sanctions regime unilaterally proclaimed by the Obama administration. Turkey in fact stepped in to sell 1.2 million barrels of gasoline to Iran in June. This was at a time when most other countries refused to sell refined petrol to Iran, fearful of repercussions from Washington. Due to sanctions imposed by the West, Iran is woefully lacking in refining capacity and hence the demand for refined petroleum products from other countries.
Meanwhile Iran, buoyed by the commissioning of the Bushehr reactor, has once again renewed its offer for talks on the basis of the “nuclear swap deal” it signed with Brazil and Turkey. Teheran has called on the Vienna Group to start talks expeditiously. The Vienna Group which consists of the US, Russia, France and the IAEA, has now approved of the Turkey-Brazil-Iran Declaration as a basis for negotiations. In the Declaration, Iran had offered to dispatch 2,500 kg of its 3.5 enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for the 20 per cent enriched uranium it would receive from the West to be used as fuel for a scientific reactor situated near Teheran. The US state department spokesman said in the last week of August that Washington is hopeful that talks between the P-5+1 which consists of the five permanent Security Council members along with Germany and Iran would start “in the next few weeks”.
But the “carrot and stick” policy being adopted by the West against Iran continues. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, beating the war drums, warned Teheran that a failure to reach a “credible agreement” on its nuclear program, would force “world powers to mobilise again” to defend the security of Iran’s neighbours. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an American television network “that allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons is unacceptable” and that the US has contingency plans to attack the country at short notice. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini once again reiterated in the third week of August that any talks with the US will only take place after Washington gives up “on sanctions and threats” against Teheran.
Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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